Robbing the Simple MInded Made Easy

The Earth Module landed at Cochiti Lake in New Mexico.  Once we got settled the most important thing was to get the TV going.  Wow, we got 58 channels, but whoa,  30 of them are crooked stump preachers ripping off poor people with religion.  What a business model, simply tell people something, and then ask them to give you money. Seems insane, but it works.  All you have to do is figure out some story a poor or ignorant person will believe, then sell them on the story.  The best thing about religious fraud is you cannot be prosecuted, and to top off everything you can use every tax dodge religion has.  So we end up with crooked stump preachers living in forty million dollar homes flying around in 20 million dollar jets.

The poor rob themselves by going to the casino, and the ones who don't go broke at the casino can turn on the TV and get taken by some religious charlatan.  What if we had 30 channels of educational material for free?  Hell no, when Kadizzle spun through the fifty channels there was not one intelligent thing on but PBS.

The dumbing down of our country has been amazing.  Rush Limbaugh and right wing radio along with the Republicans have made our country's IQ nose dive.  Now we believe anything.  Look at Donald Trump, one day he says one thing, and reverses the next day.  The dolts still love him.  Facts, knowledge, and data have gone out of style. Republicans have made stupidity popular.

Eath Module prepped for Blast Off Today

The Commander has issued orders to prep the Earth Module for blast of on Wednesday.  All systems must be flushed.  The module must be disconnected from electricity and water.  For some strange reason it must be cleaned thoroughly.  In order to land first in Denver, and then in North Dakota a window of weather must be found.  At this point it looks like we can make Denver.  Giving up the weather on Planet Arizona will be difficult.  However, AZ is beginning to heat up.

All our Forest Service documentation, tools, and extraneous material needs to be returned.  Working for the government is a good experience and everyone should try a stint of volunteering.  The biggest myth that would be busted if more people participated is the myth that the government is so inefficient. Yes, there is waste, but most of that waste is caused by overzealous congressmen that create problems for the agencies.  For example:  A small well built pickup truck would serve The Forest Service well, but the government does not want the same Toyota pickup that terrorist use to be purchased because they are not made in America.

One thing Kadizzle learned while working for the Forest Service is how effectively they use their people.  Fire Fighting is a major part of The Forest Service.  The people who normally have other jobs are all trained to be on call for forest fires.  In fact Forest Service employees are sent to help with disasters like the one that occurred in the hurricanes in New York, and Louisiana.  The most important thing for the public to learn is how much gets done by the government with so little.  Over half the people taking care of the national forest are volunteers.  Once reason volunteers are so essential is because conservatives want to starve the government.  Starving the government means these forest, and these facilities will not be here for the next generation. No one ever wants to starve the military, where the real waste is.  Imagine what could be done for one trillion dollars.  That is the cost of the failed F-35 foisted on the Air Force.

The people we have worked with who are working for you as government employees work hard.  They get to work by 6 A.M. so they can avoid the heat.  They work on weekends because that is when you are here, and it makes their whole operation more efficient.  The managers work in the office, and drive the garbage truck.  The area we are working in would be a disaster if not for the prisoners.  Three days a week the prisoners show up to do the nasty and hard work.  So the next time you visit a National Forest think about who picked up the garbage, who cleaned the restroom (it was a volunteer doing it for free) and who cut all that brush that makes the place usable.

Our buddy Cliff on our trail crew also cleans the rest rooms.  He is amazed by the pigs that make a mess.  Twice people have defecated in the urinals.  Cliff has about had it with some of the pathetic humans that inhabit our planet, but there are also dedicated good people that make it work.

The Cheech blast off for New York City

Outside sitting in the sun the magnificent, wonderful, beautiful, Cheech is sitting in the sun. A perfect morning for her to read Dark Money.  Dark Money details how the rotten Koch brothers have brought our country to it's knees with their right wing greed philosophy.  Cheech cannot believe that the two men whose wealth added together makes them the richest people in the United States.  They have billions they cannot even count, yet they insist on destroying our democracy.  The underhanded tricks they have pulled are amazing.  No tactic is too low.  They have cheated on selling people oil, they have stolen government oil, they have stolen oil from the Indians.  They have blackmailed their own brother, but they are the ones manipulating the Republican Party.

So much for that nonsense, today we have to go to Phoenix to take Megan back to the airport.  Megan got all excited because they found mountain lion droppings on the trail yesterday.  Megan had to come back and read all about black bears, and mountain lions.  Seeing the animal life has been a thrill for Megan.  She loves the javelinas.  The Gila Monster was a bonus, and Cheech was so proud of her humming bird video.  Like so many in her bloodline, Megan has a wonderful sense of humor.  Megan can crack up her old dad at will.  Megan can imitate anyone.  Her Sara Palin imitation is hilarious, and spot on.  From the Fargo series she can do a perfect Minnesota accent.  Tonight when we bed down without our Cheech it will be sad and lonely.

More of the Same

Kadizzle took off on a lone ranger motorcycle ride while Cheech and The Commander hiked Parker Creek.  There is no end to the incredible country you can see on a dirt bike in AZ.  First Kadizzle rode out the cliffs on the road up to Young.  What a view. The steep canyons are amazing and you just cannot capture them on the camera.  After that Kadizzle tried to get up to the "Angel Wings", but the road never ended up on top. However, the road went for 15 miles of very nice riding and more or less ended at the Oak Creek Cabin.

Motorcycle ride with a cherry on top

Jeff, the newest member of our trail crew, and Kadizzle took off to Thompson Mesa for a motorcycle ride. Cheech and The Commander hiked down to the jug while we rode.  Jeff is a damn good rider, but has never experienced what Arizona can throw at you.  Kadizzle had made the treacherous ride twice before.  Jeff was on his practically new Triumph Tiger 800cc.  That is a pretty good sized bike to be taking on the nastiest road Jeff has ever been on.  Jeff said he would never do it again, I don't blame him.  Kadizzled to told Jeff the grand finale would be the worst.

The grand finale is a very steep ride down into a very deep canyon that is about fifty yards or less wide at the bottom.  We had come down an absolutely terrible road that we both thought we could not make it back up.  Our only escape was to go down and back out of the canyon.  After the debate Kadizzle went first.  To even his own amazement, he made it.  Kadizzle has decided after three trips this is the last time.  At the top Kadizzle stopped and walked back fully expecting to see Jeff on the much heavier motorcycle crash. To the amazement of all Jeff made it.

In the middle of the trip we found the cherry on top.  The cherry on top was a very neat Indian Ruin.  It sat on the top of a hill and had a commanding view of the area.  After we rode back to Cheech and The Commander we headed back to camp for heart medicine to wind up a perfect day.

Planning the Escape

It is time for the pickup truck to hook to the Earth Module and head North.  Kadizzle and The Commander are at odds on the assault on North Dakota.  Kadizzle wants to get going and bite off what distance we can as weather permits. The Commander would be content to stay longer right where we are.  If we can make it to Chochiti Lake in New Mexico that would be a victory.  As usual the weather is trying to pin us down.  Weather in Denver is terrible.  We will stop in Denver to see The Snoocher Bearn, Ticklepinch, and Fran.  Getting to Denver will not be easy unless the weather clears.  One critical stop is in Winslow Arizona for the very best breakfast burrito in the world at La Pasada.  We have made this run North for so many years we have it down pretty well.  One thing to always be careful with is the mountain passes.  Going over the rockies in the winter pulling a trailer is suicide.  The best pass is the Raton Pass.  It is not that high and can usually be done without encountering snow.  After turning upside down in our camper and truck a few years back on the way home we approach this process more carefully now.

A hailstorm of words

Cheech is visiting. The wonderful, beautiful, talented Cheech woke up from her bed which is normally the table and had her coffee. When the caffeine hit the game was on.  Cheech is smart and very well read.  The fireworks start as Cheech, The Commander, and Kadizzle launch into solving the world's problems.  Cheech has a mild infection of conservatism, so there are some heated discussions.  Cheech's travel's have taken her around the world and given her first hand knowledge of India, and a host of other countries.  How do we make things equitable? How selfish should one be?  How do we help third world countries? The fireworks fly the gamesmanship explodes.  It is fun to have a good intellectual conversation/debate/ funny talk.  The explosions have slowed down, Cheech and The Commander are absorbed in cooking breakfast.

The Chicken Slip

Salsa Verde Enchiladas made by Cheech, an absolutely delicious meal.  The recipe is a bit strange.  Start with frozen chicken breast.  Give the chicken breast to The Commander to thaw.  Now, watch The Commander place the frozen chicken breast on the top step of the steps to enter the camper.  Let about a half an hour lapse, or enough time to have The Commander to forget she left the chicken to thaw on the steps.  Now watch The Commander do the "Chicken Slip".   The Commander steps out the door onto the chicken and slips down the steel steps with a comotion worth of Pearl Harbor.  Cheech and Kadizzle thought this was surely the demise of The Commander, but to our astonishment Lazarus arose from the dead unhurt and unscathed.  The Commander then took the chicken and put it in hot water to finish the defrosting.  Amazed by such a feat of gymnastics Kadizzle offered to sprinkle some ice on the steps to see if The Commander was willing to try it again.  Fortunately The Commander is hard headed.  If  you saw or heard this display of chicken defrosting you would have thought a trip to the emergency room was essential.  The Commander survived without a scratch and is hopping around like her usual self.

Cheech and Gila Monster

Cheech dropped from the sky this morning at Sky Harbor Airport.  No sooner did we get her back to the Earth Module before the Gila monster must have smelled her.  According to the park wildlife guy the monsters really like New Yorkers.  It was not much of a chore for the Gila Monsters since Megan has a special gene that makes her feet smell.  More than likely the Gila Monster was asleep hibernating until Cheech took her shoes off.

Well it was something like that.  Our crew was alerted to a problem by the incessant barking of the neighbors dogs. Usually they are good dogs and do not bark.  The Commander went to investigate. The dogs had a Gila Monster cornered.  The Commander alerted Ray the water guy and he came to capture it and put it in a bucket.  Cheech got a big thrill from seeing the Gila Monster.

Aztec Peak

Yesterday was a great day.  Up early the gang took off for Aztec Peak.  After the drive on a perfect day up past the valley with radiation warnings, we stopped briefly at the waterfall.  Now the driving challenge began.  It is amazing how many trees fall on the road and block it.  Although The Commander thought it was impossible we cut up the first tree with hand saws and managed to drive under it.  Good luck let us make a couple miles before we hit two huge trees three feet in diameter.  Those trees were not going to be moved with hand saws.  On foot we took off up the road to the fire tower.  The view was one of the best in the country.  Kadizzle managed to spot the Crack House ruin many miles away. Jeff had never seen it and enjoyed the view.

At the top we ate lunch in the Flint Stone living room.  Someone has built very large furniture out of stone near the fire tower.  There are three arm chairs a fireplace, and a coffee table.   Now it was time to go down.  In a quick round of dare to be stupid we headed over the cliffs.  The Commander and Barb went to the south and found a relatively easy way down. Jeff and Kadizzle did some amature rock climbing and managed to find a treacherous route down to the truck.  Back at the waterfall a group of rock climbers were descending the 200ft fall on a rope.  The original plan was to visit the Indian ruin near the fall, but we abandoned that plan and headed back to Parker Creek.  After a brief hike there we returned to camp for refreshments.

Land Mines in the Desert.

Last night as we returned from the pizza forray the Kadizzles came across a rattlesnake warming up on the pavement.  My cousin says kill it, but the snakes kill the rats that eat the wiring in our truck, so we need the snakes.  As much traipsing through the desert as we do the snakes do pose a problem.  This is the time of year when they finally emerge.  After a long winter without a mouse entree they are hungry.  A big fat Kadizzle might look like a double cheeseburger to a hungry snake.

Well today we are going to hustle up to a fire tower in the mountains. There will be snow up there, but no snakes.  If this lump of lard makes it to the top again we will sit in the giant chairs made of stone.  Someone built a whole set of furniture from huge stones near the fire tower.  It looks just like flintstone furniture.  You could probably get fundamentalist to believe biblical giants once had coffee there.

At this very instant the sun is just busting over the horizin.  Any moment Kadizzle will get the blast right in the eyes.  Here goes, got to get up and pull the curtain.  Of course we are getting up to date.  The New York Times has a nice article with pictures on Cuba. The Kadizzles are hoping for a trip to Cuba next winter.

In the background the radio is doing a thing on Trump in Phoenix.  The rodent Trump, or as the Mexicans call him "El Diablo" The Devil.  Indeed the devil would come to Arizona to court the right wing dingers.  The Mexicans are like bees upset with the rat.  Hate and bigotry is what they are saying Trump sells, how correct.  What a sad state our nation has reached.  People no longer read, or think.  Amerians live on a diet of emotions only.

Dr. Rippoff and the wonderful American Health Care system, Ranked 13th in the world.

$7250 for a shot.  Kadizzle paid $10.  Anyone who thinks the United States has the best medical care in the world, needs some medical marijuana.  Kadizzle needed a Lupron shot, which actually might cost $1,500, but no.  The doctor in Payson somehow managed to get the cost up to $7250.  First there was the “New patient charge” $350.  What a crock of shit.  The system is rigged so Kadizzle could not just got to any hospital and have a nurse stick the needle in his butt. Nope,  Kaddizzle had to drive to Payson twice for a trip total of 300 miles just to be a “New Patient”.   Kadizzle had in his possession a prescription for the Lupron shot from a doctor in Bismarck, but no,  fraud, scam, American medical system.  Why couldn’t a person just have a nurse in Payson put the Lupron in Kadizzles butt?  Well, because that would be simple, cost effective, and save everyone a ton, but no that aint goin happen.  Thank God the insurance company and medicare told orld Dr. Rippoff to go to hell and did not pay his extortion price.  Dr. Ripoff ended up with about $600 for 15 minutes of work if you stretch it. So if Dr. Rippoff makes 2,400 dollars and hour and works for eight hours my calculator says Dr. Rippoff gets $19,200 a day.  That comes to about $5 million per year.  Not bad for giving shots.  Well lets assume Dr. Rippoff only make one fifth of that,  A million a year seems like a good salary for a Dr. practicing Urology. Now, keep in mind that is just Dr. Rippoff’s game.  The rest of the gang of thieves, such as the pharmaceutical gang make out pretty well also in this game.  No other country in the world would let them charge $1,500 for that shot. They were getting $3,000 before anyone noticed.  My doctor in Bismarck explained how the pharmaceutical companies were giving doctors kickbacks for the shots.  Which means good old Dr. Rippoff actually made more on the shot than Kadizzle gave him credit for.  Most amazing was the Dr. in Bismarck said the shot only works for two years, but doctors were prescribing it for five years just to get the extra cheese.  Well you keep listening to Rush and the Republican and running from the national health care every other country has embraced.

Comfort Level

The sun has risen in near perfection. After a good night's sleep The Commander and Kadizzle soak up sun with a coffee cup in hand overlooking the lake.  The stock market has risen above comfort level, and all looks well in the kingdom. Cheech will be rolling in next week and taking Cheech for a motorcycle excursion will be a task.  The Yamaha is not shifting correctly and that could be a problem.  Today we use the weed wacker to bring civility to our little Eden.  The Commander just said we will work early so we can go play.  Seems like a good idea if Kadizzle can find where the prisoners keep the two cycle fuel.

Life has it's little ups and downs like ponies on a merry go round.  Right now the ponies are up are up. The fire dogs are getting active.  The young men that fight the forest fires are cleaning their equipment, and getting all ready for the fire season.  Fire fighting is a major part of the operation here.  The compound is equipped with a couple of fire trucks, and housing for the crews.  The fire crews even have their own elaborate gym. It is very hard work, and staying in shape is a big part of their job. There are no fat ones.

Yesterday one of the neigbors up the hill showed up with our Netflix CDs. What a blessing. The movies had been put in his mail box by mistake.  So last night The Commander and Kadizzle watched about four episodes of Manhattan.  It is about the atomic bomb project.  What makes it very interesting is that we have visited Los Alomos and camped, hiked, and stayed in that area.  Very interesting if it has much historical accuracy at all. Tonight we watch Unbranded.  Also this should be good because it is about some young guys who took wild horses along the very Arizona trail we work on every day.  Yesterday our boss said he met them when they came through.   So all is well in our Earth Module.  Things may fall apart by noon, but at least we are having a good start.

Hate the Government

Here we sit in a wonderful National Forest, beside a lake built by The Salt River Project.  We got here on an interstate highway that is the envy of the world.  We have our garbage picked up by government employees.  Our kids went to school at a public school run by the local government.  A weather report created by the government is on the radio.  Our GPS works because of the government.

Right wing politicians want us all to hate the government.  Go to a country with no government.  See first hand what it is like to have no rules, no servicess, no health care, no police, no schools, and no government.  What are people thinking when they stir up distrust and hate for the government?  What would it be like if reasonable people did not get together to make reasonable rules? Republicans have been trying to bring government to a halt.  They refuse to cooperate in any way with the normal function of government.  Our highways are falling apart, our bridges are falling down, and our public schools are being destroyed. Republicans think this is a good thing.

Morning in the Desert

Kadizzle went to bed too early, now he is up at 5 A.M.  The temperature is just about perfect and the desert is about to get blasted by the sun.  A cool walk in the morning down to the facilities is pleasant and all the stars are as bright as you will see them anywhere.  To make life easy often the Earth Module residents use the bathrooms at the work center.  That was Kadizzle's mission at 5 A.M.  In the darkness it is best to carry a light incase a rattlesnake has decided to warm up on the asphalt pavement.  At the work center, which is a combination workshop, garage, warehouse, and office space with showers Kadizzle had to find his way in and out in the dark.  As Kadizzle roamed about the large building with a spotlight he felt like some kind of thief.  What if the Ranger drove up and saw someone roaming inside with a spotlight.  It would look strange to say the least, but no such thing happened.

Cup of coffee number one has been brewed and cup two is right around the corner.  Like every morning a person has to get up to date first thing.  Got to check The Bismarck Tribune to see what the local lunatics back home in North Dakota are cooking up.  The right wing dingers goose that laid the golden oil egg died and the money falling from heaven stopped.  The Republicans looked like heroes as long as the wells pumped, but now the party is over and the misers are turning on each other just like the national Republicans.

The New York Times is a must read.  Only The New York times has any decent commentary on the insanity gripping our country.  All you get in The Bismarck Tribune is another story about aunt Martha completing her latest quilt.

The sun is just managing to chug close to the horizon.  It has not made it up yet, but the glow is there.  The planes are starting to buzz out from Phoenix and all day they will be polluting the sky and taking people to senseless business meetings so they can decide how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Someone just drove in to start their day.  The desert people have learned to work early and quit early before they get fried by the sun.  All the snow birds are going north in the next few weeks to run for cover from the sun that will bake this place to a crisp. Kadizzle and The Commander have never been here for the shake and bake, but the tales of heat are endless.

So in a short while it will be hi, ho, hi ho, it is off to work we go.  Today the mission is to drive over to the other side of the lake and install some trail signs.   Should be a fairly easy day with some good windshield time.  One day at a time sweet Jesus, Lord help me to make, Lord help me to take, One day at a time.  At least that is how the song goes, and it is the motto of every ex drunk in the country.

Oglebay Park

Oglebay Park played a major role in the life of our family.  Nine children needed at least 900 acres for a playground, and Oglebay  had it.  It seems like a thousand years ago, but I can remember the old original zoo. It was nothing like the new one.  Animals like racoons were in wire cages, and the real treat was the snake pit.  Could anything be better than a real snake pit when you are five?  Close to the snake pit was an old tower.  Someone used to tell or read stories in that old tower.  All of this was close to the old Nature Center where you could sit in the basement and see a movie. Movies were a big deal in the old days.  Of course the movie might be a travelogue or something that would not draw a crowd today.

Once in awhile the lake in the park froze.  What a delight to skate on such a large rink. You could sled off the hill onto the ice and it was the best thrill for free in the park.  There used to be huge picnics up by Camp Russell.  Unions would throw a bust with a whole tractor trailer load of beer. One of the best was the Syrian picnic.  Never was there such a site as cars crashing as they came off the hill at the Syrian picnic.  After everyone was well lubricated it rained.  People had parked cars all over the hillside to the west. It was a great idea when the hill was dry, but an expensive round of bumper cars when the beer vessels tried to drive home.

Every summer Quinn kids were sent to nature camp at Camp Russell.  We learned about the birds and the bees in both the literal and figurative sense.  In the foggy morning we had to traipse through the woods to identify birds by their call.  Father Quinn was an avid birder, and now a couple of my sisters have still not shaken the disease.  I just returned from a birding trip to Belize with sister Patty. It all started at Oglebay sometime in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

Graduation ceremonies were held at the amphitheater.  We learned to ski at the par three, we were chlorinated every day at the pool.  My brother Tom was a caddy and stayed at caddy camp. My sisters were enthralled with the horses, and loved to go to the park to ride. Oglebay was as close to Disneyland as a Quinn would ever get.  As I got older I volunteered and did some teaching at nature camp.  

Way back before the carriage house burnt down they had a turkey shoot there right before thanksgiving. You actually won a turkey.  My oldest sister Melissa was a crack shot. She learned her skill by shooting a BB gun with a bent barrel.  It was her job to win the Thanksgiving turkey every year.

Probably a lot of people reading this went to Woodsdale School.  If you are the right age you had Mr. Goddard.  Elwood Goddard, he was the science teacher.  Elwood was a good man and used to run the concession above the golf club.  Mr. Hile was the principal at Woodsdale and he often ran the Nature Camp.  So there you were a kid in a park under the watchful eyes of the same regime that kept you under control at school.

As kids we managed to get into our share of trouble, but the park gave us a lot to do, and kept our share of trouble small.  I have traveled all over the United States and few if any cities have a park that can compare to Oglebay.

Peeking Tom

Last night while The Commander was sleeping Kadizzle peeked in her ear.  Below is what Kadizzle saw. Now Kadizzle always thought The Commander lost her marbles, but apparently she has them very well organized.

Hiking Goats

Three old goats spent the winter hiking and working together. Kadizzle, The Commander, and Cliff put in some serious miles. Our group cleared 68 miles of brush from the trails, and hiked 172 miles on behalf of The Forest Service.  In addition we must have hiked another 50 miles just for fun.

Cliff and The Commander are what Kadizzle calls "fire asses".  They have to hike like their ass is on fire.  Kadizzle goes at a slower pace. Yesterday we took our new trail crew member with us who is 14 years younger than the youngest of us.  Jeff could not believe how fast and hard the goats worked.  The trail crew got up and tried to get on the road by 7:30.  First we had to drive 11 miles up the mountain to get to the trailhead on top.  After Kadizzle let the other three off to hike and clear brush down the Oak Flat trail Kadizzle headed to the bottom of the trail.  It was a twenty mile drive.  Kadizzle started from the bottom clearing some brush and hiking toward the group.  About 2 P. M. we met.  Everyone was worn out.  We hiked back down to the truck and went back to the Earth Module for medication.  Jim Beam soothed Kadizzles heart while Cliff had his non-alcoholic beer, and The Commander slugged down one of her special craft beers. Today The Forest Service is hosting a party for all the volunteers.  

When you do your taxes this year, and it is time to bitch about how much money your government wastes, think about the sixty volunteers that worked all winter for free.  Last year volunteers put in 64,000 hours of free work for you.  Even at ten dollars an hour that would be 640,000 dollars saved by the government.  Keep in mind a lot of these volunteers had computer skills, electrical skills, plumbing skills, and there were a lot of highly educated people working for you for free.  As the Republicans try to starve the government someone has to keep the weeds pulled, fix the shower, and clean the toilet.  If you really want to get riled up why not think about the new F-35 jet.  It does not work, is not needed, and cost ONE Trillion dollars. You could buy some toilet paper and put it in a Forest Service rest room for that price.

Normallacy Returns

After two guest in a week things have slowed down and returned to an easier pace.  The sky is crystal clear and the sun is doing it's job correctly.  Jeff is about to join our trail crew.  Jeff is brimming with enthusiasm, which is nice.  Jeff is 53, but to us old fogies seems like a teenager.  Tomorrow the plan is to get up as early as we can and head up on Four Peaks.  Cissie, Jeff, and Cliff will be let off by Kadizzle at the Pigeon trail head. Their mission will be to hack their way down to the Oak Flat Trail.  It could be a big undertaking, but we shall see.

In the meanwhile Kadizzle is sitting here waiting for Jeff.  We are going to do a motorcycle adventure.  If Jeff's motorcycle credentials are as good as he says it should go well.  Kadizzle will be on the XT 250 which  is a perfect ride for the terrain.  On the other hand Jeff will be riding his Triumph 800 which is a very nice Adventure Bike, but may be a bit too tame for the roads we will try.  Jeff says he has raced Moto Cross on cycles so he should be up to it.  If it gets too much we can always turn around.  Usually good sense does not prevail when it comes to motorcycles.

Bob Dylan When the deal goes down

In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around
We live and we die, we know not why
But I'll be with you when the deal goes down

We eat and we drink, we feel and we think
Far down the street we stray
I laugh and I cry and I'm haunted by
Things I never meant nor wished to say
The midnight rain follows the train
We all wear the same thorny crown
Soul to soul, our shadows roll
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Well, the moon gives light and it shines by night
When I scarcely feel the glow
We learn to live and then we forgive
Over the road we're bound to go
More frailer than the flowers, these precious hours
That keep us so tightly bound
You come to my eyes like a vision from the skies
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down

Well, I picked up a rose and it poked through my clothes
I followed the winding stream
I heard the deafening noise, I felt transient joys
I know they're not what they seem
In this earthly domain, full of disappointment and pain
You'll never see me frown
I owe my heart to you, and that's saying it's true
And I'll be with you when the deal goes down


Thanks to Emily Lathens for adding these lyrics.
A-Z Lyrics B BOB DYLAN Lyrics
"Modern Times" (2006)

I worked under your bed.

You were asleep.  You had no idea, but I might have been under your bed working.  I was three hundred feet under your bed.  In the summers I paid my way through college by working for Consolidation Coal Company at the Shoemaker Mine in Benwood.  Once we got on the man trip and headed into the mine who knows which direction we went, but once I asked and my foreman said we were headed somewhere under South Wheeling.

When I first started on a regular mine crew running a shuttle car we entered the mine right in the middle of the little town called Benwood.  Our crew made history.  We were the first coal miners to go through and abandoned mine to reach new coal. The Benwood mine blew up April 29, 1924.  119 miners were killed. No one survived.  Our job was to tunnel through that old mine and get to unmined coal to the East.  When we went through the old mine the Mine Health and Safety Administration made the coal company take some special precautions.  There was a special little room.  I asked an old timer how it would work when and if we had a problem.  The old coal miner showed me the room.  It has some crude bunk beds made from plywood and a Bible as I recall.  The real delight was a small borehole that went to the surface.  The old timer said the idea was that in a disaster we could go in the room shut the door and they could pump good air down to us and drop supplies.   I could just imagine myself trapped in a mine ordering a cheeseburger to be dropped three hundred feet into my hands.  " Well how do you think it will work ever we ever need it?  I asked the old miner.  He said there will probably be a first explosion, then we will all get in the room and close the door.  I said " Then what will happen?".  He said there will be a second explosion that will blow the door in and kill us all.  Best not to have those explosions I thought.

Everyday I thought we might come across the remains of a 1924 miner.  We never did, but it was amazing how well preserved some of the cloth and other mining items we found were preserved. The coal absorbed the oxygen, and a person may have been pretty well preserved if we did find anyone.

As the years progressed we entered the mine from a shaft farther up the valley.   I can remember going to work on a midnight shift.  Before the shift we dressed in our work cloths.  Every miner knows what a mine bath house is like.  Your belongings hang from the ceiling in a basket.  A small chain pulls your cloths to the top of the room where hopefully they will dry.  You put on smelly, dirty cloths and rubber boots.  You have your miner's lunch bucket.  The lunch bucket is like a double boiler.  On the top is your food, and your water for the day is on the bottom.  With you battery and headlamp on you sit in the cool evening air and wait to start your shift.  Your shift starts when the elevator opens and you are on the bottom ready to board the man trip.  There is no being late for coal miners. Either you are on the man trip or you are not.  It only runs once.

One particular night I always remember,  it was a very foggy summer night in the Ohio Valley on the river.  It never occurred to me that the mine fans would suck the fog into the mine.  Once underground in the mine entries covered in the chalkey white lime dust used to suppress explosions, the fog had a very eerie effect.  It was like an old movie scene in Transylvania.

Friday would finally come.  Friday was payday.  I remember emerging from the mine right in the middle of Benwood and walking across the street to the bar where all the miners cashed their checks.  I was young, and stupid.  In the bar I had my paycheck cashed.  Because I needed the money to pay for college I worked all the overtime I could.  I had a two week check for $1,200.  Like an idiot I started drinking beer and got stupider by the minute.  Also I got braver, and bigger.  I started joking and joshing, and the next think I knew I had challanged a huge coal miner to a fight.  The winner would get both paychecks..  This may have been the luckiest day in my life.  Mike Quinn was about to pay a very big, very strong coal miner to pound him into hamburger.  God smiled on me and some sensible sober person stopped the whole affair.  Otherwise I would have gone through life with some permanent injury explaining how I paid a guy $1,200 to beat me.

Eventually I graduated from college and spent a career in coal mining, but I will always remember how it got started working under your bed.

History Review.

John took off today.  In two days we reviewed a lot of history. Kadizzle probably has not seen John since 1972.  That would be about 38 years of history to review.  We originally met in the 7th grade.  For awhile Kadizzle worked at John's father's ice plant delivering ice. It was a summer job.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge. Kadizzle got updates on so many of the people he grew up with. A lot of them flamed out.  We were children of the 60's.  Alcohol, and drugs took some serious tolls.  It was like shooting a shotgun.  Some of the pellets hit something others just go up in the air and gravity brings them back down.  When is all over gravity gets us all.

Names came up in our two day marathon conversation and with those names came memories and events Kadizzle had in the basement of his mind.  John spent his life in the import business, buying and selling jewelry, cloths and whatever worked.  For two days stories got swapped, and lives got updated.

For better or worse the time for reflection has come.  Life is a long journey, down a long road.  At some point you pull out the map and look back at where you have been.  Those early years and the realization that each of us took a different road make for a good review. What did you see on your road, what bumps did you hit,  was your ride and exciting ride, a pleasant ride, and would you take that ride again.  Often Kadizzle reflects on the fact he is in the last quarter.  The game will be over someday. There are no winners.  Each of us are just adventurers.  Some sit and stare at a tube, some climb the mountain, some buzz the world.

Kadizzle always thinks of the Fulton Carnival.  You got five bucks, you go to the carnival, and you have to make a big decision.  Which rides will you take, which games will you play, will you take the same ride twice?  That is life, we all got tickets.  When you look back did you use your tickets well or did you piss them all away on the first game you came to?  As our teeth fall out beside our hair it is time to answer these questions.

Going to be a nice day

After sleeping on the bed in the Earth Module that converts to our dining table Shanik is up and heading for the Grand Canyon.  He has been warned that you cannot see the bottom from the top.  Shanik may take a helicopter ride to solve this problem.  When The Commander and Kadizzle hiked into the canyon the first time they thought they were close to the bottom, but found it was just a massive cliff, and they had much farther to go to reach the bottom.

Shanik is going to have a nice drive up through Payson and then to Camp Verde.  Once on the interstate he can bust north to Flagstaff and his destination the Grand Canyon.  Everyone should take the time to see their own country.  If you live in a country you should know something about it.  Where do the vegetables come from, where does Santa Clause live, and how about those oceans.  It is a big country get off your duff and see it.

Shanika arrives in the Promised Land

Shanik decided to escape the cold of North Dakota, so Kadizzle invited him down to ride motorcycles in the desert.  Yesterday Shanik was awestruck by the scenery on route sixty going to Globe, AZ.  Shanik was not impressed by the cliff dwellings, he expected a large city of Indian ruins.  He does not grasp how these people lived.  After the mandatory ride by the dam we took old Shanik up in the mountains.  Shanik loves to think he is a race car driver.  The mountain roads around here are not the place to practice your fantasy.  When idiot A meets idiot B the results will be one or two dead idiots.  When you go off these roads there is a considerable amount of time to think before you meet Jesus when you finally hit the bottom. Shanik just could not grasp the concept.  In the class Shanik took for race car driving they did not mention down shifting. Shanik wondered why the brakes smelled like they were being french fried.  Kadizzle teaches a driving course called Advanced Momentum Management.  Shanik would do well to enroll.

Today Kadizzle has to figure out how to ride along to shepard Shanik on the great motorcycle ride.
Who cares if Shanik destroys a rental car, but busting my cycle is entirely different. Overestimating your skill on an off road cycle can lead to a very quick lesson.  Another friend was recently helicoptered out after he got too aggressive.

So today will be entertain Shanik day.  We may drive up to the four peaks.  If it would just clear up old Shanik could see the wonders of this area.  It would take about a week to get a good feel for this area, but we do the best we can.

The world is stranger than you think.

Albert Einstein once said " The world is not stranger than you think, it is stranger than you can think".  If he were alive today and could see our current state of politics he would know how right he was.  The level of ignorance in our country has reached an all time high.  The value of facts has reached an all time low.  We have gone backwards in massive steps.  Wages have gone down, we have armed the idiots,  news shows have turned into fantasy shows.  Old fashion research and reality have been tossed in favor of who can speak the loudest and get the most stupid people to agree with them.

Donald Trump has proven the truth is irrelevant, he has proven hate, misinformation, greed, and a total lack of morality are big sellers. Where did the people who read go?  Where did education go? What happened to our ability to learn from history? Even math scores in the United States have slipped backwards and we are now ranked poorly among developed countries in the basics of education.  What happened?  It all started with Ronald Reagan. Reagan told us the key to prosperity was making the rich richer.  Well it has been tried.  What did we get in exchange for blaming the poor for everything?  We got hate, we got greed, we got Donald Trump.  Now as we approach pre world war II Germany with a Hitler of our own in the making, we need to remember. Hitler was elected.  Hitler stirred up the dolts, the dingers, and the degenerates.  Hitler said oppression and hate were the answer.  Does this sound like The Donald?

If people who have the advantage of insight, and a sense of reality don't finally stand up and confront the current idiocy, we are doomed.  People thought Hitler would dissolve.  When the Germans finally realized the monster their inaction created had bloomed, it was too late.  Here we are in 2016 and Donald Trump is telling us he will deport 11 million people.  We are watching Republican debates where penis size is more important than how Republicans will provide health care.  What have w come to?  Can this be real?  The clown car stopped and the Republican clowns disembarked.  The worst clown of the bunch is our favorite. The clown that bops the other clowns with insults, and  says nasty things.  The clown that is so vile, and yet is the hero of the evangelicals.  Unbelievable.  Kadizzle has said it so many times, but a favorite quote is from George on Seinfeld.  George said " If you believe it, it is true".  This is the new standard. No data, no math, no research.  If Bill O'Rielly said it, and Rush Limbaugh agrees, it might as well be written on the Ten Commandments.  The people who believe this stuff walk among us.  They live next door.  They believe Obama is a Muslim, the United Nations is after our guns.  We have slipped into a make believe world populated by people who will believe anything.  If sanity does not return and our country actually elects a Republican we may live in interesting times.  The old Chinese saying " May you live in interesting times" will define the rest of our lives.

Bodies on the road

Saturday turned out to be a long day.  The Commander and Kadizzle headed to San Tan, Arizona to visit friends from back home.  At 4:30 we headed home to the Earth Module.  Part of the plan was to resupply with groceries in Globe,  Arizona.  Globe is a ramshackle copper mining town you can only get to by some crazy mountain roads winding about canyons, crevices, and over steep gorges.  As we came down a steep hill and around the bend the traffic was halted.  For eight hours the road would be closed.  Apparently three dead bodies plugged the road from a motorcycle crash.  Investigators had to come from far away and there must have been a lot to investigate.  No doubt some huge court case was in the making.

The Kadizzles thought surely they can  open up a path wide enough to get one lane of cars by.  No way.  After waiting for an hour we gave up and made the 100 mile detour through Winkleman.  We should have been back at the Earth module around six.  Our trip ended at 8:30.

A strange coincidence happened while we waited hoping the road would open.  Someone gave up ahead of us.  They stopped to tell a motorcyclist about two cars behind us what had happened.  Kadizzle sent The Commander back to interview the motorcyclist for news.  Some time passed and The Commander got bored again she went to talk to the man on the motorcycle.  As the conversation evolved she realized the man was the person who would be the new member of our trail crew on Monday.  So our first meeting with Jeff accidently occurred under the most unusual circumstances.  What are the odds you would come upon a wreck and the guy behind you is a person you are scheduled to meet on Monday>

Let's abandon facts

Facts are nothing but a nuisance.  When that alarm clock goes off it does so because it thinks it is six in the morning.  If you believe it, you might have to get up.  This is where Fox News comes in.  That alarm clock has a liberal bias, just like The New York Times the alarm clock is just giving an opinion, and the opinion is meaningless because the alarm clock is showing us a time we really don't want to get up.  This is how we have entered the new world of factless Republican certainty.  We now have a new way of finding out if something is factual.  If a lot of people believe something, then it is a fact.  President Obama was born in Kenya because a lot of people believed it.  Donald Trump can be trusted because a lot of people trust him. Experts used to be people who studied and knew something, but now expertise is based on who is the best and most clever liar.  Am I fat?  No point in stepping on a scale.  The scale is biased by gravity.  So I think I will just ask some people if I am fat. I will be careful to ask fat people.  The new reality is great.  You invent it to suit your needs.  Facts just confuse people, and often they are hard to understand, so let's quit this nonsense of relying of factual information.

Follow the water down the canyon

The desert is a magic place. Too many people dismiss the desert as a nasty sand infested quilt with needles.  If you give the desert a chance you will find this is far from the truth.  The desert is a chameleon it can change in an instant.  Today with our Canadian friends we drove into the point where Pinot Creek goes into a canyon.  What started out as a little stream chugging through the cottonwoods slowly turned into a wonderful series of waterfalls and pools.  Streams in the desert can go from gentle to horrendous with one big rain event.  As we walked down the stream into the steep canyon walls you could see the results of a recent flood.  That little stream running a foot or two deep had run through this canyon six and ten feet deep.  You could see the debris in the trees.

When these desert streams rage they move material and create wonderful pools.  Today we found a huge pool twenty feet deep.  The rocks get carved as the sand filled water shapes them. At times we werer forced to walk in the water.  Other times we could go on land.  As the angle of the sun changed everything changed.  Every year Kadizzle commits to one water plunge.  Today was the day.  The water is frigid, but who can resist a crystal clear pool of water in a sun filled canyon.  It was refeshing, and perhaps the baptism washed away some sins or froze them to death.  The cold water put Kadizzle out of the running for president with the new standards set in the debate  last night.

The man that comes to our house

Ok, you blasted Kadizzlites, before you read my story you have to listen to the 1939 version of The Man That Comes Around.  The story will make way more sense once you do.



Way back when Kadizzle was young a person had to entertain himself.  A couple minor problems were involved.  My brother, Kadizzle, and perhaps other siblings were held prisoner on our estate in Ritchie county West Virginia.  Actually the estate could more accurately be described as a brush farm with no running water, nor electricity.  It was not unusual for my father to dump a handful of us kids there and leave us for weeks at a time to fend for ourselves.  Now back to the point.  When you are in the absolute middle of nowhere on Cain's run deep in the boonies of West Virginia you need to entertain yourself.  All we had in the way of music was an old crank record player. The records had songs like Turkey in the Straw, and  My Golden Slippers.  The Man That Comes Around was one record we knew by heart.  Well eventually some worse than senseless scum broke into the farm house and stole the old victrola.

Now this gets to the growing up in Woodsdale part of the story.  As a kid there were men that came to our house every single day. The men came around when my father went away.  We actually had a milkman, a vegetable man, and a baker that came to our house, along with good old Wilbur the mailman.  Of course all these delivery men were just fine people.  Let's start with Mr. Bell, the milkman.  When you had a family of nine you went through a lot of milk.  Mr. Bell's dairy must have had just one cow that supplied milk to the Quinns.  Mr. Bell drove a bright yellow milk truck of the old fashioned kind. On the truck he had some other dairy items like maybe cream or butter.  As kids we knew you could hit up Mr. Bell for some gum, and it was not too hard to get a nice big piece of crystal clear ice to suck on.  When the mood hit Mr. Bell he would donate a big glass bottle of some sort of orange drink to the neighborhood gang.   Usually Mr. Bell had come and gone before we got up, but when he ran late we hit him up for goodies.  I still remember when they went to the one gallon glass jugs.  It was a big event.  Cold days could be a problem.  If you did not get the milk inside quick enough you had frozen milk coming out the top of the jug.

Vincent was the fruit and vegetable man.  He always drove and old green truck with a scale, and old fashioned sliding doors. He brought the green beans, the bananas, the apples, oranges, grapes and whatever else you might need.  The back door would ring and one of us would yell " It's Vicent".   Vincent my let you snitch a strawberry or something, but the best time of year was when he had fresh apple cider from an orchard in Ohio.  Man, to this day I have never had such good cider.  It just had a touch of ferment on it, and we loved it. It seemed slightly carbonated.

Another back door guy was Mr. Blum.  He brought the baked goods.  In the back of his truck were huge sliding drawers that could be pulled out.  Those drawers were full of baked goods. Fresh baked goods like cookies and bread.  Mr. Blem might flip you a big cookie.  That was a major hit.

The guy who really knew the neighborhood upside down and backwards was Wilbur the mailman.  He was like a member of the family.  When he came up on the porch and put the mail in the little box by the door he always chatted a little with my mother.  He always loved to tease my sisters when they got letters from a boyfriend.  Wilbor knew when it was a love letter and he knew how to tease my sisters. Wilbur was the mailman forever.  Wilbor made my grandfather's dog famous, or my grandfather's dog made Wilbur famous.  Jeff, that was my grandfather's dog, no doubt named after Thomas Jefferson, was some sort of white collie. Jeff was smarter than most people.  Somehow Jeff got it in his head to walk the mail route every day for fifteen years with Wilbur.  Jeff went down to the bus stop everyday and met the bus Wilbur came on.  At the end of the day Jeff left Wilbur at the bus stop.  Whenever the Wheeling News Register got hard up for a story they did one on Jeff and Wilbur.  My older brothers and sisters used to go on the mail route sometimes with Jeff and Wilbur.  Jeff must have been getting dog treats.  Well my brother and sisters figured it out and went with Wilbur. Soon they would get a cookie or two.

Now there are no men that come around. No one knows anyone. We all sit and stare at the computer. If you get a love email, there is no Wilbur to tease you.  In those days no one ever locked their house.  For 26 years our house was never locked.  No one knew where the key was.  One reason you never locked the door was because someone might need a place to sleep.  With six sisters, and two brothers there were a lot of friends.  One of the joys growing up was to wake up on Saturday morning and see who was sleeping on the couch.  Inevitably some poor soul did not make it home and just came in a slept on our couch.  Who would notice with nine or our own a miscount was possible.

Rambling

The Earth module sits quietly above the lake.  Slowly the sun is managing to rise.  The cool morning air is drifting in the windows.  Now we must decide how we will spend the day in front of us.  Of course The Commander wants to go on one more hike.  We have already hiked hundreds of miles.  Kadizzle might go on a buzz with the motorcycle. What a wonderful life when you get to wake up and choose what to do.  The prisoners just drove up. Those poor guys don't get to choose what they will do.  They will be maintaining the great empire of The Forest Service.  It will be a better day for them than sitting in a jail cell.  We have plenty of coffee, but one major problem.  The coffee beans are not ground.  Somehow we have to get the beans ground, otherwise we go caffein free soon.

NPR is on the radio.  The news is in the background.  The mess the Republican Clown car has crashed and the one clown that has survived is the worst one, The Donald.  Fox News, The Tea Party, and Rush have accomplished their goal.  We are now a huge modern nation populated by the most poorly informed people money can fool.  Should the people with functioning brain cells fail to elect a Democrat we will live in "Interesting Times".

Take some time and the history will emerge.

Today the hiking crew took a jaunt up Reevis Gap.  Kadizzle has always wondered about this route.  Kadizzle speculates about the possibility it may have been an important Indian trade route.  There is what appears to be an Indian dwelling site on the trail. Today Kadizzle hiked back to the truck leisurely while Cliff and The Commander forged on at full speed. One sight Kadizzle always likes to find to verify a site is pottery shards.  On the way in Kadizzle found none, but on the way out he found enough to convince him indeed this was a site.

Kadiizzle thinks the Indians in the Roosevelt Lake area were trading with the Indians in the Superstition Mountains or the Salt River area.  Kadizzle's theory is the trade was grain for meat.  Now to get this stuff back and forth the Indians needed what later would be called stage coach stops.  The site on the Reevis gap trail would have been perfect for this.  It would have been an overnight rest for the people going back and forth.  Indians traveling through Reevis Gap would have had a great short cut to the Salt River north of the current Roosevelt Dam.

Back at the Earth Module

After our trip to planet Belize The Commander and Kadizzle are back beside the lake inhabiting the Earth Module. Life is settling into the old routine. Yesterday we were back at it for The Forest Service putting up trail signs.  Up before sunrise here we sit enjoying the warm desert air which is so comfortable compared to the sweltering heat of Belize. The tranquil nature of our existence here seems to have increased in value since we had a dose of the big cities and got to watch the rats race.

Things have warmed up to the point that the rattlesnakes are probably roaming about.  After Belize the rattlers seem fairly tame.  Our Forest Service boss said another person may join our trail crew.  We can always use more help. Our current mission is to get higher into the mountains and get the upper parts of the trails.