Good morning and greetings, fall harvest fans. Yes, fruit and vegetable lovers, this is the time of year that all kinds of cash crops are being harvested here on the central coast, with most of these spoils of the earth ending up on the grocery shelf or at a Farmer’s Market. Of course, some of these products find their way to our local dispenseries, but that’s another exit along the preventive glaucoma highway.

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the cherry tree, so it was with red delicious interest when I came across this story written by Ben Popken at lifeinc.today.com. It seems that our crisp and juicy friend, the apple, is the latest food that it may be in short supply on supermarket shelves. Or in the words of Che Guevera, “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” Gil Scott-Heron said “The revolution will not be televised.” That’s why I’m going to TiVo it.

So who is to blame about dem apples? Well, I blame everything on the Republican farmers and Congress. Of course, I’m just kidding, I don’t blame Congress. No, granny smith fans, the fall guy or gal here is mother nature, as an early warm spring, not to be confused with Irish Spring, brought out the blossoms on the apples trees. Then came a March-April cold spell that wiped them off the map. Or as actress Mayim Bialik would say, “No blossom, no apple” or “No tickee, no washee.”

For example, in Michigan, the nation’s third largest source of apples, the crop is down 80 percent, while the Detroit Lion’s play has been even worse. New York’s crop, which is the nation’s second largest, has been cut by half, despite the addition of golden boy Tim Tebow. As they say in Ecclesiastes, “All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full, like the Oakland Coliseum most Sundays.” This has nothing to do with our deciduous friend, I was just going with the flow.

The NFL and the U.S. Apple Association estimate this year’s inventory at 202 million bushels and one peck, down about 10 percent from last year. A bushel equals 42 pounds. That’s 966 million fewer pounds of apples to go around for apple pies, cakes, cobblers, tailors, iPhones and strudels. The USDA’s estimates are for the lowest harvest in 20 years and for the Giants not to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

But there is good news on the apple front. Washington State, which normally supplies 60 percent of the nation’s apple inventory and annual rainfall, is looking to break a record on the harvest front. The big question up there in the Pacific Northwest is, can they find enough people to pick the apples before they start falling and can the Seahawks go to the Super Bowl with a rookie quarterback at the helm? And even more importantly, will they be able to lure an NBA team back to Seattle? If the apples are not on the trucks by Thanksgiving, they’ll be carpeting God’s green earth, creating an all-you can eat buffet for our hermaphrodite friend, the worm.

But even if Washington bucks up and finds its pickers, the DEA and USDA say it won’t be enough. Here in the Golden State, we don’t have to worry, as the apple crop is peaking like Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, as locals will be set for the baking, canning, juicing and bobbing season.

On the other hand, the U.S. Apple Association says not to panic, as they say there will be no shortage and apple pies will be flowing out of the stores like the great Mississippi at Thanksgiving time. They say things may change in the spring, but by then, imports from Chile, New Zealand and New Jersey can pick up some of the slack. So there’s no reason to panic, but if you must, panic constructively.

Some apple thoughts. Actor Scott Foley says “The older I get, the more I become an apple pie, sparkling cider kind of guy. Financier Bernard Baruch once observed that “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the only one who asked why.” And writer Dorothy Parker came out with this doozy. “Ducking for apples-change one letter and that’s the story of my life.” I guess she’s talking golden delicious.

On a personal note, I’m quite fond of fuji apples. And I can down freshly pressed apple cider like water. However, when it comes to applesauce, Mott’s Original is the god I pray to. That’s because only the finest apples make it into the Mott’s basket, before being blended in their special family recipe along with 25 grams of sugar to ensure a flavor that meets my high standards. As it says on the jar, “Putting little between the orchards and you, the way you trust us to.” Or as William Shakespeare once said, “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none, except with drone strikes to Al Queda.”

So for today’s photo enclave, we are showcasing our friend, the organic apple, as they appear on a couple of trees at The Farm at UCSC. It’s an exhilarating experience seeing produce in the growing stage. I saw broccoli in the soil for the first time. I always thought it grew together along with the beef.

We then check out an early October sunrise shot from the playing field up at UCSC. Although I wasn’t able to capture the reflection of the clouds on Monterey Bay, they did create some viewing action for students and Phi Beta Baseball Kappa wearing alumni in the local vicinity.

On to the late night. “Apparently after last week’s debate, polls show Obama trailing Romney by one point. One point — or as it’s also known, ‘the thing Obama failed to make during last week’s debate.’ Last night, a woman on QVC fainted on the air, but her co-host kept talking as if nothing had happened. One person was unconscious while the other one just kept talking — kind of like last week’s presidential debate.” –Jimmy Fallon

“While the average American’s net worth has gone down in the last four years, the net worth of the average member of Congress has actually gone up. No wonder Congress isn’t motivated to do anything — they’re the only ones better off now than they were four years ago. Unemployment is 7.8 percent, the lowest it’s been since Obama took office. The Obama campaign said they can’t wait to take these statistics and not use them in the next debate.” –Jay Leno

“According to Nielson numbers, more than 70 million people watched Wednesday’s debate either on TV, online, or from one of the podiums.” –Seth Meyers “I have not seen a black man look that disinterested and annoyed since I dragged Chris Rock to that Beach Boys concert.” –Bill Maher

“Your choice now is pretty clear. You can either vote for the guy who got rid of bin Laden or vote for the guy who wants to get rid of Big Bird.” –David Letterman “In a new interview, first lady Michelle Obama said that she would choose Will Smith or Denzel Washington to play her husband in a movie. Or as Democrats put that, ‘Any way they can play him in a debate?'” –Jimmy Fallon

The consensus is that Mitt Romney won the presidential debate last night. The only people who thought Obama won were the replacement refs. -Jay Leno “At one point last night President said the one thing about being president is learning to say no — especially when someone asks, ‘Do you feel ready for this debate?'” –Conan O’Brien “The only thing that could have salvaged the president’s performance would have been if the body of bin Laden fell from the ceiling onto the stage.” –Jimmy Kimmel

So that’s the scoop. Congratulations go out to my three-point shooting nephew Joshua, who celebrated his bar mitzvah this past weekend. Now he is a man. Let’s see if he can move his feet on defense.

We’ll catch you as a 40-year-old smacking a pinch hit home run in the ninth and then blasting another bomb in the 12th inning to win it and send Yankee fans into a happy frenzy. And then hitting another game-tying homer in the bottom half of the ninth again on Saturday. Aloha, mahalo and later, Raul Ibanez fans.

Good morning and greetings, baseball playoffs fans. The weather on the central coast went wild and crazy last week, as in a 24-hour period, we went from Indian Winter to Blazing Saddles. To kick off October, the mercury skyrocketed like the price of gas, as the thermometer hit triple digits with an impressive 100 degree showing. This sudden heat wave caught tourists and local shamans in this normally Mediterranean climate off guard, as there is usually separation of fog and state.

I don’t want to say it was hot, but I was sweating like President’s Obama’s advisors after the first debate. I hadn’t perspired like that since the mailman arrived years ago with an envelope containing my SAT scores. As Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson once said, “The person who scores well on an SAT test will not necessarily be the best doctor, lawyer or businessman. These test do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perserverance or the potential to one day become an unpaid blogger.”

Because of the intense heat, I had to get out of the kitchen, so I grabbed my camera and headed up to the Alan Chadwick Gardens at UC Santa Cruz. Formerly known as the UCSC Garden Project, this two-acre wonderland was created back in 1967, when I was still two years away from my non-life changing Woodstock experience. What kills me today is that I can’t find the ticket that I bought for this blessed event of peace, mud and music. I could sell it on E-Bay and be set for life, or at least through Groundhog Day.

The Garden was created back at a time when the redwood forests were being bulldozed, and there was a need for something as beautiful and as natural as my skin tone. I remember years ago, as a premed law student at UC, going to the garden to cut fresh flowers, which was an option for all students in the honors program.

It was a place where I sought refuge from the pressures of endless studying, intensive paper writing and full-court hoops action at the East Fieldhouse. And all that peace, love and full-court happiness led me to getting my degree in sociology, which today, with $1, will get me a USA Today and all the pie charts I can eat.

So I headed up to the garden to go one-on-one with nature’s blooms. But then, in the words of Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise,” as when I entered this orgainic arena in search of a floral appetizer, I was greeted with the Monday’s special, medallions of butterflies, who were flittering and fluttering all over the hillside. It was quite a pleasant surprise. Or as Russian poet Boris Pasternak once said between shots of vodka, “Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” I’d go with a new car.

I paused at this beautiful sight and thought, love is like a butterfly. It goes where it pleases and pleases where it goes. I can very much relate to these little self-propelled flowers, as we delight in their beauty, but rarely admit the changes they have gone through to achieve that beauty. As a former hand model, I’ve been through it all. As George Carlin said, “The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.”

So it was mid-morning on the first day of October, and it was already so hot, even Donald Trump’s hair wouldn’t have gone outside. On my way up to the university, I saw a guy holding a sign, “Will work for shade.” I walked by a woman wearing a pantsuit without the pants. Bottom line, it was scorching. How hot? My sweat was sweating.

As I walked up into the garden, I saw that the fruit trees were exploding with apples, a scene that reminded me of a dream I once had about being trapped inside a jar of Mott’s raspberry flavored apple sauce. I believe it was Johnny Appleseed’s nutritionist who said, “Great trees give more shade than fruit, but we’ll let the redwoods to speak for themselves.

So back to this upper westside Garden of Eden. I had gone in search of the beauty and colors of the autumn flowers. But instead, what really got me excited was the plethora of butterflies, who were sucking down the sweet nectar like it was a carton of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice.

Now, I admit, I’ve been a loyal Tropicana man all my life. However, I was recently introduced to some Odwalla 100% Pure Squeezed All Natural Orange Juice and it blew the Trop right out of the park. That’s nourishing the body whole. There’s an old Japanese proverb that says, “The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” Or as I once googled my rabbi, if nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies. Or need for rainbow calendars.

So today’s photo gallery offers up the best of my journey to the Alan Chadwick Garden. While I was shooting away, the hummingbirds were on full alert, zooming around from plant to plant, enjoying the best of what the nectar gods had to offer.

I relished the benefits of this brief, unexpected heat wave, which lasted another 24 hours before the natural coastal air conditioning kicked in and the fog returned with a vengeance. I think my morning could be summed up by the words of Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, who tweeted while stand up paddling down the Amazon, “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life when we fully allow the unexpected to happen.” And that’s why I carry the American Express card. Never leave home without it.

On to the late night. For tomorrow’s debate, President Obama’s advisers have been working with him to keep his responses short. In fact, the only words the president plans on saying are ‘bin Laden’ and ‘dead.’ That’s it The presidential debate is on Wednesday. Mitt Romney has been preparing for the debate by debating a Republican senator who plays the part of President Obama. Meanwhile, President Obama has been preparing for Romney by debating an ATM machine.” –Conan O’Brien

“Well, last week in Vermont, the guy from the Dos Equis beer commercials — you know “the most interesting man in the world” — he hosted a fundraiser for President Obama. See, that shows you how things have changed. Four years ago the slogan was hope and change. Now it’s ‘stay thirsty my friends.'” –Jay Leno “It’s rumored that in a recent Univision interview, Mitt Romney wore makeup to appeal to Latino voters. I can’t wait to see Romney’s appearance on BET.” –Conan O’Brien

“The first debate is tomorrow night and I heard that the Obama campaign is a little worried because during his flight to Nevada on Sunday the president watched four hours of football instead of studying — although it did mark the first time all year that Obama has actually seen something get passed.” –Jimmy Fallon “Today was not only the first presidential debate, it was also President Obama’s 20th wedding anniversary. I think the president got a little confused. At one point, he told Michelle that she was out of touch with the middle class and Romney looks as beautiful as the day they first met.” –Conan O’Brien

“The presidential debates were earlier tonight, and I think most of the nation’s all thinking the same thing – just one more day until Thursday Night Football.” –Jay Leno “Arnold Schwarzenegger was on ’60 Minutes’ promoting his book. He said you can’t run from your mistakes. You have to confront them. Yeah, especially if they look exactly like you and keep calling you dad. “In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book, he says his first clue that the housekeeper’s son was his was when the boy started looking like him. His second clue was when he was the only Mexican kid with an Austrian accent.” –Conan O’Brien

That’s another blast for October. And speaking of blasts, on Saturday, an Arctic blast swept over two-thirds of the country, bringing snow, freezing rain and 74 record-low temperature marks. Sheridan, Wyoming, was a toasty five below. Check, please.

So we’ll catch you being the first player to win the baseball’s triple crown since 1967 and being a team that was picked to finish last, only to end up in first place on the last day of the season, the only day in which you were on top. Aloaha, mahalo and later, Miguel Cabrera and Oakland A’s fans.