I thought I had been to my last game at The Pit a few years ago. I had not seen the renovations of a couple of years ago and had wondered how it looked and if it changed the feel of The Pit. But, I attended another game Saturday night. The renovation has not changed the feel at all..Why did I change my mind and go you ask…Well, I think that is a good story and I will tell you why….Friday afternoon I was working with my notebook and also watching TV.  Sweetie was taking a nap. The phone rang and I answered a call from my youngest son from Madison, WI. He started by asking the customary questions, ie, what ya doing, what’s Mom doing, and when I said napping he asked, “how long does she normally nap?” and I thought that was a weird question, kinda…Well, he quickly said, “Dad, let me get right back to you” and had to hang up. Almost immediately the door bell rang. I took the phone to the door with me as not to miss his call back, answered the door and lo and behold, there stood my son. Laughing… My mouth dropped open and I was so pleasantly surprised…We had a good long visit and because his voice qualities are so similar to those of my son who lives in Albuquerque, Sweetie got up thinking he had come over. When she came in, her reaction was the same as with me with her mouth dropping open, an unbelieving look at first and then one of extreme joy. Sweetie had a stroke in late July and our son had not seen her since her stroke but had spoken with her via phone. What a pleasure to see his arms enfold his Momma and to see on his face a look  that said this is the very same Momma who he had last seen, as she is almost back to her old self. Anyway, after visiting a bit, he asked if I was available Saturday night as he had tickets for the University of Northern Iowa vs University of New Mexico Lobo’s game. He waylaid all my fears of, fighting the crowd, needing frequent visits to the men’s room, climbing the steps getting in and out for frequent rest room visits, etc…He had us seats on the mezzanine level, just about mid court. Excellent seats. Absolutely no climbing stairs or steps..  My daughter, visiting from Tuscon and a frequent visitor to University of Arizona’s McHale Center attended with us. My son is a season ticket holder for the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Kole Center. Both of those are also excellent basketball arenas and comparisons were made of those venues against The Pit, discussing the pros and cons of them all. Of course, those are great places and for the two of them to be impressed with The Pit was very exciting to me. Because of weather related problems (snowing and raining) the crowd was down a little, 13,145, but they were a loud bunch. I love the pit crowd…They love the Lobo’s…They understand basketball and they hate refs who make call against their beloved Lobo’s….What a fun night….and it was a good game with the Lobo’s winning 72 – 54 or close to that. I hope that you who have not been in The Pit will someday get to go……And then my son had to leave on Sunday afternoon, but on Sunday morning he gave our family a mini concern singing a song from his latest Christmas album, one he had produced on his Slothrop  Record label, a song he had written, or co written, “Bethlehem” plus a few of his other songs and ten other recording artist.(available at Slothrop Records. Com)…We all enjoyed them so much and hated to see him leave. By the way, he even treated us to a meal that he cooked in our kitchen. The boy is about to publish a cookbook of Mexican dishes and we are looking forward to that. (I will give that book a plug on this web site when it comes out). This meal was not Mexican food, but an excellent meal non-the-less. It was a fast paced, fun and snowy weekend for us. A mini family reunion for us. How nice and if you read all of this report, thank you so much….

Want to read my stories or novels….Well, click on downloads on the right hand side of the web site,  and  scroll down and make your choice of what you wish to read. I hope you enjoy your visit. Thanks for coming by.

November has been hesterbooks.com busiest month for visitors and the month is not even over yet. 4105 visits to the web site this month. I really appreciate it folks….Some of it may be the contributions of Otis Vaughn and Dan Hall, both of whom contributed well written stories and added so much to the web site readability. Maybe we can get them to be thinking on new stories or follow up stories  to be used in the future. But I do thank all of you for coming by and visiting and reading the postings or stories available to you to read or download. Lets all give thanks for our blessings of this year and have a  Happy Thanksgiving Day….. Lots of turkey and dressing and lots of football…it just don’t get no better than this, does it?

Probably this will be the last picks for this season….This has been a good year for some of our teams, not so good for others, but always they are very entertaining…Now for the bowl games..and I think the paper stated this morning they need about 80 teams to fill the all the bowl games and are having trouble finding enough 6 game winners to fill them all…..Well, the first bowl game is:

The Iron Bowl:

Alabama vs Auburn…Alabama by 14….Bama won…good game and now face Florida …and they will win that one also…

Arizona …..season over

Wisconsin vs Minnesota…Wisconsin by 7….Wisconsin won…some bowl game for them but I don’t know which one yet..

New Mexico vs Air Force….Man, I would love for the Lobo’s to win this one by I think the Air Force is probably 7 points better..Wow, the Lobo’s won  and played a good game….now we go bowling…

New Mexico State vs Arkansas State….Arkansas St by 3…I wish by 3….they kicked the pee-wadding out of the Aggies…

Texas Tech vs Texas….Texas Tech by 7….a 49 – 45 victory for the Red Raiders and they will go bowling also…

Stony Brook..Season over

It was a good season…a fun season….let the bowl games begin……

Mr. President, what is the best way for ISIS to get “boots on the ground” in America? And just how many boots would be devastating to us? You, Sir, know the answer…They come in as a tourist, illegal immigrant, or a refugee. And just a few pair of boots is all it will take .The Republican are just as caring as you. They also care about the refugees,  but I believe they care more about the American people than you do. You seem to throw caution to the wind by letting in refugees who have not had background checks. If all the refugees were little old ladies and orphan children,  then I think it might be ok. But fighting age men and women capable of strapping on a bomb should not be allowed in. It is far easier to just say no…..It is about time to put constraints on  the “Lady in the Harbor” and just who all can enter as time be a changing…Yes sir, it is a sad day when we have to say that and do that…I think the “Lady” was crying on September 11, 2001. We never want to see that again. You need to do a little thinking, be a little hard hearted as for as the rest of the world is concern, some of them think a lot more about dying than they do about living and remember just how those folks have worn out their welcome. Don’t do something you cannot reverse, sir, and something that your own children would consider risky…Let the Arab nations take care of their own…..

Alabama vs Charleston Southern….Bama, of course…I don’t know how many points, but a bunch. This schedule will hurt Bama in the ratings in my opinion. I suppose Saban knows what he is doing so I will wait and see…Bama 56 – 6

Arizona vs Arizona St…Arizona by 7…oops, Arizona St 37 – 31

Wisconsin vs Northwestern….Wisconsin by 10…oops, oops..Northwestern 13 – 7

New Mexico vs Colorado State….well, since the Lobos beat Utah State and Boise State I am thinking we can beat Colorado State by 7..I was thinking wrong …Colo St 28 – 21

New Mexico State vs La-Lafayette…..Aggies by 3 Aggies still with a freshman quarterback and he is on a roll….Go Aggies…New Mexico State 37 – 34

Texas Tech vs Texas….Tech takes it by 7…sorry, this is next week game, but I will stay with the 7 points.

Stony Brook vs Albany….Stony Brook by 6…Stony Brook 20 -2

Is it just me who worries that the flood of immigrants world wide might be a big problem to each country they enter….I know that many of them need help and they have children, aged loved ones and most of them are seeking a better life….But among those are the jihad’s who think nothing of strapping on a bomb loaded belt and blowing all the infidels to kingdom come….a walking and talking missile, if you will (wow, what words would you use to describe a person like that? “I’ll fix you, I’ll blow myself up” Weird) … and most of us care about the ones who are needy and wanting to have a stable home life….Is there a way we can separate the good from the bad? I think not…We will have to watch them all for several years to determine the bad ones, and yes, profiling is the only way. Sorry about that folks, but we will have to keep up with the immigrants. Not just in America either as the Paris bombings/shooting has shown and the vast number of immigrants entering Europe….I’m thinking it is going to get lots worse before it gets better.

Alabama vs Miss St…..Bama by 10…Bama romped, 31 – 6

ARizona vs Utah….Utah by 14…oops, Arizona won in overtime, 37 – 30

Wisconsin bye this week

New Mexico vs Boise State ….Boise by 14, double oops,   the Lobo’s won, surprise, surprise,, 31 -24

New Mexico State bye

Texas Tech vs Kansas St…..Tech by 3, Texas Tech won pretty big, 59 – 44

Stony Brook vs Rhode Island….Stony Brook streams along winning by 7, Stony Brook 19 – 6..

Arkansas was not on my selected games again this week, but what a nice win for them down in Louisana……Question, where have they been all year?

It is easy making picks each week, but it is difficult picking winners each week….seems like they always save the best and hardest for the last four weeks of the season….I’m extremely bad about picking with my heart and not my head most of the time….this week I will try and use my head more…we’ll see…

Alabama vs LSU…..Alabama by 3…Alabama wins 30 – 16

Arizona vs USC….USC by 7…USC wins 38 – 10

Wisconsin vs Maryland….Wisconsin by 14 (or more)whoa…Wisconsin Wins 31 – 24… Locksley’s team played better than I figured…

New Mexico vs Utah State….My head says Utah State but my heart believes the Lobo’s will win…New Mexico by 7…Lobos win 14 – 13….great game by the defense…

New Mexico State vs Texas State…New Mexico has to start their 3rd string QB, a freshman, but my heart says New Mexico State makes it two in a row…NMSU by 3…Two wins in a row  NMSU 31 – 21..

Texas Tech vs West Virgina….Texas Tech by 7…Oops, West Virginia wins 31 – 26..

Stony Brook vs Howard…Stony Brook by 10…Stony Brook wins 14 – 9.

Drivers license’s in New Mexico are no longer valid citizenship ID outside of New Mexico….If a New Mexico citizen tries to board an aircraft with our drivers license, it will not be allowed because that person may not be a citizen of the USA. Everybody gets a regular drivers license here…We have to have a passport to travel via airplanes….Well, maybe we need a passport anyway, but that’s beside the point…Why, I say why, can’t we just change a state law that allows illegal immigrants to apply for a regular drivers license in New Mexico. We could issue them a permit to drive, or a type of temporary license to drive, or just deport them, but no, we give them a regular drivers license that a citizen of the United States of America gets…It might be considered profiling or something….Our governor, Susanna Martinez, has tried five times to get the law changed…Oh, she is a republican. No way, Jose….Not here….A bunch of us support her efforts…The federal government support her efforts and now they also say….. No way, Jose, get you a passport to see the USA….We are who we say we are, I reckon, but we just can’t prove it by our drivers license….