Up in the mountains

Get up at 5 A. M.  Go get the Forest Service Truck.  Head up Campaign Creek.  Turn right toward Tule Trail.  Hike 4.5 miles up rugged mountain terrain. See wonderful sights. Cut brush off trail.  Hike back.  Be tired. Go to bed. Get up. Repeat.

Up Cherry Creek

Outside the Earth Module the equipment for explorations sits.  The Tundra is loaded with two motorcycles and has a trailer with the lunar rover.  Cliff will bring his  jeep.  If all goes well we will be deep in the Sierra Ancha wilderness by noon.  No one knows how far we can get because of the recent rains.  Yesterday Kadizzle was out on the cycle and encountered two high school seniors trying to do an overnight backpack trip.  They wanted to know where Campaign Creek was.  Kadizzle told them they were on the right road. They said they tried the road by kept encountering water.  A bit puzzled Kadizzled offered to explore the road for them.  To the surprize of Kadizzle they were right the normally bone dry road was turning into a stream.  It was a strange flood in progress.  The rain had occurred days earlier.  The terrain here is strange.  Some of the porous soil has such a capacity to store water that it has taken days before the old stream bed became saturated and could start to flow.  The desert never fails to amaze.

Really

With the birth of our new little Evie Kadizzle is baffled how humans come into the world.  This seems so strange because Kadizzle and his partner brought two of the little creatures onto the planet.  It seemed so long ago, but with Cheech, and Evie the miracle seems in need of review.  The little girl pops out into the world and it is like starting a new machine, or putting the batteries in a new toy.  Little people seem so fragile and delicate just like that tiny sprout of corn that turns into a six foot stalk of corn.  The entire process seems impossible.  The little seed that is blossoming has to be attended to 24 hours a day.  Remember the old deal high schools had where they made kids carry around a sack of sugar all day so they would realize what a child entails?  Kadizzle looks back and wonders, how did we do it?  The truth is the mom really is the one who does it.  The dad just tries to sleep and get out of changing diapers. 

Evie

Grandpa Kadizzle loves children.  His little Sylvie has brought him infinite joy.  Last night granny was talking with Sylvie and warned her that her competition is on the way.  Cheech will deliver Evie any day.  Kadizzle thinks few things are more remarkable or fun than a two year old.  Kadizzle has the mind of a two year old so this is the kind of person he can relate to.  Little children see the world as it is.  Their minds have not been filled with nonsense.  Gradually the clarity of children is erased and they become jaded adults who see a problem behind every tree.  Children are full of so much potential.  Watching a child develop is fascinating.  Could you learn Russian?  By three a child has learned English.  A child quickly learns the basic laws of physics.  Have you ever seen a video of a five year old playing the violin?

So by the end of next week, perhaps sooner Grandpa will have a new playmate.  Cheech will be in a new world of mommyship she can not even imagine.  Sylvie has lived like a princess. As the only grandchild it is Christmas every day.  Sylvie could use a little cousin to divert some of the sunshine shed on her.  Kadizzle would not mind having a half dozen grandchildren, but we live in a different world.

Ah, ha, you thought there would be no political bullshit.  Well take this.  Kadizzle wants a better world for Evie and Sylvie.  That is what it is all about.

All talk, no action.

The political department has been getting complaints.  Kadizzle is being accused of all talk no action in the war against our new dictator.  What should anyone do?  Does a protest actually accomplish anything?  Can you boycott Trump businesses?  How did the civil rights movement succeed or fail? Do you send money?  Do you write to your congressman?   Awareness seems to Kadizzle to be the first thing.  As the news media is stifled, and the lies pour out like rain. What do you do?  If you  have a suggestion send it in.  In the old days it was young people.  Kadizzle is an old fart.  Where are the young people?  In the old days young people fought against the Vietnam War, and fought for women's rights, and civil rights.  What should we do? Some suggest gentler confrontation.  Whatever works.

Slap a Republican today and tell them it is an alternative kiss.

Working for your grandson.

Today Kadizzle, and the rest of the trail crew will have a meeting with our new boss.  Our old boss was our age, the new boss is young enough to be our grandson.  The old boss was old and understood old people.  He told us to just go out and get the job done.  This system worked very well.  The trail crew is made up of people who have run their own business, mined coal, run tugboats, pruned trees, driven every type of vehicle, put on management classes, and the list goes on and on. The trail crew easily has a combined life experience of well over 200 years.

Today we are going to turn from a free roaming workforce into a more micro managed group.  It is natural for young people in the work force to want to over manage.  The old goats know the pitfalls of management.  One major factor in trail work is weather.  Traditionally our group has automatically adapted to the weather. We work according to what weather we face.  Another thing a group of old goats does is manage the work load.  When all the goats are energetic the group does a long hike and works hard. The next day the goats may assign themselves and easier job.

So today we will have a two hour strategic planning session.  Old goats that were dancing to their own tune will be learning how to march in a more organized fashion.  Maybe yes, maybe no.  Old goats are old because they figured out a few things.  A major problem with managing old goats is that these old goats are working for free.  When you manage people working for free you cannot fire them.  Instead you have to motivate them.  Old goats are motivated by freedom.

Across from our campsite Kenny and Ronda are situated. They are old goats working for young people in the National Park Service.  We work for the National Forest Service.  Kenny and Ronda are frustrated with their young babes that manage them.  The world has flipped upside down when your grandson tells you to dress appropriately.  Here we go.

Alternative Facts

If you thought you heard something break today you probably did. It was reality shattering. Today will be the day in history when alternative facts were invented.  From now on everyone will be honest.  There will be no lying since we now have alternative facts.  With this invention alone Donald Trump has made America great again. Now we can say we are number one in everything.  When challenged all we need to do is explain we are using alternative facts.  Alternative facts were used to get The Donald elected.  Think how many people we be kept out of jail now that we have alternative facts.  Lawyers can now defend bank robbers with alternative facts.  “Yes your honor he was in the bank with a gun, but the alternative facts show he was making a large unauthorized withdrawal, and had no intention of robbing the bank”. The use of alternative facts will solve so many problems in society.  The deficit can be wiped out with alternative facts.  Wars can be started and stopped with alternative facts. This Republican invention will completely change history.  There will no longer be any history, because of Alternative facts.

The Lake is rising

As the Earth Module was parked in November Lake Roosevelt held 30 percent of the water it could.  In the last couple of days it is up to 45% and will keep going higher.  The snow and rain are bringing the lake up quickly.  A large houseboat that was stuck sixty feet from the water in the mud is now floating.  The best part of the moisture is seeing streams run that are dry for years.  The hiking is more spectacular when you get to see waterfalls tumbling from the mountains.

Amazing how empty the campgrounds are.  The Canadians did not show up this year. The exchange rate for them is terrible. All the Americans are pissed off because of the new fees are higher for everything.  As usual working people are being squeezed.  This is just the start. As Trump tries his best to shovel more tax breaks to the rich the middle class will suffer more.  Destroying Obama care will certainly cost poor people money.  As a society we try to stop smoking by taxing it, so it only makes sense to have a strong tax on poor people.  Taxing the poor will make them realize they need to work and get rich.

Alternate Reality using Alternate facts

In case you missed it Republican declared today that lies are alternative facts.

If you thought you heard something break today you probably did. It was reality shattering. Today will be the day in history when alternative facts were invented.  From now on everyone will be honest.  There will be no lying since we now have alternative facts.  With this invention alone Donald Trump has made America great again. Now we can say we are number one in everything.  When challenged all we need to do is explain we are using alternative facts.  Alternative facts were used to get The Donald elected.  Think how many people we be kept out of jail now that we have alternative facts.  Lawyers can now defend bank robbers with alternative facts.  “Yes your honor he was in the bank with a gun, but the alternative facts show he was making a large unauthorized withdrawal, and had no intention of robbing the bank”. The use of alternative facts will solve so many problems in society.  The deficit can be wiped out with alternative facts.  Wars can be started and stopped with alternative facts. This Republican invention will completely change history.  There will no longer be any history, because of Alternative facts.

If you thought you heard something break today you probably did. It was reality shattering. Today will be the day in history when alternative facts were invented.  From now on everyone will be honest.  There will be no lying since we now have alternative facts.  With this invention alone Donald Trump has made America great again. Now we can say we are number one in everything.  When challenged all we need to do is explain we are using alternative facts.  Alternative facts were used to get The Donald elected.  Think how many people we be kept out of jail now that we have alternative facts.  Lawyers can now defend bank robbers with alternative facts.  “Yes your honor he was in the bank with a gun, but the alternative facts show he was making a large unauthorized withdrawal, and had no intention of robbing the bank”. The use of alternative facts will solve so many problems in society.  The deficit can be wiped out with alternative facts.  Wars can be started and stopped with alternative facts. This Republican invention will completely change history.  There will no longer be any history, because of Alternative facts.  

Solar Party

The two elfs Corry, and Nicki had a party for the volunteers at their little park provided apartment.  One major problem the power was out all day yesterday until midnight.  The party went on powered by everyone's camping solar lights and a few candles.  Anthony who is a full time employee provided the chicken.  Anthony explained his custom of talking to any thing he is going to cook.  So the main course was a Chinese dish called Tak Tu Chicken.  Anthony says he told the chicken in his deep southern accent " Um goin eat you, you goin be good".   The chicken was good, so it must work.

Kenny, and Ronda brought some wonderful homemade Bristol Cream.  Kadizzle could not resist and drank too much.  Fire belly ensued.  Back at the Earth module Kadizzle's stomach felt like it was full of molten lead.  The suffering went on for about an hour until the volcano erupted into the sink.  Mrs. Kadizzle was not pleased.

You don't miss it until it is gone.  Yesterday we reverted to our off grid mode to supply electricity to the Earth Module.  The generator was cranked up and battery power was engaged. Back on today life is good. The heater is running, lights are on, and everything is charging. Looks like a cloudy day and here we go.

The Streams are running

For five years or more we have been coming to Lake Roosevelt.  In that time many streams have never had water in them. Cliff just notified us Pinto Creek is running strong.  Kadizzle will have to drive down and see it.  The rain has been pouring down and the lake is rising quickly.  The boat stuck in the mud may float today.  Wind is going wild.  Does not seem like the desert southwest.  Seems like a blustery day in North Dakota.

Stepping Into the Twilight zone

At the age of 67 this man has been alive through the swearing in of many presidents.  Our country has had crooks for president, simple minded dolts like George Bush,  a host of supreme manipulators, and one black president.  Just about every president has done something good.  Looking back to Eisenhower you see a man who warned us about the danger of the military.  He was right we have been taken to the cleaners by the military industrial complex.  Kennedy faced down Russia and moved us to the moon.  Johnson moved civil rights forward.  Nixon the crook opened up China.  Jimmy Carter was a very decent man that showed how a president should act after office, and he had a lot to add to the conversation. Carter was a moral man.  Reagan was a rat that set the country on the course for income inequality, but he did help bring communism to an end.  The Bushes were basically stumble bums, but the dad was a decent man.  Obama was an amazing man stymied by the greedy bastards we call Republicans.  Obama gave poor people health care.  Obama was one of the most intelligent men ever in the White House, cut the greedy dogs of the right stopped every good thing he tried.

Today we step into the Twilight Zone.  Today is the beginning of the first insane man elected to destroy the country.  Today the country has to admit what a pathetic state our national intellect is in.  We have to admit how many ill informed, delusional, Fox News watching, Rush Limbaugh listening fools occupy our country.  Their lying, hateful, narcissistic, misogynist, greedy, hero who is totally bent on revenge and tweeting will become the worst president ever to occupy the country.

Can we survive this mess?  As fast as he can Trump is making a mess.  The man has no respect for women, minorities, and the common man. Trump only respects his reflection, and money.  Never have we had an election where we chose to put our country in peril.  People wanted change, putting this man in office will make their dream come true.  Did they ever consider change could be for the worse?

Two Bar Ridge Trail

Surfing the net Kadizzle found this Youtube video.  This is a ride Kadizzle has made on his cycle with Cliff, and Jeff.  It is a treacherous ride.  The first part where you see the jeep going up is where we went down.  It is so steep it is almost impossible to go down on a cycle.  Jeff amazed me because he did it on an 800 cc Triumph Tiger. That is a big cycle and if you fall, you have had it.  Cliff took his ATV.  Kadizzle is not sure he would do this trip again.  The big problem is going down you are on granite sand and you cannot get any braking traction. Goin up you are on horrible rocky surfaces.  However, the scenery is terrific.  We have hike all over this area.

Arizona Trail

Little Mike got the ride of his life as we headed up to clear brush on the Arizona Trail.  Each road got progressively worse until we reached Kadizzle's favorite motorcycle crash test area.   The hike starts at over  4k feet.  This hike turned out to be one of the nicest in the area.   The Arizona Trail has a tendancy to follow the ridges so it was relatively level with an incredible view in every direction.  The trail has it all, you can see both lakes from the trail.  To the North is Roosevelt Lake and to the southwest you have Apache lake.  Once the trail dips down in the valley some nice forest is there to walk through.  Kadizzle hiking at his slower pace went with Little Mike. Of course fireball Cliff and Mrs Kadizzle shot down the trail to discover where it hooked onto the Tule Trail.

On the way back a small yellow helicopter buzzed into the valley below us.   The sky machine landed, but no one got out.  Apparently they stopped to overlook Apache Lake.  Next we ran into a couple younger hikers scoping out the trail. The two guys from Alaska had hiked the entire distance we drove from the bottom.  Kadizzle offered to takedtheir packs back in the truck, but they refused.

The Old man is moving in

The other day we visited Ruth and Rodger.  Rodger told Kadizzle " The old man is moving in".   Roger was referring to just plain getting old.  According to Rodger the old man starts at the bottom and move into your feet. As the man moves in he works his way up to your head.  There is a lot of truth in this.  Kadizzle hiked up the mountain yesterday with the whole trail gang.  We cleared brush as usual.  Higher and higher we went finally reaching about 5,000 feet.  Cliff and Mrs Kadizzle went farther as Little Mike and Big Mike returned to the truck.

When we finally got back to the Forest Service visitor center to drop off the truck Kadizzle had to walk to the office to put the keys away.  Like so many days his body was frozen up.  The soreness and worn out legs could hardly get the hulking body to move.  The old man had definitely moved into the body.

So here we sit. Kadizzle is recovered from yesterday, only to start another day.  Finding an easy mission would be great, but it looks a lot like we may go up another mountain today.  Little Mike wants to get in shape so he can do an overnight backpack trip.  Little Mike says you have to keep the interval short between hikes or you will lose what strength you have gained.  There could be some truth in that.

The good news is we will get a break in the dreary weather and have a nice day today with crystal clear skies.  Cliff should be showing up soon for morning coffee.  Cliff is over at his dwelling with a candle lit listening to calming music preparing for the day.  Just like everyday Mrs. Kadizzle jumped out of bed with the buzzies.  Jumping around full of energy how she does it is a mystery.

Sunshine

The day of sunshine is here.  Soon Cliff may wander over for coffee and the day will start. Mrs. Buzzy Bee is slapping the mustard on the sandwiches, and it is about time to think of coffee cup number two.  As the trail crew prepares for the day we are clueless about what we will do.The best idea is to go up toward the Two Bar ranch and fix a sign.  We will wing it from there.

As Kadizzle sits here he waits to hear on NPR how 8 people have more wealth than over 3.5 billion other people.  What kind of world allows this to happen?  Each year it gets worse.  Tax dodging is the main problem.  Just the tax cheating of these people could put a school teacher in every class room in Africa.  So here we sit in our sweet little country with the Trumpster about to give more tax breaks to the rich.  Pure, plain, vanilla insanity.

Make killing legal

Yesterday Kadizzle wrote about the North Dakota legislators and  their compulsion to come up with insane laws. Since yesterday they have come up with a new spin that will make it legal to run over protesters.  In Florida they have the stand your ground law which pretty well legitimizes shooting anyone.  What has the world come to when the Republicans perpetually pass these crazy laws to advance their agenda. Sure it would be nice to shoot or run over people you do not agree with.  How about taking the vote away from people you disagree with?

Why don't the Republicans just go the whole  nine yards?  Make it illegal to be poor.  Outlaw gravity.  Almost forgot another Republican dolt in North Dakota wants to up the speed limit to 80, which will mean people will drive 90. Just what we need in a population of old goats, people high on drugs, and texting on their phones.

Magic, that is what Republicans believe laws can do.  Just do away with taxes, and magically the government will continue on, the roads will get repaired and the schools will run.  Trump has clearly shown people will believe anything if you are rich and you promise them tax breaks.

A special kind of stupid

North Dakota has some very special legislators.  Our legislators try to out do each other to see who can introduce the silliest law.  Years ago our local representative introduced a bill that would limit how strong a flashlight you could use while hunting racoons.  Currently one of our rocket scientist want to introduce a bill that will make it illegal to wear a mask while protesting.  Of course it is not illegal to wear a mask while robbing a bank in North Dakota, but maybe they will realize that and add it to the law. Another one of our  bean brains wants to allow anyone who wants to carry a concealed weapon.  Why not put guns in vending machines.

One thing our cultivated idiots like to do is imitate some goofy law from another state.  Their favorite is abortion laws.  Anything they can come up with to harass a woman is wonderful.  Some southern state full of Bubba law makers will come up with a goofy law, and in no time North Dakota wants to try it.

Sadly most of the law makers in North Dakota are trained old monkeys.  The Republicans in charge tell the monkeys what to do and the monkeys comply.  As a courtesy to the monkeys they are allowed to introduce silly legislation.  The old goats in office on behalf of the NRA, and every other right wing organization, are people near death who need a little extra income.  So they follow the party line to get free health care, and some pocket money.  On any given day you can walk into the chambers of the capital and be overcome by the sound of old men sleeping.

Back to the new law that you cannot riot with a mask on.  What about Halloween?  What if you go to a costume party and a fight breaks out?  Will you be charged with wearing a disguise?  The dingers never think of the implications.  It was the warriors protesting the pipeline that sparked this ingenious law, but what if a warrior decides to put on war paint?  Is he wearing a mask?  What if it is cold during the protest and a warrior decides to stay warm by wearing a ski mask?  The dingers never think of the implications.  Why not make it illegal to wear cloths during a riot.  This would limit riots to warm weather.  Why not require people to file a report if they break the law?  Our geniuses have endless opportunities to show their legislative skill.

A gray day

Life is never easy, but a gray day always makes it worse.  Mrs Kadizzle is plagued by fears about our electrical system.  The lights have flickered and the power has gone on and off a few times. Kadizzle figures it is an old ancient breaker or a poor connection somewhere.  Kadizzle got into a little trouble for doing electric work he was not qualified for, but such is life. The new neighbor is an electrician, so that is great.

Netflix has been providing our entertainment.  Now we are experts at detecting Russian spies and drug dealers in Kentucky.  It is wonderful to have your brain turned to mush.  Justified, and The Americans are the two series we are working on.

Rain may fall at any moment, and boredom may also strike.  Since out gigabytes come from the phone we pay dearly and on slow days you can smell the gigabytes burning.

Our new neighbors are caught in a conundrum.  They are working for the National Parks which run the Cliff Dwelling up on the mountain.  We on the other hand are working for the National Forest Service.  The Forest Service has been a good organization to work for, but the Park Service is overstaffed.  Our neigbhors are bored, and not happy with youngsters young enough to be their children telling them what to do.  They have to run a booth in Phoenix on Sunday.  One of the young whipper snappers told them to dress appropriately, bring money for lunch, and a few other gems you do not tell someone 58 years old  who has owned and run their own business. The neighbors want to switch to our team, which Kadizzle thinks would be a good idea. Mr. Neighbor has many very useful skills such as being a plumber and electrician.  Right now the Forest Service could really use a volunteer with both skills.  More than like the big decision will play out today.  So that is the news from lake Wobegon.

The shock continues

One wonderful thing about our life of quasi leisure and travel is meeting new and interesting people.  Today Kadizzle met another Forest Service volunteer.  Oddly she and her husband are Canadians.  So we have Canadians coming to our wonderful country and helping make it great again.  Mrs. Canadian has lived an interesting life.  She and her husband live 52 miles down a dirt road in Canada with no neighbors.  They raised their family back in the woods with nothing but solar power and home made hydro power. Kadizzle has always wanted to live like that so the conversation was interesting.  From the sound of it they have a wonderful life and a good place to run to when the old Trumpster gets the decline going.

In the sun on the deck of the very nice laundry facility the Forest Service has for us we talked about the recent election.  Kadizzle has always been amazed that people in other countries universally know more about American politics than the typical American.  Mrs. Canada had about the same shock the morning she awoke to a Trump victory as Kadizzle did.  So many people are still suffering from the disbelief that there are so many more ill informed people and mislead people than one could ever have imagined in this country.  Every day waking up in a surreal world where a man suffering from various forms of insanity is going to lead the country is a totally new experience.  It seems no longer possible to distinguish between dreams and reality.  We now live in a nation where reality, the truth, science, and what used to be called normalcy is gone.  Trump manufactures his own truth on a daily basis. His minions don't question the reality he creates. He is caught in front of thousands of people mocking a disabled reporter.  The incident is on video tape.  Trump claims it did not happen.  His cult accepts his explanation.  What they saw and heard with their own eyes and ears did not happen because The Donald said it did not happen.  How do we now live in a world were a man about to be president says he has a secret plan he will tell you on Tuesday never tells you the secret plan on Tuesday, and you just don't notice.  The whole thing is like the Jim Jones deal years ago where people drank the cool aid.  How do you get adults to poison their own children and then themselves?

People with functioning brains don't know what to make of a whole country full of delusional people.  Here we are with a man who just put a woman in charge of education who does not believe in the public school system.  Trump has appointed a Fox to watch every chicken house in the federal government.  People just don't notice.   Try as I may I just cannot get used to the idea of our country turning into a third world dictatorship run by a few rich people.  I cannot get used to the idea that Americans chose to do this.  It was not anything but willing ignorance and rampant stupidity, seasoned with false news, and wishful thinking.  Is this the new normalcy.  Will we ever return to the time when public figures were at least expected to make plausible lies.  Last night we watched a segment of the series Justified.  A distraught soldier was considering suicide with a grenade.  The soldier had a conversation with an older veteran at a bar while he played with the grenade.  He put the pin in, took it out, but never let go of the lever.   It created tension in the scene.  Now, we have a man with serious mental problems as president of the United States.  We have put a grenade in the hands of a man with an explosive ego,  and a desire for revenge that makes him us twitter in the middle of the night.  What a prospect awakening everyday under the leadership of a captain who would run the ship into any iceberg that insulted him.  His followers just don't notice he is nuts, just like the cool aid drinkers never noticed.  In one fell swoop our county has become a cult.

Up Early

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.  Old Ben Franklin said that.  So Kadizzle blasted out of bed early and had the Forest Service ready to go by 6:45.  The mission was to replace the sign on A Cross road out by the Jug.  Little Mike, Mrs Kadizzle, and old fat Kadizzle headed down the road to drive right through Tonto Creek.  The signs said road closed do to high water, but what the hell we crossed anyway.  As we drove slowly we picked up the trash the degenerates left on the road.  We took turns getting out to retrieve the beer cans and other crap.  If only the degenerates knew how much it cost to pick up their crap, but then again they don't really care or they would not be certified degenerates.  Finally we got to the downed Forest Service sign.  Without the correct bolts we improvised and got the sign back up. Termites must have weakened it and the wind did the rest.

Driving with a drunk.

We all have done it.  We got in a car with a driver who may have been drunk, or just not capable of operating a car.  We rationalized the situation. I need to get home.  This guy is not that drunk.  We are not going on any big roads.  On it goes we get in the car and if we are lucky we make it home safe.  Well now our country is about to be lead by a drunk.  A delusional egomaniac who cannot tell the truth to save his life. He may not even know what the truth is.  Of course the Republicans assure us he is a little drunk, but they can control him.  So here we go.  The drunk is going to do what drunks do.  Their brains don't get enough oxygen and certain parts of the brain shut down.  With parts of the brain shut down you can do dangerous things.  The brain is very clever.  When it starts to shut down it shuts down the least important things first and tries to keep enough blood and oxygen available for the things that really matter.  Drunks are friendly, often with the wrong people that take advantage of them.  Drunks can be fun, and funny,  and fun to watch.  Drunks can start fights.  Drunks don't realize when they are in danger.  Drunks are destructive to relationships.  So here we go, a man drunk on the need to be his own hero will drive our car.  He will buy drinks for his buddies.  Our drunk may get us home, he may not.  He may destroy the whole country, he may just bust up a few things.  Once we get out of his car and look back at the stupid thing we did hopefully we will be smarter.  We will realize we came closer to disaster than we thought.  We may not get out of the car.  The drunk may plow the ship of state into a crowd of innocent people killing them and us.  Here we go.

A Day in the Life of Joe Republican

January 2, 2017

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John Gray Cincinnati, Ohio

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills.

Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good.

He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees:  "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

Poor old Joe.

Once upon a time

Back in the dark ages Kadizzle was in college.  As part of a psychology class Kadizzle visited an actual insane asylum.  It was a very shocking experience.  Our mission as students was to take the patients out into the woods for a walk.  First we took a tour.  This was of course in West Virginia where the state did not spend much on the mentally ill. Hell most of them were walking the streets and running the state.  Some idiot had designed the building where the poor patients were housed.  The idiot had the idea that the building should be round. Every floor had a cage in the middle, and because the building was round the overseer could see into every patients room.  Brilliant idea, but it meant all the rooms were pie shaped.  Now try to put furniture in a pie shaped room.

So we walked onto one of the floors of this crazy house.  The stench of the human condition was overwhelming.  The place was kept warm because the people were in a near naked or naked state.  The floor was just bare concrete, and many of the inmates were barefoot.  People were laying around on the floor there was no furniture to speak of or the people were sitting on the floor drugged and staring into space.  Finally we got to some other area of the institution where people were slightly more normal.  This is where one of the patients was playing the piano and doing a damn good job of it.

Now to a quick side story.  Back at Marshall University which Kadizzle was attending Kadizzle had met a young woman who had spent some time incarcerated in this insane place.  She had tried to commit suicide.  She had cut her arm senseless with a razor blade in an attempt to end her life.  When she was put in this place she said she realized she had to get out quickly or she would die or become permanently insane.  As Kadizzle explored the place he realized if you were not totally insane when you got here, you soon would be.

In the course of taking the patients out there was a young boy about twelve on the bus with us.  He told an incredibly sad story which showed how bad the system was.  The young boy had been placed in the institution as part of a vendetta against his family from some small hillbilly town.  The doctors found nothing wrong with the young man, but no one would come from the town to take him home.  Imagine being twelve and stuck in this crazy place.

So off we went on the school bus full of crazy people.  We took them for a walk in the woods.   During the walk one of the patients picked up and osage orange.  This is a strange inedible fruit that grows in West Virginia.  A naive girl in the psychology class ran up to the patient shouting " Don't eat that".   Kadizzle will never forget what the patient said.  The patient said " We are in here because we are crazy, not stupid".

What got Kadizzle thinking about all this?  Reading the New York Times today Kadizzle had to laugh thinking about Donald Trump.   He is both crazy and stupid, but the Republicans love him.

Back to Normal.

The sunken or once sunken boat sits down on the beach.  Kadizzle rode the cycle down there yesterday to see the giant whale beached.  The boat had been at it's slip in the marina last year when apparently a 75 mile per hour wind hit the marina.  The big house boat sank at the dock.  According to the locals it was under water for two weeks.  Somehow someone got the boat to float.  The plan mush have been to pull the boat up to a repair area.  The plan did not work as the trailer came out of the water with the boat on it. The trailer sank completely into to the mud. The boat has been sitting there for a long time.  Now the lake is coming up. It appears someone patched the boat and hopes it will float off the trailer.  The back end of the ship is now in the water.  It will be interesting.  If the lake does not come up another five or six feet the whole plan will fail.  So it better rain a lot to float that boat.

Well it looks like the sun is going to bust out today and it may be warm enough for a cycle ride.  Yesterday Kadizzle was bored and rode up to the cliff dwelling.  The place was buzzing with people.  Tourist in the Southwest are kinda amazing.  The spend about an hour in places they should spend weeks.  Kadizzle realized at some point in his life he had done many " I ve been there tours".  You jump out of the car look over the edge of the Grand Canyon and get back in the car.  I have been there.  Of course there is no comparison with taking the time to hike to the bottom of the canyon.  This is the case of just about the entire country.  Each unique part of the country requires days of exploring.  Zion National Park is the classic case. Kadizzle and Mrs Kadizzle have been there many many times for weeks at a time, and still we find amazing places that we never knew existed there.  For years we drove by Gooseberry Mesa, then one day we went there.  Wow, how had we missed this for so many years.   That is the way life is when you dig deeper.

Our Little Town

Our little town is filling up.  A new range manager moved in,  the couple working at the cliff dwellings is right across from us, the helicopter crew is in one of the apartments,  and Corey is in another.  The helicopter just took off to do a wildlife survey.  Last year they spotted a mountain lion and some cubs.

Yesterday Kadizzle helped get the garbage truck back in service. Jim the sign man turns out to be a good welder, and thanks to Jim's free work the truck is back in service and taxpayers got about a thousand dollars worth of labor for free.  Kadizzle had to go to Globe to help get the pipe needed to fix the garbage truck.  An old rusty piece of pipe cost $80.  We only need six feet of the pipe.  Kadizzle asked the pipe yard manager how much six feet would cost.  He said it would be $100.  Well how much would the whole pipe cost Kadizzle asked?  $80 the manager replied.  Kadizzle sort of figured it would come out that way.  The pipe was very heavy gauge, and cutting it would be a pain.  Selling eight feet would be simple and quick.  The world is strange.  There is an old joke about the rectum being in charge of the body.  It does control everything.  For the Forest Service it is the garbage truck.  Nothing creates a problem like having the garbage truck broken down.  Constipated dumpsters quickly become uncomfortable.  So the truck is in service thanks to Jim and all is well in the campgrounds.  Kadizzle once served a stint as a swamper on the garbage truck.  God bless garbage men.

Orange Men in the Desert

Yesterday Kadizzle made his first foray down the trail with the prison crew.  Dressed in orange jail suits carrying trail tools eight felons, Kadizzle, and Robert the guard, who also happens to be a cage fighter took off down the rail.  We got a lot done, and everyone had a great day.  The prisoners and the guard want to do it again. The prisoners were so happy to be out in the wilderness.  Kadizzle was so happy to see how quick eight guys could fix trail problems.  In no time it was apparent that the old guys worked harder than the younger slackers.  Prisoners keep themselves from going insane by joking and ribbing each other.  The guard kicks in with his comments. The result is like a comedy routing going down the trail.  Every hour Robert has to count everyone and call the prison with the number.  When Robert made the call the prisoners could hear the dispatcher on the other end of the phone always say to Robert " I love you man".  The prisoners said " How come you never tell him you love him back?"

Robert is the ideal guy to be a guard.  He respects the prisoners, has fun with them, and last, but not least is an ex cage fighter.  In case you don't know what a cage fighter is Kadizzle will explain.  Two men get in a cage and just beat the shit out of each other until one give up.  Robert said he was part of a cage fighting exhibition that a Russian mobster sponsored in Russia.  While in Russia he was able to meet Putin.

Kadizzle learned as he worked with the orange men what a pickle they are in. They will get out of jail wanting to get a job and have a normal life, but the fist thing that will happen is they will be turned down because they have a record as a felon.  So what choice do they have when they are released?  A couple of the guys said they would love to just get out and do physical trail work.  One guy said he would love to do the work we were doing when he got out and get paid for it.   Our prison system and penal system is a mess.

Once you deal with people in trouble you quickly realize how many of them came from dysfunctional homes.
The second observation is they are not real high IQ people.  The combination of a bad family life, few work skills, and  an education that did not work, are toxic.  One thing is obvious.  It is far more productive for society to spend money on social programs than jails.  If more effort, money, and social capital is invested in these people as children the results can only be good.  It is like doing preventive maintenance on your car, it is more effective than fixing a blown out engine.

Rant Time

If you don't like Kadizzle ranting, read no more.  The Trump gang wants to sell off public land.  This has Kadizzle's fire lit this morning.  Gradually and eventually if it works selling public land will mean that it ultimately ends up in the hands of the wealthy .    The whole thing takes us back centuries to the time of peasants and serfdom, when the aristocrats owned everything.  The peasants were forced into huts and even the game animals were considered the property of the wealthy. Wow, do we really want this?  Long ago our family used to go to the sea shore.  Now, the ocean is inaccessible because the wealthy have lined the shore with houses and the ordinary working man is not welcome.  In North Dakota so much land has already been purchased by the rich for hunting, that the ordinary poor working man has no place to hunt.

The Republican party is intent in destroying everything that makes life pleasant or possible for the working class.  Health care is going to be destroyed, the school system is under assault, and unions have already been devastated.  Is this really the way we want to live?

Kadizzle has been an outdoor person his whole life.  Your average person has no idea the treasures this country holds that belong to everyone.  Kadizzle has traveled just about the entire United States, including Alaska.  Thinking of the damage Trump can do is painful.  Seeing pristine land commercialized and privatized is a revolting thought.  The greed impulse of the Republican party running unchecked will devastate the land just like they intent to devastate the climate, and the atmosphere.  These people are driven wild with greed. They never have enough.  Trump claims to have billions, but he wants more.   What in the hell do these people need that is so good they are willing to destroy the planet to get it?

Kadizzle is about to become a grand parent for the second time.  The thought of an organized party out to make life miserable for everyone on the planet is disturbing.  Trump lies almost as a daily ritual, and the ignorant suck it up.  The Trump followers do not remember what he said yesterday.  Trump has led the gullible down the rabbit hole.

Well now it is time to go to work on public lands.  It is so hard to do volunteer work knowing Trump is going to destroy everything you do.   Ah, a least a good bitch make you feel a little better, so here we go.

Complications with the chain gang

Here we go one more day of making America great.  Poor old Kadizzle is till sore from yesterday.  A six mile hike with brush cutting thrown in has depleted the man.  Today it is confusion.  Our new boss is in charge of the prisoners and wants to take them on trail work.  This complicates matters.  The roads are not in good shape because of the recent rains.  The prisoners have to be back by one, which makes things hard to accomplish.  So the net result is we have no idea what we will do today.  Cory is the new boss and wants to go up one of the trails.  The nature of our work means often the first part of the job is hiking to the work.  As the trail work progresses you may have to hike three miles to get to where you left off yesterday.  That is the case today for the Deer Creek trail.  If you hike in three miles and out three miles which takes over an hour each way, you lost three hours hiking and perhaps there is only an hour or two  to actually get anything done.  Well hi ho, hi ho, it is off to work we go.

The orange men may be better off than the volunteers.  The prisoners have to dress in orange jumpsuits.  The orange men get free accommodation and are paid fifty cents per hour.  The volunteers have to buy their own food, pay for our electricity, and work for free.  Something seems strange here.

Up Early

The trail crew will go into action shortly.  At 5:30 A.M. the coffee has been brewed and the world is coming together.  Just completed the update and it looks like the world will make it through another day.  Met the new neighbor yesterday.  He and his wife have been full timing in a nice 40ft diesel pusher for about three or four years.  They have been moving about doing jobs for the Fish and Wildlife service, and a few other public entities.  Now they will work up at the National Monument across the road from here where the cliff dwellings welcome the public.

As lazy old Mr. Kadizzle sits here Mrs. Kadizzle jumps around like a wild bean getting ready for the day.  The apparent plan is to go up to Deer Creek and hack on the trail.  Kadizzle may work on the actual footpath while the other three cut brush.  With the rain it may be muddy, but also it will be nice to see the streams running.  Amazing how quickly the grass has grown around here because of the rain.  We have been keeping the trail head picked up pretty well by Deer Creek.  It will be interesting to see how badly the degenerates have trashed it.  Our friends Jeff and Barb pick up degenerate trash every day to pay back the world.  Yesterday they found a twenty dollar bill.  Shows the lord works in strange ways.

Almost daily Cliff and Kadizzle have some sort of philosophical conversation.  Cliff is into spirituality, whatever that is.  Is there a god, and what church does he go to are frequent topics.  Kadizzle goes to the church of "If it isn't bothering you leave it alone".  Cliff likes mediation and is into nature as a religious inspiration.  Kadizzle also believes in the refrigerator god.  Sometimes you open the sacred door and low and behold there could be anything.  Yesterday Mrs. Kadizzle made two pumpkin pies without any crust.  So really they are just pumpkin pudding in a pie pan.  Perhaps Kadizzle can con her out of pie for breakfast.

Flowing Water

The desert is awakening.  Rain has exploded the grass and the clouds are plugging the sky.  The son of our new neighbors is visiting with his homemade camper.  It is a small cobbled together contraption on a small two wheel trailer.  Kadizzle took a look inside and it looked comfortable, but cramped.  The young fellow is at that age where you can wander from job to job and live life with the luxury of freedom.  Want your freedom constrained?  Have a baby, that is Cheech's plan.  In about thirty days Cheech will provide Old Grandpa Kadizzle with another little bundle of girl problems.  Sylvie will have a cousin on our side of the family.  In her basement Sylvie is spinning around on her new gymnastics bars.  The family fortune was sacrificed to purchase the gym equipment, but perhaps she will spin some of the granny energy out of herself.  Confined to the Earth module fighting boredom will be a major project today.  Yesterday Cliff beat Kadizzle senseless playing dominoes.  Apparently Cliff has loaded dominoes.  It might also be the result of Cliff having the ability to add and subtract.  

The other night when we drove in we saw a bobcat.  Kadizzle has only seen four in his life, one in West Virginia, and perhaps the same one twice on Cherry Creek,  Number four was just down the road a little ways from our encampment.

 So here goes 2017.  The bull will be released shortly in the china shop.  Right off the bat the old Trumpster will start his insanity.  Who knows what he will do.  It is hopeless to predict.  Until he actually starts breaking things no one knows.  Will the Republicans with functioning brain cells be able to restrain him?  Will he just bump things, or will he trample things?   The day for the explosions from the tweeter is nearly upon us.  It is exciting, we could see our first nuclear war, we could enter a new depression.  Making America great again will be an interesting project and having a baffoon lead the way will be an entirely new experience.  In the old days when Kadizzle worked among construction workers and coal miners there were sayings like " Don't let you mouth overload your ass".  Another one was don't let you mouth write checks your ass can't cash.  Donald Trump has definitely made both sins.  The world is a big place, and the bravado of the Donald will now have to face reality.  The little drunk guy may have just insulted the big quiet bruiser at the end of the bar.  Everyone has seen a little guy pumped up on alcohol get a tune up.  Some of these dustups end with one punch.   We could be in for a nuclear punch.  Usually there are no winners in a bar fight.  The bar is torn up and most of the participants are cut and bruised.  The Tweeter will fire his first shots soon.  China may be first up to give the Donald a tune up.  My advice when things start to heat up is stand near the door.  Unfortunately for our electoral system the door is two years away.  Once The Donald starts the game and if the Republicans don't harness him, it will be two years before voters can put sane people in office.

What you see

Flying back to our Lake Roosevelt home in the Earth Module Kadizzle managed to fight his way into the window seat.  From the air it is fun to fly into Phoenix because  so much of the land we explore is below as you land.  Unfortunately many clouds obstructed the view yesterday, but Kadizzle did get to see the area we have been working on in the Mazatal mountains.

At the airport we used Uber to get to our truck.  This was our second go at Uber.  The service is rally fast, and much better than a cab.  It is amazing how fast they show up.  With it all run by computers it is a new world of transportation.  You don't even have to pay with anything.  When you make the computer request the driver is automatically paid.  Can easily see why this is becoming popular.

Arriving back at the Earth Module in the dark we find our new neighbors.  Now our little community is four instead of three.  Fortunately we are on the lake side, but it does feel a little tighter here in the wilderness.

Cliff stopped by to  update us on local goings on.  Cliff and the new boss were busy up in the Mazatals clearing logs from the trial.  With the constant rain here in the area it will be hard to get anything done this week. First we have to resupply the Earth Module.