Monday Musings...

Welcome to the final "half-week" of September. hard to believe that by week's end we'll be in OCTOBER, isn't it?
The year is flying on by.
Our Hoosierland weather will see us with a gasp of summer with temps rising to around 80 degrees (and some humidity for the hell of it) with partly to mostly cloudy skie. And, as could be expected, we may be in for some scattered showers today. HOW scattered they're gonna be is anyone's guess.
(so you won't be seeing me out there watering anything unless it doesn't rain at all).
Now, with that dispensed with, let's all get our cup or glass of "wake-up juice" as we set off for another full-filled romp through that thing we call LIFE.
*** First off of the bookshelf is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
September 28 -
---Today is NATIONAL GOOD NEIGHBOR DAY

(yeah, right...I'd GLADLY trade ALL of what passes for my current neighbors for just ONE GOOD neighbor. I'm not really into loud-ass morons who smoke or deal drugs - weird, huh?)
---It's also NATIONAL STRAWBERRY CREAM PIE DAY

(What's not to like about strawberries and cream, especiall;y if it's in a pie?)
*** Next up, last night we had an eclipse of a "blood moon", but sadly, where we live, we were nicely clouded over, so I didn't see a damn thing.

Interesting "end times" theories, too.

Cripes, this city can't even get THAT right...LOL!!
The next one is slated to occur in about TWENTY years...yeah, I'm sticking around JUST for that one.
*** Next, Wifey was down in Vincennes this weekend to visit her Dad, and she told me she DID get to see the eclipse last night.

Another "impromptu parking lot".

I just worry about her driving along I-69.
We seem to have NO shortage of traffic delays due to idiot tractor-trailer drivers along that highway.
There was not ONE day last week where we didn't have SOME sort of screw-up there.
That's one nasty "trend". don'cha think?
Wifey even had to call me to "navigate" her around a tie-up - not a problem for me (former "Road-Warrior" of the tri-state area of PA, NJ and DE...
I can find my way to any place at any time.
I got her a detour that only added about 12 miles to the trip, so that wasn't bad at all. Beats sitting on an Interstate, waiting for the damn thing to get cleared, right?
*** Next up, and speaking of Wifey...we went grocery shopping early Saturday morning, but I guess it wasn't EARLY ENOUGH.

That damn "Fort 4 Fitness" thing was going on, and this was the FIRST TIME in all the years they've held it  (eight) that the police actually CLOSED DOWN streets.
In prior years, they block off ONE lane for the runners, but NOT this year.

Paulding Rd was shut down to allow the runners access southbound on Calhoun, so I tried to go up an alley, rather than sit in traffic, and going nowhere.
 Nope, the damn alley had some utility truck doing work blocking THAT way out of it. SO I wound up doubling back (something I hate to do - it's like combat where you pay for the SAME piece of real estate TWICE), loop over Tillman (which we found out was ALSO closed - CRIPES!), and then still farther back to Lower Huintindon Rd, and then over Hanna and back to the "Fortress"...wasted about five miles on that jaunt.
Thankfully, it's ONLY once a year, but they should NOT have to completely CLOSE DOWN streets...just block off one stinking lane only and slow traffic accordingly...or is that TOO DIFFICULT for the FWPD traffic detail to manage?
*** Next up, and closer to home, we have a stabbing that apparently happened at a night club in Ft. Wayne.

Here's the story:
http://wane.com/2015/09/27/man-stabbed-at-a-fort-wayne-night-club/
This took place at the Early Bird Ultra Lounge, located at 4201 N. Wells St around 0300 hrs Sunday morning.

(sounds like the kinda place I want to go to...NOT!)
No one knows how it happened and police are investigating (as usual).
*** Elsewhere in the city, the FWPD is looking into a D/B found at a house.

Here's that story:
http://www.21alive.com/news/local/Death-investigation-underway-for-male-victim-329637501.html
This was a response to a 911 hangup (of which we have WAY too many in this city every day), and led police to the 6200 block of Kent Rd, which is east of Calhoun and south of Paulding, where police found an open door in an EMPTY HOUSE (we seeing a pattern here?) after which they discovered a D/B inside. And yes, this is also under investigation.

Anyone want to place bets that it will be our TWENTY-FIRST HOMICIDE?
I can give better odds then Vegas on this one.
*** ((Editor's Update - 1400hrs - The coroner has ID'ed the body - black male teenager - here's the lowdown:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/Dead-man-found-in-home-ID-d
Being right should NEVER get old..hmm?))
*** Next up, police still looking for missing man from plane crash.
Here's the story:
http://wane.com/2015/09/26/police-searching-for-missing-fort-wayne-airplane-passenger/
Well, I feel better knowing the FAA is all over this like white on rice.
I will say that's one HELLUVA way to wake up - with a Cessna 150 light civil aircraft crashing in your backyard!
That's what happens when you clip trees and snag power lines...a bad landing.
But ONE person walked away from it, and police are looking for that person. The other person was taken to hospital in good condition.
Why walk AWAY from a crash?
Now THAT is the real $64,000 dollar question, isn't it?
*** Next up, there was a FANTASTIC article in Sunday's Journal Gazette (Perspective section) that had to deal with living on the SOUTHEAST side of Ft. Wayne (if we can all it that these days).

And here is the link to the story: "Living in a War Zone"
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columns/-Living-in-a-war-zone--8970744
I had a "heads up" on this story over the radio Friday, so I knew it was coming, but I never knew it would be THIS DAMN GOOD.

I WANT this sign...!

It was written a by a resident of the area, one Beverly Miller (who I believe owns a Bathroom-Kitchen remodeling and fiberglass repair business along Rudisill near Bowser. It is a great read, and I wish to hell it were longer, because she barely scratched the surface.
If you didn't know better, you could swear that I wrote that article...exactly the SAME situations Ms Miller mentions are things I've chronicled HERE ...and for YEARS.
Now, sometimes, if ONE person says this, you might think them a kook...or worse. I have SHOWN you all the "fun" we have to endure, so you already know it's FACT.
But, here we have ANOTHER person saying the same things...can't be a coincidence, especially since our neighborhoods are not that far from one another (same sector, actually).
Maybe it's because we're both WHITE that we see this kinda shit the city can't do anything about?
Yeah, we're racists...LOL.
I think the more important thing to know here is that both Miller and myself KNOW what constitutes NORMAL behavior ...and we're just NOT seeing it.
What passes for "normal" in the BLACK and LATINO communities must be something OTHER than normal for everyone else, or they believe that how THEY behave IS normal to them. Sorry, but that dog ain't gonna hunt.
I do plan to get in contact with her, and maybe we can stir the pot and get something done to stop this crap down here.
---In a related story, there was a "rally" held against the violence (Alonna Allison shooting) held at McMillen Park over the weekend.
Here's that story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/Rally-denounces-violence-9029677

Now, a rally isn't a bad way to get your point across, but maybe it would be BETTER if the rally were held on the MAYOR'S FRONT YARD...or that of the POLICE CHIEF, or PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR.
THIS "triumvirate": comprises the body that deals with OUR safety...something we're JUST not seeing all that much of down here.
Just because we DON'T have a shooting (or death) every day, does NOT make the area ANY safer, but City Hall seems to think so.
Personally, I'm growing tired of just "stirring the pot" at this point - I'm all for DUMPING it into the laps of the three aforementioned people.
Let THEM clean that mess up...which they SHOULD have been doing.
*** Next, and allowing my blood pressure to drop for a spell....I got my replacement Sonic Screwdriver from Underground Toys Saturday.

YOWZAH!

Works perfectly, and I sent my heart-felt thanks to the person who helped me on this, Jessica Knaus. I told her it was a shame there wasn't an email for HER boss, so I could thank them for her diligence in resolving this.
Love to see customer service like THAT a lot more often these days. Sadly, too many play the "whatever I feel like doing" customer service gig.

THEY do things RIGHT.

But, Underground Toys does a stellar job of exceeding the customer's needs...it's like a breath of fresh air in the retail world (when you stand by your products).
*** Last back to the library stacks...PEOPLE make all the difference in the world, don't they?

Good people tend to foster hope for humanity, while the idiots make you wonder how the hell can "we" be the most intelligent life in this galaxy (or any other for that matter).
I'e always been one to shy away from the bad apples in the bunch...never subscribed to such behavior. Must have been those "nasty" parents of mine that taught me all that crap like ethical behavior, morality, respect, consequences...and such.
Yeah, we can ALWAYS find the right people to "blame", can't we?
I would not trade one single day of my upbringing for all the gold in Fort Knox.
I like to sleep at night.
It's called a CONSCIENCE, and with the proper tutelage, and some good mentors along the way, it can work wonders in ANY person's life.
With ANY child growing up, it becomes a study in NURTURE as well as NATURE. Can't have one without the other.
I think many people have become incapable of such things...like Alexandria was burned in THEIR life, and all the knowledge was gone forever.

The knowledge is STILL there, they just can't be bothered availing themselves of it and for ONE reason - it requires EFFORT.
If some of these mooks would put AS MUCH effort into seeking truth and knowledge as they do committing crime, this city would turn itself back around in no time...as would our nation and the world itself.
Sure would be nice to live long enough to see THAT happen, wouldn't it?

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