First time for everything 10/31/2020

            my ears still ring, chug a lug chug a lug. Wait a minute, that is an old song from the olden days. My first time for everything is different. It was the first time that I was asked to write a letter to recommend someone for an award. This person was a fellow who we (the supervisors and I) hired more than 40 years ago. He now works for a nationally known trucking company, and the local division of the company has put this person up for a national award.

            It was the first time I have ever recommended anyone for an award. I hope he gets it. This fellow has done a couple commercials for the company, I think that helps him with the award.

 

            Today is Saturday and my normal Saturday black and white TV shows are not on. Normally they have an old cowboy show, then some odd short presentations, then a Tarzan or other type jungle movie. Today they have ole, so called, scary shows on because of Halloween. I am almost as tired of hearing about trick or treating, as I am of hearing about politics.

 

            Changing the topic; I have turned back a couple of my clocks in prep for the time change. It is Fall so we fall back. I need to change the clock by my bed, then I am done. My favorite wife will change all the other clocks as they are under her supervision. Now that I think of it, I may be forced, I mean allowed, to change the time on the stove.

            I went to the Fords ole kitchen to get a cup of coffee, but I decided on a cup of hot chocolate instead. Having a one cup dispensing machine makes it easy to change one’s mind.

 

            I was a biker yesterday. Yep, I got on the Ford’s ole, kind of new bicycle, and went for a ride. I have been told that there are some neat Halloween decorations a few blocks away, so I might go for another ride today just for the fun of it.

 

Have a safe Halloween, stay home, turn off your lights, don’t answer the door, and you will get to eat all the candy!

 

No treats, all tricks!

 

Senior, non-treater and big tricker, Don the Ford  

Fiction or real 10/29/2020

            I know I say I don’t like the TV news, and I don’t. Yesterday morning something caught my eye, or caught my ear, which ever, it got my attention. The news was stating that a paralyzed person can now communicate with a computer, even though he can’t physically touch the computer. The report stated, this person has sent email by using his thought process. They said that a wire was placed inside a blood vain in the person’s head, and some how the information from his head gets sent wirelessly, to the computer.

            A couple years ago I wrote a short story in which, a scientist was attempting to communicate with a computer without touching the computer. In other words, mentally communicate with a computer. Wow, can my fictional journalistic endeavor be a prediction of the future!

            Oh my, mentally communicating with a computer was just the beginning of my fictional journalistic endeavor. What if the rest of my short story turns out to be, Non-fictional? Wow, could all that I written about, have happened? This senior person has nothing to do, so I sit around and compose fiction, or is it truth!

            Topic change; lets get happy with a photo of me and my hat. It is a Stetson but not a cowboy hat. Yesterday our area had the second coldest high temp ever, it was 42 as a high. Yes, I do wear a warm hat when I go outside. It is a cold 45 degrees today, but the sun has started to shine.

            Tres and I waited until late afternoon yesterday, to go for a walk. There was a stiff breeze and part way through the walk, I wished I had my ear muffs on. When it is 40 degrees and the wind is unrelenting, I have two sweat shirts on with a wind breaker jacket. That keeps the upper body warm, the hat and ear muffs work, to keep the cold dry air out of my eyes, I have a pair of safety classes. Those safety glasses more or less wrap around one’s eyes to keep the cold air out. 

Wash your hands, wear the mask, stay away!

Senior author of one-time fiction, now factual data, Don the Ford        

He works like a 10/28/2020

            I remember a fellow who retired from my past employer telling me, “When you retire you work harder than when you were employed.” I thought to myself, nope, I do not believe that!

            Guess what, I now understand that statement, and I believe it. The key here is understanding.

            First think about the work you did at the employer.

            Now compare the work you do around the homestead.

Are you thinking, or just reading? Try to consider both points, I will give you 60 seconds.

                            ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60}

Stop tapping your finger, try to think!          Oh, now you are picking your nose!

Why do I even try?

            I will write my thesis and just forget about your inattention. When employed, many people do not have any work that requires physical abilities. Some may sit at a desk, some my drive a forklift, some are doctors, some clean up after others, most of those positions require little or no physical effort.

            When one retires, they do things like, dig in the flower beds, get on their hands and knees pulling weeds, get on the floor under the kitchen sink and repair a leak, push a lawn mower around the yard. That type work requires a lot of effort on the senior retired person. So, what my friend had told me was true, when you retire you work harder than when you were employed. He didn’t say you work more, he didn’t say you work longer, he was saying, the work you do as a retired senior person, is more physically demanding than the work of real people.

            Wouldn’t you know it, real people have it good, while us ole senior retired people have all the heavy, hard, demanding work.

            Subject change; Amazon is building a new distribution center in Waco. They say they will employ around 1,000 people. To that I say to all the employers in the area, your management team better treat your present employees with respect! You better have good benefits! Your pay better be close to what they are offering ($15.00 per hour)!

            Employers: Hourly staff are not the only people you will lose; supervisors and managers will also be considering a new position! If you do not take this as a warning, you will be looking for employees, and the only candidates will be those that no one wants to hire. You have almost a year to get ready, start now!   

Retire not, and work easy!

Senior advice giver, and hard-working retired person, Don the Ford

Don't do it 10/27/2020

            As the title line states, “Don’t do it”, you may want to follow those instructions. Allow me to provide more input as to the title line.

            I have been muting the TV when the commercials come on, especially for the political commercials. Now if you decide to mute the TV, there may be concerns associated with this process. You may have a tendency to look at the TV, even though it is muted.

            In doing so, one may begin to notice things such as, the person’s eyes. Are the eyes the same size, or is one larger than the other. Are the eyes even, are is one slightly higher on the persons face than the other? Are the eye brows both the same or is one slightly different?

            Don’t look at their nose, or you may see that it is not perfect. The nose holes may be larger, smaller, or unevenly shaped. There is the extra-large nose and the extra-small nose.

            Ears can be very odd. Often older people have large ears. Most ears are not totally even. One ear may be slightly higher than the other, or one ear may be further back on the person’s head than the other. When looking at the person’s face, notice the location of the ears in relation to the eyes. Some people have ears that are lower than their eyes, most have ears that are more even with the person’s eyes, when their face is level.

            Don’t look at their lips, everyone is different and some people do not know which color lipstick to use, that applies to both male and female on TV.

            Do not notice their necks, you may see that some seem to be very long, while other seem short or no neck at all. Do not look at the skin on a person’s neck, as it will often tell their age. They may have their face made up to look smooth and young, but their neck and arms will tell their age.

            You will likely notice, those people with almost perfect faces, have the best jobs on TV. The TV people want you listening to there people and not judging their faces!

            If you start looking at the faces of those people on the TV, it may continue to happen when you are in contact with real people. 

Let us continue this subject with a photo of me, which you may judge.

                                               

            If you can’t tell, that is me with my new mask. My favorite wife bought it for me and I like it. Yes, that is a photo of me hanging on the shelf, would you believe, I am so good looking I keep photos of myself on display.

            Don’t look at the clock behind my ear and try to determine what time this selfie was taken. Yep, the red cap on the shelf is what you think it is!

            It is very cold outside this morning, so we have delayed our walk for two reasons. First, we want to walk in the light of day. Second if you let all the people leave their house to go to work or take the kids to school, there is much less traffic.

            It is still wet outside, but it is not raining right now. Later today I plan to move flower pots to the ford’s ole hot house, even though it isn’t supposed to be freezing this week, it is getting close. Never any rest for the ole senior retired people. 

 

Stay warm, dry and safe!

 

Senior walker of the dog, and photogenic ole person, Don the Ford

Thoughts in my 10/26/2020

            The title line is not complete, allow me to provide the complete title. “Thoughts in my mind”, is the complete title, but what does it mean? I have a tendency to repeat the same thought in my mind, not verbally, just in my thoughts, of what ever task I am performing. Example, when I go to the front yard to remove acorns, I start out thinking, “If you can see the acorn, get the acorn”. That simply means, get the acorns that are on top the grass, and don’t try to find all those that are under the grass.

            I have a tendency to repeat that statement in my head many times, as I am looking for the acorns. Is that unusual? Do others do that? Am I just super focused? I am going with, super focused!          It could be a part of being a, “Silly grandpa”, I can live with that!

            Now when I am removing those acorns, I do it using either the ole senior person picker-upper, you know, one of those long-handled devices where you squeeze the handle on one end, and it clamps on the item on the other end, or I can use the pecan picker-upper. I do not get down on my hands and knees to get the acorns!

            Wait a minute!            What?              I think I was on my hands and knees yesterday trying to remove the afore mentioned acorns.

            At each end of the Fords ole porch, we have stepping stones, allowing us to leave the porch without having to use the Fords ole new side walk. The areas where the stepping stones are located, get covered with the acorns that fall from the trees onto the Ford’s ole roof, and then land in these areas.

            I had decided to clean out a bunch of these acorns. There were too many for the ole person picker-upper. Then I tried the pecan roller, it did not work. I found that I could use an ole broom to move some of the acorns, but the jasmine vines hindered using the broom. I tried to remove the vines while setting on a stool, that did not work. Finally, I was on my hands and knees cutting the vines, and picking up hands full of acorns.

            It only took about 1.5 hours of being on my hands and knees to get both areas mostly cleared. When I got up, I found that the ole muscles in my back and side were again hurting. Too much time on the ground for a senior person.  

            My favorite wife came outside, and I ask my favorite wife what she thought about my work. She looked and asked, what was you doing? With my feelings hurt, tears streaming from my eyes, I began to put the tools away.

 

Pat yourself on the back!

Senior grounds keeper, and tired of political ads, Don the Ford

How cold is it 10/24/2020

            It is colder than, well it is cold! I guess Fall has fell on us, with temps in the 40s at night. That means I will need to get outside in the cold weather today and start getting the Ford’s ole little green house ready for use. I used wood from the grandkids ole fort to put a floor in the green house. I want to spray the wood floor for bugs, mainly ants, before I start placing flowers inside. Also, I will require help with a couple of the potted plants as they are very heavy.

            We have one plant that was so large that we almost did not get it into the green house last year, and it is even larger this year.

            Tres seems to like the cold weather, he has been running all around the back yard this morning, acting like he thinks he is a greyhound. Molly the cat has been acting like she is chasing something in the drive way, and there is nothing to chase.

            We finally got some needed rain yesterday. The Ford’s ole rain gage indicates a little over half an inch. We could use one of those ole Missouri type rains, you know, a slow rain that last all day.

            I hope I can find some warm clothes to wear when I do venture outside today.

 

Stay warm and cozy!

 

Senior frigid person and flower pot mover, Don the Ford

Old people 10/23/2020

            As I sit here on my old chair, I am contemplating writing about old people. A good friend of mine and I were exchanging emails about motorcycles. He noted that he had not been riding much even though he has two motorcycles. He also noted that he had a friend’s scooter at his house, and was supposed to ride it occasionally to keep the battery charged. He hasn’t ridden it.

            I asked why he hasn’t been riding lately. He listed several names of friends, including me, who no longer have motorcycles. He also noted that the local motorcycle shop was no longer having rides. He commented that riding alone is not much fun. He did say he had some back problems.

            I thought about this during the early morning walk. I rode bikes most of my life, my first bike was a moped and I was not yet 16. We had street bikes and dirt bikes when the kids were still at home. I basically have had bikes most of my life. Then 2 years ago I decided to sell my bike. I did not sell the bike because of my age; I sold the bike because I was riding it once or twice a month. Everyone I knew had basically stop or reduced their riding. I am sure age had a lot to do with it, so getting old can affect lots of things.

            As I sat in my vehicle outside the doctor’s office for 1.25 hours, waiting on my favorite wife, she was getting her eyes checked, I observed many old people. If you want to watch old people, sit outside a doctor’s office. I saw a couple who in my opinion should not have been driving. This one old person was attempting to park the vehicle in a parking space between two vehicles. This person was careful, it took her probably 3 minutes to get parked. She would move forward a little and then look out her window and then all around. She got out twice to see where her vehicle was in respect to the lines on the pavement. When she finished parking and got out, she could hardly walk to the office.

           Another vehicle was attempting to park in a similar parking space between to vehicles. This old fellow had one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas, I could hear the motor and I could see the vehicle reaction. Keeping his foot on the gas, he would let up on the brake a little and the vehicle would lurch a couple feet, this lurching occurred several times, going forward and backwards.

            The other morning there was an old gentleman who had walked out in his front yard to get his newspaper. He bent over to get it and when he stood up, he almost fell. He recovered his balance and he stood there as if he was looking at his yard. Old people don’t want others to know they have problems. We sure don’t want our drivers license taken away, that means our freedom is gone. 

            Change of topics; as the Tres and I was walking this morning, we observed a young lady walk from her house to her vehicle parked on the street. She was smoking a cigarette. I said to her, “Smoking is bad for you”, to which she replied, “I know, I am trying to quit”, then she said, “Your dog is pretty”’, and I replied, “Thank you, what about me?” She smiled and said, “You are pretty too”! I knew she was not serious about the dog being pretty, but she was serious about me being pretty!

 

Getting old is not always fun!

Senior old person who thinks young, Don the Ford

No respect 10/22/2020

            I get no respect, even when I am here at the homestead. Yesterday afternoon, it was a nice warm day, I had a cold drink in my hand, and I was sitting on the Ford’s ole rocker. Now as one may see, I was on my own property, and I was not bothering anyone, this time.

            Suddenly I was surprised by a partial acorn falling on me. I looked up into the tree limb that was above my head and I saw nothing. I would not have thought anything about this, if the acorn had been whole. There are several acorns on the limb directly above my seat. Possibly the acorn had fell off the roof of the house, I got back to my meditation.

            Darn-it, it happened again. This time, I was able to observe the culprit, a squirrel. I am sure he / she was doing this intentionally. The squirrel then climbed down the tree and joined two other squirrels in the front yard. I clapped my hands very loud trying to make a sound to scare the squirrels away, to no avail. I stood up and waved my arms and they ignored me.

I get no respect!

            Please allow this journalist to change modes and show you a photo. The photo is of me sitting at my desk entering this wonderful posting into the computer.

                                   

            What? Yes, that is my bible behind me.

 

We will be happy again, when politics stop!

 

Senior dis-liker of all political advertisements, Don the Ford

What is the subject 10/21/2020

            Well, I have several topics in mind for this journalistic endeavor, which do I start with.

            Rainbow; as I was setting on the Ford’s ole rocker yesterday afternoon, trying to enjoy my cold drink while listening to the radio, all alone without a friend in site, there was mention of a Rainbow. That for some very odd reason the word Rainbow brough back an ole memory. My brother Carl, had said that he was on the bank of the Mississippi river, that is not unusual, Carl fished a lot, and there was a Rainbow. He said that the end of the Rainbow, you know, the part the goes to the ground, where the pot of gold is! That the end of the Rainbow came across the river where he was standing, and he passed through the end of the Rainbow as it moved past! That is what Carl said, I am just repeating his story.

              Topic change; the other day I had the opportunity to talk with a friend whom I had not seen for a year or more. We had a nice conversation about several things.

              At this point I am starting to brag to you about myself and my supervisory staff. I was manager at the company when we hired this person, more than 40 years ago, and he is still delivering freight to the company stores. My supervisors and I picked several good people over the years, many of them stayed there long enough to retire, or they are getting close to retirement.

              My supervisors and I made good people choices. Now that I think of it, I do remember getting talked to about problems from my VP at that time, and one time by the president of the company. I do not remember anyone saying we made good staffing choices. 

            Topic change; my back has been hurting the last few days, maybe I am working too hard! I didn’t do much of anything yesterday, my favorite spouse and I cleaned her vehicle, it does look better, and I mowed the back yard. That was about it, other than dog walking, and now we are at the new topic. Tres and I always walk on the same side of the road each day, and since the road is convex, it causes one’s feet to be slightly off level. I have thought in the past that walking on the slightly slanted surface could cause back problems. If we walk on the other side of the street traffic will be coming from behind us and I do not trust most drivers.

            Let’s try another subject; I have called a sprinkler company to come and give me a bid on servicing our sprinkler system. Our system is working but due to the new cement work a couple heads need to be raised. This is not difficult work but it requires a person to be on their hands and knees and I don’t like working from my hands and knees. Yes, I do know how to do the work, I did work for a plumber in the olden days.

            I also worked for General Electric Supply Company (GESCO) many years ago. I was the warehouse worker and counter sales. It was interesting when an electrician would show up with a piece of cardboard and have some lines drawn on it with a word or two. They would say I need these things and briefly explain what the drawing was, then they would say, I am going to get a cup of coffee, I will be back in a little while. Then I would get the wire and electric panels they needed together and when they returned, I would help load the product in their trucks. Basically, I knew as much about electrical products as the electrician, they got paid big bucks, and I got paid little bucks. 

            Last topic; the sprinkler people showed up 30 minutes early, and did not give me a bid, they just started working on the system, 45 minutes later they were done. They did good work and are now gone. They treated us fairly on the price, and I would recommend them.

 

Treat others nice, others will be nice to you!

 

Senior person who spent less than $100 for sprinkler repair, Don the Ford

Ole Biker rides again 10/20/2020

            If anyone read or at least looked at the previous posting, they would know I commented on my ole Gold Wing, and provided a photo of said bike.

            Well, this ole biker went riding yesterday! Yep, the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cool. I left the Ford’s Homestead and rode down to the end of the street just to get settled in, and use to the bike. Then I headed up the hill, and I should say, the pedaling was strenuous.

            Allow me to change topics for a moment. I have a new device that has Alexa in it, and it has a screen. I think it is called Echo 5, or something like that. I just ask it to spell the word strenuous for me, and like the ole Alexa dot, it spelled the word. The difference is, it also showed the word on the screen for about 30 seconds, nice! Don’t tell me the robots aren’t coming. 

            Back to my original thought; Peddling uphill can be strenuous, but my bike is a 6-speed bike. Yep I can switch gears making the pedaling so easy, even a senior person on a fixed income can go up, or down hills. Also, I should probably remind that one reader, who only reads ever so often, and then mostly looks at the pitchers, my bike has a battery and electric motor.

            Going uphill, or when one gets tired, one just twists the throttle, and the bike helps. The neat part of having an electric bike, I can look like I am doing all the work, even when I am not. It kinda makes me look like a real person. I rode for about 30 minutes, I have no idea how far I rode, but it was relaxing and enjoyable. The neat thing about biking is, I get to look around at the neighborhoods as I ride. In a vehicle one has to be more careful to avoid accidents.  

 

Ole biker, keeps riding!

 

Senior deceptive ole biker and almost real person, Don the Ford

Olden days remembered 10/19/2020

            Back in the olden days, I felt as if I was a real person. Today this ole senior person has some real nice memories of what it is like to be considered as real. Today has been one of those very boring days, and I have had a few extra aches and pains, which may be from cleaning the office, and cutting all those weeds in the ditch yesterday, or, it might mean I am getting older. With nothing to do, I messed around with my computer and an ole tablet.

            I found a photo that brought back some real nice memories, and in truth kind of made me wish I still had a motor cycle. Photo to follow, no other words are needed.

                       

            A neighbor and I had gold wing bikes, we both purchased trailers to pull behind them. The trailers were made mostly of aluminum, they were easy to pull. Looking at that trailer, one would not know that it was painted black when I bought it. It is hard to believe, but the red color is not paint, it is stuck on like a red decal. I went to a local print shop an purchased the decal material. Yep, I use to be a real person! 😊

            If someone wants to donate a motorcycle, or a large motor scooter, I will be happy to accept. 

 

            Ok, allow me to change topics. In a previous posting I noted, an item was misplaced and later found in the dishwasher. I was surprised that the reading public wanted to know, "What was misplaced"! The item was a spoon rest, photo to follow.

                                   

            It stays on the stove, and one can place spoons that are being used during cooking on the spoon rest. It is normally hand washed. It was in the dish washer. I never use the dish washer; I did not place it there!

 

Real or not, have a safe day!

 

Senior with some very good ole memories, Don the Ford

Another day 10/18/2020

            Well, I woke up again, wow, another day!

            I did get the Ford’s ole office cleaned yesterday, and it only took me a little over three hours. Since no one cares, I will continue with what I did yesterday. I was able to get the ditch weeds all cut down. I first used the battery powered string trimmer which I had not recharged after a previous use. The battery gave out about 10 minutes into the cutting. I went and procured the battery from the leaf blower and it ran the trimmer for another 15 or so minutes. Neither battery had been charged and both had previously been used.

            I then went to get the gas trimmer and I had enough gas to finish the ditch, which took about another 30 minutes.

            Before any one asks, I did get to watch The Three Stooges on TV yesterday afternoon. I have noticed that even though they try to have different story lines, they always have basically the same slap, hit, kick, fall and pie in the face.

            With nothing else to talk about, I will insert a photo. I was deleting photos when I looked at this one. As I observed the photo, it came to me that the trees seemed to form the bottom of the state of Texas. I added the top, and then a couple other things.

                                                           

            New subject; my spouse had told me that we had lost an item, and she more or less suggested I was the one who lost it. We looked everywhere, including in the trash but no luck. Last evening, as I lay in bed trying to find something to watch on the TV, I could not find anything that interested me, so I turned the TV off. Then I said, “Alexa play the sounds of water”. These sounds make me relax and allow me to think.

            I lay there meditating about what I had read in the Bible yesterday, there are comments or situations that cause me to think. I don’t stay focused on one subject too long, so suddenly it came to me; the item that was lost could be in the dishwasher. This morning I looked and it was there. I am cleared, I did not lose anything. I was not thanked for finding the item, it was suggested that I had put it there. I get no respect!

May your meditations provide answers!

Senior problem solver who get no respect, Don the Ford 

Saturday, my day of rest 10/17/2020

            Tres and I had missed one day of walking this week, so we decided to walk on Saturday morning. It was very cold outside, a frosty 50 degrees with a very light breeze. The walk away from the Homestead was uneventful, but the walk back toward the homestead had one situation pop up.

            As Tres and I walked, there was a female subject that we observed step out from between a couple cars in a driveway. She then disappeared between the vehicles, and we heard a vehicle door slam.

            In the driveway there was a minivan, a car and a pickup truck. Tres and I continued walking; we were about 50 feet away when we heard a motor start. The motor made a lot of noise, not due to loud exhaust but more due to maintenance concerns. Tres suggested that we should stop and allow the vehicle to back out of the drive.

            We stood there for about a minute and then I decided we should proceed, but with caution. We were possibly 20 feet away when we saw the brake and backup lights come on, we stopped. We stood there possibly 30 seconds or so and the vehicle did not move. I then considered that the vehicle may have a back up camera, and the driver may see us standing there. We again began walking but we did move out into the street just in case the vehicle decided to back up.

            We were directly behind the vehicle when it began to back up! We were glad that we had ventured out in to the street a little, giving us a safe area. The female may have seen us, as she stopped quickly. At that point in time, I noted to Tres that the driver was, “The north end of a south bound horse”! For that one reader, the north end of a south bound horse is, a horse’s butt!

            Topic change; today is our day of rest. All I have planned is to clean the office area, which usually takes several hours, as I have to remove or move everything, clean the areas, then replace everything. Then I plan to go to the ditch in the back yard and get rid of the weeds. I haven’t decided if I will use the electric or gas trimer. Maybe I will take turns and use both.

            I picked up acorns yesterday. I have given up on trying to rake them, the grass is too thick. I am using the pecan picker-upper, and I am getting the acorns that are on top of the grass. It is a lot easier getting the acorns off the top of the grass.

 

Relax with a good mask!

 

Senior identifier of horses’ butts, Don the Ford

Friday again 10/16/2020

            I had driven into the Big City yesterday. Now, before that one person asks, the Big City in this case was, Waco Texas. Why had I ventured into the City, I needed a bottle! Actually, I keep a spare bottle in the garage, but it is for emergencies.

            Now, I provided the above info so you would know why I was in the Ford’s ole chevy. Returning to the little city, before you ask, the little city is Hewitt Texas, I was stopped at a traffic light, about third vehicle back, and I had my window rolled down. I had the oldies playing on the radio, when I heard a siren. I looked around and I saw an ambulance approach the intersection and it came to a complete stop before proceeding carefully through the intersection. 

            If you had ever driven an emergency vehicle, responding to an emergency (in my case the emergency vehicle was a fire truck), you would have turned on all the flashing and strobe lights along with the siren. Now the siren makes a lot of noise but in truth, vehicles with the windows rolled up and the radio on, may not hear the siren. We also had the air horn. The air horn when activated, sounds like a big ole semi-truck approaching, and people pay attention to the air horn.

            We were trained to assume the public did not know we were approaching, so we were extra careful. As I look back on this, it was somewhat like riding a motorcycle. When riding a bike, we assumed all vehicles did not see us, and the vehicle was going to pull out in front of us, and they often did.

            Well, that is enough of that topic, let us convert to a different subject. The other day my past employer had an auction sale for employees, I guess retirees were not invited to the sale, I did not get an invite.

            My son who works there had purchased an item which was too large for his vehicle, called me, and asked if I would haul it home for him. When I arrived, I put a face mask on before leaving my vehicle. I can’t say how many people were there but I guess around 40 people. I was surprised that most of the people were not wearing masks, and they were close together.

            The scary part for me is, one of them could have the virus and pass it on to others, and even though I was not there for the sale I could end up with the virus.                           

 

            Well that is it for now, I hope you have a fun weekend.

 

Be safe, wear the mask, stay apart!

 

Senior independent, who is tired of political crap, Don the Ford

I am back 10/15/2020

            You do know I can hear you, don’t you! You read my title line and you thought, “who cares if he is back”!

            It is so hurtful to know, some of you real people, don’t care about us ole senior people. I am going to try to ignore the comment, and continue my journalism endeavors.

            Battery for the Ford’s ole Chevy: I went to the Wall store and they did not have a battery. The fellow called two other Wall stores and they did not have the battery. I went to an Auto store and they had the battery, I asked if he could put it in. He said let’s look at the ole battery, so we went to the truck. He looked at it and said, he could not put it in because he was afraid, he would damage it. Photo of battery to follow.

 

                                                          

            I ended up going to the Chevy dealer. They ask what had happened. I explained that it would not start one time now it is starting ok. He said they would check it, and if needed, they would install a new battery.

            New battery installed; we will not be able to purchase anything to eat for at least a month, due to the cost of the new battery. We do have some can goods, here at the Homestead, and we will try to live on them. As I see it, we will not be able to purchase food for a Thanksgiving dinner. I can’t ask my favorite wife to pickup more aluminum cans, heck she has been working overtime every night collecting these cans!

            When I returned home, I looked at the receipt for the work. They had completed some safety checks, one of the comments noted they found no problem with the battery at that time. No problem, but it was replaced.

            The battery was 5 years old, it needed to be replaced.

            Topic change; my first wife had a colonoscopy yesterday. She was not happy to be having that procedure. On the way to the Doctor’s office, our conversations were not very exciting, except for one topic during the drive, we might get a couple breakfast burritos on the way home after the procedure. My first wife had no solid foods the entire day prior to the procedure, so the burritos sounded good to both of us. We did get the burritos on the way home, and they were good!

 

May your day be filled with good food!

 

Senior journalists and food-addict, Don the Ford