The IRS doesn’t love us
You may have noticed the wind. It’s relentless. This past Saturday we drove out to the Imperial Valley Desert Museum (IVDM) for Ocotillo Blooms! The wind, stronger in Ocotillo than along the highway, forced exhibitors to move to the east side of the museum building for protection. Several moved indoors.
We set up our tiny table and borrowed a part of a friend’s table to set up our plants. The wind blew, but we were in an OK spot. We had an unobstructed view of the wind machines, and once again I realized that the engineers had done a good job of placing their wind catchers in optimal locations, but not without controversy. The wind blew all day, yet it didn’t deter hundreds of people from attending the museum event.
The wind has been powerful lately across the Imperial Valley. Last week a friend warned me that the gusts would be high, maybe fifty miles per hour. Since we had already lost a large sumac tree limb that fell into our neighbor’s yard, I continually checked the tall backyard trees. I’m not sure what good that did.
My calculation was that all this wind was sufficient to get Imperial Valley onto the IRS list for an automatic tax filing extension. Residents in California counties that experienced flooding, e.g., San Diego, or extensive snow, e.g., San Bernardino, from the December and January winter storms could now relax since their federal and state taxes are not due until October 16, 2023. Lucky them. But didn’t our high wind damage such as the toppling of power poles in Salton City and my cracking sumac tree branches grant us the same break? Evidently not.
The federal government is quick to respond to water damaged areas. Our problem is that we live in a dry desert, and we don’t see much rain even when the dark clouds swirl in from the west. Our winds don’t measure up to the tornadoes that brushed nearby Oklahoma City two weeks ago. The tornadoes tore a destructive path through Norman, south of OKC where our relatives live.
So what can we do here to get the IRS’ attention? Perhaps show drone and satellite photos of flooded farm fields. Those IRS desk jockeys won’t realize that this is a common occurrence for irrigating fields. Plus, local agencies and news outlets could dig up photos of last October’s double monsoon. I recall driving through hub cap high water in downtown El Centro. We could say it was a winter storm that occurred in December. No federal bureaucrats from the IRS or National Weather Service will want to come down here to verify our claims. We would be a shoo-in. Well, it’s a thought. Maybe wind damage is a better claim.
As mentioned, the Ocotillo wind did not deter large crowds from showing up at the Desert Museum this past Saturday. A combination of positive factors led to lots of families coming out for a good time. The fear of COVID has substantially lessened as governments cancel pandemic restrictions. Plus, Kristin O’Lear, the museum’s director, rounded up substantially more exhibitors than last year. USDA, BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, UC Agricultural Extension, San Diego’s Natural History Museum, River Partners, and Vince’s plants and worms were there, to name some.
Attendees enjoyed themselves. I was surprised that Oli Bachie, the UC Extension director’s talk on local weeds was a big hit. Cooperative Extension had a display table crowded with local weeds. A friend said he had lots of each growing in his yard.
The butterfly release was somewhat disappointing. There may have been less butterflies than last year, and in this case the wind was not friendly to their flying around.
Finally, you do not need the California county winter storms designation to file your taxes late. If you don’t owe the feds or the state, you can file an individual request for extension. This gives you until October 16 to file your completed taxes. Go to irs.gov/forms. There’s plenty of information online.
And take a break. Visit the IV Desert Museum. www.ivdesertmuseum.org