Tax Holiday

This morning, as I took Pepper for his first walk of the day, I heard from across our southern fence line the cry of a red-tailed hawk, and, turning, saw it lift off from a Ponderosa pine on our neighbors' property. It soared across our lower meadow, cried again, and was soon joined by another hawk that had flown down the hill from the east. Together, they circled and climbed on the warm day's thermals, soundlessly, until they disappeared from view.

But that's not what I'd intended to write about today. Friday was Karen's and my 32nd wedding anniversary. No gifts this year, unless you count the new house going up. We did run some errands in Coeur d'Alene and have lunch after my semi-annual visit to the nephrologist (kidney function is fine, thank you, sclerosis in remission for four years now). Then it was off to Otis Orchards, Wash., to empty out our storage unit.

When we moved from Laramie, Wyo., to the Inland Northwest five years ago, we rented two storage units: one for the furniture and other belongings that wouldn't fit into our apartment (and then old family homestead), one for the cartons of books that we'd acquired during many years of library sales in Denver and Golden, Colorado and at yard, garage, and library sales in Wyoming. As we sold down the books through eBay, we moved our furniture to vacant space in the larger storage unit and vacated the smaller one. Now, five years later, the books are nearly all sold - just a few cartons we've moved into the garage at the old house, awaiting the final move.

Last week, Karen and I moved out everything but these two large pieces of furniture, which Donovan and I hauled away in our trailer after he finished work Friday, the last day of our August lease.

What is truly mind-boggling, is that the annual cost of renting that large storage unit cost about the same as our property tax on 66 acres of land, with the old house included. While the taxes will climb some with the new house, September 1st did mark the beginning of something of a tax holiday.