New Challenges... another medical adventure... don't worry nothing wrong yet.

  Just that my last body scan showed NO cancer anywhere (GOOD!) so being a great medical tech the man looking at the scan noted that I have cirrhosis of the liver. Okay, off to see a new doctor about the new information. A consult. Being an old man, I didn't have the doctor's name, nor the address beyond the block it was on, so three building and all three floors of the last building, I was at the correct place on time.
   Fill out paperwork, meet doctor, discuss the potential problem and what tests I should do to keep ahead of my end. No cure, I understand. But also, none of the potential problems with my liver as it is now. So I am scheduled for some tests, a lot of new blood tests looking for any irregularity caused by a failing liver and a fat old man. Lucky me, the tech didn't close until four, so I went over and she got all the tubes and equipment for the draw.
   I sat down, took my sleeves up on both arms, she went for the veins on the left arm after asking which hand I used normally. She got the vein, and started the draw - filling three large, two half size and one tiny one third one. The conversation started getting weird, I was almost sure she was practicing her charms on me, flirting to distract me or something. Now I am so old, I am almost certain there is no way she was flirting, we aren't in the South where it is a duty for young ladies to charm harmless old gentlemen. No we are in the Great NorthWest and women aren't that crazy up here. And I wouldn't know flirting if it hit me... it would have to knock me over and that isn't going to happen.
    I am old and she had finished and she said I looked pretty tough with my sleeves rolled up (???) and then some other stuff that I am sure I didn't hear correctly. But I said good-bye, and went out to see the clerk and get my stuff for my next visit mid March. I guess if I have to do a biography I should just refer the writer to my medical records. I was advised by a YMCA member to check with VA if there is damage, seems Agent Orange is easier if your organs are coming apart since you didn't spend a long time drinking your life away.
   Well, I did twenty miles on a bike ride today, 3.1 miles of rowing and half a mile of walking without a limp and no pain nor tightening in my hip. See, I think I am fine, still smiling that I would think a young woman would flirt with me. Good night, off to soak my feet.

Ah, you wonder why we as a moral people, Americans should support lawful conduct?

  The Wall, TRUMP's WALL, or whatever is only a barrier. Most government actions are barriers, to limit actions of the folks listening. You have noticed that few are obeying? Just check the speed limit and red light runners on the roadways. The drunks and the drugged folks driving, the few that steal property and sell illegal substances or will do strange, intimate or immoral acts for money. One would think that the government could take care of all that without building a wall. And I hold that the government could try, but mostly they just make barriers. Now, I do think the government should stop killings. But then I think that abortion is just medical murder of unloved babies - a high price to pay for failing to stop having sex until you grow up and partner up to raise children. And no one is building a wall to keep those that love babies and children from the murderers of the innocent. Government in all it lack of goodness strikes again. That term or phrase - 'strikes fear into the hearts and minds' - that is probably a tactic of bad rulers or wanna-be rulers, lacking logic or leadership or even salesmanship.
 
     Immigration is needed in Europe and America, because the government's policies are mainly about maintaining power and taxation of subject populations, and not about sound growth of citizens by solid family with a strong moral core and love of their nation and neighbors. Really, a lot of government and professional politicians would like the subject populations to live in fear of neighbors, it gives them authority to build TSA, Homeland (when did we start this 'homeland' reference stuff, sounds like German Fatherland, or Russia's Motherland) Security Agency. More government workers owing professional politicians and posers = POWER.

   Anyway, as long as the immigration system is broken (brought to you by elected representatives, purchased by corrupt capitalists, supplying a population to exploit for their benefit) it will remain broken. Both political parties are exactly the same in the outcome of their share of the legislation, and the lack of enforcement for the laws that exist. They want little good law for enforcement, they are only looking for their own power and have little love of immigrants. They have little love for the really bad people hiding among those immigrant populations, often taking advantage of the criminal enterprises and the rewards in drug running and neoslavery of humans caused by their current broken immigration systems.

    Not good enough to stop the illegal drug running, with full automatic or evil semiautomatic weapons, murders and robberies happening from bad hombres in sanctuary cities and states, the government in its fear of lawful civil and mostly moral persuasion must be dis-armed for their own safety, they might commit suicide or murder innocents like Planned Parenthood, or school children like they were a terrorist in Africa. Now the politicians don't really believe they are targets of shooters, check with those that play softball before sessions and the rascally Democrat that sneaked up to assassinate them in mass, with an evil semiautomatic weapon which he learned about by watching a  Harvey Wienstein Production that wasn't about sex.

   The original purpose of the Constitution was to improve the Federal government but limit it, and it started well, but has been changed - the history has been changed and rewritten, mostly for power, gold and greed. Mostly never for God, the godly nor the good. That is how it is we have come to a souless government, populated by people without honor, all working for the evil darkside of their nature. We can never find our way by following the lust and the lost. The correct directions are written and need to be studied. God bless all our best, we have been forgiven all the rest.

Big day today.... pray for little blessings.. nothing important here, really.

  I get to see my cancer doctor, have more blood drawn then hear his fine medical opinion about my chances of survival. He and I have agreed I will die, in some ways like Samuel Whittemore - maybe eighteen years later, so that is just for knowledge. Then in the afternoon I go to court to see American Justice, not on television, which really isn't as cool as Perry Mason and Judge Judy. In both I am working with professionals to get through a problem and I am not confident they are going to be perfect, hope the LORD makes them competent.

Too cool and so proud

  My sister mentioned wanting to contact me on Skype, so I had to get a new password and sure enough, she didn't answer when I rang...  it is okay, just something I wanted knocked off the procrastination pile.  Alexa really works, except she doesn't live where I dwell, so my son calls to alert me, thinking of which, I need to put skype and Alexa where I will have an attractive background and I can sit alert and interested and participate like the television folks all do...We have the most beautiful orchid and the wrong background for taking its picture. Like smartphone videos and selfies, they just don't get the editing of the professionals and we keep trying. Take my word for it, the flowers are just lovely and on the second or third blooming since I was given them to help my recovery from the cancer surgery so long ago. Nero Wolfe and I appreciate them deeply. God has created more wonders than I can ever encompass.

    Great news that you won't understand, I found a way to muffle and control my hammer toe that caused me so much pain, that I was willing to cut it off with a cold chisel and sear it with a hot iron. Anyway, I could do my exercises and walk with less of a limp, hip is working but squeaking a bit in protest, it likes reclining rather than use - will work on it. The piles of things I haven't gotten to continue to grow, just don't move fast enough, or I can't be bothered... hmm, will have to think about that. Y'all have a wonderful day and do your very best for the glory and the honour.

New Year, and the start of another struggle against the evils of living large...

  I seem to have become a member of a new evil class - fat old white men, you can add all the stuff I have been responsible for throughout History. I have been told I can fix the fat part, and If I paid any attention to the commercials, I can have pills and surgery to fix most of the appearance of OLD...

   Knowing I can control only me, I am working on the weight.. so 3500 calories in a pound of fat, I have about fifty of those in excess, and doing a pound a week will make me leaner by next Christmas. Breakfast is fine, the oatmeal, raisins, sliced almonds, with milk and peach yogurt and coffee. A fine start for every day, and easy to clean up after. Lunch is now a slice of meat, slice of cheese and lettuce or spinach or kale/seaweed on dark bread. one apple and two pickles. For harmony I will allow my wife to decide my evening meal - and I will try to leave food on the plate every dinner... but I will have to struggle against 'starving children in China, and clean your plate, we don't waste food around here'. I waist all my food intake, and that is a waste. It is also life shortening. Share more with others, especially those candy bars that my wife brought home. Get them off the table, or just leave them there as temptation resisted (I did quit smoking all by myself after eight years and being up to three packs a day in RVN and two a day in 1972). So I can establish control of excess, then work on better choices of what my exercising old fat man body needs.

    I expect the better portion of my fight against fat will be in exercise, boring repetitious machine exercises. If my feet got fit, I might increase the walking, but will do what I can now, and that little is really helping, not with the weight loss, but with the stepping out without a pronounced limp.

   The wind knocked the power out here for a few hours, the clocks are blinking at us in the bedroom, another early start for the day ahead, but my wife's alarm is off the grid so we would have awoken on time. I get up to turn off the cable and the lights inside, and to quickly put another 24hour shield up in the game, if they catch me without a shield they will attack to steal my resources - which will cost them dearly, but the big guys always do it, pretending it is protecting everyone else. Just like politicians everywhere. Lies and more lies.

   I have been attempting to use the new app for the YMCA, to record my calorie burn and what I did to produce it. I have started to put a weight training program for upper and lower body, helps make me older but does burn calories also. I found out today, that I cannot enter data from home, so I went back to the YMCA and entered today's efforts, and then I submitted them into my history, and although the date was my grand daughter's birthday, it recorded them on the fourth. Talking to the staff about the new app, they were impressed with my efforts, since theirs haven't been as smooth, and they talk about glitches. I put my phone down too much to be impressed.

   

What happens to the people without children at Christmas...

   Wall to Wall or lack there of news about silly things.... kids are more fun.

   For sure, we were lucky, we have Alexa to contact the kids and grandkiddos, if we only knew what we were doing with it. Then we were off to church and there were many children there, and the Pastor spent much time trying to keep the parents from silencing their children, or at least not worried about it. I wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

  I just don't fit in the box, I know, I must check one or they will check it for me...  truth is very relative, and hardly objective in the end. There were about seventy men and boys facing the light infantry at Lexington April morning. They were not all the same, but they were all standing there because Captain Parker had asked them to. You shouldn't make assumptions, find out who and why.

  The YMCA is running in the red it is reported, the goodness of their hearts and programs mean that many are served and encouraged to come, but many of the staff have their hours cut, or are just volunteers - and there is nothing wrong with volunteers but why does it seem there are so many back office managers when they could all come out to help?

   The YMCA keeping modern, decided that the ActivTrax program wasn't delivering - I was happy, but I am only one. So they went for an app on the smart phone. Well. I put the app on my phone and started dragging it to the YMCA with me, I get five points for using my phone and the barcode on screen to check in! Wow! Now the app hasn't helped me record my workouts, seems I can't touch it correctly, it isn't easy to scroll, to save, to figure out what it isn't telling you, and how to ignore what it is telling you (are you sure you don't want to do that exercise?) Ugh! But today! For whatever reason, when I finished my light workout, I had four exercises to record, and somehow I got them into the machine, saved and they are showing on my history. I have been trained, why do I feel like a pet that isn't getting a treat for my performance?

   Getting ready to switch calendars, except that my wife has her new ones up and using them already - probably miss New Years that way. Don't know. Nah, will sleep through it. I can catch the early fireworks from the other side of the Pacific, the ones over Germany and get a great night's sleep missing the Space Needle shooting off - should be raining here, right?

Oh, what a wonderful weekend... Appleseed!...

   I am in driving distance 1h 45m from Port Townsend and the rifle range for our Appleseed. Dark from start to finish of the drive, Winter is coming. I meet 'Janer', the Shootboss, and we are setting up in the pistol bays but maybe squeezed, over twenty with walk ons signed up. 'Never on Sunday', and Yankee Terrier are in IIT positions and we begin to check people in, set up equipment line and firing line. The fire is lit in the warm up shed, we expect cold but not freezing weather. I miss putting Josh on the right side of the line, for his left hand shooting. But we moved the instruction right along, just enough words to make the points. The morning was prone, and the afternoon was full of sitting and transitions. and the first Appleseed Qualification Test, and one former Rifleman, repeated and became our first Rifleman of the weekend. He wasn't going to be the only one, but Sunday would show that two others were hiding on the line.
  Sunday was the day of the wind, and the wind won. We had the canopies erected for keeping the rain off, and they decided to try flying away... almost made it. So took them down and moved to another range where the wind would be behind us, closer to the warm up hut and cover in case of rain, but the rain held off.  There would be target corners and sheets lifted by the wind, the chill would stay with us, but all instruction was given, and one AQT before lunch, Dangerous Old Men stories and back out to shiver on the line and we need to anchor the mats better, since they would lift and try to move the rifles on them.
   I must be getting old, didn't spend much time on the line just covered up and called the line commands. Didn't do too much instruction and no demonstration at all... hmm... My overall feeling was that the shooters overcame the wind and the chill, we didn't give them too many things to remember and they performed wonderfully. It is all a shared learning experience, and we could take the memory home and put it to bed.
   Off the line and away from the shooters the discussion was often about the threat of more constraints against the range by local forces that don't really know anything about shooting, the ranges nor safety. Just GUNs are bad. Never ending ignorance. Now to get ready for Christmas.

The government can't control guns, they can't control spending and accounting....

 Really, the list of things they are supposed to control: immigration, drugs, education, justice, welfare, taxes, retirement, secrets, aviation, transportation, scientific evidence of ______, and such. They can't control and for some reason, they think success in gun control will be wonderful.

  Why allow them to try? More people are dying of drugs -- suicide is killing more, but then guns are sometimes used for suicide. Anyway, my point is don't strain the government, they haven't caught all the killers yet. They need tax money and they haven't caught all the tax cheats either. They haven't caught all the liars in Washington, DC. That should be grounds for an appeal for all convictions for false testimony in Washington, DC. Not uniformly prosecuted, all those lying politicians.

  Report from Australia, the guns aren't all gone yet, and automatic weapons are coming in, or being manufactured in country. They aren't that difficult to make.

   I don't think that Gun Control will work. I know that I haven't decided to use a semi automatic rifle to commit crimes, most gun owners are with me - but lies on entertainment, news media and politicians' lips will try to make you believe that only the government is moral enough to control gun crime... not true. The government is not moral, the people in it maybe, but probably not.

Not nice to fool Mother Nature... nor mess with her...

  I have been having a doomsday feeling since Prayer Group last Saturday evening. Good study, fine prayers and great fellowship and food... and still I couldn't help thinking the end was near and we are not close to prepared for it. Brought on by the missionary that was shot by an arrow and returned the next day to get killed by more arrows - trying to bring enlightenment to the heathen, in an area put off limits by the local civilized authority. Can't help but wonder if it was a gun free zone. Very poor joke, but the missionary was certain that he could bring peace to the savages, and they were sure he was bringing destruction. According to modern Liberals, he was a token white man bringing all the civilized ills they had brought to the New World in 1492.

  Some fine point on the Facebook feed on the internet I found out that the windshield dead bug count is way down and efforts are being made to get a real count and difference from the counts done thirty or more years ago. You will notice, in the Spring and Summer, the decided lack of insects, except most of us only think of them as something to clean off the radiator grill and windshield as we drive across the country. But they feed lots of bigger feathered flying friends, and slithering long tongued almost slimy things... when enough go the whole food chain is in peril. Remember the beast at the top of the food chain? Yes, your local tyrant/ruler/representative/member of Parliament the one on top of the food chain... they will be the one that will ration, order, regulate and guide you into destruction based upon their need for other useless mouths to feed.   

  There will be many to jump upon the Climate Change bandwagon, and they could be correct. It could be a new bug from space, due to lack of a space force and a cosmic dome. Could be, my best guess, the weed and bug killers are winning. I am canceling all future business with Terminex. It could be that there are too many man made things that aren't food in all kinds of food and trash left around to be consumed by bugs that haven't found the proper acids to render and reduce them into basic real usable compounds. Evolution does take surviving and adapting and lots of time. Jump to the genetic manipulators and you have my other culprit - stuff that isn't real, but that fools (almost) Mother Nature.

   Humans hardly ever leave well enough alone - from forbidden fruit to communism - humanity has many original bad ideas that will destroy innocence, perfection and goodness for all. And as they say, we are all on the same boat, so be good, kind and at peace. Those that aren't going quietly will be loud and proud and dangerous. We haven't been paying enough attention and building stuff that we can use for power, but not love. And without love? there will be nothing...

Just another waking up at five morning... aren't they all?

  Adventures in the American court system are amusing, painful and not to be repeated. A whole level of government that should be very good by now, but really they tell me 1pm and they don't show up until 1:30, we are being treated like we don't count. And we don't. Allow that to set the tone.

  Interesting, to see a former coworker in town, and touch base later on Facebook. If I were a smartphone addict, I would likely have texted, shot a picture as we passed and later looked to see a response... could just have said 'hello!' with a smile, but it is all being recorded now - by our government, the Chinese or just trolls... who is watching over you? All I could do was smile a bit better and store the memory of the passing in my mind.

  Tennessee Ernie Ford's gospel got me started this morning, lovely to pretend I can match his bass and know all the words to all the songs. I am waiting to things to happen on my electronic game, so I am listening to The Gael, one window for music and the others for blogging, and another on a game, one for email, one for confusing our enemies. Remaining thankful that I don't really have enemies, just millions of people that don't love me because.... pick your reason - mine is fat old white man, and an American to top that mess off. I am chuckling, the false rage and anger about the imagined terrible type of person I must be.... My mother tried to make me be better than that. And good women have been trying ever since, don't give up, ladies. Just putty in your hands... ha, ha.

   I have some serious contacting to do on the internet today, seems the dental program is going and I must replace it... should we pay by the teeth remaining?

  I have a .58 dollar credit on my credit card, why don't they send me a check? Do they think I would lose it? First cup of coffee down, time to make a fresh pot... warming and waking magic. So Gandalf.Rx hit me hard with a spy and supply raiding, but I have 20k of his best this morning. Nicely rounding up my t5 which I can't create without some research. Not to worry, got to go, y'all be good. It will confuse them that are living bad, and badly.

Almost finished on my tenth year on the Appleseed trail, Custer Washington...

  So I signed up, prepared my vehicle and packed out and on the road north at 5 AM, it is dark and cold. Filled up at the Safeway and drove, and drove and drove and at 7:25 rolled into the parking lot at the Custer Sportsman range... been here before always interesting.
   Ben and Matt are on site, Ralph rolls up and we begin to set up. I have check in and t-shirt issue. Ten shooters to work on marksmanship and their heritage from our history presentations about April 19, 1775. I like to pretend anyone reading that date would automatically, if an American, know what happened and why on that date. But most Americans have no idea, they could google it or find it on Wikipedia, if they thought it important.
   Introductions, history lessons, safety and expectations of the two days are presented. There is a plan, a course of instruction that guides the instructors, and the shooters all have their personal expectations. Some of the shooters are back for improving what they learned on another Appleseed some times ago. Family and friends gathered to learn, practice and test their skills in a common, American heritage, marksmanship with a rifle. Something my American History teacher showed me in ninth grade Junior High Rifle Club, in the high school gym on Thursday afternoons.
   So, we start, building on little stuff, adding more, repeating the words, pointing out what we see, helping adjust the shooter, the sling and the rifle to the target with our techniques. I am sure they have much better ones in high power, competition and Olympic match levels. But we can bring you into 4 MOA at five hundred yards with our twenty-five meter targets... if the shooter pays attention and corrects one flaw at a time. And lots of dry practice, lots of dry practice.
  Gus joined us on day two, while we waited on Alec to return from border crossing adventures. In the end several cleaned Redcoats and three new Riflemen made. The future Riflemen were all around but darkness comes early in the wintery Great NorthWest, and my hands were chilling.

End of days...

  I went to my aunt funeral in Minnesota, she had a long and full life, I always thought of her as a wonderful lady, my father's sister. That was last year, December. My wife had to return to Korea, for maintaining her parents's grave mounds and paying respects, and seeing her sisters and brothers and all their children and grand children. Each of the graves took a day and she traveled the Republic to see her family and friends. Her tales of the changes in the last seven years in high rise apartments, cutting all the trees, getting rid of rice paddies. Most of her travel was bus, rail and air, taxis are too small since she was always with others.  When she went to her home village it was like a ghost town, and the farms had gone from rice to black beans - low maintenance high dollar value crop? Times change, excess rice comes from the two crops in Southeast Asia instead of the one crop in Korea. But farming isn't looked upon favorably, working in a factory, starting your own business, being highly educated and in politics, justice, medicine or science.

   As major improvements in tech, and computation show up, my wife's smart phone service stopped at the American border, without some serious changes she wasn't prepared to do. She took pictures but had to use her brother in laws computer to comment on Facebook to me. I laughed. She had various adventures on her trip back to the USA. But I was patient and was there when she came looking for me. She had to get new luggage, the old set had problems with handlers and plastic parts breaking beyond easy repair. But the new stuff got stuffed until little old ladies or their husbands shouldn't pick them up at all. Almost, but wheeling them is nice.

   Church, Sunday school and a revival for us, then I went off to meet a Tennessee Appleseeder that I am a FB friend of.  Met him and his wife, a local family lady, and we talked about career and Appleseed. The new efforts to infringe on rights and how we got into Appleseed and where we are going from here. Good burger and cole slaw, and I drank coffee. We exchanged business cards, ha, ha. Busy Sunday, my neighbor told me that the Seahawks lost, but the game was close and worth watching.
 
    Monday plans don't include anything except one funeral, for a lady born in Japanese controlled Korea in 1923, married in 1944, widowed by the godless Communists in 1953, raised her daughter alone, daughter married an American, she moved to Hawaii and then Washington to help raise the grandsons. She became a Christian and a Baptist late but was always at church, a senior lady friend to my wife, and my wife knew her grandsons from youth choir trips she had supported for years. One of them gave a beautiful tale of his grandmother's life and meaning in his family, a wonderful tribute. I noticed how young she was in their wedding picture. 

   It was interesting to me, how pain free my foot was, and how well I walked across the cemetery grounds and back to my car. And when I got home, changed, napped and got up to get a cup of fresh coffee and return my tray to the kitchen, I fell catching myself about twelve inches above the rug. Dropping the tray, coffee cup and stuff - had my priorities correct.   

   You had your three day weekend, unless counting or making more ballots to count in Florida. So be of good cheer the Democrats are winning, we won't become Zimbabwe, but Venezuela maybe.

The day after the Vote...

  Yesterday, I went off to the YMCA, to get a coach to show me the new routine, but they aren't prepared. As I walked to towards the double doors I saw a couple leaving the old man slowly going to the car in the handicap spot, the little elder lady carefully, slowly placing her feet as she danced with her walker. She was not happy, so I gave her a bright cheerful 'Have a beautiful morning!' And her face lit up, with a smile saved for the gallant knights arrival - just in the nick of time. She was so beautiful in that welcoming of my greeting. That made my day.

  I often tell young girls that only their smile will keep them beautiful, but they are too young to understand, they believe in makeup, dieting, dancing and surgery and dental alignment devices. But it is the smiles men will come back for. Since they are often disturbed by some young fool's teasing and taunting - never realizing that it is to get the girl's attention and then a smile. I will have to go back to Tom Sawyer to find out how Mark Twain wrote about that.

  Washington's election results weren't published until 8 PM. Too many misinformed people voting about things they know nothing about. I guess we are going to the Supreme Courts of Washington and the nation. Both Constitutions prohibit government infringement of the right to keep and bear arms. Different words. The biggest problem is there are too many people living in fears of their entertainment and news media promotions of the dangers of Assault Rifles, semi auto rifles, mental health of humans being treated for mental problems. Lots of rich guys pushed it, but the entertainment and news media had prepared the minds for thinking that legislation would prevent the next mass killing. But it doesn't. Promoting love of all ones' neighbors, strangers at the gate and one's self -- even promoting good manners and quiet behavior would help. But they are going to send the law enforcement forces into battle against the law abiding citizens with these terrible dangerous firearms and people will die. But we are all going to die, and once you launch the ball, the attack, the raid, the action to win your game - it all comes up against the other side, team and their reaction. No one studies history any more. We will be going to court first but gun raids have already caused the death of the gun owner denied.  Since most of America isn't worried about President Trump, not the alien invading masses (you don't study history enough, folks) the extra voters in this state were in resistance to the i1639. Thirty pages of feel good legislation. I am sure some of the first ARs were hidden yesterday because of the legislation, a few families are looking to move to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. When you got to go, you have to go.

   We aren't even sure about Texas now, the big money is going to get us all if we don't watch out. One of those fine science fiction paperbacks from long ago, talked about the godless communists taking over America, and then having control of money, work and schools - they turned to the independent of community folks - the small farmer with family and faith, that doesn't have to come into town, use a phone or communicate with the government. The ones not depending on the government... Anyway, the main character was attacked and killed, can't have any independence must be dependent on the government.

  Now I know that fools believe it could never happen in the United States of America - but rights never understood nor exercised may not be legal in the minds of many. And if you studied history, you would quickly see how many governments have failed to do more than kill off a lot of good citizens in their efforts to make better citizens living in the current enlightened rule of foolish elite. Killed off millions, and not too well reported. But like I said before, we all die, it is important to live well and do your best right to the end. Forgive them, for they know not what they do... nothing really changes, we forget why we wrote the law.  Gods of the Copybook Headings, Kipling?

Time keeps moving on, and I am falling backward... or just happy to be here...

  So this weekend, we had a fine Appleseed at Coupeville, WA. on Whidbey Island. Which means ferry boat rides on and off. I said hello to the ticket sales lady on my first day, and had a fine longer conversation with the man selling on the second day, since it was early and no one was behind me. Day two was about how America was changed and everyone was alone and we needed to talk more everywhere - the kind of conversation that fit because of the shootings in Pittsburgh and the mad bomber from Florida. We didn't solve the lonely (my wife is away) but we did start the conversation and kept it positive.

   I know I am getting older, great picture was taken of me by Ben, and I love it, although it isn't as beautiful as I think I am. But ten years of wear on the Appleseed Trail will do that to a fellow. It pays so well: smiles, thank yous, and 'we will be back's. Trying to remember any people I met that I wouldn't be happy to see again, and can't think of even one.

   So with rain promised for the weekend, we showed up to greet 14 shooters to present instruction, history and build the heritage that seems to be missed by current culture. They came as groups, family and friends, to learn to shoot well and improve their understanding of marksmanship. Nine of them confessed to being beginners, and we would spend some extra time getting them into the marksmanship, but I know that it was worth it, the shooters that improved quickest were the ones without experience and skills built strangely to overcome.

  Don't know how to stress that there are things never seen in movies and news reports about firearms. They do have weak springs, fail to extract, double feed, and ammunition fails to fire when primer is struck lightly or the primer wasn't applied uniformly. It is all part of shooting that experience will help over come quickly and confidently. There were the adjustment challenges, I do need to study those YouTube videos about the strange slings I run into more and more now, they should work.

  We never got the soaking rains and high winds I have been under before on this range. Luckily, the weather blew in and blew away, so little lingered that we thought just a little shivering was not having an effect on our performance... it was chilling me and sitting on a wet directors chair wasn't half the fun of laying down in a puddle of water on the tarp laid down to keep one from the dirt. At least the shooters had a chance to shoot. Will got to shoot to demonstrate how he would shoot the AQT, we aren't sure it was effective. But he liked getting an opportunity to fire his rifle.  Mike showed up on the second day, riding his Gold Wing, bringing me a training aid book that I had left on the range at Port Townsend a while ago, Spring? I had been looking for it, figuring it was gone with much else of my mind. Still have a shooting mat left behind in Idaho from a couple years back.

  On day two we reviewed everything, the shooters much more interested in making sure they understood why they weren't hitting tiny groups on the target they were engaging. We did some drills and presented transitions to add to challenge and difficulty of meeting the time standards. The groups had the normal slowing down and being supportive and competitive as they always are. Which translates as good and bad. One young man was having trouble concentrating on his shooting, but his distraction was really learning, she had mentioned knowing nothing about shooting but she was learning quickly. Looking over the young man's AQTs on day two convinced me that he was sandbagging. He probably wasn't, but he wasn't really paying attention to the course of fire. He was safe enough, and he listened well to advice and took gentle ribbing well.

   By the end of the day and during our clean up I asked him how old he was, on the roster 24, he said 23. I thought a lot about that, he had manners, potential and will do well in life, if he gets interested. I believe he will, but then I thought about me at his age - so long ago and so far away. I was in Vietnam, the third overseas assignment of my Army service, a sergeant working on staff sergeant, planning to get married after that tour. Different country back then, too. Highschool grad, college and OCS drop out... well, we learn by what we fail at and repair later. It was a very good Appleseed, even without any Riflemen earned, all the shooters learned, they all improved and I hope as their lives allow we will see them on other ranges and Appleseeds bringing friends and family to learn and hear about the history and build the heritage back into our lives.

Y'all are ignorant of too many things for the amount of real knowledge that exists...

 Nice way to tell y'all that you should be smarter.

 There are
a bunch of people coming to America, the United (?once upon a time?) States there of. They are labeled as migrants, immigrants and looking for opportunity. But come on, they come from rich countries, great climate growing seasons and full of opportunity... except for one thing. We have a prohibition of government disarming the people, infringing on their right to keep and bear arms. None of those countries in Latin America have such a thing.

  Lots of people will always talk about voting, education, medicine and capitalism our nation of laws and such - and for some strange reason they discount our having guns as our only flaw in what could be a perfect society. But then you can't sell the idea of immigrants coming to America to live in Liberty with the opportunity and responsibility to keep and bear arms. All those strange talking folks buying their first of many ARs, nasty black rifles. I think they should be cleared to purchase as soon as they show up, take classes and learn fire arms safety. Sounds like the only difference world wide, in how they are perceived as a human being in their home country and the USA.

  In most of the nations of the world being armed is a criminal, or revolutionary act. The government reserves the arms and their power to itself, they don't trust their peons, serfs, bondsmen, slaves, and tax payers. The countries where you may be armed expect good behavior with the arms, but they aren't thinking they might be at war with the population...  Really, children are armed by godless revolutionary movements - easier to impress and control. But they get real automatic weapons and all the ammunition they want to fire into other human beings, in countries that have strict gun control. The weapons always move to the market and need.

   Look at the murder rates of countries that control their weapons, if they haven't higher morality and social expectations supported by gentle government and less than ravishing criminal elements, taking up all the law abiding populations arms just mean you have become the last of the Celts, disarmed by good Roman government after being conquered by the legions - you get soft and totally untrained and the migrant Jutes, Angles and Saxons will tear you up, and take your women and land. Then when the Normans defeat Harold and it starts over again...

   Don't fear Californians, except they bring unAmerican activities with them and they try to make all the states as big a future problem as California is already. But the knowledge of who you are and what you believe and what you work for every day for the rest of your life - is not on any digital screen. Real people to talk with, work with, have coffee with... meet them and be good.