Friday Follies...

We finally made it to another end of another week...yay for our side.
And it still feels like we're in the MIDDLE of summer, rather than heading into the tail end of it, doesn't it?
Hell, our pussy-willows have already started to dump their leaves
And I've had to rake them..twice.
Our Hoosierland weather for today sounds a bit on the familiar side, because it will see us with another day like the last two...hot and humid with temps reaching the upper 80s.
With partly to mostly cloudy skies and a better-than-average possibility of showers (at some point today...maybe), looks we have got ourselves into a bit of a rut.

Still, the alternatives could be worse (like floods, wildfires, and zombie-apocalypses).
And if we all keep listening to liberal BS, it damn well might be worse.
So let's all get our cup or glass of Friday fortitude poured and parked close-at-hand, as we see what has been transpiring since last we convened.
*** First out of the turnip patch is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
September 4 -
---Today is NATIONAL WILDLIFE DAY

(I suppose squirrels stopping by for eats counts)
---It's also NATIONAL NEWSPAPER CARRIER DAY

(and thank God we got one that seems to know what the "top of the steps" means...for the time being, anyway.
---And it's NATIONAL MACADAMIA NUT DAY

(only ones I ever had were on cross-country flights...lol)
---It's also NATIONAL COLLEGE COLORS DAY

(color me not all that interested...sorry)
---And, it's also NATIONAL LAZY MOM'S DAY

(that would seem to apply to every "mom" in OUR part of Fort Wayne...laxy through entitlements)
---It's also NATIONAL HUG YOUR BOSS DAY

(Unless my boss looked like Dana Delany or Christina Hendricks, I'll pass)
*** And since it's a Friday, we just HAVE to see what the weekend brings us, don't we?
September 5 -
---Saturday is NATIONAL CHEESE PIZZA DAY

(okay, NOW we're talking, except if you get me Dominos...then, I despise you.)
---It's also INTERNATIONAL BACON DAY

(to me, that means bacon...period and not bacon-flavored chocolate, or ice cream, or anything else)
September 6 -
---Sunday is NATIONAL COFFEE ICE CREAM DAY

(not a problem, love coffee, love ice cream, merge the two and I am SO there!)
---It's also NATIONAL READ A BOOK DAY

(do they mean the WHOLE book, or just parts of it, and do COMICS count?)
There you have it...all the fun stuff to get you through the weekend and into our Labor Day holiday next week.
Moving on...
*** It's that time of year again - time for the annual ACD (Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg) Festival, held up in (where else?) AUBURN, Indiana.

I love these cars (don't you always love things you can never have?), because they represent nothing short of ROLLING ART.
The craftsmanship that went into them, and styling, and the fact that they are so prized makes them an icon of the automotive world...and rightly so.

And, for their time, they were more innovative than many people think. That DID come with a price,. which put it out of reach for many in those days.

Then again, those were times when you DID get what you paid for.
Betcha parts for THESE cars costs a lot more than parts for my "Batmobile"...lol.
*** So, they have this rebate program at Menards...you buy something, and according to what they say, there is "money off" attached to it.

There is one slight catch...when you mail the rebate IN, they don't cut you a check in the mail.
What you basically get is "store credit"...
Kind of a sneaky way of getting you to come back (like we weren't going to ever again).
Here's a link that "splains" it further:
http://www.mouseprint.org/2012/04/02/unexpected-rebate-twists/

caveat emptor, folks.

Now, that's still not too bad, because there is always something you might need there.
Well, our recent rebate was for batteries and we got $8 rebate. This will purchase another one of those LED bulbs for the light at our front door (to match the one we got the other week for the back door).
We get an $8 bulb FOR FREE. I can live with that.
Not all rebates are "money in your pocket", and you have to read up on how each store handles it.
But, something for less, or even free is better than nothing at all...that's the way I see it.
*** Next up, we have some another "visitor" in our garden (Nana Visitor  would be kismet...LOL), and like the old Edgar Winter Group album, "they only come out at night"...lol.

We have this one wolf spider (looked it up), that makes a circular web most every night over by the fence...and a decent size one, too. The web is about two feet in diameter, and is very intricate.
He, she, or it just sits there all night, waiting for dinner to be "delivered".
Sometimes, a meal comes, and other times...nothing.
Last night was the first time in over a week that I didn't see it there (day off for the holiday?)
Kinda cool, really. I was watching it spin the web the other night (with my flashlight) and it moves pretty damn quick, around and around (and doesn't get dizzy).
Spiders are supposed to be beneficial to the garden, so as long as the bugger doesn't decide to come indoors, it can keep on doing it's thing.
*** Next, what the hell is going on with all these traffic accidents and fatalities recently along major highways?

We can't seem to have ONE day without one.
And, it's tying up traffic along the Interstate some mornings, closing things down, or at best, slowing them to a stinking crawl.

Did people just suddenly forget how to drive?
It's not as though weather conditions were THAT bad...they weren't.
Distracted drivers perhaps?
Now THAT sounds a lot more plausible.

I look at it this way - if you have difficulty doing more than ONE thing at a time...DON'T. Concentrate on DRIVING.
The life you save might be your own, or someone else's.
*** Next up, actor Dean Jones passed away at the age of 84 from Parkinson's disease.

Here's his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Jones_(actor)
He was a noted star of Disney films, and became a devout Christian in 1973-1974.
He also starred in the TV series Ensign O'Toole.
Some of the films he starred in were That Darn Cat, The Ugly Dachshund, The Love Bug, Blackbeard's Ghost, and Snowball Express.
He also appeared in Never So Few (with Frank Sinatra), Torpedo Run (with Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine), and Under the Yum Yum Tree (with Jack Lemmon).
Never heard any bad press about him.
You don't find many in Hollywood these days that can tout that.
*** Last back to the turnip truck...we always seem to recall people of some notoriety (good or bad) more than those who don't make a big deal of things in life.

The only exceptions to that are those in our family, and maybe a few teachers here and there.
In the entertainment industry, it USED to be we remembered people who were TALENTED, meaning they were DAMN GOOD at their craft, be it acting, musical, dancing...and so on.
We also recall those in science and medicine who made breakthroughs that changed our lives, or authors who wrote with such passion, or brought truth to light in a darkened world.
I think much of that has changed...

We tend to remember the sensationalistic in sports, in entertainment or the media outright, while society neglects the rest.
And people today look for that next "big deal" to latch onto, as though they forgot all those in our past that meant a lot more to all of us.
They love Miley Cyrus and yet shove those with truckloads more REAL TALENT to the wayside.
Ditto for most all rap music...people gravitate to rappers while pushing aside the REAL performers of Motown and R&B from decades past.
I can see no logic behind any of this. In fact, it's actually scary to see this happen.
The truly talented among us, in ANY field become the footnotes in the history of their genre, while the outlandish become the new icons of our society. A far cry from the likes of those from our past. Somehow, that seems ass-backwards, don'cha think?

Maybe that's why a lot of us like the "oldies" no matter where we find them, be they in music, in print, on TV, and yes, even in history itself., as in our history. It seemed notable people in our nation's past were not as sensational as they were ground-breaking...there is a difference.
When we look to history, we find GOOD role models not only for ourselves, but for society in general. We also see the flip side to that coin, and learn to avoid that.
I'm not seeing all that much of that "good" today, and it makes me wonder in 20-30 years, what will people have to look back on when it comes to music, or literature, or even life lessons?
Guess they'll have to look even FARTHER back than OUR generation has to now to find something worthwhile, right?
Do have yourselves a very good weekend.

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