The Conejo Valley Guide® "Welcome" blog covers a wide range of topics, local information, local things to do, holiday event compilations, announcements and more.
CVG Welcome Blog Archive
Free Online Tax Filing Options for Federal and State Income Taxes
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There are a number of online resources to enable those with relatively simple tax returns to file for free. Generally these options cover those with W-2 income, some interest/dividends, kids and rent. What they don’t cover are itemized deductions, Schedule C (for self-employed individuals claiming business expenses), stock gains/losses, etc. Here are some options:
Free 1040 Tax Return: Free federal/state returns if your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is $69,000 or less and you are 70 or younger. www.fileyourtaxes.com/irs-free-file
H&R Block offers free federal/state returns for AGI $69,000 or less and age 17 to 51. www.hrblock.com/online-tax-filing/free-online-tax-filing
TurboTax offers free federal/state tax prep if your AGI is $36K or less and any age or meet other criteria summed up at freefile.intuit.com.
TaxAct allows for a free federal/state return if your AGI is $59,000 or less and you are age 56 or younger. www.taxact.com
Credit Karma offers free federal/state tax filing. You must sign up for a free Credit Karma account to do so. www.creditkarma.com/tax
In 2019, the IRS reports that a total of 154 million individual income tax forms were filed in the United States, including 137 million filed electronically.
Great Views at the Ventura Botanical Gardens Demonstration Trail in Grant Park
/The Ventura Botanical Gardens Demonstration Trail is a 1 mile trail between Ventura City Hall and Grant Park, offering awesome views of downtown Ventura and the coastline. The six foot wide trail with a decomposed granite surface is accessible behind Ventura City Hall at 567 South Poli Street
Access to the trail is on the right (east) side of Ventura City Hall. There's a parking area at the bottom of the trail.
Parking area behind Ventura City Hall
The Demonstration Trail is a first step as the Ventura Botanical Gardens (VBG), a 501(c)3 non-profit, raises funds to expand upon it. VBG began planting its Chilean Gardens in February 2014, featuring hundreds of plants, including giant terrestrial bromeliads called Puyas, Acacia caven trees and an array of succulents and cacti. When complete, the Chilean garden will be the largest garden of Chilean plants outside of Chile.
Learn more about VBG and its efforts and upcoming charity events at www.venturabotanicalgardens.com.
The trail is decorated with pretty wildflowers and other California native plants
There are some neat rock walls on sections of the trail
A short walk will get you some pretty views!
Wildwood Park Scene in Thousand Oaks in the 1960s and Today
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A then and now comparison in Wildwood Park, with Mountclef Ridge in the background. The black and white shot from the T.O. Library's Conejo Through the Lens collection I believe is from the 1960s - a movie set with a corral, jail and adobe house.
Some of the TV shows and movies filmed in Wildwood Park in the 50s/60s included Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Bonanza, The Big Valley, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, How the West Was Won and Davy Crockett.
White-Tailed Kites in Malibu Creek State Park
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The white-tailed kite is a small raptor that I see time to time in the Santa Monica Mountains and Conejo Open Space, including Malibu Creek State Park, Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa and the Conejo Canyons Open space.
They are very distinctive with their wide heads, intently surveying their surroundings. The kites pictured below at Malibu Creek State Park on Super Bowl Sunday morning, February 7th, were perched here well over an hour.
White-tailed kites feast mainly on rodents and small mammals.
You may see them hovering above the ground, flapping their wings into the wind, searching, waiting for prey, as you’ll see in the video below taken in the Conejo Canyons Open Space.
Pederson Ranch House and Water Tower at Cal Lutheran is a Ventura County Historical Landmark
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Pederson Ranch House and Water Tower on CLU campus. (Photo courtesy CLU)
The Pederson Ranch house, built in 1913, is a Ventura County and Thousand Oaks Historical Landmark. This house originally was built for the Lars and Karn Pederson family, Norwegian immigrants who were part of a group in 1890 that settled in the Conejo Valley.
The nearby water tower, built at the same time, provided plumbing for the residence.
It was donated to CLU in 1967 and has been moved several times. It is now located at the corner of Regent Ave and Faculty Street in Thousand Oaks and is used by the school's music department.
Sherwood Homes in Newbury Hills in the Conejo Valley in 1969
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Sherwood Homes in the delightful new community of Newbury Hills offered 3 and 4 bedroom homes in 1969 with pass thru service bars, ceramic tile kitchens, double door entries and more. Starting at $21,820. Walter Avenue and Wendy Drive. See you there!
Today (2021) these homes are in the $700K to $800K range. That outpaces the inflation rate over that period by a five!
