It was another early to office morning with my list in hand of “to do’s” I wanted to get finished before the madhouse starts tomorrow afternoon with the bikers coming in from the west. I’m sure that 100 mile ride is going to be a quite the test on their stamina, and if it’s a hot one, their endurance of the heat will become even more of a test.
A very many years ago, I was into running those 5 and 10K races, and luckily for me, I didn’t get overly-heated like some of the others, but whenever there was one which took place in much cooler weather, I had a problem with that cold air entering my lungs. I’m glad it was a passing fad for me because I’ve seen what that continuous running does to the knees and hips of those who just can’t slow down and start acting their ages. I soon learned that there’s a time in a person’s life when such strenuous exercise must end. Don’t get me wrong because I do get my exercise, but not long and overly-exerting.
Even though I have the outside of my office windows washed by a company every other week, I decided to personally wash both the inside and outside of all of those up front, and that included the transoms. I’d forgotten how daunting it was to get both sides of all of them clean, and when I walked outside after they were all nicely polished, I had to laugh to myself because the reflection was so great, all I was seeing was me and the street.
To my surprise, the City workers cordoned off my block all the way down to just past the tavern, so it looks like it’ll be party central once the bikers get something to eat and start having a few drinks to get loosened-up after their long trip. I can only imagine what that street and sidewalks are going to look like Thursday morning. Let’s hope the barricades go down quickly and the street sweeper is hard at it.
More than once I mentioned to several of the “powers that be” my concern that there’ll be some stealing going on while those people are partying and sleeping, and if there’s too much of it, I won’t be surprised if RAGBRAI’s committee will no longer consider Mason City an option for a sleep-over. Most of our residents have absolutely no clue what’s taking place in our City after dark, and especially those areas within walking distance of our Downtown. Because of what I’ve personally seen, there’s no way I’d be sleeping in a tent anywhere within reach of those night devils. We can no longer close our eyes and pretend they’re not there because that’s ostrich mentality, and we all know what happens to the ostriches. They get their tail feathers pulled out.
Just today I heard about two boys and a girl in their early teens being caught trying to forcibly break into an upstairs apartment of a building Downtown. Now I definitely remember when I was thirteen, and you can be sure I didn’t even think of doing something like that. From what was said, it sounded like there was about three thousand dollars worth of damage done to its windows and doors. When hearing about ages that young doing such damage, makes me all the more concerned about the direction our society is moving. Is there no parental direction any more? I know for a fact what my parents would’ve done to me if I was caught doing something like that. Of course that’s back in the days when beatings were free and above the law.
I took little time off and mowed the back of my office, along with pulling a few more stubborn weeds, just so tomorrow’s “visitors” won’t get a bad impression of either the front or rear of my office. I’m going to hope there won’t be any drivers thinking my back parking spots are free for the taking because I have to have a place to park. I think I’m going to park longways across those two, just to make sure they’re not taken.
I may be a little late coming home tomorrow night, and only because I want to get a good many photos taken of what’ll be happening in our Downtown in the afternoon so I can start sharing them with you. I’m sure when I post them on Facebook, there’ll be some facial recognition going on, which will alert their “friends”. I think it’ll be fun.
My late afternoon appointment took me to 304 N. Fairview St., Manly, Iowa, which was a listing appointment I had. When I got there, the owners were waiting for me, so I proceeded to have a good look at the home and its monster garage. Truth be told, I sold that home a very many years ago to another family, but since then, another Realtor had listed and sold it.
It’s a brick beauty that located in Manly’s popular west-side, and offering three roomy bedrooms, gorgeous oak woodwork and floors, open staircase, and a main floor den that could be used as a home office. There’s a near double-deep two car garage, along with another single.
The recent updates include 2 mini-split air conditioners, a newer heat plant and hot water heater, updated electrical service, newer thermal windows on the second floor, and an eye-catching brick exterior. The above photo is its exterior shot, and I’ll be sure to have it fully posted online early tomorrow morning for your review.
There’ll be some cosmetics a buyer will want to change, but considering how attractive and well-built the home is, I believe I have it priced to sell at $130K. I did my research of comparable sales of similar homes in Manly, and I’d say we’ve got it priced right. I have a “feeling” the new buyer is going to be one who’s very much interested in that extra-long double garage. Keep in mind, it’s located on the west side of Manly which always seems to sell faster, so please tell friends and relatives about it before it’s gone.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Fairness is not an attitude, but rather a professional skill that must be developed and exercised.
