Another chilly day came and went, and what’s got me the most worried, is the possibility of getting a light frost in the lowlands, and of course, I technically live in one of them. I’ll be beside myself if my tomatoes and peppers get frozen because they’re exceptionally sensitive to the cold.
Another early start was precipitated by my having to get a sold sign placed on one of my listings, along with checking on a property before I drove to work. When it’s so early, there’s almost no traffic to deal with, which afforded me time to get a better look at the neighborhoods I was driving thru.
I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in the brains of the many who have little or no concern about the exterior appearance of their homes and yards. I certainly got a good eye-full of such rampant dysfunction this morning. There were garbage bags that must’ve been torn open by feral cats or raccoons, cars parked on lawns, storm doors half off their hinges, piles of old boards, and grass and weeds close to eight inches tall. It’s no wonder so many take their preferred routes to and from work, and likely because they don’t want to be looking at it.
Truth be told, these past 12 months, I’ve trained myself to take a more scenic drive to and from work. For years, I used to turn north off Hwy 122 and follow Crescent Drive into the Downtown. Not anymore, because I can’t stand seeing what looks like the beginnings of a City-central junk yard. That corner where Waraco used to be, is getting worse by the day. The owners of those properties should be ashamed of themselves. With all those RAGBRAI people coming here for their stop-overs, I’m sure the first impressions they have of our City is not going to be a pleasant one, and especially if they decide to go exploring. How about if we put giant multi-colored tarps over those eye-sores?
While on the phone with a friend of mine this morning, I couldn’t help getting a little sharp-tongued about how lazy the cross-cut of society has become. For whatever reason, I still think it’s become noticeably worse since the pandemic arrived where everyone was getting stimulus checks whether they needed them or not.
Once in a while, I stop at a Casey’s to get a half-cup of coffee, and would you believe the Casey’s on the corner of 12th NW and Pierce was closed when I stopped there a little after the hour of eight? Of course they had help wanted signs posted all over that site, so perhaps they didn’t open because their morning staff decided to sleep in. For the life of me, I have no clue where all these un-employed people are getting money to live. I guess the work ethic which had been instilled in me since I was young, has kept me wondering about others.
My friend thinks me a bit on the radical side whenever making such statements like, “What I believe would really “iss” Putin off, is if the Ukrainian government suddenly decided to ditch the Cyrillic alphabet and start using the Latin alphabet in all their signage and publications.” It wouldn’t surprise me if they did, just to let all those “Putiniacs” know that they’ve turned completely away from anything having to do with the Russian language and its culture.
One of the few articles I read online today, happened to be about that thirteen year old girl that was shot by a Russian soldier. From what I read, that specific happening has all the more enraged the Ukraine along with the free World. They went on to say how those Russian soldiers have no real standards or direction, so if some innocent civilian doesn’t do or say exactly what they’re expecting, they get shot. Just like that. Hopefully the news about the first war crime trial will reach those troops and maybe knock some civility into their heads. I sure wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of those they’ve already identified as murders of innocent people, because the Ukrainians will go after them one by one, and they should because no one has the right to willfully kill innocent people, no matter if it’s during a wartime or not.
While driving back to office, I happened to notice a familiar face at the crosswalk, so I waved and kept driving. Every time I see that person, my mind goes back to several conversations I’ve had with him in the past, which would always get turned into a lecture about all those bogus conspiracy theories he’s been reading online, and unfortunately he’s one of those poor souls who’s had a very weak education and proud of it. The last time I crossed paths with him, he had me so stirred up with that political tripe, I’d come very close to giving him an earful which he certainly wouldn’t have liked, and then later have me branded as a marked man on into perpetuity.
Education, education and more education is what our society has got to get more of, because the more real facts they’d learn, the less likely they’d be sucked into those dangerous conspiracy theories. I have no problem with people leaning either left or right, but when they become radicalized, that’s when we have a real problem. Don’t think the Russians haven’t back-off on all the fake news they’re bombarding our social medias with, because it’s already been confirmed they’re now at it all the more. Creating dis-unity in a general sense, is exactly what they’re trying to do, because the best way to weaken a Country, is to do it from within.
I did get my baby Magnolias planted today, and for sure I placed wire mesh around them to keep the deer and rabbits away. Tonight’s photo just happens to be the “mother” of those seeds. Isn’t she beautiful?
Tonight’s One-liner is: Education is the movement from darkness to light.
