Living on the edge

Mr. and Mrs. Kadizzle have been traveling about in the winter for 22 years. 95% of the travel has been in the southwest. Since our winter travels have always involved a camper of some sort we have met a lot of other people in the wild and on public land and in parks. People of limited means adapt to life without much money. One way they do it is living cheaply. This means they live where they can. The luck ones have a vehicle and a camper to pull behind.  They move with the weather. Now to the point, most of them have an interesting story to tell. Many of the itinerant did have a good career or job, but something went wrong, it might have been a divorce, an investment, or a health problem. Most of these people are not mentally deficient, they just sort of gave up, and are actually happy not having the usual hassle of fighting to survive right to the end. A whole lot of these people have traveled widely. For years Kadizzle has sat down outside with these people an heard their stories. Almost always they have an interesting story, and got to the place in life where they are by some interesting twist and turns. The people moving about have adaptive skills. Living on little or no money is a skill. Money from social security or some small pension is sent somewhere, and then on to them as they move. Most importantly is they find a cheap location. That location can be on the beach, in the mountains, or anywhere cheap. People on the move help each other. Not all people on the move are hard pressed for cash. We know several people with plenty of money who have no permanent home. Many of our traveling friends stay with other people who have homes occasionally. We have hosted our friends, and have stayed with other people we met on the road. Had some great experiences doing it. Life is what you make it. If you want to sit home with a cork up your *** that is your choice, but living a life, rather than reading about someone else's life is our choice. 

Prisoners and ebikes

 As a volunteer for the Forest Service Kadizzle ends up interacting with the prisoners who do so much to keep the place running. Yesterday Kadizzle could see a young worker dressed in his orange jump suit eyeing the ebike.  Kadizzle told the guy to hop on and give it a try. He was about the fifth or sixth incarcerated fellow to ride the bike. After sitting around a jail a ride on a ebike is a big thrill for these guys. The fellows who have committed some low grade crime are the saving grace for public works. They contribute millions to our society, and love to get away from the encapsulated life. North Dakota could accomplish so much by following what Arizona has done. Keep in mind these guys love to get outside and work, these are not chain gangs. The prison system in Arizona is very strict with the people that do public service. It is so well liked by the men who do it that they make it a point to work hard, be polite, and get the job done.  Covid shut down the workers and it very quickly shows in how the campground we work at goes downhill. The biggest fight here is the brush. In just two days the eight guys have rehabilitated two big campgrounds. These guys do everything, from digging up the water lines, to chainsawing the trees. 

If you talk to the poor fellows you soon realize they came from disadvantaged backgrounds. You get to see first hand how our society fails. People get depressed and take drugs, steal, and commit other crimes. It can be depressing to watch billionaires take joy rides in space ships while you don't have the money for gas to get to work. 

Poor by choice

 Kadizzle just got a cup of coffee and looked out the window toward Dave's camper. The thought ran through Kadizzle's head about Dave. Dave provides a service. Dave does a great job of fixing the signs for the National Forest, and he also makes new signs. Dave does not get paid for his work, but Dave is able to scrape by because the National Forest Service gives him a place to live with free sewer, water, and electric. There is a lesson in this we will get to later. First, another volunteer, Bill.  Bill is like Dave. Bill is the only person who is repairing all the odds and ends that make the place work. Bill most importantly takes care of the plumbing, and the bathrooms. 

Now to the point. Both these men are making a useful contribution to society. Both have a marginal income, and are able to make it working for free with the basics provided. How many people could be just nudged a little to become productive? Forest Service volunteers work mostly unsupervised and are asked to work for 24 hours per week. The volunteers save the Forest Service millions of dollars. Almost forgot Ken and Shirley, Shirley works at the front desk of the visitor center, and Ken does odds and ends. 

As a nation we can make it work. The big problem is a will, and of course the Republican greed dogs.  Yesterday Kadizzle could have damn near cried as he rode his bike through the deteriorating campground down below here. 40 million dollars was spent to provide one of the best camping facilities in the United States, but there is no money for upkeep. Meanwhile the billionaires are taking joy rides into space and Bezos is making 12 million dollars an hour. There is no poverty problem, it is a distribution problem.  The New York Times reported that billionaires pay 8% tax.  Even the lowest working man pays more than that. Trickle down has been a massive failure. Now, 400 families have as much wealth as the rest of the country. Our only problem is the Republican Party which makes this greed possible. The lives of so many people could be massively improved, but the Fox News mentality has put the Hoopleheads into a self induced poverty coma. 

A pleasant rain

Rain in the desert is always welcome. Like the mountains we left this desert is lush. Somehow moisture that usually goes north is stopping here. One thing Kadizzle noticed last night as the sun went down the nice smell of the desert. Kadizzle had a gin and tonic and fell asleep in the chair out in the pleasant warm air. Settling in may take a couple days. The refrigerator has to be stocked, lines hooked up, and the wi-fi booster installed. At Cliff's the cell tower was about two hundred yards away. Here the service is often terrible. We both agreed it is a little quieter her. It was plenty quiet at Cliff's, but you could hear car noise once in awhile. There is no logging or logging trucks here. This forest is oriented more towards recreation and grazing. As our winter friends trickle in it will be nice to see them. The Canadians still cannot get here, and there are a lot of good Canadian friends we miss. 

Here we are on planet Tonto Basin. It is a different world. This is the desert, but thing have grown incredibly over the summer. It was so good to land the Earth Module and see our old friend Bill. Bill had a good summer and that was nice to know. Parking the Earth Module was slightly easier than inventing an atomic bomb. Winky insisted she have a good view while washing dishes. This meant we burnt ten gallons of diesel fuel moving the Earth Module into position. Why live on one planet all your life. There are at least a dozen planets on Earth. Each is different. We were in the mountains, but the mountains here are entirely different. The plant life is different, and it seems like more people carry guns. It feels like coming home. Strange to live in an Earth Module. Tomorrow we will have to hook up the sewage line, that will be fun. All those little items. The solar lights will have to be put back in order. Bill said there are plenty of rattlesnakes, so we need to be careful. As usual Kadizzle saw an armed redneck at the grocery store. Kadizzle had to resist asking the fellow if the onions or the celery was dangerous. This area has a serious infestation of Trump dolts. One stretch of highway has both sides lined with Trump dolts flying the Trump dolt flags. Saw a new dolt flag that said Trump 2024. Yup there are plenty of slow learners.,  

Hook up the Earth Module.

Today is the big day. The Earth Module will disconnect from shore power and connect to the truck. Down the road the show will go.  Like birds on the wing the Kadizzles will seek a warmer climate. The module will drop from 7,500 ft to about 3,000.  As Honest Omar would say the lapse rate will change.  The rattlers will still be active down in the basin. Old winter friends will reappear. Changes in latitude, changes in attitude. The summer was pleasing. Winkie and Kadizzle explored a vast new wilderness. A new routine will start. Work will be in the mix. Three days a week we are supposed to simulate work for the Forest Service. 

Ignorance thrives in warm climates

Millions were pissed away on the Arizona audit. Today they admitted there was no fraud. In the old days education meant something. No matter what school you went to you learned a few basics. That day is gone. You can no longer rely on meeting people who have a clue about history, science or math. Trump showed us how dangerously dumb we have become. Kadizzle is somewhat of a history person, mostly by accident. Kadizzle was forced to learn some history in college to avoid being shot in Vietnam.  Of course history is taught completely wrong. It is taught as a memory contest of dates, and event. History should really be taught about concepts. How did Hitler come to power? How did an advanced country like Germany embrace an insane lunatic like Hitler? Well, Trump answered that question for us.  Control the masses of stupid people and you control the country. In our country the Republicans have worked long and hard to make the simple minded scared, and feed them Fox News baloney.  It worked. We know for certain there are 74 million certified idiots in the country. A key tool for spreading ignorance is religion. Religion says don't believe the obvious, instead believe whatever you want. As long as you get a big group of people to believe something, then it is true. It works for Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, you name it. If a lot of people believe something it must be true. If dad believed, and mom believed it, it must be true. Facts are whatever you want them to be. How can you verify your beliefs. Simply turn on Fox News, or consult some expert that can give you the lie you need. A key to Republican success, and the success of religion is to get people to distrust reality. There is of course the devil working behind the scenes, not to mention angels and saints. Once you rinse reality from your brain the thoughts you can cook up are endless. 

Magic refrigerator

 The Earth Module has been pretty good to us in the last year, but it has found our weak spot. The refrigerator quit working about two months ago. We hauled the whole damn camper to Showlow and the RV people told us there was nothing wrong with it. It worked for about two months and quit two days ago. RV refrigerators will run on gas or electric. Now it is working on gas, but today we will see if it will run on electric. This is just going to be one more hassle. The home building in Payson has become insane. The contractor is having his share of problems getting materials, labor, and hooking up the utilities. The stove finally came with a dent in it. Took a major intervention to get that mess cleared up. Home Depot does not seem to realize they are sending us another stove. Somewhere down the road we may have one, two, or maybe three stoves. Since employers are so hard up for employees the dolts have been hired. This adds to all the problems. In retrospect we should have chosen a good nursing home and moved in. There should be cages for people like us. The compound could have a lot of nice amenities. Kadizzle wanted to travel as the final years are burnt up, but it looks like the Covid insanity will put a stop to that. We are living in a time of the Trump mental plague. One thing Trump let us know is how many brain dead people are walking the streets. The brain dead live on misinformation, and reality just does not penetrate the lead shield around their dead brain. What me worry, seems to be how they operate. Stupid and proud is the new Trump motto. 

Morning at the Casino

Up very early, 4:30. Kadizzle is a notorious cheap use your own expletive. Most casinos will give you ten or twenty dollars to get you started in the pocket cleaning process. A worker at a casino in New Mexico told us how to turn the free gambling into cash. At the slot machine when you use the card they issued you for your free gambling you cash out every time you win. If they gave you twenty dollars worth of play, then you may end up with 22 dollars or maybe 18 dollars. The important thing is not to put any of your own money in the machine. Kadizzle used to just go into the casino and get his money, but now apparently they have wised up. They gave us twenty dollars of chips last night, but said we could not use it until today. At eight when they open Kadizzle will have to go get his refund. A friend came down from North Dakota. He wanted to see the great fountain at Fountain Hills. The fountain erupts every thirty minutes. We parked in the casino parking lot. Kadizzle said to Dave, why don't you go in and get your free money. Dave was too lazy, so Kadizzle took Dave's drivers license and joined the casino club for him. When Kadizzle did the gambling for Dave he harvested 32 dollars. You can only join the club once per person. Anyway during our travels we have probably made a couple hundred bucks this way. When we got stuck near Santa Fe we won enough to park at their RV place for two nights free. Kadizzle liked being cheap and is amazed at how people just walk over money they could pick up. Yesterday our builder had to put 350 gallons of diesel fuel in a generator. Kadizzle asked him if he knew there was no tax on fuel going into a generator. The builder was unaware of the fact that fuel used for non highway things is not taxed. Using non taxed fuel would save the builder almost one hundred dollars on his fill up. Too many poor people are poor just because they have no economic sense. Investing in tattoos and chrome wheels for their car they  usually do not get a good return on their investment. 

Downstairs the casino will open at 8:00 A. M.  The people will stream in to put their social security checks in the slot machine. They will remember the one time they won and forget the ten times they lost. Kadizzle is offering a service. Simply give Kadizzle your money. Kadizzle will put it in the slot machine for you. Tell Kadizzle if you want all your money to disappear, like it usually does or if you want him to stop if you get ahead. This is a pocket cleaning service. You can have a drink, or a meal while Kadizzle makes your money disappear. Think of the time you will save. Kadizzle can email you and tell you that you lost.  Kadizzle charges ten percent for pocket cleaning. If by accident you win a large sum, Kadizzle will get ten percent, but most people want their pockets cleaned correctly and that means Kadizzle must stay until all the money is gone. There is an extra charge if it take more than the allotted time to get rid of your money. 

Back to the Apache. There is one problem with Indian casinos, if the Indians get their pockets cleaned they suffer along with the white man, and this happens. Who knows, but more than likely there are some good crooked people involved just like in Las Vegas. These are the people that understand math, and the correct way to pay bribes. They need to be paid too. 

Apache revenge

 Sitting in our room of the casino in Payson we are three floors above the white folks giving the country back to the Apache below. Kadizzle always said there is no better tax on stupidity than gambling. People in front of machines with their minds blown to shreds by the flashing lights. We came to Payson today to bring our worldly belongings and put them in storage until the new palace is done. Things were hopping and the deck is about done the Mexicans are going to lay pavers tomorrow. The stock market fell through the ice today. Everything is in short supply, especially labor. People are at the border clamoring for work, but Republican cannot figure out that labor is essential and our economy is falling flat because white folks will not work for slave wages. Two thirds of the work done on our home was done by immigrants. The white folks skim off the profit. The white folks skimming the sweat from the Mexicans are all Trump supporters who cannot figure out where Mexicans come from.  Apparently the Trumpers think the Mexicans come from Phoenix.  Our house would have been done two months ago if labor was available. 

Life of confusion.

Honest Omar weighed in and straightened Kadizzle out on the lapse rate. Omar has an extensive knowledge in aviation, and is the go to man on aircraft questions. Omar solved a debate the other day and he may win a Kadizzle T shirt at the end of the year. Bake to the " lapse rate", of course Omar would have to use some technical word, but that is the rate it gets colder as you go up. The correct lapse rate per thousand feet if Kadizzle has it right this time is 3.5 degrees per thousand. Anyway it is colder in general at Payson than at Cottonwood. That is why we will live there. Instead of adjusting the thermostat we will drive up and down the mountain until it is comfortable.  Since most people pretty much stay at one altitude they do not realize the effect. However, since the Kadizzles are constantly changing altitude all sorts of things happen. The potato chip bags swell as you go up the hill, the bottles pop, the ears pop, and so on.  Until you have lived in the mountains you do not realize water boils at a lower temperature. This means cooking takes longer. 

We are in the process of loading stuff to go to the new home. With luck we will at least be moved to Tonto Basin in a week or two. That will put us much closer to the house. What a hassle. If you are old, don't build a new home, repeat don't do it. The stress is just too much for old farts. Winky has about lost her mind picking out colors, light fixtures, door handles, carpet, tile, flooring.  On it goes. When you build a house you do not know what you are getting. You have to accept the final product. Of course there is the contractor routine. The house could have been done in June in my estimation, but, but, no. Of course there is the virus. 

Winky just called me on the phone. She is out in a field looking for a piece of old wood to make the mantel. Whoops, whoops, she just called again, bring a tape measure. Kadizzle has to hop on the ebike and run down the road to check out an old piece of wood. We were trying to move some things today, but now the whole game just changed we have to salvage old wood. Such is life

Up the mountain.

Kadizzle is up early and will head up the mountain before too long. Elevation is everything in the southwest. Currently the carcass sits at about three thousand feet. At the new home the carcass will be around five thousand feet. Back in the Earth Module it will be 7,500 ft. Going up means going down in temperature. It is about two degrees per thousand feet. 

A daily ritual is reading the NYT. Insanity and stupidity are blossoming like algae. Kadizzle is always amazed how many people do nothing. So many people wander around on pensions, or social security, and of course a little retirement investment money. A guess would be forty or fifty percent of people produce absolutely nothing every day. You can drive through this country and find so many towns with no major industry. Somehow we live by selling each other hamburgers. Cottonwood where Kadizzle is sitting at this moment has no reason to exist but serving food to a bunch of retired people. The town has every type of eating place multiplied by ten. Urban sprawl has made a complete mess out of the entire country. Crappy unplanned shopping mall polluted rat messes are in every town. Towns have very little character. Phoenix wins in the category of urban sprawl. The city is like someone spilled a bucket of humanity in the desert. 

Well thankya Jesus there are still wild spaces the Kadizzles can inhabit. So many people seem to be stuck in a box with a TV. That is life in America. Kadizzle was never pasted behind a desk, but how many Americans now just sit and get paid to stare at a computer screen. Maybe the peasants of long ago had it better. At least they could be outside. Well the rambling is done, time to start the day. 

Crazy likes warm

Sister Patty took Kadizzle down by the Verde river where she runs the community center. After the electric bikes wizzed down the hill we stopped to talk to a volunteer at the little hiking trail they have which follows the river. The fellow seemed like he had some bolts loose. He was wearing a body camera like the police do. Kadizzle asked him what the camera was about and he said it enabled him to get good wildlife pictures.  Kadizzle took off on a ride through the little sanctuary by the river with the ebike.  When Kadizzle returned to where Patty was standing he could hear loud shouting in the woods. A range war must have broken out. Apparently Mr. Camera encountered a person on the tail with two dogs. The dogs were unleashed and Mr. Camera and Wild Man were  yelling at each other. Expletives were flying everywhere. The two men obsessed with insanity came over towards Patty and Kadizzle. Patty tried to calm down dog man. After more shouting camera man left yelling he paid five thousand dollars to have his dogs trained. Apparently dog man and camera man had had encounters before. Of course the real reason for the camera now was evident.  Camera man called the sheriff and we were off to the races. Later in the day the sheriff called Patty and she said things were under control it was just the normal insanity. 

As the day went on Kadizzle met a few other people with loose bolts. Crazy people can live cheaply in warm climates. The North Dakota saying is really true " The cold keeps the riff raff out" .  It is hard to live under a bridge in North Dakota or sit at Walmart and beg. On the other hand down in Arizona you can be insane very inexpensively. 

Now we come to guns. No doubt if the two crazies at the river had guns there would have been a  shoot out.  Arming idiots is like letting a smoker carry a gas can.  Texas always has to outdo every other state for stupidity. North Dakota likes to imitate Texas. It seems we have reached the tipping point of any rational thought. The country is more than likely going to slide down the hill to a third world dictatorship. 

The town dolt

 Remember the old westerns? They had a town drunk. The guy slept at the jail. The modern version is the town dolt. Strangely every town now has a dolt that drive around with a loud pickup truck. The dolt has two large flags flying from the back of the truck. One has to be a Trump flag, and the other can be an American flag or a " Don't tread on me flag".  Of course the dolt will have an NRA sticker on the truck. Ideally the dolt truck will spew black smoke. Springerville has one or two dolts. We had dinner in Cottonwood and the dolt kept driving up and down the street. In the old days if you were an idiot or simple minded you at least had enough sense to keep it secret. Now things have changed. Trump showed the ignorant how to take pride in their stupidity. It worked. The simple minded now put stickers on their car, flags in their yard, and proudly declare " I am just not that smart". This has been a great service to normal people. Now you don't have to guess, you can just say " Oh, your an idiot, that makes things much easier".  Kids can play a new game during long drives. " Look mom, there is an idiot".   Ok kids let's see who can spot the most idiots? NRA stickers count for five points. A Trump sign in the yard or a Trump flag is twenty points. A dolt truck is 100 points. 

Morning in Cottonwood

 Sitting in the cool morning air on my sister's porch. The heat will come soon. After excellent barbecue last night the fire belly set in and Kadizzle did not sleep well. Visited the new home yesterday and little if anything was being done. The deck is almost complete, and the big excitement today may be the arrival of the cabinets. The garage doors are the big item now to complete the new hilltop palace. Old people should not build homes. 

Have been in a huge facebook battle over the issue if young people want to stay in North Dakota. Once you engage the Hoopleheads you find they are not very articulate. Always they say you are mean if you criticize the Republican Taliban. The simple reality is intelligent young people do not want to be ruled by old white goats. 

Your mourning assignment

 OK, wake up. Below is a song about the Hula, Hula boys. Whomever wrote it had a great sense of humor. Your job is to listen to the words carefully. There will be a test, and you will be asked about the Hula, Hula boys. Now, get to work. 

The Hula Hula Boys (2007 Remaster)

Let Life Happen

 The big boss just took off. She needed to get some test done in North Dakota. Kadizzle is in the wilderness alone. Another bright sunny day has fallen from the sky. What to do? Well there is that motorcycle, why not hop on and just see where it goes. Putting along the wheels turned until it was time to make a steep ride to a wonderful lookout point. Before Kadizzle got to the top he could see a white truck up there. Kadizzle knew it would be someone spotting for elk. Sure enough the guy was just getting out of the truck with his gear. To the puzzlement of Kadizzle the man after a little talk said " I know you". Kadizzle was a bit shocked, not only did the man know him he told Kadizzle were Kadizzle lived. Quickly the mystery was solved. The elk spotter explained he was the UPS man who always came with our packages. Out of uniform, and without a UPS truck Kadizzle did not recognize him. 

Kadizzle could see he had some very nice equipement for spotting elk. In his head Kadizzle hope UPS would let him look through the scopes and binoculars. He had a $4,500 dollar scope, and some $2,700 binoculars. After he set up the tripods he invited Kadizzle to take a look. For the next three hours Kadizzle had a great time observing the various herds of elk. The bulls had their harems and were enjoying life. UPS had a brother in law that was a guide. The guide was down below somewhere with a rich guy trying to find the perfect bull.  Our job was to evaluate the bull and guide them to it with their bow.  About two miles away the guide and hunter had parked their white truck and began to walk toward the elk. It was a long walk and the elk came towards them. Strangely hunters did not meet elk and the elk ended up at the pickup. Had the hunters just stayed in the truck they might have had a good shot.  Anyway there was another nice bull we tried to guide them toward. The problem was we could not find the hunters.  Meanwhile an Indian woman and her spouse joined the spotting party. They had already harvested their elk. The way the woman could spot elk must have been some Indian magic. Her ability to find big elk from two and three miles away was amazing. She was just having a good time pointing out the elk to us. It had to be her native American blood. She would explain every habit the elk had. She knew when they would go where, and when they would go for water. It was like being with an Indian in the old days when they must have known every elk by name. 

The drama was playing out so slowly. Finally we saw the guide and the hunter laying down under a pine.  Kadizzle is not an elk hunter and did not know why they did not continue to stalk the elk,  but UPS explained that since the elk were lying down in the shade you could not walk up on them. It was a stalemate. It was late in the day and Kadizzle decided it was time to give up. Will have to ask the UPS man how the hunt turned out.  It was a lot of fun just looking down from above and watching all this unfold. 

Keeping Winky Happy

Winky is the descendant of mountain goat. Her heart was set on hiking deep into a mountain valley on the edge of New Mexico. When you hike down your mind keeps focusing on the hike up. Nothing is worse than a long hike with a mountain climb at the end, but that was yesterday. The hike out was a chore. Kadizzle kept looking at the GPS. Kadizzle attacked the mountain a quarter mile at a time. Walk, find shade, walk again.  On the way out a couple of young guys came up the train on horses. They were hunting. The horsemen showed us some video of giant elk they had spotted. The normally empty mountains were teaming with elk hunters. One of the horses lost a shoe and the rider had to walk. He explained to us this was not horse country. Indeed, it was not. The trail was a steep rocky mess. When we finally reached the summit, it was about a half mile downhill to the cold ice tea in the car. Kadizzle kept himself alive by thinking about that ice tea. He drank the full quart.  At the trail head hunters were gathered packing more mules to head into the wilderness. Early in the hike we encountered two young guys hunting. They said they had shot an elk the day before. They were headed out to find the wounded or dead animal. What a shame to not find all that wasted meat. Kadizzle would not want to hunt elk.  If you get one you have to pack out the carcass. Hauling something that big up a mountain slope would be taxing and take many trips. Of course you have to cut it up first. What a game of hide and seek the hunters play. Forgot to mention this is just bow season. That means you have to get pretty close. Seems impossible. 

The Scott Hennen Jihad

 Scott Hennen is one of the most toxic liars in North Dakota. On his radio show he lies, distorts, and weaves conspiracy theories every day. Today in the Fargo Forum he responded to many of the letters I have written to the Forum about his deceit. Of course his column was just more of his lies. Hennen who stirred up Trump supporters admitted he was at the Capitol, but he was just covering the news. 

The Republican Taliban

Strangely some people like having the world managed for them. Some people like the military concept where you don't think, you just do what you are told. The people in the Trump Cult like the idea of a strong idiot running the world. It means thinking is no longer a requirement. Religion provides that wonderful system where you give up thought and let someone else do it for you. However, abdicating your right to think never turns out good. Once you put faith in some goofy psychopath it is all downhill. Playing on the simple minded who find thinking painful the Republicans seek to keep funneling wealth to the rich. Manipulating the Hoopleheads is just too easy.  Anyone can play to the emotions of the Hoopleheads. That is how Hoopleheads work they don't think, they just react to emotions. So you play on the fear, hate, and basic emotions of the simple minded and you got em. 

Slowly our country is turning into a mass of uneducated people ripe for the status of third world. Like so many south American countries we now have a class of immoral rich people willing to put us all into poverty. 

 

Megan's little man

As a child daughter Megan used to spend hours playing with the little characters she had.  Now Megan has two live monkeys that make her so happy. Quinn, the little monkey above is just learning to talk.  He keeps Megan entertained. The monkeys also keep the grandparents entertained.  Almost every morning we watch the gang on facetime. The ability to see the grandchildren on the phone keeps us in an upbeat mood. Quinn is a little over 18 months. It is fun to see him acquire language, and other abilities. He has already mastered eating like his grandpa. Big sister Evie and Quinn are good buddies. They play in the stream together, and Evie is a good big sister. 
 

To build a home

 Yesterday we took a very scenic drive to Payson to check the progress on our new home. The setbacks from the situation with covid is driving us over the edge. Old people should not engage in building a house. Dealing with contractors, and ordering materials is not a job for the feeble minded. The house has been under construction for about seven months.  It seems like the home should have been completed by now, but, but.  Right now the garage doors are not coming until October 6th.  We cannot move in until the entire house is done. Hopefully the cabinets which have been a delay item will come next week. There is always some magic item that holds up everything. Then add to that the painter got Covid. 

For Kadizzle the biggest insanity is picking out colors.  Winky has made it far worse than a United Nations meeting. You need a color for granite. Granite, a mother of all headaches. After a couple 200 mile trips to Phoenix to pick out the rock her majesty had the two huge slabs picked out. Nope, it did not stop there.  The granite place will only store it so long.  A battle erupted to get them to store it longer because of delays. Could not get the stove we wanted. Somehow a stove was going to get shipped to Bismarck. Caught that when the stove was in Minneapolis.  Fixtures are going back and forth in the mail. The loan is a crazy hassle. The delays mean we lock in an interest rate, then unlock it. 

Stay where you are fix you current home, do not build another.  So if the universe will cooperate we may be in the house in mid october.  One thing we never considered is the house is being built in a new home area. What does that mean? It means homes will be under construction with the noise and hassle for a year at least.  Kadizzle could go on with the crazy delays and problems, but here is not enough ink in the computer. 

Shot at and missed

Our hike was disrupted yesterday when Cliff called to say he had a positive test result from the Republican virus. Of course this set Winky into a panic. She is scheduled to fly to Bismarck. Quickly we called and got an appointment for a covid test. Cliff had been good about following protocol, but he went to a dance in a bar and apparently that is where he caught the bug. Since we are living close to Cliff for the summer we were lucky, so far. Cliff told us he might have been exposed so we took precautions, although not perfect. By some miracle we did not get the virus. We still did not get the results from the main test. We only have the results from the quick test. We both feel fine so things seem good. It is amazing that the Trump warriors are so willing to kill children, and grandmas. We are in the heart of redneck country where people are about as selfish as possible when it comes to protecting others. Within three days we should get the results from the full test. So far our outcome is looking good. When we got our test yesterday they gave us a court order to quarantine. The rednecks would be upset if they actually read the material they are given at the test site. The goverment told us to stay home. Can you hear the Trump cult yelling. " I got my rights to kill children".  The rednecks care about children only to the extent they don't have to wear a mask".

Almost at sunset

As the sun goes down the wildlife awakens. Yesterday was a 16 mile ride on the ebike through the wilderness. Kadizzle decided to repeat the ride backwards on the motorcycle about twenty minutes before sun down.  We discovered a beautiful hidden mountain valley a few days ago. A rustic difficult road winds up the valley and becomes very steep. The perfect road for a nice challenging motorcycle ride. After Kadizzle emerged from the valley and a little trek through the quiet woods Kadizzle looked over into a mountain meadow. There they were two huge bull Elk.  One was the biggest Kadizzle ever saw. Forgot to mention the elk cow that jumped out on the trail earlier.  Seeing the big elk was exciting.  After the elk surprise the ride continued. It appeared a road led to the top of a peak. Somehow we had missed the road before.  Just as the sun was going down Kadizzle stopped on the peak and could see the entire world below. The sight was incredible. In the background the sun painted the clouds tha special evening red. Another ride with the camera will be in store to capture that view. 

Indian Springs Trail

 The Indian Springs trail video below is just one Kadizzle pulled from youtube. We did the trail on our bikes and this is someone elses hike of the trail. Watch it if you want. 

Indian Spring Trail Big Lake Arizona / July 10 2021

Rockets

Waking up is a dangerous process. Sometimes when Winky wakes up she is not in a good mood. When this happens she fires Katyusha rockets at Kadizzle. A video is provided below so you can see what breakfast is like when Winky is displeased. The Russians developed this rocket.  

BM-13 KATYUSHA ⚔️ Soviet Multiple Rocket Launcher [REVIEW]

Two Old People and a bunch of electrons

 Kadizzle sits on Cliff's porch and the hummingbirds buzz at twice the rotor speed of a helicopter. They are so maneuverable it is hard to imagine. Although there is plenty of sugar water they fight all day over the water, much like humans. Winky has the energy of a hummingbird. Under her command we loaded the magic bikes with batteries and headed toward the Indian Spring trail. Off through the woods we went buzzing. High in the White Mountains it was a perfect day. Rain must have poured down there recently.  Parts of the trail were just streams running down the trail. Winky decided to take a side trail. We had to cross higher than normal streams on the bikes.  Kadizzle decided the best way to do it was just power down and fly across. It worked. A bit bashful Winky walked her bike across and paid the price of wet feet. Kadizzle has close to 4,000 miles on his bike. That is a lot of peddling, and battery charging. A nice part of the ride was along an old railroad grade used for logging. 

The Republican Taliban

Inch by inch the Republican Taliban is stealing our democracy. Texas has fallen. The Republican Taliban attacked our Capitol. Stupidity has become respectable. Flying a Trump flag in front of your home is an announcement to the public you are proud to be ignorant. Behind the Republican Taliban are the people on top. 400 families own and run the United States, they fear taxes more than anything. The Republican Taliban is their tool to manipulate the simple minded. Religion is something the rich don't believe in, but know is the key to manipulating the simple minded. Look at Afghanistan what do you see?People carrying guns. Look at Texas, Arizona, and other redneck Trump states, what do you see, the gun slingers.  The Republican Taliban is like termites. They are in your house destroying it without you seeing the damage they do.  If your house is infected with termites you just sit there until your house crumbles. That is the United States, and the Republican termites are eating our very foundation. 

What is a fizzler?

 Hope Winky does not see this, but if she does you will hear the explosion. Winky has fizzlers. What is a fizzler? When we were kids and bought a bunch of firecrackers some would fail to go off or provide a bang.  We called the duds fizzlers because the fuse fizzled, but nothing happened. Back to Winky.  Winky will come to a conclusion before she has enough information to make a legitimate conclusion.  That is a fizzler. Winky had about three fizzlers already today. Here is how a fizzler works.  You tell someone you are going to give them five numbers and you want them to add up the five numbers. After you give the person three numbers they insist on giving you the total. Awakening this morning Kadizzle was going to take the laptop computer from the bedroom down to the table. Winky said " Why are you taking that computer to Cliff's?".  Because you pick up a computer that is not enough information to conclude you are taking it to a particular place.  This goes on all day. It just happened. Winky looked across the table at me and assumed since I was typing I was firing a stinger on facebook. Well Kadizzle is not, he is writing this silly nonsense.  Winky asked what are you writing about? Kadizzle did not want to lie and start a fire storm, so the answer was " Just things in general".  Wow, that was a close call. Good thing Winky does not read this nonsense. Anyway fizzlers can be a real problem when people come to a conclusion to quickly. We just finished a 20 year war caused by president Bush's fizzlers. 

Liberal Redneck - Ivermectin. This is really good. Pay attention.

Sometimes it is a big country

Doesn't look like there will be a bike ride today, the rain is still coming down. Yesterday Winky, and Kadizzle went their separate ways. Winky took off not sure where she was going. She ended up lost and far away, but she made it back.  Old Kadizzle had received an early report from the Winkle that the five bighorn sheep were up in the canyon. Kadizzle was inspired to look for them. There they were up by the top of the cliffs. Almost had a wonderful photo, but they got away. Kadizzle decided to circle around behind them maybe for anther look. After getting the ebike under the fence Kadizzle went on the raw terrain across the vast plateau. The flat land seemed to go forever. Land formations around here are strange with these large flat area in the mountains. Once upon a time when the volcanos leaked they created level areas. Those vast lakes of lava cracked and canyons were formed, but a lot of the land is still flat. 

The transition from out in nowhere to crowded insanity like Phoenix or Denver makes one wonder. Out here in nowhere it is so peaceful, and calming. Why do people insist on crowding together, shooting each other, spreading disease, inhaling car fumes, and purchasing crap to fill up storage sheds?