Ed suffering from Atzheimer's disease.

Our good friend Ed, who travels with us apparently has come down with Alzheimer's disease. He got up this morning and took this picture of himself. Overnight he must have forgotten who he was. To keep this from happening again he took this picture of himself in the mirror and labeled it "Ed". Ed now has it taped on the mirror with an arrow pointing to his reflection.

Headed for a train wreck

I have been doing taxes and our budget for the last two days. It looks like the train from income is going to have a spectacular crash with the train from outgo. The outgo train is going much faster than the income train. Our only hope is to act like the Federal Government and borrow some money from the Chinese. I talked to my Chinese banker, Hu Bein La Zee, he suggested I get a job, because China is not going to lend money to a country that denominates its currency based on the poundcake. Enraged, I told him the currency was modeled after the British Pound. Still he refused the loan.

I explained to him that my physical limitations resulting from the lack of an ambition gland prevents me from working. Hu Bein then suggested I borrow from my kids. I asked how that works, and he explained how the Bush Administration does it. You simply steal from your children's retirement, my Chinese friend explained. You borrow the money set aside for their retirement. When your children ask you to pay them back, you tell them you're broke. Then what happens I asked? You say too bad you will have to work until you die because I spent your retirement. This seemed like a good plan until I realized my kids have been asking me for money. Apparently, the only retirement they have is the money they put into Social Security. Bush already stole that from them, so that leaves me with nothing to do but try to live within my means.
This is not the American way.

Lord Kadizzle finds a way to make taxes fun

I spent a major part of the day yesterday doing taxes. The whole tax system is a needless mess. If you want to read my rant on this you will have to go to the dark side and read my other blog ( http://idignatioin.blogspot.com/ ). One theory of taxes is that they encourage or discourage certain behavior. The government imposes a tax on drinking or smoking, and we pay more to sin. It is a wonderful system that makes it so only the well-to-do can sin. Fortunately, most sins are still free. Gambling strikes me as the perfect tax system. Gambling taxes a commodity in abundant supply. The commodity is stupidity. Few could dispute that when you systematically give your money away, which you do when you gamble, you are not exhibiting a whole lot of intelligence. The more you gamble, the higher stupidity tax you pay.

If our government wanted to stop tax cheating, and actually increase revenue, it could be done in a simple fashion. If the taxpayer was given one lottery ticket for every hundred dollars of tax the person paid, people would pay more taxes just to get the tickets. Tax time would become fun as everyone waited to see who won the tax lottery.

We Came Back to North Dakota for this?

Joann Kerns sent us this photo today of the snow near Stanton. Unfortunately it looks the same in Hazen. Every day when we hiked in shorts and T-shirts I felt like I was cheating, now I know I was. Why can't this snow fall in Montana and run into our lake? Why did it wait until we got here? The world is a strange place.

Jabbits may solve many problems

Fran's company has launched a new web site called Jabbits. What in the hell is Jabbits? Jabbits allows people to ask video questions online, and have them answered by others. It is similar to YouTube, but is more in the vein of market research, and just plain curiosity. Give it a try. Now for the good part, Erin assures me that if it is a success, Fran will be in high cotton, and we can cut the umbilical cord that now leads to our wallet on occasion. In fact it may enable Lord Kadizzle to enjoy his final days in dry depends. So get on your little computer and type Jabbits into the search engine. If you play your cards right you will see Fran, and Erin giving answers. Soon, when Lord Kadizzle receives his webcam he may also appear. Lets not forget Youtube was sold to Google for billions. Even on billion would help in the Kingdom of Kadizzle, so get your little fingers going.

You can see in the picture above that I am trying to answer the question someone asked, "How many clothes pins can you put on your face?".

Gravity Worse in North Dakota than previously expected

For the past three months under the guidance of The Commander, Lord Kadizzle has been forced on a march almost every day. These marches involved gains of two or three thousand feet, and sometimes drops of nearly a mile into the Grand Canyon. Hardly a day did not go by when the retinue did not hike from six to eight miles. With this in mind Lord Kadizzle declared in Utah that he was sure he had lost from 15 to 20 pounds. This had to happen because he was away from a refrigerator for up to four hours per day. Rarely does this happen. Her lordship declared that there was no visible reduction in the shadow cast by his lordship. In view of his part time summer job providing shade at weddings her lordship thought this a good thing.

With great fanfare his lordship stepped on the scale before his first shower at home. Much to his suprize the scale indicated at most he had lost five pounds. This is positive proof that gravity in North Dakota is much more severe than previously expected. The reason for this phenomenon seems to be related to global warming. In North Dakota there seems to be early effects from global warming of refrigerator food in the microwave. As the mass of the refrigerator is reduced by the warming of the food, the mass of Lord Kadizzle seems to increase. Further research is still required , but preliminary results seem to indicate gravity will continue to strenthen in North Dakota.

Lord Kadizzle started his research on gravity after he was hit by his first gravity wave. Frequently these waves are generated by lunch. It is not uncommon shortly after noon to be walking about minding your own business, only to be struck down by a strong gravity wave. If you can stagger to the couch and lie prone for up to thirty minutes a recovery is usually possible. There seems to be a relationship between these waves and sun activity. When the sun shines brightly on the couch the waves seem to strike more often. Any good observer of animals will note they are often struck in this manner. If you see either an animal or a human caught in the grips of a gravity wave on the couch the best way to release them from the grips of this force is as follows: Open the door leading to the garage quitely, and press the button that raises the garage door. The noise of the garage door going up usually will break the trance. Animals and victems of gravity waves have come to associate the sound of garage doors opening with demands for explanations. Both humans and pets have found it difficult to explain why they appear to be sleeping in the middle of the day.

What is it? Why is it here?

One of the best parts of hiking in ancient areas is looking for artifacts. They can be anywhere. Once you get the hang of it things start to pop out of the ground. I have begun to develope the habit of what I call eye sweeping. I force my eyes to pan the area I am walking in and look for any anomolies. Walking down from a ruin on Comb Ridge I spotted something at the base of a large white pointed rock about twenty feet from the trail. On closer examination I found the little object pictured above. At first I was pretty excited, but slowly came to the conclusion, it was not an artifact. However, I could not help wondering why it was there. Since it was not an artifact the rules say I can put it in my pocket, which I did. I did not think much about it until I got to Hovenweep. At the visitor center Cissie and I saw a short film on the area. With no explanation the film briefly showed the same figure as part of the introduction. Now, I began to wonder just what the figure represented. I searched the referenced material at Hovenweep for an explanation, but could find none.

When we got to the Anasazi musuem near Cortez I had the chance to ask an archeologist about the token. He said it may have been left as part of an Indian prayer ritual. The rock where I found it looked a bit out of place. The rock was white in color and seemed to point upward. If you have any clue where this symbol comes from, let me know. It seems to have a South American aspect to it.

Out of the Sunshine and into the Fog

Lord Kadizzle and Her Majesty, The Commander, have arrived back in the small hamlet of Hazen. Every spring when we return, the final part of the journey involves a drive into the fog. The fog always starts just as we reach North Dakota. Keep in mind, fog is very unusual in North Dakota. Surely, this is a symbolic sign of the life change we undergo when we return to our prairie home. Our epic journey more or less ended when we left the Canyon of the Ancients near Cortez, Co. on Monday. At McPhee Reservoir, we spent the night alone in a large campground. The next morning we headed to the Anasazi Museum in Delores, Co. near Cortez. The museum is one of the best of its type in the Southwest. Exhibits at the museum solved a couple of the mysteries about the things we had seen on Comb Ridge. One of the best displays was the actual cross section of an archeological dig.

The drive over the mountains was tedious pulling our trailer. We choose a different route than normal. Scenery was excellent on the mountain crossing, but the combination of high winds and mountain roads frayed the nerves of the driver. After we busted out of the mountains, we spent the night parked in front of a railroad museum in Limon, Colorado. Lord Kadizzle always liked trains as a child, and Her Majesty made fun of his Lordship because he got up and opened the shades on the camper to watch the Southern Pacific locomotives do switch work beside our campsite.

An all day drive across the plains is such a contrast from the previous months we spent in the mountains and deserts. All day we dodged wind, tornadoes, and storms, but we finally pulled into Hazen at eight to plow through three cartons of mail.

Bust out for Hovenweep today

Today the little band will head North for Hovenweep. Hovenweep has been on the Commanders Life list for some time. The Commander just announced we will head for Hazen on Saturday,and Sunday. Camping will be primitive at Hovenweep, so we will be out of communication. The last time we went to Hovenweep the weather was rather bleak, and we were tent camping. After looking the situation over, we decided to run for better accommodations.

Mystery of the Processional Panel

Yesterday we set off on a new adventure to explore Fish Creek. Fish Creek is the drainage down from Cedar Mesa which is full of excellent ruins. A trip up Fish Creek reveals why the Anasazi loved the area. Fish Creek was an ideal place to live. The water runs all year and the valley has excellent areas for corn. It was nice to go into a new area.

On the way to Fish Creek, Lord Kadizzle, who now considers himself an amateur archaeologist, said to Her Eminence, "If there was a way over the Comb Ridge, the Indians would have found it". So on the way to Fish Creek we traveled the backside of the comb and looked for the crossover. As we approached an area that looked good The Commander noticed people standing at the top of the Comb Ridge. Low and behold it turned out to be people we met the day before. With some shouting we got them to go to channel 22 on their two way radio. We could see Moqui steps from the bottom with binoculars. Our friends on top confirmed that this was the crossover, and that the Processional Panel was nearby on the top.

The Processional Panel is one of the most elaborate petroglyph panels in the Bluff area. We had seen it before and wondered why such an exquisite panel would be in such a place. At that time, we had no idea the crossover was there. With the crossover nearby, it now made sense. It would have been like a huge billboard at an intersection on the interstate. Comb Ridge is an incredible natural barrier for East- West travel in Southern Utah. In the Bluff area, it drove the Mormons nuts because they could not get across it. On the West side, it is like God's version of the Great Wall of China. The Comb runs for about twenty miles in this area, and is a sheer cliff rising from the valley below. The Mormons finally got a road around the end near the San Juan River. According to historical accounts, the Mormon's oxen died from exhaustion in their tracks trying to go up the road.

Later in the day, back at our camper, some of our new friends stopped by. After telling them about our "discovery", they explained they had spent years looking for these places, and had found several more. They gave us the other locations. When The Commander saw the first one yesterday, she started barking and running toward it with a desire to climb to the top. It is almost straight up with a terrible amount of loose rock. I solved the problem by telling her we could do it later when we came back from Fish Creek. When we came back she started up while I sat in the truck. I got impatient and finally got her to come back.

Doggie Door Discovered by Lord Kadizzle

In our adventures on Fish Creek yesterday, we came across this unusual door at a ruin. Apparently, the occupants had a dog.

Elf discovered near Stanton, North Dakota

What looked like an ordinary steel quonset near Stanton, North Dakota, turned out to have a hidden chamber. Brian Kerns had heard noises coming from the area, but attributed it to wind or other natural causes. Then he saw a suspicious gentleman going in and out at odd times. Fearing the little used building may have been turned into a meth lab, Brian decided to investigate. Brian hid behind some stuff in the building and waited to see what happened. It wasn't long before a tall man quietly walked by and went to the back and opened a door that was cleverly disguised as a door. After waiting a few moments, Brian popped open the door and discovered the Elf pictured above, making a beautiful wooden canoe. Upon questioning the Elf, Brian found out his father Ray had been writing Santa for years asking for a watercraft. To save shipping, Santa decided to have the ship built near Ray’s house. Brian agreed to keep the story under his hat until Christmas. Ray will be delighted when he sees the finished product.

Last Day at Butler Wash, Strange Dots Found

We had planned to leave today, but her Eminence talked his lordship into one more hike. We actually made two hikes. On hike number one, we went to an excellent Kiva site. While there, another hiker noticed dots on the top of the cave. The dots were too high to have been put there unless someone did it with a long pole. The fact that there were four dots, and they were evenly placed led me to speculate they might be used as a calender to mark the seasons. I took out my compass and sited due south to see if they lined up properly. It appeared they did. When I saw where the compass pointed, I noticed a small rock formation on the top of the opposite canyon wall. Was it possible that rock formation was casting a beam or shadow onto the cave ceiling to mark the equinoxes and solstices? Where is Brian Kerns when you need him? This could be a major discovery. We need to bring the experts back and do some calculations.

From the Kiva site, we tried to go up and over to the next canyon. A storm was approaching and we both thought it unwise to tempt the lord to wipe out a couple of sinners with a bolt from the blue, so we headed back to the truck. At the truck, we met some older folks that have been seeking ruins for thirty years. One of the gentlemen gave me the GPS figures for some very nice sites. This is a godsend. The other group told us about petroglyphs up the next canyon to the North, so of course we had to take off in pursuit. The picture above is very near the top of the canyon. It was a very tough hike with a poor trail. On the way up I found two small black and white shards. My sighting skills amazed me. One was the size of a dime, and the other not much bigger. As we neared the top The Commander found some petroglyphs. When I approached the area, I noticed a strange pile of rocks under a very large boulder. The bolder had fallen from above and created a cave under itself. Investigating the sight I found another large black and white pot shard, pictured above.

Dutchess of Dallas bakes pies for Lord Kadizzle, One Problem

Every year The Duchess of Dallas bakes pies on Lord Kadizzles birthday. Then she sends a picture of the pies. Next she eats them, but this year she took them to the church social. Pictures of pies have very little flavor. Next year I am going to ask her to include ice cream in the picture. Just the thought of those lonely pies is driving me crazy. I never thought there was such thing a pie pornography, but if there is she should surely be jailed. Next she will post pictures of pie being served to minors. Of course in West Virginia you can be jailed for serving pies to miners.

Looking toward Comb Ridge

This is the view looking at Comb Ridge in Butler wash. We went up the canyon on the right, climbed out and came down the one on the left.

One of the sites we visited today

This was one of the sites we found today. It had an upper and lower portion. We tried to get to the upper portion, but luckily common sense prevailed. We gave up and avoided death for the time being.

Food Grinder

On our trip today we must have found at least fifty of these site used to grind corn. The sand that became entrapped with the corn did have an adverse effect on the teeth.

Lord Kadizzle finds nice pot shard

The Commander and I set out on our daily hike up Butler wash. When The Commander goes to Butler wash it is like taking a hunting dog to the field, she is full of energy and impossible to restrain. As usual we found some excellent new ruins. I don't think there is any where on earth that you can still have such a sense of discovery. Also as usual The Commander ran off like a dog looking for a rabbit, but she was seeking petroglyphs. She found them in spades. As I wandered around while waiting her return I found a very nice pot shard pictured above. We are planning to leave for another area tomorrow, but her eminence is begging to stay here one more day. A couple times we were tempted to take some dangerous chances to check sites out. Once we did and it went ok. We both agreed not to try to access one site. The fall would have been fatal. However, we may try it tomorrow if we are here and stupid. We will use a rope for some degree of safety.

Sandstone Houses

When the Mormons came to Bluff there was very little to work with so they made their homes from sandstone, which turned out to be wonderful. These old homes have stood up well, and you can still see many of them that have been restored. The one we visited to day had massive wood beams, hardwood floors, and so many nice rustic features that blend so well together.

Not a fribble shop

Traveling we frequently get in a discussion (actually a fight) about The Commander's desire to stop at various shops. From my observation this is common among married couples. Most of the time the shops end up being "fribble" shops. Fribble shops cater to tourist and have the same genre of crap which consist mostly of T-shirts, Indian Jewelry made in China, etc.

However, we do occasionally find someplace that has gone to the effort to offer very carefully selected local art. This morning we visited a very nice art gallery in Bluff. From the outside you would not have guessed the wonderful job they did with the inside. The gallery was converted from an old sandstone Mormon home. The home itself was worth the visit. The owners had done a wonderful job of restoring and rebuilding it. Cissie was enthralled with the art objects, I very much liked the architecture.

One of the blessings of travel is the people you meet. If you take the time to engage the local people you can learn a lot. The gallery owner was a very nice woman who gave us a good synopsis of local politics. People here are not divided along party lines, but sewage lines. There are two factions, those that want septic systems, and those that want city sewage. Now this may seem like a strange thing to base political parties on, but it works. If the city puts in sewer lines, the town will turn into a typical tourist trap and loose its charm. If septic systems are used the big hotels, and fribble shops will not be able to come in. So after you think about it, it all makes sense. Unfettered development is the bain of the Southwest.

You could also divide the world into those who hike, and those who must ride a motorized device everywhere they go. Urban sprawl, off road four wheel vehicles, and off road two wheel vehicles are the biggest threat to public lands. Walmart would also have to be on the list. Once a town has a Walmart, the game is over. I was amazed in Page Arizona, there is now a Walmart Super Center.