Rain chance promised 08.11.16

            Our local prognosticators have issued a threat, and almost promised the possibility of rain, all around the Hewitt area, key word is, “around”. Let’s hope they are correct, and that it will not only rain around Hewitt, but also on Hewitt.

            Even without the rain, we have flowers that are prospering, due to the grounds keeper’s vigorous efforts to provide water during this extended period of drought. See following photos.

 

 

Click on the photo to see them in a larger version. The last photo is of, “Four O’clocks”, that were brought from Missouri as seeds, years ago. The birds have spread the seeds of the four O’clocks to several flower beds.

            The groundskeeper’s hernia, will be operated on this coming Tue. The doctor suggested that he stay in a recliner with an ice pack for a couple days after the surgery. I guess he can use my recliner.

May your day be filled with Blossoms!

Don Ford

It happened this way 08.09.16

            It was one of those hot August days when no one wanted to go outside, you know, the temp was 101 and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The prognosticators were saying no chance of rain for the foreseeable future. 

            We noticed that one of our staff, the grounds keeper, was just sitting around in the air conditioned Homestead doing nothing. It was decided that since there was some shade in the back yard, we should have the grounds keeper get out of his quarters and do some work.

            We assigned him a few limbs to cut. He made some remarks under his breath and headed out side. He retrieved the ladder and pole saw from the shed. Positioning the ladder more or less under the limbs, he then climbed up to the top of the ladder and began to saw. The first limb began to crack and fall, so our grounds keeper quickly climbed down, as he was concerned the limb might hit him.

            The limb did not fall, so after a few minutes he climbed back up the ladder and again began to saw on the broken limb. After only a few seconds the first limb fell. Luckily the limb fell without hitting the grounds keeper, or the flower bed.

            Our tree trimmer climbed up the ladder and again, using the 16 foot pole saw, cut the second limb with the same results. As the limb fell to the ground, the grounds keeper felt an odd feeling in his lower abdomen. He carefully climbed down from the ladder. He instinctively knew what had happened to him. As he felt his lower abdomen he felt a bulge, he knew he had a hernia.

            He called the doctor and received an appointment for that afternoon. He was checked and the doctor confirmed our grounds keeper’s diagnosis, it was a hernia.

            Our grounds keeper now has an appointment with a surgeon this Wednesday afternoon, who will enlighten him as to when and where or if, they will cut him open and then glue him back together. 

            Enough about our grounds keeper, we had to call the air conditioner repair people yesterday. The unit began to deposit water on the floor around the unit. This had happened a few years ago, when we were told that it will happen again. Needless to say not having air conditioning would be a nightmare here in the heart of Texas. Repairs were made and costing much money! We will not be able to eat anything other than road kill for about the next 6 months. Donations will be accepted!

May your birthday week have less excitement, than mine!

Don Ford

Keeping others out 08.08.16

                The date of this posting is interesting, 8+8=16.              

                I am sure this particular subject has never entered your thought process, so I have decided to share this information with you. As some of you know, I indulge in a morning walk usually in a meditative state, not seeing my surrounding. Occasionally I will be distracted and then I become very observant of my surroundings.

            The photo below was taken during one of my non-meditative periods.

 

                For most of those viewing the above photo, they would see the moon as the central item in this photo. I, as an observant and should I say absorbent individual, will attempt to enlighten the un-enlightened as to what I have learned from this view.

            Have you noticed the trees seem to be everywhere, and they effectively block the view? Next I want to point out that there are wooden privacy fences along the property lines. What are these so called neighbors hiding from us? Click on the photo to enlarge it.

            I can only assume these view blocking fences, trees and in some cases shrubbery, are there to hide illegal actions. Possibly they have moon shine stills, or other activities in these restricted areas.

            Please note, the Ford Homestead has a chain link fence, which in no way blocks the view. Thusly, there are no illegal activities at the Ford Homestead behind privacy fences. It is much safer to do activities which you do not want others to see, in your basement!

Enjoy your private time, no one needs to know!

Don Ford

End of week 08.05.16

                A couple flowers from the Ford Homestead’s vast flower gardens.

 

 

May the Flower be with you!

Don Ford

Not a Dream 08.04.16

            Wow, what a day! I could not believe what I was experiencing as I left the shelter of the Ford Homestead for my early morning stroll. This wonderful day started with the temp in the low 70s, cool enough that one (me) is extremely comfortable, but not cool enough to require extra clothing.

This cool snap was due to the unusual rain that we had received over the last two days. I describe this rain as, “One of those old Missouri rains”, you know, it is a slow rain that continues at least one day without any lightening or wind. A rain that seems to never end, but provides life for everything outdoors.

This recent area wide rain was enough to cause the cracks in the yard to close, and the grass to begin to rejuvenate.

As I began my morning walked down the Avenue, (Oklahoma Avenue) I thought, finally an end to the heat and drought. How wonderful this coolness felt! It was then that I noticed there was no sound! There was total silence! Not a bird chirping, not a cricket cricking! Was I deaf, or had I somehow walked through a dimension in time, from one reality to an alternate reality? 

I looked around and everything appeared to be the same, but there was no sound. I could not here my own footsteps on the road. I clapped my hands several times and although I could see my hands impacting each other, there was no sound!

This is not happening to me I thought, I turned to walk back to the Homestead and there was nothing behind me! When I say nothing I mean there was nothing to be seen. There was a strange blackness, more or less a black cloud or fog. There was no avenue, no trees, no houses, just a foggy, black, silent darkness.

Should I walk into this dark alternate reality? If I do cross into this darkness, will there be anything there, or will I be trapped in what seems to be, a black fog underworld?

Possibly I should turn away from the black cloud and walk down to the end of the Avenue. Quickly I turned in an effort to go to the end of the road but there was total darkness there also!

I am now completely surrounded by this un-nerving darkness, but I am not in the darkness! It is as if I am standing in a spot light, which comes from nowhere, but provides light for me in this dark alternate dimension.

Oddly enough, I am not panicking. It is as if I have been chosen, for what, I do not know!

Suddenly I begin to here sounds. These sounds are soft and seem to be a long way off. It is an odd sound, very low in volume, somewhat like a buzzing, low tone. I notice that as the sound gets closer, and more distinct, the Darkness around me is closing in. I am almost totally engulfed in the darkness and the sound is much more distinct, it is a very low tone.

If it is a message, I can’t understand it. What is the message? Why can’t I hear it clearly? The bright light is totally gone now, why? Why am I in the total blackness? How do I…        

Suddenly it happened, the message came to me! The sound was clear now and I could see everything around me! I was not in an alternate reality, I was at home, in my bed, and Charlie the cat was laying six inches away from my face, purring loudly, telling me it was time to get up and feed the cats.

Was it a dream, an unusual dream?

                                                The End

What? You have a question? Heck I didn’t know you could read, and now you are asking questions!            

Ok, what is your question?     Aha, I see, ok, I will answer that question.

Yes it was fiction. No I did not dream that, but you might consider having an imagination as I do, and daydreaming as I write, a dream.    

If you can’t have fun, don’t do it!

Don Ford 

Grounds Keeper 08.02.16

            It was the first day of August, the temperature was supposed to hit 100 again today, when we find the Grounds Keeper at The Ford Homestead, on his knees again, pulling weeds as he prayed for rain. Yes, this year the grounds keeper is attempting to use a different method to bring rain to the area.

            As you may know, our grounds keeper is a learned person, who is physically fit, and one might say he is handsome, for a gentlemen of his years. In the past he has performed a rain dance in an effort to invoke the rain. He was most effective the year he performed the rain dance in the nude. To be honest, he wasn’t totally nude, he did have on a pair of white knee socks and black leather sandals.

            We did notice that during the nude rain dance performance, all the neighbors went inside. We believe they did this in an effort to not distract the grounds keeper from his meditative dance, as we needed the rain in the worst way.

            There have been request that our grounds keeper perform the rain dance again this year, but with more clothes on. He is relying on prayer, as he is in the knelling position, while he pulls some weeds from the flower beds. Our grounds keeper believes that he should not waste time, and if he can do two things at the same time, he is then using time wisely.

            Different subject:

            We have some bad news, the triplets are missing and presumed dead (posting of 07/26/16). Their home is destroyed and we believe the triplets were too young to have survived. We have noticed some scratches on Charlies face and ear, which appear to have been caused by thorns from a bush like the black berries. It is possible Charlie entered the black berries and, well, let’s not go into any unnecessary and speculative details.

            Different subject:

            As I was strolling this morning the word, “inside” came to mind. I began to wonder if the word people, got this word wrong too. Inside is two words joined, in and side.

Let’s first consider the word “side”, it means, not in the middle, to the left or right of something!

Now let’s consider the word “in”, which means enclosed or contained by something!

            Now consider the entire word as it should be. Inside should mean, enclosed or contained to the left or right!        I wish these word people would check with me before they make a word.

Your prayers and dances for rain are appreciated!

Don Ford

Moister in the air 08.01.16

            August is here!            Days are getting shorter!         Someone has a birthday.

            As I sat on the old rocker, which is located on my old drive way, enduring what seemed to be an endless drought, with temperatures of 100 plus, I looked up at the sky hoping for a sign from above, possibly indicating an end to the drought. As I observed a sky full of clouds, I began to wonder… 

 

            I have often wondered why clouds form. I am sure someone will be able to provide me with and answer. Please do not embarrass yourself by saying, “they are formed due to moister in the air”, everyone knows that!

            What I want to know is why the moister does not spread evenly through the air, creating one cloud of an equal thickness? Why are there clouds of various size / thickness?

            Please respond if you have the correct answer.

Fog is a cloud that is afraid to fly!

            In the next photo we learn that they are still watching me. Do you think that I have some special intellect that they need to study, or could it be my unusually good looks for a senior retired citizen? If I were to guess I would believe it was both.

  Click on photo to enlarge.

            Most highly intelligent and ultra-observant people, can see the two eye holes, a nose hole, and what would be a large mouth in the cloud formation. This alien looks a lot like a skeleton’s head, and may have been surprised at what he was seeing, so his mouth was wide open.

If you have no idea what I am writing about, you should review the two postings dated 06/15/16 and 07/06/16 as they have additional info, about alien observations of yours truly. 

            For that one very observant reader, yes, there were at least two cloud aliens watching me in the first photo above.

May all your observers be, non-alien!

Don Ford

Critical no, Observant yes 07.29.16

            Out for my normal 30 minute walk this morning I noticed that there were clouds off to the east. That meant I could walk and not be over heated by direct rays from the sun. There seemed to be less noise this morning as I strolled along the avenue, and oddly enough, there seemed to be no cars out this morning. I had begun to drift into my meditation mode, when I heard a single Mourning Dove calling. My thoughts harkened back to when I was a child. I remember my Dad saying, when you here a dove calling like that, it is calling for rain. We need the rain, so Dad may have been correct!

            I continued walking and had went into the meditation state of mind. I have stated this in the past but I will restate this process for the one reader who does not know about meditative walking. This meditation while walking is good in a couple ways. “1”, it allows me to focus on one subject, such as being thankful for all my blessings, or a subject that I might want to write about, and “B”, time seems to pass more quickly!

            As usual, when I turned at the end of the block I picked an object, usually something small to focus on, and I began walking. By focusing on an object, I am able to shut out all outside visual distractions. Note, I said visual distractions as the sound of a car, a barking dog, or someone’s voice will immediately bring me out of the meditation state.

Today it was Tom who lives near the end of the block who said, “You seem to be walking with a purpose”. Surprised, I looked to the left and he was sitting in a chair on his driveway with a cup of coffee in his hand. I had not seen him prior to his statement. I stopped and we talked for a couple minutes. I tried to explain my, as he correctly said, “walking with a purpose”, but…

Walking again, I was nearing the end of the block when I unfocused and observed the neighbor’s driveway. This neighbor likes to hunt deer, which is evident by looking at his driveway. Far be it for me to criticize others, but I am allowed to observe and comment on my observations.

In this so called driveway, where a vehicle could not drive, there is a 30 foot fifth wheel travel trailer, used during deer season. In front of it is a recently constructed base to a deer stand which is approx. four feet tall, five feet wide, and eight feet long. It is painted OD green. There is also a recently constructed deer stand which I assume will somehow be placed on top the base when they are taken to the deer lease.

Behind the travel trailer there are two four wheelers, several large barrows which are most likely use for deer feeders. There is a large john boat on a trailer with a motor attached, which has not moved for several years. There is a canoe which is used occasionally. There are other miscellaneous items stored in this one time driveway, such as lawn mowers. 

As I said earlier, “Far be it for me to be critical of how others choose to use their property”.

Heck I am not even commenting on the small limbs and leaves that were accumulating along the curb in front of their house, which washed down in front of my driveway during the light rain yesterday, which I will now have to clean up.

It is always best to not be critical of others, as they might return the favor.

Do unto others as they do unto you!

Don Ford