From early this morning until nightfall, I’ve listened to the comments from many people regarding the outcome of Tuesday’s election. I mostly listened while nearly everyone was saying how crazy the whole process was this time around. I clearly remembered and article that was published online several weeks before the election that centered around one particular pundit who has predicted the outcome of every presidential election for a very long time. I read a great deal of the article, and what I got out of it, was the use of a tried and true formula. I’m sure there’ll be people flocking to him for his opinion the next time around. I’m sorry to say I was a bit disappointed with the outcome of a few races I’d been following. I’ve stepped back far enough to finally to see what the thread was that created all these upsets. Without question, I personally feel it was all about struggling workers demanding change. The demand for change was evident with our own State which has always possessed “middle of the road” thinkers. Never too far right and certainly never too far left. They used to say, “How Iowa goes, so goes the Nation.” As I said yesterday, these coming months will be a critical time for healing and moving forward. If we find ourselves having picked the wrong candidates, then they will be ousted when the next elections roll round. I can already see a few getting some bad press before their terms end. Reporters are always on the look-out for shocking stories that’ll set the printers a-rollin.
With it being a bit quieter in real estate today, I was able to get the monthly accounting done without too many interruptions. All the leg work is done on a closing I’m having next week and I’m pretty much just waiting for the day to arrive. I’m glad the weather is holding out for these people who’re preparing for their moves. I remember a number of years ago how we had an exceptionally warm Thanksgiving Day. It was so warm, people were out on their porches soaking up the sun while enjoying each other’s company. For some reason, I’m still not completely acclimated to the dropping temps. It may be the great fluctuations we’ve been experiencing that’s doing it. It didn’t help today with my having to go to a home that has no heat and wait for a tardy buyer to arrive. There was another one I showed several days ago that was not only cold, but also thick with the odor of animals. I found long ago that stinks don’t go away with the ending of summer—the air just gets colder and heavier with the smell. Several years ago I had a customer who was battling with a never-ending cat odor in a home he’d purchased which just about sent him packing more than once. After about six months he finally got the house freed from the smell of cat urine. He laughed and said, “Believe it or not, one of the neighbors congratulated me on freeing the immediate neighbors of having to smell their cats—even when walking past my home on the public sidewalk!” Yes, it was quite the ordeal, but he’s at least happy now with the home he purchased at a deep discount just because of the cat odors. It was a perfect example of how people de-value their homes by not taking care of their pets and the lingering odors they can cause. What I’ll never understand is how some owners are completely oblivious to the odors they’ve allowed to build up in their homes. On the flip side, I’m always praising people who do take care of their cats and dogs to where I don’t even know they have one until they come trotting around a corner. Which reminds me, I had to pick up blazer at the cleaners today that had animal hair on it from a “hairy” sofa or chair I must’ve sat on.
I was rummaging around looking for something in a drawer today and happened upon the hand-crafted bracelet I found at the bottom of a box of “stuff” I purchased a number of years ago. I took the above photo of it to show you how clever people were at least a generation or two ago. It must’ve been something a serviceman purchased while doing a tour of duty in the Pacific. The chain is actually sterling silver, but it’s now tarnished black. What intrigued me the most were the shells. Someone went to great pains in gathering the same type of shells to create it. It certainly must’ve been exceptionally time consuming to find them and match them up. We must never forget how we can take nature’s raw materials and create things of beauty. Thank you Mother Nature for supplying them.
