With the temperatures hovering around freezing most of the morning, I found myself dodging water droplets from icicles on the roofs of a few homes and buildings. In attempting to get myself acclimated to the colder weather, I’ve been forcing myself to not yet wear such heavy winter clothing. During the very cold days of our winter ahead, we’ll consider days like these to be heat waves. I’ve already noticed how some are keeping their home and business temperatures a bit too warm. I walked into an office today and felt like I’d just stepped into an oven. People really shouldn’t have their heat any warmer than 65 – 68 degrees during the winter months. It creates too much of a shock on one’s system when going from quite warm to very cold. I’m not so sure that’s why many people catch colds during the winter. It’s better to dress a little warmer and keep the thermostats turned down.
Having walked through a home which a tenant recently moved out and seeing first hand the layered build-up of filth, I said to one of my colleagues today, “How can some of these landlords in Mason City who own dozens upon dozens of seedy rentals stand having tenants abuse their properties in such fashions and when they become vacant, do a bit of scraping out and then re-rent them?” What I absolutely cannot understand, is who in their right mind would want to rent them in the first place. I’m afraid we have far too many people who’ve compromised even the most minimal standards of living. Believe me, I’ve seen some of the worst holes in which people choose to live and every time I find myself in one of them, I want to go home and burn every piece of clothing I had on at the time. Someone recently asked me while showing him one of those “pits” that’s for sale, “How did the people living here manage to even get the walls so dirty?” I chuckled and said, “Dirty hands and dirty clothes always seem to find walls and doorways to rub upon. It’s kind of like the cat thing with some. They rub against as much as possible in a primitive way so to establish territory as well as balance with the home’s squalor.” Yes, I’m being a bit hard, but after seeing ivory light switch plates today that appeared nearly black from the previous tenant’s dirty hands, I couldn’t help but consider how most animals take better care of themselves than some humans. I can’t think of any animal right now that sleeps in its own filth.
We must never say we’ve seen it all because it will arrive all the more sooner. I received a text on my cell phone today from someone who inserted both my office landline and my cell phone number in the text to where it showed up on my phone as a “group” text. Oh mercy! I wouldn’t have believed it had I not see it since this person who sent the “group” text certainly knows my office number isn’t cellular. When the text hit my cell phone, I was showing one of my listings and stopped to see who was texting me. I think the buyers must’ve thought the message was important since I was staring at the message in dis-belief. Our “auditorium” certainly contains a few dim and flickering bulbs. We must work at making ourselves smile so to keep our humors well exercised.
I was at a store purchasing something and one of the clerks with whom I’ve become acquainted asked, “Paying with cash or credit?” I said, “I don’t do credit but since I’m buying more than I’d expected, I’ll have to check to make sure I have enough cash.” While checking he said, “Oh I know you’ve got more than you’re leading me to believe.” Sassily I said, “I see you’ve been peeking? Looks like we have another financial voyeur amongst us.” Again I found myself without my camera to get a good snap of that classic expression. Yes, we gotta remember to have a little fun with each other so to keep the smiles coming.
