December 31, 2022

            The end is near, now what are we going to do? We all knew the end would come someday, and in this case, we actually know the day. What will you do now that it is almost over? Do you have any plans? I guess we could just give up and call it quits, or we can make a new plan and try to make a new start. Starting over might be a big challenge for the senior population, heck I don’t even have a plan for today, how can I make a plan to start over? I guess I will just do what ole retired people do, I will wait and see what happens!

 

            Topic change: yesterday afternoon my wife and I had decided to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather and quiet afternoon. We were joined by a friend and we had some enjoyable conversations. A little later a neighbor, who is also a friend, came over and the conversations became even more lively.  During this friendly gathering we learned that Patrick and Karla had returned home from their vacation.

            Different topic: today would have been my sister Wilda’s birthday. She passed away a couple years ago. She was a very good person!

 

            Well, that is it for the last day, we hope it is a good day for you, stay safe.

Happy new start!

Senior retired person who needs to make a plan for the new, Don the Ford

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

December 30, 2022

            Well, it is almost over, and I have heard that you are going to stay awake and see the old one out and the new one in! Allow me to ask, what good does it do, or, what do you gain, from being there as the old one leaves and the new one starts? As I see it, you have an adult beverage or two, you sit there and watch the TV, then 10 seconds before time, you start the count down. When the new one starts, you act happy for a couple minutes, then you go to bed. Is it worth it?

            I might have an adult beverage, and I might stay awake until 9:00pm, but I do not plan on seeing the old one out and the new one in. Actually, the irritating part of this to me is, I am required to change the calendar in the Fords ole office every year after the new one arrives.

Bah Humbug!

            As I understand it, today is Friday. Patrick and Karla along with their friends will be returning from their cruse today. Yesterday, I sent him a text asking if he was on his way home? For some reason I was thinking yesterday was Friday. Ole people, we don’t know what day it is. 

            I did go to the doctor yesterday and she reviewed where she had cut on me, she was happy with the results. She then froze several spots on my arms, noting that I had a lot of sun damage. I explained that I did get a lot of sun burns as a young person working on various farms, usually hauling hay.

            She took two more samples, and I will likely be cut on again in the near future.

            It was after 2:00pm when I left the doctor’s office so I decided to stop at DIB and wait on Dave to get off work. I only waited about 10 minutes and he was off work, I did get him home safely.

            My favorite wife and I went to the Cracker store for supper last evening, we had a gift card which covered the meal. After a nice supper we returned to the Ford’s homestead and we sat outside enjoying the quiet early evening. I did note to my favorite wife that I am sure that the neighbors might think that we are crazy for setting outside most evenings. It is our time without distractions such as the TV.

            Speaking of distractions, allow me to present a photo of a nice distraction.

 

            As I see it, the distraction is the new moon in between the branches.

            Well, I need to get a cup of homemade coffee and some banana-nut-bread. We hope you have a nice day, be happy and stay safe!

You’ve been mooned!

Senior retired person who knows what it means to be mooned, Don the Ford

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

December 29, 2022

            Well, today is Thursday and I have an appointment at the skin doctor today. This visit is a follow up, so I guess she will be looking at the area where she cut on me last time I was there. Yep, the surgeon was a lady, and she did a very good job. I can’t see a scar on my face.

            Yesterday: I did get out in the back 40 and reconnected my hose to the faucet. I was concerned that it may have burst during the 50 plus hours below freezing, but I guess I am lucky, the hose was not leaking. I did water the black berry beds, number 2 bed needs to have all the grass and weeds removed, the other two beds are fairly clear of weeds.

            Day before yesterday: I had decided to water the new Jasmin bed as I could see that it was dry. I started to get the hose and connect it to the faucet, but quickly changed my mind. I then turned area #2 of the lawn sprinklers on, which watered most of the new bed. When the #2 area had completed running, I then activated the area #1, and the entire new bed and some other things near that bed were watered.

            Yesterday; I went to the Star coffee place for a free cup of coffee, and I checked the time when I got in line. I was in line for 23 minutes. Just as I was getting close to the window to get the coffee, I received a call from Dave saying he was off work. I acquired my free cup of coffee and went to DIB to get Dave. DIB and the star coffee place are fairly close to each other.

            After dropping Dave off at his house, I returned to the Ford’s homestead and sat outside in the warm afternoon sun, it was 74 degrees!           NICE!

            Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope you have a good day, stay safe and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, but if you do, don’t tell anyone!

Warm days are good!

Senior ole retired person who did it, but didn’t tell, Don the Ford

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

December 28, 2022

            Well, what should I comment on in this posting? I guess I could start off with a photo that I was able to take, after Tres caught my attention.

            The morning had started as usual; Tres and I went out into the early morning cold (40 degrees) to get the paper for my favorite wife, completing said task, we made our way into the Ford’s ole office where I sat down, and Tres found what he considered a comfortable position.

            If you are looking at the photo you should notice that the Tres is laying on the floor under the desk, and somehow, he has his neck bent to a point that his lower jaw is resting on the front of my chair. Now I thought to myself, that can’t be comfortable, so I decided to attempt to get a photo for your enlightenment. Before that one person comments, yes, he is between my legs.

            As I was sitting here attempting to provide you with some interesting morning observations, I heard something made of glass break in the kitchen. I turned to see my wife of more than half a century looking around and I heard her say, “what was that”?

            Well, it turned out to be, “a glass led from a candy dish that fell from the table to the floor”, which broke into at least a million pieces. My present wife and I both acquired brooms and a dustpan and began to remove the broken remanent from the candy dish. I commented that I was glad I was not in the kitchen at the time of this disaster, she would have thought that I broke her glass lid.

            Topic swap: what did I do yesterday? Basically, I did very little, I did read from the bible, and I attempted to work on the bible study questions.

I did go through the gift cards that my first wife and I received as Christmas presents; I was attempting to verify that they were ready to use before either of us tried to use a card. I was able to verify all but one and it was from the cracker store. I checked online and it said call the number on the card then I called the number on the card and there was no answer. In truth I did that twice and got the same results both times. I will let the person at the checkout tell me what it is worth next time we are there.

Later in the afternoon I decided to go get a cup of real coffee, about the time I assume Dave would be getting off work. I thought the line around the Star coffee place would be short at 2:30pm, and it wasn’t too long. I sat in line for at least 15 minutes waiting on a cup of coffee. I guess the wait was ok as Dave did not call for me to come and get him at work.

After I received the real cup of coffee, I then drove to the DIB parking lot and waited for Dave to get off work. Since last week was a holiday week, the following week or two are often very busy. They have a new order filling system (computerized system which is different from the previous computerized system) which seems to be not as productive as the old system.

How long did I sit there on the parking lot waiting for Dave to get off work he asked? I was there long enough to drink the entire cup of real coffee.

As I sat there, coffee in hand, I was wondering why my display screen in the Ford’s old Chevy was not presenting all the info that it had in the past. This had been going on for a couple days and I wanted it to be, as in the past. To make this story a little shorter, the screen is a touch screen, I was touching the screen when I moved it back to the position I liked! I am good!

Back to today: for those of you who do not live in an area where they test fire rocket motors, I can tell you that occasionally a test firing actually vibrates our Homestead a little and yes, we can hear the blast of the rocket motor. 

            Well, that is it for now I will get a cup of homemade coffee and kick back in the recliner. We hope you have a good day, stay safe and be nice to old all people. 

Rocket man!

Senior ole retired person who is happy the temp it is warming up, Don the Ford

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

December 27, 2022

            Hello from the Ford’s at the Ford homestead! We hope all is well with you as we start this new day. It is cold this morning, our temp is 27 degrees, but this is supposed to be the last day at or below freezing for a few days now.

            Speaking of freezing, all three of my rain gages are now cracked due to the fact that the Don did not empty the rainwater out of the two glass and one plastic gages. They all three froze and cracked. I guess I will need to take the gift card I got for Christmas and purchase a new rain gage. 

            Yesterday I did try to remove some of the leaves from the Jasmin beds, I was not very successful, although I did get some of the leaves removed. Using the leaf blower, vacuum, walk behind lawn mower and rake, I moved some leaves from the beds to the yard and then picked them up. I did all that without my helper, Alex (aka Favorite Grandson). It doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but it is rough on a person who is ¾ of a century old. Just being on your feet, walking around the yard for several hours, is rough on an ole body!

            Some friends of my present wife came over and they enjoyed some fun conversations. While they were sitting inside talking, I went outside and sat on the Ford’s ole rocker with the sun shining on me.

            Later in the afternoon my first wife took a gift to a neighbor a couple houses down the street. My favorite wife said she was only going to stay, “a few minutes”. An hour and a half later it was dark, and she returned home. Women have a different definition of “a few minutes”!

            I have a photo of a Christmas present; Hope you enjoy it!

            My present wife got onto me for wearing them yesterday when I was working in the yard.

            Well, that is it for now, I need to get a cup of homemade coffee. We hope you have a good day, stay warm and safe.

New year coming!

Senior retired person who needs to shop for a rain gage, Don the Ford

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

December 26, 2022

            Christmas is over, almost. At some point in the future, I will be allowed to remove the Christmas decorations, and help package them up for storage. When my present spouse decides it’s time, then I will get started.

            We had a great meal yesterday, David and his family were here, and our friend Nellie came over later in the afternoon. Nellie had a couple gifts and she also enjoyed some of the food. I enjoyed the food a second time for my supper.

            We received a text from Patrick wishing us a merry Christmas, all is going good on their cruse.

            I went out side to water the flowers in the green house. The sun was shining at that time and it was 100 degrees inside the house. The Moon plant looks like the cold weather has possibly frozen a big portion. We had two heat lamps in the green house during the night, and the sun has been shining during the day, but I guess that wasn’t good enough.

            After watering the green house, I proceeded to remove Poopa-Loopa from the yard yesterday. That is always fun, “not”, and then I picked up the small sticks from the back 40. After that, I took the leaf blower to the front yard and blew some leaves away from the lights that are on the ground, as the leaves were covering some of the lights.

            During the early afternoon, I made a cup of coffee and I got a piece of pumpkin pie, then I went outside where I enjoyed the nice weather, the coffee and the pie! All in all a good Christmas.

 

            Today is the day after: I don’t have any big plans, if the weather is nice enough, I might start to remove leaves from the Jasmin beds, I did say start, I did not say I would finish. I have already gone to the Star coffee place and I did stop to get a burrito on the way back home.

The lady at the burrito place was more talkative than usual, I know that she and her boy friend went to San Antonio for Christmas day, and I learned that she was born on Christmas day. All that before 7:00am, wow!

Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope you have a pleasant day, stay warm and safe!

Tired of resting?

Senior ole person who needs a few things to do, but not too many, Don the Ford

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

December 25, 2022 b

            Well, I guess we have made it to the day, and we hope you have a Merry Christmas.

            Dave, Claire Gabi and Alex came yesterday afternoon, we had some food, a few conversations and opened a few gifts. I think most everyone was happy with what they received, I have my new shoes on and they are nice. I received a couple gift cards so now I can have real coffee, go to a restaurant for real food, and even go to a store and buy something. Wow I feel like I am rich! I also got a container of peppermint candy, very nice!

Dave and the family are coming over for lunch today and then they will visit with the other grandparent. We usually get visits from John, Tracey and Nellie in the afternoon, but due to the covid virus which they had recently, that will not happen this year.

            Topic swap: I have watched the Christmas story as usual; the story reminds me of my childhood. In the story they show the school from the outside and it looks a lot like the grade school I went to, “May Green”, in Cape Girardeau, Mo. They also talk about the kids listening to the radio programs.

I remember before we had a TV my brother Jack and I would listen to a radio program about the Yukon. The main person was, “Sergeant Preston” of The Royal Mounties, and the Dogs name was, “Yukon King”. How can I remember those days, and I can’t remember where I left the car keys?  

Well, I am stopping now and I hope to get a cup of homemade coffee. We hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Senior retired person who has been bless by you, Don the Ford

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

December 25, 2022

 

Merry Christmas

 

Please consider the original meaning of Christmas!

 

            We hope you have a nice day filled for love and kindness!

 

 

         Don and Donna

 

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

December 24, 2022

            I am not going to tell you, today is the eve of that day that many people enjoy!

           

            Yesterday’s events: I did take a portable heater to our son David’s home, as he had one faucet that had stop working, aka frozen. He used the heater to apply heat under the sink, and after a little while the faucet began working again. Since I was out in the cold anyway, I did go to the Star Coffee place for a cup of real coffee.

            We left all of our faucets (inside the house) that are located on an outside wall, dripping overnight, and we left the cabinet doors open under those sinks, in hopes of preventing a frozen pipe.

            Topic change: I received a text from our son Patrick that they had arrived in Los Angeles and were getting their luggage, then they would be going to the ship. The bad weather did not affect their flight.

            Alternate subject again: yesterday morning when the Tres and I went outside to get the newspaper, it was so cold that we only stayed out for about 30 seconds, I observed an unusual morning cloud and took a photo. 

            It kind of looked like fire floating around in the sky.

            One more different issue: I don’t need to tell anyone that it was windy here yesterday afternoon and into the night, but it was windy here! My spouse of more than half a century and I were both concerned that the wind might knock some of our decorations over. Yesterday morning, after returning from David’s house, I noticed a problem cause by the wind. I have a photo and then a short explanation.

            In the above photo we see the backs of Mr. and Miss Santa Clause, they are next to a metal bench. Both are tied to the metal bench in an effort to help keep them stable in a windy situation. You might notice that the bench is leaning back due to the excessive wind, and the decorations are actually holding the bench up.

            My present spouse went to town yesterday afternoon, but I was not invited to go, so I stayed home, sitting here composing this posting.

            Well, it is now 7:00am on Saturday morning and I am back at the keyboard. I want to go to the store and get an air filter for the furnace today, and then sit around and do nothing until Dave, Claire, Gabi and Alex come over this afternoon. We usually have some good food, then we open any presents.

            Oh, I almost forgot, I do have my Christmas tie on today, yep, I am celebrating big time. What? Yes, I put a clean shirt on today, and that helps the tie look better.

             I guess that is it for now, we hope your Christmas eve and Christmas day are filled with one or all of the following, family, friends, food and fun!

A day of giving!

Don the Ford, who has nothing to give except for his wonderful smile?

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

December 23, 2022

            Counting today, you have 2 days to get any presents wrapped and delivered!

            Since that one person doesn’t seem to want to participate in giving the Don a present, the Don went and bought his own present yesterday. You would think this would have been free, since I am a Ford, but they charged me anyway. Photo to follow.

             No, the Christmas tree is not the present I bought for myself, try again. No, the checkered flannel shirt is not what I bought for myself. Stop it, just stop it! I bought myself a new cap, that has my name, “Ford”, on it. Before you comment on the photo, yes, I was taking a well-deserved nap on the Ford’s ole recliner, with the new cap on my ole head.

            I did get a second cap for my favorite grandson. Alex has commented that they call him Ford at school, so I thought it might help to emphasize the name Ford, just a little.

            I purchased said cap at the Cracker store, and after finding said cap, I explained to the employee who was helping me, that I wasn’t going to say anything, but the rack with all the hats on it was in violation of a fire code, it was in front of, and covering a fire extinguisher. She said to me, “I am glad you aren’t going to say anything”. I then left the store.          

            Topic swap: The cold and windy weather began to arrive at 10:00am. The wind makes it feel much colder than the real temp, but Alexa says it is 23 degrees outside right now, and it is 3:00pm on Thursday as I am writing this.

            Topic alteration: My favorite wife and I went to the store yesterday morning, she went in and shopped and I sat outside in the ole pickup. As I sat there, I saw an ole fellow who appeared to be older than me, walking from his vehicle to the store, he had shorts on and was attempting to zip up his coat. That wasn’t even the dumbest thing I saw, there was a female person who had a jacket on, and some white short, lose fitting shorts. That is dumber then dumb!

            Another adventure: After leaving the store my wife allowed me to drive her to a friend’s home and she took some gifts in while I sat in the Ford’s ole Chevy.

            Leaving the friends home, we drove back to Hewitt, and I procured some gas in the Ford’s ole Chevy. Then I bought the cap, and then we went to a local grocery store where my present spouse went in and did a little shopping.

            Back at home I took a photo of one of the Ford’s ole Christmas trees.

          If one looks closely, they will see that ole retired people, who in years past, had many presents under the tree. This year ole retired people have none. In truth, there are at least two (2) small presents under the back of the tree. In years past, with family here, we would all open presents and there would be wrapping paper everywhere, that aint happening this year!

No, the dog “Tres” is not a present.

Now you know what we did yesterday, what did you do?

We hope you have a good day today, stay warm and be safe. If we don’t see you before Christmas Day, “We hope you have a very nice and Merry Christmas!”.

No presents, no fun!

Senior ole people who use to have Christmas presents, The Ford’s

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

December 22, 2022

            We are now at 3 days till something happens. Hope you are ready.

            Second day of winter, and it is really winter here today! 

            Van update: we did not take it to the mechanic yesterday. I went out in the garage and when I opened the door to the van the light did not flash. I got in and started the van, backed it out of the garage and everything was working as it should. I pulled the van back into the garage and called the mechanic, and told him what was happening. He said he had done some reading about this van yesterday and when the battery is completely removed, and a new battery installed, there is a period of time for everything to reset.

            I believe he is correct and that it is back to normal, I did tell him we will keep an eye on it, and if it stops working properly, I will bring it back to him. My favorite wife drove the van to the store to get a few groceries, and upon her return, I drove it to the gas station for some gas, $2.34 per gallon. I did not see anything that seemed to be working improperly.

            What else did I do yesterday: I went to the cleaners and picked up some items, I went to the bank and picked up our $5.00 stipend for the week, I did get a cup of real coffee.

Leaf bags: In a prior post I presented a photo taken through a security camera of the 13 bags of leaves near the ole swing set. I have another photo of the swing set, not taken through the security camera, this time without the bags. Yep, a good person came and took them all, nice!

            You are correct, there are some leaves on the driveway, and there will likely be a bunch of leaves everywhere after the wind and cold weather arrives sometime this morning.

            Berries; I looked the berries over yesterday, and they are growing even in this cold weather. I have a couple photos.

            There is new growth on the berries and the older berries look healthy. The eggs are fake, I put them there for looks, we can’t afford real eggs.

            We hope you have a good day, stay warm and safe.

Cool, Cold, colder, coldest!

Senior ole person who hopes we are ready for the cold and wind, Don the Ford

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

December 21, 2022

            Good morning, and good afternoon to that one late arrival.

Well, I went out and tried to start the van yesterday morning, it started. We now know that the push button that flashes when we open the door, does not seem to bother the actual operation of the vehicle. It seems to be checking that everything is working. When it stops flashing, which takes about one minute, everything works as it is supposed to.

My favorite wife headed out in the ole van yesterday morning, to do some running around I mean shopping. What the heck can she be shopping for? I think it might be a way for her to get away from her, “Almost favorite husband!”

I have called the mechanic and will take the van back this morning to see if he can understand why, it flashes and how to fix it.

Heat lamp topic: I have now installed the second heat lamp in the Ford’s ole cold house for flowers. I can still turn them on and off without going outside. We will need to have both of them working on Thursday afternoon and night, through Friday and Friday night.

Bird seed topic: while I was outside installing the new heat lamp, I also installed some additional bird seed. It is bird seed, but I see the squirrels eating at the homemade bird feeder, more than the birds. 

Leaf bags topic: as I sit here at the Ford’s ole computer, I occasionally look at the camera monitors, and I see the leaf bags that my favorite grandson filled and piled up a couple days ago. I have a photo to follow, Alex does good work. 

            As you might notice, there are 13 bags to be hauled off. A neighbor stopped by yesterday and asked what I was going to do with the bags of leaves. I said I will need to haul them off the next time the Hewitt dumping place is open. My neighbor suggested that he might know someone who might want them. I said, tell them they are free.

Yes, that is the top of my ole computer monitor in the lower part of the photo.

We are planning to go to the mechanic at 7:45 this morning, we hope he can correct the button problem fairly quick.

            This is the first day of winter, I think it feels like it. We hope your day is safe, productive and fun!

Stay warm!

Senior retired person who has few plans for the day, Don the Ford

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

December 20, 2022

            There is 5days before that special day, get ready!

            Let us look at yesterday for a moment. It rained yesterday, I don’t know how much we received as I had not emptied the rain gage after the previous rain. Today is supposed to be a rain free day, and it is raining this morning. We don’t want to have the rain go away, but a short break of a couple days would be ok. You know, we can’t sit outside on these cold and wet days.

            The mechanic called us and said the van was ready. We went and picked it up and my present wife drove it to the store and then home.

            We have noticed the button that we push to activate the defroster at the back window will flash when we open the car door. It has not done that before, so we will check with the mechanic to see what might be causing this, and fix it.

            My wife needs to do some running around today, (aka shopping), and she is glad to have the van running again. It is odd how much we count on the vehicles in our daily lives. Yes, she can drive the pickup but she doesn’t like to drive it, I think it is the size difference that she doesn’t like, so she will just stay home rather that drive the Ford’s ole Chevy.

            I have wrapped a couple presents for my favorite wife and put them under the tree. In truth, there are a few presents under our Christmas tree.

            I have decided to double the heat going into the Ford’s ole green house for the upcoming super cold weather. I have used one heat lamp in the past, and now I will use two. I think the double heat lamps will get us through the cold.

            With the rain making everything wet, I guess I will just stay inside today. We hope you have a good day filled with thoughts of the true meaning of Christmas, please be safe.

Shop till you drop!

Senior ole person who shopped, dropped and then stopped, Don the Ford

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

December 19, 2022

            Ok, you have 6 days until the birthday celebration. You should take time to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

            Let us discuss why I am tired, and why my feet hurt. Yesterday I started working in the front yard at around 9:00am. I raked leaves, I used the leaf blower, I used the leaf vacuum, I used the lawn mower, I covered the water faucets, watered the flowers in the hot house and so on. I was on my feet from 9:00am to about 4:00pm, except for 30 minutes at lunch and two 10-minute coffee breaks.

            Speaking of the hot house, I have a photo which I took to show that the flowers were growing. A close look at the photo shows a broken board under a big flower pot.

 

The board is an easy fix, keeping the hot house warm when the temp gets down to 10 degrees this week is more difficult. I have received a couple suggestions to help in the heating. I can’t put an electric heater in it because, it gets its power through a 50-foot extension cord. I need to get out to the Ford’s ole shed this morning, still working on heat for the green house.

            Alex arrived around 2:00pm and went right to work, I did a little supervising which kept me on my ole feet. I am glad Alex came over, if he hadn’t, I would probably not be able to walk this morning. I am not use to being on my feet that long, walking on uneven ground, carrying things, bending down to pick things up.

            We were able to get the front yard and one of the Jasmin beds cleared of the leaves. We have two more beds to clear, and we will get other leaves from the trees. Two neighbors were also out clearing their yards of leaves yesterday.

            We are getting rain today so I will attempt to stay inside. I do need to go to the bank, the cleaners, and get a cup of coffee today. We are hoping to hear from the mechanic this morning saying he has fixed the Ford’s ole van. My favorite wife needs to do some running around, but she doesn’t like me to drive her from place to place, she says I cause her to hurry. I am not in a hurry; don’t know why she is!

Well, I guess that is it for now, hope you have a profitable and safe day.

Whose birthday?    Come on, get real!

Senior retired person whose feet are tired, and thankful for Alex, Don the Ford

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