Without a doubt, my two public open houses were a success today.  There were people coming and going nearly the entire time and as well as some staying a while.  I believe the general buying public is starting to realize those two homes are in great neighborhoods and certainly priced to sell.

Expecting to have a day off tomorrow to get some much needed work done, I found myself being called upon to show homes to two different sets of buyers.  Both have schedules that make it near impossible to look during the week.  Oh well, there goes my planned menial day of labor.

My first order of tomorrow is to play the organ for St. Paul Lutheran Church’s Service here in Mason City which begins at 9:00 am.  As chance would have it, I had an opportunity to meet their new interim pastor who is a delightful person and certainly should be well received by the congregation.  Some day I may have myself up to speed with their order of service as well as being comfortable with their vintage pipe organ.  Practice makes perfect. Right?

I couldn’t help but get a good teasing in today with a person whom I sold he and his wife their previous home a number of years ago.  More than once they had me over to their home to give them tips on getting it primed for the market.  Not but a month or two later, I became quite irked to find they’d listed it with another agent.  He intimated today that there were favors owed that particular agent which prompted their turning away from listing it with me.  At least I did get my two cents worth in and perhaps he did walk away with one small feeling of guilt.

In between my open homes today, I decided to call a dear friend who recently lost a close relative.  After listening to him speak of his great loss and the way in which the surviving spouse is acting, I said, “Don’t be a bit surprised if a year or two from now the surviving spouse will be re-writing the history of their long term relationship to where the decedent did nothing to help build the wealth that now remains.  I’ve seen it happen many times, and most likely there’ll be a new “special” friend with benefits arrive on the scene.”  I’m glad I said what I did because he admitted feeling the same way about what’ll happen and is very angry about it. At least he now knows I empathize with him.

After reading the news today about what’s taking place in Florida, my heart goes out to those millions who’re likely facing the worst catastrophes of their lives.  When thinking about all that’s been happening in our Country as well as the world, I’ve come to the frightening conclusion there’s something very wrong at work.  It’s almost as if some invisible force is affecting humans as well as Nature in a very bad way. In spite of how bad we think our lives are at present, we must always remember it could be much worse.  I’ve already chided myself for over-reacting about having to spend over $5,000.00 this year with tree removals due to these wicked storms we’ve been having this year.  I’m working all the more at keeping in perspective all of life’s bumps in the road so to be ready when and if something all the more cataclysmic takes place.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their Labor Day weekend these past three days.  The weather has certainly been pleasant enough for outdoor barbecues and backyard get togethers.  Several of my neighbors were busy partying with their relatives and friends.  I’m just glad everyone had time to relax or have time work on their personal projects.

Since I’m still plugging away at a project of my own, this free Monday gave me all the more time to focus on getting it all the closer to being finished.  I’ve been trying to believe over this hectic summer that I’m over the hump with it, but after today’s workout, I’m convinced the project is well over halfway complete which will cause it to start moving along all the faster.

I’m really not sure what has been going on with North Iowa’s buyers and sellers these past five days.  I wrote another offer today on one of my listings which is far too low for the sellers to even consider.  I nearly had a jaw-drop when the buyer told me how much he wanted to offer, but with it being my listing, I had to remain the “order taker”.  Perhaps there’s some sort of negative effect on the general population due to a possible bad configuration of the moon, sun, and stars.  Hopefully the rest of this workweek will be more productive.

Late this morning I ran into the most delightful young couple whom I sold a home to last year.  We played catch up on what’s been happening in each other’s lives.  I was shocked to hear how they’ve been having problems with a family in their neighborhood who seem to think they can do just about anything they want and expect everyone to look the other way.  I asked where they live and what their names were.  After mentioning their names and where their home is located, all I could do was say, “I know of them and if I were you, I’d create real boundaries and stand your ground.”

After hearing what those naughty neighbors have been up to, I was once again reminded how it sometimes only takes one bad family to create a toxic neighborhood to where people hesitate to buy or rent anywhere in its vicinity.  Some years ago there was a family that lived here who created a similar situation in a different neighborhood.  They became so notoriously well known in our City, that the next evening after they drove off with their moving van, there was a great deal of quiet celebrating going on by nearly everyone that crossed their paths.  Yes, I personally even said, “Good riddance to bad rubbish!”  On my way home tonight, I made a point to drive by the home my customers were speaking of, and sure enough, the entirety of that property appeared to be in a state of “cluster dysfunction”.  And to think they have children living in that pig stye.

As chance would have it, I found a little treasure buried today which I tried to get cleaned up enough so to share the above photo of it with you.  It is a damper that would’ve been part of a wood cookstove stovepipe assembly.  It would’ve been inside the exhaust pipe which would have released the smoke from a fire  to the exterior.  Wood and coal furnaces had a similar damper assembly, but only much larger.  This one is certainly much over 100 years old and was either part of a parlor stove or a kitchen range back when in operation since it was made for a 6″ stovepipe opening.

The purpose of these dampers was to let more or less smoke out of the chimney pipes.  The more open the dampers would be, the faster burning, and hotter the fires would be.  After closing it down so to speak, they would force the fires to burn more slowly due to the fire’s diminished exhaust ability.  When all the way open, there would be a greater draw or “draft” of smoke going out, and below, there’d be a roaring hot fires.  Understand?

Now you’ve all heard someone say, “Put a damper on it.”  That thought was created by connecting the idea or “memory” of slowing, or quieting something down like in the old days when parlor and kitchen cookstoves were in use.   So the next time someone is a little out of control, say to him or her, “Put a damper on it.”, and then ask if they know from where the “damper” originated.

This was the first Sunday in a very long time that I didn’t have at least one real estate related appointment, so I decided from the time I got up, there would be long over-due menial chores to be completed.

My first order was to get the grass mowed behind my office and pull a few weeds in and around the alley that were starting to go to seed.  It’s becoming all the more evident that whomever was cleaning out the public flower beds in our Historic District of Downtown didn’t know the difference between weeds and flowers, as well as rogue trees that are getting all the taller in and amongst the bushes.  What I did notice earlier in the Spring, was someone using a chain saw to cut back the bushes. I think they should have made sure there were not tree seedlings growing before they started sawing.  You don’t cut tree seedlings because they just grow right back. One must pull them out by the roots so to bring them to their end.

My next order of the day was to get some office furniture moved around. It took me quite a bit longer than I expected, but at least it’s a more comfortable arrangement.  We’ll see how quickly I grow accustomed to my newly altered work area.  One of the big changes was getting rid of my personal desk chair to make room for a new replacement.  Hopefully it will be just as comfortable if not more so than my previous.  My old chair was a Christmas gift to me not long after I started working for Holtz Realty as an associate broker.  It has served me well for more years than I would’ve imagined.  It just goes to show how well built items out-last what’s now being offered in our big box stores.  My new one has far more adjustments on it which I’ll have to investigate further.

After reading an email sent to me yesterday by a contractor who’s been late getting an agreed-to project completed, I started seeing red when realizing he hadn’t even looked at the project until he went over to get started on it.  He’s insisting I get more prep-work done before he begins.  Unfortunately for him, I do remember what he said he would and wouldn’t do, and what he now wants me to do, is what was he agreed by phone, but not in his written bid. In the beginning I believed his bid to be exceptionally high,  but I’ve now found him to be a bit of a liar along with being lazy bugger.  I’m going to work very hard at finding a replacement for him and his “weak” company.  North Iowa has too few fairly priced and reputable companies from which to choose, and if I have anything to say about it,  their numbers will increase in time.

One of my chores today was to do some heavy duty weed pulling.  The ones that most people shy away from are the thistles and others of the like which have either prickly leaves or stems, or even both.  About a month ago I ordered a very good pair of real leather garden gloves which I thought to be expensive at the time, but soon discovered they certainly did the trick, which is all that matters.  Most don’t realize that if you cut a thistle off at the ground, it will grow all the more, and even spread by sending out more shoots underground.  With our soil still being moist, I was able to pull nearly all of them up by their roots.  Yeah!

The above photo is of my well used pair of thorn-resistant gloves.  I think every active gardener deserves a pair just because real leather is better.