Who Done It 09.27.14

 

                “Who done it”, could be the start of an old time movie, but in this case it is present day life.

                It all started while I was sitting in my “Red Ryder Rocker”, contemplating, “the meaning of life, why pendulums swing the way they do, and what will I do after my nap this afternoon”. Obviously a mind such as mine, can handle a wide variety of subject matter.

As an example, did you know that a 100 pound pendulum on a well lubricated axel, hanging from a 10 foot rod when released from a 30 degree right angle will swing to the left reaching 29.7 degrees, then swinging back to the right it will reach 29.4 degrees? Each time the pendulum swings, the distance traveled is reduced due to friction at the axel and air. This pendulum will swing exactly 100 times prior to stopping.

How does this same pendulum react in outer space? It doesn’t move as there is no gravity to cause it to move.

What, you have two questions? Ok, let’s address your questions.  

I do not know who made the rocking chair, I just like thinking that it is a, “Red Ryder Rocker”. Yes I made it up, are you happy?

Where did I get the information on the pendulum? Do you think the information is incorrect?  I made it up, it sounded like something that was factual, didn’t it?

 

Ok, let’s get back on the subject, and I hope you stop asking so many questions.

This posting is asking the question, “Who done it”. I was sitting on my rocking chair watching the world go by when I noticed some type of marking on a group of three pecans on my little tree. I was several feet away so I could not see what these markings were. Being a curious senior citizen, I got up from the comfort of my rocker, I guess you could say I was literally off my rocker, and I walked over to the pecans. The markings appeared to be the number 11, an X and an underline.

What could this mean? Is someone trying to tell me something? If you remember in a past story, there was an X in the sky that was exactly over my head, and we all know that X marks the spot of where the treasure is located. Yes, I am considered by some to be a treasure, but is this X on the pecan indicating a treasure? _{Photo below.}

I have considered that IIX might be a Roman numeral, but that is not correct. Maybe the equation was not complete. It may have been the number 11, the X is times some number, and the missing number not written. 

                Who wrote this equation, may be the most important question. It was not me, had I have done this I would have written my name.

                 If you understand the equation, please let me know what it is.

 

I hope your problems are easy to solve.

 

Don Ford

Focused while walking 09.24.14

 

                Although you may find it difficult to believe, I often find it challenging to stay focused at times. I have learned to be focused during my morning stroll.

                I did not walk yesterday morning, I did however drive to Round Rock, TX because my daughter-in-law was having surgery.

                This morning I crawled out of bed about 30 minutes late. I, being a wise manager of my time and my movements, was able to get through all my morning practices in half the time I normally use, and that did include throne time. Yes, you are correct, I am astonishing at times.

                I entered the outside world right on schedule and decided to constipate contemplate concentrate on my morning walk. I have found that being focused on my morning walk increases the exercise value and keeps me from being so critical of others. Yes, even though it may be hard for you to believe, it is true I can be somewhat critical of others.

                This morning the temp was 55 degrees as I began to walk down the street. “Fall has fell” and we actually have a fall like day.

                I focused on a triangular shaped street sign at the cul-de-sac and began to walk. I have noticed that I do not change my stride and I walk in a more direct line by staying focused. I do not take my eyes off the focal point at the end of the street but I am aware of my surroundings. Peripheral vision allows me to know that there was a flock of birds flying overhead. I was also aware of the light coming from a window at the front of one of the houses.

                At one house I smelled the odor of someone smoking. Even though I did not turn my eyes toward his house I knew the fellow was standing there watching me walk down the street. This person has told me he enjoys a smoke as he picks up his morning newspaper and then he likes to sit on the patio and read the newspaper with a hot cup of coffee.

                Arriving at the end of the street I made my turn and headed toward the other street light. My stride today is faster than usual and I am beginning to breathe through my mouth, “a mouth breather”. In this cool air, it just seems right to step up the pace. As I pass under the street light I became aware that I was being stalked by an ankle biter (Chihuahua).

                (Factoid; this so called dog, is named after the state of Chihuahua Mexico)

                Yep the neighbor had left their so called dog outside. There was a lot of barking and it came running at me. I stopped and looked that the “miniature pot hound”, he immediately broke off the attack, and headed toward the house still barking.

                As soon as I began to walk he again engaged in this “terroristic threat” to bite my ankle. Being the brave individual that I am, I continued my walk ever mindful of the stalking presence in that yard.

                I was close to the end of my 30 minute walk and I was aware that my pace had slowed somewhat. This may be hard to believe but I could see my breath, just a little when I exhaled. I also noticed that I was not sweating today and that felt good.

                I am always energized when I complete my walk, too bad it doesn’t last all day.

                I want to pull some weeds from my back yard so I have strategically placed my lawn sprinkler to water an area of the back yard.

Why would I water the weeds before I pull them? It is the humane thing to do, after all, they give the convicted murder a last cigarette before the hang him, so why not give the weeds a last drink before I pull them. _{(It is easier to get the roots out if the ground is damp)} 

 

I now find myself tired after telling this story and in need of a nap. It isn’t nap time and I can’t sneak a nap in because my spouse of 45 years is still here at the house.

 

Stay focused on the goal and you will be a winner.

 

Don Ford

 

Darkest before dawn 09.22.14

 

                It had been an ordinary night, no loud dog barking or car horns too keep one awake. I would say I had a restful night’s sleep, even though I did wake up somewhat earlier than usual.

                It was 6:20 am when I was exiting the Ford Homestead through the garage door. As I stepped out on the drive the extreme darkness was suddenly apparent. I looked around and the only lights I was seeing, were street lights at either end of the street.

                This darkness made me even more aware of the stillness of the night. I stood there listening for sounds and I heard nothing, no cars, no dogs, not even a cricket. Is this normal for this early morning hour, or was there something sinister afoot?

                Walking stick in one hand and pulling the trash cart with the other I walked cautiously toward the street. There could be someone hiding in the darkness, it would be easy to do.

                Leaving the trash cart at the curb I started walking very slowly down the dark street. I look up toward the sky and there was no moon, but I could see the stars, which is unusual as the lights from the surrounding town usually lite up the sky enough to block out the stars.

                Today is the first day of fall _{(it actually starts tonight about 9:50pm)} which means, the day and night are of equal length. Tomorrow the days will be shorter and the nights longer as fall enters our world.

The street light at the far end of the street, did not offer any comfort to me in this extreme darkness. The deafening silence was broken, with the distant sound of moving air. I stop and listened for a moment. The sound was not all around me, could there be air moving through only a couple trees? As I took a few more steps down the unlit street, I was aware that this sound was coming from the outside unit of an air conditioner.

I began walking again and I noticed that my right ankle was hurting. It is normal for the left ankle to hurt a little, but not the right.  Was this ankle pain and omen, a way of warning me to not go any further into the darkness? I paused again, looking into the darkness which had closed in all around me. I attempted to stretch my ankle to relieve the pain. I knew I would not be able to run very far and certainly not fast with two good ankles, now with this unusual pain in the right ankle I was sure I could not evade any night stalker.  

The stretching seemed to help, I took a couple test steps, and the pain was gone. I could now resume my morning walk.

I believe when the darkness is this extreme, one becomes more aware of their surroundings. Toward the middle of the block I could see what appeared to be a mist, coming up from the ground, and at the same time I became aware, there were no cars parked on the street, which is very unusual. It was not a fog but a mist that I could just make out in the darkness.

Again I thought, are all these unusual events, omens, attempting to warn me to, “not walk this morning”?

Walking at a slow pace and carrying my walking stick more as a club for self-defense, I proceeded down the block. As I approached the mist that was coming up from the ground, I could see it was the neighbor’s sprinkler system, watering their lawn.

Silly me I thought, there are no night stalkers here in our neighborhood, so I walked on. As I neared the end of the block I was approaching the area that was lighted by the street light, when I heard a snap sound, off to my right. I turned quickly, there was a tall dark shadow of a man coming toward me. 

Good morning Don, were the words from the dark shadow, it was Larry, who lives at the end of the block. Larry had come out to get the morning newspaper. I replied, “Good morning Larry” and continued my walking.

I turned and started back up the block walking from the comfortable light of the street light, back into the extreme darkness.

I continued my morning constitutional and had made several laps up and down the street. It was about 7:00 and the sky was bright and cheerful. I was on my final lap when the young fellow who lives a couple houses up the street, was carrying a bag of trash out to the trash cart, which was already at the curb.

This would be the first time I had spoken to this young man so I said, “a bright and cheerful good morning to you”. He replied, “What”? I repeated “a bright and cheerful good morning to you”, to which he replied, “For some it may be”. I was surprised at that response. He went on to say, “I have to help with my grandmother’s funeral today”.  I said, I was sorry for his loss, not knowing what else I could say, I walked on.

That was a heck of a morning constitutional and an unusual first greeting.

                                                                                                                                            

I hope your fall weather, is not hot and not cold.

 

Don Ford

 

 

Distracted driving 09.19.14

 

                I started thinking about distracted driving this morning, as I was taking Alex to his pre K day care. As I was driving I could hear that Alex had a stopped up nose. I handed him a facial tissue _{(most people refer to these tissues as a Kleenex but that is a brand name)} and told him to blow. He begrudgingly obliged me and then said, “The snot grows back after I blow my nose”. I laughed as I thought about how true that comment was, and told him it did the same to me.

                It is possible that I was somewhat distracted during that exchange, but I would not consider that conversation as a distraction.

                I dropped Alex off at his school and started for town. I needed to drop by one of the home centers to see about a light fixture for the back of the house. Each night we turn the light on and it stays on all night, then I forget to turn it off the next morning, and sometimes it stays on all day. I want a fixture that is dusk to dawn. I actually went to both home centers and decided to purchase the fixture from Do it Best Corp.

                I was on a four lane road with a left turn lane, when I stopped at an intersection. While sitting at a stop light I looked left, there was a fellow in the left turn lane texting and not looking at the traffic light. I then looked to my right and there was a young woman, she was also texting. I sat looking from left to right contemplating about those two drivers being distracted. Why can’t these people learn to focus on their driving?

                A little further up the road at the next stop light, there was a lady in the car beside me. You are not going to believe this but it is true, she was braiding her hair. That wasn’t as bad as what happen when the light changed. She wasn’t looking at the traffic light so she did not start moving as quickly as myself and other traffic, but she did catch up with me and she was still trying to braid her hair while moving, with no hands on the wheel. Get dressed before you leave the house and focus on your driving.

                A little further up the road there was another woman apparently texting as her vehicle passed mine. I soon realized I was wrong, she put the phone up to her ear and was either talking or listening to voice mail. I did not realize that anyone talked on the cell phones now days. Both hands on the wheel and focus on your driving. 

                Then there was the fellow who was driving in a hurry weaving in and out of traffic. No cell phone for this clown, he was just in a hurry. I watched him thinking that this guy could cause an accident. His distraction was that he was in a hurry, drive safely and stay focused.

                To top it all off, my ham radio would stop scanning on one frequency and make a white noise _{(static sound)}, which caused me to look at the radio. Instead of turning the radio off, I was attempting to set the radio to skip that frequency. This was at least as bad as texting or talking on the phone, why can’t I stay focused on my driving.

                Now that I have had time to consider the entire driving distracted situation, I can tell you this, “If I can see that another driver is driving distracted then that is a distraction to me”.

When I think about it, I doubt that most people can drive without being distracted. If someone is in the car with you and you have a conversation that is a distraction. If you are driving alone you are probably thinking about something other than driving, and that is distracted. 

 

Distracted driving is a way of life, embrace it and be careful.   

 

Don Ford  

Inventive, yes I am 09.16.14

               

                Days are getting shorter as the sun drifts to the southern hemisphere. This is a natural event occurring annually. It also means the sun is rising a little later each day.

                How would this affect me, you ask. It means I am leaving the homestead at about the same time each morning, for the daily constitutional, and it is dark. In other words, the sun rises later each day.

                It is dark enough that I have decided to carry a flash light. The light helps me see anything hiding in the shadows.

Yesterday I observed a red flashing light coming down the street in the dark. It appeared to be a light that one would see on the back of a bike. 

                It was a female runner and she had the light tied to her foot. As she passed I noticed that it could not be seen from behind, and that is where I would think she would want it to be seen.

I also carry a cane or walking stick because I like them, and just in case some ones ankle biter (aka Chihuahua) gets out and attacks me.

Being a person that believes in combining actions, thus reducing the effort put into any particular activity, I decided to attach the light to the cane. This allowed me to have one hand free at all times.

The light on the cane pointed down showing the road in front of me and if I wanted to see something away from the road I just pointed my cane and I could see. Also the light provides vehicles and other walkers enough light to see where I am.

                I presented my combined cane and light to my spouse of 45 years and she made a frowny face. What does a woman know about lights and canes?

 

The following are photos that were taken from my short radio tower. I did a test climb to see what I would need in the way of tools to take down, one old broken antenna and one that isn’t broken.

 

You may have noticed the “F” on top the chimney, which is to help the Google Earth people find our homestead. The tall tower is to the left in the photo.

This is a short tower, my feet were about 23 foot above the ground.

This shot is over my shoulder looking toward the street.

 

If you are going to get high, this is the way to do it.

 

Don Ford

Fixed income personified 09.15.14

               

                Those of us who live on a fixed income understand the need for repairing of old items verses purchasing new items.

                I will attempt to help you understand how repairing even small relatively inexpensive items, can be a big plus for those of us who must live off a, “never changing monthly income”.

                I have been sorting through and consolidating items _{(wire nuts, butt connectors, coaxial connectors, screws, nuts and bolts)} with the hope of being more organized and the possibility, even though it is a remote possibility, that I might get rids of some unneeded items _{(junk, items not needed or used in the past couple years)}.

                I have this small plastic see through container that has had a broken hinge. The hinge has been broken for several years, and even though the hinge was broken I could still snap the top on and it was used for small items.

                During consolidation I emptied this container and two others. My first thought was to put them in the trash but them my fixed income brain took over and I decided to attempt to repair this one container. Two out of three were tossed out, wow, I am making progress.

                The plastic container has been laying empty in the garage for a couple weeks now and this morning I decided to, “Attempt the repair”.  

 We see in the photo a clear plastic container. I will answer the question before that one person asks. “Yes, the toy dinosaur is mine and yes I do play with it when no one is looking”. 

                In the next photo you may be able to see the broken tab on the left side of the container.

 The question was, how do I execute a repair that will be permanent and inexpensive?

                I had previously given this situation some consideration and had developed a plan. The plan was to drill a hole through both parts of the plastic hinge, then insert a pin of some type through the holes which would act as a permanent axel for the hinge.

                I had not planned on the pin being and actual, “safety pin”.

  Click on any photo to see a slightly larger image.

                I save probably a dollar and a half by repairing this project, but I have nothing to put in the container.

 

                For detailed plans on this repair, send $25.00 to, “The Ford Homestead Foundation” and ask for repair # 223.

 

May all your repairs be simple and cheap.

 

Don Ford

 

Can you believe it? 09.13.14

 

                Today is Saturday but this story begins on Thursday.

                It was a typical Thursday with one exception, the weather people were forecasting rain. We definitely need the rain and they were saying that we had a 70% chance.

                Do you know what 70% chance _{(or any % chance)} of rain means? That prediction means that 70% of the area should receive rain.

                The weather people were also saying the temp would drop dramatically when a cold front arrived. Wow, rain and a cold front at the same time, how could it get any better than that.

                Friday came and the weather people had changed their tune, now the rain was going to be south of us but we were still going to get the cold front on Saturday.

                Friday was a good day to work outside, the temperature stayed in the low 80s and it was cloudy most of the day. I clean the weeds out of a flower bed and removed some cactus that was beginning to hang outside the flower bed, making it difficult to mow and weed eat.

                Removing parts of this cactus plant, requires special attention, if you do not want to be impaled. I used a set of long handled pruning shears _{(36 inch handles)} to cut the cactus parts off the main plant. I used my pickup and reach tool _{(36 inches long)} to handle the cactus safely. When not working with cactus I use the pickup tool _{(aka old person don’t want to bend over and pick stuff up tool)} to pick up sticks from the ground prior to mowing.

                That statement made me think of something I had not thought about in a long time, “Pickup Sticks”. I assume in today’s technical world, that a game like pick up sticks would just be boring.

                If memory serves me, and it still does, the pickup sticks were kept in a can like container about ten inches tall. There were about 30 or so plastic sticks, each slightly thicker than a tooth pick, they were about 9 to 10 inches long and various colors. 

                I am fairly sure this game would be considered as a dangerous game in today’s overly cautious world. Now that I think of it, kids today would not know how to safely play this game, heck they aren’t allowed to play dodge ball using soft round rubber balls, because someone might be hit with the ball.

                Even worse than that, everyone can’t be a winner in dodge ball. Your government _{(owners of your schools)} doesn’t want children to be ranked as winners or losers.

                Darn, you have gotten me completely off the subject with your old time games, let’s try to stay focused for the rest of the story.   

               

                After successfully removing the cactus without being impaled, I decided to tackle another outdoor project on this cloudy Friday. Cloudy is important, as I am to either have a long sleeved shirt on or wear sun block when out in the sun. Also when you don’t have a lot of hair on top of your head, you can easily get a sun burn up there.   

                I have been wanting to rework the black berry vines making them more accessible from both sides. This accessibility would make it less hazardous when attempting to pick one of the huge berries for personal consumption.

                This project was filled with risks. I would need to remove a trellis and then two plastic fence sections from within the man-eating plants. I was able to remove those items and I was attacked only once during the extrication process. I can show you the blood on my shirt.

                Next I needed to install two T post to which I would attach clothes line wire that would support the large vine _{(some of you may not know what clothes line wire is, in the olden days people would wash their clothes and then hang them out to dry on wires that were stretched between to post)}.

These T post are 7 foot tall and I was required to stand on top a four foot ladder to drive them into the ground. _{(Not a smart thing for a senior to do)}

                Now came the difficult part, I had to go to the, “ACE store” to get the clothes line wire. Why ACE, it is one mile from the house and the DIB store is 6 miles away.

                The clothes line wire is coated in a green plastic. I attached the wire to the posts with four levels of the wire and then realized, I was not going to be able to get the thorn laden, black berry limbs through the wires.

                I then removed the entire fifty feet of wire and started over. This time I was weaving the wire through the bush, attempting to support the various limbs as I installed each of the four levels of wire.

                The weight of the black berry bush and the fact that each wire once installed, was pulling the post toward each other, cause me to install a length of plastic conduit between the two posts. This was done in an attempt to keep the posts from leaning toward each other. I will later replace the plastic conduit with a thin walled metal conduit.

                What seemed like an hour project took me 4 hours. Partly because I was being cautious _{(thorns galore)} and partly because I had not taken time to plan the project prior to starting.

               

                As you can see, I will need to rework the border. Instead of a 4 X 4, possibly two feet wide and 6 or 8 feet long, in line with the posts. 

                Let’s see now, we have covered Thursday and Friday what about Saturday.       

                Today is Saturday and the weather people got the cold front right. The outside temp is in the low 60s. A dramatic drop from 95 down to 62, which is a shock to one’s system. I will need to find a long sleeved shirt when I venture outside.    

 

I hope your projects are without thorns.

 

Don Ford

_{For those persons who enjoy pointing out my grammar errors, I do know that one should use either the number (1, 2, 3, etc.) or the word for the number (one, two, three etc.) and not switch between both. Thank you for reading the stories, and then for noticing.}  

               

This week's letter is B 09.11.14

 

                This week’s letter for Alex’s class is, “B”. Yes he is learning his alphabet a letter each week. They have show and tell in which they are to bring something that begins with, “B”.  Alex found a bug, which begins with “B”, and I suggested he take it for show and tell.

 I do not know what he took for show and tell, his mother may have had a better “B” object.

                Staying with the theme of “B week”, I have created another most perfect wood working project.  I had purchased a board (17” X 48”) during a sale to employees at my past employer. I believe I gave a dollar for the board which I immediately saw as a top for a bench.

                The board sat around the garage for a couple months and finally I decided to do something with it. The board is not too large so I decided on a small work bench with a couple shelves. Putting pencil to paper I made a plan and then, “skillfully executed the plan”.

                I purchased 6 boards of various sizes, marked them for the sawyer. You guessed it, I am the sawyer. (Boards and screws increased the cost of this most excellent work bench.)

All boards cut to proper dimensions, I began the assembly process which went without problem and very quickly.

                Since this is a small work bench and not a piece of furniture, there was no finish work needed on this project, which speeded up the construction.

                It doesn’t look like much, but it is solid and should serve for years to come.

                For those of you who are beginning to learn your alphabet, there were several “B words” used in the above story, did you see them, _{(board, believe, bench, bottom, began, but, bug, bring, begins, better)} did I miss any?

 

May your day be filled with bright, beautiful, blooming, bougainvillea.

 

Don Ford

                _{I hope you did not go back and search through the story for that missing, “B word”. If you did you have more time on your hands than I do. Maybe you should volunteer your time somewhere, then you would not be looking for the “B word” in a blog posting. Although these blog postings are some of the most informative on the internet, you should have more to do than look for the “B word”.}

 

 

Try not, Do, or Do not 09.10.14

 

                Yoda said _{(and I am paraphrasing now)} “Try not, do, or do not”.

                                                                                              

            While talking with a friend that I use to work with, he noted that he was going to quit smoking. I said, “Outstanding, I am happy for you”. He commented, “You use to use chewing tobacco, how did you stop?”

            I said, “I will be happy to tell you”.

            I had used chewing tobacco for years, I was as addicted as anyone could be to the nicotine. My employer had a no smoking or chewing inside the building policy.

I realized it would be easy for me to have a chew in my mouth while driving to work and forget to get rid of it before entering the building. Even though I was the first person to arrive at work each morning, and no one would know if I entered the building with a chew in my mouth, I would know, and I did not want to break the rules.

During this time I was also serving as interim manager at another location, which caused me to travel almost every other week.

To complicate things even more, my youngest son was getting married.        

Tobacco / nicotine for us addicts, is a real stress remover. I use the term addict because at some point I realized, that what I considered as enjoying a chew, was in truth a craving for the chew, caused by my addiction. 

I explained to my friend, that at one point I had stopped using tobacco for about 3 years, and due to a very stressful situation over a period of time I began to use it again. 

I also told my friend, I believed that I would need to stop using tobacco if I wanted to keep my job, and I did want to keep my job. Acknowledging I was addicted should have been enough of a reason to cause me to quit, but it wasn’t. Now that I think back on this, not wanting to be addicted was part of the reason for quitting.

I now had a reason to quit. 

 

When will I quit? I was traveling to the other location every other week, and with my son’s wedding coming up things were going to be hectic if not stressful. Coincidently my last trip to the other location was the week before the wedding. I decided to quit at midnight the day after the wedding.

I now had a date and time to quit.

 

How would I quit, was the next question. I considered the patch and nicotine gum but decided against them. Those products are great for some people, but it seemed like a crutch to me. For me, reducing the nicotine intake was not quitting. I decided to quit cold turkey.

            I now knew how I would quit.

 

            I knew from past experiences that this was not going to be easy. I began telling family and friends that I was going to quit in an effort to, more or less warn them, that I would be in a bad mood, even worse than my usual bad mood.

            I would later learn, that telling others that I was quitting was one of the best things I could do. I actually had their support.

            The day came to quit and I took half a case of tobacco out to the trash can. I had been purchasing the tobacco wholesale by the case. I was somewhat surprised that I felt good about putting the tobacco in the trash.

I now had a desire to quit.

 

            As I noted earlier, telling others I was quitting was a good thing. During the first couple weeks I received long distance calls from friends asking how I was doing. Those around me would ask daily how I was doing and said they were proud of me.  I wanted to quit, and I did not want to let my friends down.

 

            To my friend I said;

Don’t try to quit, do quit or do not quit. In my opinion if you are using the word “TRY”, when talking about quitting tobacco, you are setting yourself up to failed.

Set a date and time to quit. Set a date of no more than two weeks away, (two weeks allows you time to improve your mind set and to tell others). Dates that are too far out can easily be forgotten. 

Have a reason for quitting. This reason must be, “your” reason. If you don’t have the desire to quit then don’t try.  

Tell everyone that you are going to quit and the date. Tell family, friends, co-workers, neighbors.

Decide how you will quit. Use the method best for you.

 

            To my friend who quit, I am happy for you. 

 

Don Ford

 

Trash talking 09.08.14

 

                Trash talking; insulting or boastful speech intended to demoralize, intimidate, or humiliate someone, especially an opponent in an athletic contest. 

                Trash talking, is it a sport? 

                It seems as if trash talking can be considered fun for some, if not a sport. Why do people feel the need to indulge in trash talking, does it make the inferior feel superior?

                If you watch TVs “The Big Bang Theory” you will have seen Sheldon’s attempts at trash talking. Obviously, Sheldon’s attempts at trash talking is less that successful, but it allows those of us who do not participate in the exercise, to somewhat understand what it is.

                If you will allow me to change the subject just for a moment, I would like to show you a couple photos that I took this morning prior to taking Gabi to school.

 The owner of this web does not give up, this web has been in the same location and being improved daily. I would say he or she is a true artist. The spider moved away from the center of the web when I approached to get the photo. The shadow in the back ground is a tree, and the early morning sun was providing the lighting for the web.

 Gabi, just noticed that I had her in my sights. She has her kitty shirt on and is ready for the daily rigors of second grade school life. Yes there is pecan leaves just above and to the right of her head.

                Back to the trash talking. There are many things that people can indulge in without getting involved in trash talking. Everyone knows that I try to refrain from this activity, preferring to talk about only good and positive things, always building others up.

                What started me thinking about trash talking, you ask. Well it was my wife who caused me to start thinking about the subject. I know, you would not think of my present wife as being involved in this, but she does. 

                Frankly, I find it irritating and sometimes offensive, especially when I am not involved in a conversation with her. She starts talking, and all I can do is listen.

Yes I have told her what I think about it, but my comments do not seem to change her position.

Just this morning as I was preparing to go for my morning walk, my spouse of 45 years started with, “the trash talking”. Her comments were demoralizing to me, it was intended to intimidate me, and yes I was humiliated. All I could do was listen.

You be the judge and decide if what she said was trash talk.  Here is what she said, “Today is trash day, don’t forget to put the trash out”.

 What could I do? If I ignore her I will not get supper. I had no recourse but to put the trash out, even though I find it offensive.

Have a blessed day!

Don Ford

 

You are not allowed to run over them 09.07.14

 

                I have commented on this in the past but obviously, it still has a tendency to irritate me. I speak of those inhabitants who walk in front of a vehicle in parking lots and on street corners but never look to see if there is a vehicle approaching or not.

As I understand it, the pedestrian has the right of way when they are in a walkway and the driver of the vehicle must be watchful for these inhabitants. Should this, “rule of right of way” apply in all situations?

Take for example, a recent situation where I was turning left off a busy five lane road onto a two lane street. I was in the turn lane with my turn signal on waiting for traffic to clear. Everyone knows that I am a safe driver most of the time all of the time.

There happen to be a sidewalk along this five lane road and there were two female subjects walking north bound approaching the street that I was attempting to turn onto.

I often notice the female of the species, especially when they are young, pretty, well-formed or dressed scantly, which these two had none of those attributes.

They appeared to be dressed in some type of garb which hinted that they were attempting to exercise, or wanted to be seen as exercising. Understanding the working of some inhabitants, so called brains, I was careful not to make the turn even though the traffic had cleared. My assumption was correct, both of the female subjects stepped from the sidewalk onto the street, _{(yes they were in the cross walk)} without turning their heads to see if there was any traffic coming their way. Possibly if their mouths had been shut, one or both may have thought of their own safety and looked for the possibility of an approaching vehicle.

I often wonder if these inhabitants are the parents of the pre-teens and teenagers who walk in the streets, usually in small groups, with complete disdain for all vehicular traffic.

 

Propose new ordinance in the State of Texas, House Bill 403-J-17.

Cameras will be installed at all cross walks and any person who does not look both ways before proceeding onto the crosswalk or walkway will be fined $417.00 first incident. This fine will be imposed whether there was vehicles in the area or not. _{(The funds raised from these crosswalk fines will be used to pay for the crosswalk cameras)}

If an inhabitant of any age, preparing to walk in a crosswalk or walkway, does not look both ways before stepping from the curb, it will be legal to run into them, but not run over them, with your vehicle.

If an inhabitant of any age, is walking on a street or parking area and is not in a designated cross walk or other walkway, it is legal to run into and over them.

Any damage that occurs to one’s vehicle while running into or over an inhabitant, will be reimbursed by the inhabitant that was ran into or over.

 

May you always look both ways?

 

Don Ford

 

_{From the fertile mind of Don Ford; the above was written with the hope that you would think of it as funny.} 

 

Signs in sky 09.06.14

 

                I do believe in signs from above, always have and always will.

                I doubt if people in today’s world, could live without signs. Think about it, how would that fool in the car in front of you know how slow to drive, without a speed limit sign.  How could you find a public toilet without a “rest room” sign?

By the way that sign, “rest room” is somewhat misleading. Think about it, have you ever been able to rest, in a public toilet?

As I stated earlier, believe in signs from above, but I do not always know what they mean.

As an example I presented a posting, “X marks the spot 02.15.14” _{(you might want to go back and re-read it to bring yourself up to speed)} about the fact that there was an “X” in the sky, directly over my head.

Now I wasn’t sure what the “X”, directly over my head meant, but I believe it meant that yours truly is, “A Treasure”. If X marks the spot on the treasure map, and the X was in the sky over my head, it is plane to see that “I am a Treasure!”

I knew you would not go back and look up the old posting so I brought the photo proof to you. That X was directly over my head, which makes me a Treasure, how could you see it any other way?

                OK, so the other day I was sitting on my rocking chair contemplating all the many complexities of today’s world when something caused me to look up to heaven. What did I see this time? No not another X but the clouds had formed a head of a bird. Another sign to me, but what does it mean?

                I naturally grabbed a camera and took a photo of the “Sign”. To me it is the head of a hawk. Why would a head of a hawk be revealed to me? What does it mean? 

                The next day during my morning constitutional, I had stopped down the street to talk with Larry. As we were talking a hawk flew over and I quickly pointed it out to Larry. Possibly two minutes later as we were solving the world’s problems, the hawk flew overhead again this time with a bird in his talons.

                What does it all mean?

 

I hope your signs are easy to understand.

 

Don Ford

 

 

The last place I looked... 09.04.14

 

                I had been looking for some booklets, that I had put in a safe place, with instructions as to how to program my hand held radios _{(aka walkie talkie)}. I am sure that this never happens to you, but I can put an item somewhere for safe keeping _{(so I can find it later)}, then I forget where I put it. 

                There is some good that comes from me looking through all my old files and storage places, and that is, I threw away some old unwanted junk. Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of stuff to be tossed out.

                I had looked for these booklets for three days and had just about given up ever finding them. I opened the right hand top desk drawer. This drawer contains miscellaneous items (junk drawer) where I keep a pack of gum for Alex. There is a file folder that has been in this drawer for at least a year if not longer. I thought it had some old receipts in it so I decided to go through the receipts and toss out the oldest.  

                You guessed it, when I opened the folder there were the booklets I had been looking for. Yes, there was a couple receipts in the folder that were quickly discarded.

 

                The last place I looked! 

                Have you ever thought about that statement?  When you are looking for something it is always in the last place you looked.

                Why is it always in the last place you looked? Because, “you stop looking when you find the item”.                 When you stop looking, it has to be in, “the last place you looked”.

                                                                                                                                                  

   It is a terrible burden that I carry, having to explain these things to you.

 

For that one person who said, “That aint right”, I will further explain.

If it isn’t in the last place you looked, one of two things has taken place.

<   1)   You were not focused on your search and over looked the item the first time you looked in the place where you later found it.

<   2)  You are a little crazy.

 

There is a good chance that both of the above apply if it wasn’t in the last place you looked.

 

I hope it is in the first place you look.

 

Don Ford

The Killing Fields of Texas 09.01.14

 

                Today is September 1^st, and we all know what that means. It is time to clean your guns, purchase ammunition, get your camo covered stool, and get your camouflaged clothing out.

                You will need a place to hide to do this killing, preferably along a fence row that borders a grain field that has been harvested. Another favorite place to kill is close to a pond or standing body of water. Your victim needing to drink, does not like to drink from running water such as a creek.

                Normally you will team up with others to do this killing. I am not sure why this killer will not go it alone, are they afraid? Possibly, but more likely they have the need to have others see the killing shot.

 

                This morning I went outside and started my mooring stroll. Although it was light enough to see it was not yet sun rise. I began to walk slowly down the street and as I was meditating on the meaning of life and other important topics, I was suddenly aware that it was officially sunrise.

                How did I know it was sunrise, you ask? The gun fire started.

                It is about one mile as the, “Dove flies” to the city limit. It is amazing the amount of shooting one hears on opening morning of Dove season. What was surprising to me was that occasionally there would be a shot that sounded as if it were only a couple blocks away.  I hope there are not idiots shooting doves in the city limits.

                The entire time I was walking I could hear the shot guns going off.

Imagine if you will, a 200 pound man with a 12 gage shot gun, camo on and hiding in the brush along a fence row, waiting to ambush the unsuspecting 4 ounce dove. 

 

Yes I use to participate in this annual killing, but no longer. Arriving home after you kill the doves, you basically take your thumbs and rip out the dove’s breast. My first wife would take about 8 dove breasts and put them in a pan of dressing and bake them. Properly cooked, dove is good.

 

I hope your holiday is better than the dove’s.      

 

Don Ford