January 8, 2023

            Good morning, and thanks to all who have let me know that you want to continue receiving my emails announcing each posting. 

            Now let’s see what we were able to get done yesterday. I went outside yesterday morning and did some blowing and raking of the leaves in the front yard. (Blowing, I used the leaf blower, I was not blowing with my mouth.) I had not finished the project when it began to rain. The rain was very lite so I was hoping it would stop long enough for our grandson to remove the leaves.

            The rain lasted long enough to make me go inside. I had checked with Alex to see if he would want to do some yard work, but he wasn’t feeling well. I think his allergies were getting him, I know mine were and are!

            It was after noon when I decided to see if the leaves were too wet, to be removed. They were dry enough, so I started picking them up. My goal was to pick up the larger quantities using the leaf grabbers, and then use the mower to vacuum the leftovers.

            During the process I was sneezing a lot, and my nose was running. I put a mask on and even though I was outside stirring up things, the mask stopped the pollen from getting to me, and I stopped sneezing. 

I think I got 6 bags by hand and 2 bags using the mower. The yard looks fairly good now, lets hope it stays that way. No, I did not take a photo, I know you are tired of seeing my photos of the yard. I also saved a few dollars by doing the work myself.

My favorite wife made us a very good supper and my belly was full. We weren’t going to sit outside yesterday evening, as my allergies were still bothering me. I went out after supper for a few minutes to pick up some debris from the street, (I am a street sweeper) and I was only outside for maybe 5 minutes when I started sneezing again. 

As I am sitting here composing this valuable article, it has started raining. This rain seems to be a nice rain, and it might clear the air of the pollen. I just thought, all my rain gages were frozen and each of the three were cracked. I will not be able to determine how much rain we might receive. I have seen lightning flash on the monitors, and I can hear the thunder, this might be a real rainstorm.

I do have a photo that I will share. Our dog Tres lays under the desk where I try to work, and he is most often in the way. For some reason our cat Molly has decided to lay on the floor next to my chair. Photo to follow.

 

Animals always in the way!

Note: the above was written yesterday afternoon.

Well, I guess this is all for now, we hope your day is full of rest, and please stay safe.

Rest for dog and cat?

Senior ole person who need a cup of coffee and quiet rest, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 7, 2023

            I am proud to say, we have the Ford’s ole van in the garage. For that one person who hasn’t been reading the previous postings, that means the Don was able to move the Christmas decorations from the garage to the shed yesterday.

            The work was as previously stated, and it took a little over three hours. I have a photo of the inside of the shed after the work was completed. In the photo one cannot see, the Christmas decorations, or the fall decorations, due to the other items, mostly large tools sitting in front. To say the Ford’s ole shed is congested would be an understatement.

            Having finished the work, the Don headed into the Fords homestead and was able to get his ole senior body undressed and into the shower (no I don’t have photos). Once the Don had a clean body, he decided to take a well-deserved rest period, known as “A nap”.

            Later in the afternoon, once his ole body had recovered from the grueling work, the Don proceeded to enjoy his daily reading of the bible.

            My favorite wife and I sat outside yesterday afternoon, and a few minutes after 5:00 a friend arrived to help us enjoy the evening. We all had some very nice restful conversations and maybe a refreshing cold drink.

            Topic change: I would like to get the leaves removed from the front yard today, that is if I can get Alex the Ford to come over and do the work. They say we have a chance of rain; I hope it does come, but after the leaves are removed.

            Anyone who wants to keep getting these emails about my odd postings let me know. If you don’t want to get these emails do nothing, and I will take your name off the email list on the 20th. To all who have responded, you only need to respond once. Yes, you can get your name back on the list anytime, just let me know.

            Well, I guess that is it for today, we hope you have a good day, stay safe and be nice to at least one person.

Send a note or do nothing!

Senior ole person who needs a cup of homemade coffee, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 6, 2023

            Good morning to you and you only, the rest of those readers are kind of low on my list, so I only say hi to them.

            What has happened so for today, and what may take place?

            Gabi and Alex stayed the night here last night, so we had to wake them up to get ready for school. We asked them to get up and get dressed as I was going to get burritos. We all ate the burritos and they continued to get ready for school. We then decided to go to the Star coffee place. Yep, we did go to the star coffee place and each of us got a drink, after which we returned home.

            Later we again crawled into the Ford’s ole Chevy and headed for school where we dropped the Alex off first and then the Gabi. I made it back home and am writing this document.

            My plan for the day is to open the shed, move a bunch of items out of the shed, take all the cartons and totes which are filled with decorations, which are in the garage, and move them to the shed. I hopefully will be able to properly place said items, then hopefully have the ability to bring the other items (Time-Based) into the shed.

            Before anyone asks, time-based means, the items will be place in the order which they will be needed, to be removed from the shed. Christmas to the back, Fall items in front of the Christmas, and Easter in front of Fall. Easier access for the ole senior person.

            Well, I hope I get all that done today, and we will be able to park my present wife’s van back in the garage.

            Topic swap: I was allowed to sweep an area of the floor and when I was removing the sweepings, I found a penny heads up, I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

Back over half a century ago, when my favorite wife and I were first married, any time we would find a penny heads up, it would bring us good luck. Now you can look at that anyway you want, but finding the penny helped us to be positive about what we needed, or wanted, and we had lots of good luck!

Recently my first wife had lost her favorite sunglasses, they were gone for a couple weeks. Well, after finding the penny I was lucky enough to find the lost sun glasses! Look at it how ever you want, the penny seems to have brought me luck!

            We hope you have plans for your day, be safe and happy.

Lucky penny!

Senior retired person who found the penny heads up and the glasses, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 5, 2023

            Well, it is down near freezing again, so I guess winter is still around.

            I am sitting here at my desk, and I have a view of many of the security cameras around the Homestead. I just observed our cat Molly cross the street and go into the neighbor’s yard, where she occasionally leaves a deposit. That neighbor has motion detecting lights and Molly has set them off. His entire drive and side of his home is lit up.

I did get enough work done yesterday to make my ole body tired. My big problem is walking around the yard a bunch of times, for several hours, and it doesn’t need to be heavy work, just on my ole feet walking, and when I sit for a while like going to get Alex and Gabi from school which takes about 1.5 hours in the ole pickup. When I get out of my ole pickup, my feet and body are stiff and hurting and it takes 4 or 5 minutes to get my ole body working.

            I did get most of the projects done that I wanted to work on yesterday.

            I made room in the shed for the plastic Christmas items, I moved all the plastic items to the shed and properly place them.

            I did remove all the other decorations (deer, trees, items that look like presents) from the front yard, collecting all the stakes that held them in place, and brough them to the garage.

            I then watered the items in the green house and the berry beds, and that is when I made a mistake. Each time I complete watering, I leave the water on and drop the sprayer on the ground. Then I go to the faucet and turn it off.

Yesterday I did most of that, but I left one thing out, I did not turn the water off. Later when I discovered I had not turned the water off, I felt like a dummy. I know why I had forgot; I was thinking about going to the front yard and blowing leaves out of the flower beds. Ole people can’t do, or have, two things going at one time.

I did remove a bunch of the leaves from the flower beds, and I will attempt to get Alex to pick them up for me this weekend.

I did get Dave from work, and I did get the grand kids from school. Since I had been working all day, I had not taken time to read the bible. I took the bible with me and read it while I waited on Alex. Returning home, I did allow the lawn sprinklers to water most of the front yard.

I sat outside alone yesterday as my wife was working on something like a crazy puzzle. I have a photo and I will attempt to explain.

            In the photo, you see my favorite wife, with who knows how many Christmas ornaments. Each of those ornaments has its own special place in a its container, and there are several containers. My first wife is trying to find the correct ornament for each space in each container. I would not want to be her, that is like the worst puzzle I can think of.

            While I was sitting outside yesterday not working on a puzzle, I was able to get another photo of the moon. This time it appears to be full, but it was not full, it will be full tonight.

            We still need to get all the decorations that are in the garage packed in cartons and then I get to move them to the shed.

            Today I hope to get my hair cut, and I hope to remove the Christmas lights from the house and around the flower beds. When these lights are removed and packed, I will take them along with the trees and other items that my favorite wife has repacked, to the shed and properly store the boxes and totes of Christmas decorations. No rest for the ole people!

            We hope everyone has a good day, stay safe and be polite.

Ole feet get tired!

Senior ole person who is tired, but has plans to work today, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 4, 2023

            Lest see what happened yesterday.

We went to the doctor in temple,

We came home,

We had lunch at a hamburger place,

I picked up Alex and Gabi from school,

We sat outside during quiet time (for some it is known as happy time)

            Now, what do I have planned for today? Well, I may go out to the shed and remove some large tools and other items, if that happens, I will then remove two other plastic decorations from the front yard and begin moving all the plastic items to their proper locations in the shed.

            Assuming that happens, I would then attempt to remove the remaining decorations from the front yard, place them in the garage.

            I do need to call the vet to get a refill of pills for the Tres.

            I will be available to get Dave from work and to get the grand kids from school in the afternoon.

            Topic swap: I have a photo that I took while I was setting in line at the coffee place. It is not totally clear but the milage is 40,999.

            We hope you have a good day, be safe and nice to ole all people.

Rest then work!

Senior ole person who needs his hair cut, but it cost money, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 3, 2023

            Another posting that you do not want to read, so stop reading, go get a snack and enjoy the day.

            All of this soon to be well written blog posting, also known as The Don’s personal diary, will be about the Don and what he didn’t do.

            First, he went to the Ford’s ole shed and brought empty cartons and totes to the garage, which will be use to repack the decorations.

Then the Don went to the front yard and removed Santa Clause and his wife, placing them in the garage. That worked out ok so the Don also removed the plastic people and animals from the manger scene, placing them in the garage.

            After the Don removed the plastic people and animals, he then removed the straw that was on the ground. Then he took the scrap wood manger apart and moved the pieces out near the shed. The Don had to remove the stakes he had put in the ground to secure the manger from any large wind.

            When the Don decides to take the plastic decorations to the shed, he will first need to remove the easter decorations, as they are now located in the area where the Christmas decorations are supposed to be. In front of these easter decorations there are some tools that will need to be removed temporarily from the shed, allowing him to move the Christmas items in. As you may see, doing one thing leads to another and another. No rest for the ole people!

            All that done, The Don took a break and rested his ole body. The Don sat outside yesterday afternoon, as his present spouse was resting from all the work, she had done inside the house yesterday.

I did notice that her battery powered sweeper was laying on the floor of the laundry room. She told me it wasn’t working so I decided to look at it. The vacuum part was working, but the brush part at the bottom was not working. I could not see what the problem was. After several minutes reviewing the unit with nothing working, I thought, “if I had a little help from above, I might see what is wrong with it, and fix it”. I turned the brush head and hit the power switch and it started working. I took it into the house and put it on the carpet and it worked!

            Now you can look at the above anyway you want, I believe I got help from above!

            Today: we will be going to the doctor in Temple Tx, I do not like driving to Temple on the interstate due to all the traffic. We should be done before noon and head back home. I will most likely take a back road home (using the Ford’s ole Chevy’s GPS) avoiding the interstate. I will need to pick up Dave from work this afternoon and the kids from school.

            I guess I should check the dogs water bowl before we leave, we don’t want him to be thirsty. We hope you have a good day, stay productive and as always be safe.

Anything is possible, if you believe!

Senior retired person who believes, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 2, 2023

            The day of rest for an ole senior retired person, aka yesterday, was very productive. 

As I had stated earlier, I wanted to unplug the wires powering the decorations in the front yard. That process was fairly easy as there were only 4 wires to disconnect.

Then I decided to disconnect the wires going to the decorations, from the extension cords that I had previously disconnected from the power source. This process involved removing tape and waterproof barriers from a bunch of connections. Example, there were 8 wires in the manger scene alone, that needed to be un-taped and disconnected.

All the wires un-taped and disconnected, I then began the process of rolling up each wire and extension cord, then I place them in the proper container.

Wow the morning got away and it was lunch time.

After a very nice lunch, I decided to open the green house as I needed to water the plants in the green house. I decided to leave the house open while the weather is spring like.

I then provided water for the birds and the dog, along with watering some nearby flowers. I then began to head for each of the berry beds where I provided needed water and observed things that needed to be worked on.

After completing the watering of the three berry beds, I decided to work on the #1 berry bed. First, I reconnected some supporting wires, then I removed the ugly plastic pipe which was originally there to keep the to post tight and upright. Plastic pipes have a tendency to bend after a long time in the sun.

I then decided to replace the plastic pipe with a metal pipe. Yes, I was able to create a new metal support pipe and installed the new support pipe. Luckily, I had two metal pipes that I could put together (118 inches long), and did not need to purchase it, photo to follow.

             At this point that project was completed, I then put the tools away.

Since the weather was nice and it was almost 80 degrees, we decided to wash the dog.

Dog washing completed; I did my daily reading of the bible.

After my reading was finished, I did rest on the Fords ole recliner for about 20 minutes.

Popping up out of the Ford’s ole recliner I had a piece of raisin pie and a cup of coffee which gave me the energy to go outside and sit on the Ford’s ole rocker. I was joined a little later by my favorite wife. We enjoyed the nice weather during this quiet time, as we kicked back and thought about all our blessings.

A nice day of rest and relaxation!

Well, I guess that is it for today, we hope you have a good day, stay safe and rest a lot.

Rest and relaxation!

Senior ole person who needs a cup of homemade coffee, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!

January 1, 2023

            Wow, we made it to the new year, and we still have nothing fun to do. We do need to remove the Christmas decorations, that isn’t fun, I will disconnect all the electric from the decorations today. I did rake a few leaves from the Jasmin beds yesterday, that was kind of fun, but it was also work, photo to follow.

             I could pull weeds from flower and berry beds, but that isn’t fun. Ole people have trouble finding something to do that is fun.

            We went to a deli for lunch yesterday, not a good move. First, they no longer have the soup I liked, the sandwich was ok, the salad my wife got cost $9.50, the ice cream cone was good. Ole people want to get out of the house and have a sandwich, and they are forced to pay too much. Now we can’t buy gas this week, by the way gas is up to $2.79 per gallon, it was $2.33.

            Did the Don and the Donna sit outside yesterday? Yes, they did. Did the neighbors come over for a little happy time? Yes, they did. As usual we got into some interesting conversations, but we did not solve any of the world’s problems. I have a photo which was taken as we sat outside.

            Does the photo, which was taken at the end of the day, the last day of the year, indicate the old year was being cleansed by fire as we start the new one? The photo may actually show some clouds at sunset.

            Was the Don woken up last night at mid night, yes, he was, due to the noise of the fireworks. They did not sound very close, but they did wake him up. 

            I want to start the new year off right, possibly by doing nothing all day. I think that could be fun. Although I will be doing nothing today, we hope you have something interesting to do. Please start the year safe, and if you are going to do anything, be productive.

Be happy, its new!

Senior ole person who plans on doing nothing this year, Don the Ford

May today be better than your best day, but not as good as tomorrow!