WHAT WEAPONS SHOULD A CITIZEN CARRY?

An atmosphere of fear has been promulgated by newspapers, real events and gun dealers and manufacturers. They want an armed too the teeth America. But, what do we really need in the way of guns for protection? My friend Randy Vining asks this question. Here is his post on the subject that I’ve copied with his permission.

HOW DEADLY SHALL WE ALLOW A CITIZEN TO BE?

Posted: 31 Oct 2013 05:06 PM PDT

FOUND: A GUN ENTHUSIAST WITH THE COURAGE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION.
Ask your gun loving friends this question and watch them turn cowardly—hem and haw—wiggle and lie, evade and accuse. Almost none of them have the courage to confront this question rationally. But I found one—Here he is:

He was having his morning coffee—I asked the question—expecting the usual evasiveness. BUT SURPRISE:—he answered succinctly and un-defensively: SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS. And he added: There is no legitimate need for automatic weapons. (other than military)

I had stopped to photograph this provocative sign. He told me people stop often with their cameras.

In Prescott, Arizona—

This may be the biggest gun store in Arizona—

a veritable supermarket of deadliness.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES: I salute this brave man—did you notice he is carrying a sidearm? (Arizona has perhaps the most permissive gun laws) He operates this store.

I think I agree with his answer—-at least for now—It seems a reasonable middle ground between too much and too little—and until so many mass murders occur that it will seem logical to begin restricting them—as happened in Australia. I feel safe in Canada because they have so seriously restricted firearms.

Twice in 8000 nights of boondocking I have felt comforted by my weapons—outside Sheridan, Wyoming In a lonely place– 4 (drunken?) Indians roared up yelling and began to rock my rig. I was not afraid–because I was armed—and they soon went away.

More seriously, in Lafayatte, La I was accosted by a carload of angry blacks–yelling and cursing me for some supposed traffic infraction. I apologized profusely several times—not knowing what I had done—while just out of sight I held my equalizer. Luckily they did not attack.

All in all my guns have caused me more trouble than they are worth. In Concord, Massachusetts the cops took my weapon—disassembled it and gave it back the next day.
I DON’T KNOW HOW RANDY’S EXPERIENCES STACK UP AGAINST ANYONE ELSE’S, BUT HE ECHOES MOST OF THE PEOPLE I’VE TALKED TO AS DOES THIS GUN STORE OWNER. SEMI- AUTOMATIC WEAPONS ARE NOT NECESSARY FOR PROTECTION. THEY HAVE ONE PURPOSE, NOT HUNTING, NOT PROTECTION, THEY ARE FOR KILLING.
Randy writes an interesting blog:  Here is his address:
http://www.mobilecodgers.blogspot.com/

DAY OF THE DEAD IN MURPHYS.

The Day of the Dead, celebrated in Murphys, was a good opportunity to take some time from mundane chores and head for town. Jim got into a shirt he bought in Central America or Mexico, where he has seen a genuine Dia de los Muertes celebration and parade.

The first altar we came to was celebrating the life of Frenchman, Maurice Chevelier,  erected by a French couple who run the tasting room in Murphys "Mall". Another we encountered later celebrated Julia Child.

The Marisola Olive Oil tasting room had a more personal remembrance, perhaps each employee put up pictures of deceased loved ones.

I liked the "home-made" aspect of it. These are just cardboard boxes decorated with pictures. That is what the celebration is all about, once a year, remember our loved ones who have passed and celebrate life. In the deepest jungles of Brazil, where graves are close to home, the people celebrate with an altar on the grave. Typical food is empanadas.
The other element of the celebration is to place things on the altar that the deceased person cherished, often favorite foods.  Flowers and candles are typical. This one was a mystery to us, the pliers and acorns. I can only admire and speculate, the cuts in the paper, the crayons, perhaps an artist who used these tools? Made crafts from acorns?

Inside of an art gallery  is a huge picture frame altar where visitors were encouraged to pick a tag and write the name of a loved one you wish to celebrate and hang it from the tree. Very touristy, and I expect that is what most of this celebration is about here in the new, re-invented Murphys, that visitors love so well.

Speaking of re-inventing, suddenly, the Murphys Hotel has a ghost of "long-standing" with an elaborate story about her lost lover, and devoted employment at the hotel, her death and ghostly antics only witnessed by employees. Ghosts are very popular in the Motherlode.

I really enjoyed the day. We followed the mariachi band from place to place.

The costuming. There was a costume contest and parade. And participants like us who dressed up a bit. But, this costume was beautiful and very elaborate. I hope she won.
This girl was taking a picture of the mariachi band.

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Miss Northern California Teen attended with her father.

A second band entertained from a porch in the middle of town. They were a good listen.

My neighbor, Pam Chisholm, got into the spirit of the day.

Two places in town offered face painting.

This gentleman was in front of the Gene and Norman Tanner house that  is now a vacation rental. He had the place outfitted to the max.

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You could by a skull and decorate it.

He had very authentic Mexican candelabra and the typical cakes sold all over Mexico for this day.  He served candied pumpkin, another traditional food. Many of the 21 altars around town had traditional cakes.

He had set-ups where you could have your picture taken.

Even an altar to remember and celebrate your favorite pets.

What I liked most about this celebration was how uncrowded it was. Here, in front of the Peppermint Stick, is a scene right out of the fifties. I thoroughly enjoyed walking town, even if half the businesses have changed hands, several times, and I can't remember what they were. The Peppermint Stick and the Murphys Hotel have withstood the onslaught of too many wine tasting rooms. The celebration won't stay this way for very long.  At 6:00 p.m. there was a candlelight procession to the St. Patricks Church Cemetery. We opted to skip home for dinner and a movie. We watched Tootsie, which neither of us had ever seen before.  I swear, we are culturally deprived. LOL

RVER'S, DO THEY CARRY GUNS?

Do RVers carry guns for protection? Since there are millions of RVers out there, that is a loaded question. Pun intended. But, how safe do RVers feel on the road? I gave both of my husband’s service revolvers to my son after he died.  I was uncomfortable with them in the house where a potential assailant could steal it, use it on me, or a grandkid could find it and have an accident no matter how well I’ve hidden it.
One of those revolvers was stolen from my son’s garage. It was, he thought, well hidden. He still has the second one. He doesn’t carry it and doesn’t go to a shooting range, or use it. It has sentimental value to him.

Jim traveled 17,000 miles, across Mexico and through every country in Central America, in his motor home, in 2004, without a gun. It was clear before he started, you don’t carry a weapon or you’ll end up in a jail. Period. He has been a full timer for 18 years and has never felt the need to carry a gun. He does carry a weapon, of sorts. He has an ice pick just above the door. He has a small, narrow, hardwood bat also near the door by the passenger seat. He used to carry a loud noisemaker air horn. He has never felt the need for a more serious weapon.
Having just read about another lone gunman attack, shooting an automatic rifle at an airport yesterday,  makes me think about the lunacy of selling automatic rifles to anyone who wants one. Let’s face it, the supposed screening process does not work which is exactly the way the gun manufacturers like it. (The NRA is now a gun manufacturer in case you didn’t know.)

Jim and I have had one incident where a “weapon” was used. We were parked at a bus station waiting for an early morning shuttle to take me to an airport. We were in Arizona and three drunks came knocking on the door about 10 p.m. waking us up.  Jim opened the small kitchen window and asked what they wanted. They were pretty incoherent and kept up some babble, have you got some…, whatever. I’ve forgotten what they were asking for.  He took out his weapon, his cell phone and said, leave or I’ll call the cops. He had to say it repeatedly and hold up the phone and pretend to press a couple of buttons.  They went away, and awhile later they came back. Jim used the same weapon, they backed off a second time and went away for good.
My weapon of choice at home is a can of bee spray by my bedside, and an air can of loud noise in my car small enough to conceal in my hand. Pepper spray small enough to have on a key chain is available if you work where you have to walk to a dark parking lot at night.
The best weapon, is being careful not to put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation, but, as we all know, shit happens.
Our good friend, Randy Vining, a fellow full timer,  does carry a weapon. I’ll come back to his story. And, I’d like to hear from other RVers about weapons.

HALLOWEEN SCARES.

This is an optical illusion that I got from a website entitled Halloween Optical Illusions. I enjoyed Halloween soooo much as a kid. We liked it when someone would decorate and entice us in and scare us half to death. We couldn't wait to go back to the same house the following year.
Today, kids are overprotected and  attend chaperoned parties, or closely guarded trick or treating, which is safe, but where is the thrill?  Are the dangers of trick or treating overblown? I don't have an answer for that. I do know that my son, several years ago, sat on his dimly lit porch with his pumpkin full of candy and he would give a scary laugh as the kids came up to his porch. Some kids got wide-eyed and scared and would hang back. They would watch half fearfully while they grabbed a piece of candy from the pumpkin and ran with their booty.  One mother lambasted him for scaring her daughter and shouted at him, "This isn't about being scary, my daughter is a Princess."  Now he turns off his lights at Halloween and no longer attempts to give out candy. He figures the next parent might sue him for scaring a kid.


Another optical illusion. But, if you really want scary, all you have to do is read the newspapers, for me, on-line.
I found a stomach turning video of what goes into cooking oil in China. Shudder. 
You probably don't want to watch it, but here is the link:
http://www.alternet.org/food/stomach-turning-video-youll-be-grossed-out-what-goes-cheap-black-market-cooking-oil-china

Then there is the Arkansas cop who tasered a woman because she refused to show him her breasts? Well, I had a hard time to believe this one. But, it is scary because it is true.
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/lawsuit-ark-cop-chased-and-tased-woman-after-she-refused-show-him-her-breasts


You kind of have to cross your eyes to see the full skull in this one. Hint-the apron drawn tightly at the waist is the skull's teeth.
No one is going to be scared by the optical illusiions, but they are creative. The news, on the other hand, is definitely scary. But, away with that. How about fifty states, fifty sandwiches?

http://www.zagat.com/b/50-states-50-sandwiches?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=desktoptopperformers#4

Arkansans like a fried baloney sandwich. Maybe that cop ate a few too many.
Hey, Happy Halloween.  BOOO!

END OF BIKING ON THE ROAD.

My bike hangs off the back of the Bronco. Jim's was attached to the Motorhome ladder. He never felt like hauling his bike down, so I rode alone around the grounds or nearby streets where we camped. But, with two years of little use, and the salt air from the East Coast, my bike was deteriorating very quickly. He removed his in Connecticut and gave it to his son. I removed mine yesterday.
We took it in to a bike shop in Angels Camp for a tune-up. It needed new derailleurs, grips,peddles and brake pads. Because I have had one bike stolen off the back of the Bronco,  I painted out the Trek brand name, kept a beat up old seat on it and used two locks with a stronger cable. Pain in the butt every time you want to ride.

I was surprised and pleased at this small town bike shop. The owner is very knowledgeable and helpful. He doesn't overcharge. In fact, he recommended against needless cosmetic touch-ups, and suggested just taking care of the riding elements. Nice guy.

I'm anxious to try it out since I can now walk a brisk mile, maybe I can ride without a problem. At home. Biking while on the road is a thing of the past. We tried several covers to protect the bike, none worked without obscuring the drivers vision. So....we'll see. I'm remembering how much fun it was to ride the canals in Yuma, and...well, it is an option.

REPUBLICANS USED TO BE GOOD GUYS.

I had an early morning appointment with a massage thereapist yesterday and on my way I heard Senator Dave Camp badgering the woman who is in charge of the Medicare website about why she cannot tell him how many people are signed up for Affordable Health Care. She kept telling him the figures would be available mid-November.  What hypocrisy. The Republicans, YES, THE REPUBLICANS, have done everything in their power to make sure Obamacare wouldn't work. They shut down the government and backlogged thousands of programs so, now it is okay to badger this employee?

Ted Cruz brags that he will do everything he can to stop Obamacare while he also boasts shutting down the government was a great idea and he will do it again?

No leeway for the fact that when the government asked for bids on a company to provide a website they had to include every possible eventuality in the specifications before it could be bid.

Last spring, when the senate finance committee asked for outreach funds to implement the Affordable care Act, the outreach, to educate and pay the Department of Health and Human Services to assist people to enroll and for the technology experts to navigate the complicated needs of the system for privacy, medical records on-line, etc. Funds allotted? NONE. ZERO.  (Information from CNN)

The Public Relations part of the bill was required. When HHS director, Kathryn Sebillious asked the insurance companies who would benefit from this and non-profit organizations to donate to this, a very controversial move, Republicans were outraged. She got ZIP. No money. All of her requests for funds to implement the act was refused and blocked by Republicans.

When Sebelius tried to shift money from other areas to help do what needed to be done,  she was attacked by Senate Republicans. At every step, Republicans fought measures to get money to put towards implementation.

Let's remember that original versions of the bill called for one big national exchange. This would have been much easier to implement. But conservatives declared that insurance should be left to the states and kept out of the hands of the federal government. So as a compromise exchanges were made state-based instead of national.

As a precaution, the law stipulated that if states failed to do their duty and enact exchanges, the federal government would step in and pick up the slack. This was to prevent obstructionism from killing the law. Surprisingly, it was many of the same conservative states that demanded local control that refused to implement state-based exchanges, leaving the federal government to do it for them

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There have been books, webinars and meetings explaining how to sabotage the implementation of Obamacare. There have been campaigns trying to persuade young people from signing up for Obamacare.  It is, therefore, somewhat ironic that many of the same people who have been part of all of this obstructionism seem so "upset" by the fact that people can't easily use the exchanges.

(Information from Aaron E. Carroll,  a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of its Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research. He has supported a single-payer health system during the reform debate.)

But, wait, we do have a Republican who stated sincerely:  "Now it is time to move forward again in a critical area. Health Care. Without adequate health care, no one can make full use of his or her talents and opportunities. It is thus just as important that economic, racial, and social barriers not stand in the way of good health care."

That was President Nixon, who got impeached and resigned before he had a chance to follow through. Or, who knows, maybe he didn't really mean it.

DON'T MESS WITH NEBRASKANS.

Farmers and ranchers in Nebraska built a sustainable, green-tech embracing barn right in the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline, symbolically blocking its progress while, at the same time, nicely highlighting why it simply isn’t needed.

These aren’t tree hugging hippies, these are landed ranchers and farmers who state in a video called “The Barn”  “TransCanada isn’t asking to do business with us. They tried to bully us,” the voice states.  “They told us it was a done deal, but they didn’t know much about Nebraskans.”

I’m headed to the Chiropractor this morning, early, and have shamelessly let Gas.2.0. write my blog for me this morning. I couldn’t find the video address to post. But, one final statement from the post. They know that it is oil not ethanol raising food prices, they know tar sands destroys land, and pipelines destroy towns. They can’t be bought.

My own thoughts on this event is that as the Federal Government fails us, states and people have to more and more take things into their own hands. Shame on you Obama if you allow this project to go through.

WINTER STORMS ARRIVE TODAY.

Winter is peeking around the corner. This lovely weather we’ve been having is going to be interrupted by thunder storms today. I decided to remove my sun shades.

Tucked  three tables under cover, with the wooden chairs.

Removed the umbrellas on the south side of the deck, stacked the chairs against the wall. In other words, I worked outside most of the day. Tried to eliminate a pesty creeping rose vine that I’ve had dug up repeatedly. It just keeps coming back stronger than ever.

The fallen leaves under my front yard maple were so deep, they obliterated the walking paths. The noisy shuffle walking through them reminded me of playing in the leaves as a kid. I subscribe to a Poem A Day, and these last weeks have been full of fall poems.

And then, I cooked my eggplant. Traditional eggplant parmesan, which I love, I order in a restaurant because it is tedious and fattening to make. Salting the layers of eggplant, pressing the juice out, frying it with breadcrumbs and eggs, then saucing it with the cheese. I decided to try a short cut. I sliced the eggplant in half inch slices, arranged them in an 8 X 8 glass casserole dish, standing on edge against the sides and filling in the middle, then microwaved them for 15 minutes. They came out tender without  salt, no juice. During that fifteen minutes I browned and seasoned a quarter pound of ground turkey with one clove of garlic and dry Italian seasonings. In the same dish, I layered the eggplant, slathered over it about a cup of bottled Classico Spaghetti sauce, put the meat over it. Crushed one slice of dried bread over the meat with my hands. It made very fine crumbs. The final layer of sauce. Then slices of mozzarella (part skim milk cheese) over the sauce. Then sprinkled parmesan sparingly over all, with about a fourth cup of red wine, and baked it in the microwave until bubbly. It was very tasty.

MR. SMITH WENT TO WASHINGTON.

Jim and I paused to reflect yesterday on our fifth anniversary since we met face to face at a restaurant in Tracy, a half way point from where I live to where he was parked near Gilroy. Once we hit the road, I slowly gave up my newspaper and and now get my news on-line.

Mr. Smith went to Washington and gave his millions to create The Smithsonian, our  masterfully reflective Museum and Archive that covers every aspect of American life and beyond. Scientists, psychologists, researchers, and curators seek out what makes us tick and how it affects how we live. I get their magazine at home, but read it on-line as well. The picture above is what once was the “Loneliest” tree on the planet. Three hundred years old, with roots that reached 100 feet to the water table. An acacia that was used on maps in the 1930′s as a directional landmark and for many years before by word of mouth. It was rammed into by a (rumored) drunk driver in 1973 and killed. The trunk sits in the Smithsonian and a metal tree has replaced the famous Acacia.

Jim and I are tea drinkers, but when I’m home, I drink one cup of coffee in the morning. Neuroscientist Steven Miller tells us that the best time to drink coffee, or any caffeine drink, is when our cortisol begins to dip, for most people about 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the morning and after 1:00 in the afternoon and after 6:30 at night.
The United Kingdom’s National Healthy Service claims their measurements were based upon when workers begin to tire and suggest coffee break  at 2:16 p.m. Rather precise, aren’t they? The afternoon drink, with a 15 minute nap,no longer, called the caffeine nap, is beneficial according to  LIFEHACKER. Hey good to know.
Smithsonian gives you Smart News, what is Trending Today, New Research and Cool Finds.  Smithsonian is trustworthy, not controlled by any President or Congress. I love it.

THE REWARDS OF BLOGGING.

Keeping in touch is one of the rewards of blogging. Between email, the internet and my blog, I feel I have a lifeline to the greatest community in the world. Information at my fingertips and above all keeping in touch with people. Remember the telephone ad?  Reach out and touch someone? That is what it is like.

I heard from Genvieve Hardy, a Navajo woman we met on the road who invited us to dine with her and educated us about her culture. She weaves, teaches and works hard. I love it when we get a hello from our travels. We met her in 2012 in Arizona.

I blogged Joan Higgins yesterday and up popped Pat Seiferth, a person I dearly care about and because of a computer glitch, we went our separate ways. I'll explain it in as few words as possible. I received two emails from Pat that had a cryptic note: PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM YOUR MAILING LIST. I was hurt and she denied sending it. The second one came and she denied sending it, as well, as did her husband. Several years later, my daughter told me that some email programs do that when the box is full, or just as a filter in their system, they will send the very message I was sure came From Pat. Mystery solved. By then, Pat had moved out-of-state, address unknown.  My apologies, Pat. I'm smarter now.


And, my good friend Marilyn Pinnow let me know, as she sat among the moving boxes admiring the leaves out her window, that she had moved back to Murphys and asked me to attend a Day Of The Dead Procession that has gained a following in Murphys over the last three years. It is something you see in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil. It is about celebrating the lives of those you love who have passed. Another way of keeping in touch.

My friend, Ron Heinsma, sends me so many emails from so many fields of interest, I look forward to them every day.  This morning I got an email about how to connect with the Viet Nam Memorial Wall in D.C.  If you know someone who died in Viet Nam, it might be of interest to check out the Virtual Wall on the link below:
http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm