Invasion of the Niggifiddles

 First, what is a Niggifiddle? A Niggifiddle is someone obsessed with cleanliness and orderliness. The same sex couple next door are Niggifiddles. Winky has gradually become a Niggifiddle. A visiting friend is a professional Niggifiddle. 

Here Kadizzle sits while the Niggifiddles discuss spots in the bathrooms sink. Niggifiddles love to talk about cleaning. Orderliness is a major part of the disease, it is a form of OCD.  Winky's mother was a Niggifiddle. Kadizzle would sit down to read with a glass of water. When he got up to go to the bathroom and came back the glass was gone washed and put away. 

The absolute worst thing about the Niggifiddles is imagining dirt. Of course dirt is everywhere, but Niggifiddles have special eyes that allow them to see dirt that is not there. Winky imagined dirt the other night. The Mexicans created endless dirt around our house, and the air was filled with dirt, but the left and the dust went away. Winky imagined that a cloud of dust was hanging around the house suspended in the air. We could not open the windows to enjoy the night air because of the imaginary cloud of dust. 

Dust and dirt are like monsters stalking us. Dust is so sneaky. To a Niggifiddle there is a constant threat. The dust on the deck is driving Winky crazy. She is out there right now with the hose. The Mexicans said we cannot get the new patio wet for several days. Half the deck does not cover the patio, so Winky is out there attacking what she can. The take your shoes off every time you come in drives Kadizzle insane. You have to go in and out of the house all day. All the precautions so dust doesn't win. 

On it goes

The Mexicans will complete the backyard project today. Ruth is visiting with her new RV. We will help Ruth get it set up in Springerville.

The backyard is going to turn out nice. It will give us a place to sit under the deck and be cool. Generally speaking the weather here is too go to be true. If it could rain on schedule it would be perfect. 

Kadizzle has been fight rocks in the crawl space. Just when it looked like a victory the Rock of Gibraltar showed up. 

The three small lakes below us are wonderful and the community loves them. Every day people fish, walk dogs, sail little sail boats, and enjoy the Eagle and Osprey. 

Had a very long conversation with Marty. Marty loves to talk as much as Kadizzle and is a good American, by that I mean not a Republican. Marty is a professional photographer. We met him down at Lake Roosevelt and he lives up here in Payson. He can tell us who is in the secret society of liberal thinkers. Democrats are scarcer than turtle tits here. 

Have been watching a movie set in 1914 around the first world war. The Village is the name of the movie. Would recommend it. Love to see those English movies with good scenery of the English countryside. 

Kadizzle probably does have attention deficit disorder, so he switches back and fort from one serial to another. The other one is not as well done, but it is a diversion. It is called Atypical. The theme is about an autistic teen and his love life. 

 

A cool morning

 We are up early. The work on our new patio is creating a lot of dust, so we slept with the windows closed. Yesterday was a day to hand pictures. The wall decorations bring us a sense of home. The Ikea book case is together and full of Winky's odd collection of sculls, rocks, and other items of nature. 

The Kadizzle's have met so many new people in Payson. Seems like just about everyone is interested in Archeology. The original people of the area were everywhere, and there are a lot of stories of great finds of ancient pottery, and other artifacts. What was it like is a constant question. 

Last evening Kadizzle met a neighbor of a new friend. The man like petroglyphs, and pictographs. In his backyard he had rocks with his own designs on them. Kadizzle looked at them and said those two look like they might be real. One was. As we talked two little neighbor kids two and four said hi from the yard fence. Kadizzle heard the story of these two cute little kids. Both were adopted by their great grandfather. Both mothers were dead. One was murdered, and the other died of a drug overdose. The kids were so lovable it was heartbreaking to hear the story. 

Our country has totally gone insane. The Republicans are promoting a fabricated video called 2000 mules. With lies and the usual weak relation to reality the movie claims to explain how the election was rigged against Trump. Republican eat fantasy like candy. No fabrication is too bizarre. The nut case that now represents us claimed the recent shooting was done by a transexual liberal. When called on this he retracted his lie. We live in a land where the guy who tells the best whopper wins the election. 

Kadizzle Arrested for Trespass at Republican Headquarters.

 Gun violence is destroying our country. Kadizzle decided to express his views about gun violence at Republican Headquarters in Payson, AZ. The encounter started well enough. The woman who greeted at the door noticed the North Dakota license plate and we had a little conversation about Williston. Kadizzle told her she seemed to nice to confront about the gun problem. It did not take long after Kadizzle told his story for the game to go south. 

Kadizzle told the women in the little shop that also sold Trump and other propaganda about his disgust with the gun problem. Two days ago if you follow this blog you know Erin called crying because my granddaughters school was locked down for a local gun incident at another nearby school. Confronting the ladies with the fact my granddaughter is afraid to go to school the ladies launched into the regular Republican routine about mental health. Kadizzle explained the mental health problem was 70 million people that voted for Trump. It quickly went down hill from there. The big cheese woman came out of the back room and told Kadizzle to leave. She threatened to call 911 and have Kadizzle arrested for tresspass. Kadizzle said go ahead and it was game on. 

The police showed up and were very professional. The women in the Trump fortress made a video of Kadizzle's rant. This was great and gave Kadizzle a chance to say every vile thing he could about Trump and his gang. This may work out well if a court session is necessary. 

Almost forgot the best part. The police came out of the Trump nest with a printer photo of Kadizzle, and said " Is this you?'. Looking at the photo it was me, but it was me with a Trump MAGA hat on. At first Kadizzle was baffled and said the photo was modified. Then it turned out the photo was from an old Facebook post where Kadizzle was making fun of the Trump dingers. Kadizzle had a discussion in another Trump store about a month ago. Apparently those people put out a warning to the Trumpers. At the bottom it said in writing with a sharpe " Look out for this man".  The whole thing was very amusing. The best thing was the facebook picture they used of me included some very sarcastic writing about the Trump cult. 

So an appearance will be made June 8th before the judge. Stay tuned. A trail would be interesting. The women could be forced to testify. The video of a wild ranting angry gun opponent may be shown. Of course there is the danger of the usual spin and editing by the gun nuts. Off to the races. Do something now before one of your loved ones is gunned down. 

Sylvie is sleeping

Saturday morning starts with facetiming our daughters. Almost every morning we facetime with Megan while she takes Evie to school. Quinn is strapped in for the ride.  

The news from Erin this morning is Sylvie got a part in a major school production. Sylvie is a budding actress at the Denver School of Arts. Some kids just put an F in front of the arts to make it the Denver school of Farts. 

Anyway Sylvie does not yet know she got the part she auditioned for. There will be tap dancing in her part, an added bonus, because Sylvie wanted to tap dance. When Sylvie gets the news there will be great excitement. It is a big production at her school and will be done in October. This means a trip to Denver in October. 

Life has its ups and downs like ponies on a merry go round. Two days ago it was a crises as Sylvie's school was locked down over the gun insanity. As a country we have a mental illness problem. We have 70 million people who voluntarily admitted they are mentally ill. They voted for Trump. 

Show some respect

Today we will host a nice lunch for the men laying pavers in our backyard. None of them except the owner and boss are Americans. These men come across the border for as long as they can and work. They work harder than most Americans, and send the money home. They don't speak English. These are good people, nice people, and to see the Republican Party stir up hate, and disrespect is very sad. 

These men and women rely on relatives that have become citizens to make this whole thing work. The economy here depends on hard working people. If the Mexicans did not build these houses, the houses would not be built. It is that simple. Kadizzle has watched Americans try to do the work. The American boys don't last long. The cell phone keeps them busy. 

The boss of the workers is a Mexican that speaks perfect English. Such a very nice guy. Kadizzle asked him to use his jack hammer to bust up a big rock in the crawl space. Kadizzle said tell me would ten or twenty dollars do the trick. No, he said he would do it for nothing. Kadizzle insisted he take twenty dollars. At the end of a hard, hot, tiring day Ervin went into the crawl space to bust the rock after his regular job ended. Ervin was struggling with the rock. Kadizzle said quit, Ervin said " I don't quit".  Kadizzle finally convinced Ervin to go home. Ervin said he had to go home get cleaned up and go to his cousin's graduation. She wants to be a doctor, and Ervin was going to buy her some flowers. 

Kadizzle was driving off to get the hamburgers and fixings for the lunch today when he noticed the workers had been locked into the construction site on our road. After a long hard day Ervin and his helper had to take down a fence and put it back up so they could get their truck out. It was a dirty trick by the crew doing the work on the street.  The heavy  equipment operators making good money running equipment have to pick on these guys working with hand tools. This is just like Republicans calling these people drug dealers, rapist, and illegals. Have some respect. 

Full Scale Range War

 Kadizzle is fuming. Erin called today crying. She was so upset. A school in Denver was having a gun incident. It was not Sylvie's school, but they locked down Sylvie's school. Of course it caused untold worry. The range war is on the Republicans. Fred Stern is a Republican in District 33. He used to run the gas plant at Beulah. Kadizzle knew him on a casual social basis. It would seem the man had some sense. Kadizzle was shocked when he found out Stern supported Trump. Could he really be that stupid. Kadizzle called Stern today with no reply. Kadizzle has been ranting to every Republican he can get his hands on. They are evil, down right evil. When you take NRA money like Hoeven, and Cramer you are evil. Taking money so kids can be gunned down at school, yet the people of North Dakota vote for these scum. These are Trump scum. They would not impeach the rat. What is wrong with the people of North Dakota. If you are a Republican and you are reading this, know one thing, Kadizzle does not posess an once of respect for you. It is becoming harder and harder to be near friends with the Republican disease. How can they be so ruthless for greed, tax cuts, and lies? Please confront these rats. 

Good Morning Kadizzlites

Waved forty bucks in front of Jesus for the miter saw I wanted. Jesus said no, he needed fifty. As Kadizzle walked out of the store Jesus said he would take forty. You can bargain with Jesus, it is the smell of cash he likes. The TELevangelist prove that.  

Kadizzle is not from this planet. This planet is awash in stupidity. Yesterday Kadizzle called the offices of the three stooges to rant about gun control. You know the stooges, Hoeven, Cramer, and Armstrong. They represent the Hoopleheads in North Dakota. Now that we live in Payson, Kadizzle has discovered the gold mine of ignorance here. 

This planet makes no sense. There is plenty of everything, but the dingers cannot figure out how to share it. 

The Mexicans are building us a nice patio in the backyard. The economy of Arizona lives and dies by the Mexicans, but the dimwits here want to keep them out. The set up is so strange. They come into our country work, go back, send money back, and then come back. 

Kadizzle admires these people. They work hard, are good family people, have a great sense of humor, and are always cheerful. The fact that they are played by the Republican rats enrages Kadizzle. 

Visit the crazies

 Kadizzle has been debating with himself if he should go to a Tea Party meeting. Yes, there are still insane Tea Party people right here in Payson. A recent acquaintance suggested Kadizzle attend and perhaps shoot some facts at the Hoopleheads. It would be like going to a snake handler's religious gathering. Back in the hills there were the crazy people who handled rattlesnakes at their church meetings. The were nuts. They played electric guitars, drums, and kicked the box with the snakes. By the time they picked up the snakes the snake was so dazed and confused it could not bite. 

Well that is the Hoopleheads, dazed and confused. It might be fun to see them confusing themselfs. 

Jesus will not trade.

 By happenstance we have a very nice baby crib in the garage. We wanted to get rid of it so old Kadizzle thought he would take it to Jesus. That is the Jesus thrift store down on main street. Now Jesus has a nice miter saw Kadizzle wants. Jesus says he will sell the miter saw for 60 dollars. Kadizzle wanted to give Jesus the baby crib which he could probably get at least a 100 for. Well Jesus is not real good at math. Kadizzle would buy the miter saw for 20 bucks, and give Jesus the crib. Jesus would end up with 120 bucks when he sells the crib, but Jesus does not bargain so Kadizzle just gave away the crib to another outfit that helps young mothers. The moral of the story is you cannot bargain with Jesus. 

What do we sound like?

 Yesterday Kadizzle told Erin about his conversation with a telephone service person for Ikea. Erin had a good point. What does some person in a poor country think about an American bitching about some little problem? Kadizzle is getting upset because he cannot get some cabinet together. The person on the other end of the phone may be having problems feeding their family, they may have no transportation, they may have to work way too many hours, on it goes. That poor person has to listen to lazy, overfed, overpaid, Americans complain. 

Kadizzle does try to think about that person on the other end of the phone in a call center. It helps. That person does not run the company, that person has very little power to do anything. 

On somewhat of a different note Kadizzle can relate another conversation. Kadizzle talked with a guy yesterday morning who has traveled the world. He said once Americans were well thought of in South America, now that day is gone. We need to think about our image. As a country we are delusional. We are not number one except in lies, and paranoid theories. We have let education fall apart. We get more people shot, and way too many children live in poverty. We need to wake up. 

Kadizzle met his twin

 Yesterday Kadizzle and Winky went to the Democrats picnic. It was a good time. One thing was immediately obvious. Everyone was old. Young people do not participate. Kadizzle met his twin. Jeff is the Payson version of Kadizzle. Jeff jabs the Republicans whenever, and where ever he can. Jeff told some good stories about local politics. The best story was how he attends the local Tea Party meetings. Those Tea Party dolts are big here, and totally insane. The Tea Party says show up and speak up, so Jeff shows up and speaks up about what they do not want to hear.  Kadizzle may jump off the deep end and go to the next Tea Party meeting with Jeff. Jeff assures Kadizzle he has plenty of friends in law enforcement to come save us. Should be interesting. 

It was fun meeting all the political people. Kadizzle got to have a conversation with Tom O'Halleran, one of the few sane people elected in Arizona. Being able to have direct input to elected people is good. 

Back in Hazen Kadizzle was going to cook up a scheme to fight the Republican infestation with community television. May give that a try here. Could be interesting. 

Bee Bumble Bee and the magic Snoochels.

Two old people up in the morning. It has become a habit to use modern technology every morning to see Bee Bumble Bee and the magic Snoochels. It cheers you up no matter what. Every morning Kadizzle facetimes Megan as she takes Evie to school. Beside Evie is Quinn. The sight of the two grandchildren somehow inspires life to go on. Getting to see Sylvie is more difficult, but also wonderful. One teenager, and two little bumkins. 

Some people chose not to have children, which of course means they choose not to have grandchildren. The grandchildren are often more fun than the originals. You can pitch them back to their parents if you get bored. There is something magic about little people. Their honesty is wonderful. Poor old Winky was taken aback the other day when a little one said " She's a witch". The sun has taken it's toll on Winky's skin and she has some wrinkles she has earned. Winkly loves the outdoors. 

Grandchildren will tell you if you smell or have any other defects. Honesty fades and we learn to  lie as we grow old. Little kids also are capable of taking such delight in simple things. Quinn had a great day because he got to hold a little snake yesterday. 

The little ones bring back memories of the originals when they were young. 

Kadizzle had a terrible Fizzler

When we was boys we played with Chinese firecrackers. Every so often you would light one and it would fail to go off. The fuse would fizzle, but nothing happened. We called these fizzlers. 

Well there is a thought process very similar. You have a thought, but it fizzles. One easy way to have a fizzler is to come to a conclusion to quickly. Winky has a terrible fizzler problem. Kadizzle will say three words of a sentence and Winky will react before she has a clue about the rest of Kadizzle's thought. That is how fizzlers work. The worst fizzlers in the world are the rockets with people on them that make it a few feet into the air and explode. 

You, Kadizzle, your dog, and the trees are getting older. This simply means we are now prone to more fizzlers. As part of our new home process we are acquiring furniture. In Denver we bought three large bookcases that have to be assembled. Of course they are from Ikea. Ikea does not write instructions in English, they draw cartoon pictures so anyone in the world can interpret the instructions and put the paste wood together. 

Old Kadizzle successfully put the first cabinet together, the fizzler hit on the second one. To refresh his mind on how the cabinets went together Kadizzle revied the instructions. Big mistake. The brain had a fizzler and Kadizzle misinterpreted the instructions. The brain said Ikea packaged the wrong parts. This led to a long complicated phone call to Ikea to send the right parts. The Ikea person refused to give Kadizzle the phone number to a local store and Ikea would not list the number for a local store. Kadizzle did the old " Let me talk to your supervisor " routine. It worked and Kadizzle got a cooperative person who agreed to send forty of the right parts. This gets complicated. There were never any wrong parts. Kadizzle had just imagined a wrong part problem. So when forty of the exact same part showed up Kadizzle started to think. This is when the fizzler clear up. Kadizzle thought, the company could not possible be so stupid as to send forty wrong pieces after his careful explanation of the problem. Now the brain fog cleared and all of a sudden Kadizzle realized Ikea never made a mistake, he had just suffered from a massive fizzler. 

Fizzlers are basically misperceptions. Your brain decides too quickly what is going on. The trick to avoiding fizzlers is slowing down. Fast thinking may have worked when you were twenty, but at 73 the calculator needs some oil. 

At this point Kadizzle will give an example of a fizzler long ago. In fact when he was too young to be having fizzlers. Parked in the lot of the shopping center in Bismarck Kadizzle was waiting for Winky to come out of Sears. It was a cold winter day with wind.  A young man pulled up beside Kadizzle and parked in the handicapped spot. The young fellow jumped out of the van like Superman and ran toward the store. Kadizzle was outraged that such a fit person would take advantage of the handicapped spot. Kadizzle was going to give the guy the chew.  However, before Kadizzle could express his rage he saw the young guy reappear at the door. The terrible offender was pushing someone in a wheel chair. Kadizzle was thankful he did not say anything. It was a lesson in waiting for all the evidence before coming to a conclusion. So beware the Ides of March and watch out for fizzlers. 

The Engine Room

 The old house in Hazen had an engine room. The new house in Payson has a nicer engine room. What is an engine room in a house? Everyone needs somewhere to escape, and that is what an engine room is for. The engine room has a nice desk top computer, a good music system, and now the new engine room has a flat screen TV. When the world closes in on you go to the engine room, close the door, turn on the music and get lost. 

The new engine room has a nice couch that turns into a bed. The old engine room had a futon. Engine rooms are spare bedrooms for when Shanika comes. He usually sleeps in the engine room. Winky usually leaves stuff alone in the engine room, so you don't have to search for things. 

Engine rooms are wonderful in the morning. With a cup of coffee you can wobble into the engine room and catch up on the world. The engine room is where you get up to date. In the engine room you check the Bismarck Tribune, The New York Times, NPR, The Fargo Forum, and now the Payson Roundup. Naturally you have to check for the simple minded on facebook. The BBC can be good. Oh of course you have to see if Jesus is stealing your money on the stock market. On some days Jesus steals the money, on some days he gives it back. If you believe in Jesus things become less complicated. Just attribute everything to Jesus. For instance Kadizzle might just say " I wonder what Jesus wants me to have for breakfast".  Yesterday Jesus said to have pancakes. If you really believe in religion you know Jesus and God control everything. So why not just let them run  the show? When Kadizzle is asked by Winky "Will you take the garbage out?".   Kadizzle can just answer, let me see what Jesus wants. So if the garbage goes out, it is the will of Jesus. If the garbage stays in it is the will of Jesus. Does it get any better?  Turn you life over to Jesus and vote for Trump. Life is good. 

Down in the dungeon

The Panama canal is being dug in our crawl space. Well it may be only ten feet long and three inches wide at the bottom, but it will connect the water to the outside. We have a little water in the basement that concerns Winky. That means dig, dig, dig. The water is a mere trickle. We had some heavy rain in December and the water has taken a long time to drain through the clay. Old Kadizzle should complete the installation of a french drain today. 

The Payson paper was laying on the counter so Kadizzle picked it up and read about how it was really a federal agent that shot the black people in Buffalo. Well that is what Senator Rogers of AZ says. See in Arizona the more insane and goofy you are the better we like to vote for you. Arizona has way more lying, crazy elected people than North Dakota. Of course North Dakota has the three stooges, Hoeven, Cramer, and Armstrong, all carrying luggage for Trump, but wow Arizona has many time that number of insane elected people. Stupidity seems to thrive in warmer climates. Look at a map and you will see the south always has more Hoopleheads than the north. Of course as we have climate change stupidity moves farther north. Look at North Dakota. The people there used to be half sensible, not now, they have Cramer, and of course believe in Trump. What is it about warm weather that encourages stupidity. Look where the Bubas live. OK, need more coffee and here goes the day. 

Brain turning to oatmeal

Often I warn my grandchildren about television turning their brain to oatmeal. Well grandpa's brain is turning to oatmeal. Now that we are house dwellers we have two new TVs. Winky is in the living room and Kadizzle is in the engine room making our brains into oatmeal. In the Earth Module there was no TV, but here we have two oatmeal machines with infinite brain weevils. Kadizzle has been watching two Netflix series because he has attention deficit disorder, at least according to Erin, and Winky. So when Call Saul slows down Kadizzle switches to Atypical. 

One thing for sure every honest old person knows it the brain shrinks with age. Kadizzles will soon be the size of a pea if he does not quit the oatmeal machine. However, if you want to turn your brain to horse fertilizer there is the computer. We have become a nation that subcontracts our thinking. The Trump phenomenon shows that. So perhaps Kadizzle can add some raisins to his oatmeal. 

The TV has become like a bed time story for adults. The brain becomes num and you go to sleep.

How's life Mr. McFeely?

An old guy used to sit on his porch in the town where Kadizzle went to college. On the way to class we would say hi to Mr. McFeely. One morning as we walked past Mr. McFeely's we asked " How is life?". Mr. McFeely replied " Fine, it is just taking so damn long". At 73 sometimes Kadizzle thinks about that statement. Kadizzle for some reason is reviewing old memories. They come from everywhere. At no other stage of life did Kadizzle look back on the past so intently. Think about all the people, all the crap, all the things that happened. In 73 years a lot can take place. Kadizzle has moved around some. You can go on the google and find out that the google has been tracking you. Kadizzle has done this a few times. Little red dots show where you have been. Of course this has just been since the advent of the cell phone. Looking at the travel history memories come back about places. 

There are places, then there are people. Think of the people you have encountered. At this age think about how many people you knew who have been drawn up to Jesus. Who knows where they really went, if anywhere. You can see why people like the fantasy of religion. Now they are replacing it with the fantasy of Trump. Strange it is the same people into Jesus, and Donald. Wow, we live on a strange planet. 

Anyway going to be another nice day. Winky has lost her mind worrying and becoming obsessed with minor problems. Our new home has moisture in the basement. Back in December it rained very hard and Kadizzle believes some of the rain seeped into the crawl space. On the other hand Winky seems to think the house is in eminent doom and may be washed away at any moment. 

This gets to another problem. Money has been shooting out our bung hole like a cannon. We had a water leak on our RV fixed. $600 later the leak is gone. However, the electrical system somehow got compromised while it was being fixed. No problem the RV guy said, take you Earth Module home and I will come to your house and fix it. OK, Kadizzle said, then he thought wait it worked when we brought it to you, now it doesn't. Kadizzle thought Mr. RV would come fix it for free, since there was a good chance some how Mr. RV did something to it while he worked on it to make the slide out unfunctional. Nope, Mr. RV said it would cost the usual $130 an hour to trouble shoot the damn thing. Somehow Mr. RV feels he should be paid the rate of a dentist, a lawyer, or a rocket scientist. 

This gets us to the next continual game here. Winky meets someone of Mexican heritage that does landscaping. They are quickly buddies, next thing you know we are negotiating for thousands in landscape improvements. 

Well yesterday Ernesto came to give us an estimate for putting some flagstone in the backyard. Kadizzle wanted Ernesto to give an estimate for concrete in the crawl space. Winky called Kadizzle down to the crawl space from his comfortable perch on the couch watching the news. Entering the crawl space Kadizzle found two Mexicans that did not speak English sitting on buckets, and then there was their boss Ernesto. Ernesto and his gang found water in the back of the crawl space where they had dug a little hole. Now, the fireworks began. The discovery of water sent Winky's anxiety meter into the red. Where was the water coming from. Ernesto and his gang cooked up the idea it was coming from a leak in our sewer line. This seemed to Kadizzle highly unlikely. First the water did not smell like sewage, and Kadizzle thought the best explanation was left over rain water from the period when the house had no gutters. As this mess spiraled out of control Ernesto did have a good idea. He said look at the neighbors crawl space and see if it was wet. We did, the neighbor has the same problem. Most likely the water is natural ground water. At any rate Kadizzle does not think it is a real serious problem. The ground will dry out, but Winky thinks nuclear war is eminent. This is just one more day in settling in to our new home. Imagining problem that probably don't exist has become the bane of our existence. 

Replacement Theory

 We have a problem with replacement theory. Republicans have replaced their brains with a direct connection to Fox News. Logic has been replaced with fantasy. Morality has been replaced with greed. Christians have replaced Jesus with Trump. On it goes. 

In every way the Kadizzles have been bleeding cash. Today we paid 600 dollars to fix a leak in the Earth Module. Landscaping has been draining us. Then there is the stock market. It fell with a thud today. Kadizzle has a number that he considers a comfort level for the stock market. The market is near the panic level. Hopefully we can float across the finish line. 

The economic insanity that has gripped this country is amazing. You simply cannot allow 400 families to own half of everything and think that will work. The minimum wage is about twenty years behind. Infrastructure is crumbling, and the concept of taxing the rich is toxic. 

When you look at the statistics from polls you see the tsunami of stupidity is worse than you imagined. Republicans are assured 29% of the vote because they own the hard core stupid. That means any sane candidate starts out at a deficit. Lying is worth more than money in the political realm. Who has perfected lying?

Old Joe died

 Checking the Bismarck paper today Kadizzle saw where an old welder he worked with died. These things bring back memories. Joe was 99. Cannot remember, but Joe was pissed at Kadizzle for some reason. Cannot remember the reason. However, there was a strange incident with Joe's car. 

When Erin was just two or three years old Kadizzle was left at home to care for Erin. Winky must have been on an errand. Kadizzle struggled to get Erin to knap. Shortly after Erin went to sleep in the afternoon a car came down the street and spun around in front of our house. Out of control the car went up on the lawn. Of course it awakened Erin and made mess in the yard. Kadizzle was furious. He asked the neighbor to watch Erin and took off on his bike to find the offender. On main street he spotted the offenders. It was a couple of teenage boys. They did not realize a man was peddling as hard as he could chasing them down main street. The miscreants turned into the local ice cream drive in place on the end of the street. Kadizzle confronted them through the open window of the drivers side. The kid started to back up. Kadizzle grabbed him by the collar and held on. Kadizzle did not let go and the kid started forward after he had backed out. In the process of escaping he bulldozed Joe's car out of the way and did some damage. 

Even after a long search Kadizzle could not find the kid. He may have been from a different town. For some reason Joe was mad at Kadizzle even though it was the kid in the wrong. Well the kid never came down our street again. 

Feels like we are cheating

 Another nice day has popped out of nowhere. Winky and Kadizzle have day after day of clear skies and nice weather. We live a lifestyle with no winters. Kadizzle often is confused about what time of year it is. It always seems like summer. The winter clothing has not been out for years. Kadizzle used to make fun of snowbirds, but now the opposite has come to be. Who would suffer through cold, wind, and winter if they did not have to. 

Bums have figured it out. In the good climates you notice a lot more bums. In North Dakota they always said the winters keep the rif raf out. It is true. There were few people living under bridges in North Dakota. 

Yesterday Kadizzle worked hard in the dungeon. The dungeon project is an attempt to make useful space out of the crawl space.  Kadizzle wants to have an eight foot ceiling for an area 10 x 25. That means excavating the floor for about three feet. The effort would be bad enough if it was simply dirt, but no there are boulders the size of Kadizzle, and they weigh more. The project reminds Kadizzle of the men who tried to dig tunnels out of German prisoner camps.

Kadizzle got news from Hazen two old crazy men went on to Jesus. Steve was about as crazy as one human could accomplish. Rumor was his wife had oil wells, and Steve's job was to find crazy ways to rid them of the money. Kadizzle could tell endless stories about him, but will stick to one. Steve made a replica of the Lewis and Clark boat out of old lumber. The boat was displayed by the highway during the centennial. Steve got the strange notion to drive the boat down main street for the parade. He put his four wheeler under the boat and somehow rigged up the contraption to move. However, typical of Steve there was no way to see when he drove the boat. Kadizzle just remembered the name he always called Steve. The name was Colonel Klink, or just Klink. 

Klink needed someone to act as if they were steering the boat. Klink asked Kadizzle. Down main street the boat went with Kadizzle the captain whispering to Klink which way to turn.  Klink liked recognition, and was disappointed to find the float was accredited to Kadizzle when the parade was over.  Poor old Klink, he had built the boat, driven it down mainstreet, and got no recognition. Kadizzle told people it was Klink's accomplishment. Wait, another Klink story. One day Klink who liked to salvage anything took on the job of moving a garage. Klind backed his old grain truck under the garage, jacked it up and drove the garage back to his house. Again a strange object appeared to move on it's own. 

OK, crazy man two. Alvin Shied was a famous eccentric man who rode an old bicycle about town. Alvin was a hoarder of the worst sort and his yard was a mess. When Kadizzle was judge in Hazen a neighbor complained and Alvin came before Kadizzle. Alvin informed judge Kadizzle that he had no authority in Hazen, because he was not born there. Kadizzle found Alvin guilty and told him to clean up his yard. Alvin said he would go to the judge in the next town over and have things his way. 

Alvin was frugal. Alvin was famous for showing up at the gas station at the end of the day to get the free hot dogs they were going to throw away from the cooker. Another favorite lunch for Alvin was the funeral lunch. Alvin attended a lot of funerals. Kadizzle often told people he shared the funeral sports coat with Alvin. 

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. These men lived lives people will remember. They did not know they were desperate. 

All this makes Kadizzle think of his banker friend who is as cheap as they come. Once when banker was coming to Arizona he called Kadizzle to ask where there was a thrift shop in Payson. Banker needed blue jeans. Kadizzle ribbed him about how cheap he was. Banker explained that when his family had a funeral they all exchanged clothes including the dead man's. Banker showed Kadizzl the nice shoes he got from the last relative that went on to Jesus. Banker went on to explain to Kadizzle that you could look in the local thrift store a few weeks after someone your size died and find some nice cloths. This gave Kadizzle and Banker and idea. Why not publish your clothing sizes in the obituary? Kadizzle died today with a size 10.5 shoe. Still some wear left. 

Construction Noise

Like fools we built a home in a new neighborhood. Did we think no other houses would be built here? On each side of us a house is going up. The street is being extended and even down below us new homes are going up. Payson is in a building boom. Because of the climate the overheated dingers from Phoenix have second homes here if they have the cheese. The compressor is the worst noise machine. Today we got the workers to move it to a better location. 

Erin was in the hospital yesterday for a bowel obstruction. Always a tense situation. Since she was injured in high school basketball Erin has periodic episodes. Top it off with a son in law soon to have surgery and we have a lot going on. Of course Sylvie is recovering from a broken wrist. 

Sylvie gave us a scare with her grades at the Denver School of Arts. The knucklehead messed up submitting a video project and was going to get a D. Somehow she straightened it out and got an A. She has been a straight A student. Using the same technique Kadizzle used for his kids, he gives Sylvie a $20 randomly when she perfects her grades. It is the Pavlov system. Worked for Megan and Erin. Both turned out to be excellent scholars. So far Sylvie is on track. 

11 Hours Later

11 hours of driving from Denver to Payson, AZ. That is a long time in the seat. Drove past the forest fires near Las Vegas, NM.  Windy day, very windy. Down the front range and over Raton Pass. Mile after mile. This is a big country. Once you get on highway 40 the major east west route for trucks things change. The amount of Chinese garbage being transported across our country is insane.   Besides a constant lane of trucks there is the railroad which also hauls the stuffed animals to Walmart. What is in all those trucks? How do we consume so much stuff. We are awash in junk while the rest  of the world eats our droppings. Total insanity.

Ah, a little politics. If you read the other day about David McKinly, the guy I was in the scouts with, he made the national news today. He was defeated in West Virginia by an insane Trump guy. The Republicans eat their young. If you do not bow to Trump and repeat his lies you are toast. 

 

Why are you looking so weird?

 For exercise old Kadizzle rode the ebike about nine miles to downtown Denver. Downtown he did a little sight seeing. On the return Kadizzle loaded the bike onto the train and headed back. As he put the bike on the bike rack in the train a strange character asked Kadizzle " Why are you acting so weird?".  Kadizzle was puzzled, and asked the guy if he was talking to him. The weird one was the guy asking the question. The guy appeared to be in his early thirties, he had a very strange braided hairdo. He seemed sort of African American, and his eyes seemed abnormally opened. In reply Kadizzle said " I am acting weird, because I am weird".  Kadizzle went on to explain to the strange man that Kadizzle was not from this planet.  Kadizzle sat down and ended the encounter with the fellow. That did not end the fellows talking. Kadizzle could not make out what he was saying, but he continued to talk to an imaginary character for the rest of the trip. At times Kadizzle thought maybe he had one of those strange cell phones with a hidden microphone, but there was nothing attached to him anywhere.  Near the stop where Kadizzle was to disembark the transit policeman came by to check the tickets. The transit policeman asked Kadizzle " How you doing?".  " Fine Kadizzle replied, but that man ain't right".  Kadizzle could not hear the interaction with the mental case, but apparently the wild haired man had no ticket. The policeman was asking him questions, taking notes, and talking on his radio. Kadizzle suspected the policeman would throw him off the train, but he did not. Kadizzle got off the train, and still wonders how the crazy man was dealt with.  Living the small town life Kadizzle does not see the crazy people wandering around like life in the big city presents. 

Who can be the best boot licker?

 The New York Times features an article today about a guy Kadizzle was in the Boy Scouts with. David McKinley has been a right wing Republican for a long time. However, Trump has endorsed a more greedy right wing boot licker in West Virginia. The same thing goes on elsewhere. Trump will endorse the worst possible person, so each person tries to be worse than the next. Trump has Republicans in a downward spiral. Hopefully the Republican party will self destruct before the country does. 

In Denver we are eating extensively, drinking special drinks made by Erin, and getting fatter. Spoiled Sylvie is playing grandpa for everything. Grandpa has to drive Sylvie about to satisfy her wims. Since she is smart, clever, and pretty grandpa is an easy mark. She broke her wrist playing soccer. That makes old granpa feel for her. 

Did a little more exploring of the bike paths yesterday. Eventually you will be able to get just about anywhere without interacting with cars. Cities need to address good transportation for people without cars. 

Adventures in Denver

 Kadizzle hit the jackpot with two son in laws that are excellent cooks. Yesterday Winky and Kadizzle took the train to down town Denver. What a strange country we live in.  Along the route were bum encampments. Amazing in a country with so much the bum culture flourishes. The little electric scooters were buzzing everywhere. 

Erin keeps telling Kadizzle the thieves are thicker than mosquitos around here. Erin lives in a very prosperous neighborhood. The nice neighborhood is bordered by those less fortunate. So the game is lets go rob the rich people. Sounds a lot like South America. We do live in a third world country where the rich stole everything. 

One new trend in American life is the segregation of people into economic classes. Those on the bottom don't live with those on the top and the two groups really don't know each other. Kadizzle had a good conversation with a young guy at the cell phone store. He told how sickening it was to see parents come in and buy their kids a $1300 cell phone. Too many modern kids have no idea of earning anything. Sorry this is the old man rant. Better quit. 

OK, maybe some good news. Denver does have some nice parks and bikeways. Denver is working hard to make the city livable, but cars are the curse of humanity. 

Today old Kadizzle may ride the ebike downtown, just to buzz around. May put the bike on the train to come back. It works great. The train is a real blessing for $1.50 you get three hours of riding.  Not bad, much cheaper than a car. For what you pay to park a car you could ride for a week. 

The Bum Walkers

Kadizzle took a long bike ride around Denver. In total he may have gone thirty miles. Of course it was on the ebike. Denver has a fantastic system of trails that follow the creeks and rivers.  The trail towards Denver is populated with the bum walkers. Tents and bum carts appear under the bridges and in the glens. According to Erin the bums have been attacking people and robbing them. Erin claims the bums put up a trip wire and caught a bike rider by the neck. The bums Kadizzle saw were all domesticated and harmless. 

Why not pay bums to pick up trash?  Pay the bums by the pound, and pay them well. As kids we picked up bottles. There should be a bottle deposit law. Bums could be paid to pickup all sorts of trash. If those guys standing on the street corner were paid to pick up trash at a rate that paid better than holding a cardboard sign, maybe they would. When a bum brings in a shopping cart of trash why not give him or her a token for a shower? Bums could be given uniforms that the city would clean for free in exchange for trash work. Bums seem to like to pickup trash. Often you see a bum with a cart full of junk. The bums could form a union, Bums of America. Their union could demand better facilities under bridges. Bum hotels could be built under bridges. Rent could be paid in trash. Bums could have blue hats with MACA on them. MACA would mean Make America Clean Again. 

Sylvie the Weed

 After a 700 mile drive grandpa was astonished to see how tall Sylvie is . She has popped up like a garden weed. Sylvie is taller than grandma, and her mom. Quickly she will be as tall as grandpa. Hard to believe that little pumpkin is now a towering pretty girl. For her birthday she broke her wrist in a soccer game. A little run in with the goal keeper. 

The excitement of the drive was going through Las Vegas, New Mexico.  The raging forest fire was just about overtaking the town from the west. The smoke was incredible. The climate deniers are just like the Trump cult. The planet is in peril. Once you see it, denying it is not easy. 

Here we sit in Denver. Erin lives in Stapleton. This is where the old airport used to be. Now square miles of airport have become square miles of homes and businesses. The pace of development is insane. 

No one ever considers what any area can comfortably sustain. Kadizzle always thinks of it as a bunch of cigar smokers.  How many people can smoke a cigar in a room?  Only a fool would say the number is infinite, but that is capitalism. You know the answer when people start to drop over dead.  Insane consumption is our hall mark. 

Just a few minutes ago Kadizzle went to the cabinet to get a cup for coffee. In Erin's cabinet there were about twenty of those water bottles that everyone gives away. Billions of the damn things  have been made. Every thrift store has hundreds.  So it goes. Ship loads of crap come from China, last in a home for a week or two and go to the dump.  In Arizona you can see several mountains made from garbage. Back in the little town of Hazen, North Dakota the dump grows a an incredible rate. Recycling is pretty much a joke. Very little gets reused. If the old system of bottle deposits was in use imagine the savings. 

As a society we have collectively lost our minds. Erin just lectured grandpa on the terrible crime problem in her luxury neighborhood. At night the peasants come rob the well to do. Poverty is now the hallmark of capitalism. Erin said the tent people have been forced out of downtown and now live along the bike path. According to Erin the bike path to downtown is not safe. Erin said a bum put a trip wire across the path and robbed a bicyclist. When Ellon Mush uses billions to ride a rocket to space someone on the other end of the game has to live in a tent. Pure unadulterated insanity. Wealth uncontrolled creates poverty. Prove me wrong. Look at any time in history where the top took too much and you will see the bottom living in squalor. Slavery was a classic case. Yet, Republicans say the answer is give the rich more. Can we be this stupid?

The Lap of Luxery

 The Kadizzles are just about settled in our new home. Push the buttons and life takes place. Kadizzle decided to go out in glory, so we will purchase a shade for the huge window in the bedroom that is motorized. Our consumerism goes against all our principles, but we are just like all Americans living in a sea of hypocrisy. After spending almost two years in the Earth Module the luxuries of a home seem overwhelming. We still have not purchased the yacht, the jet or the second home, but these things take time. 

Today we take off in our truck, which also seems to have every bell an whistle. Denver is the destination. In Denver we will get to see the granddaughter we adore. On the way we will drive right through the heart of the New Mexico forest fire. We are living in a world where the band plays as the Titanic sinks. 

Yesterday for a few moments Kadizzle dwelled on a couple of his favorite cartoons. One featured a man in Cuba tied to a post and about to be shot. The blindfolded man is offered a cigarette. The man refuses the offer saying " No I am trying to quit".  The second old favorite reminds Kadizzle of Republicans.  Kadizzle saw the cartoon forty years ago in a Playboy magazine. A little boy is knealing beside the bed saying his prayers. The quote under the drawing says " .. and God please forgive the Negroes. " This seems to sum up Fox News, and the Hoopleheads. 

The Hoopleheads

 Kadizzle awakened to read about a guy he was in the boy scouts with. David McKinley was featured in a CNN story. McKinley turned out to be a flaming Republican playing the Republican game. His brother was a nice guy and Kadizzle went all through school with him. Hoopleheads have infested West Virginia just as they have North Dakota and Arizona. Does your average person meet many Hooplheads? Kadizzle meets a lot of them. Winky and Kadizzle went to the Jesus thrift store yesterday and it had three simple minded Hoopleheads inside. One Hooplehead said George Soros was a Jewish Nazi. These people are so far out in la la land it is hard to imagine. The New York Times just did an article on Tucker Carlson. The Hoopleheads feed on his race baiting lies. One of the Hoopleheads was an old lady. Kadizzle quizzed her about Trump bilking college students out of money. She said "Everybody steals". Kadizzle said if stealing was OK would the store owner mind if he stole some stuff. 

The United States has been struck with a tsunami of stupidity.  Republicans vie to see who can be the most insane. In Ohio they cannot decide who can kiss Trump's ass the best. 

A lot of normal people do not talk to or meet the Hoopleheads. Kadizzle meets them every day.  Kadizzle fears our country is just like Germany prior to the Nazi takeover. Ordinary people did not realize what was happening. 

Sitting on the Deck

 The Kadizzles are living in a different universe. We are pretty much settled in our new home. One of the best pleasures of the new abode is the deck. Our deck is huge and encompasses the east and north side of the house. Actually the corner probably points about due north. The net result is we can move about on the deck and get any sunshine combination we want. Another great bonus is the view. Too much of our life we were sitting on the prairie with a limited view.  Ah, the deck, and the view. Now we can see mountains in every direction. We sit on top of a hill, so the world below is all visible.  To top it off we can sit in the house and have a panoramic view in all directions. We had a nice home in Hazen, but it had no where near the lighting this place does. The sun comes a peepin into where I ma sleepin. 

Lift is too short to spend in one place. The Kadizzles have lived in some vastly different places. We both grew up in the east with hills and trees. Then we moved to the prarie.  Now we are essentially in high desert, or who knows what.  Actually we are in a transition zone between desert and forested mountains. 

This week we go to Denver to see Sylvie.  Our precious little girl has turned 13. Grandpa brags, but Sylvie is an amazing kid. She has so many talents. She can act, and has mastered art, she skis, plays soccer, and is a good writer. Her buzzing active brain is a computer that requires management. Erin, her mom, has her hands full. The teenage years will be a test of endurance. Sylvie has been a handful to manage. Our kids Megan, and Erin seemed easy.  Megan now is enamoured with her two little gems. Megan has always loved playing with dolls, and little characters. To have two live dolls puts Megan in heaven. Evie goes to school, but Quinn is home all day for Megan to play with. You could not have a better mom than Megan. 

Kadizzle has always loved kids. It is a puzzle to see parents that seem to have little interest in their munchkins. Good parenting is an art, and the rewards are endless. In today's world so many people have substituted dogs for children. 

The Twilight Zone

 Nothing scares Kadizzle like a conversation with what appear to be normal people about Republican politics. Last night Kadizzle had a long conversation with a gay guy, and a straight guy. Both were Trumpers. Kadizzle could not get it in his head how a gay person could be a Trumper. Something that came up in the conversation was police killing of black men. The straight guy said no more black people were killed by police than white people on a per capita basis. Just a few minutes ago Kadizzle checked the statistics. Mr. Straight was wrong. Per capita the shooting rate of black men is twice that of white men. 

Kadizzle asked Mr. Straight if he read the New York Times. As every Republican does, he dismissed the NYT, and went on to name other news sources that were unreliable. This happens every time Kadizzle confronts a Trumper with facts. Any fact that contradicts their version of reality is fake news. 

Not long into a conversation with a Republican you start to hear the Fox News version of reality come out. Trump said if he was elected he would reveal his taxes. Of course he never did. Ask any Republican about this an you will get the spin. 

A favorite of Trumpers is Hunter Biden. Mr. Straight had a long spin on Hunter. Kadizzle asked Mr. Straight if he knew about Jared Kushner's multi billion dollar deal with the Arabs. Mr. Straight said he never heard of it. This pretty clearly shows Mr. Straight listens to nothing by right wing news. 

Religion was the original game where you could believe anything regardless of how absurd. Now, that religious nonsense has spilled into politics. " If you believe it, its true", reality is what you chose it to be.

Politics is the new religion. If you want to look at an explosive mix, just take Christianity and Trump voters. How can you get the two to mix. No person who even remotely subscribed to the teachings of Christ could vote for Trump, yet they do. The same mind that lets them part the Red Sea, walk on water, and rise from the dead is totally capable of believing the 30,000 lies of Donald Trump.