Beyond Adequate

This vacillating of overcast to sunshine, made for an interesting day, as whenever a cloud arrived, I was suddenly feeling much colder. Because I had an early morning appointment to do an exterior and interior inspection, I made sure to dress warm before heading to office.

My first duty, was to spend time emailing the sellers' disclosures to the four agents who were scheduled to show my new listing at 1724 S. Kentucky, along with contacting the sellers regarding additional showings for tomorrow. There are already agents wanting to show it the first of the week, so I'll have to get those scheduled as well. I knew we were going to have immediate interest on it, which is why I made sure to warn the sellers about a likely sudden rush of lookers.

Just after getting those appointments scheduled, it was time for me to head out and drive to a property I was scheduled to inspect. I got there a little early, which allowed me time to give the exterior a good looking-over. When the owner arrived, we then headed indoors and went from room to room while I took my necessary notes. There weren't many surprises other than the depth of the basement which I found to be unusually tall considering the age of the home. Whomever built it, must've stood well over six feet, as those floor joists were at least seven feet from ceiling to floor. For sure, that would be a great place to build a real man-cave or she-den.

We had a nice chat before leaving, and for some reason, we ended up talking about how hard the younger generation of say 50 years ago, were all the more willing to do manual labor than those of today. We did get some good laughs over some of those daily chores we were given, and in spite of it being hard on a near-daily basis, we really didn't think it was all that bad. I always find it interesting whenever hearing some of the old farmers speaking kindly of their early years on the farm, yet we both had shivering stories to tell about the chronic problems we had with rats.

One vivid memory I was compelled to share, was whenever corn-shelling time arrived, and corn cribs had to be emptied of ear corn. Believe it or not, just before we started shoveling ear corn out of those cribs and into the sheller, my father would place a rotary mower near the crib we were working on, get it started, turn the motor to high, and then instruct us to start shoveling cobs.

Still insisting this is a true story, once the level of ear corn was falling closer to the bottom, out from those remaining ears, would come rats a-running, and almost always they'd run for cover under that engaged lawnmower. Well, you can imagine what would come flying out of its chute. Unless you were there at the time, you'd likely dismiss such a happening as my own fantasy. To this day I couldn't even begin to estimate how many rat body parts had to be raked up and disposed of after it was all over. As chance would have it, today's seller mentioned his parents having done the same thing. When thinking about it, there must be some sort of "follow the leader" mentality with rats, and especially when not even realizing they're following each other to their own demise.

We also talked about the days of baling hay, pitching manure, de-horning, and even the castration procedures that were used. Yes, in many ways, such stories sound primitive in today's world, but they were tried and true, which was all that mattered. I'm now wondering if someone's taken the time to publish a book on the ways in which animals were cared for, crops were planted and harvested, and all those other little chores that no longer exist. Yes, it was a good journey down memory lane this morning.

After returning to office, I made a call to a woman to see if she had time for me to stop over to her home and sign a document. I was glad to find her home and having enough free time for my visit, so back out I headed.

Once the document was signed, I spent some quality time visiting with her. I truly enjoyed listening to her speak about her many years as a teacher, and believe me, she was in some pretty exotic schools. I was almost ready to ask her if she'd taken the time to journal her global experiences. She's the third person I've spoken with over the years who taught school in a foreign country. The most interesting, was her sharing the great differences there were when it came to discipline, and almost always, it was the parents who'd be administering, as they expected their children to be doing beyond adequate schoolwork. That was yet another good chat for the day.

On my way back to office, I checked on another vacant home, and then stopped at a drive-thru, grabbed a snack, and headed back to office so to have a quick break before readying myself for my return to a project I've been working on. Well, as soon as I started changing my clothes, I received a cold call from a potential buyer, asking to see 1707 S. Federal this afternoon. Having found I had over an hour to kill before meeting them, I putzed about at office until it was time to meet them.

Well, if I've got any sense of a "perfect fit" left in my bones for that building, I'd say today's showing was it. I answered all their questions, listened to their thoughts regarding what they'd do with it, along with sharing a few of my own ideas. I have a really good feeling they'll be the new owners of that commercial property. You can be sure I'll be wishing them the very best in their new venture, which will be filling another "missing link" in our City. When envisioning it finished and open to the public, that'll truly be a much-needed addition to our business community. Good for them!

Tonight's One-liner is: Anybody who is stupid enough to want to be remembered, deserves to be forgotten right now.

original post ... https://niowarealty.net/mason-city-2/2021/04/17/beyond-adequate/