Sunday 05.31.2020

            We have been harvesting the black berries daily. Working as a team we find most of the black, black berries. There are many red berries just waiting to turn black. I am not sure how many we have harvested at this point, but I would say at least 6 quarts. I have a photo showing the various sizes of the crop. Click to enhance.

                                               

            Today is Sunday and it is the last day of the month. Wow June is here and we still have the virus floating around. June 5^th is when summer begins, maybe the heat will get rid of “19”! The days will be hotter for a couple months, and about June 21 the days will start getting shorter. When the days start getting shorter, that means fall and winter are coming, darn it, I haven’t had a chance to enjoy summer and winter is on its way!

 

            Would you believe my spouse was able to collect enough aluminum cans to allow me to purchase a quart of paint?

            I have put an additional coat of new paint on the scrap wood chair. It was dry enough yesterday that I could sit on it. Before you ask, no it did not fall apart when I sit on it. Actually, I sat on it and read for a while yesterday, and I noticed something. I had sat down with the bible and I realized I did not have my $1.00 reading glasses. Instead of getting up and getting the glasses, I opened the bible and was able to read without glasses. As I thought about it, possibly being outside with the daylight, instead of the lighting in the house, that may have been the difference. If not daylight, then it was divine intervention, you can decide. The chair will get another coat of paint today. Photo to follow, click to enhance. 

                                                                                                   

What? That’s what you see! I show you a photo of a scrap wood chair and you see the Texas flag, that is attached to the top of the garaged door. OK, I will enlighten that one person. I attached that flag to the top of the garage door more than 20 years ago. There are three magnets that hold it on, and when the door is opened as in the photo the flag is visible.

            Since no one asked, I use the scrap wood in my projects for two reasons, “1” I am retired and on a fixed income, scrap wood don’t cost anything, “B” if I used good wood the projects would need to be put together better and look prettier.

 

            I need to go now, probably I will need to clean up and put some clothes on, as my spouse of more than 5 decades will possibly allow me to take her to the cracker restaurant today.

 

Be extra nice to someone today!

 

Senior scrap wood butcher, and paint brush handler, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Camouflaged 05.30.2020

 

            Good morning, or good afternoon, or good evening, you can choose based on the time of day that you review this posting.

            I have a photo to show you and it is about natural camouflage. This photo was taken in the back 40 Friday, just before I had begun mowing the back 40. If you click on the photo you should be able to find the camouflaged lizard.

                                               

 

            I sprayed the front yard for weeds and I am hoping the spray will do as advertised and not kill the grass. If it kills the grass I will probably be ostracized from the Homestead.

            I found some scrap paint to put on the scrap chair. There was enough scrap paint to get one coat on the chair. We will try to come up with enough money to buy a quart of white paint. I hate to ask my favorite wife to go out and pick up more aluminum cans from the country roads. You know during this time of confinement there are less aluminum cans on the roadways. My spouse of over half a century will need to work almost all night to get enough cans to pay for a quart of paint. If some of you real people would donate to us she would not need to work all night!

            Well my plan for today is to do as little as possible, yep you are right, that is normal for me!

 

Have a safe and restful weekend!

 

Senior user of scraps and taker of naps. Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Got to get to work 05.29.2020

            Not much going on here at the Ford Homestead, I have been working on my scrap wood project and if all goes well I might be able to paint it, that is, if I can get some scrap paint.

            Yesterday my present spouse and I went to the local Cracker restaurant to have supper. We enjoy the turkey and dressing they have on Thursdays, and it gets us out of the house. Part of this outing is, I don’t have to wash the dishes. Service was good, food was good and everyone kept their distance.

            I need to get outside and spray some weed killer on the yard, I and trying to get rid of a few weeds. This spray don’t hurt the grass but kills the weeds, we hope! It is a lot of work for a senior person.

            I need to mow the back yard and if my ole body don’t give out, I will also attempt that today. The worst part is, I will need to walk the back 40 looking for deposits left by our pot hound Tres. Almost every time I pick up the deposits from the back yard he will make a fresh deposit just before I start mowing.

            We have been getting a lot of black berries, and there are a bunch more out there. Our bird friends are taking a few but that is to be expected.

            I need to get at it or I will never get done.

 

            Different subject; all that rioting going on reminds me of when I was in the national guards. We trained in riot control a bunch during the late 60s and early 70s. To me, everyone should be able to peacefully demonstrate, but no one should be able to riot!

 

Kick back and take it easy like me!

 

Senior almost workaholic and nap taker, Don the Ford 

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Favorite wife 05.28.2020

            As many of us know, our spouse can be very irritating or very agreeable. I would say a lot of their attitude, negative or positive may be due to, “Our actions and our comments”. We have all heard that being confined with one’s spouse had a tendency to build aggressive actions between the two.

            I am learning that when I do something nice for my spouse of over 5 decades, she will often do something even better for me (we reap what we sow, exactly what we sow, and more than we sow). Yesterday she had an appointment to take Charlie to the vet at 9:00am, and she needed to go to the grocery store that morning. I, being the nice person that I am, offered to take the Charlie to the vet, allowing her to have plenty of time to shop at the grocery store.

            My favorite wife seemed happy, and she allowed me to take the Charlie to the vet. When she returned from the grocery, would you believe she had bought me a bottle of adult beverage? This is the first time she had ever purchased an adult beverage for me. Click on the photo and you will see the tall bottle of adult beverage she got just for me. 

                                               

            What could be better than having a spouse take care of you by providing you with a large bottle of alcoholic beverage?     If only you had a spouse like I do!

May your spouse be as good to you!

Senior enjoyer of an adult beverage, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Wednesday 05.27.2020

            I have a photo, click to enhance.

                                               

            Tres and I went out front as usual this morning, so the Tres could relieve himself on some of the flowers, and then he gets the so-called newspaper. I was standing at the Ford’s ole mail box admiring the nice job I had done yesterday, mowing the lawn. The lawn was very tall and needed to be cut for a couple days, but with the recent rains I was not able to do the lawn care.

            As I stood there admiring my recent achievements, I noticed the Ford’s cat Charlie, was in one of the Ford’s ole rocking chairs on the front porch. He uses the chairs more than we do.

            I worked on my newest project yesterday which is hopefully going to be a chair. I had to do a bunch of work with a plane, and there is still more to do. This is all hand work as this retired senior person does not own many power tools like real people do.

                                               

            I had suggested that if I get it built I might call it my meditation chair. My wife suggested that it be called the time out chair. There is still a lot of work needing to be done, and using the old scrap wood makes it even more difficult. If we weren’t retired and on a fixed income we could afford to by furniture like real people do, and not need to make items from scrap lumber.                  All donations to the ole folks fund will be kept confidential!

Don’t get old, don’t retire!

Senior ole retired scrapper upper, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

What did we do 05.24.2020

            It was Sunday morning and what did we do, that is none of your business! Even though you do not need to know what we did, I will give into social pressure and enlighten you, the reading public.

            We got up, my favorite wife read the so called newspaper, I went out and got stuck by stickers on the black berry plants, I took a shower, and put some clothes on, not necessarily in that order. We sat there in the TV room and watched the so called news.

            So far, we had a crummy morning. We had decided to go to the Cracker restaurant and see if we could get in and eat without coming into contact with the virus.

            They had a fellow standing guard at the door, and he took your cell phone number and said I will text you when we have a table for you. I asked if we could go sit in our car and wait, and he said yep. It took about 15 minutes before we got our text. We were seated about 10 feet from the next table. They were cleaning the tables and chairs when anyone would leave. Service was good, all the employees had masks on, and they all seemed glad to see us, ole regular customers return.

            My first wife and I had our masks on, we were among the few who wore them. There were older people than me, some could hardly walk, arriving and leaving without a mask. There was only one part that was difficult, would you believe, we wore our masks while we were eating. Would you believe, we would get a spoon full of food, lift up our mask and put the food in our mouth, then let the mask recover our mouth while we chewed? Would you believe my mask had food all over it when I finished eating!                      I wouldn’t believe it either!

            Service was good, food was good, and we felt happy. Photo to follow. 

                                               

            After eating brunch, we took a chance and drove down I-35. They have been, and still are working on this highway. This was the first time we have been on I-35 in probably a year. This time traffic kept moving, and no backups, but they still have years of work to do.

            We went to the wall store and got a new trash can, some bird seed and a couple other items. We put some seeds in the birds out house, and now we wait until they find the free food. The birds will need to fight with the squirrels when they find the food.

            So, we are not back to normal, but we are doing some things that we use to do. It was difficult eating brunch with the masks on, but we found a way.

Not back to normal yet, so stay safe!

Senior brunch eater and feeder of the birds, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Radio 05.23.2020

            Yes this is an article about me and radio.

            Let’s start in the year of 1960, I was 12 years old. I can’t remember whether it was my birthday (August) of if it was Christmas. I receive a crystal radio that needed no batteries to operate, and it could be attached to the handle bar of my bike. It had a tall antenna about 3 feet tall and an ear phone so I could listen while riding the bike. Having a radio on one’s bike sounds good, and it did work, but riding the bike was short trips, so there wasn’t much listening time.

            I could remove the antenna and plug a connecting wire in that slot and there was a clip on the end. I could attach the clip to something like the bed springs under my mattress and listen the local AM stations. Back in the olden days they stopped broadcasting at mid night.

            A radio for a kid that required no power to make it work, nice!

            1990 I got my amateur radio license, those radios required power to operate. 

            I went two places yesterday!

First I went to the Barber shop, aka hair dresser and got my hair cut. It feels very good!

Second I went to the doctor and he said, “You seem to be in reasonable good health”. I have a problem with a pain in the muscle in my back left shoulder. This pain runs up my neck. The doctor checked me out and said he thought I might have arthritis in a joint and some inflammation, he gave me some pills for the inflammation and said when the pain stops then stop taking the pills. He also said put heat on my shoulder often. 

            My favorite wife went to the Pizza place and picked up a pizza for supper. They make excellent pizzas. She ordered on phone and they brought it out to her as she stayed in the car. She gave the boy that brought the pizza out to her a $2.00 tip. He said, “A tip for me”, and my spouse said yes. He seemed happily surprised and put the money in his pocket.

            You reap what you sow, exactly what you sow, more than you sow!

       Be nice, kind, helpful, and friendly to others, and you will be rewarded.

             I have a photo of a flower that is blooming in the back 40.

                                               

Have a good weekend, use good sense, be happy and smile often when you don’t have the mask on, it will help you, and those around you!

Senior occasional smiler and black berry picker, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Last day of 05.22.2020

            It is the last day of the work week! Well, it use to be the last day of a work week, now who knows what day it is. If I didn’t have a calendar I would not know what day it is.

            I did get out and pick the black berries again this morning, we have harvested about 2.5 quarts now and there are many more on the vines. Photo of a couple just to give you an idea of the size of the berries, click to enhance.

                                               

            While I was harvesting the berries I observed a plant that was blooming, which grows behind the Fords ole shed, photo to follow.

                                                           

            This morning after harvesting the black berries, I dug up a new start of a black berry plant that was kind of growing from under the edge of the shed. If it lives I will need to find a good location for the plant, or maybe give it to someone who likes stickers.

Smile, it might make you feel better!

Smile you might make others feel better!

Senior smile maker and harvester of the berries, Don the Ford.       

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Power company 05.21.2020

            Yesterday an employee from the power company came to my house and said she was going to change our meter out (remove the old put in a new). She said it would cut the power off for a few seconds. I asked why, and she said, “The LED went out”. I thought to myself why is there an LED in the meter. LED is a Light Emitting Diode, why would there be a light inside a meter. Heck, they don’t even read meters anymore so why would they need to have a light?

            Meter replaced, and she left. I went out this morning before day light, which is in the dark, and there was no light coming from the meter. If there is an LED it was not glowing!

            Last month’s electric bill was much lower than usual, I think they believed there was something wrong with the meter and they want to get more money from this ole senior retired person. I would rather have someone tell me the truth, and not lie to me.

            Here at the Ford’s Homestead we have installed an above ground lunch room. Would you believe it took me hours to get this project completed, well it did take about half an hour. I have a photo of the completed project, click to enhance. Stop looking at the owl, look at the lunch room!

                                               

            We will be accepting donations for the purchase of lunches for the fowls here at the Homestead, please send either cash or visa cards, all contributions will be appreciated.

            My spouse has been staining the swing frame and she wants me to get out there and put the sealer on it this morning. As you can see, no rest for the ole senior husbands! The swing is in the garage she has not yet stained it.

May your spouse allow you to rest, occasionally!

Senior lunch room installer and wood preserver applier, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Trailer 05.20.2020

            The title doesn’t say much to you, the reading public, but it means something to me.

            I, being a senior person needed to move the Ford’s ole trailer, loaded with brush and limbs, {since I once again did not get to take it to the City since we received a small amount of rain (3 inched) Saturday} as I did not want it sitting near the gate for another month.

            My poor ole weak body could not move a loaded trailer by hand, and I did not want to drive my truck in the back yard as it is still wet from the recent rain. I decided to get the Ford’s ole riding mower and use it to pull the trailer from the gate to the usual parking area. The ole mower worked, except when I got the trailer in position to park it, the mower was not heavy enough to get traction to push the trailer back, as it was slightly up hill.

            I then got off the mower and use my ole weak body to move it back and up the slight grade. Being in the back 40, none of the neighbors could see this ole person straining, and then come over to help get the trailer in place. After what seemed to be hours of straining and pushing (5 minutes) it is now in place.

            I used to be the best trailer backer upper around, at least that is what I told people. I had a boat on a trailer and I could back it anywhere into any slot. I also had a tractor on a big trailer and I could back that anywhere also. The longer the trailer the easier it is to back. If I knew someone was watching me back, it would make it much more difficult, because you are then thinking about the Watcher and not the trailer.

            I did mow the back 40 and the front yard yesterday during the hottest part of the day. Now you know I have worked my ole body too hard yesterday! Photo to follow.

                                               

            If you look past the pretty flower you may see some of the yard that was mowed.

Work in the yard but don’t overdo it!

Senior hard working person, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

It wasn't important 05.19.2020

            Yes I know I am different from real people, or, real people are differ from me! Whatever the explanation it didn’t matter to me.

            I continually see all these comments on the so-called news, where these graduating high school seniors are so upset because they can’t have the full blown graduation service. When I was in school I didn’t care about school, I went because I had to go! For the graduation service I can remember, we had the gowns and hats, we walked across the stage, they gave us a diploma holder and I remember opening it to see if there was a diploma inside. There was.

            I guess, if a person liked school, and if that person put some effort into the classes he took, then graduating would have meant something to him.

            If the graduation ceremonies were for being top of your class in auto mechanics class, then I would have been interested. I have stated this before, at the end of the auto mechanics class Mr. Mac got me and one other fellow off to the side and told us, if we wanted a job to go to the Chevy dealer, he had recommended us, and they would give us a job. Oddly, I went to work at the Southeast Missourian News Paper.

            I have a photo of the Ford’s out house, click to enhance. No TP, newspaper was used.

                                               

            It is a bird feeder, or it will be when complete. It will set on a 4 X 4 post, which I will need to secure into the ground. Yes the top flips open so the feed can be put inside.

            Another photo which was taken when a person was bringing the trash container from the street. I find it interesting that this person shadow don’t look as old as he does! Click to believe.

                                               

May you look younger than your shadow!

Senior almost real person and trash can mover, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

What was it 05.18.2020

            This is Monday, at least I think it is, I have no schedule or anything normal in my ole life, so it is difficult for this ole senior retired person, who is on a fixed income, and who never received the extra $1,200 from the government, to know which day it is. All the days have just ran together.

            The neighbors often help without knowing it. This morning when our pot hound went outside to get the so-called newspaper, I observed that all the neighbors, well most of the neighbors, had their trash cans out on the curb. That tells me that today is Monday, AKA trash day. I don’t know how I will know what the day is tomorrow.

            A new subject;

            As this ole senior retired person on a fixed income sat on the Ford’s ole rocker yesterday afternoon, I heard a very loud bird making a lot of unusual noise coming from overhead. I was able to get my ole head to look up and I saw this red thing in the tree above me. I don’t know why he was making so much noise, I could not see anything bothering him or her.

Foto to phollow. What does it make any difference whether you use an “F” or “Ph”?

                          

            You may know what kind of Red bird that is, I am not sure.

May your day be fill with nature!

Senior person who sees, but may not understand, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow.

                  Donald Ford         NARBNL

                                                                                                             

      Click below for the Blog experiance                                                     

      www.first-consider-this.blogspot.com                                                           

Virus-free. www.avg.com

You are... 05.17.2020

Take the time to listen to friends and family!

Allowing others to talk while you listen helps them feel appreciated.

You may learn of a need that you can help with!

You will be blessed by receiving more love and care than you give!

You are a good person! 

Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Saturday May 16, 2020

            Well, it sprinkled a little last night, there is enough water that our pot hound Tres did not want to go out into the back 40 as there is water standing on the patio. I gave in to him and let him out through the garage door, which allowed me to look at the rain gage. The gage only had a little over 2 inches of rain. All those sprinkles last night means I can’t haul the limbs off again this month. I have had the limbs on the trailer for a little over three months now, I guess a month more will not hurt.

            Let us change the topic.

            On the TV this morning they were talking about cleaning areas to help prevent the spread of virus. They are using robots to do the cleaning, which means they don’t need as many humans. The report stated in a couple years many of the humans who now do the cleaning, will be replaced by robots, which will allow humans to have more time. (Having more time, is that like staying home and social distancing.)     Progress, isn’t it great!  

            Topic swap.

            And then there were 5. I had created 4 new bird residence on Thursday to add to the 2 I already had, a couple were painted, and a couple were stained. I put the state of Texas on one and a cross on another. A neighbor lady and her granddaughter approached to tell me they had sold their house. During our discussion she commented on my bird residences, I offered her one. She took the house with the cross. And then there were 5.  Photo to follow.

                                               

            When I work in the Ford’s ole garage the Tres is usually out there with me, and we often get visitors. I did get a photo of one of our visitors and he /she isn’t afraid of me or Tres.

                                   

            Completely off the subject, I have a different comment. I went to my ex-employer Friday to pick up a retiree order when I observed something that I found to not be acceptable. I have a photo and it is worth at least 100 words so I will add a few of mine. In the handicapped parking area there is a lot of dirt. Consider if you were someone who needed to park in the handicapped parking and also consider if it had rained, as it is doing right now.

                                               

            Whether there was just the dirt or if it was mud and a handicapped person had to walk or wheel chair through this debris, it would not be good. Do I have a suggestion like clean it up, nope, just commenting on the parking area.

May robots not do all your work!

Senior observer of everything and one time nice guy, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Prediction 05/14/2020

            If you had in fact been reading my posting, you would have known that I whole heartedly believe in the robot revolution, and the fact that it is already in development.

            Like many new procedures and processes, if one introduces a small portion at a time, the participants will more easily accept it. It is kind of like introducing a new procedure at work, which will be replacing and ole procedure that has been in place for years. If the higher ups introduce the entire new process at one time, they will likely receive a lot of back-lash from staff saying, the old way has worked great for years. Staff are really attempting to state, we know what we are doing now, we don’t want to learn something new, and we don’t like change! 

            Wow, I just provided info for this soon to be wonderful posting and to anyone who might be in management.       Am I that good?

            If anyone is reading this article, which is soon to be a prediction, and they have never had an echo dot or other similar device, then they will most likely not understand. I have Alexa sitting here on my desk. I can ask her it, just about anything and it has the answer. When I am reading the bible and I find a word that I do not understand, I ask Alexa to pronounce, then I spell the word, then Alexa pronounces the word. Then I ask Alexa to define the word and it does. In other words, this device has access to almost all information.

            Now that I have presented enough history lets gets to the prediction.

 

            In 3.5 years, we will be expected to do all medical inquires, conversations, and exams from our computer at home. The image you see on the computer will look and move like a person, when in fact it is just an image on your screen, a robotic image. The device will have access to all your medical records, and all medical information that can be found on the internet. The robotic image will have more information available, which it can access in seconds, than a real doctor. The robotic image will prescribe medicines and let you know if you need to go to emergency room. In some situations it will call the ambulance for you!

 

            It may not be so bad, but I don’t like change, and I don’t like the idea of a robot doctor. Robots will replace all humans in the future! 

 

Real people should consider my prediction!

Senior prognosticator and want to be a real person, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Dumber than dumb 05/13/2020

            The title line could refer to me, but in this setting, it refers to a male subject, name unknown.

            Tuesday, 5:38pm as I sat on the Ford’s ole recliner cold drink in hand, I observed an unknown Dumber then dumb male subject walking along the curb, cell phone in hand, ear phones on his head. The Dummy must have been watching something on his phone or maybe he was watching someone he was talking to as he walked.

            Mr. Dummy was walking at a pace that was not considered, in my opinion, as exercise (too slow for exercise). A vehicle was approaching him, he never once looked up as the vehicle passed him. He went around the corner and a second vehicle passed near him without him looking up once.

            I cut some wood yesterday for a project. If I was wealthy, I could have a shop in the back 40 with my tools in it. Poor, retired, senior citizens can’t have the nice things that real people have. I have two photos, one of a table saw that I have to drag out of the garage, and a second photo of the cat Molly, ignoring my weak efforts to move the saw.

                                               

            Be glad you are real people and not ole retired people, who can’t have nice things.

Do something you enjoy today!

Senior enjoyer of many things, but can’t afford them, Don the Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com