Yes, this continued rain is getting beyond annoying, and especially when we have things to do outdoors, and wouldn’t you know, we had to be blessed with that misty stuff the entire day.
Besides getting emails returned and more bills paid, the rest of my morning was spent showing an acreage up in Worth County and then back to Mason City for another viewing which I believed to be grossly over-priced due to the amount of big-ticket items there’ll be needing to be done on it more sooner than later. Of course it had to have vines growing on it which I despise. I couldn’t help jokingly saying to the buyers, “Due to my inexplicable aversion to vines, I’m almost convinced I must’ve been strangled to death by them in a previous life.” Of course for years I’ve been on a burn to spray and/or pull out every Virginia Creeper and European Buckthorn I see. I’m not sure which one of them is the most invasive in our area, and when now thinking about it, I’d say it’s the Buckthorn, and you can bet your bottom dollar, we’ve got a shite-load of it growing all over North Iowa.
Because I’ve always been one of those curious lads, some years ago when cutting out some very old European Buckthorns, I decided to keep the larger trunks, let them naturally dry, and afterwards had them milled into small planks, and to my surprise, they had a fine grain with interesting streaks of color, very hard, and yet easy to work with. If I were good enough on a lathe, I would’ve created some interesting turns out of it. Another thought would be for anyone who’s into carving to try their hand at creating some small original works of art out of it. I say small because even the old trunks only measure at most about two feet around. Back at the time, I tried to look up the uses for its wood but nothing was mentioned. For sure, the beauty and durability of it has yet to be discovered by our woodworkers. If someone were to take the time to grow them, they’d have to be trained to grow more like a tree instead of a bush just so their trunks would continue to get bigger and straighter. The main reason I even thought of experimenting with the European Buckthorn wood, was how heavy their little logs were to the point I could’ve sworn they were as densely heavy as white oak.
While standing out in the rain, I mentioned to the buyers how just in these past two days I’ve been getting spammed with political text messages. I hope this isn’t going to be going on every day up until the elections in November because it’s already very distracting. The “cloud” must be getting all the more filled with people’s personal information which is likely being extracted by whatever companies or entities who’re wanting to get in your face because one of them addressed me by my name. Too creepy.
Of course the Russians, Chinese and Iranians are back at it with their attempts to alter our election process by their evil hackings. Iran doesn’t concern me as much as the vile empires of Russia and China. It’s interesting to see how so many millions of people in those countries allow themselves to be controlled when their governments know that nearly all of them would emigrate elsewhere if they had the chance. Isn’t it sad how the tools of fear being held by the very few can control all those millions. I am happy to see the average citizens of Belarus still standing firm with their peaceful protests against Lukashenko and his cronies. I wish them well with their struggles against tyranny.
After looking at tomorrow’s weather forecast, I’m hoping they’re correct when saying we’re to only get rain in the morning because I really don’t want my open house over at 115 S. Connecticut to end up being a waste of time due to rain. It’s making me crazy over that home not having been sold. We had an offer going on it several months ago, but unfortunately we couldn’t come together on price and terms. As far as I’m concerned, those buyers were being far too punitive with the sellers and I certainly don’t blame my sellers for walking away, and for sure, I would’ve walked away all the sooner, but of course that’s me with my “what’s fair” mentality.
A very many years ago while driving the backroads of Howard, Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties I was discovering some exceptionally beautiful and larger than life vintage farm homes which I couldn’t help stopping at the side of the road just to absorb their beauty. There were about four of them which remain stuck in my mind and a “sister” to 115 – N. Connecticut being one of them. Most people living in “the city” don’t realize that back in the day, there were being built Folk Victorians in the country just as much as they were being erected by those with money in the cities, yet unfortunately there are now very few if any of them left in the farm areas of Iowa due to the consolidation of acreages by corporate farmers which still angers me whenever thinking about it.
The difference between Folk Victorian and Victorian homes is that the “Folks” are smaller in size along with possessing far less of what I sometimes consider and over-kill of all their spindles, spools, and architectural foofiness. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m more into diminished elegance instead of having every carved and turned bell and whistle screaming in my eyes. As much as I enjoy touring “painted ladies”, there’s likely no way I’d ever want to live in one because they’re too frilly. On the other hand, I could easily and most comfortably live in a Folk Victorian like 115 S. Connecticut because of its design, size, and the amount of natural light it offers within, and most of all, that raised and covered back porch offering views of Willow Creek. Please put it out there that we get it sold soon to someone who’ll have a real appreciation of its beauty.
While at the groceteria today, I had a jaw-drop when seeing a shameless twenty-something and overly zaftig woman wearing a two-piece outfit which was revealing every lump, bulge and ripple on her torso. I was embarrassed after getting just one look!
Tonight’s one-liner is: Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
