Monday Musings...

I've just sent off the lovely Mrs. Bobby G. to another year of Excellence in Education, and everyone is NOW officially "back to school", so parents have once again traded off one set of issues for another...can they stand the strain?
Our return to the classroom Hoosierland weather will be nice, albeit a bit warmer than the last week ro so, with temps reaching into the mid to upper 80s by late day.
Not a sign of precipitation to be found either, so sit back and enjoy a post that's packed tighter than a cocaine-laden vehicle crossing our southern border.
*** First up, another "three-fer" with our tribute to all the events the media misses, also called:
Bobby G's This Day in August History!
August 17 - 
1863 - The Civil War - Union batteries and ships begin bombardment of Confederate-held Fort Sumpter in Charleston harbor.
1896 - Bridget Driscoll becomes the world's FIRST motoring fatality when she is run over by a Benz car on the grounds of the Crystal Palace in London.
1908 - Fantasmagorie, the world's FIRST animated cartoon, created by Ernie Cohl, is shown in France (France AGAIN?)
1950 - Hill 303 massacre of American POWs by the north Korean army.
1959 - "Kind of Blue", by Miles Davis, the best selling jazz performer of the time, is released.

1969 - Hurricane Camille, a cat 5 storm, hits the gulf coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 BIL in damages.
1998 - The Lewinsky Scandal rocks the Clinton Administration and first admits he had an "improper physical relationship" with the intern, and later states he "misled people" about the relationship.

Oops, he did it again...and again...and again.

August 18 -
1868 - French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers HELIUM (and funny voices).
1920 - The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
1963 - James Meredith becomes the FIRST black man to graduate from the University of Mississippi
1971 - Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their forces from Vietnam.
1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing $1 BIL in damages.
August 19 -
1561 - An 18-year old Mary, Queen of Scots returns to Scotland after spending 12 years in France (what is it with France?)
1812 - The American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, earning the nickname "Old Ironsides".

"Old Ironsides" is the oldest commissioned ship in the navy.

1848 - The California "gold rush" news is broken on the EAST coast in the New York Herald (the rush begins in January)
1909 - The FIRST automobile race is held at the Indianapolis Speedway.
1934 - The FIRST All-American SOAP BOX DERBY is held in Dayton Ohio.
1940 - The FIRST flight of the B-25 Mitchell bomber.

This same plane was at the last FW Air Show.

1944 - The liberation of Paris by allied forces from the Nazis.
1960 - Downed U-2 pilot Frances Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the soviet government for espionage.
1999 - Tens of thousands of Serbs rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugolavia president Slobodan Milosevic.
And now YOU know...a lot more than you did a few minutes ago.
Moving on...
*** I contacted Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control regarding our raccoon problem...

Maybe they need to care a bit "more"?

And got stiffed, basically.
They say they can ONLY come and trap (remove) raccoon that are sick or injured.
        (Maybe if I nail some with my slingshot, I can injure them "enough"?)
Yes, folks, this (to me) is our first "WTF???" moment of the damn week!
These raccoon have "set up shop" in a house that's been VACANT for YEARS...and now they've taken to gnawing on OUR roof shingles, prompting a roof REPLACEMENT on our part, which will cost more than a few THOUSAND BUCKS...
But now, WE also have to pay to have a THIRD PARTY come and remove the critters from a house WE don't even own or rent???
What about DNR?
Can't they remove the critters and return them to the "wild"?
Apparently NOT, so what the hell GOOD are any of these agencies if they can't DO what they're supposed to do (like return wild animals to their REAL habitat)?
Nobody's reimbursing US for OUR time and money and trouble, are they?
This is really unacceptable, and I have to say that our contributions to Fort Wayne ACandC will be seriously curtailed (if not halted altogether) as a result.
I used to have a lot of respect for this city department, but when handed the ball, they didn't just drop it, they scored one for the OTHER TEAM!
Gotta love the government, no matter what level you have to deal with, right?
We'll just take our donations and give them to the Allen County SPCA  instead...at least THOSE critters get a home and aren't chewing our roof!
*** There is a good unintended consequence to getting that new roof...they have to REMOVE THE GUTTERS, and when they do, I can clean them ALL the hell out before they are re-installed. This should be happening in about 3 weeks or so, and I hope whatever rain comes, does NO damage to the inside of the house.

And that brings me to the NEXT point in this comedy of errors - our insurance company doesn't seem to COVER critter damage...everything from acts of God to vehicular intrusion, but NO critters...WTH is up with that?
Earthquakes, floods, sinkholes, and volcanic activity are OK, but sorry, we don't do wasps, mice, bats, raccoon, possums, or Burmese Tigers.
They SHOULD at least pay for the extermination or removal OF the damn buggers.
You pay ALL this money every year to make sure you don't lose it all, but the ONE time you avail yourself of a REAL claim...nothing!
Hell, the insurance even pays for damage related to things like GUNFIRE vandalism, which brings me to the NEXT story onboard this ship of fools...
*** There was another "rolling shootout" on the city's...(...altogether, kids...)...SOUTHEAST SIDE.
Here's the story link:
http://www.wane.com/news/crime/car-hit-by-gunfire-on-euclid-avenue

South Side vehicle air-conditioning?

Yes, folks, you can't even sit outside on the steps OR porch in SOME neighborhoods in the ghettohood...at least NOT without running the risk of being hit by stray gunfire from people too damn stupid to regard life with any level of respect.
A red car was being chased by a tan car, and the red car's hood was up, damn near blocking the windshield...makes it pretty EASY to spot, right?
The red car finally crashed near an alley south of Euclid and Pontiac Sts.

We REALLY need this!

When police (finally) got there, they found a bag of pot near the car and a .25 cal. pistol (probably a Raven) inside the car.
The weapon was NOT listed as stolen.
Two men ran off, one described as BLACK with long dreads, a white t-shirt and tan shorts, and the other man being HISPANIC with no other description.
That's ALL we need...for blacks and Hispanics to TEAM UP around here. I know of several houses where such people DO congregate all too frequently to get wasted.
No one is in custody and the tan car remains "at-large".
Tell 'ya, the quadrant commander of the SE sure is doing a GREAT job of stemming the flow of CRIME down here...NOT!
*** Next up, a related story about stopping the VIOLENCE down here
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130818/LOCAL/308189941/1002/LOCAL
Right on the heels of the 3rd annual Amnesty-Fest...we have more shootings.
Guess those involved chose not to ATTEND the festival held in McMillen Park, hmm?
Maybe they SHOULD have.
To me, this event was another "bribe" to the lawless down here, and I feel that time has passed.

Kids in fire engine at Amnesty-Fest.

Sure, the kids have a great time, but it is all REALLY helping?
By the stats, I would say not so much, and the numbers don't lie.
Even if the homicide rate would drop, we STILL have all the rapes, the burglaries, robberies, random shootings, vandalism, and so on...
So, instead of scaling back the freebies and handing out punishment, we hold "events"...yeah, that's working real well.
*** Lastly today, you never notice something called mortality until it hits close to home, and none of us are immune to that.
We ALL lose people in our lives, most notably our parents and relatives, but there is a time when friends and co-workers are also lost.
Such was the case for those at Snider High School this weekend.

Snider High School

Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130819/LOCAL07/308199960
Now, I never met Bruce Crist, but Wifey did...she, other teachers and many students knew him.
He was an English teacher, tennis coach, and recently a history teacher.
In fact, she was chatting with him this past Friday when she and all the other teachers went in to do all the last minute prepping for the school year.
Wifey told me he was a genius when it came to puns...a real master.
I would have liked to have met him...we had much in common, it would seem.
He was only 52, but had an ongoing heart condition that prompted an aspirin-regimen.
And he died at his desk, in his classroom on Saturday, when he was found by a firefighter looking for him.
Certainly not the BEST way to go, but better than so many other ways.

It will be a rough start to the school year for both kids and fellow educators there, but I have also lost people I knew and worked with over the course of a day or weekend...it's one helluva shock to the system, I can tell you.
And, it's in those times, we concern ourselves with our OWN lives...things we might do better, or SHOULD be doing better, so that we can hang on to another year.
Our own mortality hits us like a Joe Louis uppercut.
I know I think about it often...perhaps too much sometimes, but the road I have traveled is longer than those in their 20s, and it's been a hard road on some days, and a pleasure on others.
But each of us HAS to come to terms with what time we have NOW, rather than later, for we never know when we'll be called "back home".
That's not for us to know...but it is for us to ponder.
Have yourselves a good week.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.