Friday Follies...

We made it to the weekend at last.
And yes, things are still wet outside, but that is coming to an end for the time being.
Got over an inch of rain in the past 48 hours, and that brought some leaves down from the trees.
That makes for craptastic street conditions when driving, so be careful out there.
Our Hoosierland weather for today finds us with the chance of a light shower early, then clearing skies, and temps reaching around 55 degrees. Not a bad fall day.
So what say we try to enter week's end as calmly as possible as we get ourselves a cup of glass of Friday Fortitude poured (some of us need it more than others), and see what's been going on elsewhere, hmm?
*** First off of the rain barrel is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
OCTOBER 21 -
---Today is NATIONAL PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE DAY

(any day...any cheesecake. That's how I roll)
---It's also NATIONAL REPTILE AWARENESS DAY

(I'm aware of them...good enough?)
---And, it's NATIONAL MAMMOGRAPHY DAY

(It's important, so get it done, ladies)
*** Since we're at the end of the week, let's see what's going down over the next 48 hours...
OCTOBER 22 -
---Saturday is National Nut Day (this oughta be HUGE in political circles...lol), National Color Day (get out the Crayolas), and my personal favorite, NATIONAL MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY.

(I try to make that every day, as if you couldn't tell)
OCTOBER 23 -
---Sunday is National Boston Cream Pie Day (those are fantastic!).
---It's also NATIONAL MOLE DAY (I think they mean the animal and not the "beauty mark").

Nope, wrong on both counts.

---It's National TV Talk Show Host Day (Johnny Carson's birthday), and Swallows Depart From Capistranco Day (and they will literally blacken the skies on the left coast).
It's also iPod day (out the damn thing down and drive), and National Mother-in-Law Day (sorry, fresh out of them for me).
There you go then...plenty of things to commemorate, designed to keep us all out of trouble.
Behave responsibly when possible.
*** Next up, they formally ID'ed the most recent homicide victims, which "officially" brings the Allen County total to 43 (as I already stated yesterday). Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/Victims-of-homicide-identified-15883708

The male victim would appear to be black as his name was Anton Javon Moore.
Both victims were 30 years old.
The woman was stabbed to death in the house she occupied on Hartzell Rd in New Haven, and the male was shot to death, with his body dumped in a ditch along Fairfield Ave.
*** And, there's a bit more on the domestic/stabbing which occurred at the house next door to us late last week:

(( City woman jailed on battery charges
A Fort Wayne woman is in jail on three counts of domestic battery after allegedly stabbing a household member with a pair of scissors.
About 6 a.m. Oct. 15, officers responded to a call about a verbal domestic altercation. They found Debra E. Addison, 57, of the 4800 block of South Monroe Street and a male victim with a shallow stab wound and several smaller cuts on his left forearm, court documents said.
The victim was treated at the scene and refused to go to the hospital. Addison, accused of stabbing the victim, was treated at the hospital, court documents said.
Addison was convicted of domestic battery in 2011.
Her bond is set at $22,500. ))
Well, that explains why HIS car is still parked there. She did get a "cuff and stuff". Thought I saw the back door of one cruiser opened and a female officer on scene.
*** Next, if it isn't white flight, it's white "privilege" or white racism, or even white guilt.

Now, we got a new one to ponder...WHITE FEAR. And here's a story on it from the AP:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/politics/White-men-worry-about-a-changing-world-15868898

Okay, so first off, I'm always saying that "I want my country back", so I fit the "mold", as it were.
But, I also want better harmony between people in general, and we're just not seeing it of late, are we? Quite the reverse, in fact.
I will also say that I don't view Donald Trump as ANY sort of "savior" along such lines of reasoning.
Not AT ALL. That's reserved for a MUCH higher authority to me.
But the story has some sobering "stats", if they are indeed true (I trust little that's put in front of me these days, and fewer people as well...remember, we've been lied to by "professionals", and for some time).
Yet, the few of you NOT on any of my "shit-lists"  have nothing to fear...we're good.

Facts are still facts, though. Such divisive tactics like Affirmative Action have sought more to polarize people than bring them together, right? And all the handouts and freebies to minorities have served them well when it comes to creating MORE equality for them (than others), has it not? That also is designed solely to divide us...a typical progressive leftist tactic.

See? The BAD guys "get it".

Break the will of the people (by race, religion, gender...whatever, and you can reshape them ANY way you desire as well as set them at the throats of one another.
Looks like we're targeting the white men now, because they represent the biggest (and most recent) fear TO progressives.
One man in the story cites cheap immigrant labor (including illegals, no doubt) that cost him his job and house.
We TEAR DOWN one part of the populace to RAISE another...that is NOT America.

We SHOULD be raising EVERYONE who is capable, in order to BUILD a better country, right?
This is so damn easy to figure out.
The story is a good read, and serves notice that certain parts of our citizenry now have a (leftist) target on their backs.
*** Next up, we turn another page of "The Hobo Chronicles"...
Being as how it was a really WET day, I gave our little friend a $2 "tour" of some of the "Fortress".
This is not to say he's taking over...far from it.

He was curious and didn't take to running about, but acted in a purposed manner for a few minutes.
Then, I took him back outside.

"I miss that cat that used to watch me."

Taking it easy between showers on the patio

Nothing wrong with getting a taste of "what could be" sometime in the future.
*** Next, Wifey is heading down to Vincennes today to visit her Dad, so the 2nd annual Martin Nature Walk is on hold for the time being...damn shame, as the trees were changing color (per Chris).

The old place feels a LOT larger...

This will be the FIRST time she leaves the "Fortress" without me having Rassie as a "co-bachelor" for the time she's gone. That's gonna be rough. It was hard yesterday, being alone here.
It's actually the VERY FIRST TIME in 20 years, that I have the house "to myself".
And you know what?
I really don't like it all that much.
Not knowing Rassie is around and dependent on me is taking a lot of wind from my sails, and I'm relegated to riding the emotional roller-coaster we all take a jaunt on whenever we deal with grief.
I keep expecting him to turn a corner into the room I'm sitting or working in...or see him asleep on a chair or the sofa...
(just not happening).
Guess now, I'm really taking to myself around here. No little buddy to listen.
Yeah, there's Hobo, but it's not (nor ever will be) the same.
*** Last back to the rain gutters...I've stated a few times that people are initially social creatures.

Literature is full of such references, both actual and nuanced.

And when we have to part ways with someone who has been a part of one's life for a long time, we wonder if the decisions we've made leading up to such an event were the right ones.
Good people will always try to make a right choice. I know I do.
But, there was a quote from a Doctor Who episode (Mummy On the Orient Express) that really hit home for me. It's near the end of the episode, as the Doctor speaks to Clara on a pebble beach:

"Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose."
Now, this isn't to say that you MADE a bad choice. You tend to act in the best interest, given the situation.
It's just that whatever choice were allotted to you basically sucked, and you attempt to select the one that sucks LESS than the rest, in the hope that it will be correct in the end.
And yes, sometimes, the ending is not what you wanted, but you knew you did what was right anyway.

I think there is much to be learned here, and, however things might turn out for any of us, we chose as wisely as we could, under the circumstances that were presented to us.
Never expected to be a philosopher as I got older...but, there 'ya go then.
Do have yourselves a good weekend.

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