Turned Into Half-Alive Ghost Towns
Another wet and windy day arrived again, and from what they've been saying, we're not thru this period of rain and cold. Someone did tell me today that thus far, we've received upwards of four inches of rain since this started several days ago, and I can believe it because the levels of our streams and rivers are definitely on the rise.
My office duties and appointments were somewhat lighter than normal, so I busied myself with some additional prepping of those files scheduled to close in the near future.?I was a little disgusted after receiving a text from a contractor saying he couldn't make an appointment I had with him at a property, and the soonest he'd be able to make it, was next Wednesday. Of course I had no other choice but to agree on the change of date and time. Like I've said before, we are definitely in need of more young people getting into the trades, and only because all the many more are retiring and no one to fill their shoes.
I did place a quick call to a client of mine who's casually looking for an up-scale home, just to let him know about a gem that recently came on the market. I figured it would be a long shot when knowing it's located on the wrong side of town for them, so we'll see if they call back for an appointment to view it.
While I was deeply focused on getting some local news read, a long-time nemesis of mine came to mind which caused a distraction, so I got up and went to make myself a cup of hot green tea, and while in preparation, the floodgates of memory came rushing in, which brought back vivid memories of the number of downright despicable things he'd done to me over these long years. After I finally settled myself down with my tea cup, I was reminded once again, how jealousy and greed walk hand in hand. I'm sure if you sat me down and asked me to go into detail about what he's done, you'd be in complete agreement regarding my thoughts, yet even now, he thinks he's done no wrong, along with making the world around him believe he's an upright church-going citizen. I've never once been a believer of anything that's come out of his mouth, and especially when he turns on his quiet and breathy evocative voice. Yes, that's all just part of his game of pulling people into his dirty little circle.
Being a little wicked, I couldn't help remembering a hand-full of stuttering Stanleys whom I soon learned that when the stuttering starts, the lies begin piling up. Of course there's also that rapid batting of the eyes which has been said, the more you blink, the less you're thinking, which in turn creates words and phrases that end up being meaningless. I remember being in a meeting with a rapid-eye blinker a number of years ago, and since I was paying close attention to what I was being told, I later discovered that person being in denial of the bulk of what I was told, which I later decided to be just a bunch of words coming out of a very nervous person's mouth. Unfortunately, I believe that person's still doing it, and of course getting away with it. There've been volumes written about how we can recognize those tell-tale signs of people who're prone to lie on a regular basis. I've been chastised more than once by my peers over the years regarding my so-called 'gifted' ability to sense when someone's lying to me. It's really not a gift, but rather the end-product of a keen observation.
Since I had more free time today, I started getting myself caught up on the various happenings in both our City's government, and Clear Lake's. As long as people know where to look on our City's website, it becomes very revealing reading when taking the time to go through our City Administrator's monthly report, which is quite lengthy, but also illuminating, and especially when you start connecting the dots with who got what from our Federal, State and Local governments. I've decided we'll never be rid of those mindsets of, "If it's there to be had, I'm gonna take it." There were three key items which most would've brushed past, which I've already made note of as being totally wrong. I'll never understand how some can sleep nights.
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When reading about the State of Arizona's problem they now have with a Saudi Arabian company leasing huge tracks of public lands where they're growing alfalfa from the water they're pumping out of a precious aquifer, and then baling it and shipping it back to Saudi Arabia to feed their cows. It sounds like the people who signed off on those leases are no long in office, but there's gonna be a real reckoning once the general public gets wind of it. There's no doubt the Sate of Arizona will be canceling those leases.
I'm sure you also know that China is buying up our farmland with a vengeance, which I've always considered to be totally wrong, and only because they're out-competing our own farmers, and especially the young who want to make a career out of farming. An old codger living up in North Dakota whom I've not spoken to in a good seven years, was gloating at the time about how the prices of North Dakota farmland had spiked. Unfortunately he's one of those who doesn't understand cause and effect, but rather how much he'll get when they decide to sell their farmland at auction. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize he's likely already past his own expiration date.
At least three decades ago, I read a very well written article in Time magazine about how the Upper-Midwest will be transformed into one big corporate farm, along with all the small towns being turned into half-alive ghost towns that are only being sustained by agriculture-related operations. The cities the size of Mason City will also be struggling until they implode, and the only remaining, will be the regional 'hubs' like Waterloo, Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids and the list goes on. Because we are up and away from those centers, there's still hope, but with Albert Lea being so close, I'm not so sure Mason City would be the winner, and only because they have the Interstate 90 corridor.
Tonight's One-liner is: The chasm between who we are, and who we thought we would be, is always something we're negotiating.