May 31, 2023

            We made it to the last day of the month, and I guess we are looking forward to a new month. For me, being a senior person, the days seem to run together, and I often need to stop and think, “what day is it?”

            First topic: I have finally given in and allowed the ole computer to download Windows 11. It is somewhat different but so far, I have been able to work my way through it. I guess even ole people can occasionally understand new things.

            Second topic: Well, I said yesterday that I had planned to mow the front yard, I did get that task completed without any injuries to this ole senior body. The yard actually looks pretty good.

            Third topic: The cable repair man did come to the homestead and changed out the cable box. This new box is smaller, but it does not show what channel you are watching, and it does not show the time. We get use to having something and when it goes away, we feel less than happy.

            Forth topic: I noticed that the rain shut off device for the sprinkler system had a low battery. I removed the device and brought it to the swing where we were sitting. Yes, it was happy hour and we were outside enjoying the afternoon. We change the batteries, and I started messing around with the unit, and now I have messed something up. I may even need to read the manual to learn how to get it back to operating properly. Why is all the pressure always on me? And before you say it, yes, I should have left well enough alone. 

Fifth topic: There was rain in the area, but we did not get any, so I ran the sprinkler system yesterday.

Sixth topic: After sitting outside for an unusually long period, trying to get the unit working properly, it was decided to go to the berry beds and see if we could harvest anything. What did we get, we got a bunch of ouches, and my favorite berry picker got hung up with one of the vines. Picking isn’t always fun, but it is always painful.

Seventh topic: I have a photo of a hole; I hope you enjoy it.

            When I first saw this hole in the cloud it was a square. I had a cup of homemade coffee in one hand and a cookie in the other hand, so by the time I was able to get to my phone the square was not square, but I still liked the hole.

            I guess I will stop for now, we hope you have a pleasant day filled with nice people and please stay safe.

Holy or holey?

Senior ole person who needs to read the sprinkler instruction manual, Don the Ford

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

May 30, 2023

 

            Well, we got through the Memorial Day without too many problems or projects. We did fly the flag and think about those we know who were in the military.

I did go out and water all the flowers in the pots, both front yard and back 40.

I did put out some snail killer around the flowers and flower beds. We have many snails and if I can get rid of most of them that will be good. 

I did not put the trash cart out early as they never run before noon. They ran early yesterday, and I still have stinking trash. I guess that will teach me to not put off doing things.

I did pull the van out of the garage and proceeded to sweep the floor, there was various items on the floor from a few leaves to dog hair, and some plain ole dirt. In the process I removed several items from the garage, so I could clean in and around the areas where they sit. It looks better and I have now replaced the items along with the van.

All that work completed, this ole senior person was able to drag my ole body into the Ford’s ole Chevy to go get some gas, and while I was out, I did get a cup of real coffee. Then, I returned to the homestead where I thought I might get to rest for a while.

My favorite wife invited me to go outback in the sun and pick black berries. The invitation was so nice that I could not refuse (and I did want to have supper last night). We harvested berries from all three beds, and afterword’s we both sit down on the benches we use when washing the dog. Tres did not come over to where we were sitting, he may have thought we were going to give him another bath.

While we sat on the benches, I received a call from my sister in Missouri. We had a nice conversation, while I was resting from the extremely labor-intensive harvesting of the berries.

Back in the house I learned that I had no signal on my TV in the office area. I sit the cable box up to reload and it still did not work. I guess I will need to call, the cable people and have them come and fix my unit. I just tried to turn it on again and it works now, I must be a technician.

The above was entered yesterday, if anything follows it will be written today.  

Today, May 30, 2023

Well, I am again at the Ford’s ole computer entering this data. I attempted to turn the TV on and it does not work again. I should say the cable box don’t work, the TV does, but there is no signal from the box.

Note: I usually turn the TV on, and then get tired of hearing it while I am entering data, so I turn the sound off and leave the TV on. Now that it doesn’t work at all, I am irritated. We are paying for something that don’t work.

Topic change: I kind of plan to mow the front yard today, it does need it. Our yard man is getting physicals for football and for the boy scout summer camp today, so if it gets mowed, I will need to do it, using my ole body.

Speaking of ole body, the other day the neighbor’s granddaughter who is probably 6 years old was talking to me through the chain link fence out back. Somehow, she got on her grandpas age, she noted that he was in his 60s. I listened and then I told her that I am 75 years old. She gave me the look, you know, “Wow, you are old”! This little girl likes to talk and she is very smart.

 

            Well, I guess that is it for now we hope all is good for you all today and please stay safe.

TV is a habit.

Senior ole person who has habits, habits make the day for ole people, Don the Ford

 

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

May 29, 2023

            Today is a holiday, take it easy today.

Donald Ford           NARBNL

 

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

 

 

May 28, 2023

            Ok, let us get started with a few photos taken yesterday. We had our yard man here and he decided to start with the ditch, he was able to do about half of the ditch, I hope the photo indicates why he did not do the other side.

            If one looks close to the right side of the photo, one might see mud tracks from a four-wheel drive vehicle that the city employees drove up into the ditch. they were attempting to spray the weeds in the ditch but allow the grass to grow. They got stuck several times and there are mud tracks like crazy, another photo to follow.

                             
            We have been getting nice quantities of berries daily, as my favorite wife and I have teamed up to harvest said berries. We have a couple flowers blooming and I will attempt to insert a couple photos.

 

            The above was written on Saturday, if there is anything below it will be written on Sunday.

            Today is Sun Day and it is a nice sunny day outside. I think today is supposed to be nice all day, but tomorrow being a holiday, I think they are predicting rain. What are my plans for today, I have none. 😊

            We did sit outside yesterday afternoon and a friend came over to sit and talk with us. Actually, this friend brought a pizza which was a nice way to start the lively conversations. What could be better, a friend, a pizza, conversations, and a cold drink.

            Well, that is it for now, we hope you have a good day, and please stay safe.

Yard man can!

Senior ole person who needs a break, Don the Ford

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

May 27, 2023

            Today is Saturday and we plan to have our yard man, Alex, over to do some work today. The back 40 needs some mowing, while parts of it needs to grow. We have a couple black berry plants that are outside the berry beds, so we may dig them up and put them in pots. The ditch needs the weeds to be cut down, I assume Alex will be able to do about half the ditch as there is water in the middle so getting to the other side is difficult. The main idea here is to get the work done properly and in a safe manner. We want to get the yard man back home safe and sound.

            As I understand it, Alex will be one of the boy scouts who will be putting flags on the graves of veterans this Memorial Day.

            Subject change: for some reason this came to me as I was lying in bed, acting as if I was sleeping, in fact, I was too lazy to get up so my small brain started working. I thought about being fair with others, or treating others as you want to be treated. I think most of my adult life I have tried to not cheat anyone. I remember one time I had an ole pickup for sale and I had set the price $500 more than I really wanted, and that would allow me to come down, still get my price and the other person would feel as if he had gotten a good deal.

            Well, a young man arrived at the Ford homestead in a vehicle which was driven by a lady whom I assumed was his mother. The young man and I looked the vehicle over, we went for a ride in it, and he talked with his mom, then came to me and said he would take it. He did not ask for a reduced price. I then reduced the price by $500 even though he did not ask. He was too young to know how to negotiate over a price, and I was not going to take advantage of the young man. Note: sometime later this young man came and applied for work at DIB.

            Honestly dealing with a bank: Over the years I have used a bank that is located across the street from where I worked. Most of my visits was to the teller machine, and yes, I still use the same bank today. Over the years, on two different occasions when withdrawing my weekly stipend, I received an extra $20.00 bill. On both occasions I took the extra twenty dollars into the bank and told them, “I got too much”. I remember getting a look from the lady, like she was thinking, “what?” She would take my name and the twenty-dollar bill, I can’t remember if she said thanks or not. I do try to be fair in all cases, whether a person or a business.

            Different topic: we still get the newspaper, but I guess not for long. They are changing from a daily delivery, to 3 days a week delivery, and the delivery would be by the post office. Supposedly the paper would then have more in it as it was info from two or three days. They also suggest we can use the online version of the paper. I am sure we will no longer get the so-called newspaper.

            Well, that is all for now, we hope you have a good day and please stay safe.

Be fair all the time.

Senior ole person who tries to be nice and hopes others do too, Don the Ford

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

May 26, 2023

            Let’s see what happened yesterday. I sat around doing little or nothing most of the day, I did get the kids from school on the last day for this year. Gabi and her boyfriend Brice, were dressed up for the last day of school, he had a suit with a tie on, and she had a pretty dress on. They along with a few friends decided to dress up for the last day, they being dressed up, stood out amongst the other students when leaving the school.

            Well, my schedule today has little in it. I will get Dave from work; I might go into town to see if I can get a desk fan at a reasonable price. I might spread some fertilizer on part of the back 40. Before we sit outside this afternoon, we will likely harvest the black berries. We are at either 5 or 6 quarts harvested so far. Since today is Friday, we expect a few friends might come over and sit outside with us. Our discussions are lively and sometimes interesting, but we never solve any of the world’s problems.

            My Star coffee card is out of funding, so if I want a cup, I have to make it myself.

Allow me to address a different subject: yesterday afternoon my favorite wife and I went to the Geo. Restaurant for our evening repast. As it were, we got the table we like and the young man who served us did a good job. As it happened, we both ordered the same thing we had ordered the last time we were there, and the food was good. When the young man brough the bill I said to him, “if I can guess the exact amount of that bill, is the food free?” He replied, “ok” and he looked at the bill as I told him to the penny what the bill was. He looked surprised and asked, “do you have the same thing every time you come in?” We paid the bill, and we had a good time conversing with the staff.

Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope you have a wonder filled day, and we hope all the wonders are good. Please stay safe and be nice to all the ole people.

Know-it-all Don

Senior ole person who can’t afford real coffee, Don the Ford

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

May 25, 2023

            Today is the last day of school here in Hewitt. Both kids get out at 12:30 today and I will attempt to get them. Yesterday, as I was sitting in the Ford’s ole Chevy waiting on Alex to get out of school, there was an announcement made in the school. Yes, sitting in the vehicle I can hear the announcements, I think they have outside speakers around the football stadium, and I park close to the stadium.

            The announcement was, “do not bring back packs to school tomorrow, if you do, they will be taken away from you at the door”!  Now I know the kids have already turned in the tablets, they will not have lunch at school, so I assumed they do not need a back pack.

            Alex told me that they were told that someone had made a comment about shooting the school up on the last day, and that is the reason for no back packs.

Topic swap: The back yard needs to be mowed, but it still has some water standing, the ditch needs the weeds to be cut, so we hope our yard man, Alex, will be available this Saturday for a day of hard work. We are supposed to have a few days without rain, so we might be able to get some work done. If the weather stays dry a few days, we will attempt to spread some fertilizer in the back 40.

            It was just a couple months ago when we were talking about the drought, now we are talking about the rain. What would we talk about if we received just the right amount of rain, and the perfect amount of sun light, if the temperature was perfect, I doubt that we would be satisfied. We would find something to complain about. 

            That is all for now, I will not comment on the large number of black berries we were able to harvest yesterday, or that my present spouse and I sat outside for about 1.5 hours yesterday afternoon talking about the fact that there is nothing on TV that we want to watch.

            We hope you have a good Thursday, maybe we will see you out when we are having supper this afternoon, and as always, be nice to at least one person, please be safe.  

The last day!           School that is.

Senior ole person who will attempt to get a cup of homemade coffee, Don the Ford

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

May 24, 2023

            Middle of the week, or maybe it is Wednesday. When one says middle of the week one should first consider when does their week start, then one might be able to determine the middle of the week. I think most people my age, consider the week as Monday through Friday, then Saturday and Sunday are the week end. That was the way it was, for most people who worked 5 days a week, and were off on the weekend. Now days, people don’t work, and 5 days means nothing to them.

            Since I am an ole person I will go with the five day week, and weekends, so in my opinion we are mid-week today.

            Did it rain last night? Yes, we got ¾ inch here at the homestead. When I looked out at the new carport, I noticed that it was mostly dry under the Ford’s ole Chevy, so it appears that the new carport works.

I am glad I mowed the front yard yesterday, it looked nice enough that my favorite wife even said it looked good. Wow, I took that as a positive comment as to my work, and I don’t get many of them.

My first wife and I did fertilize a bunch of the flowers yesterday, and I have decided to fertilize a portion of the back 40. Due to the rain, I will not need to strain my ole body today, as there is too much water in the back 40 for now.

My schedule is still rather odd today, get Gabi at 12:35, get Alex at 4:00, get David if he gets off around 4:00. They have been having a lot of overtime at work lately.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for Midway, and both grandkids get out at noon. 

I am going to stop for now, please stay safe today, and what ever you do, do it the best you can!

Rain = Blackberries!

Senior ole person who still does the best he can, but his best isn’t… Don the Ford

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

May 23, 2023

            What has the Don been doing this morning? He has been looking at videos from security cameras from a couple nights ago. A friend suggested I might want to see what happen on the street in front of his house. Let’s see if I can make this short.

            A vehicle stopped in front of the next-door neighbor’s house at 10:40pm, a person got out and took a bag to the front door, possibly a food order. That person left without the bag.

            Two minutes later a dog came down the street, there was a man with a flash light walking a little way behind the dog.

            Two police cars arrived, they talked with the man, the dog came into our yard smelling everything, a police officer followed the dog and actually got close to the dog in our yard.

            The man walking with the flash light walked back up the street, the two police vehicles left the scene.

            Different subject: the contractor Ken got the car port finished yesterday, photo to follow.

 

            It sprinkled a little this morning about 4:00am, and the Ford’s ole Chevy did not get washed.

            Lawn topic: I hope to get the front yard mowed this morning, as they are calling for rain possibly tonight. I also need to water the flower pots. My favorite wife was on the ground pulling weeds most of the day yesterday, she wants us to put some fertilizer out today.

I have an odd schedule today; Gabi gets out of school at 12:35pm (aka half a day) but Alex gets out at the normal time 4:00pm, normal time. We have no idea when Dave will get off work.

Different topic: as I was in the throne room this morning a word came to mind. Now I do not often have words pop into my ole head, so I thought about this word, “Elasticity”. Now I bet you think you know what elastic is, well you would need to stretch your understanding of the word if you looked it up. There is more than one meaning of the word “elastic”.

Well, I need to get started or I will never get done, we hope you have a good day filled with love and kindness, please stay safe.

Stretching it?  Maybe.

Senior ole person who needs to get going, Don the Ford

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

May 22, 2023

            The weekend is over and I still have very little to do. The contractor is here, and he arrived earlier than usual, heck he was here before 7:00. We had not moved the vehicles out of the driveway yet, so I asked Patrick to move his vehicle, and I moved ours. This allowed Ken to get his truck in the driveway near the carport. He showed me what he had intended to do today, a couple things are for looks, and one thing is to make the carport stronger, we like both.

            Patrick spent the night here, and his wife Karla stayed at her parents’ house. Karla’s mother is ill, and she wanted to be with her.

            I did not do a lot yesterday; I did get on my knees and pull some weeds and grass out of the jasmine bed. It isn’t easy for ole people to get down and back up. Before you ask, yes, I did get my hands dirty. Later in the afternoon, I did go to the ouch beds (aka blackberry beds) to harvest some berries. I did say ouch during the process.

            I really don’t have anything planned for the day, other than get the Alex from school and maybe Dave from work. This is the last week for the kids to be in school, so when school is out, I will have even less to do.

I could mow the front yard, as it does need to be mowed, but that would mean my ole body would be put to the test. Am I strong enough to walk behind that ole mower for 20 minutes, and could I use the string trimmer? Work is rough on ole people.

Topic swap: the last couple days, when I go anywhere in the Ford’s ole Chevy, I have been listening to ole 60’s music and not the news. I get so tired of the same so-called news over and over. I can usually put up with the same topic twice, but when it is repeated time and time again, I get tired and look for music. The olden days music actually makes me feel good.

I guess I will stop for now, if anything interesting happens, I will attempt to provide you with all the info.

Hope your day is very nice, and please stay safe.

Nothing doing!

Senior ole person who needs to go to the boy’s room, Don the Ford

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

May 21, 2023

            Saturday morning as I ventured outside for a breath of fresh air, I looked around the neighborhood and what did I see, a big part of a neighbor’s tree on the ground, photo to follow.

            As far as I know, there was no big wind the night before, just some rain. Now I guess I could have slept through some wind noise. The people who live there rent; I wonder who will do the removal.             

            Later: the ladies who live there did most of the work to remove the limbs from the main part of the trunk that fell, a neighbor with a gas-powered chain saw, helped cut the big part up.

            I did nothing yesterday, so I have nothing to write about, and will likely do nothing today. We hope you have something that you want to do today, please be safe, and nice to at least one person.

Nothing is nothing!

Senior ole retired person who has nothing and did nothing, Don the Ford

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

May 20, 2023

            We are at Saturday again and I have little to tell you. Ken the contractor was not able to come and finish the job yesterday, he might be here today. I found a note that I was going to report to you about the contractor, so if I have already reported this to you, please forgive this ole person.

The other day I was looking at the monitors and did not see the contractor, wondering what was going on, since I couldn't find him anywhere on any monitor, I got up went outside. To my surprise, he was up on top of the carport doing some work, I guess it must be pretty strong. It rained last night, we got over ½ inch of rain, and the almost completed carport is still standing. I guess rain doesn’t damage the unit.

The sun was shining and it was hot yesterday when I was surprised with a call from Dave wanting me to pick him up from work. The Ford’s ole Chevy pickup was parked under the almost complete carport out of the direct sun light. When I got in, it was almost cool inside the truck. So, the almost complete carport protects from the rain and from the sun.

            Yesterday’s work: allow me to tell you what the Don did yesterday, he actually worked! Yep, it is difficult to believe that the Don would do anything, and working, is way out of his league. The Don had decided to get the back yard trimmed and mowed, as it was predicted that we would get rain and possibly some storms Friday afternoon and evening. Trimming with the weed eater is not easy as there is close to 400 feet of fence and house, there are five flower and berry beds, two trees, one shed, one green house, and all that must be trimmed around.

            Then I moved the contractors’ items that are still in the back yard and mowed around that area with the walk behind mower.

My ole body made it through that work and I took about a 20 minutes break with a cup of homemade coffee and cookies. Rest period complete, I got the ole riding mower out and after all the checking of oil, gas, and tire pressure, I began the mowing. Mowing complete and the equipment put away, I started the cleaning of my old body. Using the Wisk Broom, I removed all the grass that was attached to my legs and feet, yes, I took the shoes and socks off. Feeling as if I had a majority of grass and debris off my ole body, and after removing my dirty shirt, I was headed into the house to get a shower, but...

Dave called and needed a ride home. I found a shirt and shoes and went to get him, still no shower. That completed, and arriving back at home I wondered, is anything else going to keep me from a well-deserved shower.

 Shower taken, clean body on the Fords ole recliner, I had about an hour of rest.

Later in the afternoon my favorite wife came home from running around all over town, and we washed the dog. Dog washing over I was then allowed to water the potted plants in the back 40. A short time later a friend arrived and we all sat outside complaining about the heat and no breeze. After talking for a while, I did pick the black berries. My supper was a bowl of ice cream, not bad for and ole person’s day.

I do have a photo of the rain clouds that were attempting to proceed to our area.

            Well, nothing to do yesterday, and even less to do today. We hope you have something to do and please stay safe.

Rest day for me!

Senior ole person who needs a cup of homemade coffee, Don the Ford

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

May 19, 2023

            Today is Friday, and the contractor Ken, should finish up today. he has some paint touchup work to do and a couple more pieces of metal to put on, then he will be done. I do have a photo of the carport with the vehicle in it, but it is not yet complete.

            I hope to get a good photo when it is complete.

            Subject swap: I am hoping to get the back 40 mowed today before the bad weather arrives. If all goes well, I will start by using the walk behind mower and mowing the areas that the riding mower can’t get to. Then I will use the weed eater and trim as much as possible. Then hopefully all the items that the contractor has in the back 40 will be removed, and I can get the riding mower out and mow the back 40 before any bad weather gets here.

            Bad weather: if we have some bad weather, we will learn if the carport can handle the weather, and protect the Ford’s ole Chevy.

            Another topic: I do not need to get Dave from work or the kids from school as Claire is off work today and she will do the getting. I can constipate, I mean concentrate on mowing. As I was moving the vehicles around this morning, I did get a photo of a cloud that I like, yep photo to follow.

            If it doesn’t rain this afternoon, we will likely have a friend or two over at happy hour.

New subject: I just got a call from the contractor and he will not be here today, I assume he is still not feeling good. He will try to be here tomorrow. Stuff happens and all our plans cannot go as expected. I am still going to try and mow the back 40.

That’s it for now, please have a good day filled with happiness and be safe.

Plans change!

Senior yard man today, Don the Ford

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

May 18, 2023

            Ok let us start out with nothing much new here at the Ford’s Homestead. It is 7:00am and the contractor isn’t here yet, but the sun is up and shining.

            Yesterday: nothing much, other than getting Dave from work and Alex from school, school ends next week, and I will have even less to write about. We did go to a viewing yesterday evening, as a neighbor’s sister passed away, I do not like viewing or funerals, even though they are necessary for most families.

            This morning: I took the Ford’s ole Chevy and parked it in the neighbor’s driveway, and on the walk back home as I was in the middle of the street, I decided to get a photo which I am sure you have wanted to see for some time now. It just seemed interesting to me.

            That photo is of 400 Oklahoma avenue in Hewitt Tx, from the corner of the block to the cul-de-sac. I knew you would like it.

            More this morning: I have another photo showing the progress that has been made at the Ford’s Homestead. It seems to me that most of the frame if not all, has been erected. Photo to follow.

            The contractor has arrived this morning and I assume he will be putting the rest of it together. Weather today is said to be sunny and hot, tomorrow the weather should be good in the first half of the day, with some storms later in the day and night. We hope the car port is completed before the next bad weather arrives, and we hope it will survive any bad weather.

            Change of topic: the back yard needs to be mowed, I am hoping he gets done today, removing his equipment, and that will possibly allow me to mow the yard tomorrow, before the bad weather gets here. I need to go to the teller machine today to get our weekly stipend, and since I will be away from the homestead, I may be able to get a cup of real coffee.

            Well, I guess I will quit for now, I want to get a cup of homemade coffee and go outside and watch him work. We hope you have a productive and safe day.

Get-er dun for that one person, “get her done.”

Senior retired person who wants to watch some one work, Don the Ford

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

May 17, 2023

            Good Wednesday morning. I just moved our vehicles out of the driveway and the contractor arrived. He has the welder running and is standing the post that will hold the carport in place. We are supposed to have good weather today and tomorrow, but Friday there may be some bad weather. He hasn’t said when he might be finished. I hope to have a photo tomorrow of any progress that is made.

            More info about this project.             

            Our contractor arrived early Tuesday morning and began working. For the most part he was painting the metal parts so they will be close to the color of our house. I was observing the work being done and I could see he was measuring the driveway and preparing the locations where the post would be anchored into the cement, so I ventured forth to observe in person (the security cameras work well, but in person is better).   

            I am glad that I went out there, as he commented, “why didn’t we go with 12 foot wide instead of 10 foot wide”? I said, “we did agree on 12 foot wide”. He then said his notes indicate 10-foot wide. I pointed out the 10-foot wide, would leave a support post in front of the gate, while 12 foot leaves the gate clear. He then said, “I must have made a mistake”. There was other conversation ending in, he would need to get a couple other pieces of roof support beams.

            I ask, “Is this your first mistake”, he laughed and said, “Nope”. Later that day he went and got the other metal pieces that he needed.

            Change the topic: I did not do much yesterday other than watch the work being done via the security cameras. Now I did take Tres for a short walk, I did get Alex from school, and my favorite wife and I did sit outside for about an hour in the late afternoon, just relaxing. After eating a little supper, I did venture forth to the berry beds where I picked some more berries. As you can see, I was super busy.

            The back yard needs to be mowed but it is still wet, and there are all the pieces of metal laying around, I guess we will wait until the work is done, then attempt a mowing of the back 40. If he gets done Friday, and if it doesn’t rain Friday, I would hope to get our yard man Alex over here and put him to work.

            Alex’s boy scout group are having a fund raiser Saturday night, they will be having a supper and accepting donations, which help reduce the cost of the trip to boy scout summer camp. We will likely donate but not go to the supper as it is downtown Waco.

            I wish I had more to talk about but I don’t, maybe I will go out and see how Ken is doing (Ken is the contractor). We hope you have a nice day, please be nice to ole people and stay safe.

Security cam watcher.

Senior ole person who could use a cup of coffee, Don the Ford

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

May 16, 2023

            Well, it is Tuesday, and it isn’t raining. It did rain yesterday afternoon and my favorite wife and I was forced to sit on the front porch with our beverage due to the rain. Actually, it was nice on the porch with the slow easy rain, even our conversations were slow and easy. Ok, I know what you just thought, and even though you might be correct in thinking ole people are slow and easy, I don’t think it is nice of you thinking of us ole people as being, “slow and easy”!

            I should stop entering data right now and leave you without any additional info. One day you are my favorite, and the next day you hurt my fillings!

            I will continue for the other readers, not for that one, and we all know who you are. Ken the contractor did arrive at the Fords homestead yesterday, the first trailer had the metal that will be used as the frame. He returned later with the metal that will be used as the top. He was working on the frame pieces getting them ready to paint when he discovered that his spray gun would not work. He explained that to me and left to get a new sprayer, he is supposed to be here this morning to get back to work. I have a photo of the progress so far.

            What? No, there isn’t anything there yet, but that is where we hope it will be.

            Since the weather was good yesterday until later in the afternoon, I was able to mow the front yard. Interesting, I along with two neighbors were out mowing at the same time. Was I trying to keep my yard looking as good as theirs, or were they trying to keep their yards looking as good as mine? The neighbor who is on vacation needs to have his yard mowed.

            Dave had to work OT yesterday, I picked him up about 5:00pm, he worked 11 hours. They use to pay OT for hours worked past the days schedule, now as I understand it, they pay OT for anything over 40 hours in a week. So, if you work more than the scheduled hours for three days and then mis a day, you get no OT pay. I can see how it would be irritating to work more than scheduled hours and not being sure you will get extra pay.

            I did get some more black berries yesterday; I think a couple days of sunshine will increase the number of black berries harvested.

            Well, that is it for today’s rant. I hope your day is surprisingly comfortable, and as usual be safe.

Contractor is starting.

Senior person who can stay inside and watch the contractor work, Don the Ford

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

May 15, 2023

            Hello to you, my favorite person to read this posting. You are the one and only who reads what I write, and actually enjoys what you read. I did think that you might have made a comment about the umbrella photo being taken in the house, because I did not want to get it wet in the rain, but you let this ole person down by not commenting.

            In past articles I have noted how the government wants to save water by dictating outhouses instead of inside toilets, and removal of all bathtubs allowing for one 2-minute shower every 24 hours. As I understand it, many of you are in favor of one or both of those programs, as they will save water and help the green horn group to stay in power.

            I have learned of another program that your president and green horn group have came up with. It is said that this program will be initiated by the end of this year. This proposed program will, “Due away with all paper items used for mucus discharge (aka blowing your nose) like Kleenex and Puffs”.

Your president and the green horn group want everyone to use handkerchief’s. As we understand it, the average handkerchief can be use and washed more than 200 times before replacement is required. Also, it is suggested that the handkerchief does not need to be washed after each use. It is recommended that the handkerchief be used a minimum of 15 times before washing. During testing, one handkerchief was used 24 times before washing, this person had allergies really bad, and he simply would let it dry after use, then shake it several times, and it would be ready for re-use!

There is also another program that has been going on for quite a while, and it is to do away with all paper used for writing and printing. This would mean no more newspapers, and no more paper advertisements. Everyone has a phone or a computer so paper items like mail are no longer necessary. Kids in school don’t know how to write on paper now, so they are already paperless. It is said that a paperless united states will occur in 2026. 

You don’t believe me? Wait and see, if I am right!

 

            Topic swap: yesterday was a do-nothing day here at the Ford Homestead. We mostly sat around complaining that there was nothing to do. I did in the afternoon venture out into the wet back 40, in an effort to review the berry beds. I was able to collect a hand full of black berries while avoiding the standing water, photo to follow.

            Collecting those berries means that I will need to daily check the berry beds and carry a container with me.

Different subject: the contractor is supposed to be here this morning to start the new carport. It is not raining this morning and it is predicted to not rain until this afternoon. I need to get the Ford’s ole Chevy out of the driveway and get my first wife’s van out of the garage before he arrives. Maybe I will take a photo of the drive before and after the car port arrives.

Well, I need to get going, we hope you have a good day filled with much kindness, and as always please stay safe.

Berry picker

Senior ole person who needs to mow the front yard but… Don the Ford

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