Into the Yukon

Lunch in the Yukon

The Bear Truth

The Commander demands correctness in approaching bears. Driving at 70 mph and suddenly seeing a bear by the road makes it hard to sneak up on the guy in the black suit. However we finally found an older more experienced fellow that was apparently used to the tourist trade. Mr. Bear kept eating his lunch right beside the car.

On to Jaspar

As usual with The Commander a short hike turns into an exercise the Marines would be proud of. After we did our tour at the wonderful Banff Hotel the Kadizzles headed to Lake Moraine. Like the nearby Lake Louise it was that incredible blue. After gaining a couple thousand feet above the lake we reached the larch trees that were changing color. The views were spectacular. As the day progressed the amazing sites never quit. The first grizzly appeared along the road and Lord Kadizzle began to believe that perhaps The Commander was justified in buying the bear spray. The trip from Banff to Jasper would be hard to beat for scenery per mile.

Kadizzle In Canada, on the way to Alaska

Day two of the big trip. Tonight we stay at a nice bed and breakfast in the Canadian Rockies. Friends we met in AZ are putting us up and Glenn gave us a nice tour of the area. The trees are turning and the area is in it's high glory of fall.

Kadizzle has been interviewing Canadians all day about their health care. They love it. The total bullshit in the U.S about Canadian health care is hard to believe when you actually talk to Canadians. Why the United States does not just simply adopt the Canadian system is hard to understand. This morning at the Comfort Inn in Medicine Hat Kadizzle talked to five Canadians. Every one of them said they love their health care and there is no way they would put up with the American crap. If you ever go to Canada see what they really think. How the right wing has lied really hits you when you talk to Canadians.

Coming upon an Elk unexpectedly

This morning the huge elk showed up again. He has some sort of tracking collar on him. After he left the first time we thought he was gone for the day. Later Cissie took Sylvie over to play in the stream by Erin's house at the water fall. I went farther up stream to sit at the little camp fire spot by the stream. Just as I got there I accidentally surprised the big elk as he was drinking from the stream. The elk took off running downstream toward Cissie and Sylvie. I was afraid he would run right into them. I yelled at them to let them know he was coming. Luckily the elk ran up the side of the mountain. Waiting for Cissie and Sylvie to return I spotted him again up above us.

If your not good at thinking don't do a lot of it

A good quote is always a pleasure. Yesterday Kadizzle heard another one. A commentator was talking about the rise of Rick Perry the governor of Texas and he said. "Perry is like a monkey climbing a tree, the higher he gets the uglier it looks". My old boss in the coal business was a good old southern fellow and he could pull out a saying at the right time. One day another manager came in his office and was arguing to buy a new expensive piece of equipment. Hubert heard his presentation and then rubbed his chin and said " It's nice to have a girlfriend if you can afford it". You never knew for sure what these things meant, but Kadizzle took it to mean some things are nice but unnecessary. Another favorite of Hubert's was "Even a blind hog will root". Apparently that means even an idiot will stumble upon a good idea once in awhile. An all time favorite is "Busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest". Country wisdom has it's own charm.

A good bum story

Listen to this whole story and see how this guy got the FBI to plant his garden

Warren Buffett says "Stop Coddling the Rich"

Warren Buffett is a rich person with a conscience. Read his article Stop Coddling the Rich This is a great article to share with right wing dingers that buy the trickle down nonsense. How can they argue with Warren Buffett? They cannot call him stupid. They cannot say he doesn't understand business. This is a terrific way to open the eyes of a right winger that things you can have prosperity without taxing the rich.

Erin Wants to live at the Airport

Daughter Erin took the Kadizzlites on a grand tour of the housing development at the old Stapleton Airport. A little strange to see the control tower sticking up in the middle of suburbia, but the old airport has been converted to yuppie paradise. Strangely the trend is to go back to the old neighborhood design Kadizzle grew up in. The front porch has become the in thing. Garages behind the house are back in style. However, open space is shared and at a premium. The curse of modern life is transportation. Cars are the bane of society. Once the love affair with cars comes to and end and some kind of sensible transportation is developed space will be freed up for people. There are no streets in front of the houses, which works out nicely. Instead there is a nice little green space shared by the neighborhood. There are huge green space areas nearby with trails, creeks, swimming pools and even a sled riding hill. Other than the control tower you would never know it was an airport.

Anyone can hit a rock, it just takes concentration

About a week ago the Kadizzles were pulling out of a bay under sail. Through a series of errors and inattention the good ship hit a rock hard. Luckily the good ship was moving very slowly. Lake Sakakawea has very few places where you can ram a good hard rock while sailing. However, a good captain can do it. This was not the first time the captain discovered new land. The keel had been patched in the magic spot where the rock finder is located last year. The Commander did not look too joyful when the loud bank indicated we had discovered solid ground. For dramatic effect most of the patch from last year floated to the surface. Now, for the fun part. The Commander seemed in a panic, but Kadizzle is not allowed to say that. The Commanders perception was more like we hit an ice berg with the Titanic. Feeling sure we were taking on water The Commander went below and turned on the sump pump. Gushing water was the first thing she heard. The sound of the water made it clear the boat was sinking at an unbelievable rate, so The Commander quickly hailed the other boats in our fleet to stand by for rescue. Kadizzle thought it highly unlikely hitting a rock with the keel would sink the boat. The only real way to know was to pick up the floor board and actually see what was happening. Things are never what the seem. After the floor board was out of the the way it became apparent coincidence had played a bad trick on us. The hose had come off the sump pump. The pump was doing a spectacular job of pumping water in a circle making a noise like a fountain. The boat was in no real danger. Keels were put on sail boats to make them idiot proof. The keel of a boat is like the bumper on a car, when it makes a loud noise the car slows down quickly and that is your indication you did something wrong. Sailboats just don't go that fast, so they are almost completely idiot proof. Of course Kadizzle needs a hobby that is idiot proof.

What a day on the Lake

Some Damn Good advice for Obama

The Flying drunk Dinger

It was a dark and rainy night when a drunken dinger flew down our street and became airborne. The God of drunks was watching over him, a few more feet and the dinger express would have done a nice nose dive into the creek by our house. The moral of the story is don't drink and fly. At the end of our street is the perfect ramp to launch a car into the creek if you hit it at about forty.

Rush Limbaugh bombed, you have to watch

Mind Boggling Stupidity

This morning I ordered medicine from Canada. Speaking to the Canadian lady during the order we discussed Canadian health care and how misinformed Americans are about Canada's system. The lady talks to a lot of Americans about the Canadian system. She told me how Americans believe the lies Fox News spreads about Canadian health care. She told me there is no way in hell she would change for our system. It is a simple test. Call up a Canadian and ask them how they like their health care. I bet one hundred dollars that if you you make a random call to Canada and ask a Canadian if they would switch to the American disaster you will get a resounding no. The Canadian woman told me " If our system was so bad, wouldn't we be fighting it?". Makes sense to me. Americans have become so ignorant and obsessed with right wing lying it is hopeless. As Americans we pay three times what any other civilized country does for health care and get worse results. Sure our system is great if you are rich, but God have mercy upon you if you are not. How can we be so stupid?

Summer is Chugging along

Sailing season is finally underway. Last weekend the good ship had three nice nights on the lake. Sleeping on the water is hard to beat when there is no wind. The lake looks so different at it's record high. To sail over islands that used to stick ten feet out of the water is amazing.

400 Families have more income than 150,000,000

Last night Kadizzle saw his hero Bernie Sanders the socialist on the new Keith Olberman show. According to Bernie the top 400 families in the United States now have more income than the bottom 150 million people in this country, and simple minded right wing dingers wonder why our economy is in trouble? Anyone who cannot see the income disparity problem and it's implications is just watching too much Fox News. It is absolutely amazing that with Republican greed at its current level the right wing wants even more tax cuts for the rich. Meanwhile they want to destroy any hope for affordable health care, cut social security, and destroy medicare. These soulless greed driven scum are blinded by selfishness.

Reality test

Last week Kadizzle spoke with a young intelligent young computer programmer. He did not know that rich people pay no social security tax on any dollar they make over 106K. Very few people know those making over $106,000 do not pay social security tax on each dollar over that they earn. It is a wonderful tax break for the rich no one knows about. The implications of this break for the rich are very interesting. The young in our country are being hammered by Republican greed. To understand this game read The New York Times article advocating raising what people get in social security.