Tax Time

What tax time feels like

Or at least---catching up on the book work you should have been doing all year so that you are ready for the accountant---- time.

Last year was depressing. Selling the cows was like losing a family member. Having to do days upon days of new and unfamiliar record keeping and creating of accounts and stuff to tell the tale so that the government can get their share was too painful to contemplate.

So I didn't.

Silly me. It didn't go away just because I avoided the office like a root canal.

So now I am in a full time crappy mood, running back and forth from the office to the kitchen...where I can visit the online banking site to try to figure out what the heck I was doing during those ugly times. 

Note to self...no matter how downed out you are, keep putting those notes in the checkbook. You know, the ones that explain exactly why you transferred five bucks from the boss's account to the farm account. Why you gave one of the kids $17 off the farm account. Where that extra $200 in that deposit came from.

Much as I have hated keeping the books, ever since the boss's mom handed me the bills, the check book, and the meager milk check, and signed off on the job in 2001, I have kept careful, faithful, books. Our beloved bookkeeper, who comes and fixes my mistakes and balances stuff for the accountant has always had kind things to say.

Last year I just didn't. I moped and grouched and hid my head in the sand. It was a lousy year and I was a lousy bookkeeper.

Talking to you all here helped and thanks....blogging is a lifeline for me sometimes, taking the place of keeping a journal, which helped me stay sane (or perhaps sane-ish at least) for many years before this.

However, going back through the months leading up to and right after selling the girls is awful. The story of every inch of disaster is laid right out in black and white....and red....lots of red. Who knew that a checkbook could have a plot and a story line?

It makes me sad to see that a reasonably prosperous 2014 for most who remained in the dairy industry looks like being followed by another bad year for dairy folks, one which may be as horrible as 2009...that awful year of disastrous prices that plowed many farmers under and pulled the rug out from under us in a big way.

Okay, there, thanks for giving me a minute to whine. I know that in real life I am downright stupid with good fortune, great family, good place to live, lots of land both wild and tame to enjoy, dogs, cats, a couple cows left in the barn, poultry, ponies, and plant projects for spring...heck I can talk to all my kids every day, ditto my mom and dad, lots of aunts and uncles too. Beautiful brothers with magnificent wives. Lovely granddaughters all over the place......I have nothing to complain about, and as soon as I get the checkbooks caught up I will do my best to rejoice and not whine.

Meanwhile, stay warm and have a great day!