Almost Spring

When I walked the dog this morning, it smelled like rain. No snow left on the ground, not too cold, but really overcast. Originally, they were forecasting snow tonight, but it looks like it will be too warm, or if it snows, it won't last. 

Ray went to the H&R Block office this morning about 4 or 5 to work on taxes before anyone else came in. I went back to sleep, which I apparently am learning to do. I think that's a sign that I am less stressed, happier.

I have a new job 24 miles north. That's the only thing wrong with it, I have to drive almost an hour to get there and home. It's a pleasant ride, through the marsh and small towns. I just hate driving that much. I have a belief that the more I drive, the greater the chance of an accident, even if I'm incredibly careful. There are other people out there, people who may have something happen to keep them from being careful. And there are environmental reasons, although I drive a small hybrid. 

Anyway, it's really great. I work from home on Tuesdays and have a checkin with my boss, the Executive Director at 10. I have a laptop from the organization to do my work. It is sadly a Windows machine and there are things I don't love about it, but I can keep my work stuff completely separate from my home stuff, with different email addresses and passwords. I work 6 hours 9-3, nominally, but I can have a lunch break and work a little later (or earlier). I can walk around my house and see my family or use my own bathroom. 

On Fridays, I drive up to the office and let myself in with my key. I lock the door behind me and turn on the lights and sometimes the heat. I take out my laptop and connect it to the outlet under my desk. Every hour or so, I stretch and walk around the space...there's not much to see. After a few hours, I get the post office key from my boss's desk. He works Monday-Thursday and we came up with this plan for now, during the pandemic. I walk to the post office past the old houses and the little coffee shop. I keep my distance from anyone I see and wear my mask. I don't think I will see anyone I know in this town. When I get to the post office, I make sure no one is in the doorway, duck in and unlock the box. Last Friday, it was empty for the first time, which was a little disconcerting. I felt like I was getting away with something, to get to walk on the clock, with nothing gained. But there might have been something. On my way back, I picked up a chai I had ordered by phone before I left. The coffee shop has a little takeout window in the middle of the front, so it's very easy to pick up without having much contact with people. There was someone ahead of me, so I just stayed back and waited. 

One of the first things I did for this employer is to set up QuickBooks (an old desktop version) on my laptop. I have my own login and I suspect QB is already on the laptop on a different login, but my boss seems a little nervous about technology. One of these days, I will figure out how to access it. The Treasurer has been handling the bookkeeping for several months, maybe years. They also have a paid accountant, and I don't know what they do. I met with the Treasurer, Suzie, and she handed me her records: two rubber-banded clumps of checks and bills. There is no spreadsheet, or even a hand-written ledger. When she prepares a monthly report, she told me, she gets the bank to send her a printout. I saw the one for February. It shows the beginning and ending balance for the month, how much came in and how much went out, but not what it went for! I entered the information from the last month or so of rubber-banded information and I will keep trying to improve them. Last week, when I met with Suzie, I showed her my report and she was very impressed. There are only a few checks in and out, so it won't be a lot of work to keep it up. Ideally, my boss would request a check when he wants one and I would prepare it and have the Treasurer sign it. In reality, she will come sign checks whenever he wants, so I end up entering them after the fact instead. Fortunately, they keep plenty of money in the account. If there are checks to deposit, I take them by the bank on my way home every Friday. 

My other main task has been looking for information about databases on line. The client files are in a file cabinet and we hope to convert them to digital before reopening to the public in the Fall. There are lots of products to keep track of donors and do fancy fund-raising, but they are quite expensive, and not really what we want. Some are quite well-known. The one I am hoping works for us is called Charity Tracker. It's much easier to use than the fancy ones.