The Swamp is Almost Finished

The bog has been eliminated, and fortunately for the residents of McNaughten Village it was obliterated before the Federal Government could declare it a wetland, thus putting it out of reach of the people who live next to it.

Pro Patch Truck

Our fair city is using the Pro Patch Asphalt Pothole Patcher, a system manufactured by H.D. Industries in Jacksonville, TX. The system seems to work well in spite of our inclement climate.

The Pothole Patched

The pothole is filled in with asphalt and recovered with this massive steel plate.  Presumably the plate will be removed sometime in the future - hopefully before the scavengers find it and haul it away to sell to a scrap yard.

Good job, guys!

Fatal Fire and Smoke Detectors

Woman Killed In Far East Side Fire Identified

From the article:
According to [CFD Battalion Chief] Martin, the fire started when Kelsor [the deceased] apparently began cooking food and fell asleep. There were no working fire detectors in the home.

Personally, I hate smoke detectors.  The one in my kitchen goes off when it shouldn't, and it's a guarantee that your smoke detector will go off at 3:00 AM when its batteries are low.  All that said, if this homeowner had kept working smoke detectors in her home, her family wouldn't be stricken by grief and planning a funeral.

Our homes are literally connected, so please, make sure you have working smoke detectors in your home.

Draining the Swamp, Part II

The racket that disturbed my early morning slumber is, quite unexpectedly, the water department.  Judging by the equipment, this was more than just a slight leak in the water pipe, and by that I don't mean drainage, I mean water inlet.  This used to be called the water main busted, but that was quite a few years ago.  I have no idea how people refer to it these days.  Not my concern, maybe?

View From My Window

I guess the sign should read, "Repair in Progress".

Draining the Swamp

Cowboy wisdom: If you ever find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.  In this case, shutting off the water that's flooding the yard is a step in the right direction, and wonder of wonders, that's what actually might happen while we're all still young.

The Swamp

Either someone is trying (unsuccessfully) to establish a cranberry bog, or there's a leak in the water supply pipe.  Check the pics below:

A River Runs Through It

I hope the city of Columbus does something about this in the very near future, because pretty soon the runoff will start freezing and become a safety hazard.

Welcom New Neighbor

Please welcome our new neighbor, Linda Shoemaker.  Linda is moving in to 1860 Misty Way.

See you around the circle, Linda!

Shots Fired: 11/27/17 @ 11:00 PM

On Monday night around 11:00 PM, seven shots were fired.  The shots sounded like they came from McNaughton and East Livingston.  To me, it sounded like a 9mm.

I called the police and made a report.  I declined to speak with an officer.

Shots Fired

On Saturday November 18^th 2017 at approximately 12:30 AM I heard thirteen shots fired in quick succession in the vicinity of the McNaughten and Livingston intersection.  It sounded like a 9mm.

I would guess that our local recreational shooter has graduated from a .38 revolver to a 9mm automatic.

Construction Continues

Construction continues, with the cement company making hay while it isn't raining.  Once poured, the cement must be allowed to dry for 14 days before it will support the weight of a car.  So, if you want to leave any hand prints on your driveway for whatever reason, your window closes this afternoon.

Noise at Night

Who ever it was that came home on Tuesday night at midnight, please! turn your radio off before you enter McNaughten Village.  The racket about knocked me right out of bed, and I need my sleep.

Construction and Noise

If your early morning rest has been disturbed by the delicate strains of a jackhammer, it isn't the city spending your tax dollars repairing the roads.  It's your HOA, indirectly anyway.  We've decided to have the curbs and sidewalks repaired while it's still possible to do so.

Usefull Service

In a previous post I mentioned that I subscribe to a service that lists crimes in the area of McNaughten Village.  This service is call Spot Crime, and can be found here: Spot Crime. Most major cities are covered.

Shooting at Truck

I subscribe to a service which collects police reports for our area.  No crime incidents have been inside McNaughten Village, for which we may all be thankful, but the latest serious crime took place on the corner.

Crime Report

From the report:  On listed date and time [11/8/2017 12:37:41 AM] at listed location [Livingston Ave & McNaughten Rd] unknown suspect(s) improperly discharged a firearm striking listed property [Ford F-250 Truck].  Listed victim [Seeright, Charles A; Male, White, 57] was inside listed property, but was not struck during the incident.  Detectives responded to listed location and processed the scene.

You can view the report for yourself at: City of Columbus Unofficial Web Report

Several other McNaughten Village residents and I have heard shots fired prior to this incident.  I judged it to be a .38 revolver because of the sound and cadence of the shots.  It seems our local firearms aficionado is no longer content to shoot into the air and has graduated to actual targets.

Remember to Vote!

Election day is Tuesday, November 7^th, 2017.

Polling Place

Our polling place and districts are:

Mcnaughten Pointe Care Center
1425 Yorkland Road
Columbus Oh 43232
Precinct: COLS 84-C
US Congressional District: 3
Senate District: 15
State Rep. District: 26

Please remember to exercise your Constitutionally recognized right to vote.

Fall Color

I was out and about the other day and decided to get a few pictures of the colorful trees on both sides of McNaughten Drive.

Standing Outside the Fence

Across the Street

On McNaughten

Looking North on McNaughten

Our Trees on McNaughten

Unusual Dark Red

Construction on the (presumed) storage units across the street continues at a steady pace.  I'm just glad they didn't bulldoze all the trees when they cleared the land.

Unusual Fall

We seem to be having an unusually temperate fall this year.  I didn't think we'd see much by way of fall colors, but this tree is quite pleasing.

While I miss the colorful trees from my old home in Sylvania, Ohio, I don't miss raking the leaves.  That's the best thing about life in a condominium; the second best thing is not mowing the grass.

Ransomware Warning

There's a particularly nasty piece of ransomware in the wild just now.  Bad Rabbit lures victims in by pretending to be a ubiquitous Adobe Flash installer.  It then encrypts your files and demands ransom to decrypt them.  A good friend of mine who works for Culver City, CA, told me that the Culver City accounting department got hit with ransomware a while back, and ended up spending five or six times the amount of ransom demanded to fix their computer system and network.

So back up your system and don't take candy from strangers.

Here are two articles that explain Bad Rabbit and what it does.


What Is Bad Rabbit? Ransomware Paralyzes Train Stations, Airports and Media in Russia and Europe

U.S. Warns of "Bad Rabbit" Ransomware That Hit Computers in Europe

Again, your best protection is backing up your system.

In other news...

Item 1 of 2

Since our refuse wasn't collected by the sanitation engineers, I emailed 311@Columbus.gov and asked them the obvious question. Here's my email and their the response:

My email:
10/21/17

My address is 1868 Misty Way, Columbus, OH.  My trash was scheduled to be collected on Friday, 10/20/17, but was never picked up.  My neighbors have not had their trash collected either.

What is our next collection date?


Response:
10/23/17

Hello, Mr. Emery,

Thank you for contacting the 311 Service Center.  We apologize for the inconvenience. On your behalf, we have created 311 Service Request number 1710230392, which has been assigned to the Division of Refuse. Please leave your container at your collection point to be serviced within the next 1-3 business days.

You are welcome to follow the progress of your request at our website at: 311 SR Status.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please email or contact us at 614-645-3111, Monday through Friday between 7:00am and 6:00pm.

Regards,

311 Service Center/mb

 Item 2 of 2

Today's HOA bored board meeting was canceled due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.  The meeting has been rescheduled for 11:00 AM 10/30/17.  Please make a note of it.

Security Alert

I got this from another social media site and thought it was worth passing along.

From Officer Anthony Rogers, Columbus PD:

Suspicious Person

I have been advised that there has been several instances of a "well dressed black man" knocking on doors asking for money all hours of the day and night in the Knollwood Drive area.  I suggest that you don't open your door if you don't know/recognize the person knocking but do let the person know that you are home.

End Message

We have a No Soliciting of Any Kind sign at the entrance to our enclave, but in the past people have either ignored the sign or lacked the necessary skill to read it.  Should you get someone soliciting at your door, please call 911 and inform the dispatcher of the situation.

More Madness

On October 11th at approximately 1:00 AM I heard gun shots from the vicinity of the corner of East Livingston Avenue and McNaughten Road.  This time I counted 12 shots.  I think I'm going to start calling this trigger happy miscreant Two-Gun.  Judging from the cadence and the sound, I would guess it to be one shooter with two .38 revolvers.  This time he fired them simultaneously, one in each hand.

I didn't bother to call the police.

Midnight Madness

On October 7^th at 12:52 AM I heard six pistol shots from the vicinity of the bus stop at the corner of East Livingston Avenue and McNaughten Road.  Or, plainly speaking, in our side yard.

This isn't the first time I've heard shots fired from that area.  Some little miscreant has got himself a .38 revolver and likes to test fire it every so often, always around 1:00 AM.  I didn't bother calling the police - all they'll do is insist I get up and put in a personal appearance.  Who needs that aggravation?  Besides, by the time the police arrive, the midnight gunslinger will be long gone.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

HOA Meeting

As a general announcement, the next director's meeting of the HOA will be held on Monday, September 25^th, 2017 at 1862 Misty Way at 11:00 AM EST.

Human Interest: Useful Links

Here are two links to sites that I've found useful.  Both are free should you decide to join.

Spot Crime

From the site: SpotCrime is a public facing crime map and crime alert service. With SpotCrime, it’s easier than ever to check crime anywhere in the United States and many other countries worldwide. Our daily crime maps allow you to learn about crime in your city down to the neighborhood, zip code, or street level. As the most visited crime mapping website, SpotCrime allows you to easily look up city and county crime data and reports -- all the way down to local neighborhood statistics.

Next Door

From the site: Nextdoor is the private social network for your neighborhood.
Nextdoor is the best way to stay in the know about what’s going on in your neighborhood—whether it’s finding a last-minute babysitter, learning about an upcoming block party, or hearing about a rash of car break-ins. There are so many ways our neighbors can help us. We just need an easier way to connect with them.

I use both sites, and I've noted from Spot Crime that McNaughten Village is the hole in the doughnut, so to speak.  I'm glad to see the low crime rate in McNaughten Village.

Users at Next Door were able to answer several questions for me in the past, such as finding a vegetable stand (2 on E. Main, but who knew?) and keeping me up to date about crime and criminal mischief.

Try these out.  I'm sure you'll find them useful.

Human Interest: Flowers in Bloom

The City Water Department are still hard at work fixing the leak on Misty Way.

Men at Work

City Water Department

These flowers must be low maintenance, as I never see our groundskeeper out doing whatever groundskeepers are supposed to do to make the flowers look nice.  We now have a few red ones in bloom, and the contrast is appealing.

I'll see what's in bloom next week.

News: Progress and Improvement

I happened to see a young fellow massacring the evergreens by the entrance, and so stopped to take a photo or two.  It seems that the evergreen bush in question needed to be removed.

Before Removal

After Evergreen Removal

After Removal

Here are two shots taken during the removal.

About Gone

Almost Gone

Human Interest: June 26, 2017

I rode out for a short tour of the neighborhood today, and I'm impressed with the flowers.  Here are some lilies at the our entrance, making things look a little nicer.

Human Interest: Welcome Our New Neighbors

Please join me in welcoming our new neighbors.  Zelalem G. Anagaw and Shega G. Aysheshim have just closed on 1858 Misty Way.  Welcome to the neighborhood!

News: Trimming the Hedge

Our bushes and trees have needed trimming for a while, and today was the big day for bush trimming.  Here are a few pictures of the arboricultural engineers at work.

Bushes Neatly Trimmed

The Trimming Crew Hard at Work

Working Hard

There! Working...

To everyone out in our community who remembers doing a hard day's work when you were 16 or so, well... this isn't it.  But we did get our bushes trimmed, which is the important part.  Some of the trimmings were collected and hauled away, while others (like mine) were swept under the nearest bush.

The crew started early this morning (they woke me up) and managed to finish before quittin' time.