Friday Follies...
Before we get rolling this morning, a word of CAUTION - It's FREAKING COLD OUTSIDE...!
The current wind-chill at 0630 hours in the Summit City is right around 15 BELOW ZERO..and THAT my friends IS colder than a witch's teat in a brass brassiere, trust me.
But, if you've got a pet penguin...or polar bear (and in this day and age of FADS...who doesn't, right?), I'll bet THEY'RE loving it.
So, I'm wondering WHY, with all this cold, do we STILL have ICE CUBE TRAYS in our refrigerators???
Leave the damn drink OUTSIDE for say...FIVE minutes. Oh yeah, it'll be COLD all right (if not frozen solid)!
It felt like I was channeling Robert Scott, Roald Amundsen, and Ernest Shackelton...all at once...and even THEY were telling me how cold it was!
The plows came through our area, creating on some streets only ONE lane (where TWO lanes is the norm), so you can bet your bottom dollar THAT is creating some really "interesting" traffic patterns as you navigate those areas.
Then again...this IS the SOUTHEAST side of town...always ignored...shit end of stick...yeah, you get the idea.
*** We recently have had some "private" plow come up our ALLEY (the ONLY one in the immediate area that is plowed...how curious).
And the snow is piled up across the street and into the NEXT block's alley entrance...(how ignorant).
What I find hinky about this deal, is that ONLY TWO houses that are currently occupied have direct garage access from the alley, and we know ONE of those homeowners (she's a self-reliant kind of person) and can drive in damn near any weather...AND she knows what a shovel is used for.
So she can't be the one "calling" for this plow, which leaves the house at the other end of the block...one of those places that receives a lot of "traffic" to and from the house.
Now, SOMEONE "needs" to have our alley CLEARED...for SOME reason (easy access in and out), and it sure is NOT the city Code Enforcement, Serv-All trash trucks, OR the FWPD.
I haven't seen the truck (yet), but by the tracks it left, it's definitely NOT a city vehicle...the tread pattern is too small...more like a pickup w/ a plow on the front.
My hunch is that whoever this "someone" is, needs to have a clear "route" from the house to whoever else is using the alley (that doesn't live around here) to make it easier to move "something" (drugs or money...I can't tell).
Now, "IF" I were part of a more PROACTIVE police department, I would get V/N on this to see WTF is going on and WHY the alley is suddenly being plowed when every other alley is not.
I know I don't really like to have MY back gate PLOWED IN (2 feet high) when I might need that access area at some point.
Naturally, I sent the information along with pictures of how the alley was plowed to our quadrant captain, in the hope that someone can question this person.
I know yesterday, I didn't even HEAR the damn truck come up the alley, and I've been watching for him...pretty damn sneaky, huh?
*** Schools are again on a 2-hour delay, and the Missus was saying that even Coliseum Blvd. was nasty driving yesterday. Not much is going to change in that regard, given the LOW temperatures we're presently "enjoying".
*** A rally was held uptown last evening for FWCS teachers who are (deservedly) upset at the "direction" Mitch Daniels and Education "czar" Tony Bennett are heading. A shame...I thought Bennett would be GOOD for Indiana's educational system...I might have thought wrong there.
(yeah, it even happens to me once in a while).
The whole teacher accountability issue is one I plan to explore using the educational "triangle" sometime next week, and having married a teacher, you can be sure I've got a pretty good source of "first-hand" information, so stay tuned for that.
*** Crime seems back in full swing here (again).
Didn't take long for the mooks to get their criminal mojo back, and get to setting about being the typical RPIAs we've come to know (and arrest).
The radio sounded like a "typical" day around town...break-ins, batteries, fights...you name it, we got it (back).
And as soon as the level-4 emergency was lifted, you could almost here that criminal "sigh of relief".
(Gee, I thought it was the wind gusting...silly me)
*** This story caught my attention, even though it happened down in Decatur IN:
(( Racing snowmobiler injured - Anne Gregory The Journal Gazette
A snowmobile race across an Adams County field Wednesday ended with a trip to the hospital and surgery for a Decatur man.
Jeffry Keuneke, 31, was hurt about 4 p.m. when his snowmobile hit a bump that threw him from the seat, Indiana Conservation officers said in a written statement.
He tumbled several times, landing face down, it said, and had a broken wrist and cuts on the face – both requiring surgery.
Keuneke was taken to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, where he was listed in fair condition Thursday morning.
Alcohol was ruled out as a factor, the statement said. It also said Keuneke was not wearing a helmet. ))
Now this happened in a RURAL area...not even on a residential street (as I saw the other night).
I mean our streets aren't the SMOOTHEST surfaces to go riding those on...that's for sure. And all those utility poles and street signs...just waiting to "leap out" and grab those riders...not a good thing...LOL!
*** Paul Helmke is at it AGAIN.
Here's a link to the story in today's paper:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110204/LOCAL08/302049980
Now, good old Paul (who was IMHO never a good old mayor, at least not when it came to the SE part of town, and who you Aboiters can "thank" for being ANNEXED into the city to help PAY for all the welfare queens and Bebe's kids) needs to go hunting...preferably with Dick Cheney.
I almost feel like pulling a Godfather, and send him a deceased equine along with a baseball bat and tell him to beat THAT for a while, instead of pushing for all this GUN control. He just won't get it, and that's pretty damn sad.
It is NEVER about GUN control, Paul...it's ALL about the PERSON wielding it, though.
If we, as a society need to control ANYTHING, it's the ACCESS to those guns...and NOT the guns (or accessories thereof), kapeesh?
And the BEST way to control access to guns, is to find out WHO has some kind of mental issue.
It's the SOCIOPATHS who are the risk, and NOT Joe or Jane Citizen.
Take the Hasan shootings at Fort Hood.
That was a situation where both the FBI as well as the military dropped the ball.
When several red flags go UP, you don't stand around and say: "Ooh, what a bunch of beautiful flags...don't they all wave nicely in the breeze?"
You INVESTIGATE it, because that is a DISTRESS warning sign.
Regarding the AZ shootings, if the military didn't think he (Jared Loughner) was going to work out for THEM, should that not have been a sign that "something" was wrong somewhere? Ditto for the VT shootings. That guy also had instability problems, and yet, no one mentioned it, and if someone did, there was NO followup.
We've become a society where we summarily dismiss potential problems for that universal "feel-good, everyone's a winner" mindset...and that can get you KILLED (a lot).
None of us are perfect, but there ARE more than a few out there who are a LOT LESS perfect than even we are...a LOT less, indeed.
And yet, "we" lump them in with the rest of the decent folks...much like the way the educational system "mainstreams" the problem kids (read incorrigible juvenile delinquents) right in there next to YOUR sons or daughters, and then we wonder WHY we have bullying...or worse in the schools?
Used to be a time when "bad kids" were remanded into schools that "specialized" in a particular kind of tough love in order to have THEM achieve just as well as their normal public school counterparts...and that worked a lot better than grouping all the bad-asses in with regular kids.
Same used to be said to adult society.
We USED to have asylums, where people with severe societal issues were housed. Today, they walk our streets, shop at our stores and sometimes, buy our guns.
But our society does this to make them "feel" like the REST of us...to be "included", and not be the outcasts they are (or should be).
Yeah, that's SO much kindlier...and gentler.
Until one of these loons flies under the radar long enough, and then goes and shoots up a school...or a mall...or someplace else, right?
THIS is the issue Helmke needs to focus on...NOT the guns used in the commission of these shootings.
Personally, if I could get "hi-cap" mags for any of my guns...I would, because if there ever would come a time when anarchy starts roaming my street, I want to keep that as far AWAY from MY front door as possible. And so would any of you. Maybe Paul does want us all to be gun-owners, but I'm not all that good with owning a damn FLINTLOCK, (the ultimate LOW-capacity firearm) as opposed to my .45 ACP w/ TEN rounds of people-stopping whoop-ass at my disposal.
What it all comes down to is PEOPLE-CONTROL, and I know that sounds like some socialist crap, but it simply is NOT. We ONLY need to weed out those who simply cannot (or will not) control themselves and go off on some killing spree...nothing more. Leave everyone else alone.
(and leave their firearms alone as well).
Nuff said about that...for the time being.
*** This weekend is the Super Bowl (yawns)...right?
Well for OUR house, it's time (once again) for the Animal Planet's 7th annual PUPPY BOWL...!
Oh yeah, now THAT is entertainment..and worth a few laughs.
We'll have the best of the (canine) best on the "field" this year, along with the KITTY HALFTIME SHOW, and the CHICKEN CHEERLEADERS.

And yes, the "Tail"-gate party will be there as well. And there could be even more fun in store this Sunday (3PM).
All they need is a fly-over...LOL.
Hard to believe it's been SEVEN years running...and getting more popular each year.
Besides, watching puppies and kittens run about and play is a FANTASTIC stress-reliever, right?
(and it goes real well with a Sam Adams...or two)
*** Lastly today, we all have been trying to pay as much attention to what's going on around us, and that means from inside our homes to our neighborhoods, nation and the world, and I know it can be a very daunting task most days.
But, it's like I said a few days back about being PREPARED.
Never hurts to know what MIGHT be coming, whatever "it" might be.
Lord knows we can't prepare for everything, but we sure as hell can be prepared for something.
So, with that in mind, take a little time this weekend to get reacquainted with how prepared YOU are for "something".
Pick something small, and think about what you would, or what you can do, should a FUBAR situation show itself.
Take stock in the food (and drinks) you have on hand...with this cold weather, it's a pretty good idea anyway.
Go over your finances, or see what might need tending to around the house.
Make yourself a "go-bag" in the event you have to bug out for whatever reason.
Check your car and make yourself a "cold-weather" kit (blanket, powerbars, signal devices, battery radio, etc).
Hey, if it never even helps YOU...it might be a help to someone you come across. Or you might inspire others to be that much more self-reliant.
And when we are able to help OURSELVES, we are MUCH better able to go help others that require our help.

THAT is the spirit of this nation.

Have yourselves a great weekend.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and as always...
Stay safe out there, America.