Insectarium

The gang took Evie, and new baby Quinn to the insectarium.  Inside were bugs of all sorts, giant cockroaches, trurantualas, and an entire room of butterflies.  Evie could hold the tarantula or a walking stick.  The ride too and from the insectorium was through massive neighborhoods of row houses.  The deterioration of our cities is alarming.  When you read the statistic that a typical family could not handle a $400 financial hit, you see where these people live.  We have a big problem in this country driven by the greed Trump promotes.  All morning Kadizzle has been discussing political philosophy with his son  in law and daughter.  Both are a little more conservative than old Kadizzle, but then they are doing well and that is how it works.

So we are having fun enjoying our young grandchildren.  Starting to miss the peacefulness of the desert.  You can have the big city life.  We have been using Uber to get around.  The service is amazing.  Within minutes of calling a car shows up.  One could do fine in a city without a car.  Parking is a real headache.  A loudly singing purple tutu princess just went by.  Like our own children the grandchild is going through the dancer phase and spends the whole day in the ballet costume.

The pricing here is terrible.  A large two liter bottle of coke cost 99 cents in Globe, Arizona.  Here it is $3.20.  A muffin in Hazen is a dollar, here four dollars.  Life in the city is not cheap.

The Lap of Luxery

Out in the desert we have no TV.  Here in Philadelphia TVs grow on the walls.  Every room has a huge TV.  Last night the Kadizzles laid in bed to watch Peaky Blinders.  The internet works all the time at six times the speed.  Huge bed, plenty of bathrooms with luxurious showers.  Ah, all the amenities.

Now the downside.  Insane drivers who could care less if they kill someone.  Sidewalks in disrepair, and the despair of peasants trying to make it in the Trump greed economy.   Noise, total idiots who enjoy disturbing everyone with loud noise machines.  In the desert look out for a rare rattlesnake.  Here the snakes are everywhere.

Battleship New Jersey

Kadizzle just returned from the Battleship New Jersey in Philadelphia.  Here are some impressions.  First it is big.  The inside is a maze of passageways.  Most important sleeping on that ship would be impossible.  Tiny little bunks scattered all over the place, not much better than a submarine.  How the United States poured money into war, but will refuse to battle healthcare and poverty.  Complicated, that ship must have been extremely complicated to sail, maneuver, maintain, and live on.  The guy in charge must have been very intelligent.  Running that thing must have been much harder than what the CEO of Coca Cola does.  Yet, surely he got paid nowhere near as much.  Of course the CEO could not get torpedoed or blown out of the water.  The complexity of the ship does set one back.  Doing what they did with the technology of that day was a feat.  Life on one of those ships must have been miserable.  To be confined to that ship would drive this man crazy.  It took 79 people to operate on of the big guns that fired a shell that weighed as much as a VW.  The shell could be shot 70 miles.  Imagine firing a VW seventy miles.  The mileage would have been good.

Chaos

Two mornings in a row Kadizzle has driven with Cheech to take Evie to school.  Philadelphia is like every other American city, a complete mess.  Infrastructure has been ignored while we shovel money to the rich who live in the suburbs.  The peasants are trying to get around. It is like London two hundred years ago.  Public transportation is a shambles.  No wonder people are on drugs.  The wealthy don't have to put up with the mess they created.  There is no planning.  Just let things happen.  Who cares about the future, just survive.  Were number one, what a joke.  Number two and three must really be terrible. Kadizzle gets depressed every time he goes to a big city and sees the lack of progress. Republican vermin are to blame.  Once they quit paying their share the game went to hell.  Remember the old days when projects like the interstate existed.  Not now, now just let it fall apart.  The wealthy don't use public transportation so let it rust.  The wealthy don't live in the densely packed cities so let them fall apart.  We need a revolution to overthrow the stable genius and his gang.

Life in Philidephia

Thinking of Philadelphia Kadizzle always thinks of W.C. Fields.  On his tombstone it says " I would rather be in Philadelphia.  Just finished shopping with Cheech in a snazzy local little grocery store.  It is so nice to have an unusual selection of all sorts of foods.  Megan is having a great time with our new grandson.  Winky is also doing the grandma thing.  Grandpa is having fun with Evie.  Evie insist on showing grandpa everything.  The plan today was to go tour the battleship New Jersey, but that got put on hold and maybe tomorrow.  Kadizzle had to call Shanika because his brother served on the Missouri.  Kadizzle was confused and thought maybe Daryl had served on the New Jersey.  At one time Kadizzle helped the deceased Daryl deliver milk.  Daryl was a baker on the ship during the Korean War. 

You can see a whole lot just by watching, also you can find out a lot by talking to people.  Kadizzle loves to engage people in conversation.  At the grocery store they had a basement with an excellent selection of beer and wine.  Speaking to the clerk Kadizzle found out he was an actor in the local version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  One nice aspect of visiting the big town is seeing things you will never see in nature.  The creativity of humans is endless and endless entertainment.

Have not seen Ben Franklin

Here we are in Philadelphia, no sign of Ben Franklin.  Popping from the middle of the desert to the middle of Philadelphia is a transition.  Took Evie to school.  A different world.  When Kadizzle was a kid the school was just down the street.  Now, M

egan drives many blocks away.  People in the city have no idea there is another part of this planet without ten billion cars, dirt, crime, and the silly hustle. 

The attack is on.  Republican will now go full bore on demonizing socialism.  The typical Hooplehead could not tell socialism from a snake bite.  A major part of the problem is people do not understand what democratic socialism is.  Low information voters will be the bane of our democracy.  Trump knows how to manipulate the Hoopleheads.  Fear is your best bet with a Hooplehead.  Scare the Hooplehead with anything and it works.  Confusing a Hooplehead is very simple. Always play in the emotions of Hoopleheads.  Never try math or logic with a Hooplehead.  Trump has been a con man for his entire life.  Trump knows how to lie and manipulate the trusting.  In the old days the Hoopleheads wore a straw hat with a big brim. Now the Hoopleheads wear red hats.

Two wise people going to adore the new child

It is so early in the morning they have not started the clocks yet.  The Kadizzles are up with coffee about to depart for Philadelphia. The goal is to see the new grandchild Quinn.  Quinn is Megan's second gift to the clan.  Getting this world in shape for Quinn, Evie, and Sylvie is a major task. First we have to remove a dictator, then repair the climate, and that is just the start.  Now you can see why we had to get up early.  From the warm desert we will head to rain.  From the quiet and peaceful life of few people and no hustle we will join the airport, freeway insanity. 

Here we go

A mission for today.  A new friend wants to do what the Kadizzles do, is trying to get on as a volunteer for The National Forest Service.  Kadizzle is going to try to help him.  Over the years the Kadizzles have worked with a lot of very talented volunteers.  In this case the job seeker has extensive computer skills, is a pilot, repairs aircraft, and knows a great deal about electronics.  In our volunteer group already we have a machinist, welders, a diesel mechanic, and other people with great educational credentials.  The Forest Service gets for free talent that would go on the open market anywhere from fifty dollars and hour to a hundred dollars an hour.  For the Kadizzles it is great.  If we have a problem we can draw on the knowledge of some very talented people.

One reason the new applicant wants the job is the peaceful tranquil location we have.  We sit in what is essentially an abandoned campground.  The volunteers exclusively use this campground.  Between each volunteer camping spot are acres of empty camping slots.  The area is scenic, quiet, and a pleasant place to be.  In addition we have free electric, water, and sewer.  Of course the deluxe executive suite is included.  The Forest Service is a nice organization to volunteer for.  First and foremost they treat everyone as adults that are self directed.  The Forest Service relies on the good conscience of the volunteers to do what is right in a day's work.  Many times volunteers go beyond the call of duty and pay for parts and services that the taxpayer should.  Last year Ken bought saw blades out of his own pocket. 

The Forest Service is good to volunteers. They try to make life pleasant and comfortable.  We have access to a vast supply of tools and supplies.  Additionally we have several group get togethers per year to celebrate our coming and going, plus Christmas.

Everyone seems to win with the volunteers.  The taxpayer gets a hell of of good deal.  The volunteer gets a pretty good deal,  and somehow the work gets done. 

Down the Mountain

Long ago and far away Kadizzle was in Canada.  He was young and he was hitch hiking  across highway one in Canada.  Up early to catch the first ride Kadizzle stood by the highway in Revelstoke,  in the middle of the Canadian Rockies.  It was a warm summer morning when the red Volkswagen Bus pulled up.  Since this was the late sixties the bus was full of hippie looking characters.  Kadizzle go into the van and soon discovered it was an excellent ride. Kadizzle needed to get to Wheeling, West Virginia.  Home was hundreds of miles away and these degenerates were going to Columbus, Ohio, which was pretty close.  Then Kadizzle started to get that feeling you get when Trump is president.  We were going downhill and fast.  Yes, the driver of the van was high on something and was going down the steep mountain grades at a rate that was scaring the hell out of Kadizzle.  It would be difficult to give up a ride that would damn near get Kadizzle home, so Kadizzle suggested to the driver that Kadizzle drive.  Strangely the driver quickly agreed.  So Kadizzle drove, and drove.  Somewhere along the line our crew picked up another hitch hiker.  The guy was pretty annoying and Kadizzle wanted to get rid of him.  Since most of the passengers in the van seemed to be in another world of drug induced stupor Kadizzle told the newcomer the destination was the next town down the road.  Kadizzle had noticed it was a town with a business bypass. This meant Kadizzle could let the guy off on highway one, drive through town and get back on highway one.  This worked and the bus was on its way. 

In the middle of the night the big excitement came.  Kadizzle had been driving all day and late into the night.   At about one in the morning the bunch of people in the box were about to cross the border into the United States.  These were not the kind of people you wanted to do a border crossing with.  With the border crossing a few hundred yards ahead someone in the van said " I sure hope they don't find the drugs".   Never has Kadizzle just about had a heart attack.  Kadizzle was driving someone else's van which was about to get searched for drugs, and the van did have drugs in it somewhere. 

Kadizzle could imagine himself explaining to the border inspectores that he was just a htich hiker.  Ya, sure, ya betcha.  Kadizzle's brain was on fire thinking about court, and jail.  The border patrol people made everyone get out of the van and they searched the van.  Kadizzle had a large back pack with camping equipment.  The border patrol agent told Kadizzle to unscrew the lid on the can of fuel he carried for the stove.  The agent used a flashlight to look into the container.  Oh, my god, if they are going to search like this, they will find the drugs, Kadizzle thought.  After sweating out about sixty pounds the guards at the border waved us across the border.  Still driving Kadizzle asked the head degenerate, " Where did you hide the drugs?".   Mr.  High on something informed Kadizzle the drugs had been placed behind the headlights.  The part of the experience that brought this all to mind this morning was the thought of going down the mountain.  That is the feeling with a total mentally ill president running the country.  If only someone else will drive.

A letter to the Bismark Tribune

Is there such a thing as fake news?  A few years back the Bismarck Tribune published a series of letters from my daughters dog whom she loved dearly.  Toni J. Sprinkleton has passed away and this letter is a tribute to Toni. The Bismarck Tribune limits letter writers to two letters per month.  Since I used my limit I inquired with Toni if he would like to comment on anything. Tony agreed and I typed the letters for him and sent them to the Tribune.  Believing in free speech even for dogs the Tribune published the letters. People suspected the letters submitted with the name Tony J. Sprinkleton resembled mine.  The editor at the time called me and asked if I had anything to do with the letters. I admitted I wrote the letters on Toni’s behalf. The editor declared they would no longer accept letters from dogs.  Tony was disappointed, but he was honored to be the only dog in North Dakota who was able to express his feeling in a letter to the editor. Now people need to think of Tony, and the Russians. If Tony can have his opinion published surely it is not difficult for the Russians to support Trump by merely having some sympathizer type their letters. 

I just did not notice

Russia has implanted a virus with the help of Donald Trump.  The virus attacks mostly people with weak IQ's.  The first symptoms of the virus are the desire to wear a red hat and watch fake news shows.  The infected cannot see a man surrounded by criminals as anything but a saint.  Victims of the infection will feel like they are being trickeled on by rich people, when in reality they can barely pay for their tattoos.  The virus is contagious when one ignorant person simply talks to another ignorant person.  There is no known cure for the virus.  The virus is not affected by facts, reality, science, or common sense.  The chance of recovering from a severe case of stupidity is small.  Most of the infected will become addicted to mindless thinking and vote for Trump.  Those infected are incapable of noticing they have no health care, their share of taxes is going up, and the rich keep taking more.   Even Trump cannot pardon their stupidity.  People have tried turning off Fox News, or KFYR radio to protect loved ones, but the simple mindedness still rages.  Quaranteen is the best hope. If an infected idiot can be kept from the local coffee shop there is some hope.

A Hike to the water fall

Up at five A.M. Kadizzle is going to go with the trail crew up Sycamore Creek.  One of the nicest waterfalls around is up that creek.  Hopefully the water is running at a decent rate.  On the way up the creek there is a peculiar spot where some of the locals love to build rock cairns.  At times there are hundreds of these rocks piled as high as people can pile them.  The rule is each rock has to be piled on a singular rock.  There are two schools of thought on rock piling.  Some think it is an abomination to nature.  Others think it is art.  Kadizzle kinda likes to see how skillful some of the people are piling rocks several feet high.  Since this little art system sits in a creek bed it gets destroyed periodically by floods so it is not permanent damage to the natural area.

Solar victory

As the nice campground we stay in for the winter deteriorates facilities slowly fail to work.  Below our campground is another campground that has been abandoned.  When these campgrounds were built they were a showcase for solar power.  In the abandoned campground Kadizzle found a solar powered light that was used to light up a bulletin board.  Kadizzle recovered the solar light and got it working.  Now at the Kadizzle campsite we have the best lighted executive suite in the county.

These solar units were well built and have a unique controller.  The controller charges the batter and also automatically figures out when to turn the lights on and off.  The solar system senses when the sun rises and sets.  Additionally the system can be set to automatically turn the light on for a certain period of time after sunset and before sun rise.

A lot of energy could be saved using solar power.  The weak part of solar power systems is the battery.  Batteries are expensive and may have a limited life span.  On the other hand solar systems required no power lines leading to them.  Running power lines to remote locations is very expensive.

There has been a lot of innovation with solar power.  Recently some friends moved in close to us for a few days. They rely entirely on solar for power to their camper.  Two solar panels provide all the power they need.  The Kadizzles found the same thing.  With prudent use of solar we could camp in our fifth wheel camper with just two panels. 

Russian Radio in Kansas

Russian radio in Kansas City has some people in a kerfuffle.  The Russians have shown they want to spread confusion, misinformation, and divisiveness in our country.  It is odd that the Russians feel it is necessary to have their own radio station in Kansas City to accomplish their goals.  The people of North Dakota can watch Fox News, and listen to our local right wing radio station and get the same confusing distortions and lies the Russians want to put on the airwaves in Kansas. President Trump just gave the medal of freedom to Rush Limbaugh for doing exactly what the Russians think will destroy our democracy.  Propaganda works best with poorly informed people driven by emotion. Trump and the Republican party have shown there are an abundance of poorly informed people willing to stand idly by while Trump shreds the constitution, pardons his rich criminal friends, and fabricates his version of reality. Russia has realized how economical it is to use their Republican allies to destroy our country.  Who needs nuclear weapons when we have nuclear liars. 

What do rats smell like?

Kadizzle was in New Zealand in the town of Nelson.  Nelson had a terrific exhibit about the moon.  Part of the exhibit featured moon rocks you could smell. Now believe it or not, and check it out if you do not believe it, but the moon rocks smelled like cheese.  What is the point? Kadizzle does not have the best sense of smell, but he can smell some things.  Today as the headlines feature Trump pardoning his crooked buddies Kadizzle smells a rat.  Now the question is if Kadizzle can smell a crooked rat in Washington D.C.  how is it that Republicans have no sense of smell.  If anyone surrounded themselves with felons, and pardoned felons, and encouraged people to lie they would have to be an unprincipled rat.  Unfortunately with Trump handing out get out of jail free cards more people want to join his mafia.  The Hooplehead who could not smell a skunk just don't notice King Rat is the most crooked and blatant violator of the law that every breathed.  God chose Trump, so God must like rats.  God bless all the Republican Rats.

The litter Trumper

Kelly Armstrong had the good fortune of having a daddy with oil wells.  His daddy bought him a job being a mini Trump.  Little Kelly is like John Hoeven a little rich boy born on third base who thinks he hit a triple.  The simple minded in North Dakota allow the Republicans to own every inch of the elected officials in North Dakota.  You have to ask yourself how stupid can some busted flat idiot be to still believe in trickle down?  Then you have Kevin Cramer.  The rich oil man Harold Hamm bought a spot for Kevin Cramer.   These guys are working for nothing but tax cuts for the wealthy.  It is not hard to figure out.  However, if you want to get elected in North Dakota it is just the guns, gay, and God game.  Kelly Armstrong is playing the same old cards. In the last few days Kelly promised the idiots the would protect their guns.   Of course the idiots cheer and line up to get robbed.  Can we be this stupid, yes.

Wage Slavery

What is wage slavery?  No problem, just go to Walmart or McDonalds to see it first hand.  In the old days you had to beat the slaves, capture them, and do a host of things wage slavery has eliminated.  In the good old plantation days slaves did not get paid.  Now, they get paid, but remember in the old days the slaves got room and board.  Walmart doesn't have that problem.  Walmart slaves often get food stamps from the government.   Ah Walmart slaves can escape, but then what.  If a Walmart slave escapes they will have even less.  Can you have a better plantation than Walmart. The Walmart slaves show up by themselves.  No need for ships or purchases.  If a Walmart slave escapes another one will just show up, you cannot beat that.   Modern slavery is fantastic compared to the old stuff.  Look at the plantation owners, now they are worth billions.  It was a quick transition from the good old slavery to share cropping, and now Walmart slavery.

A Walk Through the Woods

For the second weekend in a row our crew drove up into the forest.  In the mountains on the other side of the lake huge forest cover hundreds of square miles.  We found another amazing path.  Walking in the mountains is a entirely different world from down here in the desert.  Some of the trees up there are hundreds of years old.  The National Forest Service has areas designated wilderness.  Once you get into the wilderness you see the nomaker is justified.  The path we took lead into a heavenly valley with a mountain stream.  Some lucky person had a cabin in the midst of all this.  The day was perfect, with the sky cloudless and the temperature just right.  The air in a pine forest cannot be improved upon. 

As we first started the hike Kadizzle noticed a piece of pipe sticking out from the ground.  It seemed like it might be a part of some water system.  About a few hundred yards farther there appeared a cement box with a steel lid.  It was too heavy to open, so we went on.  Next we came across another box with a steel lid and Ken and Kadizzle managed to open it.  Here was a strange discovery.   A very well made concrete bunker lay underground.  Rebar was cast into the concrete for a ladder.  It was a deep and very large vault.  At one time it may have been a cistern, but now was empty.  The box like vault was very big.  This concoction in the woods would make the ideal hiding place or survival place in the next nuclear war Trump causes.  Someday Kadizzle will have to go back and go down into the thing.  As an old coal miner and safety guy Kadizzle knows going into any underground space can be dangerous.  Although the air might seem to be good it could be toxic.  Before entering some testing should be done and ventilation should be available.  It would be a great spot to build a cabin over.  You could have a secret trap door that know one would ever know there was a huge underground bunker under your floor.

Distressing

Winky is sitting over there enjoying her coffee and the nice cinnamon rolls Rita brought by.  Here we are in a terrific setting. So what is there to be distressed about?  In 1990 The Salt River Authority spent about 40 million dollars to build the recreation facilities that are our winter home.  What happens when you dump that much money into a facility?  Well you end up with some very nice facilities and a whole lot of them.  The Kadizzles have traveled the southwest for twenty years.  No place has the facilities this place does.  1990 was a time for a big solar push, so everything here was solar.  The campground was supposed to be free from outside power.  The showers are solar powered, all the lights are, and so on.  When this project was conceived the designers thought people would flock here from Phoenix.  Well, people don't move away from their computers and televisions anymore.  The net result is hundreds of wonderful campsites sit empty.  Wonderful trails, boat ramps, and even an airport go unused.  Adding to all this is the problem of Republicans trying to starve the government.  While military helicopters and jest fly over pissing millions out the exhaust, there is no money to maintain this place.  Our country has become insane.  No plane or ship is too expensive, but our bridges fall down, our parks deteriorate, and the teachers starve. 

Praying

Praying is not working.  If you go to a Hazen City Commission meeting the commissioners pray before the meeting and ask God for guidance.  God is doing a very poor job.  The commission cannot seem to enforce the city ordinances.  For seven years Kadizzle has asked the Hazen City Commission to do something about the junkyard up the street.  A nest of slummers moved in and has accumulated boats, cars, and pickup trucks which are strewn all over the yard.  Even with God's help the commissioners cannot muster the courage to enforce the law. 

Honest Omar has been sending Kadizzle his subscription to Freedom From Religion.  This is an organization that fights to keep religion out of government.  If God does not do a better job of guiding the Hazen City Commission Kadizzle is going to ask the Hazen City Commission to quit calling on God for help. Another approach might be to insist that Kadizzle gets to say the prayer. 

Here is the prayer:

Oh lord in the name of Donald Trump who you chose to be president I invoke thee to give the Hazen City Commission the strength and courage to enforce the ordinances in the City of Hazen.  Please forgive any commissioners that voted for Donald Trump.  Apparently some of our city commissioners have adopted your chosen presidents methods of lying, deceiving, and misleading.  In the name of God and King Donald I beseech thee to remove the Republican curse from our city commission. 

Amen.