20sec | f22 | 28mm
Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category
Coreopsis
04
Aug
1/60 sec | f5.6 | 55mm
I took picture of these flowers during the early morning outside of a bed and breakfast in. I’m not sure what they’re called but they look like Coreopsis. If you know for a face that they’re something else, please let me know.
Pink lily
31
Jul
1/500 sec | f13 | 55mm
Casa Loma has a beautiful garden that is home to a lot of flowers. I didn’t get all the names of the flowers since I was busy with the tour. I guess I should have written down the names so I know what I’m taking a picture of.
Tax Freedom Day
19
Jun
If you work, I’m sure that you work hard for you money so it’s only right that you keep the majority of it. As Canadian workers, we have to share part of our pay cheque with the government but there comes a day when you stop working for the government and start working for yourself. That’s what Tax Freedom Day is all about.
I think that we pay enough taxes as it is. Taxes are taken from us when we get our pay cheques and the amount that is taken off is way too much. And when we buy anything, we have to pay even more taxes. So it’s like, I pay 31.15% on my pay cheque and then an addition 13% on purchases. That’s almost 40% of my money going to the government.
According to the online tool from the Fraser Institute my Tax Freedom Day was on June 11. Throughout the year, I would have spent 161 days working for the government and 204 days working for myself. I work Monday to Friday so that’s not exactly 161 days. If you take away the weekends, I’ve only working about 120 days so that confuses me a little bit more. I’m assuming, if I read the charts correctly, everything that I’ll be paying to the government after June 11 will result in a tax refund.
I used a Personal Tax Calculator at Ernst & Young to calculate how much taxes I’ll be paying this year. I’m in the 31.15% tax bracket so I’ll be paying about $9,218 in tax. I’m planning on putting away my maximum for my RRSP so it’ll generate a savings of $2,617. I don’t’ know the exact calculations but that $2,617 should be my tax refund and if I’m getting a refund for that amount, I should probably think about getting an RRSP loan for that amount but then again, I would be going over my contribution limit for the year. I could max out my RRSP contribution and then donate the remainder to charity and get a tax credit and then get more back during tax season.
I’m not sure exactly how the Tax Freedom Day is calculated and it seems like it’s generating that date based on the average family whereas I’m entering the numbers as one income. It’s saying that I should be paying $9,218 in taxes but so far I’ve only paid $5,955.46 since the beginning of the year. Also, I’ve played around with my age and for it appears that as I get older, I get a $10 credit for something. That’s kind of cool. So if the dates are correct, I’m looking forward to working for my money.
Bow chika bow wow
08
Jun
1/60sec | f5.6 | 55mm
I was out cleaning up the alleyway when I saw a lady bug. At first, I just want to take a picture of it but when I returned with the camera, another one had shown up and they starting mating. The one that was on top was doing a lot of bow chika bow wow.
Star of Bethlehem
28
May
1/200 sec | f10 | 55mm
I found these flowers in my backyard. I didn’t even know they were until they started blooming. They were growing out from a plant that looks like green onions. Their stems looks similar to those of the daffodils so I assume that they were daffodils at first but they’re too small. They could be from the same family but I wouldn’t know.
Edit: I found out the name of this flower is Star of Bethlehem. Thanks Bob!
Dandelion clock
27
May
1/320sec | f5.6 | 200mm
I’ve never know what these things were called but apparently they’re called Dandelion clocks. When I was a little kid, I found it fun to grab a bunch of these and blow on them or run with them so that the little pieces fall apart and float around in the wind.
But this particular plant looks slightly different. It’s more cotton like then most of the Dandelion clocks that I’ve seen. I’m not even sure if they’re called the same thing.