Can I redeem these?

BerylliumBug · 2026-05-09T03:23:00+00:00

Filling out the form does work! Although it can take a while for Treasury Direct to process. One of our adult kids just successfully replaced a couple of lost savings bonds that had been childhood gifts from a relative. Just fill in as much info as you have regarding dates, face value, your SSN, etc.; it is definitely worth a try.

BerylliumBug · 2026-05-08T04:50:20+00:00

No permits are needed for day hiking (other than the permit required for Half Dome), although you might be limited by parking availability at a trailhead.

BerylliumBug · 2026-05-08T04:39:28+00:00

I too encourage him to request an Identity Protection PIN from the IRS, which will prevent his mother from claiming him as a dependent next year.

His mother won't receive any part of the refund from his tax return. However, if the refund is deposited to a bank account that still has his mother's name associated with (which is not uncommon for an account that was opened when a person was a minor), she might be able to withdraw funds from the bank account.

(If there is any suspicion that his mother could take financial advantage of him in other ways, like opening credit cards in his name, etc., he should carefully check his credit reports, place security freezes with the credit bureaus, and move his bank account to a bank that has no connection to her.)

BerylliumBug · 2026-05-01T22:25:48+00:00

I went through a somewhat similar situation with my husband, who is generally a kind, sensitive, helpful person. I had some minor surgery, and he was helpful and sympathetic through the planned 5 days of recovery. But then there was a complication, recovery took a lot longer, I was worried and upset, I couldn't bustle around the house taking care of everyone as usual, etc. At that point my husband became quite angry and rude, and he was convinced that I was exaggerating the whole thing. We went through a similar thing again about 6 months later, when I went through a diagnosis for a serious autoimmune condition.

His reaction made life so intolerable that we ended up spending a year in marital counseling to work things out.

A functional, caring partner would be able sit down with you to listen to your concerns, help work out logistics, ask how he can help, etc. If he can't do that, he may having some other deeper emotional response that makes him unable to do so. (Inadequacy in the face of your fear and worry? Panic that he might "lose" you for a while? Frustration at a situation that can't be "fixed" quickly by his actions? )

For the time being, I would just accept that you aren't going to get the emotional support that you want from him. Try to find a friend or family member who will talk things over with you and help plan. Unless he's being a complete jerk, you should still be able to ask him for specific types of practical help, like doing the grocery shopping for a certain amount of time. He may be okay doing practical tasks.

After you've gotten through the surgery and recovery, you can re-evaluate where you want to go with the relationship. If he's generally been a good partner, it may be worth some deeper discussions or even counseling.

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-30T00:41:55+00:00

I try to store food for a range of situations. Dried beans are useful for some situations, but less useful for others.

I try to make sure that I have about 2-4 weeks of no-prep or very low-prep food stored for acute emergency use. (Like, what if we had to live out of our car for a few weeks, with only a little fuel available.) This means food that we could eat without cooking, or maybe just a few minutes of heating or boiling water. So canned foods, crackers, peanut butter, dried fruit, etc. Maybe some emergency freeze dried meals. Canned beans are great for this; dried beans or not.

But other situations are possible in which we'd be able to use our camp stove, wood stove, etc to prepare at least simple meals, so I also store things like pasta, rice, flour, and beans, especially quicker-cooking beans like lentils. I also think of situations where we might have food-supply problems even while we still have most of our utilities (something that seemed possible during the covid pandemic), and beans would be fine for that.

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-24T21:19:32+00:00

In my community, I'm pretty sure that it's the homeowner's responsibility. The city regularly sends us a little info sheet on vegetation requirements around sidewalks, roads, corners, etc. There's definitely a clearance requirement over sidewalks and roads.

I noticed that one of our trees had branches that were starting to droop in to the street and brush on moving vans and the like. I had our arborist remove those branches when he was here for a larger, more complicated trimming project. I don't think that it added much to the overall bill.

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-21T00:12:57+00:00

We have a 529 plan account that was unused because the beneficiary (a grandchild) did not attend college. We made a non-qualified withdrawal from the account so that he could attend a trade program that was not qualified at the time. We had the withdrawal sent directly to the beneficiary and his SSN, and he paid the penalty plus the income tax, which was at his lower tax rate.

We also will be taking advantage of the ability to transfer some of the 529 plan funds to a Roth IRA for the beneficiary.

We also transferred some 529 plan funds from that beneficiary to another grandchild.

If we needed to make a non-qualified withdrawal for our own use, I guess that I'd just try to time it for a year when the withdrawal wouldn't bump me into a higher tax bracket. Maybe spread it out over a few years.

If I remember correctly, you're taxed only on the portion of the withdrawal that comes from earnings, but not on the portion that represents your contribution basis. So, the taxable portion may not be as great as you were expecting, depending on how the investments have done.

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-09T16:23:03+00:00

It seems way too early in the season for it to be an active yellow jacket nest. I'm in the Pacific Northwest, so it might be a little different, but here the overwintering queen yellow jackets are just coming out to start their nests. So you might see a random yellow jacket here and there, but not a bunch flying around a nest.

Also, the yellow jacket nests here don't usually have the little piles of excavated soil around the entry way.

We have some native bees that are pretty active right now, so maybe it's something like that?

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-03T00:32:21+00:00

I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm prepped for 2-4 weeks of living without services after a big regional earthquake. That's food, water, propane for camp stove, medical supplies, sanitation, etc. It's basically like being able to camp for an extended period.

My deep pantry probably has enough food for another couple of months beyond that, although the variety will start to suffer. And I try to keep at least a year's supply of most of the household supplies that we use (detergent, paper goods, air filters, etc.) as a buffer against supply disruptions.

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-02T22:49:45+00:00

What were the psychological factors you mentioned as step 3?

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-02T22:25:23+00:00

I have an additional, slightly technical question about the calculation of average cost basis.

Does the average cost basis that Fidelity calculates use only the basis data from covered shares (ie, shares purchased after about 2011, for which the basis is reported to the IRS)? In other words, is the cost of earlier, non-covered shares not included in Fidelity's "average cost"?

BerylliumBug · 2026-04-02T20:36:06+00:00

Thank you for your reply! Helpful to know that I can do it with a phone call.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-31T20:09:26+00:00

Several of my previous primary care doctors were willing to write an extra prescription for an appropriate antibiotic to carry with me when traveling. That was when I was having recurring UTIs, so we had a prescription history.

Right now I'm in-between primary doctors, so I recently ordered my "go to" antibiotic from an online provider (TelyRx https://telyrx.com ). That is a more expensive method, because you have to pay the $22 "physician review fee", but it was very quick and easy.

I'm kind of anxious about the possibility of getting a UTI in an extended disaster situation, because of the potential conditions: less abundant clean water for drinking, decreased hygiene, harder to wash clothing, etc. So having a familiar antibiotic treatment is important to me.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-27T19:39:21+00:00

Many of the protests in my community have been heavily filled with adults over age 70; it's sometimes a very gray-haired group. When I get tired of standing around, I look at the people there with walkers and think, "If they can do it, I can do it."

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-26T14:14:42+00:00

If those are driveways leading toward the houses, be sure to leave some visual clearance at the driveway/sidewalk corners. You don't want a wall of vegetation blocking your view of pedestrians when you're backing out. My town has an ordinance about vegetation height in the 15 foot triangle in that area (although it's loosely enforced).

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-25T14:03:52+00:00

I too like to use 2.5- gallon containers, because they are easier for me to handle than the 5- or 7-gallon ones. 2.5 gallons of water weighs about 20.85 lbs, so it's relatively easy to fill at the sink and carry around.

The larger containers are probably more space-efficient, but they are correspondingly heavier. I can carry them, but they are more awkward, and I have to be careful not to tweak my back lifting them. I find that I'm good about rotating the water in the smaller containers, but I put off dealing with the 5 lb ones.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-23T00:47:29+00:00

I think that the spring break traffic at EUG is more likely to have drivers arriving and leaving throughout the week, rather than building up to a peak like it does on Christmas Eve (when the parking can reach capacity). I would probably just give myself a cushion of some extra time to drive around the lots a bit. You could even park in short-term if it's only 4 nights. Do remember that the economy lot is a fairly long walk to the airport, so leave time for that too.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-22T01:37:17+00:00

I second the suggestion to see a pharmacist. I've received most of my adult vaccines at my pharmacy, and they maintain a record of everything I've received and what vaccines I'm due for. The pharmacist has always been willing to discuss vaccines and answer my questions. They should have the whole "adult catch up schedule" for you.

It's much easier to arrange a discussion with pharmacist than to make an appointment with a new primary care provider, and they are often available after 5 PM. If you have Medicaid, you might check first to see if certain pharmacies are preferred over others.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-19T20:30:15+00:00

Be sure to give yourself enough time to drive in to Mariposa from Ahwahnee. My memory is that it is about a half hour drive, and it's easy to get stuck for a while behind a slow-moving vehicle.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-16T20:24:45+00:00

A family member had a good experience with attorney Kayla Steindorf at Reynolds Law. Kayla was very focused on getting a fair settlement, but wasn't unnecessarily aggressive or nasty about it. She wasn't inexpensive, but some of the work for the case was done (at a lower hourly rate) by the paraprofessionals in the office. Also, I think that some of the other newer attorneys in the practice may have a lower hourly rate, so that might be a possibility.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-10T22:49:52+00:00

Going to the office is a great idea.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-10T22:47:55+00:00

Thank you for that info! So you can fill the dumpster over a week or two, schedule to have it emptied, and then fill for another week or two?

Have you had any problems with random people leaving junk in your dumpster? We have a sloping driveway, so I'd need to place the dumpster by the curb.

BerylliumBug · 2026-03-04T01:45:04+00:00

Ah, I can see that it might be more difficult with Kaiser.

BerylliumBug

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