If ever there was a perfect day in North Iowa, I would say today was one of them. The temperatures were tolerable, the skies were blue, and there was a soft breeze blowing just enough to keep the air moving. Unfortunately I was spending more time inside than out but I did step out enough to get a good feel of the day. I was thinking today about how some who live in Arizona are not used to the cooler days of summer here and complain about it being cold. I recently told one couple who was from Arizona the reason they think it cold here is that they’ve acclimated themselves to the searing Phoenix temperatures that us natives would consider unbearable. We notice this ourselves when heading into Winter and feel colder than normal. Just as when Spring arrives and we have a warm day, we’re complaining about how it’s almost too warm.
Unfortunately we’re not like dogs or cats where they shed their winter fuzz when Spring arrives. I’m still in dis-belief how many men I see with full beards running around this Summer. I don’t even want to think how uncomfortable it must be just to be making some sort of statement to the general public regarding their appearance. They remind me of some of the 19th Century black and white photos I’ve seen. Maybe they’re wanting to return to life and times of their great-great-grandfathers. A staged black and white photo really says nothing about how life really was back then. I’m sure most of them would come screaming back after realizing there were no cell phones or motorized vehicles, and most men save a few had to do real work every day of the week—especially if they were living on a farm.
Many will likely think me a workaholic when saying I’ve set aside tomorrow to work on a project that I want finished as soon as possible. No matter how we try to gauge how much time something will take from beginning to end, there are always those intervening circumstances along with delays caused by people not following through with jobs they set timelines to perform. Several weeks were lost due to people not getting things done when they said they would. Not but a week ago I heard similar complaints from people who were waiting for things to be done. One of them mentioned how not very nice she was to them when they did finally step up to the plate and do what they agreed to do. I smiled and said to her, “If I intentionally missed an appointment with a buyer or seller, they would likely cut me loose and go find some other Realtor to list or sell them a home. There are certain professions in Mason City which lack competition to where they believe the general public is at their mercy. There are a handful of professions or trades that in another life I’d gladly get into due to the wide open market here with little or no competition. Some day I’m going to supply you all the a list of trades and/or professions which lack any real competition here in North Iowa.
A close friend of mine called me today to tell me something a bit creepy that happened to her early this morning. She said, “Joe, you really aren’t going to believe this but it’s true. I was driving up N. Delaware early this morning and just as I was driving past one of the Downtown banks I noticed on their marquis 5:55 55. I thought how coincidental for it to be 5:55 am as well as being 55 degrees outside. And just at that moment I looked down at my dash and my car blinked 5:55 am and 55 degrees. The strangest of things is that the time and temperature dials don’t blink. I was really creeped out by the whole thing.” I was left almost speechless but finally said, “What happened sounds like some beginning story line from the Twilight Zone.” She then said, “I had this really sort of weird day to where I encountered people I’d never expected to see—especially on a Sunday.” All I could do was assure her that they were all strange but coincidental happenings. After hanging up from her I thought about it for a while and wondered what my take would be if I were to have similar things happen. Maybe there was a wrinkle in the spacetime continuum. In spite of the 5:55 50 this morning, the hollyhocks are blooming.
