Christmas by the Donald 12.19.18

            The title line, “Christmas by the Donald”, is in reference to me, not the Donald in Washington. As everyone knows I like to be considered as silly, maybe the other Donald can be considered Silly also. Anyway, this soon to be well written article has nothing to do with those politicians, it has to do with, “my artistic genius”.

            I have created a wonderful center piece for our Christmas table. I have even enlisted my spouse of almost 50 years to help decorate this piece of art. I have two photos, one with just ribbons installed and the other with Santa and a couple dear. Don’t even ask what this one of a kind art work is worth, you can’t afford It!

        

            You are correct, there are probably only a couple people in the entire world that could produce a center piece like that. No, we haven’t considered having a show of my artistic items.

            Would you believe, there are two investors who have been willing to purchase the above art work, and would you also believe, both financiers want to display the art work at various locations around the United States.  

            I should note that two of my art works are on display as I write. Last year prior to Christmas a neighbor asked for a candle holder. I created one that would hold two candles, she explained that she needed something with 4 candles. I created a second holder for two candles and then she had candle holders for 4 candles. They are being displayed in her kitchen window now. Oh, she has now asked for a, “Candle Displayer”, that is what I am calling the above art work, for her home. It is fun when one is a popular artist.

            I went to the eye doctor yesterday and he said, “Everything looks good, come back in 6 months”. They dilated my eyes and then shined lights in my eyes, I don’t like that. He said my brain looked normal, I wonder what normal is! I didn’t know he could see my brain through my eyes, do you think he can see what I am thinking?

            I swept up the excess leaves along the curb yesterday, using my old trash containers. When you are retired and on a fixed income you make the best of what you have. Photos will follow.

The ole house trash container has one flat side, and it works great to sweep leaves into it.

       

            Above we see the ole house trash container, nested inside and ole garbage container. The ole garbage containers are no longer use by the trash pickup people, so it has a secondary use, leaves. I put a leaf bag inside the round container and then dump the leaf into it.

            If you hang around me enough you will surely learn something, even if it is just, “The Donald is Silly!” I do like to be silly!

Allow your artistic skills to materialize, the world will stare!

Senior artists extraordinaire: Sir Donald The Ford

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Tick Tock watch or clock 12.18.18

            I guess one could say, there are many old things at the Ford’s Homestead. I will begin by talking about one of the old objects which I am sure is older than, yours truly. I have an old pocket watch that was originally owned by my uncle Jake Ford. Jake was a railroad worker, and by that statement you should now understand that the watch was or is, a railroad watch.

            My uncle Jake carried the watch until he became unable to see due to cataracts. Being unable to see the hands on the watch, he gave the watch to his brother George Ford, who happened to be my dad. Dad was a younger brother to Jake. Dad had, and carried the watch for years. When Dad Passed the watch was given to me. 

            I would like to find a real honest watch repairman and get the watch repaired. The following photo is of the watch.

           

            If you have items that have a family history you should make notes of the history so the history don’t die with a passing.

            I have another pocket watch that my first wife purchased for me several years ago. It is a very nice watch, which may have been given to me on one of my birthdays.

            I also have another much less expensive pocket watch, a battery powered watch. I have seen a watch like this one on the internet for $9.99 and free shipping. Today I went to the Wally world and purchased a battery for this watch. The battery cost $7.50, full disclosure, there were two batteries, and I only needed one. The batteries cost two thirds what the watch cost.

            I have a Mickey Mouse wrist watch. I use to wear it when I traveled, you know when our cell phone were flip phones and we did not use then to tell time. Also, when on an air plane one could not look at the phone to get the time so a watch was still a useful tool.

            I was on a flight to Oregon, and I was sitting by a female. We struck up a conversation and at some point in the conversation I looked at my watch. I don’t remember where Mickey’s big hand and little hand were (what time it was). The female observed the Mickey Mouse watch and she said to me, “You seem to be the kind of person who would have a Mickey Mouse watch”. I have no idea if it was a negative or positive comment she was making, but I being the optimist, took it as a positive statement! If you can’t have fun don’t do it, and I see my Mickey Mouse watch as fun!

            Is anyone watching the time, do I need to be doing some work for my present spouse? It seems as if I have taken it easy most of the day today, nice!

            Tomorrow I might show you our latest candle holder. We are into Christmas decorations and I have a new candle holder for the center of the table, that is if she will allow me to place it there.

 

            Family members are a part of us, we should get along with each other. I am asking each of you to forgive and get back together. This comment is not directed at any one person, but if the shoe fits, then you should do something about it.

            Maybe you believe someone has done you wrong, and maybe you are right. I want you to be the one who goes to the other family member and makes things right. Come on people it is almost Christmas, get some Christmas spirit, I don’t mean giving a present, I mean Christmas spirit! We are supposed to love our neighbor, which also means family members.     

            What would your mother say to you? You are family, act like it!

 

Give something special this holiday season, your love!

 

Senior minister;  Don Ford

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Somewhat different 12.17.18

            I have a couple photos that you could compare if you like. On the left is before, and on the right is after. Did you notice how these photos are politically correct?

                        LEFT: Old, odd and liberal.    RIGHT: New, contemporary and conservative.

                          

        

                                    NARBNL          Not Always Right But Never Left

            Heck even the cabinet photos here at the Ford Homestead are politically correct.

            I had a very busy afternoon. I had decided to unload the bags of leaves from the Ford’s ole Chevy. By the way, one should never put bags of leaves in the back seat of their truck. You might think the bags are fairly clean, that they don’t smell too bad, and the leaves will stay inside the bags. If you stuff 4 bags of leaves in the back seat of your truck be prepared to do a lot of cleaning when you remove them.

            Before I could back the truck into the back 40 I decided to pick up dog poop. I had tools and do not touch the actual dog droppings. There are two main areas that Tres uses when he defecates so I cleared both areas. As I was clearing the final area I happen to look up and there was Tres making a deposit. How helpful can one be?

            After the field was cleared of all mines, I backed the Ford’s ole Chivy into the back 40 and unloaded the bags of leaves onto the Ford’s ole trailer. The trailer is now full of leaf bags.

            I had not water the flowers in the Ford’s ole hot house so I prepared to introduce water onto the plants. Mission accomplished, and since I had the hose out, I then decided I needed to clean the leaves and dirt from the truck. That was a labor intensive project in its self. The truck does look better.

            I, having worked myself to a point of almost total exhaustion, I procured a cup of coffee and sat on the Ford’s ole rocker near the garage door on the drive way. As luck would have it, as I was trying to check the weather on the ole cell phone, the phone took a photo of me. How do the cell phones do that? In the photo you will be able to see my tired ole body trying to recover from this afternoon of labor. Click the photo if you want to see a senior laborer.

                                                

            In this photo, the hansom senior person is trying to not show his weak, worn out, frail, over worked, outlook, instead he is attempting to present a more positive, I can do it position. A senior’s work is never done!  

            What? Yes it is new, why do you ask? Well I like it, even if you don’t! You don’t have to look at it. The CEO here at the Ford Homestead oked the purchase of the hat, and I am happy!

Enjoy the time you have with your family!

Senior Workaholic; Don Ford

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Painting all alone 12.15.18

            Well I did paint some yesterday, all alone in the Ford’s ole garage. I have six cabinet doors that I am allowed to paint. Naturally, I being a perfectionist, had to first clean each door front and back. After cleaning and allowing each door time to dry, I started with the priming. Priming is nothing more than painting.

            The entire time I was working I was wishing I had someone to talk to. Being all alone in this big ole garage, without a friend just isn’t fun. Now Tres was there but he was sleeping on a rug. Do you feel sorry for me? It would have helped if I had a 50 inch TV in the Ford’s ole garage. I am not suggesting that as a Christmas gift, there is no place to put it, darn it!

            I primed one side of each door and then had to wait for the primer to dry. Primer and paint dry slower in cool / cold weather so the drying time was slow. I do have a heater in the garage which helped take the chill out, but I can’t say it was real warm.

            After drying time, I was able to prime the other side of each door. Next I painted one side of each door and the paint had to dry before I could paint the other side.

            Finally both sides primed and painted. Today I plan to apply a second coat of paint to both sides. After they dry I will hopefully install the hardware and then reinstall the doors to the cabinets. It seems like a lot of work just to paint six little doors.

            Employed people work from sun to sun, but a retired person’s work is never done.

            Today is the 3^rd Saturday here in Hewitt TX, I assume it is the same where you are. The third Saturday is set aside by the City of Hewitt, so it’s public works staff (I started to refer to them as workers but do they) can grind up limbs and take trash that the usual trash truck will not take. As you can imagine the city employees very much enjoy spending every third Saturday helping the citizens of Hewitt. Well I drove out there about 7:30 and there was no one there. I decided to do some painting (see above notes) and then return later to see if they had started later than usual do the cold weather. 9:30 and I returned to the scene, there was one city employee there and he said it was too wet, see you next month.

            I returned to the Homestead with a tear in my eye, not knowing what to do with the 12 bags of leaves that are in the back of my pickup.

            I did get the inside of the doors painted a second time. 

            My first wife and I went to lunch and it was nice to have a little time together were she isn’t working. We returned home and I painted the face of each of the doors, when they dry they will be ready to reinstall. Nap time came and I participated in the practice.

            Waking I jumped from my chair and rushed to the coffee maker for a cup of real coffee. I enjoyed said coffee outside the homestead in the afternoon sun. 4 cookies later I was installing the hinges on the doors.

            My spouse of almost 50 years helped me install the doors. They are not perfect but they look ok. We will have new doors ordered and installed later. My spouse and I are not sure why we didn’t have these door replaced during the remodel project.

            I have a photo of a blue sky through a bare tree. Click to appreciate.

            That blue sky occurred this afternoon, nice!

            The fords ole cell phone took a photo of me and I will include it in this posting. We can’t afford color on all our photos. Click to heighten your pleasure.

            Is it possible that the senior Fellow here at the Ford Homestead has a little Grinch in him? Do you see the Grinch frown on his face? This Grinch has more hair growing on his chin now, if he could just get it to grow on the top of his head.  He was actually having a nice day at this point in time, it turned less nice later.

            There is a Waco Police officer who lives a block away. He has a big German shepherd. They were walking by our house when Tres decided to go visit. Tres ran out there and would not listen to me. He would not come when I called him. He ran circles around the officer and dog. Finally I decided to go home and get a lead, Tres usually likes to be on a lead. As I started for home Tres decided he would go with me. Its times like that when I want to get rid of him.

            Earlier in the day as I was working in the garage there was a couple Punk looking young men walking around. They did not seem to know where they wanted to go, very suspicious. Tres and I was standing there watching them. Times like that I am glad he is there, he isn’t mean, but they don’t know that.

Get rid of the Grinch attitude, be happy!

                        It’s not follow the leader (Grinch), do what you do best! 

Senior Grinch type: Don Ford 

                       

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Charlie is better 12.14.18

            I believe I had mentioned in a past posting that Charlie had a hurt leg. We are not sure what the problem was, but I believe he had an infection in his leg. He lay around for several days not doing much of anything. Cats do that, when they get hurt the find a place to lay down and not be bothered. When they get better, they get back to normal life.

            Yesterday the neighbor kids came over wanting to pet Charlie. He usually lets them pet him for a while then he walks away. Well yesterday as the kids were approaching, our hound dog Tres, seeing Charlie out in the open yard, decided to chase Charlie. Charlie in an effort to avoid a confrontation ran to, and climbed, the neighbors tree. As you can see, he is totally recovered. Photo below, click to believe.

            Yesterday I was allowed to remove some cabinet doors that had not been involved in the remodel project. I was allowed to clean them and apply primer. I will paint them today and hopefully I will be able to reinstall them. I have no idea why we did not include them in the remodel project. Remember, you work from sun to sun, a retired person’s work is never done.

            It is cold today and I have some items that I need to paint in the garage. Paint needs to be applied at a fairly warm temperature, if you want it to dry. I will head out to the back 40 and retrieve an electric heater from the Fords old shed to help increase the working temp in the garage. I need the warmth as much as the paint.

            I also will be allowed to take some packages to my former employer, where they will toss them in cartons and send them to some of my first wife’s relative’s.

            My spouse of almost 50 years will be going to town shopping today. Friday is her shopping and unwinding day. She has informed me that she will get new hardware for these cabinet doors that I will be allowed to install. Have you noticed that I am allowed to do many things?

            Well I better get at it, TTUL. (TTUL is Talk to you later)

May you be allowed to enjoy your day!

Always allowed to work; Don Ford

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Jasmine, a bunch of vines 12.13.18

            My spouse of nearly 5 decades, allowed me to attempt to remove the leaves from the jasmine. Now for that one person who has never had to work with these vines, they are a tangled mess. You will learn just how tangled they are when you attempt to get dead leaves out of them.

            I have a leaf vacuum and I thought I would use it to suck the leaves out of the vines. It worked fairly well but not as well as I would have liked. I went to the back 40 and retrieved a small rake. By small it has about a 6 inch head. I, through some trial and error attempts, learned that one could take the rake and gently pull it across the top of the plants removing all the top leaves. Once they were in a pile then I could work at getting some of the more difficult, imbedded leaves using the small rake. When all were piled up I could use the vacuum to suck them up.

            I am tired of working and the weather tomorrow is supposed to be less than nice. They have stated that we may have winds from 30 mph gusting into the 40s. They have also suggested that we may get some rain along with the possibility of some winter precept. That means, rain with the possibility of some snow mixed in, no accumulation. 

            I was able to get one side of the jasmine fairly clear, with the other side still to do. Employed people work from sun to sun, but a retired persons work, is never done! 

            Gabi’s birthday is today, Happy Birthday Gabi!  Yes the party was this past Saturday.

            Gabi has an art project so we took four photos of the Charlie today, front, left side, back, right side. Evidently they are doing some sculpturing in the art class, and they need the photos to provide them a vision of what to create as a sculpture.  

                                                            

            There is some Holiday coming and I can’t remember what it is. As I sat here in front of the Ford’s ole computer, my ole camera automatically took a photo. I can’t imagine why the camera automatically took the photo, maybe there is a clue as to the coming holiday. You may click on the photo to enhance your enjoyment of this senior citizen.

                                               

 

            Yes I would like to have a new computer. One that I could use in the Ford’s ole recliner. This old computer has a battery that will last about an hour, so taking it to the ole recliner is possible, but I do not work fast and the battery goes dead before I finish my writing. Nope I am not asking for a new computer as a gift, thanks anyway.

            For that one person that has not picked up on the hint, it is the lamp. There is a TV movie that I watch each year which kind of reminds me of my childhood (back in the olden days), The Christmas Story. Now do you get the subtle hint?

            I have some rope lights that are solar charged and two of them are on my tall radio tower. The top rope light has been up there for more than six months, the lower light has been up a week. I was lucky that my cell phone would capture a photo of the lights, they blink.

  Why are the lights there? So people see them and ask why. Silly grandpa says, “I like being silly, and I believe if you can’t have fun, don’t do it!”

If you can’t have fun, don’t do it!

Silly senior grandpa: Don Ford

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A thought of mine 12.12.18

            I have no reason for how, or why, these wonderful ideas come to me. Possibly I have access to more information than a so-called normal person. I am sure that my brain is more open to accepting new ideas and information than the normal person. Think about it, who would want to be a normal person, would you want to be, only normal? I can assure you, none of my reading public would be considered normal!

            Let us get to the reason for this posting. All these postings give me, a senior retired person something to do! I mean, I feel the need to bring up a word and ask a question about the abbreviation of that word.

            As I was lying on the Ford’s ole bed, sleep avoiding me, or had I just woke up, maybe I was just going to sleep, whatever!  The abbreviation of a word came to mind, and then I thought of the word. Now as we all know, I can’t spell very well, or is it very good. My grammar is at about a third grade level, so I had to carefully consider the word.

            How does one spell, “Ounce”? If you leave the “U” out, we end up with, “Once”. If we add a “B” we get, “Bounce”.  Now I need to get back to my original thought which is, why does the word ounce have an abbreviation of, “oz.”? Even I know, there is no “Z” in ounce. Who the heck came up with the “Z”?

            Let’s move on, “Pound” has an abbreviation of “lb.”, lb has nothing to do with the word pound!

            Now we can consider “Quart”. The abbreviation for quart is, “qt.”, they finally got one right.

            Don’t google them, I don’t want some half way reasonable explanation.

 

It is time for a cup of real coffee, so I need to go now. After the coffee I will come out of hiding and see what the CEO here at the Ford Homestead has for me to do.

 

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

 

Senior Word-ologist; Don Ford

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Now I know 12.11.18

            I now know the reason for the star that I had photographed yesterday. If you want to continue to believe it is the Christmas star then do not read the next paragraph.

            A good friend and avid reader of my articles explained to me that what I had seen and photographed was not a star, I am sad to say, it was reportedly the sun reflecting off of HEO satellite, which I am told is a very common sight in the twilight hours.

            Yes I have a friend who reads these posts! Don’t go there, I am very upset that I am not one of the chosen wise men!

            Let’s go to another subject. As I was sitting on the Fords ole rocker, I felt as if someone was watching me. Did you know the Ford’s ole rocker has metal rockers, and one of the rockers is about half way worn out? That is not a request for a Christmas present, but if you thought it would be safer for me to be in a newer rocker, well I could not argue with you!

            As I was saying before I was distracted, I felt as if someone or something was watching me. I have a photo and you will not be able to see the rodent but he was doing two things. First he was watching me. Second he was on the side of the tree where the wind was not hitting him. “C” he was eating an acorn.

            I doubt that one can see the peeping tom, even if they click on the photo to enlarge.

            I get to go to the eye doctor today and do this eye test, where I sit and look at a yellow light and push a button when I see a white light in my peripheral vision. Then next week I go and see the actual doctor so he can make some more money. Going to the doctor is almost as expensive as going to the vet!

            Different subject; yesterday I messed up one of my emails. That one email was making the other email not work properly. I was hoping that my son Patrick could help me get it back to working again. I had him on the phone for 35 minutes but we could not get it working. I finally shut the computer down and decided I would look at it the next morning.

            This morning I approached the mess with a rested and more positive attitude. Being a, “Wise man” I was able to get the emails working again. Be careful when your computer asked you if you want to do anything. When not sure, don’t do it!

            Another subject; I was in my truck getting ready to leave the drive way. I saw this shadow pass over my truck so I looked to see what type bird it was. It was a very large hawk or an eagle. It was just slowly circling as the wind carried it along. I continued watching, I have wanted to get a good photo of one of these birds. It continued the circling more or less like a buzzard does, then it turned and started a downward glide in a straight line. It was increasing its speed and I could see its legs and feet extended below its body. I watched it descend but it went out of sight. I believe it was after something on the ground but I did not see its final move.

            I have in the past while shredding a pasture, seen hawk’s dive down and catch live rabbits and then fly away with them while the rabbit was kicking and trying to get away.

            I just came into the Ford Homestead. I vacuumed the front yard one last time. My poor ole feet and ankles are tired. I still need to try and get the leaves out of the Jasmin and that will be a difficult task.

            I learned that my brother is in the hospital. If you pray, I would appreciate a prayer for my brother.

Appreciate all your blessings, not only during this season, all the time!

Hard working senior person; Don Ford

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