02.21.17 Hot and sweaty

                As I look at the title of this article, I now realize that some of you have gotten the wrong idea. The words, “Hot and sweaty”, do not apply to some bed room activity. Some of you have minds that are always somewhere they don’t need to be! You should read more of the article before you develop a hypothesis of what the story is about!

(I find it amazing that I can spell hypothesis, but I only get the word dosen’t doesn’t right less than half the time.)

                Today’s tale has to do with me doing the grounds manager’s work, again! Yes we allowed him to have the weekend off so I had to do any necessary work. Necessary work can be defined as, “work designated by the Homestead CEO and financial officer, Mrs. Ford”!

                Mrs. Ford had work she wanted to do inside the Homestead, so she assigned me work to do outside. Do you think this was her way of telling me to get out of the house? She dosen’t doesn’t have to be subtle with me, she could have just said, “Get out”, and I would have obeyed went outside.

                I was assigned to trim the bushes behind the homestead, as we do every year. We attempt to keep them at about a 10 foot level and away from the roof shingles. I put my long sleeved white shirt on, which has many signs of injuries from the thorns here at the homestead. I also put the gloves on and my old western straw hat, which has been shaped into a work hat. The old hat does keep the sun off me but it gets caught on limbs and other obstacles quite often.

                Happily, about half of this work could be done from ground level, but I had to work from a ladder on the upper half. It took maybe 1.5 hours to complete said project, including the cleanup of the clippings. Later as I was considering the work I had completed, I thought this work could have been completed much easier and probably neater, if I had a hedge trimer. Maybe my first wife can find one at a yard sell, at a price that someone on a fixed income, can afford.

                Later that afternoon, I watered the flowers in the Ford’s Green house. The green house is so packed with plants that it is a very difficult job to water each plant.

     

In the photos one can see the closeness of the flora. I do remove the heat lamp when watering the plants. Yes there have been blooms on some of the plants all winter. When I first open the door and window of the greenhouse the temp in side was over 100 degrees. With the door and windows shut and a little sun light it gets very warm inside. Click on photos to enlarge.

If spring isn’t here, it is coming soon!

Don Ford