Monday Musings...
Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends...
(at least it seems that way most weeks...LOL)
Got a decent snowfall this past weekend (about 5 inches around the Fort Wayne area), and that meant we went grocery shopping this weekend!
The good news was that the streets were relatively devoid of drivers, making the trip out and back a LOT less problematic.
The thing I like about driving in the snow, is that the car will TURN ITSELF (with the proper motivation).
You ease into a turn, goose the throttle lightly, and the ass-end comes right along like an obedient puppy at your heels...marvelous!
You loosen the grip on the wheel, and watch it turn itself back around...so damn simple.
Yeah, that WAS enjoyable to say the least...AND we were back at the Fortress within an hour (including a fill up at the pumps - gas was $3.22 a gallon...A-FREAKING-MAZING!).
After that, it was sit back, celebrate Squirrel Appreciation Day (for real, I don't make this stuff up - google it) and watch the fun from the windows, as others (bi-peds) attempted to get around.
We did have one numb-nut "neighbor" get into a traffic altercation right IN FRONT of her damn (gov't-sponsored)house...
But, I guess if you NEED to get into a fender-bender, best to do it as "close to home" as possible, hmm?
Her ghettomobile already looks like it's been through a demolition derby or two...they can't take care of anything.
(nature of the beast...Darwin must have been right there)
And on THAT note, let's get to the center of today's shrubbery maze, shall we?
*** Last week, I mentioned a story (Frank Gray - Journal Gazette) about how one woman was loosing her (HUD) house because "sonny-boy" was getting his ass into several slings when it came to the judicial system.
Well, it's NOT just around here...other folks in other cities are loosing their homes, like THIS woman:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120123/NEWS03/301239924
Here we have a 101 year old woman with a 65 year old son in a house she lived in for over SIXTY years, and because of a default of the PROPERTY TAX (due to a reverse mortgage - be VERY careful with these), she has been evicted...!
Naturally, this would take place in DETROIT.
I'm sure she's watched the VALUE of her house plummet over the decades (kinda like OURS has), to the point where her home is now worth about $32K (which was LESS than the total amount of that reverse mortgage)...and the government goes there "to help"...
(yeah, right)
I'd bet her property tax probably wasn't all that high, either.
She is currently living with a friend (the house was deemed uninhabitable now - repairs DO cost money and thispoor woman wasn't pulling a DYI), but it goes to show what can happen when the "small sh*t" gets away from you and develops into some BIG sh*t.
Maybe if Detroit hadn't catered to drugs and gangs and "poverty-stricken" lowlifes lying their lazy asses off for the last 30 years, this poor woman wouldn't find herself in such a predicament.
When you have to snatch a house from a SENIOR for property tax non-payment, and yet ALLOW entire neighborhoods of that city to fall into disrepair and still do nothing, that doesn't say much for the governing body of that city.
*** And speaking of having the wrong people living in places they don't deserve to, there's THIS little gem:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120122/LOCAL07/120129841/1002/LOCAL
And ANOTHER version of the story from WANE:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/fwfd-fights-large-fire-at-eden-green?ref=scroller&categoryId=20000&status=true
(with video)
The Eden Green Apartments might SOUND enticing, but trust me, nothing could be FARTHER from the truth.
That complex has BEEN a hotbed of crime and the poster child for stupidity since I moved here (in 1996), and I'm sure it was like that even before that.
Now, with it only a spit and a slide from the FWPD building on Creighton, you'd THINK people would tend to behave themselves...
(don't make me laugh)
There is as much crime THERE as the worst area in the city (which also might be those apartments)
So, it comes as NO surprise to me whenever someone is "cooking" and suddenly a fire breaks out.
Obviously, the stove was left UNATTENDED (typical), and the resulting fire sent one person to the hospital in critical condition.
Five others were rescued by the FWFD from the balcony.
I watched the video from WANE, and they picked the right "drama queen" to interview...she could pass for any one of my "neighbors", and I could tell you right now, people like that are a PROBLEM to normal folks. All is NEVER what it seems with them.
You have FIVE people in the apartment (lease violation or visitors?) and NOT ONE OF THEM knew what to do with a fire, or even cared ENOUGH to WATCH whatever was on the stove? What was SO damn important that it took their attention from the kitchen?
And WHY wasn't the smoke detector working?
I know it would be a HUGE stretch to even wonder if they had something we call a FIRE EXTINGUISHER.
I'm often amazed that they can find their damn ass with both hands most days...
Again, we see what happens when people who know NOTHING about HOW to handle living on their own and being a RESPONSIBLE individual come up against something they are ignorant of.
(they get a new apartment, Bob?)
Well, that might happen...or better yet, move them down HERE into a vacant hovel and let them try and burn a city BLOCK down.
How many incidents do we really need with people either ignoring food on a stove (probably GREASE, which spreads all too fast), or those who FALL ASLEEP while "cooking", before someone decides to make these people LEARN how to be responsible?
Something tells me, we might have to see a few fatalities before anything of substance gets done.
*** And then, for all you people with children out there...there's THIS:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120123/NEWS07/301239926
This is very troubling, because it took the deaths of SIX children to get this problem noticed in the Department of Child Services of Indiana.
Money wasted, more people hired, recidivism of abuse and neglect, lengthy cases...all of these (and more) have contributed to an investigation of the department (and about damn time, too).
One could look back into the Aliahna Lemmon case to see if in fact, there were situations that placed this child at risk LONG before she met her demise at the hands of a monster.
Or, we could look into the whole "responsibility" gig with the last two generations of society...the SAME ones that fall asleep while cooking, or roll over onto their infant, smothering them in the process.
*** There was another fire at an apartment complex, but apparently NOT at the hands of any "galloping gourmet":
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/attic-fire-evacuates-apartment-building
The Autumn Creek apartments had what is believed to be an attic fire, resulting from either an electrical issue or a lightning strike.
The FWFD credits keeping the loss to a minimum in part to OBSERVANT RESIDENTS and the quick response by fire fighters.
And THIS fire occurred at 0230 HOURS...when people ARE ASLEEP...and not at 0730 while "cooking".
Easy to see the difference an education makes...right?
*** Lastly today, we have instances of people losing their "homes" (or even children)...some by no fault of their own, and others through dubious means.
I was brought up to RESPECT "STUFF"...and PEOPLE.
Sure, you respected the policeman or the crossing guard and the teachers, but you also respected the STORES you shopped at (you don't steal of shoplift from them), the SCHOOLS you attended (no graffiti, no sassing teachers, no bullying, and no destruction of school property including textbooks), and the HOUSES (or apartments) you lived in...period.
No fists through walls, broken windows (you paid for it if a ball went through one...believe you me), and no trespassing unless invited onto a property.
If you were renting (as my family did for the first 14 years of my life), you treated that house with the respect it deserved for a couple reasons:
1) It was not "yours" (unless it was free and clear and YOU held the deed)
2) It provides shelter (and warmth) when taken care of.
3) You were a product of responsible parents, as were they of their parents.
I still follow that mindset when it comes to our "fortress".
This is like my Dad would say:
"If you take care of IT...it will take care of YOU."
He WAS talking about his CAR, but the words ring as true with ANYTHING you have in your possession, and especially when it comes to the largest SINGLE investment you will have in your lifetime...a place to call HOME.
But, when people are brought up to NOT respect others (or even themselves), it's easy to see that carry over to anything they might come into possession of just as readily, and that applies to raising children even more so.
Curiously enough...when you have the overwhelming majority of people (race is not a factor in this, either) who DO take care of what life (or God) has seen fit to allow them to have, it rubs off...others wants to also keep up appearances, in order to not only feel good about themselves, but to allow others to see that they are equal to everyone else.
And I think that learning the lesson of good stewardship, no matter WHO you are, or from what background you've come from, is something we ALL need to embrace. In some cases, not doing so can cost people their lives.
The stuff can always be replaced.
Have yourselves a great week.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.