Monday Musings...
Oh, the weather outside IS frightful...unless you actually LIKE MINUS SEVENTEEN DEGREES.
Yeah, that damn global warming has got us in it's throes once again with another polar blast.
If you need to keep stuff frozen, just stick it out the door...won't have to wait long.
Yes, it's another fun (?) filled week here in the Heartland, where it feels more like Montana or Wyoming.
(actually more like Thule AFB)
Our Hoosierland weather for today...sunny skies and a high of around EIGHT (as in 8) degrees with wind chills below zero.
At least we're not expecting any more precipitation on top of the un-melted ice and hard-packed snow. Things are tough enough.

Oh, THIS can't be good.

Now, what say we all get a piping hot cup of coffee, or tea, or cocoa, because today it's a must, and we'll see what's been going on elsewhere, okay?
*** First off of the pack ice is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
December 19 -
---Today is National Hard Candy Day

(in this cold, even my Milky Way is hard)
---And, it's National Oatmeal Muffin Day

(I'll take just the oatmeal, thank you)
*** Next up, we didn't have ANY shootings over the weekend (even the local losers musta thought it was too cold to bother with such things), so we really don't have our daily dose of stupid (for once).

What I DO have is another sudden uptick of page views on this blog from those effin' RUSSIANS again. WTH is up with that? They're using IE on Microsoft O/S
I noticed OVER 500 page views yesterday (close to 400 so far today), and why this is going on, I have no idea.
(they must like me, or find what I post that interesting...lol)
You might want to check your stats and see if Putin and the gang like YOU, too.
*** Next, a Story about FAKE guns and how REAL a police shooting can be.
Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/us/Fake-guns-lead-to-real-tragedies-16901233

Now, before we go any further, you may have seen something HERE about the same thing...
Check back to my posts from September 16, 2016, 11 January, 2013, 21 December 2010, and 24 October 2006. In those posts I spoke at length about these "look-alike" weapons such as airsoft and BB/pellet pistols.

Now, others have decided to voice THEIR opinion...the same ones that probably won't let their kids (or want your kids) to play with cap guns like WE used to do growing up. Those must be the wussifiers of our children (and t6his country).
The story makes a point to let you know police shot "children", but the truth is, many ADULTS are brandishing them to commit robberies (some recently here in Fort Wayne).
The most common "theme" with the 86 fatalities from police shootings were...MENTAL ILLNESS.
(umm, because crazy people can't readily buy REAL guns?)
And get this...of the 86 killed (by police), FIFTY were WHITE males (so much for police targeted ONLY black males in the fake news sources)...imagine that. Guess the low-information crowd missed that one.
(( In the 1980s, a string of police shootings of children prompted Congress to pass the first and only federal regulations on toy guns.

Parents pushed manufacturers to make them appear less realistic. Retailers like Toys R Us stopped carrying realistic toy guns, and toy manufacturers began adding an orange plug to toy guns. After several states restricted the use of imitation firearms, Congress in 1988 passed a law requiring the bright orange barrel plug on all toy guns. The law applied to water guns, many replicas and Airsoft guns that fire nonmetallic projectiles, but it exempted BB, pellet guns and replicas of antiques.))
Your tax money hard at work, right?
This issue won't go away and no amount of legislation will halt this. The fake guns are easier to come by than real ones (for adults, anyway), and criminals do LOVE to take the "easy" way out, even if they get killed in the process. One way to cull the herd.
*** Next, an opinion column that makes sense...as long as certain criteria are met.
Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columns/A-city-United-16848398

I agree with a lot of what Iric headley has to say, but so much of it is contingent on the black community (males primarily) actively WANTING to step up and make these changes for the better possible.
So far, we've seen little evidence of that, otherwise black crime against ALL races (especially their own) would drop markedly, as would crimes against businesses.

I wish him well with this initiative, for it demands accountability and taking responsibility, but you'll excuse me if I choose to NOT hold my breath waiting for positive results.
*** Next up, Wifey and I DID manage to get to the grocery Saturday morning.

And while it wasn't the "white-knuckle" experience I was expecting, it DID command a level of focus you usually don't have to employ other times.
Our main streets were drivable enough, but residential streets were a mess...have been since it snowed. NO plows came over the east-west streets. Slow and steady wins this "race", believe you me.

Didn't help to get more snow on top.

I figured the worst part would be getting back into our garage (it's on a slight incline), but when we got back, the Wifey's Impala eased right in.

The button at the right is the T/C control

I did have a "secret-weapon" at my command, if things got worse...a little button that activates the TRACTION-CONTROL for the car...novel idea. Didn't have to use it, but glad it was there if I did. So, we're stocked up for the week, very well.
I told Wifey that if I had just a one-hour window from any precipitation, I could get us there and back..."so let it be written, so let it be done"...lol.

Not a bad pilot for my age...in ANY vehicle.

With a small heater in the garage, I have managed to keep the temp well ABOVE zero, but not above freezing.
You take what you can get under such conditions. And, I never leave it on all night.
*** Next up, something that I get tired of reading about, and if they had a link to yesterday's story, I'd be able to have YOU read it, but the J-G ALWAYS does this with the printed v. online versions (assholes).

The story has to do with spending money on energy during the holidays.
Well, our house isn't lit up like the Griswolds (never will be, either), and we're conservative with energy in general, but when it gets THIS cold, out, screw it, we're staying WARM, and no amount of money spent on keeping us that way is considered "wasted".
Granted, NIPSCO is screwing us over with HIGHER heating costs (thanks, Obummer) and we're not going to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees. I LIKE being warm and believe that parkas should be worn OUTDOORS, and not in one's living room.
*** Next, let's make a stop at "Kitten Corner"...

"I think I can...get up...there."

After putting up the blue candles in our windows, I decided to take a chance and put up the (fake) Christmas tree we have.
That soon became the FOCAL POINT of feline attention. We had to keep chasing them from under the tree and getting them from out OF the tree.
Gallifrey is the "climber" and Violet is the "nibbler". Talk about yer "two-fers".

"Made it...whatta view".

He wound up in the tree several times, and each time, I took him down, tapped his butt and said "NO!", and I used a squirt bottle of water for Violet.
I think they're both getting the hint...let's hope that trend hangs around.

Too tired to make it to the chair.

Yet, like anything with "kids", they will soon tire of it,  and find time to sleep part of the day away (thank God...lol).

Sack time for Violet

I got lights on the tree and may put up some ornaments, but nothing hanging down below the bottom branches. That's inviting disaster.
*** Last back to the glacial plain...there are always two sides to such viciously cold weather.
On the one hand, it keeps many of the undesirables INSIDE, and those who venture out to create any mayhem deserve whatever they get, as long as it's not other peoples' stuff.
On the other hand, there are those of us who HAVE to go out in such weather, because we don't live meal to meal, as many of the locals seem to do. Few is any seem to know HOW to cook anything, and when they try (around 3 AM), they burn the damn house or apartment down.
I suppose it wouldn't be AS bad if the roads were kept free from ice and snow, but that's not going to happen with any vigor on OUR streets. That's relegated to where all the "action" is, mainly everywhere else...lol.
The weather is something we all have to come to grips with, hot or cold, every season that comes along.

When I see winter weather like THIS, and how schools think the kids are prepared for it (when many are not as I stated last week), I can't help but get concerned.
This is certainly not weather you'd leave a pet outside in, so why would you have to send ill-dressed children out in it? Better to always err on the side of caution here, and not have parents on your case for making the wrong call.
Same goes to businesses and their employees. Is it worth risking life and limb in such weather, because that is what occurs.

People are AT RISK for frostbite and exposure, accidents, and such, yet whatever rules apply to one part of town do not translate to something similar in other parts.
It would be in the better interest of everyone to have the same things apply to all. If we have to close the city DOWN for a day...so be it. Better to save a life or two here and there, don'cha think?
Maybe that almighty dollar could take a back seat for a day, and make a merrier Christmas all around. Just a thought.

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