Good Morning All! Only one shopping day left until Valentine’s Day!
Speaking of Valentine’s Day, our dear friend Nico in Portland will be celebrating his birthday tomorrow. Nico’s middle name is “Valentino”…pretty appropriate, wouldn’t you say? Here’s to you, Nico! Have fun on your special day of celebration! Thanks for your friendship over the years and for helping our son Jake learn how to play a pretty decent round of golf!
Speaking of Valentine’s Day again, there was a sweet article in our local paper, “The Spokesman-Review,” featuring long-time friends Ray & Donna Kuhn. Come to find out from the article, our friend Ray was on the first nuclear-powered submarine to circumnavigate the earth without surfacing…How about that? Here’s to Ray & Donna, who have been married for 58 years! You set the standard for longevity in relationships, for sure!
Speaking of birthdays, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our dear friend James, who is celebrating his birthday today in sunny Hawaii! Here’s to you, James! You make this world of ours a much better place! And Happy Birthday to our friend Kristol, who celebrates her birthday today as well! Today also marks the birthday of actress Kim Novak of Big Sur, California (one of my favorite places, for sure), who turns 87 today; to one of my favorite actors George Segal, who is 86 today; to actress Stockard Channing of “Grease” movie fame, who turns 76 today (hard to believe!); and actor Neal McConough, who is 54 today. Here’s to all of you!
Here’s to Spokane entrepreneur and civic leader, Vern Ziegler of “Ziegler Lumber Company” fame, who died last week at the age of 84 of Alzheimer’s Disease. I had the pleasure of meeting Vern a time or two over the course of my professional career and he was always gracious and kind to me. He and his wife supported a number of charitable causes in our community in addition to being a successful business owner. Vern was “ahead of his time” in opening lumber & hardware stores for “do it yourselvers” in home improvements/remodeling, well before the advent of “Home Depot” or “Lowe’s” Spokane and the Inland Northwest is certainly a better place because of his efforts. Here’s to Vern Ziegler and everyone connected with what is popularly known as “Ziggy’s”…”Ziggy’s…yeah…Ziggy’s!
Here’s the funny story (hilarious faux pas) for the day:
Our local newspaper reported this morning that Target, which is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was carrying marroon onesies in their baby clothes section with the words “Minnesota Badgers,” the nickname of Big Ten arch rival Wisconsin! How about that? The fan website “GopherHole.com” tweeted a photo from a woman who noticed the onesies while shopping Sunday at a Target in Minneapolis. “Color us red,” Target said in a statement. “As a Minnesota-based company, we know we are home to the Gophers.” Kileigh Carpenter, a former University of Minnesota employee who spotted the onesie, told the Star Tribune newspaper she was “happy to see both fan bases unite.” The onesies were available at four Minneapolis-area stores. Target said two were purchased and the remaining 22 were returned to the vendor. What a perfect case of mistaken identity…Go Minnesota Badgers!…or should I say Go Wisconsin Gophers or…???
How about those Gonazaga Bulldog Men’s & Women’s Teams? Will they “go all the way” this year??? We can only hope so. They are fun to watch, for sure! And speaking of Bulldog basketball players, isn’t it remarkable that Gonzaga (the Zags) had six players playing in NBA games last night…Brandon Clarke for the Memphis Grizzlies (he scored 27 points!); Rui Hachimura for the Washington Wizards; Zach Norvell, Jr. (“Snacks”—one of my all-time favorite Zags) for the Los Angeles Lakers; Kelly Olynyk for the Miami Heat; Jeremy Pargo for the Los Angeles Lakers and Damantas Sabonis for the Indiana Pacers (he got his normal “double-double” last night). How about that? Pretty remarkable, don’t you think?
There was a great editorial that appeared in our local newspaper in late December last year addressing some aspects of the serious housing shortage that we in Spokane, and across the nation, are facing. This particular editorial was written by someone who is attempting to provide decent, affordable housing to folks, but find themselves having to contend with increasing governmental regulations/requirements dealing with landlord/tenant relations making it increasingly difficult for “good” landlords to continue to want to rent housing at affordable rates rather than just sell them and take them off the rental market. My wife and I find ourselves in the same situation, as we own some rentals in Spokane and work hard to provide our good quality rental homes at below market rental rates to help young families. There’s no question that Spokane suffers from “errant landlords” or some could say “slum landlords” who put nothing back into their properties, but rent them out at unreasonable rates. Government should take action against such landlords when appropriate through vigorous enforcement of building codes through the City’s Code Enforcement office. However, penalizing “good” landlords makes no sense. Our City has been contemplating imposing a “relocation fee” on landlords when tenants vacate their rentals due to non-payment of rent. This fee could be as high as $2,000 per relocation. Here’s the editorial letter which appeared in our local paper. I think it’s worthy to read:
“I am a typical Spokane “mom and pop” landlord. I own just two small rental homes in Northeast Spokane. I bought these two properties to create additional income in my retirement. I am a conscientious landlord. I keep both units in good condition, attractive both inside and out, and I respond to and try to correct any problems within 24 hours. I rent each of these at a reasonable $800 per month, well below the typical $1,000 for an apartment. Not bad for a well-kept 2-bedroom, 1-bath, fenced yard standalone home. Therefore I am watching with interest the progress of the proposed Landlord Tenant Ordinance. If the city is looking for a good way to make the rental housing shortage worse they have hit upon a great way to accomplish that goal. As a landlord, I have no way of knowing if a potential tenant is or may become “rent burdened.” This makes me a sitting duck for the $2,000 fee that I may have to pay to help relocate my tenant. It isn’t worth the risk to continue to be a landlord. So here is what I plan to do if this ordinance becomes law. As each of my tenants notify me that they plan to vacate, instead of re-renting the houses, I will put each up for sale, thus benefiting from the current home sale price bubble. I will also rid myself of worrying about getting sucked into a $2,000 fee. I have a feeling that I will not be the only small-time landlord to find this solution. So there it is: the City Council has thought up a way to make a problem even worse.”
—Editorial letter by Sharon Piper, “The Spokesman-Review”, December 20, 2019, “Northwest Section,” page 3.
Here is the word definition for the day:
Slipshod: “Characterized by a lack of care, thought or organization”…”(of shoes) worn down at the heel.” Many rental units in Spokane’s East Central & West Central neighborhoods could be considered to be maintained in a “slipshod” manner!
Here’s the trivia question for the day:
Q: Which of the following nominated movies for Best Picture in 1981 won the Academy Award?…”Chariots of Fire”…”Reds”…”On Golden Pond”…or “Raiders of the Lost Ark”?
A: “Chariots of Fire” is a 1981 British historical drama film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics, Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture. It is ranked 19th in the British Film Institute’s list of Top 100 British films. The film is also notable for its memorable electronic theme tune by Vangelis, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“I love watching Anthony Kim play, but I’m not a fan of the way he grips down a good two inches on his full-swing shots. Choking down lightens the club’s swing weight and effectively makes the shaft stiffer. It also makes it difficult to hit the ball high enough for all situations.”
—Lee Trevino, PGA golfing great
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.”
—C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”
Here’s to a great Thursday and lots of love and good wishes to all!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)