8 March 2010 Yes, the taxman is our friend

8 March 2010 Yes, the taxman is our friend


In pursuit of legal and local truth we stumbled onto a property tracking software this morning. Unfortunately the county has decided to outsource and privatize the property record keeping that the Registrar of Deeds is elected to handle to a private company. Said company was offering free 7 day accounts to entice people who might use it professionally. I signed up and looked around to see if our unpleasant neighbor across the road actually had any registered deeds to the small section of our property along the road which he claims. Using records dating back to 1964 we found no such sale recorded.

Further, a conversation with the County assessor’s office provided a lack of any assessment against his tax liabilities for any land on our side of the road. The assessor’s office was quite helpful. They checked tax records dating back to 1985 and provided us the ownership periods for each owner from 1985 forward.

We’ve never seen the supposed deed he has shown to Gloria’s acquaintance who lives downstream from him. Since there is no communication in either direction we are not likely to see it. We acknowledge that water rights may have been conveyed at one time to someone who owned his property before he bought it. By the time we moved in the spring was non-functional, non-potable, and the land around it was not tended in any manner that would demonstrate regular use by anyone as a water source.

His dogs are rapidly becoming malnourished, ribs showing. They drag any bits of food they find, usually discarded take out containers, into the ditch bordering our property and chew it for what flavor remains. They’re reportedly eating aluminum foil that once contained food. Perhaps they’ll wander off in search of food. That would be good.

Today was also income tax return preparation day. We chose to use the free Turbo Tax program. As our income places us below taxable level, I see no reason to pay for software or to pay a fee to file our return with the government. I don’t know what persuaded Intuit to offer free prep and filing services. I suspect it had a lot to do with the continual offers to upgrade for a “few” dollars more. Our return was very simple, needed no upgrades, and has now been filed with the IRS, awaiting their acceptance.

Tomorrow we’ll see about haircuts.

Last night we dined on acorn squash first baked with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, butter, and then filled with breakfast sausage and returned to the oven.

Tonight we will have grilled cheese sandwiches made with 3 month old Manchego cheese. I think I’ll fry up some bacon to add to the sandwiches as well.