Believe it or not... 10.31.14

 

     This story is a, “believe it or not” tale. If you don’t believe it, that is ok with me.

I have this structure which I built for the grandkids to play in and on, in the back yard. The grandkids call it their fort.  As an afterthought, I built a slanted ladder for easier access due to the kids getting bigger and needing a larger opening to get into the top level.

     Would you believe one of my neighbors called the city and reported that I have this structure which I built without a permit? 

     Can you believe that a city employee came out and wanted to see the structure that was allegedly built on my property without a permit? 

     I know you would not believe that I had a few choice words for the city employee before he left. I also understand that you will not believe that the vengeful city employee called OSHA about the structure.

     I personally find it difficult to believe, that an OSHA agent came to my house and wanted to inspect the structure. Would you believe she spent almost 30 minutes reviewing the project?

     To top it off, could you believe that I received a citation for not having adequate handicapped access to the grandkids fort?

     I find it difficult to believe that your government could force me to install hand rails on the slanted ladder saying it would provide handicapped access (photo below).   

          Truth is in the eye of the reader. Do not read the small print below.

_{**    The truth is, Alex wanted the hand rails because his Nana has hand rails at her house, so he wanted them on his Fort. The rest of the story is made up from my fertile imagination.}

                On a different subject:

As I was contemplating many of the world’s problems, part of an old song came to mind. What I remember of the song may have been the title, or just part of the song. It goes like this, 

           “Does your chew gum lose its flavor on the bed post overnight”.
 

            To the untrained eye, that question would seem to be inert. To a trained observer like me, there seems to be several topics that one may consider from that one short question.

                First is the terminology, “chew gum”. In today’s politically correct world, those who want to seem more intelligent than the rest of us, or politically correct in their statements would likely say, “chewing gum”.  I challenge you to think about this, do you chew the gum, or do you chewing the gum. Don’t present the statement, ”I have been chewing”, as that is past tense, and do not come at me with, “I will be chewing”, as that is future tense. Please, try to stay in the present.

Obviously, the correct terminology for this process is, chew, so the correct phrase is “Chew Gum”, end of that topic.

                Second is the question of flavor. For those of us who have lived, let’s say longer than 50 years, we likely remember when chew gum actually did have a flavor in the olden days. This flavor would last many times longer than the chew gum of today. 

                It is a proven fact that in the olden day’s one could chew their gum, including bubble gum, for hours at a time, and the gum would stay soft as you chewed. A kid could be called to supper and they could place their gum on the side of their plate while they ate, then when they finished eating they could begin to chew the gum again.

Today’s gum is engineered to last for no more than 11 minutes. This so called gum loses its flavor in 6.25 minutes, then it gets stiff, “hard to chew” and the average person will discard the gum. The chew gum manufactures have done this in an effort to sell more gum.   

Third is the descriptive term, “Bed Post”. Most people of today’s generation have never seen a bed post, and even if they did have a bed post, they would not want to place today’s less than desirable chew gum on anything overnight.

Why did they stop making bed posts? As with most things of today, the manufacture puts less material into an item and charge you more.

Fourth, what is the reason for the question? Why would anyone care if your chew gum lost its flavor overnight? Do you think someone would want to chew your gum after it was on your bed post overnight, even if it had some flavor left? 

 

May all your queries be answered this completely.

  

Don Ford               

A good start 10.27.14

Photo #1, last Sunday’s work. That limb was brought down by a virile senior retired person, “me”, without help.

 Photo #2, a close up showing the cut that brought the first limb down. This history sets the stage for, “the rest of the story”.

Photo #3, (Saturday) shows the last limb down and laying in the Y of the stump, not where we had planned for it to be. David was there to help, I thought he would be able to pull a rope and cause the limb to fall where I wanted it. I made the cuts as the present MS Ford, Claire, Gabi and Alex observed. I made the final cut, I could see the limb was wavering, ready to fall. David was having trouble pulling the rope attached to the limb so I placed the pole saw in a safe place (not where you see it in the photo) and ran to where he was (yes I can move quickly when necessary). Together we cause the limb to fall. Gabi called out, “Timber” as the limb fell. Surprisingly to me, the limb broke free of the tree and dropped straight down to the ground making a depression approx. 10 inches deep in the ground. Even though the limb did not fall where I expected, by landing in the tree stump it did not damage anything.

Photo #4 was taken after the cleanup. No, Alex did not stay and help with the cleanup, can you believe that he would prefer to eat pizza rather than help me cut up limbs?

                Yes I left part of the limb in the tree for a reason. I want to develop a tree house of sorts, using the old stump. I am toying with the idea of leaving part of the limb in the tree, for aesthetic reasons, if I can secure it properly.

                I would also like to have a monkey bar from the old fort/tree house to the new tree house. Yes, you are correct, this is an ambitious undertaking by a senior who is on a fixed income.

For those of you who want to be a part of the building project, please send a *deductible check of $50.00 to, “The Ford Homestead Foundation, Tree House Fund.

All donations will be appreciated and a framed photo of the completed project will be presented to all contributors _{(via a posting on the blog)}. 

 

I hope everything falls in place for you.

 

Don Ford

_{* Donations are deductible from your checking account, they are not tax deductible.}

 

Pre-Dawn hour 10.24.14

 

It was early Friday in the pre-dawn hours as I was resting on my, “Red Rider Rocker”, (no I don’t know who manufactured the rocker, I just like to call it my Red Ryder Rocker, and I have even considered painting it red.) As usual I was pondering my opportunities for the daily activities. Should I have another cup of coffee, will I eat leftovers for lunch, should I watch the price is right, my daily nap and other world problems. 

As all those activities were swirling through my mind, I observed a vehicle coming down the dark street in a slow manner. Being a positive person, my first thought was, “this could be a gangbanger” wanting to prove herself in a drive by shooting, using me as the target. As this vehicle pulled up and stop at the end of my driveway, I was unable to see who is inside the vehicle. I was thinking, should I get up and run, or just sit still when all of a sudden a female voice cries out, “are you open”?

Well I am open to l lot of things, but not open to what this female person had in mind. You guessed it, she was looking for a garage sale. Believing that I am not about to be a victim of a drive by shooting, I responded, “no mam, I am not having a garage sale, I’m just sitting here.”

 

Catty-corner from our house, (that is the first time I have written the word/s catty-corner, although I have said it many times in my life) the neighbors dogs began to bark, which usually is an indication that someone or something is walking down the street along their wooden fence. My attention was drawn to the area, as I attempted to see any movement. There, in the darkness, was a figure, walking slowly in the darkness toward the lighted area at the corner street light. 

                This figure did not appear to be the large lady who normally walks in these early hours. I concentrated on the figure as it moved over about a 30 foot area. Suddenly, I realized there was no one there. I quickly got out of my chair and moved away from the light over the garage door to see if I could see better in the dark. The ghost like figure had disappeared completely, but there was a yellow cat coming down the street.

                Did I imagine seeing something? Was it a ghost? Did this apparition change form and take the shape of a cat?                 You decide.

 

                As almost everyone knows, I am a very observant person who enjoys commenting on things that truly do not involve me. This morning, after the above events had unfolded, I once again was considering the coming day’s activities. I noticed a tree limb, which is about 8 foot long and covered with dead leaves, which had been laying in the neighbor’s yard near the curb for a couple weeks now, had been moved. It was now in the middle of their yard, approximately 12 feet from where it had been. That movement is a positive, and it shows progress. By my calculations, at that rate of movement, the limb may be totally out of the front yard in four weeks. Did I state that they mowed around the limb about ten days ago?

                   No, I am not being judgmental, merely observant.

 

Hoping all your mornings are nice.

 

Don Ford

Early voting 10.23.14

 

 

            Early voting is now ongoing.

I voted this morning. 

Please go vote for the candidates of your choice.

This is our opportunity to attempt to pick good leaders.

Early voting is easy, no lines, go vote.

 

 

 

 

 

Matter or Anti-Matter 10.23.14

 

In this posting I had copied some information and used it at the beginning of this post (it has now been removed). I have been notified by support@blogger.com that according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), I may have infringed upon the copy rights of others. My posting had been reverted to draft status (in other words taken down) and I have been requested to correct my post by removing the copy righted material, which I have done. 
          Maybe some day I will have something that is copyrighted material. The info below came from the fertile mind that is located in my head and it is all mine.

 

                In real life, Matter and Anti-Matter does exist. After some investigation here at, “The Ford Homestead”, we have been able to isolate both matter and anti-matter. These two are not equal in quantity but it is not as the other scientists have stated. Other scientists have said there is no anti-matter on earth other than that which has been created by them.

I will be happy to explain our understanding for the two, to exist. As with the information above _{(from a web site)} matter and anti-matter are complete opposites. That statement is true, but there is more anti-matter than matter.

I believe that some of you may be questioning why I have brought up this subject, and does it matter. (Did you get the play on words, “does it matter”)?  Well, it does matter as you will soon learn.

Here is the simplified version of the results from our study on “Matter” and “Anti-Matter”.

Everything that Matters to a man, does not matter to a woman, thus it is anti-matter and is the complete opposite of Matter.

Now you understand what “Matter” and “Anti-Matter” is, along with where it exists. As you can see, if you put Matter and Anti-Matter together in a confined space there will likely be an explosion. 

If you have another hypothesis, we would like to hear it.

 

I hope your matters are all enjoyable.

 

Don Ford

Moon and Stars 10.20.14

                As you may be aware, my brilliant mind continually considers various subjects. As I was standing on my drive way this morning and observing the heavens, I noticed that the stars and moon seemed to be unusually brilliant. Yes it was just before sunrise and there may be some truth in the statement, “it is always darkest just before sunrise”.

I find that it is often difficult to see the stars and the patterns they make, due to the amount of light coming from houses, street lights and businesses. This morning the sky was clear the weather was cool and the stars were bright. I observed a Triangular shaped pattern of stars around the moon. The pattern consisted of 4 stars, see the pattern below.

 

                                                                            *

                                                                            *

 

 

                                                                        mOon

 

 

                                                        *                                           *

 

The pattern caught my attention because the stars were bright and easy to see.

I should explain, the two stars were pointing somewhat to the north and west. Everyone know that many liberals live to the north and on the left coast, which is to the west.

This sign in the heavens caused me to consider the proposition, “it is good to have Liberals, Democrats and Republicans as friends”. I find it enjoyable to have a heated conversation with those whose views are at times 180 degrees from my own.

Think about it, if you are talking with a friend who agrees with everything you say, how much fun is that. Agreement in conversations is ok occasionally, especially if the conversation is with you present spouse. But it is more fun to see your friend become defensive, red faced and even somewhat adversarial when conversing. 

The key here, is to know when the other person has reached their limit, and that is when you change the subject.

I would like to say Thank You to those friends who will participate in the occasional heated exchange of ideas with me.

 

Factoid: _{I am not sure the factoid below fits into this article. I have placed it here to help stir conversation.}

 I have been told, that anyone living north of Dallas was a Yankee. The same person who told me that, now lives in Missouri, which is north of Dallas. When this person moves back to Texas and south of Dallas, will he need to go through the naturalization process to become a Texan?

 

On a different subject:

There is a Mocking bird that has faithfully sounded off every morning at 6:50am. When I first noticed this I was pondering why he, she or it, would sound off at the same time every morning. It is still dark at 10 minutes to 7:00 and this bird sounds off for about ten seconds then stops. Is this bird the official wakeup call for the other birds?

Whatever the reason for its morning sound off, this past Friday he, she or it, was five minutes early. Why would it change its good morning call time? Does it know that daylight savings time is coming? Is it getting ready for the change?

I am still pondering the reason.

 

May all your conversations be enjoyable!

 

Don Ford

Wood Butcher Extraordinary 10.19.14

 

                This story begins early Saturday morning. My present spouse and I attended Gabi’s Soccer game at 9:00 and then went to an event in Clifton, Texas. I call it an event as I am not sure what the event was. They had streets blocked off and we had to park a couple blocks away and walk. There were several interesting old cars on display and there were venders selling stuff. _{(Stuff sounds better than junk, crap or other descriptive words I may have used in the past).} My spouse of 45 years looked but did not purchase anything. We did have lunch with friends at the Bunk House.

When we returned home it was nap time and I do enjoy a nice nap on a Saturday afternoon.

When I woke from the nap, I guess you could say I was filling spunky, I decided to cut a limb from this tree. I have been wanting to remove the last two main limbs from this tree for some time now, but I have been reluctant to attempt the process as I was uncertain where this limb would fall.

I decided to cut a smaller limb _{(6 inches in diameter)} from the top of this larger limb. Removal of the smaller limb would take weight off the main limb and then I felt I could drop it exactly where I want. Ladders were brought out along with the hand pole saw. I assumed the gas power saw would not reach as high as the manual pole saw. After some manual sawing _{(hard work)} it seemed more obvious that I should try the gas powered saw.

The gas saw worked and I made the necessary cuts. This limb was now being held up by imagination. I could not attempt additional sawing on the limb, as it could fall and if I were in the cutting position _{(below the limb)} and on the ladder, I would not be able to get away. 

Ingenuity took over, I got a rope with a heavy weight tied on the end. I skillfully tossed the rope over the cut limb _{(the cut limb was at least 20 foot long)} and attempted to pull the limb down. After several attempts the limb broke loose and fell about 6 inches, coming to rest on another limb. This was not good, I want that weight off the main limb which would allow me to better control the main limbs fall when I cut it.

Could I cut the main limb and have it fall, not hitting the house or other objects? I could not stop the cutting process and leave this limb hanging on the other limb, as a large wind could cause it to fall unexpectedly and hurt someone.

It was time for a break. I got a glass of water and sat down on the kid’s fort, no I am not too big to sit on the fort. As I sat there pondering how to approach this cut and could I do it safely, I noticed something on the ground. It was a penny. How many times have I mowed over this penny and probably stepped on it without noticing it laying there. I picked it up and I had to put some water on it and rub it on my jeans to see if it was heads or tails. It was heads!  Any time Donna or I find a penny heads up, it has been good luck for us. Superstitious, no, it just works for us.

After a short break, I had a plan and was ready to drop this large limb. Skillful cutting on this, “Master Wood Butchers” part, I was able to bring the main limb down and have it fall where I wanted. 

Sunday afternoon I will need to cut the limbs into small enough pieces, so I can put them on my trailer. I will then consider cutting the last main limb on this tree.

     

 

For the observant eye, one will notice that I, “The Wood Butcher” have a gas powered pole saw in my capable hands, and I am in the process of, “Falling a part of a tree”. Do you like the word falling, it makes me sound like a Lumber Jack.

Photo #1, shows my skill at cutting this enormous limb from the tree.

Photo #2, has me watching the enormous limb as it falls and not yet hitting the ground.

Photo #3, the limb has come to rest on the ground.

You may have noticed the photos are not as good as I usually provide, they are from one of several security cameras at, “The Ford Homestead”.

 

I hope your weekend was restful and enjoyable.

Don Ford

Up a Tree without a ladder 10.14.14

                Back in the olden days when I was a children, (I used the word children purposely to get your attention, so get off my case) climbing trees was a part of normal activities for boys. Kids didn’t have smart phones with apps so the parent could track their activities. We did however have neighbors that would tell on you if you were someplace you shouldn’t be, or if you were misbehaving. Yes I may be older than dirt, and in the olden days when I was a kid there were real dinosaurs still roaming the earth.

                Putting all that BS aside, we have a photo of a little angel sitting on a cement block which I had placed in the tree for his comfort. “Why a cement block”, you ask. I will be happy to provide you with that answer. It was easy to install, it is heavy and will not break or move easily. You may have noticed the ax in the photo, I did chop a couple notches for the block to sit on in an effort to keep it stable.

                You can tell that Alex is the perfect boy, by looking at that fake smile (the same smile that his dad used when he was a kid). This angel has nothing but nice thoughts and would never get into any trouble.

                We see Granny telling the boy, be careful and don’t fall. Dave seems to be preoccupied with something on his shoulder.

 

                When, “the Gabi” got home from school she climbed into the tree also. There wasn’t much room and both wanted the other to get down so they could have it to them self. I am sure you noticed the smiles are gone.

                For the observant among you, there is now a ladder inserted against the tree for easier access. No, I did not get up on the block in the tree, while the kids were here.

               Different subject:

                For those of us who are on a fixed income, never knowing from week to week what we will find in the way of “road kill”, there was another nice effect to the recent rains.  As I sat in my so called office area, with the door open allowing the cool air to enter the house in an effort to reduce the air conditioning bill, I was aware of popping sounds when vehicles were driving up the street.

                Being somewhat inquisitive (A K A nosey) I wanted to learn what was the cause of the popping sound. I decided to remove my posterior from my chair, and walk to the end of the drive way where the trash container was located. The trash truck had previously ran so it was empty and needed to be brought back to the house.

                Arriving at the end of the drive I observed several crushed pecans in the street. The vehicles were crushing the pecans as they drove up the street and that was the popping noise. These crushed pecans are an eye sore, and littering the street. Something needed to be done. Being a good neighbor, I did not call the city code enforcer. I decided to help correct this myself.

                The rain had washed some of the pecans from the neighbors tree, down the street, I decided to pick those up that were in front of my house. I had more than a hand full as I pulled the trash container back to the house.

                I developed a plan, I would get my pecan picker-upper and pick up the pecans before they are all crushed on the street. Obviously I did not want any more to be crushed as they were ugly and littered the street.

                Everyone knows I want to keep litter off the streets and I was doing the community a favor by picking these pecans up before they were all crushed. After all, if the neighbor wanted to keep the pecans, he would have picked them up himself.

                This was the first time I had used the pecan picker-upper to actually pick up pecans. I have used it often to remove acorns from the yard but never pecans.

                It worked as advertised. I picked up every uncrushed pecan I could find from in front of the neighbor’s house, and I did not need to bend over one time.

                After emptying the picker, I had another thought. Since the rain had washed pecans down the street in front of my house, how many could I find if I walked all the way to the cul-de-sac?  

                Down the street I went, and yes I found pecans scattered not along the curb, but out in the street. Evidently the rain water flooded almost all the way across the street depositing pecans near the center of the street.

                I found, “the mother lode” at the end of the street. This was better than picking up aluminum cans from the park trash containers after a big party.

                These lovely free pecans were all wet from the rain so I place them outside in the open so the wind and sun could dry them.

                The good lord provides for those of us on a fixed income.

I hope your mother lode is fantastic.

Don Ford

 

Fall, what is that 10.13.14

 

                Spring has sprung, fall has fell, winter is here and it is colder than, well it really isn’t winter yet but it is nicely cool today.

                We have had some rain lately. There was ½ inch of rain about a week ago, then Saturday we received 2 inches of rain. Today is Monday and we have received another inch and a quarter (1 ¼) last night and this morning early. The high temp today is supposed to be in the low 60s.

                I have what I refer to as wire weeds in the back yard and they are much easier to pull out when the ground is wet. I have been praying for rain because my delicate hands were getting sore from trying to pull the weeds out of the dry earth.

                Now, with all this nice rain, it is too wet to sit on the ground and pull weeds, although my present wife said I should go ahead and pull them today. Being wet might not hurt me but the cool weather might be too much for a retired person.

Yes I know the grass needs to be mowed but I wanted to pull as many weeds as possible before mowing.  If you know of a way to get rid of these weeds without pulling them, please let me know.

                A different subject:

                I put a shelf up in my so called office space. This shelf installation was to allow me to move a radio and power supply off my desk. I have also placed my hand held radios _{(walkie talkies)} on the shelf. I noticed it was a little dark under the shelf and I found a battery powered light in my junk drawer that is now installed under the shelf (photo to follow).

 I do have a duster hanging on the wall, Alex uses it more than I do. I just notice there is a little advertisement for Dell on the stack of Medicare information I need to go through.

                A different subject:

                I have been considering changing my phone service to Consumer Cellular. I can get basically the same service for about half the price. I don’t even need to get new phones.

I only know one person that has the service and he said he liked it. If you have this service or know someone who does, I would appreciate knowing your experience with the service.

 

Thanks, and have a dry cool day.

 

Don Ford

 

               

 

Caps off please 10.10.14

 

                As you may know, the red oak trees in our yard produce an unusually large amount of acorns annually. I have over the years used various methods to remove the acorns. One year I attempted to rake them in to piles, while another year I got on my hands and knees and picked them up. I now have a pecan roller which picks up either pecans or acorns, and the occasional snail.

There was this one year the neighbor came over and asked if he and his family could pick up acorns from our yard. Being a good neighbor I allowed them to pick up as many acorns as they wanted. The reason they wanted the acorns was for their deer lease. They said the oak trees on the lease were not producing that year. I would like it if they wanted to pick them up every year.

I have noticed that acorns have caps on them when they are in the tree but sometimes the cap comes off when they hit the ground. I was considering why acorns have caps and I have formed an answer. You will see in the photo below why acorns have caps.

                If you are absorbent observant, you should notice the unhappy acorn has his cap off and he has no hair. Now you know why they wear caps.

                What was that comment? You say I have nothing better to do…

 

The next photo is of me and my brother and sisters. Two brothers and two sisters are no longer with us.

                In the photo it looks as if I have not missed a meal in over 20 years. Now that I think about it I haven’t missed a meal. I am sure it is just the way I am sitting and we all know the camera adds 10 pounds to a person. I am sure I could not be overweight. 

                Do not look in the mirror to see who was taking the photos. This photo was taken with my tablet and I think it has a fat lens on it. Also I was setting a little more forward on the couch than the others.

                How much weight can a couch hold? How do you know when it is overloaded?

                If you take a photo of a mirror with no reflection of the photographer, can you see yourself in the photo of the mirror? You say you can’t. How do you know, have you tried it?

Enjoy being with your family,

and don’t exaggerate the olden days, too much. 

Don Ford

I don't ask for much 10.07.14

 

                As everyone knows, I don’t ask for a lot in life. I am one of those low maintenance people, always doing things for others, never expecting anything in return.

                Monday of this week, I ask my first wife to remind me to do two things. I was going to take Gabi to school as usual and upon return I wanted my spouse of 45 years to remind me.

                I don’t think it is too much to ask for one little reminder, do you? It wasn’t as if I was going to solve all the world’s problems, I just wanted one reminder.

                Speaking of problems, “We The People, need to get rid of a bunch of politicians, and find real leaders”. Get active in the political process and help get rid of the do nothing old head politicians.

                I digress, I returned home from taking Gabi to school and went in to the office and started reading emails.

99% of the email I get is advertisements and spam, I should consider getting rid of my internet service. If I get rid of the internet at the house I could still write my blog and check my email by going to “The McDonalds” once a week. That way I could have a fast food breakfast, use their Wi-Fi and talk with other senior retired people _{(three fun things with one visit).}

Sorry, I digressed again: now you see why I need reminders, and the logical person to remind me, is my present wife. Anyway, back to the story, I dropped Gabi off at school before 8:00 and it was 10:30 when I remembered what I wanted to be reminded of.

I went directly to my spouse and confronted her, as to why she had not reminded me. Her pitiful response was, “I thought you had remembered”. Possibly, had I given her more time, she may have come up with a better fib response.

If I had wanted her to remind me to take her out for breakfast, she would have remember that.

I don’t ask for much, just one little reminder; “remind me to go to the throne room and then to go for my morning walk in that order, when I return from taking Gabi to school”. Is that too much to ask?

 

Different subject:

In the olden days if you saw someone talking to them self, we would say they are crazy. I assume that is politically incorrect these days.

I have a short tale about a person who was in the public rest room, at a rest area in Arkansas, this past Friday. It is beyond my understanding as to why they call them rest rooms, I have never seen anyone rest in one of them.

This big fellow was standing in a stall and talking very loud. There was a fellow standing outside the stalls with cleaning supplies, whom I assume, was going to clean the toilets. This big mouth man was talking loud enough that anyone could hear him. I, being in another stall, glanced over at him to be sure he wasn’t talking to me, he wasn’t. I finished my business, and it is a good thing that these public toilets flush themselves, because I would not touch the flush valve.

The big talkative fellow made some derogative comment about, “your president”, which I did not disagree with. I exited the building and was standing outside attempting to stretch various parts of my body, before continuing my journey home.

The big fellow came out of the building still talking loud, and there was no one around. He had a pair of old looking denim coveralls on, and he had a blue tooth device that covered his entire ear with a boom that positioned the microphone at his mouth. This fellow appeared to be talking to someone on the phone as he headed for the big rig. Was this over the road truck driver really talking to someone on the phone, or was he really crazy and just talking to hear the sound of his own voice? 

He may have been crazy or possibly he was so use to the noise of the truck that he talked loud. Either way, it was an interesting visit to, “rest area 51”. 

 

Did you get the reference to “area 51”?             

 

I hope all your rest rooms are clean.

 

Don Ford

Out of this world 10.05.2014

                When I say, “out of this world”, I mean out of Texas, and back in the other world.  I went to Missouri last week driving 697 miles on Monday arriving at my destination a little before 6:00pm, almost 12 hours of travel time. I returned this Friday same driving time and distance. 

                I must say it was a good trip, safe and uneventful driving and lots of fun with family and old friends. For those real Texans and us naturalized Texans, we believe the humidity is bad here. I am here to tell you that, “Swamp East Missouri” is much more humid.

                I went out to my younger sister’s farm and saw her horses. A couple old friends dropped by while we were there. One of the friends I had not seen for at least 35 years. We talked for a while and got somewhat caught up on what has been happening.

                The weather was cool in the mornings getting up to about 80 during the day and 100% humidity. There was some rain on Thursday evening about the same time that Waco and other areas in Texas were being hit with damaging high winds and lightening.

                I stayed at my older sister’s home and we enjoyed talking about old times. We did get BBQ sandwiches from the place on Williams street a couple times during the visit, and I brought some home to my present wife.

                There was a gathering at my sister’s house, of some of the family members on Thursday evening. We had plenty of food and there were many stories told, some of which were true. I was asked how I could afford to drive to Missouri, being on a fixed income. I would have liked to have flown but that was way too expensive. It took my present wife several weeks of walking up and down the local highways and byways, picking up aluminum cans 12 hours a day to get enough money for this trip. I would like to thank her for the effort but she don’t read my articles so it would not do any good to say, “Thanks”. 

                After almost 12 hours of driving on Friday, one would think that I would not want to get into the old truck for a while, but Saturday morning I got up and drove down to Belton TX to a Ham Com (a gathering for ham radio operators). There was a lot of old radios and other old stuff for sell. It is always surprising to me, how many people are hams, which is evident by the large number of people gathering at the event.

                I was looking for a new 2 meter antenna. I found a new duel band antenna for less money that I would have paid if I ordered it, and there was no sales tax.

                Saturday afternoon Gabi had a soccer game at 3:00pm. We were lucky that there was a shade tree near one of the goals so we positioned our chairs in the shade. I don’t remember the exact score, but Gabi’s team scored several times and the other team did not. They put Gabi in as the goalie for a while and she seemed to like that.

                Changing the subject:

                In a recent study performed at “The Ford Homestead Institute for Conservative Studies”, we found that there are various ways to determine whether a person leans to the right or left politically. We have found that one can look at the address painted on the curb in front of their home and determine their political orientation.       

                The following applies to those people who live in a house that they own (does not apply to renters).

                As an example, when looking at our house number painted on the curb you will see it is to the right of the side walk, indicating that I am Not Always Right But Never Left (NARBNL)

As seen in the photo below.

                It is obvious, that an address in the middle of a side walk or driveway indicates the owner is politically center of the road.

                Just as obvious, the house number on the left of the side walk or drive, indicates a liberal thinking person.

                Less obvious is the person that has their house number on both sides of their drive way, or both at the side walk and driveway. This person can swing both ways, politically. This person may be, or have been, employed by the government and less able to show their true colors. 

                The final political indicator is the person who does not have their house number on the curb or drive way. These folks do not have a political affiliation and either do not vote or will vote for the party who is willing to pay them.

                For complete documentation on this study send $25.00 to “The Ford Homestead of Hewitt” and ask for “Political Inclinations Study 13.001.274 E”. Allow 6 years for delivery.

                If you have questions about the study just re-read the information above or send for the complete documentation.

 

 

We hope your day is, for the most part, politically correct.

 

Don Ford