The transition

Here the Kadizzles sit in the lap of luxury.  We left Arizona from about a 250 square foot RV to wake up this morning in a 400 square foot bedroom.  From the desert to a resort in West Palm Beach Florida.  A life of extremes.  Our little grand daughter is entertaining us all.  She will be two in a few weeks.  Her vocabulary is amazing,  She speaks better than many Trump supporters.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas.  This morning the big thrill will be using the great new toothbrush Erin bought us.  An electric toothbrush. What has the world come to?  Of course some people even have machines to help them breath at night.  If only a machine could just get up in the morning and go to work for us.

Flying to Florida

A nice flight on a full size plane to Atlanta. Sitting here in the Delta lounge soaking up the " Freebies".   Actually not free, but they let us in for thirty bucks, but we get free beer, wi fi, and lots of food.  Now we have to wait until 9:30 to catch the next plane.  We have been very sad thinking about Trump in the White House spending Christmas as he thinks who to fire next. He should be golfing. It would be so nice if he were under the grass.  How can one human be such an evil piece of excrement?  Each day he figures how can he ruin the environment, the economy, health care, education, you name it. His evil never ends.  Silly people think they can control this mentally ill midget.  The Hoopeleheads love him. They guys with the guns, the NASCAR hats, the loud mufflers, and the small IQ's just love Trump. Trump according to them is a man of his word. Well, maybe yes.  He promised to mess things up and now he has.  It was all fine until he attacked Kadizzle's retirement account. It was bound to happen. Leave a dog in the room with the turkey on the table and what do you think will happen.  What does it take to wake up the Hoopleheads?  Anyway we will see our little grand daughter in the morning. That is one of the grand daughters Trump is destroying the world for.   Never has Kadizzle felt so sure there is no God.  Even the most incompetent God would hit Trump with lightening, or at least set his bung hole afire with cancer.  God has plenty of time to starve children, but cannot spare a few moments to infect Trump with some ungodly disease that eats his little brain.

Up in the Mountains

Sun was shining, sky was blue, up to the Sierra Ancha Mountians we flew.  Four members of the trail crew drove up through the pines to the highest mountains around here.  With a magnificent view we could see for a hundred miles in every direction by the fire tower.  The real treat was the herd of Elk down below.   About a dozen Elk were hiding in a small grove of trees sun bathing and grazing.

With the magic key we went up into the fire tower.  One benefit of volunteer work is you get a magic key.  The magic key unlocks every lock in five million acres.  Someone had broken a window in the fire tower so Ken took measurements to replace the glass.  Some old friends spend some of their young years as summer fire tower couple.  That must have been bliss.  Ken told how he was in a fire tower in a lightening storm.

In summary we had a great day.  Jasper, Ken, and Rita hiked down the trail to where Kadizzle left the truck.  Kadizzle hopped on the ebike and rode twenty miles down the mountain, and dropped about five thousand feet.  That is like coasting downhill into the Grand Canyon.  More than once Kadizzle had to stop to let the disc bike brakes cool.  It was a spectacular trip and Kadizzle did not feel safe letting the bike go much over thirty.

Almost homeless

How many people live on the edge? Living the RV life in the winter the Kadizzles see a lot of people squeaking out an existence by living in some type of camping vehicle.  The Republicans want to destroy social security.  Little do they know how many people that will throw into poverty.  A person can live at extremely low cost if they have to by being a full time RV person. There is no property tax, no sewer and water to pay for, no garbage fee, and you are free from so many other things.  Some hard scrabble people move to the Amazon distribution center in Nevada and work like slaves for a few weeks around Christmas.  Most campgrounds rely on the free labor of some old RV people.  In exchange for some lite duties the person gets a place to stay,  maybe electricity,  or propane.   Many of those living the life migrate to the North in the summer.

You can find people in just about every income bracket.  Some are withing inches of abject poverty, others have good pensions, retirement plans or some good source of money.  Likewise you can find people living in tents or half million dollar motor homes.  There are a lot of single people moving about, a lot of divorced, a lot of lonely, and people who just want to escape the rat race.

Shut Down

Our trail crew works for free.  The shut down will shut us down.  Trump's lying is an amazing thing to watch.  A few days ago Trump made a big splash saying he would take credit for shutting down the government.  Yesterday the lying bastard blamed it on the Democrats.  How does anyone believe in the worst president in history?  To top it off his press secretary says he doesn't lie.  No respectable person will work with him.  There have been those who think they can control the errant child, but it does not take long for them to figure out Trump's mental illness is not controllable.

The Kadizzles have been along various parts of the border, Trump has never seen how long or how difficult the border terrain is.  Kadizzle will bet anyone he can drive to the border and walk across in 24 hours.  One day the Kadizzles illegally crossed the border at least thirty times.  The Rio Grande is the border.  Go into Texas get yourself a boat, go down the Rio Grande.  Every time you touch the south shore you are in Mexico. Each time you touch the north shore you are in the United States.

The whole think is much ado about absolutely nothing. It is all about Trump getting his idiots into a frenzy.  Now throw in the stock market.  Trump has demolished the stock market.  This may wake people up.

Read these INSTRUTIONS

First watch the video below, then read the story about Trumps Christmas below where Santa explains to Trump about the solar powered Mexicans.

These Weed-killing Robots Could Give Big Agrochemical Companies A Run Fo...

Santa Brings Trump a gift

Trump was sitting in the Oval Office thinking of something dastardly to do to the American people when he heard a noise over by the fireplace in the office which had been decorated for Christmas.  It was a thud.  There was Santa laying on the floor in the Oval Office.  Ho, Ho Santa said. " You have been a very bad greedy little boy this year, but I have decided to give you one gift, and you get to chose what you want".  The mean old president looking like a rat said he wanted a wall.  Santa looked at him like a parent mad at a child.  " You can't have a wall " Santa said, " but I can keep the Mexicans out".  Trumps evil eyes lit up.  "How will you do it?"  The rat asked.  Santa explained that he had just left Kadizzle's house.  Kadizzle told Santa about a marvelous invention he had seen ( This is real).  Someone had invented a solar powered Mexican.  Kadizzle told Santa about a video he had seen. An inventor came up with a device that looked like a solar panel with wheels.  Out of the bottom of the solar panel little arms came that killed the weeds in a lettuce field.  The little device went down the row and did all the weeding. It appeared it could even pick tomatoes.  " What good is that going to do?"  said the evil rat they called president, or individual one in his court documents.  " Well " said Santa " Here is the plan".   We deliberately bring a few Mexicans to our country and show them the solar powered Mexicans doing their work.  The Mexicans are then returned to Mexico.  Back home they tell everyone about the solar powered Mexicans.  Now there is no point to going to the United States because Mexicans are no longer needed. " What a good idea "  the evil president said. " Now I have an excuse not to shut down the government or build a wall".   Before Santa left though he warned the mean spirited president. " Remember someone still has to do the roofs, and the drywall. "  Trump got agitated and fired a couple of people and then told some lies.  Now,  Trump felt better and had a good Christmas thinking about the food stamps he took from poor children while he played golf.

Shoot em up

Yesterday the trail crew drove to the top of the mountain.  On the way we passed the sign above.  This sign is located in a remote area.  To replace it is a seventy mile trip for two people plus the cost of a new sign.  Hundreds of dollars will be spent just to fix what the gun culture has brought upon us. Then NRA which encourages the gun mentality brings on this nonsense.  Playing to the minds of paranoid little scared men this is what we end up with.  Multiply this sign by hundreds of thousands across the country and you are talking about millions spent to repair gun damage.  These same idiots drag propane tanks, and televisions out into the wilderness just to shoot.  This is what happens when  little brains and big guns are matched up.

French Perfume

A thousand dollars an ounce, supposedly that is what the French perfume cost the add was for.  A film crew showed up to use the bridge here as a backdrop for an add.  The add must have cost at least two hundred thousand for just the part they did here.  At Little MIke's picnic site there were about one hundred people associated with the film crew.  Little Mike was going nuts talking to the French actresses for the commercial.  Kadizzle decided Little Mike needed help managing the rest rooms. It was a ruse so Kadizzle could enjoy the catered lunch for the event.  So all went as planned and we had a good lunch.  Last year they had a film crew doing and add for truck tires.

Today we went up to Oak Flat to clear some trail.  While Kadizzle waited at the bottom of the mountain for the crew to work they way down he encountered a lonely old guy camping in the wilderness from his pickup. Kadizzle offered to show the guy an Indian site and the two took off on a nice hike. The guy looked out of shape, but was a good hiker and Kadizzle had to tell him to slow down.  So here we sit waiting for that idiot to shut the government down over his silly wall.  Trump's silly childish fits cost a lot of money, but the Hoopleheads love the drama.

Good Morning

The sun is up and it looks like a half decent day in the desert. Last night Kadizzle stepped on his laptop so here Kadizzle sits looking at a cracked screen.  A new computer is on the way.  The phone just rang and it was another volunteer. He is upset because the film crew did not show up at his location.  Advertising companies like to use the setting here by the bridge for commercials because it is such a dramatic and scenic site.  Today they were supposed to start filming an advertisement.  Last year they did a Toyota commercial  Of course these film crews treat themselves well with catered meals.  So we had a plan this year.  Kadizzle would put on his Forest Service volunteer hat and look as official as possible.  Then Kadizzle would show up and explain that he was a food inspector.  The food would all have to be sampled before it could be consumed.  Last year the other host and Kadizzle got there just as the food was being put away and missed out on the goodies.

So today is laundry day.  It is sad when the mind goes and Kadizzle is worried about his.  Yesterday Kadizzle got distracted while putting on his shoes. Kadizzle started out with slippers on and began to put on his tennis shoes.  Halfway through the process something must have come up.  Kadizzle ended up going out the door with one tennis shoe and one slipper on.  In his state of confusion  he totally forgot about his footwear.  After awhile Kadizzle started to think one shoe was untied because of the different feeling on the right foot.  Kadizzle thought to himself he should tie that shoe when he got a chance.  'After driving to a trail he was going to work on Kadizzle decided to tie the the shoe.  To his surprise he looked down and saw two feet that did not match.  What the hell he went to work anyway because the other shoe was back at the Earth module.  After awhile a friend came hiking down the trail.  Shortly after the conversation began she saw the mismatched feet and commented.  Feeling like a senile idiot Kadizzle tried to explain what had happened.  Next Kadizzle happened upon another volunteer and again got into a cackle session.  By this time Kadizzle had forgotten about his odd attire. Back at the Earth module he realized the man must have wondered about the mental capacity of Kadizzle.  Now it is time to put on my shoes today.  Hopefully it will be two shoes that match.

No tablets once more

Kadizzle took the ebike up the mountain yesterday. It was steep and the battery did it's best to get the lump on the seat up the mountain.  Even with the assist it seemed like a heart attack was eminent.  On the top of the mountain is an old asbestos mine.  Once in the past Kadizzle tried to ride the motorcycle up to the mine.  The road was in such bad shape it was impossible, but someone has worked on the road and now it is doable.  Since it was late in the day and the ride was exhausting Kadizzle turned back before he got to the top.  Coming down a steep grade on a bike is not easy.  As the bike approached the truck Kadizzle smelled burning brakes like you do from a truck.  Kadizzle touched the disk brakes on the bike and got a good burn on his finger.  The brakes had heated extremely lowering the lump down from the mountain.  If only that energy could be captured.

Now for the political update.  Checking the Bismarck Tribune today Kadizzle came across a letter to the editor.  The letter from one of Kadizzle's critics was titled " Quinn's letter crosses the line".   The writer claimed that calling Trump a liar is not fair.   The writer of the letter said that Trump did not lie about the wall on the border.  When Trump said he would build a wall and Mexico would pay for it. Trump did not mean Mexico would pay cash for the wall.  What Trump meant was Mexico would pay because they could not export drugs and immigrants.  The original letter Quinn sent criticized evangelicals for electing Trump.  The critic took up their side by saying what an honorable man Trump is.  Thank ya Jesus the Bismarck Tribune is more decent than most newspapers in the state and does print a variety of opinions.

Stealing Christmas Presents.

Yesterday was the annual Christmas Party for the Forest Service at Lake Roosevelt.  It was fun and a strange mix of people.  At the party you had the fire fighters, the volunteers, and the regular employees.  The head man played the violin to entertain.  Everyone brought all sorts of food and goodies and it is always a feast.

The best part of the party is opening gifts.  Until the Kadizzles came to the Forest Service Kadizzle had never seen this game of giving gifts.  Each person brings a wrapped gift.  All the gifts are put in a pile. The first person on the list selects a gift from the pile.  Publically the person opens the gift.  Now the second person on the list gets to either open a new gift or " steal " the gift of the first person.  On it goes.  Each gift can be stolen three times.  In the end everyone has a gift, but it is a lot of fun to see the stealing process.  Someone else got a nice blue tooth speaker.  The speaker was stolen by another guy.  Kadizzle wanted the speaker and stole it for the second time.  Sadly someone stole it from Kadizzle.  When the dust settled everyone had a lot of fun Mrs. Kadizzle managed to steal a bottle of brandy, and Kadizzle ended up with a nice little tool set. 

Republicans love to paint the government as a terrible thing full of terrible people.  If only people could work with or for the government.  They would see a different picture.  They would see some very dedicated good people trying to do the best they can with the little resources they have.  Volunteer for the goverment, for a charity,  or some good organization.  We have known so many wonderful volunteers in so many organizations.  Yesterday a Canadian stood up at the party an wished everyone a nice Christmas.  Here is a Canadian volunteering to take of American parks, because the Canadians use our parks.  Could we have a worse human for president than Trump who lives and breathes greed, the destruction of the environment, and the goal of destroying health care.  It is so refreshing to see the  other side of our country, a room full of good people doing what they can to truly make America great.

Republican Pizza

One day my childhood Republican friend and I decided to make some money cutting grass.  He had a lawnmower, and I did not.  At the end of the day we decided to buy a pizza with some of our lawn mowing money.  When the pizza came he told me he would eat three quarters of the pizza and I would get one quarter of the pizza.  Inquiring why this was the case my Republican friend said it was his lawnmower so he should get most of the pizza.  I explained to my friend that I would like to have more pizza.  My friend told me that tomorrow we would cut two lawns and order a bigger pizza.  So the next day we cut two lawns and I got to eat one quarter of a larger pizza.  It seemed like my friend did not need to eat so much pizza and we could have shared in the prosperity,  but that is how I learned about Republican pizza.  No matter how big the pizza is the lawnmower owner always gets three quarters of the pizza.  Now this system was great in the 1960's when the CEO thought he could get by on 47 times what the factory floor worker was being paid, but some how now the CEO is paid 350 times what the factory floor guy gets.  Walmart has perfected this system.  The old lady who is on welfare and the greeter at the Walmart store is paid minimum wage, which is about eight dollars per hour.  The CEO of Walmart is receiving eight thousand dollars per hour.  The solution is very simple. The lady at the door should simply use the money she inherited to open her own Walmart.

Another Day

After another night of extremely strange dreaming  Kadizzle awoke to the trail crew routine. Mrs. Kadizzle was going to head up into the mountains to work with a chain saw crew clearing a trail we have been working on. Cliff and Kadizzle went back to the Grapvine campground to work on the very first trail Kadizzle did about five years ago.  After lunch we started to work on the local trails.

Kadizzle got bored and took off on the electric bike.  It was a good chance to explore some of the canal system that was built in conjunction with the Roosevelt Dam. The hand work that went into the system was astonishing. 23 miles of canal were needed to move water to the hydro plant for the dam. Then entire project was a big undertaking. It required countless tunnels.  So off on the bike he goes. At the first tunnel encountered Kadizzle headed up the hill.  On top of the plateau Kadizzle was amazed to what he had stumbled upon.  There were very large expanses of extremely level ground. The ground was unlike any around.  The ground was flat, free of brush, and had a short grass growing on it. Very much it seemed like an area ancient Indians had raised crops on. The flatness and lack of rocks was astonishing for the area it was in.  After some exploring the trip finally took Kadizzle back to the highway.  However there was one last obstacle. Kadizzle had to get the electric bike under a fence. This turned out to be more difficult than first thought, but we managed.

So now the day is ending and two new Netflix CDs showed up so we will have entertainment tonight.

Individual #1

Trump and his mental illness is mind boggling.  If you missed his meeting with the Democrats leaders yesterday you missed a good show of the chief lunatic.  Only Trump would televise his insanity. Trump makes public a meeting where he has no clue what he is going to say.  The Donald comes of as an incompetent child.  The real question is how do people rationalize supporting him?  In front of television camera live they accuse Trump of lying.  Of course he is lying.  Well if he shuts down the government we don't have to work next week. Go Donald Go.

Love Life on the Run

The Kadizzles have been married for over 42 years, but that is not the case with every person living the RV life.  About half the people roaming around are single.  In our little group we have two married couples, and three single people.  The single people are all divorced, sometimes more than once.  The singles get lonely, but can't seem to stay hooked to long.  As a married couple the Kadizzles just sit and watch the mix and match.  In today's world some use the internet to find a partner.  It is amusing how many seniors we know that find mates online.  Then there is the ground hunt.  As observers we see these things start and end, sometimes pretty quickly.  Once people are alone they get used to having things their way pretty quickly.  This does not work with two people.  Life is a compromise, like it or not.  So the current soap opera involves male A who got female B to come down to our crew last year. Female B was younger and just a friend.  Female B is off somewhere on the hunt.  This year male A brought a girlfriend back from the summer job, Female C.  That did not last long.  Now male A found Female D.  This is all a little awkward with all of us living in close proximity.  So Female C is now trying to decide if she wants to have a companion which would be Male E. 

Kadizzle and Jasper certainly do more than their share of squabbling, but it is far simpler than getting into the senior blender. 

The Placebo effect

Old Grandpa is very proud of his Sylvie on the right.  With her friend they won the science fair and will go on to the state science fair in Colorado.  The experiment was about the placebo effect.  The two little scientist gave the students in their class Gatorade and told them it would improve their memory.  It worked.  Sylvie is very fortunate.  She goes to a good school, has great teachers, wonderful parents, and a system that supports learning.  A young mind is a terrible thing to waste.

This kid grew up under much better conditions than Kadizzle did.  In one year more was spent on her child care than Kadizzle paid for his entire college education.  Sylvie's first nanny was her aunt Katy who did a wonderful job.  Next she had Carlie an art instructor care for her during the day for years. Sylvie has been to countless museums, art galleries, musicals, and even traveled to foreign countries.

Children are our greatest resource.  Planting the seeds of curiosity in a young person does not take a lot of effort.  As our country pisses away money on the military and border walls maybe people should think about the return on investment in children.

Mind Boggling

Kadizzle has traveled about the country quite a bit.  On two occasions the sight of trains has struck him. The first was in Wyoming.  There he watched a unit train fill with coal.  It was an epiphany.  The amount of coal being burnt in this country is staggering.  Your average person has no concept, but we are burning about one trainload of coal every 15 minutes.  What is a train load of coal?  Each car on a unit train holds 100 tons of coal.  There are 100 cars on a unit train, do the math.  We are creating a problem at an unimaginable rate.  Kadizzle used to work at a coal mine.  Just at our mine we had two shovels, huge pieces of equipment.  Each shovel would fill your living room with coal with one scoop. The coal was being burned as fast ass we could get it to the power plant.  We are cooking the planet with pollution.

Now to train story two.  Yesterday Kadizzle and Jasper were in Winslow Arizona.  Kadizzle asked some old guy how many trains per day went through there.  The old guy said maybe six.  He did not pay much attention.  Four trains went through in just the hour Kadizzle was there.  Kadizzle asked another person with a functioning brain the same question that person said as many as 200 trains a day went by.  The latter figure is likely more correct.   As we ate breakfast at the La Pasada train station and looked out the window you could see a train go by about every 15 minutes.   Most of these trains are carrying containers from China or some other country on the other side of the Pacific.  It is just unimaginable that each one of those thousands of containers if full of stuffed animals, televisions, cell phones,  furniture ready to fall apart, you name it.  The bottom line is we are consuming crap at a rate that is insane.  How much of that crap will be in a city or county landfill withing weeks?   Train after train over a mile long hauling crap, junk, nonsense.  As trainloads of stuffed animals from China head to Walmart people somewhere don't have a home, don't have electricity, or a pot to piss in.  Insane is the only description that works.  Poverty is the result of the wrong priorities. 

Rooming with Dorthy Lamour.

Will Rodgers is down the hall and Jackie Gleason is in the room right across from ours.  Well they would be if it were back in the day.  The Kadizzles spent the night at the La Pasada hotel in Winslow Arizona.  The La Pasada was part of the train station when everyone took trains.  Last night Kadizzle sat in the lobby with a Navajo musician.  Normally he just sits there and plays classical guitar.  After engaging him in conversation he mesmerized me with his historical knowledge of the hotel.  It felt like a Navajo story teller was in front of me. His delivery was unique and so fascinating.

Dorthy Lamour stayed in our room.  On most days the Kadizzles are close to the Lake Roosevelt dam in Arizona.  My Indian story teller explained that when the dam was completed the laborers were out of work so the famous Mary Coulter who designed the place hired them to build La Pasada.  Here technique for designing was unique.  She made up a fantasy and it involved a story about a Spanish family.  The story turned into the building.

Smart Juice

Kadizzle takes such great joy in his granddaughter Sylvie.  With great excitement we spoke to here and got to see her on the phone. Sylvie won first place in her class science project, and second place in the school. Sylvie will get to go to the state science fair.

One has to laugh when Sylvie explains the experiment.  Sylvie's experiment was about the placebo effect.  Sylvie gave the teacher a list of nonsense words to read to the class.  After hearing the words the class was told to write down as many of the twenty words as they could remember.

Next the classmates were told they would be given a special concoction that improved their memory. (It was Gatorade).  Again another list of nonsense words was read to the class and the students were asked to write them down.  As expected the placebo effect worked. The statistics said the magic juice worked.

Lady Long Rider

The coffee is making that gurgling sound which means it is about done.  Rain on the roof last night.  A dreary day, but we will head to Holbroke to see Lady Long Rider.  That is the woman that has gone horseback across Canada and the United States.  She has traveled 30,000 miles on her horses.  Last year Jasper Littlebottom rode with her.  Lady Long Rider wrote a book and is promoting it.  After the book signing the Kadizzles will head to Winslow to enjoy the La Pasada hotel and train station.

The chainsaw crew came back from the mountain and got about twenty five trees cut and removed from the trail.  Cliff and Kadizzle worked around the campground.  The highlight of the day was going to Ma's for lunch.  Ma's has good food, and good prices.  Wow, the hamburger was huge, and delicious. Like the waitress said if you go away hungry it  is your fault.  Whatever they serve you there is plenty of it.  The place is decorated in late 50's Arizona slum style, but the food is great.  The town of Roosevelt looks like it was designed by some famous southwest ghetto designer.  Each house has a chain link fence, crap scattered all over the yard, a nice rusting RV, or some pile of bricks scattered about.  Just being warm means so much to people they don't give a damn about anything else.  As long as you got your gun, a case of beer, and the pickup has gas,  god is in heaven, and Trump is president.

Russian ignorance bomb.

The Russians figured it out.  Why spend billions on nuclear weapons when you can bomb the United States with stupidity? Americans have become so dumb we supposedly elected Donald Trump.  Trump showed us 40% of our population is hard core stupid. The Russians know this, Fox news knows this, and so do all the crooks, and con men like Trump.  So what do the Russians do?  The Russians feed our appetite for stupidity.  Trump or Fox News starts some childish idea that scares the simple mined. Russian hackers use our social media to fire up the nonsense.  The Russians realize chaos is the best weapon to confuse idiots.  How does the lion attack the herd?  The lion just charges into the herd and creates chaos.  With the confusion the lion gets the opportunity to prey on one of the herd.  The Russians realized Republican greed is destroying the United States, so the Russians just use social media to hype up the Republican party and what they are doing. Republicans are destroying the country with debt.  The Russians realize tax cuts for the rich create debt for our country.  So the Russians get a stooge like Trump to help run up the debt and the Republicans go along with it.  Fox News, Rush, and the other right wing medial pumps up the trickle down theory.  Look at the damage Trump has done to everything in our country.  Trump has destroyed race relations, the environment, science, education, and on it goes.  Trump was helped along in all this by Russian hackers helping to dumb down the dumbest among us.  So it will not be radiation that kills us, it will be stupidity.

The Sun is setting

Here we sit in the Earth Module. The sun is going down and the sadness of losing George Bush has worn off a little after two bourbon and eggnog's. The Forest Service shut down to honor the loss of such a good servant for the rich. 

Dave stopped by yesterday with a carton of zucchini and about six watermelons.  We live in a strange world where some people starve and other crops are left in the field because they are the wrong size. Imaging someone starving and thinking about Yuma, Arizona where a cauliflower that is too big is left to rot.  Fortunately some of this food is recovered and distributed to poor Forest Service volunteers.

It was a nice day and a wasted day, but the rest was earned after a hard hike yesterday.  As you have surely figured out Kadizzle is obsessed with the rotten president.  The day God strikes him down will be a national holiday.   Satan will welcome him with joy.  Such a crooked rotten man has never wrecked havoc on such a scale.  Trumps thievery will set new records. Kadizzle just read where the Arabs rented 500 hotel rooms from him to the tune of $270,000 bucks.  Ah yes, what a thieving bastard he is, and this is just the tip of his crooked ice berg.

So tomorrow the crew goes back up in the mountains to do some chain saw work.  A very pleasant evening.  Jasper Littlebottom is thinking about a camp fire.  Life goes on hope all is well with the good people we know.  Keep informed or delude yourself with Fox News, but stay happy.

Imagine Trump's funeral

What if Trump died?  Imagine his funeral.  Who with an once of decency would show up an lie about this man who has done more to destroy the country than anyone in our life time?  What could people say good about him?  His thieving will be exposed.  Here is a man who set out to destroy the environment, the economy, education,  social safety nets, you name it.  How do you honor a dishonorable man.  Trump should be buried in a marble dumpster.  There should be a statue of him kissing Putin.  Imagine a Trump memorial a huge orange dollar sign.  Think of the quotes we will have from him biggly.  What do you do when a rat is caught in a trap and you have a dead rat to deal with? Donald Trump the hero of the greedy, the immoral, the insane.  Maybe we could make Trump the patron saint of liars.

Find the Trail

Up into the wilderness we went early this morning.  Way, way back on a high mountain road with steep cliffs. Kadizzle let Jasper, Ken, Rita, and Dave out to hike to the bottom  of the trail nine miles away. Kadizzle would pick them up on the bottom.  A fire about a year ago obliterated the top of the trail.  Their goal was to find the trail and mark it so we can take a chain saw and re open the trail

Coming in from the bottom Kadizzle hiked in an finally established radio contact with the gang coming down.  Kadizzle was a little concerned we would not get out before dark so he called Red Chief our boss and let him know not to get excited.  Things worked out fine and the crew cam down the trail about three, we made it back before dark.

So tonight we sit in the Earth module watching Netflix.  A story about the Irish Rebellion in 1920. Well could the day end without saying something about politics? The George Bush stuff is driving Kadizzle crazy.  If you know the history of Chile you know George Bush played a role in letting Chili fall back into the hands of Pinoche.   When the United States destroyed democracy in Chili to protect American Cooper companies a lot of people were killed in the process.  This is all swept under the rug as we praise Bush.  Bush was just another Republican stooge for the rich. Bush went along with the whole Republican agenda which evolved into the Trump mess we have today.  Why do we pretend like history never happened.

Up Early

Ten minutes until five A.M. and the Kadizzles are up.  Today the plan is to drive deep into the mountains and let the crew out at the top. The trail crew will try to find their way down the mountain and re establish an old trail as they go. We may encounter two problems.  There may be snow up there, and the road may be closed.  Kadizzle will drive back to the bottom of the trail and pick up the trail crew if this mission succeeds.  The plan is ultimately to go back and clean up the trail with a chainsaw.

Now we are sitting here have early coffee.  Reading the New York Times it is just one more day and thousands of more words more  of information about our crooked president.  Cohen turning on Trump takes the cake.  Trump is just a mafia king.  How does any person who reads support Trump.  Trump is an amazing example of how a low intellect liar can prosper.  The abundance of ignorant people in our country is shocking.  Trump is like an IQ thermometer.  He can show how poorly informed and educated we have come.  As a meat thermometer stuck into Fox News Trump shows us the meat has been cooked in a slick oil of deception.  Why be surprised?  Look at television and the nonsense people will watch.

Click on this.

When C.E. O. s Cared about America

Some one way better than Kadizzle put his thoughts into words in the New York Times today.  Read the article "When C.E.O.s Cared About America" in the NYT today.  The reality is very simple.  The working class in our country has gone backwards in every regard.  The rich have walked off with all the cheese.  The best part of the article is that it was a C.E. O. in the forties who advocated running companies for everyone, not just the share holders.

Looks like a nice day here.  Will have to fire up the ebike and work off some fat from yesterday.  Sick of all the George Bush crap on the radio.  Bush was just a lickspittle for he rich.  Kadizzle never realized how many deaths Bush was responsible for in Chile.  Bush was a key in over throwing Allende who was a democratically elected head of state.  Of course a murderous dictator replaced him.

Sad abandonment

What if someone gave you forty million dollars and said build some recreation facilities. That is what happened here where we spend the winter in one of the abandoned campgrounds.  When the Salt River Project decided to raise the dam ninety feet somehow forty million showed up to mitigate the damage that would be done by flooding such a vast area.  Jasper Littlebottom and Kadizzle have traveled most of the United States.  Nowhere are there a collection of camp sites on the scale that exist here.  There are 1,200 very nice camp sites along Lake Roosevelt.  Very nice rest rooms with running water and flush toilets are everywhere.  Huge parking lots for hundreds of boats and cares sit idle at the deluxe boat ramps.  Dozens of nice solar showers are scattered about.  On and on it goes. This place has such an excess of everything.  The idea was that people from Phoenix would flock here to camp.  They don't.   Ironically the heaviest used area here is on the beach where there are no improvements.  People drive their RVs out on the sand near the water and park.  The Forest Service has dedicated a huge section of the area just for use and the other volunteers.  About ten  campsites are used of the three hundred.  We have plenty of space and facilities all to ourselves including a couple solar showers.  It is just so sad to see so much waste of such nice facilities.  If you ever get near here we can put you up for free for a few days.  As volunteers we can have guest.   Even if you have to pay the daily fee it is a nice place to stay.  All those people sitting in Phoenix, Flagstaff, and the rest of the country staring at computer screens while this place sits empty.

Going Home

About a month ago I returned to Wheeling to participate in a memorial service for my sister.  Things have changed since I left in 1976. It is always fun to tour the home town and see the changes.  Most amazing is how the whole place has shrunk. It is like it was put in the dryer and everything shrunk.  The problem is I have been living in the west for most of my life. There is so much room in the west that houses are not squeezed together.  The sky is vast in the west and you can always see for miles. Back in Woodsdale where yards used to seem like they had some size now I realized how small the play space was.  At the end of the street where the new Woodsdale School is the park seem tiny and unused. That park was so important for make up football and softball games. Where the old drug store stood on the corner there is now a gas station convenience store.  We used to go along the hedge of the park and pick out the pop bottles. You could get a nickel for a big 7up bottle, and that would buy a candy bar at the drug store. Vance Church looks pretty much the same. We used to have Bible School there on Wednesdays and Charlie Jones would always throw my Bible out the second floor window.

The interstate has eaten Wheeling alive.  Bridges have sprung up like weeds. One of my first jobs was as a highway inspector when they put the interstate heading South through East Wheeling.  So much was obliterated. South Wheeling also took a major hit from the highway construction. With my little sister I stood atop Wheeling hill by the old castle.  You could see down where Blaw Knox used to be. I remember when they dug up the cemetery in Fulton to put the interstate through. My little sister and I stopped where Elby’s used to be and had breakfast. Long ago there was a roller rink across the creek from there.  I remember when they tore it down. Down the national road the old car was is still there. I remember when my mother kept her foot on the brake and busted the chain at the car wash. The car wipers went nuts, but my mother was not going to move until the fog cleared on the windshield.  It seems like the famous DiCarlos Pizza is gone. Someone must have bought them out.

The abandonment of downtown is amazing.  It was an active place in the old days. I remember going to Stone and Thomas to marvel at the Christmas stuff.  Up on the hill in Woodsdale across from Vance Church there used to be some kind of old brick building, then there was some sort of quarry or mine. Now there is a hotel that overlooks Wheeling college.  The general condition of the houses in Woodsdale have gone down hill. The people with the cheese have moved farther out into the hills.

We had the memorial for my sister at the old Wheeling Country Club.  As close as we lived to it, I never was there in it’s glory days, but every doctor in the old neighborhood was a member.  I remember hearing tales of drunks getting out of hand there. Also I will never forget about the story of my grandmother hitting the jackpot there on the slot machine.  She held her dress out to catch all the coins.

After living in the west so long it took some getting used to driving on the narrow cow paths.  Seeing how all the businesses evolved into something else is interesting. One of the saddest things in Wheeling is how all the grand old mansions, and houses have disappeared. Wheeling had so many elegant homes that no one could afford to upkeep.  The homes have been turned into apartments or torn down. The old saying is “ You can’t go home again”. That is so true, it is just not there. It felt like a Civil War soldier going back to a battlefield only to find it is a shopping mall.

Nuclear Lies

This morning the NYT has an article about Trump's lying, and how he surrounds himself with liars.  The truth has disappeared with this presidency.  Trump has taken lying to a new plateau.  Fox News whhich has made an industry out of lying works with Trump to work up the Hoopleheads into a frenzy.  Sadly it works.  40% of Americans are hopelessly stupid.  All Trump has to do is juice that number a little to get what he wants.  When you play against a team that always gets forty yards free it is hard to win.  Well informed, truthful people are in the minority.  The Hoopleheads don't understand science, math, or any real data. That is why they side with a president who doesn't have any understanding.  Read the article.  What is scary is how Trump insist those around him lie and support his lies.  Russia sits back and laughs with joy at how Trump has destroyed our system.  Russia got a bargain when for the price of a few hackers they destroyed the credibility of our country.  The Republicans don't care they got their tax breaks.

Globe Arizona

Today we head to Globe.  Globe is a shot up mining town.  Some woman told Kadizzle the streets were laid out  with a snake.  The town seems like someone planned it on a napkin and lost the napkin.  The genetics in the town is about the same.  Someone put DNA in a blender and spilled it on Globe.  Globenians are a mix of Indians, Chinese, Mexicans, and wandering Americans.  The boom and bust nature of the town is evident.  Cooper is the key to the game.  The cooper mines have ups and downs. When people make money they buy a pickup and a new trailer.  When the mines collapse drugs are the answer.  Like it or lump it Globe is where we have to go to shop. Globe does have its charm.  It has the best Halloween parade on Earth,  some of the art is unique, and a lot of it is based on cooper.  Winky is going to an art show there today.   Mexican food is also good, and cheap in Globe.   Grocery shopping is like spending time on another planet.  When the Indians get paid there is a line around the block of people waiting to cash checks.  They only let a few in the bank at a time.  The town is surrounded by the tailings from the mine and several headstocks can be seen from anywhere in town.