It was a creepy-cool morning with another occurrence of ground fog. It’s amazing how tall the corn has grown these past two weeks to where I swear there are some fields where it’s eight feet tall. So much for the GMO corn we’re growing all over the United States, and each year it looks less like the corn we grew on our farm many years ago.
Nearly my entire morning was consumed with two scheduled closings, and since we had to do final walk-thru’s on both, made for all the more time spent. The first one went well, other than the sellers not having swept or vacuumed the carpet, so right after leaving, the buyer managed to get in touch with a carpet cleaner to get it shampooed before her moving truck arrived. I did mention that it’s now more a rule rather than an exception for both sellers and tenants to leave their homes remarkably dirty. I said to the buyer, “I would be terribly embarrassed if I were those sellers because of the reflection which would shine back on me.” It’s no wonder there aren’t all the more people getting sick from the filth they’re surrounding themselves with on a daily basis.
My second walk-thru went better except for a several minor problems that were discovered. I immediately called the seller, who agreed to have them taken care of at her expense. Those little things at the last minute can sure stir a person’s nerves up to where you then wonder what’s next. Of course it all started when I made at least three attempts to get my access card to open that darned MLS lockbox. I know they’re time-saving, but can also create big problems if for some reason they can’t be opened. Back when our MLS decided to go with them, it all sounded great, but then as the years pressed on, we had to update them because the old ones were no longer being supported.
Yes, it seems all businesses have to have some sort of “hook” to keep their trains of money coming in.
We finally made it to the closing for the both of them, and from there on, all went as planned. I did give one of the buyers a potted Jade tree which was a baby off one of the big ones in my office. My only advice to her, was that it’ll do better less-watered than overly-watered. My gift to the other buyer, was a terra-cotta smiling pig which I had up in the front of my office as a conversation piece, and the reason I gave it to her, was that she had a similar one that ended up breaking because she’d forgotten to bring it in before the hard frost. Oh how often that happens to people. She was exceptionally thankful to the point of assuring me she’ll not let it freeze and break.
When driving back to Mason City, I was shocked to see a doe standing out in the middle of a soybean field while munching away on the tops of those beans. Whenever seeing them out in broad daylight, is one more confirmation of the growing numbers of those devils due to how bold they’re getting.
Speaking of bold, I remember back when I was in my teens and visiting a neighbor’s acreage which had an old barn on it. The old guy asked that I go out there to get a tool for him, and to my shock, the rats were so thick, they were running about in broad daylight. I mentioned something to him about his rat problem, and his feeble answer was, “Oh they’re just rats.” From that day forward, I knew where our chronic rat problem was coming from because as soon as the last ones were exterminated on our place, there’d be a new batch having arrived from his across the field.
He was a sharp-tongued old gent who always believed he’d have the last word, but one day he insisted that our family must be like cats because he’d never see any lights on at night in our home across his field. After saying that, I had my last word by saying, “Isn’t it better to be like cats, as they’re all grey in the night?” Yes, I got him on that one. Little did he know that the front of our home faced another field, which you couldn’t see from but only one direction, which wasn’t his. The windows he must’ve been watching, were our bedroom windows with their nightshades pulled. That old gent never did know the real reason for never seeing our lights on. With that said, it’s just another example of the perceptions people have when looking at something from only one angle, so don’t you think it best we review all angles of a problem/ question before passing judgement?
Having an hour or so free this afternoon, I changed my clothes and headed out to the landfill to drop off some waste materials from a project. Oh my goodness! The smell, and the hundreds of birds including circling turkey vultures, made for one nightmarish sight. I cannot believe how much garbage gets dumped out there on a daily basis, but you can bet I’m going to be all the more earth-friendly with my garbage after today’s sight. One of our local TV camera crews should pay that sight a visit and perhaps shock all the more of our residents into creating fewer deep footprints on Mother Nature. It was absolutely disgusting! Let’s hope there’s no contaminates entering our precious aquifers because that would be disastrous for all of us.
When I got back to my office, I returned several calls, and then headed out to do some Saturday mowing because they’re saying it’s supposed to be over 100 degrees tomorrow. Since the wind is out of the south, it’s likely tomorrow’s heat will be coming from that “heat dome” farther south of us. I did hear the East Coast is having 90+ degree temps this week, so they’re likely getting affected by it as well.
Somehow one of my buyers and I got on the subject of washing clothes, and for some reason, I referred to bedding as bedclothes which is another word that’s fallen out of use in recent years. I laughed and said, “If you used that word with our young, they’d give you a strange look because I’m sure they’d be thinking of real clothing.” Too funny!
Tonight’s one-liner is: In my mind, any affectation in dress, implies a flaw in the wearer’s understanding of taste.
