Monday Musings...

Welcome to the final few days of January (you DO have all your Christmas decorations and lights down by NOW...right?).
By the end of the week, we'll be into February and we all know how fast THAT month flies by.
We had a pretty good weekend with those nice conditions outside, too.
Our Hoosierland weather for today brings us mostly cloudy skies, scattered snow showers (just a dusting, we're told), temps reaching to around 34 degrees and dropping as the day progresses. It could be worse.

So what say we all get the week fired up and going with a nice cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa...or perhaps something with a bit more "kick", as we see what's been going on elsewhere, okay?
*** First off of the counter-top is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature.
JANUARY 29 -
---It's National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

(bit of a stretch as observances go, isn't it?)
---It's National Corn Chip Day

(not a real favorite of mine, but as long as there's salsa...)
---It's National Puzzle Day

(sounds like a government budgetary thing...lol)
*** Next, an investigation into a child's death on (where else?) the SOUTH side of the city.
Here's the link:
http://wane.com/2018/01/27/fwpd-investigating-childs-death-on-e-butler-street/

((Police were called to the 200 block of East Butler Street around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Several police cars, crime scene vans, and detective vehicles were at a home, but it’s unclear what happened.))
Police were talking to one woman who seemed distraught, and I hear aon another station that a male was taken away. No news on whether he's involved or not.
Again...more questions than answers...getting to be a habit in this city.
*** Next up,  there was this story in Sunday's paper (late again as usual) about a certain HOUSE in Fort Wayne. Here's the link to the story:
www.journalgazette.net/opinion/sunday-centerpiece/20180128/one-house-two-horrors

The writer of the piece has a unique perspective regarding the property here in Fort Wayne, and she relates an astounding story about her own family and how it figures into recent events.

I think you might find it creepy yet most revealing, and not something that any city leaders would want to voluntarily come forward and try to explain, because it happens to tell things as they ARE, and not how they appear through rose-colored glasses.
*** Next, and in a somewhat related story is this from the J-G:
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columns/20180128/a-healthy-dose-of-intervention

Intervention to reduce infant mortality is a damn good thing, but what about CHILD mortality. I'm sure that has to figure into the mix, especially in the previous story.
We've TOO many infants and children AT-RISK in this city (and around the nation), so it's high time we had a voice for those who are too young to articulate their message to prevent such tragedies.
There are some VERY sobering statistics as well...such as this excerpt:
((What does this mean in real terms? The overall infant mortality rate in the 46805 ZIP code is 11.3. This means that 11 babies out of every 1,000 born in this ZIP code die. The black infant mortality rate for this ZIP code is 26.5. The overall infant mortality rate for the 46806 ZIP code is 14.3. The Black infant mortality rate for 46806 is 21.9.))
While the focus on the article is teen-births (and mentoring), there is another factor that should have been mentioned, and that's abuse by those "boyfriends of the month" who shack up and leech off of the baby-mamas.
We've lost too many infants and children to these monsters, and will continue to do so until an unless something is done about THEM.
*** Next,  another noted cartoonist has passed away. Here's the story link:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/27/mort-walker-creator-long-running-beetle-bailey-cartoon-dies-at-94-family-says.html

Sarge, Bailey, and Otto

Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey has died at the age of 94.
Hard to believe he was publishing cartoons since he was 11.

He also did Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark, and Sam and Silo.
Here is his WIKI:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Walker

There are those people you think will seem to go on forever...until they leave us.
Comic strip artists can be included in the lot.
*** Next up, time to go visit out "Kitten Corner"...

The kids were doing fine all weekend, an that's a major achievement as far as I'm concerned.
Nice to NOT have to tell them to constantly "get down", or "get off" of one thing or another.

The window perch is a good place.

They seemed to enjoy the nice weather outside, and took to finding a sunny spot to nap.
Well, one of them did anyway.
Both of them have their own special "spots" they go to most of the time.

Sometimes, the floor works well enough.

The only time they seem to regularly sleep nearby one another is under the dining room table (on the chairs)...near the heating vent....LOL.
Gee, I wonder why that is?
*** Next up, let's stop an check in with "Midnight and Company"...
Our furry twosome didn't miss a single meal all weekend.

Well, Midnight was late for his midday on Saturday.
He had a slight limp when he came by in the afternoon that he didn't have in the morning.
Sunday he seemed okay once again, so I guess it wasn't anything to worry about.

And a light shone down from above...

Been acting fine since then, Maybe he slept on it the wrong way. Done that one myself.

What's that over there?

Whiskers had several spots she preferred while the sun was out.

Booking my "summer spot" in advance.

And they were both at the back steps when I went to lock the garage in the evening, so I sat with them for a spell, and got me some leg rubs.
These two are really worth having around, even if the birds and squirrels have to take a back seat.

Look who's at the front door?

I guess we've all developed this mutual "dependence" thing where we expect them to be there as much as they seem to expect us being there for them.

Why does that shadow move when I move?

I can work with that.
*** Last back to the kitchen cabinets...taking care of something requires a level of responsibility.

Taking care of SOMEONE takes a much higher level of responsibility.
But to have either, you first have to have a modicum of PERSONAL responsibility.
There has to be an accountable aspect to a person in order to assume ANY responsibility.
And when people can't (or won't) do that much for themselves, how can anyone else expect them to do likewise for others?
Such conditions exist all too much and with increasing frequency, otherwise why would we have people who abuse animals, or infants or children. Hell, we have people who abuse the elderly.

There really needs to be some sort of major changes in humanity, if we are to progress as a species.
And no amount of technology will do the trick FOR us.
This has to be a conscious decision to do for OURSELVES, so that we can then do FOR others; to hold ourselves accountable, so that we can assist others, and be personally responsible for our words and actions, so we may better proceed forward, instead of falling backward as a society.
It's not impossible, but it isn't a cake-walk. It requires courage, diligence and a sincere desire to WANT to affect the changes needed in oneself, and then to humanity. And it always starts with a single step in the right direction.

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