The first thing I noticed while driving to office this morning, was the haze in the upper atmosphere which was likely being caused by the smoke from Canada’s wildfires. I can only imagine what those millions of people must be going thru out East. When looking at some of the photos they posted online, they definitely had some issues with air quality.
Most of my early morning was concentrated on getting my file on yesterday’s home sale moving in the right direction, and only because I want to make sure we can get it closed as soon as possible.
As chance would have it, while up at the front desk working, I happened to notice a guy with a backpack on one of those crazy bikes which had another smaller bike attached to it, and on that bike was a young girl likely the age of five or six. I wouldn’t have paid much attention, but in the corner of my eye, I noticed he’d stopped where those street light poles were laid at the curbside, got off his bike, went over to where they had that Music Man banner placed, picked it up, took it off those two rods holding it, and then folded it up, stuck it in his backpack and peddled-off with that young girl following behind.
The thing that bothered me the most about that nine o’clock in the morning petty theft, was knowing he’s willing teaching that young girl who’s likely his daughter, to freely steal anything she wants in life. I’m sure such things are happening all over our Country, but unfortunately, it’s appears to be getting worse here. Whatever happened to the concept of parents setting good examples for their children? The likes of such parents, are creating adults who’ll be lost before they’re even out of the gates. What I saw this morning, was yet one more example of how the character of our community is getting undermined by all these backpacking bikers who’re zig-zagging around this town all hours of the day and night.
Several years ago I notice something posted online from person who’d just had a bicycle stolen in the night which was just outside her home. She had a grainy video posted from her security camera, asking if anyone recognized who the thief was. After I looked at that quick in-and-out theft, I dare say I could’ve sworn on oath the identity of that person, not only because the fuzzy profile having looked familiar, but also due to the way that thief was walking. Sounds crazy, but I can usually recognize someone I know from a distance, just by the way in which they walk, and keep in mind, I can even tell if they have their backs to me. You may not have noticed, but there’s a distinct number of people in the bulk of our population, who have a particular way in which they walk.
I had a long but good conversation today with a prospective seller who’s thinking it’s the right time to sell her home. After I answered all her real estate questions, we somehow ended up on the subject of how the general population of North Iowa has changed in character. I absolutely didn’t blame her a bit for being angry over the fact that she knows some people that likely never held down a stable job in their lives, but are now on disability and collecting twice as much as she’s getting from Social Security, yet they’re still wanting as many freebies as they can get. By the time we finished our conversation, we both agreed that we were preaching to each other’s choir.
The various activities I noticed across the street today, was seeing Blazek Electric getting one of the street lights re-connected, a landscape company getting the Kirk lot power-seeded with grass, and then one of our City’s street sweepers going over the Manor parking lot which created huge clouds of dust which was blowing everywhere. I still don’t understand why they don’t have street sweepers like we had years ago where they sprayed water while they were sweeping, just to help control the dust. For sure I’ll be washing the front windows of my office again.
I did have enough time free to get the green area at the back of my office mowed, along with another one I’m tending. This is another year where I’m seeing even more yards not being mowed than there were last year. Just yesterday I drove past a house which I knew had been sold to a new owner last Fall, looking like it hadn’t been mowed since Spring arrived, but the most concerning about it, is my seeing many looking just like it which’d been sold since the pandemic hit. The mindset of our City ‘powers’ has been to make our Downtown really pretty, but don’t step back far enough to see what the rest of our community looks like, which is tunnel vision at its best. Don’t they know that potential transplants coming to Mason City, are driving all around this town, just to get a ‘feel’ for it all? Of course they’re too busy extrapolating their ‘cooked’ statics to bother about getting a first-hand look at what direction our community is really heading.
My last appointment for the day was to show a home to an extended family I’ve worked with over these many years. Of course the time spent there, wasn’t just to get a better look at the home, but more so about bringing me up to speed with all the recent happenings within their flock. Without a doubt, they’re the most wholesome and down to earth family you’d be hard-pressed to find. Yes it was a good showing, and an even better time spent with that group containing three generations.
Tonight’s One-liner is: The more people rationalize cheating and stealing, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty, and that can become a vicious downward cycle, because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating and stealing, you feel a need to cheat and steal too.
