I sure wasn’t expecting last night’s storm which dropped a measurable amount of rain on North Iowa, so the bulk of our farmers should be pretty happy with it because it’s going to help with the germination of the corn they recently planted.
Around this time of year after seeing those monster farm machines in the fields which can cultivate, plant and harvest in record amounts of time, always has me wondering what those many grain farmers do during the remainder of the summer months until harvest season begins, because back when we lived on the big farm, there were animals to feed, hay to put up, along with the cultivating of row crops. Keep in mind we didn’t have those specialized weed killers that are on the market today, so when you stop and think about it, those grain farmers have two very large down-times, and those are the periods after harvest, up until planting season starts, and the other being the period between planting and harvest. If I were in their shoes, I’d be ready to start crawling the walls with boredom. Yes, I know many of them winter in the Sun Belt, and fish up North during the Summer, but wouldn’t you think they’d get tired of all that relaxation? Truth be told, if I don’t get something worthwhile accomplished on a daily basis, I consider it having been a bad day.
For whatever reason, I received a new set of license plates which accompanied my vehicle registration, so off I went this morning to get those old ones off and the new ones attached. Oh my goodness! What a long process in getting those back plates off, because those bolts must’ve rusted enough to where they were almost fused together. I sprayed some liquid wrench on them and waited a while, but they were still devils to get off, but in the end, after well over an hour of fighting with them, they were freed, so I now have the new ones attached. I’m still wondering why I got a new set of plates, because they’re the same design, only now containing new numbers and letters.
One of my clients stopped by unexpectedly today, just to let me know he’s not forgotten about me, and will likely be calling me sometime towards the end of next week to schedule an appointment to list his home which is likely going to sell right out of the gates.
Since he had time, I proceeded to look up a number of comparable sales, and to his surprise, he’ll be getting far more for it than he ever would’ve dreamed, and only because it’s the type of home everyone’s looking for, and will definitely be in a hot price range. Before he left, I also made the comment that there’d likely be multiple offers on it. Gosh it sure was good seeing him today, and mostly because he’s one of those people who’s always has a positive and uplifting attitude.
Of course as many others have, he questioned how long North Federal is going to be shut down. I truly empathize with my neighbor next door who owns Roots, because she’s likely losing business on a daily basis with no real end in sight. I’m sure all the rest of them are struggling as well, so we’ll see how so our City gets cracking with the demolition of Kirk’s burnout. I’m already getting really tired of looking at that mess, and only because it reminds me of those WWII photos of bombed and burned-out buildings in England and Germany. Yes, it’s definitely time for it to be out of sight and mind.
I made time this afternoon, to send a very long email to a friend of mine who lives out East, and only because there’s not been any communication between us for nearly two months. My opening line began with, “No, I didn’t forget about you…”. I must’ve been writing for a good forty-five minutes before I realized I’d said enough for one round. There was another subject I touched on which I promised to go into greater detail the next time I write.
Those four hours of non-stop weeding Sunday afternoon, created some lingering aches and pains, so hopefully my hands, arms and legs will be fully seasoned by the time the real garden work begins, because I’ve got some definite work ahead of me with the preparation of my garden for the sixty pepper plants I have growing in flats, along with a half-dozen tomatoes for slicing. I’m also going to plant some carrots and beans, along with a single row of giant sunflowers. For some reason, I’ve had a burning desire to plant sunflowers which I’ve not had growing for a good ten years or more. Every time I see them blooming, brings a smile to my face.
There wasn’t much worth making comments about after reading the online news today. Of course I’ve always been closely following the war in Ukraine, and as each day goes by, I wonder when the Ukrainian army is going to go on the offensive. That disgusting creature who’s the head of that Wagner group, definitely looks like something out of a Boris Karloff horror movie, or a prime example of a tribal family that never bothered to freshen-up its ‘herd’. Doesn’t he look the part?
It seems the more I see of the many dying Green Ash trees, the more I’m actually looking for, and after today’s little journey around town, there’s no doubt our City’s tree crew is going to be working overtime in getting them all removed, and let me tell you, there are some really big ones that’ll be coming down. My heart goes out to those homeowners who’ll have to be coughing up many thousands of dollars to get the dead ones removed from their properties. It appears to me, the eastern section of our City has the most dead, but I guess it makes sense because those Emerald Ash Borers were making their way here from Eastern Iowa. I’m ever-glad there’s only one in my yard that thinks it’s a Red Elm, and only because of the way its top is fluted.
Tonight’s One-liner is: I want to live my life in such a way, that my nights will never be filled with regrets.
