Today's mobile excitment

Weavers, jammers, and sniffers in abundance.  Weavers are the aggressive drivers that shoot for any opening on any side just to advance three car lengths in the race to nowhere.  It is the jammers that the weavers take pride in defeating.  The jammers get in the left lane and slow the weavers down.  A weaver is a frustrated idiot that imagines he is a race car driver.  Now the sniffers drive behind you and get so close they can smell your underwear.  Usually a weaver first comes up behind as a sniffer.  All sniffers are not weavers, but most likely they are.

So Ned and Kadizzle are watching the game of sniffers, weavers, and jammers on the way to Pensacola.  To add to the adventure it was raining.  Suddenly the tractor trailer in front and to the right had the front wheel on the left start to wobble.  The entire wheel came off the truck and headed across the median strip into oncoming traffic.  Fortunately there was a large deep puddle in the median strip that stopped the truck tire before it made it to oncoming traffic.  Someone more than likely would have been killed or badly hurt hitting a truck tire at 75 mph.  Kadizzle believed the entire wheel came off including the rim.  Ned thought only the rubber exited.  The truck managed very nicely to get off the road, but with no wheel it did throw some debris onto our windshield. 

Today we begin the entire journey back to Arizona.  We have to stop at hoarding headquartes and pick up some items.  Two wrecks per day is the standard for the run so let's see what they have scheduled for today. The dingers have no respect for speed or physics.  Of course half the drivers are on the phone which only adds to the roller derby fun.  Kadizzle wishes he had brought his motorcycle helmet.

What does it feel like to be an idiot?

Ever wonder what it would feel like to be an idiot? Kadizzle thought he would give it a try.  This morning with the idiot hat Kadizzle went to a car dealer, sure enough he was treated like an idiot. At the gun shop the guy just beamed as Kadizzle walked in the door.  The payday loan guy started drooling. The insurance salesman could hardly hide his glee.  When the vacuum cleaner salesman showed up at the door he must have spread the word.  The scammers seemed to come out of everywhere.  That special look seemed to appear on people's faces that says you are not too bright.  At the right wing coffee shop Kadizzle was treated like a professor.  Too sweeten up the experience Kadizzle said "Fake News",  and Bigly, and so much winning you will be tired of winning.  The Klan guys asked Kadizzle to join.   Strangers would go by on the Interstate and give Kadizzle the finger.  Do you think Kadizzle was dumb enough to wear the idiot hat into a place where the waiters were black?  Not taking that chance.  The taste of spit on a hamburger ruins it.  People come up to you and say " How's that tax break working?".   How can one red hat make such a difference?  Try it for a day.  Be an idiot just for a day and see how many are in the club. 

Van Hotel

Kadizzle slept well by himself in the van.  After a forever drive from Pensacola we made it back to Dickinson, Texas.  The two predictable slow downs in traffic were not that bad.  What was amazing to see was the weavers.  Weavers are usually young extremely stupid drivers that act like they are in a race they can win.  The weavers zip across lanes and love to panic normal drivers with their dangerous moves.  An occasional weaver would come by us on the trip and it was fun to see the idiot jockey for position.  As we approached our final destination the weavers got thick.  Weavers cause wrecks and of course they did cause a final wreck which was being cleared up.

With modern technology weavers could be caught by computers.  The erratic driving of the weavers could be spotted by a computer and modern cameras could capture the license plate numbers.

We are once again at the hoarders house.  Three adults are discussing and admiring the hoarding stash in the garage.  The hoarder assistant is calling the garage their own grocery store.  Kadizzle has seen small grocery stores that have less.  If one of anything is good 16 is better.  Maybe Kadizzle can sneak a picture of the garage hoarding.  Thankya Jesus this is a clean hoarding association.

This house is ready for either Armageddon or the apocalypse.

David Suzuki speaks about overpopulation

Will the Bubble burst?

The stock market is cooking.  Who knows why? Some nagging voice tells Kadizzle the bubble is going to break.  It always does.  The United States has become a country that produces nothing.  People spend like drunks, so many have nothing but service jobs, and low Walmart jobs.  How can we sustain this mess. All messes are usually sustained by borrowing.  Now the Trump gang has come up with a scheme to give the rich a tax break and put it on the U.S. credit card.  Sounds great, but will the world buy it. When one really thinks about it our country is falling behind. We have the worst health care, we are behind in education, and by most measurements the country is no longer even in the top five on most major measurements.  Yet we cruise along blindly thinking we will never run out of gas.  Our prize dolts will not address climate change, healthcare, science, or the fact that we are slipping into a third world economy.  The band played as the Titanic sank.

Our economy is based on grow, grow, grow.  It simply will not work.  There is an interesting experiment where you put some bacteria in a test tube.  The number of bacteria double every minute.  Everything is fine until 59 minutes go by.  The last doubling in the last minute kills all the bacteria. We live on or in a test tube.  Every so often the pollution doubles, the population doubles, and we all pretend like the planet is limitless.  An economy that works on more, more, more consumption is doomed to fail.  The cat lady starts with one cat, then two, then three, and soon she is overrun with cats.  The cat ladies belief in cats eventually creates her demise.  Bulletin, I found the youtube video. It appears above this. Watch it, there will be a test.

I pity the country

Stranger In My Country

The margin is thin

Recently Kadizzle remarked in a letter to the Bismarck Tribune that the United States was in danger of becoming a third world country.  After touring Pensacola, Florida today it looks like the margin is very thin. The ramshackle poverty in the southern U.S. is widespread.  Kadizzle used to marvel at some of the messes he saw in South America, but you could substitute too many  communities in the south in a picture and you would never know the difference.

It is inconceivable that our country would build a 21 billion dollar wall, spend so much money on military nonsense, and give more money to the rich when so many have so little right here.  The sad thing is so many in our country don't travel enough to know what a mess the country is.  Ned and Kadizzle will travel four thousand miles in 12 days across the south. The shot up, run down, junk infested mess is like a cancer on our country.  Those with money fly over the mess, drive around the mess, or simply never see it.  As a country we have wasted so much, and piling garbage everywhere has become a way of life. Junk cars, billboards, and the detritus of prosperity has stained the place we live.

Kadizzle has had battles with the commission in the city of Hazen about the slumming that goes on there, but the Hazen slummers are armatures compared to their warm climate friends.  When the oil boom broke out in North Dakota the southerners rolled in.  Kadizzle was mystified about why they parked in the yard, on the sidewalk or with no regard to the zoning laws.  Seeing their home base explains it all.  Zoning and ordinances don't exist in the south.  If you can park or pile it, you can keep it anywhere on your property.  So as usual you have the haves, and the have not's.  Trump wants the have's to have more, and the have not's to have less.  Waking up the Hoopleheads seems impossible, but Alabama has given people hope.

What are they thinking?

Here Kadizzle sits deep in the south.  Kadizzle just completed his first visit to a nice nursing home.  Ned has an aunt there we will drive to the Houston area for a memorial service.  Ned and Kadizzle ate breakfast at the nursing facility.  Every person in the care of the facility was white.  Almost every person that was giving the care was black.  Now think about this.  You are white, you have been mean and nasty to black people your entire life.  Now you are an old fart and guess who is going to take care of you?  That's right, the very people who you did everything in your power to drive into poverty and misery.  To Kadizzle's amazement the black staff was so nice, and so accommodating.  All the old white people seemed to love the staff and everything was peachy. 

This all brings back memories of George Wallace.  George Wallace sold racism like few before him.  Remember when Wallace got shot in the back?  Guess who took care of George and pushed him around in a wheelchair for years.  Yup, a black man.  As mean and nasty as old George Wallace was he finally came to grips with his racism and gave it up.  Before he died he was a civil rights advocate and his daughter went on to be a good person. 

The long and short of it is when you get in a bind you never know who you will need.  In the south you can pretty well bet when you are old and shot up some black person will be your care taker.  Do you want the person you abuse today to be your care taker?  Do you want to let the black person pushing your wheelchair in the nursing home to know you voted for Roy Moore?  Very strange world we live in. 

A long time ago when old Kadizzle worked in southern West Virginia in the mining camps, black people and white people seemed to get along pretty well.  There was a simple reason.  Even the dumbest brick could realize that if you were underground and a rock fell on you and pinned you, it might be a black man that had to get the rock off you.  So no matter how stupid you were you did not insult or defame the black people you worked with. 

The nursing home tour this morning was like a preview of the future.  Kadizzle really had never been in one of these places.  This one was pretty upscale and had a lot of amenities.  Lord help you if you go to some busted up place because the Republican stole your social security.  The rich can afford nice black people, but it seems certain all the rednecks might end up in some sorrowful place where the help is not well paid.   Imagine and old Klan  member in a nursing home staffed by black people.  There is some sort of strange justice in this world and the racist may have their comeuppance.

Everyone at the home seemed to be friendly and doing pretty well.  Two old goats were sitting out in the sun smoking cigars.  Everyone had wheels hooked on them somehow even if seemingly they did not need them.  The staff must somehow convince each tenant that at any moment they might collapse. If you were not in a wheelchair they had you push a walker.   Some old coot went by pushing his walker faster than Kadizzle could run.  There were many people pushing walkers who probably should have been pulling golf carts.  Several people seemed to be in the home because of sheer laziness.  This could happen to Kadizzle.  What are you in for?  Oh, I just got to lazy to cook my own breakfast or make the bed.  At this point Kadizzle has no made up his mind.  The two choices if it ever comes to that are ask someone to shoot me or join the gang at the home.  All things considered the inmates did not seem to have it so bad.  Boredom would be the overwhelming problem, but a good case of dementia or Alzheimer would solve that.  In summary be nice to everyone, you never know who will have to pick you up off the floor or leave you there.

The Fog of Ignorance lifted in Alabama

Kadizzle did it. He swung the vote. For the first time Kadizzle drove through Alabama today.  Miracles happened. Something was special about the day. When the car in front of us did three NASCAR flips and landed upside down Kadizzle knew it would be a special day because the woman driver crawled out the window unhurt.  God took the curse of stupidity off the state long enough to get rid of Trumps molester cohort.  Does this mean the fog of ignorance will lift from the country? Will gravity be put back in force?  Will science become real again? Will people respect the truth? It can happen.  The Republican Jesus of guns, cradle robbers, and vagina grabbers fell in the south.  The clouds parted, light shown upon the lies of Trump. Please let this spread.

What would it be like to be an idiot?

Kadizzle is sitting here and about four feet away is the " Make America Great Again" hat.  The hat will go with us.  Kadizzle is wondering if he has the courage to put it on and go through a day disguised as an idiot.  What is like to publicly pronounce you don't have an ounce of brains, morality, or decency? It might be fun to walk around knowing a lot of people will look at you and figure you have lost your mind.  What would happen if you went to a car dealer?  They would lick their chops.  Every where you went people would see and know right away you were an easy mark.  We are deep in the land of the people who brought us Trump.  Who knows maybe we will get a free donuts.  Will the hat work when we get stopped for speeding?  Well it remains to be seen if we will get the courage to wear it.

Undisclosed Location

Kadizzle would rather not disclose where we stayed last night, but suffice it to say it was with a hoarder.  Kadizzle slept in a room with yarn skeins stacked to the ceiling.  Estimated there were five hundred or more in the room.  This house is about a 7 or 8 on the hoarding scale.  There are themes.  A large stockpile of food, lots and lots of tools in the garage, and seems like chairs.  There are chairs everywhere.  Of course stuff is stacked on the chairs so you cannot use them all.  No shortage of fribbles.  Six little wiggling fribbles greet you on the refrigerator.  Incidently there are three or four refrigerators.  In the bathroom there are spares of everything.  Six brand new tooth brushes on the counter, and cans of shaving cream everywhere.  Thankfully the place is clean.

So off we bust towards Pensacola today.  At this point we switch vehicles to a nice Chevy Tahoe.  The ride should be nice and a little quieter.

Hold the press, hold the press.  Kadizzle just forgot there are hat's here and we scored a genuine " Make America Great ".  This is going to be fun wearing the hat. 

On the road

Kadizzle is up at six in San Antonio.  Awakening in the Garage MaHal.  Ned and Kadizzle wandered into San Antonio after dark and met with an old childhood neighbor from Wheeling. Thankya Jesus he put us up for the night.  Kadizzle got the very nice garage apartment all to himself and got a good nights sleep.  A vast improvent over sleeping in the van.  

Yesterday was one of the longest drives ever.  From Demming, New Mexico we drove and drove.  The striking thing about the the southwest is the vastness, and next is the ramshackle disordly developement.  One cannot help as you drive along the border,  which we did all day, that 21 billion could sure make a lot of improvements other than a wall.  Ned hates Trump so much he does not permit Kadizzle to mention his name.  Trump must be reffered to as 45.  Trump is an amazing idiot, and the man has never even visited most of the United States in any meaningful way.  Trump has flown over a lot, but until you get out and walk, drive, sleep, eat, and live on the ground you never see the country.  Trump like so many of his ilk have no idea of how vast the poverty is in this country.  People living in shacks will get to see billions go up in flames with the great wall. L

Driving across America you cannot help but think what a vast mess it is.  So many cities with the worst developement and zoning.  Each rat infested town is pretty much the same with the strips of car washes, hamburger friers, car dealers and the normal mess of check cashing, Walmart nonsense.

Maybe it is winter and that makes things worse.  A few green leaves hide a lot.  Today we bust on over to Houston.  

Yesterday’s big thrill was a motorhome on fire beside the highway.   The thing was cooking pretty good and it was surprising the police let people drive by so close.  It occurred to Kadizzle that  no down there were some propane tanks in there cooking.

No liftoff

Well we are getting nowhere. Ned is still getting up to date and it is 8:30.  Patty and Ned watch too much simple minded TV, but some of it is funny.  Below Kadizzle posted Father Ted.  If you need a laugh watch it.  Some of the Irish humor is always good.  Kadizzle has been on the Facebook with other liberals trying to figure out how to fight back. Tony Bender who runs a newspaper he owns is a good focal point for intelligent rebuttal to the Hoopleheads in North Dakota.  Yesterday there was a very good editorial about the Republican rot in the New York Times.  The editorial has a lot of people stirred up and hoping the Republican rot will eventually lead to the demise of the greed driven outfit.

So if we ever do get going we will stop to see Mrs. Kadizzle and pick up some supplies.  Mrs. Kadizzle said on the phone she invited a young lady hiking the Arizona trail to spend the night.  Mrs. Kadizzle enjoyed talking to the youngster about her adventure.  It is a very long hike from the Mexican border to Utah.  Some of the toughest parts are right where we work on the trail.  Mrs. Kadizzle and the trail crew have finally busted through the Deer Creek Trail.  Two started from the top and two started from the bottom.  They met and each group kept going to get the vehicle the other group left.  Now that the trail is re established the clearing can begin.  A big job.

Are you bored and do you need to laugh

The routine

As the big trip across the south looms Kadizzle engages in the routine.  Up before the sun to get fresh coffee Kadizzle wanders from the Casita Patty runs as an AirB&B to the big house.  The screeching rodents meet Kadizzle at the back door.  Ned will have the coffee ready.  Coffee is the real goal.  Ned sits by his computer getting up to date, Kadizzle with coffee flumps down to get up to date. What are the Hoopleheads up to today?  Keeping up with Trump insanity means a good check of the NYT.  Patty wanders down the hall and does her coffee and update so she can go do some substitute teaching.  After boredom sets in time to report to work at the patio.  Tuning the stones so they fit is a hopeless job, but will while away the day until noon break.  Noon will mean an update and then some final rock tuning.  The surrender at the quarry  comes and perhaps a shower.  Dr. Phil starts the afternoon run towards the evening.  Next Judge Judy.  National News, an hour of Netflix then the real prize Jeopardy.  The day is shot the brain has turned to fudge, but one more update and start all over in the morning.  Breaking the routine Saturday will be great.

How about a little ranting to start the day?  Today's rant will be the Republican attack on clean energy.  Trump insist on going backwards in every regard.  Solar and wind power have made monumental progress in helping save the planet and clean the air yet Trump and his hoard of dolts want to get back to the good old days of fossil fuels.  If you really care read the NYT today.  Disrupting anything good seems the goal of Trump.  Satan himself would be hard pressed to take food and healthcare from children to give tax breaks to the rich, but old Trump has no problem with it.  If you need the Russians to win the election so what?  Of course the Hoopleheads are dancing with glee.  They get to carry their guns concealed in every state now.  Hoopleheads love Jesus, but know their real faith is in Smith and Wesson.

The Stone Mason

Sister Patty is not a niggifidle.  Patty wants to get the Pattio finished.  Just for review a niggifiddle is someone who has to have everything perfect. Kadizzle would like to end up with some sort of acceptable product. To cover his rent at his sisters AirB&B Kadizzle has been assigned the task of helping lay stone for the Pattio.  Of course with the family genetics this job will be like most, mass confusion.  First, the damn stones are laying all over the backyard.  Brother in law Ned and Kadizzle have had to move the massive stones with a hand truck.  Of course like every hand truck this one has leaking tires.  You fill the tire put the stone on and go like hell to get the stone to the work site before the tire is flat.  After two days of that nonsense Ned bought a new tube and now that the job is almost done we have a tool that works.  To make the job fun none of the stones are the same shape, thickness or quality.  Today by himself Kadizzle will be doing tuning.  Tuning is when you try to get sand under the stones to make them create a flat even surface.  AirB&B customers will have a premade lawsuit walking on the stumbling mat we are creating.  So as the sun warms the air Kadizzle will soon have to get out there and start tuning the stone.

Sell each other Hamburgers

How does the American economy work? Once Kadizzle called his sister in West Virginia and asked her how the economy was in the Ohio Valley. Growing up there jobs existed, jobs like steel mills, chemical plants, coal mines, big machine shops.  Now that is all gone. My sister replied things are fine we just sell each other hamburgers.  Arizona is a case in point.  So many people do absolutely nothing.  Kadizzle sits in Cottonwood a town without any industry of any sort.  Phoenix has millions of people who just play pickle ball and shuffle board.  The biggest industry in Arizona is people waiting to die.

How can a country exist when most of the young people sit at computers tapping out programs to figure out what day it is.  The answer must be you borrow money.  Who lends you money? China owns us because they land us the money to buy their fribbles.

Think about how many people don't produce anything.  You have a gazzilion old people who do not make widgets.  You have a gazillion young people who do not make widgets.  At any given moment about twenty million people are in a car driving.  They make nothing but a mess.  In the sky at any moment over the United States there are six thousand aircraft full of people doing nothing.  How many people are tied up in the military doing nothing but wasting what we do produce?  Think about how many people are producing absolutely nothing you can wear or eat or sleep in or something that will keep you warm.  The answer is most people are very non productive. Go to a large city and see the large buildings full of people.  What are they doing?  You have insurance companies acting as parasites.  You have the banks creating petty crime on a massive scale.

Drive across the main southern route of BNSF railroad.  A train load of fribbles from China will go by about every fifteen minutes.  Trainloads of stuffed animals, back scratchers, and  vegimatics.  That train is just part of a shipload of junk from the far east.  In a couple weeks that train load of junk will first go to Walmart and then soon to the city dump in every small town.  Is all this sustainable?  How much shampoo can you dump in the river before the fish have clean hair?   How many plastic bags will it take to kill a tree when the bags blow across the parking lot.

Who benefits from the insanity?  All the money trickles to the top.  The people on top who sell the gas for the cars and the hamburgers need help, so The Donald is going to give them some tax breaks.  In the end it will trickle down.  We will be able to buy stuffed animals with our tax savings. and the cycle will keep going if the Chinese lend us the money to buy some neat Christmas lights to throw away in a month.

The Watermelon rodent

As Kadizzle opened the door to his sister's back porch he knew what would happen.  The standard screeching of Patti's pet rodents.  The damn little dogs could drive Donald Trump into sanity.  One dog looks like a watermelon with legs, one acts like Adolf Hitler, and the other just screams like it't testicles are caught in a mouse trap.

In Cottonwood Kadizzle is awaiting blast off on a trip of mercy.  Mrs Kadizzle is back at the ranch with the trail crew.  Brother in law Ned has an aunt in Florida that needs a ride to a funeral in Texas. This all means Kadizzle and Ned will head out on Saturday to haul a 93 year old lady in a big blue van from Florida to Texas and back.  It will be a long insane drive, but Kadizzle has spent very little time in the deep south.   A visit to the land of the Bubba's and the Roy Moore teenage dating club.  In the strange land of the south where people love to vote for those who abuse them.  On Kadizzle's last visit to the south poverty was rampant, now their hero Mr. Make America Great is going to smack them with a tax cut for the rich.  Dumb seems to thrive if  you keep it warm.   Ignorance does not do that well in the cold.  If you have to figure out how to stay warm and pay for it you may as well move to Arizona or Florida.  Sadly global warming is allowing ignorance to spread north.  North Dakota is now full of the red hat Republicans that thrive on guns and Jeeesus.

Cottonwood is a case in point.  Yesterday Kadizzle went with sister to the Walmart that made the national news about a year ago with a shoot out.  The bums living in the parking lot got in a gun fight with the police.  Cottowwood  has an abundance of mutants.  In warm climates the cast offs meet and breed.  Once Trump really puts the hurt on them they may get much more violent without government cheese to keep their bellies full.  One simple fact Republicans have never been able to grasp it that poverty breeds crime.  Once you make it impossible to earn a living with a shovel, then a gun is the next best choice.  So move into your gated community and get your assault rifle the Trump tax breaks are about to stir up the game.

Up Early

Kadizzle got up early.  The laundry did not dry all the way in the dryer last night so he gave it another shot.  When Kadizzle went out the door at five in the morning to the Forest Service laundry.  Mrs. Kadizzle thought he ran away.  Mrs Kadizzle is up watching the Netflix show " The Young Pope".   Anyone who has spent one moment studying the history of the Catholic Church and the outrages of the popes cannot help but wonder about the complexity of the fraud.

Now we have the Old Pope, Donald Trump.  Trump is openly as rotten as all the popes were in secret.  The Hoopleheads love it.  Trump lies with impunity.  Lucky for Trump his followers feel the New York Times is fake news.  The NYT has shredded Trump. Today Billy Bush, the guy who listened to Trump say grab em by the you know what wrote an editorial.  Read it. 

How do people with functioning brains watch public figures lie, and acquiesce to the fantasy it is truth? They want to believe.  They want to believe some lying scoundrel can make America great again. They want to believe in streets of gold.  Wanting to believe is the first step in getting fooled, the requisite for going to a magic show, and the underlying principle of casinos.  Trump like Hitler knows the bigger the lie the better. Stir in some hate, and you have Republican pie.

Magic

Yesterday we had a vegetable feast.  A couple of the volunteers have discovered Peter Bigfoot's floundering hippie commune up Campaign Creek with our help.  Bigfoot gave a generous amount of fresh vegetables for the donation Larry and Salindra gave him.  Little Mike did the cooking and the old fogies had a good meal of veggies and salmon.  It was a nice gathering.

Somewhere in the conversation the discussion evolved from solar power to using hydrogen to power your car.  When it comes to car talk there are two legends that will not go away.  One is the old hundred mile per gallon carburetor the car industry was paid to squash by the oil industry.  The other favorite is the canning jar contraption that converts water into hydrogen for you engine.  The alternator of the car breaks the water down into Hydrogen and oxygen which is fed into the engine.  Anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of physics would know this just will not work.

One fellow at the dinner said why not use a battery to run a generator and thus produce electricity that will charge the battery?  Well the sad news in all of this is that there are millions of people out there that believe this total nonsense.  Now think about it.  Trump got elected. Who did it? Yup, the people who think perpetual motion is just a simple matter of wiring or putting a jar of water under the hood you can turn into hydrogen to run your car.   More than anything this points out the fundamental failure of our education system.  However, keep in mind there are millions and billions of people who believe nonsense equally as absurd under the religion label.  So as we think civilization is progressing the same people who believe in perpetual motion think you can give the rich more and have more yourself.

Caution, this is going to be a rant

Two days we were in the wilderness enjoying the serenity of isolation.  Returning to civilization only to find the Republicans have pulled off the most massive fraud in history.   Kadizzle is livid about how the Republicans have exploited the ignorant using the most basic tricks of lying, fear, paranoia, and all the regular arts of con men.  The Hoopleheads signed up in droves to get taken to the cleaners.  Our children are doomed as the Republicans put tax cuts for the rich on our children's credit cards.  It was just too easy to go along with the raving lunatic we call president.  This whole scam will plunge our country into third world status.  Most people have no clue how far behind our country has fallen in every major statistic of social well being.  The most amazing part of the entire fiasco are the people who are going to get hammered the worst.  That is the crowd of gun totting fools that elected Trump.  Trump drained the swamp and put his own rodents, alligators, lizards and fungus in to replace the old swamp dwellers.  Trump lies on average five times a day.  His followers believe him six times. 

People are supposed to learn from history.  Did anyone ever read about the depression?   The depression was brought on by the robber barons.  They took everything and all the money went to a select few at the top.  People were actually starving to death in Texas and the rich debated if they should be helped because it might encourage welfare.  So here we are once more watching the rich rig the game for themselves by buying congressmen by the dozen.  No one notices, the Hoopleheads have their guns and Jesus, the pickup has gas, and we can watch football on a big screen TV, what is the problem?  The problem is the next big move is for the Republican to destroy social security and the other things that keep peoples heads above water.  Of course when it all blows up, which is surely will, it will all be the fault of Obama and the snowflake liberals. 

We now live in a country of " I got mine".   I got mine the hell with you.   One thing that has ruined the world for everyone is the spread of poverty.  What fun is it to go to the best place in Mexico, but have to wade through destitute people to get there.   Islands of the rich surrounded by slums, that was never fun, and never will be.  Was it fun for the plantation owner to sit on his porch and watch the slaves suffer with nothing?  If it was the plantation owner was a rich psychopath.  Sadly that is a description for Trump, the Koch brothers, Rush Limbaugh, and the whole bunch of greedy dogs.  They have no mercy for the poor, or anyone who was not born with a rich daddy.  Well sit back enjoy a nice drink and wait for the explosion.   Wait hold the press Kadizzle forgot the bonus.   You also get to watch the environment shred as the world blows up with global warming.   I thought I could stop, but one more thing.

The other day Kadizzle read a story in The New York Times (Fake News).   There is a section of Peru that is having a wonderful economic boom.  Crops are blossoming in the desert.  The glaciers are melting and providing plenty of water.  One minor problem the glaciers will be gone in 15 years. Then what?  Ask Trump his tax plan works the same way.  You get a little prize up front right before they hammer you.  Just like the Trump delusion there is an environmental bonus.  Under those glaciers are a lot of toxic minerals.  So when you get down to the bottom of the melted glacier you get some poison with your water.  What a deal.

Report from the mountain

Well, we went up on the mountain, we did not bring back any tablets.  Did not see any burning bushes.  Matt 26, Emily 38,  Mrs Kadizzle 67, and Kadizzle 68 did some serious trail work.  Matt is like a mule and he hauled the chain saw up and down some powerful steep slopes.  On Thursday we made the long drive way, way back into the heart of nowhere AZ.   Deep in the Mazatal Mountains we decended into the canyon.  As we did we cut logs off the trial with the chainsaw, and Kadizzle did some work on the tread of the trail  The ladies with loppers  did what they could to make the trail passable.  The Deer Creek trail is steep.  By three we made it out.  Old Kadizzle needed all the steam he had to get out of there. 

Back up on the ridge we set up camp. We found a spot with a great view and it was a nice place to camp.  A few drops of rain fell, but not even enough to settle the dust.  Kadizzle decided to sleep in the back of the Forest Service pickup truck.  Mrs Kadizzle kept talking about bears, but they never showed up.  Emily strung a hammock between two trees and Mrs Kadizzle set up her tent.  Matts set up his tent.  After a nice dinner Emily and Mrs Kadizzle sat around the fire.  The men went to sleep.  The night was warm and a decent pillow would have been a blessing for Kadizzle.  About four in the morning hunters went by in their zoom zoom machines. 

Up at first light the crew had coffee and a rudimentary breakfast.  Now back down that steep trail.  Since we had left tools and the chain saw there the day before there was no choice but to go down and back once more.

The trail goes through a designated wilderness area. You cannot use a chainsaw in the wilderness so we cleared what we could up to the wilderness.  Again today we had to make the hard hike out.  The youngsters had no problem.  Matt with a heavy pack and the chain saw beat Kadizzle out.  Kadizzle is just too old and fat for this work.  Moving Little Joey up many contour lines is taxing to say the least. 

Well we had a good time and feel like we got some serious exercise.  We made American Great Again the old fashioned way by doing our share.   Experiencing the remote land we all own is an experience.  There are places you own so remote and still pristine.  You need to protect them from Trump and his thieves.

Mountain Adventure

Tomorrow the trail crew will have our first overnight adventure.  The plan is to go to a trail head way up in the mountains.  Up early we will make the drive to the trail head. It will take about an hour and a half just to get there.  Our goal is to cut fallen trees from the trail with a chain saw and re-establish the trail.  After a long day of trail work we will hike out of the steep valley and back to our camp.  Friday we will once more head down the trail.  Perhaps some of the crew will try to hike all the way to the bottom and be picked up there.  Part of the trail is hard to find and our goal is to re-establish the trail.

Two old giesers, the Kadizzles and two young pups will make the trip.  Emily and Matt are the youngsters. So if all goes well you will get a report Saturday morning.

A long hike

Up on the mountain early in the morning Kadizzle set out to hike Pigeon Trail and on down the Oak Flat trail.  Our trail crew stopped to clear brush on an adjoining trail.  The long and short of it was the long of it.  The whole hike was about 9 or ten miles, but mountain hikes are not at all like level hikes.  If you have done a lot of hiking you realize going down is about as bad as going up.  You legs take a beating going down.  The brakes take a lot of abuse.  Sore Kadizzle finally trickled out at the bottom.

Later the gang went for pizza and then a long night of snoring.  The hike made Kadizzle sore, but Mrs Kadizzle doing her snore kick didn't help.  Mrs Kadizzle claimed the old man snored all night.

The Time Share

A couple times Kadizzle and his wife have sat through a time share presentation.  We did it just to get some free goodies.  Once a bi plane ride, once a ski trip, and once a great breakfast.   The Republican scam on tax cuts reminds Kadizzle of a time share presentation.  It all makes sense until you think about it.  As you realize how the whole thing works you realize what money falls into the hands of the operators.  You pay to maintain the place, you pay for the place, and they essentially sell the same apartment 52 times at an inflated price.  The lying, dodging, and scamming of the Republicans as they shovel money to the rich is as shameless as the time share.  Just like the time share the  Hoopleheads will feel warm and fuzzy with the purchase, then a few years will go by and they will see the stupidity of their decision.  Republicans have structured their scam so the simple minded can feel they won a little prize in the first round, when the game is full on the rich will walk off with everything.

Lake Life

Cool air spills in the windows as life comes back to the Earth Module in the morning.  Sunshine gradually warms everything and another day begins.  The peace and quiet here is enchanting.  Slowly all the volunteers are coming back from Turkey day and the buzz will start again. 

Yesterday a minor miracle at the dumpster.  Kadizzle has long thought an extra key for the cycle was essential.  A hidden key on a vehicle is a life saver in the wilderness.  Kadizzle ordered an expensive key blank for the Yamaha so he would have it in an emergency.  Finally the key came in the mail.  Kadizzle threw the package with the key on the table.  Mrs. Kadizzle took it for garbage and threw it out.  By some miracle Kadizzle was inspired at just the right moment to find the key.   After an afternoon nap Kadizzle awoke and was inspired to find the key.  Kadizzle suspected the key had been thrown out so he headed to the dumpster.  The key was found just as the garbage truck was roaring toward the dumpster.

Sitting here for the morning update NPR is reviewing the lying technique of the president.  The liar in Chief.  No one lies like Trump. His lies are indiscriminate and even called lies by his own admission. Yet on he goes lying to the loyal idiots.  After he apologized for advocating groping women he now claims it was all fake news.  The good news is Wall Street loves the scoundrel .   The market is up again today.  So let the bulgine run.  It is up to you to find out what a bulgine is.

When I Go - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer

We all have to go sometime, but why not make a grand exit.  Enjoy the words, enjoy the music. Enlarge the video.

It was a different time

At this age who can remember what age you were when you did what you did, but it seems like 11, or 12 would be a good number, maybe younger.  In the old days kids could hitch hike.  Today a parent would be terrified if their kid walked down to the end of Poplar Avenue and stuck out his thumb, but that was how you got to the pool at Oglebay  Park.  No one picked you up and molested you, no one murdered you, or abducted you. In the early sixties molesting and killing kids was considered impolite and unseemly.  So after a long day swimming at the pool you walked up to route 88 and stuck you thumb out.  It never seemed to take long before someone saw you with your swimsuit wrapped in a towel and took you to the end of your street.

Most adults in those days had so many kids of their own they would be crazy to steal one more.  Probably if anyone abducted me and called for the ransom my parents would say " He is to ornery we will not pay to get him back, besides we have eight more, so just keep him if you want him."

Hitch hiking worked in those days, and I did a lot of it.  Twice I hitch hiked to the west coast and back.  Once I left Wheeling with ten dollars and made it to California.  It is a long story, so I will skip most of it.  Remarkably two long rides just about made the whole trip.  In both cases the person providing the ride was a man running from his wife.

My father got the strange notion to purchase land in Ritchie county which was about a hundred miles south of Wheeling, east of Parkersburg.  Many times I hitched a ride down into the boondocks.  The trip took one down the Ohio to St. Mary's where you go onto route 50 and headed east.  I always thought it was fun to get to ride in a big truck, but there were some other strange rides.  Once doing the trip with a friend a guy in about a 53 Ford gave us a lift.  The entire inside of his car was redone with shoe polish, black and white shoe polish.  Another may gave me a ride once and I remember his entire dashboard was an ash tray.  Cigar buts were covering the entire dashboard about an inch thick from one side to another.

The most fearful ride ever was coming back from out farm in Ritchie county with a friend.  Some strange men picked us up and the roads were icy.  We had to drive toward Wheeling on the road which was very narrow below Moundsville at the time.  The men were driving extremely fast and we sat in the back scared to death.  The car was doing close to 100 and for a moment they would lose control passing a truck.  This ride about broke me of the hitch hiking desire.   Listening to the conversation of the men in the front it sounded like they were some sort of escaped criminals from New England.  The one man kept saying to the other man " Remind me to shoot his windows out",  From what we could piece together of the conversation the man had fallen asleep in a barber chair.  The barber cut his hair to short and now he wanted to shoot the window out of the barber shop.   By some miracle we made it to Wheeling.  As we passed under what was at that time the B& O railroad station the car approached a red light.   In front of us was an old lady waiting for the light to turn green.  The light turned green just before the man driving smacked her car from the rear.  It did not seem to hurt her car other than giving her a very quick start.  Neither of the guys in the front reacted at all as if it was a normal thing.  The old lady must have just thought her car was perky.  The  nonchalant manner of the episode had my friend and I laughing hysterically.

Another story from the past occurred hitchhiking home from college.  A gentleman picked me up on a windy country road.  As we drove he told me about the last guy he had picked up.   He said he picked up an older guy who seemed like he had a lunch with him in a brown paper bag.  The driver told me the man kept fiddling with something in the bag.  The driver asked the man what was in the bag and he said nothing just his lunch or something like that.  The man giving me a ride said it sounded to him like the man he had picked up was loading a handgun in the bag.  Then he went on to explain to me how he solved the problem   He said he knew the door on the passenger side was ajar and not closed all the way.  As he went around a sharp curve he lifted his leg and shoved the old guy out of the car.  At this point I said to my driver " Well you did not know if he had a gun or not?".  "No" he responded.  He said he just saw the guy roll across the pavement.   Sad way to have you lunch ruined.  I assured him I was unarmed.

Almost forgot my favorite story.  Once coming back up the river from New Martinsville.  A red Corvette convertible pulled over to give me a ride.  The first thing they guy asked was" Where were you going? "  I replied" Wheeling. " Then the driver said to me " You would never believe what happened to me in Wheeling when I was going the other way.   I stopped at a house of ill repute to acquire the services of a prostitute,  and who did I end up with?  The girl I sat behind in high school.  That must have been a very strange high school reunion.

It was a different world in those days.  People trusted people, and people trusted strangers.  It worked then, but now no one relies on what Mr. Smoot used to call Shanks Mare.

The Tribes wander back into the desert

Here we are in the Earth Module.  Mrs. Kadiizzle is making some hot cereal.  The sun is shining and it will be a warm day.  Kadizzle is contemplating his next letter to the editor of the Bismarck Tribune.  A good subject seems to be how the Trumpster has totally destroyed religion.  Religious people voted for Donald Trump.  Trump is a lying, pussy grabbing, con man.  How can anyone claim to be religious and not renounce the fraud.  You cannot go to an AA meeting drunk, yet so called Christians feel they can go to church and brag about their lying hero all week.  How can you read the Bible and conclude Trumps destruction of health care is what Jeeesus wants.  How can you support trickle down economics which we all know is trickle up.  Who would join a church that so clearly goes against what it professes?  Religion takes a leap into delusional thinking to make religion possible.  How far from common sense and decency can religion stray and still have any semblance of believability?

No president has ever disregarded the truth like the Trumpster.  Today he is calling the video of him advocating grabbing women's genitals fake.  First he claimed it was locker room talk, now months later he says the whole thing was faked and he never did it.  Just like his accusations that Obama was born in Kenya.  First he said one thing then admitted he lied.  No problem.  Trump declares himself a liar and his fans still worship at his feet.  The truth has completely disappeared from Trumps administration. 

Trump appoints foxes to guard the hen house every day.  Trump is the ultimate con man, yet the religious of all people look to the swamp drainer and don't see a man that has drained the swamp and filled it with super mosquito, and serpents of the worst sort.

Back here beside the lake we will enjoy a casual day.  Kadizzle may go for a ride in the mountains. In such an idyllic setting it is hard to understand the world is melting around us.  Some of our city slicker relatives went into the wilderness on a hike with Kadizzle.   At least they thought it was wilderness.  Sure it was away out of town, but no where near the real isolation one can achieve.  It was evident they were out of their element.  We have become disconnected from the planet that sustains us.

TRUMP vs Stone Cold Fight WWE (goes with post below)

Fake News

Kadizzle just finished his morning library read in the thunder room.  One article was about fake reality TV.  Fake reality seems like an odd phrase, but since the old Trumpster came up with Fake News it makes more sense.  The Kadizzles do a lot of hiking in Arizona and there are few areas we have not explored.  Near us at our summer encampment they must have filmed a "Dual Survivors" episode.  Before we came south for the winter Kadizzle bored out of his gourd watched one of the spine tingling idiotic shows.  The two great survivalist were lost in the desert.  The scenery began to look familiar. Kadizzle had hiked the area and motorcycled through it many times.  The stars of the show said they were lost.  If they got on any high point they would have seen Lake Roosevelt.  If they went in just about any direction they would hit a road.  In fact they could not have reached the point where they were without crossing a road.  At the top of canyon they claimed they would have to go down into the canyon to get water.  It might have been easier asking the tourist next to them for water before they made the treacherous decent.  The one guy always goes barefoot.  Barefoot through the desert would be just about impossible. Even the natives had to weave sandals.

Trump has led us into an era where facts no longer exist. The truth is simply what you want to believe. If you want to believe these two dolts really were in danger in the desert from lack of water that is your choice.  Trump received large help and donations from the WWW association. What is WWW?   It is the World Wide Wrestling association.  That is the organization that promotes the fake wrestling. In fact you can go on Youtube and see Trump participating in the fakery.  Kadizzle will post Trump doing the wresting fake news.  It should appear above this.

Soreness

Getting old means losing flexibility, hiking and being sore, and on it goes.  Yesterday Kadizzle set out with Uncle Ben and Josh to find some pictographs.  Last year when we were at Sedona someone told us how to get to some Indian art at the base of a cliff we had been looking for.  The pictographs are not easy to find.  When an Indian site is hard to find that means it will be well preserved.  The degenerates like to deface and ruin Indian remnants.  Degenerates usually will not hike far or put in any effort to get to anything so that is the good news about well hidden sites.  Kadizzle thought he could remember where on the main trail one turned off to get to the site. Unfortunately for Ben and Josh Kadizzle got mixed up.  In his head Kadizzle tried to remember last years hike.  Last year Sylvie made the hike, so Kadizzle remembered being proud how far Sylvie had hiked.  Next Kadizzle remembered the turn off was some even mile point.  For some reason he thought the mile point was one mile.  Anyway we hiked well past where we should have turned off the trail.  Luckily we encountered and older couple sitting on a rock having lunch.  They knew of the pictographs and sent us back down the trail to the turn off.

The National Park Service knows that ancient sites are endangered by idiots.  In an effort to keep sites from being defaced by Trump voters the park service does not mark trails or maintain trails to the sites. In fact the Park Service tries to obscure the trails.  That is why we could not find the beginning of the trail.  Additionally the Park Service is happy to let the trails fall into disrepair. In the end we did find the art.  Sadly vandals have over the years also found and destroyed some of the art.

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.