Friday Follies...

If you prefer your day to begin with some heavy rain showers, then you have come to the right place. And I doubt the sun will be showing itself this morning.
In other words, we're beginning the weekend on the dreary side.
Our Hoosierland weather will have us with overcast skies, showers through the morning hours, tapering off sometime this afternoon. Skies will then clear, the sun will come out, and our high will top out around 80 degrees. As far as the humidity goes, looks to be about 100 percent right now...heh.
Now, since everything is wet outside, let's do something about the inside (of us) by getting a nice tall cup or glass of Friday Fortitude poured and parked close-at-hand.

Got a feeling we might need it.
*** First off of the rain gauge is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
JUNE 23 -
---It's National Hydration Day

(ROFLMAO...go anywhere outside...you get hydrated all right)
---It's National Pecan Sandies Day

(good cookies, but I eat mine with MILK rather than rain)
---It's National Pink Day

(it should be national GREY day)
---It's National Take Your Dog To Work Day

(yeah, nothing like the aroma of a wet dog at work, I always say)
*** Next, and since we are at week's end, let's see what observances are taking place over the following 48 hours...
JUNE 24 -
---Saturday is National Pralines Day

(It's a good candy, and much better when made in house)
JUNE 25 -
---Sunday is National Catfish Day

(those buggers DO grow to a large size)
---It's National Leon Day

(it's a halfway point to Christmas things - NOEL, get it?)
---It's National Strawberry Parfait Day

(almost as good as cheesecake with strawberry topping)
And there we are then...a good amount of things to keep one occupied (and not on Wall Street).
Please remember to observe responsibly.
*** Next,  got some local news that's fit to peruse.
---City Council GOP questions mayor on climate. Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/20170623/councils-gop-questions-mayor-on-climate

Still good to be king.

(yeah, well what can you expect from our reigning leftist monarch?)
((Four councilmen – Paul Ensley, R-1st; Russ Jehl, R-2nd; Tom Didier, R-3rd; and John Crawford, R-at large – who signed a June 9 letter addressed to Henry, stressed that any future environmental initiatives must be weighed against the best interests of the local economy. 
“The Fort Wayne City Council is prepared to participate in initiatives that make our community a better place to live, work and invest,” the letter states. “However, common sense says we cannot support measures which hurt our economy or that are cost prohibitive to taxpayers.”
The letter questions whether Henry's administration plans to adhere to a 2025 deadline to reduce emissions by 25 percent, whether Fort Wayne will “cease to welcome new jobs which have carbon footprints,” and whether City Utilities plans to spend large sums of money to stop all sewer overflows into Fort Wayne's rivers. The councilmen also ask if Henry plans to end “the area's use of coal power and denounce the Rockport plant?”))
Good for them. Nice to see some backbone from those residing at City Hall.
((Henry will attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors this weekend in Miami Beach, Florida, where one of the planned discussion topics is climate protection.))
Yeah, you work on that tan, your highness. You can't change what the PLANET chooses to do, idiot.
---Murder case filed in vacant house slaying. Here's that link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/20170622/murder-case-filed-in-vacant-house-slaying

This case dates back to 26 September 2015.
((Xavier M. Miller, 22, is accused of luring Porter Billians to a vacant house on the south side, saying he wanted to meet with him and use his cellphone. Once at the house, Miller pulled a .40-caliber handgun and shot Billians in the back of the head.
Miller then took Billians’ money and cellphone.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed this week, Miller had conspired with another man a couple of days before the killing to rob Billlians because they needed money.))
Hey, here's an idea...try getting a damn JOB and EARNING some money, you lazy-ass piece of shit.
((Miller told police he was telling them all this because he cannot sleep at night and needed to make peace with it and try to move on.))
Move on...from where? You're already incarcerated at the Miami Correctional Facility. What a damn loser.
---The crime we "enjoy" on the SE side continues to grow into the SW side...and into Waynedale. Here's this story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20170622/WEB/170629948

This robbery took place at the Family Dollar, located at  6443 Bluffton Road around 2100 hrs this past Monday. And we're hearing about this NOW???
Once again, we see a black man feeling a bit more entitled than he should feel, waltzing in and robbing the place. Might want to canvass those Winchester Woods Apartments nearby...bet'cha he lives or cribs THERE.
And that "red and black camo" pistol COULD be something like THIS one.
Actually, ANY pistol can be so colorized.
It's a custom coating, so my guess was that it may be easy to trace (if stolen), or police can check all the stores that DO such work and see if anything can be tracked from there.
---This story gets repeated EVERY year, and people still do not pay the hell attention.  Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/20170623/police-leave-your-car-showroom-sterile

Once again, we're seeing another spike in "thefts from vehicles"...big surprise in a city replete with so many lowlifes and dubious people who have nothing to do all (or any) day but to go around and look for those "crimes of opportunity".
Government-sponsorship often contributes to such behavior.
((Garage door openers, Joyner said, are keys to the house. Thieves take the garage door opener and find the owner's home address on the vehicle registration, typically left in the glove box, making it easy to break into a home.
There have been about 6,000 thefts from cars since 2013. According to statistics supplied by the police department, the number of thefts in 2016 surpassed those for every year since 2013.))
Well, that's not a good thing to hear, is it?
It's like that black guy on the bike past week, who was "checking out" a car on our street (and left when he saw me watching him). And, such people will be watching your house or apartment as well. Kinda scary to think about, isn't it?
Don't set yourself up to be a victim is perhaps the best advice here.
*** Next up, and speaking of the "locals", last night there was this suspicious SUV parked across the street with music thumping from it. When it left 15 minutes later, I shot a spotlight beam at it.

vehicle looked like this one.

Well, this mook must have not liked it, so he backs up and has the balls to come and knock on our door, to which we just called the police. They came while the asshole was still out front, and spent a good 20 minutes with whoever this person was.
The police did cut them loose, so no drug bust (maybe a citation, who knows? probably not). The police left not long after that, and hopefully a lesson was learned:

Don't sit in front of OUR house and boom your damn ape-shit music, or you will have the police stop by and chat you the hell up.
The weird thing, we've had a few suspicious vehicles on our block of late (and I get pictures of as many as I can...just in case).
*** Next up, what say we leave this crap behind and visit "Kitten Corner"...

What can I get into next?

Our kiddies were sorta behaving yesterday. There is just no breaking them of the "house runs", and wrestling with one another. You'd think with all the toys to keep them busy, that would suffice. Nope, sorry.

I'm just posing for pictures.

Apparently, they need to speed through the house several times each day, for some unknown reason.
*** Next, let's see what's going on in our "Tales of Midnight"...

A good vantage point to watch things.

Our little fuzzy buddy was in fine form, spending most of the day hanging around our patio. I had to call him once, and he came through our back yard (from where, I have no idea) to get his food.
He does keep track of where YOU are, and if he's nearby, will come to provide a leg rub, or to GET rubbed by us.

Just guarding the house for you.

I figure if he didn't like us or the food, he wouldn't be there every day, right?
*** Last back to the rain barrel...Life where we live is a far cry from those 20 years ago.

Back then, we had a pretty good neighborhood, with pretty good neighbors.
And whatever crime there was stayed farther north of us. Not any longer.
Now, the police reports every week have a decent share of calls in our immediate area, and  some of them are not the type you'd really want to see where you live. The "shots fired" calls are getting closer (most occur east of us on the other side of Hanna St.), and we've had one homicide one street over during the past year.
We also had a stabbing just next door, along with a couple domestics (that's the house where the sex offender resides), and with few exceptions, all the houses around here that USED to have those good neighbors have been "taken over" by non-working, lazy-ass, government-sponsored subhuman baby-makers...and their boyfriends of the month.
That's enough to bother a lot of normal people. And it sure bothers me.

But who wants to look for a (better) house in another area far from these mooks at this point in life? Why take on an excessive mortgage and blow whatever savings one has for a down-payment, right?
That's financial lunacy at it's finest.

I keep hoping (and praying) that all the crap that has infested our immediate area ceases it's encroachment.
I would like to be able to better enjoy the autumn of my life, as I know Wifey would love to do likewise.
Yeah, when all is said and done, there is always...HOPE.
And some days, that's about all you have to run on. At least we're getting good mileage out of it.
Have yourselves a very nice weekend.

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