I was glad to find the temps above freezing again when I was driving to office early this morning, and from what they’re saying our weather is supposed to be like these next seven days, our coming weekend should be a repeat of our last. Now that makes me very happy.
An early morning phone call I had to make, came as a bit of a shocker, which had me spinning most of the morning until I came to realize there was absolutely nothing I could do other than hope and pray that all will be well. Yes, this has been quite the roller-coaster ride these past twelve months, and definitely not looking forward to what may be facing us this coming year, and especially on our National and International front. I’ll likely be saying to myself quite often, “Prepare for the worst, but keep hoping for the best.”
One of my colleagues stopped by my office today to visit about an offer that was submitted on a property owned by one of my clients, just to bring me up to speed on the quality of the buyer and the timelines involved. Since I’ve known that agent for a good number of years, we can speak filterlessly without feeling we’ve crossed borders. Before the agent left, I had to once again mention how handsome that agent’s vehicle was, which was definitely making a ‘fashion’ statement while parked out in front of my office. I could definitely see myself cruising around town in that gem.
I received a call from the owner of a vacant home saying the water bill that was just received, was twice as much as it normally is, so I jumped in my car and headed out, and all the time thinking the absolute worst. When I got there, I carefully checked all the fixtures on the main floor which were showing no signs of water usage, but when I went down to the basement, I discovered the flapper of the toilet down there, was ever-so slightly leaking water into the bowl, so I reached down and shut the water valve off, and then later called the owner about what had happened. I tell you what, you can never be too careful when it comes to vacant homes. Speaking of toilet tank flappers, some years ago, I was told by a highly qualified plumber that because our city adds chlorine to our water, it disintegrates the rubber on those flappers all the faster, so do keep a watchful eye.
After getting caught up on my office work, I did manage to have some time for additional research that needed to be done on several properties that may be coming on the market. Because I was definitely blind-sighted by my early morning call, I was glad to have some extra time to myself, because I’m really not the most amicable person in the eyes of the general public after having been stirred-up.
With a good two hours free this afternoon, I headed back to my little workbench and continued on with the cracking of this year’s black walnut harvest. I dare say there isn’t even a third of what I had last year, but judging by how much I’ve already cracked and sent to the freezer, there’ll still be enough to last until next year’s batch. You’ll likely think me a bit of a ‘squirrel’ when telling you that I’ve got to the point when I can tell if any given black walnut I pick up on the ground, is good, or a dud, because back when I started collecting them, I’d find a good number of bad ones, but each year, those numbers have been growing all the fewer. As of now, I’ve not found one bad one out of this year’s pickings. I’ll be sure to let you know if I’ve batted a thousand.
Before I even crawled out of bed this morning, I knew I’d worked too many hours over at my project yesterday, but as the day wore on, the aches and pains started to evaporate. I don’t know when I’ll ever come to realize I’m not twenty-something anymore. You can be sure I’m ever-thankful that I’m still able to bounce right back.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Those that do good for others, also do good to themselves.
