The Quest

If all goes well Kadizzle will head out with his brother in law to find some pictographs early today.  Somewhere out there up a canyon are some pictographs many never get to see. We were there last year with Sylvie and her family.  Remembering how to find them will be the key.

Last night we had our version of Little Big Horn.  The massive tribe gathered for a pre-Turkey day feast.  Oldest sister of six Melissa and youngest sister Patty came with their spouses.  Add to them Mrs Kadizzle's extended family of Ben, Bonnie, and Josh.  Now throw in Sylvie, Erin, and Fran.  A pinch of Megan, Sam, and Evie and you have a vast gene pool.

The men got to sit around the fire pit late into the evening.  Ben is a Civil War expert, one of the top three Civil War appraisers in the country.  Brother in law Ned is a pretty good expert on the history of this area.  A lot of speculation and history were discussed.  Ben has been an avid Civil War relic hunter and has found several civil war bodies.  In his quest for relics he also found the body of a modern murder victim, a young girl.

So here Kadizzle sits among many great cooks, as if he needed more good food.  Hopefully a little hike today will make some belly room.  Little Joey is so excited about the prospect of pumpkin pie, and stuffing.  Little joey loves stuffing.

Kadizzle dreams to the extend it is a disorder.  Elaborate detailed dreams fill his head at night almost like going to the movies.  Last night was special.  Trump's motorcade came down the street and Kadizzle got to personally tell the Trumpster what he thought of his policies of destruction.  For the grand finally in the dream Kadizzle got to slap Trump.  Cannot wait to go to sleep tonight to see what happens next.

Now if you are a bit bored today read Gail Collins in The New York Times.  She is doing one of her quizzes today.

Once again the sun has risen.

Getting of dead center is impossible with Mrs. Kadizzle in command.  Should we go to A, or B, or maybe skip that and go to C.  Well three of us could go to A, and those who have not been to B can go to B. No we should all go together.  Ok, then maybe we should just go to C today and A and B tomorrow.  Well if we all go together we need to wait for the baby's nap to end.  Ok.  Well two of us could hike, and those who do not want to walk could go to A.  Well if we go to B we could be back early to start cooking.  Yea, now that we have been discussing this for an hour it is too late to go to A and B, but we may have time to go to C.  No, C will be too crowded so we need to go to B.  Maybe we could sit by the pool and read while the leader makes up her mind.  As the clock approaches 11 someone will say " We should have lunch before we go or pack a lunch".  Well since it is so close to noon we may as well eat here.  Now we can eat lunch and that will mean we cannot leave until 1.  Since my sister is coming for dinner we will need to be back by three.  With so little time we may as well just stay here.

Long ago and far away

Fran and Kadizzle are alone at the vacation house.  What we have in common is a big family. Kadizzle comes from a family of nine, and Fran from a family of 7.  The mingling crowd reminds us both of growing up in large tribes.  One childhood memory is waking up on a Saturday morning.  Almost without fail some friend of an older brother or sister would be sleeping on the couch.

Mrs Kadizzle comes from a family of two children.  One's outlook on life has a lot to do with siblings. As one of nine you learn a lot of diplomacy, and other social skills such as how to conduct a war by age ten.  Kadizzle can remember sibling battles. Kathleen was always pretty good sized. When she decided which side of the conflict she would join that usually meant that side would win.

Now we are enjoying two grandpa's, two grannies, two son in laws, two children, and two grand children.  Two of Kadizzle's sisters's plus a nephew may show up latter and another nephew will come in later from Richmond.  This will be like the Battle of Little Big Horn where tribes came from all corners.

The America's Cup AC75 boat concept revealed.

Terrible Nest of Liberals

Even the Democratic convention would not have this many liberals in one place. The extended Kadizzle Klan has gathered and the morning update is taking place.  This is not the Klan Trump is associated with.  Baby admiration is a consuming task. Evie is charming with her smile.  Cheech is reading to her 9 month old " Is there room on the broom?".   The curiousity of a child is amazing.  Sylvie is using up her allotted cartoon time.

With this crowd hammering a plan together will take until noon.  Kadizzle may take Uncle Ben on an Indian hike to see some hidden pictographs.  Sylvie is determined to spend another eight hours in the hot tub and pool.  With ten people the dishwasher runs almost constantly.  Praise the lord we got some good cooks here and Fran made some great fajitas last night.

Weather is cooperating with plenty of sunshine and the right temperatures.  Everyone is doing their morning updates to see what Trump is up to.  Watching the Republican pickle with Roy Moore is a lot of fun.  The evangelicals have to support the teen dater.  The same evangelicals that voted for Trump the grabber.  People always say Jesus loves sinners, well he has a couple good Republican sinners to lavish his love on as they destroy the tax code and health care.

Over medicated

Uncle Ben and Kadizzle sat by the fire pit. The whole clan has arrived and we have a reunion.  Would you like a little more heart medicine Uncle Ben? I will have some to.  Kadizzle soon somehow made it to bed. As we say over served.  It has been a long time since Kadizzle has been so badly over served.  Normally Kadizzle is a wine drinker, but somehow he ended up drinking the Makers Mark straight. Not a good idea. The Makers Mark was supposed to be for the Moscow mules. Hopefully a lesson has been learned.

Awakened by Smiley Mc Gumphley and her mom Kadizzle got to see the new joy.  Sylvie was up and adoring the little nine month old.

So the day begins and we get to pretend that we are rich living in Sedona for a week.  This is a big jump from the Earth module.  Four bathrooms, a pool, hot tub, more TVs than you can count, and a separate living area on the far side of the garage.  From Denver, Philadelphia, and Richmond everyone poured in. Now we have to plan some adventures.

Evie and Sylvie

Up early and heading to Sedona.  Mrs Kadizzle rented a super deluxe home for the tribe to gather.  God seems to want to get a message to Kadizzle. God has sprinkled girls into Kadizzle's life.  Six sisters, two daughters, and two grand daughters.  The new prize Evie will be the hit of the show.  Evie is now nine months old and the smiling champion of the world.  Sylvie was nicknamed Ticklepinch, and Evie is Smiley McGumphley.  McGumphley has the most charming smile and always seems in a good mood. McGumphly is just becoming mobile and her mom is in for some real work keeping track of a crawler and soon walker.  The plan is to stop at the cafe in Payson for a great breakfast on the way. 

Somewhere on this blog a video will appear called weightless.  It is an absolute must watch. If Kadizzle was fifty years younger he would master what this guy does.  You must watch it.

Weightless - Jean-Baptiste Chandelier

The Con Man

The United States needs a con man hall of fame.  It could have a section for car salesmen, aluminum siding salesmen, and even one for vacuum cleaner salesmen like Kadizzle once was.  Conning idiots is an America tradition.  In the old gold mining days the most money was made from selling stock in non-existent mines.  Crooked preacher are about the most successful con men and a large part of the Con Men hall of fame should be devoted to those crooks.  Who else gets to steal tax free?  The drug companies are moving right up. The Oxycontin con made 14 billion for the Sackler family. 

Now we need a statue out front of the Con Man hall of fame.  You guessed it Donald Trump.  At a minimum the Donald will Con the American public out of 1.5 trillion witch will go to the rich. The Donald just so happens to be the rich. 

It would be nice if South Dakota could have a Mount Con More.   Carved out of greed there could be a giant stature of Trump,  a famous crooked preacher,  and maybe a Wall Street guy.  A Con Man is special. Anyone can walk in a bank with a gun, but a consummate liar like Trump who can smile and lie is something special.  In North Dakota we have Kevin Cramer, a mini Con Man aspiring to be Trump.  Smile, lie, tell the Hooplehads what they want to hear.  Promise them guns, and Jesus.  Explain to the Hoopeheads if they give the rich enough money some is bound to fall out of their pocket and right back on the simple minded.

Look back at Al Capone.  Sure he was a bad guy, but at least he made beer available to the working class.  None of the famous crooks of the past remotely compare to Trump.  Trump openly brags about groping women and the Christians giggle with delight and elect him.  According to The New York Times Trump lies on average five times per day.   Even the most crooked preacher has a hard time beating that.  Trump gets Kadizzles vote for best Con Man ever.  Hitler might have given him a run, but keep in mind Hitler had a bunch of depressed people to work with.  Trump is fooling stupid people, but they have a car, a big screen TV, and plenty to eat.  Religion was the original con, but Trump gets a prize for conning the religious.  Now that is an accomplishment.  That is like the guy who robs the drug dealer.

A lot of nowhere

For the second time in a week we made another adventure into the middle of nowhere.  The trail crew had great trepidation about allowing our boss Red Chief to drive this morning.  The road for twenty miles hangs on the edge of a cliff.  God smiled on us and Red Chief could not make the morning trip. Kadizzle drove grandpa style and we all survived.  Hiking way into no place Mrs Kadizzle, Emily, and Cliff went ahead on the trail and trimmed brush. Kadizzle worked on the tread of the trail .  Red Chief was supposed to come in a separate vehicle and do the chainsaw work.  At about one Red Chief finally showed up. By then everyone was hiking out.  Red Chief and Kadizzle took off back down the trail and cut about twelve trees off the trail .  Kadizzle had to ride back with Red Chief.  Only one near death experience occurred on the treacherous road.

Back at the Earth module Kadizzle has had his two Moscow mules and  is relaxed.  The Flumper came by walking the dog. Mrs. Kadizzle is just about to serve some gwuanple, so that is all for now.  See you in the morning.

Going up the mountain.

Today with our leader Red Chief ( Our Forest Service Boss who has a red beard) we will go way up on the mountain to cut logs off the trail.  While we are up there perhaps we can bring down a new set of the ten commandments.  Thou shalt destroy Obama care, Thou shalt protect the rich, Thou shall lie and tweet as often as needed.  Kadizzle is sure there will be a burning bush, perhaps George or his dad. 

So five of us will pack into the trail truck.  Just to get there we have to leave as early as possible to get anything done.  At five in the morning Kadizzle sits here with his coffee.

One big problem we face this morning is having Red Chief drive.  Red Chief is the boss, but he is a young guy and a scary driver on mountain roads.  Kadizzle is trying to think of a diplomatic way to tell Red Chief that Kadizzle should drive, otherwise there will be four terrified people riding along on the cliff edge roads. 

Remote is the best word for where we are going.  At the end of the 23 mile long mountain road is a trail sign.  It has a picture of a man lost ten years ago. The sign ask hikers to report if they find any remains of him.  Well here we go.

Poke em in the eye

Today's assignment.  Read Tom Friedman's article in today's New York Times.  Friedman dose an excellent job of explaining how Trump is driving our country into the ground while giving China everything China wants.

Kadizzle has an older brother that is 76.  Kadizzle spoke with him on the phone the other day. In the course of the conversation big brother mentioned how much he likes Trump.  My nephew Tom's son took over Tom's contracting business.  Tom serviced coal mines along the Ohio River and did very well at it.  Now comes a guy named Bob Murray.   Bob Murray has been a crooked coal operator for many years.  Murray is just the kind of guy Trump would love.  In fact Murray has donated to Trump, and in return Trump has given Murray's coal mines a sweet deal to avoid regulation.

So my brother also told me Murray owes my nephew a million dollars for work his company has done for Murray.  Murray is just like Trump. He plays the fundamentalist like fiddles and has no morality. Murray operated a mine in Utah. Murray got so greedy with his mine he took out too much coal. The mine collapsed and killed miners.  Like Trump Murray took no responsibility.  Murray should have gone to jail, but blamed the collapse on an Earth quake.

So Murray is bilking my own nephew, and his father loves his fellow crook Trump.  Like so many crooked people Murray raises money for Trump.  How does this work. Murray tells my nephew he needs to donate money to the Republican party. My nephew donates five thousand dollars.  Murray calls back and says it should be ten thousand.  The implication is just pad your bill and put the contribution in the bill.  Plain and simple this is money laundering.  It allows Murray to donate money to Trump and it does not show up as coming from him.  So Murray and guys like him are putting the  heat on their suppliers to help the Republicans.  The whole thing of money in politics stinks.  Keep in mind the glorious Trump said he was so rich he would pay his own way.  Ya, sure ya betcha.  Trump has manged to create the most crooked administration in the history of the country, yet the people like my brother love him.  The saddest thing about the whole deal is what Trump is doing to future generations.  Trump's tax scams for the rich will toss our children into finical hardship. Trump's destruction of the environment will make life miserable for the world.  Trump's incomprehension of the economy will put our country in a tail spin, but if all this worries you watch Fox News and get that warm fuzzy feeling when the support Trump's lies.

The Flumper came by.

Kadizzle will try to protect the anonymity of the flumper.  It is doubtful anyone who reads this will ever encounter the flumper.  Well in the mind of Kadizzle a flumper is a fish out of water.  Everyone has seen a fish laying on a dock or in the bottom of the boat. The fish can't do anything but move in a hopeless fashion.

The flumper who does not believe in pets came by walking a dog.  The dog did not belong to the flumper, but he got assigned to walk the dog.  Speaking to the flumper he said animals were only to be eaten or work for you.  He would never tolerate a dog in his house.  The flumper has no hobbies, no interest in anything and lives the most vanilla life imaginable.  The flumper  has no desire to go anywhere or do anything.  Naturally the flumper is overweight.  When not working he wears those huge shorts that you could put a person in each leg.  Other than eating the flumper does not seem to have any bad habits. He does not watch television or surf the internet.  Whoops, wait, the flumper does have a bad habit.  Snoose,  or in English snuff.  Speaking to the flumper Kadizzle noticed that some of the spit from the snuff was going up his nose and some dripped on his chin. 

If you met the flumper you would think he was born without a personality.  If you did not dig a little you would think he was a misplaced hillbilly.  His language skills are those of a hog farmer, which once he did for his parents. However, Kadizzle did pry out of him that he knew something of quantum physics, and has a degree in electronics.  If the flumper is trying to hide his education he is doing a dam good job of it.

Now a strange aspect of the flumper.   If you encountered him you would think his life style would involve living in a hovel. That is where you would be surprised. The flumper has a penchant for cleaning.  He insist the work place be kept clean and he voluntarily cleans the lunch room, the rest rooms, and any part of his work building he can.

The flumper is a nice guy and is probably liked by most who encounter him, but you could have a better conversation with a post than with the flumper.  Not interested in going anywhere, doing anything, reading anything, or watching anything the flumper leads a strange life of what seems like acute desperation.  Is there a potential Mrs Flumper out there?  Unlikely any but the hard core could get past the snoose.

You would think from all this the flumper would be a night clerk in a hotel or a security guard, but he actually has a decent job.  The world is strange, and trust me it is full of strange people. People who would vote for Roy Moore, or Donald Trump, and then praise Jesus.

Please adopt little Joey

Kadizzle is putting Little Joey up for adoption.  Carrying him up the mountain yesterday was too much for a 68 year old man.  Little Joey is pretty well behaved, except when he is hungry, which is all the time.  Kadizzle has been pregnant with Little Joey ever since he was 35.  Little Joey loves to eat.  He rarely walks by a cookie, or candy.  His favorite meal is every meal.  If one is good two are better.  Joey likes butter on his rolls, syrup on his pancakes, and an extra slice of anything that ends in pie.  Little Joey's math teacher could never get him to understand pie 3.14.   He could understand cherry, apple, and juneberry.  When Kadizzle ran for the legislature way back when Little Joey insisted Kadizzle make it a law that pie could not be served without vanilla ice cream.  Latter today we will drive him to the orphanage around dinner.  If the food is good maybe he will not cry.  Please help.  Send food that will keep to the Little Joey fund.

No country for Old Men

Kadizzle revisited Pueblo Ruin yesterday.  We did not get back to the Earth module until 7:30 at night. If Kadizzle learned anything it is how old he is.  Coming down from the ruin Kadizzle kept thinking this is equivalent to hiking up out of the Grand Canyon.  A couple times turning back early seemed very tempting.

Just driving to the place where you start walking is a chore.  After 20 miles of gravel road with plenty of washboard surfaces you finally cross Cherry Creek for the last time.  Now the road gets absolutely terrible. About three or four miles of nasty, nasty road the jeep finally reaches the departure point.  Along the drive there is a boulder the size of bulldozer.  Stopping one person gets out and watches as the jeep squeezes behind the boulder.

Totally exhausted Kadizzle showered and went to bed without eating.  The soreness may take a couple days to go away.  Another thought coming down was how important hiking poles are.  Kadizzle would have fallen numerous times .   When you fall on this trail you can go down hundreds of feet.  One of the bizarre features of the trail is you do not realize how precarious it is unto you see it from the other side of the canyon.  Give me some time and I will try to put some pictures on here.

Early

Last night Kadizzle drank more wine than prudent, and suffered all night with fire belly.  Up at 4 A.M. and out of bed at five.  The young couple we had dinner with will show up shortly and we will head our for a difficult hike.  The hike was hard three or four years ago and the body has not improved since then. The goal is to go deep into a mountain canyon and visit an well preserved ruin.

The strange thing about the ruin and the two others close by is the location.  Whoever lived there was there to protect themselves.  It would be a difficult place to live all year around.  Hunting or farming would have been a long daily commute.  If someone did attack it would be like attacking a castle.  There is no draw bridge, but there is such a narrow path into the place that you could knock you attackers over a cliff one at a time easily.   The dwellers must have had food and water stockpiled.

All Indian ruins in the Southwest have suffered from over visitation.  The one we will visit today is so difficult to get to only the most hardened search will take the time and effort to get to them.  That is why they are well preserved.  Sadly there is not a ruin anywhere that has not been vandalized by pot hunters. At every ruin you can see where pot hunters have dug.  One thing you notice at any site that has wood is the small bore holes made by researchers.  By taking a plug of wood from a roof beam or whatever the date of the dwelling can be determined by the tree rings. It is an interesting science.

Old Kadizzle gets religion.

In the middle of nowhere where we now sit there is no television.  That means you might accidentally get smarter reading something.  To keep ourselves from going boredom insane we subscribe to a couple magazines.  One that Kadizzle has read on and off all his life is The New Yorker.  The cartoons alone are worth the price.  Additionally the magazine has some really good articles on the rodents that abuse our country like Trump, and the Sackler family.

Now to religion.  The latest issue has an article on Martin Luther.  What inspired Kadizzle to read it is a mystery.  The article turned out to be enlightening.  What really got Kadizzle's attention was how the church sold indulgences.  It would make a time share salesman blush.  You could buy a certain amount of time out of purgatory.

Reading about the church in the time of Luther reminded Kadizzle so much of how the Republican Party works.  Now you can buy indulgences from congress.  Bilking the stupid has been a centuries old game, and no one does it better than religion.  No product is better to sell than fantasy.  Fox News has perfected fantasy in modern times. Trump is the king of selling the fantasy.  So politics has become the modern religion, and lying to the stupid has continued to be the most effective way to bilk the masses.

The religion of today is as absurd as the past.  Trickle down is the religion. Give me money and you will prosper. The church always pulled that trick, now the Republicans are pulling that scam on behalf of the rich.  It has been a long time since Martin Luther yelled scam at the Pope, but here we are again hundreds of years latter with Pope Trump, and his gang of Republican Cardinals fleecing the flock.

Back in the Earth Module

Back into the tiny space that is the Earth Module.  Sleeping with the windows open and enjoying the cool night air is a blessing.  Sunshine almost every morning is great.  Speaking to Shaneka back in Dakota it was kind of sad. The poor guy is back there in the snow and freezing weather.  Once you convert to escaping from winter dread life takes on a different tone.

Tomorrow we are looking at doing a hike we have done once before.  The plan is to go to Devil's Chasm.  Three of the best Indian ruins anywhere are up Cherry creek.  What makes them good among other things is the incredible difficulty getting to the ruin.  First you have to drive 23 miles down a gravel road, cross three creeks, and finally drive up a road most vehicles cannot negotiate.  Then you start the hike.  The hike is up a very steep narrow canyon.  You climb up a waterfall, and at some point you crawl under a boulder the size of a house.  After all that you have to climb an impossibly steep slope and at last you are there.

Guest editor.

Here Kadizzle sits with his little sister Patty in Cottonwood.  Patty has read a couple of these post and helped make corrections.  Always keep in mind two things, Kadizzle is not that bright, and this nonsense is written at lightening speed.  Patty pointed out the difference between made, and maid.  There was another problem with cloths and clothes.

Patty was born with the family sense of humor.  Kadizzle has been thinking about standing up by Walmart with a bum sign to beg for money.  Kadizzle would like to have a clever sign.  Patty said one bum has a sign that say 'Too ugly to be a prostitute".   So back to Lake Roosevelt we will head today.

Houses were different in the Early Years of Wheeling

If you lived in a castle in modern times you would wonder what all the things in the castle used to be used for.  Growing up in a house built in 1914 on Poplar Ave in Woodsdale you would notice the artifacts of the past.  When the house was built there was a gas fireplace in just about every room. That is how the house was heated.  The wood work in the old homes was elaborate and would cost a fortune to duplicate today.  Labor and wood were  cheap in 1914.

One thing people would notice about the houses in Woodsdale that people must have had a live -in maid or servant of some sort.  Many young women were pouring into our country and they needed jobs. Once again it was probably not that expensive to have some live in help in the 20's and 30's. The houses had a back set of stairs so the help could make it to the attic without disturbing the home owners.  Attics were where the servants lived.  Many attics had sinks and perhaps a bathroom for the help.  Some homes had living quarters above the garage.  Relics of that time are still in a lot of the houses. There were speaking tubes.  Brass tubes you could speak into and have your voice carried from one part of the house to another to serve as an intercom.  Another appliance that may still be on a lot of the homes was an ice box on the back porch.  The iceman would deliver the ice into a box on the back porch.  As a kid I remember discovering an old gasoline tank in the yard.  Some homes had a supply of gasoline and a rudimentary pump in the garage.

Even in the 1950's there were the old fashioned fire alarm boxes on the telephone poles.  To send an alarm there was some contraption you manipulated.

The houses were built for the time.  With electricity sparse people did not have so many lights for the interior of the home.  To provide both light and ventilation the answer was very large double hung windows.  Slate roofs were standard on those houses.

A bad habit we had as children was playing on the roof.  It is amazing no one got killed.  The roofs were high and it would be about a three story fall if you went off.  One day in the early spring I was on the roof enjoying the view.  The slate I was sitting on came lose and I headed toward the gutter.  Certain death seemed approaching. What saved me was the wide gutters built on those houses. The gutter was almost two feet wide.  I would be dead if it was a modern flimsy gutter.

A special feature of the old homes was the clothes chute.  At a young age I could get in and out of the chute on the second floor.  The chute enabled the home owner to throw dirty linens and clothes directly down to a catch bin in the basement.  One day I decided to show Stephen Leibold how I could get into the chute.  I must have grown a little since my last try.   I got into the chute through the little door, but once in the chute cold not get out.  My knee had me jammed in there.  I could go down but not up. Steve somehow found my sister Amy.  Amy held my arm to keep me from dropping to the basement floor.  All my siblings were in the basement piling up soft things for me to land on.  In my head I imagined the fire department coming and tearing the wall apart to get me out.  My father would go crazy when he got home an found out about this adventure.

Amy was straining to hold me so I figured I could start sliding down to the basement.  Now by good fortune there happened to be a little door in the kitchen to access the chute.  When I got to the chute where part of my home made rescue crew was peering in, I was able to rearrange my knee and get out without having to parachute into the basement.  Very relieved I remember going to the basement and seeing the huge pile of clothes awaiting the quasi Santa Clause to drop down the clothes chute.

Too many letters

Kadizzle must be honest, he enjoys irritating Republicans.  It is something like the joy you get swatting a fly. Part of the fly swatting is writing two letters per month to the Bismarck Tribune.  The letters are about as random as this blog.  Who knows what they might espouse, but they do have the commonality of pointing out the foibles of Republican thought.

Part of the daily up date is to read the letters to the editor in the Bismarck Tribune.  In the Tribune letter section there are two other perpetual left wing letter writer guys who also shoot barbs at the conservatives.  This morning The Tribune published a complaint about the fact that Kadizzle and Larry Larsen write too many letters.  This has gone on for many years, and Kadizzle has people come up to him on the street and tell him they enjoy the letters.  The Tribune is a sorrowful paper and desperate for anything to fill the pages.  Like so many newspapers they refuse to be controversial or offend any of the powers in the state, so it works out well for them to have someone else do it for them.

More than once someone has written the paper suggesting that no letters be published they disagree with.  Kadizzle wonders why if these people who would like limit free speech don't just write their own letters.  Kadizzle got a good laugh when someone from the Tribune told him that people called and thought Kadizzle is paid to write the letters.

Brother in Law Ned who probably thinks Kadizzle is a little off kilter had a long conversation with Kadizzle in the kitchen this morning.  Ned is strong on live and let live. Ned also feels it is pretty hopeless to educate the Hoopleheads.  As the sun came up round and round we went with the pros and cons of being politically active.  Ned on more than one occasion suggested Kadizzle go to Walmart.  Walmart in Cottonwood is an education.  If you want to meet the unwashed masses, the gun totters, and the Republican base a visit to Walmart is in order.  Seeing the throngs of the hopeless would discourage anyone.   The CEO of Walmart is making $8,000 per hour.  The busted flat recovering alcoholic greeting you at the door gets $8.00 an hour.  What a wonderful world. We can all be the CEO, we are just too lazy and don't try hard enough. Right Trump?

Bum signs

Kadizzle had to visit every grocery store in Cottonwood to get his wine.  The nice looking bum lady at Walmart was begging on the corner.  Her sign said she had two kids and needed help.  The sign looked pretty well made.  At the last grocery store where Kadizzle finally found the wine he wanted he encountered another bum.  This bum was a man and his sign had a striking resemblance to the lady bums sign.  It even had the two kids plea on it.  Kadizzle stopped and asked the sign bummer if it was his wife over at Walmart working that corner.  Mr. Bum assured Kadizzle it was not.  This got Kadizzle thinking. Perhaps there is a market for bum signs. Walmart should have a selection of pre-made signs that have various pleas for money.  Kadizzle could start a business renting signs to bums.  The bums could work on commission.

Kadizzle if the boredom sets in badly enough may make a bum sign for himself.  The sign will say " To Lazy to work, please help".   Once Kadizzle did this in front of a bar in some little town in North Dakota that was having a festival.  People would pitch a quarter in and laugh. Once Kadizzle had enough he would buy a pitcher of beer and offer it to people passing by.  An old lady came up an chewed Kadizzle royally.  She said there was nothing wrong with Kadizzle and told him to get a job.

Sister Patty goes by these bums every day.  She says one bum always comes up with funny signs and sometimes she pitches him a coin.

Thoughts on Solar Power

Kadizzle grew up in the power industry so he does a lot of thinking about how power is generated and used.  Sitting at sister Patty's house in Cottonwood, AZ the sounds of solar energy being installed have been a daily happening.  Patty will always have an electric bill of $100 per month. Never more never less.  To get the deal they lease solar panels on their roof.  There are a lot of panels up there, perhaps 28. Each panel can produce 330 watts.  That is a lot more power than the house can use.  The company that owns the panels will sell the excess to the power company.  Each panel would light three of the old fashioned 100 watt bulbs or 21 LED 100 watt bulbs.

Although traditional power companies claim they like clean energy, solar power is driving them nuts.  Strangely coal and power companies are fight against wind and solar power.  The big lie power companies and coal companies like to tell is there is no way to store energy form wind and solar.  This is just a lie.  There are several ways to store energy.   One old fashioned way is batteries. Huge batteries will start to show up in cars.  You may have your car parked in the garage and hooked to the grid.  Your car will store big amounts of power and if it is needed it will be drawn out of your electric car.  There is an old fashioned way to story power.  You put water behind a dam.  When you need the power you let the water run down through the generators.  So on a sunny day when the solar panels in Cottonwood are producing way more power than anyone needs you use the power to pump the water up into a reservoir. Now you have just stored sunshine, or wind power.  Tonight when you need the power you let the water run back down.   In North Dakota we have a huge dam.  So when you have solar or wind you throttle the dam back.  When you need the power at night you turn up the power from the dam. 

If we use power intelligently it disrupts the old way of making money.  Coal companies don't like that so they want to tell you we need coal.  The transition is happening even if the powers that be don't like it.  Kadizzle is sitting under the transition right now.  As we head to the future there will be a lot of deceit and lying by vested interest.  There will be a lot of bribing of congressmen.  Republicans in North Dakota are already trying their best to stifle the wind power industry.  One method they want to use is taxing wind power.  This has the net effect of giving a tax break to polluters like the coal industry.  As this all takes place the dolts will be watching football and worrying about black guys kneeling.  Trump will tweet and life will be sweet.

Deep in the middle of nowhere

Mrs Kadizzle is deep in the Grand Canyon.  Mr. Kadizzle spent the day high on Cedar Mesa.  A friend whose wife is down the canyon with the Mrs. stopped by to pick up Kadizzle and his cycle this morning.  After unloading the cycles at the base of the mesa up the road we went.  So many times it seems like the entire Earth is covered with people, but as you head to the wilderness that view begins to fade.  Clueless as to where we were we rode down some of the most nasty roads ever.  Strewn with boulders and begging you to crash the roads went deeper and deeper to the middle of nowhere.  Finally Kadizzle took the bait and had a minor crash.  As the cycle hit a rock the clutch lever broke in half.  The rest of the ride was completed with half a clutch lever.

Time came for a decision.  Do we keep going and hope we come back to a main road or do we turn around. The day was getting short so we turned around.  If you are bored go on Google Earth and look at the country North and East of Camp Verde AZ.  You might just search for Cedar Mesa.   Looking down from space you can see what a vast wilderness area Cedar Mesa is.   In all the years of exploration Kadizzle has almost never found a plot of ground where cattle were not being grazed.  On Cedar Mesa the cattle share the land with Elk.

Thoughts and Prayers.

Yesterday Kadizzle had a flat tire.  Kadizzle had heard about the power of Thoughts and Prayers so he kneeled down beside the tire and prayed. "Oh Lord please heal this tire and put the breath of life back in it".   Nothing happened.  At this point Kadizzle decided to try the Thought system.  Kadizzle thought there was a spare tire on the car.  Sure enough there was.  As Kadizzle kept using the thought system, he realized thinking could get the car going again.  Soon he was realizing as he drove down the road the thoughts worked, but the prayer did not.

So now we have the mass shootings.  Kadizzle again thought he might try some prayers.  Kadizzle prayed every NRA member would get cancer of the bung hole.  " Oh Lord let those who support gun violence be stricken with cancer of the rectum".  Again prayer did not work.   Now Kadizzle tried the thought process.  Kadizzle thought if the NRA were not allowed to buy congressmen gun violence might stop.  Kadizzle thought if our country had reasonable gun laws mass shootings would not happen every day.  Kadizzle thought if we put an RFD device in every gun the gun nuts could not enter churches, schools, and public events with guns.

This time the thinking did not work.  Kadizzled suddenly realized that sometimes a lot of people have to think to get thinking to work. We have tried a lot of people praying, but never given a chance to a lot of people thinking.  So next week some deranged gun nut will try to set a new record shooting people.  Just hope it ain't anyone close to you that gets shot.  A last word of advice, don't waste your time on prayer. Every day Kadizzle prays Donald Trump will get what every evil man deserves.  Lightening does not strike him, he does not turn into a pillar of salt, and meanwhile children do without health care, and the rich get richer.  Only one good explanation God is a Republican or his cell phone needs charged.

Up on the Rim

In Arizona everyone talks about going up on the Rim.  The rim is the escarpment that creates a basin.  The Rim surrounds Payson and Cottonwood.  Yesterday Ned and Kadizzle set out to find an ancient Indian Ruin up on the Rim.  Kadizzle was not real enthusiastic about doing 25 miles on paved roads with the Yamaha 250 XT, but we did.   The gravel roads leading to the top of the mountains were dusty. 

Once on top we took a side road that was paved with miniature boulders the size of watermelons and footballs.  The road was one of the nastiest level roads ever invented.  A car could never have driven the road and even a truck or jeep would tear itself apart at any speed.  We had the right mode of transportation.  It was like constantly avoiding the worst and sharpest rocks.

Using the GPS Ned said we were withing 300 feet of where the ruin should be.  After a lot of fruitless searching we reexamined the map and decided to try another close by area.  While the first search was being conducted we heard a chainsaw operating nearby.  On our next search we encountered the chainsaw family.  A tall scraggly guy with three children and a wife was gathering cedar wood for the winter.  The kids looked to be about 12 to 14.   The two youngest children a boy and girl were trying to split the short pieces of cedar their dad had cut.  The girl was doing a good job of using a large maul to do her task.  She was so skinny, yet tall.  Seemed like if she turned sideways she would disappear.

Kadizzle engaged the desert hillbillies in conversation to see if they knew of any Indian sites in the area.  The father related a story about how some relative had accidentally come upon an Indian cave with artifacts and skeletons in a snow storm.  Of course they were never able to find the cave again and it took on the air of a local legend.

When things seemed hopeless Ned spotted a pottery shard.  Soon Kadizzle noticed the ground was littered with pottery shards.  No remains of any significant walls could be found which struck Kadizzle as strange.  Ned said the area had been chained.  To make fields modern man put a chain between two bulldozers and drug the chain to destroy all the trees so a field could be made.  Ned speculated that the chaining had destroyed the walls.   If it did, it did a damn good job.   The amount of white pottery was unusual.  This is the first time Kadizzle ever recalls finding white potter shards in great numbers.  A few pieces had faded designs still visible.

Every time Kadizzle goes on one of these expeditions he is amazed how widespread people were and how extensive the civilization was in the time of the Indians.  Around 1200 to 1500 there must have been tens of thousands of ancient people living in this area.

Sitting on the Porch

Sitting on the porch was an art in the old days in Woodsdale.  The neighborhoods were very much designed for porch sitters.  As a very young person I got to see a little of the porch era that came to an end. That was the time when the houses of Woodsdale were decked out with awnings.  Wheeling Tent and Awning Company would show up and put up wonderful awnings to shade windows and porches. This was how people dealt with heat in the pre- air conditioned era.  The houses were equipped with fittings to put up all the sun blocking material.  It was like putting a pretty dress on a woman to see the houses dressed up for shade.

As we grew up that custom faded quickly, but the porch was still important.  Our house was special because it sat on a small knoll.  Sitting on our front porch swing you got a commanding view of the intersection of Poplar Ave and Woodlawn.  Someone would walk down the street and you would say hi. Next thing you knew they were sitting on the stone railing of the porch and the local gossip was flowing like the beer at the Alpha.

Now across the street Old Mr. Smoot lived.  Mrs Smoot retired from the railroad and he was the most important porch occupant ever.  Mr. Smoot kept an eye on everything.  As a little kid if you had nothing to do you could go over and talk to Mr. Smoot.  Mr. Smoot like children and was wonderful with all of them.  One thing Mr. Smoot taught every kid was how to ricite the Hit ta Tit story.  Perhaps I can reconstruct it.  I will need the help of my little sister Patty on this one.

I ran up a hazel gable
I ran down a hingle bingle
There I saw a thig a ma jig
A stealing my capani
It I had had a hit ta tit
To hit ta tit ta tanie
I could have caught the thing ama jig
A stealing my capani.

Just try saying this real fast.  To this day I have a lot of fun with little kids trying to get them to recite this.  Mr. Smoot used to teach kids how to recite the presidents in order.  My cousin Allison would sit with Mr Smoot and learn all his rhymes.

My favorite was when he told stories about the railroad.  Mr Smoot would tell us about the bums.  I think it was Mr. Smoot who inspired me to want to be a bum.  Some people say I have succeeded.  I like bums.  One day Mr. Smoot told a bum story that has stuck in my head forever.  He said the bums had no money, but they had a hankering for something strong to drink, so they mixed up a drink called Open Switch.  Of course as kids we had to know what Open Switch was.  It seemed like the perfect railroad drink.  Mr. Smoot said it was a mixture of buttermilk and gasoline.  Even as a young person we knew that mixture would probably open your switch for the last time.

In the old days people knew people.  You knew your neighbors, you talked to them, and you visited with them on the front steps, or on the porch.  Sunday was a special day.  On a warm Sunday people walked down to Vance Church by Woodsdale School.  As you sat on the porch you could say good morning to those in their Sunday best.

All this porch talk reminds me of an embarrassing moment rushing from bed to run down to the porch.  A terrible crash had awakened me. The sound of massive amounts of breaking glass was beyond comprehension. What had happened?  With nothing on but my underwear down the steps from the second floor I ran.  Just as I started for the door a nice looking young girl came running into the house. Here I was a half naked young teen confronting of all things a girl. She was crying because she thought she killed the milkman.  Failing to stop at the intersection she forced Mr. Bell into a tree.  In those days all the milk was in glass bottles. That was the crashing can breaking glass that had brought me to life. Mr. Bell was relatively unhurt and life went on.

My uncle lived over on Hamilton Avenue.  Many times I would go to visit my cousin Mark and somehow end up talking at length with my uncle.  It was a rare thing for young people to have long meaningful conversations with older experienced people.  Porches in the old days were very important social places.  Hopefully the tradition will come back.

Mexican Gwuample

What in the hell is gwuample?  Mrs Kadizzle is an excellent cook. One of her abilities is to mix things together and something good comes out.  Gwuample is like hot dish, only a lot better.  So here Kadizzle sits early in the day with little sister.  The three rats are on the floor chewing on bones, they are Chihuahua rats.  Patty made wonderful Mexican gwaumple last night.  Kadizzle is fat as ever and the gwaumple did not help the cause.

Uncle Ned is wandering around in his suspender pants. The plan is Ned and Kadizzle will buzz up on the Rim and check out an Indian site.  Ned is  the local site steward that takes care of the ancient sites.  The ride will be a long one on a little motorcycle, but it will get us some air and eventually some hiking.  Kadizzle is nestled in Cottonwood with his youngest sister.  Kadizzle had six sisters.  One went on to the lord.  Patty is the youngest.

Medium rat is eleven and just jumped up to sit beside me.  Skinny rat that is hyperactive and fat rat which looks like a walking watermelon are on the floor.  The damn rats will start barking and should be shot.  However, Ned and Patty live by taking care of the three rats. 

Yesterday on the way back from the grocery store Patty and his eminence stopped at a yard sail down the street.  Never has there been a yard sale like it.  The old goat who was running it said it took two weeks to haul the junk into his yard.  The junk wrapped around the house.  Hundreds of boxes of more junk were piled everywhere.   Kadizzle asked the goat where he got all the stuff, and he said he had storage units full of more.  A hoarders convention could not have had more crap.  It was like twenty people cleaned out their garage, their basement, attic, and summer home and heaped up the crap.  There were six and ten of everything.  Half full bottles of cleaning supplies could be had for fifty cents.  Old CD music was one dollar a slice.  Need a corkscrew?  There were ten to chose from.   Now the last thing on Earth Kadizzle would by at a yard sale is a pillow, but Patty bought two.  Kadizzle asked if she was going to start a bed bug colony?  She said she would wash them and put on the back porch.  Gasoline would be the best thing to wash a used pillow in.

Well now it is time for the update.  Hope Trump insulted some Asian dignitary on his trip East.  Trump will enjoy going to China and seeing his " Make America Great Hats" get made. 

Idiots Convention

Up early Kadizzle and wife prepare to head out. Kadizzle to Cottonwood, Mrs to Grand Canyon hike.  Together we read each other stories of Trump's appointments.  Trump is not draining the swamp. Trump is lowering the quality of the swamp dwellers.  Trump has a penchant for appointing unqualified idiots to head various agencies.  Trump seems to want the government destroyed by incompetency. 

Back in North Dakota Kevin Cramer our Congressman wants to be a Senator.  The old Trump called him and told him to go for it.  Cramer does not have an ounce of honesty or morality, and Trump loves it.  Trump surrounds himself with mental cases and idiots.  The Hoopleheads love it.  Remember the kid who would act up in class and how the class loved the dolt that gave the teacher grief ?  Trump loves those guys and he is their hero.  The Hoopleheads wanted someone who would spit in the eye of the establishment.  The Hoopleheads jump for joy as the Republicans rob them bling, but they get the joy of Trump bashing anyone who appears educated. Super Dolt is the comic hero of the uneducated, unsophisticated, and unenlightened.  Loved by the racist, and rednecks Trump revels in his glory. 

A Con man is our presidents and we love the $19.95 government he is bringing us.  Buy one lie get two free.

The Tax Con

If you ever went into a casino you have seen the eyes of the idiots playing slot machines.  Some are in a daze and some look like children peering into a candy store.  You know the dolts are getting their pockets cleaned, but they love it.  It is like a magic show.  You want to believe the lady got sawed in half and your brain goes along with it even though you know it is not possible.  So here comes Trump and his gang of clowns.  These used car salesmen are going to rob the working class blind.

All of this reminds Kadizzle of when he sold vacuum cleaners.  The customer was told the vacuum cleaner was actually free.  All the purchaser had to do was send Kadizzle to see other people who would also get a free vacuum cleaner.  Now each time you sent Kadizzle to see the next guy you got $25 dollars off your cost.  Wait you said the vacuum cleaner was free!  Oh yes, oh yes, it is free, but some people will cheat and not send me to see more people so I want you to pay me $270 for the vacuum that cost me $40.  This is just to insure that you send me to see people (other suckers).  As a high school student Kadizzle learned how the scam works. Kadizzle learned that indeed there are dolts out there you can rob by talking to them.  Republicans know what Kadizzle learned. You can rob people by selling them a wonderful illusion.  Here we go. I am going to give you a tax break.  You will never notice I am putting it on your children's credit card, and by the way I am giving my rich buddies way more than you can imagine, but remember you get to buy candy with your tax break.  The dolts jump for joy with the good news. The con man loves them.

Up the old trail

Mrs Perrywinkle A.K.A. Mrs Kadizzle is planning a great hike into  Havsupi Falls in the Grand Canyon.  Kadizzle will visit his sister while the adventure takes place.  Women friends will make the hike without the curse of manhood.  To get ready for the hike a new expensive back pack was purchased. The pack was custom fitted at REI and today the pack full of provisions had to be trail tested.  Off we went up the Chilicoti Trail.  Kadizzle decided to stray from the trail and look for Indian ruins.  To his surprise he immediately came across a site withing twenty yards of the trail. We had walked by it many times and never noticed.  Pot shards are always the giveaway.  Kadizzle saw one then another, then another.  The outline of the old walls indicated there had been a couple of rooms.  As Mrs went up the main trail Kadizzle went higher, but nothing else was found.

Back at the campgrounds business is slow.  Sometimes the government can mess up a one car funeral and at Roosevelt Lake they seem to have accomplished the feat.  A new fee structure has been put in place. This in and of itself has irritated the locals, but to top it off new electronic machines have been put up to collect the fees.  The machines have some serious bugs to work out.  The screens cannot be read because of reflected sunlight, and the heat from the sun sometimes causes the machines to shut off all together.  The net result is attendance is way down.  The number of volunteers and the number of paying guest is about equal.  So at least the service should be good.  It is hot here.  Mrs. Kadizzle says there are winter storm warnings back in the arctic where we came from, so best not to complain.

All is quiet on the Arizona front

Slowly the sun is trying to claw it's way into the sky.  The coyotes went absolutely crazy last night right under our window.  In the middle of the night one coyote started howling withing a few feet of our bed. No way you can sleep with that racket.

The old soldiers are getting shot down.  As a younger person you don't have friends and people you know dropping dead, but every year you get older it seems more prevalent.  The second phase of aging are the cancer and diseases.  As one ages more and more of life focuses on illness of one sort or another. 

Slowly our job for the winter is starting to take shape.  Being the government there is a host of paper work and signatures that have to be in place before we can work.  We are working for free and it is hard to imagine what one has to go through to work for nothing.  The Forest Service has it't own drivers license that one must have to drive their vehicles. 

One of the campgrounds here caught fire while we were gone for the summer.  It is amazing how quickly and how much the fire burnt.  A DC10 was flown in to drop chemicals.  The fire fighting agent used has a red dye in it and leaves a stain.  Kadizzle remembers going Mesa Verde years ago and seeing the red stained rocks from fire fighting.

Yesterday Kadizzle got an email from Senator Heidi Hietkamp of North Dakota.  It was difficult to tell if the email was the typical boiler plate message or she actually had some input in it. Kadizzle fires countless stingers at Hietkamp in social media because she panders so much to the rednecks in North Dakota and refuses to have much of a voice about Republican abuse.  Kadizzle has particularly been hard on her about how quickly she sold out to the NRA.  In a response Kadizzle asked Hiedi how she would react if a member of her family was shot by a gun nut.

Last year the Forest Service gave us a very nice spot along the lake.  This year there has been some question if volunteers can use the super nice spots for their campers.  Supposedly it all comes down to some silly government accounting. Through some insane system The Forest Service rents the sites from the Office of Management and Budget.  The Forest Service pays three dollars a day for our campsite.  Since it is the government paying the goverment it creates a strange deal.  The Forest Service values our work at $20 per hour.  We work for free for 24 hours per week for each of us. This would be a total of 48 hours or $960 dollars a week.  The rent paid by The Forest Service would be $21, for a net gain of $929.  The silly part of all of this is that there are many ways The Forest Service could easily save $3 per day.  However, as in every organization common sense goes out the window when political infighting comes in.

Boom and Bust

Last night the Kadizzles , and Cliff took the stage coach into Globe.  Globe is the copper capital of the United States and what has kept Arizona on the map since inception.  In Globe all the goblins came to town for Halloween in the evening.  Maybe in Globe the should be called Globlins.  Like every mining town the population is a mix of whatever you can muster.  All the Indians came in from the reservation, and the locals were every ethnicity with a strong dose of Mexican. 

Mining has gone on for hundreds of years in the area. Before copper gold was the mineral of choice.  The Mexicans came up to Arizona long ago for the gold.  Kadizzle was a coal miner most of his life. Mining usually works the same way everywhere.  Someone from far away ends up with the money and the locals end up with a hole in the ground.  Globe is a case in point.  The whole town looks shot up and disorganized.  As one woman said it looks like someone followed a snake to lay out the streets.  Like a lot of mining towns Globe has a train track running right down the middle of one street.  Get the gold, get the copper, and run.  When copper prices are high spend like a drunk, and when they are low run to the pay day lender and get your pockets cleaned. 

Now a disclaimer, Kadizzle is fat and eats too much.  Sitting on the court house steps watching the people dressed in their costumes it is clear just about everyone in Globe has a weight problem.  The Indians have been hit hardest by a weight gain.  If the Indians had to be subdued in modern times there would be no blood shed.  B52 Bombers would fly over the Indian encampments and drop potato chips, Coke, and fried food.  In no time the Indians would swell up and become immobile.  What happens to a people that lived forever on the verge of starvation and then you bomb them with American junk food?

Spend it while you can seems to be the Globe mentality, and so it goes for many mining communities.  Now we turn to politics.  Our grand wizard Mr. Trump wants to spend 21 billion on a wall.  Back in Globe the houses are falling off the hill, the sidewalks are crumbling, the drug addicts are stumbling, and the pickup trucks are rumbling.  A whole population of people are headed toward old age without a penny saved.  How is this going to work out?  Our country is just like a mining town with the boom and bust.  In the mining town the money leaves and goes to some rich guy in New York or another prosperous community of the wealthy.  West Virginia is a classic example, laced with poverty where billions in coal were extracted.  Copper took it's toll in Butt Montana.  They were left with a giant lake of toxic waste a run down town and nothing to show for it.

Part of mining is concentrating the ore.  It is a process similar to what Republican do when they concentrate the wealth.  The gold, cooper, or silver ends up in the hands of a tiny few, and heaps of waste are left behind.  That is about to happen once more with the Republican tax plan.  The people in Globe went up one side of main street and down the other.  The businesses all handed them candy.  Exactly what is going on in Washington.  The business hand the working class candy and take the gold.  We never learn, but we have fun acting silly in our costumes and believing in the ghost the Republicans tell us are trying to come across the border and sell us drugs. 

Now to the drugs.  The Sackler family has made 14 billion dollars selling opioids to the working class. The real winners in the drug game are perfectly legal pharmaceutical companies.  Of course they have the congressmen they bought to help.  Building a wall to keep Mexican drugs out only in reality keeps the competition out.  Nothing changes, the rich dupe the poor, and the poor love it.  Give the poor candy and drugs, let them watch football and NASCAR, they will show up at the mine and crawl in a hole to get some more copper for the guy in New York.

What do the rich need?

Assignment. Go to New York Times.  Read Paul Krugman today.  His article "Trump will not bring joy to Moolaville".  The insanity of giving more to those who already have too much.  There will be a test. If you do well on the test no homework.

Off to see the Wizard

The Earth Modul has landed.  We are awake beside the lake.  Last night the Kadizzles sat around the fire with the volunteers who live in our compound.  Three new volunteers are here and we got to know each other.  Our Forest Service boss and his wife sat with us and brouht us up to date since we left in the fall.

The Forest Service does the fire fighting for our country.  Our location is acutally a fire fighting center for Arizona.  Our old boss and our new one both were involved in fire fighting in California. All this got Kadizzle thinking in bed last night.  At this very moment NPR is doing a little thing on how the Trump gang is trying to cut the budget for the National Parks.  The Republican game of stirring up hate for the government has consequences.  The general public has no real conception of what exactly the government does.  Republicans portray the government as a bunch of people who get to work late and burn tax dollars all day to keep warm.

As Republicans destroy the government people will notice the country deteriaorate.  Already you can see the roads and bridges starting to crumble.  A good government is esential if you want airlines to work, if you want diseases to be under control, if you want food to be safe, if you want help when a disaster strikes.  All of this cost something. Republicans believe tax cuts for the rich will solve all problems, so strarving the government to help the rich seems like a no brainer. When the results come in people will understand it just does not work.

Why do the rich need more?  The New York Times asked this question.  The simple truth is for the rich it is just power they want.  They have the jet, the yacht, and the houses.  Why would we want to give everyone with a million dollar income even more?  It makes no sense and the rich who are decent like Warren Buffett admit they don’t need tax breaks, but that is the drug of choice for Republicans.

This comes full circle to our winter jobs.  The Forest Service is trying to do more with less.  So The Forest Service is tasked with putting out fires in their spare time.  In additioin to putting out fires they are supposed to run thousands of camp sites, clean hundreds of thousands of out houses, maintain roads, trails, and rescue stranded idiots.

What do the Republicans want to do?  Spend 21 billion for a useless wall.  What could you do for Americans for 21 billion.  You could make all the National Parks free, you could support so many projects that Americans actually enjoy, but no,  the rich don’t use the National Parks, the rich don’t use the roads, the rich have different needs than the average Americans the rich need special things like larger yachts, and of course tax breaks.

In the end we will be working for free to save the goverment money so the government can give tax breaks to people who do not need them.   A little depressing.

The journey continues

A good leave from Denver has us sitting at Cochite Lake.  A nice sunny drive all the way with no incidents.  In Pueblo we passed the world’s largest wind tower factory.  It has just gone up in the last year or two.  There must be five hundred towers in pieces ready to go somewhere.  The world is changing.  Trump needs to bomb the plant to save coal.

Sitting here is like being parachuted onto a different planet.  Spoke with Kadizziles niece yesterday.  She has never been to the wester U.S.  Everyone should at some point see their own country.  This is more important now than ever since Trump wants to sell public lands and use the money to give the rich tax breaks.

Tomorrow we will be in our old spot by Lake Roosevelt.  It will be a long drive.  Mrs Kadizzle will not be there long she is going on her hike down into the Grand Canyon.  Kadizzle will be left on his own.  Nice to escape Denver on a Sunday when the traffic is civil.  Even on a Sunday there are so many who need to act like NASCAR drivers, Trump voters no doubt.

Looks like the Republican Satan may be in for some problems this week.  Who knows?  

Moving back into the little Earth Module will be an adjustment.  No more yelling at Alexa to change channels or put on NPR.   We just spent a fortune on the house with a new bathroom and refinishing the kitchen floor.  Now with the house updated we leave, brilliant.

Yesterday Kadizzle got a discount back rub from Sylvie. Sylvie has the perfect little space for herself under the stairs leading to the basement. Sylvie has set it up as an office. Painted and carpeted it is a neat hiding place for an eight year old. Kadizzle sprawled on the carpet while Sylvie walked on his back. After Sylvie was convinced not to clog on grandpa we managed to get some of the sore muscles drained of tiredness. So that is all for now Mrs Kadizzle is about to serve the spaghetti made with the wonderful Denver sausage.

Over the mountains before it snows

Mrs Kadizzle said we blast off tomorrow.  Getting over the pass in New Mexico is critical before it snows.  Leaving on Sunday will be a blessing getting out of Denver.  Sylvie went to the library yesterday with granny and is reading books like crazy.  Grandpa is very happy Sylvie is such a good reader.  Sylvie is fascinated with World War Two.  Grandpa and Sylvie went to Youtube and reviewed the great speeches from the era, Winston Churchhill, and FDR.

As Kadizzle writes this Erin is in the other room interviewing a nanny.  When Kadizzle grew up you just hired someone who could put your kid on a leash and take them for a walk.  Listening to the interview it seems becoming an astronaut would be simpler.  Now both my children spend a fortune on child care.  It is a budget buster.  Since the Republicans have brought in the system where both parents have to work to make a living life has changed.  No longer can dad work and mom stay home.  Mom works and gives 20 to 30 grand of her salary to the nanny.  Sylvie has had some wonderful child care.  It has paid off.  Sylvie is in advanced classes in everything.  Perhaps if Kadizzle had had some sophisticated child care he would know how to spell and punctuate.  Reading would also be a nice skill.

It was a long time ago Kadizzle hung up the work habit. Some say he never had it.  It has been 18 years since the daily drudge.  Actually Kadizzle was lucky he had some good jobs that were not that boring.  Kadizzle could not have an office job, it would quickly drive him insane.

For 18 years we have been making the transition from summer to winter.  Stopping by for a few days with Erin, Sylvie, and Fran has been routine.  When Turkey Day rolls around Megan and her new Evie , along with husband Sam will join us in Sedona.

Cannot leave you without a mention of Satan.  Trump and his greedy gang want to destroy the National Parks and sell the land to the rich.  When we get to Arizona we will resume our volunteer jobs clearing trails for the Forest Service.  Working for the government even on a volunteer basis you learn a lot. Republicans have been trying to starve the parts of the government people enjoy for years, be it the arts, the forest, or a museum.  Under the Republicans there is now a proposal to raise the entry fee to National Parks to $70.  This will effectively keep poor people out of the parks.  What a wonderful idea.  Now it turns out all the parks would have all the money they need and you could enter free, if the idiot we have for president would give up on his 21 billion dollar wall.  Too bad, being afraid of Mexicans is so much fun.  Strangely the real drug dealers are the pharmaceutical companies.  The Sackler family made 14 billion dollars pushing opioids.  Since drug companies pay nice wages to congressmen this is perfectly legal.

Ticklebelly

Little Joey has always been a problem.  Visiting Denver Little Joey really has problems.  First son in law Fran is an excellent cook. Fran loves to barbecue.  Now add to that the worst of all fates, or best of all from Little Joey's perspective.  Katie, Sylvie's aunt works for a company that makes desserts. What does this mean for Little Joey?  Well Katie will often send over a large supply of some goody her company makes.  Erin came home and pulled out of a box six large pieces of delicious carrot cake.  Naturally Little Joey dug in with delight and added 800 calories to his dinner last night.

This morning Little Joey was begging for carrot cake.  Mrs Kadizzle told Erin to take the unharmed nicely boxed pieces to work and give them away.  Little Joey cried and begged and one piece of the wonderful cake got to stay.  Little Joey just convinced Kadizzle to let him have one little bite.  Kadizzle went along with the scheme.  Then Little Joey suggested to Kadizzle that he turn the cake so the missing bite would not be in front where Mrs. Kadizzle would be sure to see it. That blasted Little Joey can sniff out a goody at a light year away. 

As Little Joey was dragged away from the carrot cake Kadizzle noticed the label.  The company is called Ticklebelly.  Perfect name for a company that leads bellies into sin and exposes them to gravity on the scale.

It doesn't hurt to ask.

Perhaps Kadizzle has written about this before, but it is a lecture he often gives young people.  So much in life can be achieved simply by asking. Yesterday Kadizzle went to the REI store in Denver with Mrs. Kadizzle and Sylvie. At the store he purchased a little phone charger that would provide battery power when the phone went dead.  Supposedly the thing was already charged and Kadizzle immediately put it to use. It did not charge the phone all the way as advertised. Kadizzle did a little research and found out other people had the same problem.  People reported the battery charged the phone up to about sixty percent.  Kadizzle called the company and explained to them for the product to work as advertised he would need two.  The company nicely agreed to send Kadizzle one more free. 

The other recent victory was with the Chromebook in front of Kadizzle.  The old one which Kadizzle like very much started smoking in the hotel room. Kadizzle called the company and explained that a failure is expected at some point, but going up in flames was not an option.  After a bit of a battle ASUS agreed to send Kadizzle a new computer.

Kadizzle believes companies should be held accountable.  When a company can pay a CEO 350 times what a working man earns then the company should do the right thing when it comes to living up to their advertising.

Companies that have been good to Kadizzle have earned his business and his respect.  We had a problem with our room at Red Roof Inn.  They simply gave us another free night, which was fine.  Another hotel in Canada was not so good.  The toilet would not flush.  After complaining and asking them to make good on their satisfaction guarantee, they said they would fix it. We were leaving so it did us little good.  No more of that chain.

Life in Denver

Oldest daughter Erin lives in Denver.  She lives in the Stapleton area.  Once it was the old Stapleton airport, but not it is an absolutely huge housing development.  Houses go up here at an astonishing rate. Such is the case with all of Denver. 43 people per day move to Denver.  Downtown buildings are sprouting like weeds.  In all this chaos the is some very nice planning. In my daughters area they have magnificent green spaces that have been well planned and are a pleasure to use.  Yesterday we biked over to Sylvie's school for the bake sale. We stopped at the brand new super market.  There are so many places to eat around here you would never get done if you tried a different one every week. By the time you got half way through that many more would have opened up. 

The area we are in shows what you can do with some good planning and high density occupation.  A favorite as written before is the mass transit.  This morning with Sylvie we buzzed to REI and did some shopping.  Along the river the city has invested massive sums in river scaping.  Walkways, bikeways, and even nice places to kayak have grown all along the river.

The temptation to move to Denver is great, but big city life just does not seem right for the Kadizzles.  The ability to get around in Denver is a real plus.  The rail system is good and even going to get better. For older people good mobility means a lot.

Now for a little politics.  Mrs Kadizzle insisted on showing Mr. Kadizzle a short video on Trumps corrupt dealing with the Puerto Rico disaster.  Somehow the Trump gang managed to give a 300 million dollar contract to an electric company in Montana with two employees.  Instantly it was obvious how the dots connected. Large campaign contribution to Trump greased the skids for the small inexperienced company to land a wonderful contract that was not put out on bids.  Who cares about these minor robberies?  The Republicans gift to the rich which is taking place will be the mother off all robberies.  The rich will get 80% of the tax breaks once the Republicans bamboozle the Hoopleheads.

All a working class Republican wants are plenty of guns, and a good dose of Republican Jeeesus. Trump knows working class Republican don't understand math any better than he does.  Republicans know how to work the scam like a carnival game.  Give the poor dolts a little candy and give the rich contributors a meal.  The poor guys will be watching football and eating Fritos bought by Trump, while the rich guys laugh in the expensive box seats up above.  Isn't that the way it is supposed to work?  If you can fool the dolts shouldn't you?  Republican morality, and the swamp draining is going great.  The new alligators with make American Great Again stamped on them are thriving.

Wheatland

Chicken Marabella smell is filling the Earth Module. Her Majesty sits at the table enjoying. Kadizzle opted out for the leftover egg salad.  A big mistake that cheeekin smells so good.  A nice drive down past the Black Hills and we will settle in by the railroad track on the other side of the road.

Amazing how empty North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming are, yet the world is so crowded.  As scenic drives go the Black Hills are up there with the best.

Listened to a lot of NPR today.   Two big things stuck out.  Another Republican got courage and denounced the mental case we have for president. Makes one wonder why our North Dakota lickspittles cannot come clean.  NPR ran a good story on the family that created the Oxycontin crises and pocketed billions in the process.  All perfectly legal with a little help from congress.  The whole family should be in jail.  They made the mafia look amateurish.

Tomorrow we head on down to see the Ticklepinch in Denver.   If we can get past the wind corridor without tipping over things will be fine.  Leaving early is the game plan to beat the wind. Kadizzle kinda enjoys being here right beside the railroad.  It will be fun to have the Earth Module shake and roll when the train goes by.

Blast Off Day

After a day of loading, today is the day.  The Earth Module is fired up and sitting outside patiently awaiting blast off.  Wind, the wind, if the wind is bad we are up the creek.  Hopefully a northwest wind will let us go south.  It is almost like sailing.  Somewhere between Wheatland Wyoming, and Cheyeene there is a spot that is so windy trucks get blown over.  Of course the same wind can blow over a fifth wheel camper. 

Tonight if all goes well we will be camping in Wheatland.  The trains will roar by one hundred yards away.  The railroad is scheduling all the trains to go by in the middle of the night just to awaken us.  On then to Denver where the little Ticklepinch is up to her activities.  She is participating in a musical.  After a few days in Denver on down to Arizona.

Pity the poor people who have to stay behind.  The blast of air in the last few days would be deadly at thirty below.  Once Trump makes America great again the weather will be great again.

Make money by killing people

By now just about everyone recognizes that the tobacco industry thrives by killing people, and selling cancerous products.  It is perfectly legal.  This morning Kadizzle got his bowels in an uproar reading about the power grid failure in Puerto Rico.  The same storm that hit Puerto Rico hit Cuba.  Cuba will recover it's power grid in about two weeks. Puerto Rico will take six months.  Why? Aren't socialist and communist countries supposed to be backward.  Cuba did what was good for everyone, not just a few.

Now back to North Dakota.  A simple minded women in Beulah who represents our district and has the affliction of being a Republican has some brilliant ideas.  This woman who actually works for a coal mine wants to tax the production of wind so her company can be more profitable.  Conflict of interest?  Back to Puerto Rico.  Some people in the hurricane struck area had solar panels and were able to operate independent of the grid.  Now to Kadizzle's amazement he read in the NYT that in Florida the power company is trying to make it illegal for people to produce their own solar power. Arizona Republicans are up to the same crap.  Our country has developed a wonderful system to make money, simply outlaw the competition or tax them to death. There is not end to this nonsense. Tesla the car company wants to sell cars directly to customers.  Sounds efficient and simple, but no. Car dealers don't want to be left out. So what do they do?  Car dealers pay the Republicans to pass laws that mandate only car dealers can sell cars.

Capitalism is supposed to be efficient.  It has become so efficient that no longer do you need to improve he product, you need to simply increase your budget for lobbyist. The coal industry with the help of the chief idiot The Donald now wants to have power companies paid to stockpile coal. The claim is in an emergency they will not run out of coal.  Kadizzle worked his entire life in the coal and power industry and the insanity of this idea is so clear.  Coal is, has been, and always will be stockpiled by power plants.  It is done for several reasons.  One reason it is stockpiled has nothing to do with emergencies.  The coal is blended for quality.  Has a power plant ever run out of coal? In my entire career I have never heard of it.  What really causes power outages is the grid.  The failure of the grid is the problem.  There are many ways to improve energy distribution.  One simple way is to use less of it. That is what Cuba did. Cuba of all places went to energy efficient lighting.  This took the burden off their grid.  Have you heard any American companies promoting efficiency.  Hell no, they sell power.

Our system now is supported by the wholesale abundance of ignorance.  People do not read, research or thing.  The people who do think rob the ones who are caught up watching "the game".   Nothing has changed.  The Romans realized that you could divert the dolts with circuses.  Now we have Fox, the idiot for president and little handheld devices that make sure our brains never engage in prolonged thought. Throw religion and Republicanism into the mix and you can sell the dolts on anything. Perhaps dotards should have been the word.  North Korea has figured out we have a dotard running the country, why can't we?

Kadizzle's funeral please come.

Blast off

Tuesday the copilot says the Earth Module will blast off.  Packing for the mission involves making sure hundreds of little items are on board and so many task have been completed.  The Kadizzles cannot leave the planet Hazen if one leaf is in the yard so Mrs Kadizzle will go anal nuts and insist we run the mower one more time to pick up the last leaf.  Coming to life like a slug Kadizzle is sitting here trying to get a spark of life started in this tired old body.  On the other hand the hyperactive Mrs Kadizzle jumped out of bed like her undies were on fire.  Running to the kitchen she skidded to a halt and is now making cornbread.  If you watched us get out of bed you would swear we were two entirely different species.  Kadizzle starts like a steam engine.  A small fire is lit, slowly it grows. After perhaps an hour there is enough heat to produce steam pressure.  Mrs Kadizzle is like a rocket launch.

The first awakening task is getting up to date.  What did president insane do today? Who did he insult, what pot has he stirred, who did he steal from to make the rich richer?  To find all this out you have to get up to date.  If you want you can pursue The Bismarck Tribune online. The fish industry has nominated the Tribune for best fish wrap several times.  Like most of the media in North Dakota they run their investigations with interns from the group home. 

For some meat you can read the New York Times.  Today there is a rundown of letters teenagers were asked to write to the paper. Every one of them wrote better essays than anything you would find in the Bismarck Tribune.

So the day is cranking up and there is still so much to be done before blast off.  When the ship finally touches down in the Republican planet of Arizona we don't want to be saying " Damn we forgot the fly swatter".

Arizona has a lot of people living on marginal incomes, and these are the people who voted for Trump to cut back their healthcare, their social security, and build a wall.  Simple minded thrives n the desert.  As long as you get to keep your gun things are fine.  You can always shoot the cancer you got because you could not afford a checkup.  You can always rob a grocery store if you are hungry.  A gun can solve so many problems.   A lot of people use their gun to solve big problems.  Bad marriage, shoot your wife. Bad boss shoot him.  Depressed shoot yourself.  The gun is the multi tool of our age.

Halfway through a cup of coffee it is time to leave the engine room and go to the galley.  It could be dangerous.  Surely the real boss will give a quick rundown of the days orders. Maybe better stay here in the engine room a little longer where safety is assured.  Have a good day and enjoy the Republican circus.

Colonel Klink and his land grab

Many people certainly think all of Kadizzle's bolts are not tight.  In the little town of Hazen their are several people who need their bolts tightened.  Among the most egregious outliers is Colonel Klink .  The Colonel has cooked up many goofy ideas and was most famous for flying over the town representing Hazen's air force with his motorized glider.

Many of the bizarre ideas that have come into Klinks mind have resulted in bizarre structures.  Tweeza's elephant palace is a prime example of a mind lost in the wilderness. Klink got the brainstorm to go to Africa and shoot some poor old elephant.  Now the problem became to let the locals know what a brave elephant hunter old Klink was.  So Klink built the elephant palace.  Unfortunately this is true.  Klink in his vast back yard put up a steel building to house his elephant trophy.  In the palace you can see a video of the elephant hunt.

Throngs of people never appeared to see the great elephant palace.  Peoples reaction was totally a surprise to Klink. Most people thought and many said to Kling " Why in the hell did you shoot that poor old elephant?".    Klink is one of those strange people who like to kill things.  So Klink has moved an old school house into his back yard.  The school house has been well restored to it's original condition with one major exception.  Klink used to sit in school daydreaming of killing things.  So in his restoration Klink lined the walls and floors with parts of the animals he has killed.

Klink's wife according to local legend came into a nice income from oil properties.  The vast Klink fortune has allowed Klink to carry out his daydreams.  One of Klinks fantasies is that he is a land baron of sorts.  To the best of his ability Klink has bought as much property as possible adjoining his home property. Additionally Klink has purchased other odd pieces of property.  Klink has more money than common sense.  With an active mind Klink constantly has strange ideas popping into his head. The problem is he has the money to carry out his ideas.  One of his ideas was to build a stage in his garage.  Why anyone would need a stage in their garage is a question left to the gods to answer, but Klink went to a lot of trouble to build a stage in his garage.  One of Klink's problem is the hoarder gene in his DNA.  Klink collects old rafters,  parts from bridges, buildings, and so on.  Next he has to dream up some bizarre use for the stuff.  Out at the "Ranchett" his treasure of junk has accumulated. Old windows, old bricks, a couple old mobile homes and so on.

Now to the jest of the problem. To the dismay of everyone in our neighborhood The Colonel bought a piece of land next to many in the area.  The property has a wonderful oxbow in the creek that has become a nice wildlife area where our neighbors have raised wood ducks for years. The local kids fish there.  Klink as owner of the land could dream up any bizzre scheme immaginable.  He has told some people he is going to sell grain bins from there.  Klink has told Kadizzle he intends to either raise hogs or build a tower of Babel.

Klink like to get attention.  Starting a range war over his land would be great entertainment for Klink. To initiate the range war Klink has asked all the adjoining neighbors to his property to attend a meeting in his garage.  At the meeting refreshments will be served and people will be invited to buy back what they thought was their own backyard.

Needless to say the crazy man Kadizzle is not thrilled with Klinks plans.  At this point it appears there is a good possibility two crazy men will enter into battle of either the preservation of a nice wildlife area or the destruction of it.  Here we go.

A Very Skilled Liar

Old Kadizzle came out of the haze which is sleep. In usual fashion the radio was brought on and NPR came to life. As is the custom Kadizzle reached for the laptop beside the bed.  Now the time to check the world was upon him.  Almost without exception Kadizzle reads the Bismarck Tribune on line, and The New York Times.  The Bismarck Tribune is one of the worst newspapers in existence.  Like so many the paper refuses to pay what it would take to get decent writers or reporters. So we get stories about Martha's new quilt or a big piece of hail that fell on Willy's sunflower.

The other extreme is The New York Times.  The New York paper is excellent and has many writers that often win the Nobel Prize.  The New York Time is factual unlike Fox News and so many others.

Today in the editorial column there is a great story about how Trump lies so effectively.  Read it there will be a quiz.

After writing the first part of this Kadizzle went back to the New York Times.  Another editorial shined. Read about McCain the Hedge Hog, and Bannon the Honey Badger.  Every Republican should be forced to read it.

Sometimes ignorance is a choice, sometimes it is a genetic defect.  Too many people can read, but don't. They chose to have some lying organization just tell them what they want.  Fox News has brought the country to it's knees with cheap propaganda.  Reading is like eating.  You can read good nourishing things, or you can read junk.  The junk taste good, but does you little good.

Meeting Day

Nice day in the Dakotas.  Maybe the lord will inspire Kadizzle to rake some leaves and finish up the yard.  The Crazy Club will meet.  May be a sparse group.  Over at Rita's Crazy Club they have all the Halloween stuff out and like a couple of kids are thrilled with the scary stuff.  The most scary stuff is in the White House.  Kadizzle read a lengthy article on Rex Tillerson.  You remember, Trump's secretary of state that called him a moron.  Tillerson had some pretty friendly connections to Russia.

Mrs Kadizzle may go to Bismarck today so there will be no adult supervision, great.  The moment of departure is sneaking up.  A big decision is if we take the solar panel or not.  The panel is sixty pounds we could avoid.  We have not used it for a couple of years and Mrs Kadizzle cannot be convinced to abandon the Forest Service and strike out.

In all our traveling across the southwest we have covered a lot of ground.  Spinning through the channels Kadizzle has come across some of the goofy shows that fill the cable network.  The other day they had a Dual Survivor show on that was staged near where we spend the winters.  Supposedly these two guys are lost in the wilderness.  Actually you can tell by the scenery they were right across Lake Roosevelt from where we camp. No way in hell were they lost. No matter which way they went they would have come to a road.  Kadizzle sometimes get's caught up in the Gold Rush show.  Since Kadizzle was a miner most of his life it is king of interesting.  The show portrays these people as profitably finding gold.  Somehow they never make much money and are always on the edge.  Strange thing is they have equipment worth millions.  They end the year with terrible results and show up next year with fifty million dollars worth of mining equipment. How does that work?  The real money is in mining idiots like Kadizzle who watch the fake reality.  You can make big money today with fake.  We have a fake president and he is making good on his act.