Mojave National Reserve.

We are still in the Mojave Reserve. Had a wonderful time at Mithcell Cavern wonderful view and stayed two days on top of mountain. Using wifi of camp host so don't have time to write much. We do have phone service. Camped at Hole in the Wall.

Joshua Tree Pictures

Where on Earth are We?

Right here according to Google Earth

At The Beatnik Cafe

When the sixties ended they had to store everything somewhere. The somewhere must be the town of Joshua Tree California. Sitting in the Beatnik Cafe waiting for the laundry to wash seems like 1968 all over. An old guy is sitting across from me browsing through the History of Art. The Commander swears he is Robin Williams. Before she left to check the laundry she told me to tell Robin Williams he knows our neighbor Jake. The girl behind the counter was putting the moves on her boyfriend, and I asked "What are you doing?." She said "I am fondling him". I asked " How much does that cost?". She said "Its not on the menu" Looks like Robin Williams is leaving. I wonder if he knows who he is? He doesn't seem to be doing to well in an old trench coat and needing a shave. Nice music here. May be awhile before we get another connection. So back to a new part of the desert tomorrow. The Commander found out we can get water there, so we do not need to haul it.

Resupply Day

Tomorrow we will go north toward Death Valley. I am sitting in my pickup with my head covered so I can see the computer. The people nearby must think I am nuts. I have to get the wifi signal from the German Tour Bus. Today we will go to town for laundry and suppplies.

Joshua Tree

The Commander and Lord Kadizzle have been hiking and enjoying life at Joshua Tree National Park. A nice couple with a unique German Tour bus that has been converted into an RV are letting us use their WiFi, so we can get the Kadizzle Gazzette out. Joshua Tree is like every National Park, you will miss most of it if you do not take the time to hike. Joshua Tree has some very good rock formations. It is a great place for rock climbers. As this is written pseudo rock climbers are right out in front of our camper. Little rich girls are pretending to be rock climbers. They are roped off where Lord Kadizzle climbed free style yesterday, if that tell you anything. If the old lump could make it up there, sure they could. My oldest sister was with us for the first part of the week, and we had a good time hiking. Hiking to the oasis has been one of our main pursuits. Briefly we were lost today, which was fun. The old GPS came to the rescue and saved us for another day. We have an excellent camp site among big rocks. A cute little five year old rides her bike around and just showed me her shooting ability with her nerf gun.

Our next endeavor will be to go up in the Death Valley area. Before we get there the commander insist we stop at the Mojave National Preserve. Hopefully we can meet up with Ed somewhere along the line. WiFi and internet will be scarce.

Lasagna in Cornville

Last night the clan ate at Vince's little Italian Restaurant in Cornville. Our friend Ray met the owner biking in Stanton, North Dakota. We had a good dinner, and met the family. The family consist of three kids and the parents. One boy helps serve tables and the poor younger brother does dishes. Little sister just gets to try to stay out of trouble. You can only eat with a reservation. You cannot just walk in, but if you are in the area give them a try. Next summer the Dad and boys are going to bike across country, we have invited them to stay with us when they go through Hazen.

Darling Do Not Fear What you don't Really Know

Excellent Song by Brett Dennen

When I arrived in my own set of clothes
I was half a world away from my home
And I was hunted by the wolves and I was heckled by the crows
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

Alongside my innocence I laid in bed awake
Conflicted in these chains with the impetus of age
But like a phantom she crept across the floor and out the window
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

From this place on the mantle my heart was taken down
Scattered in a thousand little pieces on the ground
And out below the streetlamp like an orphan with a halo
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

'Cause it won't last - the worries will pass
All your troubles they don't stand a chance
And sometimes it takes more than a lifetime to know
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

The confidence is full with your faith etched in stone
And I let clean comfort you from the wild unknown
So very auburn and hatred like a hatchet in snow
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

If you have a broken heart or a battered soul
Find something to hold on to or to let go
To help you through the hard nights like a flask filled with hope
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

'Cause it won't last - your worries will pass
All your troubles they don't stand a chance
And it always hurts the worst when it's the ones we love the most
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

Sometimes your path is marked in the sky
Sometimes you're forced to fit in between the lines
Sometimes all that you can do is say no
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

I said, when I arrived in my own set of clothes
I was half a world away from my home
And I was hunted by the wolves and I was heckled by the crows
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

I said, Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know
We said, Darlin' do not fear

The Tribe is Gathering

The Kadizzle tribe is vast and far spread. Erin just called form London, Meg is in New York City, and five of the Quinn clan will be united by Saturday. Chief trouble maker has come from the Dakotas, Melissa will represent the tribes of the Northwest from the Portland area, and the West Virginia, Pennsylvania group will be represented by Suzie,and Louise. It is hard to tell if this gathering represents the Indian style, or the Mafia style organization the best.

The women will embark shortly on a fribble hunt to Jerome. In the old days women went out to hunt fruits and berries and other small edible items that often were colorful. Now that the tribe has a reliable source of food the women just go out and hunt for brightly colored, useless, overpriced objects that will keep evil spirits at bay. Every tourist town has a vast selection of fribbles. Fribbles come in all sizes shapes and art forms. Pottery is a common fribble genre in the Southwest. The always essential and popular Indian jewelry is also a necessity for anyone traveling in the area. Lord Kadizzle suspects Indian jewelry is now being imported from China. It would be interesting to know how much local art is from China. China must be very close. One thing the Chinese have perfected is churning out mass oil paintings. On television they have been advertising original art from seven dollars to fifty four dollars. You cannot get this high quality art anywhere but the exclusive art galleries that seasonally crop up in the Best Western Hotel.

Mr. Bean's Holiday

Lord Kadizzle has never seen six adults laugh so hard and so long as we did at Sister Patty's last night. You do not have a choice, you must watch this movie. It is the funniest and best Lord Kadizzle has seen in memory. If you don't like it, don't ever bother to go to a movie again. Lord Kadizzle had never heard of Mr. Bean, but apparently he has done quite a few things and is well known. No one can contort their face like he does.

Sacred Mountian

Yesterday we revisited Sacred Mountian, and the V Bar V Ranch. At the V Bar V petroglyph site the host gave the usual lecture. This site is famous as an astrological site. It occurred to Lord Kadizzle as the host explained on of the symbols that the symbol may have indicated the Indians knew we were the third planet form the sun. According the host the middle symbol inside of three rings was the sun. It occurred to Lord Kadizzle that the three rings were the orbits of the first three planets. If a Kerns astronomer reads this, here is the question. Could the Indians by observation and deduction have figured this out? Put another way, how difficult would it have been? Looks like to day will be another wonderful day. The Commander want to see if we can find and see the artistic Elephantine site today.

Memory Pushups

Last night his Lordship did his mind exercise by doing memory pushups. With sisters Louise,Patty, and Susie, and brother in law Ned, we reviewed the life and times of everyone we knew growing up. Sister Melissa will be here on Friday, she is the oldest and could have been a lot of help. Mentally Lord Kadizzle went up and down the street and all over town to see who could remember what. The names that came out of the either were amazing . Some of the names had a ring to them but that was all. Some of the strange twist and turns peoples lives took was interesting.

After we returned to the mother ship to go to bed The Commander said “ You guys sure knew a lot of people”. Wheeling, West Virginia, where we grew up was a strange place and had social interconnections that were like spider webs. Wheeling was probably just about the right size so everyone on certain levels knew everyone. Since the town was founded so early in the countries history there were a lot of old families that went back a long way. The fact that the town started as a very wealthy town that supplied people going west also had a long range effect. Many of the kids we grew up with were the descendants of people who had made fortunes in the late 1800’s. These kids were in the final stage of pissing away the family fortune. The effect of massive amounts of money on people was evident. Many of them had pointless lives that often ended tragically.

The picture above is the old Stifel Mansion on the National Road, not too far from where we grew up. This guy made his fortune by printing calico cloth and selling it to the people going West.

Cissie and Tree

Cissie found a kindred spirit in Tree. Yup, Patty's neighbor is named Tree. Tree showed The Commander her fabulous collections of everything. The band of old hippies sat in the wonderful sunshine, had a few beers and shot the breeze. Any moment Lord Kadizzles sisters Louise, and Suzie will be here. Tree knows the lady featured in the NYT article mentioned awhile back.

Coming out of the Stupor

The Kadizzles have awakened to a warm sunny day, it is like being on another planet. Sitting here listening to NPR, it seems the Evangelicals may be coming out of their total fog. According to Vice President of Evangelicals, or who ever he is "The Republicans do not own the evangelicals". Wow, what a revelation. Also he indicated perhaps they should not be supporting a party that supports torture. Listening to the gentleman speak, you begin to think they may actually have begun to read some of the better suggestions in the Bible. He even went so far as to say "Same sex marriages are pretty far down on our list of concerns". These people look like they may actually start to focus on poverty, and a few other issues? If Bush ever did anything Lord Kadizzle could call good, it would be exposing the fraud the Republicans pulled on the easily confused. It looks like if the fundies have had enough there is hope.

Chief Talking Pants

On the way to Cottonwood, the Kadizzles drove down their favorite road past Villa Nuevo. Someone decorated the tree that must have been on fire at one time. Not much else of note happened except the encounter with Chief Talking Pants. It was a very nice day and a good, although long one from Evergreen. When we stopped in Winslow, Arizona there were several intoxicated Indians waiting at the gas pump to greet us. After introducing himself as a Navajo, one of the badly beaten up fellows proceeded to acoust Lord Kadizzle for a hand out. As we talked I could hear a cacophony of noises coming from his pants with an accompanying oder. I asked what his Indian name was and he told me his friends called him Chief Talking Pants. I could see any money I gave him would quickly go to the liquor store. Since he had two blackened eyes I was courious what happened to him. The Chief explained he had been beaten with a bottle while hitch hiking. There were other sober Navajos filling gas and I suggested the Navojos should help their own. The Chief did not seem to think that prospect was good, but we had to leave him at the pump waiting for the next donation.

Open up your third eye and see whats going on

Worst President in History? Bush? Historian weighs in.

One more historian weighs in. Read the whole article. Here is just one quote from one of many Ivy League historians.

Sean Wilentz, a professor of history at Princeton University, wrote that great presidents, "Presented with arduous, at times seemingly impossible circumstances, they rallied the nation, governed brilliantly and left the republic more secure than when they entered office."
By contrast, "Calamitous presidents, faced with enormous difficulties -- James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover and now Bush -- have divided the nation, governed erratically and left the nation worse off."

The Lives Of Others Trailer - Out now on DVD from Lionsgate

Very good film. Shows what could happen if Bush continues to erode our privacy rights. One of best films I have seen in long time.

Patron Saint of the Greedy, and Disasters Named by Lord Kadizzle

Immigrants from Mexico have brought the legend of Jesús Malverde, widely considered the patron saint of drug dealers, to the United States. After reading this in the New York Times Lord Kadizzle realized you can have a patron saint for anything. Lord Kadizzle wants to be first to make a patron saint of Bush. The NYT article indicates that people who need protection from the law select Jesus Malverde as their patron saint. No doubt Bush will put his icon in the Oval Office when they finally get around to impeaching him.

The Lives of Others

In the bright afternoon sun Cissie and I sat in the hot tub. Somehow the subject of my Jihad with West River Telephone came up. For anyone who doesn’t know I have been obsessed with fighting these petty crooks ever since I attempted to run in one of WRT’s elections. Cissie said I should forget my fight with them. I explained to my spouse that the thought had gone through my mind to write them an email. The email would ask them to hold fair elections in exchange for holding fair elections I would vow not to run and expose their petty frauds. “Forget about it” Cissie said, “No one cares”. I became a bit indignant and shot off into a diatribe about how Hitler came to power because people were willing to overlook so many little injustices. It struck me as strange that a jewish woman like my wife would not have more passion for fighting small injustices, since she was in a minority that had been victimized for centuries.

Later in the day we settled in Erin’s basement to watch the movie, The Lives of Others. It is the kind of movie Americans cannot watch. There are no car chases, not a single bullet was fired, and there was not a sex scene worthy of the name. The movie reminds me so much of how intellectually bankrupt we are as a country that we cannot enjoy European films that require thought. East Germany was probably the most suppressive and dreary place on earth in our life time. No country on the planet had each person’s life under a microscope like East Germany did. According to the film introduction there were close to 300 thousand people spying on each other. The Lives of Others is a movie you must watch. Read Erin’s review it was excellent. After you see the movie think about how freedom slips away slowly and nobody notices. Little freedoms are given up for the greater good, then one day you wake up and find there is no greater good. The petty little politicians at WRT have the populace convinced that a crooked election now in then is a small price to pay for keeping radicals out of the telephone cooperative. George Bush uses the same thought process to convince the public the CIA should have access to everyone’s phone calls. Where does it all lead. Watch The Lives of Other, and you will see why I am passionate about stomping on the flames of totalitarianism when they are tiny so they don’t ignite the firestorm that killed millions in Europe.

Goodby Mitt

Mitt is out of the game, hal-a-lou-ya. The Republicans are now being paid back for courting the fundies. Two buck Huck put the damper on Mitt, now McCain is their only game. Of course the biggest pig of all time Rush is having a fit with McCain, because he talks to Democrats. It doesn't get much better than see the Republicans implode because of their own sins. It would be hard to imagine a country electing McCain. He wants to play some more war and piss away more of the money we are borrowing from the Chinese. If Americans are dumb enough to say we must win a war even though we went to the wrong country, give me a break. Meanwhile back in Pakistan where Osama really is, the Pakistan government and the great George Bush have agreed to give Osama a free spot in Pakistan where they promise not to bother him, so he can regroup.

Sun Comes Up at Jones E. Bears

At the den in the woods where the Snoocher Bear works with Old Man Fran the sun always comes through the window in the morning with a big welcome. The Commander is over at the stove cooking up some eggs, and Patty Griffith is singing up some songs. The chain gang will be back on the driveway soon, but Lord Kadizzle may need a soak in the hot tub first.

Lord Kadizzle's Spin on Wind Power

The idea of anything free or cheap fascinates Lord Kadizzle. Wind energy has some of those qualities. Since we now drive by the big wind farm at Center near our home of Hazen, Lord Kadizzle thought he should do some research on wind energy.

The other day when Lord Kadizzle took Daryl to have surgery in Bismarck, we stopped to see the big windmills. It was very cold, and the wind was blowing like crazy, but the windmills were not running. We happened to be near the control center, so his lordship went right past the NO TRESPASSING signs and demanded an answer. The technicians explained the machines could not operate below -20. It was strange that one or two were operating. This morning the specs were checked on the internet, and sure enough that is the temp requirement.

Now to the political game. The conventional carbon based energy industry does not want to cry uncle and admit, that there are any viable alternatives. Lord Kadizzle was once denied a job at a local coal mine because he was a proponent of wind energy. At a point in time when we must switch to nuclear the coal lobby is fighting every inch of the way.

The coal people always say "You cannot store wind power". At face value this seems true, but when you think about it North Dakota is in a unique position to store wind power. Right in Mercer county we have the Garrison dam. Any time you have strong production of wind, you simply throttle back the dam. The water, and or energy is backed up behind the dam. The energy is stored until you need it. The whole process is strait forward, but a lot of people would rather you think it can't work. Lord Kadizzle has asked a lot of people about the ins and outs of doing this and never got a strait answer. What it really comes down to is cooperation. The various people that control the dam, have to cooperate to make it work. At this point it seems politics are the real cause of pollution that could be avoided.

When Hell Freezes Over

Half a day cleaning the driveway, then some relaxing

Up in the mountians waiting for Christmas

Sleeping up in this mountain cabin at eight thousand feet was cozy and peaceful. Lord Kadizzle and The Commander jumped in the hot tub and then went to bed. Waiting for the Republicans to be swept from the White house is like waiting for Christmas. If this country elects the tired old McCain who wants the war to go on forever we are a hopeless bunch. The economy scares me. What Bush policies have done will take a long time to undo. The Bush gang is addicted to credit, and they seem to think they can fool the public with the false promise of borrowing money to pay debt. There is a limit to how stupid people are, I think.

Back in Evergreen

A very long day, but the roads were generally very good. Of course the best is always saved for last. The Bodine driveway is one of, wait it is the worst driveway I have ever dealt with. The last two hundred feet are on a forty five degree angle, snow covered, narrow, and have a curve. Luckily our truck was being driven by a famous West Virginia mud driver. Lord Kadizzle, who taught Advanced Momentum Management at West Virginia University made it to the top, no small feet. It is sad ESPN was not here to record it. If we get down without busting the fence, the whole event will go in the books. Erin and Fran are both gone, so perhaps we will enjoy their hot tub.

Heading to Erin's

The Kadizzles are busting out today, heading to Evergreen. By Friday we should be in Cottonwood.

Snow Window

The Kadizzles are looking for the magic snow window to head south. Wednesday is looking good right now. The roads may be passable.

Hillary Hating

Lord Kadizzle has always been fascinated with the rabid Hillary Haters. What is with these people has always been a question. It seems to have something to do with the fear of women. The NYT has a good article by Stanly Fish that takes a stab at these people, it compares it to antisemitism, which is interesting.

This Weekend at Lone Butte Cabin in The Badlands

Had a nice weekend in the Badlands

Erin wants your input at DCI about RURAL GENTRIFICATION

Erin's company is Developement Counselors International. Their mission is to promote the development of government entities such as cities, states, and countries. Erin handles the promotion for Denver, Wyoming, Saskatchewan, and Anaheim California. Erin invites anyone who would like to comment on "Rural Gentrification". If you go to the DCI site you can find her blog within the cite and make a comment. She would like to have input from as many people as possible. I will list her business site on the right.

Read Megans Blog

Pictured above is one of the rare photos of a crick pig. These animals inhabit the creek next to our house. Megan is a girl of many talents, and her writing is one of them. Don't miss her recollections of growing up in Hazen. Click on the link to the right, The World according to Pook.

Up the River

The Commander assembled the troops and declared a march up the Knife River in search of a North West Passage to Beulah. For years there has been a legend you could reach the city of gold to the west of Hazen by following the Knife west. As we marched along it was fun thinking about how the Indians must have done this in the pre-whiteman days. The Commander found an old wagon wheel sticking out of the sand. Once in a while someone finds an old buffalo skull. Our expedition did not find the legendary city of Beulah, but we did have a nice walk on a sunny afternoon.