Make up your mind

 The mind has gone back and forth a dozen time with the decision to go up the mountain or not. The trail crew is going to go to the Serra Ancha mountains to do trail work today. The weather could be better. Two guys from the Sierra club will also be going. Kadizzle will have to ride in their rattle wagon. There is no more noisy or rickety old four wheeler on the planet. The ride is like sitting in a can of bolts. To make matters worse the drive is not that good, and the road is terrible. We will be near the waterfall where a person fell off and was killed a week ago. The road is about to cave in there for sure death. Anyway it is something to do. It will be a crowded forest service truck with six of us in there. Let the adventure begin. 

Down at the Lake

Here we are once again at Lake Roosevelt. Things are quiet, and the sun is shining. The volunteers will get together for a pot luck at 11.  Age is taking it's toll on the volunteers. The water system here is on the fritz, and water pressure is low.  

 Some volunteers exist here living on the edge. The difference between paying for the basics, and getting them free is big. Here you get free water, electric, and sewer.  Marginal volunteers can make it on a slim budget. Our country is on the verge of a poverty crisis. Already the large cities are feeling the homeless crunch. As the population ages, it will only get worse. People cannot make the connection between the rich stealing everything, and the poor having nothing. 

Poor money management is one key to the mess we are in. Water and money runs through the hands of the bum walkers just the same. A bum worker near us has accumulated a rural junk encampment. He buys stuff he absolutely cannot afford or need. 

From one planet to another

 We are back in the land of the common people. From the land of acute prosperity we have landed in a more normal place. Kadizzle has been in a lot of upscale grocery stores, but the visit to one yesterday showed the stark difference in how one segment of society shops and another does. Some of the differences were suttle, but there was a distinct difference. The staffing of the store was a big difference. Each department was filled with wonderful thing put together in the store, and each had many more people preparing the food for the prosperous than a typical grocery store here in the land of many more peasants. 

In the land of prosperity things are different. With the son in law Kadizzle went to by some 4x4 lumber. In the exclusive hardware store there were only two pieces of lumber and the price was ten times what the local Home Depot sold it for.  In the land of no suffering pricing would make any normal budget suffer. 

Americans do not realize we live in a land of disparity. The haves do not roam among the have nots. The private jets fly into the little enclave airports, and those with the means do not suffer the indignity of normal plane flight. In the other world the Threat from Trump is ignored. In the world where people work with their hands Trumpism takes on a whole new nuance. 

History is replete with instances where those on top totally lost contact with those on the bottom. It never ended well. 

35 miles

 The big apple is about 35 miles from us. Erin,Fran, and Sylvie buzzed in to see a musical. Taking the train made it easy. Sam and Kadizzle did logging in the backyard. Megan lives on about three acres so about half is forest.

This is a prosperous area, hard to imagine these people electing Trump.

Different worlds

  The cleaning lady is coming. In other worlds there is no cleaning lady. In some worlds you get up before dawn. In other worlds you sleep in. In some worlds you take the bus. In other worlds someone drives you. The people that live in different worlds don’t always understand each other’s problems. Trump lives in his own world. Trump has a golden toilet. Others have an outhouse.

The Kadizzles switch worlds. Sometimes the lap of luxury and sometimes a walk to the outside toilet. Fortunately bombs don’t fall in our world. Easy to look at the world of someone else, but to know their world is a different matter.

Zoning prohibits poverty

 We are in New York in part of the state where zoning regulations prohibit poverty. None of the usual trappings of the poor exist. Visiting the grandchildren for Thanksgiving. Megan’s completely remodeled house is spectacular. Grandpa may be put to work in the yard.

The entire family is here, three grandchildren and our own kids. Kadizzle would never live on the east coast. The big cities are all a mess. Traffic is insane.

What if you could tax stupidity?

 Stupidity is taxed every day. Go to the grocery store and watch people pay the tax. You go up to the service counter and as for as many lottery tickets as you think you are stupid enough to buy. The dumber you are the more tickets you buy. Another alterative is to go out to the casino and pay you tax instantly. The stupidity tax raises billions and often it is for the government and sometimes for charities. What a wonderful tax, people enjoy paying it. 

Now why not take it one step further?  For every $100 you pay in federal tax you get one lottery ticket. Dingers would do their best to pay as much tax as they could to get the lottery tickets. People would line up to pay taxes. Even the rich might be willing to pay tax. 

 

A simple solution to homelessness

 Here we sit in the biggest campground Kadizzle has ever seen in the United States. One big problem, the place is crumbling for lack of funds to maintain it. The 1,200 wonderful camping sites were built to accommodate people from Phoenix that never came. 

This place could cheaply be made a wonderful place for the homeless. Since the campground has showers and good facilities the homeless would not need them in their home if small homes were built without bathrooms. Since all the roads and most of the infrastructure is here only electricity would have to be provided, which would be very easy because a lot of it is already in place. 

If a small dwelling was built for the unfortunate, with no bathroom, it would be very inexpensive. These campgrounds could easily accommodate 3, 000 people.  Since this is in a rural setting and the campground is in a specific area crime and drugs could easily be controlled. The problem with pets would be solved. It is simply a matter of will, imagination, and get it done. 

Gold falling from the sky

It is raining on and off, and the desert badly needs rain. We are down at Lake Roosevelt. The lake is still  high from moisture last year. The coyotes went nuts last night, very close. We take off for New York before long. Seeing the grandchildren will be a joy. 

On another subject Kadizzle saw the doctor yesterday. The doctor wanted blood work. Kadizzle just had blood work done by the urologist. Why not do all the blood test at once, save some money, but money doesn't matter to the greed driven medical system in this country. Recently Kadizzle had to get some prescriptions filled in Spain. Kadizzle was expecting a bill of 200 dollars. The actual bill was ten dollars. The ability of insurance companies in the Untied States to rob people is insane, then add the drug companies and their theft.  

Trump owns the mentally ill

 Yesterday Kadizzle sat beside Doug, a successful businessman. Doug is still for Trump. The logic of his brain makes a pretzel look straight. When a thought pops out of Doug's mind you ask yourself where does he get this crap? How many Dougs are out there? Kadizzle talks to a lot of people, and finds normal people with functioning minds are in the minority. Doug thrives on scary scenarios, the banks are going to fail, we will have a war, and on it goes. You don't have to talk to these crazy people long before you realize the lid is off. 

Earlier in the day Kadizzle talked to the little old lady with the Trump hat. The little lady looks like she was in the dryer to long and the hat to prove she is brain dead is way too big. Like Dough she is in a Trump daze. The Trump religion is like any other cult, you just believe, because you like crazy. All these right wing dingers remind Kadizzle of the snake handlers in West Virginia. Back in the hills the snake handlers read the Bible and believe like the Bible says " If you believe the serpent will not bite you".  The serpent in this case is Donald Trump and he is ready to strike. 

Back in the hills the trick to picking up a rattlesnake is to put it in a wooden box, kick the box, play electric guitars and get the snakes so confused they cannot bike. The process is very similar with Trump people. 

When in college Kadizzle came across this story about a snake handler in Kentucky.  Sometimes these snake handlers pull the fangs. OK, this snake handler was at a county fair.  The Bible dazed preacher was on the stage handling a big rattlesnake to impress the people about how the lord works. Someone in the audience said " Try this one".  The guy had a big jar with a big rattlesnake. The preacher tried it, the snake struck and killed he preacher.  So much for the Trump mindset. We are going to get struck by the Trump insanity, just hold on. 

The Story of a Trump rat

 The belly is too large, so Kadizzle rides the ebike down and around the golf course twice a day. The real exercise comes from pedalling up the hill. What makes the trip more fun is the Easter Egg hunt. Actually it is a hunt for golf balls. There is a bin in the garage with about 1,500 golf balls in it. 

On one stretch of the hunt there live two nasty Donald Trump Republican rats. The rats used to fly a " Go Brandon" flag, and a Trump flag.  The rats tried to sell their rat nest, and the realtor must have told them to take down the cult flags. 

Irritated Kadizzle saw the cult flags every day and longed to say something to the rats, however Kadizzle restrained himself and never confronted the rats. 

Then one day Kadizzle spotted two golf balls in the yard adjacent to the rat nest. Kadizzle had met the owner of the home beside the rat nest and thought he was a nice guy. In fact he is a nice guy. 

Kadizzle went into the yard of the nice guy to retrieve the two golf balls and the male rat sprang from his nest yelling nasty things at Kadizzle. Kadizzle in turn call the angry rat every name he could think of and confronted the rat about his Trump cult membership. The rat put his face right in the face of Kadizzle and did his best to provoke a fight. Kadizzle explained to the rat that he knew the homeowner and the homeowner would not object to Kadizzle retrieving the golf balls. Then the angry rat went over to Kadizzle's ebike and acted as if he intended to break the spokes. Kadizzle looked at him and he got the message this was too much. 

Now the fun part. Kadizzle explained to the rat that it was great fun having the opportunity to yell at the rat and tell him what Kadizzle thought of the Trump cult. 

About a week later Kadizzle encountered the nice guy homeowner walking with his wife. Kadizzle asked the nice guy if it was OK to retrieve golf balls. The nice guy said sure. 

The next time Kadizzle saw the rat he informed him the homeowner had given Kadizzle permission to retrieve the golf balls. Apparently the rat was defeated, but no. The rat called the homeowner and made up a story that Kadizzle had been harassing him. The rat said the nice guy homeowner wanted Kadizzle to call him. So the rat gave Kadizzle the nice guys phone number. Right there with the rat Kadizzle tried to call the homeowner, but there was no answer. 

In summary the rat told the nice guy homeowner outrageous lies in order to further his cult lifestyle. This is the modern Republican quickly resorting to lies when thing go south. Trump has set a new standard for lying. 

Tuba Skinny - "Going Back Home" - Royal St. -* Tip the band at Venmo.c...

Something about this video sums it all up. 

Speaker Mike Johnson's Internet 'Accountability Partner' Was Teen Son

Before you check out this video, read the post before this one. Part of the insanity of this is it gives anyone the possible access to all of Mike Johnson's government information. 

The Train has left the track

If you thought Republicans could not get any crazier, wrong. Google Mike Johnson Covenant Eyes. The new speaker of the house brags he and his son use an app to check that they don't look at porn. The app will report to your partner in "Covenant Eyes" if you look at porn. The speaker of the house is monitoring his 17 year old son, and his son is monitoring him. What the hell? The speaker of the house needs to use an app to make sure he doesn't use porn. Mike Johnson has set a new standard for right wing insanity. Also Mike Johnson is a " Young Earther". What is that? It is a right wing religious dinger that thinks the Earth is only six thousand years old and that dinosaurs and men walked the Earth together. This is the United States 2023? We are in deep dinosaur shit.

He lives in a small world

 Once in the distant past riding in a truck with another manager, the fellow said to me about one of the dolts " He lives in a small world". It was the perfect description. How many people live in a small world? Obviously the whole Trump cult lives in a small scary world. Sometimes you have to back up to see the big picture. Seeing the big picture is key to a happy world. However, the small world suites too many too well. Republicans create a small world by staying in the bounds of Fox News, and Donald Trump.  What is the result? Chaos, hate, fear, and little scary stories. 

If the dingers would come out of the small world and embrace the real world where would we be? In a small world small problems become big problems. 

Lets change gears. The gun obsessed. Kadizzle knows so many men obsessed with guns. What is that all about. A neighbor just told Kadizzle about how he is going to buy a cannon like handgun. Kadizzle asked him who is after him. He said the bad guys don't come because they know we are armed. Why would the bad guys come in the first place? Are my socks keeping ghost away. I never see any ghost, it must be the fact I always wear socks. Cause and effect are hard for Hoopleheads to grasp. Do chickens cause eggs or do eggs cause chickens?  What about the good guy with a gun? The good guy has been doing a poor job. The bad guys with guns have killed a lot of people. 

Sat around the fire

With some new neighbors we sat around the firepit and had popcorn. Only the second or third time we have enjoyed the fire pit. The weather was perfect, the stars were out, and life is good. Grandpa got his flag pole up and we are in a neighborhood saturated with American flags. Payson people love to fly the flag and ban books. Just makes no sense how a flag town can support Trump. 

The doughnut meeting will meet today. Nice bunch of people who actually read factual information. Comforting to know there are people outside the cult. 

 An elk killed a woman in another part of Arizona this week. First time ever recorded in Arizona. Kadizzle was driving down Bonita street and saw a man taking a picture of something. There it was a huge bull elk resting comfortably about five feet from the road. Would not want to get that fellow mad at me. 

This brings us to our painter. One of his arms is withered and damn near useless. According to him it was from a pet rattlesnake bite. Sad when the brain dies. 

Cannot comprehend the insane state of our country and the world. The Biden Trump mess is something to behold. Biden should step aside and let a young person run. Trump is totally insane. In a country with over 300 million people there is no one better than these two. Biden had done a good job, but the Hoopleheads don't bend to reason. 

The Old White guys got the money

 We live in a strange world. Kadizzle moved into a newly constructed neighborhood. A lot of the people moved here with a pocket full of money from homes they sold in California. Others just came with the money they made from good jobs. Us old folk robbed the young. Watching people set up their new homes Kadizzle is amazed by how readily they spend cash for landscaping and whatever suits their fancy. On the other end of the game are the young people who cannot afford a home, college, or any of the old givens.

All of us old duffers are collecting nice social security checks we really don't need.  It is just icing on the cake. That money is coming from young working people. What we have done to the young is a crime. We have charged a good life style on the credit card of our children. The old and the rich have stolen the pie. 

Then you do have a whole bunch of Hoopleheads busted flat living on the margin. The old people who never figured it out are living on little more than social security. The wave is coming. Sometime in the near future there will be an abundance of busted flat young people trying to retire, and there will be the old duffers that live in the trailer surrounded by a chain link fence. Both will wonder what went wrong. Economic dismay brings dictators and guess who is licking his chops just waiting to tell more lies. 

Tuba Skinny -"Just A Closer Walk" -- * Tip the band at Venmo.com. More a...

A B-17 Guy told me a story

 

  

Some years back old Kadizzle went to the air museum in Tucson. The man giving the tour of the B-17 told me about the machine gunner in the plane. He told me if the plane was hit the only way out for the ball turret gunner was to reach up into the plane and grab a parachute. The gunner had to fall out backwards from the hatch. On his way to the ground he had to put on the parachute. Apparently some actually accomplished this feat. There was no way the gunner could get up in the plane. 

The CAVEmen strike a blow to education.

 A group of Hooplehead called the CAVEmen prevailed in the school election in Payson. CAVE stands for Citizens Against Virtually Everything. Republicans hate educated people, and Trump loves the ignorant. The school system in Payson will suffer from the cuts. The Hoopleheads will get a new supply of idiots. 

This is just a preview of how the country will deteriorate under Trump. Normal people are asleep in a daze. Meanwhile the country is being ravaged by idiocy. It can't happen here. Oh, you think not. What is more fundamental than a decent school system? The dropout rate here is amazing. Arizona is near the bottom in education and the Hooples want to make it worse. 

The retired people who rely on the young want to starve them of an education. What sense does that make? Trump relishes stupid people, and Republicans help him every inch of the way.