Who Knew 02/03/2020

            I didn’t know! Now I am unhappy and I will likely stay that way for another 6 weeks! I guess everyone knew yesterday was ground hog day, and that the official HOG, is located up north. The official HOG didn’t see his shadow which means, the northern folks will get an early spring.

            Who knew Texas had armadillo day? Now the official Armadillo lives down close to Huston Texas, and he saw his shadow yesterday. Six more weeks of this freezing cold bad weather. The prognosticators have taken up the armadillos forecast and are saying there is a possibility of rain, sleet, and maybe even a snow flake or two, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

            We are supposed to have a nice day today, so I better not sit around in my new chair. I should get outside and do something. I might go out and dig up the toy that I saw Tres hide yesterday. I assume he got it from the kids who are often out in the neighbor’s back yards daily. They toy was a stuffed doll and he buried it in the black berries.

            What? Yes I watched some of the soup bowl. The best part was the salad with pieces of spicy chicken in it, the homemade tamales, and chips with a cheese dip. No I did not watch the half time show! Yes I did see the beginning of the 4^th quarter but I went to sleep and did not see the end of the Soup Bowl. I know some team won but I don’t need to know who won!

            It is difficult for me to understand why anyone would pay thousands of dollars to go sit in a stadium to see paid people throwing a ball and hitting each other, when they could stay home, have excellent food, save money and see all the action up close with easy to see replays. I know, there was a super-sized TV screen for those in the stadium, so people could see the replays.

            No one ever paid to watch me work, why should people pay to watch these people work? Trust me on this one thing, it isn’t a game when they pay people large amounts of money, to do what they do! It is a job, and people pay to watch them work!

            Let’s cover a different subject. After returning from dropping Gabi off at school we naturally returned to The Homestead. Tres is always a little anxious to get out of the Ford’s ole Chevy, and today Charlie was there sunning on the driveway. Yes even in this freezing cold 60 degree weather, Charlie can still get a little sun. To make a short story longer, Charlie ran, Tres followed, Charlie went up the tree. Photo to follow, click to enhance.

                                    

            As you may see, Charles is perched in the Y of the tree, where he sharpened his claws. Now I do not know why we say cats are sharpening their claws when they are scratching on the tree. Wouldn’t that dull their claws? No, that is not Tres chained to the bottom of the tree, that is our dog Spooky, she has been on a diet.

            In the second photo we see the Charles posing for the photo. The bird houses are far enough away that Charlie and other cats cannot reach them.

            In the two photos you may be able to see the frigid cold weather we are having.

May your spring sprang early!

Senior retired person and once good guy; Don Ford

February 2, 2020

               Well the day has finally arrived, we have all waited an entire year and the day is here. I assume you all know, “He did not see his shadow”, which means we will have an early spring! Yep ground hog day is here! You may start getting your garden areas ready, spring will be springing soon!

          If you have not noticed, the date has a lot of zeros and twos in it.

02/02/2020, I don’t know how those numbers will play out today in the, “Soup Bowl”. One team with a big”0” and the other with a big “20”, who knows? Who’s playing in the Soup Bowl, heck I don’t follow football, but I will likely watch some of the game this evening.

          I bought a new chair for the ford’s ole office area. You might want to know how we came up with almost $100. I have found out that we will get about $100 back from the government when we file our income tax. That almost $100 made it possible to purchase a chair.

          My spouse of more than “L” years, (L is a roman numeral) went with me to make the final selection. I will attempt to provide two photos, one taken here in the ole office, and one at the store. You may notice that the chairs in the two photos seem to be different colors. The chair we purchased is brown, not black. It does look black in the photo here in the office.          Click to enjoy.       

                                       

          I asked for a senior person discount, they refused!

          I asked for a first responder discount, they refused!

          I asked for a military discount, they refused!

          I asked for a discount if I paid cash, they refused!

The office store don’t seem to want to be kind to us senior citizens, who were first responders, were military, and who can pay cash.

          Well that is my story and I am sticking with it.

Hope you enjoy your Soup Bowl LIVe!

Senior with a new chair; Don Ford

Panic set in 01/31/2020

            It was an unusually cool day as I ventured out to the male mail box to retrieve our bills and advertisements. Most of the time that is all we get, but today we received another 1099. Now, I know most of the reading public does not know what a 1099 is, (you rich people have someone else take care of these things) so I will attempt to enlighten. You could google it, but I have recently learned that some of you do not know how to google.

            Here we go, a 1099 is a form which is used to report earnings, and you use this when completing your income tax forms.

            I received my 1099 and I thought that is all I need to begin my income tax for last year. I went to the Ford’s ole computer and clicked on the Tax software. When it loaded I was instructed to have last year’s tax forms as I would need them to complete this year’s forms. I am not sure why I need last year’s forms, but I did search through the piles of papers and finally found the forms.

            I took the time to review those old tax forms to see what all I will need to do for this years, and that is when the panic set in. It appeared I was missing a 1099! That would mean I failed to list some income! I went back through the forms a second time, and I was still in a panic mode.

            I had decided to put all the forms back in the folder and get my thoughts together. As I put the paper back in the folder, I noticed the outside of the folder had a date on it. It was not last year’s folder, it was the previous year’s folder. Calm feelings now set in. I retrieved the correct folder and all the forms for last year were there.

            I learned two things. First, I had reported last year’s income correctly. Second, I still need one more 1099 before I can get started on this year’s taxes.

 

            Soup Bowl LIVE is supposed to be on TV this Sunday. My soup bowl will be filled with tomato soup.         Did you get it?            LIV, roman numerals for 54 is, LIV, add an e and you have live!                     I don’t know why I even try to educate the reading public.

Coffee time, got to go!

 

May all your forms be available!

 

Senior over taxed retired person, Don Ford

Shopping 01/30/2020

            I went to town Tuesday to purchase a couple items. I wanted a black berry plant, but they only had one with thorns and it did not look good, and all the rest were thorn-less. I did not get a new black berry plant.

            I wanted a bottle of libation, I got that.

            I wanted a new office chair so I went to the store a second time to look and sit. After much thought I decided on one chair. I then walked up to the check out and there was 6 or 7 people in line, and the checker seemed to be having problems. I just left the store no new chair.

            If I get a new chair, it will be very difficult for a senior retired person on a fixed income to come up with almost $100. Who has that kind of money to spend on a chair? Heck I guess this ole chair that I have used for many years will serve me for a few more years.

            I would like a chair that is comfortable, one that would allow me to sit here and create these outstanding articles which are filled with valuable insights for you, the reading public. My ole body needs more comfort now that I am over 50 years old (way over).

            If you would like to donate please make the non-tax deductible donations in $50 increments and send them to the Ford Homestead Foundation, mark them for “The Chair”!

            Well I went to the other office supply store Wednesday hoping I would return home with a new chair. They have the same chairs as these two stores are owned by the same company. I again sat on a chair like I wanted, and for some reason it did not seem to sit as well as the one did yesterday. Also the chair had some odd coloring on the material. The one at the other store was all black. I did not get a chair. 

Changing the topic: Friends, it would be a very sad life, without friends. Yesterday a friend, (in this article I do not need to number the friends, that is in reference to a previous article) arrived at our front door with a gift. This friend had read a previous article (01/13/2020) about a Christmas present, that wasn’t. For those of you who did not read that posting, I received a puzzle that was missing pieces. Our friend presented me with a box marked with a French word, “Fra jelly”. My wife said the word was fragile.  I have a photo of the box, click to interpret.

                                               

In this box was a new puzzle of, “The leg”, and it was an unopened box. We haven’t started on the puzzle yet, but we believe all the pieces will be there. It is nice to have good friends!

May you have many good friends!

Senior retired person blessed with good friends, Don Ford

Is it helping or bothering 01/29/2020

 

            Wow, how do I come up with these wonderful title lines? This title line should get the attention of those who work, and those who are neighbors.

            Now, this soon to be well written article could be about two neighbors who are living on Oklahoma Ave. or it could be about someone else.

            One neighbor may have been working on a lawn sprinkler that had been leaking last summer. Possibly the other neighbor had pointed the leak out to the neighbor. Now the leak went on through the summer, but now that winter is here, it is a good time to repair the sprinkler. 

            Let’s say that one neighbor was sweeping the street, attempting to remove a bunch of leaves from the front of his driveway and along the curb of neighbor three’s yard. Let’s assume that the neighbor across the street was digging the dirt out from around a sprinkler head.

            (As a senior person, I personally understand, when a person has a project they are working on, they do not usually want anyone to come and visit while they are working.)

            The correct thing for neighbor one to do, he should go into his Homestead and leave neighbor two alone. Neighbor one went directly to where neighbor two was working. Let’s say neighbor two is in his 70s, and whether you know it or not, senior persons are more comfortable sitting or lying on the ground, when they are working in holes in the ground.

            Neighbor one may have walked over and asked neighbor two, who was lying on the ground working, “What time do you want to be woken up”. Now neighbor one knows he should get away and let neighbor two fix the sprinkler head, but he didn’t. This neighbor one hung around at least a half an hour annoying neighbor two.

            Now in truth, this annoying neighbor one, did help by turning the sprinkler system on and off a couple times, allowing neighbor two to determine the problem.

            Finally neighbor one had to leave the work area to go pick up his granddaughter from school. When neighbor one returned he noticed that neighbor two had his wife turning the water on and off for him. Neighbor two did get the sprinkler repaired.

New subject;  In the business world, many people are similar to a senior working on his or her project, they know what they are doing, as they have always done it that way, and they do not want to accept advice that would cause them to change. When someone offers advice, it means they have seen something that could be improved. One should listen and consider all suggestions, as change could improve a process, make it safer, save time, and improve profits! 

Help your neighbor or co-worker when you can!

Senior neighbor irritator number one, Don Ford

Biker at young age 01/28/2020

            I have a very old photo of me, on an Indian motorcycle at a very young age. Now we know that riding motorcycles is a genetic thing, the old motorcycle was my brother Carl’s. He rode them, and I rode them. The photo isn’t too good, click on it to enlarge.

                                       

            I would like to have that old piece of junk today, it would be worth a few dollars.

            My son Patrick has a birthday today and he and his wife celebrated their 25^th anniversary last week. Photos to follow.

                                                                         

            The traditional birthday cookie held by the birthday boy, then we see Pat and Karla with their free desserts which they receive after our noon day meal.

One day you are 21, a couple days later you are 70, time flies!

Senior one day older person, Don Ford

Super what? 01/27/2020

            There has been a lot of talk recently on the TV about, The Super Bowl. I can’t remember having spoken to anyone in person about that subject. If I am not talking about it, then how super can it be. Who came up with this Super Bowl concept?

            The naming of the super bowl may have been an error, most likely a misunderstanding that goes something like this.

            “Hay Johnny, are you going to watch the football game this Sunday night,” asked Billy Bob?

            “I don’t know,” said Johnny, “Football is kind of boring”.

            “My mom will be cooking supper, so you can eat supper with us, and we can watch the football game” said Billy Bob.

            “Will your mother make that bowl of soup I like,” asked Johnny? “Your mom makes a super bowl of Chicken noodle soup,” said Johnny!

            “I will ask her to make the soup if you will come to supper,” said Billy Bob.

            “If your mom makes that Super Bowl of soup, I will be there and we can also watch the boring football game,” said Johnny.

            Now you know why the game is called the Super Bowl, and why everyone is expected to have a bunch of food to make the game less boring. Without the food for the game, I am sure there would not have been 54 years of the boredom. Possibly it should be called the Supper Bowl!

Subject changed. Flowers in the Ford’s ole hot house as seen from outside looking through the wall. These bougainvillea are blooming like crazy.

                                   

            Another flower that I observed in front of the Ford’s homestead, is a red rose, you may notice the cross in the back ground. Click to enhance.

                                               

            No, the rose is not that big, the flower is close to the camera and the cross is against the wall. It does look like a big flower.

Soup in your bowl equals super bowl!

Senior non-super bowl enthusiast, Don Ford

Friday 24 2020

            This wonderful article was written yesterday, the names and dates have not been changed to protect the innocent.

            No title line on this posting, just a date. Wow, the word date use to mean something totally different back in the days when we were young! Now it is just a day, darn it! 

            Would you believe, I learned that at least two of the reading public didn’t know what a title line was, so no title line on this posting. Yes, I know, that you know, what a title line is! I didn’t say you didn’t know, I said two of the reading public didn’t know. I make one little statement and I get all that back lash from you, I don’t know why I even try.

            This morning I ventured out to the back 40 in order to get a photo of that Easter lily, which I had referred to in a previous posting. Well, if you had read the previous posting, you would have known about the single Lily that was blooming.

            It was cold out on the back 40 this morning, my guard dog Tres was with me. Now that I think about it, Tres may be more of a Pot Hound than a Guard Dog. We both struggled through the wet grasses and the cold blowing wind to get to the Lily. Wouldn’t you know that the wind kept blowing the lily which made it difficult to get a photo? I was able to get one photo before my senior body began to shake from the frigid northerly winds. The Pot Hound and I struggled to get back to the homestead, where it took almost an hour to warm up after those frigid temperatures of 50 degrees.   Photo below, click if you dare.

                                               

            As you may be able to see, there are other lilies that are ready to bloom. Stop looking at the Leaning Tower of Pizza. I know it is the Leaning Tower of Pisa, not Pizza, can’t you take a joke. Why do I even try to produce these educational articles, some of you never learn. The item that appears to be leaning, is in reality not leaning, it just looks that way. It is kind of like when people look at me, and think I am old, in reality I may just look that way!

            Back to the flowers, the lily’s in the front yard are growing, but have not yet began to bloom. I did not need to venture out into the cold 50 degree weather to see them, I could see them from a front window.

We went to Alex’s basketball game last night. It was a good game and the kids are all doing much better at the game. Sorry the photo of Alex is not real clear my kind of smart phone is not the best camera for moving items.

                                               

                                              

Dribble the ball, not your drink!

Senior Flower-ologist and handsome person, Don Ford

            ^{I might as well say it, you were thinking that I am handsome.}