They Don’t Even Know Sic-‘Em

The light rainfall we were getting today, was what the farmers would always consider their “million dollar rain” because it would come down slow enough to where it would soak into the soil before creating a run-off. Since I wasn’t awakened in the night by lightening or thunder, the way it came down, must’ve been similar to what we were getting most of the day.

I arrived at office a little later than normally, and mostly because I had to stop and get my vehicle filled up with gas. I’m sure more people are being more careful about wasting gas instead of hop-scotching around town without planning their journeys. I think if the DOT would get the traffic lights more synchronized, there’d be a whole lot more gas saved. I dare not consider how many wasted hours have been spent over these years while waiting for red lights to turn green. The European highway system is far more advanced with their “turn-abouts” which I encountered for the first time while driving in Northern Europe a number of years ago. I believe Great Britain also has them, and due to how densely populated some of their metro areas are, I’m sure they help to keep the traffic flowing.

The closing I had at Noon went very well, and when I got back to office, my elderly seller arrived shortly thereafter. We had another nice visit before he left, and as I walked him out, I couldn’t help feeling a great empathy for him because he’s still in the midst of his grieving process. I believe it did help when mentioning how grief is handled in different ways, but as long as we maintain the mindset that all our loved ones who’ve gone before us, certainly wouldn’t want us living the remainder of our years in a constant state of sadness. Just now thinking of several who were very special to me, I know without question, they would want me to be as happy and healthy as possible. Now when you think about it, doesn’t it make sense that someone who truly loves you, would want exactly that for you after their death? I personally have no time for those who continually dredge up tearful memories of their so-called “loved ones”, just to get you sucked into their pools of “poor me”. No thank you very much.

My mid-afternoon appointment was the showing of a home to some long-term clients who were good enough to call me when they decided to start looking for another. I got there before they did, so I made sure all the lights were on and the doors unlocked. We took our time going thru it, and from what I could tell, it was about as close to what they were looking for. I made sure they had all the information they needed on it, so let’s hope they give me a call in the morning to set an appointment to make an offer on it. I have a “feeling” it’s the one.

Since I have one small section in my garden that’s empty, I decided to run out and purchase some onion plants which would likely do very well in that spot. I’ll certainly have to make sure there’s enough compost and fertilizer in that area because onions love rich ground. There was one particular year where the onions were so big, it only took about a dozen of them to fill a bushel basket. I wish now I would’ve taken a photo of them because they were giants. Personally, I believe onion plants will grow bigger onions than sets. I’ll have to work on getting this year’s to grow really big.

My new listing at 4 Bittersweet hasn’t received as much activity as I would’ve liked, but as most of the seasoned Realtors know, the higher-end properties in our City usually sell best between January and May, and since were half-way thru May, we’re on the last stretch of the that big push. The reason the higher priced homes sell in the Spring, is because that’s normally the time when corporate transfers take place because if the transferee has a family, they’ll be settled-in before school begins. Make sense?

I heard recently there being another big lay-off of Alliant Energy employees which is likely due to all the sub-contracting companies they’re now signing up, and it’s always all about money because when there’s a sub-contractor, they don’t have to offer all the benefits they would if they were actual employees. That mindset of “farming-out” jobs got started about 20 years ago, and continuing to affect municipalities and utility companies, along with all the other corporations that used to have workers on staff.

When looking at what our City government is doing by sub-contracting work in the Water Department which was always done in the past by City employees. There’s also another company’s trucks I’ve seen driving around which is doing something with our City Sewers. The next time I see the full accounting of our City’s expenditures, I’ll have to look up those companies on their list, just so I can see what they were working on, and you can bet there’ll be things that should’ve been done by locals. Yep, squeeze the nickel so it can be wasted on needless projects like that “bridge to nowhere” in our Downtown. Logic and common sense is certainly a dying mindset, and mostly due to meritocracy and narcissism. Heaven forbid if you question their judgement calls because you’ll quickly be marked as a nay-saying trouble maker. Like one of my old ones use to say, “They don’t even know sic-’em, let alone come-‘er.” My how long it’s been since I’ve heard that coming out of another’s mouth.

I was glad to hear about those Ukrainians being evacuated from that monster steel mill in Mariupol, so let’s hope those evil Russians live up to their agreement and do prisoner swaps. After seeing the needless death and destruction they’ve already done, I wouldn’t trust them any farther than I could throw them.

To my surprise I received in the mail yesterday a copy of “NewsMax” magazine which I immediately threw in the garbage. I have no desire to read such outlandish tripe.

Tonight’s One-liner is: The greatest achievements are generally received with distrust.

Joe Chodur

About the Author | Joe Chodur

First of all....Joe Chodur really doesn't like talking about himself but this is what we have found out about him. Joe Chodur began his real estate career in 1981 during the height of the savings and loan crisis. It's hard to imagine how difficult it was to sell homes when…

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