Morning Update: 09/21/24

Today is technically the last day of summer. The high here in Indy is forecasted to be 91 degrees. Tomorrow’s high is 80 and it falls from there for all next week. It’s time to start making chili and making sure the kids have jackets with them when they leave for school. I’m not aware of anyone who is terribly upset. The past couple of weeks have been oppressive to the point that even the dogs haven’t wanted to stay outside very long. Autumn will get a cheerful welcome here tomorrow morning.

There were some storms to our near North last night. In fact, I was sitting in the front yard for a while, enjoying the light show. After a particularly entertaining flash of lightning about a mile away, though, Hamilton decided that he was quite done and the anxious pup demanded we go back inside. We never did get more than a few sprinkles here at the hose.

I’m starting to feel better. In fact, I felt well enough last night to devour about three-quarters of a rotisserie chicken for dinner. That may be the most I’ve eaten all week. I’m still congested as hell, though, which makes breathing difficult, which tires me to the point of complete exhaustion. I’m glad my bed is comfortable, but it’s getting to be too familiar.

There’s not a lot of impactful world news this morning. This fact-checking article is probably worth a couple of minutes of your time, but it’s not likely to sway anyone’s vote. I don’t know if Hamas is getting a breather as Israel goes after Hezbollah, but they’re not showing up in any headlines this morning. There is a bit of an “oops.” Iran did not include mobile launchers with the close-range ballistic missiles that Washington last week accused Tehran of delivering to Russia for use against Ukraine, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. Pardon me while I giggle at that one.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is getting some blowback over its criticism of GMO foods. Critics are saying that important evidence wasn’t considered in determining the safety of the foods. However, one is right to question the ties those critics have to major food conglomerates. Here’s the thing: GMO foods are cheaper to farm and therefore easier on the pocketbook, which is stretched to its limit. Are the risks worth the savings? Who do you want to believe?

The truly disturbing articles this morning are all local. Here’s a list of headlines from Indy’s CBS affiliate:

• Indy woman made child porn, sent it to UK
• Former police chaplain accused of raping child
• IN YMCA daycare worker charged in child abuse case
• IN man arrested for online solicitation of a minor
• Woman arrested in Carmel for rape of special needs minor
• Man shot, killed on north side of Indianapolis
• Man critical after shooting on Indy’s south side

If anyone was thinking about moving here, those headlines would be enough to cause one to pause. For those of us already here, we hold our children a little closer and make sure their phones are charged when they leave for school. One piece of good news: Marion County proposal would let police impound cars used in street takeovers. I wholly support this idea. Here’s hoping it happens.

Of course, this afternoon/evening is full of football. I have a problem, though. Tennessee visits OU this evening. I have reasons for supporting both teams, but they’ve never played each other enough for there to be an established rivalry. For whom do I root? When OU plays Texas, we root for OU. When OU plays Oklahoma State, we root for the Cowboys. Those are easy. But this one? I dunno. I do have a sinking feeling that the Volunteers are likely to run all over the Sooners, but counting the Sooners out is never a good idea. The game doesn’t start until like 7:30 local time, though, so I doubt I’ll see much of it.

Between now and then, I think I’ll sleep. There doesn’t seem to be a good reason not to. The twins seem supportive of that idea. The dogs are already back to snoring. Seems like a waste of time to not join them.