Tuesday Tidbits (for all Hallow's Eve)...

After today, we will officially find ourselves at the unofficial start of the Christmas season 9as if some stores haven't started already). Yeah, Thanksgiving is just a way-point along the trail there. It's the homestretch of the rolling year.
Actually feels like late November rather than October out there, too.
Our Hoosierland weather for today brings us partly cloudy skies, temps climbing to around 43 degrees, and no rain coming today. I think that could be considered a keeper.
I think we WILL need a hot cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa to get the chill out of our bones and rev us up for what the day has to offer, so have at it.
*** First out of the candy stash is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
OCTOBER 31 -
---It's Girl Scouts Founder's Day

(they like the keep THEIR gender intact)
---It's Halloween

(please, no more of this tripe)
---It's National Caramel Apple Day

(sorry, not into apples, but the caramel will work)
---It's National Doorbell Day

(gee, I wonder WHY that is?)
---It's National Knock Knock Joke Day

(why knock when you got a doorbell?)
---It's National Magic Day

(Harry Houdini died on this day...that must be it)
*** Next, and since it is a Tuesday, let's see all the FWPD calls that we, the public never heard about because the media was fixated on President Trump's tweets...

SHOTS FIRED ((113)) / ARMED ROBBERY((53)) CALLS - 10/23 - 10/29
((23,113 - vandalism by gunfire))
=======================================
OCT 23 -
17F130315 10/23/2017 01:25am 113 SHOTS FIRED 1600 HILLSIDE AVE
17F130585 10/23/2017 05:46pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2900 SMITH ST OXFORD
17F130631 10/23/2017 08:05pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2400 MAPLE GROVE AVE E
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 24 -
((NO shots fired))
17F130751 10/24/2017 07:17am 23,113         1000 PONTIAC ST E
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 25 -
17F131395 10/25/2017 07:41pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4000 FLEMING AVE E
17F131405 10/25/2017 08:11pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2800 TRENTMAN AVE  
17F131474 10/25/2017 11:01pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1900 ANTOINETTE ST
17F131482 10/25/2017 11:26pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2000 CLINTON ST S & BUTLER ST E
17F131200 10/25/2017 09:39am 23,113         5100 LOUDEN DR
17F131502 10/26/2017 12:35am 53 ARMED ROB 3800 NEWPORT AVE
17F131221 10/25/2017 11:30am 58 SHOOTING         1000 LAKE AVE
17F131312 10/25/2017 04:26pm 58 SHOOTING         2000 PAULINE ST
OCT 26 -
17F131832 10/26/2017 09:26pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1400 WELLS ST
17F131867 10/26/2017 10:58pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 7700 BRECKENWOOD DR  
17F131877 10/26/2017 11:22pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 200 DALMAN AVE
17F131889 10/26/2017 11:56pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3700 REED ST
17F131549 10/26/2017 08:34am 23,113         9600 STELLHORN RD
17F131697 10/26/2017 03:29pm 23,113         900 WASHINGTON BLVD E
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 27 -
17F131923 10/27/2017 02:46am 113 SHOTS FIRED 2500 ANTHONY BLVD S
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 28 -
17F132599 10/28/2017 08:06pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 900 ROCKHILL ST & WASHINGTON BLVD
17F132632 10/28/2017 10:12pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1200 WEFEL ST
17F132369 10/28/2017 03:35am 53 ARMED ROB 1400 GRIER ST & REED ST
17F132434 10/28/2017 11:01am 58 SHOOTING         3000 SCHELE AVE
OCT 29 -
17F132735 10/29/2017 05:20am 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 CLARA AVE
17F132751 10/29/2017 06:29am 113 SHOTS FIRED 300 MASTERSON AVE E
17F132922 10/29/2017 07:08pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4100 HESSEN CASSEL RD
17F132947 10/29/2017 09:10pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 FAIRFIELD AVE
17F132745 10/29/2017 05:42am 23,113         1400 RUDISILL BLVD E
17F132945 10/29/2017 08:53pm 53 ARMED ROB 2400 EDSALL AVE
=========================
Also,  120+ traffic accidents (property and personal injury w/ lots of "hit-skips"), 120+ domestic calls (again, including battery), loads of robberies and burglaries, 1 stabbing, 1 rape, 3 indecent exposures, 3 pursuits, and 14 narcotics calls.
===========================
FIREWORKS CALLS - OCT 23 - OCT 29
NONE!
Seems to be an "off" week...guess the locals have to adjust to the cooler weather. Given them time, and they'll all be back with more crime in the Summit City.
*** Next up, And speaking of crime, it looks like we have our 29th homicide of 2017 now with a story from last week:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/police-fire/20171031/wounds-prove-fatal-to-victim-in-shooting-on-lake-avenue

((Brian Lowe Jr., 31, died Friday, his uncle James Thomas told The Journal Gazette in an interview Monday afternoon.
“Brian was a wonderful person. He really was,” Thomas said. “He was just like Frank Sinatra; he did it his way.”
Thomas said doctors discovered that Lowe had no brain activity shortly after he was shot in the head Wednesday afternoon near the 1000 block of Lake Avenue.))
He looks like a young Charles Barkley (to me, anyway).
((Police say Deedee Walker Barnett, 38, turned himself in Wednesday night and confessed to the shooting.
Barnett allegedly told police he shot Lowe because he “caused chaos in the neighborhood and yelled at people.” Barnett has been charged with aggravated battery.))
Any bets that aggravated battery gets a bump up to at least manslaughter...or maybe even murder?
---And...the rest of the world finally catches up to me:
http://wane.com/2017/10/31/suspect-now-faces-murder-charge-after-shooting-victim-dies/
This never gets old.
*** Next, we bring you a little story from the "Rude Awakening Department"...
http://www.journalgazette.net/business/20171031/rail-ties-left-untreated-lawsuit-says

This may not be something that jumps out at YOU, but being a rail-fan (from years ago), things like THIS mean a lot.
((Norfolk Southern Railway blames an Alabama company that produced its railroad ties of failing to use proper protective coating on more than 4.7 million of them, the railroad said in its lawsuit filed this month in U.S. District Court in Alabama.))
That's a BIG deal, and here's why...if railroad ties are NOT soaked in creosote (a wood preservative), the ties deteriorate faster and that can lead to derailments when the rails shift under rotting wood. This preservative is also used on utility poles (that's what that unique smell is)...and on the boardwalks back east.

((Motor oil, anti-freeze, paint and other substances which would not effectively preserve the wood were used on the ties instead of creosote – the chemical which should have been used, the company alleges.))
There you are...here's a case where some "change" didn't pan out as intended, and could cause a serious clusterf*ck.
Get those ties replaced ASAP, gang.
*** Next up, The Indiana legislature must like dragging it's anchor. Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/20171031/panel-takes-no-stand-on-handgun-permits

((Current Indiana law requires Hoosiers to have a permit to carry a handgun in public. Felons and those with mental illness are prohibited from receiving a carry permit.))
It's the whole constitutional carry gig that's being batted about like a ball in a squash court.
((Staunch Second Amendment supporter Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, quickly after the meeting said he would file a constitutional carry bill.))
I'm all for this, simply because I feel I should not have to "pay" for what is my Constitutional right as written in our founding document. It;s not a PRIVILEGE, like driving a car, is it?

Having to pay for the privilege of driving makes sense, as does the insurance attached to driving.
Sorry, but if the bad guys are going to skirt whatever law comes down the pike when it comes to carrying a firearm, the least we can do is allow the law-abiding in this state to do likewise...JUST to "make things fair"...right?
*** Next, yes, it IS Halloween once again, or, as I prefer to call it:
The Great American Beg-A-Thon.

Can't use the Obama lie (he took our and gave it to the poor) for not having candy this year...lol.
I feel that when we make a day like THIS one of the largest (and seemingly important) gigs of the whole year, we've lost touch with a great many things.
It's not a REAL holiday like Easter, or Christmas.

Let's just say watching Garfield's Halloween Adventure on DVD works for me, and leave it at that...(pass the popcorn)
*** Next up, let's drop on by "Kitten Corner"

Yes, the "children" were not that bad at all yesterday...and that was a bit odd. I expected the normal amount of craziness, and got very little (hardly any, acturally). Maybe they found the crappy weather and wind outside worthy of thanks for being indoor cats.

Whatever works for them works for me.
 I just smile when I see them snoozing peacefully.
*** Next, time to visit with "Midnight and (no) Company"...

Last pic taken the morning of 29 Oct.

Whiskers still has not come by, and I am expecting her to not return...just like what happened with Hobo. That's a damn shame, as we planned to make shelters for the both fo them..
The food we bought for them will last longer with only one cat to feed.

As for Midnight, he only cam by twice yesterday, and was missing most of the afternoon. I began to think a similar fate occurred with him...that WOULD be too damn weird. I trust these locals around here about as far as I can toss out house, and expect the typical behavior they so often display, which would not really be "user-friendly" to cats around here.
I know Midnight will not go near a street when a car comes,. In fact, I've seen him run the OTHER way, so he knows the ropes when crossing streets. I would expect Whiskers to also know as much. I think Midnight tends to shy from people other than ourselves, and I'd like to believe the same with whiskers.
I'm getting real tired of "losing" cats in the fall...and being made sad in the process.
*** Last back to the costume store...how much distraction can we take?

I know that sounds like the question of the ages, doesn't it?
It's almost scary to pick up a paper or go online or watch the news on television these days.
Everyone wants to glom onto the latest fad, or secure their "15 minutes" , and all we seem to hear are the constant apologies for being something many of us are not (or never were)...like homophobic, racist, insensitive, intolerant, etc.

Well, Mad Jack had a good take (at his blog) on this the other day, by saying he WAS intolerant.
And I have to agree with him...I am ALSO intolerant, and damn proud of it.
I'm intolerant of stupidity, and I try MY best to live with as little of it as humanly possible.
I'm intolerant of people who feign tolerance as long as it suits THEIR agenda.
I'm really intolerant of others who feel some need to shove whatever they believe down my throat, as this refers directly to a LOT of media sources.

I'm a big boy now and can make up my OWN mind without your incessant interference, thank you very much.
It just pisses me off royally when I see large numbers of people who choose to "not get it".when it comes to the REAL issues that affect our country (and are doing thier best to pull it the hell apart at the seams).
I believe we are losing our way in life, and have trodden down the wrong path for far too long.
Where once we relied on ourselves (and each other), we not depend upon technology to "solve" our problems, and while some of it works to that end, much more of it it intended to wean us off of our own ability to think, to reason, and to become who we are meant to be on our own.
Too many changes...too many bad results...and too many people blindly following along.
Doesn't make a good case for actual progress and individual betterment, does it?
Still, we do have something called hope, right?
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.
(see 'ya next month)