A Joyful Day

 To the delight of Kadizzle he awoke today to find the Fargo Forum published his jihad letter about Scott Hennen. Hennen is a Rush Limbaugh wanna be.  On KFYR radio Hennen stirs up every right wing lie and paranoid theory he can get his hands on. Hennen took part in the Capitol riots. If you are bored read the comments on facebook about the letter Kadizzle wrote. One woman said the entire Capitol riot was a hoax. The people inside the Capitol got there accidently.  The woman's letter captures perfectly the insanity Hennen appeals to. Our country is in danger from the Republican Taliban. Our only defense is education and information. 

The super snoochel

If you don't want to hear some grandpa bragging quit reading right now. Sylvie our super granddaughter scored three goals playing soccer in ten minutes. Sylvie's soccer career is young and these are the first goals she ever scored. The whipper snapper is fast. The boys on her street challenged the girls to a race. The girls went to Sylvie's house and knocked on the door. Sylvie went out to the grass and beat the boys. She is a good little athlete. In addition to being a great athlete she has a natural acting ability and already has done about three commercial videos. Grandpa has a lot of fun with Sylvie. She is a pro at manipulating Grandpa at the local shopping centers. She is a little too brave for her own good. Grandpa recalls how easy it was to get her to jump in the water and let the sailboat drag her.  Most kids have to be coaxed.  Same with rock climbing. Up she goes and you have to keep her under control. Sylvie is attending the Denver School for the Arts. It is a difficult school to get in to.  According to her mother she is dyslexic. Hard to believe she gets all A's.  OK, Grandpa loves his little girl. 

Near Death Experience

 Kadizzle was on his bike getting some exercise when Winky called. Winky was on a cross country hike with Al, and Debbie.  Winky and her gang took off not really knowing where they were going. It appeared to them they would come out on the highway East of Springerville. A big storm was brewing and they wanted Kadizzle to pick them up with his truck and take them back to their start where Al left his truck. Kadizzle complied with the request. After the hikers were loaded into the truck Kadizzle had to pull on to route 60.  It was a touchy place to pull out from and the visibility was poor. Also it was at the bottom of a steep grade. Kadizzle asked Winky if anything was coming from the right before he pulled out into the right lane going left. Winky said " It's clear".  Kadizzle took the best look he could with the truck situated in such a way he could not see well to the right. However,  he did manage to see a huge white tractor trailer barrelling down the mountain.  Fortunately he did not pull out. We all would have been killed. A bit shaken he asked Winky " Why did you say it was clear?".  She said " I thought you saw the truck".  

Kadizzle was a bit incensed. It was a close call. Going over the incident Winky said " I assumed you saw the truck".   Kadizzle realized in the 25 years he did safety work so many accidents were the result of assumptions.  Assumptions will get you killed. Knowledge will keep you alive. 

Nice ride through the wilderness

 One of the great pleasures of our current location is the wildlife. In addition to all the wildflowers blooming everywhere there are the four legged creatures. Yesterday Kadizzle headed up his bike route. The road goes up very steeply and he was grateful Al had fixed the gear shifter on the ebike.  About half way up the steep grade there they were the five Big Horn Sheep that hang around.  Kadizzle stopped so he would not spook them.  Things did not look good a jeep was coming up the road. Fortunately the man driving the jeep realized Kadizzle had spotted something. He stopped the jeep and joined the viewing. After awhile they guy in the jeep walked up to Kadizzle and shared his binoculars. The sheep made their way along the cliff and Kadizzle got some video. 

With the new jeep friend Kadizzle took of on the bike to see the Elk. The Elk tend to bed down in the same place and sun themselves.  No luck the Elk had left town.  The bike ride continued to the Sipes Wildlife Visitor Center.  After a brief conversation Kadizzle headed back to the ranch. 

Facebook said no

 Facebook got a little sensitive and removed my picture of a Trump supporter working on a roof. We live in a delicate world of what is acceptable and what is not. Apparently pictures of people driving Trump pickup trucks with obscene flags about Biden are acceptable. 

Here we go

When we returned from a very nice bike ride a couple was sitting at the trailhead. After a little conversation they showed us the mushrooms they had collected to eat. Mushroom hunting is in full swing here because of all the rain. All the fallen trees support a vast selection of mushrooms. Kadizzle is not smart enough to hunt the right ones so he leaves them alone. 

Strangely the brother of Kadizzle owns a mushroom mine. At one time in the distant past the father of Kadizzle was asked to be the head of a mushroom growing operation in Moundsville, West Virginia. Father never took the job. However, the people involved converted an old clay mine into a mushroom growing operation. It was in operation for awhile, but never became a success. To grow mushrooms you have to sterilize horse shit, and put it the dark. The process is not as easy as one would think. You feed mushrooms horse shit and keep them in the dark. They are just like Republicans that watch Fox News. 

Strangely many years went by and the mine and facilities sat abandoned and who showed up to purchase the land and the mine? It was my older brother.  He converted the outside building into his construction office and facilities. To this day he still has the place, and it is referred to as the mushroom mine. 

The mine was not sealed off, and teenagers had access to the tunnels where the clay had been removed. Teenagers would sneak into the mine and party, smoke, or do who knows what.  Many years back some kids were in the mine and lost their lighting.  A search became necessary to rescue the kids. My brother knew the tunnels well enough to find the kids.  The rescue made the national news way back then.  Now my brother is retired and my nephew runs the operation. 

Hoopleheads boarding the bus to the Trump Rally

 

No mask, no vaccine, board the bus to the rally. Don't let that science stuff mislead you. 

We got smarter.

The crew took off to New Mexico to hike yesterday. Back in the middle of nowhere we encountered two guys at the trail head. The bearded guy and his companion had a few horses and mules. Kadizzle engaged the bearded fellow and asked about the trail. He said they had gone 8 miles and both been bucked off. He was thrown from the mule and the mule went over a steep embankment. No one was hurt, but it seemed like a close call for the men and the mule. The mule rider warned Kadizzle the trail we were about to embark on was a steep downhill on some rocky terrain.  

So down we went. It looked like some very enchanting country, but the trail was steep. At this point we realized it was not going to work. Debby had forgotten her hiking boots and was going to hike in some elaborate slipper. It was just not going to work.  After experiencing the steepness of the trail we realized that when the day ended we would be hiking up the steep side of a mountain. Suddenly good sense took over and we hiked a different area. 

Forced March scheduled

 Winky and the other fire ass warriors want to hike today. So off we will go. Kadizzle is going to mumble walk and let the speed demons take off ahead. Kadizzle's bout with prostate cancer seems to have left him with less energy in the tank. There is a good side to walking slowly, you see more.  The other day when the speed of light hikers were buzzing down the trail they all failed to notice a woman and a dog off in the woods beside the trail. After being a hiker for an entire lifetime there are some skills you pick up. Finding a trail that fades out is certainly one skill. The mind adapts to taking notes that will hopefully get you back. You notice certain things like a strange tree or a little pond in the stream. Kadizzle has learned to memorize the shoe pattern of Winky and the other hikers. Tracking is kind of fun.  You can tell if there are children hiking ahead of you, or some big guy with huge shoes. Learning to read the terrain also is important. One thing Utah in particular teaches you is about getting " clifffed".  You think you can go a certain direction on a cross country jaunt, then you find out there is a cliff that puts an end to your game. This is very bad late in the day when you were counting on a shortcut home. Now, you have to backtrack before dark. The classic hiking mistake is the thought that you are going to take a short casual hike. With this mindset you don't take some of the essentials. Winky decides to go off trail on a wild search. If you had the little two way radios, you could stay in touch, but you don't.  You didn't take enough water, and you don't have the filter.  On it goes. Also by going light the wind gets cold and picks up. Now you don't have a jacket. Kadizzle has adopted a few rules that seem to work. One is always turn around by 1:30.  If you started about nine that should get you back. The last thing you want to do is get lost late in the day. This happened to some friends in Montana on Beartooth pass, and they had a wonderful time with flashlights trying to get back. Kadizzle thought he lost the InReach, so he canceled the subscription. The InReach is a satellite communicator that will get you help anywhere on Earth. Now that it is found perhaps we should pay the 12 bucks a month for the added safety. 

My Story

 My story. Tony Bender wrote a story about his encounter in a parking lot at the grocery store, so I thought I better tell my tale about my parking lot experience today. Winky insisted I do my own laundry at the laundromat since Cliff's washer got hit by lightening. As we walked into the washing emporium we encountered the strangest machine one could imagine. It looked like an ATM, but it was for buying bitcoins. A coin was $54,000. Not sure how it worked. Anyway we loaded up the laundry and now we had time on our hands. I like a clean windshield so why not clean the windshield while the toxic underwear has the nuclear waste removed. Winky will not touch my underwear, so that is why I have now been relegated to taking care of it. 

As I cleaned the windshield a guy in the laundromat indicated I should clean his windshield. I told him the charge was 39 cents. With nothing to do I did clean as much of his windshield as I could from the ground, but to clean it all I would need to stand inside his truck to be higher. It occurred to me it would be very dangerous deep in Trump country to just open the door of someones truck. A bullet to the back of my head did not seem comfortable.  Soon the man's wife came out to get something out of the truck. I told her my dilemma and at last I managed to get his windshield clean. Sitting outside the laundry on a bench with the cleaning stuff in my hand an old dirty jeep type vehicle pulled up with a young Latino looking guy. I told him his windshield was very dirty and I would clean it. As a walked toward his vehicle he pulled out four dollars and insisted I take it. We went back and forth and I finally convinced him I had way more money than he did and was he really stupid enough to give me money. I told him I was a millionaire and was he so stupid he would give a millionaire money?

Soon we were engaged in a conversation and he told me all about erecting the wind towers over in New Mexico.  As an old professional safety director I gave him a fairly long safety lecture about the dangerous work he was doing. Winky had already told me about my insane behavior of encountering people. However, inside she also engaged the young guy and we ended up talking like old friends. He showed us a picture of his wife and little girl.  They were back home in Iowa while he was camper here working until February.  In a short time we learned a lot about wind tower construction. 

Leaving the laundromat Winky noted what a nice guy we had just met. Also while there we met another old couple that participated in the four wheeler rally going on in Springerville. It turned out they were part of the 47 four wheelers that went by us in the dark last night. They had driven from California to participate. 

Now, for the moral of the story. We could have just ended up with clean clothes, but we didn't. We ended up with what felt like new friends. We all exchanged some knowledge and found out how good people can be. The world is what you make it. If you chose to see people as thieves and rapist coming into your country to steal you job I feel sorry for you. On the other hand if you see a young guy trying to make a good living climbing up a dangerous tower in the freezing cold so you can have environmentally safe electricity, the bless you. 

That guy who is working seven days a week on those towers came from a family of people who moved to this country to do slaugher house work. Work Americans will not do. Now their son that Mexican guy is building the wind towers more work a lot of Americans will not do.  So grill your steak and turn on your porch light. Both things are happening because someone crossed the Rio Grande and almost drowned. 

Deja Vu

Al gave Kadizzle a used pair of professional motorcycle boots. Of course Kadizzle did not wear the boots because we were going to go on a mild ride. When Kadizzle saw a road that he had not explored off Al and Kadizzle went up the side of the mountain. It was a crash worthy road.  We made it close to the top and the road petered out. It was not really a road it was a nasty uphill ride that at one time may have been a logging road. Al enjoyed the challenge so Kadizzle suggested the two old men try to go up the death road Kadizzle went up a few weeks ago.  Having been up suicide mountain once before Kadizzle was happy to have Al with him.  If you recall the story this was the mountain where the cycle overheated and quit.  Kadizzle told Al he would stop and rest the cycle a few times.  About a third of the way up Kadizzle did not have the power for a short steep climb and the cycle had a mild crash.  On up the mountain Kadizzle stopped by a pond and cooled the engine with water.  Earlier Kadizzle tried to cool the engine with urine.  Wow, what a stink boiled urine makes.  After the pond it was time for the final assault.  Just like the last time the cycle just gave up and quit. The last time Kadizzle attributed it to a hot engine and altitude. The altitude was definitely a problem. We were at about ten thousand feet and the cycles found it hard to breath. The cycle fell over on the steep grade.  Then Kadizzle had an epiphany. The cycle was dying because it could not get gas at such a steep angle. After Kadizzle turned on the reserve tank the cycle started. Al and Kadizzle used the motor and some pushing to get the cycle to a level spot. With fuel in the carburetor Kadizzle made it to the top.  It was a good adventure with some learning. Having Al visit is a real bonus when we play dare to be stupid. Two stupid people are safer than one. 

The Lump moved

 With some coaxing Kadizzle took the hike yesterday. We went about six miles up a nice mountain stream. Winky, Al, Deb, and Cliff like to hike at the speed of light. Kadizzle prefers mumble walking. Everyone has seen some old person stumbling around talking to themselves. That is mumble walking. On our trail crew Ken was a fast walker, but he finally saw the virtues of muble walking. Yesterday as the fire ass warriors were going down the trail at light speed they all failed to notice a woman in the brush off the trail with a dog. A big advantage of mumble walking is you see more. You take the time to look. Kadizzle since he is slower walks at the back of the line. Over in the woods he first noticed a straw hat. Next he saw the woman under it, and her German Shepard at her side. Zuni the dog with us smelled the other dog, but the entire crew marched along not noticing another human being. 

Thomas Friedman has fired out a couple of very good and enlightening articles in the NYT about the mess in Afghanistan.  The United States always has a bad habit of supporting corrupt dictatorships. It always ends poorly. 

Well what about the new home? Nothing was accomplished when we went to inspect. If they would just get the interior painted life could go on.  The parasites have attacked viciously. All the blood suckers are after the money we hoped to use to build a home. The title people are fat with our blood. There are so many parasitic fees and the loan people are chipping away at our resources. Most of these people do nothing but shuffle papers and create absurd reason why we should hand them cash. The loan lady said yesterday for $1,600 we could buy down our loan.  Now what in the hell is that about. It seem like paying someone who agrees not to hit you so hard. 

The first Log Truck

The rumbling can be heard as the first log truck slowly comes down off the mountain. Off to Show Low and then back. Maybe three times Purple dog can make the trip.  Each truck is a different color. Orange, Green, and White, all those logs will end up as pellets to heat someones house. When we drove by the pellet factory yesterday logs were stacked for acres. The finished pellets also were in abundance on pallets in bags. 

Of course Winky, Al, and Deb are planning a hike today. Winky says Kadizzle will do the shuttling. Kadizzle may do another bike ride. The last attempt a bike ride was foiled by the mud. ebikes and mud do not mix. 

 Evil men seem to rise. During the career of Kadizzle it seemed the higher in management some people went the more crooked and corrupt they became. Kadizzle worked with at least three rotten management people, perhaps more. Countries seem to suffer from the same thing. We have people like Trump, Nixon, Cramer, Armstrong, and so on. So many of these people are charming psychopaths.They seem likable, but soon you find they have a dark side willing to lie, steal, and undermine to get what they want. No one did it better than Trump. These people always appeal to the simple minded, and they know how to do it. 

War the best investment

 Sad to see today how much money the defense contractors made during the Afghan war.  Most of them had returns of well of 1,000%. Of course the top executives were paid on average 30 million per year. So what if a lot of people got ground up It was good for the market. There are some problems. Selling fighter jets was always a good game, but who needs fighter jets when we have drones? It is so nice now when someone can sit in Las Vegas and kill people anywhere in the world with precision. 

Now the Republicans are bitching about the people from Afghanistan who will be relocated in our country. Too bad. 

Time to grow up

Unrestrained religion will result in the deaths and torture of thousands of people in Afghanistan. When will humans realize the toxicity of religion? As thinking animals are we incapable of seeing the dark side of religion? Any casual student of history would realize the deaths, the wars, and the torture religion itself has instigated. This does not even include the sexual and economic abuse by pedophiles and slavery. Jump to the present and recall the riot Donald Trump inspired at the Capitol. Trump came to power on the backs of evangelical Christians drunk on his delusions. History has clearly proven how dangerous religion is, yet we allow religion to be used as a tool of the wicked to recruit people for the most evil causes. Young pregnant girls were imprisoned by the Catholic Church’s Magdalene laundries in Ireland as late as the 1960’s, but we ignore the abuse. Native American children were abused and buried at schools run by the religious. Why do we live in a society that is so willing to ignore the mess we have created by allowing mythology to lead to such bad outcomes?

Round ? Dare to be stupid

 The crew went to Poll Knoll yesterday to bike ride. Kadizzle and Winky were on ebikes, and Al and Deb road their mountain bikes. The trail was steep for those without electron assist. These mountain trails can get rocky.  As we almost made it back to the parking lot there was a rocky section to traverse. Al is an excellent rider, and went down the rocky slope first. Old Kadizzle did not want to be outdone, so he took of down the path strewn with watermelon and baby head boulders. To his surprise he made it to the bottom intact. 

Life is so much different now that Trump has been reinstated. Of course we all should feel better knowing how Trump will tackle climate change, and the virus. Trump will surely be able to golf us out of this mess. 

Housing prices have become astounding. The people moving to Arizona from California have driven prices through the roof. For a friend Winky and Kadizzle have been checking out houses in the local market.  Houses here that would go for 100 thousand in Hazen are going for 250.  Of course there is what you ask and what you get. 

One thing about getting old is the memory of old prices. As a kid ten cents bought a big Hershey chocolate bar. Now that same smaller bar is almost two dollars.  Once upon a time gas was 27 cents a gallon and you could go a long way in the VW for three dollars.  No more.  However, people don't always do the mental calculation for inflation. Adjusted for inflation gasoline is not really out of line with what it should be. Could even argue it is below what it should be.  Inflation may have some good points. If you borrow money and pay it back with inflated money it may be a chance for you to get even with the banks. 

Today's adventure may be a motorcycle ride through the mountains on a trail made just for motorcycles, and small ATV's.  The trail is about 27 miles long and has some moderately hard parts. The total trip to and from the trail will be over fifty miles if we do the whole thing. That is a long ride on a small motorcycle, but it should be a pleasant ride through some mountainous country. If we hit very wet spots it could be game over. Mud and motorcycles do not mix well. 

A Hooplehead portrait. Click to enlarge

 

Another Day

The plan is to bike ride on Pole Knol. The coffee has brewed and the sun managed to rise. You can hear the grass growing. Of course we all know Trump was reinstated yesterday. How nice to have the orange devil back in office. Strange that the White House has been moved to Florida. What will the orange monkey do now that he is back in power. The red hats must be elated. Will reality ever strike them down. Most amazing is the fact that Kevin Cramer, and John Hoeven turned on the orange president. Both the lickspittles voted with the Democrats on the infrastructure bill. The Hoopleheads in North Dakota feel betrayed and confused. No matter what they do the lickspittles will be re-elected by the Hoopleheads.   

Visitors

Debbie and Al pulled into Cliffs mountain reserve yesterday. Years ago we met them while looking for a camping spot near Sedona. This morning we got an email from Ed, probably our oldest camping friend, both in age, and years we have known Ed. Of course the is Darch, Rita, and Ken, and the list goes on. So many people we have met on the road over the years. Recently heard from a road friend with canoed the Missouri with. This is a great life. You meet, depart, and meet again, but who knows where? A bonus is if you get to meet at a road friends house. Here we sit at Cliff's ten acres in the White Mountains. We have been plugged into his electricity, sewer, and water for six months. Of course once we get our new home everyone is welcome pull in and hook up. Deb, and Al have made a deluxe campground in their backyard that will accommodate about three visiting vagabonds. 

So many of our traveling buddies we meet over and over. Sometimes it is years before you see someone again, but people stay in touch. Kadizzle has met some nice bums, or should we say people living close to the bone. Recently Kadizzle met a new fellow. The guy is happy and scraping by on a social security check and a pension, but he is getting buy, and loves camping in his small get by home. What happened to the good old bums at Lake Roosevelt? Hope Gary the bum is doing alright, and what about his buddy Duane? A fresh turnover of friends is great. The stories you have told a thousand times can be used once more. 

Elk Day

 Yesterday was elk day. Kadizzle was walking toward Cliffs house and saw about 15 elk nearby. Dashing into Cliff's to get his binoculars Kadizzle came out on his front porch and the elk were gone. Kadizzle suspected they went over the little hill nearby. After walking over there the elk were no where to be seen. At last he spotted the huge bull up on the side of a steep rise. Then to his surprise walking back to the Earth Module he spotted the huge herd of elk on the other side of the valley. This was the herd that normally stays up on the plateau. With the binoculars Kadizzle could scope them out very well. In the herd were a couple of big bulls. There were lots of little ones. Slowly they worked toward the highway. It appeared they would try to cross, but  some guy in pickup stopped to observe them and they spooked. They headed back up toward the top.  The young ones had a lot of trouble getting through the fence. The big guys just jumped over, but the little guys had to go under or through the fence. Kadizzle though he would end up over there rescuing a little one, but they all made it. Excited by the herd Kadizzle called Winky. Winky was up above the elk. She said she had already encountered them and it was her that pushed them my direction. Maybe they will show up today. 

Down here among the unwashed the good is all undone

 There is coffee on the table and kindness in the air. My eyes they open slowly and look around the room. Listen to your heart that beats and follow it with both your feet. 

We watched our friends grow up together, and we saw them as they fell. Some of them fell into heaven, some of them fell into hell. Sometimes I wake up in the morning with Winky by my side. I am not singing for the future, I am not dreaming of the past, I m not talking of the first times, I never think about the last. 

Well old Kadizzle woke up this morning and he is listening to music as usual. Some of the words float on the day so well. So be easy and free when your drinking with me. I am a man you don't meet everyday. Come fill up your glasses with brandy and wine. So be easy and free when your drinking with me, I am a man you don't meet every day. Stangely last night we partied with the AA group. There was no brandy and wine, but we had some good food.

Winky feeds the horses

It is becoming a morning ritual. Winky feeds the horses. They come every morning.
 

Songs get stuck in my head

Below is a song recently stuck in my head. Give it a try. Songs like this have more than just music, the words are terrific. Listen carefully. Winky gets angry when old Kadizzle plays the same song too many times. Kadizzle likes to have a morning song. Nothing works on the brain to welcome a new day like a song. A long time ago Winky and Kadizzle were on a beach in the Baja. An old fart there played Amazing Grace over a loud speaker every day to announce another day.

The Pogues - A Rainy Night In Soho

What goes up, can come down easily

Winky and Kadizzle mounted the ebikes and headed up towards the mountains. The magic dial to watch on Kadizzle's ebike is the one that tells how much power is being used up. Kadizzle likes to have 50% when the time comes to head back. However, this trip like most starts uphill and returns down. With this in mind Kadizzle ran the battery down to 40%. We turned around and started the ten mile drift back to the Earth Module. On return there was about 20% left. What is the point. Not sure, but it always seems to work out to about 4% per mile. So if you are thinking about joining the ebike crowd you can figure your bike should always take you 25 miles. Now that is conservative. First, it will depend on your weight. Kadizzle is a large chunk of meat and stupidity. Winky with her peanut size could always count on thirty or forty miles. Of course there is the other factor, how hard are you willing to pedal. Winky loves to make life difficult so she peddles hard. With her determination it would be nothing for her to do 75 miles.  The farthest Kadizzle has gone is 56 miles. He could have gone farther, but decided to take it easy. Winky originally resisted the ebike, but now is a dedicated rider. Kadizzle highly recommends the bikes. You do get exercise. You can get as much exercise as you want. Simply set the power setting to how hard you want to work. The most important part is getting off the couch. In New Zealand Kadizzle met a man who said the ebike got him out again. Give it a try. 

In the Wild

 As Kadizzle putted about up in the forest a man sitting in a chair under a tree waved. This sign of friendliness inspired Kadizzle to stop and chat with the fellow. He had a tiny pop up camper that he pulled with a Jeep. The little camper was held together with duct tape and other glue like corrections. A few days later Kadizzle stopped again. This time the man who appeared to be in his sixties showed Kadizzle his little electric model airplane glider. These things look fun and Kadizzle renewed his desire to get one. You can get them up and fly on thermals like the birds do.  Living on the edge is not that uncommon for old duffers. This guy was living a minimal life.  A solar panel provided him with all this power. No refrigerator, just a cooler. In a country with so much there are a lot of people living a hardscrabble life. You can get by on very little if you have to. Kadizzle noticed a strange trend among the bum walkers. Some of the bums are beginning to adopt ebikes. How nice to no longer have to rely on a pedal bike or a shopping cart. Visiting big cities one now sees a lot of American success stories with the people living under bridges. Some good people are building bum nest for the homeless. Denver has a little bum nest area along the rail line to town. Some group has built tiny little homes for the homeless and fenced in the area. 

Actually you can live very well in a small space. We have been in the Earth Module for almost a year. The Earth Module is a deluxe bum shack. We lack nothing. We have a nice TV, shower, microwave, LED lights, heat, air conditioning, stove, refrigerator, and so on.  All of this is on wheels and about eight feet by 34 feet.  Some space is added with the slide outs.  Now the irony of all this is the number of people living in huge homes with so much excess space they really don't need or use. The Kadizzles were guilty of this with our old home. We never used the basement except when the kids came home. The living room was rarely used and so it was with a lot of the house.  We use every inch of the Earth Module. There is no poverty problem in the world, just a distribution problem.  Republican greed is the root of all evil. 

Winky and the horses

Even before making coffee Winky jumped out of bed and want out to give some apples to the horses. Winky has made pets of the nine horses in the field beside the Earth Module. Now every morning they come expecting a treat. A bit overcast today, unusual.  Cliff took his truck camper and headed up toward Flagstaff.  Kadizzle has been hooked on Youtube. Recent studies are about the Indian culture history. Kadizzle is convinced the Mexican early people either came here or had a big influence. Another discovery while learning to operate is the process of creating oxygen by burning an oxygen candle. Kadizzle is an old man and never knew you could burn a type of candle and create breathing oxygen. The submarine youtube video showed how it works.  In fact they have done it on some of the space flights.  Why in the hell did they not give us some of these candles when we were mining coal underground in West Virginia. Would be nice to breath while you are being rescued. 

Winky is going to make French Toast with peaches this morning. Needless to say we found a peach tree. 

All indications are we are frying the planet. Who cares as long as you can get french fries, beer, and watch TV.  Amazing how we can ignore a pending disaster. Just because the neighbors house caught fire and burned to the ground is no reason for us to be concerned. As the virus kills thousands a day we laugh and play. It ain't me babe. 

The Dickinson Dolt

 This is what a dolt truck looks like. A simple minded Hooplehead proving to the world he slept through most of his classes and is proud education did not infect him. 

The Elk's Club

After charging the ebike yesterday Kadizzle took off looking for the vast herd of elk. Sure enough they were in their favorite spot. A little smarter than the last encounter Kadizzle slowly moved up on the gang. The elk seem to like the seclusion and sunny hillside. A couple of the elk eyed Kadizzle with suspicion, but they got over it. Creeping closer one of the gang finally gave the danger signal and they started to leave.  Seeing wildlife here is such a pleasure. You don't get to see herds of elk in North Dakota.  

After the elk viewing Kadizzle headed on down off the plateau to the Sipes Wildlife center.  There he found a bunch of old crumpets with expensive camera setups photographing hummingbirds. Back at the Earth Module Kadizzle exchanged the ebike for the motorcycle.  Took a nice ride up above the valley we are staying in for a nice view of our location. Cannot get over how green everything is here. 

Cliff fired up his truck camper this morning and took off for the North for a few days.  Since lightning hit his big TV we are getting our news on a tiny TV. The world seems in peril. Climate change is forcing migrations of people and covid is causing economic chaos. Honest Omar will know who Kit is.  Apparently Captain Kit gave up on Mexico and has returned to North Dakota. Crime in Mexico is out of hand because of poverty. The poverty has been created by the lack of tourist dollars. There is a lesson in this. If people can work they will, but when the rich take it all and leave so many penniless, then you have crime. The best solution to violence and crime is ridding ourselves of such terrible income inequality. 

Earth Module

 Somehow the Earth Module landed in a good spot. Kadizzle did his brief morning porch sit after the visit to the executive suite.  The mountainsides all around the place are a wonderful green. Winky and Cliff to off to do some hiking. Kadizzle is putting the final charge on the ebike to go out looking for elk.  Most amazing about our location is the temperature. The weather here in the White Mountains have been very pleasant.

Kadizzle saw a post about the town idiot in Dickinson, North Dakota. There is a Hooplehead there doing the Doordash service. He has Trump and obscene Biden flags flying from the back of his jacked up pickup truck. Now the amazing thing is every small town must have a town dolt. In the old days you had to have a town drunk, but now the Trump Cult sponsors the town dolt. Most amazing is the similarity of the dolts, same flags, same simple minded truck, and of course it is a diesel with a black cloud of smoke. Years ago there was the show Gun Smoke. Something happened to the town drunk, and they advertised to get a new one. We just came back from Cottonwood, AZ, of course they had a dolt.  Some towns are big enough to have a couple of dolts. 

Hoopleheads

 Hoopleheads permeate the universe. How many are there? Trump proved there are at least 74 million Hoopleheads. They voted for him. Kadizzle has interviewed a lot of Hoopleheads who did not even vote, but they said they would have voted for Trump. Easily there could be 100 million Hoopleheads in our country. The Hoopleheads are an amazing source of wealth. Hoopleheads are essential for so many service industries.  Who will empty the porta Johns?  Who will rotate your tires? Look around you at all the simple minded jobs that need to be done. More than likely it is a Hooplehead doing the work. Walmart thrives on Hoopleheads. Walmart knows that if they can hire a Hooplehead and only employ them for a short time it saves money. The Hooplehead never earns any benifits and Walmart loves it. Now imagine this, there is a shortage of Hoopleheads. McDonnells was forced to raise wages just to attract employees. The most amazing thing about Hoopleheads is their support for the plantation owner. Every Hooplehead believes if he just fries enough hamburgers someday he will be a billionaire.  It is just a matter of time. Does the Hooplehead want to pay taxes when he gets his billion? Hell no, vote for Trump. Take a little trip to the gas station. Yup, there is a Hooplehead buying lottery tickets, and cigarettes.  He will be rich in a week or two, so he has to practice being a Republican.

Visiting Sister Patty

Here we are in Cottonwood visiting sister Patty. Yesterday Kadizzle saw an astounding herd of elk. As Kadizzle peddled on the ebike in a remote valley he saw elk sitting on the hillside. There were a lot of them and they decided to move when they were spooked. Kadizzle decided to count them. When he got to one hundred, he though that was it, but another hundred followed. 

Kadizzle took the car to the Walmart in Cottonwood. That is where a gun fight broke out in the parking lot a couple years ago. Cottonwood has no shortage of the simple minded, and mentally ill. What would you call someone who drives a jacked up pickup truck with a F**k Biden flag flying? Mentally ill is the choice. The pickup truck Trump fan's truck emits a huge cloud of black smoke as he moves about. He must have clones. Kadizzle has seen the exact act in Payson and elsewhere. Never have the stupid been as proud as Trump has made them.  While waiting for the oil change Kadizzle interacted with a couple Walmart dingers. Sure enough they were for Trump. What better than worshiping the guy who sponsors your demise. 

Getting a loan for our new home involves proving you have an income. They want to see everything and soon they will have to examine my underwear. Kadizzle has printed out about one hundred pages of income information. 

How does this country work? The point is no one works. Today we are in Cottonwood. There is no industry or other sign of productivity here. People just sell each other hamburgers. Payson is just the same, then you have Phoenix where millions just cash social security checks. In this who state does anybody actually produce anything?

Heat

 Arizona in the summer is famous for being hot. Today we thought about going to Payson, and then on to Cottonwood to see Kadizzle's sister Patty. Winky does not want to leave the mountains because of the heat at the lower elevations. Strangely our summer in Arizona has been very comfortable. It has not been too hot, and the rain every afternoon cools things down. People from Phoenix flock to the mountains to avoid the oven heat in Phoenix. 

Yesterday after another insane heavy rain Cliff and Kadizzle went down to the stream to see the effect of the rain. Not much happened. The amount of rain in the past few weeks has been phenomenal, yet the creek refuses to rise. The soil here must have an amazing capacity to soak up water. 

Today is starting out as usual with nice sunny weather and clear skies. Wait until noon, it will cloud up and rain. Just like clock work. 

The new house is progressing, so are the cost overruns. Why not a better ceiling fan?A little upgrade here, and there and soon you are broke. Then there is furniture, we sold it all in Hazen.  That will surely break the bank.  Such is life. 

Check out the video below. Peter is a friend of ours

 The video below is about Peter Bigfoot. As Forest Service volunteers we often go through Peter's farm to get to the trails we maintain. It is a very interesting and wonderful place. The garden is amazing. If you have followed these blogs you might recall when Kadizzle rescued Alex. Peter took him in and it was a good lifesaving thing. 

Interview with Peter Bigfoot of Reevis Mountain School | Survivalist & H...

Lightening Strikes

Cliff just came over to the Earth Module. Cliff's house got hit by lightening. We are about 100 ft away.  It just blew out the circuits in the kitchen so he had to borrow an extension cord for his refrigerator. We knew the strike was close. The other day Kadizzle saw the lightening hit a tree up on the mountain. It was unique. The tree glowed red for and instant. Were it not for the rain surely it would have caught fire. Long ago and far away in West Virginia my brother and I were sitting on our hillbilly couch on the front porch of our forest retreat. Lightening hit about ten feet from us where the phone went into the house. When the controller of lightening could put it to good purpose like Trumps rectum why does he waste it on trees?

Busy doing nothing

 Kadizzle has been busier than a pick pocket in a nudist camp. It is raining outside beyond belief. Strangely Arizona has turned out to be a great place to spend the summer weather wise.  The days here in the White Mountains have been very comfortable. The rain is like clock work. At about one everyday it rains. Mornings are clear and nice. The green grass is amazing. How it can rain so much and the creeks just will not run. The ground must be full. 

Stuck inside Winky has been ordering fixtures, and fans for the new home. Kadizzle has been exploring Youtube. Kadizzle now has more skills than one can imagine. Yesterday Kadizzle learned on youtube how to surface a submarine from under the ice. Where was youtube when the old goat really needed to learn something. Cliff says his girlfriend might have covid. This will be dandy.  We will have to avoid Cliff .  Here in Hooplehead Trump country they don't cater to no liberal diseases. Sickness may blow up in a big way. Because we live an isolated life, and have been vaccinated things have gone well so far. 

Kadizzle has a long lasting Jihad against Scott Hennen. The brillant right wing rat wrote an opinion piece in the Fargo Forum claiming Dr Fauci is a fraud. To top off the stupidity of the Fargo Forum they had an editorial about people spreading misinformation. So what do they do? Yup they have Hennen as a guest writer. 

The Sneaker

 At the grocery store Kadizzle checked out the measly three items he had. When he put his wallet back into his pants he must have missed. The wallet dropped on the floor. Kadizzle did not notice and a sneaker must have picked it up spotted the twenties and took the wallet. Now Kadizzle after searching for days to find the wallet must replace all the credentials. Kadizzle had too many credit cards in the wallet, plus his drivers license, and the medical insurance cards. What a mess to renew all this crap. Kadizzle hoped the sneaker would just take the money and toss the wallet. Nope, maybe the sneaker put the wallet in the trash. So far the sneuaker has not tried to charge anything. Kadizzle left one credit card turned on. Will have to check this morning and see if the sneaker is going to use the credit card.