Cool after Thanksgiving ride 11-24-12

            This ride started at 8:00am on “Cool Saturday” following “Black Friday”.

               Before I get into my extra cool ride I would like to show you some natural Christmas decorations in our neighborhood. The tree below is just a couple houses away from our home.

Red and Green provided by nature. I assume the tree decided to turn partly red because these neighbors do not decorate for Christmas.

               Now for the Cool Saturday ride. The day started with a short ride in 40 degree perfectly clear weather with no wind to the Flying J truck stop, where we had planned to meet and begin the ride at 9:00am.  Since I arrived early I went inside and had breakfast at the Denny’s.

The ride route was put together by Jason with a text message stating the route, start time and starting point. I had no idea who would be riding today but one or twenty one, it would be a good day to ride. I decided if no one showed for the ride I would head down to San Antonio and have lunch at the Sea Island.

At 9:00am I went outside to see who I would be riding with. Jason was there ready to ride but the other invitees were either busy or it was too cool for them to ride. We started this ride with a temp of 42 degrees. Jason led the ride as we headed southwest. We had ridden about 20 miles when I asked Jason to pull over so I could put my ear plugs in. For some reason the radio sounds better coming through the speakers in the helmet if I have ear plugs in.

You may also want to know, that I took a minute and put a second coat liner inside my jacket, as it was a somewhat cool ride in 40 degree temps at 70 mph.

We had an excellent ride continuing to the west. If you live in Texas you would know it is deer hunting season and the hunters had many camps set up. Many of the hunters have nice camping trailers and at times we would see several trailers parked together in a field.

Below is a photo of a view with at least two deer stands in the photo.

The photo below shows some of the prairie land we rode through. There were plenty of curves and hills in the ride too. The photo below reminds me of riding in New Mexico.

One of the high spots of the day was our stop for lunch in Bend Texas. The place we ate lunch could not be called a restaurant but they did make hamburgers and fries. Below is Bad Bob’s Bend Store where we ate lunch. We went inside and place the order and paid then we went outside and they brought the burgers out to us.

 

There is a sign (below) indicating how good the food was at Bad Bob’s Bend Store. You might also notice the rusty barrow below the sign. It had hundreds of holes in it from being shot with guns.

A sign in the window indicates how good their service is. You may note they have my name in their window.

As we enjoyed our food, (it was good food) there were several people arrived to eat of which most seemed to be hunters. We spoke to one man who had been deer hunting with his three sons. Below we see their morning kill, a 300 pound hog.

After lunch we continued our ride in temps that were near 60 degrees. Jason knew of a suspension bridge so we decided to ride to it. It was about a mile off the main road and this gravel road was like a wash board. Seriously the road had bumps about 6 inches apart for most of the one mile. Even though there were no pot holes, this was a rough road to ride.

The bridge was possibly 100 feet above the river, it was worth the ride. The bridge had a wood floor that popped and creaked as we rode across. We stopped to take a couple photos.

 

 (You may click on any photo to see them larger)

 

               We continued our ride eventually stopping for gas in Goldthwaite, TX. It was 2:45 and we had to decide whether we continued the ride which would take another couple hours or get on highway 84 and ride directly back to Waco. The temp had risen to a warm 64 degrees and we knew it was going to begin to cool down now that the sun was getting lower. We decided to get on 84 and make a fast trip home.

               We did exceed the speed limit most of the way back to Waco. I arrive home a little after 4:00 and my odometer indicated 318 total miles for this Cool Ride.

 

From the Cool Ride mind of                         Don Ford

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

 

 

                                                                                                                 

                  

 

Its Grinch time again.

            This year it came a little early. Usually the Grinch in me appears the day after Thanksgiving, this year it came a couple days before Thanksgiving.

 

               I hope this note finds you well and that you and your family had an excellent Thanksgiving. Here at the “Fords of Hewitt Homestead” we had our family together, and as usual, too much to eat. Friends dropped by to visit and enjoy and afternoon slice of turkey and some pie (except for Cayson who had two plates full while he was here, and he took two plates full with him). 

               As usual our Thanksgiving meal was a huge success, mostly due to my first wife’s efforts. She is an excellent cook and during the holidays puts too much effort into everything she does.

               That brings us back to the, “Grinch time again” heading. Although I do enjoy the holidays I do not enjoy the decorations that go with the holiday. The shed in the back yard (notice I did not say” my” shed since it is  used for storage decorations) is where about half of the Christmas decorations are kept. At this point I should also note that fall, spring and Easter decorations are also stored there.

               If it were not for my skill at stacking, storing and packing the shed would be nothing but decorations. My first wife of 43 years also fills closets with decorations and who knows what she has under the beds.

A couple days before Thanksgiving she instructs me to,

“Bring fourth the Decorations”.

You may have noticed that statement has somewhat of a Biblical or Authoritarian sound to it. It was not a request and I knew I had better get it in gear.

Removing the decorations from the shed is no small task due to the fact that anything that is mine must be removed from the shed before I can get to the “decorations”. Now you may be starting to understand the “Grinch time again” comment.

I should, in all fairness state, this year the weather was warm and pleasant unlike most preceding years where I was forced to work in cold, windy and sometimes wet weather.

My part of the decorating process is to bring the decorations from the shed to the garage and then put up the lights along the edge of the roof across the front of the house.

I believe the outside work is now complete although there are the occasional maintenance items such as a wise man may fall over or a light may burn out.

My first wife has begun the inside decorating process and we now have three (3) Christmas trees in the front room. I have no idea how many she plans to put up this year but she has had as many as eleven (11) Christmas trees in the house.

Last night our grandkids arrived after dark. All the outside Christmas lights were on plus the inside decorations were also lighted. I was in the bed room when they came in and I heard a lot of wows and I love Christmas. It was the first time they had seen the decorations all illuminated.

 

From the *Grinchly mind of                          Don Ford

 

*Yes I have coined a new word, “Grinchly” meaning “Grinch like and enjoying it”.

 

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

 

 

                                                                                                                 

                  

 

posting new cat

            I have named this cat Miss Molly; she is also known as Princess Molly.

 

This young cat is about 4 months old and in size is almost grown. She has lived outside so being in our house around people and Tejas could be a challenge. She is being taught to not jump on the table.

               The first two nights she was placed in a cage but the third night she was allowed to have the run of the house.

               Amazingly she has not hurt Tejas and he doesn’t seem to care about her.

               Donna and Gabi have already dress the cat in a pink tutu (poor cat). Although Miss Molly put up with being dressed like a doll, if you look at her expression she was not totally in agreement with the choice of outfit.

 

 

 

 

We hope you have a nice Thanksgiving and are able to enjoy family and friends.

 

From the cool cat mind of             Don Ford

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

         

 

 

 

                                                                                                                 

                  

 

Promoted to Chaperon

Chaperon; an adult who accompanies or supervises young people on social occasions.

 

      Chaperon, how can I be chaperon; I don’t consider myself an adult. 

 

Have you ever been invited to attend a kindergarten school trip to the zoo? Kinda sounds like fun spending a day at the Zoo with 5 year old kids.

 

We see all the kids (I use the word kids and not children) unloading from the school bus. (Click on the photos and see a clearer version)

Gabi in the pink coat, with a couple friends. It was cool when we arrived at 9:00am, we all has our jackets on.

This is a group picture; the tall on is the teacher.

Gabi descending like a rock on the slide.

Gabi kept an eye on me; she didn’t want an elderly senior to get lost.

 Lunch was eaten on the ground; it was the brown bag special. Each kid brought their own. We chaperons had nothing to eat and I was hungry.

You can’t believe the amount of noise that screaming kids can make inside a TP.

Gabi came out of the cocoon and turned into a beautiful butterfly.

This photo is of Gabi and others having a drink of water before boarding the bus to go back to the school.

 

               Other than being so tired I could hardly walk and hungry enough to eat a double cheese burger with fry and a root beer, (which I purchased on the way home) it was a good day.

 

From the Chaperon mind of                         Don Ford

 

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

 

                                                                                                                  

                  

 

Know when there is a new posting?

 

I send an email to readers informing them of new postings.

 

I will be happy to add or delete your name from the list;  

Send an email to, donaldfplace-post@yahoo.com              

               Subject “add my name”              

     or,

               Subject “remove my name”

 

If a friend wants to be on the list, ask them to email me at

donaldfplace-post@yahoo.com

Please do not send a friends email address for them.

 

              

 

               Seriously, I don’t want to bother anyone with my blog or emails.

It will not bother me to remove your name from the mailing list.    

 

 

Don Ford

                    http://first-consider-this.blogspot.com

                                                                                                                 

                  

 

Cut the Cord

               We are still receiving pecans from the little tree and most of them now seem to have the umbilical cord attached.

 

               Being from Missouri I have a tendency to mispronounce words and the result is not being able to spell the word. I have always pronounced umbilical as ambilical.

 

               Speaking of umbilical cords I was a volunteer fireman for twelve years. We ran first responder on medical calls almost always arriving before the EMS people.  I always hoped we would have to deliver a baby but it never occurred while I was with the department. I always thought it would be something neat to do as long as I did not know the woman giving birth and it was here second or third child.

               The above specimen shows the state of many of “The Ford Homestead Pecans”. They fall from the tree still wrapped in the green outer layer. The part that connects to the tree is at the top where the cord connects to the green shell. The pecan is attached to the cord farther away from the tree.  So the cord lies alongside the pecan inside the green covering. One would think the pecan would connect at the top but nature has its reasons. 

 

               It is Sunday afternoon and the rain/storms seem to have gone elsewhere. I think it would be appropriate to say it is “dryer than a popcorn fart”.

This professional photo is by Don, click on it to get a better view.

               My morning started out with my coffee maker not working. Being on a fixed income I did not need this extra expense. My wife of 43 years would not rest until I purchased another coffee maker.  The new coffee maker works well and it is surprisingly cleaner than the old one.

 

               Patrick and Karla came up Saturday and we went to George’s for lunch. It was Karla’s first time at Georges and I think she enjoyed it. We did not have the “Big O”, although we did have Texas Tooth Picks (thin sliced peppers dipped in a batter and deep fried, you dip them in ranch dressing) and White Wings (cheese inside a jalapeno pepper, the pepper wrapped a piece of a chicken breast, and bacon wrapped around the chicken breast) which were baked to perfection.

 

               My wife of 43 years made tamales last week (I think she said she made 17 dozen) but ran out of something and will begin again next week. Patrick has indicated that he may come up and help with the Tamales; he wants to learn how to make them. I offered to help but my offer was not accepted.

 

               There is a free lunch at Do it Best Corp. Waco, TX this week, I plan to attend. It is their Thanksgiving lunch and old retired employees are invited. Being on a fixed income a free meal is always a good thing.

 

               I believe I get to go to school and have lunch with Gabi on Thursday. Eating with the little kids is always interesting.

 

From the always ready to eat mind of       Don Ford

 

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

 

 

                 

 

Deer Don;

            This morning started like hundreds of other mornings in Hewitt, TX. How was I to know this morning would be profoundly different?

              

               I got out of bed at 6:00am got dressed and made coffee.  I turned the TV on to catch the news and also turned the computer on to see if I had mail. About 6:30 I went into the front room and pretended to look at the Wall Street Journal. I get the Journal because I had some airline miles that were going to expire and I could get magazines and the journal for free.

               About 7:00 I shave and finished dressing as usual then I got another cup of coffee and went outside. I go outside each morning to have coffee and wait for Gabi to get ready for school. I drive her to school each morning and my amigo Tejas rides with me.

This morning I had walked to the end of the drive way to observe the fine November morning. The temp was about 68 degrees and the blue Texas sky had some small puffy clouds. 

This excellent morning was about to become somewhat exciting for me and Tejas.

               Now that I think about it, if you read the posting from August 24th, “Cash Crop” you may think I was telling the truth back then. This event would have been easier to explain if I was smoking something but I was not.

               As I stood there pondering the workload I had placed upon myself for the day I noticed something to my right. Just as it caught my attention Tejas saw it and immediately went into the attack mode.

               I could not believe what was happening. A full grown Buck (aka a white tailed deer) came running full speed from our neighbors yard, through our yard, he jumped our drive way and proceed through the other neighbors yard. Tejas began the pursuit but I called him off. The deer continued full speed up through yards and about 4 houses’ up the street he turned right and vanished between the houses.

Deer hunting, (gun season) started last Saturday. This buck was evidently evading a hunter.

               Stoned Stunned I looked back to my right to see if there were more deer following him. My neighbor and her son were standing on their sidewalk; I assume they saw him and can back up my story.

               I called Donna, my wife of 43 years, to tell her what I had seen.  It was as I thought, she did not believe me.

Why did I call her rather than walk inside to talk to her, you ask? It is easier on retired people to call than walk. It also kind of bugs Donna when I call her from the yard.

               Many years ago when there were fewer houses in the area we had seen Road Runners, Horney Toads and Wild Turkeys in the neighborhood but never a Deer.

Speaking of Wild Turkey, a bottle of Wild Turkey would be a good Christmas present for me if you have not decided yet.

               I only got a quick glance of the beast as he passed within 20 feet of me, I did see at least 4 points. He had a tall rack and it is very possible he could have been a six pointer.

               The rest of my day should be somewhat boring as I plan to mow the grass.

               Donna, my wife of 43 years, is making tamales today. She had cooked the meet yesterday and will be doing the hard part today. Most everyone enjoys Donna’s tamales including me.

               Well I need to get out of here and get to work in the yard.

               Donna just asked me to taste the meat that goes into the tamales, and it is good.

 

From the ex-deer hunter mind of                Don Ford

 

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

              

 

 

                                                                                                                 

                  

 

Discouraged, Disappointed, Depressed

It has come to my attention that the America that I knew and loved is no longer.

               Yesterday, the day after the election I flew the American Flag upside down all day. For those that don’t understand the meaning of the flag being flown upside down, they could be part of the problem. 

I started this article to complain about the political situation. I wanted to comment to the effect the more people seem to have less moral values. I just wanted to unload my feeling about many topics. I changed my mind…

 

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

 

This morning my amigo Tejas and I were sitting/laying in the yard enjoying a cup of coffee made at home. People like me who are on a fixed income can’t go to Star Bucks every day. Tejas was laying in the yard and I was sitting in the rocking chair.

Tejas decided to act like a squirrel; he picked up a pecan and crunched it in his teeth. I can’t believe he would crunch a pecan and then spit it out. I wonder if I could get him to crack the pecans, then I could pick the nuts out.  We are a team in many things, why not pecan cracking. 

 

 

From the cracked mind of             Don Ford

 

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

 

 

      

                                                                                                                  

                  

 

Last Chance to make the "RIGHT" decision

            Being on a fixed income has caused me to draw instead of using a camera.

 

               Tejas, my constant companion and I were just talking about the fact that today is our last chance to make the, “RIGHT” decision (the word RIGHT is a political comment).

 

Today is Tuesday November 6, 2012, the day to vote.

 

Tejas commented that he had voted early (last week) and was going to vote again today. He believes (as many Chicagoans do) in voting early and often. I suggested that he should not do that as it could be seen as being wrong by some humans.

                              

No photos in this posting but as you can see there will be an excellent drawing or two.

 

         Tejas and I continued to talk about the day and I noted that I had enough pecans for a couple pecan pies.  We will not need to gather any additional pecans so the squirrels can have them.

Tejas was watching a squirrel that was getting ready to enjoy a pecan and the squirrel was barking at Tejas. Tejas noted that he wished he could climb a tree; if he could, there would be far less squirrels in the neighborhood.

                        

There are many more squirrels in the area now due to the surplus of food. Our three oak trees provide acorns by the ton and our little pecan tree along with the neighbors three large pecan trees keep the squirrel population fat and happy.

 

On a different subject I need to take my prescription to the store to get it filled. This will be my first attempt to get a prescription filled under Medicare. Yes I am one of those people that now rely on your government to take care of me.

 

My recent visit to the doctor went well. He said my cataracts were ready to be removed. Then he said he would leave that up to me. When they bother me enough, I should call him and he will take care of the rest. Sounds like fun, not. 

 

From a previous posting about the motorcycle ride there were questions.

The restaurant was in Glen Rose, home of the nuclear power plant.

The ride covered 291 miles.

We arrived home about 5:00pm

 

From the campaign weary but hopeful mind of      Don Ford

 

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

 

                                                                                                                  

                  

 

Most Excellent Ride, 11/03/12

            Our most excellent ride began about 9:00am on a foggy Saturday morning.

               My usual 100% efficiency was not in effect Saturday morning. As I was preparing for the Saturday ride I remembered that I needed to check the air in the tires and also check the oil. 

It should suffice to say I was hot and sweaty before I got on the bike to ride. The humidity was 100% and it was foggy. When you are already sweating and then you put a helmet and riding jacket on you are not comfortable.  

               Glen (lives across the street from me) and I rode to the HEB where we met Jason. After a few minutes exchanging pleasantries we crawled on the bikes and headed out for a day of relaxation. 

               It was foggy enough to be annoying but not enough to keep us from enjoying the ride. We had ridden for about 30 minutes when I noticed that I was having an ocular migraine. These don’t occur very often but do make it difficult to drive.

               We stopped for a short rest at a gas station near the women’s prison. The migraine was subsiding and the fog had lifted. The sun was now shining brightly and the temp was about 77 degrees.

Our ride took us through open flat country and also hills with curves.

There are real ranches in Texas and the above gate leads to one such ranch.

There were lots of open spaces followed by the wooded areas with hills and curves.

Below is a look over my shoulder and that is Glen’s motorcycle coming around the curve.

No article would be complete without a photo of me (below).

Looking forward we see Jason as we are leaning into a curve at 70 mph.

We stopped for a second break at a service station in Cranfills Gap. It was here that Glen and I both found lucky pennies.

Glen is on the left and Jason on the right.

There were other bikers that we knew taking a break at the station. We discussed where we had been and where we were going. 

We rode about an hour and a half before arriving at Hammonds BBQ.

During a previous visit the waitress told me to order the kids plate and I did. There was more than enough to eat and it cost less than an adult plate (they didn’t have senior discounts).

Below are a couple photos inside the restaurant. Yes they had the Texas flag displayed and I don’t know who the fat guy was.

The far wall has license plates from various states and years.

         The ride home was fun but there were many clouds gathering in the sky. We rode through a couple areas where it had rained but it did not rain on our ride.

         We were about 10 miles from home when Glen and I went one way and Jason went the other.

The storm clouds were really close and we were seeing lightning. We could smell the rain so we decided to stop to put on our rain coats. That was a good decision because it started to rain as soon as we began riding.

We rode through rain for several miles; as we crossed the twin bridges at Lake Waco, the rain stopped. About a mile from home I stopped at the gas station to top off the tank and Glen continued on his way home.

I arrived at home about 2 minutes before the rain. The rain was welcome at, “The Ford Homestead” but the lightening was not.

I sat in the garage watching the rain and lightning. Just as quickly as the rain and storm came, it left. The sun was shining through the clouds. 

  

The End

 

From the Biker mind of   Don Ford    

     

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

 

                 

 

Priceless or Worthless?

            I asked myself this question this morning.

 

               This morning Alex was supposed to be eating breakfast, at least he was at the table and had a bowl of cereal in front of him. He also had a few small toys that he was kind of playing with. He would drop a toy on the floor and then act as if he could not reach it.  He was making all kinds of faces from mean and ugly to funny and handsome with a Ford smile.

               This boy can go from Priceless to Worthless in seconds. That means he is all boy. 

               I have placed a photo of “the boy”, (in his natural environment) on the page below.

               There are different forms of time out and I believe we have found a timeout method that Alex likes.

               I apologize for the quality of the photo; it must have been taken by a non-professional photographer.

               You may have guessed that he is not really in time out and it is not imprisonment (don’t call the child protection agency). He was getting ready to have lunch with his papaw.

 

Gabi is home from school today sick. She has a doctor’s appointment this morning.

 

I plan on a ride this weekend before the rain arrives Saturday night. Hopefully we will have lunch at Glen Rose near the nuclear-powered plant. Nuclear-powered and Texas BBQ go hand in hand.

 

Have a good weekend and don’t forget to turn your clocks back Saturday night.

 

From the timeout king                    Don Ford

 

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

 

 

                                                                                                                  

                  

 

Gold Wing broken

            I was looking for something in the garage when I noticed an object lying on the floor.

 

               There was a black plastic thing which I did not at first recognize, on the floor. I picked it up and realized it was one of two small compartment doors from the Gold Wing. I stopped what I had been doing and decided to try to determine how to put it back on the compartment. I opened the other compartment to see how it fit. To my surprise there was a pecan in the other compartment. After reviewing the hinge on the left compartment I determined that the right hinge was broken.

               I pushed the bike out of the garage so I would have additional light. My neighbor Glen came over (Glen also rides a Gold Wing) and he confirmed my diagnosis, the hinge was broken. There were three screws holding the hinge on and you had to put your hand inside the compartment to unscrew the screws with a stubby screw driver. I tried but failed. Either my hand was too big or I did not know how to operate the stubby screw driver.

In the above photo we see the plastic hinge bracket (less than two inches wide) which should hold the door on the compartment. The ears that should allow the door to open and shut are missing. Honda does a lot of things right but this seems like a poor design when a normal small hinge would work.

 

               Glen is good at mechanical things; he put his hand inside the compartment and was able to remove the three screws.

 

               I took my broken part to the Honda shop to get an estimate on the cost of a new hinge bracket.

As everyone knows, anything that has to do with motorcycles is expensive.

 

Those of us that are on a fixed income understand how difficult it is to get a few extra dollars even when it is for an essential item such as the hinge bracket. 

 

               Arriving at the Honda shop I was greeted by the sales staff offering to put me on a new Gold Wing with 1% interest for 60 months. I explained that although I enjoyed new bikes my Honda was running good and I think I will just keep riding it.  New Gold Wings are very expensive; there are many cars that cost less.

               The parts person looked up the item number to my broken part and went to the back. He returned without the part saying he would need to order it. That little plastic part that may have cost 15 cents to manufacture cost me almost $18.00.  I paid in advance and they will call if or when it arrives.

 

On a different subject;

               Last night was Halloween, the grandkids went trick or treating and my wife of 43 years and I went to a JV football game. It was the first time I had ever been to a football game on Halloween. The Midway panthers won by a couple touchdowns and our almost grandson Cayson played an outstanding game.

 

               I know at least one person has a question so I will answer it before they ask it. We did not hand out candy to the kids, we were not home.

 

               I have an eye doctor’s appointment this afternoon at 2:00.  I do not like having my eyes dilated and I assume they will likely dilate then.

 

From the over charged mind of    Don Ford

 

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