Update on the Heart Medicine

The heart medicine settled Kadizzle down, but it was making him see double.   The eyes are now focused.  The Commander said the heart medicine may have made Kadizzle drunk.  So be it.  Since Kadizzle was under the influence of heart medicine The Commander insisted she drive to the Forest Service showers three hundred yards away.  The shower was wonderful. Getting cooked out in a nice warm shower is hard to beat one of the best experiences in life after a hard day cutting brush.  The other day The Commander served potatoes that tasted like soap. Tonight we had left over ribs and potatoes without the soap. It was a nice meal and now we are settling down for the evening.  Kadizzle is thinking of putting on the ear phones and falling asleep to meditation music.  Ah, life is good, and pointless.  Everyone have a nice evening and be thankful if you wake up alive.  If you wake up dead be thankful also.  What could be better than dying in your sleep?  One way or the other you win.  More than likely we will wake up to a wonderful clear sky with the sun shining.  If the rats don't eat the wiring on the truck it will be a victory.  To make the rodents miserable Kadizzle put a motion sensor light under the hood.  The rats are either going to be annoyed and leave the truck alone or delighted to have modern technology.   In the war against the kangaroo rats Kadizzle has employed a variety of tactics.  Under the hood of the truck are dryer sheets, cayen pepper,  and a dose of bear spray.  This is all to discourage the rodents.  Kadizzle almost forgot about the potent under hood arrangement when he had the Walmart dolts change the oil. Kadizzle warned the dolts in a nick of time that if they got bear spray on their hands and inadvertently wiped their eyes it would not be much fun.  All ended well.  So off to sleep we go in the Earth Module.  Bio Char Ken just called and told us he is planning to come down to nirvana.  So in a week or so we will all be sitting around a campfire fueled by bio char.  That is a whole additional story.  Look up bio char if you need to know. You produce your own charcoal which you put on your garden at the same time you have a nice camp fire.

Heart Medicine

Heart medicine is very important.  Today Kadizzle and The Commander buster our asses cleaning the Chillicut Trial. We hiked about 2.5 miles one way cleaning the brush from the trail. We are old farts.  It is a lot of work. So when we get back to the Earth module we need heart medicine.  The Commander is a big fan of beer. She just took a drink and said " Ahh".  On the other hand Kadizzle likes whiskey or wine.  So here we sit taking our heart medicine. After a hard hike which included a  lot brush cutting Kadizzle is stoved up and in dire need of heart medicine.  Kadizzle is on the second prescription dose of medicine, which today is some cheap Canadian whiskey and coke.  The boss is drinking beer.  This is a strange marriage.  Kadizzle is the wine whimp, and The Commander is the tough beer drinker.  At any rate the medicine is working and here we sit calmed down after a hard day.  Somedays Kadizzle can get by with just a nice glass or two of wine, but today to make more room in storage Kadizzle had to drink the last of one bottle of whiskey. There is  a god and he has a plan.  The plan involves emptying bottles to make more space. The ribes we cooked last night will be reheated as leftovers.  So as the sun sets the Kadizles are fading into oblivion in a happy stupor induced by heart medicine. Remember to take your heart medicine.

Up Early

The sun has not yet shown it's face and the Kadizzles are up with the morning coffee.  We went straight to work cloths and skipped the fuzzies.  Usually we make the transition from sweatpants to blue jeans slowly.  It is cold for AZ, a little below 38.  Both electric heaters are humming. The Commander says she refuses go work if it does not get warm. What a wonderful life when you have a job that lets you refuse to work at will. The only bad part is there is no pay.  However, free sewage is a hard deal to beat especially when you throw in the water and heat.

The plan is to hike up the mountain and finish the Chillicut trail.  There is still some brush that needs a haircut.  Many speculate that the number of people on the road in RVs is related to the price of gas.  This year gas is down and still the RV crowd is missing.  The Canadians have not migrated south.  This must mean it is warm in Canada or they are so happy with their new liberal leader.  Kadizzle has decided to create a blog to go with our trail work.  The idea is to provide people with information who want to hike in the Lake Roosevelt area.  So if you are so totally bored that you are reading this, go one step farther and go to the Uhike blog.  It can be found at uhike.blogspot.com.   The blog will only deal with what we are doing on the trails.  In order to get the blog to move up to where people can find it we need hits.  So drop by.  Hopefully we can get some pictures today.

We met a nice woman at the Tonto National Monument cliff dwellings yesterday. We had a long talk about hiking and the ruins up Cherry Creek.  Later we may get an expedition together to go up there again.  A very nice retired couple is working in the sign shop here and we are recruiting them to be host in one of the area parks in North Dakota.  Every year we meet so many nice people.  The world is not a scary place unless you listen to Donald Trump and watch Fox News.

The Political Evangelist

Kadizzle drives his wife, and children nuts when he shops. Kadizzle is a political evangelist.  You know those people who ask you " Have you found Jesus?", well Kadizzle is the political version.  Kadizzle approaches a store employee stocking shelves and ask them " Do you know that people who make over 118,000 dollars don't pay a cent of social security on any dollar they make over that amount".   "Gee I had no idea" , they reply.  Then Kadizzle explains how the Republicans are going to ask them to work until they drop rather than make the rich pay social security like everyone else.  The conversation then evolves into voting.  This is the sad part. The very people who are stomped down the most by Republican policies never vote.  These slaves could vote for their own freedom, but don't.  Of course the Republicans don't want the minimum wage gang to vote.  If voting took place on a holiday or on weekends perhaps the poor would vote.  The saddest thing of all is how ill informed the working poor are.  Most of them say, " I don't pay any attention to that stuff".

Your typical person at the checkout counter at the grocery store only cares if the flat screen tv works, the house has heat, there is enough cat food, gas for the car, and beer in the refrigerator.  These people feel beat down, hopeless, and live from one paycheck to the next.  So when they go out in front of the store to smoke it never occurs to them that they do not have adequate health care to pay for the cancer they are inviting into their lungs.  

Yesterday Kadizzle was in Walmart and asked one of the enslaved employees if they knew that the head of Walmart makes $8000 dollars per hour.  The employ said he was unaware, and he did not care.  Imagine if you walked into a slave shack in 1845 and asked the slave the same question.  You asked the slave eating the weeds he picked if he knew the master was in his house eating a ham from the pigs the slave raised.  Could you imagine the slave saying " I don't care, I am just happy to have a job".  That is what the Walmart slave said.  The slave in 1845 knew he was being abused and exploited.  The 1845 slave knew he was the engine behind the plantation.  In 2015 the slaves in Walmart think there would be no Chinese junk for poor people were it not for the Walmart Gods that are nice enough to give them a welfare wage.  What happened to education in this country?

Free at Last

Kadizzle and The Commander spent a wonderful peaceful night in the Earth Module.  Cold air for sleeping, and a silence to die for made the dreams flow freely. Both of us had such an appreciation for our new home on Lake Roosevelt after leaving Cottonwood where the hustle of people scrambling to get hamburgers created a cacophony of idiocy.  We have an incredible view of the mountains as we sit here getting up to date on our communicators.  In a country as large as the United States it is amazing people have been compressed into urban slums.  The worst blight on our country are the shopping malls.  They are feedlots for humans.  Troughs of detritus shipped from China fill the stores. People rush to buy stuff they do not need lined up like cattle.  The transportation system is insane.  How can you use a 6,000lb car to move a 200 pound person?  How can half the city be dedicated to pavement and parking lots?  No rational society would live with such a mess any longer than it had to.

Tribalism

This morning Kadizzle had somewhat of an intellectual discussion with his little sister. Kadizzle pondered on the question, why do people get tattoos.  Kadizzle explained to his little sister that he never had a desire to run a bolt through his nose or put a pin in his penis, and could not understand what motivated people to do such things.  Little sister had a good explanation.  Patty said it was a way to identify with a tribe. You become part of a group by adopting their way of life.  Kadizzle found the simple minded young men driving around in noisy jacked up pickup trucks annoying.  When he thought of them in terms of a tribe it made more sense.  They roar about town with their symbolism.  The motorcycle guys are the same way. They are a special tribe.  At Home Depot Kadizzle was amazed to see a full sized refrigerator decked out in camouflage. Now what kind of idiot would buy such a sad symbol. Of course it is a brave hunter. It shows you are a member of the hunting tribe.  So you put on your sports stuff to show what football tribe you belong to, you get a tattoo to show your tribe and so on.  Maybe you could wear a bar code.  People could come up to you and scan the bar code.  It would say you believe in the New York Yankees, and hunting. People would not have to guess what your costume means. Your costume is supposed to immediately tell people your are rich, poor, stupid, or you don't give a shit.  Of course there are those who just want to be unnoticed.  They want to blend in.  God bless them.  The dolts that drive down the road and make a noise that says " Hear me roar, here I am, I don't give a shit who I insult with my noise machine" are the ones that should be shot at random.  A whole different spin on the game is the decal game. You put on your car or truck some decal that lets people know your tribe.  You can put a sticker on the car that says your kid is an honor roll student. This tells everyone that you are surprised your kid had a brain. You can put a little sticker on your car that shows you have two kids and a dog.  This shows you figured out how to reproduce and feed a dog. People want to know about your tribe.  Some tribes are friendly, some pretend like they want to kill you.  On Halloween you can wear whatever you want and pretend to be in any tribe.  How wonderful? The nice thing is the Muslims wear a tribal outfit , except when they want to kill our tribe.  Take some time and look at the tribes around you.  We are a tribal society.  Some tribes wear crosses, some wear funny hats, and some carry guns.  Tribalism is not a thing of the past. What tribe do you belong to? Are they friendly?

Don't Mess with May

May is one tough cookie, don't mess with her.  One of my favorite stories she told me was when she went to the grocery store and some old guy was " hitting on her".  She told him to buzz off.  I guess his technique was to ask her how to cook some cut of meat.  No one has the energy of May.  Loading our truck this morning at my sister's house I turned around and saw May toting two six packs of beer out to the truck.  May is as feisty as they get.  May live right across the street from my sister in Cottonwood and nothing gets by her.  If Kadizzle goes to her house he sits in one of her special helper chairs. You know the king that push you up to a standing position.  Kadizzle sits down, and May comes over and takes off his shoes, gives him the TV remote, and puts a blanket on him.  Also there is usually a heating pad provided, with a beer.  Protesting Kadizzle said to May, " You don't have to do that".   May said " I killed four husbands with kindness. I think she did.  May and Kadizzle are exactly the same wave length.  May has no use for the right wing Fox News crowd, and she does not have much use for the religious bunk.  You have to get up early to beat May to the punch.  May ususally gets up at 4 and starts cooking. Her house is spotless, and bugless. She is still sharp.  She has a 66 year old boyfriend who took her out to Golden Corral for Thanksgiving.  They went a day early so the little children would not have to stand in line on the real day.

The Freedom to be as stupid as you please

Kadizzle took the truck to Walmart to get the oil changed.  When your workforce is paid starvation wages you will not have much of a workforce.  Kadizzle should have gone elsewhere, but here goes the adventure in low paid people.  Kadizzle first asked the dingers to make sure the tires had the right air pressure. Kadizzle explained he wanted the maximum pressure because he pulled a trailer with the truck.  The head dinger explained to Kadizzle that company policy was that only the pressure listed on the door post could be put in the tires.  That pressure was 45lbs.  The tires needed 75lbs.  Walmart and its dingers never considered the possibility that a person might put different tires on a truck than what it came with, thus a different pressure.  So the dingers let the air out of my tires down to 45, and then the head dinger told them to put it back to 75lbs.  Next Kadizzle asked the Walmart nuclear scientist to rotate the tires.  A sub dinger said they could not do it for free because the tires were bought from Sam's club.  The head dinger said yes they could do it for free.  Later they rotated the tires and the head dinger said the sub dinger was right, they had to charge for the tire rotation, but he would not because of his original promise.  Next we got to the oil change.  Once the worker bee dingers put the new oil in the truck they realized they did not have a filter for the truck. Kadizzle and the dingers convened a meeting about what to do.  They could just take the cost of the filter off the bill and Kadizzle could do it later himself.  Another option would be for Kadizzle to go to a parts store and buy the filter then come back and have the dingers put it on.  It seemed the best course of action was for the dingers to go to the parts store and get the filter.  That was the final solution.  Walmart had to pay the parts store 2.50 more than they would have sold their own filter. So Walmart lost 2.50 on the deal.  The oil change took about two hours.

As Kadizzle waited for the oil change he wandered around Walmart watching the poor get fleeced.  Flat screen TVs were flying out the store.  A victim came up to the counter where Kadizzle was loafing.  As the proud new owner of the Black Friday TV paid the cashier, the cashier asked if he wanted the extended 3 year warranty for $36.  Consumer Reports has written extensively that these warranties are a rip off.  Kadizzle wanted to speak up and warn the guy that it was a total waste of money, but managed to keep quiet.

Cottonwood seems to have an excessive number of dingers with jacked up trucks roaming the streets.  By the time you spend the money to jack up your truck, get most of your body tattooed, and buy a new flat screen every year a few inches bigger than the last one, there is no money for a down payment on a house. The most amazing thing about those at the bottom of the economic scale is they could actually vote themselves a raise.  They could vote for healthcare, they could vote to have the government take in the money to improve their life, but they will stand in line for Black Friday and they will not stand in line to vote.  Well it is not all bad, they can watch anything they want as they slide into a hopeless economic mess.  Driving away from Walmart Kadizzle saw an excellent bum. The bum was begging for money holding a sign that said " Ba humbug, I need help".  The same bum had a sign the day earlier that said " I too ugly to work as a prostitute, please help." But for God's grace there would I also be".

Bird Brains

Before sun up The Commander turned on the bedroom lights and burnt the eyes right out of Kadizzle. The Commander is going birding with Kadizzle's sister Patty.  Apparently they need to get to the worms before the birds do.  Kadizzle and The Commander, with Patty will go to Belize to look at birds in February.  Kadizzle is not really a bird brain, but the two women are avid bird brains.

As a child Kadizzle often went to summer camp where birding was a big deal. The simple dingers who ran the camp would make all of us poor kids get up and go into the soggy woods to find the birds.  Kadizzle would get at the back of the line wandering through the fog and mist. Kadizzle was a good whistler, and would fake bird calls.  It was fun to see the reaction of the dingers as they identified a bird by it's call that was not really there.  How long can you stare at a bird?  The birds must assume humans have smaller brains than they do.  Who would get up early to watch birds when you could be home warm drinking coffee?

Special Thanksgiving Alert

Just about everyone has their bowels in a knot worrying about a terrorist attack, but today is Thanksgiving.  A real threat today is the possibility you may be hit by a gravity wave.  Gravity waves are like Tsunamis.  Suppose you are sitting at the table having some nice turkey, and then your little sister says " How about some pumpkin pie with whipped cream?".   You should hear sirens at this point.  If you don't and you eat the pumpkin pie you can expect a gravity wave.  As the wave travels from the refrigerator towards your chair it will knock the energy out of you.  What can you do?  Get to the couch as quick as you can and lay down.  Now you cannot be knocked down.  You might pass out as the gravity wave hits, but this is for your own protection.  Once the wave passes you will gradually awaken. When you do it may be possible to have some more pie.  If you do not believe in gravity waves go to the bathroom scale tomorrow. You will notice you weigh more than you did yesterday.  Like the water from a tsunami gravity is all over your body.  You can only rinse gravity off with sweat.  As the sweat comes out of your glands it pushes the gravity back into the universe.

All things are possible for those who believe.

Belief is all that matters.  Gravity only works because you believe in it.  If you did not believe in gravity you would gradually float off your chair and up to the ceiling.  This is the new American science.  If a lot of people believe something it is true.  The United States is the greatest country in the world with the happiest people in the world because we believe it.  Of course the facts don't bear this out, but remember in our country belief is more important than facts.  Once you suspend reality all things are possible.  The pyramids can become grain bins, and Donald Trump can become president.  If you want a war with Iraq, you don't need to find weapons of mass destruction, you just need to believe they are there.

The nice thing about belief is it works both ways.  You can chose not to believe something that is true. Kadizzle does not believe he is fat, works great, pass the potatoes .  The belief system sometimes blows up.  Try believing a traffic light is green when it is red.  You might get smashed by a truckload of reality.  One of the best things about belief is you can solve problems so simply.  When anything happens you don't like just say " It is the will of God".   Often The Commander asks Kadizzle a question like " What should we do tomorrow?".   Simple solution, Kadizzle answers " What ever God wills".   Life is so much easier once you believe in God.  God controls everything, so if you get a flat tire it was God's will.  If you burn the steak, it was Gods will.

Belief can be a money maker.  Preachers always measure belief by how much money you give them.  God did not do what you want. What is the problem?  That is simple, you really did not have faith.  You just gave the preacher ten dollars, if you really believed you would have given the preacher one hundred dollars.  Ok, preacher, here is a hundred bucks, now I want to win the lottery.  You did not win the lottery, it was God's will. If you won you would have bought some cigarettes and some good whiskey, so God is just protecting you.

Belief saves so much wear and tear on the brain.  You can shut down the entire thinking part of the brain.  Once you believe in Rush Limbaugh you don't have to read, you don't have to think, you just believe the nonsense he says.  Rush knows the answer to all problems so you don't have to find them.

Now this warning must be issued.  Use belief cautiously.  It can lead to war, it can cause you to go broke,  and of course it can get you and your friends killed. However, don't miss out on the fun.  Like Kadizzle you can believe you are always right, or perhaps you want to believe you are going to heaven, or your God is the real god, or you are going to win the lottery.

The Republican Caliphate

As Kadizzle and The Commander got up and did their morning update Kadizzle noted a letter to the Editor in The Bismarck Tribune.  Some simple minded fundy was worried about the establishment of a Muslim Caliphate.  Kadizzle thought it best to look up the word Caliphate and just see what the hell is a Caliphate.  It turns out a Caliphate is run by a caliph.  They caliph is a leader elected by a bunch of religious nuts.  In the Arab world Mohammed was the original caliph.  In the Republican world it was Ronald Reagan.  So a Caliphate is a government run by religion.  In our countriy the fundies try to tell people that the basis of our government is Christianity, so a Christian Caliphate is not such a strange idea to them.  When the dust settles it is very strange that what we have going on in the world is a struggle between a Muslim Caliphate, and a Christian Caliphate.   Now if one were to examine the Catholic Church and compare it to a Caliphate the similarity would be startling.  This all comes full circle to the point that religion and government need to be carefully and diligently separated.  One should note the influence the fundamentalist have had on our elections. One should note how the Republicans play to the fundies by insisting our founders were lead by God when they wrote the constitution.  Republicans have learned how to blend religion into politics and make a good living at it.  The moral of the story is don't trade one Caliphate for another.

Who or What is after you?

For the second day the Kadizzles worked on the Chillicut Trail. The Commander hiked with some friends way into the wilderness while Kadizzle cleared brush from a bad spot in the trail.  After walking for awhile Kadizzle noticed someone was following him.  Eventually another hiker caught up with Kadizzle. The fellow seemed friendly, and we had a nice conversation about hiking and whatever.  However, the man was armed with a sidearm.  Kadizzle is always puzzled when he encounters someone carrying a handgun in the wild.  What are they afraid of? Who are they afraid of? Kadizzle has hiked his entire life and never encountered a person or animal that threatened him.  What is it like to live a life of fear?  You are out in the absolute middle of nowhere and you are afraid.  Afraid of what? Once in 15 years we saw a black bear. It ran away as fast as it could . Once The Commander claims she saw a mountain lion, it ran away.  We have encountered hundreds of people, and never felt we needed a gun. We have hiked and camped along the Mexican border, and countless other supposedly dangerous places, and never needed a gun.  We never needed a wall around our house.  What do you do to yourself when you live in a world of fear? The first thing you do is cut yourself off from so much.  You are afraid to so so many things.  You shrink your world and you fence yourself into a little protected eggshell.  On the other hand if you could not go out your front door unless you have a gun, then perhaps you have created a freedom for yourself.  To Kadizzle it seems like an imaginary freedom, but to the guy with the gun it is like a blanket, or a shell.  Who wants to carry a shell around, maybe a turdle?

The Mother of all lotteries

People like to gamble, but people do not like to pay taxes.  Imagine a system where people enjoyed paying taxes.  Kadizzle has found the solution.  For every dollar you pay in taxes you get one lottery ticket.  Pay a thousand dollars, get a thousand tickets.  As the money comes in the pot can keep going up.  People will love taxes. They will await the drawing with excitement. They will fight to pay more taxes.  As tax time approaches and the estimated jackpot goes up people will make sure they paid their taxes and will make sure they paid every cent they owed.  All the same hype used to lure in the current crop of gamblers can be applied.  Every month there could be a drawing, there could be special prizes, people could be allowed to pick the numbers, and on it goes.  People would get obsessed with paying taxes.

Just passing through

Rocky and Tony our sailing friends stopped by yesterday.  They pulled into our secluded spot and drank some heart medicine with us.  The sewer system on their Fifth Wheel was plugged and they had some frustrating problems making it to AZ so heart medicine was badly needed. Apparently in addition to the plugged sewage they had to replace all four truck tires, and some shock absorbers.  The Canadian Club heart medicine did the trick and everybody slept well.  The crew awoke to a wonderful day and we had breakfast at the picnic table.  Kadizzle scrounged up a sewer snake and Rocky took off for the dump.  The sewer gods smiled on Rocky.  Without even using the sewer snake the blockage opened during the night. Perhaps they dumped Xlax in the tank.  Rocky and Tony took off to see some other sailing friends in Mesa.

The Kadizzlites met up with some other old friends over in the big camp ground in the afternoon.  We caught up on recent adventures and will get together this evening for some wine.

Yesterday we took our first hike. As usual The Commander was so full of energy she had to go farther then old Kadizzle felt like going.  Kadizzle let her hike to a gap in the mountain while he sat and enjoyed the view.  When Kadizzle finally got so bored he had to move he scratched around and found an Indian site.  It was the classic site.  We had walked within fifty yards of it once before, but did not notice it.  The site yielded one nice pot shard and a lot of small ones.  It is always amazing to realize how many of these sites are around.  This site looked like it had a plaza and about three or four rooms.  Over the side of the mountain the larger trees indicated there probably was a source of water.  Usually there is water somewhere or these people do not build.

Life in the Earth Module

The Kadizzlilites like sleeping in the cool of the night so when we awaken the Earth Module is crisp.  Someone has to have the courage to get up and turn on the electric heaters or the furnace.  We get up early because we go to bed early.  With no television there is not much motivation to stay up and turn our brains to mush.  The Earth Module has a nice shower, but it is not as nice as the Forest Service facilities about two hundred yards away. Kadizzle and The Commander usually go over there and shower up before bed.  Public radio is our salvation.  As we sit here waiting for the sun to come up we get up to date.   Being up to date luckily is easy because we have good internet service through the hot spots on the phone.  The Bismarck Tribune has to be checked to see what the hoopleheads are up to.  Next some real editorials with the New York Times.  Facebook, and NPR can be thrown into the mix, and of course there is email, and what ever happens to catch our attention. Usually Kadizzle is awakened by the light from The Commanders phone. The Commander likes to start her update with the phone.  The same Commander that once expressed nothing but disdain for a smart phone now is totally addicted.  Her phone is like an internal organ. If the battery would go dead she would panic.  Somewhere in this mix the coffee gets made.  The extra heat from the stove is welcome.  The constant babbling about terrorism is running in the background on public radio.  Our society jumps from one crises to the next.  30,000 Americans are killed each year with gun violence in our country, but no one notices.

At some point if Kadizzle is lucky The Commander will say " What do you want for breakfast".  Today oatmeal will be the choice.  It is going to be a very nice day so we have to accomplish a few minor task and figure out how we will entertain ourselves.

Landscaping the National Yard

The Commander and Kadizzle spent the day cutting down thorny brush, cutting weeds, and making our new home presentable.  The weed eater spun, the pruners pruned, and the blower blew.  Things are now tidied up and as the people in Australia say we have "house pride".   Our yard belongs to you, and you, and you, and the Forest service.

After our yard work we went to check on the bums.  Our old camping area was sparsely populated.  Our favorite bums were not there.  Kadizzle is concerned Gary may have gone to bum heaven, where cigarettes grow on trees.  They killed him here, but you cannot get killed in heaven, and surely there are no rules against smoking in bum heaven.  Duane is probably still alive. Last year he dreamt of the new campsite he would move to in Arkansas.  Duane is probably sitting there with a little umbrella in his drink living the life of bum ease.

Maybe there will be a bum migration soon and some new bums will show up.  One fellow we did encounter today looked like he had a good start on the bum life.  There are a lot of people in Arizona living on the edge.  Social security is all they have, and a lot of them piss that away on gambling or some other simple minded activity.

Up and at em

The Commander is making french toast, and it smells good.  Kadizzle is working on the second cup of coffee. The sun is out and bright.  All our Forest Service paper work is done.  Kadizzle may be supervising prisoners one he is trained to do the job.  A lot gets done by the prison work crew around here.  Most Americans are deluded into thinking the government is inefficient.  If you actually work with them, as we are, you would see see they are squeezing every nickle.  The simple fact that half the labor force is volunteers like the Kadizzles makes their labor cost pretty cheap for the tax payer.  The saddest thing about the underfunding of public entities is that they cannot maintain facilities the tax payer paid dearly for.  Instead of maintainance things are being removed or destroyed.  The starve the beast philosophy is going to backfire big time, but it gets people elected.

Kadizzilites land on helicopter pad

After a long drive the Kadizzles landed the Earth Module beside Lake Roosevelt.  Once upon a time our camp site was the headquarters for  helicopter operations.  Our situation seems to be delux.  We have use of the Forest Service fire fighting facilities which means we have good hot showers any time we want.  Two gates protect us from the degenerate class that stole our generator.  The view of the lake is excellent.  It is quiet.  If they allow us to use the extra facilities like the storage shed and the old command office we will be farting through silk.  Our only problem is we may be a little lonely.  There are no other neighbors close by.  If we want to cackle we will have to go some distance.  One other bonus that will come in handy today is the complete shop at the work center.  They have every tool imaginable.  Our camper has a couple minor problems and some tools will be needed.  To top it off we are getting good internet, and public radio.  Have not yet checked the TV.

Yes, they are grain Bins.

By now everyone has heard that Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson believes the pyramids were grain bins.  Pharaoh Tutum Kadizzle  would like to weigh in on this.  When we built the grain bins in Egypt we first thought " How can we store the least amount of grain with the greatest amount of work".  This problem arose because we had very little grain, but a lot of people that needed work.  Of course we wanted to disguise the bins as tombs.  It was one of the best secret operations of all times, but brain surgeon Ben Carson figured it out.  Republicans admire sharp people like Sara Palin, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump.  Let me assure you no ordinary idiot could have figured out pyramids were grain bins.  It takes a well informed person who watches Fox News, listens to Rush, and doesn't read anything to bust the secrets of the pyramids.  Trump will no doubt try to beat Carson in the idiot game. Rumors have it Trump figured out the Washington monument is actually a giant pencil used to write useless government regulations.

Shack rousting The Commander

Back in the old days of coal mining there was a guy called the shack rouster. His job was to ride his white hourse around the mining camp with a baseball bat and beat on the miners house until he got out of bed.  Kadizzle used to threaten his kids that they would be shack rousted.  Usually that meant a good tickling, but it got them up.  Today is bust out day and Kadizzle is trying to shack roust The Commander.  The Commander is a professional niggifiddle.  Nigifiddles fiddle around and always get side tracked.  A Niggifiddle cannot go directly from point A to point B.  So here we sit trying to get the fuse lit on the Earth module in order to bust out of the Casino.  Hopefully one more cup of coffee and the wagon will move.  Kadizzle went over to the truck stop to fire the cannon.  Just as he was leaving the man with the fresh donuts was coming in the door.  Kadizzle held the door for him.  A food devil took over Kadizzle's brain and the magnetism of the fresh bakery goods was very strong.  It was a victory for the Lord. Kadizzle resisted the food devil and made it back to the Earth Module.

The Interview

As we travel we meet so many people.  You can learn a lot from people when you do the interview.  Just completed an interview with a truck driver hauling high end cars.  Learned a lot about driving a large truck on ice and snow.  This particular truck had the new style wheels whereby one tire replaces two.  The driver says he gets better traction, a better ride, and the truck turns better.  So the next tractor trailer I buy will have those tires.  Last night The Commander and Kadizzle discussed how trucks brake coming down the mountains in snow.  Kadizzle wondered how chains on the tractor, but none on the trailer would work out.  This truck driver said they have come up with what he called "drag chains" for the trailer.  This makes sense, but Kadizzle would not want to come over the I 70 pass covered with snow pulling a trailer no matter what.

Another interview was conducted with the stone mason working on the casino.  Kadizzle never realized that companies exist that do nothing but take care of the stone and tile work for casinos.  As the interview progressed it turned out the mason, and owner of the company was an avid pheasant hunter. Kadizzle is always working on a bargain.  The mason may be able to visit Kadizzle, hunt some pheasants, and help Kadizzle build a new fireplace facade.

We meet so many interesting people.  Last year we met a couple that live in a tiny van, but take three months out of the year to travel the world.  By the end of the week we should be able to see how our pet bums are doing back at Roosevelt Lake.  It will be a miracle if Gary is still alive.  He has been smoking himself to death.  The Forest Service says we will get a real nice gated camp spot if we get there soon enough.  Tomorrow we bust out and pray for good roads.

You have to be kidding

Kadizzle is up and supposedly awake.  It looks like we may be stuck at the Casino one more day.  Winds and snow have pinned us down.  After our last experience being upside down The Commander is not anxious to try it again.

Perusing Facebook today Kadizzle came across a rant by Lewis Black.  Actually he read a letter from a Mormon that just resigned from the Mormon Church.  The fact that any thinking adult could believe the nonsense of the Mormon church is disturbing. Mormons believe in magic underwear.  This is not BS check it out.  Mormons believe you get to be god of your own planet when you die.  Watch the video below and have a good belly laugh.  The sad thing is adults believe this crap.  Sadder yet are the young people imprisoned in Utah by insane Mormons.  Think Kadizzle is kidding?  Kadizzle has been through Colorado City many times.  The cult Mormons are there and  the whole thing about their profit raping children has been documented.  If you read about the Mormons, and how they came about, you cannot help but be amazed by how gullible humans can be, and what a line of lies you can get millions to believe.  Fox News proves every day how you can sell lies to what seem to be normal people.

We won by losing.

The Commander used up her gambling credits and won $25 after putting $20 of Casino money in.  Kadizzle put in $20 of the Casino money and got back $13.  Our camping cost for two nights is $40.  With the donation from the slot machine it will only cost us $2.  Considering all the electricity we are using to stay warm instead of propane it looks like we stay for free.  The trick is to take the money every time you win.  If it had been all our money we were using we would have lost $2.  Wonderful math lesson on how gambling works.  This shows how Wall Street wins, you gamble with someone else's money.  On Wall Street if you lose the government bails you out, even if you cheat you don't have to go to jail.

Pocket Cleaning Service

Out of boredom Kadizzle made a round through the casino.  The casino could just have vacuum cleaner nozzles that you stick in your pocket.  You could press a button that indicates how fast you want to go broke.  The total insanity of gambling in this country is amazing.  In our home town people piss away about three thousand a week on the lottery, enough to finance a nice wellness center.  At this casino fat guys get cheap food, and a nice chair to sit in and smoke while they are electronically robbed.  The real beauty of an Indian casino is the fact that it is robbing the Indians.  Most of the people in there are native Americans.  One salvation is they do not have drinking.  You have to be sober to lose your money, but so what.  Fleecing the simple minded has always been an American industry.  We have trickle down economics that is gambling on a massive scale. We give all the money to the top one percent and figure some is bound to fall out of their pockets.  As a society we are poor by choice.  It is not like we do not have enough of everything for everyone to live very well.  There are plenty of resources in this country, but when you use them to built some insane edifice in Las Vegas what do you think will happen? Build a huge city that produces nothing but gambling debt in the desert.  Waste all the electricity you can in the most inhospitable place on Earth?  We are in misery by choice.  Religion is the ultimate form of gambling.  You buy in, and of course you never know when you are alive if you won or not.  You pay dearly with the promise you will get a great prize of an afterlife.  Meanwhile the Pope, or some preacher lives the life of luxury with the money you pay in.  Religion gets people to believe in magic riches.  You ask god for something.  If you happen to get it god gets the credit, if you don't you don't blame god.  It is just like gambling, you only remember when you win.  The churches are just like casinos, they put up an elaborate magical building that cost a fortune, and let the pocket cleaning begin.  Look at the crooked stump preachers that are building multi million dollar mansions and flying in their personal jets.  Look at the new Mormon temple in Phoenix that blew millions to outdo the competitors.

What do religion and gambling have in common?  Both are selling false hope.  You buy the lottery ticket or say a prayer and now you think you have real hope things will change.  If your roof leaks try using the $20 to fix it, or put the $20 in a slot machine, or give it to the church.  Seems like the best bet is to go up on the roof with $20 worth of gookem and fix the roof.  Now if you really want to gamble in somewhat of an intelligent fashion try the stock market.  Had the gambler, or the religious guy put the same cash into the stock market he might actually have been way ahead today.  Historically the stock market has proven to be a net winner.  Even bonds have paid off over the long run, certainly more than gambling or praying.

The guy on the other side always does well.  The casino owner wins, the preachers win, and you lose.  What will you do with that million you will win next week. Oh, I forgot, you don't buy your ticket until it is at least 300 million. Yup, you really do not need just a million, that will solve non  of your problems.  Delusion sells well, and people love to hear and think what they want to.

Really, How stupid are we?

How Brick dumb are we?  In just about every state the highest paid public employee is a coach, either football or basketball.  Brain dead Americans can answer any question on sports, but ask any ten people if they know you quit paying social security on any dollar you earn over 118k and eight of them are clueless.  Ask them anything about those running for office and you will get the same results.  Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh have helped the Republican Party create a nation of people who want fast food facts.  We treat information like fast food, quality means nothing.  When we drop dead from global warming everyone will have the TV tuned to the Super Bowl.  Science is a thing of the past.  If a lot of people believe something it is true.  The net migration from Mexico is ZERO, yet goofs like Trump make a big deal of it.  Facts simply do not matter, we govern by polls, and polls are driven by paranoia, and fear whipped up by Fox News.

Casino Update

Kadizzle got it figured out with the help of the Indians.  The Casino will give you $20 of free gambling.  You take their $20 and gamble. Everytime you win, you cash out.  Kadizzle lost $7, but won $13 with the $20 of the Casino, so we netted $13.  Now The Commander has to go over and gamble her free $20.  Hopefully this will net at least $7.  If only The Commander would hit a big one.

Stuck at the Casino

The bust out has come to a halt.  After a long day we pulled into Cochiti Lake.  Too bad, the gates were locked.  With massive disappointment we read the sign that said the camp ground was closed for repair.  Now we needed an alternative.  Here we sit at an Indian Casino a short way down the road.  Rain, wind, and snow have us pinned down.  We slept well, but all night about 15 truckers let their engines run nearby to keep warm.  Kadizzle never realized those trucks idle so fast.  A lot of diesel went up in smoke.

The Commander is trying to keep Kadizzle out of the Casino.  It is not gambling she fears, but the stench of cigarette smoke.  Gambling is such total insanity.  People gradually go broke, and believe they can win in an impossible situation.  Last night the parking lot was fool with simple minded dingers begging to give their money away.  If the weather gods so not give us a break we may be here for two days.  Nothing is more fun than sitting in the RV park at a casino.  Most casinos let you park free because they know they can fleece you.  Here they make you pay to get fleeced.

Most of the Native Americans we have interacted with in this area have a very bad attitude toward the white man.  Apparently they are still not happy about our invasion. They must really laugh when they hear us bitching about the Mexican border.

Down the Front Range

The Commander and Kadizzle are up early.  The little Ticklepinch is still in bed.  Yesterday granny got her a nice new seven speed bike.  She was well pleased and had to go out the dark for a ride.  Today we will play beat the snow storm. It looks like a dosey is headed for Colorado and if we do not escape quickly all hell will break lose.  Sunday should not be too bad a day to drive.  Down through Colorado Springs, Trinidad, and all the familiar places.  Who knows how far we will get. Perhaps we can make it to Cochiti lake.  Since the furnace has failed we must find a place with electricity to plug into or be very cold.

Full Circle

Sitting around at the daughter's house ultimately inspires a person to get up and move.  The Commander, and Kadizzle decided to pursue the area by bike.  Erin lives in one of the most zippity do da areas of Denver.  Her house sits about a block away from the old control tower for the old Stapleton Airport.  The entire airport is gone, but the tower is still there.  It is a great landmark.  Imagine what you could do if you laid out neighborhoods with a blank slate on thousands of empty acres near downtown Denver.  That is the new zippity do da area.

Now what was old will become new again when the mass transit system goes into operation in April.  Erin, Fran, and Sylvie live within two blocks of the latest, uptodatest transit system.  Light rail systems were all over the country almost one hundred years ago, but knuckleheads tore them all out so we could have traffic jams and air pollution.  So on the bicycle trip Kadizzle explored the new unopened transit station.  In the course of the exploration Kadizzle had a chance to interview some of the people working on the system. For about an hour Kadizzle talked with a crossing guard.  During the test phase of the system they have actual human beings stationed where the rail line crossed the road.  It is total nonsense and what a waste of money. The new system parallels the BNSF railroad, so all the safety features are already in place, but when it comes to wasting money someone always has a goofy idea.  Kadizzle wanted to see the new rail cars so he waited patiently speaking with the guard until one came by.  Finally when one appeared in the distant the crossing arms came down,  bells and lights flashed and a sign lit up that said train approaching.  To top it all off the train blew the train horn which Kadizzle can hear in Erin's basement two blocks away.  What kind of human could miss all this?

When the zippity do da light rail is finally put in service,  Erin and Fran will be able to zip to the airport, and they will get off right in the middle of the Denever Airport.  Going downtown will be a simple walk and a quick ride.  Hopefully the system will take the burden away from the highways, and get people to walk a little and quit being so wasteful..

Don't let Jesus get in your way

Kadizzle read the Bismarck Tribune this morning on line.  As usual he purused the letters to the editor.  One letter today chastised Kadizzle for a letter he wrote to the Tribune on Nov 5.  In the letter of Kadizzle he proposed that people actually carry out their religion through the week, not just on Sunday. The  person who responded chided Kadizzle for using the Bible to promote a "liberal agenda".   Sorry, but the Bible does promote a very liberal agenda.  One could make a very strong argument Jesus was a socialist.  However, that takes a lot of fun out of being greedy.

The whole thing reminds Kadizzle of a little story Kinky Friedman told.  Kinky Friedman came upon a rich Texas rancher praying to a very large statue of Jesus out on the plains of Texas.  The rancher said " The Cadillacs are all in the shop,  the cattle have the blight, and we could use some more rain".  The rancher while he was praying noticed a little Mexican on the other side of the statue praying.  The Mexican was saying " My wife is pregnant, I already have six kids, my wife is sick, and we are about to lose our home" Upon hearing this the rancher reached in his wallet and pulled out a hundred dollar bill.  When he handed it to the Mexican he said " He little buddy, don't be bothering Jesus with that shit anymore".   This perfectly sums up the notion that "Don't use the Bible to promote your liberal agenda".

Tickling the Ticklepinch

Kadizzle made it to Denver in time to pick up the Ticklepinch when she got off the bus from school. Apparently school did not wear her out.  So far it has been jumping on the bead, two treasure hunts, and a pillow fight, all in less than an hour.  Granpa is getting old.  The Commander is upstairs entertaining the whirlwind.  Sylvie seems to have shot up a foot since last we were here.  Her last instructions were to hide something different on the treasure hunt.  Grandpa asked " What would be different?".  Sylvie suggested a dollar.  She will be a good business lady.  Sylvie is taking violin lessons with her mom.  Today her very own violin came in the mail.

Bust Out

Yesterday the Kadizzles busted out of Hazen.  The roads to Wheatland, Wyoming were not bad and the drive was a lot better than predicted. Last night we holed up in Wheatland where snow is on the ground. The damn propane heater in the camper will not come on, but we have plenty of electric heat.  Wind is the problem.  Right now there is no wind, but the road to Chug Water has some ice. If all works out we will be in Denver tonight to see the Ticklepinch, and her mom the Snoocherbear.

Some strange pain stabbed into  Kadizzle yesterday.  It was every bit as bad as a kidney stone.  Thank God and greyhound it seems to be gone this morning.  Someone out there somehow has a Kadizzle voodoo doll.  That person is shoving a pin up the exhaust of the doll.  That is one possibility.  The other possibility is a bung hole curse.   Perhaps someone has put a curse on Kadizzle.  All the pain is centered right where the prostate came out.  Hopefully this is a passing event.  The Commander says that if Kadizzle behaves perhaps the curses will be removed.

Kadizzle must admit he has put bung hole curses on a few people.  They should be reserved for the worst scoundrels like Dick Cheney, Hanity,  or Ashad.  

Nature Rx Part 1

John Prine "Jesus The Missing Years" Dedicated to Honest Omar

Honest Omar this song goes out to you. Don't just sit there push the play button.  Surely many Bible scholars are reading this.  Did you ever ask what happened to Jesus between the age of 12, and 33?  John Prine did.  Think about it scholars there is no record of the "Missing Years".  How strange?  Even Ben Carson tells us about every year of his life leading up to the time he became the savior.

Hard Times - Tommy Fleming

Listen to this song. Think back to the depression. Did we learn anything?  The depression occurred when all the money trickled to a select few at the top.  Social changes were made.  Social security came about and so did so many safety nets to keep hard times from the door.  Now, our dear friends the Republicans who have learned absolutely nothing want to try giving the money to the rich once more.  Remember the old saw about history "Those who do not learn it, are doomed to repeat it." 

The guy at the end of the Table.

Perhaps it was last year somewhere in Arizona.  The Kadizzles were at a nice dinner with some fine fellow travelers.  As the conversation went back and forth and round and round Kadizzle made statements. This was not unusual. What was unusual was the guy at the other end of the table.  He had one of those fancy dancy phones. Each time Kadizzle stated something.  Mr. phone asked with a voice command if Kadizzle's statement was true.  It was a good deal, it kept the conversation on track and honest.

Now look at the presidential election. Jeopardy can can verify an answer in seconds. Modern computers can do a pretty damn good job of finding facts quickly.  But nooo,  We have dolts like Ben Carson saying the pyramids were for grain storage, and Trump making up lies as fast as he can. Good old Carly Foirina fabricating as quick as she can.  Fox News would explode if it were exposed to a fact checker. Rush would evaporate, and the whole fabric of politics would change.

The media tries, but usually fails to check. Look how long the birther nonsense went on.  People hit on the head with the truth still love the lie better.

Modern Slavery.

Magic, it is nothing but magic. You get to live in a big house, have people wait on you, and you do nothing. That is the magic of slavery.  Kadizzle has someone close to him working in the slave trade.  My good friend got to see two men defecate in the street on the way to work today.  New to the trade this was a bit shocking, but my friend who is in India went on to the owner's thirty thousand square foot home and saw how one group does the work and someone else get's the prize.  Americans love cheap everything, computers, clothes, you name it.  Modern slavery makes it all work.  Some child in some poor country works for nothing so Americans can have babbles and beads.  This is great because in the old days it was a bit embarrassing to have to acknowledge our clothes came from cotton picked by people being beaten locally.  So now we don't go to Africa, or India, or China to get the slaves, we just let them be enslaved in their own country.  That way it is not so nasty. We don't have to see poor people shit in the street.  Once the slaves make the cheapest clothing in the world Walmart brings it to us.  We never really wear it out. Kadizzle goes to the thrift store and sees huge bales of the clothing the slaves made. It gets cut up into rags or made into paper. If it is worn, or out of style in anyway the slave clothing is discarded. Remember the good old days when the plantation owner ate the ham, and the slaves got to eat the pig nose, and guts?  Nothing new.  Today one percent of the population eats the ham, and most of the world gets to eat the guts, and pig ears.  The real beauty of the new system is you don't have all those nasty people living in shacks so close to you.  Of course the answer to all of this is to give the plantation owners more.  Cut the taxes on the rich, and don't force them to share anything, because after all if the rich buy more crap, it will make more jobs for the guys who have to shit in the street.  So lets elect some Republicans, and cut the taxes on the rich. The rich will buy more crap, build bigger houses, and everyone will be fine.  Isn't that how it works.  Last, but not least we must keep in mind that it is all the poor peoples fault. Yes, it is their fault we support some dictator that keeps them in poverty.  The poor are lazy, and just want to drink and smoke cigarettes.  Also keep in mind how nice we are.  If we did not buy the soccer balls that their ten year old children are sewing, those kids would be in school, and not get the daily beating that cheers them up so much. I' be damned if I am going to pay fifty cents more for a pair of shoes just so some worthless person in India can have a tin roof and indoor plumbing.  God wants me to have cheap shoes, and crap I can throw out.  God wants me to have bottled water, and a new car every so often.  How will I afford all this stuff if the kids in India want a real bed with a mattress to sleep on.  Our forefathers knew that if you spent money on the slave shacks it was just money you could not use on the masters house. Have we learned nothing?  Only men like Donald Trump, and Ben Carson can keep us safe from high prices.  As the old saying goes "God must have loved the poor people, that is why he made so many of them".  I got to run out an buy some crap so the garbage men have something to pick up next week, and the kids in Bangladesh have something to do. By the way I want to thank the people in underdeveloped countries who picked my coffee beans one bean at a time for ten cents per hour. The coffee is great, and you should enjoy a cup when you get home.  At least they don't cut you hand off for stealing a bean like they used to.  Socialism whereby people share is evil, so don't let some left wing liberal fool you into thinking sharing is a good thing, it only leads to enslavement. Whoops, sorry, I forgot, you are already enslaved.

Guns and Hill Billies

Lord Kadizzle grew up with guns. Now, let's get off on the right track, Kadizzle is for gun control. Back to the story.  Kadizzle had a younger brother.  In our father's infinite wisdom and insanity, my brother and I would often be placed at a wilderness farm my father acquired in the hills of West Virginia.  Calling the place a farm was a misnomer.  It had been a farm at one time, but now it was a house with no electricity, no running, water, and free natural gas.  Old Gold as we like to call our father ran the farm as a plantation. His slaves were nine white children he enslaved the old fashioned way.

Old Gold had insane dreams about ways one could make money from a farm that had no fields, and no animals.  Forest had overtaken just about every inch of the place.  Old Gold had two great schemes, Christmas trees, and potatoes.  The potato adventure is a whole different story.  Basically it involved a lot of work to produce two tons of potatoes which we left in the basement to rot and did not make a cent. The Christmas tree venture worked out about the same.

It was not unusual for my brother and I to spend a week or two alone on Cain's run where the farm was located.  To get to this farm you had to drive through a river, and then a distance up a dirt road.  If one vehicle went by in a month it was heavy traffic.

Kadizzle might have been eleven or twelve, and Colin may have been ten.  We were supposed to fend for ourselves and when the evening came we were alone in the middle of nowhere.  We were armed.  We had a 22, a 410 shotgun, an automatic hand gun, and there were some deer rifles laying around.  For some strange reason there was a military manual about making booby traps.  My brother and I had reservations about our safety at night so we rigged up some serious traps.  The manual for the traps was of the Vietnam war era.

To get to the house you had to cross a narrow footbridge about fifteen feet across that spanned the stream in front of the house.  This is where the first trap was set.  We installed punji sticks.  The punji stick trap was developed by the Vietcong.  Basically you tripped over a wire and fell into a field of sharpened sticks.  If you made it past our first set of punji sticks we had a second set for those coming up the front steps to the porch in order to kill us.  Now, if some how you made it past the traps there was a string strung across the top of the steps which went to a can in a kettle.  When you hit that string the can would rattle and we could then shoot you.  The first night the traps were in place the can rattled. This was not a good sign, but we quickly figured out the attacker was a chicken.

One night we did awaken and realized someone was sitting on the porch. This was a night when the punji sticks were not in place.  Quietly we debated if we should just shoot the person outright or make some inquiries.  It turned out Old Gold had told someone to meet him at the farm. The person had shown up not knowing we were there and Old Gold had not told us.

No one ever drove up that road at night, but one night it happened.  It turned out somehow some drunk had driven up the road and was so drunk he did not know how to get out of the hollow.  In a complete fit of stupidity Kadizzle as a 12 year old came up with a plan to drive him back to the paved road. Kadizzle was not sure of the brilliance of the idea, so he put the automatic in his pants.  To this day I have no idea how I planned to get back.  I think the plan may have been to drive the guy to town and have a sober person bring Kadizzle back.  It was an ill conceived plan.  At some point with Kadizzle driving the drunk became rowdy and demanded Kadizzle get out of his car, and the drunk drove off.  Kadizzle was stuck miles away and clueless.  At least he had a gun.  It was about one in the morning when Kadizzle reached a farmhouse not knowing what they would think.  One thing the farm had where Colin was, was a phone.  Kadizzle called his little brother, and somehow Colin managed to drive the old 49 Ford Truck to pick up Kadizzle.  Reflecting on the whole thing it was one of the stupidest things Kadizzle ever did.

Young people without adult supervision living in the boonies is not a good mixture when you add guns.  One day with sister Suzie we walked to the old country store.  When we got to the river several boys were swimming naked, and were a bit taken aback after they had to run out of the water nude at the sight of my sister.  As usual we were carrying a 22 in case a ground hog needed to be sent to Jesus.  For some reason the boys who were older decided to walk up the road to our farm.  Since we owned the land on both sides of the road and they had made some unfriendly remarks we let them know it would not be wise to step off the road.  When we got to the farm house the boys seemed to be harassing us by walking back and forth in front of the place.  When they went one direction we fired the guns in the other direction.  Apparently they thought we were actually shooting at them and took off over the hill.  They notified the sheriff and he must have got as far as the country store.  The store owner Lutrel Davis told the sheriff we were nice kids and we would never do such a thing.  The Sheriff never showed up until a later incident.  That is a entirely different story and it is too late tonight to delve into to that one, but it also involved a little gun action.  It turned out the sheriff had one leg, and his deputy had one arm, so between them they had complete law enforcement.

How does this work?

My buddy Charles J. drove by today.  In many regards Charlie is pretty smart, on the other hand he is brain dead.  He reminds me of Ben Carson.  Ben Carson is a brain surgeon that thinks the pyramids were built to store grain.  Also the Republicans mascot thinks the Earth was formed in seven days.  Back to Charles J.  Charlie pulled up in his magical van that somehow defies the fact that he owns it.  Leaning into the car the interior appeared like someone had reversed a garbage truck. The garbage was in the front not the back.  In the back seat were three huge bags of something. Kadizzle imagined it was Charlie's belongings, since Charlie is always on the move.  Nope the guess was wrong.  It turns out Charlie has a place to live in the hotel where he does maintenance work.  What the three huge bags contained were sheets and linens from the hotel.  Charlie got them free.  It struck Kadizzle he might get a good rag out of the collection, so he asked if the sheets were clean.  Yes they were Charlie assured Kadizzle. They were washed before they threw them away.  Now what kind of idiot would wash sheets before they threw them away.  Well at the hotel idiocy must be blooming.  Kadizzle asked Charles J. what he was going to do with three large bags of bed sheets. Charles had an ingenious idea.  Charlie would donate the sheets to the local charity and get a tax deduction. Kadizzle tried to point out to Charles that if you pay no taxes, you can get no charitable deductions.  This was a minor point Charles had overlooked.

As Kadizzle looked around the traveling garbage museum he was amazed.  At this point Charles J. pointed to the fine gift he had received from Marlboro.  As a reward for destroying his lungs Marlboro sent him a custom made ash tray with his initials engraved on glass.  What a wonderful company.  After you agree to buy enough cigarettes to kill yourself, you get a free gift.

The Sun is shinning

The sun is shining, and if I have my facts right it will for another 5 billion years.  The other day Kadizzle came across the fact that the sun is one million times the size of the Earth.  Imagine a fire that is burning and is one million times the size of the Earth.  Put yourself in perspective.  You and I in the scheme of the universe are so insignificant.  Once in awhile it is good to put things into perspective.  We are less significant than a grain of sand on the beach.  Like everyone else Kadizzle firmly believes he is the center of the universe, and it all is focused on him. Sadly reality contradicts his wildest dreams. Like everyone else he will be gone and forgotten in a puff.

Yesterday on the radio someone gave the old saw about putting yourself in place. The trick is to get a five gallon bucket of water. Place you hand in the water and pull it out. Now look at the water and ask yourself how much impact you had on the water. There is no clue your hand was in there.  That is how life is and how you really stack up in reality. Perspective is one thing few people master. What matters, and what does not. Most things really don't matter, however, some nigifiddles get obsessed with things that just do not matter.

Let The Mystery Be - Iris DeMent H.Q.

Kadizzle firmly believes religion is a net loss. It has caused more problems than it has solved. Most people do not have the courage to simply admit " I don't know".  If people would just do what Iris DeMint says and Let The Mystery Be, the world would be a better place. But thanks to religion we have war, hate, and robbers that call themselves preachers.  Sorry, but grow up. There is no Santa Clause, and we are clueless about our existence, be an adult, admit, and move on.

What to take?

The big migration will start next week according to the Supreme Commander.  The Commander has been jabbing Kadizzle to start packing.  What if? What if you need a hydraulic jack to get the camper unstuck? Should I take one? The damn things are heavy.  Should I take one more deep cycle battery?  Clothing, remember last year we took way too much.  On it goes.  So now the decisions begin.  One of the damndest things are electronics. It takes so many cords batteries and gizmos.  Once the Earth Module pulls out you quickly figure out what you did not take.  Then you think " Gee, I wish I had......."

Here we go. Wander around the house and see what you will need in the middle of the desert.  There is a list we go by with about one hundred or more items to remind us.  Maps, GPS, chargers of all sorts, and on it goes.

The next big trick is timing. Two things are critical in a passage, wind, and snow.  You do not want to pull a trailer in snow unless you like  having a fifth wheel up your rectum.  Of course there is always the stretch of road by Wheatland, Wyoming where you get blown of the road if you go on the wrong day.  This all means you need to look for a weather window.  Once the great migration starts it will be first to Wheatland. Next to Denver to see the little grand daughter.  Perhaps a stop in New Mexico, then on to Cottonwood, Arizona to see my sister for a few days. Finally back to the old spot by Lake Roosevelt.  In fifteen years of these travels we have only ended up upside down hanging by the seat belt once.  That is the goal to stay upright.  Life is pretty simple when you think about it. The goal is to stay upright.  If you are horizontally, just make sure you don't have a box around you and six feet of dirt over you.  Kadizzle spent a lot of time underground mining coal.  He always thought of death as a promotion.  You get to go from 800 feet down to only six feet down,

Everyone needs a rest

For a week steady the Kadizzles have been sponsoring a pheasant hunt for their friends from North Carolina. The Pheasants and the Kadizzles need a rest.  In my opinion the pheasants won.  They showed they have better sense than we do. They did not come to our house to pester us every day. They were just trying to make a living.  We were the trespassers on the poor fellows. We were the violent intruders. God bless you pheasants that volunteered to sit out the winter in the freezer, and you guys who have to scratch for food this winter are good sports.

Kadizzle had a relaxation day yesterday. The Commander went to Bismarck to smoke the credit card when she took the hunters to the airport.  To entertain himself old Kadizzle watched a lot of youtube.  It was not long before Kadizzle was deep into Lewis Black and Jim Carlyn.  Rarely is anything so funny that Kadizzle burst into laughter. Both men are very intelligent, and do a great job of making fun of human idiocy.  Sure they use a lot of profanity, but they know how to do it. There are bits of wisdom in both their acts.  One of the best parts of the day was Lewis Black talking in front of the Washington Press Corp.  Watch it, it is very enlightening.  One thing Lewis Black said that really hit the nail on the head was "Socialism is enforced Christianity".  Listen to what he says in context and you will be a more intelligent person.  One thing that royally pisses Kadizzle off is the misunderstanding of socialism in the United States. The right wing has managed to make it an evil institution.  The reality is that the countries that embrace it have happy, healthier, more intelligent people, but the right wing dingers in this country love to pretend like socialism is communism, which it is not. Lewis Black pointed out that in his lifetime the United States has gone from number one in education to number 17, and as he says we can make 25 if we try.  The level of ignorance in our country is astounding.  Adults watch Fox News. In North Dakota one of the most widely broadcast radio stations KFYR spends hours every day spreading lies, hate, misinformation, and stupidity. The dingers eat it up, absolutely amazing.  

What would it cost to eliminate gravity?

At the crazy club today the topic at Kadizzles behest was about the political mess we have in this country. An esteemed member of the club suggested that if Kadizzle was so passionate about his beliefs he should donate everything to the candidate of his choice. The question is can you cure stupid with money?  I don't think so.  It does seem you can create stupid with money. Fox News has clearly shown that you can add gas to the fire of stupidity people want to engage in.  Gambling is a classic example. People have been milking the gullible forever with gambling.  You can sit a person down and mathematically show them that given enough time they will go broke if they engage with the lottery or Las Vegas.  You just cannot simply show them math and facts and change them.

Kadizzle had a long conversation with a young girl this summer.  The person working for next to nothing wanted to have a tattoo to honor her father that was killed in an accident.  Kadizzle went through the math with the girl. If she took the money she would waste on the tattoo and invest it at her young age, and leave it alone, she might have a good down payment for college for her young son now three years old. Kadizzle told her that her dead father would be so much happier knowing she cared about her son and had a little bit of finical sense, than seeing her piss the money away on a tattoo.  Kadizzle laid out all the math. There was no logical way on Earth her reasoning made any sense, but you cannot cure stupid.

So here we sit with the most goofy candidates running for the Republican nomination.  None of their math adds up, their trickle down economics, and more tax breaks for the rich just don't work, yet the more ignorant statements they make the better they do in the polls.  They offer quick simple solutions that don't work, but that is what sells.  A popular misconception is that poor lazy welfare cheats are a great burden on society.  The facts and statistics just don't back up that absurd claim.  The bottom 20% of the population in this country only uses up 2% of everything produced.  Most of the so called lazy welfare cheats have jobs, and work long hours. If you got the mileage with your car we get from the poor, you would be well pleased. Those of us who prosper do so because we have slaves in China, India, and all over the world including our country who work for next to nothing, yet we want to cheat them even more.  The real cheats are the 1% that own 90%.  Of course that is no fun to see it that way because we all want to be that 1%.  So we need someone to blame for everything that is wrong. The Germans tried it. They did not have blacks, and Hispanics, so they blamed everything on the Jews.  Today we have Donald Trump and the Republican party trying the same old Nazi crap. No one learned a thing from the past. 

What about the fat guy in the Pizza shop. Imagine you go to the Pizza shop and the owner tells you they are out of pizza.  You say what is the problem?  It's that skinny guy over there in the corner, he ate all the pizza. He did? Yup.  What about that big fat guy in the other corner with all the empty pizza boxes in front of him. Oh, no, he is not the problem.  He ate 90% of the pizza but when the skinny guy came in he ate the last two pieces of pizza, he is the problem.  Republican logic at it's finest.  The head of Walmart getting $8,000 per hour is not the problem, it is that lazy bastard at the door who is 70 and wants minimum wage, that is the problem.  Yup, lets turn on Fox News and make sure we are right about this, Donald Trump, and Ben Carson will assure us it is the immigrant moochers.

Totally Befuddled

Let's build a pyramid. Let's build a great big church. Let's set some very heavy stones up on end.  The history of stupidity is amazing.  Start with they pyramids. What if the Egyptians had built houses, roads, irrigation,  or  you name it. No, they did not do that, instead when they had a surplus of food they piled up rocks. Meanwhile the average person lived a dreadful life. When the great cathedrals of France were built, it was the same nonsense all over.  Life for everyone could have been improved immensely if resources had been used with just a small amount of intelligence.

Nothing has changed. Today we build huge churches while people withing blocks live in poverty. We piss away gazillions on useless missiles, planes, and magic weapons.  Just like in the old days, the king lives well and the peasants suffer. We have not learned a thing.  Automobiles have to be one of the stupidest things humans have every done.  There is nothing wrong with a simple transportation device that moves people about, but look at the absolutely insane amount of human productivity that has gone into car insanity. There are 356 million people in the country and 254 million cars.  A few well built cars meant to last might be harmless, but building an endless amount of cars and the infrastructure to go with them is absolutely insane.  What if all that human labor, intelligence, and resources had gone into improving the world as a whole? With most of the world living on ten dollars a day simply providing the rest of humanity with fresh clean water, decent health care, and an education could have relieves so much suffering, but what did we do?  We built thousands of flavors of cars, we changed them every year.  We built a 6,000 pound device to move a 200 pound person. The device will hold six, but almost always we just put one per car.  We burn up unbelievable amounts of fuel running these damn things, we pave half of the city for them.  We could have high speed trains, electric bikes, and all sorts of more effective transportation, but we have no common sense. Two thousand years later we are still piling up rocks. History has taught us nothing.  For the amount of money that goes into one car a thousand lives could be saved, but we don't use the resources we have to save people, instead we go to church and pray God will save them.

You want to take and get yourself some

Many years ago old Kadizzle read the book MASTER AND COMMANDER.  The book was written in the old English style. Kadizzle did not realize it, but he was going about speaking in old English. Now, in the year 2015 Kadizzle has two of his hunting buddies from North Carolina visiting and hunting.  Of course they speak with a deep southern accent.  The Commander chided Kadizzle this morning for picking up the accent.  Southerners say things differently.  Jim says he had to "cut on the lights" or "Cut the lights off".   If a southerner wants to give you instructions on how to clean something the instructions will always start "You'll wanna take and get yourself some soap to clean..."  Just about every story involves "This ol boy".  This ol boy had him a big sack of potatoes.  Jim makes his living selling suits, and he had a high end clothing store at one time to sell such things, so you would never suspect how he appeared off the the plane in Bismarck. Jim showed up in a heavy pair of canvass overalls with a lumberjack  shirt, and hunting boots on.  Of course Jim gave them fits going through the metal detector with all the buttons and clips on the overalls.

Not many mornings do we have gritts for breakfast, but I am sure before they leave there will be a good breakfast of ham, eggs, bacon, and gritts.