WOODBURN, Ore. — Inching along the dusty field under a broiling sun, Simon Santol tossed garlic bulbs into buckets and chatted with the other stooped-over Mexican workers. The conversation wasn't in Spanish.
Instead, they spoke Santol's native Triqui, or Mixtec, Zapotec or other languages indigenous to the poorest regions of Mexico. Many of the workers can barely get by in English or Spanish.
"It was hard at first," the 28-year-old Santol said in halting Spanish. "We would look for someone who spoke our language and Spanish. Now I have learned a little Spanish.
Does anybody besides me see a problem with this. This fellow is in the United states illegally and he is happy because he has learned some Spanish. HELLO, we speak English here. We are spending tax dollars to help these folks out. Let’s help them out of the country.

I leave Friday afternoon for Alaska; I’ll spend 7 days fishing for salmon. I remember the trip from 2 years ago. What a great time I had. I am really looking forward to this trip. The only down I have with this is my shoulder is giving me fits. I have some bone spurs in my right shoulder and I am been have a lot of pain lately. The bride has gotten me a doctor’s appointment for the 5th of Oct. This guy is supposed to be great. I want the shoulder scoped as soon as possible. We did have to cancel our trip to Pennsylvania, (we were leaving on the 5th) which I am not really happy about. My best friend lives there. We always have a wonderful time. Most of the time is spent fishing and talking stupid. Talking stupid is hard to explain but it does get both of our brides shaking theirs heads. That in it’s self makes it fun.

It is starting to feel like fall. Fall is the season I enjoy the most. I use to spend a lot of time in the mountains every fall, chasing deer and such. I don’t hunt large game anymore. But I have been thinking about doing it again. It would be more about hanging out in the mountains then shooting anything. I have all the guns that would be needed to hunt anything in this part of the world. I would love to go after birds when I get back from the fishing trip. But if I get the shoulder worked on there is not going to be any hunting this fall.

I believe that my tomatoes have all but stopped getting ripe. So I talked the bride into having some fried green tomatoes with dinner tonight. If you have never had fried green tomatoes with ranch dressing you are missing some good grits. Well time to go I’ll post more later.

It has been 5 years since the attack on America. 5 years since the largest mass murder in our countries history. The networks were running unedited tapes last night, from that day. I had overwhelming emotions, same as I did 5 years ago. My emotions from that day have never gone to far away. They have just gone underground in a manner of speaking. In the building I work in there are a number of air force officers from varying countries. A few come from Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Turkey, and Pakistan. Every time I look at these guys I wonder if they are really allies or would they turn on us. I have developed a deep seated caution with these folks. A general distrust anything Muslim. I can not get past the viciousness and cruelty these people have. Do to our porous borders I have to believe that we have sleeper cells living among us.


Last night was the ground breaking ceremony for our church building. The ground breaking was done by the children in the church. It was very nice as about 30 little ones all wearing hard hats and been given little shovels turned the dirt to start the building. So here we have our children the hope of America taking part in a building up our wonderful country on the eve of the anniversary of the worst attack on our country. It seems some what ironic. We had our first meeting of our little church 5 years ago on the 9th of September and just two days later we changed forever. I have driven home for lunch and It did my heart good to see the streets lined with American flags. It looks like it did the days following 9-11. Flags were everywhere. GOD BLESS AMERICA

My wife and I have decided to try the stock market. I have no intention of making my fortune there but I think it my b fun to play with for a little while. I think I am going with Scotttrade.com for my on line broker. I am going to be using Investools to help me make my decisions on my stocks. It looks like the whole market is in a sideways tread right now. So I am not too worried on getting all wrapped up with this. I have been reading that since the 1950’s the worst months in the market are Sep, Oct, and Nov. Anyway it may keep me busy in my retirement, which my come sooner then I think.

Just got home from Chicago. What a fun city, we had a great time. Spent way to much money but had a great time.