Taken with the PlayBook.
When a walk is in the offing, you will find Stella here. Not in the laundry room. Not near the door. Her butt is in contact with the door and she moves little if at all until her collar is slipped over her head.
No way the door will be opened without her being aware of it.
. . . that it appears that the Harper government is acceding to the demands of teh US government and preparing to implement an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) which will require Canadian financial institutions – banks, brokerages, mutual fund managers, possibly insurance companies – to determine the US status of their clients, and to report their and holdings above $50,000 per institution to the Canada Revenue Agency, which will then hand this information over to the US Internal Service (IRS).
There is some legitimate question whether this is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – as well as a violation of Canadian banking regulations, which as I understand them currently prohibit determining the national status and origin of clients.
This does not affect only US persons as determined by the IRS. In the first linked article, the cost to major banks to comply is stated as $100 million per bank. I will guarantee you that banks will not eat this additional operating cost, nor do I expect the government to help them cover it. Banking fees will increase to cover the cost of financing this extraterritorial fishing expedition..
I am saddened though not particularly surprised that this surrender of national sovereignty is happening. Canadian financial institutions affairs are deeply intertwined with the US, and the US is still the financial superpower. I am not at all happy about it though.
I so look forward to participating in my first federal election.
Follow these links for more information about FATCA.
(podcast) http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/11/13/fatca-under-fire-from-tax-experts-canadian-citizens/
I captured this spider clinging to the siding weekend before last. A little black thing (no not a black widow!), leg span no more than about half an inch across. Though I was not particularly inspired to post today it was, is, important to keep the habit going.
We took the scenic route home Saturday after aborting our trip and detoured through the hamlet of Florence.
Faye took a number of photos of this long-vacant school in the hamlet of Florence. The school had apparently been for sale for something like 20 years. A buyer has finally been found, and we suppose that the building will be knocked down.
The patterns in our deck railing are beautiful to look at.
We have been busy today, up and down offthe couch, getting stuff done. When we did sit down Stella wanted up,and we consistently said ‘nope, no ma’am not going to happen.’ Refusing permission in a matter offact way does scarher for life, she ges on about her caninebusiness soonenough.
We eventually relented. We made time and space for Chili dog. Kendal had already had couch time.
I bought this 1999 Mazda B2500 new off the lot in January 2000. The shell was added in 2002 and has been removed perhaps three times.
It’s a ’99 model and has been an extraordinarily reliable vehicle. Though it’s almost 14 years old it has around 132,000 miles because for much of its life it’s been the secondary vehicle therefore not driven as much. There are a few scratches yet is virtually no rust, still runs on the original clutch and tranny, probably needs a new power steering pump. Speaking of tranny it has a five speed manual linked to the 2.5 liter engine.
My major (and really only) complaint is that it’s woefully underpowered, which made merging onto IH-35 in downtown Austin an adventure in tooth-grinding as I wound the engine up near the read line simply to approach highway speed as the merge lane came to an all-too-quick end.
Having said that it gets decent mileage (22-25 mpg highway), is fairly comfortable for two people, and the stereo has no blown speakers so it still rocks. I do not permit the dogs to ride in the bed so two dogs fit somewhat comfortably behind the seat, which is where Achilles and Stella rode when I moved to Canada. Three can be stuffed in for short trips.
We hope to get several more years of service from it.
I like this photo of the wooden barn on Lambton Line so much I am going to use it as my header image for a while.
Faye and I set out to visit people a couple hours to the northeast. Just north of London we ran into this.
Previously texan still isn’t terrifically experienced never mind comfortable with snow squall driving so prudence (or perhaps an abundance of caution) dictated that we about-face and head back home. After backtracking about a mile we came upon a serious four-vehicle collision; since numerous people were already on the scene we drove on. Back home in Dresden, we are mostly in the clear with an occasional flurry so Faye is doing and hanging laundry.
It seems that the first true taste of winter will arrive today. A cold front came through yesterday and will be reinforced today, dropping the temperature throughout the day to a low of -5 tonight. Though we will not see the high side of freezing until sometime Monday or Tuesday, the snow squalls will stay to the east of us. Kendal will not care about any of this as long as the furnace works.
previouslytexan 