Rise Up Against Their Dictator

The rain we received last night didn't seem to amount to anything, so hopefully the storm that's on it's way this evening, will be offering up much more. This was definitely not the year to plant trees because they'd likely have to be watered every other day to keep their roots healthy enough to make it thru the coming winter. In spite of my having used a great deal of moisture retaining mulch in my vegetable garden this season, the plants are still struggling. The pepper plants I started from seed, are now starting to blossom, but they're continuing to struggle. It's looking more like our summers are going to be hotter and drier, and definitely due to global warming.

My British cucumbers are doing quite well, and now to the point where they're offering up enough for me to have my all-time favorite cucumber salad every evening. Between the freshness of those cucumbers and the richness of the ingredients, I could have that as my salad 365 days out of the year. About a month ago I purchased a British cucumber out of the produce section of Fareway, which didn't taste anything like what I've been growing. Yes, I am quite the spoiled brat when it comes to garden fresh fruits and veggies.

After getting settled-in at office, I proceeded to print out the closing statements I'd received from a bank which were for the closing I have coming up on Friday. I was glad to find the processor had come up with the same numbers I'd given her last week. So with the exception of my final walk-thru with the buyer, I'm ready to get it closed-out.

I received a distress call late this morning from the buyer of that home, asking for help in finding an insurance agency which would insure her new home, so I called the current owner and asked him what agency he's been using, and luckily he knew the name of his agent, so I called the buyer back and gave her the agent's contact information. About a half hour later she called back and told me I was definitely the 'go to' person for anything having to do with preparing for a closing. I had to remind her that I've been following a given protocol for a number of years, which has long ago been hard-coded.

Yes, I was glad to be of service.

While I was on our City's website and looking for something in the minutes of our recent City Council Meeting, I happened to notice another recommendation for the city to sign a purchase agreement on a home located at 703 S. Pierce, and when I sat back and started mentally driving down that street, I suspected it was likely that little house that's in the middle of the block on the east side of the street, so I looked it up, and sure enough, it was the one. Of course I asked myself why in the world would our city be buying that property. I was actually at its front door delivering meals on wheels to an elderly lady a number of years ago. Curious me then had to drive by it this afternoon while I was out on errands, and for better or worse, it didn't look as bad as some of the homes I see people living in. Yes, it appeared vacant, so we'll see what our city's plans are for it. I tell you what, it seems every time I read the council's agenda and those minutes, I find something questionable, which makes me wonder how many in our general public actually follow each and every one of those council meetings. Truth be told, I used to follow them, but since they're doing the 'Zoom' thing, I didn't want to bother. I'm now wondering if those meetings are still televised. I'll have to check on it.

One of my long-time clients stopped by today asking if I'd show them a home tomorrow, so I sent a text to the listing agent, and later got a confirmation we were good to go. For whatever reason, I was compelled to check on the real estate taxes, so I went on our County Treasurer's website and did some checking. Well, I must've had some sort of Divine message to look them up, and only because the listing agent had the taxes well over a thousand dollars less than they really are. After I double-checked the figures, I sent a very matter-of-fact message to the listing agent regarding that discrepancy. Fortunately, I was later sent a message saying they were corrected, so at least I won't have to be doing any explaining to my buyers tomorrow. Can you imagine how angry a buyer would be if they found out their taxes ended up being well over a thousand dollars more than was stated. I don't even want to think about how an average buyer would react after they'd purchased it.

After reading all the online news feeds, I was exceptionally glad over Turkey's nod of approval on accepting Sweden into NATO. Yes, their entry is going to shore-up NATO's boundaries in the Arctic Circle. Isn't it so amazing when thinking Putin's invasion of Ukraine, was to stop the expansion of NATO, but in the end, it's grown larger and stronger. One very interesting article I had to read in its entirety, was one written by a Belarusian political journalist who was saying how much the people of Belarus must work at getting rid of their current leader who's basically Putin's puppet, and work towards integrating themselves into NATO and subsequently the European Union. The journalist gave a stern warning that Putin is slowly trying to incorporate Belarus into Russia, which the bulk of the Belarusians do not want. I thought reading that article was sort of creepy/cool, because it wasn't that long ago I had thoughts about Putin quietly taking full control of Belarus. Now would be the perfect time for their general public to rise up against their dictator.

With about an hour to kill this afternoon, I spent some time at piano with my running thru a number of challenging pieces, just so I could give my fingering and sight-reading skills a good workout. I must've got a little carried away because by the time I called it quits, I was actually beginning to perspire. Ok, some go running to the gym for their exercise, where I go running to the keyboard. Too funny.

Tonight's One-liner is: Some are made modest by great praise, while others become insolent.

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