July 30, 2026

                Good morning from us to you, we hope all have a good day.

                As I set here trying to think about yesterday and I don’t think I did anything, if I did want was it? I took Alex to school for his orchestra practice and then I returned home and rested for about 10 minutes, I was enjoying my cup of coffee from the Star coffee place. After the coffee rest I forced my ole senior body to get up and head out back with the thought I might be able to mow the back 40 (aka back yard).

                I was able to get the riding mower out and check the tire pressure, check the oil and add gas. Wow, it was ready to mow so I crawled onto the mower and began the task. I mowed all I could and I decided the next time we mow we will mow one inch higher.

                I then got the string trimmer out and trimmed everything. The mowing and trimming completed which took about 2 hours in the heat, I was able to drag my ole body into the house where I took a shower. Ole body cleaned, I then headed to school to get Alex and take him home. I dropped him off at his home and then I did get lunch and bring it home to my favorite wife.

                Lunch completed we were able to rest for a while before heading out back to wash the dog. I have a photo of the back 40 with the two benches set up where we will wash the pot hound.

                When my favorite wife and I had finished the wash job we headed for the chairs on the driveway where we sat and rested. There were no drones flying over yesterday and our conversations were again along the lines of olden days.

                Today I need to take Alex to school for the ROTC meeting and then get him and a friend home after school. I also must take the dog to the vet at 2:30. If that all goes well, we will then go out to supper.

                Well, I need to rest from all this data entry, we pray that you have a blessed day and that we all stay safe in all we do. Keep family and friends in your prayers.

                Donnie the Ford  

July 29 2026

                Good morning to all even though the morning is a little odd for me. My morning story is like this; I got the computer and I sat on the ole recliner where I created the blog for today and right at the end when I was trying to copy it so I could move it over to the e-mail and send it to the blog post, I deleted it. In the olden days I knew how to undelete some things, but I could not undelete that so I'm going to have to rewrite it.

                Also making the morning odd before I started it the second time, I had an optical migraine. Yep, my optical migraines usually last for 20 to 25 minutes and then they're gone. So now you see why I say it's starting as an odd day.

                Yesterday was another do nothing day, most of the time, my big event was taking Alex to ROTC then getting him home afterwards. I also removed the dog Poopa-Loopa from the backyard in an effort to get it cleaned up in case I decided to mow it this morning.

                Yesterday afternoon we did set outside in the hot air and most of our conversations had to deal with the olden days when we were young and people we knew when we lived in Missouri. At one point we were considering how many people were still alive, where they lived, how they were doing and my favorite wife said it would be nice if she had the phone number for a couple people she would call them and see what was going on.

                We have a neighbor that I believe is out of town they had left their trash card out by the street an extra day which they normally do not do so I went over and pushed it up against the fence getting it away from the street. After putting the trash cart up against the fence I decided for some reason to take a picture down the street, photo to follow.

                You may have noticed the heavy traffic on our street.

                As usual, while we were sitting outside the drones were flying over making the buzzing sound, when I noticed a cloud in the sky which I took a photo of. The cloud has a hole in it.

                Well, I Assume I should stop for now, we hope you all have a blessed day and we all stay safe in all we do.

Don the Ford

July 28, 2026

                Good morning to all our friends…

                Yesterday’s great events: I went to the store for a few items yesterday morning about 8:00am and I learned that there are plenty of parking spaces early morning and no one in my way when shopping. Back at home I did my bible reading after a short rest period (nap). I tried to stay out of the way of the cleaning lady.  

                Later in the afternoon we sat outside on the front porch. It was hot but there was an occasional breeze, and I had a fan in my hand. As we sat there a neighbor drove by in a new Ford pickup truck. Wow our neighbors get new vehicles, it must be nice to be rich.

                I did prepare supper and after eating and cleaning up I was allowed to go out back and water the plants.

Today: my big plan is to take Alex to ROTC at school and pick him up later.

               

                Addiction is the topic: I do not know who among you may have been or is addicted to something and I am not attempting to find out. Most people do not want to admit that they are addicted, and some may be addicted but not understand that they are addicted.   

          Let’s start with my addiction, I am addicted to nicotine even though I do not use the tobacco products anymore, my body is still addicted to nicotine. Many years ago, I smoked a pipe even though at that time the main items for smoking were cigarettes and cigars. As time passed, I changed from the pipe to chewing tobacco. I chewed tobacco for many years, and I stopped the weekend that our son David got married, 21 years ago.

          Stopping is very difficult and for a while I was not a good person, there were times that I literally wanted to hurt someone. I made a statement when I quit and it was, “if I learned that I had 3 months to live the first thing I would do would be to get a pouch of chewing tobacco “.

          Now I occasionally get a cigar or two when family or friends go on a cruise. I enjoy these cigars, usually taking 5 days to completely smoke one cigar. I call it playing and enjoying. I see it as fun but not as a part of my addiction, but it is a part of my addiction.

          After the last two cigars that were brough to me by a friend from his cruise, I have been wanting to have more cigars even considering going to a smoke shop to get a couple cigars.

Now I have been thinking about this, and it is not just that I have fun with cigars, even though I do, it is that my addiction is working to get me back into the daily intake (use) of nicotine. I have considered the situation, and I have decided that I will not go to the smoke shop and buy cigars. I know it is my addiction that is tempting me and I will not allow it to bring me back to nicotine!  If you are addicted get help to stop because it isn’t easy and many who stop only stop for a while and then return to the addiction.

If one stops using, the addiction is still there waiting to temp you back…

 

          I will stop entering data now, we hope you have a blessed day and that we all stay safe in all we do. Pray for friends and family.

          Donnie the Ford

July 27, 2026

Good morning to all, we hope you have a cool day.

                Yesterday was a normal Sunday I watched the church TV program and then after a cup of homemade coffee and a rest period I began my Bible reading. After that, my favorite wife and I headed to the cracker store for lunch. We needed to wait for a table; the food and service was good.

                After lunch was finished, we went to the Wally World store for a couple items which my favorite wife wanted to get. One was a motion detecting light that will be placed in the bedroom so us ole people would have light if we needed to get up during the night.  

Back at home it was again time to rest. Later in the afternoon we did as usual set outside. It was hot and even though there was a slight breeze we did activate the big ole fan. We also had cold drinks with lots of ice in them. As usual the neighborhood was quiet, heck one might say it was dead. During the couple of hours that we were out there we may have seen a couple cars and one fellow who was walking.  

I was allowed to do some work during our outside venture; I was washing clothes. Now in truth I was not washing the clothes, I was just putting them in the washer, and the machine did the washing. Yes, I had done some housework earlier.

When we went back inside, I was allowed to warm up our supper. As soon as I sat down to eat, I received a call from my sister in Missouri. We talked for a while and during the conversation I received another call from an ole friend which I did not answer. I did call him back after I had eaten my supper. Yes, I was allowed to wash the dishes.

Today may be another exciting day for the Fords of Hewitt as I need gas in the car, I could use a few things from the store, and if it wasn’t too hot, I could mow the back yard. The cleaning lady should be here around noon.

Wow always an exciting time at the Fords Homestead. We hope you have a blessed day and that we all stay safe in all we do. Please keep family and friends in your prayers.

                Donnie the Ford

July 26, 2026

                We are into a nice Sunday morning here in Hewitt, so we wish you a good morning and a blessed day.

                Yesterday was an interesting day for my favorite wife and I. The day started out with us bringing our yard man Alex over to mow the front yard. When I went to get Alex I was able to procure a cup of coffee from the star coffee company. While Alex was mowing in the front yard I did yesterday's so-called blog posting.

                Alex was compensated and taken back to his home, and I returned to our home where I was allowed to take a short nap. Rest time completed I did my bible reading.  

                Later in the morning at about 10:30am we headed out in the so-called new Chevy determining that we wanted to go get some BBQ from a little place that we used to go to years ago. Would you believe we drove 30 miles one way to get the BBQ sandwiches and a couple of unsweetened teas. I then decided to take a back road on our way home. This road is one that we use to ride when we were on motorcycles. I thought I knew the road that we wanted to go on so I headed South from that town and evidently, I missed the road that I wanted to use. I ended up on some little old road that just kept going forever and ever out into the country.

                I'm glad the car has GPS on it to show me where I was and how to get somewhere because finally I told it to take me back to Hewitt TX and it popped a map up and showed me where to go. It was nice to see all the country farms and ranches out there.

Back on the main road I was going to take a different road that I also remembered when we used to ride motorcycles. I started down the road, and I saw that it was blocked, they were working on the bridge so I couldn't take that road. I had to use the highway to get back home. We did make it back home safe and sound and the sandwiches we bought at the BBQ place were excellent and very large.

Later in the afternoon as we sat outside in the heat, I was allowed to trim some of the flowers as they were so big that we could not walk without them rubbing on us. Work done I was allowed to sit on a chair and that is when a friend dropped by. This friend brought a small bottle of wine with her which the ladies seemed to enjoy in glasses filled with ice as it was very hot outside where we were sitting.

Note; the birds seemed to have left the bird houses, and the drones were continually flying over our house.

Today; we will probably go to the cracker store for lunch as usual and then do very little the rest of the day. I am attempting to stop for now, but I do have a photo for my enjoyment.

                We hope everyone has a safe and blessed day. Keep your family and friends in your prayers.

                Donnie the Ford

July 25, 2026

                Good Saturday morning if you are seeing this in the morning…

                I have already been to the Star coffee place for a cup, and I have already been to Alex’s home and brough him to the Fords homestead. I have commissioned him to mow the front yard today; the back yard seems to be ok for now. I can observe the work he is doing from the security monitors, and he is following instructions that I gave him when he first started mowing for us.

Instructions: When mowing you should have at least three directions to mow. Each time you mow, mow in a different direction. Examples of The Ford method; one mow in line with the curb (aka north and south) two away from the curb toward the house (aka east and west) three on and 45-degree angle aka (northeast to southwest).

Mowing in a different direction keeps your yard from having lines where the wheels of the mower have been. In other words, your yard looks better. When using a riding mower, one should be sure the tires have the correct air pressure and one should make all turns at a slow speed, which reduced the marks the riding mower leaves in a yard.

Wow, I am done with the preaching, let’s see if I have anything else to present. My favorite wife and I did go for a ride in the Fords new Chevy, the main reason for this ride was to get Tres into the vehicle and see how he would react. I will need to take him to the vet next week and I wanted to get him familiar with the vehicle. He did fine.

We then sat outside yesterday afternoon, and I later learned I did miss a couple of calls. We did not have the Fords house phone on the front porch with us, so we did not hear the phone rang.

We have discussed the possibility of going to a small town about 30 miles away for some BBQ today. BBQ sounds good and getting out of the house seems to be good for our morale. Seeing places that we have not seen for a couple years is actually interesting for ole people.

Well Alex is almost finished with the yard work so I guess I should also stop with my work, yes this is work for an ole person. We hope we all have a blessed day and that we all stay safe in all we do. Let’s keep our friends and family in our prayers.

Don the Ford

July 24, 2026

                Good morning to all…

Allow me to start out with photos of flower blooms. These are located near the driveway where we sit in the afternoons.

            We did have supper yesterday afternoon with friends. I know you thought we did not have any friends but surprise, we do have friends. We all met at the restaurant at the same time, and we very much enjoyed time together. We have all lived in this neighborhood for many years. Larry and Janice have been here for 48 years, and we have lived here for 47 years. When we were younger the neighborhood was full of kids.  

            I should note that there is a thing known as the “Ford Curse”. This curse has to do with food and the fact that if you eat with the Fords someone will get food or a drink on their clothes. Yes, it happened during our supper, and I will not say who was cursed.   

            Back at home my favorite wife and I sat outside for a while. It was hot but there was a very good breeze blowing. I would say we had a good breeze for 80% of the time and 20% of the time we had the big ole fan blowing. Talking about the wind, as we sat there, I could see the grass in the front yard moving in the wind, which means the grass is taller than it should be. I looked at the neighbor’s yard which is shorter than ours and it did not seem to be influenced by the wind. I guess I should consider mowing or maybe getting the yard man Alex over to mow.

 

            Big plan for the day; attempt to get Tres into the Fords new chevy, He has never been in the car, and I will need to take him to the vet next week, so I need to get him in and use to being in the car.

            Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope you have a blessed day and that we all stay safe in all we do. Let’s keep our friends and family in our prayers.

            Don the Ford

July 23, 2026

                We are looking at another hot good morning, and a hotter day.

                Yesterday we did get the door inspection for the two storm doors. He did some measuring and took some photos, then he said they would send me the info on price and when they could do the work.  

In the afternoon we were bored just sitting around in the house, we decided to get in the car and go for a ride out in the country just to get out of the house for a while. The drive was on roads that we use to travel often but as we considered the situation, we had not been out of the city limits of Hewitt or Waco for a couple years. In the olden days we would get on the motorcycle and go for a ride on many country roads. Now we stay home or stay in town. We very much enjoyed the drive in the country and many things have changed.

Back in town we stopped and got some food for supper then headed for home.  

Back at home we sat outside in the extreme heat “106 yesterday” with the big ole fan blowing on us and we did have drinks with a lot of ice in them. It was too hot for the Tres to be outside during our drive in the country, so he stayed inside.

We did have blackberry cobbler with out ice cream last night and it was good!

Today’s big plans, take and get Alex from ROTC meeting. Wow old people have too much to do.

We hope you have a blessed day keeping friends and family in your prayers and that we all stay safe in all we do.

Don the Ford