Here are some of the headlines from the Albuquerque Journal this morning: !) Economy At Risk without Resolution (Looming federal budget crisis). 2) 2 Millions Jobs Could Be Lost if Cutbacks Kick In.  3) Intel Warns of Slowing Growth. 4) Bernanke’s Budget Senarino not Pretty. 5) Ford recalls 730,000 2001 – 2004 Ford Escapes and Madza Tributes. 6) Nissan Recalls 11,000 Juke SUV’s and from the sports page, 1) Cowboy Dez Bryant charged in Family Violence (His Momma) 2) Security Problems at Olympic’s or (OOOPS as one newspaper stated it) 3) Woman Stalking Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein 4) Seahawks Lynch is Trouble Again (alcohol) 5) Brown University Removes Joe Paterno’s Name…..Well, I started the post as good news….Well, here it is….Artesia, NM born and bred Landry Jones, Quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners is nominated  for the 2012 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, one of 117 nominees of Athlete’s who make a difference in their communities….That is good news and I hope he is the winner…..There were a few more items of good news and I hope none of you felt slighted if I left out the part you considered good news……Later, Pete   Thanks to the Journal as I read it cover to cover most mornings, good or bad news, and I always check the obits for my name and am extremely happy when I am not listed….Whew…..

I could not find an action shot of this guy as he found the most rugged, difficult to access area he could find to do his fishing and since I was doing a lot of the photo taking, I was not about to follow him, however I did try several rocky bluffs. He is also the only one that caught a salmon. It was big enough for us all to have a good taste. Here he is ready to take off on one of his exploratory missions.

Zach Johnson really impressed me yesterday. No so much that he came from several strokes behind Troy Matteson, no so much because he caught and tied the score to go to sudden death playoff, and not so much that he overcame driving a shot into the water on the first playoff hole and it was not even his approach shot that landed within a few inches of the hole on the second playoff hole. But all those things kind of had me pulling for the young man,…. but what really impressed me was in the interview with the CBS reporter. Zach said, “I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”, that impressed me. Thank you Zach for being a Christian and for letting people know of your faith. I noticed you during the sudden death and I think it was on the final hole that the camera came on you and you had your head bowed…..I was wondering if you were praying, I felt like you were at the time and after the interview I was even more certain that was the case. Anyway, Zach Johnson, may God Bless you and your family and give you a long and winning career….

Now the water table under Albuquerque has risen. (Per Albuquerque Journal Story of July 15, 2012, read the full story there.) It now surrounds the Kirtland AFB jet fuel spill, The fuel is trapped under the water now making the vacuum method of retrieval difficult and the jet fuel has additives that are poisonous if consumed. That is one cocktail none of us care to drink. Let’s hope we never even come close. I’m thinking that at some point in time we will probably reconsider the Mississippi and Missouri River flood waters being pumped out west. Costly? Yes. Needed? That depends on the rainfall we get in the next few years and the surface water available to us. But unless we get something done on our underground water supply, we will have a problem. Do you have the answer? Well, call the Air Force…Do you have a question? Call the Air Force on that as well….I sure don’t know what we should do…..Pete

Geez, Governor Bill has left the state capital and now we have nothing serious to write about. No scandals in the present adminstration, no money unaccounted for, no payola or mishandling of funds, no trips to Cuba or Korea, its quiet, very quiet Was any of that or all of that true? I know not, but we sure got lots of mileage out of it…Gov. Martinez is selling all the states aircraft and traveling over the states checking out our highways and keeping spending in check, visiting schools, chasing the crooks, minding the store. Has our present Lt. Governor ever spent a day in charge? I don’t think so. ….So, this is great and New Mexico’s constituency is happy, except for the democratics of course, but then that is to be expected. That all being said, its just kind of dull around Sante Fe…..That globe trotting son of a gun always had something going, giving us headline hunters something to write about, know what I mean….There was always something exciting to write about and most of the time in a fever pitch….Oh, well, so it goes….Dull is good….

Ps….that eleven million dollar computer that Bill bought, you know the third fastest in the world two or three years ago….Now its the 121st fastest in the world and Gov. Martinez is trying to sell it. It is housed at Intel and is not making the state any money, in fact it seems to be costing the state money to operate it. Need a computer? Well, call the Governor, she’ll fix you up……..

Well, I wasn’t actually shearing the lawn, I was mowing, but I was sweating. The first time in a long time that I wiped sweat from my brow….real sweat….The first thing I did when I finished mowing was check the temperature and humidity. Temp was 83 degrees and the humidity was 53 percent….This is Albuquerque where 12 percent is pretty high for us. Monsoon season is here. We got our best rain of the year yesterday. More forecast for today. I hope we can get rain every day if  so I will put up with the sweating for a while. Now, I may continue swearing just a little bit also, but I’ll try to watch it. Thank you Dear Lord for the rains at my house and New Mexico in general. We sure do need them……I yelled at Sweetie yesterday, “Hey, look outside.” as the rain was pouring down…”I already did and I am thanking the Lord right now.” came the reply…..We are grateful…..

Oh man, I guess I’m just really lucky….My new Dell computer is waiting on me to confirm, (I’m not sure what I need to confirm but its there for me). I have 25 million pounds over in Rwanda (or some place) that has been left for me by a long lost relative and all I need to do is send them all the necessary information to make the transaction. Publisher Clearing House is pretty sure I am the big winner of the 5000 a month for life…..I must be really lucky and I don’t know how I do it. Matter of fact, I have had several long lost relatives pass on and leave me a fortune and I have just never bothered to follow through to receive all that money. Mom and Dad never told me about all our rich kinfolk. I guess money wasn’t all that important to them either…..Anyway, I just go ahead and delete e-mails that are giving me all that money and stuff. I think they all seem to need it more than I do…However, a new Dell would probably be pretty nice….(Ya’ll know I’m spoofing here, huh? Well, I am except a new Dell would be nice, but they ain’t free.)

Lucky today to be born an American and enjoy all that we have. Things are getting a little tougher these days, but we would not switch with anyone. May God continue to “Bless the USA”, and bless our troops where ever they are today and bring them safely home, and bless our Congress and Executive Branch of our government giving the wisdom and guidance to lead our country. Let’s pray for them today and invite God back into our courts and schools and country. Shall we pray…………………….Amen

Since my retirement, one of the other things I do to stay out of Sweeties way, oh, I don’t know it may be better said, one of the other things I do to hide out, yeah, I think thats better said….is to paint rocks. I try to find rocks that will stand up, but that is hard to do, but you can find them. With my painting, I am hampered by a tremor that I inherited from my Mother. Painting when my arms are tired is almost impossible as that makes the temor worse. But when I am relaxed and rested I can do fair. I took up painting and writing after my by-pass surgery a few years ago. I am still not good, but I am getting better. I wanted to share my latest rock with you guys. I was kind of proud of how this one turned out…..Pete

I am always mentioning my sons and some of you may wonder if I have any daughters. Well, my wife, my daughters and my grand daughters have cautioned me about using their names, pictures, etc, etc, or you are gonna get in big trouble Pete/Dad/Paps…..I don’t think they would shoot me, but I don’t want to push the issue. But they all are very beautiful, kind, sweet and adorable girls. I love them so much and would like to discuss each one of them here….well, it ain’t gonna happen..so just forget it…this is as close as I will come to talking about them. One of them had a birthday yesterday. I spoke with her via phone as she lives in a distant city and wished her a Happy Birthday and told her how special she was, but she is the one who told me if I put a picture of her on this blog that we were going to fist city…well, she didn’t say it quite like that, but I got her meaning, and she is a beautiful girl and takes excellent pictures…You just gotta believe me here folks as a picture will not be forthcoming…..I love you girls….Pete/Dad/Paps (a couple  of them will have a little to do with the web site, huh?

It just seems like yesterday…..Joe DiMaggio marries Marilyn Monroe, President Eisenhower warns against US intervention in Vietnam, US explodes 15 megaton hydrogen bomb, From Here to Eternity wins Academy Awards and Pickens County High turned some of it’s students loose to face the world. We look ready, don’t we?…….Yes, your’s truly is in there..(Some of Alabama’s finest, if you ask me.) Photo from Jo Rogers Lawly via Don Spruill and Erroll Bonner to yours truly. As Marrying Sam I sported a bow tie…fancy, huh? Oh yeah, that’s me behind the wheel driving that thing…..