Busy Busy

I have had a busy morning. I have been dealing with the State Attorney General's office and the Governor's staff on official business at the Natural Resources Trustee Office. We are dealing with some issues related to the Department of Energy. I have also been dealing with the federal Natural Resource Conservation Office on some work involving family owned irrigated land in Pena Blanca, New Mexico. That land is comprised of about 40 acres of irrigated property in two separate parcels. We are preparing to do some earthmoving work on one of the parcels for better water conservation practices.
That 22 acre piece is currently leased by Fred Espinosa of Santa Fe. He is a long time wrangler who provides horses for trail rides, hunting trips and movie makers. Most recently he worked on TNT's "In to the West," and his stock will appear in a History Channel documentary next Monday evening. He is a very articulate and thoughtful guy. He has done wonders with the property and we hope he sticks around a long time. By next fall the property will be cleared of unwanted Siberian Elm Trees and will be laser leveled for efficient irrigation. I believe Pena Blanca is destined to be the "New Corrales" in a few years. Property values there are soaring because the village is situated exactly halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It sits between Santo Domingo and Cochiti Pueblos. It is about 40 minutes from Albuquerque and 30 minutes from Santa Fe. It is a really beautiful place with views of the Jemez Mountains to the west. I am hopeful that we can pass this land along to our kids, Justin and Noelle, and my brother's daughters Sara and Stephanie.


This is Joe Monohan. I have linked his blog here since I began my blog. I have known Joe for thirty years. When he was a talk show host and newsman at the first talk station in Albuquerque in the early to mid 70's I was working as Mayor Harry Kinney's Public Information Officer. Yes, I worked for a republican, but back in those days there were a lot of decent moderate republicans and I liked them a lot. I think there are still a lot of them out there, but they are just outshouted by the republican far right fringe lunatics.

Anyway, one day I threw Joe out of my office during the strike by city Police Officers over pay issues. (Interestingly, the crime rate during the week long strike went down because the populace armed themselves and the criminals didn't want to take any chances.) Well, Joe had come in with some wild accusations about the Mayor. I don't quite remember what it was but it made me detonate and I practically came over my desk at him. Joe just sauntered out and down the hallway chuckling to himself. He still does that sort of thing and we still argue like fanatics. We did so yesterday over a glass of iced tea at Flying Star. I still disagree with much of Joe's positions on issues, but deep down I really have always liked him a lot. Check out his blog everyday. It is really entertaining for political junkies.