"I'd rather be in Philadelphia"

W.C. Fields asked that on his tombstone it be written " I'd rather be in Philadelphia".  Well, Kadizzle is in Philadelphia with Evie, Sylvie, Uncle Ben and the whole gang.  Megan lives in an old row house so we are on the third or fourth floor. It is a hike up to our room and back down, but we are having fun with the two little cousin's playing together.  Sylvie is the big sister type.  The big job has been helping Sam and Megan build their new patio.  Moving debris from the back of the house to the front is a nightmare because of the narrow walkway between the houses.  We have 24 inches to work with.  Now how in the hell are we going to haul paving bricks, gravel, and sand back there?  Somehow we will need a narrow wheel barrow.

The Kadizzles now move back and forth from the mid west to the east.  The entire east coat has become a giant shopping mall from Florida to well past New York City.  The country is filling up.

Back to the back yard project.  In the course of removing all the cement and stuff from the old set up it was necessary to move tons of concrete chunks and gravel.  How do you do it?  You hire a guy with a Mexican and a Honduran.   Then you fill buckets and haul them by hand to the street.  Sam, Kadizzle, tow immigrants, and their boss moved the two tons of rubble.  Once Trump deports all the people willing to work hard, the country will come to a stop.  These two immigrants work hard all day.  Actually with tips they might make a half decent living.  We worked for about two or three hours. Kadizzle gave them each a twenty dollar tip.  If they did three of these jobs a day that would come to sixty bucks each just in tips in addition to their pay.  It is worth it.  The insanity of driving low cost labor out of the country is something only Trump could dream up.  The idiot we have for president uses cheap labor at his own golf courses.  Nothing like shooting your own foot off.  The number of businesses that cannot function for lack of help is amazing.  In our home town in the middle of nowhere the grocer has to import people from the Philippines to work the deli. Back in AZ sits a new restaurant that cannot open for lack of workers.

Go East young man

Up early and off to see Megan, Evie, and Sam.  Of course it will be the airplane routine.  One strange thing Kadizzle has found hard to understand is the terrorist rule book.  Why are airplanes the only things terrorist are allowed to attack?  Terrorist could do all sorts of damage in our country attacking all sorts of things like bridges, dams, buildings, railways, and so on.  Yet we go insane protecting planes and apparently the terrorist adhere to the rules.  Now what gets a lot of Americans killed? Guns get people killed, but ain't no way we will address that nonsense.  It is just to much fun to play he man cowboy.  So every simple minded dinger is armed.

At the zoning meeting last night it was the old " Who cares".   Hazen needs a new category for zoning, not agriculture, not business, not residential, but recreational slumming.  If you want to fill your yard with trash and junked cars you should request to have your area rezoned recreational slumming.  Yesterday the guy up the street set a record.  On one residential lot he had eight pickup trucks two boats, a junked car, a camper, and a nice display of yard trash.  When Kadizzle brought this up at the meeting the mayor said there were only six pickup trucks when he drove by.   One of the pickup trucks has sat in the driveway for five years with a piece of the engine sitting beside it. Most amazing of all is the city officials cannot see how this mess could possibly affect property values.

Fight City Hall

Last winter Kadizzle was in Winslow, Arizona.  He has been there before.  However, something changed. They cleaned the town up.  It looks like someone put the dirty town in the washing machine.  Kadizzle was blown away by the cleanliness of the place.  Every weed, every piece of trash, and every lot was scrubbed.  To put it simply the city decided to clean up and they did.  The summer residence of the Kadizzle crew is in Hazen.  The governing body in Hazen is totally incapable of confronting the bums, and slummers who make a mess of the city.  For years the city has ignored zoning laws, and regulations.  So tonight Kadizzle will go to a zoning meeting.  Someone has requested the land across the creek be made commercial.  Of course the City of Hazen would allow a hog feeding operation on main  street if someone thought they could sell a little hog feed.  Talking to a city commission that's idea of art is a toilet in the front yard with flowers in the bowl or maybe a nice tractor tire with flowers in the middle is a hopeless endeavor.   So the spring Jihad will start.

E Bike adventure

Yesterday Kadizzle took the ebike to Harmon Lake north of Mandan.   The bike trail is deceptive.  The lake does not look that big, but the trail around it is a long trail.  As you ride you realize how many times the bike trail ducks in and out of coves.  The trail is very well done and shows what you can do with a well designed trail.  Riding the trail Kadizzle kept thinking why are there not more of these type of trails in North Dakota?  There are so many potential places.  A nice trail could run along the big lake for miles.  Trails are not hard to build, nor are they that expensive.  For many years Kadizzle has advocated a trail from the dam at Pick City to Bismarck.  How nice would it be to cross country ski, bike, hike, or even boat along the Missouri.  The trail could have little camp spots and pit toilets.  The stops could include the knife river Indian Village, and Cross Ranch.  Why not?

A Hang Fire

Old Kadizzle used to be involved in blasting in his career.  At one time Kadizzle would spend midnight shift in the coal mine drilling and blasting the bottom so it could be loaded to give the trains more room.  The underground rail system hauled the coal out of the mine.

A blasting term is "hang fire".  A hang fire can be dangerous.  First, let's define a hang fire.  If you set off a blast and it is burning, but not exploding, you have a hang fire.  You light the fuse, but somehow the fuse does not burn all the way to the powder.  The fuse could be burning slowly.  If you walk up there to see what is wrong and the fuse takes off again, you are toast.

So what?  The point here is the Mueller report.  The Mueller Report is a hang fire.  There was no explosion, but it is still fizzling.

A different world

The Earth Module sits beside the house in Hazen, North Dakota. The transition from living in a box to a good sized home is strange.  At headquarters we have four computers strewn all over the place, music plays in every room, and now we have two Alexa's and a Google mini.  Electronics seem to sprout from the walls.  Here you get to stand in the shower and soak as long as you like.  There is not little journey to the outhouse in the morning.

Now for the flip side.  There is no warm sunshine, no flowers, now crystal clear sky, no walking around in a T shirt,  and not looking at mountains all around.  Here everything is struggling to get out of the ground.  Back in AZ the plants shot from the ground like they had been turned on.  Sitting on the flat plate they call prairie you do not get to find anything as a surprise.  Here you can see everything a day before you get to it across the barren plane.  Eventually spring will come here, but in the meantime what do you do.  You feel like a pickle in a canning jar.

Oval Room, you better listen.

I miss my boat

What does it feel like when your dog dies?  Well no dog died, but this is the first year in 35 years Kadizzle doesn't have a sailboat. The old Sovereign is gone. That boat is missed. Kadizzle just picked up some old brochures that featured a nice picture of the boat with the spinnaker up.  The magic of sailing is addicting. If we make it through the summer without out a sail boat it will be tough.  Do they have methadone for sail boat owners.  The boat was like a dog you had to feed and take for a walk. The old boat got us through some incredible storms.  Kadizzle wants that boat back. Not another boat, the old Sovereign.  It had some issues, but what the hell. It's only money as they say.  Without the good ship there is not reason to stay in the arctic.  Just will have to see how the summer pans out.

Step into a different world

The Earth Module sits beside the house.  Jeff is in the basement.  Who in the hell is Jeff?  Jeff is a millwright.  If you don't know what that is look it up.  Anyway Jeff was here a couple years ago as an Air B an B guest.  He has become a good friend as most of our guest do.   So Jeff is back to work the outage at the old power plant where Kadizzle used to work.  It is about five thirty in the morning.  Could not sleep.  Here we sit in a huge house compared to the Earth Module.  We made it back.  It is like being dropped in another world.  Right away someone called and wants to look at the house.  If they actually where to buy it that would immediately set things astir.  Here we go launched into a strange summer without the boat.  The lake is already extremely high for this time of year and there may be problems if there is a lot of mountain run off.

Today will be a day of getting unpacked and oriented to our new life.  Amazing to be in a land where not a single flower has bloomed.  We are in North Dakota a special land where the politicians are caught in the ice age of progress.  Always the same old crap, guns, abortion, and how can we get money from the lobbyist without smelling bad.  The sun is not even up.  At least it is quiet.  Soon the simple minded dingers will be out on their noise machines making their engines roar.  The desert was so quiet.  We will miss that.   The snow is at least gone here.  Strange we even have to think about that.  Summer will go roaring by and next thing you know the Earth module will be heading south again.

Blast off to North Dakota.

Fran is back from London, Paris, and Berlin,  all in one business trip.  So here we sit with Erin and her complete family.  Today we blast off for North Dakota. If we can make it half way to the Arctic it will be a success.  Not at all like awakening in Arizona to sunshine and warmth.  This summer we will hold a remembrance for old friend Bill Butcher.  Kadizzle sailed with Bill for at least 25 years on the big lake.  Part of the plan to memorialize Bill will be firing his ashes out of a cannon.  Another dear friend built an authentic civil war cannon.  If Kadizzle can get his hands on the full sized cannon it will be a nice salute to Bill.

So back home a lot needs to be done.  We want to sell the house so it needs improved.  Among other things we need to remodel a bathroom.  A lot of money will go up in smoke.  The main fear today will be icy roads.

Crawling with people

In our annual migration back to North Dakota the Kadizzles always spend a few days with the grand daughter in Denver.  Within spitting distance from her house is the old tower for the Stapleton Airport. The airport is gone, and in it's place are thousands of houses, hundreds of eating places, and urban sprawl in every direction.  The pace of development is insane.  My mother most have thought the same thing as she produced nine children.  Too many has consequences.  The Earth is being plundered at an amazing rate. We are burning up the planet with no one caring or noticing except a few trouble makers.

My old neighbor who was a good friend and a hopeless Republican once came back from South Dakota.  Like the country bumkin he was he never had much of a grasp about the world.  After driving south of Bowman, North Dakota he declared the United States would never run out of space.  If he saw the ocean he would have said we will never run out of water.  He was a classic Republican unable to see the forest for the trees.  He never thought about polluting the air, poisoning the ground,  or killing all the wildlife. 

It is like the old joke " It is not the fall that kills you, it is the sudden stop".   You are fine until you hit the ground.  So we keep growing with total disregard for the consequences.  Republicans cannot grasp the concept that we live on a globe.  That inherently means the amount of everything is finite.  When you live in a world of finite resources you will die if you overwhelm them.  Mrs. Kadizzle and old Kadizzle spend the winters where ancient tribes used to live.  Research seems to indicate these people disappeared fairly quickly.  The evidence points to the fact that they may have overwhelmed the resources they had.  It did not take that many people to accomplish this suicide in the desert.  We learn nothing. 

Sent from Nepal to cook my dinner

As we were just about to pull into the entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain Park Kadizzle noticed a little Toyota partially parked by the four lane.  He remarked to Jasper that the guy was going to get hit if he did not get his car all the way off the road.  As the gods of the universe would have it the same guy pulled into the visitor center as we were there.  Then we encountered him once more near our camp site.  A conversation ensued and soon we were friends with Bsarat.  Bsarat is an engineer from Napal.  He has been in our country for two years.  Bsarat offered to cook us a Nepalese dinner.  Bsarat seemed to love photography so after he cooked us dinner he did a film shoot right before we ate.  Since he could not find engineering work in Colorado Springs he works in a liquor store.  On the table was an excellent bottle of whiskey.  We all gave a toast as his cameras automatically filmed the event.

Earlier in the day the Kadizzles had the mother of all bike rides.  The park has the best bike paths ever.  With the ebike Kadizzle and Jasper spent hours on wonderful trails along the mountain. 

Back to Bsarat.  Kadizzle asked Bsarat if he knew about the NORAD tunnel right above where we had dinner.  Bsarat knew nothing of the installation.  This got Kadizzle to explain it to him and do a little research himself.  According to the research there is a 13 story building in that mountain mounted on springs. The is a man made lake with enough water to last the crew two years.  Imagine the money pissed away on this project.  Like everything we do with the military money is no object.  It is like spending 62 million dollars so Trump can golf, who cares?  Trump needs to golf even if his caddies say he cheats.

One more Day

Waking up to warm sunshine is one of the greatest pleasures in life.  Today the Kadizzles awakened to warm sunshine on the East side of the Rocky Mountains.  High above Colorado Springs right next to NORAD we sat outside and drank our coffee.  Winkie had a crash yesterday on her mountain bike, but was not injured seriously. Today we will probably seek more injuries on the bikes.  Right now she is making french toast with Juneberries.  Does it get any better.

Ok, now for a little bitching.  The state park we are staying in is very nicely done with nice facilities. Colorado spent the money wisely and people can enjoy this great park.  That brings us to North Dakota, a state full of old white goats that finds it painful to spend on public resources.  The old white goats grew up on farms and recreation was a no, no.  So the old white goats want to build a Teddy Roosevelt library.  What a waste.  Scott Hennen on KFYR radio has proven the people of North Dakota are not interested in education. The people of North Dakota watch Fox News.  They enjoy being ignorant and mislead.  So why not use the money to build some nice parks and trails?  We could have a trail along Lake Sakakawea,  a trail from Pick City to Bismarck. We could have nice places for people to get exercise.  Perhaps the circulation of blood would encourage thought.

The Spanish Peaks

Sun is streaming in the Earth Module windows in all it's glory.  The view over the dinner table is the Spanish Peaks.  Snow is on the mountains and it is like waking up looking at some more famous pile of Earth like Mt. Hood.  On our way back to the prairie flat lands it might be easy to forget there are places with huge bumps called mountains.  On this glorious day we are at the little state park in Colorado where we always stop.  Today we will go toward Denver and stop near Colorado Springs for two days.  There the electric bike will get a fun work out.

The is a song on the playlist " Who will be next?".   As we watch our friends get shot down by cancer and old age you cannot help but wonder.  Kadizzle comes from a family of nine.  Three siblings have been shot out of the saddle.  Colin, my younger brother was taken to the beyond by a heart attack at 49. This is what scared Kadizzle into retiring at 50.   Louise was next.  She was fourth from the top.  Again her heart gave out.  Next Kathleen, two above Kadizzle signed out from a combination of maladies.  So out of nine we got six still running.

As a younger person you never noticed these things, but now it seems to take too much mental space.  Kadizzle is beginning to realize how old farts become obsessed with obituaries.  Now the old poem or saying that has the words " go softly into the night" comes to mind.  Are you going to die watching Fox News or be killed trying to do something you are to old to do?  I doubt Darch is reading this, but Darch is about as aggressive as one can be taking on old age.  He bikes like a teenager, and now wants to take on a new life as a dirt bag.  Studying to be a dirt bag Darch insisted on sleeping in the cold in the back of his pickup truck.   We hate to see anyone suffer, so my wish to all my friends is you go in a painless flash.  Book a flight on a Boeing 737.

What a day

For the Kadizzles moving from Arizona to North Dakota is always traumatic.  Today was no exception.  Kadizzle often tells friends he is divorced about four times a year.  Today there were probably at least three divorces.  Kadizzle made the terrible mistake of telling  It turned out to be a very lucky insignificant deal, but Jasper insisted on making it an international incident.  That was just the beginning. The day only got worse.

On to another subject.  A good and long time friend passed away today.  We sailed many miles together in storms, on sunny days, and in every condition imaginable.  Now Bill has pulled the anchor on this planet and only God knows what sea he is sailing.  We had some serious laughs together, some serious fights, and we both raised two wonderful daughters in spite of ourselves.  Our kids have become good friends from the many days they spent growing up together on sailboats.  Bill and Kadizzle have got themselves into and out of every imaginable predicament you can produce with wind and a sailboat.  We sat around camp fires and sang, drank, lied, bragged, and finally went to sleep.  Bill blamed Kadizzle for turning his girls into Democrats.  Well Bill now that you are meeting the big guy ask him if that really happened, and if that is so bad after all.  Dina, Bill's wonderful wife is still with us. Dina is a hero. Dina is the one who forced honesty and integrity on a bunch of Republicans in North Dakota who wanted no part of it. Dina put the lid on the cookie jar.  The legislators are furious. Dina and her buddies passed measure one.  Now lights shine on the rats. 

The President and the idiot

Our Canadian friends are pulling out as fingers hit the keyboard.  For the second night we played the card game " The President and the Idiot".   It is a strange game where two people have to pass their best cards to the President, and vice president. The idiot gets the worst cards as does the idiots assistant.  This gives the President a huge advantage, and the key is to become president.  Of course Kadizzle got stuck as the idiot two nights in a row.

Now that we have a president who is an idiot the game seems very relevant.  As in the game the real idiots give the president what he needs to abuse them.  The nice thing is the idiots wear red hats so you know who they are.  The red hat idiots could have health care, a decent retirement, clean air, and educated children, but they give away everything to the one percent.  In the game it is just sheer luck if you can dig your way out of the idiot position by getting some good cards.  In the real world the idiots think the lottery is the answer.

Tomorrow the Kadizzles will crank up the Earth Module and head North to the arctic.  Packing four bicycles is today's puzzle.  Since Kadizzle bought the new ebike the crew has to get rid of enough weight to make up for hauling the new bike home.  So we are jettisoning as much as we can.

The Evening Tide

We spent a lot of time on the lake together.  We weathered many storms, practiced many Chinese fire drills, raised sailing girls together, argued, drank, sang, and played dare to be stupid.  We raced against each other and with each other.  Now Bill is going out on the evening tide.  Bill is pulling his anchor after a long life as a sailor and friend.  All this made me check on a story I wrote many years ago.  " Local man invents sailing".  Local Man invents sailing.  Life goes on and we all will be pushed by the winds of time.