Alrighty, boys and girls....almost to the weekend...finally.Don't know about how YOU guys are "making out" (hopefully you've outgrown the "back-seat" gig for that by now...LOL), but we here in the Heartland of America are predicting a more than typical summer ahead.
You can see the idiot quotient rising like flood waters in Johnstown, PA.
Let's just say our "Moron Alert Level" has gone to ORANGE for now...!
Case in point...
Last night, around 2330 hrs, the missus had JUST gone to bed, and I was settling in watching another History channel show about Nostradamus, when I heard some kind of ruckus outside on the street.
A woman's voice was yelling "Dont touch me...leave me alone", and the male's voice said "I love 'ya, baby".(I knew that man was NOT Barry White, even if he tried to sound like him)
Now, since I live in one of the growing numbers of ghettohoods of Fort Wayne, I immediately knew there was some sort of "domestic" going on. I guess resolving issues INSIDE ONE'S HOUSE isn't the FIRST choice around here.
No one ever said these "locals" are the brightest crayons in the damn box, right? So the missus come downstairs, and I'm looking to see WHERE exactly the "20" is (location), so I can call the FWPD.
The couple had migrated to our intersection, and as they got just beyond it, a FWPD cruiser rolls up and not ONE...but TWO officers get out. My FIRST thought (after I realized someone ELSE might have called the police) was "Wow...someone FINALLY listened to me when I mentioned we need more TWO-OFFICER cars in THIS area".After my delight over that, I watched the officers separate the two, with the woman (clothes in hand, mind you) going with the officers, but NOT in custody (probably a drive to a safer place to crash for the night), and the male (no shirt on and obviously, part of the "saggy-bottom boys" contingent) walking back up the block to a neighboring street (which explains all those other police calls I've seen for THAT block).
Like I say...never a DULL moment here.
Still, Wifey DOES like to get her sleep...AND be relatively ALERT and AWAKE when she drives to school to teach the future of America, and I can relate to that. But, it's THIS type of behavior that is the norm around here.
A few years back, we had a bunch of "locals" alongside our house, late at night, arguing all over, with one person trying to drive a car over another. I went out with a spotlight in one hand, pistol in the other and "lit 'em all up".
After stating (loudly) that they needed to move the hell on, and that if they didn't, I wasn't going to be particular WHO I sent to the morgue first...they moved on along well enough..and NEVER came back (wonder why?) since.
This is the type of person I really don't WANT to be, but am forced to become, thanks to THEM.
I'd much prefer to be the happy-go-lucky, late 50's guy with two cats, a garden, a wife, and a "vintage" car.
But many times, we can't always get what we want...
(good song, btw)
So, by design, I am urged into a persona that I thought I left behind in another life.
I don't get PAID to police this neighborhood (lucky for the locals), and even if I was...the city couldn't possibly AFFORD me at this point in my life. I also don't get paid to do ANY of the city's jobs, and that includes trash removal, code enforcement, street cleaning...whatever.
Luckily, that's what PHONES and E-MAILS are for...(Bwahahaha)
Yet, aside from all that, I DO manage to swipe a few moments of clarity for things such as these:
This is our little slice of paradise (rabbit included)...of stability...of grounding...when we can enjoy it, that is.
It's a LOT more than we could have in a row home in Philly, and I've always said it reminds me of my late Nana's house in the Rhawnhurst section of N.E. Philly. We visited her (Mom and I) when I was a child, at least once a month (took THREE buses to get there), but it was worth every cent. And I remember it like it was last week.
Her street was tree-lined, with squirrels and birds...and green...lots of green, as in REAL LAWNS!
It's much like our CURRENT place here in Indiana.
Only the PEOPLE have changed (and not for the better, mind you).
Sadly, reality has a way of dragging you back into it's clutches.
But, all things considered...it COULD be a lot worse.
(just not by much)
As Americans, we have been allowed stewardship of a beautiful land, and for the most part, over the centuries, we've managed to do OK taking care of it, in spite of over-developing, and urban sprawl.
Whatever chunk of this land we find ourselves in possession of, we must always be aware that this is permitted us by our Creator.
We are the caretakers of the parcels we are allotted.
We make the choices that either preserve the land...or allow it to fall into disrepair.
And in the end, we have no one to blame for any mistakes we make...but ourselves.Our choice then becomes a simple one, right?
This is not some tree-hugging rhetoric, either...it's just good old COMMON SENSE.
THAT is what THIS nation, and it's people should always be about.
Be well, make a difference today, go plant something nice, and...
Stay safe out there, America.
11 comments:
Dear Bob,
Oh, my gracious. An actual response. It looks like your neighborhood might be on the mental map at last.
And WHAT a gorgeous backyard. I don't know what kind of flower that is, but it is heavenly. I don't blame Mr. Rabbit one bit for wanting to hang out with you guys!
Something about a garden is so restorative.
Wonderful post,
Ann T.
Ann:
Yeah, someone in the department must be "peepin" this blog...lol.
Love the mental map reference!
Had a feeling you'd appreciate the garden & yard - it's a work in progress, but I DO so love the "benefits"!
The purple flower is a CLEMATIS (as is the white one on the trellis)...and it's a CLIMBER.
The white & lavenders are COLUMBINES, and by mixing up the seeds (look like poppy seeds), we've got some interesting "mixes" of colors every year...and THOSE kind of surprises I can deal with!.
Mr. Bunny IS welcome as are his squirrel cousins and ALL the birds. (waiting on the hummers to show up).
Gardens are indeed restorative, and a place where you don't have to cogitate or worry one darn bit...
Just sit back, watch stuff grow, and let nature happen.
Just wait until the ASIAN LILLIES come to bloom...you'll LOVE those buggers!
(won't be long)
This small spread's not a bad deal for this old "city" boy...LOL.
Thanks so much for stopping on by.
Your "paradise" looks wonderful.
On the police call, I would guess the two officer unit was likely a training officer and a newbie.
Slamdunk:
Glad you like the garden/backyard...
Maybe we're "knockin' on heaven's door", because it sometimes seems like it's - ALMOST PARADISE there...LOL.
Hard to believe that our HOUSE...PLUS this yard is "only" worth a mere $20.9 K these days (down from $76.K a few years ago), isn't it?
Re: the 2 car unit -
'Ya know, I thought that myself - about a probie & his PTO...makes sense to me, esp. w/ summer comin' on.
(that probie JUST got a taste of what he can expect EVERY SHIFT down here)
Lucky HIM, eh?
Thanks a lot for swinging by.
The backyard is great - hope you don't get weeds like we do - wait - you get weeds - yours just have two legs and walk about with saggy pants...
I love the flowers - we used to have columbine (pink ones) in back of our house - we'd pick off the flowers and suck the juice out of the little bulbs on top when I was a kid. And eat all the rhubarb from the plants too
Diane:
Yeah, we got "weeds"...and DANDELIONS, too...LOL.
(cute)
Juice from columbines?
Gotta try that one.
(we just did honeysuckle)
Mom would have LOVED you...her and her rhubarb!
(to me, it's just bloodshot celery...LMAO)
Thanks for stopping by.
oh man, rhubarb is so great! But at our local store, its $7.99 a POUND! I don't know how many stalks to a pound, but I'm not paying that much for it. Too hot down here for rhubarb, which sucks. I was looking through my email, and came across this picture of maybe what someone would look like in your neighborhood>> http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/05/05/funny-pictures-rollin-dey-hatin/
Bob:
Oh, more inspiration to reclaim my back yard from what a few years of neglect on my part has done to it! So far in my hacking and chopping I have found three different forms of EVIL VINES. I rebuked the pointy one in the name of Jesus! (Only HALF kiddingly) Unfortunately, it has not whithered (yet). I worked over the front yard two years ago, and enjoy the benefits regularly.
Do I read you right that your house has sunk to a value of $20,900? WOW. (Brief pause while T.O. goes and checks real estate prices...back now.) Nothing in my development (excluding foreclosures) lists for less than 49 K. Now, east of us, in lesser neighborhoods but still in the Hickman Mills SD (not the dreaded and infamous KCMSD), you can find a few houses in that 20 K price range. Oddly, many of them were near houses (sometimes the same street!) that listed in the $70-80 K range. Our prices never went batshit crazy around here, generally, so the popping of the real estate bubble was fairly gentle, but crime has taken its toll on the area east of me as far as house values go.
I'm catching your caps habit, as well as your other typographical quirks--see my latest post.
T.O.
Diane:
You should try growing it yourself...should be easy enough, and it'll cost a LOT LESS than $8 a pound...
Then, 'ya can open a stand up and sell it for $5 a pound...and make some spare "foldin'money"...!
'Ya never know until 'ya try, eh?
:)
Oh how pretty, what a nice oasis of beauty for you and Mrs Bobby. You should be very proud of your green thumb. Thanks for sharing.
MSN:
It's not a large chunk of land...just a SINCERE one.
Never thought I'd wind up with a GREEN thumb, coming from a land o' concrete...LOL.
Goes to show you never can tell what you can accomplish.
I've often called this "Our island of REASON in a sea of INSANITY".
But I DO like to call it an OASIS.
(how did'ya know?)
Thanks for stopping by to comment.
:)
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