Gun Rights Rally 2014

                  It's been a year since the anti-gun politicians in Connecticut passed un-constitutional laws in the dead of the night. Preying upon people's emotions after the tragedy at Sandy Hook, they pushed through a bunch of new laws that will not prevent a tragedy like that from happening again. Once again, like gun laws passed in previous years, the laws only affect law-abiding gun owners. Registration of certain firearms was included in these new laws. History, all around the globe, proves that registration always leads to confiscation. Remember Nazi Germany? Well, the deadline for registration in Connecticut has passed and tens of thousands of previously law-abiding legal gun owners did not register their previously legally owned firearms. Lawmakers are calling it a huge act of civil disobedience. Is it? Maybe. I see it as Americans standing up for their constitutional rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment. I don't own any firearms that fell into the registration guidelines, but if I did, I'd be one of the tens of thousands. So anyways, this past Saturday was the gun rally at the state capitol. In the weeks leading up to it I was reminding everyone about it, the more people there, the better. Overall, I was disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm and responses I was getting. I even put a post about the rally on my Facebook. I only got one comment on it. A friend from high school, Kim, said she'd be there with her husband and would look for me there. I don't understand why more people aren't outraged about our rights being trampled on. Maybe they think the government is going to do what they want no matter what. They will try, but sitting back and doing nothing is not going to help stop them. One person I knew I could count on going was my friend Jim. So, Jim, his friend Steve and I went to the rally together. The turnout was huge. Thousands of people showed up. People from surrounding states, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and more, came to show their support. These people took the time to travel many miles to be there and help support Connecticut residents. Thank You to every one of you. And yet, quite a few gun owners I know from this state didn't bother going. Pretty sad. But anyways, thankfully the turnout was huge. Thousands of people and thousands of guns, and once again, not a single gun misbehaved. Imagine that! Of course the local news barely covered it, one tried downplaying it saying that hundreds showed up. I'm getting really sick of mainstream media telling us what they want us to hear instead of reporting the facts like they should be. I did run into Kim and her husband, Rob, at the rally, surprisingly, because it was packed. It was impossible to get a single picture depicting the crowd that was there. We The People are fed up and things are coming to a head.  Hopefully the upcoming elections will turn things around. There were some pro-gun politicians at the rally. One of whom told me he never felt so safe in his life as he did there that day. I must say, I felt quite safe myself. I guess that's enough rambling, I know I'll think of more I wanted to say but, I'll let the pics and video finish this post. Thanks for listening, Kevin 

Rob and Kim
 

Rob and I
 

Really cool! Other states across the U.S. showed their support during the rally

Great speech from the rally! Click play to view

 

P.S. I gotta post a pic for Rose from the cactus and succulent show and sale that I went to on Sunday. This was the show winner. Kinda shows how unique some of the plants are at this show! Lol

A Litte Ramblin'.....

         Got the urge to do a little rambling........ I go a month or so with nothing to do sometimes, but that hasn't been the case lately. Last weekend I went to see one of my favorite local bands, Sister Funk. They are a really good all female band. I headed out for the evening alone( I do that a lot nowadays. Getting used to it), but some of my female friends were there and I had a great time. Even though I quit drinking a couple weeks ago and sipped tonic water all night, I still had a great time. Go figure, huh?! Lol.

Kathy, the guitarist from Sister Funk, and me. One of the reasons I enjoy going to see them play out! Lol
 

I'm debating about going to see the band Spiritshaker tonight. I saw them a few weeks ago for the first time and they are really good. A couple guys from work are gonna be there. Gotta see if I have the energy to head out in a few hours. We'll see. Tomorrow, I'm heading down to my hometown to go to a benefit for a classmate. He has ALS/Lou Gherig's disease and the benefit is to try and raise enough money to get him a wheelchair van. Hopefully, it is a big success. There're will be a lot of people I know there, many of whom I haven't seen in many years. It should be a good time, just wish the get together was under better circumstances.                                                    Lot's to do next weekend also. Friday night I'm going to see a new band called Run Jenny. Run Jenny is all the members of Sister Funk, but when they play out as Run Jenny they play all original songs that they wrote. On Saturday I'm going to the Gun-Rights Rally at the state capitol. I went last year and wrote a post about it. Since last years rally some un-constitutional anti-gun laws went into effect in Connecticut. One of which is law-abiding gun owners having to register their so called "assault rifles". History proves that registration leads to confiscation. The deadline to register has passed and there're were more gun owners that didn't register than those who did. The government is calling it the biggest act of civil disobedience they have ever seen. I think people are finally get sick and tired of politicians running our lives the way they see fit. People from surrounding states are even going to the rally. Hopefully it's an even bigger turnout than last year. I will be doing a post after with pics. And speaking of the rally, the night I went to see Spiritshaker I met a gentleman named Paulie. We got to talking and he is also a law-abiding gun owner. Paulie was at the rally last year and will be attending the rally next week. He brought up a very good point, appearance. He says we should attend the rally dressed like we would for court and be well spoken. He's right. The media and politicians would love to portray us as a bunch of nutcases, which we do kinda look like if we're dressed in camo and t-shirts with all kinds of sayings. I'm guilty, I wore a Molon Labe t-shirt last year and would have this year if I hadn't talked to Paulie. Now, I'm not gonna wear a suit and tie, but I won't be wearing any camo or sayings on my shirt. And my weekend will wind down on Sunday at the cactus and succulent show. Last year was the first time I missed it in 14 years( I did a post on the show the year before last). I look forward to this event every year. Well, I hope this post sounds alright. I think it's the first one I've written without sipping on a glass of wine. Lol. And me having all this going on isn't the norm for me, so when it slows down I have my new hobby and my old hobby to entertain me. Oh well, guess that's enough rambling for now. Thanks for listening, Kevin

      

Done Looking

            I'm done looking for love. As I've mentioned in a previous post, I've never liked being alone. I've always preferred being in a relationship. My feelings about that are changing, I'm starting to like being alone. I don't think that it's really a good way to feel. I think it makes you more set in your ways and therefore, harder to start a relationship with someone. It has really dawned on me lately how much my divorce affected me, and not for the better. I'm not the same person I was before. I really try to be a decent person, and for the most part, I think I am. I really do try to live my life being able to face the guy in the glass and when he has a problem with me, it's not because of how I treated someone else, it's because of how I treated us. I realize my divorce put me in a sort of depression that is still lingering and that probably affected the two semi-long relationships I've had since. My relationship with Shelly has been discussed in past posts, so anyone that has been following this blog knows there were circumstances out of our control. That relationship is another one that changed me some more, some of that change for the better. One thing I've realized, I'm not gonna be controlled ever again. Probably part of the getting set in your ways also. But, I'm not gonna let a wedge happen between me and anyone that I care about again. I did try the online dating thing. I went on dates with two women, two was enough for me to learn. I heard they're horror stories of online dating (Both of them had been on many dates over the last few years). One thing that I've realized, if you're in you're in your forties or older and single for an extended period of time, there's a problem. Myself  included. I'm not gonna do it, but my online dates could be a post. I realize that I'm far from perfect, I wish more people did. So anyways, I'm done looking. Maybe what everyone says about if you're not looking, the right one will come along. We'll see. I guess I just felt like venting today. Thanks for listening, Kevin

Rock star

             When I grow up I wanna be a rock star!...... I think it's a little too late for me though. Lol. I've loved music as long as I can remember and always wanted to play an instrument. When I was young I had a harmonica, a Casio keyboard and played the recorder. I wasn't good with any of them. As my taste in music starting leaning more to hard rock, I decided that the guitar was what I wanted to play. I expressed my interest to my uncle, who plays guitar, when I was about 12. He was more than happy to help me out. He loaned me a Gibson acoustic guitar and would show me stuff. I remember him placing my fingers on the strings to show me a chord and me telling him, "Uncle Ray, my fingers don't bend that way!". Needless to say I never got the hang of it. The desire to do it probably wasn't strong enough, it was easier to listen to my albums (yes, albums. I'm old). Fast forward to the mid through late eighties, I was hanging out with my buddy Ed (from my "Remembering a good friend" post). It was the 80's and hair bands were big, that was our angle. We had long hair and got perms, dressed the part and had a whole story about our "band". Lol. It worked, we "met" a lot of women. We actually wound up forming a band with our friends Danny and Mitch. Danny plays guitar and was the only one that really knew what he was doing. Lol. Ed was on drums and for the most part, Mitch did vocals and I played bass. It was a great time! Even though we didn't make it out of the basement, it was so much fun! So the bass was the closest I had come to playing an instrument, even though Danny was the one showing me what to play. Well, that all came to an end (long, complicated story) so, flash forward again, 25 years. Nowadays, I spend too much time alone and bored. So, a few months ago while clicking through tv channels, I saw a guitar package for sale on a shopping channel. So, I'm thinking "I'm getting old and I'm gonna try it again". I ordered it. I quickly realized that my fingers REALLY wouldn't bend that way now! Lol. But, the bug was there, it felt good. I realized that I should have bought a bass. Now, I'm not saying that the bass is easy, but I don't have to crunch my fingers into positions that I can't do. So, I did a little research and bought a bass.

I think the finish on this bad boy is awesome
 

It feels so much more comfortable than the guitar. And it's a beautiful bass. Quilted maple top in transparent grayburst.  I bought a Fender Rumble 15 amp to practice with and signed up for on-line lessons. I'm in my second half of my life, time to do things that I always wanted to do. I know that I'll never be a rock star, but it would be really great to just jam with some friends in a basement again. It really is a great time! I have a good feeling about the bass, I really wanna learn all I can. And if I can't ever play, they make nice wall hangings. One good thing about living alone, you can decorate however you want. Thanks for listening, Kevin

And a "Don't tread on me" flag.

Snow Pics for Rose

        My friend Rose, who lives in tropical Australia, has been after me to post some snow pics. So here are some pics of the snow I got today. Hope you enjoy them Rose and I'll trade places with you anytime! Lol

Yes. I played hooky from work today.
 

My cedar trees
 

My yucca plant, looking so out of place in the snow. It looks more at home in a desert setting.
 

I don't think that I'll be taking my boat out today!
 

Zoe doesn't like the snow when it's over her head! Lol
 

I have put this little snow blower to the test the last two years and it keeps kickin' ass! It's a workout, but it sure beats shoveling! Thanks Dad!
 

Sammie's got the right idea, watch from inside, she wants nothing to do with going outside.
 

A New Year

          Here we go again. A new year. A fresh start. Will it be a better one? I hope so. This past year really wasn't a good one. It seems like there was a higher number of people passing away for one thing, friend's parents, co-workers and my uncle, among them. Another bad thing, that, in my opinion hit a new high this past year, is the government's control. They are forcing a health care program on us, that the majority of the people didn't want. They are going balls to the wall against guns, bunch of new gun laws that are unconstitutional and won't help prevent any crimes. They only affect law-abiding gun owners. And let's not forget the invasion of privacy that's hit a new high. Government agencies are spying on American citizens under the guise of fighting terrorism. I just hope that the American people are smart enough to turn things around with the coming elections, but I have my doubts. We'll see. Well, 2013 started off for me spending New Year's Eve sitting home alone and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the year. A lot of depressing alone time. I reconnected with a great friend from my past last year, something I was really happy about. That was short lived, I feel like I got used. Live and learn, I guess. This year has started off on a better note for me. I went out New Year's Eve to see my friends Radio Daze play out. It was a great night out and I even got a kiss on the cheek at midnight, not much, but much more than last year. Lol. I'm trying the online dating thing now. I've met a couple women so far, it's been interesting. This adventure might wind up being a post of it's own. Lol. And to sum up the start of this year, I got together with a great friend last night. We've known each other for almost 30 yrs and he's like a big brother. Billy lives in Florida now and was in Connecticut for only a few days. I had a great night hanging out with him and I'm hoping to take a trip to Florida this spring. So far, this year is starting off much better than last year. I hope it continues on that path. We'll see. Thanks for listening, Kevin

Radio Daze - New Year's Eve
 

Joe makes it onto my blog once again! He's also in the pics above behind the drum kit.