Humpday Happenings...

Welcome to the middle of this abbreviated week, and with that comes a bit of a cool down for the next several days here in the Heartland, where we've already broken a few temperature records.
Today, it's only supposed to get into the mid 70s and later tonight, were dropping down into the high 40s.
Now THAT I can handle a lot better than sweltering heat and high humidity.
Still hoping for rain (as are many of you folks), and we "might" get some later this week.
So, without any further ado, let's get rolling, because this post is packed tighter than a New York City tenement...
*** First up, sound the trumpets and let the pigeons loose!

Sometime, last evening during the second part of the History Channel presentation of The Hatfields and the McCoys (more about that later), this blog became the proud recipient of it's ONE HUNDRED THOUSANDTH VISIT!!!
(wow, 100,000...didn't think THAT many people got THAT lost on the Internet in over six years...LMAO!)

Thank you ALL for making it possible. I suppose there are many among you that DO like to read what I have to say and shake your heads in agreement. For that, I am honored.

All I try to do is take a common sense approach to issues, stir in some personal commentary and sprinkle it with facts and figures...all designed to make you think about things. And, we do peek in on history from time to time...so as to better acquaint ourselves with what we should have learned from the past. There might also be a few local woodland creatures tossed in for good measure...lol.

So, let's press on to the NEXT 100,000...
*** And, it wouldn't be Wednesday without our military quote of the week - aka WHO SAID THAT?, so let's see what the tome has for us today.
"Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends."
I thought this quote was in keeping with Memorial Day...so, who said that?
Answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
*** Next up, I was getting ready to shave yesterday morning (after my blog post), and I pulled that little plunger thing on the sink UP to keep the water in the bowl...and the plunger did not stay up - it fell back DOWN, much to my amazement.
So, I said to myself: "Self, that just ain't right...somethin's messed up under there somewhere."

Well, I was too right on that one. Seems this plunger has a connecting rod to a ball located in the down pipe. And it rusted the hell AWAY!

Never seen anything like THAT before. The shaft rusted straight through, so naturally, the plunger wouldn't work.
The opening was weeping water, however, so I plugged that up with some "Mor-tite" (clay-like insulation material), and that solved the drippage.
As to the plunger? Well, the assembly is corroded to the point that I don't want to muck with it, so when Wifey got home, she called Korte, who's supposed to arrive here Thursday late AM.

I mean, I could change out the pipe and the plunger assembly, but if I encounter a problem, I might not have all the tools required to do the job the right way (a big thing with me), so I will defer to the professionals on this one. If it were JUST the plunger itself, no problem, but the pipe it's attached to is a specific piece for this sink, and the pros usually have all that odd stuff to repair such things. Plus, I don't have a torch, if I have to sweat the pipes apart.

Amazing how such weird sh*t manages to happen when you're not expecting it...welcome to Homeowner 101...LOL!
*** This next story is rather disturbing, as dead people found in running cars usually are, but you'll understand why I wouldn't have let it be as prolonged after the article.

Here's the link to the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120530/LOCAL07/305309976
At least it didn't happen of the...(...all together, gang...)...SOUTHEAST side of Ft. Wayne, but this is VERY curious.
The car (a LEXUS with VERY DARK TINTED windows) was seen idling at a curb in the 1800 block of Sinclair St. (near Runnion).
Someone noticed the car, but really didn't do anything until HOURS after he first saw it...
FWPD says the car had been idling at the curb from 1AM...until late afternoon...that's a pretty DAMN long time to let something like that go unreported, don'cha think?
In MY part of the ghettohood, I've come to learn that ANY vehicle that cannot be readily ID'ed as belonging to another house in the area gets reported by ME after as little as 30 minutes...because as is often the case, it's got some illicit activity going on somewhere.

People will park in front of OUR house and then conduct "business" on another street, or down the damn block, so you know what to look for, and take the appropriate actions.
A few years back, FWPD managed to nab two men that were parked in front of our house (that I reported as being suspicious)...and guess what? They had drugs, scales, and other paraphernalia in that car...a really decent collar.
THAT is how you handle such things...not casually blow it all off.
People today, as I have said here MANY times, have become apathetic and desensitized to what is going the hell on around them.
You have people calling a neighborhood "nice and quiet" when in fact, they ONLY have several reports of gunfire per month...that's not acceptable to NORMAL people. But it is okay for those that become "comfortable" with things that used to be considered wrong, or uncivil, or even disrespectful.
And that is ONE road, we, as a people don't really need to be travelling down.
*** Next up, Men in Black 3 nudges The Avengers off of the top of the box office mountain.

You knew it had to happen sooner or later, and fortunately, it was the MiB franchise that did so.
Better THAT movie than some lame excuse for cinematic noire, right?
Looks like Josh Brolin does a good job of being a young Tommy Lee Jones.
And it's not the first time they appeared in a movie together...think back to No Country For Old Men (a rather odd film with a really strange ending...left you hanging and wondering a lot about too much...I hate that in a film. I want SOME type of closure somewhere).
Tommy Lee just had his 65th birthday too...not bad for "retirement age"...lol.
*** Now, about those Hatfields and McCoys..

This is a pretty good series, and with Kevin Costner, you know it's going to be LENGHTY, but that's fine with me...does the storyline good to explain things and let them play out, rather then gloss over them and cut to the next scene (several years after...lol).
I will say one thing...these two families need to get some good, honest HOBBIES, because all that fussin' and feudin' ain't getting them anywhere but shot and killed. If there's ONE thing these families need to do, it's to put down the damn BOOZE...that's getting them all into more scrapes and fights than the gangs of New York back in Victorian times.
While I do admire their particular form of "justice" (where warranted), there does come a time when people DO need to start to work together...or just move the hell AWAY from one another...pick one, please.
Personally, I think one family should have ambushed the other one, killed off all the men, and claimed it was a "hunting accident" (a really bad one, too). Then, you marry all the women, mingle the bloodlines, and call it done.
So practical in many ways...lol.
*** Lastly today, we never seem at a loss for "weird" these days.

Doesn't matter if it happens on your street with idling cars, in your state, in your nation (and especially it's capitol with all the loonie politicians), or elsewhere in the world (Yes, I'd cozy up to INDIA real fast and close, and scare the hell out of Pakistan by doing so)..we got us a mess of weird out there.

I know I'm not the only person that sees this, and I can't be the only person that would like to see something done ABOUT it, either.
All I try to do in my little part of this universe is to live as peaceably as possible, in spite of others that are entitled to be assholes, idiots and assorted morons. And, I'm sure YOU try to do likewise.
Thing is, we might come across that one thing that needs our attention, and we shouldn't just brush it off and go about our business.
We should be compelled at times to do what is right...and always for the right reasons.
I suppose that is the major distinction between what we called "the greatest generation" and all the subsequent ones that followed.
They KNEW what had to be done...and then DID it.
We take a might longer to "decide"....before we decide to decide some more.
Not doing anything can often be worse than doing the wrong thing.
What we need to remember is that apathy and indecision might have a place in other nations, but it should not be part of OURS.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.