The World Series of Little League Baseball is going on this week. And as you know while they are showing the players names they show their favorite players, people they would like to meet, i.e., Kate Upton, Derrick Jeter, Mike Trout and Bill Gates. Now, Bill Gates is a very interesting pick. a very wise pick and I wonder that since it was on national TV that maybe Mr. Gates watched it or  maybe some of Mr. Gates friends told him about the young man. I hope so. It tells you a lot about the little guy, huh? That kid is smart.  I hope Mr. Gates arranges to meet him or at least contact him. And he might. Oh, and by the way, Mr. Gates, if you are ever in Albuquerque again give me a call as I would like to meet you also.  I will treat you to some wonderful Mexican food. You can choose red or green at this place and your taste buds will never be the same. It’s a local place and you may have eaten there during your time in Albuquerque. If so, it’s still very good. If not, then you are in for some excellent food. My treat….Pete Hester

The teams I have picked to follow all have tough football schedules….There is Alabama: All tough SEC opponents, except Va Tech, Colo St (also a New Mexico opponent) and Chattanooga, so it is a tough schedule……Arizona, all tough PAC 12, except N. AZ, UNLV (plays Lobos) and UTSA (plays Lobos)….Not as tough as Alabama’s I don’t think, but tough….New Mexico, all Mountain West including Fresno State and Boise State, but Pittsburg also. A good schedule….Wisconsin battles their normal Big Ten opponents, all of them tough. They also play UMass, Tenn Tech, and AZ State, also a tough team…..New Mexico State Aggies….Now these guys are gluttons for punishment, a small bottom feeder school as far as recruiting talent is concerned, but does that bother them in scheduling? No, not in the least…Aug 31, Texas, Sept 7, Minnesota, Sept 21, UCLA, Sept 28, San Diego St, Nov 9, Boston College…..in between they have UTEP, New Mexico Lobos, Rice, Abilene Christian, Louisiana Lafayette, FAU and Idaho. Considering this school’s size, recruiting limitations, and fan base, in my humble opinion, they have the toughest schedule of all. Will they win those real tough games? Probably not, but they did beat Minnesota at their house last year, and they don’t give up….  You have to give them an A plus for sheer guts. They don’t back down from anyone. They will battle until they run out of guys, count on it…..Good luck, Aggies and I will be pulling for you except against the Lobos. (Did I tell you guys I attended New Mexico State-Carlsbad? Probably not) Well, I’m ready for this season to get started…..Go Lobo’s….Roll Tide…..Go NM Aggies….Go Cowboys…..er,  five turnovers in the first half at Arizona Cardinals and Romo was not involved in any of them. Coach Garret will take care of those fumbles, won’t you Jason?…That is a first for Romo (I think) and also the defense looked good…I think we will be alright….Denver Broncos, good offense. They will need a defense to be competitive in the NFL.. Of course, Mr. Elway knows that. He will take care of that, right John?…..Pete Hester

Well, it has been a long time since I bragged, no, I mean showed off, uh, ok maybe it is bragging, but if I don’t show them to you you’ll probably never know about them. I guess one of the reasons I like to show them off is because of a 6 cycle per second tremor that I have, sometimes worse, so in between shakes I try to make a mark, so I am delighted when I can actually make out what I am trying to paint. I think it would drive you up a wall watching me paint….Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, it is what it is. Below is one of the largest rocks I have done and some of the smallest rocks I have done, plus one of my newer paintings…my first robin and my first Holstein cow. I never had lessons…One art instructor told me to just learn on my own which I have done…I learn something new every day…I hope I have a lot of days left as I sure need the practice….Pete ps….I must give credit for the printing on the large rock…No. 2 son was kind enough to do that for me…Also, this rock is intended to be a birthday gift for one of sweetie’s friends…ssshhh…..oh, yeah, it has additional Primrose flowers on the back and sides. The Primrose flowers come in multiple colors,… Yellow on the front, reds, blues and whites are on the back….. click on the pictures to enlarge….

click on the pictures to enlarge…

My intentions for this year’s football season  is to direct my attention to the following teams….now you can ask me to include your team if you would like and we can add them to the discussion, either e-mail me at phhester6@aol.com or make comments on the web site……I will follow and predict win/losses for the following teams: Alabama, Arizona, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Wisconsin, Stony Brook and other teams of national interest at the time of postings. So let me know about your team, ok? For the pros, Dallas and Denver, I’ll pull for both except when they play each other, then it is Dallas…and my pulling for Dallas has nothing to do with Jerry Jones…..It has everything to do with Tom Landry, Eddie LaBaron, Don Meredith, Randy White, Leroy Jordan, Mike Ditka, Bob Hays, Robert Newhouse, etc, etc……you get the picture, I’m sure as I left out a bunch of terrific ball players who should have been included…..but that’s what being a Cowboy fan means to me….New Mexico Lobo’s are picked to finish last in the Mountain Div. of the Mountain West. The Lobo’s are going to be better than that, probably not winning the conference, but they will finish 3rd or 4th. You say, “that’s a bold prediction” and I say, if the main players can stay healthy they will be there. As is the case most of the time, not having sufficient quality players will hurt us in the long run. But on paper, even that sounds better this year…..Go Lobos…..Pete Hester…..ps, I did not bring up Bama winning the conference and national championship, er, well, er,  Bama is Bama and that is enough said, there is Bama and there is everybody else……Pete Hester

Rodriguez suspended for 211 games and the rest for 50 games….They are Bastardo, Cabrera, Cervelli, Cruz, De Los Santos, Escalona, Martinez, Montero, Norberto, Peralta, Puello, Valdespin…….One thing that struck me was that there are no, Smiths, Jones, Johnson, Baker, Davis, Woods, McElroy, McDonald, etc, etc……Now, I’m not saying anything, not promoting anything, not suggesting anything (well, tongue in cheek I reckon)…..Am I the only one who thinks that is strange?…..I’m just saying……Pete

We had an exciting weekend, visiting the home of one of New Mexico’s most famous people. Yes, home to Georgia O’Keeffe and also to plenty of archaeology stuff, one site dating back 8000 years, another 2000 years. (Finally something older than me.) Paleontology of Ghost Ranch, yes sir, plenty of paleontology….back to the Triassic period and, er, that’s also older than me…Home to the Coelophysis, the New Mexico state fossil found in 1947 and by the way, he is kind of a little feller…..You can take the Georgia O’Keeffe walking tour, and see the prints of her paintings in the exact spot she painted them. Awesome, huh…You did know they made a bunch of movies at Ghost Ranch? Oh, you didn’t…Well they did!….City Slickers….old Curly was something else in that. (Good places to take your treasures for hiding.)….Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull…Cowboys and Aliens….3:10 to Yuma….The Missing…Comanche Moon and Georgia O’Keeffe…It was time well spent for Sweetie, number 2 daughter and myself….I really enjoyed it. But, I did not find Mr. Fenn’s Treasure, however, I suspect it is up there in that general area. That is really his part of the world. Mr. Fenn’s treasure is not in some exotic place, not buried says he. No sir, the man placed it up some dry canyon that flows water during the infrequent rain storms so he would have easy walking and then he stepped off the dry canyon a few feet and placed his load behind a small bush…..I’ll bet you a one dollar bill on that….I did not see it on my trip….I may go back…Well, if you are going I will just wait for a spell. Let me know, will you?  Oh, you may not find the treasure, but you will enjoy the trip……Thanks, Pete

In this mornings paper there was an article about a man from Arizona parking in Mr. Fenn’s driveway there in Santa Fe. I don’t know if he was looking for the treasure or looking for clues on where the treasure might be…He may have been thinking that by blocking his driveway, Mr. Fenn would give him a clue just to get him out or get rid of him…..Well, I guess that is one way to do it, but it does seem a little extreme. I am surprised they were able to get that close to Mr. Fenn….So, Mr. Fenn, if you read this I would be extra cautious as people do harm to people over 20 dollars. You know where a quarter million dollars are….Please rethink your situation sir, maybe hire a guard to keep watch on you and your property for awhile….Just a thought, sir,  but in todays world one has to be very careful, especially rich ones……

The monsoon has been good to us this year….Albuquerque proper has had almost 3 inches in July. Out here in Paradise Hills, not quite so much, probably half that amount, but it is all really appreciated. Thank you Lord Jesus for hearing and answering our prayers. The mayor said in this mornings paper that the cost for the storm clean up would be about a million dollars. Total cost to the city and New Mexico would have been lots higher had there not been any relief to the drought. It is a good sight to drive over the Rio Grande and see a goodly flow of water heading south to restock the waters in Elephant Butte Reservoir. It is not nearly enough for what we need, but it helps. Hopefully there is more to come….We shall see…Pete

I heard today that a fellow student of Pickens County High, Reform, Al had past away yesterday, July 21, 2013. I think he was about 5 or 6 years behind my class, none the less, a fellow student from that school. I knew of him because our high school had grade 7 through 12 under the same roof in 1954. I am sorry to hear of his passing.  Having lived in New Mexico for all those years in between high school and now, with the exception of a 3 year period down in Texas, I lost track of most of my classmates. I started wondering today how many of my fellow classmates are still alive. I still have my high school year book and can flip through the pages and list all of us on this web site. Some of them my not want their names on this site. So, if you are a fellow class mate, leave me a note and we can exchange some e-mails. I would like to hear from you and about your lives the last, er, (how many years is that?) and whats been happening …If you prefer you can e-mail me rather than make a posting to this web site…E-mail your note to phhester6@aol.com or pete@hesterbooks.com . Some of you know me only as Elmer…During my growing up years my parents called me Pistol Pete, later dropping the Pistol and calling me Pete. I then preferred Pete. I have since grown to appreciate the name Elmer, however, during school the reference to Elmer Fudd turned me off to my given name. No problem on that now, however….Now I go by and write under the name E. V. Pete Hester. Please let me hear from you. (As I write this I having serious doubts that any of you are aware of this web site, but maybe a friend will tell you about me wanting to hear from the, PCHS,  Class of 1954…Thank you, Pete Hester…..ps Since Otis Vaughn has commented on this site I don’t think he will mind my using his name. He is doing well and living in Northern Alabama…Uh, does that make him a yankee???  I’m kidding, I’m kidding……It makes him a good buddy…..

Do you wonder just how ugly old Elmer “E. V. Pete” Hester is today. Well, here he is:

Kind’a sad, huh….Pete