A perfect Snow 12.29.14

 

                No it did not snow at, “The Ford Homestead”, get real, we are in Texas.

                I was watching a TV movie about Christmas and at the end of the movie, the girl gets the guy and they were outside when it started snowing. Even though the snow was fake, it was falling straight down with no apparent wind to swirl the snow, making it very romantic and for some reason, comforting. That image brought back a childhood memory.

                Our family lived at 714 College Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. College Street ran east and west and there was another street “South Benton Street”, which dead ended into College in front of our house.

I can remember my mom would get upset that the head lights from cars would shine in the living room window at night when the cars came up S. Benton Street.  There is now a four lane highway running east to west about 200 feet in front of the house, which leads to the suspension bridge over the Mississippi river. I guess things must change in 60 years.

The house was a white two story house with a front and back porch. There was a gravel alley way on the right of the house. Thanks to Google Maps street view, you can see the house in the photo below. The alley is still there, but the stairs on the side of the house were not there when we lived there. You may have noticed the light above the house, could it be, because I use to live there.

I have a couple memories from the time when we lived there. I remember my brother Jack and I use to listen to the radio shows like, “Yukon King”, which was a story about a Mountie and his dog King, which was before we had TV.

Before I am interrupted with a question, yes the radio was housed in a large wooden cabinet possibly four feet tall and two feet wide. That big old radio was not unlike the radio on Christmas Story.

We got our first TV while living there and I estimate it to have been around 1954.

There was another first during the time when we lived there, and that was my first bicycle at age seven. I remember Mom saying that my brother Jack got a new trike for his seventh birthday. I guess I have always been more advanced than others for my age. J

I heard that remark, you think I look much older than I am, which makes me look advanced in years, but not advanced in intelligence. Funny! Please try to save your remarks, until the question and answer period, and then raise your hand if you have a question. 

As I sit here at my desk pounding away at this key board, trying to get to the point of this article, I have thought of another first that occurred while living there, and that was my first girlfriend.  Her name was Gail, she was in my third grade class at school. Gail lived one block away. To be honest I think every boy in our class was in love with her.

With all that background out of the way, let’s get to the story, “A perfect Snow”. I would think that many of you have never experienced what I consider the perfect snow.

The day was cloudy and cold, more or less a typical winter Missouri day. Myself, and some other kids from the neighborhood were riding our bikes up and down College Street in front of our house. We were playing follow the leader, riding in circles and figure eights, making them smaller and smaller until someone had to put their foot on the ground. Then we would pick a new leader and start again.

It was one of those unusual days where there was literally no wind, a perfectly calm day. I remember we were suddenly aware that the snow had begun to fall. There was no pre-warning to us kids of the impending snow. The flakes were large and wet. I remember looking up, and all around there was this wonderful sight of large, lazy snowflakes falling.

The snow quickly and quietly began to cover the ground and street. For a while, we considered the snow as an additional challenge in our game of follow the leader.

I remember the almost deafening silence, cause by the large snowflakes falling straight down. It is almost like being in a dream, to see the large snowflakes falling without any wind. We could not hear any sounds of traffic or other noise, even though there was a highly traveled street (Sprigg Street) just two blocks away. (Yes, Sprigg Street is spelled correctly.)

If memory serves, and it almost always does, the snow was so heavy that it covered the grass and street in no time. The snow was hanging on the trees and bushes causing them to bend. We had to stop riding the bikes. Each kid that had a sled, went to get them. We had plenty of places to ride our sleds. 

I guess that is enough memories for now, I think I need to warm up after thinking about all the snow.

If we don’t talk before the New Year, have a Happy and Safe New Year!

 

May all your snows be like a dream! 

 

Don Ford

 

Snakes this time of the year 12.23.14

 

                Our newest resident at, “The Ford Homestead Foundation for Abandoned and Mistreated Felines”, is Charlie.  Occasionally he is referred to as, “Sorry Charlie”, depending on what he is doing or has done.

                Charlie has found, played with, and finally executed 4 snakes since he has been here. These snakes are not the prolific and I should say, poisonous, “Rattle Head Copper Moccasin”, but merely the common garden snake.

                Charlie had one of these snakes yesterday afternoon playing with it in the garage. You would have thought he was given a new toy the way he was running, jumping and sliding across the floor.

                This morning Charley did not eat all his cat food which is very uncommon for this glutton. He also did not want to come into the house which made us very suspicious.

                It was time for action on my part! I ventured forth into the garage looking for Charlie. Then I saw it, there he sat like a statue, and even his enormous tail was motionless, seemingly frozen in time. As he sat there stationary, I began to see a slight movement on the floor in front of him. Yes, Charlie had scored again.

This was his fourth acquisition and soon to be extermination. Will we have any garden snakes left when spring arrives?

 

I can see your hand raised, you do not need to snap your fingers, I see you! I will answer the rude reader’s question.

Why, are their snakes out this time of year, after all today is the second day of winter? That is easy to answer. Yesterday, the first full day of winter, it was 70 degrees. There were bugs flying around and obviously some snakes were also moving.

Are there any other questions?

Thank you that is a good question. Yes we will accept donations for the rescued felines at, “The Ford Homestead”. Identify all donations for the, “Abandoned and Mistreated Felines” fund.

Your _non tax deductible donations will be put to good use, and we will send you a photo of a, “rescued Feline domesticate”, aka cat. _{Allow 6 years for non-delivery.} 

 

May your Christmas Eve, Eve be full of Shopping!

 

Don Ford

 

30 plus years and now... 12.22.14

 

                Yes you read the opening statement correctly, 30 plus years and now I have changed. You may be thinking that it took me a long time to change, but it wasn’t even a half a century, although it did last almost half of my life.

                Now that I have re-read the article, it is possible that I should have named it, “nude before lunch”.

                The change went well, with only one small hang-up. Although this is just the third day of the change, everything seems to be as advertised. I fine it rather satisfying when something goes as it was supposed to.

                Saturday, just a few minutes after making the change (30 plus years without change), my present spouse and I went to Jason’s Deli for lunch. We arrived about 12:00 noon and were happy that the establishment was probably two thirds empty. There was a line of about 20 people ahead of us and Jason’s order takers are rather unhurried.

                Actually, being leisurely in the process of taking orders proved to be an interesting thing. As you may know, they have a takeout line which is separate from their dine-in line. As we stood there discussing our food options, I noticed a female subject get out of a sports car and walk toward the door leading to the takeout cash register. Being observant I told my spouse of 45 years to, “Look at that”!

                This female subject had tights on, and they were not as thick as Yoga stretch pants. The female subject was attempting to pull her knit blouse down to help cover some of her private parts. It wasn’t working. As she stood at the cash register, with her back to us, we were all looking and some of us were commenting.

We were able to see through the tights and observe most of her posterior. We were unable to determine if she had underwear on, she could have had a thong but if she did it was embedded deeply between her cheeks.

My spouse noted that her posterior wrinkled when she moved. If you are having difficulty imagining what this female subject looked like, imagine her with a jacket, a blouse that was longer than her jacket covering less than half her posterior and nude from the waist down. 

                Even I felt, that it was not appropriate to dress like that in public. As she walked away we were able to see her face and she was not even close to being a young female subject. I bet Santa has this female subject on the naughty list.

                Lunch was enjoyable, the Ruben sandwich is always too large to handle, our put into your mouth. The ice cream for dessert was nice.

                I seemed to have strayed from the subject at hand. Let’s see, change after an initial 30 years of a test run.

                Many years ago, I purchased what was to be my first cell phone. That unit was called a, “bag phone”, and I conned the spouse into the purchase by saying, it would be good to have for emergencies when we were driving. There were few cell towers, the bag phone was a 5 watt unit and I had an antenna on the outside of my truck. Cell phones today have maybe one tenth of a watt of power, but there are cell towers everywhere.

                The change is, I have left AT&T after 30 years and went to Consumer Cellular. No contracts, less than half the cost of ATT, kept the same number and I did not need to purchase phones, am using the same phones. The $40.00 credit didn’t hurt for opening the account with two lines.

                What was the small hang-up in the changeover? I should have known, you always have a question! When Donna calls the house with her phone it announces her as Don Ford.

                Today is Monday and Christmas is almost here. I hope we are ready.

 

I hope you are not on the naughty list!

 

Don Ford

 

Merry Christmas

 

     

 

Two parts to Christmas as I see it, don’t forget to original reason while enjoying the more present day part of Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas to all

 

It is easy to form a Habit 12.18.14

 

                I have written about people and their habits, especially older people. I have observed that habitual actions are not restricted to the human species alone.

                I remember our Dog Tejas would go to where we kept his afternoon treat at about 5:00pm each day, and stand there staring at the container. It had become a habit for me to give him his treat at that time and it was a habit for him to expect the treat at that time.

                Most recently I have been aware of Molly (our cat) jumping on the bed each morning a couple minutes before I normally get up. She will get on top of me and wait for me to pet her. I am a light sleeper and wake up easily.

I begin to pet her and she gets off me and gets on Donna. Donna sleeps more soundly than me, or at least she does not acknowledge Molly. Molly then returns to me for some petting. After a few minutes she will abruptly leave. That is when I look at the clock and it is time for me to get up.

I guess you could not ask for a better alarm clock.

                The other cat, the one that adopted us, his name is Charley, aka “Sorry Charley”. His habit is eating anything and any time along with taking naps. In the photo below he is on the arm of Donna’s chair, but he has formed a habit of sleeping in, my chair.                Bad Kitty!

 

May all your habits be enjoyable!

Don Ford  

 

 

Christmas past 12.15.14

 

                Christmas at the Ford House.

                I would like to relate some memories of Christmas past at the Ford’s house. I should begin by stating, there are not many olden days memories that can be retrieved from my fertile brain.

 In the photo, you should see the Christmas cactus in bloom. You should not see the carton it is sitting on, which can’t easily be seen when an adult is standing erect looking down.

 

                One of the Christmas’ that I remember, we lived in the country. The house was in the fork of two roads, with snake hill on the right (duly named because it had about five curves in it before you reached the top) and Sprigg Street on the left, no curves just a hill. Being an experienced bicycle rider at my young age I (along with friends) would push our bikes up the hill (there wasn’t any way that we could ride up that monster) then at the top we would get on the bikes and coast down the hill.

What? You don’t think that sounds like much of a challenge? Well, smarty pants, listen to the rest of the story. The challenge was to do this without holding the handlebars, AKA “No Hands”! Snake hill was steep and curvy and if you made it to the bottom in one piece, the road continued downhill but much less incline, for another eighth mile past the Mattress Factory and across the bridge at Juden creek.

I can see you have a question, I will provide the answer before you ask it. Yes, we did use our breaks as we descended snake hill, otherwise the speed would have been excessive.

Let me answer the other two questions you have before I continue with the story.

No, I never fell during these challenging rides.

None of the boys were rich enough to have bikes with hand breaks so we were all able to slow the bikes without touching the handlebars.                                                                                                       

You always have these trivial questions, let me get back to my story. I could have been done if it weren’t’ for these questions. 

Back to the story, remember, we lived in the country.

It was Christmas Eve and there was a possibility of snow! When we awoke on Christmas morning, we had the storybook, “White Christmas”, consisting of about 5 inches of snow. Before you ask, no I did not get a sled for Christmas, I already had one.

I believe I was 10 or 11 years old at the time. We were supposed to have family visiting in the afternoon, so I took my sled and pulled it from the house making tracks in the snow. My thought was that I would tell my nephews that Santa had been here, and those were his sleds tracks.

Dad pointed out that my foot prints might be hard to explain and that my sled was probably not as big as Santa’s.                My great plan was foiled.

 

Another year I wanted a toy derringer like Paladin had on the TV show. The TV show was, “Have gun, will travel” and the main character carried a six gun and a derringer. The small derringer saved him in most of the shows.

The toy gun cost $2.00 at the toy store and I had begged for one. I learned from my nephew Paul, that his mother was getting me the toy gun. On Christmas day I opened the smallest package first and it was the toy derringer! I am sure I got a couple other gifts that year but I can’t remember them, I was too excited about the derringer.

 

I remember a gift I bought from mom one Christmas. It was a lamp and when you turned it on, the heat from the bulb would rise and cause the inside to move. On the outside there was and old model T Ford and when the lamp was on, with the insides turning, it gave the allusion that the car was driving down the road. I thought this was the best thing ever.

 

We always had a real tree at the Ford House. Back in the olden days, Christmas trees were sold in many places. I can remember going with Mom and Dad to the gas station on Margon Oak Street, near the Mississippi Bridge, to select the perfect tree. If memory serves me, these trees were advertised at $3.95 each. I remember they liked to get the tree no more than two weeks before Christmas. It would be left outside in the garage thinking that it would not dry out as bad in the cool or cold weather.

A week before Christmas the tree was brought into the house, it was placed in front of the window so anyone driving past could see it. As a kid I liked helping decorate the tree. I remember the tinsel and the plastic ice sickles that we hung on the branches. Mom said the tinsel had to be hung just right and not tangled up. It didn’t matter to me, it was a Christmas tree and there was going to be presents.

The day after Christmas the tree was taken down, I did not help.

Another, among my Christmas memories, would be the plays that were always put on at church. There was always the usual individuals in these plays, and I, on occasion, played one of the three wise men. I may have been cast in this roll, due to my superior intellect. 

The part I remember most was the last part I played in a church play. I was a “cop” in a Christmas play. I likely got the part due to my size, I was a big kid (teenager) and the police officer’s uniform they had would fit me.

The play began with me and another boy outside the doors to the church. The other boy would run inside the church with me chasing him and I was to catch him just as we arrived at the front of the church.  Not everyone knew that this was going to happen so we surprised some of the audience. I caught the other boy at the front of the church and when through my lines flawlessly, although I no longer remember my lines. Then the main part of the play began, and we kind of faded away (went and sit down).

As with so many things in life, if we want to have lasting memories of Christmas or any event, we should get involved. Being involved will help preserve the many great memories. 

 

May all your lasting memories be good, fun, safe and happy!

 

Don Ford

 

Sounds 12.13.14

 

                It was early on a December morning, the weather was a cold 36 degrees as I ventured forth to retrieve my spouse of 45 years newspaper.

                Now the term newspaper, in my considered opinion, is a misnomer. Although these articles are made from paper, they have little if any news in them. I believe it has been suggested that they be called Ad-Papers, because they are mostly advertisements.

                I found the so called newspaper laying in the grass a few feet off the side walk. Being a gentleman, I placed the paper on her recliner.

                Our cat Molly hasn’t been outside for quite a while due to the new cat, “Charley”. They haven’t become friends yet, and at this rate, may never become friends.

                Molly was standing at the door looking so pitiful that I had to offer her some time outside. Molly was hesitant at first, then she decided to go out for some fresh air. I being an excellent host, went out with her.

                The sun had not risen as of yet, so the darkness along with the freezing cold temperature made standing on the porch without a jacket almost unbearable. As you may be able to envision each time I inhaled the cold dry air would enter my body which was reducing my body’s core temperature. Each time I exhaled, the warm moist air from my lungs would make it look as if I were smoking. With each breath my old frail body was getting colder.

                During this time I became aware of the sounds around me. There was a slight noise being made each time a leaf fell from my neighbor’s tree. At first I didn’t want to believe I could hear the leaves falling. I decided to venture out to the street to be sure of what I was hearing. The leaves are small yellow leaves and they are dry. The dry leaf hitting other leaves on the ground was what I heard.

                I would like to tell you that it is my superior hearing abilities, but it was just very quiet during the morning hours.

                Something startled Molly and she ran back to the door.

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

                The same day but in the afternoon I had taken my nap and decided to go outside and pick up some acorns. Even though I have repeatedly harvested these acorns, the ground is still covered.

                During the harvesting I heard a siren which I believed to be from an ambulance due to the direction it came from. The sounds faded away and I hope that the first responders would be safe and able to help the person or people they were in route to.

                Oddly in just a short period of time I could hear what sounded like explosives from Fort Hood. We do occasionally here the reports from bombs and other explosives if the wind is just right.

                As soon as the sound of explosives had gone there was the sound of a Rocket being launched? OK, they don’t really launch the rockets at the test facility but they do test the rocket motors. This one was about a 15 second burn.

                Immediately after the rocket blast I could hear the Hewitt fire trucks making a run. There was at least two and they seemed to be heading for the interstate.

                Have you ever heard the sound of rapid small arms fire? That is the sound I heard as the fire trucks sirens were fading away. This sound was in bursts of 5 to 10 at a time with short breaks in between. The small arms fire sound was coming from about a block away. It was from and old scooter without a muffler that would not stay running.  All these sounds were somewhat like a war zone.

                It can be interesting the sounds one may hear if only we listen.

 

Below we see Molly’s nemesis, “Charley”, no not Gabi. Lazy and always hungry would define “Sorry Charley” and me.   

Gabi’s birthday is 12/13/14, she will be 8 years old.

I hope your sounds are all soft and sweet.

Don Ford               

 

 

Employed but don't care 12.11.14

 

Preamble:

This story takes place on a Sunday evening in December, about 5:30pm. It unfortunately depicts a growing population of people who don’t know how to do their job properly, and or, don’t care!

In this story the featured subject is a female, possibly between the ages of 20 to 30.

This person is employed at a fast food establishment (I will not mention the name but it could be called a Joke in the Box) and she is probably working for minimum wage.

The establishment is located in a high traffic area.

          For this story and in real life, I am always aware of, and evaluating employees at any and all business. I quickly decide whether they are above, at or below average employees. You can call me prejudges if you want, I do quickly evaluate (AKA judge) employees (within the first few seconds) and I am most often correct in my judgment.

          In this story I will tell you of a problem and attempt to provide the solution.

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

                It was a Sunday evening as darkness descended on The Ford Homestead. I was sitting comfortably in my recliner considering possibilities for supper. I asked my present spouse if she had any thoughts about supper. Her reply was, “I hadn’t thought about it but now that you bring it up I could eat something. I asked if she would want me to go to one of the hamburger joints fast food establishments and procure us a couple sandwiches.

After a debate on the subject (men like to have short verbal exchanges not discussions) we decided on Chicken sandwiches. My spouse went through her stack of coupons and found one for a particular establishment which was about a half mile further from the house than the other establishments. It might have been less expensive to pay full price at a closer establishment but…

During my daunting drive on this dark, cold and foreboding evening I had passed through the sixth traffic light and moved into the left turn lane on my final approach to the establishment. Suddenly, it became apparent that there were no lights on around the building and the interior was very dimly lit. Is the place closed? Why, it isn’t a holiday? There was a lot of traffic which slowed my efforts to turn onto their parking lot.

Continuing to evaluate the situation, I noticed a couple cars parked on their lot. Maybe they are open, I thought.

Finally, there was a break in the traffic and I was able to execute a left turn on to the lot, parking next to the handicapped spot, I could see one person inside the building. Using my enormous intellect, I rapidly evaluated the situation. A dark parking lot, dim lighting inside the building, one man standing there with something in his hand. He is either waiting on his order or, he may be in the process of armed robbery. Being a scaredy cat cautious person, I continued to observe this male Caucasian Suspect. I was able to distinguish that he had a drink in his hand and not a gun. Feeling somewhat safer, I entered the establishment.

I approached the counter with coupon in hand and waited for an employee to assist me. I stood there for what seemed to be an eternity, not seeing any employees.

Then it happened! There she was, Miss I don’t want to be here, you are bothering me, why do I have to talk to you, and she will never win the, “Miss Congeniality award”. If you haven’t noticed, I did immediately judge this person.

I, being a helpful person and with a cheerful smile on my face commented, I thought you were closed, there are no lights on around the outside of the building and your parking lot is very dark.

This wonderful person did not respond to my comment instead she asked, “Can I take your order”. I wanted to correct her by explaining, proper grammar would be, “may I take your order” and that question should be followed up with the magic word, “please”. Knowing this person was going to handle food that I was going to order, I decided to keep my mouth shut for a change. I gave her my order and received two drink cups which I had to fill.

As I waited for my order I observed the interior of the establishment. It appeared to be clean but it was difficult to tell as they had very dim lighting in the building. I have (in the olden days) been in sleazy bars that had better lighting. I did notice that many of the light fixtures were not activated (turned off).

My thought pattern went something like this; (1) possibly they are trying to save money by reducing the lighting or, (2) they are attempting to present the allusion that they are closed so no customers will come in and bother them, the second option seemed to be working.  

After getting my drinks and waiting a couple minutes for the food, she called my number, “321” I approached the counter. She was looking at the monitor and asked, “Did your order have cookies”? I replied, “I believe it did”. She got the cookies and placed them in the bag. “Do you want ketchup”, she asked, I answered “yes please”. She grabbed a hand full and tossed them into the bag. These ketchup packets have probably been handled by many personnel who never wash their hands, and most likely sneezed on by some, still they are thrown into the sack on top of our fries. 

Not one time did she smile, or use the words, “Please or Thank You”.

                I believe I was correct in my quick judgment, she did not want to work, and she just wanted the pay. If this person had a goal it may have been to do the least amount of work possible. 

The following are suggestions which would help improve this type situation.

Teach their employees that, “They need customers to stay open” and, “they must provide a service or product that is acceptable to the customer”, in order to pay the employees.

They are to present a happy attitude to the customer, including a smile.

They must be polite when communicating with the customer, and use the words Please and Thank You.

Manager? If they had one, he/she was either not a good trainer, and or may have been of the same opinion as the employee, and if so should be terminated.

The owner of this business could have shut the place down and saved money. It appeared to be closed anyway, few were coming in, he/she was paying staff to do little work, and offend customers.

 

I hope your fast food experiences are better than mine!

 

Don Ford

 

                If I were a betting person, I would bet that the female subject who took my order while being less that polite, probably thinks she should make $15.00 per hour. In my humble opinion, if she is making minimum wage she is being over paid.

 

Lucky but still need... 12.10.14

 

                Wow, what a night! 

                Got your interest now, don’t I? Yes I would say that my spouse of 45 years and I had an enjoyable evening at a party. You may be wondering whether going to a party is better than staying home and eating road kill, although, “Skunk Burgers” are aromatic and tasty. I believe they are best when you have a big slice of onion, dill pickles, mustard and mayonnaise.

                Going to a party where there is free food, what could be better to a person on a fixed income?

                This party was last Saturday evening at a local hotel.

 

Speaking of Saturday, I tried to pick up as many acorns as possible. In a previous article I noted that I have used a vacuum to pick up acorns.  The vacuum is especially good for those acorns that can’t be seen, you know, those that have fell through and under the grass. The vacuum finds them and pulls them out. For those that are on top I still used the nut picker upper.

I worked for several hours and recovered many of these nuts but it seems as if I have not made a dent in the acorn population. I have two photos as evidence of my effort.

   

                Above we see our trash container which is over half full of acorns. The container is so heavy, I decided to not put any additional nuts in the container for now. I will need to put some trash from the house in it for the Monday pickup.

                Below you can see a wagon load of nuts that will go in the trash container after the trash truck runs on Monday. Then I will begin again.

                Yes I do get some leaves and dead grass when I use the vacuum but they don’t weigh much.

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

                Back to the subject at hand, “the Christmas party”. My spouse of 45 years and I went to the Do it Best Corp. Christmas party on Saturday evening. We arrived early enough to enjoy the Hors d’oeuvres (a snack served before the meal) and to talk with some of the other attendees.

We were greeted by the manager upon arrival and given a ticket for the drawings which would occur later. The party was a BYOB and we observed attendees who were bringing in anything from a bottle to a cooler. No, my spouse and I did not participate in the consumption of adult beverages.

It appeared that we were the only retirees in attendance. I have been retired for three years now and I was working in Logistics (not in the Waco Center) for a couple years before I retired. So it isn’t surprising to see people that I do not know at these events.

We found a table where the people were talkative and I would say we had a good time. After the meal was served there was a karaoke machine, and they invited anyone who thought they could, to sing.

I found it interesting that people would get up in front of the group and try to sing. I also noticed that as the adult beverages were consumed there were more people that attempted to sing. There were various people at various times making videos with their cell phones. I assume they will show the performers these videos after the effects of the adult beverages has worn off. 

There were drawings throughout the evening with various gifts being given away. I guess you could say I was lucky, I won a table saw. I picked it at the DIB center on Monday. I have put it together and it is a very nice saw.

As to the title of this article, “Lucky but still need…” the complete title should read as, “Lucky but still need money to buy wood for a project”.

If you have not donated lately there is still time to make a, “non-tax deductible donation” to “The Ford Homestead, wood for a project fund”. 

Winning the table saw, was a nice end to a funny and enjoyable evening.

 

I hope your Christmas party is/was as good as ours!

 

Don Ford

 

 

December 2014 12.05.14

 

                Spring has sprung,

Fall has fell,

December is here and we are poor as…

You can finish the last line as you see fit.  I was kinda thinking, we are as poor as church mice, but then I remember that most churches have coffee and cake or cookies after or during some of their meeting and events, we don’t. That being a true statement, “Church Mice” may not be as bad off as we are.

“The Ford Homestead” is trying to be the bright light in the neighborhood, by displaying Christmas lights. The expense is putting a major strain on our budget, you know we are on a fixed income, and we can use your help.

It is now time to dig deeply into your pockets and donate to, “The Ford Homestead Lighting Fund”. We believe it is important to provide this small, but bright seasonal lighting, in an effort to brighten up an otherwise dark and dull retirement community. (It is almost a retirement community with 2/3 of the houses, in a little more than one block having at least one retired person.)

You can find the address for your donations on our web site and while you are there you can check out the list of items that are acceptable as Christmas Gifts for me.

I should note that the star you see over the house is not a real star in the sky, but one I have placed on my flag pole. I did not want any misunderstanding.

Over 500 lights were removed from, then replaced, on the angel, prior to display.

 

Please donate generously, it will make me you feel good!

Don Ford

 

Crazy Neighbor 12.04.20

 

                We may all have had one, at some point in our lives, you know, the old man or woman who lived a couple houses down the street. They were always out in the yard doing something and watching the neighborhood. They weren’t a part of any neighborhood watch but they did know something about anything that happened.

                Yes they had lived in the same house for ever and they knew every vehicle that should be on the street and those cars that were not from the neighborhood.

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                Before I get too deep into my story, I want to tell you of a recent adoption. It started last Thursday when the grand kids were playing in the back yard. This cat came out from under the shed to play with the kids.

                It is white with Orange spots, very friendly and everyone thought it was a female. Being the kind people we are, we fed the cat. Turns out that the cat likes Thanksgiving turkey.

                On Monday I took the cat to the vet hoping it had a chip, but no chip. They checked the cat over very close and the vet verified that it was indeed, a male and it had been fixed. The vet pronounced him as healthy after a couple hundred dollars of tests and shots. The cat has adopted us!

                The problem now is, Molly don’t like him. We are hoping in time she will accept him.

This cat has spent more time on our laps in one day than Molly has in two years.

We are considering calling him Charlie (Sorry Charley).  

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                Back to my original thought, what was it? 

Oh, I remember, the crazy neighbor that could live next door.

I was out in the yard working today, minding my own business. I had noticed my neighbor across the street was also doing some yard work and it was about then that I observed a police car drive slowly down the street.

You might think there is nothing unusual about a patrol car in the neighborhood but I am here to tell you, they seldom come down our street. Possibly once a month and that is when someone calls them.

Why was he here? Had someone called in about the crazy neighbor? The officer stopped at the end of the street and just sat there. Did he have his camera with a telephoto lens, and was he taking photos? What was he looking for?

Keeping one eye on the patrol car, I continued my work in the yard (no I am not cross eyed, although I can cross my eyes, but mom told me not to do that, they might get stuck that way).

After a couple minutes I noticed another neighbor standing in his yard staring in my direction. I looked around and there was nothing unusual behind me, I looked down and I had not forgot to put my pants on, this time (I don’t forget my pants too often). Why was he looking at me?

I decided to stopped my work and find out why he was watching me. As I crossed the street he was now smiling, almost laughing. What was so funny, had I done something to cause him to laugh in my face? Was he being cruel laughing at me, or was he indeed laughing with me? I am going to find out right now!

His laughter, must have had something to do with my yard work. I quickly devised a preemptive comment, to keep him from saying anything.

I started with, “I can explain. If you were to go to a barber and get your hair cut they would not leave the cut hair laying on your head, would they?” His answer was, “no they would not”. I explained, that is why I am grooming my yard the way I am. He said he understood, but he still had a big smile on his face.

In the photo below you will see me vacuuming the yard. Yes I have a coat on it was only 50 degrees at the time of this photo.

 

                For those of you who are observant, you may have noticed you can only see one of the Christmas decorations that my present spouse has place in the yard. It is the angel leaning against the tree.

                You may have also noticed that most of the leaves have been vacuumed from the yard. I used the lawn mower with the grass catcher to vacuum up the leaves. The partial bundle of straw is left over from the manger scene, my first wife did not put it away.

                The neighbor (not in this photo) noted that the vacuum was doing a good job, and it seemed to be less work for me. I agreed saying I need a longer power cord.

                Do you think the cop was called by a neighbor saying, there is a crazy old man vacuuming his yard?

                Why was I vacuuming the yard? I was picking up acorns. I removed the filters from the vacuum and it does a real good job of picking them up. It is also much easier that using the pecan roller/picker upper.

                I wasn’t the first person to try this, my other neighbor had his vacuum out picking up pecans before me, now who is crazy? 

 

Maybe you should try to be, “the crazy neighbor”. 

           It can be fun.

Don Ford

 

Train Ride to North Pole 12.02.14

 

                First I would like to point out that this is my first posting of December and we are 3 weeks and a couple days from Christmas. You better “start” buying those presents!

                This past Saturday my present spouse and the two grand kids along with Dave and Claire, drove over to east Texas for a train ride. As you might imagine, my first wife’s van was full of people. It was the first time that I remember having six people in the vehicle.

                Gabi and Alex sat in the back seats and watch videos both going and coming. The neat thing about that was they used the head phones that came with the vehicle. We did not have to listen to Scooby Doo or Sponge Bob Square Pants. The vehicle allows for the radio to play at the same time as the video player so everyone can enjoy the ride.

                The drive was just a little over 100 miles and according to the GPS it was to take 2 hours to get there.

                We all met here at, “The Ford Homestead” and then went to an early lunch before hitting the road.

                Our route was fairly simple, Hwy 84 until we arrived in Palestine, TX then we allowed the GPS to direct us to the train station.

                We arrived early and got our tickets. I was happy that the tickets were reserved seats so we didn’t need to worry about getting on early.

                Our train car had seats facing each other with a table between the seats. There were three people working in our car, you should be able to see two of them in the center of the photo below. The photo was taken with my $5.00 phone.

You can see the inside of the car; that is David on the right sitting by himself. The young man on the far left is my present spouse’ grandson, Alex. Can you believe he would make a face at his Papaw.

                You can just see Gabi’s pink sweater, her mother Claire next to her and the lady with her back to the photographer is my first wife. You have probably noticed that I did not get into the photo. I haven’t learned the art of Selfies with others in the back ground.

                They provided us with Cookies and Hot Chocolate during the ride. They told the story of the Polar Express. We rode for about 30 minutes before arriving at the North Pole. Santa got on the train and went through all the cars talking to the kids and giving them each a silver bell during the ride back to the station.

                On the ride back to the station there was dancing (kids and railroad employees) in the aisles. Gabi joined in but Alex did not.      All in all it was a fun event.          

               

 

                We started for home just a little before dark and on the way home we were able to pick up some road kill. There were two raccoons, a possum, three skunks and a squirrel. We told the grand kids that we were helping the highway department keep the highway clean by picking up the road kills, when the truth was, it cost so much for the train ride that we need the road kill so we can eat for the next few weeks.

                A suggestion, if you are planning on picking up a road killed skunk you should have plastic bags that you can put the skunk in it and seal it shut. My present wife’s vehicle kinda has a, sweet skunky order to it now.

               

                Now that Christmas is so close you may need some suggestions for my Christmas gift. I have made a list and it is posted on our web site. As with last year, I will happily accept gift cards of $50.00 or more in place of a gift.

 

Don’t pick up road kill over two days old!

 

Don Ford

 

September 11, 2001 by Don Ford

 

                I am sure everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on Tuesday, September 11^th, 2001.

                A friend suggested I might consider putting my memories of that date and the following days, in an article and post it to the blog.

                It should be understood, I was in New York State but not in New York City.

                I was working at the Do it Best Corp’s Service Center, in Montgomery New York, as interim manager.

Montgomery N. Y. is probably best known for Orange County Choppers, they make chopper motorcycles and had a TV show for a while.

As I am sure most would say, that day seemed to be just like any other day until…

I learned of the attack when a supervisor came into the manager’s office and said, “A plane has crashed into the world trade center”.

                To be totally honest, I had no idea what the world trade center was, until that day, never having been in the City of New York.

One of the supervisors had received a call telling him what had happened saying, that is all that’s on the TV.  

                Shocked by such an event, we wanted to see what was happening. I asked where the TV was located. They did not have a TV in the office or break room.  I knew we stocked some portable TVs so I asked the supervisor to get one out of stock quickly and set it in the break room so everyone can see it during break.

                Not having a TV meant they did not have cable either. We attempted to watch this portable TV with rabbit ears for an antenna. The picture was poor but we could see some of what was happening. I remember as most of us were watching and listening to the announcer, there was little if any conversation in the break room.

                They had a radio in the office which was providing additional information.

Two planes had flown into the world trade center buildings. We now knew these were terrorist attacks. We had also learned there was a third plane that evidently had been hijacked, and they were not sure where it was.

I briefly thought, our building is large, what would we do if the plane decided to crash into it. There was nothing we could do, other than evacuate. If we had no advanced notice that a plane was heading our way we could do nothing preemptive.

Some of the staff members had friends or relatives who worked in those buildings. I remember a couple people asked if they could leave and try to find out if their families were ok.  

The FAA was grounding all flights. Those that were already in the air were instructed to land immediately.

We learned somewhat later that the third plane had crashed in a field with no survivors.

Considering all the tragic events unfolding during the day, the staff at the Montgomery center somehow were able to complete that day’s work. I would say they all should be commended for their ability to stay somewhat focused on their work during that day, and the following days. 

All flights were canceled meaning no civilian planes were flying anywhere and they were not saying when they would be allowed to fly again. This meant all travelers (including me) that were relying on flying to their home destination, were just out of luck.

There was a message sent to DIB travelers stating something to the effect, if you are traveling for the company and have a rental car, you should keep your rental car, do not turn it in. You may be required to drive home.

The rental car I had was a full size boat of a car. Even though the company rented smaller vehicles, occasionally the rental company would be out of the size you had requested and you would get something larger. If I were to need to drive home, it would be a long drive but it would be comfortable.

The New York State police were marshaling in the Stewart / Newburgh area, which is just a few miles from Montgomery and where my hotel was. The state police were gathering here before being dispatched to New York City. It was amazing the number of state police vehicles you would see on the roads. There were literally hundreds of state police vehicles in the area. One evening as I was driving to the hotel there were at least five state police cars in front of me and more than that behind me, while there were others driving on the opposite side of the highway. I felt as if I was the misfit in a parade of police vehicles.

Authorities were considering all terrorist possibilities even to the point of having guards stationed at area water reservoirs.  

Unfortunately, during this time of turmoil, one employee pushed another employee which subjects him to termination. After all the necessary calls to the HR department it was decided to terminate this person. During the time this decision was being made, another staff member told me this person had said, “If they think they are going to terminate me they better have the police here”.  

                Being a person who likes to accommodate the wishes of others, I called the police and explained the situation. They explained that they were very busy, but they would send someone over when we were ready to terminate. I explained that we were ready now. In just a few minutes the officer arrived. I remember this officer as, “a walking mountain”, he was big and strong.

We called the employee to the office. When he arrived, the officer walked up to him, got in the employees face and said, this man has something to tell you, sit down and listen.

The officer turned to me and said go ahead. When I finished, the officer got back in this person’s face again and asked, “Do you understand what this man has told you, will I need to come back? The person replied I understand and you will not need to come back. 

After several days there were a few flights taking to the air. The airport at Stewart where I normally would fly into and out of, was still closed.

I received a call from the home office with instructions to go to the Stewart airport the next morning. When I went to return the rental car there was instructions on the closed gate to take the car several blocks away from the airport. A rental car employee brought me back to the airport.

There was an airport employee who met me and another lady outside the building. We were put in a taxi that drove us to an airport near White Planes N.Y.

I should not have been surprised at the amount of security present. We went through a police road block in which the officer looked through the taxi and the trunk before allowing us to get close to the airport. The two of us got out of the taxi and went into the airport to check in. I checked my suit case for the flight home and they opened it to be sure there was no bombs or weapons.

I always carry a pocket knife and have done so since I was in the third grade. When I flew, I would put the knife in the suit case and check the bag. The fellow opened my bag and saw the knife. He immediately called his supervisor and a police officer to see what he found. They looked at the knife (it wasn’t a small pocket knife) and then looked at me. I said, the bag is checked, is there a problem? As soon as they realized it was a checked bag, they shut it and patted me down, just to be sure I had no other knives and then let me go through security.

There weren’t many travelers in the airport, I assume only people trying to get back home were flying. As I remember it, there was as many, if not more, uniformed officers and soldiers in the airport as there were civilian travelers.

The flight from White Planes to an airport just outside New York City (I can’t remember which airport it was) was very short. As we were beginning to descend to the airport I looked out the window to see the New York sky line, and I thought I might see the remains of the two buildings. I did not see the destruction, what I did see was a military jet plane flying on the right side of our plane. It was a little unsettling to know that he was there to keep our plane away from flying into a building.

We landed safely, I along with the other passengers went into the airport. I found my gate and took a seat. There were National Guard Soldiers and police carrying guns throughout the building. There was no one talking, very little noise of any type, everyone was very sober acting. I sat in my seat the entire time without saying a word.

I am here to tell you, I was more than happy when we boarded the plane heading away from New York. My flight took me through another airport but I can’t remember if it was Philadelphia or Chicago. I can say I was much happier when we were descending to the Dallas airport. All the flights that I took that day were late starting and arriving.

Arriving at the Dallas airport I saw extra security and even though they were on high alert the atmosphere was not as intimidating as the New York air ports.

The flight from Dallas to Waco which only takes about 25 minutes left Dallas after midnight. I arrived in Waco about 1:00am on a Sunday morning. My wife met me at the Waco airport. 

Arriving this late, or early, however you want to look at it, I missed the annual profit sharing meeting. This was the first profit sharing meeting that I had missed during my employment at DIB. I was to receive a service award for thirty years of employment (a ring) at that meeting. My wife accepted the award for me, but it would have been nicer if I could have made it home in time to accept the ring for myself.

                                  

Those are my memories of September 11^th, 2001.

 

 

Don Ford