Humpday Happenings...

It's a pretty good day awaiting us in the Heartland, if you like your Junes on the MILD side.
Clear skies, lots of sunshine, temps in the upper 70s with very LOW humidity...what's there NOT to like, hmm?
This is a precursor to much warmer temps by week's end, though. Hope you like the 90s, for that's what's coming.
In the meantime, let's top off that morning beverage, ease back and settle in to see what's been going on elsewhere.
*** First out of the gate is our Motto of the Week, aka WHO SAID THAT?
"If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters."
Ain't THAT the truth...most of us stumble, roll, fall, crawl, or fumble our way out of the sack.
So, who said that? The answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
(and if you read this post, you'll have your clue)
Meanwhile, back at the mattress factory...
*** Next up, Garfield the cat is celebrating his BIRTHDAY today.

That's right, America's favorite feline is THIRTY FIVE years old, and doesn't look it one damn bit.
And here is his WIKI, because I know you all want to read up on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield

The comic strip penned by Indiana's own Jim Davis premiered on this day back in 1978.
Garfield is named after Jim Davis' grandfather.
Jon Arbuckle (Garfield's owner) was named after a person in a 50s coffee commercial, and Odie was based on a car dealership commercial written by Davis, which featured Odie, the village idiot.
Originally, the strip was focused on the OWNER, but publishers thought it better to focus on the CAT.
(nice touch)
Through the length of the strip, Garfield has gone through a "Darwinian evolution" change, walking on his hind legs, and has also seen stylistic changes.

The evolution, according to Davis was to make it easier to "push Odie off the table" for example.
It didn't even take 3 years before Garfield became a commercial success.

And talk about raking in the dough (which can make a LOT of lasagna), Davis created PAWS, INC in 2002, Garfield has become the most syndicated strip in the world, and by 2002 had sold between $750 million - $2 BILLION bucks worth of merchandise!
(that'll buy a MESS of catnip)
While Davis still retains creating control, he now only writes and does the rough sketches, along with supervising production and merchandising of his characters. Now THAT is nice work if you can get!
Makes me wish I followed up with that ART MAJOR I took for several years in high school.

The WIKI contains the various media that Garfield has been a part, including several incarnations of TV shows as well as the movies.

If you recall the show RHODA, the never-seen "Carlton the doorman" on her apartment PA speaker was ALSO the voice OF Garfield in the early TV specials and cartoons, and was all done by the late Lorenzo Music.

And yes, Garfield has even made it to video games.

The WIKI is a great read, even if you're a dog lover.

So, Happy Birthday Garfield...may you have many, MANY more.

Moving on...
*** Getting back into serious-mode now...can you believe that the Obama-Phone program has grown from $200 million to OVER $2 BILLION bucks of OUR money?

Well, that's what happening, folks.

On The O'Reilly Factor last night, they had a segment about it, but there is some good news.

The Obamaphone lady that had the viral YouTube video from Ohio has actually turned AGAINST "da prez"...imagine that. It's pretty sad when you can no longer fool your OWN people, isn't it?
A sting by James O'Keefe exposes the waste with such things. Here's this link:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/351344/okeefe-sting-catches-obamaphone-salesmen-camera-i-dont-care-what-you-do-it-john-fund
And HERE is the link to the O'Reilly interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2PZSoVvgpc
It's as revealing as the sting O'Keefe did against ACORN (remember that?) a couple years ago.
Nice to know the TRUTH is STILL out there, isn't it?
*** What? ANOTHER house fire caused by a mess of STUPID?
Yep, that's right.
And here's the story link to prove it:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130619/LOCAL07/306199928/1002/LOCAL

This time, it was on the NORTH side of town, in a NICE neighborhood, located at 8308 Hunter's Knoll Place, near Wallen and Lima Rds.
Unfortunately, WANE buried their video of the house fire.
Again, we have an instance where someone left FOOD on the stove, and it damn near burned the house down. Smoke detectors alerted the family members and they were able to evac safely, but still, isn't this a real "WTF???" moment?
I mean, how the hell can you cook anything and just walk the hell away from it, knowing that the potential for fire might be lurking about?
When I have a roast in the oven, we sure as hell DO NOT go shopping at Glenbrook Mall...or anyplace else.
And I never have any pots boiling over, either.

Plus, we have an "ABC"style (dry chemical) fire extinguisher close at hand, IF something should ever get out of hand.
That, my friends is called SAFETY...and it keeps the house you live in from burning to the damn ground.
I have no idea what possesses these people to believe that food will cook and tend to ITSELF...all BY itself.
That's dumbassery of the FIRST ORDER!
And maybe such people NEED to have such a "wake up" call for themselves.
Perhaps they'll pay the hell ATTENTION in the future...we can only hope.
*** Next up, some SOUTHSIDE residents DO feel safe...imagine that.
This is a followup to yesterday's post about one man who MOVED from his neighborhood due to rising crime.
And here is the link to the story:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/neighbors-in-citys-south-side-say-they-feel-safe?ref=scroller&categoryId=20000&status=true

Well, I'd have to say that compared to MY area, this neighborhood mentioned IS a lot SAFER, because of one small detail...
It's called COHESIVENESS withing the specific community.
They don't allow that many rentals, and certainly not the bad people that often accompany such "changes".
They are law-abiding, and look out for ONE ANOTHER.
"We have some criminals that come and go", says one resident of the Oakdale area.
Yeah, they GO from your area, and wind up living in MINE...there's the difference.
We used to BE like that area...but that changed as I said to our former Quadrant Captain...my neighborhood was changing, and it started when houses became available "for rent", an the wrong element moved into them, bringing all the crap that's associated with a ghetto lifestyle with them.

Face it, property values for single homes DO NOT plummet to prices of 40 years ago for NO reason.

Oakdale residents suggest contacting your Neighborhood Association...

In the Pettit-Rudisill N/A, it's in name only, for the number of members has dwindled to double digits (if that).
One resident opines: "If you don't think an area is worth it, then you don;t put money into it."
Hey...welcome to MY neighborhood.
*** Lastly today, there were other stories I wanted to comment on, but time and space constraints prevent me from doing so, but there was one little bit of bright news on our immediate front (and no, we didn't hit the Powerball and are moving to that mountain in central PA...lol)
You remember that "guard bunny" from yesterday's post?

Well, we now have a "rookie" who was spotted watching our lawn last evening...

The "Rook".

It's good to see that someone is helping to look out for us, even if it is a "newbie".

I'm sure his "PTR" (police traing rabbit) is breaking him in well enough...LOL.
Yes, there are those all too infrequent times when it almost hearkens back to the early days here in the late 90s...when this neighborhood WAS a helluva lot BETTER place to live; time when you could play with a Frisbee in the street with the neighbor's kids, without having speeders race by, thumping their (c)rap music.

And it was a time you could sit on the patio in the early morning or late evening, take in the sights and smells of serenity, without hearing screaming kids, gunshots, OR adults having some domestic dispute down the block.

We COULD have those times back...IF the city wasn't so damn busy trying to artificially raise property values via taxes to counter the loss of revenue by the governmentally-sponsored among us.

We should ALL be able to enjoy a quality-of-life on par with those in nice areas, and not have to settle for mere survival from day-to-day.
Human beings deserve as much...and animals belong in the wild, or better yet...the ZOO, where WE can watch THEM, instead of the other way around.

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