Donut Wagon Arrived

 Erin just came back with the donuts. Ah, a bear claw to believe in. Sugars will be coursing through the veins.  The Kadizzles are ensconced with Erin, Fran, and Sylvie enjoying the status of grandparents. Sylvie is now taller than grandma. Their dog Danny is a Wolly Brumpus, a walking ball of fur that insist on attention. The future of a teenage granddaughter is like walking into a war zone.  Shopping is mandatory when one visits the big city, so we already got the REI store done.  Only dropped $25 there a massive success. May have to take a long urban train ride to Ikea to get ideas for  the new home.  Rain in Denver is such a foreign experience. It has not rained in Arizona sine the early 1800's. The huge white cargo trailer sits out on the street waiting to haul our load of belongings from North Dakota.  Gravity waves are always dangerous. Eating donuts can bring on a gravity wave. Sadly a wave worse than that is a stupidity wave. North Dakota has been hit hard as the Trump Cultist suffer in the fog.  The three stooges, Kevin Cramer, Kelly Armstrong, and John Hoeven are still loyal to the Big Lie gang.  Going from Arizona to North Dakota is a trip from one redneck stronghold to another. However, one must give Arizona credit for at least voting against Trump.  North Dakota is still stuck in the fog and the muck. 

Aggressive Drivers

Aggressive drivers should be pulled over, severely beaten, and shot. If you ever pulled a large trailer and dealt with the idiots that see driving as a carnival game, you would agree with Kadizzle.  Yesterday we drove 636 miles from Arizona to Denver.  The dolts that love to weave in and out of traffic make the trip miserable. One of their favorite stunts is to pass you on the right while you are slowly trying to pass a tractor trailer truck.  They shoot between you and the bigger truck with inches to spare. Instantly you understand road rage.  Then you get in a line of traffic and since you are pulling a heavy load you leave plenty of stopping space between you and the car in front. The simple minded cannot stand to see that empty space and they pull in.  

In this modern day of technology computers could catch the mentally impaired driving.  In Arizona they had computers that automatically ticked goofs.  Accidents went down, but the right wing idiots saw this as an invasion of their right to kill people, just like the gun nuts have a right to make sure school children get killed. 

Prayer Meeting at the Credit Union

 The Kadizzles are establishing a new residence in Payson, Arizona. To do so requires a new banking set up. Kadizzle went to the credit union yesterday to open an account.  The young fellow at the credit union said Kadizzle had to establish residency in Arizona. After going in circles for a little bit it seemed Kadizzle did not have an Arizona drivers license, he did not yet have a mailing address in Payson, and it seemed like he could not join the credit union.  Kadizzle asked the young clerk to tell him all the things he could use to qualify.  The fellow read off a list of things that would make Kadizzle eligible. You could join the credit union according to their requirements if you worshiped in Arizona.  Kadizzle laughed when he was told this and said to the young man " Lets start praying".   Kadizzle bowed his head and prayed that there would be lots of money in his new checking account. The young fellow was confused and said he needed to check with his boss.  The big cheese was in an adjacent room.  Kadizzle walked in on them and asked them if they would like to pray with him.  It all worked, Kadizzle is now a member of the Copper State Credit Union.  However, prayer does not seem to work.  There is only five dollars in the checking account.  Honest Omar, if you are reading this it proves " The lord works in strange ways", and apparently uses credit unions.  Of course Republican Jesus uses a good old capitalistic bank.  All of this resulted from Jesus chasing the money lenders out of the temple.  No doubt he joined a credit union after that little kerfuffle. 

To Build a Home

Up at five A.M. and off to Payson, AZ.  Meet the plumber.  Tell the plumber you want water and sewage.  The trip from Springerville to Payson will be over one hundred miles.  So here we go. The coffee is just about gone, the brain awakened. 

How does the brain work? Kadizzle could not remember the name of someone he used to sail with.  For two days he searched his brain.  A picture of the man was clear in his brain. This morning Kadizzle searched his brain backwards and first came up with the name of his ex wife.  At last the last name of the man. From there it was fairly simple.  As an old person Kadizzle is digging though his mind. For some reason memories are popping up everywhere. It seems like reviewing a book, or a movie. Towards the end of life is that what your mind does, a review?

Arizona is in a severe drought.  The mountain disappeared in the smoke from the fires. The planet is burning up, and no one notices. We are like the wild animals that become used to humans.  The deer in parks will just walk right up to you.  They seem to have forgotten humans are deadly.  Stupidity is deadly, the Republicans seem to have forgotten. 

Found the Loggers

 After a fruitless day yesterday trying to find where those logging trucks come from Kadizzle found their hiding place today.  The motorcycle took Kadizzle about fifteen miles into the forest. There the machinery was operating. A guy with a prize winning belly was running the stacker that loaded the trucks. Since no truck was there to be loaded the belly fellow came over and we had a good chat. Turned out he was the owner of the outfit.  His belly hung down a good four or five inches over his belt. Kadizzle told him that must be his store of cash from the pulp outfit he owned.  The owner had to jump back on the loader when a truck came.  However, the crew was starting to break for lunch.  Kadizzle had a good chat with to young guys, that seemed very well educated, and enthusiastic.  One machine had fifteen controls. The machine on tracks picked up the logs the skidder brought to him.  The machine could hoist the log, and skin the limbs off in a very proficient fashion, and then cut the log to length.  This was not old fashioned logging. Everything was done by machine.  The skidder operator and Kadizzle had a nice lunch on the tailgate of his truck.  Soon the guy who ran the feller buncher pulled up for lunch.  Kadizzle was shocked when out of the machine popped a kid who looked ten.  Kadizzle turned to the guy on the tailgate and said " You got to be kidding me that kid is hardly ten".   A moment later his dad got out of the machine.  Apparently the kid was along for the ride.  It did appear the way it happened the kid was the operator.  The machine did not cut trees with a saw as Kadizzle had presumed.  Two hydraulic blades could cut down a 16 inch tree like scissors.  This crew was selectively cutting trees and the forest looked vastly improved when they finished.  It was a pleasant way to learn about how pulpwood is made into pellets for the new fangled wood stoves people are using to heat their homes. 

A Note

 If for some strange reason you read this blog and would like to see the videos, that may accompany it, You can see them on Facebook. Kadizzle is too lazy to add videos most of the time to these musings. However, it is very easy to put videos on Facebook. If you are not a friend on Facebook it would be easy to make you one.  You can email me at dakotaquinn@gmail.com and let me know who you are, then request that you become a friend.  Recently a few videos of our travels have been put there.  Perhaps if the laziness is cured and the technical things learned they can be posted here. 

he Water Froze

At three in the morning Winky tested the water.  No water. The temp outside was 25 degrees.  The panic ensued. Kadizzle went to Cliff's house and got a bucket of hot water which he poured over the standpipe. The water came on.  So here sits Kadizzle at 4:30 A.M. 

Let's review yesterday.  After two days cooped up in the Earth Module due to high winds on the planet Earth, we had to get out.  Off to the third highest peak in Arizona we went.  It was a three mile hike to the top and the trip up and back wore old Kadizzle out.  A remarkable thing on our recent journeys in that area are the number of downed trees.  To believe it you have to see it.  Apparently in 2008 there was a terrible forest fire around here.  The fire killed and weakened an incredible amount of trees.  The landscape looks like someone spilled a giant box of matches everywhere.  The amount of lumber that went to waste is beyond imagination.  Once the trees are dead they can easily be blown over.  However, even the live trees have a hard time against the strong winds.  Some gust hit sixty the other day.  Winky decided to count how many trees fell across the trail.  In our three mile hike we had to cross over 90 trees that fell across the trail. In some cases these trees were three or four feet in diameter.  Up and back that meant we climbed over 180 trees.  When we reached the top the fire tower was in pretty bad shape.  Kadizzle was a bit surprised how much work the vandals went to in order to inflict damage. Most vandals do not do difficult hikes to do their work, but every window was busted out and some dolts went to great effort to damage the solar panels. 

Hopefully this is the last cold spell we have to fight.  Today's great feat will be dealing with out refrigerator.  The damn thing is less than a year old and has given up the ghost.  We may to haul the Earth Module sixty some miles to have it repaired.  First we will have to go around in circles with the manufacturer.  Never, ever, buy a Norcold refrigerator. The old Dometic in the other Earth Module worked fine for over ten years. 

The Wind Blew our Brains out

 Winky and Kadizzle rarely watch television, but winds with gust of up to sixty have pinned us to the Earth Module for two days.  We binge watched a Danish TV show RITA.  Have to admit it was very well done. Now we started another one. Marvelous Mrs Maisel is our next one to conquer.  Winky has an old playmate acting a major part in this series.  Hopefully the wind will die down tomorrow and we can get outside.  The eibke and the motorcycle now have new back tires so some adventures are in store.  Being confined to the Earth Module for two days in this wind disaster has been taxing.  Kadizzle opened the door and about blew it off it's hinges. 

The Curse of The Rusty One

 Kadizzle has sailed a lot of boats, but none have been cursed like the Rusty 1.  Remember the little yellow sailboat Stroupini brought to Arizona for Kadizzle? It seemed like it would be a lot of fun.  Not so. Fist the Rusty 1 fell of the trailer. Ok it was stupidity of Kadizzle.  So that was $550 dollars down the drain to repair.  Then the Rusty 1 threw Bill and Kadizzle in the water.  Fortunately we were near the dock. The last straw was when the Rusty 1 pitched Kadizzle in the drink. It was time for that boat to live with someone else. Well, the new owner is under the curse. The new owner lives in New Mexico.  No state has more bizzare rules for ownership.  New Mexico requires the boat and trailer to be licensed and titled.  Since the boat came from North Dakota which requires basically nothing, there is no good way to get the boat legal in New Mexico. A notarized bill of sale will not do it. 

The new owner is a nice young guy stuck with a useless boat in his driveway. Kadizzle wants to help him.  How can we prove to New Mexico he owns the boat. Kadizzle had one idea.  Kadizzle will call the local sheriff in New Mexico and say the boat was stolen.  Perhaps the sheriff will ask Kadizzle to prove it was his boat.  Using the New Mexico rules the sheriff will not be able to affirm it was Kadizzle's boat.  Now the fun begins.  The new owner has a stolen boat, but the sheriff cannot do anything, because there is no way in New Mexico to determine who owns the boat.  If the sheriff asks Kadizzle to prove he owns the boat Kadizzle will not be able to do it to New Mexico standards, but if they do accept Kadizzles ownership, then they will have to accept the new owners paperwork, because it is the same. Kadizzle gave the new owner a bill of sale.  It may come to a strang end.  Kadizzle will claim the new owner stole the boat.  The sheriff will agree and give the boat to Kadizzle. Kadizzle will tell the sheriff he is giving the boat to the new owner.  Now no one can deny the new owner owns the boat.  Kadizzle will then insist no charges are pressed against the new owner.  Only in America do we have such an insane bureaucracy. 

The Gold is falling

Gold is falling from the sky. Rain at last has come. Rarely has rain seemed like such a blessing.  Maybe the streams will run. Yesterday we rode six miles in a giant circle up on the second highest mountain in Arizona at 9,500ft. Was a nice ride. It was striking to see the damage from forest fires.  The amount of wasted lumber is saddening.  With the rain we will be confined to the Earth Module. 

Every time you think the Republicans can get no more absurd, or lie more blatantly, they do. The denial of the insurrection is an incredible erasure of history. 

We sit here with the electric fire place blazing.  At one time Winky and Kadizzle thought electric fireplaces were gaudy and silly. However, we have grown to love the imitation.  The ability of the fire to mimic a real fire is amazing. The blasted thing does put out heat and you can stand in front of it an get warm.  Winky said it will be great in our new home.  You can have a fire with no heat.  

About a year ago we went to the largest flower show in the world in Philadelphia. At  the exhibition there was a fake fire.  Kadizzle saw it from a distance and was amazed they would allow a fire to burn in the open with no protection for kids. The fire looked so real, he thought it was real. Kadizzle had to go see the fire.  Up close he realized it produced no heat.  The salesman was there and explained to Kadizzle the fire ran on water. It used about one or two gallons a day. With the magic of science the water was vaporized and a laser was played on the mist. It gave a very real impression of fire.  No there may have been a problem. You could put your hand in the flame and it would only get wet.  This could be very misleading for a young child unfamiliar with fire.  

It rains dirt

 Unable to sleep Kadizzle got up and perused the New York Times. An article on drought caught his eye.  It is dry here. The soil around here has a lot of volcanic ash. It is like flour when it is dry, and for it to get airborne is not problem. It did rain about thirty drops the other day. Not enough to even wet the ground, but the raid did do one thing, it deposited dirt on the windows. When the raindrops dry out the dirt is left behind.  You can smell dirt in the air all the time.  Sadly we lost four years fighting climate change when Trump was president dolt. Humans are amazing. If you fry them slowly they don't know they are being fried. We have be going to Arizona for the winter for the last ten years or more.  It has been burning up. Everywhere you go you see the scars from the forest fires, you see the dugouts for water empty.  It is a crises, but who cares we have a flat screen and a nice pickup truck.  That is the American standard. If your TV works there are no problems on the planet. Now if the guy who does  not have cable TV or anything to eat fires a rocket at your house that does create a problem. Thank god that is happening far away and it is not our problem. We are making kazillionaires like Bezos.  He is building a 500 million dollar yacht. There will be a smaller yacht that follows it around with fuel and sandwiches.  Jeff Bezos does not have a problem. Jeff has poor retired people filling boxes full of Chinesium at his labor camps. It is a wonderful world. 

A Little Lost

Boredom set in and the crew headed out to an unknown destination. We decided to hike to the top of what was called a knoll on the map. The knoll would 9,000 ft elevation.  The truck rumbled about five miles up a dirt road, then the ebikes took us another mile or so. Off the ebike we headed into the pine forest. Following elk trails and old logging paths we made it to the top for a great view.  The final part of the hike involved some scrambling over large rocks. On these uncharted hikes Kadizzle likes to make some mental landmarks, but he did not account for the fact that the rocks on the top of the ridge made a gentle U.  When the time came to head down the two bullheaded hikers decided to take different routes back to the bikes.  Kadizzle figured if he kept edging left he would make it back to where they came up. It soon became evident it was not working.  Now Winkie called him on the cell phone and asked where he was.  The simple answer was he did not know.  After taking a little time to orient himself with the gps he thought he had an idea of the right direction. The terrain was very confusing. The GPS was supposed to make a track Kadizzle could follow back, but somehow the Gps shut itself off.  Using the phone GPS Kadizzle again tried to electronically get back.  The GPS pointed the direct route, which was not possible because of the steep terrain.  After Kadizzle navigated for awhile he did come within hearing distance of Winkie.  In the end Kadizzle realized the importance of leaving GPS crumbs.  That would mean you mark a series of points that you can reference.  Normally we mark the car, which in this case Winky did and she had the GPS with an effective track. Kadizzle is going to tighten up the procedures, and use the more sophisticated GPS next time.

I've Been everywhere sir, cross the desert fair sir, traveling I've done my share sir.

 Yesterday the Blurtons pulled in with their Mercedes camping van. On and off we have met them in various places in the southwest. For hours we talked about different places and travels. Like so many they have moved about the Western United States from Mexico to Alaska for years.  When mobile lifestyle people get together it is always a massive exchange of travel information.  With traveling friends you will always find places that are not in the books or guides. If we have not been someplace we have met someone who has.  Discussing the trails, bike rides, hikes, repelling, and all that goes with exploring is fun.  

Winky is demanding activity today. Kadizzle want to go on a bike ride on an old railroad bed. Winky wants to hike up Bald Mountain.  The wind is terrible, so both seem miserable.  Stay tuned. 

Hike A Bike

Hike a bike is a technique for hiking and biking at the same time. Kadizzle has gotten into this mode. You ride where you can and you get off and push when you have to.  Kadizzle has invented a new game called Columbus. You take off  thinking you know where you are going, and sometimes you get there, but it isn't where you think you are.  You do this by making a circular route in your head you have not been on before, then you take off into the wilderness and hope you come out where you planned. Yesterday the hike a bike was up onto a plateau.  At first there appeared to be some Big Horned sheep, but they were antelope.  Antelope was the beast of the day. Kadizzle encountered them again farther down the trail.  After riding over some fairly rough ground on the ebike Kadizzle came to a dead end in the canyon he was riding.  Now it was time to push the bike up a steep rock strewn hill with the hope there would be an easy way back to the Earth Module.  Reaching the top things turned out as planned there it was the gravel road, right where it should be.  The question was how far North on the gravel road was the explorer?  Turned out just fine it was about a two mile downhill coast back to base.  Traveling this country one quickly finds out the animal tracks and droppings are everywhere.  Game trails provide clues to how to get from here to there.  

For dinner yesterday Winky wanted to go to the Irish Pub down the road. The pub is in the middle of nowhere, but a very nice little place where we ate on the porch.  Sitting on the porch we were able to watch the herd of elk on the other side of the road.  Very pleasant way to eat the corned beef and cabbage, with bread pudding for desert. 

The dinner wrapped up helping an old couple get back in their car.  The poor old guy had just come down with a bad case of Parkinson's disease.  His wife pulled the car around to the handicapped ramp and Kadizzle pushed the guy in his cart to the car.  Not to long before Kadizzle may be riding a cart instead of an ebike.  It felt good to give a hand to this old husband and wife trying to enjoy a meal on the porch with us. 

This gets to crumbling. The reality we are reaching the crumbling stage of life. Like and old building we will just slowly crumble into the ground. Building a new home we are keeping crumbling in mind. It all has to be on one floor and the doors have to be wide and the shower accessible. As you age you can always pretend you are in worse shape than you really are.  You can say in a shaky voice " Sonny can ya get me my slippers".  " Sonney can you pull my car up front, I am having a bad day?"   One strange thing about being older are senior discounts. Most of the old goats have money, it is the poor young kids who need the discounts.  Winky sat still yesterday so it means her batteries are recharged and we will have to do an adventure. 

Come Visit

The roof trusses went up on the new home.  An old friend asked if there was a guest room for golfers from the East. Yup, one of the great pleasures we anticipate from our new home will be the ability to host guest. Unless you are an extreme pain in the ass, you are invited. Over the years we have met so many wonderful people. The home will have two extra bedrooms. The reality of North Dakota was people just did not see it as a place to go.  On the other hand Az, does attract people. Arizona has downfalls.  Phoenix is a vast wasteland of concentration camps for old people. Contrary to most peoples perceptions Arizona is not all desert.  Sure it is dry in a lot of places, but if you go to the right places Arizona has a lot of forest and mountains. Kadizzle does not particularly like rank desert, but it can be entertaining in short spurts. Arizona is heavily infested with Republicans, and Trump cultist.  They can be tolerated. Of course you have a strong gun culture.  It does promote good manners.  Like so much of the western United States there is the attitude I am free to slum up my place as much as I want. This is reflected in the chain link fence culture.  You collect a bunch of junk and fence it in so no one will steal your old rusted car.  Fencing is something Republicans love to do. Republicans always like to make it clear this is mine and you ain't getten it.  The whole Republican world is based on the concept poor people want your stuff. Those poor people incidentally are who you stole the stuff from.  

Ok this inspired a rant.  Go to Phoenix and guess what you will find.  Every home has a cinder block wall surrounding the property five feet tall. Now think about this?  How many cinder blocks is that?  Well if you took all those cinder blocks or for that matter all the money spent on fencing and you built homes instead of walls the poor people would have homes.  Those walls are to protect you from poor people. If the poor people had stuff they would not need to steal your stuff. So do you build a wall or make sure the poor people have stuff. The answer seems obvious, give the poor people a job, a home, and an education. Republicans despise the concept of sharing.  Republicans cannot grasp the idea that they love exploitation. Slavery was exploration. Today we have Walmart slavery, and Amazon slavery.  The people who work for Walmart and in the Amazon warehouses are slaves.  The do not have homes with five foot walls.  Of course the Republicans will all say " If they just got off their ass and worked like I did they would not be in that mess" (They always leave out the part that their daddy gave them plenty of bucks in his tax free will).  More than anything prosperity comes from someone else giving you a good start.  Poor people do not have that someone else.  So back to the old theme.  Here we are in a world with plenty of everything, but the greedy have created poverty and starvation because they took way more than their share. Kadizzle quit that socialist crap.  Now we demonize goverment sanctioned sharing. Any goverment that taxes people is socialist. Taxes are forced sharing. If you tax someone and build a road you have forced them to share, but we voted on that.  Of course you did. That is what democratic socialism is.   You vote on how resources are going to be used, but that might mean I will not have enough for a five hundred million dollar yacht like Bezos.  Too bad, grow up and get along with a one or two million dollar yacht, but what if I never have enough? Well then vote Republican. 

They erased the road.

 Taking off on a cross country jaunt is always fun. Getting from point A to B when you don't know the way is a puzzle.  Yesterday Kadizzle explained to Winky fifteen times how he was going to make a circular trip.  To make the trip Kadizzle had to find a road.  Winky decided to go on the venture.  After ebiking for a while on a known road it seemed impossible to find the road which was on the map, but was not in reality where it was supposed to be.  Kadizzle figured it was an old abandoned road.  Kadizzle decided to take off down a drainage where the road should be.  Winky said the hell with that and went off on her own back toward the Earth Module.  As the ebike drifted downhill over trackless ground Kadizzle began to wonder about the wisdom of his adventure.  There did seem to be some small signs of an ancient road, but it also seemed like a major effort had been made to obliterate the road.  As Kadizzle went farther into the valley there were several stock dams so that meant there must have been a road at one time.  Kadizzle found himself in a narrow stream bed where it seemed there could never have been a road. It was decision time.  Consulting the map on the phone it appeared the nonexistent road was up out of the little canyon. Kadizzle pushed the ebike up the very steep slope and signs of an ancient road appeared.  All seemed well until Kadizzle got to a place where the supposed road hung to the side of a hill.  Someone, probably a government agency went to great lengths to destroy the road or make it unusable.  Whoever did it surely wanted no one using the old road.  There were steep piles of material heaped on the road.  Thankfully an ebike could be pushed over them, but nothing else could have made it past the obstacles.  Finally the road took Kadizzle down to the highway where he expected to come out. 

Winky wants to go hiking today up in the same general area. We will see what happens.  

Winky is insisting today Kadizzle read Heather Cox Richardson.  No doubt she is the most scholarly commentator on the nefarious tricks of the Republicans.  Highly suggest you read her recent remarks. 

Elk and Big Horned Sheep

Winky stayed back at the Earth Module while Kadizzle fired up the ebike.  Kadizzle took off into unknown wilderness.  The bike took the large lump up onto a plateau that seemed to go on forever. The ride went through some nice country, but ended in a dead end.  Again Kadizzle sought a different road.  This road also ended in a dead end. However, it was near a small peak that would reveal the location.  Climbing the peak Kadizzle saw a herd of Elk. Some small animal ran through the Elk, either a coyote or perhaps a Mexican wolf. The view was magnificent.  Kadizzle decided he could not find a road into the valley below.  On the way back a road was found and Kadizzle had a much closer encounter with the elk.  Now Kadizzle did get to the Sipes Wildlife area road.  Returning on that road Kadizzle looked diligently for the Big Horned Sheep.  When he just about gave up there they were right in front of him on the road.  One clearly had an electronic collar and they all had ear tags.  It turned out to be a great ride. Kadizzle may do another ebike exploration today. 

Second Post Today

 The song Mexican Daydream is playing in the background. Somehow the music brings back memories of all the incredible Indian sites we have visited in the southwest. Think about being a native American wandering about. You get first pick on any place you want.  Those people knew how to find the most amazing sites. Yesterday we visited the Sipes Wilderness area where there is an amazing site.  The pottery shards there were astounding.  Have never seen any collection displayed on the ground like it. Hundreds of pottery shards with designs to amaze.  The location of the little place that may have had eight to fifteen families was like so many others, damn near perfect. The scenery could not be surpassed, and of course the game and water were both at the doorstep.  The people who occupied these places could have had a very peaceful simple existence.  Used to think when we first discovered it Calf Creek Canyon in Utah was the ultimate. It was an incredible canyon with a trout stream running down the middle, a waterfall with a wonderful pool above and below.  Mule Canyon in Utah also has an unbeatable cliff dwelling with a natural swimming pool right out front.  The natural places these people found and settled make you have great respect for their ability to live in harmony with nature. 

The New Headquarters

Up very early we headed to Payson, AZ yesterday to take care of some details on the new home. Also had to go on to Phoenix to pick out some colors to match the new counter tops.  Going broke is hard work. Seeing the walls up was a good feeling. The goal is to have the family in the new home for Thanksgiving. 

Most exciting was seeing a huge Elk causally walk through the yard. What fun it will be to have Elk graze in the neighborhood. National Forest surrounds the new settlement and hiking will be across the street. 

The amazing Republicans.  You get thrown out of the party if you tell the truth.  Wow, did anyone ever think it would come to this?

A Day in the Life

Cissie and Cliff are out for a morning hike. When the boss gets back we will go for an ebike ride up to the Sipes Wildlife area. It may be a sixteen mile trip like Kadizzle took yesterday.  The bike came back on the paved road and hit 40mph going down the hill. Kadizzle could have hit 50mph, but thought it imprudent. Today may wear a helmet and give it a try. 

Cliff invited us over for coffee at his house about 200 ft away.  With the fire going we talked a lot of philosophy, politics, love life, and what ever came up. Good morning.  

Cliff is into spirituality.  Not sure what that means. Kadizzle is into confusion. Kadizzle does not know how this all started or what will happen when it ends.  Who or what made this conundrum is a mystery, and that is just fine.  The human tendency to just make up stuff is dangerous, leads to wars, crime, you name it. Simply admitting you don't know or are baffled has a lot of benefits. Most organizations that make up a good story explaining the unknown charge for it. The Mormons, and most religions get ten percent to sell you a complicated story.  From an investment standpoint it is very poor.  If you invested ten percent of you salary, then gave it to people in need directly without the church taking a cut, everyone would win, but you don't get promised eternal life or forgiveness for your sins.  Do the math it probably cost a million dollars to get forgiven for your sins.  If you invested ten percent from age 25 to 50 you would be farting through silk, and doing way more good than building some huge edifice with stained glass windows.  Here comes Cissie and Cliff time to go. 

Heavy Duty, and Hartbreaker

 Just finished a facetime chat with Cheech, my youngest daughter. Her two children have a wrestling match with their dad every day. Evie goes by the name Hartbreaker, and Quinnie goes by his wresting name Heavy Duty.  Both of them dress up in their intimidating wrestling outfits and take on their dad Sam.  So later today Kadizzle will be able to watch the match.  Maybe Kadizzle can get some pictures of the grandchildren in their costumes. 

A few purchases Kadizzle really enoyed.

 Yesterday the ebike hit almost 3,500 miles.  Kadizzle has peddled that bike across the country and about half way back. The old Yamaha xt250 has also been a pleasing purchase.  Last but not least was the S2 10,3 sailboat.  Kadizzle made a huge mistake selling that boat and he misses it like an old friend.  Would buy it back if he could. 

Back to the ebike.  Cannot recommend it enough.  If city people would use ebikes instead of cars so much would be accomplished. Even if you ride to the city then use the bike. Kadizzle has been trying to convince his children to get one.  Riding a bike in Denver is so much better than a car.  You can buzz downtown on the wonderful bike paths.  Winky just asked what I was writing.  I told her it was the three things I liked in my life.  She said did I include her. Kadizzle said no, it is just things I purchased.  Well I guess I have to include Winky.  She has cost me dearly, but been a good product.  I am sure it cost me well over a million to have Winky, but then there is the cooking, ect.  Winky has run very economically.  She buys few cloths, is a good shopper, cooks better than the best, and has been a great mom and grandma.  Last but not least she has the strength to endure a mean old overweight, unkempt lumpy, lazy husband. So Winky was well worth the purchase price. 

Sleeping well

Dream, dream, and then dream some more.  Kadizzle and Winky both slept well last night.  Cliff got up real early to go hiking with his group.  Winky did not want to go so early so she is going ebiking with old Kadizzle.  Should be fun on some new trails. 

Mornings are peaceful here. Kadizzle has been making his own sun clock. There is a pole in the yard. Kadizzle placed a rock on the shadow at 12:30, then another rock at 1:00.  Walking to the new executive suite at Cliff's house Kadizzle noticed how the shadow is cast so early.  That shadow has a lot of moving to do.  The Kadizzles have never lived this far south in May.  The sun seems to act strangely and we both are very confused about North, East, South, and West. 

Neither of us has ever lived consistently at such high altitude.  We are at 7500 ft.  The sun is much stronger.  The nights cool quickly.  The air is dry and you drink more water.  Overall it is probably healthier. You have to breath more and all work is just a little harder. 

Here we sit

 Winky is over there cooking up a great breakfast.  Out the window the four wheelers are gathering. They are going to drive through the mountains.  Get in a line and drive over gravel. Stir up dust. The first guy gets to breathe clean air. Everyone else will dine on dust. Who would want to do this?  Yesterday Winky and Kadizzle again took an ebike ride. As usual we sort of got lost in the woods.  Gradually we got to the top of the terrain.  We found a good road that took us back to the truck. In the end it was a nice ride. Fo about five miles we glided downhill reaching speeds of close to thirty miles per hour. 

Republican insanity has reached a new high. Here in Arizona the Republicans have hired the Ciber Ninja's to recount the ballots.  Wish this was made up, but this is true.  Now to top that off they are checking the ballots to see if they contain bamboo.  If the ballot has bamboo in it that means the Chinese interfered in the election.  Can they get any more goofy? Yes, if you tell the truth in the Republican Party you will be thrown out.  Ask Liz Cheney.  Of course North Dakota Republicans are on the bandwagon trying to be every bit as simple minded. 

The Peasants

 Sitting in the parking lot of the super market Kadizzle watched the low paid employees scuffle about. The sheer number of people living on subsistant wages is frightening. These poor people are lost in the wilderness. Their income goes up in the flames from their ciggarettes, and tattoos.  They push the hamburgers out the window, and the grocery carts back in the store.  This is what it must have been like in the days of slavery.  Suffering people were taken for granite. Our economy relies on exploitation. Bezos makes billions from Amazon while people's grandma shuffles around in the warehouse for peanuts.  The nightly news shows toddlers starving in India and Africa while the yachts sit idle in the Mediterranean.  Off the coast of Chile the fishing boats bring in protein that is fed to our dogs while many in Chile lack protein.  

Working old people

Two old goats spread 8 tons of gravel yesterday around the Earth Module. Today we will do another 8 tons.  Winky and Kadizzle spread the gravel with a wheelbarrow , shovel, and rake. The plan is to keep the dust down.  The same old grandpa that pulled his dump truck into the driveway will show up this morning in his overalls and cowboy hat. 

Kadizzle awaked and did the daily update. Kadizzle was pleased to see the letter he wrote yesterday to the Fargo Forum was published today. Firing a good stinger on the Republicans is a great way to start the day. 

Cliff has a cell tower right on his property where we are staying. Wow, does it make a difference. Now we can see our grandchildren with a sharp clear picture.  Then internet works all the time.  Amazing. 

Now if you want a dose of insanity watch the movie FLOWERS on Netflix.  If you think you have an insane family the Flowers will show you how it is done on a professional level.  Make sure you go past the first episode. 

A nice bike ride, ya sure ya betcha

 Cliff told old Kadizzle he could ride the ebike, while Winky and Cliff went on foot on the Indian Spring Trail. Cliff assured Kadizzle it was a fine bike ride. Kadizzle decided to go in the opposite direction on the loop trial so he would meet the other two on foot.  Off we went. Kadizzle found the trail nice and figured he would quickly complete the entire seven miles in no time.  Things changed rapidely.  In this area there had been fires, and blowdowns. Soon Kadizzle encountered large trees across the trail. Each time he came to a tree he had to go over, under, around or through the mess.  As he went farther and farther into the forest he assumed the tree mess would improve, it didn't.  Should he turn around or continue with the struggle of picking up the heavy bike every hundred feet to hoist it over a log?  Digging himself in deeper he began to see that he was making no more progress than if he were walking.  At last he came to the old railroad grade and hope emerged.  False hope, the railroad grade also was also blocked by trees.  Halfway through the trip Kadizzle ran into Winky and Cliff.  Winky said the trail was worse with downfall where they came from.  However, Cliff said it would be best for Kadizzle to continue in the same direction he was going. Winky said Kadizzle should turn back.  Fortunately Kadizzle took Cliff's advice and found a logging road Cliff had seen. The logging road got Kadizzle out of the maize.  On good roads Kadizzle made it back to the truck in no time. In the end Kadizzle got an upper body workout lifting the bike hundreds of times to clear logs.  Next time Kadizzle starts down a train and finds out it has not been cleared he will turn around. 

Time for a rant

 Kadizzle needs to rant, and vent a little.  Our country is in peril. Republicans have infected the country with a special kind of ignorance that is spreading like wildfire. Republicans have enabled people to divorce themselves from reality, and embrace any fantasy they like. How does this work? Drive around America, poverty spreads like a fungus. Poor people want to slash out at someone.  Trump gives the poor and the ignorant a chance to give the finger to the world.  Simple minded people thrive on fantasy. That has always been the secret to selling religion. Give people permission to believe in nonsense. Trump is a new religion. Trump helps people believe in the world of make believe.  Sadly the poorly educated are so vulnerable to simple explanations based on nothing.  Raping the ignorant has been the story of humanity since the first God was invented. People love Gods.  Once you embrace the God jazz everything becomes clear, because you are living in a fog.  Reality is never pleasant. Escaping reality sells beer, cigarettes, and drugs.  Trump and the Republicans are a drug.  Trump allows people to think their failure is not their fault. Some evil spirit such as China or Democrats has created the problem.  Science has brought us so much.  Name one thing fantasy has accomplished.  Religion, and Republican thinking are fantasy. Both funnel money to the rich.  Look how religion has always funneled money upward to build huge churches, and enable the priest and nuns to live off the poor.  Republicans are about nothing but protecting the rich from the poor.  It is that simple.  All the Republican rhetoric is just about keeping people from taxing the rich. You can twist it, turn it, spin, lie about it or do as you wish, but every Republican scam is about making sure resources are unevenly distributed to the wealthy.  Our country is now in a pandemic of stupidity, and Trump is the infector. 

Living a constant high

 Our new location puts us at 7,500 ft.  The body is adjusting. Using the oxygen monitor we bought for Covid Kadizzle finds out he is running around 91% oxygen saturation.  Normally the oxygen in the blood runs about 95% or better.  Is this due to the altitude? Do seem to be more lethargic. Hopefully the body will adapt. Yesterday we took a drive through the local wilderness.  The terrain is a lot like the mountains in Montana. There is still snow on the highest peaks. Vast meadows and mountain lakes are nearby. 

Today Winky is taking an early hike with Cliff, and Kadizzle will hopefully get the motorcycle flat tire fixed.  The west is suffering from a severe drought.  Locally the volcanic soil is so dry it is like flour.  The dust is everywhere and a bit of an annoyance.  There are a lot of elk around here, and hopefully some will show up nearby.  Saw some antelope yesterday. 

Reading the New York Times this morning Kadizzle came across an article about living in a bubble.  Kadizzle looked up former home Hazen.  It was a bubble of Republicans.  Check out where you live to see how bad the infestation of idiots is.  The country is frightening. You must have seen the news,  thirty percent of Americans think Biden did not win the presidency.  The country is split.  Idiocy is rampant. People have so readily adopted any reality Fox News puts out.  Science has faded into the background, and roll your own stupidity is the new driving force. 

Lost in the Wilderness

 Old Kadizzle took off on his ebike to explore the new wilderness we moved into.  The ride was very pleasant through a quiet environment. Kadizzle had it in his mind from something Cliff told him that the ride could be made into a loop that came back close to the start.  On and on Kadizzle peddled but the road just kept going.  It was a wonderful ride, but the battery was getting lower and lower.  Could he make it back? Soon it became evident the road was never turning and heading the right way.  Now Kadizzle decided he better pedal harder and save electricity.  At last it seemed like the road might come back to pavement, wrong.  Although the ride was many miles long there was absolutely no one back in the woods, but finally a couple of gas buggies came by. Kadizzle asked the people where he was and how he could get back.  Wait something is left out. Kadizzle's phone was dead.  After getting new information it looked like the most prudent thing to do was go down the backside of the mountain ot a town called Eger.  Kadizzle new he could get from Eger to Springerville, and then back to Cliff's.  The problem was it was a long way.  Fortunately the road to Eger was all down hill.  Keeping an eye on the battery it kept inching downward.  Kadizzle figured he had to go about twelve miles, and there was one big hill in the way.  Along the road Kadizzle met a girl running and asked to use her phone so he could update Winky on his predicament.  With 8% left Kadizzle made it back, but a short ride turned into on of the longest.  The ride may have been between 25 and 35 miles long.  In the end the whole thing was enjoyable. 

Earth Module Lands on New Planet

 Here we are, we landed near Nutrioso, Arizona.  The Kadizzles are bumming off our friend Cliff. Cliff has a nice place with his own cell tower on the corner of his property.  Winky is over making arrangements with Cliff for a morning hike. Kadizzle may not be able to get his old body going. We are at 7,500 ft so we need to get used to it.  Stopped at the new house yesterday and it looks like the walls are going up.  On the way here we checked into a volunteer job near Heber, AZ.  We may not take the job.  We would stay at a camp for various groups. The spot is not really that private, and it is too much activity for old people who enjoy solitude, peace, and quiet.  We may just base out of Nutioso. We have to go to ND to get our furniture. That will be an adventure.  A lot of new ground to explore here.  Will try to post some pictures.