Positive attitude.

Positive attitude… 

                        This is the teaching version, to be used by an instructor.

The first point to make is:

When you believe, also known as Faith, you have a positive attitude. This positive attitude, faith and believing swings both ways. One can be positive that they can jump over a puddle of water, or one can be positive that they can’t jump over a puddle of water! Either way, they were positive that they could or could not complete the task.

Now we know that a positive attitude does not always mean, “Optimistic attitude”.

Consider for a moment, are you optimistic, in your thoughts and actions? Do you believe the future will be, “Better than the past”, or is your attitude more along the lines of, “things will never be better”?     You can choose!

Do you see yourself as, “Unfortunate”, and have you thought, “Why do bad things always happen to me”? 

Do you see yourself as, “Fortunate”, and have you thought, “Good things always happen to me”!              You can choose!

                       

Let’s consider a few quick statements, and as we do please see which statements relate to you.

                Statements are:

I got a pay increase!  

I got a shabby little pay raise how do they expect me to live?

I was the top producer last week! 

I worked my butt off last week, all I got was tired.

My neighbor just got a new… wow that’s great!    

My neighbor got a new…, why do they have all the good things?

My dog is having puppies!   

My dog is having puppies, how do I get rid of them?

 

 

 

Ponder the following statement.     

                The glass is both, “Half empty” while at the same time it is. “Half full”.

                                                                                               

                Consider for a moment, how do you see the glass?                    You can choose!

 

 

 

                You are working, someone interrupts you and when you turn to face the person, you knock something over and it spills on the floor.  How you respond may set the tone for the rest of the day, for both you and the other person.  Yes, you and I also influence others attitudes. 

                Suggested response:          

First, smile even if it is a fake smile.

Second, while you are smiling say, “If that is the worst thing that happens today, it’s not too bad.”  

                                You can choose!

 

 

Summary, this lesson should cause you to think about your attitude. Understand that your attitude affects others that you come in contact with (family, friends, and associates). If you are now thinking this was a bunch of bull and a waste of your time, you are the person this was written for.

 

                                “You can choose!”

 

 

Don Ford

What are they doing 06.01.17

                Ignoring the title line, I would like to point out, “today is the first day of June”. The old saying, “Time flies”, may or may not be correct, but I can tell you, time passes quickly!

                Who’s getting old?

                Now to the topic of today, what are they doing, has to do with TV.    I, being an early riser, have a tendency to get my first cup of coffee and make my way to the old recliner by 5:30. I then turn on the TV and sit there from 5:30 to 6:30, repeating this action Monday through Friday.  I quickly become irritated with the commercials as they show the same commercials at the same time each morning.

                Why would a business pay to show these commercials when the only effect they have on people is to irritate them, or give them a reason to get another cup of coffee or possibly go to the Jon. I have never saw a commercial that made me want to purchase the item they were showing, although they occasionally have a good looking female subject to get ones attention. Have you noticed that they have more read haired people on commercials now days?

                Watching the same news program each morning, I see the same irritating commercials, each day. If business actually understood that people do not like commercials they might save some money by not producing them. I believe that business people listen to the sales BS from the companies selling the commercials, rather than knowing what the consumer wants. Now that I think of it, businesses are as likely to be as out of touch with the public, as the politicians in government are!

                I believe that last sentence says it all, there is no hope that things will get better!

                Changing topics, but staying with the same general message, every so called news program starts there program with, “News Alert” or “Breaking News”. There should be a law that states, “The only time they can use those terms is if they are the first to make the announcement”. In other words those terms may not be repeated when presenting the subject a second time, or if the other so called news agency has reported on it.

                Last but equally irritating, if one watches the so called news from 5:30 to 6:00, the same information will be presented again starting at 6:00 to 6:30. I have change the channels and that helps a little but they basically have the same so called news on each channel, just different people presenting it!

 

Never complain, but you can explain!

 

Don Ford

Technology 05.31.17

                What does that word mean? I checked the definition of technology and there were several well worded sentences. Let me attempt to define it in an understandable and concise manner.

                Technology, “Technical knowledge”! For those of you who do not know what those two words mean, you should stop reading now.

                Why have I brought this word up, I will be happy to explain? As I walked this morning, I was thinking about school ending this week, and I wondered what students, now days, are actually learning.

                Hear in the great state of Texas kids are not taught how to write! These students are however taught how to print and enter data (in the olden days it was known as typing).

                As I sit here considering this, I began to wonder if a person needs to know how to write. In the olden days, people would write letters and instructions. Writing in cursive form took less time when compared to printing. Also in the olden days, we had writing classes and were graded on proper cursive writing. I scribbled and never made a good grade in writing class. Heck I still scribble even today.

            In what situation now days, would a person need to be able to read and write in cursive? One thought is, “a person needs to write their signature in cursive. Is that a true statement? Could a person’s signature be printed? Why not? In the olden days, on the old TV shows (and we know those TV shows were factual) a cowboy couldn’t write, so they made their mark.

            Which is easier to read, the cursive or the print?

                Another thing I have considered, do students learn things and store them in their memory, or do they learn how to look up subjects. One can look anything up in just a few seconds, so why would they need to remember? Everyone has a computer, or a tablet, and or a smart phone. Why do we need to know anything as long as we know how to find it on the internet?

                I push a button on my somewhat smart phone, say a word and the phone’s voice tells me the definition. I don’t even need to read the definition. Heck after I get done writing this wonderful article, my computer reads it out loud to me so I can find errors.

 

Print, or write, do you really care?

 

Don Ford

What's new 05.30.17

                No snap crackle or pop, just crash.

 

                I was on the other side of the Ford’s trailer uncovering the Ford’s old riding mower when this scary event occurred. I had known the limb was broken, but I assumed it would not fall without help from me. Why would I assume (when you ass/u/me you make an ass out of you and me) the limb would not fall when another limb had fell in that same spot a week earlier. The other limb was dead and is on top the Ford’s trailer. No it is not strapped down yet. Yes the other limbs are professionally strapped down. Click to enlarge.

                Glad it didn’t wait and fall on me later in the day when I had planned to mow!

 

                The wind was blowing excessively, the flower had to be held in order to get the photo.

   

                I found the clouds an interesting back drop for the flag. As you can see, sitting in the Ford’s old rocker can be interesting, well at least I find it interesting. click to enlarge. 

Be aware of what is around you!

Don Ford

What's going on 05.29.17

                As I see it, the question proposed by the title of this soon to be, “brilliantly written” article is, “What has been happening in the world of the Ford Homestead” or, “Why hasn’t the Donald been posting”?

                True, some of you may have thought I was giving you a vacation by not posting, while others possibly thought I was on vacation. Nope, neither are correct.

                I find it interesting that only one person (aka reader) noticed that I had not been posting. I guess that says a lot for my brilliantly written and equally boring articles. But, as you can see that does not stop this, “Artists of words” from writing and posting. J

                The residence of the Ford Homestead have been busy lately. As an example, Friday May 19^th we went to Gabi’s field day. The kids have all kinds of events from about 9:00 to almost noon. Then on May 24^th, my first wife went to the local water park as Gabi’s class and many other classes had a day of splashing in the water. This past Friday we went to Alex’s field day, which lasted from 9:00 to noon.

                My first wife invoked her father on me saying, “Dad would roll over in his grave if he could see the weeds in this garden”. She had a point, her dad did have one of the nicest gardens, and there were no weeds in it. With that in mind, I properly prepared a portion of this, “weed infested garden” for some new onions. I spend time on my hands and knees removing weeds and loosening the earth. We could not find any onion sets this late in the season. We used onion seeds for this planting. These seeds were on a biodegradable paper tape, something that I have not tried before.

                I now have several chiggers in places we will not discuss. One of those chiggers has located himself on the top of my left foot under the area where the shoe string is tied. Why that would be important, one might ask, allow me to explain. When I walk I irritate the chigger and it itches!

                I was required by the COO here at the homestead to level some cement flower pots that were leaning slightly. Not being one to go into great detail let’s just say, the cement flower pot sets on a cement table top which sits on a cement column which sits on a square cement block. All had to be removed by this senior citizen, dirt had to be brought in, the block replaced and a level used to determine if the block was indeed level. When the cement block was found to be level this old senior citizen was forced to replace the cement column, the cement table top and then the cement flower pot.

                There were two of these Flower pots. I didn’t even mention that it was 94 degrees and100% humidity, or that I had to fight ants that were claiming one of the flower pots.

                Those are just a few of the activities that have been occurring here at the ford homestead. I have been able to get a few naps in now and then during these exhausting times!

                I did walk this morning and I found it quite peaceful. Today is Memorial Day! Many people are off work and the schools are closed today. There was not one vehicle seen as I walked today, do you know how nice that is. I only seen one human during the morning walk and it was one of the retired seniors who live on our street retrieving his so called morning newspaper.

                The morning was overcast which I assume helped dampen the sounds. There was a slight mist in the air that helped dampen me. In truth, the only sounds I heard were the birds and one annoying squirrel. The birds were singing and fluttering around looking for a morning breakfast of bugs. That darn squirrel was barking at me in a manner which seemed to indicate that he thought I should go to well, somewhere else. What he didn’t know was, if it was legal I would have exterminated him, long ago!

                During this morning walk I also experienced one less than desirable encounter. When I say one, I mean one category of event, which occurred several times over. What category, you ask! It was that smell of rotting garbage coming from each trash container sitting on the street. I do not normally notice this disgusting smell as there is usually a breeze, but today's calm allowed the distasteful order to hang heavily around each receptacle. Rotting garbage did take away from the morning walk but one should always expect some distraction in their lives.

                We did have some rain storms go through last night, and luckily we received mostly rain and no real storms. When I checked the rain gage this morning we had ¾ of an inch of rain last night, but there was no standing water. Yep, the ground has soaked up the water.

May all your walks be free of squirrels and garbage!

Don Ford

Happy Hour 05.23.17

                We, here at the Ford Homestead believe, that everyone should be allowed to have a happy hour each and every day. We recently learned that two residents here at the Ford Homestead have found their own way to have happy hour.

                In the following two professionally composed photos, one will see the effects of happy hour, as celebrated at the Ford Homestead.

                It doesn’t get much better than this!

 

Molly is napping on the Ford’s Mini Van.

 

 Charlie is napping on the recycle bin.

Enjoy happy hour each and every day!

Don Ford

Bird food 05.22.17

                As I sit here cookie in hand, I consider dunking the cookie in my cup of coffee. Me, eating this well prepared cookie that my first wife prepared, cause me to think back about the birds that I observed this morning, as I prepared for, and later observed during my morning walk.

                Today is trash pickup day (AKA garbage day) so I was required to move the Fords Trash container to the curb. Prior to this move, I had decided to take the trash bag from the Homestead and place it into the Trash container. As I walked toward the container I noticed several birds on, and around the trash container. Then I saw the reason for the gathering of our feathered friends. There were some white larva, also known as “Maggots”.

                These little white maggots would, if left alone, soon become flies. Just what we need more of, flies. I opened the trash receptacle and deposited the trash bag, noticing more maggots inside the container. The birds watched me as I moved their breakfast out to the curb.

                Naturally I walked back to the Homestead and used some hand sanitizer prior to the morning walk.

                I did notice that there were several birds at each trash container along the street, I assume they were also getting breakfast.

                Have you noticed how close the words Maggot and Magnet sound? Even though the two are very different, they both seem to have some of the same traits.

                We received an inch of rain Friday night through Saturday morning. We also had more rain last night where we received another half inch of rain. I should say the ground has soaked all the rain in, there is no standing water. 

                We have harvested a bunch of black berries the last two days.

                What? That should be obvious! The traits which they have can be explained in one word, “Attraction”!

                I have purchased a new walk behind lawn mower, even though I do not like the front wheel drive version, that was all we could afford being on a fixed income. I put the mower together, then I read the instructions, just to be sure I was correct. I added the oil and put some gas in it. I then thought I would pull the starter rope very slow in an effort to get the oil moved around inside the motor before I actually attempted to start the motor. To my surprise, the motor started.

I was not trying to start it, but it started. I shut it off. I then tried to pull the rope gently again and it started! Truthfully, I believe my seven year old grandson could easily start this mower.  WOW, cheap but good!

                What? You don’t understand Attraction? Why do I always have to explain everything? Maggots attract the birds, Magnets attract other metals. Think about what I teach you and you will be…

Attract not or you will be attractive! (Words of wisdom from the Ford)

Don Ford 

Memory 05.17.17

 

                What is the drawing of? It is the layout of my grandparents’ home. Is my most excellent drawing accurate, it is the way I remember it. This memory is from about 60 years ago. The old house is no longer there, as a matter of fact all the houses in this area which was known as, “Smelter Ville”, have been demolished. Most of the area was flood prone. 

                This house had running water, but no bathroom, no indoor toilet. Yes, it had an outhouse in the back yard. I never thought of this before but, the outhouse was next to the back fence which was as far from the house as possible. On the other side of the fence was another house, but I can’t remember how close it was to the outhouse.

                There was a large cottonwood tree in the back yard and they had a fence around the yard.

                I have very few memories of my grandmother. I never met any of my grandparents on my dad’s side of the family.

                Grandpa lived several years longer than Grandma and I have two basic memories of grandpa. One is that he always seemed to be sitting in his rocking chair which was located next to the wood burning stove. The other memory is, every Sunday morning we would go pick him up to take him to church with us. Dad drove the car, I often sit in the front seat next to dad, and Grandpa would get in the car’s front seat passenger side. In those days all men wore hats, and almost every time grandpa would get in the car he would knock his hat off. Grandpa had hair growing out of his ears, and I mean lots of hair.

                Grandpa was, the “Reverend Bede Wyatt”, I have no memories of him preaching. 

                They basically lived in two rooms. The so called living room had a couple chairs, their bed, a Wardrobe, or it may have been a Chiffarobe (look it up if you aren’t sure what that is). I know they had the wood burning stove, actually it was probably coal burning in that room. I assume they had a radio but I can’t remember that.

                The kitchen had a wood burning stove which later may have been converted into gas, a table, a sink with running water. I do not remember a refrigerator or ice box, but I am sure they had one or the other. There was an old copper cup that sat on the sink and it was there as a drinking cup for everyone to use. I do not remember seeing any other cups used for drinking.

                That memory came up when I was walking this morning, which was cut short due to some sprinkles of rain. The memory I had was of my mom and sister trying to talk me into giving up the bottle (not a bottle of booze, a baby bottle). As I remember I was between the bed and the wall and they were telling me that my nephew Paul, who is three months younger than me, did not take the bottle and I should stop. I don’t know how old I was but I couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old (that was supposed to be a joke).

                 

May all your memories be good!

Don Ford