As much as I was wanting to see the results of our local and State primary elections before hitting the hay, there wasn’t anything on KIMT, so first thing this morning I went online and checked. After seeing the results, I wasn’t a bit surprised by them other than our City Council Member not getting the nomination on the Democratic ticket. I guess there are more residents of our City who’re very upset over this nonsense with Southbridge Mall, the arena, the bridge to nowhere and finally the “ghost” hotel which hasn’t had its ground-breaking ceremony in years. If that be the case, then I’d say yesterday’s election should be a clear message to all of our incumbent City Council Members, along with everyone else in our City government who’ve had their hands in it.
It was another pleasant day with the sun and nearly no wind to speak of. I was glad for it because I was afraid after our storm last night, we’d have overcast skies. When I checked my garden early this morning, all the plants looked to be doing well and finally beginning to grow. If all those San Marzano tomato plants produce like they did last year, I’ll be up to my ears with paste tomatoes. They really are very good and especially if they’re used fresh when making any sort of sauce requiring a tomato base. I mentioned my having grown them to a customer who’s into gardening, and since he’d never heard of them before, I promised I’d share some fresh ones with him.
On my way to office, I stopped to check on several vacant homes, and fortunately everything was fine. It’s not that I’m growing all the more fearful, but rather more pro-active about residences setting empty, and mostly due to the rising crime rates in our City, and especially the thievery. To all those naughty monkeys I’d like to say, “Why don’t you go out and get a regular job instead of risking arrest for stealing something you’d likely get ten cents on the dollar for on the black market?”
After hearing today how one of our business owners treat their employees, it’s no wonder they’re always crying for help. I fully agreed with the statement, “If they’d treat their employees with respect and pay them a fair wage, they wouldn’t be having any problems with their help quitting.” Yes, I’ve personally heard several employers chastising their help for the silliest of reasons, and for sure, I’d be walking out the first time a boss talked to me like that. Any employer who “thinks” they’re doing someone a favor by hiring them, needs to remember that rank and file employees are the backbone of any company.
I spoke to one of my sellers today about getting a price reduction, so this week I’ll be heading over to get a signature on it so I can officially reduce the price. We’re going to get it down there far enough where we should have some strong renewed interest. I am a little disappointed in a guy I showed it to last week who knows fully-well how to make money on fixing up homes, but evidently he’s not as enthusiastic as he used to be. He’s had a good run of it with the feathering of his nest, so perhaps the comfortable life has put a damper on working nights and weekends.
Since I didn’t have any afternoon appointments scheduled, I changed my clothes and went out and did some manual labor for a friend. I was expecting to be there only an hour, but by the time we finished talking, it ended up being close to two which was just fine because we did have a nice chat about yesterday’s election, and not surprised he was of the same mindset regarding the results.
I decided to have a public open house this Saturday afternoon on my listing located at 36 S. Illinois, and only because I believe there needs to be more prospective buyers looking at its interior. For some reason, the photos I took don’t do that home justice. Of course I still refuse to take photos with those fish-eye cameras that make room sizes look like football fields. If I were a buyer, I’d be angry and insulted after wasting my time looking and those mis-represented homes, and don’t even get me started on the staging and photo-shop lip-sticking that’s taking place in our industry.
Before heading home, I stopped over to a residence that’s getting a major face-lifting both inside and out. The owner was diligently working when I stopped, so he took a short break to show me how much more he’s done since I was last there. There’s been a hold-up with the HVAC people and electrician, but it sounds like he’s lit a strong enough fire under them to get back over and continue on with what needs to be done.
I have absolutely no idea what’s going on with these contractors because it seems as if they’re either booked into next year, not returning calls, or giving bids that are almost double what they should be. Of course some of the fancy new pickup trucks they’re buying is an indication they’re raking in the dough. What I read several years ago appears to be coming to pass because it’s been written that our entire country is going to be encountering a shortage of tradespeople because far too many high school graduates are being encouraged to continue on to college so they can get a degree. Well, when seeing the hourly rates tradespeople are now charging, I’d say their best financial bet would be to learn a trade and have a better life.
When reading the news today about Russia holding the world hostage with Ukraine’s grain, once again I’m saying Putin is doing to those poor countries what Stalin did to the Ukrainians in I believe 1933 by starving millions of them to death. Yes, Putin and his circle of devils are going to some day pay a big price for what they’ve done to innocent people. I’m now beginning to think Turkey’s Erdogan is more Putin-leaning than he wants to admit. If I were Nato and the EU, I’d be watching every “slippery” move he makes from here on out.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Let’s not be narrow, nasty and negative.
