Insanity

Sorry to write about Trump, but cannot resist the urge.  Last night with lack of any entertainment Kadizzle watched the man in Alabama.  The level of his insanity is alarming.  The man is in love with himself.  When he is speaking in front of one of his Klan meetings you get what you would expect from a Wizard.  Trump tells the little children " There will candy, lots of candy, candy like you have never seen before".  The low IQ crowd lights with delight.  Listening to him is like hearing an adult talk to children about Santa Clause, monsters, and religion.  The saddest part is watching the crowd buy into his mental illness.  John McCain was mean to me, but I will let him play on our baseball team.  The news media is saying mean things about me, be you are my friends and you know it is not true, fake news.  Who, who can listen to this man or watch his crazy motions and not realize what they are seeing? "Fire the Son of a Bitch", that all of a sudden came out of the presidents mouth when he was whipping up the Hoopleheads.  Trump said owners need to fire players who do not respect the flag.  Trump loves to throw the candy.  Guns are candy to Hoopleheads.  So Trump every five minutes tells the Hoopleheads how he is protecting their guns.  Next to guns you can always get an erection from a redneck with some flag talk, so flag, flag, gun, gun, is half of Trumps presentation. As you watch he fawning idiots it is scary.  The dolts in the crowd chant  "lock her up".  The clown masters tell the dolts the need to talk to his attorney general.  This is equivilant to saying " He is as crazy as I am and can help you".   Trump is simply BFC.  The first word is Bug and the last word is Crazy.  The middle word is F***ing.  The man is simply and purely mentally ill, yet like Hitler people love the insanity.

Life is not stranger than you think

Albert Einstein once said " Life is not stranger than you think, life is stranger than you can think".  Albert was right.  Who would have thought we have a delusional nut case like the Donald for president.  Would anyone have imagined the conflict that might come from two crazy people, one in North Korea, and one in our own White House?

On a personal level look how life's events have unfolded.  How did you end up sitting in North Dakota?  Could you have ever imagined that you would go from your front porch in Wheeling, West Virginia to your backyard in Hazen, North Dakota?  A lot of strange twist and turns have taken place in 68 years.  Many people turned out far differently than one would have expected. People you knew who excelled in school turned out to be duds.  Several of the duds you knew turned out to be excellent business people and created fortunes from a vegetable stand.  Kadizzle grew up with a lot of privileged kids.  The children of the fortunate with many opportunities turned out to fail at a rate Kadizzle never would have predicted.  If one thing in life is predictable, it is that life is unpredictable.

Something always comes from nowhere and the world changes.  Strange connections take place and life turns.  Age is magic in some ways.  If you are fortunate enough to live long you get to see the end of a lot of movies.  Life is just a series of movies you are watching. We got to see how the cold war ended. We got to see how it went for Ben Laden.  Many people were pulled from the game before they got to see so much of history.  Mrs Kadizzle has been caught up watching the Ken Burns series on PBS about he Vietnam war.  A lot of truth is now public about how that mess actually took place. The people watching know things so many dead people don't. 

One thing history has taught over, and over is the ease with which people can be taken into an insane, hopeless, fake cause.  Sadly so many of us do not look back at Hitler, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and the whole cadre of mad men that have shaped the world.  Instead we get taken in over and over by the same false promises, the same bluster, the same cons.

The strangest phenomenon of all is the abundance on Earth.  There is enough food for everyone, there is enough material to provide decent housing for everyone,  the means are available to eliminate so much suffering, yet we do not. Instead we build tanks, walls, missiles, and bombs.  We let a very small portion of the planet live lavishly while children starve.  Nothing has changed in thousands of years.  There were tribes herding cattle in Africa two thousand years ago.  Every one in the tribe had enough to eat, a warm place to sleep and their only enemy was a lion.  Today trainloads of pure unadulterated crap are shipped from China.  As we bring boat loads of stuffed animals from China we have children living in slums, roads crumbling, and some silly rich guy telling us he is going to make America great by lying every day.

Simple minded dingers

Some people evolve, some people don't.  Perhaps humans attracted mates long ago by making loud noises, but is that still viable?  In our little town the simple minded like to drive about town making loud noises with their vehicles. One wonders if this was similar to ancient tribes where people danced and beat on drums. Somehow the current generation of dolts feels a loud noise means you are a masculine man looking for a mate.  This is all well and good until Kadizzle tries to go to sleep with the window open, or sit on the back porch and enjoy a glass of wine.  Almost always a simple minded dolt with his noise machine will destroy the tranquility.  On the lake some of the dolts have loud boats designed to be heard for  miles. Of course the local gendarmes do absolutely nothing to silence the dolts.  Apparently the simple minded never tire of making the engines roar.  Now everyone of us probably put some baseball cards on our bike and let them make noise on the spokes. This was fine for a six year old, but when a guy fifty has to roar his mean motorcycle he has a brain deficit that needs attention.  Some of the dolts have taken stupidity to a new level.  Not only do the certified dolts emit noise they have modified their dolt mobiles to emit a huge cloud of black smoke. In the dolt tribe the larger your exhaust pipe the bigger your penis.  So the dolts competing for simple minded dolt women put two huge smoke stacks behind the cab of their doltmobile.  Next the drive around blasting noise and pollution.

On the noise front Kadizzle has a solution for the dolts. Kadizzle can sell the dolts a CD. The CD has loud engine noises recorded. The dolt merely puts on headphones and plugs into his CD player. Now the dolt can hear his obnoxious noise, but no one else has to listen.

Superstitious Pigeons

Can a pigeon be superstitious? Well it seems possible. Yesterday Honest Omar gave Kadizzle a reading assignment. Omar and Kadizzle have always wondered how people come to believe absurdities.  In his book Michael Shermer gives the answer a good shot. The Believing Brain tries to explain how people don't have much trouble connecting things that are not connected. Isn't that what religion is all about. God made it rain, god caused the hurricane, and god helped my team win the supper bowl

A pitcher in a baseball game wins on the day he does not shave, so he concludes not shaving and winning are related. The mind wants a quick simple answer, so does the pigeon. The pigeon spins around in its cage and food appears. The pigeon concludes there is a connection.  There is not. The food just randomly appears, but the pigeon is fooled.  All of this perfectly explains Trump voters.  They connect dots that are not connected.  Obama was born in Kenya. 

How does the brain work? How do we make decisions?  People rarely sit back and ponder exactly how they arrive at a conclusion. One would want to think about how we think, but one rarely does. The brain is pretty easy to trick.  Magicians, Republicans, and con artist make a living tricking the simple minded. 

The author explains how he was unborn again.  At one point the author was a bible thumper going door to door selling Jesus.  The author ultimately had science run into religion. Science made the dots connect with data and logic.  In the end the logical mind had to go with science. 

One question the author addressed was is religion harmful.  Yes, the author gave an example of a little girl killed as part of a religious cleansing. This was minor compared to all the hate and wars that have been brought on by the curse of religion.  Remember religion endorsed slavery.  In conclusion people will always go for the discount thinking of religion, Republicanism, and trickle down economics.  Real thinking takes a little effort. You have to question things, you have to look things up, you have to do research.  It is far easier just to join the make America great club.  It is so simple just to believe a bunch of lies from preachers and Trumpsters.  Why not take the easy route?

The Good Ship is on the hard

After a long day, and a lot of time trying to tie a knot under water the good ship is again on shore and in the process of being readied for the winter.  With his famous addled mind Kadizzle forgot to get all the sewage out of the holding tank.  So this pleasant job will have to be done in an awkward fashion.  Mrs Kadizzle cannot conceptualize a person forgetting something.  Laying in bed discussing the matter Mrs Kadizzle was getting on his excellencies nerves.  Mr Kadizzle uses the same nuclear missile every time to remind Mrs Kadizzle she is not infallible.  A couple years back Mrs Kadizzle backed our recently purchased car into a young man's car.  Now anyone can make a mistake, but Mrs Kadizzle did it in a special way.  Mr Kadizzle knew the possibility existed that someone would back into the renters car, so gave the renter very specific instructions where to park the car.  Mrs Kadizzle over rode Mr Kadizzles instructions and told the renter how to park in the ideal place where she could back into his car.

Mr Kadizzle bought the Toyota because it has several good safety features. First, it has a backup camera, so you can see what is behind you. Failure number one for Mrs Kadizzle.  Second it has a beeping alarm to warn you if you are going to back into something.  Failure number two for Mrs. Kadizzle.  Add in the third element whereby Mr Kadizzle had the renter park in a safe place.  When Mrs Kadizzle did the damage there were three safety systems working to prevent the disaster. Mrs Kadizzle defeated all three.  If Mrs Kadizzle happens to read this you will hear an explosion in the surrounding area.

Mr Kadizzle spent his entire life trying to prevent accidents.  In the course of his career as a safety director many stories went across the desk about people who defeated safety systems.  Kadizzle can remember the dragline operator who stuffed a rag in the alarm horn that was to tell him he was about to create a mechanical disaster.  A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

"Killing The Blues" Robert Plant & Alison Kraus

Trump and the Chicken man

There is an old story back in the hills about a man that went out in his yard every morning and acted like a chicken.  His act bothered the neighbor woman and one day the neighbor confronted the man's wife about the bizarre behavior of her husband.  The wife of the chicken man explained that her husband wasn't hurting anyone, and said “besides they could use the eggs”.

The man’s wife was an enabler.  In North Dakota Trump has his enablers, Hoeven, Cramer, and Hietkemp.  Sure Trump is not quite right, but he does serve a purpose for our congressional delegation.  Trump gives our representatives an in with his base.  Trump’s base believes he can lay eggs, you just have to be patient.

Is Trump harmless?  Not much gets done while we wait for the eggs.  Trump’s unwillingness to address  climate change is helping to melt the planet, and his unpredictability has caused chaos in the world.  Enjoy the omelet when it comes.  Just remember how an omelet is made, a lot of broken eggs stirred randomly with other things thrown together.

Very Sad

Bill Moyers does and interview with one of the 27 psychiatrist that wrote about the mental illness of Donald Trump. Kadizzle just read the interview. Anyone who doubts Donald Trump has some serious mental illness needs to read the article. The writers of the book wrote the book because they felt they had a professional obligation to warn the country.  "The Dangerous case of Donald Trump" is the title of the book.  Simply reading Moyers interview should be enough to scare you.

The dangerous part of Trump's mental problem is the problem gets worse as the adulation from his following of dolts reinforces his delusions.  Supposedly sane people who think they can change him play along with his lies.  In North Dakota the mini psychopath Kevin Cramer is the perfect example. Cramer wants to help with the wall.  In North Dakota you have a radio station that broadcast to idiots for hours on end lies, and Rush Limbaugh delusions.  Respectable companies that should boycott the station do not.  That is a contradiction, they are not respectable companies.  A lot of people cuddled up with Hitler, it did not turn out well.

How to Punch a Nazi

What does it take?

More than likely if you are reading this you have been on the planet for well over fifty years.  In those years you have seen a lot of people.  Even the dumbest person reading this has learned to recognize when " That boy aint right".   People make every excuse or rationalization for Trump imaginable, but the simple truth is the man is mentally ill.  So many people are working so hard to imagine there is some logic or cleverness at work in a mind that has rotted to the core.

In our small society of Mr and Mrs Kadizzle we have a saying  " Even a blind hog will root".  Even a blind hog can find an acorn. That does not mean the hog can see.  It means the hog stumbled across and acorn. Trump is a classic bling hog.

There is no consistency to Trump, except he will be inconsistent.  His supporters struggle to explain how they stick with him. The hardest job his supporters have is covering his lies and his flip flops.  What does it take before people will admit they made a terrible mistake.  Kadizzle always thinks of the people in Germany getting fire bombed.  Imagine the horrific scene of a German city turned into and oven for the population. Imagine the German people thinking about the man who was going to "Make Germany great again"?  Are we really that stupid, are we really this ignorant of history? Yup, all we do is watch Fox News, and listen to Rush.  When will the cities burn?

Solomon Burke-"Diamond in Your Mind" from "Don't Give Up on Me"

I shook the hand of the president and the pope in Rome
I've been to parties where I've had to be flown
They said everything was sacred, nothing was profane
And money was something that you throw off the back of trains

Oh always keep a diamond in your mind
You gotta always keep a diamond in your mind
Wherever you may wander
Wherever you may roam
You gotta always keep a diamond in your mind

Steam of the gravy with little fried pearls
Floating like a necklace on a beautiful girl
Johan says thanks to the food and land
And oh so ever grateful for God's on my hands

Oh always keep a diamond in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind
Wherever you may wander
Wherever you may roam
You gotta always keep a diamond in your mind

She's got the milk of human kindness and the fat of the lamb
Scared like a baby, well she drives like a man
She lives outside of Natchez where she operates a crane
She's like a wrecking ball no longer connected to the chain

Oh Zerelda Samuel said she almost never prayed
Said she lost her right arm, blown off in a Pinkerton raid
Then they lashed her to a windmill with old 3-fingered Dave
Now she's 102 drinking mint juleps in the shade

Everybody, always keep a diamond in your mind
You gotta always keep a diamond in your mind
Wherever you may wander
Wherever you may roam
Your gotta always keep a diamond in your mind

Always keep a diamond in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind
Wherever you may wander
Wherever you may roam
Your gotta always keep a diamond in your mind

Always keep a diamond in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind
Wherever you may wander
Wherever you may roam
Your gotta always keep a diamond in your mind

Always keep a diamond in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind

Minutes from the Crazy Club

Shiny is back from the west coast. She had a wonderful time and Stroupini was delighted to give up his job watching her dog Rennee.  Shiny gave her report on the good life she lived beside the Pacific in Oregon.  It was her firs real vacation in may years.  Shiny lives on the edge, but has some rich friends. Having rich friends is about as good as being rich. You get to use all the rich goodies, but don't have to take care of them.

Stoupini finally wandered into the meeting which was poorly attended.  However, it was a great meeting.  Kadizzle rigged up the sound system to play songs from his phone.  It was a great sing, sing.  Two versions of " You gotta have Jesus" were played and the sing along ensued.  The theme of the music for the day was very depressing.  There is not enough wine to keep you from the bottom of the glass, and Keep me in your heart for awhile were sung in unison.  Also Leonard Cohen's song " You got me singing" was rehearsed.

Across the alley from the Crazy Club is the little pocket park Kadizzle built with friends years ago. Bordering on the alley is a grape arbor.  The grapes are ripe and sweet.  Kadizzle has been feeding like a yellow jacket on the grapes every day.  With purple lips he rides the streets of Hazen and carries out his duties on the remeidigus.  At last Rita has a helper at her sewing emporium.  A nice young lady is helping Rita patch all the clothes in town.  If you ever get to Hazen go to Rita's sewing shop.  No place is more carefully made into a mess than the sewing shop.  Imagine if you went into a thrift store with two cases of dynamite.  You would set off the dynamite amid the clothing racks. After the explosion you would have rags and detritus everywhere.  That is Rita's shop.

The Glass Castle

It seems like a thousand years ago, but once upon a time Kadizzle was plunked down on a different planet. That planet was southern West Virginia.  At the age of about 22 Kadizzle set off from civilization to the planet coal.  It was a different world.  Only someone who has been there can know.  Strangely a young person from Kadizzle's current town was recently plunked down in the same place. The young woman was a teacher in Welch, West Virginia.  Welch has recently become known because the book The Glass Castle took place there.  Kadizzle was in Southern West Virginia's coal fields to teach the coal miners how to get the coal from the ground without being killed in the process.  Coal miners are special. Miners have been abused and oppressed for as long as it took the coal to form.  Depressing is the word,  nothing is as depressing as southern West Virginia. Poverty leaks from the ground, and so does smoke.  Once on the way to a coal mine Kadizzle drove through a little mining town where acrid coal smoke leaked up through the cracks in the pavement.  Under the town was a mine that had been on fire for years.  The place looked like a scene from hell, but the people did not seem to notice.  Not noticing was a way of life.  Miners lived in shacks, and bankers helped the car dealers rob them.  Dirt with coal dust came down everywhere.  The entire experience was like going back to medieval times.

For the first time in a hundred years Mrs Kadizzle and Mr. Kadizzle trudged off to the local theater to see the movie that emerged from the book.  Kadizzle was curious if the movie would actually show scenes from Welch.  The real Welch did appear in the movie, and they managed to make it depressing as it was.  The movie was not that much fun, it was too reminiscent of how things really are back there.

At 22 one thing Kadizzle needed like a drug addict was female companionship. The search was serious and endless.  Like a detective Kadizzle sought a nice young lady.  This was not an easy task, but took some strange turns.  Someone said Kadizzle should get to know Minnow.  Kadizzle was warned how to conduct a meeting with Minnow.  Minnow lived in a shack above the railroad tracks.   It was winter and it was cold.  The idea was to have Minnow put old Kadizzle on the trail of a girlfriend.  Minnow had no real heat in her shack.  When Kadizzle walked in through the kitchen he saw all kinds of food on the table.  The table was the refrigerator.  No need to put the food into a cooler the kitchen could not have been much above freezing.  The correct way to visit Minnow was to get in bed with her.  The idea had nothing to do with sex, but was the only way you could stay warm while talking.  Minnow was a pretty husky young woman and the idea of bedding down with her did not have much appeal.  Kadizzle stood in front of some sort of fire in the bed room and shifted from one foot to the other to stay warm.  Somewhere in those hills there had to be some college educated women who needed Kadizzle.  The search was fruitless, and Kadizzle finally had to insist to his coal company that he must be moved back to civilization.  The story down in the coal fields has many twist and turns, but the coffee is getting cold and it is time for another cup.

Waddling Lumpers

Two nights, two parties, lots of food, good food.  The waddling lumpers bellied up to the food bonanza.  Now, full disclosure, Kadizzle is a waddling lumper.  Go anywhere in this country and the lumpers are everywhere.  A nation with so much food we dispense it every few hundred feet.  The lumpers can always reach down and get some food.  Then of course food trucks chase the lumpers around and feed them.  Is it the lumpers fault, of course not.

Good lumpers do not walk, they take the car to the grocery store and bring back the food.  The really professional lumpers cook the food, and then post  a picture of the meal on facebook.  This of course makes all the other lumpers hungry.  Now a good lumper is two ax handles across the ass and will dress out at 250lbs.

The opioid addiction is a problem, but pales in comparison to the sugar addiction. Kadizzle has a good old friend who is a lumper and has been trying to commit food suicide for years. In his recliner he sits with one hand on the remote control. On his belly is usually a plate with some concoction.  A flea or a bed bug would have to pack a meal for a week just to go from one side of his enormous fatulance to the other.  The poor guy cannot walk over twenty five feet without becoming exhausted.  If he does walk the twenty five feet he goes out on the porch to smoke a cigarette.  His heart should be a coveted piece of meat for any scientist. How his heart has managed to pump blood through a four hundred fifty pound body being deprived of oxygen for so many years is in the realm of magic.

Of course Kadizzle does not want to be a lumper, but there are voices in the refrigerator of cold goodies crying out to be in a warm belly.  Noises come from the cupboard, sad cookies lonely and wanting company.  Listen closely and the cookies say " You can eat just one, just one will not hurt".  One becomes two and soon the whole box has disappeared.

Sometimes getting fat is an economic necessity. Kadizzle got the mail yesterday.  A food devil sent a coupon that entitled Kadizzle to get a free six inch Subway sandwich if he just bought a big drink of sugar juice.  It was a bargain.  The silly coupon said you had to text message Subway to get the prize.  Kadizzle did as instructed, and low and behold the coupons appeared on the phone.  What? There was a timer on the coupon. Kadizzle had four minutes to rush to Subway and get fat.  What a blessing Kadizzle lives almost next door to the Subway.  After jumping in the car Kadizzle rushed over.  In a panic the Subway lady emptying the garbage outside assured Kadizzle he could get the bargain gut bomb.  All turned out well.  Sitting blissfully eating the healthy sandwich Kadizzle thought about how he could restrain himself the rest of the day.  Of course it was all a lie.  One more lumper waddled out to the car and went about his search for will power.

Seeing a human

Last nigh Kadizzle attended a celebration for a friend.  In advance Kadizzle knew there would be a man there that had written a public condemnation of Kadizzle and his politics. Kadizzle was not looking forward to the close encounter. In fact Kadizzle was going to end up in a crowd of people that was about 95% composed of people who disagreed with his fundamental political beliefs.  To be a black man at a Klan rally was the feeling.

The letter fellow kindly engaged Kadizzle in a conversation, and we both got a chance to see each other as humans that lived lives, lost loved ones, and had some common beliefs.  It turned out we were both talkers.  So each of us now, knows that there is more good in the other than we suspected. The whole thing makes Kadizzle think of how fractured out society has become.  We have divided into clans, tribes, and fortresses.

Simply talking is therapeutic. Look how many situations have been defused simply by creating a new understanding of the other person. Can you get smarter as you get older? It seems like a real possibility. Some people never seem to get old enough to get any smarter, but hopefully life and history will eventually teach us all a better way.

New Body

The other day Kadizzle wandered over to see how the neighbor was doing, and check the level in the neighbors cookie jar. Neighbor said he was doing well but would be happy to get his new body.  In heaven you will be issued a new body.  Imagine a body like you had when you were 25, not a body that is pretty worn down by almost 70 years.  No more reading glasses, no more walking stick in the woods, no more feet that hurt, back that is sore, and new spots showing up everywhere.

Will they issue a new brain? Will the new brain have patience? Will the new brain behave better than the old one?  How about a new mouth that does not talk so much and say the wrong things?

In heaven there will be a lot fewer excuses.  No more " I am tired" or confused, or sore, or don't have the energy.

So as we go forward we wait for the clock to be turned back.

Hidden Treasure

Click on the picture to enlarge.  Six mornings waking up in a land like this. North Dakota has some incredible places, but few know of them or use them. Instead we promote fiberglass cows, fish, and the things you can find anywhere.

My ship came in.

After six days on the lake my ship came in.  To start the day old Kadizzled dropped his reading glassed in the lake.  Early in the cool morning Kadizzle stripped down and dove with googles into the water.  What a victory on the first dive Kadizzle had the glasses. With little thought the glasses were plopped on the bow of the boat.  Mrs Kadizzle immediately notices a lens was gone and the frame was broken. The sweet victory was short lived.  A good wind carried us back to the dock.

Home in the little berg Kadizzle checked the retirement fund.  The Trump bump brought the other ship in on Wall street.  How can a country have the most incompetent, insane president ever and still have a booming stock market? We love delusions, but the money still spends.

Fall on the lake is always nice. The sail was over one hundred eighty miles and we never used the mainsail. With the Jib alone we covered the ground.  The cooks made every meal a delight and the two old men enjoyed the booze, and the culinary delights.

Give him a chance

Imagine hiring a person to work for you.  Every day your employee comes to work and lies to you. He advocates grabbing the women in the office by the crotch. When he is supposed to be working he is often golfing. Your employee has bankrupted several of his own businesses, yet he tells you he will make your company great. You find out he got the job by lying on his application. Now you wonder if you should fire him, but all the people he gives free donuts say, give him a chance.  You feel like you have given him a chance, but he has insulted just about everyone in the office.  A lot of your good people have quit because they are embarrassed to work with him and cover up his lies.  Yet the donut eaters keep telling you, give him a chance.  So far after many months the new guy has accomplished nothing.  He promised so much. He said he would get the parking lot paved and have the company next door pay for it. On it goes things don’t get any better, yet you feel you should just give him a chance. The other companies that used to rely on you and your service are beginning to wonder what kind of businessman you are.  The image your new employee creates is hurting your product, but you have a hard time admitting you made a big mistake, so give him a chance.

Sitting in the garage

As on many days Kadizzle set out to make the rounds.  Shiny is on vacation, Stroupini is watching Shiny's dog.  The proprietor is manning the Crazy club.  Kadizzle thought he better go check on Skavietch at his garage.  Poor old Skavietch had his wife pass away a few years back.  He was enamored with his wife and just cannot get over her passing.  Walking through his home without his wife in it makes him sad, so Skavietch moved out into the garage.  In the garage he set up a table, a refrigerator with beer, and of course a television. Already dying from cancer old Skavietch sits there, smokes, drinks a beer and lets life go on.  When Kadizzle came in the garage door the first thing he notice was that it appeared someone beat the hell out of Skavietch. Inquiring into the devestation Skavietch told Kadizzle a BS story about what happened, then the truth came.  In a fit of coughing from the fungus in his lungs Skavietch passed out and fell into the bathroom.  He came to with no idea of where he was or what happened.  Of course being Skavietch he did not go to the hospital.  He was out cold to the extent his bladder let loose.  He did accomplish one thing.  What ever his head hit it knocked the switch to his brain enough to get him to realize he needs to quit smoking.  At the drug store he is going to get some pills to quit smoking.

After a round of reminiscing and telling the same stories over Skavietch gave Kadizzle some fresh sweet corn right out of the garden.

Yesterday Kadizzle put the good ship back into shape. So the boat will be ready Thursday to head west and wrap up the sailing season.

I pity the country

The good llife

Kadizzle loves his two little girls, Evie, and Sylvie.  Sylvie pictured above has lived the dream life so far. An only child with two parents that adore her, does it get any better. With both Erin and Fran working Sylvie has spent a lot of time with nannies. The good news is most of them were wonderful. First it was her aunt who loved her and taught her like she was her own. Next she had her own art teacher that planned many days full of projects.  So far Sylvie has had an education like few children. The big goal is to raise an educated person that is not spoiled, cares for others, and enjoys the world. So far things are looking good.  As Sylvie enters third grade she can look back on so many trips, adventures, and educational experiences. It has all paid off. Sylvie is a writer, an artist, an actor, a gymnast, and full of energy, perhaps too much.  Best of all Sylvie is following the family tradition of being a great outdoor person. Erin said Sylvie played by herself in a mountain stream for ten hours.

As a child Kadizzle remembers his love for the West Virginia mountains and hills. Giving a child the gift of enjoying the outdoors is a wonderful thing, and Sylvie has the gift.  Hiking with the little energy bundle is fun. She does not whine.  Coming off the mountain to keep her going she insisted her dad tell her stories. Fran did a good job and reviewed all sorts of things for the imp.

Nine, Nine children, what were they thinking?

Two people got married.  Children came in a flood.  Kadizzle was number seven of nine.  In twelve years my mother produced nine children.  A tribe was created.  There is no shortage of stories.  Remember any event, and you get nine versions.  After 68 years seven of the nine still breath air.  Heart attacks have been popular.  Younger brother went on to the great beyond at 49 as his heart gave out.  Oldest and second from the start had a heart attack that came within inches of getting him.  The big Kahuna sister had her episode with the heart.  Mother died at 60 when her heart went bad. Number four went out on the couch in the middle of the night and never woke up.  Another heart failure. Kadizzle sits here still ticking strongly.

A family of nine has it all.  We have some genuine crazies, some marginal.  We have one down and out. When the dust settles both our parents would probably be amazed how well most of the gang turned out economically. It would be fair to say eight out of nine crossed the line into good prosperity.  A lot of college degrees came out of the flock. Two sisters completed law school. One sister got her PHD from a famous school. All but one of the nine attended college. The one that missed college took his turn being an alcoholic, then gave that up to start a very successful business.  One lessen everyone learned was, " Don't have nine children".  No one had more than two.  Think about it had we followed our parents there would be 81 grand children.

Someone should have written down all the trials and tribulations. The history would have made a good book. All of us were raised back in the hills of West Virginia.  Everyone like to think of West Virginia as a bunch of hill billies, but that is far from accurate. We grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia. Wheeling was a very sophisticated city.  In 1894 it was the wealthiest city in the United States.  That wealth lingered for a long time, and Wheeling was not a city of miners shacks. Wheeling was a city of marble mansions and a large flock of the Bill Gates type. Wheeling was a steel town, but also the home town of many companies that went on to join the Dow Jones top companies.

Wheeling was the jumping off point for people going west. As St. Louis took over Wheeling gradually sank.  When he steel mills shut down it was pretty much game over. Right after World War two my grandfather was the mayor of the town. At that time Wheeling was cooking right along with a population of about 80,000.  Steel mills, coal mines, heavy machine works, casting, a thriving glass industry, and being the western terminus of the B&O made Wheeling a hub of prosperity.  Wheeling hosted WWVA.  WWVA was the second radio station in the country.  Watch any old movie and when you see people sitting around the radio you will hear the radio station identify itself as WWVA.  The radio station reached deep into Canada and across the U.S.  People came to Wheeling to gamble illegally, to enjoy the whore houses, and the horse race track on Wheeling Island.

The Interstate was the ruination of West Virginia. Prior to the interstate it was a struggle to get through West Virginia, now you just buzz by and don't spend a dime. West Virginia's saddest legacy is the people bought into the Republican Party.  In the old days West Virginia was about as union and democratic as you could get.  That was back in the prosperous days.  Today West Virginia has succumbed to the right wing rhetoric of Fox News.  Now all the people in the hills are being fed lies by Trump that the coal industry will come back.  It ain't going to happen, but it is fun dream.  Just like the lottery ticket the fool buys, the Republicans thrive on selling false dreams so it goes.  So out here on the prairie Kadizzle sits thinking about those folks in the hills who are cashing their welfare checks waiting for The Donald to make them great again.  Enjoy that welfare cheese, and keep on believing.

Sovereign came back a winner

As the crew gathered at the good ship it was discovered our steed was lame.  The hydraulic backstay had a leak and was useless.  The backstay is the system that supports the mast from the stern of the boat.  Mrs Kadizzle was in a bit of panic and did not think the boat could be sailed in that condition, but after some I dare say ingenious rigging the ship was good to go.  As the race began it looked hopeless and Kadizzle was cursing the monkeys at the weather office in Bismarck.  Everyone sat waiting for a gust of wind.  Nothing, absolutely nothing.  The temptation was to call off the race, but finally around one  the wind slowly came up.  It turned out to be a nice racing breeze.  As usual there was a lot of confusion at the start.  Three horn sequences are supposed to be blown to signify when the start is. Well they left out one set.  Non the less the good ship got a good start. Sovereign took off like a bullet and won the first race with a wide margin.

The Wolsky family with a racing father, and two racing sons has give Kadizzle grief because we win every year. Papa Wolsky claimed he set up the race with one buoy set in shallow water that the Sovereign could not get through. This was not true, but the Wolsky gang did have a trick up their sleeve.  On the second race the North buoy was not there.  The state park crew thought there would be only one race so after the first race they took the buoy down.  Josh Wolsky told the park crew to set the buoy in a different place.  This created a unique situation for the Sovereign.  The race was already in progress as the park crew tried to set the buoy.  So the Sovereign was steaming toward a buoy that was not there.  It appeared the park crew stopped to drop the buoy in the water so Sovereign headed toward them.  This meant an extra tack and that cost time.  Moving toward the apparent location of the buoy we had to round the park crew started moving.  Never has Kadizzle been in a race with markers that moved.  Sovereign was not foiled, we followed the park crew and rounded the buoy they still had in their boat.  Being first around the buoy we headed right back at the rest of the fleet coming right at us.  As god would have it Sovereign was on a starboard tack. Sailboat racing give the boat on starboard tack the right of way.  The evil in Kadizzle came out.  Kadizzle realized he could force a lot of boats off course.  The two boats of the Wolskey fleet were in perfect position to be jostled.  Kadizzle was able to force "Hellow Kitty" off course costing them some precious time.  We could not get to Pappa Wolskey but he was not a problem with a very heavy boat.

Sovereign won the second race also.  As explained earlier the rules have been set up so if we win we do not get the trophy.  This is actually good because it gives  others incentive to participate.  Sovereign was entitled to the second place trophy which was a nice painting of a sailing ship. The Sovereign crew donated the second place trophy to the third place winner.  The day turned out to be a lot of fun and people watching on shore seemed to enjoy the insanity.  Rarely do you see a race where they move the buoy, the first place winner gets the second place trophy, the second place winner gets the first place trophy, and the third place winner gets the second place Trophy, so the real winner goes home with nothing but a smile. A good time had by all.

Race Day

The big race it today.  Kadizzle called the National Weather Service at 5:30 this morning for the wind forecast.  Rarely do they get it right on race day.  Apparently they have a cage full of monkeys that throw darts.  One dart hit a wind direction, and another hits the speed. The report is complete. Now if the monkeys did a good job the wind will pickup around noon. To avoid the wind we will try to start and finish the race before the wind comes up.  That seems to be the pattern.

Kadizzle thought he might print out rules for the crew.

1. Losing is not an option
2. The captain must be obeyed
3.  Everyone on the boat is the captain
4.  Pull any line you would like whenever you want.
5.  If the helmsman tells you something ignore it if it doesn't suit your needs.
6.  Disagree on all decisions.
7.  Blame all failures on anyone but yourself.
8.  Make a list of reasons for failure.
9.  If we win take personal credit.
10. If we lose blame it on anything but our performance.
11. Have fun at any cost.

So if all goes well we meet Ruth and Rodger at 8, head across to the marina on the north side.  If history is any prediction the wind will be nonexistent.  The last two regattas had a decent wind for the start that died by the second buoy.  Please wind Gods don't do that again.

Last year Stroupini was on the crew. We were in the process of hoisting the mainsail. Kadizzle had a strong feeling Stroupini would screw up a one car funeral. Kadizzle told Stroupini to raise the main halyard just a little so Kadizzle could hook it to the Mainsail.  Of course Stroupini pulled on the halyard like he was trying to hang someone. The halyard jerked out of Kadizzle's hand and went up the mast too far to reach.  With the race about to start we had to hoist Stroupini up the mast to retrieve the halyard.  Doing this as we motored toward the start line was no easy task, but we made it.

A lot of the people who have not participated in sailboat races do not understand the importance of the start.  Sailboats start races while moving. The boats jockey for position waiting for the gun to be fired which signals you can cross the line.  In order to fight for position it is normal to force other boats out of the way according to the rules. This means at times you must come extremely close to the other boat, often within a few feet.  To the uninitiated it seems intimidating, but that is the fun of it.  Politeness in yielding right of way usually means you are going to lose. The boat on starboard tack has the right of way.  If you can force the other boat to tack it slows him down.

How do the Bee's do it?

For the second time Kadizzle had a collision with a bee.  The last time the flying Kadizzle on the motorcycle ran into a bee was just three weeks ago.  Your going down the road at 55 mph and suddenly you feel a sting. Same thing yesterday going 35 mph.  It happens so fast. The only feasible explanation Kadizzle can muster is that he is running into the back of the bee.  After all that is where the stinger is.  The inside of my right arm is sore this morning from the sting.  The solution seems to be wear a jacket.

Made the rounds yesterday on the remeadigus.  Stopped at the Crazy Club.  Shiny is on vacation so the proprietor has to run the joint for a few days.  As Kadizzle chatted up the owner Stroupini stopped in.  Stroupini has taken on an odd job.  The Sheriff appointed him guardian for a lady with mental problems. The lady would make an excellent member of the club.  However, she is being detained in the big crazy club in Jamestown where the professionals are kept.  Seems he lady tried to run over a policeman. Not a good idea.  Stroupini is trying to sort out her financial affairs and do what he can to get the woman's life in order.

Over at Rita's crazy club we discussed recruitment.  Rita lost two of her prize nut cases and needs some new members.  Our crazy club was considering a cookout in the Pocket Park.  After we did the budget and found we had no money for real cookies Shiny cut out a picture of cookies and put it beside the coffee.  That gave us the idea to put a picture of cheeseburgers on the grill. Anyone who asked for one and ate it would be considered for membership.

Back at the ranch we are catching up on the clothes washing, folding, and putting away from the trip. The grass has been cut and hauled away.  Now the time has come to pay the bills. To avoid exchange rate fees in Canada we used a lot of different credit cards.  Figuring out how to pay all the blood suckers will be a task for today.  Both our offspring are experiencing the twin frustrations of raising a child and making a living.  Now they get a chance to see how their parents lived.   Unable to sleep Kadizzle got up at 4:30.  No real news, perhaps the Trumpster will fire out an insane tweet today.  The Republicans are up the creek in Texas without a paddle.  Their own rednecks are wet and need help.  This looks like they may have to change their song.  No more money for the wall, no more demeaning big government.  Now the government is supposed to fix the mess climate change created in Texas.  Of course there is no such thing as climate change induced by man.  Ted Cruz bitched about the federal government helping out New York when the storm hit there.  Poor old Ted along with the rest of the greed dogs will be enjoying meals of crow for some time.  Mother nature has dope slapped the Republican better than anyone could have dreamed.  Like it or not they now have to show compassion for something other than tax breaks.

Another big battle continued yesterday.  The ASUS computer started to smoke and died while Kadizzle lay in bed surfing the intergoogle.  Computers can die like anything else, but they should not emit smoke when they die.  It would be nice if a big puff of smoke comes out some orifice on Kadizzle when he dies, but not from the computer.  The battle begins with ASUS.  For a computer company they seem very confused.  Call number one went like this, " We will get back to you in 24 hours".  Never heard from them.  Second third and fourth call about the same.  Each time they said the safety department would call.  Six days later the safety department set up a time to call.  The call was set for eleven. No call, so Kadizzle called them.  OK we will call you within an hour. No call.  After days of frustration they finally called and Kadizzle convinced them they needed to do something.  So the computer gets shipped back today.

We are living in an age where people have bombs in their pockets, and in their lap. Imagine a computer catching fire on a plane.  A friend did not have to imagine it, her plane made an emergency landing because a lap top caught fire. Modern devices try to pack a lot of energy into a small space.  When that energy is mismanaged a fire often results.  People with E-cigarettes have their pants catch fire.  Phones melt, and so do computers.  What if you walk out of the room and come back to find the room on fire because your laptop caught fire? Not good.  As we go to electric cars we may have cars that melt.  It has already happened with the Tesla.  The stuff batteries are made of burns unlike a lot of other things. You are dealing with some exotic metals that water cannot put out.  Airplanes now scare me more.  Some laptop in the cargo hold may decide to burst into flames, not good.  Kadizzle has been called a flaming idiot, but he does not want to become one with a laptop in his hands.

Second Place

The Kadizzles are back home with the grass needing cut.  A long smokey drive across Washington, Montana, and North Dakota. The planet is melting and no one notices.  Kadizzzle has seen the dead reefs in Belize, The forest on fire in the Northwest, and the insane floods in Texas, yet the magical Republicans deny there is a problem.

Off subject already.  The race, the sailboat race is scheduled for Saturday. Kadizzle has put his team together. There will be a nice trophy of pure silver.  Now the strange part, the Kadizzle team has been prohibited from winning.  Last year before the race Kadizzle was told that " If you come in first you will get the second place trophy".   The problem is the good ship won in past years by an astounding margin.  This was the result of a fast boat, and a good captain.  Well not really, we had good starts and more important good luck.  Now the puzzling part.  If the second place winner gets the first place trophy, it seems that it would be easy to drop back to second place. Maybe not.  When sailboats race and they are of different make and model the boats are scored by a Performance Handicap Racing system.  This means a fast boat must win by a margin.  For example we might have to beat all the other boats by twenty minutes.  So if you deliberately came in second you would have to carefully cross the finish line by some exact margin.  Maybe we could wait at the finish line and let the second place boat cross.  That would not guarantee us second in this strange system because we would have to beat boat number three by a specific margin.  Trying to figure out how to come in second becomes very complicated. Add to the this the fact that they might deny us the trophy anyway and we have a mess on our hands.  Actually the idea is to get more people racing, so we don't really care.  As long as people have fun and learn something about sailboat racing it is mission accomplished.

One of the best ever

The Kadizzles are headed back to the prairie.  Years ago we met Darch. Darch is an esteemed international member of the Crazy Club in Hazen.  Darch came to Hazen to ride the Ma Da Hey trail this summer. A finer athlete over 70 cannot be found. Darch invited us to sail in the Broken Island chain on his 35 foot catamaran.  It was a wonderful trip and would be hard to beat. The weather was perfect,

Perhaps tomorrow I will ad some photos.  Compared to our boat the catamaran was luxurious.  Each hull had a double bunk and it's  own head with a shower.  The salon was roomy and very comfortable. The stability of a catamaran is an easy sell. No healing got to be pretty nice to live with.  The scenery, the coves, and the company were spectacular.  On our last day out we finally caught some salmon.  What  a meal. The first day out Darch pulled up his crab pot with six nice specimens.  Clams and oysters were do da to gather and we could harvest them at will.

The highlight of the trip was a dingy trip to Lucky Falls.  Unbelievable beauty, magnificent pools of crystal clear water, and  of course we had a wonderful swim. Kadizzle was so tempted to dive from a forty foot cliff into a bottomless pool, but thought better of it.  We are tired so that is all for today.

Free was free

The Toyota had a slow leak on the left rear side of the car.  Discount tire in Burlington, Washington said " bring it in, we will fix it for free".   Well, they did.  Mr. and Mrs Kadizzle thought it was a trick, but they were very nice and did not try to sell us a new tire.  So give them one hundred good boy points.

Today if all goes as planned we take the car ferry to Canada.  Mrs. Kadizzle has an expired passport so she may never be able to return to our country.  Also we are now closer to North Korea.  So if the two crazy men get in a nuclear battle we may get rained on by missiles.  Mrs. Kadizzle had the brilliant idea of fresh seafood for dinner.  Four shrimp each and a small serving of crab meat came to 31 bucks for the food we took back to the hotel to eat.

Tomorrow we will be sailing in Vancouver.  Kadizzle has done a lot of sailing, but for some strange reason ocean sailing makes him prone to sea sickness.  Somehow the brain can deal with simple lake waves, but it is the swells that mix with the waves Kadizzle cannot sort out.  Hopefully this will not be a problem.  The best solution is to be topside and keep an eye on the horizon.

Other than the wonderful scenery, our entertainment has been the Trump meltdown.  Every time you think he has had it and reached the bottom he goes lower.  It has been a long time since any president has come close to being as bad as the current self obsessed clown.

Bear in a Box

Somewhere near Twisp we camped for the night.  Ran into bear hunters.  The outside of the bear was in the big cooler including the head.  This would be the run and the trophy.  The rest of the coolers had the meat.  Kadizzle thinks you should leave the bears alone, but these guys did not.  They gave Mrs Kadizzle some bear meat sausage, Mr. Kadizzle wanted none.  Nice guys, but leave the bears alone.

Back to yesterday, forgot to mention the Testicle festival. Some little town in Montana near Drummond had a testicle festival going on.  Since Kadizzle has had prostate cancer and a vasectomy he decided not to enter. Looked like a big ring dang do for a little town.   Some fella is traveling with three Maltese dogs on his motorcycle.  What a set up.  Three little boxes that a dog head sticks out of.  He was at the campground and we shot the BS.  He was a real BS competitor.  We talked all the talk we could til we gave out.

Crazy Day already

Looks like the tire is low, so we stop for air.  A girl falls out of her truck. Asks Mrs. Kadizzle for 87 cents to get beer.  Mrs Kadizzle in surprize move ask Mr Kadizzle to give her the money.  We give simple minded girl a dollar, she never says thanks.  Why did Mrs K want to give a girl money for beer at eight in the morning?  Who knows.  Kadizzle explains to the girl she has a problem.  Kadizzle tries to give girl advice.  Ask if the girl is on meth, she says she is not.  Kadizzle tells girl they should not drink and drive.  Girl says they have death wish.  As Kadizzle drives away thinks he should have got license number and alerted police.  Hope the dingers don't get hurt or kill someone.  Stupid move to give her a buck. What will we do stupid next.  Heading North and West.

Drummond Montana

Up and awake, just poured coffee at Drummond rodeo grounds.  Dropped into another world. Trains rumbling by all night.  Smoke from forest fires as the planet burns to the ground.  Slept in the tent.

Up Early and heading West

Kadizzles will head west.  Darch invited us to sail near Vancouver so off we go today.  Across the wild Montana, mile, after mile, until only the ocean stops us. What a change from a dried up prairie to nothing but water. Darch has a nice catamaran.  It will be a first for these monohull sailors.  If the seafood from the back of the boat is a good as Darch says we will live the life of ease.

When we cross into Canada we will leave the crazy mess of Trump behind.  However, Trump may end up with missiles raining down on the wrong country if the aim of North Korea is poor. The recent insanity of Trump has been fun to watch.  The best part was when his trainer, controller, or whatever had that " Oh No!" look on his face as Trump departed from his printed script.

We will travel through some heavy bubba country and woods that surely have gun nuts, Nazi flags, and are ready to rise up and help Trump make America Great.

As a kid you never thought some of the things  you have seen happen would.  Clinton getting a tune up from Monica was a big surprize.  Electing a black president was amazing, but a totally mentally ill man has now topped the game.  Only his hard core supporters do not notice he is suffering from some kind of strange mental illness.

A comedian had a great idea, make Trump King.  Be like England.  Have a King that is just a simple minded fool with no power.  Trump could go around in a king outfit and he would be the happiest man on Earth.  Part of the castle could have a Trump Tower.  As King he would be harmless and he could choose any titles he wants.  He could be " His royal purveyor of Truth".  As a figurehead we could send him around the world, and keep our own country safe.  Of course when he emerged from the castle there would be Trumpeteers praising him.  His majesty the grabber could ride around in a carriage pulled by donkeys.  We would tell him they were unicorns.

Washington Phillips - Denomination Blues, Pt. 1

41 Idiots

North Dakota is a great place to live, but the people do not get out much.  The legislature in North Dakota is made up of old goats.  The goats graduated from the coffee shops in their home town.  Our legislators live in a small world.  In the small world everyone needs a gun, in the small world Fox News is the only news.   Awhile back North Dakota made the national news with the pipeline protest.  The goats went wild. What should we do? One simple minded goat in the legislature came up with a law that would pretty much hold a person harmless for running down a protester with you car.  52 sane normal legislators voted against this bill, but 41 idiots voted for it.  Now that is pretty scary the high percentage of plain vanilla idiots we have elected in North Dakota.  The North Dakota legislature is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Republicans.  North Dakota has fallen under the spell of right wing media.  Rush, KFYR radio, or some simple minded blogger make up some right wing crap, and now it is doctrine.  The typical right winger in North Dakota reads and listens to nothing but those outlets that will assure them Trump indeed was sent by God.  Reality has left the mind of the Republicans.  Trump followers believe their Jesus can do no wrong.

The Dog smelled a Democrat

Kadizzle got on the scale yesterday, the news was disheartening. The gravity in the bathroom was extreme.  To solve the problem Kadizzle headed north on his bike.  With earphones on and a good music playlist the day was about as good as it could be.  There may have even been a little tailwind.

As the road got near 1806 ten miles North of Hazen Kadizzle saw the flag pole in the yard.  Today it just had the American flag flying.  On many days a Trump flag would fly from that pole.  Kadizzle wanted to average 14.5 miles per hour for the trip so he was moving pretty well as he approached the compound of idiocy that flies a Trump flag.  On the bike speedometer it showed 20mph.  The Trump dog smelled a Democrat and came racing out onto the highway to taste the sweet meet of a fat Democrats leg.  Kadizzle thought the dog could not do twenty, but he was wrong. The dog got ahead of the bike as he nipped and almost caused a good man to go down.  Kadizzle will fight Trump and his dog to the end.  Peddling furiously Kadizzle pulled ahead.  The dog was left behind, but Kadizzle had to shortly return the same way.

You cannot reason with Trump supporters, so Kadizzle needed a plan for the return trip.  As Kadizzle pedaled toward the intersection with 1806 he searched for the appropriate weapon.  As if God intended Kadizzle to defeat the evil minion of Trump there it was.  Leaning on the fence post on the right was a long light steel pipe, perfect for educating a Trump supporter.  With the pipe Kadizzle headed back toward the Trump compound.  Sure enough his dog Steve Bannon came running after Kadizzle.  Dismounting the bike Kadizzle got into his battle stance with the pipe.  Both the dog and the Trump supporter that owned him realized what would happen.  Dog brain hesitated and rethought his attack, Trump man captured the dog and all was well.  Teddy Roosevelt said " Walk quietly and carry a big stick".   Kadizzle says ride quickly and carry a light pipe about ten feet long.  So the pipe rest about a half mile before Trumps four legged minion.   Bear spray may be the next surprise for the four legged barker.  The dog will find Democrats smell tasty, but have a bitter odor that burns your eyes and nostrils.

Who will be next?

As a young person you rarely thought about who would be next. Who would be next to be shipped to Vietnam might have been a thought, or who would be next to get married.  As an old guy 68 who will be next has become a different thought. At 68 old Kadizzle now has seen a lot of people drawn up to the great beyond.  In his career mining, and power planting Kadizzle got to know hundreds of people. Add to that friends, relatives, and the guy down the street and when you ask "Who will be next?", it takes on a big number. The system has no rhyme or reason.  A healthy person is struck down with cancer. An old goat that smoked himself to an extreme is still puffing at 70.  A skinny guy dies of a heart attack while the big lard ass who never exercised in fifty years is still stuffing himself with sausages like he is a sausage.

When the big wheel spins the good get struck down just like the rotten scoundrels.  Are those people somewhere else or are they atoms no longer associated with each other?  Each of us will have a magic moment where we find out.

So all you leave behind is the good you have done or the evil you promoted. You were on a planet with billions of people.  Did you improve it? Did you take more than your share?

Hamburger Man

I have got to remember, it is a fine memory, that soft naked lady God meant her to be.  That is how the song goes, but this is a different memory.  A thousand, maybe two thousand years ago I worked at the Burger Chef in my little suburb of Woodsdale.  This was back in the hills of Wheeling, West Virginia. It was a high school  job.  Mike Walen, who I also played football with at Triadelphia worked there too.  His nickname was The Wale.  Mike had a habit of yelling " Duke is on" or  "Duke is off".   Duke was the older guy who managed the place for the owner.  If The Wale yelled " Duke is on"  everyone knew to put on their best behavior and sparkle things up a bit.  One day Duke somehow got into the building without The Wale knowing it.  The Wale did see Duke's car out in front as he cooked french fries.  The Wale thought Duke had just arrived when actually Duke was standing right behind him.  The Wale bellowed out " Duke is on" and then turned to find Duke right behind him.

The hamburger dispensary was deliberately designed so customers could look into the cooking area.  Being able to see the entire process meant customers could decide for themselves about the cleanliness.  The place was kept very clean.  Hamburgers were cooked on a chain.  Never since then have I seen such a set up.  The raw patties were put on the chain and as it moved through flames on top and on the bottom the meat was cooked.  The device was like a conveyor belt and could turn out a lot of hamburgers.  Sometimes during exam periods West Liberty students would order hundreds of hamburgers.

To make the math simple all prices were in 15 cent increments.  Once you got to know the multiples of 15 making change was easy.  Looking back it was amazing how much math and how many order you could do at one time.

At the end of the day often there were be some stray cheeseburgers left over.  These became lunch the next day at high school.  A lot of stories still told today took place there.  The parking lot was a gathering place for teens at that time.

Often particularly on Sundays a line would build up of people waiting to purchase food.  Some fool would come in and stare at the menu printed on a large board over the counter area.  As the person staired everyone would get irate.  Frustrated I often said " Next please, please next, can I help you or are you beyond help?".   This would somehow get the attention of the gawker, and things wouuld go on.

The pay was less than a dollar an hour, but it kept my budget going.  Pickles for the hamburgers came in large wooden barrels,  the french fries were made fresh.  A large potato peeler machine that basically sanded the skin off operated in the back.  Each potato was put by hand into a device that cut  it into fries.  The Wale cooked the fries and did a good job.  Often he was making fries and dipping a few into the tarter sauce to eat while he worked.  This did his weight no good.

One night the I was at the front counter and a customer burst through the front door.  The customer immediately flung a bag of hamburgers at me he had previously bought.  The customer yelled " I don't have to eat this crap anymore".   The man was very irate.  I ducked, and the hamburger sack flew into the back of the building.  Sort of panicking I told the man " I don't cook these things, he does" and I pointed to the night manager.  Somehow they resolved the issue, but it was fortunate the counter was built in a way customers could not get to us.

Another incident I clearly remember because it was so bizarre. The hamburger patties came premade. You dropped them quickly on the conveyor chain and let them cook.  The process became so routine no one payed much attention to what was going on, or even closely looked at the finished product.  A customer came back to the counter with a hamburger he had just purchased.  He said he wanted to show it to the manager.  Opening the hamburger there it was.  Right in the middle of the cooked patty was a piece of cowhide.  It had the skin and hair still on it.  Something had gone wrong in the processing.  The manager said to the customer " What do you want me to do about it?".  The customer said " I want another one".   The manager was a smart ass, and could not resist.  He replied " We don't have anymore like that".  I was surprised the incident was resolved so easily.  The man got another burger and seemed satisfied.

It was my first real job.  I learned a lot.  I learned to show up, shut up, put up, and grow up.  I learned how to treat people, and I learned I could do a lot more in my head than I thought.  A lot more stories could be told about what went on at the Burger Chef, but to protect the people involved you don't get to read them.

Hacked and The National Association for Advancement of Humanity.

Somehow a digital dinger hacked into our Amazon account.  Kadizzle did not get too excited, but Mrs Kadizzle went nuts.  The clandestine person who apparently was in Michigan, more likely India,  sent themselves a couple of gift certificates.  Amazon took the charges off our credit card.

The insanity was canceling cards and changing passwords.  Part of what gave Mrs Kadizzle great consternation was the fact that some of our passwords were on a computer accessible place. For security that is all the detail Kadizzle can give.  Kadizzle has now encrypted the passwords.  In the hidden little digital place the passwords now are they are not what they appear to be.  If the sneakers use their computer to try a brute force attack it will take a century or two.  The sneakers and their friends in India will see smoke coming from the computer.

The other day when Kadizzle was visiting the missile launch facility the gang stopped for lunch.  At lunch Kadizzle got a call from a woman with a thick Indian accent.  The woman claimed to be from Amazon and asked some questions about our credit card.  The restaurant was so noisy Kadizzle could not hear the woman clearly and never gave her any information, but she did seem to have the last four digits of the Amazon card.  Undoubtedly she was part of the fraud.

So now we have a higher level of security, but when we need a password it will be like the British trying to decipher the German code.  We can do it, but it will take some doing.  One thing everyone has learned by now is when you get a call from someone in India, more than likely it aint a good idea to tell them anything.  One thing they may be doing is simply verifying your phone number.  That is what Kadizzle thinks Mrs Gandhi was doing.

Kadizzle has a policy of answering his phone.  If you call and the phone does not show a legitimate person or number is calling,  you may get this answer, " Hello, this is The National Association for the Advancement of Humanity".    Next you will be asked who you are.   Sometimes this works out strangely.  Kadizzle writes a lot of letters to the Bismarck Tribune.  The Tribune always calls to verify the letters.  The Tribune number always shows up as  "unknown".  Consequently they get The National Association for the Advancement of Humanity answer.  Fortunately the Tribune has figured out how this works.  In summary if you call me and I don't know you, please identify yourself.

The Missile Silo

Shanika, Stoupini, and Kadizzle made the long trip to Cooperstown ND.  We inspected the launch facilities for the nuclear missiles.  The woman conducting the tour had a terrible squeaky voice combined with a laugh that made you glad she was not your wife.  What a job.  Being in the Air Force as a missile launcher had to be the most boring monotonous job on Earth.  Sitting underground in a large cement egg for 24 hours did not seem like fun.  There was one bed so one person could sleep.  The silliest thing in the launch set up was the key that activated the missile.  One the key it was printed " Do Not Duplicate".   Imagine someone going to a hardware store with a key to start a nuclear war and asking the clerk to make a couple.

Everything about the launch site screamed 1950's technology, and decor.  The Russian facilities could not have been much worse.  According to our host the Russians have taken the tour at Cooperstown. Insanity is all you can think when you inspect.  With hundreds of these missiles still in operation in North Dakota it is reassuring to know we have an insane president that could easily get us into a nuclear meltdown.  The poor guys in the bunker have a very strange escape route after the war ends.  They get to emerge from a tunnel into a landscape that will be toasted.  To get up the tunnel they first have to open it. One major problem the tunnel is filled with sand.  So after the war when the food and water in the launch site are used up and leaving is the last option the fellows below have a special way to open a trap door.  When opened a lot of their living space will fill with sand from the tunnel.  Out they will scramble with most of the world's population dead or radioactive.  Emerging one might say to another " Gee I wish I had not voted for Trump".

How Appropriate.

Even though Trump just started beating his war drum yesterday Shanika had been planning for the Crazy Club to have an outing to a missile silo.  North Dakota has always hurt for tourism, so over in the Eastern part of the state they made a missile silo into a tourist attraction. That is where we will go today. Missiles grow like sunflowers in North Dakota.  When old Kadizzle first moved to North Dakota he remembers driving out in the middle of nowhere and seeing missile silos.  Thankya Jeesus no missile ever popped up out of one.

Now Kadizzle might get to see his first launch.  The old crazy Trumpster is going after North Korea.  North Dakota has more missiles than any country on Earth.  Most of them are north of the lake about fifteen miles from here, but as flat as the prairie is here it will look like the fourth of July if Trump pushes the button.  Sometimes killing a fly with a sledgehammer gets the job done, and if there is ever a guy for that task it is Trump.  When Trump tells a lie he uses a big lie, even though a little lie might work.  His first big lie was Obama was born in Kenya.  The dolts that love him licked it up.  One good thing about Trump and his lies is he never comes through.  No wall, no destruction of Obama care, maybe the guy in North Korea knows the Trumpster is all bluster.

As the coffee goes down Kadizzle sits here in a world endangered by two crazy men.  One was not elected and the other one was just what we needed.  So let the day begin.

Drawn Up to the Lord

Dave got drawn up to the Lord.  Old Dave Smith finally took off for Heaven.  Long ago and far away Kadizzle had a coal mining career.  Kadizzle mined it under the ground, and on the ground.  Back at the Glenharold Mine Kadizzle met Dave Smith.  Smith was a big man then, his recent bad health shrunk him to half his size.  Dave was an inventive guy.  For a long time Dave was the oiler on the loading shovel.  The oiler had a lot of time on his hand, and you probably did not even really need and oiler.  There was not much an oiler could do when the shovel was working loading trucks, so Dave made do dads and invented things with the crap laying around on the shovel. Dave was mechanically inclined although he did not have much education.  Dave came up with a lot of clever stuff.

Dave had a special way of seeing the world.  Somewhere he always came up with jokes you had not heard before.  A story Kadizzle has told about Dave many times is how Dave got his foot under the 150 ton shovel.  One day Kadizzle was parked near the 190 loading shovel.  It was time to move the shovel closer to the coal so the loading could continue.  A job of the oiler was to move the large electric cable for the shovel as it moved.  By hand Dave acted as a human mule and grabbed the big electrical cable.  As Dave pulled on the cable Ron Hummel moved the shovel forward.   The steel tracks on the shovel were as tall as Dave.  Dave was not paying attention, but looking at Hummel for directions.  When the shovel crept forward it ran over Dave's foot.  Fortunately for Dave he was wearing the required steel toed shoes.  The 150 ton shovel track pushed Dave's foot into the mud.  Dave was trapped under the shovel with his foot.  He was unhurt, but was unable to extract his foot.  Hummel had to back the shovel up so Dave could get his foot out.  Kadizzle always told the story at safety meetings to explain why people needed to wear steel toed shoes.

Dave had to retire early because of a heart problem.  A heart implant kept him alive.  Almost on a daily basis Kadizzle would ride by Dave's garage.  Dave would be out there tinkering with the old hot rod he loved.  His ability to invent things never ceased to amaze Kadizzle.  Dave could take one thing and make it into another.  Kadizzle would stop and exchange insults, pleasantries, and just plain bullshit with Dave.   Dave was on the daily ramidigus route.   Dave was known locally as a character.  Dave was never the man you would suspect to be an artist, but he did take some art classes from Shiny.  Dave belonged to Rita's Crazy club.   Recently Kadizzle told Rita she needed to recruit.  Rita is very low on hard core crazy people.  With Dave gone to Heaven, and Crazy Bill out of town she has no hard core crazy people.  Somehow crazy people are like magnets they attract each other.   Rita and her gang will draw in some more crazy people.   Trump is great at attracting other crazy people like himself.  Hopefully Trump will invite all the crazy clubs to Washington for a convention.

Sex with a Peacock

I took my dad to the mall once to get him new shoes (he is 66).  We decided to grab a bite at the food court.

I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him… the teenager had spiked hair in all different rainbow colors — blue, red, green and orange.  My dad kept staring at her.  The teenager would keep looking and my dad would be staring every time.

When the teenager had had enough, she sarcastically asked,  “What’s the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?”

Knowing my dad, I quickly swallowed my food so I wouldn’t choke on his response — I knew he would have a good one.

In classic style he responded without batting an eyelid: “Got stoned once and fucked a peacock.   Just wondering if you were my daughter.”

Manhaven

For no known Earthly reason there has been a tradition among some old Hazenites to hike to Manhaven every year.  Manhaven is a town that used to exist below the dam.  Parking as close as we could with the group we embarked.  Stoupini and the women decided to go along the river.  Kadizzle thought poorly of this idea.  Brush and weeds were dense along the river, but up and away from the river it was almost open prairie.  Mrs. Kadizzle did have the good sense to go with Pat on a different higher route.  The prairie group made good time, but the stumblebums along the river proceeded very slowly.

Kadizzle was making very good time until he came to a very steep sided ravine.  With a little delicate climbing in and out he made it across.  The prairie group got to the town site long before the jungle trekkers.  Manhaven was an old town started in 1906 where grain was loaded onto the steamboats.  800 people may have lived there at one time.  Farmers brought the grain down to the river and the grain bins held the grain until the ship arrived.  Up on a high bank the grain was stored until it could be slid by gravity down to the boats.  One or two houses still survive in rickety condition.  A few features can still be discerned from the old buildings.

After a good workout walking, a drink at Little's Bar, and a ride home Lauren served a wonderful meal. Laughter and BS flowed.  Such is life on the prairie.

Three Old Men

Three motorcycles blasted west toward the Pacific.  Shanika, Carlos Stoupini, and Kadizzle headed to the land south of Zap. The idea was to find some good rugged roads to test our skills.  It never happened all we did was ride 76 miles on gravel and asphalt.  However, there was a lot of wonderful scenery.  Kadizzle was amazed by how few people are out there in the North Dakota outback.  Arizona has such amazing roads to explore compared to the tame roads of North Dakota.  This winter the old farts can get together in AZ to do it right.

Once home Shanika and Mrs. Kadizzle cooked up a very nice meal.  The conversation was good the wine and hooch flowed freely, and right after the meal the gravity increased to the point a nap was in order.  In other words Kadizzle drank too much and went to bed.

Yesterday Kadizzle got a good start and took the torn sail to Rita's for repair.  Rita and Diana fixed the sail with Kadizzle's help. Rita and Diana both have a good sense of humor and we had a great  time laughing as we put 135 feet of stitching in the sail.  Perhaps today the sail will go back on the good ship.  Once again the sun has risen and the adventures of the day will begin.  Mrs. Kadizzle is in the back of the house by the engine room getting up to date. Kadizzle has lubed her with coffee and water. Rain will fall and wind will blow, deer will die in the winter snow.

Report from the Crazy Club

Recent donations enabled the Crazy club to stock a nice supply of cookies.  The meeting was well attended.  Shanika was present with Stroupini.  Stroupini came in on the train and gave a niced report on sailing in Port Townsend.  Shanika says he has a new job lined up, but refuses to disclose what it is.  Mrs Kadizzle decided to attend the meeting.  After a variety of subjects were addressed the owner of the Club house showed up.  Recently he had attended Folk Fest in Winnipeg.  A report was given on the various performers.  Kadizzle feeling magnanimous with the recent Trump Bump in the stock market took the members to lunch at the Bison Bar and Grill in Hazen.  At the bar the Crazies were served by a young woman aspiring to be Miss North Dakota.   All the old goats gave the young woman advice and made a big donation in the form of a tip to her clothing budget. Miss Rodeo Mandan said it takes some snazzy clothes to win.

So here old Kadizzle sits with the Sonos going, and the coffee dripping.  What lies will Trump tell today.  More than likely someone will call him and tell him how great he is.  That has been the current trend.  What a wonderful country we live in.   A man clearly mentally ill, and a pathological liar is our leader, yet we keep chugging along unstopped by his childish insanity.  Get er done.  Americans don't let one monkey spoil the whole damn show.  With that in mind Kadizzle could use a good monkey.  Someone has to go up the sailboat mast and do some repair.  Stoupini volunteered for the job.  Stroupini is a lot lighter than old Kadizzle, so he may  get the job.   The next big task is to to take down the head sail and repair it.  Rita at the the other Crazy club said she would give it a try.

The rattle battle.

This is a photo from the rattlesnake mating we recently witnessed on the week long sail.  Mr. and Mrs rattler should expect some spunky little rattlers next spring.  Rattlesnake children get rattles soon after birth.  The site of these guys has changed Kadizzle's perspective on hiking in the Badlands.  Not sure what could happen swimming, but prior to their appearance Kadizzle was swimming nearby when he installed the boat tie downs on shore.  This was perfect snake country. 

Rant

When you think Trump can get no worse, he does.  Kadizzle is sitting here listening to NPR.  NPR just did a story on Trump suggesting to police officers they bang peoples head on the police car as they put them in the back seat.  The idiot we have for a president is unprecedented.  Whenever Trump gets caught in one of his insane statement he always claims it was a joke.  When you control nuclear weapons it is best not to confuse people about when you are joking.  Anyone who pays any attention to the national news knows police brutality is a hot topic.  Police shootings have been a real problem. Now, the president suggest a little bump on the head might be in order.  What if a person is innocent? What if before the entire facts are known the person arrested gets a nice head slam, and then it turns out the person was arrested by mistake?  In our country we commonly believe we do not torture people, and the police treat you as innocent until proven guilty.

The ability of Trump supporters to deny what they see and hear is amazing.  The incredible thing about the Trump gang is the support network.  You have Fox News caught in blatant lie, after lie, yet the Trump supporters watch Hannity cover up for the Trumpster every day.  In North Dakota there is a subculture of dolts that feed on KFYR right wing radio, Fox, and Rob Port.  Rob Port is an amature liar who works from his mother's basement.  This is not a made up item.  Check it out.  Port works from mom's home.  In North Dakota the newspapers will not pay a decent wage for real reporting.  The result is discount news.  A bunch of wanna bees make up stories, and the North Dakota news media prints it.

Our society has reached a new low.  Truth is what you want it to be, you can get someone to back you on any silly fantasy you have.  Now you get your news from the organization that tells you what you want to hear.  When you were a kid your parents read to you.  They read you made up stories you liked. Now we have Fox News, and Rush doing the same thing.  The theme is always the same.  A bunch of welfare cheats are trying to rob the rich.  Mexicans are invading, and liberals are brainwashing the young with real science.   The ultimate insanity of all this brain dead information age are the fundamentalist.  The people who love Jeeesus voted Trump into office.  The Jesus gang stands by the most vulgar man ever elected, the grabber.  How does this work?  How does the Jesus gand support a man obsessed with himself, and greed?  Is this really happening?

The Miracles of Jesus Under Trumpcare