Any Tom, Dick Or Harry

Another Sunday morning arrived, and my first and foremost duty, was to walk back to my darkened corner and get my contemplative session started, and believe you me, it was definitely something I was in great need of, considering the emotional roller coaster I had to ride nearly all week with the home we did everything we could to get it purchased, and yet the rug ended up being pulled out from under us. Thank goodness my little session got my soul/spirit re-aligned and now back to normal. There's no question the greed factor in these times is more pronounced, but I guess when you replace the Almighty with money and personal gain, what else can one expect?

After I finished up with my session, I changed into my gardening clothes and busied myself with weeding a large patch of carrots I planted late, and then gave them a good watering. I'm hoping they'll do very well these coming months, and since they're a mid-summer planting, they always taste much better when harvested in the Fall. Like they've always said, "The colder the ground, the sweeter the carrots become." I did manage to find my favorite carrot seeds which is 'Scarlet Nantes', which have always been the 'go to' for my garden. I had a different type of carrot planted last year which I didn't care for, and only because they had a more coarse texture and didn't have the real 'carrot' flavor I've grown so accustomed to.

I picked another full quart of black raspberries which I vacuum-packed and sent to the freezer. I'm very happy they're doing as well as they are, but without a doubt, they've got the most razor sharp thorns, and in spite of wearing a glove on one hand and picking with the other, every time I've been out there, I've managed to get a good jab, and when they jab, blood freely flows. I swear someone could use those canes as a deadly weapon. The type I purchased has a short bearing time, which is just fine by me. I'm now fully up to speed as to why we don't find black raspberries in the store, and if you find a small 'boutique' jar of black raspberry jelly, it's always the most expensive. I did make two half-pints of jelly from them last week which I'll be using as an ice cream topping. Yummy! Just yesterday, I happened to notice in Hy-Vee's produce section where they're selling red raspberries at $4.99 for 6 ounces. My gosh! Back when we sold them by the heaping quart, they were $5.00. I'm pretty sure a heaping quart of fresh raspberries is at least a pound, so in today's time, you'd be paying at least $20.00 a quart.

Since I had an appointment with a client early this afternoon, I headed back to office, cleaned myself up, and then drove over to a pre-listing viewing of a home which will likely be coming on the market in a week or two. The owners have some cosmetic items to deal with, and once they're done, it'll be up for grabs. Having known the family for a very many years, they're about as loyal as a mid-summer's day is long, and you can believe I thank them profusely for it. Before leaving, we had a very good catching-up with the recent happenings, and alway glad to find all's been well with them.

I did hear some sad news today which came as an unexpected shock, and that was yesterday's death of Matt Brick who's the owner of Brick Furniture here in our Downtown. The last time I talked to him which was no more than a month ago, he proudly announced that he was cancer-free, but unfortunately another brain tumor must've started growing, and likely the cause of his death. If I'm not mistaken, it was last year around this time that he was first diagnosed, and in spite of his surviving some pretty radical chemo treatments, it must've not got everything. I do hope the guy that's been working for him all these years, ends up taking it over, and only because that furniture store has always been the place to go when looking for furnishings. It makes me even more sad when knowing he'd been working on converting the 2nd floor of his building into living quarters for both he and his wife. It's all so terribly unfortunate.

Late this afternoon, I ran into another business person whose building is only a half block away from that parking lot our city's looking at selling to that Des Moines developer. Unfortunately he didn't know anything about it, which came as no surprise because our city is really good at quietly doing these dirty little deals, and the next thing you know, they're making an announcement. The exact same thing happened with that parking lot at the corner of 2nd NW and N. Federal. By the time I finished visiting with him, I could tell he was exceptionally hot under the collar. I truly wish Max Weaver would get himself back on the ballot for City Council, because at least he was always good at forward-thinking, and of course he's definitely a native son. I could definitely name the names of those I'd get rid of in a heartbeat, and considering the decisions that've recently been made, I think any 'Tom, Dick or Harry' off the street would do a better job.

Another gripe I have, is seeing all these trees on public property which are hanging far too low, are becoming traffic hazards, and only because they're blocking stop signs and street lights. I pity those who're not hard-coded as to where the stop signs are, because anyone visiting our town, would likely be running stop signs. Yes, at some corners, they're that bad. I can definitely see the after effects of Bob Berggren's retirement, because when he was at the helm, those trees didn't look like they do now. He's another one I was sorry to see retire. Oh, but there are several I'd like to see go sailing off to their own little 'golden ponds'. Now see, I do wish the best for everyone, but some I rather have stay as far away as possible.

The remainder of my afternoon was spent over at my little/big project where I continued on with my stripping, and after about three long hours of it, I had to call it quits for the day. Before leaving, I gave it all a good looking-over and quietly said to myself, "You're getting there."

Tonight's One-liner is: If there's something to pardon in everything, there's also something to condemn.

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