We miss the prisoners

Normally the prisoners from Globe do the hard dirty work, but when the virus strikes the prisoners have to stay home.  Guess who has to do the work when they are gone.  The trail gang took on some nasty work cleaning brush from the campground. Desert brush is the worst in the world, even the thorns have thorns on the thorns. God was on crack when he invented, mosquito, flies, and cat's claw.  Cat's claw is like razor wire that sticks to you.  Whoops almost forgot cholla.  They call that curse jumping Cholla.  That nasty cactus seems like it jumps at you and wow can it stick you with needles.  The damn needles will go right through tennis shoes. Anyway the gang was exhausted after a day of beating the brush into submission. 

Yesterday's blog was about stingers.  Woke up today to find a stinger published in the Fargo Forum.  Praise be unto Jesus.  

Kadizzle has been thinking a lot about becoming a crooked TV preacher.  The pay is fantastic, and the benefits are unbelievable.  Honest Omar who is the religious consultant for this blog suggested Kadizzle name his ministry words on the wind.  That is because Kadizzle wants to sail west on Lake Sakakawea and bring Jeeeesus to the native Americans.  Of course Kadizzle will need a ten million dollar sailboat to bring quality religion to the natives.  The trick will be to get a list of dolts from the Republicans for the first mailing. 

Now for a story.  Once upon a time the Kadizzles were at a boat dock somewhere near Cape Hatteras.  Kadizzle always likes to snoop around marinas.  As Kadizzle walked the dock he was near a huge wooden sailboat.  Without permission Kadizzle got on the boat and soon met the owner who was mean and rude.  Kadizzle did pry out of him that he was an agent of Jesus.  Kadizzle found out this man was living the dream of Words on the Wind.  The man was bilking old ladies and using the money to "Bring Jesus to Africans".   Apparently he was helping the Africans in North Carolina who came over as slaves.  

Fire a Stinger

 Mental illness has plagued Kadizzle for most of his existence.  A major symptom of the illness is firing stingers on Republicans.  In the past few weeks Kadizzle has probably fired five or six letters to the Fargo Forum, and The Bismarck Tribune. To the joy of Kadizzle the Tribune published a stinger today.  Keeping a Republican jihad going is essential to good poor mental health.  Since it appears we may have rid ourselves of the Trumpster the next goal is the sorrowful lickspittles in North Dakota.  At first it was just Cramer, but he has been joined by Armstrong, Hoeven, and Burgum, but now we got Stenjem in the clown car. 

The master of firing stingers on our dolts is Tony Bender. The Fargo Forum is a much better paper than the Bismarck Tribune. The Forum mixes it up like a good paper should.  In particular the Forum has some great left wing warriors.  The Bismarck Tribune is scared of its own shadow and does mostly articles on Aunt Martha's quilts.  Every citizen should fire out some stingers to the news papers.  Of course along with the Kadizzle style nuts you have the religious goofs, and the usual bunch of Hoopleheads in the Trump cult.  Kadizzle has found the letters the only part of the Bismarck paper worth reading.  The real problem is the paper will not take on the rats that run North Dakota.  The paper trembles that it will lose readers if it points to the incompetence of the gang. 

The Russian Puzzle continues

Just checked to see what countries are reading this blog.  Amazing that Russians are reading this three times more than Americans.  If you are a Russian email me and tell me why you would read this nonsense.  My email is dakotaquinn@gmail.com.  Kadizzle cannot comprehend why any Russian would be interested in this.  Even Kadizzle is not interested.  Do Russian computers automatically scan things?  Are you trying to learn English?  Please help me figure out why the system that keeps statistics for this site has so many Russians logging in.  Kadizzle would be glad to come to Russia and give a talk if each of you Russians would send one ruble, or just a few cases of good vodka. Vladamir, Egor, Stalin, Kruschev, someone clue me in.  

The Kajeekapoo

 There it was rumbling down the road towards us, it was the Kajeekapoo.  What is a Kajeekapoo?  Well if you breed an airplane with an old Airstream camper you end up with a Kajeekapoo.  People have taken to the road because life sitting still is to expensive.  The net result is they go on the move anyway they can. 

Judging from the chimney coming out of the side of the Kajeekapoo it must be heated with wood.  Living on the run can be cheap.  Currently the Kadizzles have no fixed home.  Kadizzle was doing the budget the other day and it appears we are living on less than social security.  A person with a small imagination and a funtioning brain could live comfortably on very little.  As volunteers for the Forest Service we have no expense for water, sewer, or electricity.  Verizon still scams us, but that is about it.  A while back the price for staying in the campground we occupy for free went up to twenty dollars per night.  That forced a lot of the low rent gang to go elsewhere.  Elsewhere is mainly out into the woods. Dispersed camping is what they call it.  Marginal people can camp on public land free.  If there is an established pull out and fire ring go for it.  A lot of these sites are amazing.  The views can be incredible.  In the vernacular we call it dry camping.  When you dry camp you have to supply your own water, and electricity.  Solar is usually the answer. Very quickly you learn not to waste water and propane. 

At this point the Kadizzles are living in a fifth wheel camper about eight feet by thirty four feet.  We are very comfortable in a small space.  As we sit here the electric fireplace is providing some warmth.  At first we thought the fireplace was tacky and we did not want it, but the simulated fire would fool anyone.  It turns out we kind of like it. All our needs are met in this small space.  One wonders why people feel they need so much more space.  The real wonder of our abode is the view.  With large windows we can crank our heads in any direction and see magnificent mountains.  We don't see any neighbors.  The quiet, the birds, the wildlife is all part of our yard.  Incidentally our yard is five million acres. 

Hell is rising from the ground.

Another story from the past.  This morning the old lard got up wandered to the executive suite with headphones on and listening to music. Music was playing at random.  Kadizzle listened to a song he had never heard before called Coal.  The lyrics of the song spoke of a coal mine fire.  In West Virginia and Pennsylvania once in awhile an underground mine would catch fire.  It was impossible to put these fires out.  The burnt underground for miles. How they got air was a mystery.  Back when Kadizzle was a young fellow working in southern West Virginia he had to travel the coal towns preaching safety the coal miners.  Distinctly Kadizzle remembers driving into one small coal town.  It was a sight like no other.  From cracks in the street, from nowhere in peoples yards rancid smoke rose in little wispy columns. Under the town was mine on fire.  The town looked like what you would think of as hell. The town stunk of sulfur.  Southern West Virginia must have been cursed with coal. Coal brought money, but it brought every bit as much misery.  Driving through some oil area you could say the same thing. 

Morning at the Earth Module

Up early as usual. Winky commanded Kadizzle to open the shades so she could enjoy the sunrise.  Kadizzle is about to wander to the executive suite. It will be exciting to see if we caught another mouse with the fake cheese. Off to Cottonwood we may go to see Kadizzle's little sister.  On the way we will inspect the lot we are considering buying to build a new home.  The prospect of being house rich and cash poor is not a good feeling, but why not spend the kid's inheritance? The sun is peeking up and lighting up the mountains.  It is always a nice site to see the mountains light up first and then the sun finally gets high enough to light up the valley. 

The head of the mafia is in Florida pardoning his henchmen.  How can any rational person see Trump in action and not see what he is, a grifter, a con man, a liar, and a mentally ill man on the lose throwing tantrums?

Hang Fire

 In his career Kadizzle was involved with blasting.  As an underground coal miner Kadizzle spent some midnight shifts blasting the bottom of the mainline so the locomotives had the clearance to run through the mine.  All night Kadizzle ran a jackhammer. Towards morning we filled the holes with powder and set it off.  Later in Kadizzle's career he was in charge of the blasting operation at the mine where he worked.  Kadizzle and another safety director wrote the blasting regulations for North Dakota. 

A favorite blast was when a request came to destroy a beaver dam.  Kadizzle knew from experience too many times not enough explosives were used.  By himself Kadizzle poked some holes in the beaver dam about three feet apart.  Kadizzle used extra large sticks of dynamite that were about two inches across and 16" long.  Clear across the dam Kadizzle loaded the holes.  There was probably at least a case of explosives in the dam.  Kadizzle laid out the wire that would set of the blast and let it go.  It was a good display.  Logs and debris rained down on the road. Kadizzle always wondered what the beaver thought about the blast.  The Beaver probably attributed it to ISIS beavers.  Surely the explosion was hard on his hearing. 

Now, about the hangfire.  One potential problem with explosives is when they do not ignite as planned.  In the old days fuses were used.  A miner would light the fuse and then retreat to a safe place.  Nothing would happen.  The miner would go up to see what went wrong, and then the explosion would go off.  The could result in death or there might be another outcome.  Sometimes the explosion would occur as the coal miner approached.  When this happened the coal dust would get blown under the skin of the minor and leave his face with a strange tattoo.  There is a coal mining song that ask the question of a miner " What is that strange tattoo on your face?".    Kadizzle met a few old minors with the strange tattoo.  

Now Kadizzle is an old man and sometimes his thoughts are hang fires. The thought starts, and never finishes.  Winky has what we call fizzlers.  Winky will get the slightest pinch of information, and then use it to complete a thought that is entirely wrong.  For instance, Kadizzle just got up an walked toward a cabinet.  Winky instantly assumed Kadizzle got a cookie.  Kadizzle changed his mind and the Oreo stayed safe.  Winky always has fizzlers.  Her mind wants to conclude far too early when not enough information comes in.  Getting old means living with a brain that is slowly gumming up with hang fires, and fizzlers.  Of course when you live with someone suffering from an old brain it can be frustrating.  Add to that hearing loss and the world gets harder to navigate. 

Back to the hang fire.  The safe thing to do is wait when you might have a hang fire.  If you twist the blasting machine, and the shot does not go off it is a good idea to wait about ten to fifteen minutes before you get your tattoo.  Well the same lesson works well with thinking in general.  When you have a thought your not sure about wait a little while before you shoot it out your mouth.  This will prevent a tattoo of five fingers on your face. 

Plastic Cheese

 Kadizzle wandered down to the executive suite for morning business. Winky instructed Kadizzle to empty the mouse trap in the back of the building.  The mouse trap is a marvel of modern technology, it has no bait. The trap has a piece of plastic cheese.  The poor mouse fell for the old plastic cheese trick.  This got Kadizzle to thinking about the human version of plastic cheese, the credit card.  How many humans are caught with plastic cheese?  Tempted to buy stuff that we cannot afford with plastic cheese.  The nibblers live well.  Credit card companies are nibblers.  They provide next to nothing, but  nibble away at the buyer and the seller.  Our society has made all kind of nibblers rich.  Real estate people are nibblers, of course bankers are, and on it goes.  Taxes are bad enough but the nibblers are hidden taxes that get us all. 

Lanulos

 A strange story indeed.  Sometime around sixty years ago my brother spoke about Lanulos.  Lanulos and Lanuletians are far from here. It took me many years to figure out Kadizzle is a Lanuletian.  In fact Kadizzle is my Lanuletian name. My bother went back to the home planet when Kadizzle was fifty.  Condensing this story is essential, it is long and complicated.  Here goes.  Jesus was a Lanuletian. The beings on Lanulos wanted to study Earth.  The plan was fairly simple.  Lanuletians would inhabit human bodies, and return to the home planet to report on Earth.  To make this work the Lanuletian had to move into a human body and gradually realize the mission. 

How did Kadizzle become aware of his mission? Back deep in the mind the thoughts were cooking.  For some strange reason Kadizzle always thought about his brother mentioning Lanulos.  One day as boredom was raging Kadizzle had the strange notion to Google Lanulos.  This is when it all came together.  When Colin, that is my brother mentioned Lanulos it was around the late 60's.  

Google Lanulos and you will come across the story of Ingrid Cold.  When you start to research the story you will find out it took place near Parkersburg, West Virginia.  Parkersburg is not far from the place my brother and I spent many summers alone in the wilderness.  If Kadizzle ever gets the inspiration or the time the whole story will be told.  At this time Kadizzle will try to relate some of the highlights. 

First lets cover the Jesus part.  Jesus was essentially on an early mission from Lanulos.  Of course his story got twisted turned and convoluted to the point even a Lanuletian cannot recognize it.  Jesus was supposed to do an experiment.  He was to give the people of Earth a few good ideas and then leave.  He was told to do a couple of tricks to get the point across.  This totally blew up in a way never perceived by the people back on the planet, but what the hell.  Then the people back on the planet could not resist tinkering with the Earthlings.  First I must digress.  The entire Earth might be compared to a science project. If you can imagine a terrarium on a coffee table you might be able to see Earth as the people on the home planet do.  To give you some idea we must divert. 

Look at the Earth.  You will see that coal, oil, and a few other things are buried.  There is a simple reason Earth was designed this way.  Think of it like this.  If you sent a person on a trip and you supplied them with food you would have to be concerned that they would not eat all the food at once.  If they had easy access to the food they would never make the trip.  Now back to humans.  The Lanuletians knew that if the oil and coal were put in places easy to get the Earthlings would burn up the planet in no time.  To prevent this, and give the humans time to evolve the goodies were made difficult to get to.  The point here is how do you do an experiment and intervene. 

What the Lanuleatians wanted to study was the evolution of thought. How did thought become part of the universe?  Humans are like rats in an experiment.  You might ask what if we did this to the rats what would happen?  Watching the rats on Earth the Lanuletians could not resist tinkering.  Every now an then a being would be sent to Earth assuming a human body and life.  This would tweak the situation on Earth.  Galileo was one, Einstein was one, and you might speculate who the other were. 

Well the day is growing and Kadizzle cannot go on much longer with this tale.  Basically Kadizzle has to write down this entire report and go back to the planet.  Perhaps he will share more details with you, but this who project will be wrapped up in a few years.  Now the mystery that Kadizzle has to explain when he returns is how the seed of knowledge was planted on Earth, and Earth was given a plentiful supply of everything, yet the people of Earth abused it.  Why did they misuse everything and live and suffer when they could have simply lived happily.  The experiment goes on.  Will the humans on the coffee table wipe themselves out, or will they finally master the seed of knowledge.  Will the Lanuletians intervene?  Stay tuned. 

Pardon Me

Trump has pardoned murderers, thieves, liars, traitors, and all the crooks that supported him, yet the cult just cannot believe he is in need of a pardon for himself.  At this point how could any rational human not know Trump is mentally ill and deserves to be in prison?  Pure unadulterated greed is what drives Republicans. Republican believe they deserve all the money they stole and the poor are out to get it back.  Trump is their hero. 

A Day Alone

 Since retirement Kadizzle and Winky have are rarely more than twenty yards apart.  Retirement was 21 years ago.  That makes today unusual. Winky is up on the mountain with the gang, and Kadizzle is home along with the birds and a couple of stragglers.  A day alone with no boss is nice.  Kadizzle drove to Rusty 1's to see how the sail boat repair is going. Rusty is slower than a broken stopwatch.  However, for a bum walker he has done a fairly good job.  Rusty could be a heart surgeon if they allowed a month for a transplant.  All things considered he and a couple of his buddies, including his dad did a decent job.  Of course he ran up the cost.  What was 400 dollars magically turned into 550.  

Bill has been "clean up "  his camper and yard area.  Somehow it does not look much different.  It did sort of look like a garage sale, and Kadizzle took some of his crap to add to the Kasdizzle hoard.  There was a big sheet of some sort of reflective material Bill was going to haul to the dump.  Don't know what the hell it will be used for, but must be saved. 

The peace and quiet around here is overwhelming.  Kadizzle just took his daily ebike ride around the campground. Stopped to talk to Tony.  Tony is one hard working volunteer and had done a wonderful job with his campground.  Found out Tony has a liver transplant.  He seems like the energizer bunny the way he works. We have had way more perfect days than we deserve. 

When Kadizzle gets a call that cannot be identified he always answers the phone " National Association for the Advancement of Humanity". Also when Winky calls he sometimes uses this moniker.  Winky just dialed Kadizzle by mistake.  The Forest Service has us call in everyday to report where we are going.  We have to call back at the end of the day to let them know we made it out of the forest.  Winky thought she was calling the Forest Service.  It took her a few seconds to realize she had called The National Association for the Advancement of Humanity.  The sun will drop like a rock soon.  The trial crew is on the way back and we may have happy hour.  Must get it in before the sun goes behind the mountains. 

People used to work

Cliff, Winky, and Kadizzle ended up clearing the path over at the Grapevine campground. The path goes along the canal that was built as part of the dam.  The canal supplied water to a small hydro plant where the dam would be built.  The canal was built about 1914. Kadizzle never sees the canal without thinking about the labor that went into it.  The canal is about twenty three miles long. Imaging digging a ditch twenty three miles long through terrible terrain by hand.  Add to the digging the tunneling.  There are 19 tunnels for the canal.  When you see what these people did by hand it is amazing. Many of the workers were Apache that were sort of impressed into doing the work.  It was not exactly slavery but pretty dam close.  Today the canal is overgrown and falling apart.  Snakes live in the tunnels, and erosion, and weeds have take their toll.  

Another aspect of wasting human endeavors.  The Grapevine campground is or was a wonderful group campground.  Do to under funding the place is falling apart.  It is heart breaking to see the wonderful facilities here just fall apart.  You have to be here and see this place to realize the incredible waste.  Kadizzle has written about it before, but here we go once more.  Kadizzle with Winky has traveled just about the entire United States.  In those travels there is nothing that remotely compares to the money spent for these campgrounds in any other state.  When the Salt River Project decided to raise the dam in 1990 forty million dollars was allotted for the recreation facilities.  It appears money must have rained on the place.  Roads, boat ramps, trails, showers, restrooms, picnicking areas all sprung up with the best of everything.  Mistakenly the planners figured people would flock from Phoenix to enjoy the wonderful area.  Wrong, they stayed home and watched television.  All of this is by the Roosevelt Lake. 

There is just not the money to run the place.  One solution would be to give some of the campgrounds to a private entity that would fix them up and try to make money from them.  Of course no one has the initiative to get anything like that done.  So the place will just rot. 

Two Old Goats

 Winky had a brain storm to go up a road we traveled many years ago on the ebikes.  This was one nasty road. Kadizzle had trepidations about the ability of the battery to carry his lump of lard up the mountain.  Up the mountain we went.  As we got higher Kadizzle realized what a terrible road it was.  It was steep covered with what are called baby heads.  Those are small round rocks about the size of a softball.  At a couple points it was so steep we had to get off and push the bikes.  The road was a giant loop.  It went up about fifteen hundred feet went around a strange game experiment fence and came back down.  On the way down the brakes on the bike got so hot you could not touch them.  Winky made the remark on the way down " We should have worn helmets".   Indeed if we had an ounce of sense we would have.  On one stop to let the brakes cool we both remembered we were in our 70s.  This trip was not something two old goats should be undertaking.  Finally we got back a little sore, and maybe a little smarter. 

Now, on a different subject.  Kadizzle ran across this amazing figure recently.  If the billionaires gave everyone in the United States three thousand dollars they would still have more money than they did before the virus problem.  If this is not a wake up about the state of the country nothing is. 

Testing Day

It is five in the morning and today we go to Globe to get the test for Covid.  Not sure why, Winky was feeling a little bad the other day.  In Globe we will shop and lay in supplies. 

Yesterday Kadizzle did some exploration up on the mountain.  With a dose of stupidity Kadizzle took off on a new jeep trail.  It was a little nasty and Kadizzle had a mini spill. No harm done, but a good lesson in going out alone.  Kadizzle took a reading with the Inreach and sent it back.  For safety we have a satellite communicator.  It will send out an emergency SOS with the exact GPS position.  Also in an emergency it can send messages.  The device will send a location to your computer with a background map that shows exactly where you are.  It even will show a minute by minute trail of where you are going.  We don't use it as often as we should, but someday it might save us.  One must be careful not to set it off accidently.  It has an emergency button that if you push that button it will send and SOS to 911.  Kadizzle asked the local sheriff if they have received many calls on this system.  They have had a few.  Back in the wilderness often you have no cell service. 

The air show

When the boredom gets to thick Kadizzle sits in the sun with a pair of binoculars and scans the world.  The birds are always here eating our salad bar.  Then there are the big birds in the sky.  Things have slowed down, but we are on the flight path for the Mesa airport.  Allegiant comes in around two or three with two planes.  It used to be in the Southwest before the pandemic there were always five planes in the sky.  Now often there are none.  Some budding stunt pilot comes up from Phoenix and does some neat tricks.  Kadizzle's favorite is when he goes straight up turns off the engine and just lets the plane tumble to the ground until he is forced to pull out of the mess and happily go on his way.  Constantly the Army is dropping people in the lake with inflatable rafts and then picking them out with helicopters.  About once a week the Airforce weaves in and out of the mountains.  Seems like there is always one helicopter going somewhere.  

Yesterday Kadizzle was watching the world go by in the sky and saw something unexplainable.  An Allegiant plane descended toward Mesa. Kadizzle followed it with binoculars.  Relatively close to the plane there appeared to be something silverish and white like a long streamer.  It looked like it might be a parachute coming down from very high altitude, then it seemed to go up.  It looked like a parachute that did not fill with air.  To some degree it seemed to be following the route of the plane.  It generally went up and in the same direction of the plane.  No clue what it was.  

So today appears to be one more perfect day.  Jupitor and Saturn will be almost aligned tonight.  A little Trump note.  No one seems to be to excited that the Trump gang was proposing Marshall Law?  Wow, have the Republicans gone off the deep end?

What fascinates people about gangsters?

Yesterday the Kadizzle gang watched a movie The Irishman.  It was about the guy who killed Jimmy Hoffa.  This morning Winky asked Kadizzle " Why are people fascinated with gangsters?" Kadizzle had a childhood friend whose father was in the business, so to speak.  Kadizzle found it interesting how the illegal world operated in his hometown.  The hypocrisy was insane.  All the goody, goody people pretended like they did not know what was going on.  It worked in a strange manner.  The town had a reputation for having more churches per capita than most cities.  On the other hand prostitution, and gambling were on a par with Las Vegas.  Wheeling Island had a horse track that attracted an interesting crowd.  Big time gangsters like Al Capone came to Wheeling to gamble.  The police were always half drunk.  Trump is a gangster and he operates like one.  You can always see the way this type operates.  Kadizzle tried to explain to Winky that gangsters are psychopaths.  They can buy you a very nice gift and steal it from you the next day. People watch gangster movies and wish they could be like that.  Wouldn't it be nice just to kill someone who was a problem? Gangsters do what most people fantasize about.  That is why people liked Trump.  Trump insulted people at will.  Trump spit in the face of society and openly stole anything he wanted.  Trump was the most successful gangster in history.  Trump had the government covering up his crimes and paying his legal bills.  Trump had the attorney general in his pocket.  Trump had a check book full of pardons.  The Trump worshipers just wished they could steal with impunity, lie with impunity, and be as rotten as Trump with no consequences.  Little kids dress up as superheroes because that is what they want to be.  Republicans want to be just like Trump so they dress up in Trump super hero outfits with red hats. 

Sucked In

 Kadizzle and Jasper Littlebottom got sucked in to The Queen's Gambit.  We binge watched the whole series in two days.  It was well done and amazing how an entire movie could be made with no gun shots, sex scenes or violence.  That is impossible in this country. 

Kadizzle got the little John Deere tractor going and dusted up some of the local walking trails.  Kadizzle knew something had to go wrong.  The old rotten tire on the tractor gave out so getting it replaced by the government will take a couple of presidential administrations. 

Looks like one more perfect day in the wilderness today. Will be a nice walk down to the office.  It is like fresh air seeing Biden appoint qualified and caring people to high positions.  Trump and his mafia gang will be out on the street.  Yesterday Winky was not feeling too good and for awhile we thought the covid may have hit, but she is fine today and it appears we are safe. 

Back to The Queen's Gambit.  For some reason Kadizzle's mind had been going through old memories.  A major feature in The Queen's gambit was the orphanage where the young chess player grew up.  It so much reminds Kadizzle of the Woodsdale Children's home.  The home was an imposing building and what went on inside was always a mystery.  Kadizzle went to school with all the orphans at the Woodsdale School.  The orphans enriched us all.  Kadizzle always thought when things were bad they could be worse and the orphan kids were a constant reminder.  Kadizzle also was in the Boy Scouts with the Orphans.  Gary Caldwell was a tough orphan kid.  It was lucky he had a bad leg.  It seemed like a morning ritual for Gary and Kadizzle to have a fight.  Gary was study and very strong.  Often Kadizzle took the easy way out and escaped Gary by running. Even with a bad leg Gary was fast.  Kadizzle remembers going to Boy Scout Camp with Gary.  We would swim in the creek.  Gary had some piece of steel in his leg and he could only stay in the water so long before he could not move his leg.  Kadizzle can remember Gary having to hustle out of the water as his leg started to stiffen up.  There was another orphan, a tall skinny kid who had serious mental problems.  Kadizzle remembers well when that nut case took a hand full of darts and slapped them into Kadizzle's wrist.  It was twelve tattoo needles at once.  Then there was poor Margie Shepard.  The story was she saw her parents burned alive in a fire.  Kadizzle remembers her in the sixth grade.  Margie was a sad case and never was right.  It was a different world when orphanages were the answer to stockpiling kids left from disasters. 

Mind Boggling

Seems impossible, but Robert Reich a reliable person wrote today that if the billionaire gave every person in the United States $3,000 they would still have more than they had at the start of the pandemic. Poverty by choice should be the American motto.  The income inequality is insane.  The planet is melting, the rich have robbed everyone blind, and who cares?  We are warm, not hungry, and the sun just came up, so who cares.  Disaster creeps up on us and we just don't notice. Here we sit in the desert which once had some of the cleanest air on Earth.  Looking toward Phoenix you can see the pollution.  Who cares is just happened a little at a time.  The Republicans have successfully made sharing a sin.  Sharing is a communist plot.  Sharing ruins people and makes them lazy.  It is totally insane to live in a world with plenty of resources and have people homeless and hungry, but that is what is best the trickledown Republicans tell us.  Slave owners lied to and terrorized the slaves.  Republicans are on exactly the same page.  There was enough food on the plantation for everyone to eat well, but the master ate well and the slaves starved while the master sold the excess to buy a new horse and more slaves.  Are we really that stupid that we cannot see Walmart is just a modern plantation?

Tired and worn down

Two tough women lead the trail crew.  Winky and Sizzler make all the big decisions.  Sizzler decided Kadizzle was to take the gasoline weed wacker and walk a mile up the Park Trial.  A mile up the weed infested trail Kadizzle was instructed to cut his way back.  Mark Twain hated flies and wrote how Noah got six weeks out to sea and realized he only had one fly.  Noah had to return to get the other fly.  The briars God invented are every bit as bad as flies.  The desert has more plants that bite, sting, and sticker than any other place on Earth.  To call this area a desert seems like a misnomer.  If a drop of water hits these plants they explode with thorns. 

So Kadizzle worked. Now keep in mind work is not something Kadizzle is very familiar with.  We got about three quarters of the mile done.  It was a hard day and everyone was worn down.  Winky and Cliff did a marathon to the top of the mountain and cleared some brush up there.  Ken and Sizzler threw the brush off the trail. 

Now for a little diatribe.  Why not take all the billions the government is going to drop form the sky and pay some young people to fix up our national lands? They get paid, they learn to work, and in the country wins.  Once upon a time we had the CCC which did exactly that.  As a country we are poor and stupid by choice, not necessity. 

The Rot began

 Leave and head somewhere else if you don't want to read a rant.  The rot of the Republican Party began with Reagan.  Paul Krugman puts it in writing today in the NYT.  Kadizzle has always known Reagan was the infection that started the mess we are in today.  The idea that you could give rich people more money was insane, yet it was sold and soaked up by the simple minded.  Of course the biggest thieves in the world, TV preachers loved the idea.  You have heard of the prosperity gospel. You give a preacher money and you prosper.  Reagan made that idea political.  You give the rich more money and it helps you.  The idea is insane, yet the Hoopleheads bought it.  Now we have Trump the ultimate criminal robbing the entire country at once, and the people getting robbed cheer. Lets make this simple.  How do you identify the bank robber? He is the guy with the money.  The poor don't have the money.  Who does?  The rich have become richer than ever under the Republican theft program. 

Winky and the wild trail crew want to start early today and hack away at the Parker Trail.  Kadizzle is supposed to lug a weed wacker in and shake himself to death.  So here we sit at five in the morning trying to get going. It is so sad to see the Forest Service facilities fall apart here.  Maybe today we will get to see a military jet go by spewing hundreds of thousands of dollars out the exhaust while we work for nothing trying to save what is left of our forest. 

Walters Wiggles

 

This is just part of the climb to Angels Landing.  Winky and Kadizzle have made this hike about five times.  When we hiked it with Erin and Megan we went out to the very scary part on the end.  Megan made it fine, but Erin did not want to do the dangerous part.  We gave Megan here Angel/s landing pin and have always given Erin a hard time about not earning the pin. 

Once on the very steep part of this hike which is pictured we encountered a group of young men pushing a wheelchair up the trail with an injured fellow athlete.  The young man in the wheelchair had been injured in the Circus de soul or whatever the hell the name of the show is.  Apparently he was paralyzed in a fall and his good fellow players were bound to take him up there.  The amazing thing was they were practically running doing it. 

In the time of plague the trail crew gathers around 3 for a beer.  Everyone sits fifteen feet apart. We all catch up on the days activities. Yesterday we moved Dave's camper out of the campground.  Dave was a hard working member of our trail crew that died from a fall off a ladder about a month ago.  Very sad to see the last remnants of Dave's existence pull away. 

Matt, our young Forest Service supervisor pulled up on his old beater motorcycle.  Bill sold him an old Honda for three hundred bucks.  Matt was very excited about going for a ride so Kadizzle hopped on his Yamaha and off we went.  Kadizzle had no idea of Matt's skill level.  Kadizzle contemplated taking Matt up a fun steep hill, and then thought maybe not.  However, Kadizzle did head down a technical road with Matt.  Not such a good idea.  Matt crashed and broke his clutch handle.  This meant we had to get the cycle started and moving with no clutch.  We finally managed.  Kadizzle should be smarter about taking novice riders out into the wilderness.  Brooksie went off the road on a pretty good crash when Kadizzle took her up the mountain. 

So far looks like a wonderful sunny day.  The Kadizzles start almost every day with a call from our youngest daughter Megan.  Megan is such a good mom.  Megan loves playing with Evie, and Quinn her two little guys.  Megan made Evie a cardboard Evie.  The cardboard Evie does everything the real Evie does.  So this morning when Evie had to sit on the toilet so did cardboard Evie.  Megan always loved playing with her little dolls and characters.  Having a real little character that talks, walks, and dances is just too much fun for Megan.  Grandpa cannot wait until Quinn is two and moving about, talking, and entertaining us.  The trick is to stay alive and enjoy watching these kids grow. 

To the edge of the cliff

 Trump took us right up to the edge of the cliff.  Hopefully the Supreme Court stopped the march.  I have been shot at and missed. It wakes you up, but the cult seems oblivious to reality. North Dakota wallows in redneck insanity and the three stooges that represent North Dakota have proven to be willing to do anything to stay in power.  Will the people of North Dakota awaken? No, they already are cooking up new lies, new conspiracy theories, and reloading the cool aid.  The Trump gang in North Dakota could come clean.  They could admit they were drunk on power, and promise to reform.  It will not happen. The Hoopleheads will be too easy to pick off. 

Rain

Rain came to the desert. Not enough to really do any good, but since the fires burnt so much a rain could be dangerous causing flash floods. 

One thing about our lifestyle are the interesting people we meet. People who live as nomads are much more interesting than the people glued in front of a television.  In recent days Kadizzle has had a couple of nice talks with one of our camp neighbors.  The man has had a very interesting life, and he has approached life with a sense of adventure.  That is the case with so many on the road.  Most of the people we end up friends with are not obsessed with material success.  They get buy.  Bill lived in a tent for years.  One thing too many people assume is that if someone is living on the edge are not smart.  Kadizzle has found the opposite to be true in so many cases.  A lot of these people cannot put up with boredom, and boring jobs.   About eighty percent of our road acquaintances are divorced.  A good portion are ex alcoholics.  Somehow the lonely life suits them.  These are the kind of people who just get up and move when they don't like how things are going.  Just about all these people have mellowed out.  Since they are wanderers they usually have moved from job to job.  These people did not lead sedentary boring lives.  In all the years we have been winter camping Kadizzle does not recall meeting any mean people.  The get along ethic seems to be abundant.  Look at the people living under bridges, they all get along.  The people who seem to cause all the problems on the Earth are the ones that constantly want more than their share.  We know them as Republicans. 

Danger

Honest Omar called last night and urged Kadizzle to call the attorney general in North Dakota. The Trump cult in North Dakota wants to join Texas in a lawsuit to make stupidity legal. Trump may still manage to destroy our country.  Until that rat is out of the White House and in jail we are not safe.  You cannot just sit there.  If you think someone else is going to do the work forget it.  Call anyone you can and let them know you will not tolerate the Trump fraud.  Get out a history book and study how tyrants took over.  Hitler was Trump's role model.  Looking back the people of Germany must have wondered how they let it happen.  Are we going to be in the same fix? Like it or not you have to talk to the simple minded cult members. The cult things their reality is real. Trump showed what you can steal by simply walking up and stealing.  Trump just disregarded accepted truths, norms, and decency.  Republicans admired him for his brash behavior.  It is not over.  Until Trump is in jail we are all still in danger. Trump may be able to use his cult after the election to still cause havoc. 

Awakening

 Praise be unto Jeeeesus, the Bismarck Tribune published a good stinger letter Kadizzle wrote.  Got in a good stinger on KFYR radio.  Scott Hennen is one one of Satan's best Republican agents and he lies constantly on his KFYR talk show. 

Yesterday Bill was walking by the Earth Module so Kadizzle shouted at him an made him listen to Kadizzle spew BS.  Kadizzle played a Kinky Freedman snippet for him.  To make it really work you have to hear it, but Kadizzle will try to write the story down and maybe you will get the jest of it. 

A rich Texas oil rancher stopped at a huge stature of Jesus to pray.  The rancher told Jesus the oil wells were going dry, the Cadillac's were in the shop, and his cattle were sick.  The rancher heard something on the other side of the statue.  He walked around and found a little Mexican guy praying.  The Mexican said he lost his job, his home was going to be repossessed,  and his wife was sick.  The rancher pulled out his wallet and took out a hundred dollar bill.  He gave it to the Mexican and said " Here, take this, and don't be bothering Jesus with that shit anymore".   This very much sums up Christianity. 

Back to the trip to the world headquarters, executive suite.  What a pleasant walk. The morning is warm, the day is clear and the sun has not made it up over the mountains in the East.  What did the Indians think six hundred years ago when they looked at that horizon.  It must have been an amazing thing to see the sun come up and have no idea how the universe worked.  Maybe not so strange.  Seventy million people who voted for Trump have no idea how the universe works. 

Yesterday the hard core trail gang went up the mountain. Kadizzle stayed back and had a day by himself trimming the local paths.  Kadizzle put his Jambox speaker in the backpack so he had music as he cut down the brush. 

Calling this a desert seems a misnomer.  Brush grows here at an unbelievable pace.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow.  Putting water on this desert is like putting gas on a fire.  It seems some of these plants grow as soon as you turn your back on them. 

We have settled into our new version of the Earth Module.  Kadizzle is finding he likes better all the time.  We can watch television by putting Youtube on the TV.   Every night we play PBS News Hour.  Winky will watch some shows.  It works pretty well we have no signal so it all has to come over the hotspot on the phone. 

Kadizzle has to get his work clothes on and go help Ken.  Ken wants to clear some brush near the road.  It almost makes one cry to see the wonderful facilities here crumble.  Without the prisoners this place is quickly getting overgrown.   The prisoners cannot work because of the virus.  These poor young guys that are jailed actually enjoy getting out and doing the work around here.  It is a shame North Dakota cannot let the young people in prison out to do community work. 

World Headquarters

 Rush Limbaugh broadcast from his world headquarters, so does Kadizzle.  Here is a photo of the Headquarters building, also known as the executive suite

The view from the throne is excellent, and Kadizzle has a wonderful walk on a sunny day to the office which is located about twenty yards from the Earth Module.

A very long time ago

Yesterday Kadizzle was surfing youtube and bumped into the video below.  It is a half decent video of the Silver Spade.  Kadizzle started his career early in coal mining.  At one time is was the role of Kadizzle to do the safety training for about two thousand coal miners in Eastern Ohio with Consolidation Coal Company.  Consol at that time was the second largest coal company.  In Ohio Consol had both surface and underground mines.  The Silver Spade was the largest earth moving shovel ever built.  People would come from all over the world to see it.  If you look closely at the video you can get some idea of the size.  Look at the full sized bulldozer at the base of the machine.  The job of that dozer was just to clean up so the big machine could move.  At one time a chunk of rock larger than a house came loose on the highwall. To save the bulldozer operator from being crushed the operator of the shovel caught the boulder with the bucket of the shovel.  The weight was too much and the whole bucket was torn from the machine.  Kadizzle clearly remembers one day driving somewhere in the vast mine on a gravel road.  Coming down the road were a pair of crawlers.  The giant crawlers you see in the video were coming down the road by themselves, no shovel.  The crawlers were being driven by the electric motors inside them.  The crawlers were headed back to the repair shop.  A truck with a generator drove beside the crawlers to provide electricity.  These are the same crawlers that are used on the device that took the space shuttle out to launch. 

Kadizzle remembers his first visit on the machine.  To get onto the machine you had to go underneath the machine and walk up a couple flights of metal stairs.  Once up to the bottom of the main machine you got in an elevator.  The elevator went right up the center pin of the machine.  It was small.  You could get about three people in it.  To this very day Kadizzle can remember the trick his brain pulled on him when he got out of that elevator.  Since the shovel was working the entire shovel rotated around the elevator.  The brain tries to make sense out of reality.  Stepping off the elevator the brain said the elevator was rotating.  The brain could not conceive of such a large room we stepped into rotating, but that in reality was happening.  When you got off the elevator you were in a room about the size of a basketball court.  Once they had to move the machine across the interstate in Ohio.  To do this they piled dirt 24 feet deep and went across.  The machine had a very difficult time moving on anything but solid coal or rock.  To move across country the machine had to lay down matts in front after it picked them up from behind. 

It seems like so long ago when Kadizzle was working there.  He must have been about 23.   Life has zipped by and a lot has happened since. 

H Q VIDEO OF SILVER SPADE

Look at every tomato

Winky and Kadizzle are seriously considering having a home built in Payson, Arizona.  It seems to Kadizzle we have chosen a lot and a home style, but no.  Winky goes into the grocery store and gets stuck in the vegetable section for an hour.  She has to look at every tomato, or how would she know she did not get the best tomato.  So you can imagine buying a home.  Unless you look at every home and every possibility how can you know you chose the best?  So this all comes back to the famous niggifiddle problem.  Niggifiddles cannot make a straight forward decision.  It is impossible for a niggifiddle to go anywhere in a straight line.  Bob up the street cannot just get in the car and go hunting.  Bob, like Winky has to wander around in a circle and go in and out of the house ten times before the hunt.  The best part about Winky is she will do the niggifiddle, and then we get a mile out of town and she says " Oh, I forgot my phone, or my toenail clipper. "

If a niggifiddle was in a plane about to crash they would put on makeup so they would look good at the crash site.  Winky cannot go across the street without a supply  of water.  Before hiking Kadizzle takes a big gulp of water and off he goes, not Winky, she must have a half gallon. 

In the end you have frustration.  Kadizzle likes to go in the store grab a tomato and go on with life.  If we go to the grocery store Kadizzle is supposed to be like a good puppy and stay with Winky.  Kadizzle gets bored and wants to wander all over the store.  So Kadizzle wanders around for half an hour thininking winky will have made it past the carrots.  Nope, ain't going to happen.  Well we have worked out somewhat of a solution.  Kadizzle is given and assignment, like go get your cereal or some special seasoning.  This gives Kadizzle a chance to wander.  

So back to Payson to meet with the builder today.  There will be hundreds of pointless questions.  Well what if we,  well how about, and so on.  Just pick up the tomato and put it in the cart. 

A thought.

How does our body rid itself of a virus? Our body produces a fever that the virus cannot tolerate.  The Earth is a living organism. Guess who the virus is?  Yep, the Earth is going to heat up and rid itself of us.  We are the plague to the Earth.  The Earth's natural defense system will rid itself of polluting, species killing, humans by simply letting us heat up the planet to the point we cannot live on it.  

Morning has come

 Morning at the Earth Module.  In the background NPR plays on the radio.  Kadizzle just returned from the executive suite.  A brisk walk in a realm with a perfect sky. The moon is up there pointing to where the sun is coming up.  On the ears are headphones playing some chant from India.  In a world so full of problems the peace and tranquility here are flooding the Earth.  The two of us are on the second cup of coffee.  Winky jut took off for the throne from where she rules the world.  Since we are in the middle of nowhere one can sit on the executive seat with the door open to the desert.  Although both the Kadizzlelites used to make fun of fake electric fireplaces we have grown fond of the little logs that never burn up.  There is a good view in every direction.  Mountains to the North, South, East and West, we sit in a humongous bowl.  Today will be a lazy day, maybe a bike ride or two.  Winky just got back and took off her outside shoes to put on here wuffle fluffers.  A lazy Sunday is hard to beat.  There goes the last coffee.  All our drinking water we haul in. The water in the pipes is not bad, but who knows what is in it.  It seems we are having too many perfect days for all our sins.  What a mixture of people move about in the RV world.  Life on the bum is inexpensive, and it is becoming a necessity for many.  However, that may soon end.  Winky and Kadizzle may be on the verge of buying another home.  We will be in up to our neck, but as they say " You only go around once".  Why not move into the fantasy world of our leaders. 

The Virus hits home

Trump's incompetence allowed the virus to spread like wildfire.  Now, my youngest daughter and family have the virus.  So far they are doing well, but it really brings home the ultimate result of Republican greed. Kadizzle is going to go into full rant mode.  It is totally beyond belief that people still help Trump lie.  Incomprehensible that North Dakota has a trio of self centered idiotic representatives in congress. Republicans only have one goal and that is accumulate as much as they can for themselves.  This unfettered selfishness has brought the country to it's knees.  The whole thing is based on the belief that poor people are all worthless welfare cheats out to steal from the rich. When you create poor people, and believe me you do, then you create crime, disease, and a world you don't want to live in.  Too many times Kadizzle has argued with some religious nut.  When the topic of poverty comes up they quote the Bible.  According to the religious the Bible says " The poor are with us and always will be with us".  So this is God's way of saying he does not give a damn.  Poverty is simply a distribution problem.  There is no poverty, it is just some people take so much there is not enough for others.  You can dance, and sing, and try your best to make it complicated, but that is the simple reality. 

Do people have any idea how close we came with Trump to a complete meltdown of democracy? We are still in great danger.  The election showed 70 million idiots are at large. If that does not scare you nothing will. The spread of stupidity is beyond belief. The willingness of people to believe the absurd is astounding.  The Republicans are telling people not to vote for anyone because of crooked voting.  For some reason the democrats only rigged the top position on the ballots, but let the Republicans have everything else.  Imagine going to the bank and robbing only the one hundred dollar bills because you were too lazy to carry out the tens and twenties. 

No good has ever come out of any cult.  The Trump gang is nothing but some grifters using a cult to rob the cult members.  Even now Trump is bilking his followers.  How dumb do you have to be when a guy who says he is a billionaire begs you to fund his defense? Trump behind bars would be the most glorious day in my life. 

Cold Seat

 Kadizzle went to the executive suite and found himself sitting on a cold seat.  The sky is crystal clear and it looks like a perfect day.  Surely it will get to just the right temperature.  Winky is promising pancakes and all is right in the kingdom.  Yesterday Kadizzle went to see Rusty one.  Rusty one is repairing the little sailboat.  Trump may have operation warpspeed, but Rusty is working at operation snailspeed.  With two helpers Rusty managed to get one hours work done in four hours and two six packs.  Strangely Rusty admitted he has the same ambition gland disorder Kadizzle has.  As readers know Kadizzle was born without an ambition gland.  Actually the gland is atrophied.  Sometimes the gland will put out a drop or two, barely enough to keep Kadizzle alive.  

Big Mike, another moniker of Kadizzle, stopped to see Little Mike.  Little Mike is the classic person sitting on the edge.  Little Mike takes care of a picnic area right beside the highway.  If they do an advertising shot of the wonderful bridge over the Salt River the production crew usually sets up at Little Mike's picnic area.  The best part is the crew has very good catered meals for the people doing the commercial.  Last year a French Perfume was doing an add.  Of course they has some very pretty French girls.  Little Mike instantly fell in love with woman less than half his age.  If you caught one what would you do?  Kadizzle got all the Forest Service clothing he could muster so he looked official and sampled all the food including wonderful ice cream and cake.  Little Mike and Big Mike wandered around like we had some official role.  

Feeling guilty Kadizzle did decided to do a little real work.  Down on the trail with some loppers Kadizzle cleared some trail.  Winky and the rest of the crew spent the day on the mountain checking on trail signs. 

Here we sit with a wonderful  day in front of us.  Watching Trump and his gang melt down will be the entertainment for today. 

Moving the lump

 Day two on the trail crew.  Winky, Cliff, and Kadizzle headed up Barnhardt  Trail.  The Barnhardt trail is one of the most popular in the area.  The trail quickly starts to climb steep up to a waterfall.  Hauling little Joey up that trail was a two hour process. Cliff and Winky took off like their pants were on fire.  Kadizzle mumble walked at a pleasant pace and enjoyed the scenery.  A geologist would have an orgasm hiking the trail.  The rock strata is amazing.  The various seams of Earth are twisted and turned in amazing patterns.  Switch back after switchback eventually take you well up over five thousand feet.  This is not a trail for the fainthearted.  Many places you are forced to walk on the edge of a cliff.  Unfortunately the normally spectacular waterfall was dry, not a drop. 

For some strange reason Kadizzle likes to move boulders.  Winky and the family often give Kadizzle grief about moving a five ton boulder that was near the house Erin had in Evergreen, Colorado.  It turned out to be more of a challenge than Kadizzle originally thought.  That incident educated Kadizzle that the best thing to use on a boulder is a lever.  About three quarters of the way up the trail a large boulder had fallen on the trail.  To Kadizzle's surprise Winky suggested we move it.  Finding a lever was the problem.  Finally we found a nice dry large tree suitable for the job.  It took some yelling and screaming of instructions, but we move the boulder.  Seeing it roll down the steep mountain grade was worth the effort.  We had had to lift the boulder a few inches, put rocks under it, and repeat.  Finally we could give the heave hoe and there she went. 

In case you forgot Little Joey is the lump around Kadizzle's waste.  It is fun to have Sylvie poke fun at Kadizzle about Little Joey.  When we returned from the hike it was for sure a lot of calories were burnt.  Now there was justification for giving Little Joey some good food and drink. 

Addicted

 Kadizzle might be addicted to two things, food, and finding Indian sites.  Yesterday Kadizzle took off with the trail crew for our first day of official work on the trails.  In two trucks we went to Oak Flat.  Everyone but Kadizzle headed up the mountain at lighting speed.  Kadizzle took his time and worked on some water diversions to keep the trail from eroding.  As Kadizzle climbed higher he kept noticing some rocks across the valley.  Since the fire everything is so visible that was not before.  The rocks just seemed too orderly.  Finally unable to resist Kadizzle meandered over to the rocks.  Sure enough he encounter his first pot shard, then another, and another.  Indeed it was a site.  No particular rhyme or reason for the location.  One thing must almost always be somewhere near is water.  Kadizzle went on over the hill and sure enough there was a spring.  It has been so dry Kadizzle was amazed even the spring had water.  The water was coming out with a gross orange slim, but if it ran well the water would probably be better.  Always these sites raise the question, what was attractive about this spot.  The site was apparently just one large square, maybe a garden. 

One thing Kadizzle has not bee able to figure out is what kept the walls up.  At each of these sites the walls are all in a shamble fallen on the ground.  There is never enough rock for the walls to be more than three or four feet tall. These people mush have built the rest of the structure from wood of some sort.  Kadizzle has a theory on the walls. The people used a primitive mortar on the walls.  It was simply sand and mud.  Kadizzle's theory is the rain over six hundred years simple eroded the mortar and the walls fell over.  In other places like the cliff dwellings up Cherry Creek he stone was laid so carefully no mortar was needed.  At the cliff dwellings near us the walls were found intact because the cliffs kept the walls protected from rain. 

Called Rusty one yesterday, remember him, he is the guy who is supposed to fix the little sailboat.  The sailboat is parked beside his pyramid of beer cans.  It was supposed to be done weeks ago, but now Rusty One assures Kadizzle work will begin.  

Today Winky and Kadizzle will work the official first day for the Forest Service.  Since most of the crew is obsessed with avoiding the virus we will take two trucks instead of one.  Up on Oak Flat the plan is to pull out rebar. The fire burnt up all the wood that held the steps in place and all that is left is rebar sticking out of the ground.  Our job will be to remove the dangerous rebar so the public does not become impaled.  Sitting here in the Earth Module waiting for the sun to come up, drinking coffee, listening to NPR.  The electric fire is putting out electric heat.  Sitting in front of a fake heater is like listening to Trump.  Everything appears real, but in your hear you know it is like Trump lying. 

Yesterday Kadizzle and Winky went to Payson to look at homes.  Both of us are depressed from seeing the prices.  People are fleeing California to move to Arizona because of the fires and they are driving the prices sky high.  We looked at a couple lots where homes will be built.  If we buy a house it is likely to cost over six times what our original house did.  It will be a budget buster.  Perhaps we should stay nomads. 

Straight Up

 Winky has a bad case of hyperactivity.  She insisted we go on a hike up to an Indian site that was at the top of a very steep pinnacle.  Why in the hell did the warriors go up there in the first place? There can be only one reason, they were under attack by someone.  Up on that precipice there is no water, nowhere to farm, no nothing except cliffs all around.  That is where you go when someone is after you.   

This was only the second time we had been to the spot.  On our first trip we found very little, but the recent fire revealed a much bigger site.  On the first trip we found no pottery shards, but this time we found lots, and some very big pieces.  Also found a couple of unusual pieces.  

The opportunities to fall and get hurt were endless, but we both made it back unharmed.  Strangely we came back to camp to find out Rita fell and broke her wrist on a much milder hike.  Kadizzle thinks our whole gang needs to come to grip with our age.  We have been doing a lot of things old people should not.  Winky has had some spectacular bike crashes and it is amazing she remains unhurt. The helmet the other day saved her skull, also probably kept the rock from being hurt. 

Back at the Earth Module

 Here we sit back in the Earth Module.  The regular wake up, maybe a trip to the executive suite, to sit on a cold throne.  The moon was spectacular last night, so clear you could see astronauts walking around.  The heaters are running to take the chill off.  The fake fireplace is putting out lots of fake heat.  The Colorado gang made it back to Denver early enough to get Danny, their new dog.  They all are in love with the dog.  He is a Wheaten Terrier, or as Kadizzle says a Wolly Brumpus. 

What to do on a nice sunny day? Perhaps a spin on the ebike.  Brother in law Ned built himself two ebikes.  He made them from regular mountain bikes and they turned out well.  Sister Patty bought hers and the two of them are now full blooded ebike fans.  Ned mentioned to Kadizzle that age has transformed him into an ebike man from a motorcycle man.  Ned loves to tinker with motorcycles in his garage. 

The ebike trend will probably take over the country and Kadizzle's nephew may go into that business.  The Nephews, son in laws, and other young relatives are now wanting to move to the country and take jobs where they can be outside.  Kadizzle could never have made it in an office job.  Kadizzle has been very lucky and never had to work in an office all day.  Kadizzle considers himself very fortunate since he was his own boss most of his life.  Although Kadizzle worked for coal and power companies he generally made up his own schedule and did what he wanted when he wanted.  It was a good life. Coal mining was the best.  Most of the year Kadizzle could make the daily schedule whatever he wanted.  Driving around the 10,000 acre mine took up as much of the day as you wanted.  Kadizzle often took wildlife tours with the mine superintendent while we checked the mining activities out.  As a safety person Kadizzle's work very much involved watching other people work.  Not a bad way to spend a day.  Kadizzle wandered around watching people.  It was sort of like a policeman, but the criminals were easy to deal with. 

Turkey day.

Dear Leader will pardon all the white meat today, but don't forget Black Lives Matter.  Hope everyone has a great Turkey Day.  The Kadizzle gang is awakening to another wonderful day.  It is chilly out, but that is giving the hot air balloons a great ride in the perfect sunshine.  Winky and Kadizzle explored yesterday and did not see how the other half lives, we saw how the one percent lives.  Huge houses empty so much of the time in a wonderful location.  

Sylvie insisted grandpa play monopoly for the first time in forty years.  We can all be happy many of the billionaires are now trillionairs as a result of the virus, and just plain greed.  Sylvie is off to a good start charging Grandpa outrageous rents.  

Entertaining the gang in the time of plague is not easy.  We manage usually to get in one good hike and bike ride a day.  Kadizzle's little sister from Cottonwood may come for a visit today.  It will be a sit outside mask conference.  Patty's husband Ned has become an ebike enthusiast and has built two of his own. 

Once again Kadizzle wants everyone to have a great day with what family they can.  Thankful?  Can we all be anymore thankful than getting the worst possible turkey out of the White House? Stoupini asked Kadizzle what his new obsession will be now that the con man is gone.  Who knows?  There are two or maybe three rats in North Dakota that need to be driven from office. 

Homes in my hometown

 

Old Kadizzle was always amazed by the number of mansions in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Wheeling was the most wealthy city in the United States in 1894 according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.  Dozens, and dozens of incredible homes were in the wealthy section of town.  Wheeling was the origianl jumping off point to the West.  As a result a lot of people made a lot of money.  Many of the countries large companies started in Wheeling.  Steel, and coal also contributed to the wealth. 

The Quest for the most stupid

Tony Bender's column today goes into the stupidity epidemic in North Dakota.  It far surpasses the virus.  A good read put it on your google. Yesterday Honest Omar called to tip Kadizzle off that Kevin Cramer would be on MSNBC.  Cramer lived up to expectations.  Imagine Senator Cramer on the Titanic.  A reporter ask Cramer if the ship is sinking.  Cramer answers " Sure we hit an iceberg, but all the evidence is not in yet". " There is still plenty of ship sticking out of the water, no need to panic" " We will not know the results until the entire ship is under water, then the courts will have to decide if the ship sank".  " Just let the process work itself out"

Ebike madness

Winky and Kadizzle took off into the Sedona wilderness near our vacation rental on the ebikes.  Two people pushing 71 were about to be on trails ment for teenagers.  It did not take too long before Winky had a pretty good crash.  Fortunately nothing but pride was hurt.  Parts of the trail were a lot of fun, and parts were from mountain bike hell.  Gradually Kadizzle began to realize ebikes were not supposed to be on these trails.  The way we entered there were no signs restricting the trail, but the little stickers showed up too late. 

Now this brings us to the question, why does the Forest Serviced want to keep ebikes off these trails?  The ebikes enable old goats to do what they could do twenty years ago.  It is good exercise.  In every sport you have the purist.  The peddlers are so proud of their physical ability they want exclusive access to the wilderness.  There is a bit of a dilemma here.  Very few people want noisy motorbikes, or four wheel buggies in a nice forest.  In general the Forest Service has done a good job of regulation.  Anything can tear up the natural setting when used with abuse.  Horses can ruin a trail, as can the jeeps, and four wheel gang.  However, Kadizzle would argue ebikes are no harder on a trail than regular bikes.  The bottom line is people need exercise.  Kadizzle is a bit of a lumper.  You do get a good workout on an ebike when you are 71.  Remember these bikes are called peddle assist.  That means you do have to peddle, and sometimes very hard.  Secondly, you can adjust the amount of assist.  So if you want the battery to last, you better peddle to the best of your ability.  At the top of an incline Kadizzle is breathing hard and the heart is pounding.  That means some work was done.  

Last, but not least the ebike enables people with heart conditions, or other physical limitations to get out and have fun.  Kadizzle read of a family that had one son with heart problems.  He could ride with the family on an ebike.  Why not?

We do need to protect our environment, and if you have seen the damage done by dingers with four wheelers you know what the Forest Service is up against.  There are people who will not wear mask, drive loud noisy trucks, and have no respect for the rest of us.  We all live on this one piece of rock circling the sun, and we all need to respect each other and the rock. 

Army of ignorant

 Imagine 70 million people willing to suck up lies, and oblivious to science and math.  Indeed this is a scary picture.  These are the people the Republicans aim to keep, the dolts, the Rush Limbaugh fools, the KFYR souls drunk on delusion. 

Can Dear Leader keep the cult without the presidency? Trump's ability to make trouble if they get him out of the White House may be diminished, but he will still be there to wreck what he can.  The cult members love the idea of someone as idiotic as they are.  It makes them feel normal. 

What will be fun is if Trump starts his own TV empire trying to out lie Fox News.  To see Fox and Trump battle to win the hearts of idiots will be like a game show.  Dare to be stupid will be the name of the show.  

Awakening

 Well here we sit in the lap of luxery.  With Snoocher Bear, Sylvie, and Fran the Kadizzles made it to Sedona.  Sylvie wasted no time jumping in the pool and insisted Grandpa join her.  Kadizzle highly recommends the video below.  Honest Omar you will enjoy it because it compares the Trump cult to the Seventh Day Adventist. 

Although this luxury home has some years behind it the views are what runs the price up.  Erin is sitting here like an old lady making some kind of craft project.  Sylvie has been doing some neat animation with a computer program. 

Kadizzle seems to have lost hearing in his right ear.  It seems like the sensation you get when you have water in your ear.  Kadizzle made about a two mile trek on the ebike to get some equipment to flush the ear.  After about five tries no luck.  Hope the hearing is not gone forever.  

Winky is getting the itch to hike.  There is some incredible hiking here, but the place crawls with tourist.  Somehow the Pink Jeep thing gets on the wires.  Seems like every person who has never been in the west before takes a bumpy jeep ride.  It just don't seem right.  People should get out and walk to really understand this country. 

Sylvie just appeared in her swim suite and is begging grandpa to participate.  Too early.  

Back to the ear.  Put enough water in the ear to put out a fire. May try one more time.  Deaf in one ear can cannot hear out of the other. 

New Rule: The Great Disappointment | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Can you rent happiness?

 A few times a year the Kadizzles get to live like the one percent.  Today we will be moving into the world of the one percent in Sedona.  We will rent a home to meet Sylvie, Erin, and Fran.   We have taken all the precautions for the virus with people tested and masked. 

Can money really bring happiness?  Test say once you have an income of seventy thousand dollars you don't get any happier.  One friend has had a nice home with a pool for about seven years.  They used the pool once.  Can you watch television in a multi million dollar home and have a better experience than in your RV?  The scenery right here in. our mobile shack is about as good as it gets.  What do you get for a million or two?  You might get a hot tub, a view, a fancy kitchen, a nice outdoor space and so on.  The question is how long will the buzz last?  Old Trumpster has it all and he is a mean miserable man trying to make everyone else miserable.  How many people reeking with wealth  you know who are not happy?  One reason they are not happy is they never have enough.  Would one or two more bathrooms make you happy?  Seems like health and activity make people happy.  We know so many people who are simply delighted just by hiking through the mountains.  How can you be happy when you know you took more than your share?  Who gets to decide what the shares should be?

The light at the end of the tunnel

 Ah, what a wonderful day.  Kadizzle went down to the Men's office and decided to have a musical experience.  Then back to camp to sit in the chair outside and soak in some sun shine.  What to write about? Thankful we are rid of Trump, Kadizzle came up with the idea the light at the end of the tunnel. Long ago and far away Kadizzle was an underground coal miner.  Most of the time we rode in and out of the mine in some sort of mechanical conveyance.  However, there were times when we walked out at the end of the day.  Kadizzle actually walked toward the light at the end of the tunnel. The image is still in the mind.  As one would imagine the light was small.  When you first saw it the light only looked like a flashlight, but you walked and walked and the light gradually got bigger.  Finally you were outside in a different world.  When Trump walks out of the White House he will be in a different world.  Hopefully they will handcuff him.  We will be in a different world that might resemble normalcy.  Hope will return, the engine can go forward.  Thanks to every person that fought the Republican evil Trump represented. 

Niggifiddle Madness

 Everyone see the world differently.   The bane of Kadizzle's existance are the extreme niggifiddles.  Let's review, a niggifiddle is someone obsessesed with little things that really don't matter.  Everyone knows about OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder.  Winky is a niggifiddle. This morning's first discussion was " What is dirt?".  Niggifiddles see dirt everywhere, just like germs are everywhere.  This brings us to weeds.  Kadizzle pointed out to Winky there is no such thing as a weed.  A weed is something that someone has decided bothers them.  A dandelion is a classic case.  Some people eat dandelions, some people hate them in the yard.  So to some people it is a weed and to some people it is part of a salad.  As Kadizzle walked to the men's office today he noticed some sandy dirt on the sidewalk.  It occured to Kadizzle that bricks are just sandy dirt compressed and glued together.  We do not call bricks dirt, but we call them bricks even though they are " dirt ".  In the end it is perception.  For some reason people love order.  Order and cleanliness are fine, but when do you stop.  Kadizzle knows a niggifiddle that loved to constantly clean the windows.  Look at motorcycle riders.  Many of them look like scruffy bums, but they must have a super shiny motorcycle.  You can see the same thing with the simple minded pickup and car people. They look like a bum mauled by a mountain lion, but their vehicle is spotless.  Kadizzle has no problem with order and clean, but a sensible limit must be imposed.  At some point you cannot get anything done if you are obsessed with order.  A classic is a garage.  Some mechanics have spotless garages where everything is in place, others look like the laws of physics do not apply.  All this brings us to the worst obsession of the niggifiddles and that is imaginary dirt.  Imaginary dirt is everywhere.  It is on your hands, your shoes, under your arms in your underwear, your beard, your ears, it is everywhere.  You cannot see it, but it is there.  The problem is you can never clean enough to get rid of imaginary dirt. 

The universe is not orderly. The universe operates very much on random events. For the niggifiddle this is a disaster.  Trying to make a universe orderly that is not, can bring a lot of frustration. 

One of the best

 Tony Bender lives in a little town in North Dakota.  He writes opinion pieces for the Fargo Forum.  He is one of the best and should be writing for the New York Times or some major paper.  Today he commented on how the greed of the Republicans works.  Highly recommended by Kadizzle.  Bendery has a great sense of humor.  In North Dakota were stupidity thrives more than the virus Bender is our only hope for a vaccine. 

So here we sit.  It will be our first official day of work for the Forest Service.  Winky, Rita, and Ken will start to rebuild a little bridge.  Kadizzle will start up the weed wacker and do some local trail work.  Looks like another hot day. 

Someone ripped Kadizzle a new one in the Bismarck Tribune.  A simple minded Republican said Kadizzle was destroying unity.  Yep the Republicans were all for unity in the Obama years. 

There he was

Hiking toward the Four Peaks Kadizzle sat down to lunch with the rest of the crew when Ken said look a coatimundi.  To everyone's amazement there it was at the bottom of an old burnt out tree.  It looked like a racoon with a two foot long monkey tail. This is only the second coatimundi Kadizzle has ever seen in his 71 years and thousands of miles hiking.  Kadizzle could not get to his phone camera quick enough. Rita did manage to get a poor picture.  The animal was fairly close and was curious about as as we were about him.  After a short time he took off into the wild. 

It has been many years since Kadizzle got to the base of the Four Peaks.  It was a spectacular hike where you could see for a hundred miles in every direction.  Earlier in the hike Kadizzle got a glimpse of something Winky scared up.  It might have been a mountain lion.  It did not run like a deer, and was a big animal.  This has happened before you just don't get a clear view. 

The burned areas on the mountain are reminiscent of those battlefield scenes you see from World War one when an area was shelled mercilessly.  The fires last summer were huge.  What is interesting is how the fires did not burn everything.  A hundred acres is burnt here, and another area right beside it is still green. The fire seems to have skipped and burned.  Seeing the raw ground is a new experience and old trails, and Indian ruins are easier to spot.  Kadizzle rode the motorcycle up into and area that was burnt about two years ago.  It is amazing how quickly it recovers.  Rain will be a disastor.  With nothing to hold the water flash floods and washouts will be immense. 

Flat tire in the wilderness

 Yesterday was about perfect except for the flat tire on the ebike.  It was a strange flat tire, the tire stem came loose because the little round nut came off. We were up in the mountains on the most spectacular cliffs and canyons.  On a smaller scale these canyons are just a nice as the grand canyon.  The bikes took us along the top.  Once Kadizzle put his bike down and it about got away and fell eight hundred feet into the canyon.  If it had someone would be greatly puzzled when they came across an electric bike at the bottom of that canyon. 

A few years ago Kadizzle was watching a reality show on television.  The show supposedly featured two men lost on a trip in the same area we were in.  Since Kadizzle had been there before he knew there was no way you could actually get lost.  However, the tv show dramatized these men and it was obvious how these reality shows are faked.  The two men were amazed when they found civilization.  There is no way they could have descended into the canyon without knowing there was a lake and small town within site. 

As luck would have it the flat tire occurred 2.4 miles into the ride, which meant the bike had to be pushed 2.4 miles back to the truck.  It was a pleasant walk and the slower pace just made the scenery better. 

Today we are going up on Four Peaks.  Since Kadizzle is with some severe covid nuts, we will take two people in each truck just for protection.  The Four Peaks area was burned and it will be interesting to see the damage.  From the Four Peaks you can see Phoenix about thirty or forty miles away. 

Porkchop reunited with his mom

A wonderful day unfolded and Winky and Kadizzle decided to ride our ebikes up by Peter Bigfoot's compound.  After a truck ride about five miles up Campaign Creek we parked the truck and mounted the bikes.  In the spectacular mountain valley we peddled about two miles up to Bigfoot's nirvana in the valley.  Last year Peter said he would like to see Kadizzle's ebike.  We found Peter working in his garden.  As usual he has a couple of interns on the property helping him.  The garden was the garden of Eden.  After many years of hauling cow manure he has created a vegetable paradice.  As Winky pointed out what she wanted from the garden Kadizzle slowly pedaled down the trail. On the trail was the dark haired bearded tall skinny guy from Texan who was living with Peter for the winter.  Engaging in conversation the young Texan told Kadizzle about Pork Chop.  Pork Chop was a baby javalenia he adopted.  It seemed the javelina pack had gone through and somehow Pork Chop got left behind.  Tex got in the habit of sleeping with Pork Chop and briefly made a pet of him.  Then one day the pack of javelinas came back through. Tex said that since he had been sleeping with Pork Chop he must have smelled like a javelina.  Since he had the right odor the pack was not afraid to come to him. When the pack approached Pork Chop's mom recognized him and the family was reunited.  So now Pork Chop is in the wild again. 

Normally when we visit Peter Bigfoot there is usually just one large Turkey roaming about, but today there were thirteen in a cage.  Never thought of it before but usually we visit after Thanksgiving.  Peter explained the Turkey population was about to be hit by his version of Covid, an axe on the neck.  So back down the road we went where Kadizzl rode his bike up a canyon.