Holtz Realty

Yet another slightly overcast day came and went, but thankful again it was still hovering in the 30’s which helped to dry off our streets and sidewalks. I’m not sure if you remember me speaking about my not having seen any southward-flying flocks of geese this Fall, but for the strangest reason, I happened to notice a good four flocks of them circling high above our City, and let me tell you, the numbers of them were in the hundreds. Not sure if they’re the “stay-over” subspecies, or if they’re late with their passing thru our area. This climate change is sure having an effect on our wildlife.

Since it was Sunday morning, my first duty was to get my spiritual needs taken care of before even thinking about anything temporal, so off I headed. While sitting there reflecting on this past week’s encounters, as well as happenings here in North Iowa, I began reflecting on some words that had come so freely out of the mouth of a woman who was speaking in a derogatory fashion about her long-deceased mother. The more she spoke, the more I began seeking a way to end our conversation because it wasn’t something I’d be sharing with even the closest of confidants. Giving just one example of her words, was the, “I didn’t even shed a tear at her funeral.”, which left me speechless because no matter what sort of response I would’ve given, would’ve sucked me deeper into the very conversation I was wanting so badly to end. Coming full circle with this, I’m still wondering if she was proud of the fact of her not crying, or possibly exposing some sort of character flaw. It even came to mind the possibility she said it, was only for me to ask why, and then I would’ve likely been in for an earful. By the way in which it was blurted out, I figured she’d thrown decorum out the window years ago.

After my spiritual happening was over, I changed my clothes and went out to help a friend of mine place a large piece of plywood over a window which was purposely broken the night before last, and since it was so heavy, he needed more than a helping hand in getting it in place. Unfortunately the vandalism that’s going on in our City, has risen to heights I’ve never seen, but we all must remember, it’s taking place all over out Country, which is why I insist there’s no where we can call safe anymore. A conversation I had with one of my clients several years ago, was another wake-up call when being told that vacation homes in what was considered an exclusive area in another State, was being plagued by thieves breaking into those homes and stealing everything they could get their hands on including the tearing out of all the copper pipes and wiring.

Once we had that window temporarily secured, I bid him farewell and headed over to the project I was working on yesterday, and after a good four hours of tedious work, I finally have that set of stairs readied for a long-lasting upgrade. Since I’d been working on them for so many hours, I decided to go another route by doing a two-tone paint and varnish which I believe will create a more striking appearance. I can already envision what it’ll look like when finished.

On my way back to office to get changed back into my street clothes, I received a call from a client who had a question, so as soon as I got to my computer, I relayed the information he wanted which was to his satisfaction. After that was taken care of, we talked about how our City has changed over the years, and especially how much the building of Southbridge Mall had permanently affected the existing businesses in our Downtown. Just talking about it, I could again see in my mind those once beautiful historic buildings that came tumbling down and replaced by that ticky-tacky mall. Oh well, it’s all in the past which we’ll never be able to reel-back and change.

Speaking of ticky-tacky, one of my colleagues mentioned several days ago, something about a song that was written back in the 1960’s which I’d truly never heard of. The name of it is “Little Boxes” and was written by Malvina Reynolds. When I had some free time, I looked it up on Youtube, and gave it a good listen. Nope, I’d never heard it before, but I did find it not only a catchy little folksy tune, but also its lyrics being filled with many basic truths. I’m attaching the link to Youtube’s music video, so if you’re as curious as I was, click on it and let me know what you think.

After listening to it, I looked her up on Wikipedia, and to my surprise, she certainly had an interesting upbringing by her Jewish parents who’d emigrated here. She secured a doctorate in English, but later in life, she decided to go back to college and learn music theory and become a songwriter. What really shocked me, was my finding she was a Unitarian Universalist, which was just another confirmation that very intelligent and well-read people end up joining the Unitarians. Very interesting.

Before heading home, I stopped at a groceteria to pick up several greeting cards, along with a few groceries, and while there, I ran into a close relative of several near and dear past clients whom I’d known for a very many years, and later ended up selling their home for them. I was very thankful to have run into her because I’ve been wondering about her family members who’d moved a long distance away. I also had to share my story about a recent unfortunate happening in my family which she promised to share with her sister and brother-in-law the next time they spoke. I knew they would want to know because we’ve shared many joys and sorrows over these long years. Yes, they’re darned good people.

Please don’t forget to put the word out on 1215 S. Washington here in Mason City, and only because it’s super clean and one heck of a well-built one-owner home. Homes like it, don’t hit our market very often, so tell friends, neighbors and relatives.

Tonight’s One-liner is: Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.