What is on my mind? Where are we? If you are interested you may find out here. If your not that is the beauty of the keys on your computer, you can surely hit a couple and go to other places on the planet. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY PEACHES, LET ME BE, STAY OUT OF MY ORCHARD, DON'T SHAKE MY TREE
The Commander and Kadizzle have worked their way to the Flaming Gorge Dam. What a strange day dealing with the world of fantasy. The first part of the day we made it to Independence Rock. This was a very important place on the Oregon Trail. If you did not get there by Independence day it was unlikely you would make it across the mountains before the snow. We stopped and got an interesting perspective from the Mormons at the site where so many Mormons pushed their carts through the pass. Two groups of Mormons started late and it resulted in a disaster that got over one hundred of them killed by the weather.
To teach the modern Mormon children about what the old timers went through they send them to the site we visited to push the carts the Mormons used to make their trek. They reenact the tragedy. At the site there are hundreds of carts for young Mormons to load up and push across the prairie landscape. No one brainwashes like the Mormons. They can take a young mind and turn it into Mormon mush in an amazing way. Who could get young people in their teens to go door to door selling fantasy without a thorough cleaning of the brain?
After leaving the world of Mormon make believe we dropped down into the Green River to spend the night. Soon we were engaged in a conversation with some people in a cabin near ours. Before we knew it we were having dinner with them. The husband turned out to be a retired lawyer and it was not long before a heated political conversation brewed. Obama is going to come get our guns, the U.N. is training soldiers in Virginia to take over the United States. There is a vast army of secret soldiers all over the United States in the guise of Homeland Security, and on it went. We live in a very crazy world. It was like having dinner with Rush Limbaugh. Kadizzle of course was living and spouting his liberal fantasy. Reality has been suspend. Just believe what you want. Want to believe you will die and be made God of your own planet, see the Mormons. Want to believe Obama is after your gun, check with the NRA.. No matter what you want to believe or how outlandish it may be there is someone willing to back up you fantasy, or provide you one premade. The guy in Arizona charged people money to bake them in a sweat lodge. He killed a few. The Donald tells people outrageous lies every day, they love him. Just tell people what they are inclined to believe. Nurse people along on any absurd idea, it works.
Well it looks like old Kadizzle will be sending a donation to the IRS. Seems like Turbo Tax checking, and checking and assuring Kadizzle all is well was not the case. Lets look on the sunny side. The goverment lent Kadizzle some money for three years. Now if the government takes the money Kadizzle will send and builds some roads, some bridges, and does all the other good things government does, then Kadizzle will feel good when the check goes in the mail. If the money goes to buy some silly plane the military has been conned into buying then sadness will prevail. The government is full of humans. They are just like you and me. Some do a great job, others are terrible. Republicans want to condemn the government in it's entirety. People hate having to pay for anything. Yesterday Kadizzle had to pay to have the oil changed on the car. Does that mean Kadizzle should hate the gas station owner? People so easily forget about the interstate, the national parks, and yes the research. Most of the things we have and enjoy came from government research. What? Yup, that is correct. Companies take credit for inventing all sorts of things, but when you check it out you find so many times it was the result of what the government did. The internet came from the military. Almost every modern invention was made possible by space exploration. That government that Republicans think is so damn bad saved us from Hitler. The real enemy Republicans cannot see is the corporations that have infested the government like termites. Remember that guy Dwight Eisenhower? He was a REPUBLICAN. He said watch the Military Industrial complex, it will screw you. Well he was right. The military eats up 70% of the check Kadizzle will write today, but Rush, and Fox have you thinking it is the welfare cheat. The welfare cheat actually gets very little in the game. The welfare cheats make up 20% of the population, yet only get 2% of the goodies. Everyone imagines the welfare cheats as lazy hopeless noncontributory. It just aint so. Most of the poor in this country are white. Most of the poor work one or more jobs. The poor make it so you can buy a hamburger so cheaply and get all the crap you want from Walmart cheaply. So why do we hate the poor? We hate the poor because Rush and Fox tell us to. It was not rich people Kadizzle saw in the coal mines of West Virginia mining coal so you can have electricity, steel, and prosperity. Did you ever see a rich person with a shovel on a road job? Why so much disrespect for the people who actually build your swimming pool, cut your grass, and feed your baby? Why let Fox News tell you the people who do the most for you are killing the country? Next time you go out to eat give the waitress a tip and say " Get a real job you worthless welfare cheat". The Donald will be so proud of you.. When you pull up to the guy holding the slow sign on the highway say " You are a loser" that is what The Donald would do. So I will pay my taxes and I will get to fly in safe planes, drink safe water, take safe medicine, and enjoy everything the government provides. It is a bargain.
The IRS and Kadizzle have had a few go arounds. Yesterday when the Kadizzlites returned from the week long sail and went through the mail there was just what Kadizzle needed a letter from the dreaded IRS. Kadizzle has been using Turbo Tax, and it seems like their computer has a glitch. Turbo Tax did not report Kadizzle's Social Security income. Kadizzle thought he had the mess straightened out by sending additional documentation to the IRS. No such luck. The IRS operates with two left hands. So today is fight the IRS day. Oh what fun.
Now this does not always come out badly. Once upon a time Kadizzle went to the post office and got a real nice legal notice from the IRS. That notice said Kadizzle owed fifty thousand dollars. Kadizzle just about committed suicide, but took a breath and called the IRS. When the phone call was over the IRS said they made a mistake and sent Kadizzle a check for two thousand dollars. That outcome is not likely today. Kadizzle will settle for zero.
Kadizzle does not mind paying taxes. Somebody has to pay for the parks, the roads, the research, and all the things we get from the government. Government employees are humans and do their best to do a good job. All this nonsense about destroying the goverment hyped up by Republicans can have some bad consequences. Starve the government of funds and then expect excellent service? Republicans love to say the government is inefficient, but never do they notice the most hungry inefficient part of the government, the military. The United States spends as much on it's military budget as the next twenty countries combined. Talk about waste and abuse? Well, every Republican wants to spend more. Just in the last two weeks Kadizzle has talked to several people who are or were in the military. They recognize the waste. You can scare people into spending on the military, but you cannot get them to pay for education, pot holes in the road, or a cure for cancer.
In the old days we all shared the burden of paying for taxes, but now the top earners have shirked their duty. No one who has any understanding of the tax system can deny the tax system favors the rich. A classic example is Social Security. After 118 thousand dollars the rich do not pay a cent in social security. That is an automatic 7% tax break. Sure you can shake it, and bake it, and pretend like social security is not a tax. That is the Republican mantra. The tax system worked when there was an inheritance tax. The tax system worked when the rich paid their share, but now we want government services without inconveniencing the wealthy. It simply does not work.
A simple fair tax system does not exist. Why? Well if you are a congressman and you want donations you need to promise special tax breaks for the rich who will give you money to get elected. So here we go.
Here we sit having coffee in Heaven Bay. Over twenty years ago Pat and Kadizzle sailed in here and claimed the bay in the name of all sailors. Rain fell all night, but it was wonderful sleeping. Winds yesterday were reasonable and here we are. Today wind from the North East at 10. Enough of a northerly flow will get us back to base. The propane gave out and by the grace of Rodger we are cooking French toast this morning. The Commander poured all the extra juice in with the toast so it will be scrambled egg French toast. The big question will be if The Commander lets Kadizzle drench the toast in syrup as is his custom.
Looks like the Democrats are off to a good start. Refreshing to hear from sane people. The Trump threat to our democracy is a scary thing. Like many people Kadizzle wanted to see Trump get nominated to ruin the Republicans chance. Now that it has happened, it is scary. It is like having an apple shot off your head. If it works it is exciting, if not pulling the arrow out of your nose is painful. If nothing else this election will be a census on exactly how many stupid people are among us. If the number is too high we are doomed. Stupidity, fear, and a disregard fro history are the main causes of Trump's success. Playing on the emotions of ignorant people who are unshaped by the truth is something Trump has perfected. Someone has to buy pet rocks, someone has to send in the 19.95, and someone believes you can cook the planet with no problems. Trump has tapped into those someones. Now, if the people who read, understand science, and know history don't get off their arses and vote we are doomed. Stirring up idiots is easy. That is how lynchings start, that is how riots start, that is how disaster is initiated. Yell fire in a theater, that is Trump's specialty. Trump paints a picture of our country that is simply not true. There are more jobs, crime is down, and our country economically leads the world. Those are the facts. Trump wants to make American great again. Great to him is blacks on the back of the bus and Mexicans picking vegetables for slave wages. The man who wants to make American great stole the services of the architect that built his golf course. He would not pay him. The Donald stole pianos from the man he would not pay. The Donald is famous for stiffing people. Elect him and watch him stiff the country.
The wind gods would not give up a nice reach to Lucky Mound, but at least they provided some nice sailing with a few tacks. The direct distance was about 13 miles, but after many tacks we made it and everyone enjoyed the sailing. Our major problem was a good campfire location. The Commander insisted we shore poke to find one. Shore poking means you keep trying to get you boat into a decent spot without going aground before you can step off. We ended up at the same old spot, which is actually pretty good, but there was still the fire problem. Up the hill we went and found a doable spot. The spot was unique, it sat on a prominence and had a terrific view. However there were two problems, first the site was very un-level, which meant the 18 sailors had to sit in two rows facing the fire. Very unusual procedure, but it worked. The second major problem was ants. A very nice flat rock on the point seemed to be teaming with ants. First Terry tried to sit there, but gave up. Kadizzle then assumed the perch on the ant mound. Apparently his body odor worked and the ants did not bother him. The wood pile was also infested with ants. When all was said and done the sailors had a wonderful campfire with a terrific view.
With a good start the sailors are off to Bear Den Bay. The Kadizzles have to head home to take a raft trip on the Green River in Wyoming. It will easily be a forty or fifty mile sail back.
Now for today's political update. Kadizzle walked down the line of boats yesterday and observed the pins that hold the boats to the shore. The more cautious and conservative the boat owner was the more the pin was driven into the ground. Of course the Democrats just gave their pins a few twist. Now when a storm comes the Democrats will rely on the Republicans to hold them in place since all the boats are also tied together bow and stern. Kadizzle pointed this phenomenon out to Bob and Rodger. Well this morning like a good Democrat Kadizzle found out he had no propane. Democrats do not carry excess supplies. Roger saved the day by offering not only propane, but a small stove to go with it. Now this get us to Kadizzles favorite Democratic bumper sticker. " Be a Democrat, get other peoples stuff". We that is how the cookie crumbles. As a kid Kadizzle always remembers the story about the grasshopper and the ants. The ants worked hard all summer, while the grasshopper just fiddled his time away and had a good time. Winter finally came and the poor old grasshopper was starving with no food. The ants had a stockpile from working hard all summer, and finally felt sorry for the grasshopper so they fed him.
The moral of the story can be what you like. Of course it is good to stock up on money, wood, food, fuel, or you name it. Now, there is one problem. We will all be dead some day. On the day you die if you have a pantry full of food, a wood pile higher than your house, and way too much money in the bank, then you spent too much time cutting wood and piling up money. There is a happy medium out there somewhere. That is what we seek. One side will never have enough bombs, tanks, guns, and soldiers. The other side will never have enough social security, medicaid, and health insurance. The damn flies are bugging me and I hope the ants don't give them any food this winter, let them eat cow shit.
Poor winds all day foiled our sailing group. After hours of motoring everyone stopped, rafted up and went for a swim in the middle of the lake. Bob had a leak on his radiator system, but after much struggling, and sweating we managed to fix it. Back in Bear Creek Bay Diane went aground. Now Kadizzle is going to call her Hard Bottom. Roger pulled Hard Bottom off with his boat and all was well. Next Doc declared mojito night. Tired and backed from the sun everyone was too lazy to go up to the camp fire ring, so an unusual mojito party ensued. The special mojito table was set up on the path in front of the boat and Doc did his magic. The mint was mudleled, the simple syrup was poured, and 18 sailors sat in their chairs in a line on the path drinking the heart elixir mixed by Doc. This morning the fleet is slowly heading toward Lucky Mound thirteen miles to the north. Some boats broke off and went for supplies to McKinze Bay. Ice will be replenished and joy will follow with more cold drinks. The wind is poor again for sailing today and it my be another joyous day for Doc and his power boat.
If you see two birds in a tree, you can count them, one two. You can count murders, cars, money, and so on. You can chose to ignore the numbers. Crime has gone down according to the numbers, things are way better than people believe. Read Paul Krugman's article in the New York Times today. Donald Trump has no respect for the truth. Donald Trump says the United States is the highest taxed country in the world, simply a lie. The United States is about 36 among developed countries. Donald never corrects his lies.
Now lets go to logic. Republicans do everything in their power to destroy Obama care and make it fail, then they bitch that it is a failure. The same is true for government. Republican obstructionist do everything they can to stifle the IRS and the EPA. Then they bitch because these agencies are inefficient. Yup, you take the air out of the taxi's tires, then bitch about how bad the taxi service is. Health care is the most insane example. Bitching about health care is a national sport. Why do we have insurance companies? Insurance companies add nothing to the product they only enrich insurance executives, and stockholders. Anyone who understands how insurance works knows it is exactly the same as how a casino works. You take someones money, keep some for yourself, and give as little back as possible. That is how insurance works. Insurance companies take in money, just like a slot machine does. Insurance companies pay out, just like a slot machine does. Sure one guy gets more quarters back than the other guy put in, but the Casino produced no cars, no coal, no nothing, they simply stole some money as it went by. That is how health insurance works. The CEO of an insurance company is paid millions. All his company does is shuffle money. Wall Street has perfected this. You shuffle money, steal a little and create the illusion you did something. If there were no insurance companies involved in health care stealing billions, the billions could be spent on actual care for actual human being. Most civilized countries have figured this out, but not the United States of Bubba. We know there will be death panels, and all the other hocus pocus. Facts simply do not bear this out, be we love being confused. So when you compare the outcome of health care decisions in our country to other advanced countries we have the most expensive and ineffective health care in the world, but lets just ignore those pesky facts and keep bitching.
Eighteen sailors are slowly waking up in Heaven Bay. It is a favorite spot. Doc is the only power boater and he is diligently working to accumulate sailing points. Doc got 1,000 sailing points yesterday by gathering fire wood. Terry Fields made the big trek all the way from Fort Stevenson sand joined us after dark. Terry did a good job with the GPS and was able to locate the fleet. Rodger went out in the dingy to guide him in.
We had a great campfire surrounded by the badland atmosphere. Today the decision will have to be made about which way to go. North or South at the Little Missouri. Winds look like they will be light from the south. Hopefully it will not be a day of motoring. Kadizzle meant to bring a spinnaker, but forgot. Wink, aka The Commander got up and coffee was in the cup. The lake water is so nice for swimming. Back here in the cove it is perfect. Paul tied up next to us has been catching fish. He just got a walleye. Yesterday he caught a bass.
Today the week long sail begins. Boats will depart the docks loaded down with all kind of solid and liquid goodies. Tonight the fleet will gather in Berthhold Bay. The same lies and stories will be told that have been told for the last 35 years. Sailors will be seated around the traditional campfire site.
As the week progresses people will be fried in the sun, washed in the lake and dazed by alcohol. In the old days many attempts were made to plan the whole week out. Over the years the sailors have learned you just go with the wind. Working our way down the lake we usually go both North and South. The trip south will take us down the Little Missouri for the traditional trek up Quinn's Crack. This is a rattlesnake infested hike up across the narrow crack to the summit. If the lake is at the right height the ships can go a couple hundred yards up the creek and anchor in a secure jungle.
Each of the anchorages brings back memories from years past. Maybe we had a storm here or some other memorable event took place. Hiking has become part of the voyage. If there is a summit near the bay we anchor in a few brave souls will trek to the peak. The greatest part of the western end of the lake where we travel is the isolation. Lake Sakakawea is surrounded mostly by Indian reservation. That means the shores are not plugged with homes and trailers. It means you get to see much of the land just as Lewis and Clark saw it.
It seems to happen just about every year. The boats are all tied down in a cove and then here comes the storm. Last year we sat out a storm that did massive damage to the docks back at the state park. We were fine, and glad we were not at the marina. Ten or fifteen boats tied together rock and rolling in a storm gets everyone's blood flowing.
Then there will be mojito night. Doc goes with us in his power boat. Doc is the only engine guy brave enough to go on these outings. Last winter The Commander and Kadizzle were camped on Lake Roosevelt in Arizona. We kept seeing three coyotes go by with a domestic dog following close behind. That domestic dog is Doc. Doc's beast of a yacht is so big he has to park separately from the sailors, but he has become a loyal companion. Every year Doc has a mojito night. Doc mixes up drinks for everyone and the celebration is on. Doc has trouble distinguishing work from play. Kadizzle has known Doc for a long time. The good baby doctor always wears his operating room scrubs day in and out. Few boat captains are dressed ready to deliver a baby but Doc is. So last year Nancy finally pulled it off. While Doc was busy mixing his brew all the women went below in their ships and put on scrubs. When Doc came out with the mojitos he was greeted with more nurses than he would ever need unless he drank all the mojitos himself.
Kadizzle, Stroupini, and The Commander are going to make a raft trip down the Green River in Wyoming right after the great sail, so the Sovereign will have to return early from the great westward adventure. Pray for fair winds from the north or south and when you are sitting home in the next terrible storm think of a bunch of idiots out on that lake getting pelted with rain at seventy miles per hour. Oh the joy of it all.
Every parent has the problem. A bum infestation is a serious problem. Perhaps you have a spare bedroom or a couch infested with a bum. The bum may be a leftover child that has failed to leave the comfort of your home. Now you, yes you, can solve the problem for 19.95 with aerosol Bum Be Gone. After the successful launch of our aerosol Bitch Be Gone, Bum Be gone was a natural. Bum Be Gone has irritants like the stuff they use in bear spray. Now, with both products we have put a boat horn on the spray nozzle. So if that bum is sleeping on the couch you can give a blast that will awake him to the world of work. Soon your pet bum will be afraid to pass out watching TV. If this is not enough you will also get a special filter for you TV that will only allow preachers, and educational TV channels to come over the cable. Want even more for 19.95? Just to show you how much we care we are sending you our bum wipes. Yes you can use them to wipe your bum, but they are work scented. The smell of work drives bums mad. It is a sweaty smell and if a bum is threatened with work he will seek shelter. Sure your home might smell like a gym for a couple days, but your Bum will be gone.
So when your bum yells at you "How do you expect me to live in this place?", simply say I don't and yell Bum Be Gone. Holy in Florida bought a can for her neighbor. Now in her testimonial she says there is no more heavy metal and late night parties emanating from the house next door. The product was recommended to Holy by Honest Omar in North Dakota. Omar loves the products of our company Better Living Through Chemistry. Omar used the Moochaway. Moochaway also comes in a convenient spray can. Mostly made from all natural cat urine it does the trick. Do you have a friend digging into those cookies you just baked and set out to cool? Put three cookies on a plate. Leave them out where your friend will be tempted. Give them a little shot of Moochaway. After one or two beers one shot of Moochaway will send your problem mooch out the door. All these products have been tested on real bums, real mooches, and real bitches.
Right now our chemist are busy developing Fog Be Gone. It will come as an inhaler. The product is for Fox News Watchers, Fundamentalist, and hopefully can be used to cure Republicans. We had to send the chemist back to the lab when they first simply put carbon monoxide in the inhaler. Now they are working on a mixture that will revive sleeping brain cells. If the product comes to market before the election there is hope the country can be saved.
Once more Kadizzle has become more wealthy thanks to the wise investments of his father Old Gold. Old Gold had a penchant for insanity that has always run deep in the Kadizzle family. Old Gold would go to tax sales and randomly buy the interest in who knows what. Well the net result is Old Gold has gone on to the great beyond, but has left his children rich from his crazy investments. Yesterday and oil and gas landman called. He failed to get hold of Kadizzle right away, but The Commander told Kadizzle the man wanted to lease some land Kadizzle had no clue he owned in Marion County West Virginia. Today Kadizzle agreed to lease the land so the gas well can be drilled. The land man explained on the phone today that Kadizzle owns two one hundredths of an acre, which entitles Kadizzle to a fifty dollar lease payment. Just to make Kadizzle feel better they will give him one hundred dollars. Two one hundredths of an acre is about the size of our back porch. This means even if this is the best gas well ever drilled in West Virginia Kadizzle will probably get one, maybe two candy bars per year from his vast holdings. The good news is the last time this happened the lease man said Kadizzle would have enough money to buy a pizza every month from his well in Ritchie county. So right now Kadizzle can rest knowing his future is secure with his vast oil and gas holdings. Kadizzle has oil and gas interest about half the size of his back yard. So far no wells have been drilled, but Kadizzle will be so happy to commemorate his dad when he eats the first pizza paid for with his inheritance, plus he may get a candy bar for dessert.
Don't worry about Kadizzle being heartbroken over one more near miss. As a kid when Old Gold was in the oil and gas business we were always about to become wealthy. Old Gold would always take an eighth or a thirty second in a well he sold stock in. Of course none of these wells ever amounted to anything, so the legacy goes on. There is one last hope. Kadizzle is not sure, but he may have an interest in 22 acres back in the hills. Perhaps someone will hit gas on that and we will get a nice meal once a week. So dear old dad, God bless you and every year when we eat the pizza and candy bar we will remember how hard you tried to make Kadizzle financially secure. At least you left Kadizzle a good laugh, when the guy said Kadizzle owned that big two hundredths of and acre.
The sun came up, Kadizzle had his coffee, the fishermen went out, and now the day has started. It is still early and so peaceful. NPR has Kadizzle up to date with the world. NPR has been reporting on the weird guy pulling the rickshaw down the highway. An outhouse with a red cross. Apparently he is promoting marijuana for veterans. Amazing to sit here on the dock with several million dollars worth of boats that get used so little. Kadizzle spends a lot of time at the lake and can assure you most of these boats rarely get used. We live in such a strange society. We work so hard to accumulate stuff and then never use it. People put so much money into these beast they are afraid to scratch them. The yachtsmen come to the lake polish their prize, sit at the dock, and never go anywhere. Kadizzle has a plan to make huge boats for the dock polishers. Since the boats never leave the dock they don't need a motor. You can get a much bigger boat with more room if you leave the motor off. Now all you have to do is put the boat in the water have someone tow it over to your slip, and you can start polishing. There are sixty boats sitting here this morning and odds are maybe one or two will get used all week. This is America where five million dollar vacation homes sit empty on the golf course in Sun Valley Idaho all but for three weeks out of the year. Meantime some poor black person driving to work gets shot because of gun confusion. Wonderful country where there is at the same time so much and so little. Some kids living in shacks with very little while other kids parents cannot find enough ways to piss money away on little Johnny. It has always been this way. Of course those with so little are just lazy and too stupid to have a rich daddy that could leave them a couple million to give them a good start. Who cares? Kadizzle is fat, happy, and suffering himself from prosperity, why share a damn thing, let the lazy bastards get off their ass and work if they want something. Sure Kadizzle had two parents, a decent home, and some help getting started, but if those lazy welfare cheats would quit sitting on the porch collecting my tax dollars the world would be fine. Well, maybe the kids are not to blame, but what the hell we pay for them to go to public school, while we send our kids to private school. We need to cut back government, but make sure the military always has more, more, more. Maybe the new F 35 did cost a trillion dollars, and so what if it does not work right? Look how all our military spending has kept us safe from those pesky terrorist. Maybe some defense contractors have gamed the system and bribed a few congressmen, but no system is perfect. We need to be able to bomb people who do not pray the way we do. In fact the Bible recommends stoning them, so bombing them should be far better. A good dose of bombs will make them see the light, even if it is a nuclear light they are seeing. We taught those Japanese a lesson. Now they make good cars, sushi, and nice TVs. With a good bombling we can have the Arabs making some good lamb roast. Well I took my medication, but it does not seem to be working I am still crazy as hell.
The fact that Americans have chosen a carnival barker to run for president is almost beyond belief. The level of ignorance in our country is astounding. Trump will contradict himself in the same sentence. In one speech he will tell 72 lies. His admirers love it. Who goes to NASCAR races, who loves flying the Confederate Flag, who loves loud pickup trucks, and watching Duck Dynasty? The Trump supporters love just abandoning thought, common sense, logic, science, and embracing fantasy, racism, and bubba logic. Kadizzle finds it so hard to believe there is a hard core of idiots in our country who would elect Hitler if he were a Republican.
Where are the normal people in this country? Where are the people who read? Where are the people who understand logic? If normal people would publically confront the idiots, the racist, and the sheep that follow them. Politeness has backfired. Republicans have capitalized on hate, fantasy, emotion, and scared old white guys. As Kadizzle writes this he is listening to NPR. Trumps son is on demonizing educated people. Trump's son is praising people who have rejected education. As Kadizzle has said so many times the Republican motto is "Education just confuses People". You could add to that reality confuses people, math confuses people, science confuses people. Here we sit frying the Earth with pollution, and people merrily go on spewing more CO2 into the atmosphere. We have reached an age where we have simply abandoned facts and the truth. We have found that fantasy is so easy to embrace. People have moved into their computers and phones. We have people falling off cliffs staring at their phones. Now we have this Pokeman insanity. People chasing imaginary characters, Trump is an imaginary character. NPR just reported people killed playing Pokeman who were hit by a pickup truck. When you get caught up in fantasy bad things happen. The Trump crowd needs to realize how their Pokeman will get them killed and destroy our democracy.
Few things are sadder than see young minds destroyed. Over the years Kadizzle has seen vibrant young people with good minds being home schooled. Nothing is as tragic as taking a function bright young child and filling their head with nonsense. Just as sad are young mormons on their " mission". Nothing exemplifies religious nonsense like a young guy almost twenty going door to door selling fantasy in the name of God. Young people with healthy functioning minds allowed to be fed religious mush. Minds that could advance science, cure disease, or save lives are wasted when deranged parents spend hours indoctrinating these poor children with religious nonsense.
There is no global warming, yet every scrap of scientific evidence points to a real problem. New records for heat are being set every year, yet the same crowd that home schools, and elects Trump tells us it just ain't so. You have rights in this country. You have the right to be stupid, but do you have the right to inflict your stupidity on your children? Apparently if you do it for God it is all OK. The brainwashing of anyone should be a crime, but religious people don't hesitate to keep their children away from normal children and tell them the most insane stories one could imagine. Seeing this tragedy unfold what can you do? Some of these kids become conscious and break out of the bubble their parents create, but others are trapped in the insanity and on it goes for one more generation.
Once upon a time there was a little girl, who played with the other little girl up the street. The little girl grew up, had a young son and got a job. Kadizzle had known the young girl her entire life and thought he might impart some advice to her. Somehow she told Kadizzle she wanted to get a tattoo to honor her father who passed away in an unfortunate accident. Kadizzle explained to the young woman that a tattoo was a waste of money, what she should do is put the money in a fund to send her child to college. This would be much more of an honor to her father than a tattoo. Kadizzle ran out the numbers and showed her that in sixteen years her five hundred dollar tattoo money could turn into significant college money. The young mother agreed what Kadizzle explained made sense. As Kadizzle walked out the door thinking he had done a good deed the young mom said " I am getting the tattoo".
Facts, reality, logic, math, nothing fazed her. She wanted to believe the best thing was to get the tattoo. Well after just reading about the insanity of Donald Trump and how so many people just act like he is not nuts, does not lie, and is not a disaster, Kadizzle wondered how can people divorce themselves from reality. The tattoo mom explains it all. They want something they want, that defies logic. Like the young people that want to pierce their tongue. Why? What sense does it make to pound a nail through your tongue? You defied logic, you created pain, and now you are happy. This same human phenomenon may get us the worst and most dangerous president ever. How does it work? Kadizzle will just have to pound a nail through his tongue or get a penis piercing to find out.
World War II was a minor skirmish compared to Kadizzle and The Commander trying to make a bimini for the boat. To match the white trash style of our yacht it was essential to construct the bimini out of as much mismatching material as possible. Incidentally a bimini is a little umbrella like device to provided protection from the sun on a boat. One of the best ways to construct anything is to use materials meant for something else. So the first essential ingredient were fiberglass rods used to sweep chimneys. The rods were strong and had the attribute that they could bend. What else could we use? Well Easy Ken the junk dealer and garage sale magnate sold us some kind of strange shade device for backyards. Yup, that was the sure thing. Now let the insanity begin. So the sewing started and the discovery of problem quickly followed. How could you get a piece of cloth to become rigid. More southern engineering. The Kadizzles used battens to stiffing the mess. After many broken needles on the sewing machine, yelling, screaming, and gnashing of teeth the blasted thing is complete. Now the boat will have that combo gypsy, cheap ass, insane look we always go for. While others will sit under store bought biminis that work the Kidazzles will fight over a postage size piece of shade that will be torn to tatters during the first blow, but we have pride. How many people can produce such a wonderful invention from electrical pulling tape, a chimney sweeping brush, a back pack strap cut to pieces, and a back porch sun shade?
The whole episode reminds Kadizzle of "The Joke". A country fellow went to town to buy a suit to impress his girlfriend. Into the shop of an old Jewish tailor he went. The country bumpkin asked the tailor how much a suit would cost and the tailor quoted a price the bumpkin thought way too high. "Ah", the tailor said maybe I have the suit for you already made and at your price. So the tailor told the bumpkin to try on the jacket. It fit fine except one arm was way too short. The tailor explained to the bumpkin it was just a matter of keeping that arm bent and in a bit of a convoluted manner. That worked. Next came the pants. Of course one leg of the trousers was too short. Again the tailor explained that keeping one knee bent when he walked would make the bumpkin's suit look just fine. So the bumpkin bought the suit and proudly promenaded out the store and down the street in his new attire. Unfortunately in his ill fitting suit he had to walk like a cripple to get the sleeve and pant leg to look the correct length. Across the street two nuns were walking the opposite direction and saw the man who gave the appearance of being crippled walking down the street. One nun said to the other " Look at that poor crippled fellow". To which the other nun replied "Yes, but his suit sure fits nicely".
Well that will be the Kadizzles. On the lake someone will say look at those poor people with the rag tag bimini, and someone else will say " Yes, but it cast a lot of shade on that fat guy, too bad Mrs. Kadizzle is still in the sun".
Want people to do something? Scare them. Yell, "There is a snake". They will move. The world is awash in groups using the scare tactic, and no one has mastered it like the Republicans. Someone is always going to "Get you". Of course the terrorist may strike any moment, anywhere, so the best thing to do is stay inside and watch TV. Then the next threat is the atheist, the Democrats, the poor, the socialist, and on it goes. Just whoop up some fear and then say you will protect the dingers from socialist, snakes, and poor people. Now you are elected, and all you need to do is bomb some bad guys to show you are the protector.
One you have people scared you can start to twist the rules. You can torture people, you can lynch people, and you can oppress people. So let's get on with it. Let's pick two good enemies. Muslims, and socialist are my choice. Throwing religion into the mix always works. Hitler figured that out. Remember the need to feel someone is after you. Paranoia always is a good tactic. Someone is trying to get you or what you have. The Democrats are trying to get you and give your stuff to the poor. Maybe we could sell you a gun so when the poor come to get your stuff you can shoot them. So we need to make this simple. You need to be able to spot the enemy. Simple solution, the enemy is black or a Muslim you can spot wearing a religious suit. This all works great, now how about some carnival barkers to really stir things up. Rush and Fox News will step up to the task. They will bend, twist and lie about all those people coming to get your stuff. They will whip you into a frenzy, and make sure you have the knowledge you need to speak at the coffee group down at the gas station.
What about a savior? Well we need to make America great again, and The Donald is the man to do it. The Donald will bomb, torture, and build walls. The Donald will give back America to old white men who have always owned it. So crank up the radio, and let Rush give you the news as fast as he can make it up.
The KLR 650 has a new owner. Two young guys showed up from Williston and took the steed away. Kadizzle will miss the KLR. The KLR has a fine reputation as a means to explore on a budget. The KLR is an an adventure cycle. Adventure motorcycles are meant to take you down the highway and the dirt roads that ensnare our country. The idea with an adventure bike is to pack all your gear on a motorcycle and take off to explore the world. Years ago Kadizzle came across some adventure bike riders on the Mexican border and always has been drawn to the idea. Three young guys about to head through South America on an adventure. The nice think about an adventure bike is you can drive right down the beach, right up the mountain, or right beside the lake. Once you park your bike you unroll your sleeping bag and do da there you are. It is a trip for a young guy, not a 67 year old Kadizzle. Now Kadizzle will be served by his loyal Yamaha 250. The Yamaha is ideal for Kadizzle. It is just the right size can go on the highway and the dirt. The Yamaha does not have the highway speed the KLR did, but that ain't all bad. It will keep you out of some trouble. When the Yamaha falls on you out in the boondocks it is a situation you can recover from. You cannot afford to have the KLR fall on you, and when it does, it will be a real strain getting it up again. So the bottom line is Kadizzle has to reluctantly admit he is 67 and has to ride a pony not a race horse.
Kadizzle went to the liquor store to buy a bottle of wine for dinner. As he often does Kadizzle quized the clerk about his view on politics. In no time the clerk sounded like a replay of a Rush Limbaugh broadcast, then the other clerk chimed in. Conducting these little straw polls has clearly shown the right wing fantasy is flourishing in North Dakota. People are angry. People feel busted flat, but they are clueless about the cause. They just need someone to fight for them. Hitler capitalized on this mood and we all know the results. When Hitler simply made things up, people wanted to believe so badly they did.
Now we have Trump, the modern day equivalent of Hitler. Working people know they are getting screwed, they are in the mood to buy any story, and they do. Trump is clearly mentally ill. He is a pathological liar, he is a narcissist. Trump is a circus barker for the greatest show on Earth. The simple minded eat it up. The scary part is it might work. Trump knows how to play to the redneck and the working white man who feels his country slipping away. Trump plays to the worst in all of us, and it works.
When you were a kid you wanted to believe in Santa Claus, but facts slowly eroded the illusion. One reason Santa Clause worked was because you had an immature mind, a mind that did not seek facts, a mind that knew nothing of logic. Sadly so many today still have that immature mind that does not see through the Trump lies, and fantasy. Our country is in real peril from a tsunami of ignorance. Fox News sprays the airwaves with falsehoods, and people line up to get soaked with stupidity. Fox News knows people who are overweight want to be told they are skinny, so that is their business model, tell the dingers what they want to hear. Next the dingers go to the coffee shop meeting and assure each other Obama is after there guns, and he was born in Kenya.
One thing that happens to you when you grow up in West Virginia is a few phrases get in your head and stay there. Once while down state I heard some old hillbilly refer to evangelist as stump preachers. In the old days when the the preacher traveled around the wooded hillsides of of West Virginia there was a lack of churches. The best alternative was to climb on a stump and start preaching.
As a child the nation's second radio station WWVA played a role in my life. The WWVA Jamboree was a big deal in Wheeling. One of my earliest memories was going to the original theater where the Jamboree was held. It was an amazing old place. I think it was near the McClure Hotel. My grandfather used to take us there for the Linsley Minstrel Show. It was a strange theater because it was very short from front to back, but it had balconies that went up forever.
My father had the habit of tuning the radio to WWVA as we made weekend trips up and down the Ohio River to a farm we had in Ritchie County. Once the sun went down the stump preachers started to come on the radio. Hearing these con men do their stuff was entertaining. The goal was to get someone riled up that would send the preacher some money. A.A. Allen was one of the preachers. A.A. Allen was featured once in Time Magazine. A.A. Allen revivals came from Arizona. Old A.A. had a habit of drinking martini's while he sat in front of the microphone in Arizona spreading the word of the lord to my hillbilly brethren. Then there was Reverend Ike, another famous con man. Reverend Ike made it onto Sixty Minutes. Good old Ike would look his congregation right in the eye and tell they he was bilking them. They loved it. On Sixty Minutes Reverend Ike was shown in a clip dressed in his best suit showing off his diamond ring collection to his congregation. The old reverend told his followers " You bought these for me, I go into the jewelry store and these rings just crawl up on my fingers, god wants me to be prosperous, and he wants you to be prosperous too, just send me money, and god will bless you".
One day somehow I ran into a salesman that sold time for WWVA. I asked him why WWVA had these crooked preachers on every night. The salesman explained to me what a money maker it was. WWVA did not have to do anything but charge the preachers to broadcast. The salesman explained that the preachers always paid on time because they knew there were other stump preachers just waiting to get the chance ot sell prayer hankies and bilk the gullible. It seemed like a great business model. The preacher bilkes grandma and shares the proceeds.
There may have been something good that came out of all this. As a teenager when I could not fall asleep often I tuned to WWVA and listened to the con men. Inadvertently I learned a lot of scripture. To this day I can quote the bible with some of the best of them. Also there was another bonus. The Honorable S. Bishop Sheldon, Pastor and General Overseer of the Church of The Lord Jesus Christ came on about eleven or twelve in the evening. Bishop Sheldon operated out of Philadelphia. He had so much money that he preached very little, and he had the best best gospel choir ever. After a lengthy introduction that I used to have memorized the choir would start to sing with those wonderful voices and I would fall asleep hearing " One, one, one, one way to God".
Now, I am not sure if I have been saved, but I have been born again. God struck me down with prostate cancer, and I had to have my prostate removed. In the process I ended up with a scar right below my belly button. The scare makes it appear I have two belly buttons. This works great when the evangelicals come to the door. When they ask " Have you been born again?". I pull up my T Shirt and show them the second belly button and reply " There is the proof". As the Bible says "God works in strange ways". WWVA proved that beyond a doubt.
Old Shanika called the other night and told Kadizzle he had to look at the app flightradar24.com. Try it. You can see where every plane in the United States is. The Commander thinks Kadizzle has completely lost his mind, but Kadizzle was just out on the back porch trying to see a United Airlines flight going to Portland. You can follow a plane from Denver to Bismarck and almost see when it touches the runway in Bismarck. The Amazing thing is to see just what 6,000 planes in the air over the United States looks like. People who do not believe in climate change need to see this app. Each of those planes is spewing 4,000 gallons of kerosene into the air. If you don't think we are screwing up the planet think again. Now think about 40,000, 000. cars on the ground doing what they can to fill the air with CO2. We live in a jar. Fill that jar with CO2 and pretend like nothing is happening. The best thing to do is just ignore it. Have some more coffee and see who got shot yesterday. The Commander has issued orders that Kadizzle is to report to the bedroom and let the FAA manage the planes until Kadizzle gets the clothes folded. This must be an adult time out.
Shanika called last night beaming with pride about his new super wok. Sanik is a good cook and has come up with a wok that is fueled by a Saturn Five rocket. It looks like it might churn out some good food. The invention may have some merit and may be a good seller for Shanika.
The big storm went through and no damage occurred in Hazen, but Killdeer looks like it got blasted. Looks like hail may have been a foot deep there. Bummore disappeared and left the window open on his parents house. Kadizzle had to go close the window and shut off the TV before the storm hit.
It has been a strange summer for the degenerates. Somehow they all disappeared. It is like a spaceship came and took all the little delinquents that were wandering around here last year like mosquitoes. Not a one is to be seen anywhere. Sadly the degenerates came with the oil boom. With the air out of the oil boom the boomers have gone back south or wherever they came from. With them came drugs, and vandalism, so they are not missed.
Two big adventures loom on the horizon. First is the annual week long sail. Sailing for a week steady is taxing, but some sailors want to push it for two weeks. Kadizzle and his gang will be starting adventure two as adventure one ends. The Commander is planning a raft trip down the Green River. Should be a good trip and Stroupini is going to go, so there will be a plentiful supply of insanity.
Here we sit, Nick, Kadizzle, and The Commander. Yesterday Kaizzle picked up a stray dog on the docks of Lake Sakakawea. Actually Nick was the stray dog. His blog is Dogs and Windmills, check it out for details. Nick is making the trek down the Missouri, possibly to Florida. Nick built his own boat, and Rodger and Kadizzle helped Nick get it across the Garrison Dam so he can continue on to the Gulf.
Nick and Kadizzle had a great sail in the good ship, then we had a rinse with whiskey and Coke. So this morning we have to get Nick back up to the lake to continue. Life is strange. While enjoying our drink on the dock at the park Nick encountered an old Air Force friend he had not seen in eight years. How strange that a person should float down the Missouri and end up on a dock at precisely the right time to meet an old friend.
For years the Kadizzles have offered refuge to bicyclist, and river travelers. David Miller was one of the first strays we picked up. Dave wrote a book about doing the river and mentioned Kadizzle. Now every person doing the river has David Miller's book, and it is fun to reflect on the trip he made and all the people we have met since. Last year it was Larry, and Lying Dave. Lying Dave was cheating and doing most of the trip by hitchhiking with his boat in pickup trucks.
Hope springs eternal, but the bum has to go to the spring. In an effort to help Bummore fix his teeth Kadizzle put Bummore in touch with a Bismarck Charity Dental clinic. Bummore called the clinic, but failed to follow up. The Clinic had some minimum standards, which is good. The clinic requires people seeking help to have a job posting with a resume on the Job Service website. This is a reasonable requirement. Kadizzle had a spark of hope for Bummore, but that evaporated today when Bummore said he was too busy to finish dealing with the charity dental clinic. Bummore was tied up watching television. God helps those who help themselves. Looks like Bummore isn't going to get any help from Kadizzle or God.
As part of the attempt to help Bummore Kadizzle spoke with a dentist friend. The dentist has dealt with many like Bummore. Kadizzle asked where Bummore could get help. Ironically the dentist was one of the founders of the charity clinic in Bismarck. However, the dentist suggest the whole attempt was hopeless. Sadly Kadizzle has to admit, he was correct. The retired dentist said what Bummore needed was to be cold and hungry. Apparently there must be truth in that. As long as Bummore has a place to watch TV where it is warm there is not much going to happen.
So if I give you money for a pizza, and you cannot go to the phone and order a pizza, I want my money back. There are humans apparently who can get people to order them a pizza while they continue to watch TV.
Kadizzle tries to be a sympathetic liberal, but sometimes it is trying. Right now Kadizzle is building a fenced in area with good soil. Inside the fence he will place seeds, a rake, a hoe, and a few other basics. Bummore and his fellow bums will be locked inside the fence with the seeds. If they don't plant them, the animals can feed on their flesh. This could turn Kadizzle into a Trump voter. Just kidding.
What a simple elegant solution, just shoot your problem. If you are the problem point the gun at your head, pull the trigger, and your problem is solved. If your neighbor's dog comes in your yard, just shoot the dog problem solved, maybe not. Now the neighbor is pissed and comes to shoot you. He does. His problem is solved. One you have guns sold like WD-40 people will use them like WD-40. Guns work on everything. That rabbit eating your carrots, shoot it. That guy stealing your car, shoot him. What other product can instantly solve so many problems. What we need to do is put guns in vending machines. Who knows when you might need to solve a problem. What if you go in a store and the clerk is being robbed but you forgot your gun? If you could go to a vending machine and buy a ten dollar gun, problem solved. The NRA has it right, the problem is everyone does not have a gun, but they should. Guns are like life jackets, you need to wear one all the time, you never know when your boat will spring a leak. Of course there will be mistakes. Of course there will be children who get hold of the guns, but that is a small price to pay for such a simple elegant solution to almost all social problems. Guns solved the problem in the Civil War, guns solved the problems in World War One, World War Two, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, China, Russia, Germany, and on it goes. Once you get a problem solver, what you need is a bigger problem solver. So if Willy has a one shot, you get a double barrelled shot gun. If Willy has one you get a six shooter. If the cops have six shooters you get an assault rifle. A bigger explosion always solves the problem. Japan and the United States had a problem, we solved it with a huge explosion. Explosions are great solutions. The question is how long do solutions with explosions last. Unfortunately the explosion solution always seems to lead to more and bigger explosions later.
Maybe there is a different approach. Maybe we could go to the neighbor and see if he is a reasonable man. Maybe he does not know his dog is destroying my grass. Maybe his dog is a hunting dog. Maybe I could tell him I will take his dog for a walk. Maybe when I walk his dog it flushes a pheasant. Maybe I have my shotgun along. Maybe I don't have any dinner. Maybe I solve the problem with a gun. I shoot my dinner. Now we got a dead pheasant, a happy dog, a happy neighbor, and I have dinner. The moral of the story is to shoot the right thing.
It has been a long slow process, but Kadizzle has been trying to reform a young bum. The young bum is starting to grow out of his bumliness. Yesterday Kadizzle told the bum if he shaved and got a haircut Kadizzle would give him $20. Damn, the bum boy did as instructed and Kadizzle is out 20 bucks. Now that we have the bum about halfway to being fit for a job we have a major expense. Bumworthy has ruined his teeth and needs some major dental work. Kadizzle told old Bumore to see if he could get a dental school to use him for practice. Kadizzle told Bumore that he would give him $200 if he actually got some dental work. The whole idea is to get Bumore a job. Bumore needs to be presentable to get a job. Now if you are reeking with money or simple mindedness like Kadizzle and want to contribute to the Bumore foundation. Let me know. If the plan works and The Bumore foundation can raise enough money to get the teeth fixed perhaps it will happen. If the plan does not work any money accumulated will be returned to the donor. Kadizzle just had a brain storm. Kadizzle has a dentist friend who might have an idea of how to get Bumore fixed up. Kadizzle is going to call him right now.
Kadizzle has one too many motorcycles. The Kawasaki, better known as the Kawadizzle needs to go. It is a great motorcycle, but has more potential to get Kadizzle killed, and there is not enough room on the plantation to store it. Kadizzle put a couple of adds on the internet to let the Kawadizzle be someone else's storage problem.
Soon Kadizzle got some messages on his phone from a guy who asked a few silly questions. It seemed like someone might be interested. A little strange the interested guy was from West Virginia. Without seeing the cycle the man said he would buy it for his grandson. The purchaser kept asking if Kadizzle had a pay pal account. Kadizzle suggested the man just wire him the money. The smell of a rat began to emerge. Kadizzle asked the man where in West Virginia he lived. Since Kadizzle had a brother and two sisters there maybe the guy could just give the cash to them. That was the end of the game. The scammer said he would send some company to come pick up the cycle. Checking the internet Kadizzle found the pick up company was also a fraud.
The more Kadizzle looked into it the more evident it became a scam. Who makes a living scamming people on Craigslist? Hard to imagine someone somewhere searching Craigslist adds and communicating by text messaging to gyp people. It would have been fun to play along farther with the scammer and see exactly how the plan would play out. Part of what they do is create a false web page that looks like Pay Pal. More than likely they would pay me too much, and then ask me to send some of the money back from a real Pay Pal account. Checking the internet it seems they also might have picked up the motorcycle and refused to return it unless I paid a ransom. The sad thing is no one makes any real attempt to catch these people.
Kadizzle has been having a back and forth with a retired minister friend. Kadizzle has a problem. Religion makes absolutely no sense. Somebody came up with a rule. Kill Jesus on the cross and your sins are forgiven. Now who made that rule. Only one logical possibility exist. God made the rule. What was he thinking? It might have been a simple solution, if God forgives sins just to forgive our sins and call it good enough. Since God is all knowing, and can do anything, why did he not come up with a different key. He could have said if you kill all the mosquitos human sins will be forgiven.
The other major thing Kadizzle cannot get his head around is prayer. Why do you have to ask God to do the right thing? If indeed God can cure drought, cancer, or cure someone hurt in a car wreck, why doesn't he just do it? Why do you have to get a group of people to beg him? In our town they have prayer circles. The implication is that if enough people ask, God will do what is right. Does God hold polls? None of this makes an ounce of sense. A baby is suffering from a medical condition. A group of people ask God to make the condition better. Why did they have to ask? What kind of God would allow a child to suffer until the right number of people asked him to change things? Not one single bit of religion makes any sense, yet we are inundated with it. In our little town we have a dozen churches that sit empty six days a week. We heat them, we put massive amounts of labor, money, stone, and lumber into them. Meanwhile we have no sidewalks, we do not have a rec center for the kids, and we lack many things that could have made life better for everyone. What kind of God would say build me a big edifice and forget about patching that hole on mainstreet. Forget about paying the teachers a decent salary. What I want is a lot of nice churches with stained glass windows, and good carpet. This is pure insanity that adult human beings would take resources from the Earth that could help people live better lives and sacrifice them to a God who wants higher steeples, better marble, and more grandiosity. It simply does not make an ounce of sense. If someone has an explanation please give it to me. Apparently God has a bigger ego than Donald Trump.
Somewhere the other day Kadizzle came across a story that condenses a lot of advice into a short story. Here we go. .
A man and his wife got up every day and had coffee. One Monday when they sat at the table having coffee the wife looked out the window and saw the new neighbor woman hanging out her laundry. The wife remarked to her husband about what a poor job the woman had done with the laundry. She commented that the white clothes were dinger and nowhere near clean. The next Monday the same thing happened and the wife remarked that she might have to show the woman how to do laundry.
The following week having coffee with her husband the wife looked out at the neighbor's laundry and remarked " Someone must have shown her the correct way to do the wash, it looks clean and very nice". The husband replied " No dear, I cleaned the window.
We all see life through a window. It is our window. Maybe the answer to so many of our problems is to understand we are looking through a window, and maybe we should clean our window. Some of us look out the Fox News window, some the MSNBC window. Either way there is distortion. Think of the windows we look through, the religious window, the white window, the economic window, and the age window. Until you understand you are looking out the window you will see a lot of dirty laundry.
Want to get up correctly? Find the music to the words below by By Dylan. Play the song, listen, and awake. Bob Dylan plays the absolute best harmonica ever in this song.
https://youtu.be/llK08ljfj7Y
ln the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair. Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand. Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay. I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame And every time I pass that way I always hear my name Then onward in my journey I come to understand That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand. I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face. I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
I God wanted to blast Kadizzle off the planet he sure had his chance yesterday. The Commander and Kadizzle decided to follow Bob and Liz to Heaven Bay with the good ship Sovereign. We had a clear chance to duck into Berthold Bay, but the storm on the horizon looked like it would go North of us, wrong. We sailed right into it. Many years have passed since Kadizzle has sailed for an hour straight into a howling gale. At first the rain was light and we thought we might get off scot free, but there was lightening in the distance. Soon the lighting was all around us. Wind is one thing, but lightening is something else. The Commander insisted we furl the head sail and motor. To keep her happy we did and it was probably a good decision. Ahead it appeared as if the water was calm. This turned out to be an illusion, a wind line was coming right down the lake. The Commander was below and Kadizzle was getting sandblasted with rain drops. All the navigational aids failed to provide service. The old reliable GPS was giving directions to turn right or left, but it later turned out it was set to the wrong approach to Heaven Bay. The laptop battery was dead, and the phone battery was dead with no charger to be found. If visibility continued to be near zero the way into the bay would not be easy. Fortunately just as we got close the clouds parted. Now the guy up there could have blasted the boat to shreds with a lightening strike, but he must have been picking the winners of football and soccer games during the storm so he missed his chance, but then again perhaps he parted the clouds. Parting things like the Red Sea is one of his specialties. Either way things turned out good for this agnostic.
So today we had a pleasant sail back and hit almost eight knots at times. The lord giveth and the lord taketh away. Anyone who ever played a slot machine knows that.
As Kadizzle boomed across Montana, Idaho, and the state of Washington he consumed about a bag of cherries per day. It was the time of year cherry stands appeared everywhere, and they were irresistible. Chuck Strupini thought there would be some dire digestive consequences, but everything came out fine.
One gradually realizes most roads take advantage of rivers to get through the mountains. A road along a mountain river is a pleasant ride. When it is a roaring spring melt the ride is even better. Along the way in so many places rafting and tubing was being enjoyed. Air is our most precious resource, and mountain air is the best. Trees work hard all day to put oxygen in the air. What a shame to ruin it by putting it through and engine or a power plant. Good air was meant to breath, and it is a pleasure to drink from the mountain supply of pure air.
The thought that always goes through the head driving across country is how did they do it. How did people ever get the trials, railroads, bridges, towns, and civilization into such remote difficult country. Since the 1800's a lot took place. Whenever you are in the west in remote areas you cannot help but be astounded by how someone harvested trees on the steepest slopes, and someone went way back in the middle of nowhere to dig for gold or to trap a beaver.
Stroupine and Kadizzle finally reached his luxury resort in Port Townsend. Stroupini suggested we avail ourselves of the hot tub. While soaking our weary bones we engaged two young teenage boys in a conversation. One asked what was the most unusual thing we saw on the trip. Kadizzle gave his answer. Leaving the Williston area going west on our first day out Kadizzle could see some strange object on the margin of the road coming toward us. As we got closer it appeared to be some skinny man pulling what looked like a rickshaw outhouse. With two rickshaw sticks under his arms he was trudging along pulling the wooden outhouse with big bicycle tires. On the front of the outhouse was a big red cross. When we met my friend at Flathead lake he mentioned that the guy hung out around there. If the cross rickshaw went from Flathead lake to Williston that is quite a feat for Jesus. On the return trip in the middle of nowhere Kadizzle saw a guy on a bicycle pedaling across a vast plain with a cross on the side of the bicycle. As senior citizens we all know we have a cross to bear. So if you have a cross to bear why not drag it through some nice country?
Reflecting on a long motorcycle buzz Kadizzle like the mornings best. With glorious weather the first part of the day with the coolness and empty roads was hard to beat. One morning Stupini and Kadizzle rolled out of bed as early as we could. After a quick cup of coffee the cycles were packed and we were off. As we walked out the door of the room there they were the Harley Hog guys. The dingers were polishing all the chrome on their hogs. These men could be on mountain road enjoying one of the best rides of their life with the sun shining in all it's morning glory, but instead they chose to meticulously polish the hogs. Kadizzle has seen this illness in so many places. In Zion National Park one of the most spectacular places on Earth the old goat will pull in with his 45 ft $250,000 motor home and immediately get out and polish it. At the lake people suffering from acute prosperity will spend all day at the dock polishing their half million dollar boat.
The Corvette guy will polish until his rag is worn out. Polishing is a serious disease. You spend your whole life working so you can have a boat, now you spend the rest of your life polishing it. Kadizzle has come up with a business plan. Kadizzle wants to have a whole line of expensive adult toys with no engines. You could get a much larger boat if it had no engines. You would be at the dock with a bigger boat, with more room, and more fiberglass to polish. Brand new cars could be sold with no engine. Put the car in the driveway and spend the rest of your life polishing. Those fancy European cars without an engine might be affordable. Most people haul their cars to car shows on a trailer, so an engine is useless anyway.
Next to polishers come readers. Now get this clear, there is nothing wrong with reading, but done to excess it is dangerous. Reading can cost you your life. Kadizzle knows people who do nothing but read. They do not have a life, they just read about someone else's life. Do you want to climb a mountain or read about someone who did? Do you want to sail around the world or read about someone who did? There are a lot of opportunities to read. You can read in the hospital, in the nursing home, or in jail. Now, it just occurred to Kadizzle that he has seen polishers take a break from polishing only to sit down and read for awhile. What a sweet life.
Today the Kawadizzle got me back from Port Townsend. Three days buzzing along at 70mph is a long trip, 3,000 miles out and back. Europeans always remark when they travel in the United States about how big this country is. Montana in and off itself is a long day to drive across. For a total of seven days, we only had one day of bad weather. The rest of the days were damn near perfect. I just got back about an hour ago and I am bushed from riding since seven this morning from Lewistown, Montana. The oil boom has definitely slowed, so many abandoned work camps and equipment. Maybe an update in the morning, too tired.
