Two More Imps
These exceptionally windy days have been enough to make a person go batty because it seems each year we've experienced all the more wind, and by the looks of all the branches and even entire old-growth trees coming down, I'd say even they're not used to its strength, and due to yesterday's wind, I wasn't able to get all the felled tree branches picked up.
I arrived at office early enough to get myself settled for another Monday, and in spite of it being a bit slower than usual, I found myself busied with enough real estate related stuff to where I really didn't have much of a downtime.
My first out of office appointment was to meet with a new tenant over at the Lake to do his walk-thru and sign a lease on a property he's renting from a client of mine. Since he's not from North Iowa, I gave him my 15 minute overview of Clear Lake and was quick to point out that he was moving there at about the worst time of the year because when summer hits, it's an entirely different community. Being a young professional, I was quick to add that he may find the nightlife there much to his liking, but also warned that the "crowd mentality" can create happenings, which come the next morn, he'd find embarrassingly regrettable. Oh well, we were all young and dumb once upon a time.
Being already close-by their Fareway, I figured I might as well do some shopping on my lunch hour. I picked up a few things, and all the more delighted to find they had the Softscrub gel in a blue bottle I've been looking for, which caused me to be thankful I decided to stop. Knowing how well it works, I could go over the road promoting it as the best cleaner I've ever used on sinks, bathtubs, countertops, appliances, and my list goes on. Considering the number of times I've found stores out of it, I'd say it's quickly catching on with our general public.
I'm finding myself backing away from reading much of our national and international news due to all the craziness I'm finding, and after hearing from a client of mine today how people in North Iowa are posting such trash on Facebook, you can be sure I'll not be reading any of their tripe. The sensationalism within our social medias, is for me, bordering on being nauseous. Unfortunately, most people don't understand that the more we view such crap, the more our sensitivities are eroded, and believe me, that's not a good thing. I know it sounds a bit drastic when saying that many of the enlisted workers in those Nazi concentration camps and death houses, were in near-faint horror when first seeing how those poor souls lived and subsequently died, but after being exposed to it on a daily basis, they grew increasingly numbed by it all. Yes, it's a bit of a drastic comparison, but still parallels what happens to us when being bombarded on a daily basis by those nasty social media photos and videos.
One of my dear old colleagues stopped by my office when I returned from Clear Lake to have a good chat. Our visit centered around the good old days and subsequent new ways of selling real estate. I shared three recent examples of how this extreme thoughtlessness and selfishness has seeped into the characters of all the many who're out buying and selling due to their being consumed by irrational exuberance. The most recent happening was his jaw-drop which caused him to exclaim, "I'm glad I retired from the profession when I did!" He then asked with a troubled look on his face, "How do you manage to keep yourself from going crazy over it all?" I assured him that every time such things happen, I work very hard at ridding myself of vengeful thoughts by sending them out into the universe for karma who'll do whatever settling of scores are necessary. His visit was much longer than I'd expected, but certainly glad he showed up for a long-overdue chat. Before walking out, I couldn't help adding, "It seems in these times, whenever one of the devils exit our lives, there are two more imps appearing." He got a good acknowledging chuckle out of it.
I had another appointment with new tenants at a home which happens to be one of the most charming I've been asked to help rent. In spite of it being small, the owners have been exceptionally careful about keeping it in good repair and looking smart. The owner had a list of to-do's and not to-do's on its kitchen counter which I went over with them. After having been with them twice, I'm of the belief the owners won't have an ounce of trouble with them because they even went so far as to ask about changing furnace filters, smoke detector batteries, how to keep the kitchen hood fan filter clean, my recommendation on the cleaning products to use, and so on. They also asked about the neighborhood in general which was my queue that they were the type who wanted no trouble-causing neighbors. Of course my last words were, "Like with all good homes, if you take care of them, they'll take good care of you." While we were walking the back yard, I spied a baby Red Cedar growing which the previous residents must've continued to mow over. I didn't say anything to the new tenants, but you can be sure I'll be asking the owners if I can dig it up and transplant it.
The reason why I love Red Cedars is for two reasons; they're the only native evergreens to our State, and their needles are so sharp, the deer and rabbits nearly never eat them unless they're on thresholds of starvation. Of course their berries are food for our wintering birds which is why we see so many of them sprouting up along fence-lines and nature reserves. They eat them, their bodies process them, and then their seeds get later dispersed sometimes even miles away. Of course that's how those nasty European Buckthorns are spread as well, which is another educational road-tour I should be taking to teach people the real down-sides of allowing them to grow in North Iowa. No matter what anyone else says, all greenery, is not all good.
Tonight's One-liner is: I pick my favorite quotations and store them in my mind as readied armor, offensive or defensive, amid the struggles of these tumultuous times.
original post ... https://niowarealty.net/life/2020/11/16/two-more-imps/