It was definitely a biting-cold morning, and for sure I didn’t leave home without my winter coat, and certainly glad I didn’t because that north wind was making it feel all the colder. After last night, there couldn’t possibly be any biting bugs left alive to torment us once it warms up again this coming weekend.
The morning went flying by, which was fine by me because I’d much rather be busy than having time heavy on my hands. There were a number of calls that came in, along with others I had to make, and after I had them completed, I headed up to Manly to check on a lockbox which decided to become troublesome. I’m pretty sure I got it re-set to where there won’t be another problem with an agent not being able to get it to work. It doesn’t happen that often, but every time it does, makes me want to go back to the days when we all had our own keys to access our MLS lockboxes instead of relying on micro-chips and smartphones. I’m definitely not one who’s against progress, but I’m still very wary of becoming overly-dependent on computers.
With the sun shining brightly, I decided to travel the gravel roads back to the City, just so I could get a better feel of the fieldwork the farmers have been doing since the harvest season arrived. Oh my gosh! They’ve definitely been on a burn to get the corn and beans out. There were far fewer unpicked fields of corn than I expected, and for sure the eighteen wheelers were just about everywhere to be seen with their loads of grain. I haven’t even looked to see what the prices are now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re higher than they were last year, and most likely due to the war in Ukraine. I could’ve sworn I was seeing fields that appeared to be re-planted with something. I’m wondering now if they’re planting winter wheat, and if they have, that’ll be a first in well over a hundred years. Did you know that back in the 1870’s – 1900, wheat was the major grain crop that was being planted, and of course soybeans didn’t catch-on until around the time the Second World War started. Yes, our cash crops have certainly changed over the generations.
When I got back to office, I sat down and wrote a letter which was requested from me, and since I knew that organization would soon be wondering where it was, I made sure to get it completed and then scanned and emailed out to them. I know they received it, and since I didn’t hear back from them, the body of it must’ve been to their satisfaction. I always smile to myself whenever someone in the general public has a notion that Realtors do nothing more than list homes, and after they’re sold, they just sit around waiting for the closing day, and then go pick up their checks. Oh, how wrong that is.
Since it was so cold today, I thought the best lunch would be a bowl of soup, so I headed over to a groceteria and purchased an Iowa made jar of soup which looked pretty inviting after reading the ingredients. Oh how wrong I was. After getting it heated, I took a couple spoonfuls and thought, “How could anyone make such nasty stuff and think it’s good?” Yes, it was that bad. The most annoying about it, was the fact they didn’t skin the tomatoes before adding them. I can’t remember the last time I had a tomato-based soup that had hard pieces of their skins in it. I didn’t eat much more than half the bowl and the rest of it went into the garbage. Thank goodness I had some Keebler crackers to fill the void. Oh and by the way, that jar of soup cost over double what the regular cans were priced at. Now that was a rip-off.
Pretty much the remainder of my day was spent researching sales and catching up on my office accounting. I also noticed those piles of papers were starting to grow in size, so it was time to get all of them shredded.
While I was doing my online research, I happened to notice the building that was blocked-off for many months which is located at the southeast corner of Hwy 65 and Hwy 122W, was just sold and closed the end of this past month for the price of $175K. The person who purchased it, seems to be on a burn with his buying of commercial buildings around our City. It’ll be interesting to see what he has planned for it. The previous owner sure took a price cut because before that parapet fell, he was asking well over a half million dollars for it. It’s a big building, but has zero exterior parking. I’ll never forget the afternoon that parapet collapsed because I wasn’t but two blocks away and driving in that direction when it came crashing down. I’m still in disbelief nobody was hurt because there were cars driving past it when it happened. At first I thought it was on fire because that cloud of dust looked like smoke.
Just about every week I’ve been reading about the “Lying Flat” movement that’s taking place in China, which at first I thought it was just an isolated fad, but from what I’ve recently been reading, it’s ideology is moving into the mainstream which has their Communist Party’s feathers ruffled.
I absolutely do not blame those young workers for finally realizing that working themselves into an early grave, just so they can have more “stuff” they really don’t need, along with the daily high-stress levels they have to endure to make it happen.
I think what’s happening in China, is a by-product of what more and more of our young Americans are doing by becoming minimalists. Perhaps our planet will be able to start healing itself when the bulk of society realizes that commercialism is not self-sustaining, and when we really sit down and think about our jobs and lifestyles, we can’t help wondering if it’s worth all the stress that goes with it. The fancy houses, expensive cars, and the luxuries that go with them, are certainly not worth all those many compromises.
Tonight’s One-liner is: The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath.
