Supper at the Outback 03.31.14

 

            I am sitting here thinking about words (terminology) that are use daily. I must assume that people who have better vocabulary than me make the decisions as to what a word means or how we use a word.

            During my childhood the word “dinner” was used to refer to the noon meal and the word “supper” referred to the evening meal. That may be the reason I become somewhat confused when someone asks, “have you had dinner”. Anyway, whether one says dinner or supper it means we are going to eat.

            Friday evening my spouse of 44 years 11 months and 24 days and I headed out to dinner, supper to eat. In case you didn’t pick up on, “the afore mentioned hint”, we have an anniversary coming on April 5^th. We had decided to go to the “Long Horn Steak House” which is new to the Waco area. As we approached the Establishment there was people standing outside waiting to be seated. We then decided to go to the Outback which was just a couple blocks away.

            Arriving at the Outback there were parking spaces and no one standing outside waiting to get in. We were seated immediately, there was no waiting. The server was good and he brought our drinks to the table quickly. Our order was placed and we sat at the table discussing world affairs. Truthfully, we talked about the day and the fact that I mowed the yard.

            A well-dressed young man came walking through the area, I flagged him down and asked if he was a manager, he replied yes, may I help you? I noted that we could have gone to the new Long Horn Steak House but came to the Outback instead (I didn’t say there were too many people and we couldn’t get in). I then suggested that we should get a nice discount. The manager laughed and asked if we had an appetizer, he would have taken that off our bill. I explained that we are on a fixed income and can’t afford all the nice things some patrons enjoy, as I sipped on my Bloody Mary.

            The manager laughed and said he did appreciate us being at the Outback for the evening repast (I used the word repast so I didn’t need to decide between Dinner and Supper). He then walked away.

            Our meal was good and we were ready to leave. The server brought the bill which surprisingly had two discounts on it. My spouse had a coupon for $5.00 off and the manager knocked $10.00 off the total bill. The final cost not including gratuity was $21.07, not bad for two people.

            Thanks “Outback”, we the people on fixed income appreciate you.

 I hope all your discounts are enjoyable.

 

Don Ford

Is technology necessary? 03.26.14

Is technology necessary?      03.26.14

 

                If you are reading this you have some type of electronic device that can access the internet.

(I wonder why it wasn’t called the outernet or the overnet since it does not reside inside any one building, business or country.)

Almost anything we have now has some type of technology in it or involved with it. I remember when I was “a children” (yes I said children, over a decade ago, way over) TVs did not have remote controls and one could get their exercise by walking from the couch to the TV and back. I should note, there were only three channels to watch, so we didn’t get a lot of exercise. Also the TV went off at midnight and came on at 6:00am. Thankfully in the olden days there wasn’t any porn on TV.

My wife’s car has several computers. Recently the dealership replaced a seat belt in her vehicle and it took over 2 hours. I asked why it took so long and I was told they had to program the seat belt into the computer.

I also as them about the traction control button. If you push it the traction control goes off; I wanted to know how that effected the vehicle. I was told (right or wrong) that the traction control is controlled by a computer and if it detects wheel slippage the computer will apply the break on the wheel that is slipping. They said if you are stuck in mud, sand or deep snow turn the traction control off, otherwise leave it on. 

We have several old computers (they still work) and a tablet at “The Ford Homestead”. I am not sure why, as I receive one or two personal emails each month. The other communications are basically spam.

Being a retired person on a fixed income, I have considered going to one of the local eating establishments daily or every other day and using their Wi Fi to check email and post my blog articles.

At first I thought it would save me money by not having the internet at home. I then realized I would have to drive there and back using a gallon of gas ($3.15), when I arrive I would need to purchase something to eat or drink (from $1.50 to $7.00) in order to use their Wi Fi.

Quick calculations indicate I would spend from $4.65 to $10.15 each visit. Every other day for a month at $4.65 per visit equals $69.75. Do you have any idea how many aluminum cans I would need to pick up from the side of the road to be able to afford $69.75?

How did I get started on this subject?

I was wanting to say the kids now days do not always need something electronic to keep them busy. I have installed my version of a tire swing and the kids have had fun playing on it. They can swing on it, play dodge the tire as it swings back and forth, and Alex has had sword fights with imaginary pirates on it.

 

Don’t look at the yard, I know it will need to be mowed and I need to do other yard work this weekend.

 

Have a non-technical day, relax a little.

 

Don Ford   

Thursday evening ride 03.20.14

Thursday evening ride

 

 

            The day was sunny with a high temperature in the mid-70s. This ride began at 6:30pm which meant the sun would be in our face as we would be riding west. 

            I don’t have an exact count as to the number of bikes but I would guess about 15. As we started toward the objective (The Horny Toad) it became very obvious that blinding sun light in our eye would be the largest challenge of the ride.

            The process of getting there was fairly uneventful if you consider occasionally not being able to see the road ahead of you due to the sun being just over the horizon. We arrived at the Horny Toad after sundown but it wasn’t quite dark yet.

            The parking lot was a biker’s night mayor (I use the term “biker” to describe the over-the-hill gang). There was dirt and gravel with a few large rocks scattered over the lot. Everyone was able to find a spot to park without incident.

            As we walked across the so called parking lot, someone commented that we would not find a seat when we get inside. This prophecy turned out to be more right than not. The locals had most of the tables in use and we had to take the less desirable tables, our table had not been bussed (cleaned).

                Being rough tough bikers we were not put off by a table that had leftovers from the previous patrons. Actually it was just a glass of tea and the wrapper from the straw. 

            Quick service is evidently not a part of the agenda at the Horny Toad; we waited 20 minutes before they took our drink order. As we waited another 10 minutes for the tea to be brought to the table, I noticed an old license plate nailed over a hold in the floor. There were other holes in the floor that were not covered.

            The food arrived at the table in spurts over a 10 minute period, I received my burger before others and I enjoyed eating it in front of them. I have a hypothesis; “making us wait caused us to be so hungry that any food would have seemed to be good”.  Actually, my burger was very good.

            The tooth picks (an appetizer; thinly sliced jalapenos and onions that are battered then deep fried) were good but not as good as those from the Bunk House.

            About one and a half hours after arriving it was time to depart. Most of us bikers had prepared for the ride home with extra jackets and heavy duty gloves. The temperature for the ride home was mid-50s. I should point out that the heated hand grips on my Gold Wing felt very good.

            The ride home was uneventful and a little chilly. When I arrive home I checked the odometer and I had ridden 144 miles round trip.

            All in all, it was a good time.

 

            I hope all your restaurant visits are good.

 

                Don Ford

Tejas, friend, companion, confidant

Tejas, friend, constant companion and confidant.

                 Tejas was a good natured dog, most strangers assumed he was mean.

He had a tendency to always be laying where we had to step over him, he didn’t care if we stepped over him as long as we didn’t step on him. He was a big dog and steeping over him wasn’t always easy.

                He usually listened when I told him not to do something, but he did have my permission to chase any cat (other than Molly) that ventured into our yard.

                He enjoyed getting hosed down (bath) and shampooed during the warm months. It was easier if two people attempted to wash him, he often paid us back by shaking the soap and water off while standing close to us.

                He got a treat every afternoon about 5:00pm. His treat was a dried pig ear. Tejas knew where I kept the ears and about 5:00 he would stand looking at the container in an effort to remind me it was time. We believe the hard pig ears kept his teeth clean. He and I both enjoyed eating peanuts.

                Tejas stopped eating and didn’t want to do anything.  The vet found serious problems and the decision was made to put him to sleep.

                Tejas had a very healthy and good life up to the last two weeks.

                Tejas is missed.

 

Don Ford

First time again 03.19.14

First time again           03.19.14

 

                Can it be the first time again? It depends how you look at the term, “first time again”. Obviously it can’t be the first time for doing the same thing again, but we can have many firsts in our lives.

                I had a first this morning as I was responding to an email. Before we get to that topic, I want to remind you that tomorrow is the first day of spring. Yesterday it was 86 degrees at the Hewitt Homestead and about 100 miles west of here it was 90 degrees. It did not feel like winter or spring yesterday, more like summer.

 

                Back to the main subject; as I responded to an email this morning I used the words, “what ails you”. The subject matter of the email is not important but as I wrote the word “ails” it registered in my huge mind that I had never written that word before. It was the first time for me. It doesn’t seem to take too much to make this retired person happy. Who would have ever thought writing a word for the first time could be interesting. I guess it is good that I can remember never writing the word, or, did I just forget that I had written the word?

 

Different topic:

                Tomorrow evening will be the first supper ride of this year with the local Honda group. The ride will be to, “The Horny Toad” which is not a strip joint, it is a restaurant/bar in a very small town about 60 miles west of Waco. The ride should be enjoyable going but may be cool to cold returning home after dark.

 

I hope you have a nice “last day of winter”.

 

Don Ford 

 

Creation

In the beginning was the Word,

The word was with God,

The word was God.

 

In the previous passage there is references to God, the beginning and the word. I will not attempt to explain any of that quote.

                                A slightly different version below.

 

In the beginning was the wood,

The wood was with Don,

The wood was not Don.

               

                This article will be (hopefully) about the “creation”. For the purpose of this article we will define creation as, “bringing something into existence”. It is my plan to bring another toy chest into existence”.

Below we see the wood.

We see, “Supervisor Molly” standing on the wood as she verifies my measurements. She insists on double checking my work in an effort to help me avoid wasting time and wood.

 

Alex took this photo of, “the master wood butcher” after dropping the camera on the cement floor. I have now instructed him to always put the wrist strap around his arm while carrying/using the camera. Yes I wear safety glasses when running the saw.

Below we see the wood after cutting to proper length. It looks like a lot of pieces for one toy chest.                       

Now the creating begins with much sanding.

                                                                   

After assembling the top I decided to modify it by adding approx. 2 inches on the back providing the proper overhang all the way around.

Below we see the piece that is being added. Note that I decided to use 4 wood dowels which add support to the gluing process.  Supervisor Molly did not want her face in the photo saying, “My beauty would take the viewer’s attention away from your creation”. 

When the glue was added and the additional piece was skillfully inserted, I used clamps to hold the pieces together until the glue dried. Clamps purchased from, “Do it Best Corp.”; you would think they would give me a larger discount for the free advertisement.

In the photo below we see the Toy Chest partly assembled. There are still clamps at the corners and the top/lid is just laying on top. This partial assembly allows me to determine what if any changes need to be made.

                There are a couple minor adjustments to be made along with final sanding.

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             *

We had some nice weather last week, plus it was spring break. The grandkids went to Disney World for the entire week. I was able to complete the Toy Chest, see below.

I added two supports to the lid/top for the following reason. I was told the grandkids have stood on top of Gabi’s toy chest so I decided to make it stronger.

 

I kept my word, this article is about “Creation”.

 

I hope you have a creative day.      

 

Don Ford 

"Mistake", who me?

“Mistake”, who me?               03.04.14

 

                First, is it a mistake if everything is perfect?

                Second, it is doubtful that you would believe that Don Ford has ever made a mistake or at least that Mr. Ford would openly admit a mistake.

                I have been working on a project off and on for several weeks. Intermittent cold weather has forced me to stay away from the project but this week the weather has been cooperating and I have returned to the project.

Spring break is this week which has allowed me to focus more on the project.

                My project has six pieces that must fit together properly. I have identified each piece based on a view from the front. This week I have started the final sanding and prep for staining. I plan to stain all parts prior to assembly. Sanding with 500 grit paper provides a very smooth surface which makes the project easier to stain and varnish.

                I have dry assembled the entire project installing the hinges and top. Everything fit together properly. I then disassembled the project and did some additional work. I again reassembled most of the project a second time but did not attach the top. Everything looked good.

                Present day; I begin to disassemble the unit so I can do the final sanding. As I went to remove the back I noticed something. The marks indicating back, right side was on the left side. This means the pack piece was facing the wrong way. Yes, “the back was backwards”. 

                One might say, turn it around.  There were holes drilled in the back that would be in the wrong place if I turned the back around.

                You might say leave the back as is, what’s the big deal?  The big deal is the hinges mount to the back and the hinges are recessed into the back.

                A slight sense of panic welled up from within. What to do? I can’t recut the hinge recesses again and I don’t want to fill in the screw holes and re-drill them.

                I calmed down and decided to measure the hinge locations.

                How could I have ever doubted myself? The locations of the hinges was exact on both locations indicating the back could be installed facing either direction and not effect the mounting of the top.

                Sometimes I forget how skilled I am. Even if I have a slight error in my actions I continue to be close to perfection.

Mistakes or errors on my part are simply tools providing insight into my true abilities and professionalism.

May any errors provide insight into your… 

 

Don Ford

The above information is true, the commentary on my perfection may be somewhat embellished.  

Alex' comments 03.06.14

Alex’ comments

Alex, “why are we going so slow Papa”?

Papa, “we are trying to save gas”.

Alex, “I have rocket boosters; I will make your truck go faster”.

                -------------------

While I am driving in town and Alex is the back seat driver;

Alex, “the light is red Papa, stop”! (If you do not respond he will say it over and over.)

Papa, “I see it is red and I am stopping”.

Alex, “I will use my magic to make it green”. He moves his hands and the light often changes color. If the light does not change;

Alex, “my magic is out of gas, I need to get some gas”.

-------------------

Alex, “Papa you are getting old, I am going to put you in the trash truck”.

Papa, “why are you going to put me in the trash truck”?

Alex, “I want a robot Papa”.

                -------------------

Today, as every day, I took Gabi to school and Alex went along for the ride. After dropping Gabi off at school Alex and I began the journey home.  I was driving and Alex was in the back seat (I find it better if I drive as Alex is just 3.5 years old). It was very quiet in the vehicle so I started snapping my fingers to break the silence.

Alex said, “Stop Papa, that makes my ears dead”. The somewhat surprising comment caught my attention.

Just to be sure I understood, I asked, “snapping my fingers make your ears dead”, to which he replied, “Yes”.

Alex went on to say, “I have batteries in my ears and the noise makes them dead”.

Naturally I was somewhat surprised to learn that he has batteries in his ears, so I asked, “can you put new batteries in your ears?

                Alex responded, “I have tools so I can put the batteries in my ears”.

            Fascinated I asked, “Are your tools at home?”

            Alex explained, “I have some tools in my pocket”.

            That was the end of the conversation.

I would like to point out, discussions similar to that are not unusual between Alex and me. I just thought I had an imagination, Alex’ far exceeds mine. 

---------------------

I should begin by explaining a recent event that seemed funny to me but was not seen as funny to Alex.

A couple weeks ago we were at the cleaners dropping off some shirts and pants to be cleaned. The clothes were in the back seat with Alex. The person came out to get the clothes, they opened the back door and I commented, “Take the clothes and the boy too”. The attendant and I chuckled but he did not take the boy. That was the beginning of the story.

It is two weeks later when Alex and I were going to town. I made a stop at the cleaners to pick up the clothes from two weeks ago. The fellow came out and I gave him the tickets. Alex told me, “Momma said you don’t give me to the cleaners”. That was Alex’ way of telling me that he did not like it when I said, “take the boy too”.

I quickly began to explain to Alex that I would never give him to anyone. I felt bad that what I, as an adult, thought was funny; he a child thought I was serious. 

I will not make that mistake again.

                ------------------------

                During our morning ride home after dropping Gabi off at school Alex noticed that there were many leaves on the road and in yards.

                Alex said, “The world is being covered with leaves” and I replied, “You’re right”. Alex thought a moment then asked, “How are we going to get them off the world?” I replied, “I don’t know.”  (The day before this comment, Alex and I had been picking up leaves and putting them in plastic bags to take to the dump).

------------------------

                The weather was cool; Alex and I were going outside. We stepped into the garage, the garage door was closed. Alex said, “Papa the garage is cold because of the holes in the door”. He was pointing out that the garage door did not fit very tight and there was light coming in at various spots around the door. He is very observant, kind of like his Papa.

                -------------------------

Alex and I were driving through the Do it Best parking lot on our way to have lunch with his dad; as we passed a shrub that was trimmed to look like a giant mushroom possibly eight feet across at the bottom, Alex commented, “Did you see the elephant Papa?” I stopped, backed up to see the elephant. With some imagination it did look like an elephant.

                -------------------------

We were driving towards home in my pickup truck after stopping at Star Bucks and we were approaching a railroad crossing. The arms were in the up position and there were no trains in sight.  Alex commented, “Papa your mirrors are too big they will get knocked off, you need smaller mirrors on your truck”.  He thought my mirrors might hit the railroad crossing arms.

                -------------------------

We were outside playing when Alex said, “Papa there is a foot print of a Bear on your side walk”. I had to see this and he was correct, there was something that looked like a Bear’s foot print. It was actually a shadow from a flower pot and flowers hanging from the mail box post; it did resemble a foot print of a Bear. 

A little later I was trying to cut a piece of metal and I became frustrated. I sat down in my rocker. Alex asks, “What’s wrong Papa?” I said, “I am not happy”. Alex walked in the yard picked a yellow dandelion bloom and brought it to me saying, “This flower will make you happy Papa”, it did.  He is very observant.

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While at a restaurant having a birthday lunch for David and Patrick (present were Patrick, David, Claire, Karla, Gabi, Alex, Donna and me) Alex has gotten a necklace from a vending machine. It was a plastic half-moon on a string. The string was short so Claire added a piece of string to it so it would be easier to get on and off.

Alex put the string necklace around his neck and commented, “It goes all the way down to my Pinkie”. We all laughed but he was correct, it did.

-------------------------

Alex and I were talking about my belly being fat. I said I would like to have a flat belly like you Alex, to which he replied, “I eat food with my mouth, it goes down to my belly and I poop it out my boo-hind.”  I am pretty sure when I was 3.5 years old I had no idea how the digestive system worked.

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Alex and I were playing when he bumped his head. I jokingly asked if he had broken his head to which he replied, “No, my head is not made out of glass it is made of wood”.

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Alex was watching Tom and Jerry on the TV when I heard him say, “That can’t be good”, then a few seconds later he said, “That is going to hurt”. He often makes comments that I only expect from adults.

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As a grandfather I found the above comments from the grandson to be surprising and occasionally charming.

 

I hope you have a family Day!

Don Ford

A good night's sleep. 03.03.14

 

A good night’s sleep…            03.03.14

 

                For a senior one of the best things can be a good night’s sleep. I should note that finding the best location for a nap or to sleep all night is important.

                The couch is good for the occasional short period of sleep (30 minutes to an hour) and my recliner is good for the 15 minute nap. A bed is good for a full night of sleeping experience.

                Why am I enlightening you as to the best places to sleep, I will tell you. This morning I rolled out of the bed early and it was not easy as it was cool in the house and about 18 degrees outside. I strolled into the front room and observed my constant companion and confidant sleeping. I decide to get my camera and take a photo of him for posterity.  

                My wife of 44 years found this photo a little disturbing as this is her recliner. A few nights ago I observed this, “Pot Hound” in this same chair but he was on his back with all 4 legs up in the air. It is difficult to believe this “Pot Hound” could sleep laying on his back curved like a horse shoe, but he did.

 

                *             *             *             *             *             *             *            

It is 10:30 and only 21 degrees. We had sleet and freezing rain last night. They are predicting the same thing again tonight, hopefully it will miss us and warm up.

I need to get out in this cold weather today to pick up a prescription. I will wait until noon as it is supposed to warm up to freezing (32 degrees). 

 

I hope your day is warm and pleasant.

 

Don Ford