Wedding in Fargo.

After living in North Dakota since 1976 Kadizzle walked through downtown Fargo today.  Fargo is strange.  It is a city on a pancake.  What do people do here? There are no mountains,  valleys, and no real natural wonders, but good soil.  So here we sit about to go to a wedding of an old neighbor's daughter.  Natalie Jean the  dancing queen used to play with our girls when they were all little.  Natilie used to go on our sailing adventures occasionally.

Last night we spent with the Barns.  Their house is full of wonderful art objects.  Sandy and Taylor have a bizarre relationship. Taylor is as liberal as Kadizzle, and Sandy worships at Trump's feet.  Now this could cause a nuclear explosion except Sandy has a little shack outback he can escape to.  In the shack Sandy makes some of the finest fly rods money can buy.  Kadizzle would like to have a nice escape shack like Sandy with a wood stove, lots of tools, a TV, and peace an quiet when needed.

Kadizzle just returned from the train station in Fargo. A strange sight was there.  Right next to the tracks was a large sailboat.  Apparently it belongs to the owner of the bike shop that does business at the train station.  Kadizzle thought he would chat the fellow up about sailing, but the man could not be located.

Sylvie

Both your great grandmothers went to prestigious Ivy league art schools.  Your nanny was an artist and worked with you every day on coloring and drawing, Your mom is a pretty good artist, and your aunt Meg is a professional artist and fashion designer.  Does it get any better for Sylvie who likes to draw and is into fashion?  So when Sylvie made the pilgrimage to see her new cousin in Philadelphia as an added treat she got to go to the headquarters of Anthropology where megan is a designer.  Sylvie got to see her aunt in the real environment of an artist surrounded by all the tools of the trade.  Back at Meg's house the two of them worked on designs together.  Needless to say Sylvie has become very talented for a girl that just turned eight.  As the old grandpa I think back on my childhood days.  We got to do a lot of things, but when I put my childhood resume next to Sylvie's it pales in comparison.  As an only child Sylvie has live a very enriched life.  So far she seems to be under control for not being too spoiled. I think she understands the concept of work for reward.  Grandpa admires her ability with reading, math, and of course art.

Sailors

Kadizzle has a good jump on the sailing season. The boat is polished, the engine has been started and checked, so the ship is about three quarters ready to go.  Somehow a fellow found Kadizzle on the Google. The fellow wants to sail in each of the states.  North Dakota needs to be crossed off his list, so in June Kadizzle will help him complete his mission.

Up at the boat yard a few of the brave regulars have showed up and begun the process of reading the boats. With the power washer we managed to do in an hour what normally would have taken all day.  So a couple of the ships are in ship shape.  On the Sovereign the mainsail is on, and just a quick coat of VC17 should be all that is left before launch.

The weather has turned mean, and memories of T shirts in Arizona are haunting.  Looks like one day this week may be decent.

New member inducted into the Crazy Club.

What a great day at the Crazy Club.  Stroupini celebrated his 70th birthday, and Bev was inducted into the club.  A debate took place regarding the issue of if Bev was crazy enough to join.  After indicating a few crazy things she had done in her life the vote was unanimous and Bev became the latest to be acknowledged as a member in good standing. A discussion was held about Bev's initiation. It was determined that she should wear sacred underwear for a week. As those who have studied the mormons know sacred underwear is part of their cult.  During the discussion about the initiation Shiny brought up the matter that Mormon's had special sacred underwear for married women.  The details of this discussion cannot be revealed, but research must be done to determine if Shiny is correct.  Kadizzle suggested Bev wear his underwear for a week.  Do to health considerations this idea was rejected.  A prayer session was held and Kadizzle gave the evocation.

At this point the group decide to listen to the Youtube item below






None of the club members were aware of international trepidation contest, and this recording provided a great deal of laughter and entertainment.  If you take the time to listen to the presentation you will become aware that in international competition a farting post is used. After the audio entertainment was over a breakfast roll was served in place of cake for Stroupini's birthday.  Lord Kadizzle presented Stoupini with a farting post for his birthday.

Early Morning

Old Kadizzle is up at 5 A.M.,  Mrs Kadizzle is in Philadelphia visiting the new pumpkin C.heech brought into the clan.  The Crazy Club will meet today at 9:30.  The renter is asleep in the basement so Kadizzle must creep about quietly.  Jobs need to be done, but they don't seem very appealing.  Wallpaper needs to be stripped back in the engine room, and other household things need to get done, but the mind says none of that is any fun.  Slowly the batten boards are getting redone in the basement.  Summer is evolving very slowly. Flowers were popping out everywhere in Arizona, but North Dakota cannot seem to get the engine started for spring.  A few nice days then back to the old wind and cold.  The sun is not up yet, but the days are getting longer.  So here we go another day will bloom and be pissed away, but such is life.

Launch The Good Ship

The good ship sits on it's trailer.  There is a lot of surface area on the hull, and that means a lot of hand polishing and scrubbing. This morning Kadizzle did some homework and confirmed what he has always suspected. If you go by surface area, Lake Sakakawea is the largest man made lake in the country.  Lake Mead and Lake Powell hold more water, but are deep narrow lakes.

The amount of crap that has to be put on the boat is amazing.  Boat paraphernalia will easily fill up more than a pickup load.  The birds seem to think the boat is an outhouse.  This is the worst year ever for bird droppings. Something made them like it this winter as it was stored.

The first time out is always a thrill.  The peace and quiet of the lake is calming, and sleeping on the boat is always a pleasant thing.

Same old Same old

The summer routine is in full swing.  Kadizzle participated in the Remidigus yesterday and the day before. What is the Remidigus?  Well it works this way.  You get on your bike, your motorcycle, or even use the car if you have to, and then you go on a bullshit route.  On the route you run into people and shoot the breeze with them.  So yesterday Kadizzle went to the Crazy Club, a mandatory stop on the Remidigus.  Shiny's little dog jumped on Kadizzle's lap and sniffed his ear like it was full of prime rib.  Normally Shiny's little buddy is not so loving, but with Stoupini gone doggy needed a back rub.

As luck would have it Kadizzle returned home and forgot his cell phone at Shiney's.  On the way back to Shiny's who should Kadizzle run into but Mrs super crazy, who produced her son more crazy.  Mrs Super crazy and Kadizzle had quite the run in a few years ago.  Mrs Crazy claimed Kadizzle tried to run her over with his motorcycle.  The whole thing ended up in court and Mrs Crazy was ruled crazy by the judge.  Kadizzle has been friends with Mrs Crazy's son as part of his mission to help the insane.  So believe it or not Mrs Crazy and Kadizzle have become quasi good acquaintances.  In front of the crazy club we discussed the current status of her son and one of the other young mental cases we have tried to reform.  Mrs Crazy's son suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, as does the other crazy client.

Talking to Mrs Crazy a lawyer friend happened by and another BS session got going. Then over to see the other guy who loves to agitate the Republicans.  In the course of the Remidigus Kadizzle finds out who is shot up and falling apart. Over the winter time has taken it's toll on Dave.  Dave is and always has been about as crazy as you can get.  Dave used to be an oiler on the shovel when Kadizzle worked at the mine. Dave apparently had a bad spell in the hospital then got out an wrecked his truck.  Dave is a tough old bird and is up an running, who knows for how long.  Stopped to see Archie at the garage and got the fill in from him on another old work place.  Archie is a premiere garage puttering person.  The only person Kadizzle has not caught up with of major  importance is Rita the sewing lady.  Rita also runs a crazy club as she does her sewing on mainstreet.  Rita has a collection of crazy people that rivals Shiny's crazy club. Some are members of both organizations, including Kadizzle.  Crazy Bill frequents Rita's club.  Crazy Bill sets the standard for nuttiness.  Old Dariell is barely chugging along with cancer.  Getting up to date on all the local nonsense is a big job.

Me, Myself, and I

Each of us are made up of several spirits.  The picture above is of me, myself, and I .  I am flanked by my two spirits. In our head we all have voices.  Rarely do the voices come out and let us see them, but mine did. Those voices fight with each other. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other one does.  So the fight goes on every day.  One voice wants to eat ice cream. One voice wants to be skinny.  One voice wants to go up the mountain, and the other wants to sit in a chair with warm sunshine.

What is it like when the spirits in my head start to dance.  The ideas bump into each other, there is harmony, but there is confusion. So the spirits came out and danced.  I got to see them work. 

Here we sit

Here we sit back at the homestead. Checked the Sovereign and it came through the winter fine.  The lake is up for this time of year and it looks like the sailing will be great because we can get into our favorite bays. Mrs. Kadizzle as usual is going nuts on the yard. The yard has to be dethatched. That means Kadizzle drives the lawnmower over the yard so many times he is suching up the very soil the grass lives on. From the mountains of Arizona to the flat prairie of North Dakota is a big mental adjustment.  The difference in climate is astounding.  You don't get up in the morning in North Dakota and wander around in a T-shirt.  A major battle here might be boredom. Of course there are a million task to be done to maintain the mansion. So any minute the siren will go off and signal the start of summer.

Beside the Lake in South Dakota

After many years making the trip from North Dakota to Arizona we have found a system for travel. Two lakes are involved. On the way to Arizona we stay at Cochiti Lake, and on the way back we stay at Angostura State park by the lake.  So this morning we awaken to an excellent view from high above the lake with the sun streaming in the windows. Mrs. Kadizzle is stirring the eggs and soon we will be off through Rapid City and across the prairie.  From the incredible crowds of Denver and Phoenix we will go back to the deserted streets of Hazen.  To see a traffic light when you live in Hazen you have to drive 75 miles.

One nice thing about visiting parks in the off season is you have the whole place to yourself.  The wildlife wanders by and the birds visit.  Welcome back the cold.  Frost on the window every morning, and a jacket.

Earth Module blast off

Hopefully the Earth Module made it through the night in Denver without freezing up.  As the sun shines in the window at Sylvie's house the eggs get cooked and the Kadizzles prep to head North.  If all goes as planned the Earth Module will land above a lake in South Dakota tonight. Perhaps there will be TV reception.

Yesterday the Kadizzles made one more pilgrimage to REI to get more fribbles.  Fribbles are things you really don't need, but you feel compelled to buy something.   Some stores are nothing but fribbles.  Kadizzle bought some sort of neat cam device that might work on the outhaul for the sailboat.  Mrs. Kadizzle bought a new pair of hiking pants.

Our trip downtown the other day has Kadizzle thinking about the bum infestation in Denver.  Denver has a bad infestation of bums. Sadly the bums hang out in the nice area around the capital.  How do you spray for bums?  That might be the answer. If a sprinkler system were installed and it would come on every hour or so, the bums might not like getting wet.

A Truckload of bodies

The Kadizzles made a pilgrimage to the Denver History Museum.  On the way back to the train station we took the free bus.  In the course of the bus trip Kadizzle engaged a man in conversation. The man said he had been a truck driver.  Kadizzle asked the fellow what he hauled to which he replied cadavers. Kadizzle asked the man what the name of his company was.  Kadizzle suggested the name might be "Cadaver you want to go".  The fellow claimed that once he was stopped at a truck scale and they asked to check his cargo. According to him two bodies fell out and frightened the officer so badly he had to go to the hospital.  The fellow claimed he went cross country picking up bodies and took them to some medical school in California.  When Kadizzle inquired how many bodies he hauled he said up to 20,000.  He made it sound as if that was one truck load. Maybe he meant altogether.  If it was in one load they must have been ground up and dehydrated.

During the conversation Kadizzle asked why the truck driver quit driving. According to him it was because he had a heart attack while driving. Now, imagine a truck wreck that kills the driver hauling a trailer load of bodies.  The news report would have no idea how many were killed in the wreck. It might have set a record.  If he had two hundred bodies on board that would have been a lot of dead people found at the wreck site.

Earth Module successfully lands in Denver

The blasted Ticklepinch, A.K.A. Sylvie ran out to the Earth Module to greet Grandma, and Grandpa, even though she had a little bit of a fever.  Sylvie is growing like a weed.  A tall skinny weed. In no time Grandpa was in the basement watching the future Olympic gymnast on her gymnastic bar doing her routine.  From Grandma Sylvie inherited the unlimited energy gene.

So for a week we will be enjoying Denver, Sylvie and her parents.  Now we have to wait for a magic spell of weather to get the Earth Module back to it's summer home.