If He Pulls His Nuke Card

It was another pleasant morning with our temps being above freezing and only a whisper of a breeze. Still feeling a little beat up from yesterday, I was compelled to stop at a convenience store and pick up a small cup of strong coffee. Since I'm getting into the habit of grabbing a cup of coffee on my way to work, I'm thinking more sooner than later, I'll be purchasing a small coffee maker for my office, just so I don't have to be making those stops.

I had an early morning appointment at office with a technician I called to check on several of the landline phones in my office. He tested all of them, along with making sure all the wires were where they were supposed to be, and in spite of them working better than they were before he arrived, his final prognosis was for me to get some new desktops because the ones I have are showing their age and use. Oh well, that's one more thing I'll be investigating.

After seeing some additional information that was posted by one of my competitors, I couldn't help calling a colleague of mine and mention how slip-shod some of the agents are getting when listing inaccurate square footages, wrongly identified foundation compositions, lot sizes, and the list went on. The really big ones for me, are adding finished square footage to listings of rooms that don't have heating or cooling vents coming from their HVAC units, and the other one, is when an agent says a home has a block or poured foundation, when in fact it's wooden. Yes, those are big inaccuracies which most buyers don't pick up on until long after they've moved into their new homes.

I know of several homes where suicides had taken place, and if I were a mouse in their corners when being shown to prospective buyers, I'd wager they were never told, and if they did purchase them, they didn't find out until long after they'd moved in. As I said to my colleague, for years and years, my mantra has been, "If you personally know something about a house, then tell it." I've always believed an informed buyer is a good buyer who'll always remember those extra bits of info they learned before making their sound decisions to purchase.

With it being the first Monday of the month, I had several hours filled with banking, accounting, filing and reconciling. Because these spiking gas prices have eaten into reserves I have in an account at one of our banks, I didn't realize until today that it's balance had dropped below its minimum, so when this month's statement arrives, there'll be at least a fifteen dollar service charge. Yes, I did make a large deposit in that account today, just so it doesn't happen again any time soon. It's no wonder many of our struggling young are paying all their bills with either cash or money orders.

I believe I'm ready for my second showing over at Prairie Place on 1st tomorrow afternoon, and since the weather's supposed to be pleasant, it should be an even better experience for the buyer than the first walk-thru. Whenever I'm over there during the winter months, and seeing how care-free their living is, it comes as no surprise they all love living there. Having that heated underground garage is definitely a bonus. Every time the last available unit sells, I'm always a bit sad because I know I won't be seeing those dear ones as often.

With an hour or so to kill, I grabbed my camera and headed out to get some additional photos taken of our countryside. I've been running low on recent photos, so I figured today would be about as good a time as any. It's amazing how much more you can take photos of when driving a little farther off those beaten paths. I did happen to see a big red squirrel running at a distance, but it managed to keep itself out of my viewfinder. It's been years since I've seen them, and unfortunately the gray squirrels we have now taken over North Iowa. Back when I was young, that's about all you'd see scampering about. I also happened to see a few of those loathsome Jack squirrels darting about in the branches, and for sure I didn't take a photo, and only because I'm not keen on having any of their photos as reminders. Most in our general public don't realize that if you're gonna have a squirrel squatting in your attic, most likely it's one of them.

When seeing how little's being done on that "Bridge to Nowhere" these months, I'm still wondering why we haven't heard one peep about the "ghost" hotel. Either I missed something in the newspaper, or mum's the word, and the more time that lapses with nothing being reported, the more likely there's something no good happening.

I happened to notice an acreage that was just listed late last week, now under contract. When I saw it come on, the first thing that came to mind was it being located on a mile of gravel, along with being situated very close to an active railroad. So much for my thoughts because that acreage which was listed for well over $400K, is already gone. I shook my head while saying to myself, "That's one heck of a lot of money for a country home. Like I've said, there's some deep sub-conscious desire in the minds of humans to live on an acreage, and I'm certain this pandemic is what's triggered it.

After reading the news coming out of Ukraine today, and then listening to comments being made by retired American generals, it's looking like Putin and his "invincible" army is fast losing their steam on all fronts. With the Ukrainians now moving to take back Kherson, Putin's war trophies are now vanishing before his eyes. The only thing that's got me a little concerned, is the fact that their new-age nuclear submarine has gone off the radar. Heaven help Putin if he pulls his nuke card, because that's when it'll all be over for him and his regime. Let's pray he's not that insane.

Tonight's One-liner is: An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but finds the scenery breathtaking.

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