Decided to go to Apple Hill in California’s historic gold region. For years, I’d heard that aside from apples, apple pie, cakes and cider, they had many wonderful craft-makers selling their goods.

So I decided to go for the day since its is only 150 miles away from my home. I grabbed my camera and headed west over I-80, south on old 49 and finally east at Placerville towards Apple Hill.

I’d love to show all the fantastic and delightful pieces of craft ware I saw, but I can’t. Instead I can only share with you this single frame which sums up a day of photographic disappointment.

*Sigh*

As it turns out, many of my Progressive friends are right, making the U.S. gun-free can be done in five easy steps.

1. Elect 67 Senators and 290 Representatives who support the cause.
2. Have the newly-elected Congress propose to repeal the 2nd Amendment.
3. Get 38 states to ratify the Constitutional change.
4. Enact Federal legislation that makes gun ownership illegal.
5. Confiscate every gun in the country, door-to-door if need be.

Easy-peasy. And while we’re at it — lets change the name of the country too, because we REALLY wouldn’t be ‘united’ on anything anymore.

Confidence, like happiness, is mostly an inside job. One can, however instill confidence in an insecure person.

From time to time, when a new air staff member started at a station, I’d be given the duty of training them. If I saw they were hesitant, I’d stay close by to encourage them to the point that they felt somewhat confident.

The biggest problem most new hires had is the fear of screwing things up – especially stumbling over their words. If I saw this, I’d ask them if they’d ever heard of Babe Ruth.

Most said ‘yes’ and I’d continue by asking, “Do you think he was the home run king of his day?”

The response would usually be something like: “Yeah.”

“Would you be surprise to know that Ruth struck out seven of 10 times he was up to bat?” I’d continue.

“That is surprising,” was often the response.

“So, if you look at his stats,” I’d say, “then apply them to yourself by doing the math, which in this case would be speaking about 10 times in two hours, and say you flubbed up twice each hour – you’d still be doing better than Babe Ruth’s life time batting average.”

I loved seeing that ‘light bulb’ pop on.

Soon to be ex-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is accusing Charles and David Koch of advocating criminal justice reform to cut their legal liabilities. Reid, as per his normal smear tactic, didn’t specify what illegal actions would be absolved by the Kochs’ efforts.

Reid did suggest that the Kochs have become more active in efforts to reduce “overcriminalization” and reform the U.S. justice system “because they have been in the past prosecuted for doing some things that have been illegal.”

“I’m glad they’re on the right side of something finally. Could be that one reason they’re interested in this is because they have been in the past prosecuted for doing some things that have been illegal … And they fought back,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “They are embracing reform now, but it does not negate the many bad things they’re doing to hurt American families.”

Ironically, Reid could benefit from some of the same reform efforts. Such changes would allow him to keep future illegal campaign contributions like those that he received from his granddaughter’s jewelry company or from convicted felon Harvey Whittemore, who illegally funneled nearly $150,000 to his campaign.

During the last election cycle, the Nevada Democrat lambasted the Kochs as billionaires trying to buy political influence through massive campaign spending. Reid has made clear he’ll continue that line of attack during his last 15 months in the Senate.

I’ll be glad when this fucking idiot no longer represents the Silver State — because he sure the hell doesn’t represent me!

I smell another ‘ Ahmed the Clock Kid’ in the making. You know the teen that ‘built’ a clock n a brief case purposefully to look like a ‘bomb,’ and the media and President Obama loved him up and turned him into a ‘misunderstood’ sensation?

Same things happening as the web history of the Umpqua Community College murderer showed him to be of mixed-race, aligned with groups like ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Fuck The Police’ and ‘Fuck Yo Flag.’ However, most of that social media stuff is gone.

This little coward had a friend by the name of Mahmoud Ali Ehsani, whose profile has also disappeared. And he wrote about the attention given to the asshole that shot a television reporter and cameraman on air in Virginia in late August.

Umpqua Community College also appears to be deleting their association with the murderer (Not that I blame them,) but it should be known that he was part of a college theater class presenting the play, “Blithe Spirit,’ later this month. However, everything to do with that production’s been scrubbed.

Being part of a college production class and performance runs counter to the seemingly preferred media narrative of this murder being a loner. He also gave a “manifesto” to a surviving student of the shooting, but that’s not being mentioned either.

I’ve noticed that the media is continually selling the narrative that the murder was a loner, a mentally disturbed individual without any mention of his writings, behaviors and social tendencies. Furthermore, CNN has gone so far as to change the gunman’s skin color and thin his nose and lips, and no-one’s showing pictures of his mom, Laurel Margaret Harper, a Black woman — jus’ his White father.

This piece of shit’s real name is Christopher Sean Mercer (which I hate to publicize again,) but much of the media is using ‘Christopher Harper-Mercer’ and ‘Chris Harper-Mercer.’ That’s because it sounds more Caucasian and not at all Black.

It seems like the media is trying its damnedest to back-up Obama assertions about ‘yet another school shooting.’ But now that the killer’s online background’s being examined by those more interested in the truth than the agenda, Obama’s speech doesn’t line up with the facts.

Furthermore, Obama plans to visit Roseburg, Oregon, the hometown of Umpqua Community College, this Friday. His announcement has cause a social media outcry, calling on him to stay away, allowing the community to recover by itself, since his words following the tragedy were more like salt in the wound than a salve that heals.

I hope a large, armed, 2nd Amendment-loving crowd of rural Oregonians’ shows up to turn their backs on him as he glides across the stage to make yet another play at ridding U.S. citizens of all firearms. Hell, who knows – maybe he’ll incite a riot by proclaiming tighter restrictions through executive fiat.

I know – I’m not supposed to think such things, let alone put them into words – because it ain’t politically correct.

I never thought I’d be writing about a certain hairstyle, but then again I never thought I’d live to be as old as I am today. For the past several years I HAD to shave my head because I eventually developed a rash that wouldn’t go away.

However for the last few months I’ve been treating my scalp with ‘red light’ therapy and it really helped a lot. But in the last three weeks the rash returned with a vengeance, this time on my neck.

So, after doing everything I could to battle it, including up the amount of time I sat in front of my lamp, I decided to shave my neck and the sides of my scalp above my ears. In fact, I took it to the line where most male Jarheads keep their hair to pass inspection.

The only difference is, I cut nothing off the top in the style men wore back in the roaring 20’s. It’s called an undercut and I thought it looked pretty good, despite of having done it all by myself.

(Think of actor Tom Hardy’s haircut in the movie ‘Lawless,’ only a little higher and tighter.)

Unfortunately, my wife never acknowledged that I even cut my hair, though we were sitting in the living room next to one another. Then our house mate came home and took one look at me and stated emphatically: “That looks stupid.”

Neither woman was being mean. Kay tends to say exactly what’s on her mind, while Mary simply ignores my ever-changing hairstyle, commenting: “You change more than a woman.”

So I spent the next few hours sulking over the snubs while periodically going to the mirror to look at myself and assess whether I should keep it or not. In the end, feelings hurt and a little peeved, I chopped everything off and now I look like a very old ‘boot,’ once again.

Afterwards, vanity struck and I’ve since become mournful for my hair. It is proof that ‘pride goeth before a fall,’ because now I have to start all over re-growing it and looking goofy in the process.

And you know what else — I’m not Tom Hardy either — damn!

The first time I heard myself in headphones I froze. It didn’t sound like me, though I knew it was me who was talking.

Fortunately, I progressed from that to eventually being called upon to train a few disc jockeys over the years. I say training – but that is to include those who already had experience and were more or less familiar with the on-air aspect of a stations operation.

Whether it was a ‘mom and pop’ station or one of the corporate monsters so prevalent today, I never once saw a training manual. Instead training was generally a by-the-seat-of-the-britches deal where you go over particular duties of that particular shift.

Another thing sorely lacking in the development of an on-air personality was the ability to build their self-confidence. By nature many DJ’s and such are very uncertain of themselves and tend to overcompensate for this emotional gap.

Over the years, I’ve seen and heard a lot of folks in the business jealously tear-down a co-work simply because they were unsure of their own self-worth as it pertains to the public-eye. On the other hand, I’ve also seen people who have absolutely no talent carry such a big ego that nobody wants to be around them.

Somehow (and mostly due to bluster) a number of these persons have managed to garner ‘management’ positions, where they beat down anyone they perceive as a possible threat to their position. I’m certain these people exist in all areas of the workforce and are no exception to broadcasting.

Sadly, people who refuse to show that suffer from any insecurity will never truly develop a relationship beyond themselves because they don’t know how. I’ve been around men and women, who’re married, have families and yet cling to their public persona so tightly they fail to develop emotionally.

I know this because I was there at one time.

And though many will not admit it – especially the younger talent – anyone in broadcasting long enough has suffered from the wish to be liked, wanted, needed and more-over, praised. In fact, I’ve concluded that the more broken (and I use the term loosely) the person is, the better their talent is at relating with the listener one-on-one.

I think this is how God designed all of humanity to be — broken yet successful – so He could have a one-on-one relationship with each of us.

Three Questions that have yet to be answered to my satisfaction:

If gun control works so well and Chicago is the most heavily firearms regulated city in the U.S., why did they have 250 shootings resulted in 55 people getting killed and another 288 being wounded in September 2015?

And why, if regulating ownership of guns is so vital to halting gun violence why are shootings up 38 percent in Chicago, gun deaths up by 66 percent and the overall number of people wounded up by 47 percent from 2014?

Finally, President Obama, if I’m responsible for the murders that happened at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, though my finger was never on the trigger of the weapon – are you holding yourself responsible for the 349 people shot and killed or the 1,978 wounded since the beginning of the year in Chicago?

My guess – I bet not. Instead, you do nothing but pay lip service to problems, both real and perceived, by blaming the U.S. Constitution, the National Rifle Association and the individual American whom you attempted to smear with your Saul Alinsky-ite statement about ‘clinging to their guns and religion.’

You obviously know nothing about either, nor do you understand the individual spirit of the American people. I won’t hold my breath waiting for an answer from you. to the questions posed – instead I know mindless minion will jump on it as fast as it hits the Internet.

I’ll cling to my ‘guns and religion’ and you can shove your ‘hope and change.’

Here’s a school-shooting story you may not have heard about from our national media:

A school shooting in South Dakota was stopped after a 16-year-old student opened fire with a handgun, wounding Principal Kevin Lein in the arm following an argument. Despite the wound, Lein got on the intercom to let the students and teachers know what had happened, assuring them he would be okay.

Meantime, assistant principal, Ryan Rollinger, tackled the student, holding him down along with a teacher until police arrived. Lein is reportedly doing well after suffering a flesh wound and has been released from the hospital.

And there are reports that the shooter is a Muslim and was seen asking people what their religion is. It is also what may have led up to the argument between the Principal and the would-be murder.

I had a training Sergeant warn once, “The wrong kind of silence, in even the best of condition can be deadly.”

As far as I’m concerned, mass shootings anywhere ain’t got nothing to do with the shooter, the law’s response time, politicians, schools or other public places — it instead has to do with an armed citizenry and the fact that we are not allowed to carry weapons, either concealed or openly in public areas.

I can’t wear my pistol on my hip and walk by the middle school up the street, unless I remain over 200 or so yards from the building. That puts me on the other side of the street by two blocks. This is my neighborhood too, dammit!

Toss all sorts of statistics at me that you want — they are jus’ numbers manipulated to mean one thing or the other. In the end, they mean nothing.

Instead, know that actions speak louder than numbers or words. If there had been one or more person’s armed at Umpqua Community College, aside from the murderer, this tragedy may never have happened. Cowards do not like confrontation.

Unfortunately, we will never know if my assumption is correct in this particular case. I can only direct your attention to other events where another armed citizen stopped a mass-killing in progress.

It’s time to take back OUR U.S. Constitutional right to ‘keep and bear arms.’ Wake up, AMERICA, wake the hell up!