🤠 Rodeo Roundup 2018 Week #39
💡Expanding the capabilities of Philips Hue lights with iConnectHue. 🚜 Laying underlayment on the shed's roof. 📒 Completing our 2017 accounting, so we can file out taxes.
My smart light automation adventure continues. And I started on the shed's roof. It is now covered with tar paper. One step closer to being water tight. Last but not least, I've been working hard to wrap up our 2017 taxes in time for the October deadline.
💡 Smart Lights
The Philips Hue app is a bit basic. With only 5 smart lights in the house, I already want features the app lacks. Group lights from multiple rooms for example. Many 3rd party apps add features, but iConnectHue is by far the most comprehensive. Sadly, iConnectHue is only available for iOS. Will this cause issues in our "mixed" household of Android and iOS devices?
🚜 On the Farm
The shed received attention for the first time since our return from the Greater Northern Loop. California's dry summers made it possible to leave the roof unfinished. With fall approaching, I need to finish the shed before rain arrives.
This weekend I put roof underlayment (aka tar paper) on the shed's roof. The steep pitch of the roof made it challenging.
The roof tiles will be nailed into battens, wooden horizontal slats running the length of the roof. Gable end tiles prevent water from entering from the side. Like regular roof tiles, gable tiles overlap too. Gable end placement is tricky as they don't lock onto one another like regular tiles.
I'm taking my time to work out their placement before tiling the roof next week.
📒 Wrapping up 2017 Taxes
Not for the first time did we file for a tax extension. That extension is until October and we still have to update our bookkeeping. We used Quickbooks for our bookkeeping in prior years. Their Mac version. Not their $20/month online version. That's way too expensive for our needs. Quickbooks for Mac is nearing end of life and no longer imports statements from our banks.
I found a Quickbooks replacement in Wave Financial. Wave offers free online accounting software and makes money on payroll and handling payments. Wave offers everything we need for free. Their business model gives me confidence Wave will endure and they won’t sell our (aggregated) financial data to the highest bidder.
This week we completed our 2017 accounting. Next year we'll file on time!
