An uncloudy day 07.28.17

                Today is Friday, no not Friday the 13^th. Please, will you stop asking questions while I am trying to impart valuable information to you, the likely uninformed reader!

                Let me start again! Today is Friday the 28^th, and it started as most days do with vigorous exercise. No not by me, but there are people who exercise every morning. It is almost August, and we all know what happens in August. L

                As I was walking this morning, I was thinking that today is a, “Hot and sultry day”. Do you know that the word hot and the word sultry mean basically the same thing? So why would your author, me, use two words meaning the same thing? I can only assume it has something to do with the education of, or the lack thereof.

                Anyway, when I think of sultry, I like to associate that with a good looking female of the human species, dress scantly. The description does not apply to the female subject that I saw this morning. I had left the Homestead and had driven to the drug store. By using the term drug store, I am talking about a place to go and purchase everything from legal drugs to flash light batteries. When I pulled into a parking space and looked to my right, there was a female subject (not young) dressed as if she had been exercising. Her top was what I called a tank top (not sure what they are call now days). She looked at me and smiled. As she was getting situated in her seat her top seemed to be somewhat loose, almost revealing parts of her body. Even though she seemed to want someone to look, I didn’t have time to participate in looking, so I got out of the Ford’s Chevy and proceeded inside.

                I was in search of Benadryl for the Tres. Tres had been scratching and we have been bathing him in a special shampoo along with giving him a pill twice a day. I called the vet yesterday but he is out of the office until next week, so they suggested giving Tres half a 25 mg tablet of Benadryl each morning and evening. Then check beck with the vet on Monday.

                What does that have to do with the title of this article? Nothing, it is just a little info about my morning.

                An uncloudy day can mean several things. Let’s say a person has a problem and they have recently discovered a solution to that problem. They might see the day as being, “An uncloudy day”!

                Why would I be considering the statement, “An uncloudy day”? Well, even though I might have problems finding our next meal, being on a fixed income, problems have nothing to do with this article.

                As I walked this morning, I looked up and observed zero clouds in the sky. A perfectly clear sky for my morning walk, is somewhat unusual. I have no photos of the perfectly clear sky as there would be nothing but a pretty blue screen on your device. I do however have photos that I have taken during previous walks.

  

 click to enlarge.

Cloudy or not, have a great day!

Don Ford

                  

On Guard 07.27.17

            As with all, I mean most, ok smarty pants, some of my stories are true! This story happened on the afternoon of July 24^th 2017, at about 5:30pm. It was a humid day, but not too hot, as the temperature was only about 91 degrees due to the cloudy condition, and the fact that it had been sprinkling (for the uninformed reader sprinkling means “water falling from the sky”) off and on during the day.

            I was reposing on the Ford’s Old rocking chair that is situated near the garage door on the drive way. As I was relaxing in the old rocking chair, I was having a cold beverage. My mind was not focused on anything, as I neared a deep state of tranquility. All was right in my world at this moment and that is when it happened!

            Tres, who had been playing in the yard and driveway area suddenly began to growl and then started barking. It is not unusual for Tres to bark at everything, even inanimate objects. I turned to see what he was barking at, when I noticed that the hair on his back was standing up, as he continued to bark.

            I could see that Tres was looking toward the neighbor’s house, so I turned in that direction. It was our neighbor walking through his yard and onto our drive way.

            Tres Had never met this neighbor. I calmed him down as he continued watching this unknown to him, intruder!

            The neighbor explained that both of his dogs were missing. He explained that his larger dog was afraid of thunder, and when it was thundering the other night, the dog had chewed through a chain link fence and escaped. Evidently the smaller dog decided to leave through the same hole in the fence.

            I noted that I had not seen them, but if they came back I would pin them up for him.

            When the neighbor left I told Tres that he was a good puppy. I was surprised and happy that he would alert me of anyone that was a stranger to him! Guard Dog Supreme!

            Now if we can just get him to stop biting family members!

Strangers beware, Guard Puppy on duty!

 

In the photo on the right (not as professional as I would like) we see Tres breaking the rules. He is in my first wife’s chair and when she gets done with her shower, he will probably be in trouble!

Don Ford

Compare 07.25.17

                The title wants you to compare the two following photos. These two photos are of the same Pot Hound (aka German Shepard) (aka Tres). When one uses the term Pot Hound, they may have a couple pictures in mind. The one I think of is, any dog that licks a pot from the kitchen clean. Others may have a vision of the dog drinking from the toilet! L

                The first photo is of a puppy, Tres 5 weeks old. The second is of the puppy Tres, 12 weeks old.

   At times Tres is a fun filled puppy. Other times he is a total pain in the back side. He lays around and sleeps a lot but when he is a wake he wants your attention. You can’t eat anything without being watched. He will also jump up with his front feet on your chair, hoping you will feed him some of your food.

 

                We, and by we I mean, both me and my first wife, have allowed Tres to get in the recliner with us. While he is still reasonably small, this is not too bad, but this will likely lead to having a full grown German Sheppard unexpectedly jump onto our lap. That has happen in the past with other Shepard’s we have had.

                A neighbor asked, “How’s the new baby doing”? I responded with, it is very much like having a new human baby in the house. With a new human baby one tries to child proof everything. New human babies try to put everything in their mouth. Guess what, Tres don’t try, he actually puts everything in his mouth and then chews on it.

                When I say everything, I am not stretching the truth! Last night he went into one room and got a mouth full of decorations and took them in to the bed room. We were in the living room when I began to hear some crunching sounds. I went into the bed room and he was chewing these decorations into pieces. They were small glass balls that looked like cherries, and the stems were made of wire. All of which were not good things to have a puppy trying to eat. When I was picking these things up, he was also trying to get to them.

                Different subject:

                It rained here Sunday, a short rain of ¼ inch, and I had not been outside doing the rain dance. We are thankful for any amount of rain we can get. Over the past couple weeks the rain has been going around us but finally we got a little rain.

                It has been hot here and probably where you are also. We have had a couple days of 100 / 101degrees. The rain, although appreciated, increases the humidity which increases the torturous, “feels like” temperature!

                Why do they have a feels like temp? Why can’t they just use one temp and allow us citizens to complain, “It feels hotter than they say it is”!  

Bad guys beware, attack dog on duty!

Don Ford

Friday morning 07.21.17

                A typical morning, I popped out of bed about 5:30 and made a cup of coffee. Tres went outside to do his business. After a while I put some clothes on and went out to DIB to pick up a retiree order, (photo of item purchased to follow).

                A neighbor had one of these, and I liked the way it spread the water over the grass.

                After bringing my new watering device home, I changed clothes and began to mow the yard. I should note that some of the neighbors had not stayed on schedule, they mowed on Thursday. This complete disregard for uniformity, cause me to throw caution to the wind and I, using the riding mower, mowed the back yard on Thursday. If others can break with what should be the norm, then I can also!

                Mowing the back yard on Thursday did provide me with a shorter time out in the heat this morning. I completed the mowing, trimming and blowing of grass by 9:40.

                I have had a cup of coffee and I am now going to get a shower and begin to consider what I might have for lunch. Yes there are left overs in the fridge!

                The grandees are supposed to come over after lunch to swim, so I might not get my normal nap today. Don’t worry, I will sneak a nap in sometime today!

Mow not, and your yard will look like ____ fill in the blank.

Don Ford

42 inches, hard to believe 07.19.17

I have a, not so good photo, of the Tres in the prone position. We require Tres to exercise prior to, and after each meal. On this particular day, he was forced to walk from his resting place to the food bowl. He does put an enormous amount of energy into eating, and then he walked all the way back to his resting place after eating. Puppies need a lot of rest so they can grow into larger dogs.

                In the above photo, we see The Tres resting after his lunch. Yes that is a bucket with some (not all) of his toys in it. Tres is now 42 inches from tip to tip (that is tip of the nose to the tip of the tail). Yes both ears are in the erect position, at least they are, when he is awake. Tres is now 22.5 pounds of pure muscle.

Erect and prone at the same time!

Glad we are talking about a puppy!

            I have no information to provide anyone about addiction, other than the use of tobacco. In truth, I have never taken drugs and I have not used marijuana. Asking me about any addiction other than being addicted to the nicotine in tobacco, and I can’t offer any advice. Sorry that I can’t be of any help.

                Based on nicotine addiction I will say, only the addict can decide to stop. You can preach at them, you can threaten them, and you can tell them they are killing them self, it will not change things. Getting away from an addiction is a personal decision.

                When the decision to stop is made, that person will need support. That person should tell friends and family that they are quitting (not trying to quit, they are quitting) and when they will quit.

                It is important that each friend and family member support this person. Ask them how they are doing often. Let them know you are proud of their decision. Texting is not as personal as face to face contact or a phone call. Call or even skype them and ask how they are doing. 

                An addict who is quitting is doing one of the most difficult things in their life!

You must be there for anyone who is quitting!

Don Ford

One thing leads to another 07.19.17

                One thing leads to another, said the author of this one of a kind documentation.

                I just had to get up and go outside, (yes it was a severe interruption in my thought process), to move the water sprinkler. We here at the Ford Homestead being on a fixed income can’t afford a sprinkler system, so we have to water by hand, or use these lawn sprinklers.

                Back to the story of the day. Would you believe I have had 132 requests for more information about, “The Tres”? That is a staggering number even for my wonderful postings.

                The Tres had been scratching more than expected, even though we had administered the flea dope to the back of his neck, and we have placed a flea collar on his neck, but the scratching continued. My first wife and I gave the Tres a bath yesterday and that did not help.

                We had an appointment for Thursday afternoon so I called the vet and ask if we could get in sooner. They had a cancelation so we have move the appointment to today (Tuesday) at 11:30am. This appointment is with a different doctor at the vet.

                The problem with this situation, other than the Tres scratching, is that appointment (11:30) is during my normal lunch period. We all know how senior retired people like to stay on a schedule. Not having lunch at the normal time will also interfere with one of my daily naps and possibly, a trip to the little boy’s room. As you can see, one thing leads to another and everything goes to heck in a handbasket!

                Good news, the vet said that Tres should be ok in about 7 days. The vet gave, I mean sold us a special shampoo to use every other day for three times. The vet also sold us some pills to take with meals (no not me and the present wife, the pills are for Tres) why do I even try to explain things. The vet said that Tres did not seem to have fleas, but he had an infection that many puppies get after they are removed from their mother. You know, the mother licked them clean as puppies and sometimes a puppy may develop this infection do to no licking.

                Before that one person asks, NO, my first wife and I will not lick Tres daily, but we will apply the shampoo!

               

May you stay on schedule and your itching stop!

 

Don Ford

Bad news good news 07.18.17

                For some unknown reason, the newest resident here at the Ford Homestead had come up with a problem. Tres, the Ford’s new attack dog, had developed a floppy ear (bad news). For those among us who are in the know, Germen Shepherd puppies have floppy ears. Their ears begin to stand erect between two and three months of age.

                Tres’ right ear popped up first, and then a few days later the left ear became erect. As you may well understand, having the right ear become erect first is a very good sign. Wait a minute, before anyone asks why it is good to have the right ear erect first, I would like you to take a minute and consider that statement.

                -----         -----         -----         -----         -----         -----         -----         Do you understand the statement? Good!

               

                The problem showed up Saturday morning when we noticed that Tres’ right ear was not standing erect. What had caused this problem? A floppy ear on a Shepheard is distracting from their beauty.

                We considered all the possible reasons and have established a hypothesis. We believe that Charlie may have hurt Tres’ ear during one of the numerous encounters between the two. If we could prove it Charlie would be severely punished, he would be put in a corner for an hour!

                This morning Tres’ ear has been sporadic, it is erect and then floppy at times. This seems to be a sign of improvement and is good news.

                We have a schedule vet visit this week and hopefully she can enlighten us.

                I have attached a short video for your enjoyment.

Not Always Right But Never Left

Don Ford

Who's batty 07.17.17

                We will get to the title of this wonderful article in a few minutes but first let’s talk about me!

                I am sure hearing about me will make your day. Let’s see, where should I begin? I will start with my wake up time this morning. I had decided to not get up at 3:00 to take Tres out for an early morning bladder evacuation. Instead, I got up at my usual time which is a little after 5:00, there was no problems, Tres has adjusted to the time difference.

                I had my usual coffee and breakfast sandwich and watched the so call news. I got dressed and went outside to hook the trailer to the Ford’s Chevy as I needed to haul some limbs off. The limbs were my new neighbors. Our new neighbor and his friend, cut limbs and piled them up in his yard. I, being the good neighbor, removed the limbs from his yard and placed them on my trailer, over a four day period. I work at my own pace, so it took me four days to move and load all the limbs (free of charge).

                Everyone knows that I am, “the epitome of a good neighbor”!               

                After I had taken those limbs to the city dump ground, I then went to another citizens home on the other side of Hewitt.

                As I think about this, the other side of Hewitt is, “Across the tracks”! Now that statement may not mean anything to you, but to me it means something. You see, in the olden days when I was a children, we lived in an area called Smelter Ville. It was name that as there was at one time a Smelter located there. This part of town was divided by a rail road track. Those who lived on one side of the track were thought to be better off that those who lived on the other side.

                You don’t need to know which side we lived on!  

                Back to my story, arriving at this citizen’s home, we loaded the trailer with limbs and hauled them to the dump site. We then returned to his home and loaded the trailer again. This time I took the load to the dumpsite myself, allowing this citizen (my son David) to go in and be with his family. I know what you are thinking, I am not only the good neighbor, I am also a good Father!

                I returned home and backed the trailer into the back yard and unhooked it. As I was bending over to get a block to place under the tire, I do this to insure the trailer does not roll forward, something happened that had never happened to me before. Out from the underside of my little red wagon came a projectile. This unexpected projectile went past me like a bat out of hell. The projectile went under the trailer and continued over the kid’s fort. Even though I was very surprised, I was able to focus in on this flying object. It was a brown colored bat. This bat flew past me and looped around the yard and then through the neighbors tree. I have no idea why he /she was under the wagon.

                We know I am the good neighbor, am I also, batty? 

If you can’t have fun, don’t do it!

Don Ford

Third class 07.14.17

                If there is a third class, there must have been a second class. Yep you guessed it, there must have also been a first class!

                I have flown first class a few times and they do treat you very nice in first class, they should, they charge way too much for a first class seat. I haven’t flown in a while, and I do not miss the cramped quarters of flying last class. It is a miracle that anyone can walk after sitting in the last class seats. They should make everyone who fly either take a medical test for any communicable diseases or wear protective masks and gloves to keep from spreading germs. In real life, people will not voluntarily sit that close to a stranger! Have you ever sat by someone who doesn’t bathe frequently? I have.

                This story has nothing to do with flying on an air plane, although flying will be an important part of the third class subjects lives at a future date.

                I will include a photo showing a couple of the third class subjects, we should understand that there is another subject that seemed to be a little camera shy.

                My reference to the third class means, “they were the third set, to live in the homestead this summer”. See photo below, click to enlarge.

We don’t know if the baby birds are the third set of babies from the same parents, or if different parents have used this to raise their babies. Either way, these are the third group to live here this summer.

You are first class, act like it!

Don Ford

A good disguise 07.11.17

                It was Tuesday, July 11^th, 6:28am. I had begun the arduous morning constitutional. The sky was beginning to lighten as the sun was not yet up, there were no clouds, it will be a hot day I thought, as I continued my forced march.

                I had a new walking stick, which I was attempting to break in this morning. I know you would want to see a photo of the walking stick, and I have one but it has an attachment on the end. Click to enlarge.

                As you can see, Tres wanted to be sure the stick was good enough for me to use so he insisted on trying it himself. I did remove the bark from the stick prior to my use.

                I had made a couple laps and was feeling good as my stride and pace had increased to an optimal level for a retired senior citizen on a fixed income. As I was walking south on Oklahoma Ave. I thought I could see a person at the top of the hill walking toward me. Upon further observation, this person appeared to be pushing a baby carriage. I thought it was unusual to see a person pushing a stroller this early.

                I turned the corner and headed east on Arkansas street. Reaching the end of Arkansas (it is only one block long) I turned and headed back to Oklahoma. I then observed a Female subject pushing a baby carriage walking north on Oklahoma, she walked past the Ford Homestead and continued down the Avenue. I must have been about 150 feet behind her. I slowed my pace, not so I could continue to observe the female anatomy, but to allow her to feel secure. I thought that she might feel uneasy knowing an old man was getting too close.

                That is when I developed a hypothesis. This nicely dressed young female, pushing a stroller with what appeared to be a baby inside, could be the perfect disguise for a thief. She did not have the usual clothing items that all thieves wear, black hoody with the hood up, or that knitted cap that we use to call sock caps. She did not have the black pants that crooks wear hanging down showing their underwear, and instead of the black running shoes she had very nice white walking shoes. This could be the perfect disguise for a thief who was steeling packages left at the doors of homes on the Avenue.

                If someone called the police they would never suspect a young, clean and nicely dressed mother, pushing her baby in a stroller down the Avenue.

                I followed at a distance and as she entered the cul-de-sac, I decided to turn and start back up the Avenue allowing this young lady plenty of room. I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable.

                The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful.

May all your walks be free of people walking too close!

Don Ford

Any way you look at it 07.10.17

                In today’s article we will see how one person try’s to do what’s right, while everyone else does not. Of course, I am talking about myself. This past Friday I began the tortures work of the grounds keeper. As you may suspect, our grounds keeper is on vacation again. Possibly, if we paid him, we could require him to stay at work and take care of the Ford Homestead property.

                Possibly this fine article should have been titled, “Setting a good example”!

                As I stated earlier, on Friday I took on the role of acting grounds keeper. I started at 6:30am, (which may have not made the neighbors happy, but it was cooler, if you call mid 80s cooler), mowing and weed eating the ditch behind the Homestead. 

                In the town of Hewitt, so called city officials charge a fee of each household (even those houses that are not close to a drainage ditch) to keep the drainage ditches cleared so they drain properly. These ditches are owned by the homeowners, the city has a drainage easement. As you will see in the following two photos, the results of the tortuous work I had to perform this past Friday, and the lack of activity by the city and or homeowners, at keeping the drainage properly clear.

Above looking north, below looking south. Click to enlarge.

                As one should be able to see, I do outstanding work at keeping the ditch cleaned. In all truth, I only cut and clear it once a month, but it never looks like the neighbor’s property!

                You are right, I do nice work, and set a good example!

Do your work properly, even when others do not!     

Don Ford

Synchronized 07.08.17

                As I sat in the old Ford’s rocker and considered the need for synchronization, I thought of those female subjects that get in a swimming pool and attempt to be, “synchronized swimmers”! They are usually good at what they do, but I can’t understand why they would want to be synchronized swimmers. They put in an untold number of hours learning to do the same moves, as a group, at the same time. For those who watch these performances, we are usually amazed that they could do the things they do. What good is it?

                Do they get paid for synchronized swimming? They must be rich people to put all that time into something like that. I can see it now, their resume states, “in a synchronized swimming group for 6 years”! I guess that might be good if they want to be a life guard at the local pool.

                I should note, I do not understand why anyone would go to a professional game. Don’t the word professional make it not a game? Why do people pay money to see baseball, basketball, football or soccer? I understand going to high school games, one usually knows someone playing in the game.

                My thoughts about this thing called, “synchronization”, has a value to it, and has nothing to do with scantily dressed female subjects in a swimming pool!

                I have been trying to get the home owners in our neighborhood to synchronize our lawn mowing. Would you believe, I have been able to convince some of the neighbors to mow their lawn on Friday of each week? That is the day that I see as the best for the neighborhood.

                Would you believe, this was not an easy task and I am still working on others? If we all mowed our lawns on the same day, and at the same height, then all the lawns would basically look the same and likely grow at about the same rate (accept for those rich people who have sprinkler systems, theirs would grow a little quicker). Imagine if you will, driving down Oklahoma Avenue and all the lawns were mowed, they were all mowed at the same height and they were all mowed properly!

                Would you believe, getting the neighborhood to understand what proper mowing is, has become a larger problem that one would think. It should be easy for a home owner to look at a properly mowed lawn, “The Ford Homestead”, and then look at theirs, and see the difference.

                I am not going into any detail of properly mowing the lawn, just know there is a right and wrong way. Ok, I will state one fact about improperly mowing a lawn and that is, a person allows grass clippings to get on to the street and does not clean them up after mowing. In Hewitt, I am told, that is not only bad management of the mowing process, it is considered as littering and a Class C misdemeanor.

                Why am I the only one who sees all these less than desirable situations in our neighborhood? Possibly I am not the only one but I may be the only one working to improve these situations!

 

May your day be free of situations!

 

Don Ford

The day after 07.05.17

                We hope you had a nice safe holiday, we did! Here at the Ford Homestead we celebrated by doing as little as possible. I took several well deserved naps, as I pretended to watch some TV, even though there was not much of anything I wanted to see.

                Tres continued to aggravate and be under foot. Occasionally, he was nice and would get in the chair with Donna or me to rest. I should have sucked my gut in before she took the photo!

                We had an inch of rain the other day and it was on top the cover of the pool. I thought I would drain the rain water off this morning but I did not get the chance. When I took Tres out for his 3:00am potty break, I observed that the wind had cause the cover to come loose and the rain water was now in the pool. The only bad part to that is, any dirt and leaves that were on the cover, were now in the pool.

                It so happened that I had planned to add water to the pool prior to the grand kid’s next swim. I don’t need to do that now, nature (the man above) once again took care of me! I did need to remove a few leaves and bugs from the pool with the net and I checked the chlorine. The chlorine was at a mid-point. I turned the pump on and added some chlorine since the pool would be uncovered all day today. An uncovered pool loses chlorine quicker than a covered pool. 

                Slightly different subject: as I walked this morning there was a Mockingbird atop a light pole singing to me. As we know they can make just about any bird sound. This particular bird was singing to me and it sounded as if he were saying, “Sweet”, over and over. It made me happy that the bird recognized that I was sweet! As I continued to walk, I also thought of the cuckoo clock in the Ford Homestead, which I believe says, “Papaw instead of Cuckoo”. Why do the clocks and birds always honor me? J

May you be honored as often as I am!

Don Ford

Big mouth 07.05.17

                Who am I thinking of, well if the shoe fits wear it. Now that we have that out of the way, I was not writing about you, this time! Why would I want to write about you when I have more interesting subjects in mind? Heck, if I want to write about something interesting, I would write about me.

                Yes I might have a big mouth, but I will not write about that today. My big mouth subject will be shown to you in a photo, and no it isn’t our new tenant Tres. Speaking of Tres, other than he is a pain in the behind, and that he is always under foot or chewing on everything. What do I mean by chewing on everything? This morning he was observed by yours truly, chewing on the brick of the fire place.

                 Even though Tres is sometimes a pain in the behind, he now goes to the door when he needs to go outside. When he heads for the door we let him out. Not bad for a 9 week old pup.

                So if Tres is not the subject of this most interesting article, then who is it about? Actually, there is more than one big mouth in the coming photo, and you will need to click on the photo to see the subject.

                When you click on the photo you will see two of the three big mouth baby Mocking Birds. The parents have built the nest next to the gate to the back yard, but one of the parents will usually stay on the nest as we walk by. Occasionally both of the parents will leave the nest and that is when I got this photo.

May all your big mouths be baby birds!

Don Ford

Woody Woodpecker 07.05.17

                Not anymore! What do I mean by the controversial statement, “Not anymore”? Stay tuned, and if you are one of the informed readers, which is the opposite of uninformed readers, you may soon understand why anyone would use such a controversial statement.

                I had crawled out of bed this morning about 45 minutes later than usual. You are correct in your evaluation of that statement, it is unlike me to get up late, and to not bounce out of bed. Why was I over sleeping this morning, I will elaborate!

                With the addition of a new member to the Ford tribe, I am required to get out of bed between 3:00 and 4:00 AM each morning and take Mr. Tres, out the back door for a few minutes. He uses this time outside to get a little exercise, and he may relieve himself. When I return to the bed I find it difficult to get back to sleep. Now you know why I had over slept, it was not due to my laziness, it was a required visit to the outside of the Homestead.

                My morning constitutional was late, and the sun was shining brightly. I do not walk facing the sun if I can avoid it, so I decided to not walk east on Arkansas Street, as I would have the sun in my eyes. Yes there is another reason other than discomfort from the sun in my eyes, for not walking facing the sun. If your enemies want to attack you, they have the advantage if the sun is to their back, and you are facing the sun. What, you find it hard to believe that I have any enemies? Thank you for that positive thought!

                I do not know of any enemies, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious these days!

                Now let’s get started with the story, now that you have some background.

                I had left the Ford Homestead and headed north on our street toward the cul-de-sac. Arriving at the cul-de-sac I turned and headed south. I decided to stay on Oklahoma Ave. through the 300 block and then turn and head back to the 400 block. This path will keep the sun out of my eyes.

                As I left the 400 block into the 300 block I was unaware that I was being followed. I had walked about 75 feet in the 300 block when I heard the sound. It was kinda like the sound of a jack hammer but instead of being on cement it was on metal. I stopped, turned and observed two things. First there was the person following me. Second there was the red headed wood pecker on top of the metal street light. The wood pecker had been rapidly pecking the metal part of the light and it sounded like a jack hammer on metal!

                I asked the person who was following me if she heard the sound and she had. We walked together to the top of the hill where I turned and walked back down the hill as she continued her walking into the 200 block.

                I have heard this noise before coming from my shed. Now I know for sure it was the wood pecker, I mean the metal pecker, who no longer likes wood!

Look and listen and you will see and hear! That is known as, learning.

Don Ford

A Bats ears 07.03.17

                Bats have large ears. I assume these large ears help them find their pray.

                                                            

                Tres has ears that remind me of a bat, and I believe these ears help him find his food bowl.

                I took him for a short half block walk Saturday morning, he did reasonably well, until a big dog that was behind a fence began to bark. Tres was afraid, so I had to carry him about 75 feet. He received several comments from neighbors and he walked all the way home like a pro.

                For those who commented, “Oh, look at the puppy”, I would respond that he is a trained attack dog! I continued, “He attacks his food bowl every day”!

                Tres seems to be growing about an inch per day. He chews on everything, and I mean everything!

                                                                     Click to enlarge and enjoy.

Batty or Bat ears, maybe he is both!

Don Ford