banana cake
I went to the grocery this morning for a few things we’ve forgotten to stock up on, the last few feasting ingredients, junk food for E. (my son, middle name: Hoover), etc. I got there early and sure am glad I was no later, as a steady stream of people followed me in.
Everybody was there, but probably not too many doing their main holiday shopping. Women like me clogging the baking aisle or making a run on the whipping cream, the candy, the soda and snacks, the bakery. Some people that obviously don’t do a lot of organized shopping and wandered around looking lost. Lots of men with odd assortments of things loaded in their carts, their contributions to somebody else’s party.
In the baking aisle I queued up to shuffle past the undecided or meditative shoppers rooted to the floor. There was one scruffy-looking tall man standing in the middle of the row holding a cake mix box. I saw him move toward a couple of women as they came near and start mumbling and gesturing; they each turned away and hurried past. My turn approached—but he was in between me and the condensed milk, so I was not to be deterred.
He leaned towards me and I heard the kind of voice you too might hurry away from if it came from old guy in a long coat muttering at you on the street. “Ma’am,” he whispered urgently, and when I looked him in the eyes he held up the cake mix and pointed at the shelf of prepared icing. “Ma’am, if you were baking a banana cake, which flavor of frosting would you put on it?”
Buttercream was discussed but rejected. We settled on cream cheese.
I got my condensed milk and flaked coconut and spilled out of the store as soon as possible afterwards. Now I’m safe at home until the church music marathon tonight, where I will offer what I can towards the spirit of the season. Might not be as good as banana cake, but it’s my contribution.
Merry Christmas all.
horrible news
Last Wednesday I introduced a reading friend of mine to the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. I told her, without any exaggeration at all, that a new Terry Pratchett novel is one of the great pleasures of my life.
I’ve just read an announcement by Pratchett that he’s been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
I quote: “…I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as ‘I am not dead’. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else.”
I don’t know what to do except go out and buy all his books that I don’t already have. He may or may not need the royalties. Me, I need Mr. Pratchett to live forever.
chicks fought the lawn and the lawn won
The girls are now confined to the erstwhile dog yard, which was always more of an anti-dog yard anyway; it serves as neutral territory between our dogs and the next-door neighbor dogs, and houses things we don’t want the dogs to get into. And now it collects chicken shit. These girls, given free rein of the entire yard, liked to come up to the back door and peck at their reflections in the window, shake off the pound or so of dirt they can carry in their feathers after a dust bath, and drink the dog water. And poop. And their tractor, the portable coop that moved around the yard, seemed to be getting a bit hard on the grass now that it’s going dormant. We paid a lot of money for that lawn at one time and I sure don’t want to look out over another expanse of mud next spring…so the chickens have to suffer. They are confined to a 25 x 16 foot enclosure, poor girls. Just for the winter.
I’m told it’s nearly winter now. It’s going to be 84 degrees here tomorrow, so that seems unlikely.
But wait, yes, there are signs. Tax season approaches. I work every year for a tax preparation business here in town, not one of the chains, and our preparatory classes have begun. A week or two during peak season is pretty much my social interaction for the year, except for music and writing groups.
There are things that bother me about making money this way. The very first thing is that everyone is required to file, and it’s too complicated for a large number of people to figure out, so they have to pay for somebody else to do it. That seems wrong right off the top.
The second thing is that for a majority of our clients, it’s not all that complicated and they could have done it themselves given a little bit of education…but they’re getting earned income credit, it’s the biggest check they see in a year, and they needed it yesterday. So they want to e-file and get a loan based on the refund, and incidentally have the preparation fees taken out of the refund because they sure don’t have it up front…they’re still getting an enormous check tomorrow, who cares if it has a slightly bigger bite taken out? Our average client pays $125 more to get the refund loan than he would if he paid up front and waited two weeks to get a direct deposit of his refund. Could he use $125? Would he give up $125 if it were spread out in front of his eyes? Then again, he can’t pay up front. And he doesn’t have a bank account for the deposit. He’s going to get his check cashed and carry the money until it’s gone.
It might be gone instantly. We hear the most heartbreaking stories of why the money is needed right now. This is because we can’t guarantee that the loan will come through and we say so. No matter the need, we can’t guarantee anything. (Although I’ve known the boss to make the occasional personal loan. Don’t tell him I told you.) (That’s why I work for the guy.)
For our clients, peak season does not come on April 15. W-2 forms must be postmarked Jan 31, and many of them are. From Jan 30 to February 6 is our busiest time. If you’ve got your forms and you need your $4500, wouldn’t you be willing to wait in the lobby for 15 minutes? Bossman goes ballistic when people are waiting, especially since they all bring their kids along, so we’re speeding along and commissions are through the roof. Everybody wants the loan.
I just want to shake them. Except I’ve never been that poor, so I can’t know what it’s like. You and your girlfriend have between you four kids plus your mother to support and you make a combined 23K. HOW do you do this? And you’re getting what for a refund, $4750?…well, no, $4625, but what’s the difference, it’s free money! And you can have it tomorrow! Maybe. Probably. Most likely.
It’s sad. But they’re so happy.
I just can’t quite wrap my conscience around it.
