After waking this morning and finding it had rained again in the night, the weather channel sure got it wrong when saying we had only a 30% chance of rain yesterday. There must have been some strong wind gusts with it, because I noticed several big trees down this morning. Most don’t realize that when our soil gets overly-saturated, tree roots aren’t able to hold on as well, and when there are strong winds in such areas, trees will get blown over.
I’ll never forget one particular year when we were getting so much rain, and while driving to work one morning, there lay a fully grown evergreen tree lying on the ground with its roots sticking out. That’s when I became a believer in the such things happening more often than you’d think. I’m sure many of you remember a tall evergreen tree near the corner of Highway 122 and S. Kentucky which had toppled, and managed to do some damage to the roof of a home it stood next to. I’m a lover of trees, but when there are tall ones near homes, I get a bit nervous over possible storm damages.
There happens to be an oak tree in a district that I’ve been keeping my eye on, because it has a split between the two main upper limbs supporting its canopy, and if they should ever split off and fall, there’ll be some serious damage done to nearby structures. One of the neighbors mentioned that oft times during a storm, he’d look out to see if those two limbs were still together, and sure enough, the’d be wagging in the wind. They say Burr Oaks are one of the top most resilient trees against storm damage, but I wouldn’t make any bets on that one, because sooner or later, those two limbs are going to fail.
While working on a title order, an agent stopped by my office to discuss a recent sale, so I put it aside, and visited with him about a few minor issues that had come up. We pretty much got everything resolved, and after he left, I went back to that file. Thinking I had everything correct, I scanned my document and emailed to the parties involved. A few moments later I perused what I’d sent, and wouldn’t you know it, I’d made several omissions, so back to the document I went, and corrected it, and the most embarrassing, was having to re-scan and email it to those parties, with a note for them to dis-regard my first. I blame myself for not starting from the beginning after that agent left, because I would’ve caught those two mistakes right-off. Interruptions are always a recipe for errors and omissions, and I can personally attest to the fact.
I’ve got a busy day tomorrow with showings to where I’ll be working with three different buyers, and showing a grand total of five homes. At least the weather will be pleasant and my appointments not stacked so close together where I’ll be racing from one to the other.
I went out earlier this morning and placed my tent sign with an arrow pointing in the direction of the open house I’m having at 15 Farmstead Square on Saturday morning. With that arrow sign standing there for two days, I’m hoping there’ll be enough people having seen it, who’ll either tell others about it, or possibly take a look at it for themselves. That’s going to make someone a very nice home because it was custom built for its original one-owner.
I’m hoping the pool over at 12 S. Willowgreen Court will be filled and ready for swimming, because I’m convinced any potential buyer seeing it out back, will create all the more of an incentive to purchase that unit. I’d much rather go swimming in a private pool than in a public one, and even more so in these coronavirus times.
With about an hour of free time, I went out with my trusty bottle of weed killer, and began spraying weeds that’ve started growing in noticeable areas. Since we’re not supposed to be getting any rain these next several days, I figured it was the best time. If there’s one weed that disgusts me the most, that would be creeping charlie. That nasty stinky stuff is one of the worst to get rid of. Yes, there are lawn professionals that can get rid of it over time with their continued sprayings year-over-year, but I’m still not in favor of soaking an entire yard, because no matter how safe those makers of it can make it sound, they’re still chemicals, and who knows what hidden reactions and interactions really do take place over time.
Just by the numbers of people calling my office looking for rentals, I’d say there’s a real shortage of affordable housing in our City. When visiting with one person today about the home he lives in, I was shocked when hearing he’s paying $600 for a home that’s well below standard, but because he can’t find anything in his price range any better, he’s stuck there. In situations like his, they usually end up being vicious circles where they get a little ahead, and then some un-foreseen expense comes along, and they’re right back to living from pay to pay. I don’t even want to consider how many struggling young families there are in North Iowa, because most of them just quietly hunker down and trudge onward, and it’s usually those who have young children and both working at dead-end jobs.
I just happened to see on the news today that Iowa has now topped the 500 mark of deaths from the China-virus. Now when you place that in perspective, just consider the entire populations of Plymouth and Rock Falls suddenly winding up dead, because that’s the combined population of those two communities. I hope you now have a more clear understanding that real people are dying from it. Let’s hope a vaccine will soon be on the horizon, because as that virus continues to mutate, the more likely we’re going to be seeing some evolutions of it which may scare the “yell” out of us all.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Being pretty on the inside means you don’t hit your brother, and you eat all your peas–that’s what my grandmother taught me.
