Monday Musings...
Well, it wasn't a "bad" weekend (all things considered). Both of our vehicles are now the proud possessors of brand new LOCKING GAS FILLER CAPS. Only cost about $12.99.
And the fellow at Auto Zone (on Bluffton Rd) said he's noticed an increase in such caps being purchased, so MAYBE there's more than EIGHT of you out there reading this blog.
The Missus and I figured while we were out in Waynedale, we'd do all the trips there (and practice our "hyper-miling")....it turned out to be a rather mixed bag of satisfaction.
And that surprised even me. Waynedale's always worked well for us.
While at the Scotts/Krogers there, we got our lunch meats at the deli (nicely refurbished), but the woman there (who happened to be black) could NOT figure out what the hell the word THIN meant (as in THINLY-SLICED). Cripes, Kraft Singles slices were thinner than what WE wound up with (think SLAB instead of SLICE). Sorry, not going to go back there again for QUITE a while. We're just plain white folks desiring THIN sliced cold cuts, so you can go right ahead and give us ANY thickness YOU want, because we won't say anything...we're too guilty over your oppression (rolls eyes)...yeah, right...

The Walgreens down there didn't have several items I was looking for. At least the trek to K-Mart prior netted us some nice plants (and some cheap footwear).
On our return to "Homestead Heights", we also stopped by Broadview Nursery and picked up some more plants/flowers for the garden, because WE are among those of you that still DO give a rat's ass about how nice "our" property SHOULD look (as opposed to the "locals" around my area who can ONLY think of when "Mary Jane" is coming to the 'hood).
I also tried out the NEW brand of Ortho-Max for the lawn...the kind that kills WEEDS ONLY, and leaves the lawn alone. We'll see how that shakes out.
Still, MY lawn still looks nicer than most everyone else's (like the person's "lawn" pictured here - the field of dandelions). Then again, I get OUT of it what I put INTO it (and that would be some "sweat equity" IN - Satisfaction OUT).
So that was basically the extent of "Bob's Excellent Adventure" for the past 48 hours.
It's what was allowed to transpire all around us during that time that makes for better commentary. Read on.
Some house down the block was having a "Gathering".
And like some Stephen King novel (think Children of the Corn), nothing good could possibly come of that. You get used to KNOWING that around here.
These gatherings would seem innocuous enough in other, nicer neighborhoods, IF ONLY certain aspects of CIVILITY were maintained in THIS neighborhood. Such is not the case around here. Gatherings are to be enjoyed by anyone AND everyone...no matter if you WANT to participate in them or not. You simply have NO CHOICE (and few options).
I'm talking about (mainly) NOISE...as in cacophony of what is supposed to pass for "music" these days, as well as screaming, honking, etc.
Now, I've been to MY share of shindigs, parties, cookouts...whatever, and NEVER in ALL those events over ALL those years were the police called on us, or were we so damn loud that it bothered people at the other ends of other blocks. WE practiced something the aborigines around here talk about, but obviously have NO CONCEPT as to what the words they are using actually MEAN.
And that is good old-fashioned RESPECT.
We RESPECTED other people (as well as THEIR property), because we were brought up to NOT go out of our way to piss people off. People (usually) don't LIKE to be pissed off.
Ask anyone.
Or better yet, go piss them off FIRST, and THEN ask them if they ENJOYED it (as you're dodging a fist or something worse). Bet you'll get an answer quick enough.
But of course, I'm referring to CIVILIZED PEOPLE...NOT my "neighbors".
Over the past 10 years, we've seen more and more LOUD, and less and less QUIET. And there's only ONE explanation for it. It's the PEOPLE (and their cultural nuances). Those that have LEFT the area, took the "quiet" with THEM, and those moving INTO the area brought their "noise" with THEM.
Curiously enough, the ones moving in were all BLACK. Now is this a racist comment? Hell no...it's a factual observation of skewed cultural mores. Since I just happen to be WHITE, it will appear racist, and those who perceive it as such DON'T LIVE in this area, and DON'T KNOW me. It's that simple.
But back to these "gatherings"...
When these folks crank it up, you feel as if the area has developed a "heartbeat", because that's ALL you hear...thump...thump..thump, for as long as the gathering lasts.
There are the rare times when music is not the issue. It could be street football, or something similar. Whatever the case, rest assured that wherever the gathering takes place, it WILL eventually filter down onto or at least very near YOUR house. Then we have to call the police to shoo these critters away (until they forget what the police told them a few minutes ago and return). Like many other things in life, selective memory loss for these people is CYCLICAL.
Makes you long for the days when you USED to be able to sit down a READ A BOOK, or watch a HOUR of TV, or just put some music on, and think of nothing or no one for a spell, all SANS interruptions.
Just doesn't happen these days (unless the police are IN the area, and then all goes deader than a doornail for 15 minutes). Time for a POWER NAP!
You just pray there's nothing like last year's week-long "party" for that dead girl up the block...over a hundred vehicles coming and going to all hours, some even trying to park IN YOUR DRIVEWAY.
Yeah...lots of "respect" being shown there, right?
"But have you tried talking to them about this?", is the question I am always asked. And I have to say that in the beginning, I tried to do that (being polite, smiling...the whole 9 yards)...and got nowhere, real fast (unless you call having a gun pulled on you diversified progress in communication). I do not.
So now, I won't waste my time nor the expenditure of my energy in some vain attempt to REASON with them.

Plainly put, there is little if any "reasoning" with ANY of them. I would much rather attempt to reason with an injured and hungry lion than I would these folks. And yet WE (whites) are always the ones MADE to feel guilty. Doesn't work for me. I won't buy into that propaganda no matter HOW CHEAP it's priced.
But I will state that those "people" I have mentioned DO need to think about others instead of themselves...and a lot more often. They are NOT the ONLY ones living on this planet, nor this neighborhood.
When I hear about "embracing diversity", I get sick to my stomach. Not one single mook around here since my good neighbors have moved has even attempted the slightest foray into "embracing MY diversity".

And it's not that I'm UN-embraceable.
Quite the reverse.

I'm pretty easy to befriend, but I will not take anything or anyone at face value, and especially not around here. After a few decades, you can size most everyone up in about 5 seconds, and it's very rare that you are incorrect in your appraisal of that person or persons.
When you demonstrate by your actions and behavior that you are the type of person I can call friend, wild horses can't stop that from happening.
I simply just don't see it here...and probably never will again.
And that's perhaps the best reason as to why I dread any "gathering" in our neighborhood. It's not that I'm excluded FROM them, which is actually a godsend for me, for I wouldn't want to associate with them, it's that these folks want to include my PROPERTY in their partying as part of their own personal communal playground.
Sorry, it's a "package deal".
You want my property? Treat ME with respect first.
You don't want me? Then stay off of the property...period.
I don't think that's asking too much of them...but when you stop to consider THE WAY THEY ARE...it probably is too much complex thinking for them (white and black trash alike) to process at one sitting anyway.
So it becomes a love-hate relationship.
I love my house AND I hate them.
And THEY have to live with what THEY have created...which would be (among other things) my ever-so-pleasing demeanor towards them.
But hey, how many civilized nations can YOU name where you can bother absolutely NO ONE, and yet GET BOTHERED by everyone...all in the name of freedom, eh?
Somehow, I don't think the framers of the Constitution had anything like "this" in mind when they spoke of freedom, OR liberty.