Mechanical genius 11.24.18

            As I set here looking at the title line, I am wondering if that title is a comment about me. Am I a mechanical genius? I have explained in the past that when in high school all students were tested to learn of their potential. The guidance counselor was surprised how well I did on the mechanical aptitude test. He comment in a somewhat surprised manner, “You aced this test”. He asked, how did you do that. I remember commenting something to the effect, I don’t know, it was just easy.

            Now everyone knows that I had an ability to be a mechanical prodigy, and that has had a lasting effect as we will soon see in the following narrative.

            Yesterday, having taken my noonday nap, decided to get the Ford’s ole riding mower out and shred the leaves in the back yard. I would also decapitate any grass or weeds in this process.

            (Decapitate explained: De-cap-I-tate, “De” means remove, “cap” well you should know what a    cap is, “I” means the person removing the cap, “tate” was the name of the fellow who coined           the word, it should not be in the word. The word should have been, “Idecap, meaning I remove the cap.) 

            As usual, I checked the oil and added gas. The tires had air in them so I was ready to get to work. The motor was running smoothly as I revved it up to the proper running speed for mowing. I drove over to the spot where I wanted to start. My plan was to shred this first area in circles, then using the mowers blow power, push the shredded leaves toward the area along the fence where no grass grows do to the Tres running up and down the fence.

            Mower in place I was ready to engage the mowing blades. I always do this by moving the lever that engages the blade in a slow manner. I prefer to engage the blades this way as it is easier on the belts and it doesn’t load the motor all at once.

            Lever in hand, I moved it forward slowly, but the blades would not engage. In fact it killed the motor. Now in past times, when engaging the mower blade after the mower has set for a week or two, there can be a discharge of old dried grass globs.

            I again started the motor and again tried to engage the blades, but I had the same results and the motor again died. I tried it a third time with almost the same effect except, I disengaged the blades quickly allowing the motor to keep running. I believe there is a comment from Albert Einstein that fits here, “The definition of insanity is, doing the same thing over and over expecting different results”.

            I stopped doing the same thing over and over, with tears in my eyes I drove the ole riding mower to the garage. I jacked the front end up and placed some jack stands under the mower (safety first). I began my investigation, looking at, pushing and pulling on things. In doing this, I was obviously on the floor, sometimes sitting, other times lying, and often crawling around. Seniors over 70 should not have to do this type work, but being on a fixed income, taking the mower to the repairman is out of the question!

            Unable to determine the problem, I began removing parts and belts. Not my belt! Why do you feel the need to ask these silly questions! I dropped the mowing blade housing down from the mower body and was then able to determine what was stopping the blades from turning. There are two blades, each blade is attached to a sealed bearing, which is attached to a pulley. The right side blade and bearing would not turn, but I could not see any obstruction.

            That is great, I guess I will need to order a sealed bearing for this mower before I can use it again. I was hoping I could get that crazy serpentine belt back on correctly. I then thought I should have taken a photo of the belt position before taking it off, which is one good use of the cell phone camera.

            Heartbroken that I would not get to shred the leaves and decapitate the grass, I decided to put it back together. I had only been on my knees for a little over an hour. I replaced the belt and began putting the pins, along with the nuts and bolts back in place. I, for some reason, possibly divine direction or intervention, again attempted to turn the right blade.

            It turned!

            Both blades now turn!

            I must be a mechanical genius, I don’t know what I did to make it work.     

            Needless to say, I rode around in the back yard with a big smile on my face. My head was so big I could hardly keep my cap on, or maybe it was the wind. Either way I was happy.

            Mowing done I went to the Ford’s ole rocker and rested. As I was resting I turned my eyes to the heavens, where I saw the foliage on our tree was turning colors. Photo to follow.

            The blue back ground makes the other colors stand out.

May your mower mow and your trees be colorful!

Senior Mechanical Genius; Don Ford

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Did we, we did! 11.23.18

            The title line asks a question, and provides an answer.  Did we have a good time? Yes we had a good time! Did we enjoy the food? Yes we enjoyed the food! I could go on and on but…

            The day of Thanksgiving is over, and we had a very good time. Family (both blood and adopted) was here, the food was great and I do have left overs! There was times when we actually did not have a cell phone or tablet in our hands, and we talked face to face. Most of us remember how to do that. We are thankful that everyone made it here, and back home safely.

            Adopted family, we have friends who are considered family.  

            Now to the not so fun part of this, I, the senior Ford, did wash the pots, pans and big bowls that would not fit into the dishwasher. As you might assume, I do not enjoy washing dishes, and especially those huge pots, pans and large bowls. Even though that is a true statement, I do enjoy the fact that I can still do this work!

            The Tres and Charlie were both laying on the living room floor at the Fords on Thanksgiving. Charlie was thankful the Tres was not bothering him and Tres was thankful that his belly was full.

            During two separate discussions I used the word “SHIRT” in the lace of another word similar to shirt but with the “R” left out. Using the work shirt is not offensive even to the liberals, at least not yet, you can say it in front of your mother, and the person using the word shirt gets the same feeling of making a statement.

            Find your own subsite word, or you can use mine, and not offend anyone.

Oh shirt, I just broke that!

Educator; Don Ford

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Bee careful 11.22.18

            The title is not incorrect! The Bee was not careful. In this documentary of an event that occurred November 21^st, 2018, the subject was not careful. There was a human sitting on his ole rocker with a cup of coffee. It was early afternoon and this human was enjoying the warm sun that was causing his back to relax. There seemed to be no difficulties facing this human, he had a hot cup of black coffee. “Black” is important as we proceed with the unfolding of this event.

            The human had taken a couple sips from the coffee cup and was enjoying the quiet afternoon. There was no traffic, there was no children screaming and playing in the area, just a peaceful, quiet, warm afternoon.

            This day seemed to be just perfect for a fall day. The wind was not blowing which is very unusual and the temperature was in the high 60s. Nothing on this human’s agenda other than to enjoy the cup of coffee.

            In almost a state of quiet meditation, this human turned his head toward the cup as he reached for another sip of that wonderful black coffee.

            Suddenly the human stopped. There was something on the handle of his cup. There was some type of bug on his coffee cup handle. What could this bug be doing, attempting to take the humans coffee? The bug moved into view and the human could see, it was a Honey Bee. What would attract a Bee to a cup of black coffee? There is nothing sweet there, possibly it was the warmth of the cup that had the bee’s attention. Click on the photo to see the Bee better.

            The human still had his camera in hand hoping to get a better photo of the bee. The bee flew around the cup a couple times before landing a second time. He / she was very interested in something about this cup of black coffee, as the bee was on the top edge, slightly to the inside of the cup.

            The human decided to wave his hand near the Bee in hopes of the bee leaving. After all, the human did not want to be drinking from a cup where a Bees nasty feet had been. Who knows what that bee had been walking in, or on?

            This Bee was persistent, it returned to the cup as if it thought the cup was now his / hers to do with as he / she sees fit. The bee ventured further down into the cup. The human was now beginning to become upset. Humans do not like to share with bugs even if they are Honey Bees.

            The Bee was not being careful. It fell into the coffee. Seeing this the human had compassion while at the same time was becoming very upset. Quickly the human dumped the coffee and the bee out on the ground. The bee was wet but still moving around. The human cannot verify that the bee dried off and flew away, we hope so. 

Bee careful with your cup of coffee!

Buggy senior person; Don Ford

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What the heck 11.21.18 II

            I will start with a couple photos.

            As you may be able to see in the above photo, we are ready for the Christmas snow. We have brought the Ford’s Ole sled from storage. It seems to be in fairly good shape for its age. It came with us from Missouri and it had been used in the snows in Missouri. We have been here in Texas 39.5 years, so it is that old plus some. 

            The name is very much faded but one can still read, “Western Glider”.

            A year or two after we moved here there was an unusual snow fall of 6 or 7 inches. We had a Honda four wheeler when the snow came, so we got the sled out and was pulling it up and down the street. There was no one driving vehicles on the streets. Every kid in the neighborhood came out to ride the sled.

            I have told this story before; when we were opening the HWI Distribution Center in Waco a shipment of sleds arrived. There was a lady who was looking at the sleds. She was mid to late 30s and she said she had never seen a sled in real life. She had seen photos and seen them on TV, but not in person.

            Another happening that involved sleds; it snowed enough while we were at work and it was sticking on the ground. I was approached to allow staff to take a sled from stock and go out front of the building and slide down the hill. They were saying they had never rode on a sled so I allowed them to do that. Now days, A manager would get in trouble for doing that as it is probably a safety hazard.

Share your ride with those who have none!

Old timer; Don Ford

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Wednesday 11.21.18

            Yesterday, I took it easy most of the day. My present spouse went to town and enjoyed that part of her day. When she returned home she worked on the decorations in the front yard, for the most part she was connecting wires of the decorations so they would light at night.

            My spouse allowed me to decorate the mail box post. I went outside last evening at 6:30pm to activate the timer. There are lights in the decorations that can be seen at night.

            I have also decorated the Ford’s Flag Pole. I have a star that is stationed at the top of the pole, and there is a string of lights that run from the ground to the star. I thought I was doing, “Good” when I set the timers to come on at 6:30. I have now learned that darkness appears at the Ford’s Homestead at 6:00pm. I will need to adjust the timers.

            What? You are questioning my comment about darkness appears? Allow me to explain, to that one all-knowing person who just has to ask questions! If the darkness wasn’t there, and then it is there, that means it appeared! Do I need to explain in more detail? 

            Yes, I work myself to hard for a while Tuesday afternoon. The doctor who lives next door came over as I was sitting on the ground installing the mail box decorations. He didn’t seem to care if I could get up or not, he just noted that one of the people he works with had lived on Oklahoma Ave., he told me the lady’s name. I verified that they had lived on Oklahoma Ave., in the 200 block, and her husband work with me at HWI many years ago as a driver.

            Well the temp went down in the 30s again last night, so I had to activate the heat lamp in the hot house.

            One of the reasons I was so tired yesterday. I not only climbed up and down the ladder at least 20 times on Monday, I had to move the ladder each time I climbed down and it is rather heavy. Then I carried it to the shed after the day’s work along with other items.

            Crawling around the yard on my hands and knees was not easy on this old body. Speaking of old bodies, I have many nephews and nieces, but one nephew in particular is 3 months younger than me. That means my mom and my sister were pregnant at the same time. Paul (my nephew) will be 71 years old, November 26^th.

            Some of Donna’s works are recorded in the photos below. Click to reveal all the wonders. 

   

            Yes, she has worked hard at this project, and it is not yet done! Well to do people hire their decorations installed!

Those of us on a fixed income must do our own work!

Senior photographer; Don Ford

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Happy about what 11.20.18

               It did not get out of the 50s yesterday. The one good thing was no wind, or at least just a little wind. I was allowed to start early that morning and continue working until just a little before 5:00pm. Yes I was tired. I do have a comment I would like to make, and yes I have made this comment to my spouse of almost 5 decades.

            I do not enjoy working with these decorations! I do enjoy the fact that I can still do this work! Does it seem odd to, not be happy with what you are doing, but happy that you can do it!

               I see it as being “blessed” with, “The knowledge and ability to do things!”

            All in all, we got a lot done yesterday. We were and are, both tired. The Grandees helped me, they carried the three wise men and other items for the manger scene from the shed to the front yard. They save me several trips and I thanked them.

            I took the photo of the rose, prior to starting that morning. Below we see the progress that Donna and I had made prior to lunch. Yes we stopped for lunch. The grand kids were hungry so we stopped work and made lunch for all.

            After the work for the day was completed, and I was sitting on the Ford’s ole rocker near the garage door, I decided to take a photo of the day’s work. We haven’t turned the lights on yet and we have not completed the work, but you can see the progress we have made.

            There will be more photos when she completes the decorations.

            Almost electrocuted yesterday. I was working on the ground, literally on my knees engaging in preparation to install the string of lights that follow the edge of the flower beds. The wire is about 25 foot long and it was plugged in. I picked up the part of the wire were I was working, there was suddenly a loud pop. I dropped everything as I was surprised. The string of lights were now out but I was still alive. After some consideration, I unplugged the wire and began to check it out. There was a broken / bare wire in the area that I had picked up.

            Needless to say, that string of lights was not installed. No, I do not believe my first wife had anything to do with the broken wire, at least I hope not. She is going to purchase another set of lights and I will thoroughly review the entire new set before attempting to install.

Now you know how my day went yesterday. I plan to rest today, at least until she gets the new set of lights.

Work not lest ye get tired!

Decoration installer; Don Ford

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Monday before 22nd 11.19.18

            I hope you had a, ___ weekend. For those of you who are observant, and who actually pay attention to the words you read, you now know that I did not specify a particular type weekend. I am allowing you to insert the word that you want before weekend. I don’t what to be presumptuous by providing you with a value of your weekend. My weekend was extraordinary! Let’s see you beat my weekend.

            The title is a reference to the upcoming Thursday, which is the 22^nd. Need I say more?

            My present spouse was able to place a few of the decorations in the yard Sunday afternoon. She has suggested, that it would be good if the lights that are to be placed on the roof edge, were put up real soon! They need to be in place prior to other ground decorations because the ladder could damage some ground decorations.

            In the following photograph we see examples of the Christmas Cacti that flourish here at the Ford Homestead. Actually the Cacti with the red blooms is the only one that has resided here for several years. The one with the white blooms is a recent purchase. Click to embellish!

  

            The grandees are out of school this week due to some holiday. They will be here at the Ford Homestead today, and then spend a couple days with the other grandparents.

            Back to the Christmas decorations, I will attempt to get the upper lights installed today if the cold weather doesn’t impede my abilities. If successful at placing the upper lighting, I would then be allowed to place the lower lights that border the flower beds. Usually that is all I am expected to install, although I am allowed to carry all the remaining decorations from the shed to the garage. I also get to carry the fall decorations, like pumpkins, back to the shed.

            Being allowed to do things is the American way!

            Getting another cup of coffee, and then I will be forced, I mean allowed to start work.

May you also be allowed to work! 

Senior decorations coordinator; Don Ford

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Debate or hot discussions 11.17.18

            Today is Saturday, it is about 8:00, and I have already been busy. “Employees work from sun to sun, a retired person is never done!” You are correct, that is not an ole say, but it is so true. Talk to any retired person and you will learn, they are never done.

            This morning I hopped into the Ford’s ole Chevy, trailer loaded and attached, and headed out. On the third Saturday of each month the city has some of its employees at a site where they take limbs and grind them into mulch. They also have garbage trucks there to take trash that we don’t or can’t put in the trash containers at our homes.

            During one of those windy episodes, we had some limbs blow down (this info has been reported in past articles, you should read them all to stay up with the Fords) and this is my first opportunity to haul them away. Last month it was too wet and muddy at the drop off site, so they canceled the haul off day.  

            Limbs deposited at the drop off sight, I drove out the road toward the interstate highway in an effort to allow the wind to clean the leaves and other small trash from my trailer. No that is not littering as these were all natural items.

            Back at the homestead I was able to back the trailer into the back 40 and reposition it in its usual parking area. The yard was a little wet and I did leave a few tracks.

            I then, hoping for a little rest and coffee returned to the key board. My spouse of almost 5 decades headed out into the garage. I asked what she was going to do, and her reply was, “Defrost the freezer”. Naturally, I being the perfect husband, jumped up and offered to help. First we emptied all the frozen items from the freezer into the large ice chest. Then we moved the freezer over to the garage door and positioned it so it was leaning forward. This was done so it would drain onto the driveway as the ice melted. I deployed a fan blowing into the unit which helps increase the speed of defrosting.

               Now I am back at the key board. I had originally wanted to write about a debate between myself and my first wife. It is obvious that people who live together and identify as male and female, will often have entertaining debates. This morning we were debating a subject when I noted, “People should listen”! That drew my present spouse’s attention. She asked, “What did you say”! I repeated my statement, “People should listen”, I then spelled, “L i s e n”. I then got the look. The debate ended, and I knew what I wanted to write about, the spelling of a word.

               Real people articulate the word as, “Lis en, or Li sen”, very few people sound the “T” in listen. I can’t understand why they don’t come to me before they finalize the spelling of any word.

               I had to leave the keyboard and check on the freezer. The ice was melting as expected. I did reposition the fan for optimum air flow and melting of the ice.

            There was time for a cup of coffee, and I did enjoy it. As I sipped on the coffee I thought of a photo I had taken yesterday afternoon as I sit on the Fords ole rocker, enjoying a drink. The moon had appeared and I decided to see how the old Sony digital camera would work. I took a photo and later down loaded it to the computer.

            

            The ole camera works fairly well, it does not have a high resolution.

            Back to work, the freezer has all the ice removed and I have dried the inside twice. Any moister left inside the freezer will be ice in a short time. We are now ready to move it back to its home location. My spouse of many years is positioning all the items back into the freezer. She has some method which allows her to find things when she needs them. There is about 35 dozen homemade tamales, which she made last week. There were some that I had to sample, as I am the taste tester here at the Homestead.

            All that done, I was allowed to go to the fast food place and get some fast food for lunch.

            Lunch completed, I was then allowed to participate in an exercise program. I was allowed to bring Christmas decorations from the Ford’s ole shed to the Ford’s ole garage. This was a very pleasant experience, as I walked back and forth possibly 20 times carrying Christmas decorations. I did not bring them all to the garage, just the items that need to be put together.     That completed, my present spouse began putting some of these things together, like Christmas trees that go in the yard along with other items. FOTO to follow, click to enlarge!

            Donna is working on trees and all you see is the Texas flag? Why do I even try!

            I proceed back to this key board to bring you up to date. I am so tired now I can’t even type. “Employees work from sun to sun, a retired person is never done!”

May you have time to rest and never be retired!

Senior Fellow of Decoration movement; Don Ford    

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