Tax Day

Normally I’ve filed the income tax as soon as all the W-2’s and or 1099’s showed up, usually in early February. The refunds have come back, and possibly spent, by the end of February. This year getting a couple of those forms took a lot longer. All my stuff was available by the end of January. For her the ASCO retirement 1099 was on time, but both the Social Security and Edward Jones’s 1099s were AWOL. And they were mainly because of Donna’s death. The easy way to get those forms from both the SSA and EJ would have been to go online and log into her account, but I couldn’t because both places shut her accounts down as soon as I informed them of Donna’s passing.

By mid-February I contacted Edward Jones and they said they’d mail it to me. When it didn’t show in a week I called and asked. The Office Manager said she remembers mailing it, but I never got it, so she said I’ll mail another that very day. I waited patiently by the mail box for the next 10 days with no letter arriving. I called the office again and got the assistant this time, so I asked if they had the right address for me, thinking maybe it was going to Klamath Falls. She said, “Nope, we have the Fairview address. Let me see if I can just send you a PDF of it through the Edward Jones messaging system.” Five minutes later I downloaded the form. When I looked at the mailing address it was correct, but it was a very important bit, the Unit 1.

Social Security followed with a variation on the multiple phone call theme. My first attempt resulted in a three hour wait time for a CSR, I managed by keeping one earbud in from the phone, so I would know when they came back, while I listened to music or enjoyed mindless car videos with the naked ear. I explained what I needed to her and she said that she would take care of it. Ha! Three weeks later, still no SSA 1099-SM. My next thought was maybe I should visit the local Portland to do this face to face. I found the local office number online and called to see about getting an appointment. The person I got said, “Oh, you don’t have to do that, I can get a copy mailed to you.” I expressed my trepidation at that plan, so she gave me her direct extension and said I don’t get it in a week call back. Three days later it arrived in my mailbox.

I have been doing the taxes using H&R Block’s Tax Cut program since at least 2005 and I have e-filed ever since it was available. After e-filing the federal, Tax Cut informed me that I would have to print and mail in my Oregon return because they would not except e-file if one person had died during the tax year. So, I had to print out all 8 pages of the Oregon form, the 5 pages of the Federal and all ten 1099s. Midway through, I ran out of paper. Oh well, I needed to go out and buy some 10×13 manilla envelopes to mail all this paper in any way.

After printing everything out I went online to the Oregon Department of Revenue to see what I needed to file on paper when I noticed a little video about E-file for free using Direct File Oregon, so I wondered if that would let me do it online. What the heck, let’s give it a try. It seemed to let me direct file, there wasn’t any alerts telling me no. I just checked and the Revenue Online site is saying “Processing.” Stay tuned.

Bucky Update

Maybe a side stripe?

For some reason both seat belts had a short section on them that was frayed, making it hard slide the tab to put it in the slot. Not only that but it kind of weakens the the strap. Yesterday I pulled both seatbelts out of the car, boxed them up and mailed them to a company in Massachusetts called Safety Restore for them to re-web the seat belt mechanisms. The stock belts were black, but the interior is a tan color so I ordered the new belts in a beige color.

On Saturday’s post I mentioned that I wasn’t sure what kind of mats I was going to put in, well, I went ahead and ordered a set of the #91 Jaspe (AKA Calico).

I also said I’d probably just use the $15 Amazon Bluetooth gizmo, nope. After a real day spent with it on Sunday it works, but the volume of the “Connecting to Bluetooth” then shortly later “Bluetooth Connected” is too loud and you can’t turn it down. The real issue is the same thing that happens in most aftermarket sound things, there was a background whine that changed pitch as the RPMs changed. This morning I yanked the radio out and UPS’d it Bishop’s Vintage Car Stereo Repair for the addition of a Bluetooth module. As it would have it, this item also going to New England. Mr. Bishop is a one man operation in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Bucky Earns His Name

A lot of folks name their cars, a lot of folks name their Miatas, I don’t always, but this time I will. For most of this purchase process on buying the 2001 LS off of Bring-A-Trailer I just referred to it as Miata #6 as in it was the sixth Miata I have owned.

But after 2 separate, very entertaining, visits to the phenomenal outsized “gas station thing” called Buc-ees on Sally and my road trip she came to calling the car Bucky. I was just using it in conversations with her, until Sunday when I took a trip to take post offices pictures.

I noticed that for the first 20 or so minutes it was hard to smoothly engage the clutch in first gear and occasionally second as well. No matter how I tried to start from a standstill the car would buck like a scared foal. Then, a memory floated up in my consciousness, I’ve been here before, the Emperor suffered from the same malady. I wrote about it back in 2004 if you are interested.

Technical Service Bulletin 05-001/03 covers what needs to be done which is basically put a new clutch disc in. I’ll be adding another couple hundred grand the Bucky’s budget spreadsheet. Mazda replaced the disc in the 2003 for nothing and according to that service bulletin they would do it on this car too, I’m still under the 12,000 mile warranty cap, but I missed the time limit by 21 years.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Black Edition of SORT
As of Monday, March 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2005 Honda S2000 2023 Jeep Wrangler 2018 Jaguar XJ
I don’t think I ever really paid attention to black vehicles before, but now that I own one, they are everywhere. Both on the road and on Bring-A-Trailer.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 2005 Cadillac XLR Sold for USD $16,500 on 3/5/2
Off-Road: 1968 Ford Bronco Sold for USD $47,250 on 3/5/25
Touring: 2000 Mercedes CLK430 Sold for USD $7,800 on 3/5/25

The Fifth Car

It is Sunday and its sunny, what should I do? You know full well what I did, don’t you? That’s right, I took some Oregon Post Office pictures. Today Bucky became the fifth car to have its picture taken with a Post Office in the background and the third different Miata. The first 31 photos were with the CTBNL and the next 11 were with the Ladybug, our previous red Mini Cooper. The CTBNL had 3 more photos with Post Offices before turning over the duties to our second Mini known simply as Mini Two for the next 15 post office photos. The fourth car to join the Post Office Picture Team was the brand new 2024 Aero Gray Miata GT which appeared in the next 15 pictures.

On the way back after a trip to visit family in Granite Falls using Mini Two, I snagged 4 quick post offices before the New Miata took back over for the next 14. The same car also did the next 48 in a row, but it was no longer gray, but a bright blue. There was one photo outlier of Mini Two followed by 7 with the New (blue) Miata. While getting some service done on the Mini Two last week it had its photo taken with 2 nearby Post Offices and quite likely its last ones.

Today the fifth car, New Old Miata, AKA Bucky, joined the ranks of Oregon Post Office posers:

And actually, I considered taking a photo of the second of the above Post Offices Friday morning with a Silver Nissan Sentra I had rented to drive down to Eugene to pick up the fifth car, but opted not.

Making It Mine

First order of business was to wash the dirty car. It crossed the country, probably three quarters of it along I-80 in January, on an open car carrier and then spent a month in a car mechanic shop.

Next up were a couple of quick and easy modifications that I waited to do until I got the car home. I changed out the stock one-piece sun visors with a set of the old school folding ones for the 1st generation car. This is one of the first things I did to the 2003 when purchased new. Also back then, I put the Voodoo shift knob on the car in the dealer’s lot, but this time I did it half way home from Eugene. I wasn’t going to, but I think I will add the matching e-brake handle.

Then I put in this nifty phone holder that goes into an eyeball vent from Etsy.

I pulled out the OEM floor mats because they were filthy and the script Miata was faded to nothing. I’m not sure if I’ll buy Coco Mats for the car, but I will get some new mats.

I was originally thinking that I would pull the stock stereo out and send it off to have a guy to put a Bluetooth module internally, so you can keep the stock head unit. Now I’m thinking not. I bought a little gizmo that plugs into the cigarette lighter and transmits to the radio. I’m sure the audio is crappy, but I’m riding in a convertible listening to mostly all familiar music so all I need is 50% data recognition factor and my brain fills in the rest.

I put a RevLimiter’s Retro Shift Plate on. The stock knob has the pattern on it, while the Voodoo does not. I would say the odds of this being actually needed an almost infinitesimal, but it came in handy for the fellow who drove the open car carrier that brought the CTBNL from Aiken to Klamath Falls because that car also had a Voodoo knob.

My last mod of the day was adding an official third generation Mazda Miata Club Badge on the front left fender. The parts guy at the dealer gave it to me. He said his manager wanted him to toss it out, but he thought it was too cool to do that to it. I had been purchasing a bunch of OEM parts from him for the Blue Miata so he offered it to me. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but I thought it was cool too.