Tuesday Tidbits...

AND especially, when the lights go out!

I will say that this is one helluva way to greet the month of August...in the DARK!
Yes, the "Fortress" was part of last night's (and into this morning's) power outage.
More on that (you can be sure) in a bit.
Our Hoosierland weather will bring us  partly to mostly cloudy skies, a chance of showers late this afternoon, and a high of around 82 degrees, with a rise in humidity as well.

We've a pretty full boat today, so let's set sail into a brand new month, but not before we get ourselves a nice refreshing drink to jump-start the body and get us prepared for what may follow...
*** First out of the dark is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
AUGUST 1 -
---It's National Girlfriends Day

(got me a wife, so that point is moot to me)
---It's National Minority Donor Awareness Day

(wonder if they have a MAJORITY donor day?)
---It's National Night Out Day

(this should have been LAST night...lol)
---It's National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

(almost as good as cake in my book)
---It's Respect For Parents Day

(seems society could use more of that...for starters)
---It's Startup Day Across America

(to me, that means being able to wake the hell up and
have coffee)
*** Next, and since we are starting a new month, let's see what OTHER things we should be observing...
AUGUST - monthly:

National Crayon Collection Month
Family Fun Month
National Catfish Month
National Eye Exam Month
National Golf Month
National Peach Month
National Water Quality Month
Romance Awareness Month
National Goat Cheese Month
Happiness Happens Month
National Sandwich Month
National Panini Month
National Brownies at Brunch Month
Get ready for Kindergarten Month
Black Business Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month
MedicAlert Awareness Month
Motorsports Awareness Month
National Coffee Month
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
National Back to School Month
================================
AUGUST - weekly:

National Cleanse Your Skin Week – Aug 1-7
National Bargain Hunting Week – Aug. 1-5
National Psychic Week – Aug. 1-5
Simplify Your Life Week – August 1- 7
National Stop on Red Week – Aug. 7-10
National Fraud Awareness Week – Aug. 7-13 (First full week)
National Farmers Market Week – Aug. 7-13 (First week in August)
National Health Center Week Aug. 7-13
National Assistance Dog Week – Aug. 7-13 (Starts First Sunday in August)
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally – Aug. 8-14
National Hobo Week – Aug. 11-14
National Motorcycle Week – Aug. 14-20 (Second full week in August)
National Resurrect Romance Week – Aug. 14-20 (Second Full Week in August)
National Aviation Week – Aug. 15-21 (Always during week of Orville Wright’s Birthday Aug. 19)
North American Organic Brewers Week – Aug. 18-21
Minority Enterprise Development Week – Aug. 18-24
National Safe at Home Week – Aug. 22-26
Be Kind to Humankind Week – Aug. 25-31
==========================================
And people always say there's NOTHING going on in the month of August....
(they ain't looking hard enough, it would seem)
---Almost forgot - Today marks the anniversary day of the Warsaw Uprising. back in 1944.

You want to talk about fighting a losing battle? Well, read up on the history  here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising
---BTW, today also marks the 29th anniversary of Rush Limbaugh being on the air with the EIB network. I hear there will be cake (got my attention).

Yes, the voice of afternoon conservatism lives on.
*** Next, it's time to look at all the FWPD calls that the media never let us in on, because they were busy bringing us what they thought was news (and were largely wrong)...

SHOTS FIRED ((113)) / ARMED ROBBERY((53)) CALLS - 07/24 - 07/30
((23,113 - vandalism by gunfire))
=======================================
JUL 24 - 
17F091435 07/24/2017 11:19pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 5700 ANTHONY BLVD S & PAULDING RD
17F091440 07/24/2017 11:26pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4000 LILLIE ST
17F091445 07/24/2017 11:31pm 23,113 5200 ANTHONY BLVD S
17F091442 07/24/2017 11:28pm 53 ARMED ROB 4000 ARLINGTON AVE
JUL 25 -
17F091460 07/25/2017 12:23am 113 SHOTS FIRED 4100 WINTER ST
17F091468 07/25/2017 12:48am 113 SHOTS FIRED 3400 GAYWOOD DR & OXFORD ST
17F091483 07/25/2017 01:40am 113 SHOTS FIRED 600 SPRING ST
17F091503 07/25/2017 03:47am 113 SHOTS FIRED 3400 FELICIAN ST
17F091485 07/25/2017 01:49am 23,113 1600 GELLER ST
((NO armed robberies))
JUL 26 -
17F091961 07/26/2017 01:32am 113 SHOTS FIRED 3700 LILLIE ST
17F092302 07/26/2017 08:20pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 600 FIFTH ST
((NO armed robberies))
JUL 27 -
((NO shots fired))
17F092682 07/27/2017 05:28pm 23,113 3800 EUCLID AVE
((NO armed robberies))
JUL 28 -
17F092898 07/28/2017 03:40am 113 SHOTS FIRED 6800 BUTTERNUT LN
17F093134 07/28/2017 04:55pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 ROY ST & MAUMEE AVE
17F093273 07/28/2017 09:32pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2300 ABBEY DR
17F092908 07/28/2017 05:50am 53 ARMED ROB 1400 LEWIS ST E
JUL 29 -
17F093394 07/29/2017 05:08am 113 SHOTS FIRED 200 CREIGHTON AVE E
17F093708 07/29/2017 10:05pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 6600 REED RD & EVARD RD
17F093583 07/29/2017 04:28pm 23,113                 3000 PITTSBURG ST
17F093555 07/29/2017 03:21pm 53 ARMED ROB 10300 MAYSVILLE RD
JUL 30 -
17F093859 07/30/2017 05:08am 113 SHOTS FIRED 2800 FRUEHAUF DR
17F094191 07/30/2017 11:40pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1400 UNION CHAPEL RD
((NO armed robberies))
===========================
More than 80 domestic calls, 40 burglaries, 50+ theft ca;lls, and  29 narcotics runs.
I will say that crime was down for the most part, and yet, we still had all those damn domestics.
==========================
FIREWORKS CALLS 07/24 - 07/30
17F091107 07/24/2017 11:00am 44FW 1300 WINDSOR RD
17F091349 07/24/2017 07:35pm 44FW 1400 HUESTIS AVE
17F091409 07/24/2017 10:14pm 44FW 1400 LAKEHURST DR
17F092170 07/26/2017 03:23pm 44FW 1900 FOX POINT TRL
17F092294 07/26/2017 07:34pm 44FW 5300 OLD MILL RD
17F092356 07/26/2017 10:41pm 44FW 2500 PITTSBURG ST
17F093683 07/29/2017 09:05pm 44FW 1200 SOMERSET LN
17F093700 07/29/2017 09:47pm 44FW 5800 LANGFORD LN
17F093713 07/29/2017 10:03pm 44FW 6300 BAYBERRY DR & BAY TREE DR  
17F094126 07/30/2017 08:58pm 44FW 1900 HILLSIDE AVE
17F094133 07/30/2017 09:12pm 44FW 1200 NORTHLAWN DR
17F094138 07/30/2017 09:29pm 44FW 4200 CALHOUN ST S & MCKINNIE AVE
17F094167 07/30/2017 10:41pm 44FW 4100 ARLINGTON AVE
=====================================
Nice to know we STILL have some dipshits out there.
*** Next, another drug bust on the city's west side .

Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2017/07/31/police-arrest-several-after-receiving-tip-of-drug-trafficking/

Scene of the first drug bust

The first incident happened at a home in the 1300 block of Huestis Avenue around 1900 hrs.
The second, unrelated raid happened in the 6900 block of Westlawn Drive around 2200 hrs.
In total, five people were arrested, with spice and guns found at the first location..
*** Next up, a prime example of how pathetically poor the justice system is in our city. Here's that story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/courts/20170801/driver-gets-probation-in-142-mph-fatal-crash

Guess it does pay to drink and drive...at least in THIS city.
Wonder why we even bother with sobriety checkpoints at this rate, right?
We're not really taking such people off the roads very well, are we?
*** Next up, about that outage last night...

First, let's look at the related story as to what supposedly took place. Here's the link:
http://wane.com/2017/07/31/around-5500-customers-are-without-power/

"Boundless", huh? Coulda fooled me.

This was specifically focused on the SOUTH side.
I&M listed the cause of the outage as “equipment related.”
Second, let's have my take on this...
This is a PLOY...plain and simple by I&M and their insanely excessive rate increase.
The "talking heads" will (invariably) come out and say: "See, we said we needed infrastructure upgrades and repairs...this is what will continue toi happen unless we get that increase".
To that, I would retort: "Why the hell haven't you been keeping things up to snuff since the LAST increase?"

Pettit substation - a mere block away.

Sure, you've got plenty of problems with trees that come down after every storm, but that's on the onus of the property owner who should be keeping the trees trimmed and kept clear of power lines whenever feasible.
Instead, you come by and hack the hell out of my tree that wasn't even THAT close to any lines...because you needed "busy work"?
I would say the line workers that come by in winter (many from out of state) do a commendable job restoring power.

I said to Wifey it was a substation problem, and (again), I appear to have been correct.
The way people are around here, it could have been a tossed beer can into the substation transformers...who can say?
But mark my words, there will be something from the powe company reinforcing thier need (read want) of the increase.
*** Next up, time to stop by "Kitten Corner"...

The kids did well all day, not too much "spazmosity" (Bob's lexicon) on thier part, but they did try and take advantage during the outage. That stopped soon enough, however.

During the day it was business as usual...which means napping and being cute.
You can't win with these two, and in many ways, that's a good thing.
*** Next, let's see what's shaking with "Midnight and Company"...

Our (original) fuzzy buddy came by for his food, and then took off to parts unknown until later in the afternoon, when he came back around for food...and not long after that, left again...lol.
Helluva routine he's got. He went down the alley, and at least we know he made it through the outage (hard to see him at night when we have lighting).
And sure enough, there he was this morning...meowing his little head off to get fed.

Whiskers was right there, too, as could be expected.
She's definitely not into roaming as much as Midnight, and that's fine. She might follow him around a bit, but isn't gone as long as he is. And that gives the local avians time to drop by and get some grub of their own.
We even had a few newbies in the garden...like a grasshopper.
A cute little green one
And, as a bonus, we also had a praying mantis on one of the plants.
And this was a young one, too. Not nearly as large of others we've seen over the years here.
Nice to see nature up close.
*** Last back to the power house...I don't want to belabor the recent outages and "power-farts" we seem to be "enjoying" (?).

But it does play holy hell on ALL those electronic devices people have about the house or apartment.
While many people see these as just another thing, these devices are still sensitive to the surge that can be encountered whenever power comes back on, and will always have their life shortened by such occurrences.
Air conditioning systems aren't too bad...they can take a hit better than other things. Refrigerators may "short-cycle", and that messes with the compressor and may cause premature failure. Furnaces are pretty "bullet-proof" also.
Light fixtures might blow a bulb, but with the new LED components, that should not become an issue.

Computers and other like devices take the worst hit here. Components have various voltage levels that might like play as well with those surges, and that's why they make surge-PROTECTOR power strips and the like...to keep you working under outage and power restoration instances. But even the protection strips will wear out and fail to do the job they were designed for, and yoiu ahve to replace them, or risk having the computer damaged.
I would venture the same is true with the new flat screen TVs, unless they all have automatic "kill-switches" that (internally) turn the set off when an outage occurs. I want to think that phoine chargers do likewise, but I;m not sure there.

Whatever the case, flipping the power off and on too much is like anything done to excess in life...it's rarely good for the recipient, and usually causes unforeseen consequences further down the road.
The best we can do is be aware, be prepared, and take the necessary precautions to not ge caught with our pants down around our ankles when we're thrust back into the 18th century.

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