Have you ever recieved an e-mail that tells you to send to 5, or 7, or 10 people immediately and you will recieve good news or a fortune tomorrow morning at 9 am or some such stuff. Or, how about the e-mail that if you don’t forward you gonna die or have seven years bad luck or other misfortunes. For a while I did follow though, especially on the fame and fortune bit. Then I heard from those who really got uptight when something like that was recieved by them and an extreme fear that something would happen to them or their family. When I realized that some folks had real problems with such e-mails, I decided to stop sending them on and to just stay, broke and poor, and sit on the edge of the grave waiting for the grim reaper…So, if you send them on to me folks I will delete them and just suffer the consequences myself. I returned one the other day to the sender and it has prompted me to alert the rest of you to what I will be doing…I don’t mean to sound mean spirited or anything, those type e-mails will stop here. Just wanted you all to know if it happens…..But if I should die after deleting one of these e-mails,  I promise to come back and haunt you for a long time to get even……

This Chapter is pretty close to true. While the Homer in this story is a fictional character, he is based on a real person(s) as there were two black kids that we buddied with some. One of them I played with and one I went frog gigging with. But this really happened on my first furlough home. Things were beginning to change in the south, but still a lot of problems with all the marching in Selma and a few other spots. Pretty close to the absolute truth…… So, far good or bad and for whats its worth here is the Final Chapter of Cousins:    Final Chapter

Last Saturday morning the paper reported that the city was not using the river water for the drinking supplies until it cleared up. They went on to say the rain around the burn areas near Los Alamos was feeding black water into the Rio Grande. On the way to Saturday night church, as we were crossing the bridge over the Rio Grande I checked it out. Black as black boot polish. How strange it looked. Down around Albuquerque it most always runs sandy brown. In the northern part of the state it is clear or a pleasant green in color. Black is not a pretty color for a river. Rusty is not either but better than black… We are happy for all the rain we have been getting but we want our rusty colored water back pretty soon. It’s always something………UPDATE>>>>On  July 30 it is reported that the ash will not hurt the drinking water so we are using it again. However, traveling over the river yesterday it seems our rusty color is almost back, some black around the edges of the river…that is good….

We are having quite the turmoil over the increasing national debt, as we should, but what surprises me is the finger pointing at Obama. Bush raised the national debt about 20% during his last term of office. It was ok then for the Republicans, huh? Not now….We got a democrat in there and we just cannot let that happen. …..I am a conservative….I try to pay for what I buy. I want our government to pay for what we buy. Republicans helped get us into this mess and they damn sure need to try to help get us out of it….Destroying our country is not the way to do it. We will have to compromise and if they don’t do some giving I believe it will be on their shoulders and not Obama’s. I know that’s not what my fellow conservatives want to hear, but I believe it is the truth and a necessary part of our government continuing to function. You cannot shut the government down nor ruin our ability to borrow….Not now, not at the eleventh hour….Spending does need to be checked but it also needed to be checked under Bush. Lets not cut off our nose to spite our face….We have to borrow to make it, simple as that….We will really be goners if we can’t borrow….Pete

Bonner reunion women folks. Pretty, huh?Where is Elaine and Maxine?

Bonner reunion men folks. They try….they try…

A judge here in our town has been ordering and receiving the services of an escort service. Apparently the same 23 year old girl came to visit his house eight different times for the purpose of sex. Well, on the eighth trip she claims the judge raped her….Certainly I don’t know any details other than what the newspaper reports but something just does not add up. If I have the facts straight, the judge is paying her for sex and she is claiming rape….Just how would that work? Did he not pay enough and so she called it rape or did she have a change of heart during the act or did he do something to her she had not agreed to? Jeez, I sure don’t know and the old judge had no business doing what he did but that just don’t seem right, does it? Most of the time it is better to just keep the old zipper zipped, ain’t it? Well, it seems that way to me….Pete

Reunion Stuff…. My spirit was renewed in Coal Fire Baptist Church last weekend. It was so nice to see all the cousins, well most of the cousins, all fairly healthy and in remarkable good spirits. The reception given my no. 2 grand daughter was awesome….Thank you for that cousins for it is a memory she will take with her forever. She hopes to come back some day and I hope she can, but if she does not what wonderful memories she will have….No. 2 Granddaughter stuff: I have asked KJH to do a guess post on this web site and she has agreed to do it…I am not sure when yet, but she will cover the reunion, some of out travel experiences and whatever comes to her mind. So keep coming back for her post…..Mt. Hope Cemetery Stuff…Just across the street from Coal Fire Baptist Church is the Mt. Hope Cemetery. My grand daughter took a picture or two of it. She pointed out the flag to me. A very large flag of the United States of America all tattered and torn, long strips of flag waving in the breeze. It is appalling and should be taken down until another good flag can be secured. I may write the Pickens County Herald if I can find no other means to contact someone about it. If any of you know someone let them or me know…….Weather stuff..The last two years I have been in Alabama in July the weather has been just gorgeous and my warning to kin folks traveling with me it has been like, “Paps, I think you are losing it.” The temperature and humidity have been better that New Mexico weather or at least as good. Hope I can keep that string of good things going…..Apache birth stuff..Apache children like to return to the point of their  birth ever so often to renew their spirit as it is good for their soul they say. You know I agree. My brothers family own the land of my birth nowadays and I went to the very spot with no. 2 GD. My soul has been rekindled and maybe I can make it another year of two….New friend stuff…To the young lady that sat between No. 2 and me on the way to Dallas, Both of us think you are special and we think it was God’s plan for you to sit in that very seat. As we told you, she wanted the window and I wanted the aisle and someone else could have the middle. God saved it just for you. Good luck with your job and may God dearly bless you…..And, our seat mate from Dallas to Albuquerque was Casey O’Reilly, a student at the University of Texas – Arlington, the newest member of the Western Athletic Conference. Casey is a baseball player, a catcher and lead off hitter and a very nice guy. Casey it was good visiting with you my man and I hope you can keep that .358 average going and I hope to see you in the “bigs” some day..May God bless you also…Pete Hester

Man, I sure hope I haven’t started something…No 2 grand daughter really loves Alabama. She has gone on about how green and pretty it is since our arrival. I mean I am certainly glad that she likes it but not so much that she will want to stay….I’ll keep her out in the heat of the day if she gets to liking it too much….I am kidding, of course, I am glad she is pleased and I look forward to showing her around Pickens County and especially Coal Fire…I hope you can still drive down close to Coal Fire Creek as I would like for her to stick her feet in that cold water for two or three minutes…I don’t know that may be considered mean to do that remembering how dang cold that water is. Anyway, we are here and looking forward to an evening with Nephew and family tonight…We are trying out a new restaurant (to us anyway)tonight and we will let you know who it is….Seafood…sounds good as I have been eating lots of Mexican…… Pete

Ruben Navarrette writes in todays article in the Albuquerque Journal, July 9th, that his readers feels that he harbors a ethnic bias and the reader assumes he will side with the Latino immigrants who break the law over Anglo Americans who want to enforce the law. Also, one of his readers writes, that “you write like a Mexican. Your need to write like an American.” He came to the heart of the matter for himself and many others when he said in this article in speaking of illegal immigration that “…for some of us, it could be if you ignored two things: the several generations that our families have lived in this country and the fact that the immigrants in our family tree either came legally or didn’t cross a border at all as much as found themselves overrun by settlers.” …..I think the “overrun by settlers” says it all for Mr. Navarrette…And I kind of feel for him in a way…but yet, with all the improvements that have been made since they were “overrun by settlers”, where would Mexico be if America did not exist? All of Americans are immigrants. We all came from some where else, even the Native Americans…So the “settlers” soon became a world power and other countries have received great benefits from these same “settlers”. The “settlers” are all American. Some English American, some Irish American, some Mexican American, some African Americans, some Russian Americans, some German Americans and on and on and on. These “settlers” are the Americans of which you write sir, proud Americans…..Have we made mistakes? Yes sir, many…But today, we stand on the verge of bankruptcy and the illegals are taking away from the “settlers” ability to take care of themselves, much less all the extra people who put demands on our treasury. The “settlers” are having a rough time and we are having to govern based on our pocket book anymore, Mr. Navarrette, and not with our hearts. Can we have a rule that applies to some and not to others? Can we pick and choose who goes and who stays? Can we just let them all stay? Help me our here, Mr. Navarrette. How are we going to do “whats right” and remain solvent?….A kid from down the street came by the other day and after a brief conversation said to me as he was walking off, “I love you man” totally shocked me by that statement. Well, taking a page from his book, Mr. Navarrette, I’ll say, “I love you man” and I sure would like it if we could all “just get along”.  But  someone has to mind the cash register, huh?… Which, the head or the heart? You say, sir, you say!!!!

The time is near for the Coal Fire Reunion of the Bonner, McCool, Hester, Bishop, Hall families, well, and maybe a few others, at the Coal Fire Baptist Church on July 16th. No. 2 grand daughter is coming with me this time. We will be flying into Birmingham and driving over, staying in Tuscaloosa. KJH  is really looking forward to meeting all the cousins and seeing the old home place and visiting  all the sites of Pickens County. I am excited about showing her around. Both of her brothers and her dad have been there and are always talking about it….So now she will get to experience it and meet all of you. So folks, get ready for a great time together. Mexican food was requested, however it does not travel well, but I may come by the Taco Bell and pick up some tacos….Taco Bell tacos are very good, even out here in Mexican country…Did the Taco Bell survive the tornado?…Well, we will bring something besides a hardy appetite….Looking forward to seeing all of you there….If you are kin folk, come on over. You know Coal Fire Baptist Church is in downtown Coal Fire, huh?….. You can’t miss it, right on Coal Fire Circle…….Pete