Pete's Revised BLOG - Day 6.

Today is Wednesday, March 14, 2012. This is my 26,015th day on planet earth. It is another beautiful day with an expected temperature of 78 degrees - some 20-30 degrees above normal. Just maybe there is something to this global warming thing that scientists have been studying and warning us about for quite a few years.

This morning I weighed in at 163.4 pounds, did my yoga routine, lifted weights for ten minutes, and walked for 54 minutes, a total of 3.0 miles.

Ruth Ann is going to get all gussied up today with a hairdo in Anamosa and a finger nail and toe nail job in Cedar Rapids. The reason for getting pretty is we are leaving for San Francisco next week to attend my great-nephews wedding. He is also our godchild. His name is Mathew Bungum and he is the grandson of my brother Paul and wife Nellie. We will be staying from the 22nd to the 28th with my brother John and wife Lorna at their time share in Frisco. The wedding will be in Modesto on Saturday. It will a fun time.

Some interesting happenings in the nation this week.

The Girl Scouts are celebrating their 100th birthday. They have great cookies.

Yesterday Rick Santorum won the Republican primaries in Mississippi and Alabama. Gingrich came in second and Romney was third. Romney can't seem to put the knock-out punch to the other two. It will be an interesting Republican convention in Tampa this summer if things keep going the way they are.

And a Sargeant in the U.S. Army went berserk in Afghanistan and killed 16 innocent civilians, including 9 children. What a mess. We've been there for over 10 years now and things don't look good. Right after 9/11 we invaded Afghanistan. At that time we were welcomed as heroes and had the support of the Afghan people. Instead of finishing the job there we do the most stupid thing you can magine - we invade Iraq in 2003 which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. The U.S. has spent trillions on these two wars and what do we have to show for it? NOT MUCH. The invasion of Iraq was as stupid as the Vietnam War.

GRATITUDE TODAY. I want to express my gratitude to two more teachers - they were college professors. My freshman year at Luther I had a history prof named John Gimbel - I had him for Western Civilization. He was outstanding in that he knew so much and he made history so interesting. The other one was an education professor named Roger Anderson. I had him for several education classes and he also was outstanding. He changed my life. When I was thinking of being an elementary teacher he talked to me and said, "Pete, we need good social studies teachers. That is your interest and your strong suit so you should make that your goal." I took his advice and I'm glad I did. I taught social studies for 36 years - that is where I belonged - so I say Thank You to Roger Anderson for making that happen.