Care Taker and the Five Million dollar death.

What a year for The Commander.  Kadizzle's little band has four members.  Cheech the great fashion designer in New York City,  Snoocher Bear the mom, and public relations magnate in Denver,  and the two parents.  This year everyone in the family will undergo surgery except The Commander.  The poor Commander will have to nurse back to health two more before Christmas.

Cheech underwent surgery on her sinus's already and has recovered.  The poor old Bear will have a knee operation shortly,  and Kadizzle is scheduled to have his prostate removed.  Three in one year is taxing, but The Commander is as tough as they come.

All this slicing and dicing will undoubtedly cost well over a hundred thousand before it is all over.  Fortunately we are all covered by insurance, but still the out of pocket expenses hit hard.  It is very sad to know that Americans pay twice what any other civilized country does for health care and gets such a poor return.  Yesterday The Commander, and Kadizzle watched a very good program on American Health care on PBS.  The waste in our system is staggering.

The program featured an elderly woman kept alive on life support.  Her case was hopeless and she should have been allowed to die, but her son insisted she be kept alive.  Her final year of life cost a staggering 5 million dollars.  There is no way this cost will be born by her family.  The poor black woman surely did not live a luxurious life.  Society was unwilling to spend money for her education, her health insurance, her housing,  or any of the normal things that make life better,  but incredibly the same society that did not care for as she lived,  spent five million in one year for her to die.

One can only shake their head and wonder what in the hell is wrong with us.  

Truely an Ignorant Bastard

Mr. and Mrs. Kadizzle are now plowing through the Flashman series.  The books are entertaining and so much of Flashman's life is like our typical politician.  Flashman is as phony and big a chicken as ever existed, but he manages to portray himself as a hero.

In his current pickle he has been forced to impersonate the man about to become the King of Denmark.  On his fist night as the fake Carl Gustaf, Flashman decides he can get away with having sex with the chamber maid.  The chamber maid of course thinks Flashman is Carl Gustaf.  After they procreate, this is what Flashman has to say about the event.

"I've sometimes wondered what the result of that encounter was, and if there is some sturdy peasant somewhere in Holstein called Carl who puts on airs in the belief that he can claim royal descent. If there is, he can truly be called an ignorant bastard".

The Morning Report.

If Kadizzle can get his cycle to start he has been taking a morning ride to check the kingdom.  Hazen is on the edge of the oil boom so BNSF is upgrading the rail siding.  When done it will be longer and have heavy steel. This will accommodate 100 car trains so they can pass in Hazen.  All the oil loaded in the famous North Dakota town of Zap can now make it to your gas tank.

Down by the Knife River the the little Riverside park is being revived.  A new shelter is being built and things are looking up. Houses are still sprouting up.  The oil boom has even created a housing shortage this far East of the big goings on. North of town a little road is being up graded to take care of traffic while they fix highway 200 next summer.  The Cenex can now fuel large trucks with high volume diesel pumps.  Between the tow gas stations in town you can get any kind of junk food you need to shorten your life.

The town itself has elected a new city commission full of the worst sort of Tea Party mentality.  Our good city auditor gave up and left.  The right wing dingers are off to a good start wrecking havoc.

The ex mayor put a sidewalk in front of his daughters house on Third Ave.  This is a main street and it is a sad comment that you cannot get from one end to the other with sidewalks because no one has the guts to enforce the ordinance

It appears there may be a decent crop of pheasants.   Lord Kadizzle made a deal with a guy in New York to send him some pheasant feathers, so Kadizzle needs to pop a few.  Today we will probably go to the boat to finish up winterizing the good ship.

Magic Underwear

Albert Einstein said " The world is not stranger than you think, it is stranger than you can think".   The Mormons have proved Einstein correct.  Mormons actually believe in magic underwear.  I wish I was just making this up, but unfortunately we have a man running for president who believes in magic underwear.

Don't take Kadizzles word for it.  If you look up sacred garments you will find some amazing things. You are supposed to keep the garments on all the time.  That means when you go to change garments you are supposed to keep one leg in the garment you are taking off and put one leg in the garment you are putting on.  Some Mormons think they have been saved from fire by the garments.

Flashman

A good lake friend insisted Kadizzle read the story about Flashman pictured above.  Flashman did not have an once of morality, but he was not afraid to capitalize on anyone who thought he did.  Flashman considered himself the ultimate scoundrel.  Reading of Flashman's unending ability to turn every lie, and event to his advantage is refreshing because he freely admits what he is doing.  It would be so nice to know if so many of today's rotten rats know the truth about themselves.  Does Rush Limbaugh laugh to himself when he knows he is manipulating the Hoopleheads?  Does Glenn Beck have a good drink and think how easy it is to make millions with his nonsense?  Mitt revealed what he thought about most Americans when he made his 47% remark.  What if he revealed his real knowledge and how much he really believed in the silly Mormon stuff he claims to believe.  You have to give Flashman credit he at least came clean in his memoirs.

Thank Ya Jesus

Looking backward on how he spent his life Kadizzle is pleased he did not have an office job.  At one point Kadizzle thought he might like being a lawyer.  The Kadizzle family is polluted with lawyers.  The grandfather was a lawyer, three uncles on that side practiced law, two sisters were in the legal game, Kadizzles dad had two years of law school, and Kadizzle's brother in law was a law professor.  So law ran thick in the gang.

Long hours sitting at a desk would have driven Kadizzle nuts.  Fortunately most of Kadizzle's career was in coal mining.  Coal mining allows one to move around.  Mine safety involves getting out and seeing what might go wrong and trying to stop it.  That means Kadizzle spent three or four hours per day roaming around thousands of acres looking for where the next accident might happen.  After the mining career Kadizzle was a safety specialist in the Power Generation field.

Generating coal fired power is not an outdoor activity, but power plants are huge.  The plant Kadizzle worked at was the largest building in North Dakota. There was plenty of space to roam around.  Walking completely through the power plant could take two days, and it would be a walk of miles.

The greatest think about the safety business for Kadizzle was you got to be your own boss. You decided when to do what.  On most days if you got bored sitting at your desk you could get up and go for a walk or drive.  A key element of safety is surprise inspections.  If you don't know when you are going to be somewhere, how could anyone else?  So if all of a sudden you get bored and go to some remote area of the plant or mine, it is a good thing.  Someone out there may be about to do something stupid, and they don't think you are likely to show up.  There were times when Kadizzle could not sleep at night.  He would put on his clothes drive out the mine and surprise the dragline crew in the middle of the night.  It kept them honest.  Thank ya Jesus Kadizzle never sat in an office all day.

A Bum RV

The Bismarck Tribune reports the city will crack down on bums and panhandlers.  In North Dakota it is not much of a problem.  Just like mosquitos the cold weather chases the bums out.  Kadizzle remembers an old article in the New York Times about someone who designed a special shopping cart for bums to live with.  The Shopping cart had a little seat in the front that could keep the bums dry.

While we were in Denver the Kadizzles saw a bum sleeping in a parking lot which happened to be under a bridge.  Sleeping in a parking lot seemed like an ideal way to get run over.  Kadizzle is thinking about designing a bum RV.  A bum RV has to be light,  cheap,  turn into a bed, and ideally would have some amenities.  Solar power is a given.  A can crusher would be nice. Dual purpose cushions for sitting and sleeping will be included.   Perhaps there should be a five gallon bucket for washing, and as a portable toilet.   There could be a small electric heater for plugging in. The challenge for the Bum Rv will be a fun design project.  All ideas are welcome.

Back in the USA

After a long drive the Kadizzles are back in Hazen.  It is like going from one planet to another.  New York, Denver, Hazen, are all entirely different.  From one of the largest cities in the world to one you can spit across with a good wind.  There is something to be said for each environment.

Made it back from the grocery store with eggs in a backpack on the new Kadizacycle.  A little chilly but it is going to be a great day. 

Once upon a time 700ft under a hill in West Virginia

Once upon a time when Lord Kadizzle was trying to earn money to go to college he operated a shuttle car like the one pictured above.  Kadizzle was nearly killed by operating one of these machines. A shuttle car hauls coal from the face of the mine where it is cut from the seam by a continuous miner to an underground conveyor.

The shuttle car steers with all four wheels and is powered by an electrical cable. The cable is played out as the shuttle car goes toward the miner and is picked up on a reel as the shuttle car goes toward the conveyor.  Shuttle cars are equipped with two drivers seats which face each other.  When you need to go the opposite direction you simply switch seats.  Operating this vehicle in a tunnel 20 feet wide and four feet high is difficult and dangerous.

One  day Kadizzles foreman instructed him to pick up some supplies with the shuttle car. To do this Kadizzle had to make a turn contrary to the way the mine was laid out for shuttle cars.  As Kadizzle made the turn his head got caught between a block of wood on the roof of the mine and the seat back of the shuttle car.  Normally stopping the shuttle car would have been a simple matter of taking your foot off the throttle.  However, when Kadizzle took his foot of the throttle the wheels on the shuttle car continued to move the shuttle car forward.  Kadizzle quickly realized his head was going to be crushed.  By some miracle the shuttle car became stuck and lost traction.  With the wheels spinning Kadizzle was trapped. Another miner came to his rescue and hit the emergency shut off.  Kadizzle was almost killed.  Coal mining is a dangerous occupation.

Punched by the Spaghetti Eater

For some strange reason Kadizzle thought about the best punch anyone every landed on him.  Quickly it came to him that it was certainly the Spaghetti Eater that did the best job.

As a high school football player Kadizzle played football in the Ohio Valley.  Keep in mind the Ohio Valley was lined with steel mill towns and some rough football.  A football game in the Ohio Valley was a loosely controlled fight.

Triadelphia High School's team got on the school bus and made the trip to Weirton West Virginia.  Weirton was a steel mill town that often kept kids in high school an extra year if they were needed on the football team.

Kadizzle played offensive guard.  To Kadizzle's dismay the player opposite him was Mattao Magnone,  a huge Italian fat guy that was impossible to move.  In order to deal with Matty as he was called Kadizzle had to constantly fake a block and then swing his feet around an kick Mattao's legs out from under him.  Mattao mostly got by on his size, not his brains, so this tactic worked most of the game.

Like an idiot Kadizzle taunted Matao most of the game. Matao had a habit of grabbing Kadizzles shirt and holding him.  Kadizzle would say thing to Matao like " As big as you are you should be able to play fair you big Spaghetti eater".   As the game progressed Kadizzle hurled every insult he could think of at the big Italian.

Finally late in the last quarter the ball was snapped, and Matao planted a blow on the side of Kadizzles helmet with his forearm.  It was a perfect what we called in those days "forearm shiver".  The trick is to hit your opponent with the flat of your forearm planted with all your body weight against the side of the helmet.  The staggering blow of Matao's forearm worked its magic and rattled Kadizzles brain.  Kadizzle managed to stagger around in a daze until his senses finally came back to him.  After Kadizzle regained his senses he went back to the line and gave Matao a message.  Kadizzle said to Matty  " This shows how stupid you are,  if you had any sense you would have hit me like that in the first part of the game".

The is a side story to all this.  Sometime during the game we noticed the stands were emptying.  Looking back toward where our school bus was parked it appeared to be on fire, and the crowd was going to watch the fire.  Our team thought, "Oh my god they set our bus on fire".  Of course we felt they were taking football pretty serious.  As it turned out it was home coming for Weirton and someone had set one of the home coming floats on fire.  Anything could happen at a football game in the Ohio Valley.

Erin and Fran's new home in Stapleton

Erin and Fran are happily embedded in their new home with our grandaughter Ticklepinch.  Kadizzle and The Commander have excellent accommodations in the basement with our own bath and large screen TV.

Actually living at the Airport 365 days a year.

Kadizzle is sitting on the runway as this is written, not in a plane, but on the couch.  Strange as it may seem it is true.  Kadizzles daughter is living the life of ease in her new house.  The new house is built on the old Stapleton Airport site in Denver.   As a historical marker the old control tower was left standing just two blocks away.  How many neighborhoods have their own control tower?

The old airport must have have been a couple square miles large.  With so much land to work with the developers who turned it into housing and an urban area had a lot to work with.   The blank slate made it possible to plan large parks,  bike paths, and a host of amenities from the ground up.

The latest trends in urban housing can be seen on every block.  Many of the new concepts are great improvements.  Check back later in the day and Kadizzle will add a video and some pictures.

Lord Kadizzles first piece of heavy equipment.

In the third grade Lord Kadizzle was farmed out to some farmers in West Virginia for the summer.  As a third grader Kadizzle got to drive this strange tractor. It was used to cultivate vegetables.  The largest piece of equipment Kadizzle ever got to run was a 70 cubic yard dragline that weighed over 400 tons.  That experience was brief and well supervised.  The operator tempted Kadizzle when he was working as a foreman at a strip mine to give it a try.  The last foreman that tried it pulled the bucket into the boom and got fired.  I think that was the plan,  so I took my turn delicately and got out of the seat.

Kadizzle has briefly flown a small plane on several occasions.  The mine was a great chance to operate some very large equipment.  When bored Kadizzle used to let the D10 dozer operator sit in his pickup and Kadizzle would push some dirt for awhile.  It quickly got boring.  Underground Kadizzle was a real shuttle car operator.   A shuttle car is a difficult piece of equipment used to haul coal underground.   The shuttle car has no reverse, you simply change to the other seat facing the other way and drive that direction.  Operating a shuttle car in narrow underground tunnels take a lot of skill.  Along the way Kadizzle has driven 180 ton haul trucks,  large sugar beet trucks, and operated some smaller cranes.  It all started back there with that old Allis Charmers Model G.

The voices

Often I also hear voices in the refrigerator.  The ones in the refrigerator I often listen too. Many times they plead that they are cold and would prefer to be in my stomach.  Too many times I take pity on some old pork chop or left over meat loaf.

It is a good thing no one else can hear the voices.  Yesterday I was at the beach, and some of the things the voices said were not for public consumption.  Many times they tell me to have another drink, or somehow distract me before I pull my zipper up.  The worse thing is when the voices get me confused and then the voice of The Commander interrupts and brings me back to reality.  Right now the voices are saying it would not hurt to eat a little lunch.  It would not surprise me if they talk me into eating too much and tell me I can cut back at dinner. That is their usual tactic.

A many of many hats ends up with a bad one

Yesterday as the Kadizzlite crew moved back to base we stopped at a second hand store.  Ricky greeted us at the door in his bowler hat.  Ricky was sitting on his chair doing embroidery.  A very nice fellow, but he would not be listed under the manly category.  Ricky had a nice selection of hats, and Lord Kadizzle very much wanted the nice airline pilot hat to convert to a captains hat.

At $45 the hat was too expensive.  Kadizzle crafted a plan to trade Ricky pheasant feathers for the hat.  Perhaps the deal will eventually come to fruition, but in the meantime Ricky gave Lord Kadizzle the Love Boat hat for free.   Now the plan is to provide some pheasant feathers to Cheech. Cheech will return to the store to bargain with Ricky and perhaps Kadizzle will have less of a dolt hat.

Death by food in New York City

Days and days of eating wonderful food. Today we visited a park by the water that had everything needed to kill any fat man.  Hundreds of excellent food vendors with every conceivable type of food

Sailing backwards

Yesterday the Kadizzilites spent a good bit of time on the water around New York City.  Kadizzle has often wondered what it would be like sailing around the city of New York.  The current in the waters surrounding the city is very strong. The captain of the boat that took us on tour said the current was flowing at four knots.  That means that if you are sailing against the current your boat is pointing one direction but actually sailing towards the stern until you reach four knots.  So if you are making a good six knots it only turns out to be two.  The old sailing ships coming and going must have had a hell of a time.  Of course with the current you get a big bonus.

Life in tenmant housing

Today Kadizzle, The Commander, and daughter Cheech (aka Megan) crossed the Williamsburg Bridge into the lower east side for a tour of a tenement building.  Apparently an owner had boarded up the place back in the early 1900's, so it was just like it would have been when the original Irish family and 7,ooo other people lived there. 

Coming from a family of 9, Kadizzle could imagine what it would have been like for a family of six or eight to live in a space the size of our garage.  Five out houses served well over 100 people in the six story complex.  All water had to be carried up four flights of stairs.  By any standard it was a miserable life style.

For a mire $221 Kadizzle will get to sleep in his New York City bunk bed.  The Commander is going to force Kadizzle to climb the ladder.  On the boat we have the V Berth fairy.  I wonder if there is some special fairy that climbs that ladder at night if you have been good.  Kadizzle has not been a good boy so  most likely there is no danger of attack.

Today the Kadizzlites traveled from Denver to New York.  It is like landing in a different world.  The prices are definitely not from the planet of North Dakota.  Just seeing the variety of people is refreshing. Pretty girls of every make and model.  Kadizzle was just chided by the The Commander.  Often Kadizzle greets women with W.C. Fields old greeting " Hello, my little apple blossom of the orient.".  We just had an appetizer at a nice Chinese place.  The girl seating us was so pretty Kadizzle could not refrain.  It was such a pleasure to see a real oriental beauty and be able to say.  " My little apple blossom of the Orient".

So the New York adventure begins.  Amazing to see stores that actually are unique.  The choices of eating places withing walking distance is in the hundreds and each place has something different.  Kadizzle has no clue exactly what we just had, but it was very good.  Our Hotel is an old warehouse converted to a very nice  lodging place.  You can tell by the old beams in the hall the place is way over a hundred years old.  The Commander just called and is demanding my presence on the roof. She says the view is excellent, and there is a bar up there.  So far dinner has not even been though of and we have blown well over a hundred dollars on snacks and some wine and beer.  Such is life.

Rock Walrus returns Iphone to dock

When Kadizzle prepared to go to the lake yesterday he mentally told himself many times to be sure not to put his Iphone in his shirt pocket.  According to plan that is how the trip to the lake to work on the boat started.  The Commander always gets her dander up when she gets blamed for everything, but sure enough the ensuring disaster was her fault.  At some point The Commander called. In an absent minded state Kadizzle put the phone in his T Shirt pocket.  It was not too long after that he reached over the side of the boat to put some tools on the dock.  As planned by the gods of gravity the phone slipped out of the pocket and into the water at the deepest end of the dock.

With a $200 dollar bill sinking to the bottom of the lake Kadizzle stripped his clothes off as quickly as possible.  Hopefully none of the cabin owners in the area were gazing out the window.  One could hear a some old goat saying " Look Mildred there is a rock Walrus on Quinn's dock, boy they really do have a short tusk".   On the first dive the phone could not be found.  It was essential that Loyd Bridges did not stir up the bottom or the whole mission would be hopeless.  However, by the grace of the lake gods something that resemble an Iphone was in sight on the second dive.  With great joy Lord Kadizzle came to the surface and put the phone on the dock.

Now there would be the obvious question will a phone submerged in twelve feet of water still work.  To the credit of Steve Jobs the phone slowly came back to life.  Thank god the recovery went so well. Plan B would have been super embarrassing.  Believe it or not Kadizzle lost the hand held VHF radio in almost the exact same spot.  Recovering the radio was more difficult, but a major help in the process was the fact that the radio was turned on and Kadizzle could see the light from the radio.

Plan B would have been for The Commander to call the phone so it would light up and ring under water. Who knows if this is possible?  The bad news would have been trying to get hold of the commander. Could you imagine calling on the VHF radio and asking someone, " Would you call my wife and ask her to keep calling my phone?".    Surely they would ask why and  Kadizzle would have to admit that it was under water an he needed to find it. 

Now the VHF radio is equipped with a lanyard that has flotation.  Somehow wrapping the phone in foam just does not seem like a solution.  The moral of the story is keep you phone in you pocket.

Go Fly a Kite with Biscuit and Gravy

Sitting at the kitchen table the noise of the door bell disturbed Kadizzles internet fog.  There was Gravy at the front door.  Gravy explained he needed help.  The kite they have been trying to launch into space had crashed on top of the neighbors camper.  Somehow it was Kadizzle's job to recover the kite.  Biscuit and Gravy have a knack for turning just about anything into a disaster.  When they first came into the neighborhood they roared down the street with Gravy pulling Biscuit in a wagon hooked to Gravy's bike.  The cable strung from the bike to the wagon got caught in the bike wheel and made a spectacular wreck.  Naturally Kadizzle was called on to untangle the cable.

So today's mission is to boost Biscuit onto the roof of the camper to retrieve the kite.  Once we had Biscuit back on the ground with the kite Kadizzle decided to give the two knuckleheads a kite flying lesson.  Things seemed to be going all right until Gravy somehow managed to ram the kite into the ground and break it. Biscuit and Gravy could break a ball bearing. 

Once Biscuit and Gravy were in a physiological test that involved ball bearings.  First the tester gave three ball bearing to an engineer. The engineer lined them up in a row, made a triangle, and tried to do engineering things. Next they gave the ball bearings to an artist. The artist tried to stack them and figure out a way to make an artistic statement with them.  Now, it was Biscuit and Gravy's turn.  They managed to steal one, break one, and lose the other one.

The Remeadigus

What in the hell is the Remeadigus?  In ancient Roman times the mayor of every little town was required to make a trip through town each day to see how things were going.  The mayor was supposed to remedy any problems he found.  That is where the word remedy came from.

Everyday when Lord Kadizzle is in the ancient town of Hazen he tries to do a Remeadigus.  The best way to perform this function is by bicycle.  The first stop on the trip usually involves checking the potato heads.  There are four potato heads.  Up the street the neighbors made a nice little boy, and a nice littler girl.  As they got bigger the couple must have decided they liked their children so well they made two more identical.  So now the two older potato heads are in school, but the younger reproductions are fenced in the back yard with the dogs.  So as Kadizzle rides up the street the little potato heads start yelling "hey Mr. Potato Head".  Apparently they have figured out how to return the nick name.

Across the street is where the Biscuit and Gravy live.  Haven't seen much of them lately, but yesterday they were out on the street trying to fly a kite.  They have a unique knack for messing up any project. Kadizzle warned them about getting the kite string caught in the power line.  Gravy said he realized that could give him a sting.  Calling an electrocution a sting seemed like a novel idea. On the way back from the down town Remedigus Biscuit and Gravy were repairing the kite they managed to get stuck on the roof.

On a good day a lot of kids are involved in the Remeadigus. The next stop is usually to see the Doodlebugs.  Karen takes care of the Doodlebugs and does an excellent job.  As Kidizzle approaches the wild Doodlebugs in Karen's yard they begin yelling " It's the Doodlebug Man".   At this stop a few kids have to be thrown into the air and Kadizzle tries to remember all the names of the kids at the day care.  It is amazing how Karen trains kids.  They always do what they are told, stay out of the street, and take care of each other.

Shiney's  little art store is the next stop.  As you enter the dog alarm goes off.  This is a must stop if you want a couple pieces of candy.  Shiney is usually up on the happenings in town and has a couple stories about the Hoopleheads to relate.  Since Shiney is right behind the pocket park she can give a good report on what goes on there.

It might be necessary to stop at the Hazen Star office and check with the editor.  This is required to make sure the paper is not letting the local conservatives get out of hand.  Now we have a new editor that has to be broken in to the ways of keeping Hazen on as good a course as can be expected deep in the land of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

Next comes city hall.  Behind his desk the economic development director will be waiting for Kadizzle to buy him his daily diet coke.  This is not a testimonial to Diet Coke.  Duke may be the largest man in circumference in town.  Duke will fill Kadizzle in on all the goings on in the business world in Hazen. This could take up to a minute.  After discussing how to rearrange the world and complaining about the "Sunsabitches" it is time to go to the library.  The pleasant ladies at the library are always in a good mood, and it may be necessary one more time to spread the Democratic gospel of prosperity. Perhaps there are some kids there for story hour that can be encouraged to read.

Finally the Remeadigus can start the journey home.  This could involve a stop at the thrift store for a bargain on some junk, and to check the rag bin for good wiping towels.  The stop may also involve trying to make the preachers wife who runs the store see that Republican thinking and Christianity don't mix.  Recently she told Kadizzle God was against health care for everyone.  She knew this because Jesus only selected a few people to be healed.

The Remeadigus is just about over unless a stop at the creamery is in order to keep Daryl's blood circulating.  There could be an ice cream treat in store there if Daryl is in a generous mood.  Maybe a stop at the hardware store, maybe not.  Now back by the Doodlebugs where story reading on the swing is just beginning, and back home to take orders from The Commander.

Tomorrow it starts all over.

What happened here?

Lake Sakakawea has hundreds of bays.  At some point the good ship Sovereign, or the previous ship Xanadu has anchored in a lot of them.  When the ship sails in to the bay old memories sail into the mind.  The Commander and Lord Kadizzle sailed into Cherry Bay a couple days ago.  The bay was named because when ever it was referred to someone ended up saying.  " You know that is the bay we sailed into and ate cherries with the Donovan's".

Heaven Bay got its name from a day Pat and Kadizzle sailed in many years ago.  Neither of us had ever been in the bay.  The water level at the time made it the ideal place to pull to shore for the night and build a camp fire.  It was such an idealistic place it instantly was named Heaven Bay.  It was the Bay Erin and I stumble on an entire clump of rattlesnakes hiking up a steep hill.  The Snakes were in a small cave.  Heaven is where Kadizzle laughed so hard his chair fell over backwards and he almost rolled into the lake.

Berthold Bay holds hundreds of stories, but the oldest memory always seems to be Bob Johnson doing the dishes in a bucket and throwing the dishes in the lake that were in the bottom of the bucket.  Berthold bay has a bottom of solid dishes and things lost from peoples boats including one of our earliest grills.  Berthold Bay was where the life buoy on Sovereign got it's only use.  A tourist in the charter days claimed he was drowning.  It seemed like he made a lot of effort to do it, but the buoy went right in his hands and saved him from what seemed his imaginary doom.  The tales of Berthold Bay are endless.

Shit Happens Bay,  the name says it all.  It was the Bay where Joe Windbaur wanted to run up into the woods in what seemed like a tornado.  Did not seem like a good idea to get ground to bits by flying trees.  Dave Stephens and Bill Butcher snagged a tree with the anchor for about two hours.  The Quinns had the mother of all in the dark, anchor dragging, dinner with Bill and Dina.  That meeting started with ominous signs.  Just to find each other for the famous meatloaf dinner we had to fire flares.

Twin Buttes had its spectacular storm with boats thrashing about and ground tackle coming loose.

Nancy Bay was an anchoring adventure in a storm waking up on an unknown shore.

Lewis and Clark Marina was where the park attendant threw the dock line in the prop as the wind drove Xanadu into the jetty. 

Everyone remembers where every rattlesnake was seen in each bay.   At the bay on the south side of Mallard Island  Kurt and Kadizzle tried to make a slide for life by stringing the anchor rope from the hill top to the mast.  The famous prairie fire started by the yacht club took place over by Wolf Creek.

On and on it goes, every bay has a story, and many memories.

Hiking at Fossil Bay on Lake Sakakawea

A little violin music you will love

music

http://youtu.be/aHjpOzsQ9YI

Kadizzle aquires new Motorcycle from Indians

Niggifiddles

Lord Kadizzle is not a niggifiddle, but he is amazed to see one. What is a niggifiddle? Niggifidles are people obsessed with details that just don't matter.  Niggifiddles get so bogged down in details they cannot get anything done.  Engineering is a profession plagued by niggifiddles.  A typical engineer will get so caught up in details he can never get anything done.  The niggifiddle will ponder for so long which way to shovel the snow, that the snow melts before he decides to shovel from the north or the south.

The other day Kadizzle was working with a niggifiddle installing a pump. It was a simple job that could be done in about an hour.  Hook up the pump, plug it in, turn it on.  Nope, not with a niggifiddle.  After taking the pump out of the box the niggifiddle spent 3o minute writing in the pump manual every marking on the pump.  Although the niggi had installed hundreds of pumps in his life he insisted on reading every detail of the instructions.  The pump never got installed that day.

Another niggifiddle was trying to pack his boat for a trip.  On his work bench were two rows of papers with list laid out.  Each page was perfectly parallel with the others.  Neat little list, some with check marks were carefully prepared.  Should we take salt, should it be in a shaker, in a box, how much salt should we take.  Maybe we should take half a cup of salt. How will will measure to make sure we have a half a cup. Why does it need to be half a cup? Maybe we could do with less. How much less? Maybe I should check the internet and see how much salt a person needs in a week.  What if we go an extra day, maybe I should take a little more than a half a cup? How will I keep the salt dry? Should I use sea salt.  Now what about the pepper?

Butcher Bay

A view to the East from atop the hill by Butcher Bay.   The sailboats are nestled in the perfect spot in the forground.

The Week Long Sail

It has become a tradition on the lake for all the sailboats to set out every summer and search for a Northwest Passage on Lake Sakakawea.  We never find it, but we have a lot of fun exploring all the bays and hiking into the Badlands.  Saturday the fleet will gather and head west.  At night the boats tie together a camp fire is built and maybe some sailing songs are sung.

The Commander approves affair

Married since 1976 Kadizzle has never had an affair, but recently he met a wonderful red head who was attracted to an old man with bad breath,  hair in his nose, and all the other attributes that make him so lovable.  Kadizzle's new love never has a bad word for him, never makes him do the dishes, or pick up his cloths.  She doesn't care if the yard is not mowed.  Everyday she waits patiently to see him.  She never uses credit cards, she never resist his advances.  Her body is as firm and well shaped as any woman could be.  She doesn't want children.  She is not after his money, even though she knows he has none.  She has a steady job down town, and her needs are modest.  She models clothes down at the sewing shop. She is quite and will go anywhere with Kadizzle. She doesn't mind his snoring.  The Commander said Kadizzle is welcome to bring her home anytime if the sewing shop will sell her.

Becoming an Old Goat

As a young person I remember my view of old people.  Someone fifty seemed old as a kid.  Someone 63 seemed real old.  Now that Lord Kadizzle is 63 he has an entirely different view of being an Old Goat.  As a younger person Kadizzle used to notice how old people walked, and would think " Why don't they just stand up and walk right?".   Now it is plain to see how walking bent over and crooked is more comfortable.  Gipples now plague all parts of the body.  What is a gipple?  A gipple is a sore spot.  Kadizzle has gibbles in his lower back, gipples in his shoulders.  What do old cars feel like, what do worn out chairs feel like, now it is obvious.  The whole concept of old becomes clear when you are old.  It is hard to admit, but rust is setting in,  eyesight is going,  The Commanders commands are harder to hear, naps do wonders, and visiting the doctor becomes routine.  Joining the herd of Old Goats grazing around here is a new experience.

Sailing Season in Full Swing

With calm winds the crew of the Sovereign set out to hike the lake shore.  The Commander loves to beach comb for rocks, signs of Indian activity, fossils, and bird watching.  Most of the fleet met at Butcher Bay for a nice camp fire some brief swimming and hiking.  Large coal beds are exposed to the west of Butcher Bay and an assortment of interesting rocks can be found.  Fireworks livened the campfire.

Hiking on the shoreline is a lesson in geology.  Last years high lake levels have uncovered new mysteries.  Is a circle of stones the left over from an Indian earth lodge or just a circle of stones? Are the big old bones buffalo, or perhaps the site where Indians slaughtered buffalo that had been driven over the hill?  Some of the petrified tree stumps would make wonderful yard decoration if there were away to get these five hundred pound rocks home.

The wind finally came up late in the day and the boat hit five knots.  At last late in the evening the ship was back in port. 

Once Upon a Time

Long ago and far away Lord Kadizzle was in high school.  For a short time Kadizzle had an MGA this color that actually ran and was a fun car to drive. Needless to say the car was not in this condition. However, many fine days were spent driving the little bug down the windy roads of West Virginia.  Kadizzle's version was a hopeless English nightmare of electrical and mechanical problems. Perhaps if the car had been kept up and restored it would be of some value today.  The car Kadizzle had was raced and had either no rear suspension or a very stiff one. The car could be driven at any speed around any curve and stuck to the road like glue. One minor problem was the possibility there might be a bump or hole in the curve. If that were the case the rear of the car would jump off the ground and it was not good as the car immediately followed the rules of momentum and went sideways.

The happiest days

Every sailor knows the old jaw " The two happiest days in a sailors life are the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it".  This has been the year the old ship has eaten the credit card alive.  The first big project was patching the dinger Kadizzle put in the keel last year.  That was actually a spring and fall procedure.  The trailer for the good ship had to be specially modified last year so the keel project could take place this spring.  This spring the keel was faired, and Kadizzle likes to think the boat is going faster.

The old knot meter has been reading zero for several years, and it was time to bring it back to life. When you are cursed by the sailing gods a simple repair turns into a Gordian Knot.  First the meter itself went to the doctor to the tune of $256.  The doctor said the knot meter was working, but he decided to do some cosmetic repairs.  If it was not the meter itself, it had to be the sending unit.  What the hell buy a new sending unit for another $135.  Changing a sending unit while the boat is in the water is fun. You pull the old one out, and get hit in the face with a fire hose of water until you get the next one in. With the new one in joy spread through Kadizzles heart, but of course it was 20/1000 too small.  Now the new unit had to go back, and it was of course replaced with one that was also too small.  After some southern engineering Kadizzle was able to get the diameter of the sending unit to enlarge. It was simply a matter of soaking  it in Viagra over night.  With the new knot meter in place it was time to try it out.  Sure enough when we got underway it still read zero.  This meant the damn cable was probably bad and another $40 had to be sacrificed to the sea.  Luckily resetting the meter solved the problem.  Now it was time to calibrate the meter.  Of course since the meter was older than the Bible you could not use a GPS to do it.  The instructions indicated you had to sail a two mile course and say some magic words as you picked your nose and faced west.  After Pat and I tried to figure it out, we finally gave up.  So now the boat can always be faster or slower than reality, it is just a matter of choosing which illusion you like.

Every boat leaks more from the top than the bottom, so the Vice Admiral  aka, The Commander, the notorious Jasper Littlebottom, decided she would no longer tolerate her favorite leak. This meant resealing the chain plates.  After this messy and hopeless job The Commander discovered some rot below the chain plate.  This meant another week of repairs and $300 more contributed to the deep.

Water in the bilge was the next mystery.  Every possible source was researched.  After the National Aeronautical and Space Administration reviewed our leak the Kadizzlites concluded it was the packing gland. A few twist and hopefully that is cured. 

Somewhere in this chain of catastrophes the fresh water pump decided it was time for it to go to water pump heaven.  I am sure it went to heaven because it did last over 12 years.  Anything that last on a sailboat over 12 years automatically goes to sailboat heaven in the Carri bean.  Replacing the water pump is fairly simple and strait forward.  First you spend another $112.  That is the first rule in all sail boat repairs, spend some money.  With the new pump in place it was now time to turn it on and blow up the hot water line that ran through the bilge.  With that line replaced now the the pump could come to full pressure and blow out the line in the head, and under the kitchen sink.  So now you turn down the pressure and replace all the cold water lines.  Of course on a boat you have to stand on your head and work blind on everything.  If you manage to get the wrong fittings and have to make a trip to Beulah for a three dollar part, that also make you love for sailing increase.

After all this The Commander and Kadizzle finally got the sail we had worked so hard for.  After a nice meal in a secluded bay the steak dinner with sauted mushrooms was settling nicely when the cook decided to do the dishes.  Jasper shut off the faucet and the water line exploded.  It exploded with a gush, not the loud firecracker noise it made last week.  Fortunately it was just a clamp some idiot failed to install. The idiot of course had to craw upside down in the sail locker and fix it.  This was the same wonderful faucet that blew up last week.  That facet provide hours of puzzling and frustration, but finally got fixed by salvaging parts from the old shower fixture in the head.  The Commander said that facet was history.  Kadizzle set out to get a new one for $25, but The Commander said it was the wrong color and a piece of excrement.  In no time Littlebottom ordered one for $120.  The new faucet has not arrived, but it will surely be cursed and be harder to install than an artificial heart.

Beside Kadizzle sits the new bilge pump.  This little darling was $45 dollars and tomorrow will be a welcome new member to our ship. The Commander has been commenting on how lovely the tattered quilt we call the head sail looks.  Ah, a new head sail will only cost about $2,500 dollars.  If pirates will only attack our ship, sink it to the bottom and let us off on a deserted island, it will save us a fortune.  A review of our insurance policy indicates we are protected from pirates if Visa is not part of their name.

Pay the Hospital with Salt Water

When Kadizzle got his bill from the emergency room in Globe, Arizona, he was furious.  After waiting six hours to be seen Kadizzle got his three stitches in the finger for the princely sum of $1,500.  The American health insurance industry is rotten to the core, and health care in this country needs and enema.  Examining the bill it turns out Kadizzle was charged $26 dollars each for three bottles of sodium chloride (the medical term for salt water).  The salt water was used to clean the wound.  The exact same salt water can be purchased for $2.00 per bottle from the internet.  Kadizzle's owes the hospital in Globe, Arizona $147.   So that comes out to about five bottles of salt water.   So just to be fair Kadizzle will send the hospital 12 bottles of salt water.  According to the Hospital that would be worth $312, but will only cost Kadizzle $24.   The Hospital will get twice what they asked for when they sell the extra salt water to the next person they rip off.  If you go to the hospital take your own salt water, you can get it at any drug store, and it is medically approved.  Tell them to pour theirs back in the ocean.

Living on dreams isn't easy

Summer is rolling down the road at high speed. With the warm winter a lot of sailing friends have set new records for getting their boats in the water.  Yesterday Kadizzle finally got the bottom paint on and finished up the work on the keel.

Last summer Kadizzle hit a rock and took a chunk out of the keel.  Hitting the rock was pretty stupid, and dramatic.  The lake was at a record high last summer.  As the good ship came out of a bay with the fleet Kadizzle was distracted and not really paying attention to where the boat was. Think of the guy who hit the rock with that tour boat in the Mediterranean.  After a loud bang a big piece of fiberglass floated to the surface.  The Commander's eyes got big and it was obvious the Commander was taking it pretty serious.  Kadizzle knew it was the keel that hit and it was not a life or sinking problem.  The Commander got in panic mode and wanted to radio for help.  After some talk Kadizzle got the commander to simply inform the other boats we might be sinking.

What really spiced up the adventure was when The Commander went below to assess the damage. For some strange reason the sump pump was on. The bilge always has some water in it.  As the Commander went below she heard water gushing into the boat.  Now it was full panic.  The Commander was sure we were sinking.  What actually happened was the discharge hose from the sump pump had come off, so instead of pumping water overboard the pump was just pumping water in a circle.  The pump was shooting water at the floorboards of the boat making it sound like a huge leak. There was no leak at all, but it took a little bit to get the commander to realize it.

The big piece of fiberglass that floated to the surface was a previous patch on the keel.  Anyway, the new patch is in place and all is well. Now we have to go out and  find another rock to hit this year.

Now, why title this post "Living on dreams isn't easy"?   Well Kadizzle is sitting here listening to John Prine.  Prine has some of the best lyrics ever.  Some day Kadizzle is going to put together a story that is entirely made from the lyrics of songs.  If you have never listened to John Prime, do so.  John will sing to you all you need to know about life.

Life is short, Live it to the fullest

Recently we lost a good friend.  One day we were hiking up a mountain on a wonderful sunny day, and a few weeks later our friend suffered from bleeding in the brain and was dead.  Every person Kadizzle talks to lately is told the same thing.  Enjoy yourself now, don't put off retirement.  Nothing is sadder than seeing someone so close to the goal line and having their health or life yanked out from under them.  Too many of us have the means to stop working, but lack the courage.  There is a big world out there and it is a wonderful world to explore and enjoy.  There are so many family members to visit and enjoy, so many grandchildren, so many sons and daughters.  You don't need to get that last nickle, you don't need to drop dead with a big bundle of cash.  Life is good, but only if you come to the table and enjoy it.

Home sickness is setting in for some of the weary band of travelers.  Today the convoy of two RV's pulled into the State Park at Escalante, Utah.  Yesterday was the last day at Kodachrome State Park. Kadizzle's has hiked so much his heel is causing pain. Sisters Patty and Melissa headed back to civilization. The plan is to work our way north on the west side of the Rockies home.

Rescue Belt made on craft day.

Many years ago Kadizzle came up with the idea of making a belt from rope.  The belt could be unraveled and used in an emergency. Kadizzle floated the idea to many outdoor stores.  Many of the stores liked the idea, but Kadizzle never pursued it. 

First Attempt at rescue belt

Now a few different outfits are selling rescue bracelets with about twelve feet of paracord.  Yesterday Kadizzle decided for craft day to make a prototype rescue belt. The rope used for the belt has a breaking strength of 1300 lbs, and the idea is to get sixty feet of rope into the belt.  Since we do a lot of canyoneering, and sometimes dangerous hiking the belt may some day do the job.  Actually doubled you could have thirty feet of small diameter rope that might pull a truck or car out of the ditch.  The picture above shows the prototype that did not work out right. 

Kadizzlites waiting for Weather Break

The Kadizzilites are enjoying electricity in the Zion campground. The television, a rare luxury, is blaring CBS Sunday Morning. The laptops are clicking away. Soon The Commander will make an omelet. The poor college kids on spring break are getting soaked.

Hopefully by Thursday the weather will break and we will be headed to Kodachrome State park. Two sisters will join Kadizzle to explore some old areas we have visited before.

It is a real place, it is a spooky place, and no one cares what they do

Today for about the tenth time I drove through Colorado City. Colorado City is where the United States tolerates the strangest cult in our country. Remember Warren Jeffs? This is the guy who was forcing twelve year old Mormon girls to marry eighty year old men. Colorado City is a strange town full of polygamist where children are raped and oppressed every day. Will Mitt Romney clean up this mess?

The town looks like a place where someone deliberately built a slum. It is sad our country looks the other way while this cult abuses children. If you think putting Jebs in prison ended this nightmare drive through this town.

Cold Spring Ruin

Yesterday Kadizzle and company set off on an adventure to find the Cold Spring Indian Ruin. This was the most difficult site we ever encountered. The night before GPS routes and points were loaded, and maps were consulted.

After driving 20 miles on gravel roads we had a stroke of luck. The two elderly Elison's were on the road out for their morning walk. Mrs. Elison, who appeared to be in her late seventies had a genuine Colt Revolver Stuck in the back of her pants. Kadizzle warned Mr. Elison not to piss her off. He said that is why he had one also. Mr. Elison told us how to get to Cold Spring. His country directions were so confusing they did little good. The main thing he did was dissuade us from going to our original destination, Pueblo Canyon.

After driving for a few miles past Elison's ranch on the most treacherous road possible, narrow, and full of fallen rock pasted to the side of a mountain, we had to stop because of a deep place where the culvert has washed out.

After a two mile hike down the road we found the old uranium mine road that got us on the trail. Even with the GPS finding the trail to the site was hard. After we rounded one point we could see the doorway of the site about half way up the 7,000 ft mountain. Immediately we knew this was not going to be easy. About 1,800 feet from the site the trail turned into as steep a rock scramble as you could make. After the scramble there was a traverse across a rock ledge. A slip would result in death.

Finally we reached the little doorway that led into a cave. Three stories of rooms were in the cave. One room had a very unique feature, a balcony from a cliff face. The veiw from the site was commanding, and many people speculate it was a lookout site of some sort. There were absolutely no pot shards or corn cobs. The site had been picked very clean. To see more pictures and get more information look up Cold Spring Ruin on the web.

On the way back, Cissie got a head start. It turned out lucky for her she did. Ruth and Kadizzle went ahead of Rodger. Rodger dislodged about a 75lb boulder that rolled strait down at Ruth, then Kadizzle. The boulder narrowly missed Ruth and then flew about a foot in front of Kadizzle's belt. Not sure how far ahead The Commander was Kadizzle shouted to warn her. Luckily she was out of the way and the rock shot down into the canyon.

The entire area is full of sites and the scenery looks like something you would see in the Andes or Vietnam. Next year we plan to make the hike to Pueblo Canyon which has 75 rooms, and has very good reviews. The country North of Mesa in AZ is far more interesting than one would ever suspect. Our group has probably hiked well over 200 miles this year and have so many more places to check out. Ruth and Rodger have not seen the sites around Cottonwood so we may head up there today

Let no goog deed go unpunished

Yesterday as the wind came up Lord Kadizzle thought the absent neighbor's RV awning might be destroyed. In an effort to put it away and save it Kadizzle about cut the end of his finger off. A wind gust hit at the wrong time. After a six hour wait in the ER the finger was finally sewn back together with great pain. Now, the fingernail torture is real. Kadizzle told the doctor as he put the needed through the fingernail three times " Try getting some information out of me". The doctor said "Where is the gold". I assured him I would tell if I knew. The neighbor rewarded me with a glass of scotch today. An unhurt finger would be better.

Pot shards everywhere, of excellent quality.

As the intrepid group hiked high into the mountains near Four Peaks none of the amateur Indian site hunters was awake enough to notice the evidence. On the way up the mountain all of us passed by many pot shards right at our feet. The trail actually was on the edge of a major site, we were too dumb to notice. However, another 300 yards down the trail the path went right through the middle of a site. The site had an amazing number of large pot shards. We found a few black on white pieces that are always rare.

As we continued the hike Lord Kadizzle noticed a possible site off the trail about two tenths of a mile. On the way back The Commander made a foray to the area and found some the pot shard above. This tri color piece is very rare. The shard is probably the first polychrome one our group has ever found. In addition The Commander found a very large nice grinding stone.

While The Commander inspected her site Ruth, Rodger, and Kadizzle checked out the first site we had failed to notice. Circles of stone laddered their way up the hill in a fashion that formed a small conic pyramid structure. We have never seen anything like it. This site also was very littered with good large pot shards.

Why were these sites here? There was no nearby water, there was no place to garden, and no good explanation of why these sites were built. Possibly it was a ceremonial site, it may have been a half way rest area for moving goods back from the Four Peaks, or it may have been some sort of seasonal hunting site. The view was fantastic and that also may have played a role in it's location.

Ancient Flintsone Site Discovered.

The crew took off deep into the mountains North of Roosevelt Lake in Arizona. After hiking to nearly 7,500ft through light snow, and some mud we made it to the top. On the way up we say turkey tracks in the snow so large we thought perhaps there were dinosaurs on the loose. After we visited the fire tower we looked for a warm place to have lunch. This is when we came across what must have been a Flintstone site. Rocks were carefully arranged to form two or three nice lounge chairs with rock arm rest, and there was a nice coffee table made out of stone.

Four Peaks sort of Conquered

From everywhere in the area around Phoenix you can see the Four Peaks. This morning The Commander was chomping at the bit to get to the top. The road up their is eight miles up a very narrow steep road. As brave as The Commander is she was concerned about falling of the edge of the road. The hike was about 1.69 miles to the place where the really hard stuff started. By our calculations we needed another 700ft to make it to the top. Some hikers coming down the trail said the final ascent was icy. Kadizzle was delighted when The Supreme Commander said it was not advisable to make the last 700ft.

However, little did Kadizzle know he would be blamed all day for not completing the task. Kadizzle said to The Commander " I was neutral, I never voted for or against the last 700ft". "I know said The Commander, but if I had asked you, you would have been against it, so it is your fault we did not make the summit"

Well it was a very nice day, and the trail is very good. Would recommend the hike to anyone. If you want to get to the summit get an early start.

Dog Paddling, and snoring in the Sonoran Desert

Today we moved to a new camp. Kadizzle got a brief snore lit. Earlier we took a guided tour of an Indian Cliff dwelling. Parts of the original roof were intact which made it interesting. Patty had to do a little dog paddling yesterday. Ned and Patty returned to Cottonwood with those two blasted rats they call dogs. Cha wa was. Cheech has one of those little rats also. Cat people are insane, and the Cha wa was people are just one step behind. Cats lick their butt, then the butter on your counter. Luckily Cha wa was can't jump up to flavor the food. You can use them to troll for alligators. Patty did not have much luck, but it is too cold right now for the gators to grab the dog.

Visting the Indian Platform Mounds

The Commander, Ned, Patty, and Kadizzle visited the only platform site Kadizzle has seen yesterday. North of our camp site on the other side of the lake is what looks like a miniature Aztec pyramid. It is probably the farthest North site of this type.

At the site, although it has been severely picked over Kadizzle found a couple nice pieces of pottery. Finding painted pottery is always fun. Kadizzle found two nice specimens.

Beach Life in Arizona

The Earth Module and sister Patty's camper moved on to Roosevelt Lake. After settling in the tribe gathered fire wood. Weather has been very nice, and a couple of forays onto the lake were made in the kayaks. Today Ned is going to check out some Indian sites.

Pissing Off the Whole World, one person at a time.

Sister Patty and her husband Ned joined the Kadizzlites on the Salt River for some R&R. Ned showed up with his Pissing People off shirt and Kadizzle could not help modeling it. Many compliments have come in saying it fits Kadizzle perfect.
Yesterday, they turned on the Salt River. Today it looks good for some kayaking. The Commander will not be happy until we conquer the East assault of the mountain up by the dam. This means we will have to wade across the Salt now that it is running strongly.
Back to pissing people off. Once in awhile Kadizzle looks in the mirror. Most mirrors are made very poorly and make Kadizzle look fat. However, mirrors are somewhat educational. Most of us would be very lost in the fog, were it not for a few brave people willing to bring us back to reality. A lot of people are very happy in their bubble wandering around in a wonderful delusion. One could argue " Leave them alone". On the other hand it is sometimes useful to jab a drunk, or drug addict and break their bubble. In the end they may thank you. That is sort of what pissing people off can be about. No one is perfect, not even Kadizzle. The Commander breaks Kadizzles bubble about every twenty seconds.
Kadizzle enjoys breaking peoples political bubbles. Many are deeply offended, but why should they be? If someone insisted the world is flat although you think it is round, are you offended? No. You are not offended because you have a lot off good evidence the world is round. People get pissed off when they realize indeed the Earth is round, but they were deluded into thinking it was flat. They are not pissed at the person that pointed out it is round, they are pissed because they were so easily taken in by the flat Earth propaganda. Have you ever been pissed off at your self when you did something stupid? When you think about it, there no need ever to be pissed off, except at yourself. I am not pissed off at you if you tell me I am fat, I am pissed off because I let myself become so fat.

Never give up, except when it's time to give up.

The Kadizzlites set off on another exploration hike to find a new Southwest Passage. There must be a way to get to the top of the mountain from the back, so off we went up a stream bed. As we climbed over rock after rock, and scratched skin from various parts of our bodies, the creek bed would not yield a path to the mountain top. The Commander could not give up, so Kadizzle and Rodger blocked the trail from behind and patiently awaited the return of The Commander.

Bird Brains in abundance

The camp host, and the birders are ver protective of the Eagles. The biggest threat to the eagles are low flying planes and helicopters. On a couple of occasions the local bird police have taken photos of aircraft violating the eagles protective space and reported the planes to the FAA. Besides their own body guards these eagles have a wonderful welfare program any welfare cheat would love. Last year when a single mother eagle was trying to raise the chicks the bird brains thought food may be a problem, so they placed a child's swimming pool with trout in it at the bottom of the nest tree.

Gold Mine off to very slow start.

Today may be another day of hiking and exploring. The crew may take a trail we have used before. A short distance down the trail is a brand new pick, shovel, a rock bar, and a bucket. Who would take that stuff a short distance into the desert and leave it. Why? Perhaps they were looking for gold. Our other theory is they murdered someone and the body has been buried near by.

Bud the camp host here says he would take the tools if we bring them back. So today we may bring Bud a set of gold mining tools, or a hit man's handy kit.

LIving in a war zone.

The Earth Module is in it's comfortable spot on the Salt River. However, no place is perfect. Two sound pollution items are annoying. The gun range is not far enough away, and some days the machine gun fire is annoying. A second problem is helicopters. The company that manufactures military helicopters is about a mile away as the crow flies. Almost every day Black Hawk Helicopters are flying over. Up at Usery a helicopter just sat in one place bout five hundred feet up and apparently was just waiting to run out of fuel, or some other silly experiment. A little higher are the jets. The Goldfield Recreation area is on the approach to the airport. Most of the jest are up just high enough not to be to bad. Around six and early in the day it is like a rush hour for the jets. About every five minutes a jest goes over. After dark it is fun to see them appear off in the distance, and then come down the Salt River for the final turn to the airport. You know it is six every morning when the first jet goes over. At any rate we have ground troops and air support if the Mexicans attack.

Down, and down, and down a little more.

The Grand Canyon is very deceptive. It is actually a canyon within a canyon. Looking from the top it appears as though there is a big ditch out in a field. As you hike into or out of the canyon you continually are deceived that you are near the end of the hike, but always another set of switch backs appears and your hopes are dashed.

The standard measurement for a story, in a ten story building, is ten feet. The Grand Canyon is 5,000ft deep. That means you go down 500 stories, and Up five hundred stories. Now, strap an extra 12 lbs on your back to make it more fun. Of course when the young whooper snapper with a 35 lb pack passes you, you don't feel so good.

It is amazing how fast the mules make it up and down. The mules will go down and back in the time it takes most people to go down. When the mule train passes, you cannot help but think of the young people, often lumpers, on those mules that should be walking. Some of the lumpers that do walk are amazing. One woman we all were concerned about because she had a bit of lumpadiglitis, made it down and back. She said her son would be disappointed if she did not make it. On the way out you see very few human bones, so most lumpers make it including Kadizzle. The employees have to walk to and from work about every nine days. That would do us all good. We are a nation of lumpers because we always want a piston under our ass pushing us where we want to go. Europeans are in better shape than we are because they have embraced mass transit. They have to walk to the bus or subway. Kadizzle was amazed by the New Yorkers that walked a lot. One benefit to mass transit so many of us overlook is that it does force you to move your lump.

Kadizzle said to Rodger, "Moving this cannon ball up and down the canyon is a job", Rodger replied "It looks more like a watermelon". All Kadizzle knows is that watermelon weighs at least 27lbs. and should not get a free ride up and down mountains.

On the Beach at the Grand Canyon

Although it was not a roomy resort, the Indians did have an eight room lodging in a very nice spot by the beach pictured above. If they had a decent supply of food it would not have been a bad life. Yesterday our little group of four hiked out of the Grand Canyon after a two day stay. The hike made it clear you would not go out of your way to pester anyone who lived at the bottom, so when the Indians lived there they must have felt very safe. From one side or the other a person would have a very treacherous difficult hike to attack them. They must have live a happy tranquil life there. Growing a little food, and having a supply of game and fish were their only problems. The climate is very nice most of the year, although it can get very hot during the summer. Temperatures up to 120 are not unheard of according to the cook Archimedes.

Lord Kadizzle has met the two people with the strangest names this year. Archimedes, and Duries. Duries was in our pheasant hunting party. Well, the adventure is over and the little party of Kadizzlites is recovering from a long hike down and a long hike up. Rodger has crossed the Canyon off his bucket list, and Kadizzle thinks his next trip will be by raft.

Young Cheech returns to NYC Today.

After her fist experience in the desert young Cheech will hop about the big bird later to day and head back to fashion headquarters in New York. Rumors abound that there could be a desert theme in her next collection. Cheech may come out with a special line of clothing for fat guys that hike. This collection will feature a lot of elastic and light weight clothes treated with sweat proof chemicals.

Kadizzle turns Teabowing into Trailbowing.

Yesterday to show gratitude for a nice Hike with Cheech, The Commander, and Kadizzle. Kadizzle stopped along the trail and did a Trailbow. The hikes the Kadizzlites undertake are not easy. The crew contends with cactus, rattlers, mountain lions, loose rocks, and a host of dangers, so unknown lands near Mesa can be opened up to Americans. Busting trails into new territory is not a job for the weak or timid. It takes courage on a sunny day to climb to the top of a peak and eat a chicken sandwich. With temperatures as low as 68 degrees and howling winds up to 5mph, you can imagine the hardship we endure. We can all be thankful there are people willing to spend up to four hours exploring this wilderness only to come back to a nice shower, and a whiskey and coke in the shade. It was tuff people with GPS's, light back packs filled with goodies, and nice hiking shoes that opened up the west. We are proud to be part of this tradition.

Cheech in desert garb returns from hike

The sun is blasting in the windows and Cheech has crawled in bed with The Commander back in the master bedroom. Last night fueled by too much wine Cheech and Lord Kadizzle went back and forth on politics. Cheech has taken a bit of a turn to the right. Most of the the discussion revolved around social security. As Cheech pointed out most young people are clueless about how it is funded, or how it is supposed to work. Means testing will be a major topic when Americans begin to face the reality of what has to be done with social security.
The humming bird nesting by the window thinks social security is sitting on your nest with the Earth Module humming bird feeder three feet away. Nice to leave the nest and get a drink of sugar water with just a few flaps of the wings.