Tommy Wayne Kramer

When microwave ovens first came out most people were afraid of them. Well, most hippies anyway.

California is in a bind of its own knotting, tangled up in rules, regulations, laws and lawyers that strangle every project before it can emerge from its proverbial cradle.

I know. I was there. I was a hippie but not the health food kind or the anti-smoking kind. I was just a longhaired hippie who drank and smoke pot and frolicked about with hippie chicks.

I sometimes wonder, not too strenuously of course, about the various maladies and illnesses that exist today but were unheard of in previous decades.

California is where red tape goes to spawn, multiply, mutate and grow fat.

Readers hoping to answer all questions correctly must correctly answer all questions. Please grade your own papers.

Our home in North Carolina had a big house on a big yard with the world's biggest pecan tree out back. One of these boasts is not true, but it was still a darn big tree.

1) Hall of Fame shortstop Arky Vaughan spent off-seasons at his ranch in what part of the county? A) Anderson Valley B) Redwood Valley

Among the numerous myths (also known as lies) our friends here in Ukiah love to perpetuate is their enduring love for other cultures and the diversity they bring to society.

And it shed more pecans than any other pecan tree had ever dropped in the whole world through all recorded time. Or it sure seemed that way.