With one Shot

I was considering it somewhat of a pleasant Friday until the snow started, and then my hopes of a perfect weekend ahead were dashed when seeing that heavy snow continuing to fall. Someone mentioned that it's supposed to quit around 11:00 pm tonight, but I'll not believe it until I see it. Oh well, it's winter and to be expected.

Since I was busy earlier this morning, I didn't have time to look at the on-line news, and when later seeing that the head of the Revolutionary Guard of Iran was killed in Iraq by an American drone, I was in near disbelief of what I was reading. Let's just hope and pray this doesn't create all the more hostilities in the Middle East. I can still remember saying way back before we invaded Iraq, that my greatest fear was that there wouldn't be weapons of mass destruction discovered, and subsequently find ourselves pulled into a painfully long-term involvement over there. And here we are, still in that powder-keg region. I was so hoping this decade would be the turning away from wars and making peace, but it already looks like a bad beginning.

My late morning showing took me to the two grand homes that are currently listed on 11th St. NE. The first one was the "Snell House", which can always be distinguished by its vintage wrought-iron fence surrounding the front yard. There's no question it's a beautiful home, and what I find the most attractive, is the beautiful quarter-sawn oak woodwork and floors on the main level, and the many windows containing beveled and stained glass.

The second one I showed, is the home I'm having open tomorrow which will be at 114 - 11th St. NE. It's likely the tallest home in the neighborhood because of it's extra roomy 3rd floor. The home is priced much less than the "Snell House", and we figured it would take between $30K - $40K to get it fully up to speed with the other "big dogs" on that stretch of grand homes. There's no question in my mind, that if the improvements were carefully planned, and the finish work done in a craftsman-like manner, it would likely become the showplace of the block because of its commanding presence.

The tricking out of third floor of 114 - 11th St. NE is what would set it above the crowd, and if it were me, I would either create a master suite up there, or a state-of-the-art 3rd floor family room. My first option would be a master bedroom conversion with adjoining 3/4 bath because of its current lay-out which would be more conducive, as well as cost effective. We'll see how tomorrow's open house goes.

A little paying forward took place on my part this week where I decided to gift several young and struggling families some furniture I've had placed in storage for a number of years, and the reason for having it, was because over the years whenever sellers were getting rid of unwanted solid pieces of furniture, I would at times offer to take them off their hands instead of having them hauled to the landfill, which I'll always consider to be a will-full form of waste.

Since yesterday morning, there's been a line of furniture in the hallway of my office, but by the time late afternoon arrived today, it was all carried away with numerous heart-felt thanks from the receivers. One of the workers stopped by late yesterday morning and noticed it all, and asked what I was doing with it. I told him I was gifting it to several needy young families, but of course his reply was, "Do you think they'll take care of it?" My only response was, "I think they will because I noticed how they really appreciated the vintage designs and quality of construction. You can bet I had a very warm feeling about it all after the last pieces went out the front and back doors of my office.

I had a good internal laugh today when a retired gentleman stopped by to inquire about a home for sale. Since I've known him for a very many years, we had a good chat about happenings of late within our families. Somehow he got on the subject of a story I once told him many years ago, and to my surprise, he said he's shared it often.

Way back when, and more years than I care to recall, I told him about the time when I was likely 18 years old, and in that "hunting phase" most young men go thru. Well, one late afternoon, I was out in the grove doing some work and happened to notice a rabbit, so I quietly walked to the house and grabbed my 22 caliber rifle and went back out in more of a stealth mode. By that time, there were two of them running around. For whatever crazy reason, I decided to get down on the ground and see if I could line them up if only they'd both stop long enough for me to get one good shot. Well, as chance would have it, I got them both in the line of fire, and with one pull of the trigger, I dropped both of them.

Smarty pants me couldn't wait to take them back to the dooryard and holler for my mother to come out and have a look. While she was standing there at the door and looking out at those two dead rabbits, she non-nonchalantly said, "Looks like you're getting pretty good with that gun." In near dis-belief of her comment, I said, "Pretty good? I just dropped both of them with one shot!" "No you didn't." she insisted. "You only heard one shot didn't you?" I so smugly replied. End of story, but oh was that one lucky shot.

Today's gentleman said that there've been many he's told my story to who insisted I was using a shotgun, but he remained resolute that if he was telling a fib, then so had I. After he left, I was quite humbled to think that to this day, my lucky-shot story is still being passed around. When thinking about it, that's all I did was lay low enough and wait for those two rabbits to get themselves lined up for me. What was the big deal?

Tonight's one-liner is: All men commend patience, but few are willing to practice it.

original post... https://niowarealty.net/mason-city-2/2020/01/03/with-one-shot/