Another hotter than “H” day arrived which seemed all the worse with today’s southerly breeze which felt like a fan blowing hot air out of a 350 degree oven. You can also be sure the temperaments of the general public weren’t the most kind and caring. With all the quirky happenings throughout the day, I was glad to be able to call it quits and finally head home.
My first appointment took me over to Clear Lake to list a year-round 2 bedroom cottage which is owned by a past colleague of mine. I’ve been in it several times over the years, and always captivated by its style and building materials used. Each time I’ve been within, I’ve always felt as if I’d been catapulted back to the time when I did a great deal of traveling in Northern Europe. Not only does its exterior look like an “old town” residence in one of their quaint historic districts, but also the interior speaks of another age when they built with open timbers with mortise and tenon joints. Yes, exposed old growth wood is something always to be admired for its strength and beauty.
It’s listed at $292,500.00 which may sound a little steep considering its size, but the recent inferior comparable sale just happens to be right next door, and sold this past Spring for over $260K, and since it closed, the new owners have spent thousands more on upgrades. The real value of the home is due to how close it is to the public lakeshore which is a short half-block away. I didn’t realize until recently that the general public can swim and fish off the docks which are rented to vacationers, and just as long as you don’t mess with their boats and personal items, you can use their docks, and that holds true all the way down to City Beach.
From its front deck, and the living room and upper bedroom windows, offer fabulous view of the lake. I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to see the sun setting on that water. The home offers 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and gobs of natural walnut and maple. There’s a working Franklin fireplace in the living room, and another more private concrete patio out back. Because it’s location isn’t just charming but convenient as well, you can bet it would be something a person would want to use even during our cold months like for ice fishing. With this rapid rise in “stay-vacationing” due to the China-virus, there’s no question it’ll soon be a household word of the future, and this home just so happens fit the bill. You couldn’t create a better sanctuary for every weekend of the year, along with a place to have family gatherings and quiet times away from the humdrum of endless work weeks. I’ll not be the least bit surprised if it’s quickly sold.
As chance would have it, the home I listed yesterday, already has an accepted offer on it. The agent who sold it must’ve “smelled” it wouldn’t be long on the market because just after they accepted my seller’s counter-offer, another agent called to tell me she’d be writing an offer on it late this afternoon. Oh well, when you snooze you lose in this market.
I was back over to Clear Lake again this afternoon with my first showing on 112 – 3rd Ave. North which didn’t surprise me because of how news in that town seems to travel all the faster during their tourist months. It was a good showing, but I’m not sure it’ll come to much because the buyer has a home to sell in another city and I have my doubts the owner will accept an offer with a “subject-to-sale” contingency.
After my showing, I figured I might as well stop at Fareway to pick up a few things since I was already there. There weren’t as many people shopping as I’d expected which was a relief because I really do try to refrain from being in a building with a number of people milling about, along with knowing all it would take is one standing too close and him or her in an asymptomatic stage, my nightmare would begin. I stood behind a granny at a check-out for over five minutes as she was arguing with the clerk about the price of two packages of sweets. I’d finally had enough when the stocker came back and said the price was correct, and wouldn’t you know, she grabbed those two bags of candy and headed off to prove she was right and they were wrong. After that happened, I just took a deep breath and went in the back of another check-out line. I fully understand prices sometimes getting posted wrong, but when a person continues to argue about the obvious, that’s when a check-out person’s real patience would be tested, and no, the customer is NOT always right because I’ve know of those who’ll badger until they cave.
I’m beginning to think there are all the more sand fleas in lawns around our City because I just happened to get nailed twice today. Ugh! There goes another full week of dealing with those bites, and to think I was nearly over the three I got over a week ago. I guess I’ll have to spray myself with insect repellant every time I’m walking in or near the sea of parched grasses we now have. I can’t wait until this dry spell is over, and I won’t be surprised if those tropical storms in the Gulf area will be sending up copious rainstorms.
The dear friend of mine who sent me those specialty pepper seeds called today, and nearly the first thing I had to share, was how our nasty rabbits and deer have been eating those plants down to their woody stems. He was quite shocked to hear of such, and since he lives in a more densely populated metro area, those kinds of wild animals would be considered a rarity. I also mentioned how we’ve been bombarded with the Japanese beetles. He went on to share the name of a type of fungus he buys which he uses to organically treat his fruiting trees and vegetables, and it’s called, “Bacillus Thuringiensis”. I’ll have to investigate it a little bit more to see if it would rid us of those wicked Japanese beetles. In these times I must say, “If it isn’t one thing; it’s another.”
Tonight’s one-liner is: If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains.
