On The Lookout For Thistles

It was definitely a busy Saturday for me, and the bulk of my hours were spent on non-real estate related chores, so as soon as I had everything at office taken care of early this morning, I changed into my work clothes and headed to my first project.

With all this rain, the weeds in our downtown have become quite visible to just about anyone paying attention, and I dare say, there are far more growing taller and mightier than I've ever before seen, and after doing some deep thinking about it all, I've come to the conclusion that most people, and especially those in our younger crowd, pay little or no attention to unkempt sidewalks, driveways and lawns. It's almost as if they're so consumed with their unnecessary multitasking, they're not slowing themselves down enough to pay closer attention.

Yes, I dare say I do know a little bit more than the average person when it comes to anything 'green' related, but to be that clueless regarding the difference between invasive weeds, volunteer trees and bushes, versus once expensive perennial flowers, shade trees and ornamental bushes.

Well, several hours of my day was spent pulling weeds out of cracks in sidewalks, along with giving a good dosing of weed killer to some nasty wild violets and creeping charlie which had nearly taken over an area which was once covered with pea gravel and bordered by decorative brick. I'm hoping once all that nasty growth has died off, the decorative bordering around that house will once again be visible.

Have many of you noticed of late, the number of thistles we have growing around our city? My gosh, I don't remember ever having to be on the lookout for thistles as much as I have been this year. I'm sure most people don't realize that if they manage to get established, they're devils to get rid of, and what makes it even worse, is when their flower heads dry out and their seeds become airborne. Just yesterday I happened to notice a patch in an un-attended plot of land, and if they're not sprayed soon, the neighbors will soon have them popping up all over their yards and flowerbeds.

What I really wish our city would do, is to start going after all the European Buckthorn bushes we have growing all over our city, and the most unfortunate thing, is likely 90% of our residents don't even know what it looks like, let along being in the know that it's an exceptionally invasive species in our State. I don't even want to count how many times I've been pricked by their branches while removing them. Yes, a person had better be wearing denim and leather gloves when working with that nasty stuff. They're also growing prolifically in public wooded areas and acreage groves, and yet it seems there's no group of people willing to charge into battle against them. Whenever showing and/or selling a home, I'm quick to point that species out if it's growing on the property. Let's get everyone up to speed and get North Iowa fully cleared of it.

Another four hours were spent working on getting more cleaning done at a home where I swear the previous occupants were keen on stove-top cooking with oil on a daily basis, because just about everything I touched was sticky with grease. I've already killed one bottle of ammonia, and well into the second. I'll never fully understand why people don't have a little more respect for their living arrangements by keeping them fully cleaned and tidy. I've also discovered over this past decade, the fact that nearly everyone's too 'busy' to take time to wash their windows. Oh, that's right. Most don't want to open their blinds or curtains because they can't have very much natural sunlight filtering in while they've got their noses in their big screen TVs or computers. I think many are turning in to zombies and don't even realize it.

The highlight of my day, was my afternoon appointment to show 722 - 6th St. SW to a gentleman who's very much into brick mid-century ranches, and believe me, he couldn't say enough good about what he was seeing, so hopefully if what he's telling me is true, we just may have that sold more sooner than later. As chance would have it, I did some real estate work for one of his family members a number of years ago. That home's street appeal will be far better once those two dead Green Ash trees are removed this coming week.

Tonight's One-liner is: How people treat you is their karma; how you react, is yours.

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