It happened this way 09.08.16

            I want to tell the story of my morning stroll but first I will offer an update of our grounds keeper’s health. He has been moving a lot better recently and day before yesterday he was on his knees pulling weeds. Yesterday he started the weed eater and trimmed the front and back yard. He was surprised at how tired he was after about an hour and twenty minutes of work. He made his way to the recliner for a rest period after a quick shower.

            After lunch he decided to mow, which he completed at 2:00pm. He showered and got ready to pick up the grandees after school. This morning he was overheard saying, he is surprised at how tired he is, and that he has sore muscles, after yesterday’s yard work.

Some of his biker friends were planning a ride, but the grounds keeper decided to wait another couple weeks before attempting a ride. He noted that riding is no problem but parking lots with gravel on them can be slippery, and he did not want to attempt to hold up a huge Gold Wing until he is totally back to normal.

Now back to me!

I was walking yesterday morning, when I for some unknown reason, walked toward Texas Ave.  Now Texas Ave. is only one block away from Oklahoma Ave., but there is a world of difference. The traffic on Texas Ave. is hectic, and the drivers don’t share the street with pedestrians. More than once I had to step over the curb on to someone’s yard, to avoid being impacted by some north end of a south bound horse. These are mostly horse’s behinds (both male and female) who are taking their kids to school before going to work.

Those so called people were not the most unusual thing that happened to me during that one block walk on Texas Ave.! I would not believe this if it hadn’t happen to me. There was a male of the species, on a bicycle, helmet, shorts and all the necessary attire for a professional rider. He was on the same side of the street as me, I am walking down hill and he is riding up hill. He has the bike shifted in to a lower gear as he is peddling kind of fast but moving slow. Did I state that he appeared to be close to my age?

I thought to myself is he going to go around me, or will I need to step off the street for this cyclist. This world class rider was looking down at the road or possibly his front wheel but he was not looking where he was headed. I must assume his slow speed caused him to assume he did not need to look forward.

To make this short story longer, either he saw me and did not care, or he never saw me. At the last second I stepped off the street into a yard and shouted at him, “Maybe you should look where you are going”! The horse’s butt never looked back. I later wished I had used my walking stick to see if his helmet was any good.

May you be attentive to your surroundings!

Don Ford

Squirrels Rabbits and Rooster 09.06.16

            As my reading public knows, I walk for about 30 minutes most mornings. At this time I want to impart unto you, a few observations and or memories.

            First, let me tell you about the rooster.

            It was a nice September morning as I was wondering along Oklahoma Ave. when, to my surprise, I heard the crowing of a rooster. Now had I have only heard it crow one time, I may have considered the sound to be something else. I was privileged to the sounds of this rooster crowing several times.

Why was this a surprise? There is an ordnance against having livestock within the city limits.

What is considered livestock? The ordnance started out for the larger animals such as horses, cows and pigs. Then it was determined that even smaller animals should be included, so basically any domestic animal other than cats and dogs.

Why was this ordnance enacted? There are a several reasons, smell, noise, and the eventual ending of the animal.

What do I mean by eventual ending? Consider this, the neighbor has a rabbit hutch with several female rabbits, and each female has babies, most likely 8 per female. The neighbor kids come over and get to see the rabbits and think the babies are real cute. A few months later these 30 babies are now grown and it is time to butcher them.

The owner grabs the first from the hutch and either using his hand or possibly the handle of a hammer, breaks the rabbits neck. He then skins the rabbit and guts it, all of which was observed by the neighbor kids.

Now the kids tell mommy and she calls the law. As you can see this doesn’t turn out well for anyone. That is why no one is supposed to have livestock.

My dad usually kept rabbits and they were not pets. When the babies were large enough they were butchered and later eaten. Rabbits provide a couple other positive things other than supper. They make fertilizer (rabbit poop) and there are always some real big worms in the poop below the cages, which can be used as fishing bate!

Let’s go to a less stressful but true story, about the squirrel. Now I do not hate squirrels but I would appreciate it if they would only remove the darn acorns from my Homestead and leave the pecans alone. I am thankful for the neighbor two houses down the street, who traps the squirrels and the animal control officer (use to be dog catcher) comes and gets the squirrel and takes it somewhere and turns it loose. Yes, they probably come back in a few days.

Yesterday, as I was talking to my sister in Missouri via phone, I observed a young squirrel cross the street and come into my yard. I was sitting in the rocker so I could not do much to discourage him, but I did wave my arms and wish that Charlie would have been there to chase the squirrel away. This varmint approached the red oak tree to my right and ascended it. I continued to observe his progress as he went from one tree to the next. When he jumped onto the third oak tree I was a little bit happier because he wasn’t heading for the pecans.

The trespasser had now descended to the lower part of the tree where he observed me for a few moments. His stare was deliberate, and I believe he was attempting to intimidate me.

Then it happened, he jumped from the tree to the bird bath and again stared at me. With reckless abandon, he took a drink, occasionally looking at me to see if I was going to react.

Finished with his drink, he jumped from the bird bath and shook his tail at me several times, then returned across the road from wince he came. Not even a thank you for the water!

            That’s it from The Ford Homestead.

May the animals in your life appreciate you!

Don Ford

People on a fixed income 08.31.16

            As the title indicates, this informative article is about some of us seniors, who are forced to live on a fixed income. Fixed incomes aren’t bad if you like various road killed dishes, and you don’t mind, not having enough money to purchase the bare essentials.

            In today’s tutorial, I will enlighten the reading public as to how I have been able to manufacture items from scraps, and use them in my moneyless life. (Later in the article I will enlighten you as to how you may donate to the, “MFHFF, Moneyless Ford Homestead Food Fund”.)

                There will be four, well composed photos in today’s presentation, showing the progression of a project from scrap, to finished item.

            I found a couple pieces of scrap wood, and being an inventive person I could see that these two hunks of wood could be turned into something useful. As you can see in the photo below, there are two wood wedges and a couple wood dowels. I rescued the wood wedges from a water logged scrap pile which cause them to be a little dark.

 

Photo two shows the genius of my simple design. Imagine what I could do with good wood!

 

In the next photo we see how this masterpiece of, “woodology” will be used in the coming days. For the untrained person, that is my key board on the wood wedges.

 

          (click on photo for a larger image)

If I would have not been on a fixed income, I could have afforded some paint or wood stain to make the project more presentable. Presentable or not, the unit is now in use under the key board in my meager office space (see photo below).

 

Scraps that would have been tossed out by those wealthy people, help those of us on a fixed income to have a nicer and more productive life. The wood wedge stand was in use during this outstanding publication, it is just at the right angle for a senior to be able to see the key board.

May all your scraps become useful!

Don Ford

Rained again 08.30.16

            The days are getting shorter and the sun is moving south! You might ask how I know. That is easy, I am absorbent and observant too. Each afternoon there is more sun on my old rocker which is located on the drive way near the garage door at the south end of the house. If the sun was staying north, I would not be exposed to the injurious sun rays! (You didn’t know I even knew that word, let alone be able to spell it.)

            For the one person who is just dying to correct me, I will help relieve your stress by stating, I know the sun is not moving south, it is the earth that is tilting which makes the sun seem to be moving to the south. Get off my case!

            It did rain again yesterday after noon and into the night. All totaled we received about ½ inch of needed rain.

            On a different subject, the grounds keeper went to the doctor yesterday for his two week checkup. Our grounds keeper can begin to resume normal activities as long as he does them within reason. If it hurts or if he thinks it might hurt, don’t do it. Finally, I am going to get this lazy person out of my recliner!

 

 

 

             Click on photo to enlarge.

See what the rain caused! The Four O’clocks, middle photo are descendants of flowers that came from my sister’s home in Missouri several years ago. They seem to pop up in various places, we assume due to the birds eating and pooping the seeds.

May your days be bright and sunny,

And your nights be filled with sweet dreams,

May your prayers all be answered,

And may you be as happy as me!

I am not a poet and I know it!  Oh, wow, that rhymed!

Don Ford

Thankful 08.21.16

                We thought we should post a Thank You note, for all the nice messages we have received for our groundskeeper. Possibly I should note, we read all the emails and text messages to our groundskeeper, as he can’t read or write, he is from a distant state. We also let him know of any phone calls.

            Update on his surgery, he is improving, he is doing well, he has not been taking the pain pills prescribed by the surgeon, he is routinely getting out of his recliner and walking throughout the house. He still has a lot of recovery ahead of him, but as for now he is doing well.

            The pool for the kids needed to be drained, as school is starting next week and it would no longer be used. David filled in for the groundskeeper, when he put a syphoning hose in the pool and it is now drained.

            We have had plenty of rain in the last week and the grass has grown a little. Several of the neighbors have mowed their yards recently making the rest of the neighborhood look less than desirable. Saturday morning, Glen was mowing his lawn and after completing his yard he called and asked if he could fill in for the groundskeeper.

I was a little hesitant but decided to let him mow the front yard here at The Ford Homestead. Glen is friends with the groundskeeper and wanted to help out.

All kidding aside, I want to say thanks to everyone who called, emailed and text about my condition, with a special thanks to Glen who mowed the front yard, and Sandi who come to the hospital and sat with Donna and the kids during the surgery. Donna and I have been blessed with many good friends and family.

I have a tendency to think that only friends read my blog, but in truth outsiders read it too. For the outsider, the groundskeeper is me!

Again, thanks to all!

Don Ford

Hurten fer Certen 08/17/16

            The groundskeeper had his surgery yesterday and the doctor said it was successful. Our groundskeeper slept most of the night in a recliner. He did try to sleep in his bed but that did not work due to tremendous pain.

            When asked how he feels he said he was, “Hurten fer Certen”. We have been getting some rain the last few days which is good, it keeps the groundskeeper from wanting to go outside and work. As a matter of fact, the rain gage has 5 inches of rain in it, which has accumulated over the last six days, and they are predicting rain for the next 7 days. This rain has been slow and easy, kind of like one of those old Missouri rains, which just keeps coming but does not run off.

            My present wife is preparing lunch for the groundskeeper right now. She has been taking pretty good care of him, and has even been nice to him!

May your day be filled with ____!

                                                                                                                You can fill in the blank.

Don Ford

Different meaning 08.15.16

            Sometimes an acronym has more than one meaning. Today we will provide a second meaning for a well-known acronym.

            But first the groundskeeper here at the Ford Homestead wanted me to say thanks to everyone who sent birthday greetings yesterday, he really appreciated them!

            I want to personally say thanks to our grounds keeper, who is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, as he mowed the yard over the weekend. He used the riding mower so it wasn’t too much of a strain. We just can’t keep him from working!

            Back to the original subject, an acronym with a different meaning. UFO, usually means Unidentified Flying Object, but here at the Ford Homestead we found another meaning. This acronym today means Unidentified Falling Object. A wise person might ask, what the UFO was. Our reply would be, “we are not sure, but it was wet and looked something like the rain we use to get in the olden days”.

            If one goes outside and is real quiet, they can hear the grass, trees, and other plants saying Thank You!

            We have a light and steady rain with no run off. This is the first measurable rain at the Ford Homestead in almost 8 weeks. It would rain all around the Homestead but not on the Homestead, we had begun to wonder if we were cursed. We are thankful for our rain!

Let’s keep those people in the flooded areas in our prayers.

Unidentified Falling Object, Thanks!

Don Ford

UFO 08.12.16

                The attached photo was taken with my windows phone and is reasonably good. There may be two UFOs in this photo. Near the center of this photo, which is left of and above the sun, there is a small black UFO and toward the top there is a round green UFO that may have been observing or following the first UFO. Click on the photo to see a larger image.  

 

Hope these UFOs don’t land near the Ford Homestead!

May the weekend reveal the truth!

Don Ford