Another Example Of Like Attracting Like
I had yet another early morning back-alley experience when seeing a woman likely in her 40's, dressed definitely not appropriate for dumpster diving, reaching deeper and deeper into the dumpster just down the street from the back of my office, and unfortunately, I got too good of a view of what she was doing which was hard-coded in my memory bank. Without going into any great detail, she'd been pulling out those sealed garbage bags, laying them on the alleyway, and then opening them up and sorting thru them. You can only imagine the piles she had scattered around. About a half hour later, I just happened to look out the window at the rear of my office, and there she was, slowly biking away with about four garbage bags strapped to her bicycle, which were packed full of whatever she thought was of any value. I do wish the the manufacturers of those dumpsters would create some sort of lid-locking mechanism which could only be opened by a key-less code, and given only to those who had the right to dispose of their trash in them. Of course the garbage trucks would then have a master code which would unlock all the dumpsters they're servicing. Now if someone would patent such an invention, I assure you they'd be millionaires in a very short period of time. Wouldn't you say seeing that, wasn't the most pleasant way to begin a Monday?
After I had all my morning office duties taken care of, I decided to get out and get some additional over-grown weeds and Virginia Creeper cut out of a fence line. I must've been out there for a good two hours, but at least I managed to get that long stretch cleaned up and looking presentable. Of course the gnats were out in full force, and fortunately I had my panama hat on with it's face netting. Just yesterday, several more people mentioned a good gnat deterrent which is Vick's Salve, and they also were swearing it kept the gnats away by rubbing a little of it on all exposed areas before going outdoors. I suspect it's the camphor in that salve which keeps them at bay. There certainly was a cloud of them circling overhead this morning.
When I got back to office, I proceeded to finish-up on the reconciling of my bank statements against my ledgers, and fortunately it didn't take long at all to have them fully balanced for another month. I still can't believe we're already in the seventh month of this year. It's not been the most stellar year for me, but at least I'm continuing to get new business, for which I'm very thankful.
Another reminder I had today, was the fact that Holtz Realty's been in its current location for over 13 years now, and again, I'm wondering how all those years managed to go flying by. When looking back, I dare say it was quite the struggle getting everything situated that first year, but all I could do was trudge forward and make the best of it.
There were several afternoon calls I had to make to clients, and one of them was to get a confirmation as to whether a seller managed to find the abstract to her home, and unfortunately it couldn't be found, so I'll be walking down to our abstract company tomorrow and ordering a new one. My goodness! There sure have been a noticeably high number of abstracts being lost since the pandemic arrived. When a person stops and thinks about it, there's been many changes that've taken place with our general public since it started, and it having lasted so long, many of those mindsets are now hard-coded. Have you noticed how few people shake hands anymore? Have you also noticed the drop in the number of those who're physically attending Sunday church Services? Unless there's some life-changing world events taking place, there's likely not going to be much if any changing back to old norms.
Another post-pandemic change, has been the rise in vandalism, violent crimes, and thievery, because every time I open up and start reading our State and Local news feeds, there are the many more mug-shots being posted. Several days ago, I happened to notice a group of seven juveniles walking in a 'pack' thru our downtown, and the 'ringleader' was likely the taller and older one who was about three steps ahead of the rest. The way they were carrying on as they were walking in a westward direction, and just that momentary eyeful I got of them, I had little doubt they were up to no good. Most of our general public aren't aware of the amount of break-ins and vandalism that's being done by juveniles right here in River City, and only because of the way in which they're processed after being caught. That for sure has got to change because there's no slapping of their hands. Back when I was young, the greatest fear naughty children had after getting caught doing something bad, was what they'd be facing when they arrived home. Oh yes, there was no sparing of the rod back then. We were physically punished, but not to the extent of some of my schoolmates, because they'd have raised welts caused by wide leather straps. Many years afterwards, one of my schoolmates mentioned something about the beatings he received, and fully agreed he deserved those beatings which likely kept him from going to the dark side.
I had to laugh to myself today when reading where Trump now has our illustrious Governor on his fecal scroll, because he insists it was him that opened the door for her to get elected Governor after he appointed Branstad our Ambassador to China. I can certainly say she's flipped over to De Santis's camp with her attending his Iowa campaign rallies. I'd say it's just another example of like attracting like.
Gosh I was glad to read later today where Erdogan has now agreed to accept Sweden into NATO. I figured he'd be having some second thoughts about NATO and the European Union after seeing what happened in just a two days time in Russia with that marching of Wagner's troops on Moscow. I'll wager he'll no longer be riding the 'fence'.
Tonight's One-liner is: When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.