Back in the Arizona Mountains

The plane landed on the frying pan at Mesa. 118 degrees greeted the Kadizzles as we got off the plane. Reaching Payson the temperature dropped to 102.  That 16 degree difference is why we live in Payson. It rained while we were gone and the desert plants popped. The shade of dessert green is much more dull than Dakota green. Our good friends in North Dakota served us well. No hotel bills for 12 days was wonderful. 

Dina is pulling up stakes in North Dakota and heading to Seattle. North Dakota will lose the best liberal it ever had. North Dakota Republican greed is insane. The state has 14 billion in the bank it refuses to spend. The money's sole purpose is to protect the rich. North Dakota could have the very best of everything, but sharing is not part of the greed dogs mantra. North Dakota should have the best paid teachers, free health care and no homeless, but the Trump rats will not share. The Trump rats all claim to be direct descendants of Jesus. The Republican Jesus is one mean bastard. 

Crumbling

Today the Kadizzles return from North Dakota where we visited a lot of old good friends. Age is taking its toll. The old timers are crumbling. People are moving awkwardly, slowly and painfully. Like all old people the discussion is what happened to old Willy or what is the latest doctors visit about. Adjustments come with crumbling. Steps have a whole new meaning when they have become Mount Everest. Oh, and replacements. Yes, new knees, borrowed eyes, shots of lubrication. What fun. Now kids get ready we are moving back to be close to you. Yup, you get to take care of us. We will be your new set of kids. Then the mind goes.  Do I know you? Where am I? Driving, look out. Pills, doctors appointments. What did I do to deserved this? First you let yourself get fat, then you drank too much, and of course lack of exercise. 

Old friend Dave delivers pills to nursing homes. Dave took Kadizzle on his route from the airport to Stanton. It occurred to Kadizzle nursing homes are just well appointed jail cells where the last stages of crumbling occur.  Hope this has all been uplifting. 

Another Day in North Dakota

 Our trail crew friends spent the night with us in Stanton, ND.  We toured the Knife River Indian Village.  Cissie helped build the replica Earth Lodge there. North Dakota is so isolated and peaceful. The nights are dark and quiet. Wildlife is abundant, and the Missouri river is nearby. In the old days we sailed here and often floated the Missouri. North Dakota has many charms, you just have to discover them. 

Working on the farm

Our old friends in North Dakota let us stay in their spare house.  It is a wonderful home built by an old friend who had amazing talents. The house has some wonderful touches including custom stain glass in the Frank Lloyd Right style. The yard is several acres and Brian has a big job mowing it. Winkie and Kadizzle used to pheasant hunt here and we have many good memories of the hunts. Winkie picked a lot of June berries down by the Knife River. The main house is unique. Brian and his dad aligned the house so the sun would shine in one dormer, and out the other on only one day a year. They used to have a party on the Summer Solstice to celebrate that day. Brian like to heat with wood so he has a pile of huge logs we have been splitting. 

The Deplorables

For entertainment Kadizzle has been interacting with the deplorables. One constant in the communication is the total lack of writing ability the deplorables are cursed with. Reading their comments it seems obvious they are stuck somewhere on the fifth or sixth grade level. The reasoning ability of the MAGA dogs is non existent. It becomes obvious why Trump loves the deplorables. They are easily fooled and manipulated. Low information MAGA minds are ripe picking for Republicans. 

Summer in North Dakota

Summers in North Dakota are hard to beat. Nights are cool, days are long, and the temperature is damn near perfect. The good old days when Kadizzle used to wake up on his wonderful sailboat back in a bay. I've got to remember its a fine memory. The quiet, ah the quiet, no dingers in loud trucks, just the birds. Green, the green is pleasant compared to the parched desert. 

We lived in North Dakota for forty years. Not much has changed. Slow, life is slow here. The total lack of people is astounding. North Dakota is the cleanest state in the union. Slumming is not popular here and people keep their property up. 

Western North Dakota has some rolling hills, but the flat East is unbearable. 

A different planet

Today Kadizzle awakened on planet North Dakota. So different. No slummers, green, green everywhere. Not a mountain in sight. The Missouri river, and prairie to the horizon. A strange prosperous state with 14 billion in the bank and only 750,000 people. It could be absolute heaven, but it is infested with Republicans in the cult protecting the rich from taxes. So a state that could have free health care, the highest paid teachers, and extremely low taxes does not. Why. The hoarded oil money is for one thing only to make sure the rich are never taxed. That is the goal of the Trump cult, protect the rich from taxes. Enough money is in the bank account to give every man woman and child 17,000 dollars, but no, protect the rich.