Tuesday Tidbits...

Looks like some rain maybe heading back into our part of the heartland today.
Starting to feel more like a late spring than autumn, isn't it?
This is going to confuse the snot outta the trees and plants...even heard a lone cicada last evening.
I thought those guys were gone for the year...guess not.
Our Hoosierland weather for today  will bring us some morning fog (due to burn off soon enough), increasingly cloudy skies (rain coming later tonight), and temps reaching to around 76 degrees today.

Now, how's about we all get that morning cup of coffee or tea (perhaps some apple cider?) to get the old synapses firing, as we see what else has been going on, hmm?
*** First off of the leaf-covered patio is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
OCTOBER 10 -
---It's National Angel Food Cake Day

(did someone say "cake"?)
---It's National Cake Decorating Day

(I prefer to have cake decorating the lining of my stomach)
---It's National Handbag Day
  REALLY need a closet JUST for these?)

(do some women
*** Next up...since it's a Tuesday, time once again for a listing of all the FWPD calls that we should have heard about, but didn't because the media was busy busting on VP Mike Pence for leaving the Colts game (after some 49'ers refused to stand for the national anthem).

Good for you, Mr VP, and shame on the media for dragging this out. They should be HALF AS patriotic.
SHOTS FIRED ((113)) / ARMED ROBBERY((53)) CALLS - 10/02 - 10/08
((23,113 - vandalism by gunfire))
=======================================
OCT 2 -
17F121569 10/02/2017 06:12am 113 SHOTS FIRED 1300 EWING ST & BRACKENRIDGE ST W
17F121819 10/02/2017 06:29pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 5300 FINCH LN
17F121865 10/02/2017 08:43pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4400 STANDISH DR & QUEEN ST
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 3 -
17F121979 10/03/2017 04:23am 113 SHOTS FIRED 5900 TURTLE CREEK DR
17F122403 10/03/2017 11:38pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1400 GREENE ST
17F122201 10/03/2017 03:52pm 58 SHOOTING         1200 FOREST AVE
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 4 -
17F122413 10/04/2017 12:08am 113 SHOTS FIRED 4200 LILLIE ST
17F122422 10/04/2017 12:33am 113 SHOTS FIRED 4200 REED ST
17F122429 10/04/2017 12:43am 113 SHOTS FIRED 1300 GREENE ST
17F122786 10/04/2017 09:15pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1800 DREXEL AVE
17F122821 10/04/2017 10:29pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3000 PLAZA DR
17F122837 10/04/2017 11:20pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 900 RIDGEWOOD DR
17F122755 10/04/2017 07:04pm 23,113         100 ANTHONY BLVD S
17F122483 10/04/2017 06:35am 53 ARMED ROB 1500 DODGE AVE
OCT 5 -
17F122886 10/05/2017 02:31am 113 SHOTS FIRED 1700 KENTUCKY AVE & NEVADA AVE
17F123001 10/05/2017 01:04pm 23,113         3100 EUCLID AVE
17F122978 10/05/2017 11:56am 58 SHOOTING         2200 RANDALLIA DR
((NO armed robberies))
OCT 6 -
17F123288 10/06/2017 03:34am 113 SHOTS FIRED 1500 WELLS ST
17F123289 10/06/2017 03:50am 113 SHOTS FIRED 3400 WAYNE TRACE & OXFORD ST
17F123629 10/06/2017 09:15pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3100 THOMPSON AVE
17F123669 10/06/2017 11:03pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1400 SWINNEY AVE
17F123329 10/06/2017 08:00am 23,113         2000 COLISEUM BLVD S
17F123639 10/06/2017 09:40pm 53 ARMED ROB 7400 ANTHONY BLVD S
OCT 7 -
17F123731 10/07/2017 03:08am 113 SHOTS FIRED 3500 HARRISON ST S & DARROW AVE W
17F123984 10/07/2017 07:09pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4000 LILLIE ST & BAXTER ST
17F123998 10/07/2017 07:39pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4000 REED ST & BAXTER ST
17F124019 10/07/2017 08:29pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 1100 BRECK ST & ST MARYS AVE
17F124022 10/07/2017 08:48pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 6000 GOODFELLOW DR
17F124070 10/07/2017 10:34pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3000 HOAGLAND AVE & WILDWOOD AVE W
17F124052 10/07/2017 09:56pm 53 ARMED ROB 7500 DECATUR RD
OCT 8 -
17F124143 10/08/2017 02:30am 113 SHOTS FIRED 5300 NORTHBEND DR
17F124165 10/08/2017 04:34am 113 SHOTS FIRED 2100 EDEN ST & GREENE ST
17F124259 10/08/2017 12:11pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2800 EUCLID AVE PONTIAC PLACE
17F124422 10/08/2017 08:17pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 BOWSER AVE OXFORD
17F124424 10/08/2017 08:22pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 3100 WELLS ST WELLS STREET MHP
17F124463 10/08/2017 11:50pm 113 SHOTS FIRED 4400 GAYWOOD DR
17F124158 10/08/2017 03:21am 23,113         3200 DIPLOMAT DR
17F124316 10/08/2017 03:27pm 53 ARMED ROB 200 RUDISILL BLVD E & BARR ST S
=========================
Also,  a crapload of traffic accidents (property and personal injury), 100+ domestic calls (again), 1 stabbing, 1 rape, 3 indecent exposures, and 17 narcotics calls.
===========================
FIREWORKS CALLS - OCT 2 - OCT 8
17F122419 10/04/2017 12:22am 44FW 1000 RUDISILL BLVD W
(there's ALWAYS one asshole)
*** Next up, a football "legend" (to me and my dad anyway) has passed away.

Y.A. Tittle, (former) QB of the Giants has left us at the age of 90. Here's the story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/obituaries/ya-tittle-dead-giants-quarterback-in-hall-of-fame.html
And, here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y._A._Tittle
Hard to believe that he once was considered "washed up" at the tender age of 34, but that was back when football was ALL sport and NO politics attached to it. He retired several years alter.

The WIKI has his statistics and awards listed and is worth a read if you prefer football the way it used to be and your players paid a lot less. These men were athletes.
*** Next, looks like I may have found my "W- T- F ???" moment for the week.

Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/20171010/downtown-riverfront-usage-to-be-studied

Here comes ANOTHER damn study about the riverfront-downtown (development)...and a bit AFTER THE FACT, if you ask me.
They've already started to break ground for phase 1.
((A “Public Space, Public Life” study focusing on downtown and the riverfront area will be conducted this fall and next spring by the Gehl Institute. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices in New York and San Francisco, the institute focuses on how people interact with urban environments, according to P.J. Thuringer, the city's redevelopment manager.
The Redevelopment Commission voted 3-1 to spend $20,000 for the $240,000 study. Another $20,000 will come from the budget of the city-county planning department, while $200,000 will be from a partnership between the Knight Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.
City Councilman Jason Arp, R-4th, voted against the expenditure. Commission members Christopher Guerin, Mark Becker and Thom Obergfell voted in favor. Members Steve Corona and Win Moses were absent. Arp could not be reached by telephone after the meeting to discuss his vote.))

Yes, you MAY quote me.

And (to quote Col. Jack O'Neill)..."You're telling us this...NOW???"
Looks like the good old boy network is placing another cart before another horse here.
More like a "build it, and we HOPE they'll come" kinda deal...isn't it?
((That means identifying public spaces and places where people gather and asking questions of people there, including what they are doing there, whether they feel safe and comfortable, whether the space is walkable, whether they want to linger or simply pass through or are engaging in commercial activity, he said. Demographics will also be measured.))
ALL this money wanting to be spent...on watching people and asking them frigging questions???

((“We have so many projects that are in the works in and near downtown. “This will help us further understand what spaces we can either create or enhance that will help make our downtown even more vibrant.”
Vibrancy increases the likelihood for successful downtown businesses and further investment,))
Maybe if you thought LESS about the damn downtown-riverfront, and INSTEAD concentrated on OTHER (long neglected) parts of the city that are having real problems (and address those), maybe we wouldn't see stories like THIS one:
http://wane.com/2017/10/09/plan-for-waynedale-community-improvements-revealed/
Oh, yes...the Waynedale section of town (SW) is wondering WHY the city hasn't been busy fixing deteriorating sidewalks or putting in sidewalks where they're needed...one resident has only been waiting EIGHT years to hear something.

And he ain't in City Hall.

Now, the city has a "plan", but they need to figure out HOW to finance it.
Seriously? You think we're all THAT damn stupid? Take some of the riches you acquired for the damn downtown-riverfront and DIVERT it to fix the infrastructure, because those in Waynedale don't care much about how VIBRANT our downtown or riverfront is, or can become. They care about where THEY live and work (they spend a lot of time THERE, 'ya see).
We've already SEEN (felt and heard) how well you've handled the SE side (and it's decline)...let's not allow the SW to follow suit.
*** Next up, I had sent an email to Kevin Leininger regarding getting a "last copy" of the News-Sentinel (for posterity).

Yesterday, he made good and he actually stopped by our "Fortress" to drop it off in person.
He joked about me "not being able to spend a buck for a copy?", so when he came in and he handed me the paper, I handed him a dollar. He told me "it's on the house", and I replied "actually it's IN the house, but here's the dollar - put it in the collection plate this Sunday". He said "Okay, we'll give it to God". I really like Kevin.
He told me the N-S will have a total of TWELVE PAGES in the J-G...per week (?). Doesn't sound much like that "section" the media first reported, does it. Well, I prefer the truth...heh.
Kevin thinks the online gig is a good deal.

Considering the alternative to having no conservative voice at all, I agree with him, but I said the website needs a little "tweaking" to get things even better (like finding stuff, searching for archival columns, and the like)
When he was leaving he said "I see you're still wearing camos".
I said "I'm still in a war zone, boss".
*** Next, let's see what's going on at "Kitten Corner"...
Yesterday started out fine...it was midday when things went a bit "odd".

Gallifrey was fine all day, but Violet got a bit lethargic around noon and stayed that way for the remainder of the day...don't know why.
She wouldn't eat her midday or evening food, but she was alert. She just wasn;t into chasing her "brother" around.
We thought we might have to take her to the vet. Fall is not the best time for me and cats...lost three of them in the autumn over the last 4 years...don't want to lose another.
This morning, she seemed a lot better, and ate her food. She even sat up for it.
That's a good sign. Maybe she just had an upset tummy for the day (happens to us now and then, too).
We'll be watching her anyway...that's what we do.
*** Next up, let's spend some time with "Midnight and Company"...

Our community cat twosome were around all day, Didn't have to worry about and heavy rain (a few light showers early on), so feeding was easy to deal with.
When the sun poked out from the clouds, it was lounging time (as usual), and I only had to call Midnight once (who came from the alley).

Whiskers was near the back of the house most all day, parked near one yucca plant. And they are always at the patio door when it's time to eat. Who is training who here?
*** Last back to the firepit...remember when you were young, and all you wanted was to be grown up?

Man, if we knew THEN what we know NOW, huh?
Still, the youth of today, while having all this technology literally at their fingertips, have a much more difficult time than we did....think about it.
We didn't have all the electronic wizardry at our disposal.
Cripes, if anything, we had a few battery-powered toys, and THOSE batteries were the huge "D" size.
Everything else was meant for the promotion of something we called creativity, or imagination.
Today, little is left TO the imagination...you have to admit that.
But, because of the lack of electronic babysitting devices, we had something else that many of today's kids seem to lack...interpersonal skills.
We HAD to have them...we didn't have much else...LOL.

Plus, we has schools and teachers who chided us for bad behavior, parents who gave a damn and tolerated a lot LESS than we see today, and a society that wanted more for their kids, and didn't cry out for entitlements at the drop of a hat. That's what WE had, and for the most part, I think we did okay. As for those who followed our generation?
Well, they got a bit off-track, and it's been getting more pronounced ever since.
Getting our society back to a time when the more important things mattered, and the trivial was placed in IT'S proper place is what is required from all of us.

The path we're (currently) on doesn't seem to be leading us to a better place...at least not from what we can see or read about. Change is coming, and it's in our best interest to make such change mean something.
That is the real challenge facing us today...and for every tomorrow.

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