Why not get smarter?

 Over on the other blog " The National Association for the Advancement of Humanity",  Kadizzle has posted some very good youtube videos. The one posted today is the result of laying in bed listening to the fellow giving the lecture on the blog. Just discovered the guy, but he has some striking insights. Give it a try. 

Now back to Sunday reality. The kids are back at their homes. Was very nice having the tribe here. Kadizzle noticed the big bottle of liquor that was sealed in the closet is now unsealed and half empty. The son in laws put a nice dent in it. The food was excellent. Fran loves to cook, so Fran and Megan teamed up to make the most wonderful dinner.  Erin worked on the pies. To the Amazement of Kadizzle, he managed to keep his weight down. Forgot to mention the gravy , and the stuffing, wow.  

The grandchildren were a delight. Evie is an amazing artist at 7, and her brother Quinn at five is full of pickle juice. He loves to explore the woods. He made his own ax out of a bone and a stick. He wants us to send it to him.  Sylvie, the amazing, Sylvie, did her homework. She gave us all a psychology experiment exam she developed. Her experiment proved her idea correct. Indeed the gang should be thankful we have a wonderful talented family, with no flumpers.  What is a flumper? If you have fished and throw a fish on dry land you will notice how it fops around. That is a flumper. 

Back to Normal

 Soon the Giant and her parents will head toward Denver. The Snidly's and their parents are on the plane flying to New York.  Quiet will encompass the house. Of course this morning the Democrats will meet. Looks like another sunny day. For two evenings we sat around the fire pit and enjoyed the evening. The stars were very nice last night. Poor old Kadizzle had to get up at 2 A. M. to drive the New York gang to the airport. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the family. Evie is turning out to be an astounding artist for her age. Art seems to run strong in the family. 

Happy Turkey Day

 The noise from the squeaking grandchildren is both joyful, and nerve racking. The house is full and the rented house is full, yet still sister Patty is sleeping in the 5th wheel beside the house. It is great to have such a gathering. What will become of the country as the rich gobble up so much. Megan told of a filthy rich family in her area that is having the Hamilton cast over. Special costumes will be provided for them at a cost of over 100 thousand. So the super rich will have turkey for perhaps 500 thousand. They deserve it, they brought us poverty. Over on the National Association Blog may wish the Orange Turkey a happy Thanksgiving. 

The Giant, and the Snidlys are here

 Wonderful Thanksgiving shaping up. Both daughters are here with their families. We had fun last night plying Uno. Megan's two little ones Sylvie, and Quinn have so much fun with the Giant, Erin's daughter. Evie is an amazing artist for her age, and Quinn has so much energy he might explode. Entertaining the gang is the mission. We rented a separate house for Megan's family. Fortunately the house is within walking distance. Hope everyone has a good holiday. 

The Giant is here

 My granddaughter the "Giant" is here. Now she has grown taller than grandpa. Her dog Danny went nuts running around the house like he had to know where everything was. The Giant has her first boyfriend, and we call him "The Devil" because that was the role he played in the play where they became friends. Grandpa Kadizzle was walking the dog last night with Sylvie and asked her what was the most fun she had with her boyfriend the Devil. Her reply was hilarious. Kissing was the answer. Grandpa cannot help but brag about Sylvie. She is a grade A student at the Denver School for the Arts, she dances, sings, is an athlete, and has a great sense of humor. Tonight the magic snoochels will fly in from New York with Megan and Sam. Quinn is six and Evie is eight.  We will have a house full. 

The Snidleys are coming

From Denver, and New York the family is coming for Thanksgiving. Sister Patty will come from Cottonwood. Then top it off with grandchildren, which will include the "Giant".  The Giant has been so busy in plays, modeling, and taking to the Devil. The Devil is Sylvie's boyfriend. We call him that because it was his role in the play where Sylvie and the Devil had to embrace. That started the fire. Sylvie is the Giant. She has grown so much she is tickling six feet tall. Megan will come with Quinn, and Evie her little guys that are growing like weeds. Grandpa will be delighted to see them all . 

The Rain has poured down in the desert

The trees must be drunk on water. The parched soil has been dry for so long. Rain has moved ashore from the Pacific and drenched Arizona. The rain is welcome, but we are so used to sunshine it is very different to be living in a gloomy world, but that is the price. The elk wandered down the street oblivious to the rain. Since our backyard is the holding basin for all the water in our settlement, the basin is our rain gauge. It often fills up quickly, but the water percolates through the ground and is soon gone. The basin has been full most of the week, but this morning the water level is down. The mystery is where does all that water go. Some runs down hill to the neighbors. Someday Kadizzle we will have to follow the temporary stream and see where it goes. 

You got screwed by your employer. Find out how on the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog: https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

How to Teach the Bible in Oklahoma’s Public Schools

Will we be rid of the Orange Rat?

Early morning with coffee. The sun creeps up over the Rim, the birds are chirping, and Kadizzle sits there wondering—what will happen to the Orange Rat today? Another indictment? Another lie unraveling? Another MAGA disciple waking up with a faint headache that science calls “contact with reality”?

Trump’s future seems to be death by a thousand cuts, and the strange part is that he’s delivering most of them to himself. Every day there’s a new revelation, a new tape, a new grifter he pardoned who is now selling gold-plated MAGA vitamins or some nonsense. If self-owning were an Olympic sport, Trump would have more gold than Fort Knox.

But of course the MAGA mind is encased in cement—Payson-grade stuff, too. The kind you pour behind the trailer to park the ATV. Smooth, thick, immovable. Trump could shoot the Constitution point-blank in the middle of Fifth Avenue and Hoopleheads would say it was asking for it.

Yet even cement cracks. The biggest boulder on the Mogollon Rim eventually chips away under wind, weather, and geological embarrassment.

And the Orange Rat is weathering, all right. Court dates multiplying like rabbits, former loyalists flipping faster than pancakes at the Kiwanis breakfast, judges losing patience, and reporters digging up his scams like gophers on steroids.

At some point—even the dumbest, most loyal, foam-at-the-mouth MAGA disciple may look up from their patriotic flag-shirt, scratch their trucker hat, and whisper to themselves:

“Hey… maybe that rat is a rat.”

It won’t happen in a flash of enlightenment. It’ll be a tiny crack. A little doubt. A suspicion that maybe… just maybe… the man with the golden toilet and the aluminum brain might not be the Second Coming.

Reality is a slow drip, but even the hardest cement eventually yields.

So for now Kadizzle sips his coffee, watches the cracks spread, and waits for the day when even Payson’s most devoted Hoopleheads finally admit the obvious:

The Orange Rat smells like a rat because he is a rat.

And the country is finally beginning to notice.  

Over on the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog check out Trump's White House life.

https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Bragging on the cheap

Payson the town that just voted down a swimming pool published a "Town Managers Report".  Seems strange that the report has no real accomplishments. One amusing aspect is the people who were promoted to the job they already had. Make the teacher a professor. He still does exactly the same thing. A big fear of Kadizzle is if the new town manager becomes a puppet of the Tea Party. The Tea Party is the cancer of Payson, a bunch of old cheap goats that watch and believe Fox News. The Tea Party supported the Three Stooges that now are taking Payson backwards as fast as they can. Mentally Payson is crumbling thanks to the Tea Party. Think about this, the Tea Party had a guy give a talk supporting Russia. 

Firewood.

 The children are coming for Thanksgiving, and Winky wanted firewood. Kadizzle had a simple solution, just pick up the scraps from the guy who packages firewood. That would be simple and cheap, but Winky managed to make it into a complex mess. So yesterday off we went to "Jim Bo's" to get some firewood.  Jim Bo never showed up, but we got hold of him this morning. At this point we had been to Jim Bo's twice. Now at Jim Bo's we ask if we can buy the scraps in his processing place that is closer to our house. Yep, he said we could have the scraps for free. So off we go back to Payson. Jim Bo is going to give us the scraps, but now all of a sudden the mess wood he wants to get rig of is $40.  Kadizzle got him down to $20 and he helped us load the truck, so it was not so bad.  Additionally Jim Bo said we could come back any time and get a load for $10.  In reality the processing of the wood they sell makes a mess they have to clean up. So we are paying him to clean up the mess. In the end a simple task became complicated, but this is the normal routine with Winky. Good thing she doesn't read this blog. 

Over on the National Association blog a Trump Post Turtle is featured. 

Greed versus Happiness versus Gary Tackett

Elon Mush pay package will give him 12 million dollars an hour. Our local newspaper editor sees nothing wrong with this. To Kadizzle it seems extremely immoral. Gary Tackett like every good MAGA suggested Kadizzle move to a socialist country in Europe. Kadizzle asked AI to rank countries by life satisfaction. The United States did not even make the top 20, but just about every country that had happy citizens was strongly a socialist country. Gary likes the idea of a country full of peasants while the top few squander resources. Here is the ranking:

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Top 20 Happiness Rankings

Based on life-satisfaction scores from the 2025 Report (averaged over 2022-24) from the dashboard. (World Happiness Report)

Rank	Country	Happiness Score*
1	Finland	~7.736 (Happier Lives Institute)
2	Denmark	~7.521 (Happier Lives Institute)
3	Iceland	~7.515 (Happier Lives Institute)
4	Sweden	~7.345 (Happier Lives Institute)
5	Netherlands	~7.306 (Happier Lives Institute)
6	Costa Rica	~7.274 (Happier Lives Institute)
7	Norway	~7.262 (Happier Lives Institute)
8	Israel	~7.234 (Happier Lives Institute)
9	Luxembourg	~7.122 (Happier Lives Institute)
10	Mexico	~6.979 (Happier Lives Institute)
11	Australia	~6.974 (Happier Lives Institute)
12	New Zealand	~6.952 (Happier Lives Institute)
13	Switzerland	~6.935 (Happier Lives Institute)
14	Belgium	~6.910 (Happier Lives Institute)
15	Ireland	~6.889 (Happier Lives Institute)
16	Lithuania	~6.829 (Happier Lives Institute)
17	Austria	~6.810 (Happier Lives Institute)
18	Canada	~6.803 (Happier Lives Institute)
19	Slovenia	~6.792 (Happier Lives Institute)
20	Czechia (Czech Republic)	~6.775 (Happier Lives Institute)

*Scores are approximate as reported in the ranking.

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Health Care & Education Commentary

• Nordic countries (Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway): These generally have strong public health-care systems, high life-expectancy, broad coverage, and highly regarded education systems with equity built in. The social-welfare model tends to support older adults well.

• Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium: Also strong welfare states with good health access, good education outcomes, though cost/complexity may be higher and waiting times may vary by region.

• Israel: Good healthcare infrastructure, strong in technology/innovation; education good though the system has unique features (military service interplay, regional variation).

• Costa Rica and Mexico: High happiness scores but the health-care / education systems may not be uniformly as robust as the top Nordic/W. European ones; might have more variability regionally, and you’d want to check elder-care / specialist access for your needs.

• Australia, New Zealand, Canada: Good general systems, access, quality of life is high; for someone in a retirement context these could be attractive given the environment and health-care infrastructure though immigration/visa/residency factors become important.

• Slovenia, Czechia, Lithuania: These are in Eastern-/Central Europe with improving systems; good value and improving access, but for older adult specialist care and education for grandchildren (if relevant) you might want to dig deeper.

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Some thoughts

 Look and listen to the video below. How can a poor man stand such times and live. Kadizzle has a strong feeling we are headed to a depression. Trump has danced and lied us into a worldwide mess. Soon things for poor peasants will collapse. We walked right into this mess. Destroying education was an accomplishment the Republicans will even regret. People have lost all sense of history. Trump is duplicating the Nazi playbook, and depression economics. 

Ry Cooder - How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live

A nice Sioree

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Had a good evening with friends around our fire pit. You can read about it on the National Association blog.  Meanwhile in the realm of the Kadizzles we got up another bird feeder. Our backyard is a great nature sanctuary. The elk seem to be coming on a regular basis. Winky was mad at a cow elk that was licking the sugar water from the hummingbird feeder. Winky tried to frighten the cow elk away, but Kadizzle enjoyed having her just ten feet away. Clapping her hands Winky finally got the lady elk to leave and cross our little bridge back to the elk paradise on the other side of the drainage. 

The Donut meeting in the morning went well, and then we headed to Pine. Our friends set up the food truck they have been building and in Pine they had their first big day. The food truck, or should we say trailer, because it is a camping trailer converted into a sales place for donuts, egg rolls and ice cream. They were frazzled trying to keep up with the customers. It will be interesting to see if they stick with it. 

Get ready for the depression

All the signs are here, it looks like a crash is coming. Trump is just what is needed to plunge the world economy into a disaster. Speculation has gone crazy. If AI doesn't pan out a lot of people will be toast. What should we do? Kadizzle told Winky perhaps we should become more energy independent. Put more solar panels on the roof and consider a big battery. Maybe that fifth wheel beside our house could be our new home when the crash comes. Last resort move to West Virginia hills where we can live for nothing. 

Are you still in the Fog?

Thursday in Payson: Windshields, Hoopleheads & Bernie

It’s Thursday. The windshield on the car needs replacing—again. Meanwhile, over at the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity, Bernie Sanders is delivering a magnificent speech about the real terrorist threat to America: Donald J. Trump himself.
Do yourself a favor and head over there to watch it:
👉 https://naftaoh.blogspot.com/

Back here in the land of Pothole Paradise, the Hoopleheads have successfully torpedoed the new pool. Congratulations, Payson — our children will continue to practice their swimming skills in mud puddles and drainage basins. We couldn’t afford a proper pool, but we sure can afford to make ourselves look like a town where hope goes to die.

Kadizzle continues to be amazed that the Payson Roundup still prints his letters referring to the Three Stooges by name — Steve Otto, Charlie Bell, and Jim Farris. (Maybe the editor has a sense of humor after all.) These clowns pretend to champion the community while feeding their Tea Party cult a steady diet of nonsense, paranoia, and whatever is left in the intellectual freezer that’s been unplugged since 2016.

The Tea Party still has the busted-flat trailer crowd tightly gripped in a fistful of lies. They shout “Make America Great Again!” but apparently greatness doesn’t include a public swimming pool… though it does include massively higher grocery bills, failing infrastructure, and limitless delusion.

So once again — go watch Bernie. He’s the one person capable of explaining, in clear daylight, the dumpster fire our country is roasting marshmallows over. Kadizzle will be in the garage calling the insurance company about that windshield and muttering about Hoopleheads.

America may be “great again,” but it sure feels like we’re going downhill in a shopping cart with one wobbly wheel.

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Another Day

The Three Stooges are the curse of Payson, AZ.  Steve Otto doesn't know the Truth from a visit to the Tea Party. Kadizzle pointed out the hypocrisy of the Stooges in a letter to the editor. The Payson Roundup published the letter. Otto has lied about Kadizzle and refuse to retract or apologize. Kadizzle put a cartoon of Otto on social media. Poor old Otto didn't like it and said so on the local right wing radio station. Otto is great about dishing out lies, but is a little sensitive when he is the victim of the truth.  

The letter to the editor pointed out how the Stooges now want to spend the money from the 1% sales tax increase the last administration passed. Whoops, Otto and the Stooges got elected opposing the tax raise, but rather than rescind it now they want to use the money to appease the Tea Party. The Stooges are the public face of the Tea Party and don't hesitate to play Fox News when it comes to deceit. 

NEW SONG - The Great Fatsby

Trump parties while snap benefits are cut for the poor

Monday rolled around

 Monday is off to a start. Over on the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity blog Kadizzle has an entry about the sad guy we have as Mayor. He was pissed off about a cartoon of him, lets see if this gets to him. 

The granddaughter did a funny imitation of another worthless Republicans yesterday, Trump. The weather is turning. Yesterday Winky's bird feeders got put up and we got some customers. The pool vote comes this week to an end. If the Tea Party Hoopleheads defeat the pool initiative because of their cheap ass busted flat life style the town is doomed. 

What else is new? Erin was out canvassing for a school board member in Denver yesterday. Republican want to destroy the school system so they have plenty of stupid people to vote for them. Sadly they are succeeding. Charter schools, and voucher schools have sucked money from the real schools. 

I Discovered THIS on the Edge of a Cliff!

We have been to these ruins and hiked in this area many times. There is a waterfall here, strange he did not feature it. 

Not Quite the Desert Drive I was Expecting! "Roosevelt to Young, AZ"

Kadizzle and Winky have driven this road dozens of times, but we never got to see a lot of the things in this video done with a drone. We have hiked about every inch of this area. The guy did a good job. If you watch the video you will get a very good idea of where we do a lot of trail work. Sadly there was a big fire here this year and much of it is burnt. 

A difficult motorcyle ride for a man 76

Al came up from Tucson to take a motorcycle ride. Al is a good rider an ten years younger. We have taken rides before. Kadizzle was so proud of one ride in the past when Al crashed five times and Kadizzle only three. Some years have gone by since then. At 76 crashing is not the option it used to be. So we took off on some Forest service roads. The roads were moderately difficult, but handled, then we crossed the East Verde river. Kadizzle remembered a hard climb on the other side. Going first Kadizzle started up. The rain and four wheelers had made the hill worse. On a motorcycle you cannot stop on a hill. Commitment is critical. You have to stay on the throttle and hope it works. As Kadizzle went up he thought about the pleasures of crashing. Would he be hurt, would the motorcycle be damaged? Somehow Kadizzle made it to the top, but was grateful he was with Al.  The ride went on for a total of 35 miles. Wonderful scenery and a few more touchy places.