The idiots convention

Imagine you are sitting in a garage with two piston brains.  One is so stupid he is almost incoherent.  The other is actually smart, but uneducated in the traditional sense.  The brick dumb one just makes noise, but the other fellow is an old friend and reads good literature, and would be a different intellect if he had been exposed to the right education.  The topic is politics.  If you see a person with meth rotted teeth you know what happened.  They got their brain rinsed with chemicals.  Well this is sort of like the same think, but Kadizzle is talking to a guy who has had his brain rinsed with Fox News, Rush, and the usual suspects.  How do you explain to someone how Fox News works?  The discussion went round in circles as it usually does.  Kadizzle was accused of being a liberal elitist.  Then it hit Kadizzle what education is all about.  Education comes down to one simple thing if it works.  Education is about honing one's  ability to distinguish fact from fiction.  Unfortunately the Trump supporters believe that if you hears something you like, it is true.  If you think the poor are welfare cheats, and you like the idea, and Fox tells you it is true then the matter is settled.   How do . you break through this mind set.  Well if you tell someone the brakes on their car are inadequate and they don't believe you, you have to wait until they have a wreck.  So that is the Trump problem in a nutshell. 

Down at the Crazy Club

The cookies and brownies sat on something that looked like an antique hat box.  Down at the Crazy Club we had a nice turnout to celebrate Stroupini's birthday.  The head of the South Dakota Chapter showed up, our new member Luan was seated with the rest of the gang.  Shanika drove up from Mandan.  One of the first things discussed was making the bathroom into a confessional. It would be convenient. The tiny bathroom sits in the corner.  This all came up because Kadizzle let a secret leak. Kadizzle told Luan's husband a funny story she told at the last meeting.  He was not happy about it and Kadizzle was severely chastised.  So the idea was floated to  have Shiny go into the confessional and Kadizzle could confess his sins through the keyhole.

Shanika came to Hazen to attend the meeting, but also to go up to the lake and fish for Northern.  Kadizzle and Stroupini went up to watch him fish hopelessly.  Giving up on the luckless fishing Kadizzle and Stroupini went over to smell the boats hoping for spring to come.  Next a trip to the hamburger joint over by Riverdale.  On the way back we stopped to see Honest Omar's old ship. The new owner supposedly is going to fix the cracked keel.  So this is an update for Honest Omar on his old boat. Perhaps Honest the leak you always had a problem with was coming through the keel?  Sure miss Honest Omar and his sweet wife who was the Julia Childs of Lake Sakakawea.  In the good old days you cold drop in on Honest Omar after a weekend of sailing and enjoy a glass of wine and a fine meal right there one the docks.  Get another boat Mr. Omar.

Here we go

The realtor showed up yesterday and when she left there was a for sale sign in the yard.  We pulled the plug.  So this could lead to a massive head ache, going broke, and more adventure.  The plan is to somehow live in Payson AZ.   Like simple minded dingers we bought a lot there and in no time we may be into a massive mess building a house and going broke. Then again we may never get what we want from the current shack which means we will be back to square one.  So let the wheel spin and lets see what happens.

One of the things selling the joint means is fixing all the little blemishes, and god knows there are plenty.  After you get everything fixed why move?   Boredom seems to be one big reason.  On this flat prairie one can get lulled into an insanity based on blankness.  With Jasper Littlebottom's unbounded energy she has to be hiking all the time.  This brings up the next subject.

Jasper and two other high energy people are planning on doing a 250 mile hike on the John Muir Trail this summer.  The planning for this hike is much more complicated than the invasion of Normandy.  Hours and hours of phone conversations on what to take.  Do we take two green beans or three.  Jasper has had to purchase every conceivable type of trail food to test.  The trail bars come in the mail and have to be sampled.  You must have the perfect everything from water filter to shoes.  The cost per mile for this hike will bankrupt us before a new home does. 

Jasper is even doing practice hikes.  Yup,  Kadizzle had to go to Beulah yesterday so we pitched Jasper in the car with her pack loaded to hike back from Beulah.  People are like cars they wear out.  Jasper is going to be worn down to nothing before she even starts.

More than you can shake a stick at.

Growing up old Kadizzle worked with an old farmer.  That old farmer had a lot of hillbilly expressions. " More than you can shake a stick at" , was one of his expressions.  Well get your little fingers dancing on your keyboard and head on over to the New York Times.  Read the article about how Mueller is uncovering all Trump's fraud.  Trump is entangled in more crooked dealings than you can shake a stick at.  The ability of Republicans to deny Trump's sins is amazing.  If Trump touches it you can bet fraud is involved.  Trump is Satan's best friend.  If Satan wanted to destroy Christianity no better partner could be found than the Donald. The old Trumpster has turned decency upside down. Rob the poor, bilk everyone, worship money. 

The Sun Also rises

Today the good weather will explode.  Yesterday Kadizzle made a trip up to the boat.  Finally you can cross the boatyard without wading in snow.  The game is on and it is time to polish, and fill the boat with crap.  It takes about a pickup load of junk to prepare the boat.  The sails have to be put on, the cushions hauled up there and on it goes.  It all leads to a good place.  The sail finally goes up and the wind gently propels the good ship Sovereign down the lake to some peaceful cove.  With a glass of wine and thoughts of the steak on the grill you sit there and watch the geese with their young swim around. 

Shanika wants to go up to the lake and fish for Northern.  When there is a big enough gap between the shore and the ice the Northern fishermen line the lake trying to catch one of the big aggressive fish.  Bob up the street and Kadizzle toured the lake settlements yesterday.  Beulah Bay has experienced acute prosperity.  A development of million dollar homes has sprung up. Oil money or Republican graft must be the root cause.

The slip renters met with the Park and Recreation department in Washburn on Thursday.  A lot of empty promises were thrown out.  The state is in a crises because the oil wells in western North Dakota are not pumping the prosperity the state was counting on.   Republicans reduced the taxes on the oil gang which only made matters worse.  So the state is going to try to cut the budget for everything.  Trickle down just will not trickle.  Could we just tax the people who hit the jackpot and are building huge houses in Beulah Bay?  No, no, no, we need to cut back on everybody else. 

Driving about one sees the new Republican mentality.  The hell with you I got mine.  In the old days people used to band together and build roads, schools, and things everyone could enjoy.  No more.  Now you get stuff.  You get as much stuff as you can.  What do you do with your stuff?  Well first you build a house with three or four garages.  You fill the garages, but you still cannot store all your stuff.  Now you build a big ugly steel shed and put more stuff in the shed.  If you still need more space for your stuff you rent a storage unit.   You fill it with stuff.   You have all this stuff you never see or use, but you got stuff.   You have a population of idiots that voted for Trump because you bought stuff instead of schools.  You have slummers cropping up everywhere with their stuff scattered in their yard because you will not pay working people.  You used all your money to buy stuff not pay people.   The ocean is full of floating plastic stuff.  The roadsides are full of stuff, but there is no money to operate the parks because we need money for more stuff. Trains pull stuff from California to New Jersey.  The stuff in the trains comes from China.  China takes our garbage and makes new garbage.  Making stuff pollutes the air,  and the air is full of stuff.  We breath the stuff and we get full of stuff, and we die from the cancer the stuff causes.  Well I got to hall some stuff up to the boat today.

The Battery is dead on Spring

Spring just cannot seem to get going in this god forsaken frozen tundra they call North Dakota.  We have been beating the tiny scraps of snow with shovels hoping to get rid of the devil they call winter.  What causes wind towers to sprout up everywhere here. Well of course it is the wind.  Today it will finally be sunny and nice, except for the goddamn wind.  The wind will melt ice, praise be unto Jeeesus for that.  The lake is sitting up there with what people say is thirty inches of ice.   Apparently the calendars are broken. Thirty inches of ice and it is April whatever.  Summer will come and be gone so fast our heads spin.  Another thankya Jeeesus we did not stay here and endure the whole winter.

Decline

Pretend like it is not happening. That has always been a good solution.  Here in the heart of North Dakota coal country the ability to burn the crap is slowly coming to an end.  Kadizzle's whole career was involved in burning coal.  The simple minded say that means Kadizzle cannot be critical of anything the coal industry does.  A lot of things make sense at one point in history, but times change. Republicans are not prone to admitting change.  Lignite coal is a filthy low grade coal no matter how you slice it, but it is our coal.  It is like our president.  He is a terrible man, but he our president.  Now there are two lines of thought. We should support him because he is ours, or we should realize what a mess we have.  Now, back to coal.  The coal fired power plants are getting old and inefficient. The plant at Stanton has already closed.  Leland Olds has been limping along for years.  Two big things are giving coal fits.  First is natural gas, and second is wind power.  Natural gas is now cheap and plentiful, so plentiful they are just flaring it in western North Dakota to get rid of it.  The problem with wind power is the wind goes up and down.  To match demand that means the coal fired plants need to go up and down. That is hard on the old coal fired plants.  A coal fired plant takes time to go up or down.  On the other hand a gas fired turbine can quickly respond to high demand.  Gas burns much more cleaner than coal, and is more efficient. 

In coal country everyone keeps repeating the mantra "clean coal".  When you try to clean anything you burn you almost always use energy to clean it.  So when you put more and more pollution control on coal you end up using more and more of the energy just to clean the exhaust.  In the end if the Republicans fail to face the reality of coals demise the coal towns will be ghost towns.  So North Dakota needs to come up with a new game.  Kadizzle thinks the new game will be nuclear power. What?  While people have been sleeping big advances in nuclear technology have been made from an efficiency standpoint, and from a safety point of view.  If North Dakota got ahead of the curve and actively embraced nuclear we might survive, but that is unlikely.

The Crazy Club

Imagine a shortage of chairs at the Crazy Club.  As Kadizzle walked in there was Shiny, Stoupini, Marsha,  and a new member, Mrs Flower.  Now the Club has reached parity.  There are as many crazy women as men.  Mrs Flower is a nice fit, she is outspoken and plenty crazy.  Bev from South Dakota will be here next week.  Hopefully we can have the biggest meeting ever.  Perhaps Shanika can come up from Mandan.  We need to do something special.

Mrs Flower gave an excellent report on her trip to Roatan with her husband.  The report has inspired Kadizzle to consider Roatan a good place for a family gathering.  Roatan is of the East coast of Honduras.  Kadizzle checked it out an you can rent some nice beach side bungalows there pretty reasonable.

If you are subdued, shy, or easily offended, you do not want to be in the Crazy Club.  People speak their mind out loud at the club and if you think someone is full of it, no problem tell them right away.  The Crazy club has no qualms about gossip.  It is spread like butter on toast, and has about as much truth as a Trump cabinet meeting.

What do you do on a dreary day in Hazen.  Thankya Jesus for the Crazy club.  The basis of the Crazy Club is the Brooks House.  Just for historical review remember the Brooks House was originally the town phone company.  It is actually just a house where an old lady lived and operated the switch board down in the living room.  It must have been something in the days of the party line.  Now, it is a little art store.  It has all the wares of the local artist.  It does less business than the funeral home.  Shiny is good with arranging things and retail so she has it fixed up real nice.  Maybe Kadizzle can get some pictures today and post them here.  The little room has some nice windows, and comfortable chairs.  It ends up being a good place for group therapy.  It is like a bunch of mentally ill people who cannot afford treatment getting together for some kind of self cure that doesn't work.  You walk out thinking you are normal because everyone around you was the same as you are.  Of course the delusion is created because everyone in there was nuts.

Beat on the Snow

Jasper Littlebottom was out in the driveway beating on the snow before the sun went down.  Kadizzle gets a little obsessed with the idea also. It seems like there is some magic in trying to get all the ice off the driveway and street.  It is really a hopeless undertaking, but it makes you feel good to cut the ice into smaller chunks and force it to melt.  The Kadizzles have just become too accustomed to the warm weather of Arizona. Waking up in the morning and going outside with a T shirt is a thing that is a long way off in North Dakota.

Even with Trump puffing up the coal industry things are looking dim around coal country in North Dakota.  Republicans think you can stop the future from coming, but somehow change is inevitable. North Dakota has the dirtiest most worthless coal in the country, yet the politicians want to hang on. In the last few days Kadizzle has talked with some insiders in the industry.  Things are not looking good.  The gas plant in Beulah is scheduled to lose millions for years into the future.  The Spiritwood plant near Jamestown is struggling as the malt plant shuts down. The mine at Underwood is in high cover or to put it another way the coal is getting too deep to get out of the ground cheaply. Rather than face the future and go to nuclear power or come up with something new the brain dead Republicans want to outlaw wind power.  A dolt woman in the legislature in Beulah wants to tax wind power so it cannot be so competitive.  If solar comes on strong in North Dakota there will be a tax on sunshine. Maybe that is why it has been so cloudy. 

The North Dakota legislature is really a sleeping club for old white goats.  The goats snore away until a vote is needed. They awaken the goats and ask them to raise their hand.  The goats have no idea what they are voting for, but after they vote they give them lunch and put them down for the afternoon nap.  There is only one party in North Dakota. If you want elected, promise to do what you are told, buy a gun, join the NRA, and profess your love for tax breaks to the rich, and the Republican Jesus.  Almost forgot, you have to be from North Dakota. No outsiders, that might contaminate the goats sleeping sessions. If you get elected you have to give the Republican motto " If you believe it, it is true".  On the test you will be asked one question "What does education do to people?".  The correct answer is " Education confuses people".  Now you can vote and sleep with an exclusive crowd.

Sleepy Town

The tide of boredom rolls into our little town like gravity itself.  The streets are deserted, but the simple minded idiots are starting to roam the streets with their roaring cars.  Driving no where with a loud muffler seems to be the new sport of idiots.  It makes no sense, but it might be a redneck mating ritual.  The piston brained driver makes loud noises with his car to attract a mate.  If the dinger does find a mate it will be a female as devoid of intelligence as the noise maker himself. Now what kind of off spring do you think these two will produce.  McDonalds needs these people so it is not all wasted breeding.

The snow still sits around in piles and the lake is frozen solid.  They may as well cancel summer this year.  Driving around to check out the town on our return Kadizzle sees a lot of empty brand new real estate.  Out on the west end of town are about six new homes all with for sale signs that have been on the market for about a year, no takers.  The city got behind some new senior housing.  Again over thirty little senior apartments brand spanking new.  One is occupied.  If the oil boom does not get cranked up full bore we got a problem here.

Lift in the Arctic

After great consternation with the boss Kadizzle just got the Earth Module to it's summer home beside the house. The boss insisted it would not work and be a painful experience. It worked out fine and now one more job is done. Part of the goal is to let the sun hit the driveway.  With the ground frozen we did not have to plow up the yard with wheel tracks. Checked out the Sovereign up at the lake. It was like seeing an old friend. The boat came through the winter well and is raring to go. A big problem is a the lake is still frozen solid. 

It is time for a life change and the Kadizzles are throwing the dice.  The boat is for sale, and the house may soon be. If someone meets our price we may be building in AZ in the small town of Payzon.  If no one wants to pony up the cash the Kadizzles will just keep on keeping on.  Such is life.  So many of our good friends are getting shot up with the prizes of aging. The sand is running through the hour glass and there is more sand on the bottom than on the top.

Being back in the house does have it's benefits, all the showers you want, music in every room, stores nearby, and plenty of room to make a bigger mess.

Had an informal meeting of the Crazy Club on Shiny's back porch. Elected Stroupini philosopher emirates. Then we looked up the word emirates to see what it means.  If you ever have a strong desire to see nothing Happen, or watch snow melt come to Hazen. The streets are empty, the stores are deserted, and the big excitement is the sun going up and down.

Summer is bound to come bounding down the pike in a week or two then it is mow, mow, mow, and weed, weed, weed.  So the Earth keeps spinning and orbiting the sun at 67,000 miles per hour. No wonder we are getting older and worn our. 

Daniel Norgren - Everything You Know Melts Away like Snow

What is your political view?

This little illustration says a lot about how you think.  The one on the far left seems to sum up the Republican view of life.  Republicans don't care for the one in the middle, nor do they particularly care for the one on the right.  Think of the tall guy as the rich guy.  The tall guy wins no matter what.  The inheritance tax is a classic case.  If you get a bundle just because someone died you get to see the game. Not the case if you are born poor.  If your parents don't set you up you have to get your own box to stand on.  Republicans say "Dad can give you his box".  Now explain how that is fair?

The Earth Module returns

Not even six A.M. and Kadizzle is up drinking coffee.  Still dark out, but the ground was covered with snow last night.  A bit of a shock after waking up every morning to sunshine and desert.  Cory had a picture on Facebook of a big rattlesnake up on the Frazier trail which we work on all the time. So perhaps it was time to get out of the desert.

Back in Hazen a visit to the Crazy Club was mandatory.  Old Shiny and her little dog were still at it trying hopelessly to peddle some art to a town that is asleep.  Asked City Hall to do something about the old jalopy pickup truck that has sat in the driveway up the street for five years.  Same old answer,  "If we make one person obey the law, then we will have to make everyone obey the law".  Seems like something out of the Trump administration.

What do you do at 5:30 in the morning?  You read about Trump's similarity to a mobster boss.  Everyone agrees, even his own people that Trump is incapable of telling the truth.  Most figure he lies about six times per day.  The F B I director Trump fired just came out with his book. Trump is so similar to a mobster according to the book.

To make sure the world is still spinning Kadizzle visited the Fox News site on the internet.  A little amazed Kadizzle found Fox was telling the Hoopleheads about the FBI directors comments.  Of course Hannity who is about as delusional as you can get puts the Fox Spin on the story.

So we have according to some of the NYT columnist tribalism.  We have the fundy tribe of evangelical nuts, the gun tribe, the redneck tribe, the trickle down tribe, and have to admit the liberal tribe.  Each tribe has it's own mythology. 

The truth no longer exist.  There used to be measuring tapes, calculators,  measuring cups, and all sorts of devices that could help you get to something similar to the truth.  No more, now we believe in the rain gods, the trickle down gods, and the "Deep State".  Nothing is what it appears.  If there is a pot hole in the street it is a false flag by the city to stir up a drive for taxes.  Just make life easy and believe whatever you want.  This is certainly the best way to save on an education. 

Peace and Quiet

After the intense city life of Denver we sit tonight atop a hill overlooking a beautiful lake on the East side of the Black Hills.  Such a change.  Just walked by eight mule deer. They watched me closely and I watched them. They figured out Kadizzle was harmless.  Sun is slowly sinking and kept it's warmth up until the very last.  Tomorrow we will hopefully get up and be back in the land of frozen. 

Those annoying Facts

A Day of Murals

Today we walked miles through the streets and allies of Denver.  Denver has some program in place with has encouraged murals to pop up everywhere. Denver feels like a different city somewhere in Mexico or a strange land. It is fun to see hundreds of these things and one sees how diverse the human mind can be. You have to admire people who can let something flow out of their head and onto a wall.

Our passes through Denver are always enjoyable. The city is growing at an unbelievable pace, and generally speaking doing a good job with it.  Coming from the remote part of Arizona into the vast suburbia is a big change.  Eating and Drinking are major productions in Denver.  If any thing has a garage door on it you must make it into a brewery.  You cannot go fifty feet without finding beer flowing and people sitting around tables consuming it.  Yesterday the Kadizzle clan went to Firehouse 26, which no longer puts out fires, but does put out beer.  This place will actually can a beer for you to take home. Some friends sat at our table and one guy had a very big can of beer.  They had just canned the beer for him to take home.  It looked like a big beer you might get from the shelf anywhere.  Coming from Hazen, North Dakota where you have to travel 75 miles to find a couple of good eating places we are blown away by the infinite variety of eating places in Denver. In summery, murals, breweries, and restaurants, that is Denver.

Mass Transit

Every visit to Denver the Kadizzles use the new light rail system.  The rail system is a great asset for Denver.  A couple blocks from our daughter's house we can jump on the train and zip downtown.  Best of all you can take your bike.  If you don't want to take a bike Denver has free bus service up and down the main part of town.  Once this system is completed to Boulder life will be even better.  To add icing to the cake the rail system goes right into the Denver airport.

Hopefuly the Earth Module will be en route to North Dakota on Monday.  Weather will be the deciding factor.

Kadizzle is in a constant fight against the forces of evil.  As readers of this diatribe may know Kadizzle had a kerfuffle with Congressman Cramer.  Kadizzle put 23 dollars down the shirt of the Congressman.  Kadizzle did not shove, punch or assault Cramer.  A variety of right wing media people have sought to distort the incident into something it was not.  Two of the people who portrayed the incident incorrectly are right wing touts for Trump.  Scott Hennen does his best to be a mini Rush Limbaugh on KFYR radio.  On Facebook Scott Hennen claimed Kadizzle "shoved Cramer around".  This is quite different from trying to give Cramer money to pass on to a distressed mother.  Kadizzle asked radio host Scott Hennen to call him and discuss what actually happened.  Rather than hear the truth first hand Hennen persist in his lie and refuses to give Kadizzle a call.  Distortion is the new standard in reporting.  Sensationalism is the key to Fox News, and it's imitators.  The truth is of little value.

Six beans or four beans

The famous Jasper Littlebottom is engaged in planning her hiking trip on the John Muir Trail in August.  Never in the history of mankind has an assault been planned in such detail.  As Kadizzle sits here three air mattresses are laid out on the floor for a total cost of $500.  Littlebottom intends to practice sleep on each one to insure she picks exactly the right one for the great hike.  The losers will hopefully be returned.  With her buddy Deb they have discussed details of the 225 mile trip for hours on the phone and in person.  No detail can be overlooked.  How much does the toilet paper weigh?  How many sheets will we need?  On Wednesday will we put three green peas in the soup or four?  D Day was do da compared to this planning.  The research also goes on forever.  Hours spent on the internet.  What shoe, what underwear, what flashlight?  Now what Kadizzle fears most.  A lot of this stuff, which they do not give away may only be used once or twice during the rest of our life.  So this adventure will be pricey.  The good news is it means Kadizzle has an athlete in bed beside his lump of a body at night.  Kadizzle may be without adult supervision for up to three weeks this summer, and there could be some long stretches of peace and quiet.  Now Littlebottom just expressed some doubt she may even make the trip.  If she cancels quickly we can avoid the $80 dollar bear proof canister for the hiking food.  Oh yes the hiking food.  First it is expensive, but then comes the testing.  So you have to buy the food twice. Once to test it, and then once when you actually take it on the trip. Hope the bears enjoy the expensive food. If only Kadizzle could eat dehydrated food and get himself dehydrated.

Standing on the Bridge

Yesterday Kadizzle stood on the bridge over the railroad tracks in Denver.  No, the plan was not to jump. The plan was to watch the coal train pass underneath until the end of the train. No doubt the train load of coal had come from the Powder River Basin and was headed to some power plant.  At first tKadizzle assumed it was a 100 car train, which is typical, but then he concluded it must be about 125 coal cars long.  Each car holds 100 tons.  So do the math, that is 125 thousand tons of coal.  It took a long time for that train moving at about five to ten miles per hour to pass under Kadizzle.  As he stood there he though about how quickly that coal would be burnt to make electricity.  He made up his mind to do a calculation when he got home.  How much coal per hour do we burn in this country? The amount is staggering.  If the calculations are correct the United States burns 3.1 million tons of coal per day.  What that means is that train that passed under Kadizzle will be burnt up in about an hour.  It took about twenty minutes for the train to go under the bridge. To look at that much coal an imagine it burning almost as fast as it went by was a shocking thought. No you have complete idiots that think global warming is not happening. If those idiots would give the matter some thought, perhaps they would think differently.  About every three miles there is a super tanker heading toward our country with oil for us to burn.  This does not include the oil we produce domestically.  Add that to the coal, and the natural gas, and just try to imagine what we are putting into the air.  At any given moment there are six thousand planes in the air spewing the kerosene they burn into the clouds.  Our planet is on a course to disaster. Remember this is just the United States.  Think about China.

How long did it take to put that carbon into the ground?  It took over five million years to put the carbon for the coal into the ground.  Does any reasonable person think you can release into the air something that it took five million years to take out, and have no problem.  We are doing in a hundred years what took the Earth five million years to clean up.  Do you think we might have a problem?

The Meltdown

Sylvie, my little wonderful granddaughter just had a terrible melt down.  She got new roller shoes for her birthday and she wants to wear them to school. Like Trump not getting his wall she did not take it well.  The whole explosion made Kadizzle think about being one of nine children. The meltdown created chaos at breakfast.  In a family of nine meltdowns were unknown.  There simply was not room for that kind of activity.  It is such a procedure launching one kid to school Kadizzle cannot imagine how on Earth nine of us got launched in the morning.  Kids had to take care of themselves.  Kadizzle can remember trying to find his cleanest dirty shirt to go to school.  The big sisters took us to school and we walked.  Big sisters brought us back.

Sylvie is a member of a tribe. Her tribe has one person.  That is entirely different from a tribe of nine.  Sylvie has no clue the good life she leads.  Sylvie has been on expensive vacations Kadizzle could never have dreamed of.  Sylvie has probably flown as many miles as a nine year old as Kadizzle has in his career.  Simply snap your fingers Sylvie and what you want will appear or be ordered. Not only does Sylvie have her own room, but it is equipped beyond the belief of a member of the nine tribe.  Clothing?  Hand me downs were so common in our closet.  Not Sylvie, she has a selection that any kid would envy. 

All things considered she is a wonderful, brilliant, talented, little girl, but keeping her from being spoiled as an only child is going to be a major undertaking.  No will be the hardest word she will ever learn.

The Water to the Earth Module Froze

Actually not a big problem, but when Kadizzle got up to pee he found the water to the Earth Module frozen.  A little warm water on the outside faucet and we are back in business.  Sitting above Colorado Springs the Temperature is now 31.   One more degree and no worries.  The park we are in was built in 2006.  Colorado did not spare the money.  It is a nice park with a good view, good trails, and a lot of nice facilities.  Cheyenne Mountain State Park is right next to Cheyenne Mountain which contains the NORAD center.  You know the place the next nuclear war will be run from.  More than likely the Russians, and maybe even North Korea have a bomb centered on the Earth Module.  So we are just one Trump tweet away from glowing for eternity.

Kadizzle set out for a short hike yesterday and quickly found himself on a long hike.  The maze of very nice trails here led him on a long walk, which was good.  As he walked he wondered why more parks like this could no be build instead of all the silly military nonsense.  Had our country not pissed away trillions on silly wars and equipment even the poorest person would live in the lap of luxury.  Just keeping all the planes and helicopters constantly buzzing cost a fortune, but so what it makes the military contractors rich, and that is our real goal.  Reagan is the Republican Jesus, but if it had been Eisenhower the world would be a better place.  Now we have Trump.  Did anyone ever think we would sink this low.  With Trump in the White House the swamp is about to flood the place.  Trump has proven what a thick seam of idiots we have in this country. 

Kadizzle was in the coal mining industry most of his life.   In West Virginia and Ohio the coal might run from twenty eight inches up to nine feet thick.  In North Dakota maybe it got over ten or twelve feet thick.   When the day came that Kadizzle got to tour a mine in Wyoming he was blown away by coal seems over one hundred feet thick.   Now, back to stupidity.  Most Americans thought the seam of stupidity in our country did not run that thick, but Trump showed us we had a vast supply of idiots no one ever dreamed of.  Fox News has been mining idiots for years.  They are out there and ready to be picked.   Idiots like simplicity, and that is what Fox and Rush Limbaugh have in abundance.  There is a simple paranoid explanation for everything, and the idiots want to hear about it.  The most precious commodity the media now has to offer is fake news.   Ironically the best salesman of fake news is now president, and he spreads it like peanut butter on the Hoopleheads.  They love it.  Will the day of factual information ever come back.  Not likely very soon.

Electric Mobility

The Earth Module landed in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Saturday was to be a day of rest before journeying  on.  With the truck unhitched we meandered into the town from Cochiti Lake.  Kadizzle had made arrangements to rent an electric bike.  Kadizzle has been seriously considering the purchase of an electric bike for some time so this seemed like a good chance to try  another one.  From the train station where the bikes are rented Kadizzle took off and surveyed the town.  Getting about on a bike is so much simpler than a car.  You can use the road, paths, or in some cases the sidewalk.  A nice feature of the electric bike is you can give a little boost to take off at a traffic light by twisting the throttle.  You set the amount of assist you want.  These bikes are perfect for exploring a dense part of a city.  Eventually Kadizzle found the way out into the country side and was able to try some windy bike paths with some steep grades.  It was nice to just give the bike a little juice to get a start up the hill.  On the level the battery seemed to be hard to wear down, but once on the steeper gravel pathway the battery did start to deplete.  The path followed the railroad tracks leading to Albuquerque.  When the bike was returned it still had about one third of the power left.  It seemed like the whole ride was around twenty miles.  Keep in mind Kadizzle has some meat on his body.  Of course the more you pedal the longer the battery would last.  Currently the Yamaha is strapped to the back of the Earth Module.  An electric bike would be a tremendous weight savings and it would serve about 80% of the duty the motorcycle does.  However, if you want to go up a steep mountain grade with rocks you better by on the Yamaha.  Kadizzle would recommend an electric bike for people doing the RV life.  It would be great for exploring and getting small amounts of groceries.

Advanced momentum management

Driving is a mental challenge.  Yesterday we made the trip from Lake Roosevelt to Cochiti Lake in New Mexico.  Pulling a fifth wheel trailer only enhanced the fun of coping with the insanity induced by cars.  Cars change people.  Once you put a person on the road that might normally be a calm kind human, you often create a crazed man or woman who no longer can resist the gas pedal.  If you were riding a bike would you peddle like hell toward a wall then suddenly slam on the brakes? No, but how many drivers run up to a traffic light that is red and hit the brakes.  Why not let the car decelerate as you glide toward the light?  It might turn green by the time you get there.  The same slap drivers, as Kadizzle calls them will run up behind a slow truck and slam on the brakes.  Every time you get to a congested bigger city the aggression of drivers gets more insane.  If you watch an aggressive driver jockey for position you often see they make little more headway than a sane driver.  The aggressive driver loves to weave in and out of lanes.  When you have a trailer on the back of you truck these obsessive idiots can cause a real mess.

So Kadizzle offers two classes that drive his wife, and his daughters crazy.  Puff driving is the first class.  It mostly teaches starting slowly and stopping slowly.  The goal in puff driving is not to use the brakes.  On a recent trip to Florida with brother in law Ned we took his van.  His van was equipped with a device that would report to the insurance company if he stopped too quickly.  This is a sign of bad driving.  When you hit the brakes hard the little device would emit a ding.  When you got too many dings you did not get the insurance discount.  The whole trick to avoiding dings is looking ahead and avoiding quick stops.  There is no quicker stop than when you hit another car.

Advanced momentum management is similar to driving a train or a large ocean liner.  Start a train too fast and you will tear it apart.  It takes miles to stop a super tanker.  So in both cases you have to manage the momentum.  If you do this with your car it will last longer and hit fewer other cares.  When our kids were small Kadizzle told them he drove from Mexico to Alaska without using the brakes.  For a long time they believed it.  To slow down you have two choices.  You can use the brake or you can cut back on the throttle.  Also you can down shift.   If you see brake dancers you know they are poor drivers.  As you look ahead and watch the brake lights you can tell which drivers understand momentum management and the ones who do not.  Kadizzle has never had the brakes replaced on any car he owns.  The combination of living in the middle of nowhere, and advanced momentum management are the reason.

Let me show you my gun

Kadizzle's head is still spinning from a talk with a gun nut yesterday.   As the conversation got going the gun fellow pulled out his handgun.  As if he was showing his penis with glee his face lit up with the goofy look gun owners get when they show you their gun.  As the conversation progressed and Kadizzle tried to argue for gun control it became more evident the gun slinger was of questionable mental capacity.  Kadizzle asked Mr. Gun if he ever had to use his gun to defend himself.  Yes, three times.  Kadizzle inquired further and Mr. Gun said he shot and killed a guy in the state of Washington.  Kadizzle asked where and when.  Next came a story about how a disgruntled employee was fired.  The employee went home and came back with a gun.  Gun hero shot him.  Kadizzled thought he should check out the story so he asked for more details so he could research the shooting on the internet.  Well, Mr. Gun explained it would probably not be on the internet.  The smell of rotting fish began to permeate the conversation.  As the conversation went on Mr. Gun slowly admitted he feared the government would get his gun.  Then the absurdity got worse.  Mr. Gun said he was part of a military unit that was trained to get the guns.  This is equivalent to saying I am afraid I might come get my own gun.

The conversation took a turn toward gun death statistics.  Kadizzle mentioned the effectiveness of gun control in Australia.  Cornered by a little logic the fake news flag came out.  All the statistics that say gun control works are fake.  Mr. Gun said there is a military internet called MARS that has the real information.  Now it is becoming evident that the man Kadizzle is talking to with meth teeth has had his brain cells pretty well rinsed.  No point on going on with the conversation.

Now this man is of questionable mental capacity and armed.  The scary part is how many more people are among us with a deadly weapon and an impaired mind.  The big Republican mantra is mental problems, not gun problems.  What better to do than give the mental problems guns. 

Morning in the Earth Module

In the background is the hum of the little electric heater.  Sitting in the warmth the sun is blasting in the windows already as it rises above the Eastern end of the lake.  We got the morning video of our newest member to the clan Evie,  a. k. a. Smiley McGumphley.  Smiley will be a genius like all her relatives.  It is obvious from her mopping skills.  At 14 months she has a little mop and does a perfect imitation of her mom. The best part is when she mimics using the mop ringer by putting her mop in a basket and raising the handle to squeeze the mop.

Kadizzle is thankful for two great daughters with two great husbands and two great grandchildren.

Prying Mrs Kadizzle out of Arizona is an impossible task.  It is time to pack up the Earth module and head North.  We can go slowly, but we need to get going. Kadizzle is bored and ready for a change. 
The rattlers are out and it is time to go.

There may be real hope to subdue the simple minded gun owners that are loyal to the NRA terrorist.  Kadizzle was blown away when the Mrs. came home yesterday and said there were 100 gun protestors in Payson.  Payson, Arizona is as deep in redneck country as you can get. Apparently there is a small group of people with a liberal bent that are not afraid to take on the crazies.

I think I will post the picture of Trump in Las Vegas.  You can see Trump in his disguise headed for a meeting with Stormy Daniels.

Idiots with guns

Many long moons ago old Kadizzle was a teenager.  Down on our hobby farm or brush farm or Booneville farm we were great groundhog hunters.  In his younger day Kadizzle could bring a vicious groundhog to the glory land with a 22 long rifle.  So one day Kadizzle took his cousin who had too much city in him down to Boonieville and the groundhog hunt was on.  After a fruitless hunt each of us was walking back up the road to the farm house.  Kadizzle noticed his cousin was continually working the bolt on the 22 he was carrying.  After working the bolt a few times to make sure the gun was empty the cousin swung the gun toward Kadizzle and pulled the trigger.  Accidentally as cousin swung the gun toward Kadizzle the cousin's finger hit the trigger and the gun fired. Cousin had intended to put the gun to Kadizzle's side.   Apparently one shell had hung up in the magazine on the last time cousin worked the bolt of the gun.  Cousin shot right in front of Kadizzle. Had cousin pulled the silly trick he intended he would have shot Kadizzle right in the kidney.  It would have been unpleasant.  It was a good lesson for all.

Hunting Kadizzle has more than once accidentally discharged a gun.  Things can go wrong when least expected.  One of the strangest experiences ever was pheasant hunting. Kadizzle had shot a pheasant and thought one more might get up.  So holding both the gun and the dead pheasant by the neck Kadizzle awaited the next pheasant to arise in the air.  As he walked the pheasant that was supposed to be dead suddenly came alive and kicked the trigger. The gun fired and scared the hell out of Kadizzle.

Now we come to redneck bubba land where just about every idiot has a gun.  Since Kadizzle has been in Arizona this incident has occurred twice.  A brave simple minded NRA gunman is in the parking lot.  Out of the store comes running either shop lifters or amateur robbers.  This is where the gun idiocy kicks in.  The gun hero in both cases started shooting at the alleged robbers.  Of course the gun nut misses, but does manage to shoot some holes in cars.  How can you be a good guy with a gun if you don't shoot suspicious people?  What fun is being a gun owner if you cannot shot a shoplifter every now and then.  The only problem with the NRA fun kit is the people in the parking lot who just bought groceries.  Who wants to come home and find bullet holes in their tomatoes?  The swiss cheese is no problem you expect that, but lead can ruin the taste of so many foods.

Kadizzle and Brooksie ride into the wilderness

Brooksie is a volunteer up at the National Monument.  She said she wanted to go on a motorcycle ride with Kadizzle.  Since she has a better and more aggressive cycle than Kadizzle he thought he might have trouble keeping up with her.  It did not turn out that way.  Not to far out of the gate Brooksie bit the dust up the first little boulder hill.  That hill is relatively easy compared to what we were about to take on.  The decision was made to go somewhere else less difficult.  We took off through the desert and ended up on the road to Peter Bigfoot's.  If you follow this blog you probably know who Peter Bigfoot is.  Kadizzle wanted to go to Bigfoot's to check on Alex.  Once more previous stories explain who Alex and Bigfoot are.  Alex is thriving at Bigfoot's and Peter has grown fond of Alex.  Alex is learning many new skills including organic vegetable gardening.  Nancy, one of he residents at Bigfoots gave Kadizzle some herbs to bring back for Winkie.

We took a side trip up another canyon and had another nice ride.  The cottonwoods are  starting to turn green and spring is slowly creeping into the desert.  Winkie took an Indian hike and checked out some more ruins.  The steak is on the grill and the cook is cutting up the cabbage so gotta go out and check the meat.

Amazing Indian Ruin

As often happens the Kadizzles have driven by Indian ruins unaware many times. For months we have been driving up Sycamore Creek, but today we got out an hiked on the way up to the trailhead. Mrs. Kadizzle was told of an Indian site nearby.  Once on a little mesa jutting out into the valley we found a huge site.  It is one of the biggest sites Kadizzle has ever come across in the wild. There could have been a hundred rooms.  Of course now it is all fallen walls and the outlines of rooms.  Mrs. Kadizzle found a money clip there with $26 some ancient must have lost. 

After pursuing the site for about an hour we headed back.  Heading back to the truck Kadizzle could see what the natives were up to.  Down in the valley floor you could see at one time there had been an excellent site for a field.  To top off the discovery you see where the stream had been damed and diverted.  This was a unique area perfect for growing crops with irrigation.  Knowing this site was in the area explain a lot more about other sites we had found nearby.

Don't shoot my kids

Kadizzle is a hunter of pheasants. Kadizzle owns guns.  You can register my guns, you can finger print me, you can do what ever you need to do to keep guns from the nut cases.  Kadizzle is 69 years old and never once in those 69 years did Kadizzle need a hand gun to feel safe.  There are very simple solutions to gun violence, yet our Republicans are owned by the NRA.  The NRA is nothing but a terrorist organization run to sell guns and get Republicans elected.

Radio Frequency devices could be put in guns that would set off alarms when the guns are near schools, banks, churches, and so on.  These are the devices used to keep people from stealing high end goods in stores.  The cost is minimal.

Kadizzle has two wonderful daughters, and two wonderful grandchildren.  Kadizzle is not going to wait for those people to be shot before he acts.  The simple minded scared little men who need a gun to feel manly have no place in my world and I will fight them and their insanity every chance I get.

Soon they will appear

Rattlesnakes generally do not bother Kadizzle, but the reality is we are in an area where there are plenty.  At the Tonto Basin Cave Dwellings the other day there was a huge rattlesnake on display. Kadizzle never realized how big they can get.  The Indians say that two weeks after you see the lizards the snakes will be out.  Well there have been lots of lizards moving about.

Kadizzle has had a couple encounters with the rattlers.  One of the most memorable was in a bay in North Dakota on the lake.  Kadizzle knew he was in a snake area so he was watching closely and using his hiking stick to warn the snakes ahead of him.  Shortly after starting a hike the person behind Kadizzle said " You just stepped over a rattlesnake".  Kadizzle thought he was joking, but he pointed to a fairly big snake making its way to the big rocks nearby. 

The closest call happened in California.  Hiking down a stream with big boulders Kadizzle made his way down between two boulders.  Ruth said she heard a snake rattle.  Kadizzle looked to his right and with in striking distance there was a rattler on a little ledge.  Once with daughter Erin, Kadizzle started hiking up a steep hill on the lake.  All of a sudden a buzzing of many rattlers startled Kadizzle and he jumped back and just about fell off the hill.  In the same area many years ago Kadizzle stood beside a friend.  The friend was looking through his camera and Kadizzle noticed the tail of a rattlesnake sticking our by his foot.  Kadizzle casually said " There is a rattlesnake's tail sticking out of a hole by your foot".  Friend did not believe Kadizzle and said " Sure and it's head is coming out of a hole over there".  Next he quit looking through his camera and looked down.  See the tail of the snake he jumped in freight.

Last summer in North Dakota with all the boats in a bay tied together.  The whole sailing group was able to see two large rattlesnakes in some sort of fight or mating ritual.  The snakes seemed to wrestle and then fall into the water. 

Strangley when Kadizzle give the matter some thought he realizes he has seen many more rattlesnakes in North Dakota than Arizona.  In North Dakota you know where the rattlesnakes are, here they are everywhere.

What to do today?

The three ladies are going to hike today.  Kadizzle does not know what to do, but a motorcycle ride up El Osso road might be nice.  The end is in sight.  After our stint at REI on Saturday we are done with the Forest Service for this year.  Another possibility is to ride over into the mountains. 

Sitting here with the ladies that are planning the great John Muir trail hike.  Debbie just informed me she is doing a smell test.  How long can you wear a t shirt before it smells.  She said this is day five and it is starting to smell.  These women discuss trail plans for hours.  Next they will be testing toilet paper,  and figuring out if they should turn their underwear inside out.  Hikers get obsessed with ounces.  Now, I am sitting here and they are comparing their sports bra's.  No actual try ons yet.  Oh, no Mrs Kadizzle actually just went in the bedroom and grabbed a pair of undies. I thought I was joking. 

Ladies Auxillary

Jasper Littlebottom, and her buddies are planning to hike the John Muir trail this summer.  So the three ladies are having a confab here detailing how they will do the trip.  Big decisions have to be made about how many beans to take, what kind of thingma jigs to take and on and on.  The whole trip will be 220 miles through very rugged mountains.  Kadizzle will be home alone sailing. 

Our stint doing trail work is nearing the end.  Saturday we will do an informational presentation at REI in Phoenix.  That will be the end of the season.  The Forest Service had the going away party yesterday.  Every year they give us a nice little gift. This year they gave us some badly needed chairs for camping.

The crew is going to hike today.  More than likely up towards Peter Bigfoots. 

Having a little fun with a political enemy.  A terrible right wing blogger in North Dakota that distorted my encounter with Congressman Cramer writes articles for two papers in North Dakota.  The blogger, Rob Port tried to claim Kadizzle tried to punch Cramer.  That was not at all the case.  Kadizzle did put money down Cramer's shirt collar.  Port posted a picture taken from an angle that made it appear Kadizzle was punching Cramer.  Kadizzle somehow has stumbled across a picture of someone who looks like Port in a fight situation.  Kadizzle has falsely been posting the picture claiming it is Port.  Just fun giving Port a dose of his own medicine.

Distortion seems to be the favorite tactic of the right wind so giving some back is fun.

Help I am down and I can't get up.

A perfect day at the perfect temperature so a motorcycle ride up the mountain was essential.  Being an ex safety person it seemed best to take the satellite communicator in case worse came to worse.  So Kadizzle tested his riding skills to the limit and made it up the most treacherous part.  Back down was no problem.  Then the decision to try a different way home.  Remember that satellite emergency device? Well Kadizzle could not find it so he said the hell with it and went without it.  That almost proved a big mistake.  After riding a long way down an unfamiliar wash back to the paved road Kadizzles worst problem appeared to come true.  It was going to be a dead end.  is had been following some relatively fresh tracks so he thought there must be a way out.  With a little search he came to a place where the other guy must have gone out by cutting the fence.  The fence was crudely patched and Kadizzle was able to get it down.  This is where the trouble started.  It appeared the last strand of barbedwire was on the ground, but not it was not disconected.  When Kadizzle drove over it snagged the cycle and pitched him on the ground.  It was on a bit of a hill so he was stuck on the downhill side under the motorcycle. It seemed he was pinned and could not get the cycle off him nor could he get his foot out. Now this would be the time to be able to call for help.  The whole little mess was withing sight of the highway. Kadizzle whistled at a couple of passing cyclist, but they did not stop.  Calling Mrs. Kadizzle was starting to seem emanate.  After a little struggling it became evident it was the tennis shoe that was caught.  Freeing the foot from the shoe enabled the leg to escape.  It was not easy, but Kadizzle got the cycle upright, and managed to get going again.

Morning in the Earth Module

To get out of bed in the Earth Module one must have some heat.  So a brave soul must get up and put a heat puff in the module.  The heat puff involves turning on the furnace, and the electric heater. The lucky person who stayed in bed can get up to a warm Earth Module.  Now you can lay in bed and do your update while the module warms.  Coffee comes next.  Winkie usually makes the coffee as Kasdizzle is considered to incompetent to do the simplest task.  NPR comes on in the background.  Now it is time to check on the fighters.  Kadizzle must subdue as many right wing dolts as possible and advance the Jihad against the Republican takeover of our democracy.  CNN, The New York Time, The Bismarck Tribune, and all the news outlets must be checked for false stories being spread by the Republicans to subdue the Hoopleheads.   The Hoopleheads and lickspittles are the curse of the Earth.  Hoopleheads easily fall for anything the NRA, Republicans, or Fox News puts out as truth.  Hoopleheads are the people who brought us Donald Trump.  Now to the lickpittles.  The lickspittles are the sorrowful people who promote the Republican agenda of tax breaks for the rich.  Every morning all these things have to be carefully checked least we be overrun by ignorance. 

After the second cup of coffee has sunk in perhaps breakfast can begin, and so can the day.  Today the Forest Service will feed us at a going away party for all the brave volunteers.  The Forest Service is very good to us and a great organization to work for.  Every year they five us a nice gift for our volunteer service.  Will not be long before the Earth Module is hooked to the truck and we head North.

Knowledge raining down

For two days we have been presenting trail information at the Tonto National Monument.  Every year they have a little archaeological festival up at the monument.  It is a very nice event.  What gave Kadizzle infinite pleasure was talking to the friendly and very knowledgable people.  People who actually duplicate Indian crafts like arrow making, flint knapping, and fire making are a wonderful asset.  The man demonstrating how ancients started fires is very knowledgable.  He demonstated a way fire was made with a special rock that contained iron and sulfur.  Kadizzle never knew such a technique existed, and that it went back 25,000 years.  It was very unique because one rock was struck with another.  No spark appeared, but the tinder made from fungus started to smoke and a fire was created.

So much of the day was spent picking the brains of these knowledgable people.  Question like " How did the ancients keep a torch lit in a cave?".    Also Kadizzle has wondered for a long time about secret tunnels in and near Kivas.  Some good information was provided.

Find Johnny

Johnny is the walking blueprint for the National Forest Service here.  Johnny 88 years old was here when everything was built,  so when you need to know where something is you ask Johnny.  Johnny cannot sit still.  As we sit in the Earth Module Johnny is constantly driving about with his little white dog Bessie hanging out the window.

Poncho, Johnny's son in law drove up to the Earth Module yesterday and asked to borrow something to pull Johnny out of a hole with.  Kadizzle made some inquiries and volunteered to help Poncho retrieve Johnny.  Johnny went fishing down by the diversion dam.   That is the area where the Salt River empties into Lake Roosevelt.  The flatlands down there are a maize of trees and roads.  Now where in the hell was Johnny down in that hopeless tangle of roads.  Several times Kadizzle tried to phone Johnny, but no answer.  In the mean time we drove all over hell's half acre trying to find the stuck little SUV.   No luck.  At last Johnny answered the phone.  It was getting to the point we might have to call in the forces.  Johnny said he had walked out and caught a ride.  We were able to locate Johnny and Bessie.  Finally we found his vehicle sunk in the sand by the river.  The Johnny mobile was pulled out and Johnny took off to visit a friend like nothing even happened.  Johnny needs oxygen, and Kadizzle thought we might find him in bad shape, but no problem.  Poncho and Johnny's daughter stay with him in his RV near us.  Kadizzle suggested they put a lease on Johnny.  It would be great to have Johnny's pep at age 88.

Ted the sign man

Fat old Kadizzle stopped to talk to Ted the volunteer sign guy on his way back from the workout hall. Ted puts a lot of free labor into those nice wooden hand routed signs you see in the National Forest.  Now fasten your seat belt here goes the rant.  It breaks Kadizzles heart to think after Ted has spent a day or two making one nice sign that some simple minded gun dinger will take great pleasure in firing his hand gun into the sign.  The NRA terrorist like to portray themselves as patriots, but are they defending the country from signs? The brave hand gun wielding gun nuts shoot up millions of dollars worth of signs every year.  It is enough of a tragedy that they destroy the public property, but another aspect of giving idiots guns is safety.  The brave gun slingers shoot signs along the highway.  Do you think and idiot with a handgun has the good sense to figure out if anyone is in danger when he shoots a stop sigh?  Hell no. 

Just making the sign cost time, effort, and money.  Even with Ted working free there still is the cost of tools, and material.  Then someone has to drive out into the forest to put the sign up, take down the damaged sign and drive back. This is the cost of idiots with guns. Does the NRA care? Hell no.  So thank you NRA for not only making sure our school children die, but also shooting up public property.

Distracted Driving

Kadizzle hopped on the motorcycle and thought he would buzz down to the workout hall.  Why not reset the odometer on the way.  Starring at the little numbers and trying to figure out how to get it to zero just took too much attention. Suddenly Kadizzle looked up and realized he was about to hit the gate across the road head on at about 18 mph.  Fortunately the was just enough time to swerve and go through the open portion of the gate that was half closed.  Now the half that was closed is locked down in the center.  The motorcycle would have gone under the pipe gate and Kadizzle would have gone over.  A lot of somethings would have been cut up and broken on both Kadizzle and the motorcycle.  The little bout of stupidity was equivalent to texting and driving.  It was a good lesson. Kadizzle has been thrown from a bicycle at 15 mph once when the front tire dropped into a ditch.  It was a massive body slam.  Had this little crash taken place it would have been much worse.  The moral of the story is when you are moving your eyes need to be only on the road.  If you need to do some silly task pull over and stop.  Do this for me, and slap me silly if I do not do it for myself.  Put that phone down.

Ka Boom

Out side straightening up the Air force jest guys just came by on their weekly hide and seek. Now Kadizzle is not real knowledgable on this and needs a message from Honest Omar about the intricacies of flight rules.  It would seem the air space would be restricted when they practice these low level games, but Kadizzle notices a little private plane flying low about the same time.  The way the fighters fly they could easily pop over the mountain and through the front seat of the little plane.  If they could react quickly enough to avoid a pancake it would be amazing. 

So the call just came in from the Crazy Club in Hazen.  Shiny and Stroupini are doing a great job with marketing. The club may offer some different membership levels.  We are considering making Trump a platinum member.  With that membership you get an automatic guardian.  Also there is talk about franchising the Crazy Club.  We do have a Canadian division already.  If you are delusional, and you occasionally hear voices you might want to consider a membership.  Kadizzle oftern hears voices in the refrigerator.   The ice cream is the worst.  The poor little shivering voice of the ice cream saying "warm me up, melt me with your kind heart" is hard to resist. 

Should I keep gong.

Today was the perfect day for a nice Motorcycle ride so Kadizzle hopped on and took off up the mountain.  Half the fun is the challenge of a difficult ride.  The goal is not to crash.  This up and over the mountain road has plenty of opportunities to crash. Once you start up a steep section there is no stopping.  The key to success is picking a route that will work.  This has to be done quickly and successfully. If all of a sudden you are confronted with things the motorcycle will not go over your momentum stops and you fall over.  That is fine except when you are on an extremely steep grade you will not be able to start up hill once again.  This means somehow you have to get turned and head back. Sometimes if you are forced completely off the cycle just getting back on is a major problem on a steep incline. 

Fortunately the challenges were met.  Kadizzle made it to an intersection high on the mountain. Now this where the two brains got in an argument.  The smart brains said " Remember the last time you went down that road?".  "Yup" the dumb brain answered.  Well the last trip down that road narrowly avoided disaster, but the dumb brain won and we gave it another try.  The challenges were difficult and fun.  Lets just go a litter farther, and a little more.  Things got tougher and worse and the two brains came to a very steep hill that looked like sure failure.  Fortunately smart brain convinced dumb brain to turn back.  So smart brain and dumb adventurous brain made it home unscratched. 

The Day is Approaching

The body Kadizzle is occupying will soon be 69 years old.  One problem seems to be realizing those years have gone by and the brain does not seem as old as the body.  The body is heavy, it gets tired, and of course it is always hungry.

The body is like an old car. It is falling apart.  The rust is showing,  it does not steer like it used to. it has been patched, the radio doesn't seem to work right, the knobs are falling of, and the windshield is cracked and nicked.  On it goes.

So what do you do with an old car?  You try to maintain it. You wish you could trade it in,  you are used to it.  You don't drive as fast.

Sadly so many friends are going through the same thing.  At the moment it seems like 80% of our close friends are having health problems.  Because we are aging all of our friends are in the same boat.  Three good male friends are experiencing urinary problems.  Just about everyone has had a kidney stone by now. Oh what fun.  Prostate problems that plague Kadizzle are a standard for old men.  The women have their specialties.

So what do we do?   Kadizzle says enjoy every day.  Don't put off fun.  We will all hit some bumps, but in most cases that is what they are bumps.  After the bump things settle down and the sailing is good again. 

Summer is about to start and the warm breezes of North Dakota will propel the Sovereign down the lake.  Boats will tie together, old friends will tell stories,  and one more pleasant summer will be underway.  Flowers will bloom,  the garden will produce fresh food, maybe the June berries will be abundant.  The snow has piled up in the mountains and the lake will be full. This means the boats will be able to get back into our favorite places. 

In the end the key is to dwell on the good events coming up in the future.  The Kadizzles look forward to seeing Sylvie in Denver.  Sylvie had a blast with her mom seeing Hamilton on stage yesterday.  Guess grandpa is bragging, but Sylvie has turned out to be a very intelligent little lady.  She is fun to be with and full of pep.

Sylvia has been the victim of bullying by a mean girl at school.  Ella the bully decided to set up an arm wrestling contest.  The playoffs would determine the school champ.  When the brackets brought Sylvie up against the bully Ella,  Sylvie with her arms of steel defeated Ella.  Ella who was sponsoring the tournament on the playground immediately declared the tournament over.  Maybe Granpa will challenge Sylvie to a round of arm wrestling.

Lets Golf and Have a Parade

Thee million dollars to golf for one weekend, no problem if you are the Trumpster. Remember the guy who was going to cut the deficit, but somehow is running it up by 1.5 trillion?  Well now that guy needs a parade that will cost in the tens of millions.  Sad, but there will be no tanks.  Plenty of planes though. 

What could you do with tens of millions besides have a parade?  How about some health insurance for poor kids?  What about some pay for teachers?  Maybe build some shelters for veterans.  No, we need a parade.

Good old Trump.  He is an amazing idiot.  Today in the New York Times his economic adviser said his job was not to advise Trump on economics, but to justify whatever Trump comes up with.  Sounds like someone working for Hitler.  Don't question his desire to kill people, just justify it. 

We have a president with the mind of ten year old, and he has a cast of idiots working for him. Those idiots will do whatever it takes to please The Donald.   What an era we live in.

Trail Crew Returns

Kadizzle picked up Emily, Cliff, and Jasper Little Bottom when they came down the trail yesterday from the big two night out trip.  Cold seemed to be the problem for Emily and the dog Teddy.  As Kadizzle worked his way down the trail removing stumblers a bunch of old hikers were returning from an early morning hike.  The old goats said they made it in four miles.  The goats said our gang was on it's way.   The trail crew has put a lot of work into the Deer Creek Trail, and it is in good shape.  Spring break is filling up the campgrounds and the beach up on the other end of the lake is full of RV campers.

Get the Trail Crew

Kadizzle has been living pretty well on his own.  The big boss is up Deer Creek with Cliff and Emily living in the wilderness.  Last night Kadizzle had a nice home cooked meal with Little Mike.  We sat at the picnic table drank some wine and shot some BS.  Later Kadizzle drifted off to sleep on a soft bed.  Not so for those guys up Deer Creek.  Today at noon Kadizzle will pick them up.

Our expedition to REI has been postponed.  Cliff and Kadizzle were going to do some public relations there on Saturday, but it will not happen until the 24.  It is getting warm enough for the rattlesnakes to come out.  Kadizzle saw data that bees are much more dangerous than snakes.  Actually snakes manage to kill very few people.

Kadizzle has been conducting a Jihad against the NRA terrorist.  Confronting these dingers on line is fun.  The most fun is to ask them two good questions.  First, ask a gun dinger " What are you afraid of?".   This drives them crazy.  They hate to admit it is fear that drives them.  Of course it is the usual someone is going to break into my home and rape my wife.  Happens all the time.  Then of course you get the government coming to get the guns.  The strange thing is they guy who says the government is going to come for his gun is the same guy who insist black football players respect the government that is coming for the guns.

The question that really drives the NRA gun smokers nuts is " How do other countries achieve so much better statistics with gun violence?".   The gun slingers chose just to ignore that question. 

The " What are you afraid of?", question is a lot of fun.  The guy with the gun does not like to think of himself as some scared little whimpe.  He sees himself as the sheriff in a western.  He is a tough gun slinger that can shoot your rifle right out of your hand and tell you to get out of town.

Bulletin:  On the radio in the background NPR is talking about Trump meeting with North Korea. This will be an amazing meeting.  The two craziest men on the planet meeting.  Trump no doubt will say " How you doing Rocket Man?".   Of course they will compare the size of their rockets.  More than likely they will order take out Chinese for a meal.  What could go wrong?  If we are lucky Korea will capture Trump.  Probably with a cheeseburger trap.  No one in this country can make sense of anything Trump says, so the North Korean dictator will have fun figuring out Trump.

As NPR is pointing out the Trump people are clueless about how to negotiate with North Korea.  This should be a highlight for the Trump circus.  More than likely it will be a lot of sparks, noise, and some great fireworks.  In the end does anyone think two mentally ill self obsessed people can solve anything?  If Trump actually gets North Korea to disarm it will be amazing.  Trump may just look at the dictator and say " Your fired".

No one noticed

Trump is bug fucking crazy.  Of course his followers don't notice.  What do his fans watch?  Nothing but Fox News?  Kadizzle is sitting here in the Earth Module listening to NPR.   The story just finished.  The story related how Trump goes off script and runs the White House like his reality show.  When you meet a Trump fan and ask them what they think of Trump now that he has clearly shown he is crazy they always say " He is doing exactly what he said he would do".   The right wing dinger is telling you we hired a nut, we got a nut, why are you surprised? 

The Kadizzles are news junkies.  Our routine is to awake in the morning and get up to date. We read the New York Times,  check CNN,  and have on NPR while we do it.  You can say we have a liberal bias, or leftist.  But as they say the truth has a liberal bias.  On top of our hours long pursuing of the internet news magazines full of information come to our mail box almost daily.

Perhaps we are flooded with fake news.  No matter how fake the news might be we can look out the window.  We can see roads falling apart, we can see our friends dealing with American health care, we can see things with our eyes, and hear things with our ears.  We can decide how the world that is written about synchronizes with the world we experience.

According to right wing media we all need guns to protect ourselves.  Not once this week did Kadizzle need a hand gun.  Not once this year, nor for the last 69 years did Kadizzle need a handgun, yet the right wing media tell us we need to be armed. This is a clear case where you compare reality with the news.

The greatest trick in the world the right wing media has used it the twisting of probability.  Everyone knows the chance of a coin landing on heads is equal to the probability of the coin landing on tails.  Now what is the probability of a gunman coming into you house?  What is the probability of being raped by a Mexican that just crossed the border illegally? What is the probability of winning the lottery?   So many probabilities are distorted.  Of course the person who distorts the probability want to take advantage of your fear.  That is how insurance is sold, that is how a casino operates and that is how the NRA prospers.

If something is probable it should happen once in a while.  The probability of a plane crashing is extremely low, but it happens.  Now think about trickle down economics.  Has it ever worked? No, but the simple minded dingers think there is a real probability that you can give all the money to the rich and it will benefit you.   So we live with a president that lies every day.  He has a following that believes his lies.  We have a president that by all appearances is out of his mind.  What is the probability a man obsessed with himself will bring us prosperity? What is the probability a crazy man will get us in a war?  Once you lose the ability to assess what is likely to happen you become detached from reality. 

Everyday we will go out into wild areas that have rattlesnakes.  What is the probability we will be struck by a rattlesnake?  Very, very, low.  For 18 years Kadizzle has been hiking the southwest.  In those 18 years he has encountered two rattlesnakes.  Now if Kadizzle was afraid to go into the wild because of rattlesnakes his life would be different.  Perception sculptures you life.  You can make money scaring people.  The NRA has made a fortune  for itself and gun manufactures by scaring people.  The military survives by selling people on unfounded fears. 

So how do you get people to embrace reality?  Who knows.  Fantasy is so much fun. 

Up the Creek

It is early and about time for the second cup of coffee.  Winkle, aka Mrs. Kadizzle has been buzzing around for days packing her stuff for the big adventure today.  The plans kept changing about who would go when.   The final plan is for Kadizzle to take the crew up ot Deer Creek.  Cliff,  Winkle, and Emily will go up the trail and stay for two days doing clearing in the process.  A new paid crew member Rose and Kadizzle will go up the trail perhaps as far as the campsite and then work back.  Kadizzle and Rose will not do any camping.  So with freeze dried food and a host of modern gadgets the other three will tough it our sleeping on the ground.

Kadizzle has a different mission to accomplish.  A trail crew is working up in the Sierra Ancha Mountains.  That crew needs water.  Kadizzle will fill water jugs and take them to the Sierra Ancha crew.  Friday Kadizle will retrieve the trail crew at Deer Creek.

Trail Stewards

It looks like Cliff and Kadizzle will be getting up early Saturday morning.  REI in Phoenix at Paradise Valley has agreed to help us promote the trails in the Tonto Basin National Forest.  It is about at two hour drive so we will have to leave about six.  Our mission will be to set up an information table and spend the day coercing hikers to use the trails we have working on all winter.

The Kadizzles have spent 18 years exploring the Southwest.  Most Americans have very little idea of the public lands they own.  The west in general teams with wonderful public places.  That includes Canada.  So many times Kadizzle thinks of the people he knows who never left the couch.  They never made any attempt to even see their own country.  The world is a big place, and an interesting place, why not go see it?

Sure you can watch television until you are blue, but two dimensional life is no substitute for the three dimensional version.  You cannot simulate on television the depth of the Grand Canyon, you cannot experience the height of Angel's Landing from an easy chair. 

The Week ahead

Kadizzles just returned from the nice little laundry the Forest Service provides.  The sweat and dirt of last week is coming off and this week it will be renewed.  Jasper Littlebottom aka Mrs. Kadizzle is busily packing stuff for an upcoming camp out this week.  If it goes as planned Emily who just did a fifty mile bike ride through the mountains, Littlebottom, and Cliff will hike up Deer Creek and camp.  The goal is to get more of the trail into shape.  Only by camping can the distant reaches of the trail be reached. Kadizzle is supposed to haul water into the mountains to a trail crew there.  If that does not materialize then Kadizzle may also go on the camp out.

The volunteers are slowly leaving and the transition to summer is coming.  Warm weather is just a day or two away.  Our sailing friends will come to hike on the weekend.  Some water to get the streams going would be nice.

Perhaps Kadizzle can get up the steam to go to the workout haul. 

How about a little rant?   With so many of our friends being shot to pieces with health issues it is time to think about reforming health care in this country.  At this age you realize most of the health care cost are incurred in the final stages of life.  Recently my sister passed away.  She was not a good steward of her money and her medical bills will be born by society in general.   Think for a moment about the masses of people aging and what it will cost.   It is nothing to rack up a medical bill of one million dollars as you get to the end of the game.  When Mrs. Kadizzle' mother was close to death they wanted her to rent a special mattress for ten thousand dollars.  Because most of us do not have to write a check for our care we really are not concerned, and the medical community, and the insurance mafia run wild.  Who cares?  This brings to mind a time when Erin was hospitalized in Denver.  The staff thought she needed a humidifier in her room.  In they came with a brand new one.  Of course when it was listed on the bill you can be assured the price was jacked up way beyond retail.  On the day Erin was leaving the nurse was unplugging the humidifier.  What are you going to do with that Kadizzle asked.  Throw it away was the answer.  Do you want it?  May as well take it home we paid for it.  The casual way hospitals waste money is insane. 

In a few weeks Kadizzle will got to get a check up.  If it is typical he will go first to a urologist, and then to a cancer specialist.  The first doctor will get all the vitals, and enter them in his computer.  An hour later the second doctor will do exactly the same thing. To make it all worse Kadizzle will fill out the same forms twice, which he has already filled out one hundred times.  Now, any other business in the world would put the information from the first doctor in the computer in a way the second doctor could see it.  But, no that would save time and money, and who cares it is the insurance company paying.  That insurance company also pays the CEO 120 million dollars a year to make things awkward and confusing.

Now for the grand finally.  Gun control works in every modern country, but ours.  Health care works fare better for far less in other countries.  Do we follow their lead?  No,  our legislators have been purchased and paid for by the NRA terrorist and for that matter the health care terrorist.  Remember the death panels?  We have a death panel thanks to the Republicans.  It works this way.  The poor die for lack of insurance, the rich get the best we can give them.  So the Republican death panel is very efficient.  The decision is made automatically based on your wealth.

So while old Kadizzle is in the rant mode, how about one more quick one.  The great Republican tax break.  So the rich got their money and so did the corporations.  What was supposed to happen according to the trustworthy Republicans was that corporations would use the treasure to pay higher wages.  Did it happen?  Hell no.  the corporations gave out a one time bonus.  95% of the tax break was used to buy back stock. This juiced the price of the stock.  Guess who owns large chunks of stock. Of course it is the CEOs.  So now the same CEO that just got a big tax break on his income also just got a big bonus in the price of his stock.  Wow it was win win for the head of Walmart who makes 8,000 per hour.  And the poor old person at the door of Walmart will get enough to buy a membership to Costco.   What a wonderful country where you can rape the stupid by simply promising them guns, and Jesus.

Life in America

The coffee has been poured.  The update is in progress.  Right now we are reviewing all the comedians cutting up Trump.  Trump's insanity has been a gold mine for comedians. Trump is so clueless in so many areas. Trump with his tariff threats managed to tank the stock market.  Thinking this man could cause a nuclear war with one moment of his insanity is frightening.  One of the most amazing aspects of Trump is that people still believe in his nonsense.  Kadizzzle has asked Trump supporters if they are still with him.  A favorite response is " He is doing exactly what he said he would".   In other words he is as bat shit crazy as people thought and that is great.  The soap opera at the White House has become a fire-drill with people running for the exits.  Saddest of all is what Trump is doing to our children.  Good years when our country could be going forward we have a president golfing and having a twitter fight with comedians.  Every day it gets worse.  Now there are indications Russia has been using the NRA to help Trump.  Imagine school children killed with the help of the same NRA that supports Trump.  The Russians are having so much fun with the idiot we have made president.

A nice motorcycle ride

On the trusty Yamaha steed Kadizzle flew down the road to Peter Bigfoot's ranch.  Remember when Kadizzile put Alex the lost soul from the Arizona Trail into the custody of Peter Bigfoot?  Well Kadizzle had to go to the orphanage to see how Alex was doing in his new environment.  The news was very good.  Bigfoot said Alex fit in great, and Alex said his mental health was much better and he was making some progress in healing his body.   As Kadizzle meandered down the trail to the Bigfoot compound he noticed Alex's tent pitched beside the road.  The peace and tranquility of the valley that Bigfoot occupies would calm anyone.

After the brief visit at Bigfoots Kadizzle rode up one of his favorite mountain roads.  On the way back there she was Mrs.  Kadizzle pushing her bike up the road.  The Kadizzles set out to find the origin the water at the water tank nearby.   Up the mountain and into the thick brush we finally managed to find out where the water was coming from.  Water just coming up out of the ground and flowing freely is so important in the desert.  The ranchers rely so heavily on springs that they go to great lengths to pump the water amazing heights and distances. 

Generation Gap

Last night the Kadizzles went to a coming and going party.  The same party was welcoming new employees to the local division of the Forest Service, and also saying goodby to some people leaving for other locations.

By Kadizzle standards it was all young people except the Kadizzles and one other person in the senior bracket.  Soon we were engaged in a party game.  The Kadizzles managed to hold their own with the youngsters but it was a strange mix.  Most of the young people were under thirty or right around that age.  Most of the time you do not reflect on the fact that older people mostly socialize with older people and of course the young stay amongst the young, so it was an interesting mix.

The card game revolved around trying to guess what would appeal to other peoples sense of humor.  The game did give some insight into how people think.  One thing clearly came out.  Younger people are much more accepting of a new view on society.   The young are not as boxed in as the old white people that are so abundant in our country. 

Another revelation was learning how intelligent people are.   Most of the people in the group we had only met on a very causal basis, just passing by and saying hello or something.  Playing the card game gave a sense that most of these people were better educated and more intelligent than one might have assumed on at a quick glance.

So now for a daily update.  The Air Force was kind enough to do an early morning display of air power right over out Earth Module.  There was a sound in the distance than a jet came screaming about 200 feet over the Earth Module.  Then one more, and finally a laggard.   Trump must be up to something because yesterday they were parachuting into the lake with sport parachutes.   Trump may be planning to attack McDonalds, or the NRA.  In his usual bizarre fashion yesterday first he said he was not afraid of the NRA, then later he cozied up to them and gave a round of hugs and kisses.

When you think politics and Trump cannot get an once more goofy,  Trump pulls one out of the hat and the insanity rains.  As his own chief of staff actually said, and never retracted, " Trump is a fucking moron".  This indeed is the case.   Trump with his total ignorance of economics has sent the stock market into a tumble with his ideas on tariffs. Trump does not understand that cars are made of steel and aluminum.  When Trump forces those prices up the cost of cars go up and the trade deficit goes up.  Pretty simple for anyone to figure out,  but not Trump, he only understands cheeseburger economics.

Now if you need a laugh read the twitter fight between Trump and the actor Alex Baldwin who plays trump on SNL.   Baldwin shot Trump out of the saddle with his tweets back at Trump after Trump suggested Baldwin give up impersonating him.  Also for another good belly laugh watch last night with Colbert.   Trump has been a gold mine for comedians. 

We are . moving

The other day Kadizzle wondered as he is prone to do.  He wondered how fast is the Earth moving in the circle where it goes around the sun.  The speed was a shock.  The Earth is moving around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour.  Now when you consider that if you hit a wall with a car 35 mph is all it takes to kill you.  We all need to be thankful nothing is in the way except the moon as we spin around the sun.  We must be thankful the moon carefully dances around the Earth so we don't hit it.  Now consider the possibility that even a small rock get in our way and we hit it head on.  Something the size of a football field hit head on will explode like a gigantic nuclear bomb.  What protects us from little rocks is the atmosphere.  Normally it burns up the little rocks. 

So you drive down the road at 65 mph hour.  A tiny rock pops up from the truck wheel in front of you.  It hits your windshield.  You are pissed it put a nick in the windshield.  Now think if it was even the size of a golf ball.  You might be hurt. 

Driving down the road at 65 you can figure out where you might be later today.   Well moving through space at 67,000 miles per hour we know where we are headed, and were we will be.  We are headed toward Spring at that speed.   Also we are moving toward our next birthday.   So when you think time is moving slowly, you need to ask, compared to what?