Thursday August 1, 2019

            Wow, this is my first posting!    It is the first in the month of August!

 

            My spouse and I worked in the garage yesterday afternoon, we had the one little fan and if it wasn’t pointed at you, there would be no air to cool you. We had a discussion as to the possibility that we might be able to afford a large fan for the garage. I would need to help my present spouse pick up those aluminum cans from the highways and bi-ways, if we were to purchase a new fan. L

 

            This morning (Thursday) I reviewed the freight company sale items and they have a 30 inch fan that we might be able to afford. I got in the ford’s ole Chevy and headed to the freight store. Sadly I must report they had none. The lady said we had a stack of them over there but they are all gone. That had on one display, but not to sale. I was told that the truck would be there tomorrow, I was not told that there would be one on the truck.

 

            Yesterday afternoon as I sat on the fords ole rocker, I observed a white vehicle pull into the neighbors drive way. A female subject dismounted the vehicle, and the male driver began to back out of the drive. Said male driver, who I believe had his head up his butt, backed out of the drive into the street never seeing the vehicle that had to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting him. When he finally saw the other vehicle he waved and pulled forward allowing the vehicle to proceed.

 

            I believe, we all too often get use to driving certain places with very little or no traffic, and out of habit we do stupid things.

 

            Pecan Tree, not planted by us, has some pecans.

            This tree was planted by squirrels, possibly 15 years ago, it is probably 35 foot tall, my spouse has always said it was a pecan tree, and it does have leaves like a pecan tree. I have assumed it was some type of hybrid and would never produce pecans. This year it has pecans, but after careful inspection, the pecans are only on the side of the tree that gets lots of sun light. The shaded side of the tree has none. Photo of the first years pecans to follow.

                                   

            Probably another expense for us, we will likely need to have the tree that shades the pecan tree trimmed or removed. That cost money.

 

            Yesterday we were supposed to have a repair person come to the Ford’s homestead and repair the lower ice maker in the fridge. They did not come and they did not call. I called the warrantee people again and they said they only have this one repair service in our area. I told them of our preferred service that they have used in the past, but they don’t use them now. We are supposed to get a call from the repair people sometime today.

 

May your day be as expected, and all schedules met!

 

Senior disappointed and disillusioned person; Don Ford  

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Wednesday July 30th 2019

            Although I am writing this on Tuesday, I do plan to post it on Wednesday, and that is why the title line is Wednesday, even though it is about Tuesday.

            Tuesday my spouse of 5 decades and I went to the tax office, we needed to update a title. On the way to or from the Tax office I thought of a word, “Revert”. As that work flopped around in my empty head, it came to me that I should consider writing about words. If you finish reading this posting that may mean your head is as empty as mine!

            Before I get too involved in writing about words I would like to tell you of something that happened this afternoon. I was sitting on the Ford’s ole rocker near the garage door when a very small brown colored lizard came out of the grass and onto the drive. This little lizard appeared to be almost transparent. Tres saw him and was going to investigate but I stopped him. The lizard was about two feet away from my feet and laying very still. From out of the sky came a sparrow landing about one foot away from the lizard. I waved my arm at the bird and he /she left. The little lizard then ran under my chair and into the flower bed. My good deed for the day!

            Back to my thoughts about words. The word revert got me to thinking, what does vert mean. You put a “Re” in front of vert and you get a verb meaning, to return to… So what does vert mean, does it have a meaning? Vert: green forest vegetation especially when forming cover or providing food for deer. Who knew!

            My empty head started flopping the word around again and I came up with the following.

Avert, to stop a green vegetation?

Covert, to hide the green vegetation?

Divert, to turn away the vegetation?

Evert, a guy who lives up the street?

Overt, help unconcealed the vegetation?

Pervert, to corrupt the vegetation?

Revert, to return to the green vegetation?

Subvert, to disrupt the green vegetation?

Vertical, help the green vegetation grow upright?

            I did use my new tool yesterday, I removed the grass from around about 15 sprinkler heads. I did learn that when inserting the new tool around the sprinkler head, one should always turn it to the right, to cut the grass.

            In the olden days when I was a first responder, there was a saying. “Righty tighty, lefty loosey! Most things tighten when turned to the right, and loosen when turned to the left. Sprinkler heads work the same way. I turned one to the left and loosened it. Yes I tightened it back down, at least I think I did. If you don’t know about the new tool, you should read the previous post.

            While working on the heads I had an accident. Yep, I know it is difficult to believe that a careful senior retired person would somehow be involved in a fall. First let me explain the situation. I was using a stool like one would use in a shower, if they want, or need to sit down while taking a shower. My first wife paid $2 for it at a garage sale. Photo to follow.

                                  

            Allow me to continue. I sit on the stool as if I were riding a horse, one of the hand holes is in front and one in the back. I don’t know if you can see it or not, but the dark spot in the grass to the left of the stool is a sprinkler head. Sitting on the stool I would lean forward and work on the head. It is much more comfortable than being on ones knees, and about 12 inches above the ground. When I would finish a head, I would secure the tools in one hand and grab the stool by the front hand hole and move to the next head.

            This all worked fine until I set the stool on a slight incline. I sat down and worked on the head, no problem. I then gathered the tools and took hold of the front hand hole as I sit up in a vertical position, a little too close to the back hand hole.

            You may have guessed, me and the stool went backwards onto the ground. When my behind hit the ground I almost did a back flip. My feet went up in the air. I started laughing and at the same time hoping none of the neighbors saw the flip.

            I got up, and gathered the tools and stool, and went to the next head. I no longer sit the stool on unleveled ground. Glad the grass and ground were soft.

            The grand kids are here today so that will likely keep us focused. The grand kids occasionally say that I annoy them. My favorite granddaughter (only granddaughter) has a new shirt, which she bought just for me. Photo to follow.

                                  

            Above is Gabi, she is 12 years old and was using her computer with the headphones. I asked if I could take a photo, I may have annoyed her, but she consented. It is really good to know that the grand kids think of their grandpa! J

May your day be filled with appreciation!

Senior highly appreciated and annoying grandpa, Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Shopping 07/30/2019

            I didn’t have much to do Monday, the grandkids were not here and I didn’t want to work outside until I had some shade.

            My first wife had a project going where she was attempting to remove rust from and old milk bucket or barrel. Now, before I go any further, I want to acknowledge that I used the word Barrow, instead of Barrel, in a previous posting when referring to a restaurant. I found the error myself, it was not pointed out to me. Proof I can’t spell.

            This ole milk barrel has set outside for several years, and has a lot of rust. Having nothing to do, I went to one of the big box stores to purchase some rust remover. I found the rust remover, and then I ask a store employee for a tool that don’t exist. I asked if they had something that would work to cut the grass around sprinkler heads. He said they did not have said tool but they had something that might work. I followed him to the garden area and he showed me the tool. Two photos to follow of the tool.

                                   

            This tool is for planting flower bulbs, it works well for cutting the grass away from the sprinkler heads. I told the store employee he should invent a tool for cutting around the sprinkler head, he would make a bunch of money!

It is not perfect but it works.

Master tool designer; Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Sunday a day of rest 07/29/2019

            What did we do on this day of rest? That is a good question. This morning about 7:00am I went out in the back 40 and set up a sprinkler head that would provide water to the old black berry patch. I set the timer on my phone, and was advised when it was time to shut the water off.

            My spouse of 50 years and I had a special project this afternoon, we were helping a neighbor who has had a death in their family. We will be feeding and keeping an eye on their dogs. With this in mind we needed to have our usual brunch and get beck home before they needed to leave town.

            We went to the local barrow restaurant and we found no parking places. I became irritated and we headed for the other barrow restaurant. We found a parking space at the other restaurant and we ate lunch. After a nice lunch we headed back to the homestead. Arriving home I changed clothes and we went to the neighbor’s home to meet the dogs. We know where the food is so all is ready.

            Later in the day, we went to the neighbor’s home and feed the dogs. It took them a while to trust us, but eventually they did. We sat there with the dogs for a while just to help them adjust. I will go back down tomorrow morning to check on the dogs. The neighbors are supposed to be back tomorrow evening. We have another neighbor that is out of town celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary.

            I did had a nap today, and I have also worked in the yard. I have been cutting grass away from the sprinkler heads. The grass will keep them from popping up. As I had stated earlier, I found 5 heads that could not pop up through the grass, so I decided to clear the grass from all the heads. It is not easy work and I am tired.

            I took a break with an adult beverage in hand, and as I was sitting on the Fords ole rocker, I observed something odd. I had never seen a hummingbird chase another bird until today. I observed a sparrow fly into the tree, the sparrow is a resident of one of our bird houses, and behind him was a hummingbird. The hummingbird was chasing him the sparrow finally stopped and just sit still on the limb, but hummingbird flew around the sparrow about three or four times, then flew off. I don't know what the sparrow had done, but he did something to irritate they hummingbird.

 

I am observant even when I am tired.

 

Senior retired dog setter; Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Saturday July 27, 2019

               I have a photo, is it a friend or a pain in the backside?

             

Painless in Hewitt!

Senior photographer; Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Thursday July 25, 2019

            A day of rest and relaxation, not! We didn’t have the grandkids today so I decided to attempt to finish the reinstall of the security cameras. If one remembers, I did install two cameras that cover the front door and front of the homestead, cameras 1 and 2. I wanted to start on number 3 but I needed a couple items, so I went to the hardware store.

            I had a coupon for a discount on a haircut, so after the hardware store I headed to the clip shop. There were a couple people ahead of me so I had to wait a few minutes. One of the customers went to pay for his hair cut and he had the coupon too. They didn’t take it, it was for a different place. I had to pay full price.

            I went for a cup of real coffee and headed home to start working.

            I did get started on #3, and worked about an hour then I stopped for lunch. The lunch was ok the nap was even better.

            Nap over I returned to the work at hand. # 3 is installed but I haven’t finished hiding the wiring yet. I went to the office and tried to understand the wiring. It was a real puzzle. I was adding new wiring and trying to remove old wiring. What if I cut the wrong wire? Photo of my puzzle to follow. 

                                               

            I had already pulled the coax cable for the ham radios out into the garage, so there was a few less wires to work with. These wires along with the wires in the garage and on the outside of the house was a true puzzle. If I cut or removed the wrong wire I would be in trouble.

            Well, to make a short story longer, camera #4 has been successfully installed, I finished all the actual work at 4:45pm, not including the clean up and put away of the tools. At 5:15pm I was in the ole rocker with a large lemon aid. Yep, I needed to rehydrate before I could have an adult beverage. I have another photo showing the corner of the desk and the DVR.

                                               

            The system is working as expected and the video is excellent. My night vision is now amazing!

Tired and needing an evening of rest!

May your puzzles be easier than mine!

Senior security person; Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Habits 07/25/2019

               We all have habits, some are good some are not. One habit you have, and I doubt that you can change it, you sleep on the same side of your bed each night. Yes, I know, a person who sleeps along might roll all over the bed, but you get into bed on the same side each night. Habits, we all have them.

            This short note has nothing to do with sleeping positions. I just wanted to point out that we all have habits.

            Yesterday, after a day of work, I was sitting on the Ford’s ole rocker with a beverage. The work I had done was to replace one of the security cameras. I replaced said camera because I like the clarity that the new cameras provide. The old cameras work ok but the color is not good and they are not as high in definition as the new cameras.

            It took me probably an hour to decide to do this work. I reviewed all the work I would need to do, in order to replace a camera, and it was a daunting task! I put about 3 hours into the project, not counting the review process. To be honest, the camera is installed and it is working, but there is still some work that needs to be done if I am to consider this project a success.

            The most difficult part of this project is running and removing the wires. The old camera had a different connection than the new camera has, which means remove and install new wires. The new wire runs from the DVR 100 feet to the camera location.

            Before I started the project, I decided to run two sets of wires, as I also plan to replace another camera on that side of the Homestead.

            As I sat outside this morning in the cool 60 degree air (record low temp this morning), I was considering what my work load would be today. I then decided to replace another camera, this means I will have 4 new cameras. As I sat there coffee in hand I could see the wire for the 4^th camera would need to be replaced. Another day of work ahead of me, no rest for the retired senior feeble minded person, me!

            Now let’s get back to the Habitual problems of mankind.

            Yesterday, after a day of work, I was sitting on the Ford’s ole rocker with a beverage. If that statement seems familiar, I copied it from above and pasted it there in order to save time. I was resting and watching the world go by when this pickup belonging to a male person who lives a few houses up the street, came around the corner heading for his drive way. There is usually no traffic on this street, so we residents get use to driving however we want.

            This person rounded the corner and was driving in the middle of the street, then, to turn into his drive way, he was driving on the wrong side of the street. That would all be good except there was a vehicle coming toward him on the right side of the street. The other vehicle came to a stop and the pickup proceeded into his driveway, possibly never knowing he drove in front of the vehicle.

            I believe he was so use to coming around the corner and driving in the middle or wrong side of the street (Habit) that he no longer looks for traffic.

            The only habit I am going to approve for you is, “To read my rantings”!

Get into the Habit of being nice!

 

Senior workaholic; Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Directions for success 07/24/2019

                    Directions for success  07/24/2019

Be productive, safe and be cooperative!

Don’t just look, be observant!

Learn to;

                 Stop talking,

                 Listen,

                 Ask a question, only to clarify!

This is for you.

Each statement is equally important to you.

Practice all three and you will be a success!

          Share this with others even if you are unable or unwilling to use it.

You are welcome!

Don Ford

Virus-free. www.avg.com