September 9, 2023

            Wow how does the Don want to start today’s sermon. Let’s start with walking the dog. Now I am an ole senior person and I have lived in the neighborhood for more than 44 years, and that alone should provide this ole senior person with some shall we say, “special privileges!”

Now let us take for example todays, “walking of the dog”. All went well until we turned and started back toward the homestead. There ahead of us, coming toward us was a female person leading a dog. First, she was on the wrong side of the road. All dog walkers should walk facing traffic, but she was walking with traffic. This female dog walker was coming toward me and Tres, which caused me to have to walk to the other side of the street, yes that meant I was forced to walk with traffic. This young female person did not say good morning, heck she acted like she was unhappy that the Tres was barking at her and her little white dog.

I think there should be a way that Tres and I could go for our walk without any other dog walkers being on the streets. Then, when we finish, we could post a note on the internet and these other so-called dog walkers could then go for a walk. Ole people need some, “special privileges!” 

I did take some photos of the morning sky as we walked, photos to follow.

             There must have been a big jet plane or a spaceship down in those clouds, and they must have had their head lights on, to make all that light. I don’t think a flashlight could make that much light.

            Other than the incident with the female dog walker, this morning’s walk was good. There was a nice breeze during the entire walk.

Back at the home I was allowed to water the flowers in pots. An odd thing happened while I was watering the pots, I could feel “rain drops falling on my head”, wow, that kind of sounded like an ole time song. Yep, even though the cloud above did not look like a rain cloud, there was a few drops of rain falling. I tried to call my favorite wife and ask her to come outside to experience the rain drops, but she would not answer the phone.

Wow, she was busy and did not answer the phone. What if I had fallen and could not get up? I guess in the future I will call 911 and not my wife, if I have had an accident.

Topic swap: the boy scouts are having another popcorn sell today, so I guess I will drop by and see if I can get a couple $20 bags of popcorn.

Well, I need some rest so I will shut down for now, we hope your day is good and that you can walk facing traffic, that means “please be safe!”

special privileges!

Senior ole person who has no special privileges, Don the Ford

 

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

September 8, 2023

            Good morning or hello depending on when you look at this posting. There is nothing new here at the Ford homestead, unless you consider the fall decorations that have been recently placed inside and outside of the Homestead. I would like to take credit for the decorations, but if I did, I might not get to eat for a month or so, yep, my favorite wife has been and is placing these decorations.

            Please allow me to comment on a thing or two from yesterday.

            I did take the Ford’s ole Chevy to the dealership for some upkeep. On the way home the touch screen was acting odd, (not working as it had been prior to the new battery) which irritated me to no end but I was not in a mood to go back to the Dealer at that time.

            A few of the processes began working but not all so I decided to call them this morning and see if they had any ideas or if I should bring it back. Before calling them, I decided to go out and see if it was still acting odd. I turned it on, and it worked as it should, happily, I turned it off and started into the homestead when it came to me, I still needed to set the time. My ole body spun around and I dashed back to the vehicle. (Dashed, in this setting means, “I was able to drag my ole body back to the truck.”)

            I again started the vehicle and went to settings, then to time, and I was able to set the time! Heck the darn thing may be ok.

            What else did we do yesterday: my first wife allowed me to go with her out to supper. Now the food was good but I do have a small problem with sandwiches at many restaurants and that is, “they are too thick”. What I am trying to say is, I can’t open my mouth wide enough to get a full bite of the sandwich. I often end up using a knife and a fork to eat the sandwich, or I have to remove part of the fixuns, then I can get my mouth around the sandwich. 

            We made it back home safely and even though it was 106 degrees, we did sit outside for a while.

            Speaking of heat, for those of you who do not live in Texas, we are supposed to have a record setting day for September, with a temperature of 108 or more. I will be getting Alex from school this afternoon during the 108 temp, and I will be sitting there in the vehicle without the air conditioner or motor running. I do plan to take two types of fans with me, one is battery powered, and one is a hand fan. I would not want to be going to the high school football game tonight, it will be very hot.

            Tres and I did walk this morning, but we did not have any unusual events. Speaking of unusual, a friend thought he saw a coyote running up the street the other night, and he wanted me to check my cameras and see if I could see the animal. I did see what appeared to be a coyote going up the street.

            Well, I guess that will be it for now, be safe and have a great day.

Hotter than hot!

Senior ole person who needs to get a short nap before lunch, Don the Ford

 

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

September 7, 2023

            I just got back home from the auto dealer. This visit was interesting. I am an early arriver so they asked when I scheduled the appointment if I wanted a 7:00 or 8:00 appointment. Now I thought that meant they would start on my project at 7:00. What they meant was I could arrive and get checked in with others at 7:00 and then wait.

            I arrived a few minutes before 7:00 and the gates were closed. I waited for them to open the gates then I pulled in. It took them a while but they did get my info and then I went to the waiting room. It was 34 minutes later that they moved my vehicle. I had the oil changed, new motor and cabin air filters, tires rotated and they said the battery needed to be replaced.

            Yep, it cost several dollars but I got 25% off on the parts, and on the way home I noticed that everything on the video screen was not working properly. One thing it was showing 32 degrees temp, and the time was off a couple hours. As I drove home the temp increased to 94 degrees so I guess that is working. At home I tried to set the time but could not. I was not happy so I went out back and watered the flower pots, my favorite wife said those pots out front did not need to be watered.

            The watering finished, I went back to the vehicle and again attempted to set the time. I was able to set the time, so I guess everything may be getting back to normal.

            Bad news for Tres, we did not get to go for a walk this morning.

            Yesterday’s football game: it was an interesting game but we lost 18 to 25. It was 104 at game time yesterday, and it will be hotter today.

            I know this is a short posting but I am stopping for now, we hope you have a very good day, and please stay safe.

Need my lunch!

Senior ole person who could use a bite to eat and a nap, Don the Ford

 

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

September 6, 2023

            Since no one asked I will not tell you that I have done very little this morning. We did go for a walk, it was dark when we started at 6:30, it wasn’t dark when we got home at 7:00. It was hot and humid, and there was no breeze today. I am getting very tired of complaining about the heat and humidity, every time I turn around, I am complaining. I can hardly wait until winter gets here and I can complain about the cold, at least I will be complaining about something other than the heat!

            I have watered the plants this morning, and I need to get my present wife’s vehicle inspected. I guess I could get the oil changed and inspected at the same time.

            We do have a football game to go to this afternoon, Alex will be playing a home game at 5:00, and it will be 103. There I go again complaining about the heat. I don’t need to pick up the kids from school today, Gabi will walk from her school to the football field, I will need to get Dave, hopefully he will get off work on time today.

            We were supposed to have a repairman here at the homestead today to work on the range. They were supposed to send the parts for the repair here to the house. They have not arrived at the house yet, and the tracking shows that there was some type error and the items have now started on their way. I guess you can’t win them all.

            I have scheduled to take my vehicle to the shop tomorrow morning for an oil change, air filters, and a checkup. I had a choice of 7:00 or 8:00am, I chose 7:00, that is kind of early even for an early riser like me. They never get in a hurry when they do any work on my vehicle, so starting early may be a good idea.

            I have a photo of a flower and I think you may even like this one. The flower bloom looks white, but it has a little pink on it even though you may not see it in the photo.

            No, it has not rained, I was watering the plants when I saw this bloom and took the photo.

            Well, I guess I will quit for now, have a good day, and be nice to ole people. We also want you to stay safe today.

Flower connoisseur!

Senior ole person who should do something, but what, Don the Ford

 

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

September 4, 2023

            What can I say to you this morning. I should say it rained last night, or it seemed to be raining. We had watched an area of rain moving toward our location via the smart phone as we sat outside. Later when we were secured in the ford’s fortress, I mean homestead, it began to rain. I walked to the back door and I could hear the rain drops on the metal roof over the back patio. Heck I could see the rain dripping off the metal roof to the ground.

            This morning I wanted to know how much rain we may have received over night, so I checked the free rain gage and it had, “no water in it”! We did however have three small limbs down in the back 40 this morning, these limbs were about 6 or 7 feet long. More debris to pick up in the front and back 40 due to the wind last night.

            Tres an I did go for an early morning walk today, it was 6:30 and dark when we left the homestead. I do not fear someone trying to mug me as long as I have that big ole dog with me. I did carry a flash light as it was very dark this morning. There was a nice breeze when we were walking southbound, but the breeze was with us when we turned and started northbound, so we could not enjoy the breeze unless we stood still.

As my favorite wife and I sat outside yesterday evening, the neighbor lady’s son came over for a visit. Now he is probably in the second grade, and when he comes over, we get hold of Tres and ask the boy who is full of energy, to slow down and let Tres smell of you for a minute. Once Tres has smelled of the boy, then the boy can do what ever he wants. Tres does like it when the boy sits down on the ground and rubs Tres’ back.

After a few minutes the boy’s mom came over, we offered her a seat but she said that they need to go back home as the food is getting cold. This boy is a live wire, talking about everything and very active.

Also, yesterday I got another photo of the Cons. Now I do not know if there are any eatable pecans inside the shells, that are on the tree, but the shells look promising. Photo to follow. 

            Most of the day yesterday, after Alex left and until the neighbor boy came over, was boring, we just sat around doing nothing all day. Well, I guess I will quit for now, we hope your holiday is fun, we hope you have some good food, and we hope you stay safe.

Ole boring person!

Senior ole person who has nothing to do on this holiday, Don the Ford

 

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

September 3, 2023

            Another nice morning here at the Ford homestead. Tres and I both noticed the fact that the neighborhood was very quiet this morning when we went outside for him to relieve himself. Now usually we have several birds making noise, maybe a little breeze, possibly a train going down the tracks, but today there was one bird that we heard, and off in the distance, we heard a jet plane going over. Extra quiet, no dogs barking, no guns being fired, all was quiet and then it happened, we could hear a rooster crowing. Yep, someone has chickens at their house.

            I have a photo from our short walk this morning. Tres is usually the observant one, but today I was, and Tres completely missed this cat, photo to follow.

             We were arriving at the cul-de-sac and Tres always turns to the right to go to a mailbox that he likes. Tres did not see the cat; I even took time to take the photo and Tres continued looking at the mailbox with the cat behind him.

            A couple minutes later as we were walking up the street, I saw some morning clouds that I like, and I took a photo.

            May I also enlighten the group as to the fact that Tres woke me up at 1:10pm two nights ago and wanted to go out. I was able to drag my ole body out of the Ford’s ole bed and let him out back. Tres started walking through the back 40 as if he was looking for something and that is when I heard the sound. There was two Hoot Owls out back and one would call out, then the other would call out. It was a back-and-forth process; I do not know if they were working together, or if they were rivals.

            Topic swap: our neighbor had a table and 4 chairs out in his driveway with a free sign on them. We pointed them out to another friend who then called a family member. The family member had need for the table and chairs and when they came to get them, I was able to help them load them in the pickup.

            I am back: I have been away from the keyboard for a little over two hours. I went to pick up the yard man, “Alex”, as the front yard needed to be mowed. When I picked the Alex up, he said he had $10 in his pocket, and he would pay for a coffee from the Star coffee place. Now Alex don’t get a real cup of coffee, he gets a cold drink that appears to be chocolate. I was happy that he offered to pay but I paid for the drinks.

            Alex has mowed the front yard and did some weed trimming in the back 40. The back 40 does not need to be mowed, but there were some weeds that were growing. While he was doing his yard work, I was picking up some sticks and debris from the yard. I will need to remove the Poopa-Loopa, there seems to be some in the back 40.  

            My wife of 54 years and I did sit outside yesterday afternoon for a while. It was a quiet afternoon as there was very little traffic on the street. 

            Another topic: yesterday I was considering what I would need for a battery backup to keep the security cameras on during power outages, I was moving some things around when I came across a couple short stories I had written in the past. One was about time travel, and even though I don’t believe in time travel, I have written a short story about time travel. The other short story title is, “Will what begins as great, end that way”, or “The Future defined”. I took the time to read The Future Defined and it was interesting, in part there is the prediction of a time when all disease will cease. Who knew the Don could write. There is another story about the beginning of time, but it is 70 pages and that seems to be to long for anyone to read.

Change the topic: we have the new phone system and we have not had one message left on the unit, other than my test messages. I guess that means we answer the phone when it rings. Hay, do not decide to leave a message on the phone just because I said there have been none.

Well, I guess that is about it for now, may your day be filled with kindness, may you stay safe, and may it rain!

Unusual author!

Senior ole person whose yard is mowed, and I am not tired, Don the Ford

 

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

September 2, 2023

            I will start off with a good morning to my favorite person, but to the rest of you, morning. As I sit here attempting to enlighten the reading public, and also you, Bat Man is on TV. Now I don’t like the ole or new Bat Man shows, but I do like the old convertible he drives in the old black and white TV shows.

            Let’s see how the morning walk went, with the Tres and me. We started early but we did not need a flashlight today, the temp was reported to be 70, but it felt cooler, yep it was a nice morning. For the last couple days, we have been hearing the sounds of gun fire as we walk. This sound is off in the distance, and it is either the dove hunters reducing the dove population, or there is some type of war occurring just outside the city limits.

            Now back in the olden days I use to participate in the reduction of the dove population, but now I personally do not like the idea of killing the birds. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with others being, “killers of the birds”, I just don’t see a need for me to participate.

            Did anything interesting occur while the Tres took me for a walk this morning? Well, he seemed to shorten the walk by one block. We got to a corner, and he simply took me across the street and started back to the homestead. As we started home, I saw something in the sky that I doubt many of you have ever seen.

I have always wanted to see a UFO fly over, and I have always hoped I would get a photo of a UFO, if I ever saw one. Seeing a UFO in the daytime would be a lot better than at night. Well anyway, as we walked, I looked up into the blue sky and there were no clouds anywhere and that is when I saw it, big and bright! I have a photo and I will put it in the posting if I can get it from my somewhat smart phone. This is not the photo I took.

As I am trying to get the photo to post, I will enlighten you as to the fact that I was being lazy yesterday when I decided to finish cleaning the ole office. Now as some of you might know I started up high dusting and cleaning, then I worked on the middle areas like the desktop and the cabinet next to the desk. Completing those areas first, would allow any dust or debris that got away from me to go down to the floor, and the floor is what I cleaned yesterday. 

First, I vacuumed the entire area then I damp mopped the entire floor. It was nice to have the room clean.

We did wash the dog yesterday, that is the second time this week. Tres has a problem itching and the shampoo has some anti itch stuff in it. We hope it will help him. Well after the wash job we make an attempt to dry him off with a towel, and that get some of the moister off. He went into the office where I had just cleaned, and he lay on the floor. When he got up, the floor was more wet then when I had mopped it.

            Ok I got the photo onto the computer, and I will post it below. I found it interesting that someone would be in a hot air balloon floating around over populated areas. The balloon went up and down a few times, I could even see the flame from the gas fire when he was attempting to make it go up. Now it was not a UFO, which I would still like to see and get a photo of, but I still believe many of you have never seen a hot air Balloon fly over.

            Well, I guess that will be all for today, have a good day, look up occasionally, and if you can, please stay safe.

No UFO yes Balloon!

Senior ole person who needs to rest before he works, Don the Ford

 

 

September 1, 2023

            What a way to start a new month! Now I am sitting here waiting for someone to ask, how did the Don start the new month. Total silence from you, the reading public.

            Well, since I have nothing to tell you other than how I started the new month, I will just stop writing and present a photo or two that I have taken. The first photo is of a pretty flower blooming due to the daily watering of the flowerpots by me!

            I think the bloom is interesting with the green parts.

            I have another photo that I took this morning as the sun was coming up. Now the photo doesn’t do justice to what I was looking at. The sun was showing through the trees.

            On the first of each month our daughter-in-law has to go to work early to do the books. On that day (aka today) she drops off the grandkids at our house and I take them to school. Today is the first of the month, and the grand kids were dropped off here about 6:30am, plus one. Yep, Gabi’s boyfriend Brice was here today.

            Since it is a very early drop off, we have gotten into the habit of going to the Star coffee store for a morning drink. So today we had an extra drink to purchase. We went to the new star coffee store and there was not a line at 7:00am. Drinks purchased, we started for home and that is when someone suggested that a burrito would be good.

            I, being a very good grandpa, drove to the burrito place and purchased 3 burritos, then we headed for home. Back at home the burritos and drinks were being enjoyed.

At the right time I loaded the kids into the Ford’s ole Chevy and head off to school. We dropped Alex off first and then Gabi and Brice were dropped off. I did make it back home where I immediately went to work watering the flowers. That work completed I came in here and started on this posting.

            My favorite wife will be going out to lunch with some friends today, I will be allowed to go depending on what time I need to pick Dave up from work. If he gets off early or on time then I should be able to go, if he gets off late then I don’t get to go. I am supposed to get Alex from school this afternoon, but if his mother gets off work early, she will get him. With the holiday the workloads can change dramatically.

            I guess I will stop for now, we hope you have a good day and as always, please stay safe.

Kid hauler!

Senior person who has already had a cup of real coffee, now what do I due, Don the Ford

 

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