January 31, 2024

            Howdy all, we had a nice day yesterday and hope you did also. I think we made it to 77 degrees yesterday and I did not complain about the excessive heat, I did enjoy it. As usual, I don’t have a lot of plans for the coming day.

            This morning Tres and I ventured out the front door and as usual I look up and down the street to see if there is anyone, or any animals in the area before we go outside. Seeing no one we stepped outside and then I observed a male subject running down the street with his dog, yes, the dog was on a lead. I immediately got Tres back inside the house and shut the door. I waited until the male subject and his dog came running back past the house. When they were out of site, we ventured forth again.

            This morning as I was lying in bed trying to solve all the world problems, ok, maybe I was trying to remember how to get out of the bed, it came to me again, it is time to start preparing our income tax forms. I decided to make a list of who we need to receive forms from this year, and then check and see if we have received all of them. We need one more form, and I think today is the last day for them to be mailed out.

            What did I do yesterday: not much of anything but I did remove some leaves from a couple flower beds. I used the leaf blower with a small rake and got most of them out of one bed, now they are in a different bed, and today I might get out there and move some of them out of the beds, into the yard, where I will use the old walk behind mower to vacuum them up. I would like to have my yard man Alex do this work but he is in school and we are supposed to get rain and storms this weekend, so I guess I will attempt the removal.

            Tomorrow: is the first day of the month and we will get the kids dropped off at our house early tomorrow. Claire goes to work early on the first day of the month to do the books. I usually take the kids to the star coffee store to get a morning drink, and yes, it is expensive. I also get to drop them off at their schools.

            I guess I should get started, the sun is now up and I need to act like I am doing something. We hope you have a good day, please stay safe and show kindness to others.

Soon to be Leaf extractor.

Senior ole person who is already tired, and I just thought about work, Don the Ford

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

January 30, 2024

            Good Tuesday morning, it is cool here in Hewitt but not cold (43 degrees), we had a nice day yesterday. Things are starting to dry up a little, and they are predicting storms with rain Friday and Saturday. I did not do much yesterday, I did rake a few acorns along the edge if the drive way, I wanted to see how many I would get. I did remove some acorns from one of the flower beds. I can’t say I enjoyed messing with the acorns, but it got me out of the house for a while.

            I don’t have any real plans for today, I might see if the leaves are dry enough for me to start removing them from the Jasmin beds. I should get gas for the Ford’s ole Chevy and if I do, I might be able to get a cup of real coffee.

            Different topic: I get emails from the harbor store with their coupons, and I learned this morning that the lights that I purchased for the Ford’s ole trailer is now on sale eight dollars less than what I paid for them. Ole people never get a break, unless it is a broken bone!

            Another topic: I did start reading from the story I had written a few years ago, and I was surprised that I found it interesting, almost as if it was a story that I had never read before. I will read a few pages each day as time allows, and hopefully I will continue to enjoy it. In this story the main character is Charles, he is a scientist on another planet name Alpha Cory, he had red hair and green eyes, oh, this took place about one billion years ago. Well, now you have a slight idea of the story.

            What? You want to know the title? Ok, “It was The End, and The Beginning”.  I just learned that my story, in part, is about something going on in the world now, that was not happening when I wrote the story, but there is a lot more than one subject in my story.

            On a totally different topic: have you ever thought about how people are able to read? Now I am not good at reading. I often read a sentence or two and think, “that don’t make any sense”. Then I go back and read it again and usually find that I have read a word wrong, like the word, “Saw”, might be read as, “Was”.

            Unusual topic: Now I have thought, when we read, we look at the sentences very quickly, we do not normally look at each word but just more or less scan the words, and somehow our brain is able to identify each word as our eyes pass over them. When I think about the ability to read, especially for those of you who read fast, it is something special.

            Well, I don’t have anything interesting to tell you, so I will say have a good day, be safe and allow someone to be nice to you.

Nice warm day ahead.

Senior ole person who needs a plan of action for the day, Don the Ford

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

January 29, 2024

            A very good morning to one and all. We hope your day will be fill with fun and interesting events. This is another day that I do not have any plans to do much of anything.

            My favorite wife still would like for me to remove the leaves from the Jasmin beds in the front yard, and I would also like them removed, but the leaves appear to be dry on top, and they are very wet underneath. It will take a few more days before we can start the extraction.

            Now we did go out for lunch yesterday and it was good. Heck even the service was good yesterday. When we got home from eating, I did not get to take a nap, instead I went out back and started picking up the small limbs from the back 40. There were quite a few limbs, and as I removed that debris from the yard, I observed some dog defecation in various areas, so I also attempted to remove it. Yep, I had almost a bucket full of the Poopa-Loopa. Completing my tasks, I decided to attempt to do my Bible study homework. I am not, and I have never been, a good student. Well, I was a good student in Auto Mechanics in high school, heck I understood everything our teacher told us, but I never considered that as a learning process.

            Work completed, I decided to get a cup of homemade coffee and sit outside as the weather was nice and the temp was in the low 60s (64 degrees) and not much breeze. My first and favorite wife came out and we sat there together, yes Tres was there too. The sky was clear of clouds and the sky was very blue, which you may see in the following photo.

It was a nice and quiet afternoon as we sat there, one neighbor (aka friend) along with her son dropped by and talked for a while. I would have thought with such nice weather, more neighbors would have been outside, but there was a football game going on, and football to many is important.

            Today’s possible events: we are looking forward to a warm day with temps at 70 degrees. With the coming warm day, it would be nice if it was also dry outside, then I could do some yard work, leaf removal and acorn removal. Yes, there is one area of the yard that is covered with acorns again.

I think I have my homework done for bible study tonight, and I finished reading the Old Testament again yesterday. I keep thinking I want to start reading the story I wrote a few years ago and today may be the day I start.

            Well, I guess that is it for now, please be safe in all you do and have a very nice day.

 I enjoy warm.

Senior ole person who hopes for a good day for us all, Don the Ford

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

January 28, 2024

            It is Sunday morning, the sun is getting ready to rise, it is 33 degrees outside, my only plan for the day is to maybe pick up small sticks from the back 40, and possibly the front yard but I have not checked the front yard yet.

            Yesterday events: in the afternoon the sun was shining so I ventured forth from the home into the outdoors. I quickly noticed that if I stayed out of the wind which was blowing briskly, and stayed in areas where the sun was shining, I could be outside without a jacket. I first moved some items from the garage to the shed and in the process, I strained my right arm, not too bad but it hurts a little. Then I decided to attempt to get some water out of the Christmas decoration lights that had not yet been put away.

            When I noticed the water in the clear plastic bulbs, I decided to let them stay in the garage for a while hoping somehow the water would get out of the bulbs, but it did not. These clear plastic bulbs are about one inch across, and they have a hole in the top of the bulb. I decided to attempt to get the water out, you know drain the water out, that did not work, I did find that rapidly shaking each bulb, one at a time removed most of the water. Out of a couple hundred bulbs there were probably more than 30 that I had to shake. During this process my favorite wife came out and sat in the warm sun light with me.

            We did learn yesterday that our son Patrick has the covid virus. I had noted yesterday that he was not feeling well and when I checked with him later, he let us know he has the virus. My favorite wife always gets a cookie for our sons’ birthdays and the one we have for Patrick has been put into the freezer, photo to follow.

             We will keep it until he gets better and come to our homestead.

            Today’s plan: no real plans at this time, I did notice an enormous number of small limbs in the back 40 yesterday, when I was taking things to the shed. So, later today, I might attempt to pick them up, and if I do that, I will likely see some Poopa-Loopa and attempt to remove that also. I might talk my favorite wife into going to the Cracker store for lunch, that way I would not be forced, I mean allowed to wash the dishes.

            Well, that is it for today, have a good day, be safe in all you do, and think a few positive thoughts.

All things are possible if only you believe.

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

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

January 27, 2024

            Good morning, I hope. It was starting to get light outside when I started this posting. I went out and connected the trailer to the truck and got it out of the back 40. The trailer is at the gate so I did not need to drive the Ford’s ole Chevy into the wet and soft back 40. While I was hooking up to the trailer Tres was in the ole office wining and crying, as I would not let him out with me. I still did not know if they will be at the site this morning, so I drove out there. They were open and I was the only vehicle there. After they removed the limbs from my trailer, I went to Dave’s house, where we loaded a bunch of items that we took back to the site. We got that dumped and I dropped Dave off at his house.

            Our son Patrick has a birthday tomorrow, and they were coming up to the Fords Homestead today, but we received a call from Pat saying he did not feel good. He will stay home and get better, we can celebrate next week, we do not want him to feel bad and we don’t want anyone else to get sick.

            Yesterday: my favorite wife had a bunch of coins in a zip lock bag and she wanted to get paper money for them. We had heard that many banks would only take change if it was correctly counted and in roles. I was heading out this morning to get Dave from work and I decided to leave a little early and stop by our bank. While I was there, I asked if they would take the coins in a loose form. I was told as long as it is clean, meaning, the bag it came in did not have any debris in it, as they put the coins in a machine that counts and separates them.

            Later in the day I decided to check with the city to see if they were going to have dump day tomorrow, and while I was out, I would take the change to the bank and get some paper money. The lady I spoke to at the city did not know and she took my name and phone number and said someone would call me. I then proceeded to the bank and turned in the zip lock bag of coins. We had $99.00 in coins. Wow, that is enough money to last ole people a couple months.

            Later in the afternoon I went to school to get Alex and Gabi from school, neither one said they learned anything that day. Alex’s camp out was canceled as several of the scouts are sick. I have seen Alex’s new work out bench and it is very nice, now he needs to get the barbell set for the bench.

            Back to today: my favorite wife and I just returned from having lunch at the sandwich shop. We did not go to any stores just a quick drive into town, lunch and then back home.

            Well, I guess that will be it for today’s post, we hope your day is fun and safe.

Empty trailer, nice.

Senior ole person who needs to start the bible study homework, Don the Ford

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

January 26, 2024

            Morning from us to you, it is foggy outside this morning and sometimes it is foggy in my head. There is almost 3 inches of rain in the free rain gage. They are predicting a little more rain this afternoon.            At this time, I have no real plans for today, so I guess it will be another boring day indoors acting as if I am watching the TV. As you know I do spend time reading from the bible daily and recently I have been considering reading the fiction story I wrote a few years ago about how time started.

            Did the Don do anything yesterday: well, he did water the flowers in the so-called hot house. Would you believe that I had to wade water to get to the so-called hot house. All that rain and I still needed to water the flowers, never any rest for ole senior retired people.

            I was able to get Gabi, Alex and Dave home safely from school and work yesterday. When I arrived back home after dropping the kids off at their house, my favorite wife and I went to the George restaurant for an early supper. We try to get there early so we can get seated where we like to sit, and it is a good hour earlier than we normally eat supper. The food was good the service was also good and the frozen margarita was very good.

            I have noticed that none of you asked if I am feeling ok after the shingles shot. Thanks for being concerned for and ole senior retired person, and even though you did not ask, “I am feeling just fine”. 

I need to call the city of Hewitt today and see if they are going to have brush and bulk day tomorrow, (that is when we haul off the limbs) you know we did not get to go last Saturday due to the freezing cold weather. With the recent rain it may be too muddy for the vehicles.

I think my favorite grandson Alex is supposed to go camping this weekend. He is a boy scout and they do winter campouts that they refer to as the freeze camping. Sleeping in a tent out in the cold don’t sound like fun to an ole person. 

Our oldest son is planning to be here tomorrow, to celebrate his birthday, which is the 28^th. I think he might be 33 years old again. We usually go out for lunch with the family for birthdays.

Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope you have a wonder filled day while staying safe.

Wanting warm and dry.

Senior ole person, “thankful for the rain but…”, Don the Ford

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

January 25, 2024

            Well, we just had another day of doing nothing. The wet rainy weather has just cause me to stay inside and be bored. Now I did get the shingles shot yesterday and the results seem to be ok for now. I do not have a fever, only body aches which are those I have every day. Maybe I will be lucky and get through the shot without any bad reactions.

            Plans for today, if I feel well, we will go out for supper this afternoon, other than that, and getting the kids from school, nothing. 

            Tres is in the garage and I heard him growl, so I started looking that the camera monitors. The only thing I see is something that looks like the eyes of a cat reflecting light. This glowing object actually looked as if it blinked, so I thought it was some kind of animal. I zoomed in but could not determine if it was an animal or not. The glowing object was not appearing to be blinking anymore and Tres had stopped growling. A vehicle came down the street and I could not see any animal. Whatever it is, it is just lying there, I will look when it gets to be daylight to see what it is.

            I had an ole memory from back in the 70s, that is the 1970s. I had been promoted to a position of supervisor, and even though I knew everything about warehousing, I did not know much about supervision. We had a female employee who was not meeting expectations and she was terminated. In truth, I had a book about management and I went to it to see what I should say during the termination. Then she and I went into the conference room and I terminated her. There were some tears from her, and she said, I don’t have a way to get home. I went to the manager and told him and he told me to take her home, which I did. Now there wasn’t any problems in doing that, but when I think about all the crap that could have happened. I learned a lot over the years but I never did that again.

            Well, it is getting light outside so I might go see what that glowing object was. I have returned and there is nothing out there but rainwater. I wonder if the lite I saw was a reflection from the streetlight.

We hope everyone has a good day, please be safe and think about being nice to old people.

Something shining?

Senior ole person who don’t want to feel bad, Don the Ford

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

January 24, 2024

            We hope everyone is having a good morning, as it is a rainy Wednesday. Let’s start out with a rain report.           

Our free rain gage has 2.5 inch of rain as a two-day total, Tuesday afternoon, that is an additional .75 inch of rain from Monday’s 1.75 inch, and they tell us there is more to come. We appreciate the rain but I would like to get outside and be allowed to complain about having to work in the yard.  I do have things I would like to do outside but with the wet yards I will just stay inside and be bored.

Bible subject: I was reading the Bible yesterday, and I learned something, yes, even ole retired people can learn things at times. One of the small books is, “Amos”, he was a prophet. I had a brother whose name was “Amos”, and my bible indicated that the name “Amos” meant, “A burden”. I wonder if my mom and dad knew that when they name him, he was the first born of seven (7) kids. Could that be why we all called him junior?

Health topic: I may go and get my second shot for shingles today. The second shot is often given three months after the first. I was told by the pharmacist who gave me the first shot, that the second shot often made the person feel sick for a day or so. I was also told that if I waited and received the shot in the fourth month the bad feeling may not be as bad or not at all.

I want to get the shot today, and if I get sick tomorrow my favorite wife can get Dave from work and then Dave can take my pickup truck and get the kids from school. I need to be feeling ok by Saturday as we plan on hauling limbs to the Hewitt dump site this Saturday. Ole people and their problems.

Different matter: They keep talking about the total solar eclipse coming in April and everyone is kind of excited to see it. I keep wondering what if it is cloudy that day? I would like to see it if the clouds stay away, I guess I should see if I still have the welding goggles, so I could look at the moon in front of the sun.

I know most of you are happy that this posting is short, so enjoy. One of these days I will probably start making them long and even more uninteresting. We hope you have a good day, stay safe and stay dry unless you are in the bath tub, then you can get wet.

Rain good and boring!

Senior ole person who may get a shot today, Don the Ford

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

January 23, 2024

            Hello, from me to you! It is Tuesday and it is raining again today. They said we should get some lite rain this morning and heavier downpour’s this afternoon. We have been getting short heavy bursts of rain this morning. I did get to check the free rain gage yesterday and we had 1.75 inch of rain, Waco said the airport got 2 inches. They are predicting 1 to 2 more inches of rain later today.

            We did nothing much yesterday due to the rain; I did venture out and take some clothes to the cleaners, got gas in the ole pickup, got a cup of real coffee, and was able to get Dave and Alex home after school and work.

            Alex has explained that he wants my ole truck when he turns 16 and gets a driver’s license. Do you think he is going to take it away from me?

            I have a few things that I should be doing today, like stuff in the garage that should go to the shed, but with the rain I guess they can wait. I have even considered building another shelf in the shed, for better organization of my crap, I mean valuable possessions. But not while it is raining as I will need to move valuable possessions out of the shed in order to have room to work. I just thought, I will need to purchase the necessary wood, or could I get the funding to purchase some shelving, then I would just need to put it together. Wood work is more fun. 

            Bible study went well last night, some of our group was not present. We are half way through this year’s study, next year will be about Revelation. I look forward to that study.

            Well, I know this is a short post but that is all I have to offer. We hope your day is productive, fun, warm, dry and as always be safe.

Warm and dry.

Senior ole person who will attempt to be nice to someone today, Don the Ford

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

January 22, 2024

            Good morning one and all, it is raining, and it may rain off and on all week. Now I don’t know how much rain we received over night, but there is water standing in the back yard, the TV person said Waco had received .41 inch overnight, I have a photo of the back 40, I think we have received a lot more than what the TV guy said. I can’t go out and check the free rain gage as it is still raining, as we all know, sugar melts in the rain, and I don’t want to melt!

           You are correct, I could use an umbrella, but we all know it is bad luck to open an umbrella in the house. Now that one person is saying, “Why don’t he open it in the garage”. The roof over the house is the same roof over the garage so it would be bad luck for me to open an umbrella before I got outside. If I opened it outside, then I would be in the rain, and now we are back to me melting!

            My favorite wife and I had been talking about going out to the Cracker store in Bellmead for breakfast or lunch, as we had not been there in a couple years. Before the Cracker store was built here in Hewitt, we would go out there almost every Sunday. We knew a bunch of the employes back in those days. We had been wondering if any of the people we knew were still working there, so we decided to venture out to the Cracker store for breakfast yesterday.

I decided to not take the interstate and we took a roundabout way, highway 6, loop 340, like we use to do when all the interstate was under construction. We do not get out very often and had not driven that route in a couple years, some things were the same, and some things had changed.

They did not save us a good parking spot, so we parked almost behind the building. We were surprised that we did not need to wait to get seated, even though there were many people present. They have their tables set closer together and can handle a lot more people at the same time, compared to the store in Hewitt. There was at least 4 people that we recognized, and we spoke to a couple of them. The food was good, and the service was also good. My favorite wife purchased a jacket while we were there, it was 40% off.

Our trip back home was on the interstate, and there were many things that had been added along the highway. It was kind of like exploring a new town. We made it home safely and right now we don’t have plans to go back.

As for today, my only plan would be to get gas in the Ford’s ole Chevy, take a few shirts and pants to the cleaners, maybe get a cup of real coffee, and go to the bible study tonight. We hope you have a fun day, stay dry and stay safe.

Wet Monday.

Senior ole person with a water filled back 40, Don the Ford

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

January 21, 2024

            How did the tree limb dumping go, it didn’t, they were closed. I drove out there and back with the trailer still loaded with limbs. I checked their website later and they had rescheduled for next week due to the cold weather. 

            I watched some of the three stooges yesterday and a couple of the shows I did not remember seeing. At one point in one of the shows someone was cleaning spittoons. It caused me to think, way back in the olden days there were places and people who had spittoons. If someone don’t know what a spittoon was, some of the people who chewed tobacco had them and would spit into the spittoons.

 

            I read the bible, I do not always understand everything I read, let’s see if you can explain what I don’t understand. Ezekiel 44:19 and 46:20.

            King James version 44:19    And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.

            King James version 46:20    Then said he unto me, this is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.   

 

            New American standard version 44:19       And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments that they may not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.              

New American standard version 46:20       And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order that they may not bring them out into the outer court to transmit holiness to the people.”         

They do not want to transmit holiness or they do not want to sanctify the people?

I wonder why the clothes and or food would transmit holiness, or sanctify a person, but it seems as if the priests’ body would not transmit either?

 

Well, I guess that is it for today, I need to get started doing nothing. We hope you all have a good day and as always be safe in everything you do.

Don’t understand.

Senior ole person who needs to have a break from thinking, Don the Ford

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

January 20, 2024

            Well, it is Saturday and it is cold outside (22 degrees) and I don’t want to go outside to haul the limbs off. Most of the time I would be inside the truck but not all the time. First I have to move the truck, then open the gates, back the truck up to the trailer, get out and connect the trailer hitch and the wired to the new lights, pull the trailer out of the back yard, close the gates and then I could get back in the warm truck, if I remember to have the heater on all the time.

            The people at the dump site will remove the limbs from the trailer, I feel for them, having to work outside in the cold this morning. Then I go to David’s house and he will load the trailer with a bunch of stuff that we will take to the dumpsite, they take both limbs and they take junk.

            When I get home, I will again need to open the gate, back the trailer out into the back 40, park the trailer, unhook everything, drive back out to the driveway, shut the gate, and I am done. All of that while the temp is below freezing. 

            It was cold outside yesterday, how do I know, I went into town and I had to walk from the house to the Ford’s ole Chevy in the cold. Then I was in the Ford’s ole Chevy until it warmed up. Then I got out at the Harbor store and walk across the sidewalk to the door, to get some replacement trailer lights. Then when I made it back home. without getting a real cup of coffee, I took the new lights and put them on the Ford’s ole trailer. The wind was blowing like crazy and it was cold. I don’t like the cold.

            Now the new lights attach with magnets, and are for temporary use. They are place next to the real tail lights and they work. I am almost ready to go to the dump site, I do need to strap the limbs to the trailer before I head out.

            I did get Alex and Gabi home safely from school although the traffic was crazy. It was about 40 minutes from the time we picked up Gabi until I made it home and it isn’t that for to drive.

            Well, I guess that is all for now, we hope everyone has a good day, and we all stay safe.

E limb a nator

Senior ole person who eliminates limbs at the dump, Don the Ford

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

January 19, 2024

            Yesterday started with a mild temp and it got to 75 degrees in the afternoon. Since it was warm outside, I would be allowed to go out and do some work as the day progressed. Since I had some projects to do, I decided to not take a nap, instead, I decide to do my homework from bible study. I was one day behind, so I needed to do two days’ work yesterday morning. When I got done with the bible study, I decided to do my daily reading from the bible. Yes, they are two different things.

            When I stopped reading, I decided to go get my hair cut. When I arrived, there were three ladies sitting on the barber chairs with no customers, but me. The lady did a good job as she was not hurried as there was not a bunch of people waiting. I paid for the haircut and had enough money left over for a cup of real coffee. Yes, I tipped the lady barber (hair stylists).

            Returning home I had a quick lunch of left overs and decided to get started on my work out in the back 40. Poopa-Loopa turned out to be my first project, there was plenty on the ground and it was for the most part, easy to find. I used a 2-gallon bucket with a plastic bag in it and it was very close to being full when I finished.

            During the Poopa-Loopa recovery project, I observed several small sticks that had fallen from the trees during the windy weather. I decided to remove all that I could, placing them on the trailer with the limbs that will need to be hauled off this Saturday. It is supposed to be cold Saturday when I haul the limbs off.

            I then allowed Tres to get into the pickup truck and I open the gate to the back 40. Tres likes to ride in the truck, and having him in the truck while the gate is open, keeps him under control.

I decided to open the gate out toward the drive way, I usually open them into the back 40, but if they opened out to the driveway I could pull the trailer up to the gate, which would allow me to connect or disconnect without backing off the cement drive. I know that means nothing to you but it does to me. I did need to adjust the one side of the gate so it would go across the cement, that only took a little while.

            I did move the trailer close to the Gate using the truck, so it is ready to go this coming Saturday. I used a small handheld battery powered tire inflater, which we normally use to inflate the tires on the riding mower. I checked and added air to the trailer tires, and to the pickup truck tires with the portable device. Yes, I have an air compressor, but the small battery powered unit is easier to use.

            I then watered the flowers in the hot house and it was 95 degrees in there when I opened the door (the sun was shining on the hot house). With nothing else to do I decided to pick up the sticks from the front yard and I got a 5-gallon bucket full of twigs. 

That done I got ready to go to pick up Dave, Alex and Gabi from work and school, and I got them all home safely.

Returning to the Ford homestead, we went to supper at the cracker store. The food was good the server was ok. Back at home I decided to work on this posting and I have done all the above on Thursday evening.

Well, I assume that is all for now, please have a safe day, and be nice to that one person, you know who I mean, be kind to them. They need some kindness and friendship, which you can provide. Be that person and you will be blessed!

Poopa-Loopa gatherer.

Senior ole person who has reviewed and edited this posting, Don the Ford

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

January 18, 2024

            Yesterday was another mostly indoor day. We did get to go to the grocery store yesterday morning, I got to go because we needed a bag of dog food and it is always on the top shelf, heck it was difficult for me to get it down.

            While shopping at the Wally world, we were able to get a stopper for the garbage disposal. This stopper makes it possible to keep the water in the sink while I am washing dishes. Well, the new stopper works, but to get it out of the opening is difficult. To be honest, we use a pair of pliers to pull the plug out.

            Also, while shopping we were able to get a couple pair of jeans for the Alex. Alex wears shorts most of the time, but with the winter weather we decided to get him a couple pair of blue jeans. I gave them to him and he was happy, we hope they fit.

            I picked Alex up from school, then we went to get Gabi at her school but she never came out. We were parked across from the door where she usually comes out so we called her but no answer. We called her boyfriend and no answer. We left without them and drove over to get Dave from work. This is the third day in a row that Dave had to worked OT. We thought that Gabi would call us if she got out late, and we would go back to the school to get her, but we got no call.

            Molly the cat is still acting a little strange, I let her in the house to eat and when I do I shut the doors to the bed rooms. The doors are shut to keep her from hiding under the bed. The last couple days after she ate, she would go into the dining room. Both days I have picked her up and put her in the cat box which she has not liked. I would keep her in the container inside the house because it is warmer than the garage. After a few hours in the warm, I would move the container to the door which goes into the garage and let her out. Normally she would go out into the garage, yesterday she stayed in the box. I moved her to the garage door several times, but she did not want to go out.

This after noon late I moved the container to the garage and opened the door of the container. It took a while before she left the container, I think maybe she needed to go to the kitty litter. Later I checked the container, and she is back in it, so I brought her back inside where it is warm.

Maybe I should tell you, I had put her favorite sleeping device in the container earlier this morning. I have the feeling that she likes sleeping in it, it looks like a hairy white goat, and it is fluffy, which would make it warm, soft and comfortable. She will be in the house all night tonight.

I am not totally sure how warm it got yesterday, but my vehicle indicated that it was 45 at one time. I need to get the trailer up to the gate tomorrow as it is supposed to be warm enough for this ole person to go outside and work. On Saturday I will try to take the limbs to the dump site.

Well, I am fairly sure that is all I have to offer in the post, we hope you have a good day and we hope everyone stays safe and warm. Get ready as we are supposed to get rain next week.

Cat handler.

Senior ole person who has little to do and a lot of time to do it, Don the Ford

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

January 17, 2024

            Let’s start out with a good morning to all, we are still cold here but they say we should get above freezing today. when Tres and I went out to the front yard this morning the wind was not blowing, so 14 degrees did not feel as bad.

            I went to get Alex from school yesterday as usual, and I drove him home as usual. Just before we arrived at his house I said, your dad isn’t home, do you have a key to get in? Alex did not have a key; he said his sister lost the extra key. We headed for the Fords homestead to wait on his mother or father to get off work.

            Arriving at the Ford homestead the first thing that Alex’s granny said to him was, “are you hungry”? Grandmas are that way, feed the grand kids but let the grandpa starve. It was only a few minutes before Dave called and needed a ride home, so Alex and I loaded up to go get Dave. Maybe they need to get a couple keys for the kids.

 

            Scams all over the place: yesterday I received a call on my cell phone, that should have been a warning to me, they left a message that said, “you can get the same services you now have for $89.99 per month”. This call was supposed to be from Spectrum, and that is who we get our internet, TV and house phone, yes, we still have a house phone. Now $89.99 would be a big savings for us so I called the number to see what was going on. The fellow on the other end sounded like he was the real customer service person.

            I asked why were they making this so cheap and he said they were working with Target to provide this special pricing. We talked for a bit and he said that the first payment would be $719.92 and that would be for the first 8 months then the next 4 months would be free. Following that the payment would then be monthly $89.99. that sounded odd but I continued to listen until he told me I would need to get gift cards from Target, since they were sponsoring this, and those gift cards would be the $719.92 payment.

            When this person brought up the gift cards for payment, that is when the conversation ended. This fellow had all the information about my payments and my info at Spectrum.

            When something seems too good to be true, it probably is, be careful. 

            Plans for today; nope I have no plans for today, I do think I might try to get my hair cut tomorrow after it warms up a little bit. If the weather ever gets good enough for an ole person to work outside, I hope to get the leaves out of the Jasmin beds and again rake the acorns from the yard, it is covered again. This Saturday I need to haul the limbs off that are on the Ford’s ole trailer.

            I just noticed a rabbit go across the driveway, so I watched to see where he or she was heading. That rabbit headed to the back yard and on out to the shed. Then I observed a second rabbit following more or less in the footsteps of the other rabbit. Then I saw one come along the fence back toward the driveway, and the other followed. Now I assume that is why Tres always seems to be tracking something in the back 40, he probably smells the rabbits and squirrels that roam the back 40.

            Well, I hope everyone has a good day, stay warm and stay safe.

Do nothing day!

Senior person who is not good at doing nothing or working, Don the Ford

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

January 16, 2024

            Did you make it through yesterday ok? I think we did here at the Ford’s homestead, it was a boring day as the stuff on TV was less than interesting. It was too cold to even go outside, but I, being a silly ole person, did go out and move the trash can to the curb. While I was out there in the cold, I started the Ford’s ole Chevy and let it run for a while. Before that one person askes, I had a couple shirts on, a neck scarf, ear muffs, a hat, gloves, and a heavy jacket, and it was still too cold inside the truck. There is a bottle of water inside the vehicle and it was frozen.

            Later in the afternoon, I decided to go and get a cup of real coffee and hope that Dave got out of work on time. The coffee was hot and he did not get off on time. I drove back home.

The kids are going to school today, they start 2 hours later than usual due to the weather. I assume they get out on time.

Yesterday, late afternoon about 5:15pm the sun was shining. I could see the suns shine using the camera monitors, I assume there may have been a pretty sunset yesterday.

We did have our bible study last night and it was on Zoom. I had never used zoom before but it worked ok. The person who was talking would be seen in the large center screen and those who were not talking we could see them in the smaller screen across the top. We could hear everyone clearly.

Today; we plan to stay inside as much as possible, I will get Dave from work, if he gets off on time and I will get the kids from school. I do not plan to do any yard work today!

This is a very short posting, we hope everyone stays safe and warm today, and that the power stays on so we can all have heat.

Too long below freezing!

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

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

January 15, 2024

              I know it will be difficult for you to believe, but the Don made a misstatement in the previous posting. I was reporting on driving on the interstate and I referred to it as “I-55”. Now I-55 is a few hundred miles east of here, it runs through Cape Girardeau Mo, where I use to live. What I should have said was, “I-35”, which passes near Hewitt and through Waco. One of the few mistakes that I am willing to admit. 

Well, it was cold all-day Sunday, and I did venture outside one time, when I was allowed to take the trash out to the trash can. Now that I have thought about it, I should have moved the trash can to the curb as Monday is trash day and I will need to go back out today and push the trash can to the curb, and it is 15 degrees right now.

             Report on electric heaters: the heater that I broke and tried to fix, is now in the trash can with the other trash. The heater that is in the Fords so-called hot house seems to be working, it has been averaging 20 degrees warmer than the outside temp. The kerosene heater, which was burning on low, increased the temperature in the garage by 2 degrees in one hour. It will be used as needed.

            I do not have heat here in the Fords ole office and it gets cool in here, so I have a small fan that I position to blow air from the office floor toward the kitchen, which allows warm air from the kitchen to flow back into the office from overhead. Where there is a will there is usually a way.

I have not seen anyone walking their dogs today, as a matter of fact, Tres and I walked out front this morning and we were outside maybe 30 seconds, before we were back in the house. There is snow on the ground I would guess it might be, 1-100^th of an inch deep. I do have a photo of one of the security monitors showing all the snowpack.

             Speaking of Tres, he had spent time outside yesterday and it did not seem to be bothering him. When he wants in, he jumps on the back door to get our attention.

            I still need to go outside and move the trash can to the curb, but it is cold outside. I guess I will stop for now, I hope you have a good and warm day, please be careful and stay safe.

Blizzard in Hewitt!

Senior person who might have a couple cups of homemade coffee today, Don the Ford

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

January 14, 2024

            It is cold this morning, they are now saying it is 22 degrees, and we are not supposed to get above freezing for the next couple days.

            We made it through Saturday, we had a nice lunch with Dave and his family. We went to a BBQ restaurant on the circle in Waco, if you know anything about the circle then you know where we went, if not, then it isn’t that important.

            We left Hewitt heading for the Circle and we got on I-55 heading for Waco as we were going to meet Dave and the family. That was the first time I have driven on I-55 going to Waco in years. I usually drive along the access road beside the interstate when heading into town. It took us a couple minutes on I-55 to get to the circle and to the restaurant, that part of I-55 isn’t bad.

            I have a photo of Dave with his birthday cookie. The cookie has become kind of a tradition for birthdays here at the Ford’s homestead.

            After we ate lunch, my favorite wife and I went to the discount store to see if we could find anything that we did not have. I did not find anything that I needed, heck I even tried on a jacket, but XL did not fit this senior XXL person.  My first wife found a couple items and some peppermint chocolate candy. Arriving back at home, I attempted to take a short nap, you know ole people need naps.

Later in the afternoon my favorite spouse and I did sit outside for a while. There was a little wind, but it was not too cold to enjoy some time together, away from the TV. 

I thought I had everything ready for the cold weather but as usual and ole senior person made a mistake, I dropped the electric heater, and broke it. There is a note on the heater that says, “Do not drop”, I dropped it. I have tried to repair it and I hope it will work even though I messed up. At this time, I have the kerosene heater, heating in the garage, I want to see what an effect it has in an hour.

I had the three stooges on yesterday afternoon, and I was able to watch some of them for a while, as usual, I remember seeing most of them, so they were less than interesting.

I have another odd thing to enlighten you about. When the Don eats peanuts, almost every afternoon, he uses a tweezer to pick out the half peanuts, which he eats first. He can’t use the tweezer on the hole peanuts, so he picks them up with his fingers. And odd photo of peanuts and tweezer to follow.

If you think the Don is odd for using a tweezer, you could be right. Well odd or not I guess I will stop for now. We hope your day is not too cold and we hope you and all of us stay safe.

Peanut eater.

Senior ole person who wants and needs to stay warm, Don the Ford

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