Gadsden Purchase!

While reviewing the industrial sites that my employer monitors in Mexico a friend mentioned the Gadsden Purchase which I had not heard of before. Searching the web for information I found that in 1854, the United States purchased a strip of territory (approximately 30,000 square miles) from Mexico in what is now southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona. The purchase price was $10 million, which at the time was greatly overpriced for what was essentially desert lands, because this price reflected the public sentiments at the time. Many Americans considered the price of the Gadsden Purchase as "conscience money" or additional compensation for the earlier purchase of vast tracts of land under the 1848 Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty (American-Mexicam War of 1848). This is interesting because the acquisition of land in this purchase defined the present boundaries of the continental United States.

PhotoHunt # 72 Happy

This is my dad John, and his sister Clara at the Leach, Frazier, Broyles, Carrol annual family reunion in Jellico Tenn. Looking at their glowing faces, their shinning eyes and their happy smiles they are a perfect fit for this weeks PhotoHunt. Thank You Jesus!

Lance Armstrong Applies Political Pressure

Lance Armstrong's Livestrong foundation is sponsoring several "presidential cancer forums" Monday and Tuesday August 27th & 28th in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in a high profile drive to make cancer research and prevention a priority for the next president. I don't understand why cancer research and prevention is not a national priority given the alarming rate of cancer in American society and I applaud Lance's effort to force the issue. With all our technology and a national effort I firmly believe that a cure can be found and found quickly.

Presidental Families

Fostering was the common practice in the colonial era, of taking in children of relatives who could not care for their offspring, or children who had been left orphans. Because of the unusually high birth and death rates of the period, many children were left with a single parent or no parent at all. In such cases relatives took in the children and raised them as their own, but without a formal adoption process. This custom was embraced in the George Washington and John Adams family.

Toledo Trash Issues

Recently in Toledo there was an increase in garbage fee's to five dollars, three and change if your committed to recycling every other week. Well now we hear that some parts of Toledo won't be getting the service that they are paying for. It's being reported that trash pickups that fall on holidays won't be picked up until the following week! That will no doubt cause some trouble for families that have more then the average amount of trash. I have a quick question - Will those residents receive a lower trash rate when the holidays come and they have to wait an extra week to get rid of it?

PhotoHunt #70 Row

I observed this family of Ducks for over 10 minutes as they rested on an outcrop of rocks in the Maumee River. Suddenly the mother duck started floating off and the 6 baby ducks started following in a row allowing me to capture my entry for this weeks PhotoHunt.

PhotoHunt #69 Funky

Recently I was exploring Beaver Creek near Grand Rapids, Ohio and ran across this large dam created by nature. Behind it the water was stagnant, contaminated, polluted with garbage and smelled. I couldn't bring myself to wade through it and therefore it's my entry for Funky. Nature created the dam, man created the trash now that's sad. It's a shame that in this time, with all our knowledge we are still polluting the environment.