His Second Shot

If the wind wasn't blowing today, I don't think it would've been so biting-cold outdoors, and what surprised me the most, was finding it coming out of the northeast which is definitely not normal for North Iowa. I think as our day wore on, it did finally turn into a northwesterly.

Of course my first business of the day was to get some snow shoveling done which had me moving all the faster to keep warm. For the first time in years, I managed to get the snow removed from my front sidewalk before even one set of footprints had been made by those night-wanderers, which created an easier shovel-job for me.

Just after getting my normal morning office routine started, I received a call from an out- of-town appraiser asking to speak to the listing agent of a certain home we have under contract, which I obliged his request by saying, "You're speaking to him." Well, it appears all the fewer bank appraisers are conducting personal inspections of homes they're assigned. I knew it was happening a little bit last year, but it looks like we're going to be in for a run of it this season.

His call centered around either the seller or myself being required to upload a program into our cell phones, drive over to the property, and take a bucket-load of photos. I asked him to text me the link to see if my phone would take it, and it did. I quietly, yet begrudgingly agreed to go over and do "his job" for him this morning.

When I pulled up to the home, I opened the link which insisted I allow my phone to give my location, which I did, but the following question and answer session, wasn't at all what I was prepared for because I had to scroll thru about three pages of questions regarding the features of the home, and then move forward with taking their requested number of photos both inside and out.

Can you imagine how cold my fingers were by the time I finally finished taking about 8 photos of the exterior? As most know, it's nearly impossible to take photos with one's cell phone while wearing winter gloves. By the time I snapped the last one, I swear if I would've been out their five more minutes longer, I would've had frostbite.

After moving inside, I was instructed to turn on all the lights and go to the designated rooms and take at least two or more photos showing walls, ceilings and floors. I don't even want to mention what angles of its bathrooms they wanted which I thought a bit much. Of course while I was performing that appraiser's job, I was getting texts and phone calls that were flipping over to voicemail.

From the time I pulled up, and when finally crawling back into my vehicle, I'd say I spent a good hour and a half over there, which nearly ended my morning. Before pulling away from the curbside, I called him back and asked if he'd received that file, which after a pause, he acknowledged they'd arrived. The only reason I wasn't being just a tiny bit sassy with him about not doing it himself, is the fact I would do just about anything above and beyond to get that home to the closing table. I highly doubt there'll be any issues with value because as far as I'm concerned, that home was a heck of a buy.

Before heading back to office, I figured I just as well stop at a groceteria since it was nearing lunchtime due to not having a thing to eat in my office fridge. While there, I grabbed enough edibles to last me a good week, and as mentioning before, I really don't like eating large meals at midday because I begin growing sleepy and a bit lazy.

Judging by the tracks at my front door, there must've been someone at my office while I was gone. I didn't have any scheduled appointments, along with no messages on my answering machine, so I figured it must've been someone looking for a rental.

With most of my afternoon free, I busied myself with my tax accounting which had me consumed for a good three hours. With that said, I suspect they'll be finished up all the sooner if I continue at my current pace. I was reminded how more chilled a person gets when in a seated position for long periods of time, so I ended up adding a few more degrees to my office's thermostat. I think this morning's chill went deeper into my bones while doing that appraiser's job for him. Aren't you finding in today's world, it's always the taking but never the giving?

One of my clients called this afternoon to tell me his family had come down with the China-virus and now quarantined for two weeks. My heart went out to them because they are truly wholesome people. He mentioned what I've been hearing all the more, and that being the "brain fog" he'd been experiencing at its outset. Luckily he didn't have too much of a problem with the fevers and chills, but the "fog" had him the most worried. I wished for his family a speedy recovery and no lingering side-effects.

Another customer mentioned something this morning about one of his co-workers who'd just taken his second shot of the vaccine, and having to call in sick due to the flu-like symptoms he was experiencing, which is just another reminder how different people are affected by not only the coronavirus, but the vaccine as well. Yes, each human's body can be markedly different from others, and especially noticeable during this pandemic.

I didn't bother reading an article of today's online news which was titled something about the increased number of mutations they're discovering, and simply because I wasn't in the mood for any more bad news regarding our pandemic. Enough was enough.

Tonight's One-liner is: The combination of hatreds and technologies are the greatest of dangers threatening humankind.

original post ... https://niowarealty.net/life/2021/01/26/his-second-shot/