All is well

Good morning Texas and other non-major states. We are still in North Carolina enjoying good weather today, after about 4 inches of rain yesterday.

My wife (who doesn't want her name mentioned) is doing good this morning, after the wreck. She doesn't want her name mentioned because she believes I occasionally say silly or non-truthful things.

All three ladies that were involved in the wreck seem to be doing good this morning other than stiff and sore in places. They now have a rental vehicle and are getting ready to start running again.

I have to start repacking my dirty clothes sometime today. It kind of makes me happy to know the TSA agents will get to handle dirty clothes when they go through my bag this time.

I have had an excellent breakfast and a fair cup of coffee, so it is almost time for a nap. I made the coffee and it should have been excellent since I am well known as a coffee Brewster. Star Bucks has recruited me several times in the past but I did not accept their offer...   The coffee was not excelent beczuse I am using an unfamiliar coffee maker.

Ok, I need to get to the recliner, more later.

From the sleepy mind of                   Don Ford

all rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Wreck of the week;

My wife (that don’t want her name mentioned) was in a wreck today. They had been shopping and had just purchased large drinks (ice tea and soda). They were stopped at a traffic light when an elderly man ran into the back of their car pushing it into the car in front of them. They ended up in the intersection. There is a good chance the car is totaled. Donna Kay has a bruise on the back of her arm. Donna Rea’s chest hurts from the seat belt. Tammy got her lip busted and bruised her legs.

Basically they are ok, but will probably being sore tomorrow.

They had asked me to go with them but I refused and now I am glad because, I would probably have been the only one to get hurt.

        We are getting ready to eat pizza so I got to go now.

from the non-wrecked mind of              Don Ford

Rest and Relaxation

The reason for this trip to North Carolina was to attend a wedding and visit relatives. We have done both. Along with the wedding and relatives there has been days of shopping by my wife and her two nieces. the last couple days they have left early morning and returned late afternoon, tired and with there acquisitions of the day.

I haven't been shopping or working; I haven't been doing anything other than a little R&R, rest and relaxation. I can't say if Donna (who doesn't want her name mentioned) has achieved her goal of visiting all the interesting stores but I am totally relaxed and rested. I am now at a point being over rested, if there is such a thing. I have taken multiple naps daily and last night it was difficult to get to sleep. I really need to go for a long walk but since it is raining the walk is out.

I have been thinking about my next R&R trip, which may be to the hill country for a couple days of Riding and Relaxing. I can almost taste the fish at Sea Island in San Antonio, TX. I should have enough points for a couple free nights in a hotel near Fredricksburg, TX.

Riding in the hill country sounds good until I think about the Texas heat. It would be nice if the day time temperature was about 80 during the day, but that will not happen. Hopefully I can find another rider to go along.

From the rested mind of                  Don Ford

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It's Raining

           I have been in North Carolina for 5 days and they have predicted rain each and everyday. Finally the weather people have gotten it right.  Rain, rain go away, little Donnie wants to play.
           I am working from my small laptop PC which is not convenient for me since I have large hands and the key board is very small.
           I did not sleep well last night due to, not doing much yesterday and taking too many naps.
           I could go shopping in the rain with my wife (she does not want me to mention her name on the Blog) and the other ladies, I am sure that would be fun? 
           I know you want to feel sorry for me but don't, I have coffee to drink and I can sit on the porch and watch it rain.

           From the almost wet mind of            Don Ford

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Bird's nest soup

In an attempt to eat like some wealthy people do, I acquired a couple receipts from the internet for “birds nest soup”.

The first one is kind of a desert.

Ingredients :

2 ounces bird’s nest

6 tablespoons rock sugar, crushed

2 cups water

Method :

Soak the bird's nest in cold water overnight, rinse well. Remove any loose feathers or dirt from the bird's nest. Fill up a pot with water and bring to the boil. Add in the bird's nest and simmer for about 5 minutes. Rinse well and squeeze dry. Place the bird's nest in the pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the nest is soft and tender. Stir in the rock sugar until completely dissolve. Serve the sweet delicacies hot.

The second is more a normal soup.

Authentic bird's nest soup is made using the nests of the Swiftlet, a tiny bird found throughout Southeast Asia.

Many westerners think it tastes quite rubbery the first time they try it. However it is quite popular throughout Asia, perhaps because it has the reputation of being an aphrodisiac. It is also costly.

I did not like the ingredients so I delegated them.

                   Preparation:  Soak bird’s nest in cold water overnight. Drain and rinse. Spread softened nest    pieces on plate; pick out prominent pieces of “foreign” matter (e.g. feathers, twigs) with tweezers. Debone chicken breast, remove membrane and muscle fiber, pound meat with cleaver handle to break down tissue, mince chicken until it is pulp. Make medium thick paste with cornstarch and chicken stock.

                   Cooking:  Bring rich chicken stock for soup to boil. Immediately add bird’s nest; simmer 30 minutes. Mix dry sherry and remaining stock; dribble slowly into minced chicken. Lightly beat egg whites with a fork; fold gently into chicken so they are not completely   blended. Add salt to soup. Bring soup back to boil and add chicken mixture slowly so soup does not cool. When soup returns to boil, it is ready to serve. You can hold it at this point on low heat. Pour into serving bowl, garnish with green onions and ham.

I gave up on making Bird’s Nest Soup. When I went to get the birds nest the birds flew around my head and made a lot of noise. I thought about taking the eggs from the nest but did not know how long they had been in the nest so it is possible they had baby bird in the eggs.

                   Needless to say I am still hungry; I will just wait until Donna (who doesn’t want her name mentioned in these notes) cooks supper.

Joke

From the hungry mind of               Don Ford   

              

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When I was a kid...

A long time ago in a land far away, I was a kid. Now it’s hard for me to believe I am now an “old fart”.

               My mother lived to be 94 years old and on her 70^th birthday someone asked, “Mom, do you feel 70 years old?” She replied, “In my mind I am still 16, but my body says I am 70”.

               I assume that most of us are like mom; mentally we are younger than our physical age.  Possibly or memories play a big role in causing us to think younger than we are. 

               When I want to relax I think back to a time when I was 10 to 11 years old.  This was a simpler time, a time before I became interested in girls. We lived in the country in a house that was in the forks of the road. If you were on the front porch looking north you would observe a two lane road that divided into two roads in front of our house. These two roads went to the left and right of our house and both went up hill. The road on the left was known by the locals as snake hill. There were 5 curves on the hill before you arrived at the top. Snake hill was very steep so I would push my bike to the top, and then ride down coasting with no hands on the handle bars. I had to use the brakes to slow the bike and if there were no cars I could literally ride the entire snake hill without touching the handle bars.

There were weeping willow trees around our house. Our house was in a valley and there were woods in all directions.  A stump of an old tree that had been cut down years ago was in the front yard and it had flowers planted around it. This is the only place that I can remember hearing a whip-poor-will call in the evening.

The closest kids were about ½ mile down the road, so I played alone a lot. There was a big propane tank behind the house and I would pretend it was a horse. I would climb on it and pretend I was riding.  When I would pretend I was driving a team of horses, I would sit on the tail gate of dad’s old pickup. I would use one of the long limber limbs from a weeping willow as a whip I could pretend I was heading out west.

There was an Indian Motorcycle that belonged to my brother Carl, parked in the driveway. There was a story about why it was there but we will not go into that now. I use to spend a lot of time sitting on the motorcycle pretending I was ridding. 

As a kid, long before I had ever ridden a motorcycle, I had a recurring dream that may have been in part due to that motorcycle.  In the dream I was riding a motorcycle, as I topped a hill the wheels of the motorcycle would come off the ground and I would hang onto the motorcycle preparing to come down on the road but I would always wake up just before I landed.   Later in life I found the sensation I had experienced in my dreams of jumping a hill with a motorcycle was accurate. It felt the same awake as it did in a dream, except awake I got to land.

I remember my first ride on a motorcycle was with my brother Carl on that Indian. We rode into Cape and we were in Sprigg Street and had just crossed Broadway. Broadway was and is just a 2 lane street; I did not want those of you that are not familiar with Cape Girardeau to think we were in a larger metropolitan area. Someone pulled out of a parking space (they were parallel parked) and Carl had to stop abruptly.  After he stopped addressing the driver’s ancestry, I think that was what he was doing because he was using words that I did not normally hear, Carl told me, “If you ever ride a motorcycle you have to watch the idiots in cars, they don’t watch for you”.  Carl was right and it is still true today.

I attended a two room country school that had 8 grades in the two rooms. The school name was Juden School and the creek across the road from the school was also named Juden.

In the basement was the 1^st through the 4^th grades and on the main floor was 5^th through the 8^th grades. Unfortunately this school was way behind the town school I had come from. My first day at the school our teacher Mr. Hurt, that was his name and he lived up to it. He was putting some math homework on the board. The problems were simple fractions so I was writing them down on my paper and answering them.  I thought, I will have then done before I leave and not have any home work. Then I found out that he was in front of the 8^th graders and it was their homework.  I did not learn anything the rest of the time I was in that school.

The lady that cooked lunch for all of us was Miss Cakie. The spelling is possibly incorrect but her name was pronounced Cake with a long E in the end. She lived on the farm next to the school. One thing I remember was the real butter that was served at every meal. I believe it was made on her farm.   

Around the walls of the school room were plywood tables that were on hinges. When they were not in use they were down out of the way, at lunch time the older kids would lift them up and swing out a support under the table. We would go through the line to get lunch and take it to our table. My first meal at Juden School was somewhat of a shock to me.  I sat down at our table and I started to eat. The kid next to me told me to stop eating; they had to pray before we can eat. The teacher, “Mr. Hurt” was also a preacher in a Baptists church and no one ate until they prayed.

There was a game that we played outside and it was called “Stink Box”. There were two sides with the kids would line up in a line on either side. I can’t remember all the rules but if someone from one side caught you, you had to stay inside the “Stink Box” (a box drawn on the ground) until someone from your side was able to sneak over and get you out.  It was fun for us kids.

My memory has failed me as to how I got to school each day, I assume mom drove me to school, but I remember that we did walk home weather permitting. Basically one of the older kids was in charge of the group of kids. We would walk on the side of the road in a line. When you got to the drive to your house you left the group. Obviously the group got smaller the further we walked. From the school to my house was a little over a mile.

Mr. Hurt drove a 57 Ford and he liked to spin the tire when he took off. He may have been a preacher but he drove like a bat out of hell. 

During the winter when it was cold enough to freeze ice on the creek Mr. Hurt would take the kids to the creek to slide on the ice. There was a culvert under the road and we all went through the culvert under the road to get to the creek. I doubt that a teacher could do that now.

Once a year our school would go to another small country school and play them in a soft ball game. I guess it was like our play day.  There was no bus so someone would get parents to volunteer to take the kids in their cars.

I guess that is the end of this chapter of “country boy Don”.

From the country boy mind of      Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited. 

                                                                                                                  

                  

Thinking outside the Box

We are told that we should occasionally, “think outside the box”. As I understand it, the, “thinking outside the box” comment means to think differently or see things differently. With that thought in mind, I may be outside the box all the time.

               In this article I will attempt to give you a different view. As a matter of fact I am almost sure you will have a new view on things after reading this article. 

               Donna (who does not want her name mentioned in my articles) and I are going to North Carolina for a weeding next week. She likes to take photos and asked if she could take her camera. I explained that her camera was too large, and since we will be gone a week space in our bags will be at a premium.  I have an older digital camera which has not been used for a while. This camera is small and easy to pack.  I have been repeatedly charging and discharging the battery and taking photos with the camera to determine if it will hold a charge and take enough photos for Donna.

               I took over 175 photos yesterday, using the camera. I have photos of everything around the house. Some were accidently good. Accidently may have been incorrect, I am a “Master Photographer” and even my less than stellar photos are still high quality (see below).

               Why do we occasionally need to think outside the box? It keeps us from becoming stale, it may provide a new outlook on things, and you may do things differently. Heck this process could not only help you at work but it could help your marriage. It could help and older person feel younger.

               It was late Tuesday afternoon, the rain had stopped a couple hours ago and I was on a mission to take photos until that camera went dead. I walked around the house taking photos of everything. 

The neighbors would be smart to take lessons from me in lawn care including proper mowing, or at least read my book;

“Lawn care for Oklahoma Ave.”        by Don Ford  (to order a copy send $29.99 to me)

 

As I stood in front of the house I opened the mail box and took a photo. 

This is what the mail man sees all day long, empty mail boxes.  Then he puts all the junk mail in the mail box and drives to the next. I can’t remember the last time we received a letter from someone, but we get all kinds of junk mail every day.

Now it is time to, “think and see outside the box”.  Please be open to a new experience.

Here is a new view on life that you have not had before. You are now, “seeing and thinking outside the box”; outside the mail box that is.

Please take a moment and view the photo; as you look at the photo, you should have a nice quit feeling of security and being protected. I am sure you have never had this view before. I will also explain why you feel so secure when viewing this photo. When you are inside the mailbox, “you are under the protection of the Federal Government”. It is a federal offence to mess with someone’s mail box and obviously having big brother there protecting you is very reassuring.

Oh no, there is a mean looking old man that is going to remove you from the security of the federal government. Do not look at his shirt and think that it is dirty and do not notice that he appears to be fat.  (These photos add 15 pound to my belly.)

Now that you have been thinking outside the box, you should feel enlightened? If you are employed you should have a meeting with your boss and explain your new view of life. If you are married you should just drop it, it isn’t going to help.

From inside, “the outside of the box mind” of        Don Ford

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Why Motorcycles...

There are all kinds or reason and each rider has his or her own opinion. I will attempt to give you some of mine.

A friend asked me, “Why do motorcyclist ride close to the center line on a two lane road instead of all the way to the right”?

That question got me to thinking about, “why I ride a motorcycle”. The reason today, is different than 15 years ago and even more different from when I first started riding 47 years ago.

47 years ago I rode to be wild, to be rebellious, and to be a “biker”. Back then I was one of a few that had a bike. It felt great to ride down the road at 60 mph and have the wind blowing over my body and through my hair (no helmet no wind shield). I was a stupid kid.

15 years ago, was an attempt to be cool, to be different from others, to feel young again. I had not owned a street bike for several years so I wanted to reclaim some of the old feelings. I bought the bike and the leather jacket, chaps so I could be different from others and I was just like the other bikers.

Today, I ride to get somewhere, to get out of the house, to be with friends. To be totally honest, riding is often somewhat boring due to riding the same roads over and over. I usually enjoy arriving at a destination or stopping for breaks more than the ride, because I can talk with the other riders.  Yes I have a CB radio on my bike and I can talk to others as I ride, if they have a CB.

Radio is another difference; in the olden days if someone had an AM radio on their bike, they were not a “real biker”.  Now, I would not have a bike without, radios, CB, MP3 player, cruise control, heated hand grips, GPS, a back rest and the list goes on.

Vacation trips on a bike are fun, and you get to see things you have not seen before.

                          or

In the above photo you see a view from a bike vacation. That is a good reason for riding.

               Riding the bike you also get to smell all the smells like the bluebonnets when they are in bloom and the occasional cattle lot that smells like cow manure.

There are down sides to bike vacations. The number of mile per day can be critical to your backside; personally I like 300 or fewer miles per day.

The temperature can make or break a ride. For me 70 degrees is perfect; I can wear a light jacket and the helmet is not too hot. 90 degrees and up is not comfortable; you have a sweaty helmet on and you have to wear long sleeves or sun block to prevent sun burn.

A strong wind can discourage the best rider and is unsafe. Rain is very dangerous for the biker due to the idiot drivers in vehicles with 4 or more wheels.  The best place for a biker is in a café drinking coffee when there is both wind and rain.

               As a rider I have done some stupid things. I know it is difficult to believe I could do anything stupid but...

When I was a young father I would put Patrick on the front of my bike and let him hold the handle bars so it looked as if he was driving. We would ride through the little town (Scott City, Mo) near where we lived at about 30 mph. I thought it was fun but in fact it was stupid.

               What? There is always one person that has to keep asking questions. OK, the reason bikers often ride near the center line on a two lane road is…  

          First we need to think about one lane of a road.

1.     Cars have 4 wheels and it is easy to see where the car tires travel.

2.     In between where the car tires roll is an area that gets oil and grease from cars and trucks.

3.     Other debris like nails sand and gravel will deposit in this area where the car wheels do not normally role.  Motor cycles should not ride here especially in wet weather due to the oil residue.  

·       The biker rides close to the center line because it gives him/her more road surface (left and right) to avoid and accident.  

·       If the road has a paved shoulder that would allow safe driving or riding in case of an emergency, the bike should ride close to the outside of the line.

From      Don Ford,     his mind is on vacation at all times.

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Times passed but not Forgotten

This is more info about the olden days at the “Ford House”; it can be considered kind of a follow up to the previous posting but with different photos.

In the olden days when we lived in Missouri, Patrick would be nice to his brother and occasionally read to him. I think this may have been a posed photo because I don’t remember Patrick ever having glasses. Donna the person that does not want her name mentioned in these articles said she thought Pete may have had glassed at one time. The glasses look too big for him so I think they were hers.  The boys are in the kitchen at the table and the curtain behind them covers a glass sliding door. There was a patio outside the doors and I did the cement work (another of my many skills). The cover over the patio was taken down one winter when we received 18 inches of snow in one 24 hour period.

The photo is an old Polaroid that I scanned into the computer so I can’t adjust the size. Looking at David from the side, I think he looks a lot like Alex (his son).

In the next photo we live in Texas. I know the photo was taken in our front yard but I am not sure why the cop car is driving down the street. Now that I think about it, the cops use to patrol our neighborhood more when there were more kids in the neighborhood. They were not after my kids; our boys were almost angles, almost.

Again it is a scanned photo and I can’t tell if Pete has a black eye or something else under his eye.

               The next photo shows a girl (Karla) that was pursuing my young innocent son (now his wife). I can’t believe that Donna would let them sit in the same chair, that close. 

         I just noticed that you can really see the paneling in this photo. I also noticed that the subjects of this photo were very young. I am sure that are too young to be dating.  

I had to call Pete to ask where they were going dresses this nice. They were heading for a weeding.  I Knew Pete was out of school because he had long hair. They look real nice and they were young.  Had the camera been turned on its side we would have had a full view of the clothing.

               I am sitting in the back yard typing this article and my computer is also playing a public radio station, the Prairie Home Companion is on. Someone has their grill cooking and it smells very interesting. I could eat something if I did not need to fix it myself.

               There is a large Hawk or it might be an Eagle, flying overhead. As I watch the hawk it seems to not be moving. I think that would be a very nice thing to do, just float around in the sky like that hawk.

               Well I think I will go inside and see if there is anything to eat that is easy to fix.

Have a good week, be nice to someone, and listen to others.

From the always young mind of   Don Ford

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Time has passed

Is it hard for you to believe time fly’s as fast as it does? 

Donna, my first wife, has asked that I not talk about her in these articles. I think the first time she made that request was when I had point out the possibility that she would pick up aluminum cans on the side of the highway to earn money since we are on a fixed income. 

What? Yes we are still married.  Why did I refer to her as my first wife, she was and is my first wife. That should not be that difficult to understand.  If you would stop asking these questions I will continue.  That sir, was not a question and I will not reply to that comment!

Back to my original thought; my first wife was going through some old photos and came up with a couple that I thought were worth posting. For those of you that don’t know our neighbor’s grandson Jordan or my youngest son David, this will not mean much to you so you can stop reading now.

          Thank You

Now that they are gone and we are alone here, I will try not being distracted.  Have you noticed how easy it can be to get distracted? I have the old black and white movies on while I write this note and I fine that I do stop occasionally to watch. I like the old movies because you don’t need to think as you watch. When someone gets shot you don’t see blood, guts or brains all over the place. I digress…

               As Donna was cleaning out the garage she found some photos of David playing football in Junior high. The photo of David was taken in our drive way and he was in the 7^th grade. I think that would make him about 13 years old (23 years ago). The photo was scanned in and I was unable to get it exactly square on the scanner even though I tried several times. The photo is bowed and when you take you hand off the photo it moves a little.

               I hope you will notice how excited David is to have his photo taken. David looks more like The Owen family but has more of the Ford personality. While my son Patrick (not pictured here) looks more like the Ford side of the family (all fords are handsome people regardless who they look like) and has more of the Owen personality.

As I was going through the photos I found one of Jordan when he was rather small. Jordan is now either 17 or 18 years old. We see Jordan by his grandparent’s back yard swimming pool fishing. There is a fish on the line. Jordan appears to be excited about that fish even though his grandpa “Glen” may have put the fish on the line.  I see his cowboy hat lying on the floor of the deck.

               The swimming pool and Deck have long been removed. There is now a wood fence between Glen’s yard and the neighbors.

              

               I need to get out of here and finish mowing the yard. I decided to try to mow yesterday and in between two bouts of very light rain I was able to get the front yard mowed. Now I need to mow the back yard.

               Have a good weekend.

From the time warped brain of    Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission id strictly prohibited.

                                                                                                                  

                  

Ford's Homestead

I was helping my neighbor Glen when I looked across the street and noticed my house seemed to be in the woods. On the left end of the house you see; yes there is a trash can there but I wanted to point out, “my chair”. That is where I sit to watch the grass grow and neighbors…  I see that you are interested in the front porch. Yes, you are correct, that is a bench seat from a church.  I do occasionally preach and it helps put me in the right frame of mind.

         (You can click on any photo in an article and you are able to see all the photos.)

Ok smarty, I heard what you asked, “If I was helping Glen how did I have time to take the photo”. Glen was getting something from the shed and that is why I had time to take the photo. I don’t have a smart phone like most “wealthy people”; my poor little flip phone makes phone calls and takes photos. Maybe someday I will have a smart phone.  That brings up another thought, “how many people that own smart phone, are not as smart as the phone”.

What was Glen doing? He was painting his house and he was on the tall end.  I was at the bottom of the ladder standing on the bottom rung assuring the ladder did not move. I was also offering expert advice to Glen and he was ignoring it, as usual.

The homestead is defended by my “ever alert” sidekick, Tejas. He is continually on the lookout for bad people and the occasional cat. When I am in my chair he is just a few feet away on guard. 

OK, sometimes he takes a nap when I am sitting in my chair.  He is always alert if I have trail mix or peanuts to eat. Yes, I give him a small hand full when I am eating.

There, he is awake. The neighbor’s 3 year old grandson “Noah” had just called out to me and Tejas was ready to defend me.

Noah likes to come over for short visits and usually wants to sit on the motorcycle.  He also has a tendency to get toys out and his Nana generally has to put them back. He enjoys playing with Gabi and Alex.

As you know I am a master of many vocations including “master electrician”. Below I have my ladder in place as I am preparing to remove the security light.  The light has stopped working so I assumed it was a bulb that was burnt out. This is a fluorescent fixture that takes a 42 watt bulb and puts out as much light as a regular 150 watt security light. I ordered a new bulb ($12.00) and installed it but it wasn’t the bulb (I now have a spare bulb) . I have ordered the fixture and will replace it today.

               I did install the new light fixture and it works. You may want to call me, “Master Ford”.

To the right is my well used rocker from which I enjoy life (usually in the afternoon when it is in the shade) and get ideas.

From the Masterful mind of                         Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited.

                                                                                                                  

                  

Mother's Day

Just a short note.

               The day itself means nothing, it is just another day. How we use the day can make a real difference in your mother’s day.  If your mother is still living be extra nice to her. You can get her a card, buy her a flower or other gift and she will enjoy it. If you can visit your mother she will enjoy that even more. Taking her out to dinner is much nicer that allowing her to cook for you. You must give her a big hug. If you can’t visit then call her to let her know you are thinking of her.

               If your mother has passed take a few moments to think about her. What are your first memories of your mother, the happiest memory, did she have to get on to you all the time, and was she your confidant?

               I have many memories and this one is silly but I will share it with you. I remember when I was small and I had done something wrong Mom was after me.  I crawled under the bed and I remember she was using a broom to try to get me to come out from under the bed. If she got me to come out the other side of the bed by the time she got around there I was back under the bed. It ended up being a game for both of us.

               For the Mother’s reading this I hope you have an extra nice Mother’s Day.

Don Ford 

                                                                                                                 

                  

Signs of The Times

For the more observant of us there are signs that indicate the end of times or something. In other words, if you are looking for a sign you might find it.

From a previous article I commented “how do we know when the end of the world will be”.  I know the Bible says know man knows the time or day for the end of time and I believe that.

The Maya Calendar ends on December 21^st this year and some say that is the end of time. I have a different opinion as to why the Maya calendar ends; “maybe they did not want to purchase Christmas presents so they let the calendar end before Christmas”. 

I had shown you one pecan that was still on our tree last fall (photo below) that my son Patrick pointed out to me. 

I wondered at that time if it could be, when the shriveled black pecan finally falls to the ground will that be the day the world ends?  It probably sounds silly to you but I think it is possibly as close to being accurate as the Mayan calendar scenario.

Below we are looking into the same pecan tree as above but, present day with leaves.  

It is difficult to see the black pecan so below is a close up of the shriveled up black pecan that is still on the tree. It has stayed on through our so called winter, heavy rains and a lot of wind.  If it ever falls off, will that be the end of time?

The other day I was looking at the clouds and I saw and “X” in the sky, made of clouds (truth).  No, I was not smoking or taking anything.  As a know-it-all, I understand that “X” marks the spot. But what was the spot in the sky marked for?

There is a female Grackle that I and Donna have seen several times.  As you know the Grackle is a noisy black bird.  This one has a white feather in her right wing. I have not been able to get a photo yet, but that must to be a sign.  I know the white feather on a black bird must mean something. Wow, I just thought, that bird is a real “right winger”.

  

In the photo above you can see a square made of leaves, with a hole in the center, in the top of a tree. That has to be a sign, but a sign of what.  Could it mean, in the future we will be able to put a square peg in a round hole? 

               Think about it and share your thoughts with others.

From the signs of the times mind of           Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited. 

                                                                                                                  

                  

Feed Store

My first regular part time job was at a small feed store. I was about 15 years old so that would have been 1963. I was paid .50 cents per hour.

Imagine if you will an old three room house that was converted into a feed store. The feed store was located on Big Ben Road. Everyone called it Ben Road leaving the word Big off.  I lived on Ben Road about a mile from the feed store. Our house was inside the city limits of Cape Girardeau, the feed store was down the road and outside the city limit. Behind the feed store was Juden Creek which we had played in and around for many years. The Mississippi river was about ½ mile away from the feed store. When the river would flood it could easily get into the house. For that matter a hard rain up stream of the creek, although a rear event, could easily flash flood the house.

               There was a small grocery store just down the road and the Talley family lived across the road but their house was on a hill and did not flood. Steve Talley was my best friend.  There was a park just down the road named “Twin Tree Park”. In later years when I could drive that park became a favorite place to park.

               There were two fellows that owned the feed store and both were farmers or at least lived on farms.  They thought a feed store might be a good side business. They hired me to work after school and on Saturdays so they could attend to the chores at their farms.

               The feed store building did not have running water and I don’t remember it having electricity. There was a front porch and when you came through the front door you were in the center of the front room. The front room went all the way across the small building. There was a coal burning stove in the middle of the front room, more about that later. As you entered through the front door there was a desk to the right side of the room. There were bags of feed stacked around the walls in all three rooms.

               On the back of the building there was a small porch with steps down to the ground. Off to the right side of the building was the “out house”. Yes it was an outhouse and it smelled like one especially in the summer months. I only used it when absolutely necessary.

               I know most of you have never used an outhouse and I hope you never have to.  I wonder whose idea was it to have a two holer. Did the person that designed the outhouse think it would be fun to have a friend sit next to him while crapping?

Now that I think of it I have seen two holers that had one large hole and a smaller hole. That just brought up another thought, “how did they teach a child to potty in an outhouse”?  For those of you that have never used an outhouse they did not flush. If Uncle Fred left a deposit on Monday and you were visiting the outhouse on Friday, Uncle Fred’s deposit was still there. If you looked into the seat hole (I did not know how else to say that) there were usually spiders down there. I always worried about a spider biting me while I sit there.  I guess the thought of the spider helped get me out of the outhouse quicker.

One of those times when nature had called and I had finishing the paper work as I pulled up my pants I was stung twice on the leg by a wasp. The wasp had evidently gotten on the inside of my pants while I was sitting on the throne. There was no workers comp or time off for an on job injury.

Outhouses were usually built of wood and for some reason the floor always seemed week. If memory serves me, the outhouse was never level.

The little two room country school I went to in the 5^th and 6^th grade had outhouses but they were built of cement blocks. I guess we were really uptown with the cement block outhouse. (I am not going to tell the story of the volley ball that bounced inside the school’s outhouse and into the hole. I am not going to tell you that it was retrieved using a hay fork (AKA pitch fork) and was washed off so the kids could continue to play. )

               I digress; to say there was, “not a lot of business”, would be an understatement. Occasionally someone would stop in for a bag of feed.  I liked the sweet mule feed. It was in big burlap bags and made a good place to take a nap. Yes even when I was young the daily nap was important to me. Now that I think of it, I can remember as a little person mom would put me on the bed to take a nap and the cat would get on the bed beside me. The cat would purr like cats do when they are comfortable and Mom would say, “The cat is singing you to sleep”.

Out front of the feed store was a drive of sorts, it was made of gravel and I could be reclining on the mule feed in the back room and hear a car or truck pull onto the gravel.

               There were a couple girls I knew that rode horses (Brenda and Linda). It was not unusual for them to drop by while riding their horses and talk for a while.  I always wished I was not working when they came by. I am not sure if I kind of liked the girls or if I liked their horses.  I had been a horse nut from the time I was a little kid.  As I understand it Brenda is now a veterinarian in Cape Girardeau.

               In the winter time the old coal burning stove felt good and you did not get far away from it. The store was not insulated and it was drafty.  I would close the store in the afternoon at 5:00pm. I would lock the back door, count the money and then carry out the ashes from the stove.  The store did not have a safe or anywhere to secure the money box so after I removed the ashes from the stove I would put the money box inside the bottom of the stove where the ashes fell. That was the bosses idea so I guess it did not hurt the money box.

               After about a year they decided that they were not making any money from the store and they closed it. I was no longer employed. I guess it was a learning experience for retirement.

From the Part Time Feed Store Employee’s mind of                           Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited.

                                                                                                                 

                  

Red Tail Hawk

Sunday May 6th, we went to Dallas to visit the grandkids. It was a nice day and the kids went into the swimming pool.

The trip up to Dallas for the most part was uneventful.  We were about 5 miles from our destination when the driver in front of me decided to stand on his/her breaks.  Naturally, my superior reflexes took over and I also stood on my breaks. It so happened, I had a can of trail mix sitting on the seat between my legs.  I assume you have guessed where the almost full can of trail mix went; yes, on the floor under my feet.  I take trail mix or peanuts any time I am driving; eating keeps me awake. I was unhappy that I no longer had anything to keep me awake on the trip home.   

During the first part of the visit we were outside around the pool, the kids were in swimming. I was bitten by several mosquitos while outside (Alex and I are so sweet that the mosquitoes just love us).  Alex had to take his nap so the rest of us went inside. It is a point of interest that Ales’ dad (David), often takes a nap when Alex does. Do you think they might have received this “Napping Trait” from me?

At one point Gabi took my pocket watch and tried to hypnotize me. I must admit I was very sleepy but I don’t think it was due to the hypnotizing. 

We enjoyed the visit and about 5:00pm we started for home. We had decided to stop at the Walgreens and get a cream soda (Donna likes these), a root beer (for me) and a can of peanuts (keep me awake snack). We turned the wrong way and missed the Walgreens store so we drove home without our snacks.

There was a wreck on the north bound lane of I-35 just north of West, TX (for those of you not familiar with the area, West is the name of a small town) so the traffic in the south bound lane (our lane) was slowing down to rubber neck.  There was a pickup truck on its side and it was blocking both north bound lanes. Once we were past the wreck the rest of the drive home was easy.

I was told decided to water the plants around the house. It is not unusual from me to “volunteer” to do maintenance work in the yard at the end of a tiring day, even though my poor old body wants to rest (if you feel sorry for me you can send donations too…).

Something unusual occurred. The part that is unusual is the fact that I saw what happened. I was near the neighbors drive on the north end of our front yard watering flowers. Out of the corner of my eye I saw our neighborhood Red Tail Hawk knock a dove out of the air then fly low to the ground as it went across the street up over Glens house. It is not unusual to see this hawk or other larger hawks in the area.

I noticed my sidekick Tejas was in the neighbor’s yard. Tejas and I have an agreement that he is to stay in our yard and not leave it without my permission. I called him and was going to give him a good scolding when I noticed he had a bird in his mouth. I told him to drop it and he did (he listens better than a lot of kids). I walked over to see if the bird was dead or just injured. It was deceased. There are a lot of baby birds in the area this time of year and when they fall out of a tree if Tejas is around he gets them. 

The dove appeared to be full grown. Tejas did not eat this bird and I did not see the hawk come back. It is not unusual to see this hawk eating little birds he has harvested (notice I use the politically correct word Harvested for Killed). I may be a politician and not even know it.

It is now past my bed time so I must stop. 

From the sleepy mind of                Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written consent is strictly prohibited.

                                                                                                                 

                  

Mailman

Is it correct to say Mailman if the person who delivers your mail is a Man, or should we say mail delivery persons? What is it with dogs and mailmen.

I like a cup of coffee in the afternoon so I just made some hot water in my coffee maker and got the instant coffee out. Now I would be the first to say instant coffee is not real good but if you want one cup then I guess it has to do. My lovely wife of 43 years had some coffee cake in the kitchen so I am having a piece with my instant coffee. 

               Why didn’t I go to Starbucks and get a cup? I will be happy to tell you; “It cost too much”. Gas is $3.50 a gallon and it would take $1.25 in gas, the tall coffee with cream is $1.79, and a fresh oatmeal raisin cookie would be $2.49. That is a total of $5.53 that I don’t have to spend. Retired people on fixed income have to watch their pennies.

               Today is Friday and it started out real gloomy. It looked like rain but the weather people said it would not rain so I knew I could start mowing the yard. My doctor doesn’t want me to be in the sun unless I have long sleeves or sun block. The clouds made it a perfect day to work in the yard (I wish my neighbors would). My side kick and I got the mower and weed eater out, I had to syphon gas from the motorcycle for the mower. No; I did not syphon the gas because of the cost, it is easier than going to the gas station. I trimmed the front yard and then mowed it in lines from the street to the house. That provides the first cut on the yard sitting it up for the second cut mowing in lines parallel to the street.  Yes it is actually cutting the front yard twice but it looks nice and it doesn’t take too long. I was almost finished when shy cleared and the sun began to shine.  Out came the long sleeved shirt for the last 10 minutes.

               One nice thing about mowing this morning there was no wind to speak of which meant the pollen was not so bad.  I got the leaf blower and began to clear off the driveway, walk and street in front of the house. I don’t know if this happen to you or not, as soon as I get the blower out the wind picks up and it always blows in the opposite direction I want to blow the grass clippings. A few minutes later I was ready for a break.  I usually listen to Rush for a while each day. Cape Girardeau, Missouri is not only known for being the home town of Don Ford, Rush Limbaugh also lived there.

               My sidekick did not want to come in so I left him outside. He is good about staying in the garage or near the garage door even though the garage door is open.  Also I can watch the drive way from a security camera. There is also a motion detector alarm that lets me know if anyone is in the drive.  I was taking a break listening to Rush when I see the mailman in the yard. I see Tejas quickly moving toward him. Tejas and the mailman are buddies and the mailman often stops to talk to us and pet Tejas. I went out to see what was going on. He said he saw Tejas laying in the shade but did not see me.  He thought we may not know Tejas was out. 

               This mailman likes dogs and he knows them by name. This is one mail man that probably never has been bitten by a dog.

               After the break I went into the back yard to mow. There is a lot of shade in the back yard so the long sleeved shirt is not too hot. I finished the yard work about 1:30 and it was time for a shower. After the shower I decided to turn on the TV to a boring show and get in my recliner for a short “retiree Nap”. The nap was a little longer than usual, about 45 minutes, it could have been longer if the phone had not rang.

               My coffee and cake is now inside me so I guess I had better close this note.

Have a good week end, rest, be nice to someone and allow someone to be nice to you. If you are always right like me, you might try letting the other person be right this time.

Using both the left and right side of my mind         Don Ford

All rights reserved; any reproduction or distribution without written permission is strictly prohibited.