American Boots On The Ground

Thank goodness I took my plants in last night because we definitely did get a frosting, and since we've been cursed all day with that biting-cold north wind, I'll likely not be taking them back outdoors until it warms up.

Having not spoken with my dear friend for a number of days, I placed a call to her before heading out to my early morning appointment. I was glad to find all was well with her, and of course she did watch our last city council meeting which I'd placed its link on this past Tuesday night's journal page. Yes, we were both in full agreement that nearly everyone there representing the city, had already made up their minds prior to our arrival which I considered a waste of our time, along with it being nothing more than an insult to the many hardworking business owners in our downtown. There's no question that meeting will be well-remembered for a very long time, along with it being a glaring reminder for the many who 'think' our city 'fathers' have our best interests at heart, because that meeting spoke otherwise.

I couldn't help mentioning that all those previous tenants of Southbridge Mall had either left town or re-located out of our downtown, which should've caused those in our city government to set up and take notice, so in our minds, we're thinking all they want, is our downtown populated with ticky-tacky apartments alongside empty storefronts. We also must remember that those newly-built apartments are going to be getting fat long-term tax abatements which will enable the owners of them to pocket all the more money and send back to their home offices. The only business growth I've been seeing of late, are the bars and pizza restaurants, and if there are any more sprouting up, I'll begin to think I'm working on the main drag of New Orleans' French Quarter. It's too bad we can't crawl into the minds of our City Administrator and Community Development Director, just to find out what their end-games really are. More than one of the people who watched that council meeting, mentioned how ill-prepared our City Administrator was while attempting to give the specifics of that apartment house build-out. Now wouldn't you think the 'head-man' should've been able to speak in detail about something he'd already approved? I almost forgot to mention my having seen a few faces turning red on the city's side while it was being discussed. Hmm...I wonder why.

My early morning appointment lasted well over an hour, and when that was over, I had just enough time to run over to take a quick peek at a home that'll likely be coming on the market soon, and knowing there'll likely be other Realtors competing for that listing, I soulfully mentioned I'm currently working with a buyer who'd be interested in it. Since I had an appointment coming up, I had to skedaddle back to office before I could get the full tour, but the owner did give me his number to call, so later this afternoon I left a message on his cell phone to call me at his convenience. Yes, because the competition has been brutal these recent years, it's pretty much a crap-shoot as to who ends up with a particular new listing. I'm sorry, I still can't bring myself to overly-inflate my estimates of value which has always been a wild card others would play. It'll take me a very long time to forget about my having been recently aced-out of a listing by a competitor's higher price, and then later seeing it having sold for almost the exact amount I quoted. Yes, such scenarios are hard to get over, but I've learned to send them to long-term memory and move forward.

The bulk of my afternoon was spent working on some issues an out of town client has been having, but I believe at the end of the day, we did get them resolved to the point where my client now has a plan for moving forward. More than once, I had to remind myself that I understand far more about solving real estate problems than those in our general public, which is why I oft times have to back track and explain why certain things must be done in prescribed fashions.

Around mid-afternoon I had to run over to St. Paul Lutheran to meet with the owner of Dewey Kruger Music from Northwood, just so he could show me some of the features of the organ they'd just delivered from an area church which recently closed its doors. In spite of it being likely over 30 years old, it sounded acceptable to a handful of their members who were there. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of non-pipe organs, but as long as they like the sound it makes, then I'll simply keep a smile on my face and go with the flow. They've stationed it in St. Paul's right-hand transept, so I'll have to make sure I'm all the more presentable while playing because I'll be facing nearly everyone. Thank goodness for First Congregational and First Baptist in getting me accustomed to playing up front, because for years and years, I almost always played pianos and organs which were located in choir lofts. If you would've asked me ten years ago if I'd be willing to play from the front of a church, I would've said, “Absolutely not!”, so I guess that was another one of my recent achievements.

Before heading home, I sat down and read the latest newsfeeds, and happy to find Mike Johnson had finally come to his senses regarding the funding of Ukraine, so hopefully before the weekend is out, the House will have it approved and sent on to the Senate for their blessing. After reading what he said about the need to get Ukraine funded, he must've received a message from the Devine because he now believes that if we don't help Ukraine now, Putin will conquer Ukraine, and then become emboldened enough to take on the Balkan countries and possibly even Poland, and if he does, it would trigger Nato intervention, which would mean there'd be American boots on the ground. Thank Heaven Mike Johnson has finally stepped out of the 'now' and looked into future scenarios, and hopefully he'll also have the guts to tell Marjorie Taylor Greene where to go.

Tonight's One-liner is: When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.

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