September 17, 2023

            “Yes, we had a good day yesterday”, oh, sorry, I thought you were going to ask if we had a good day yesterday. I just thought you would want two ole people to have a good day, but I guess I was wrong.

            Let’s see if we did anything yesterday. We did go and purchase a couple bags of popcorn from Alex’ boy scout group. Then we found a place to get a couple cheap sandwiches, they had to be cheap after buying the popcorn!

            Lunch over we went to the Ollies store, hoping to find something good and cheap. They have some good stuff, and it is usually cheap. When we arrived, it had begun to thunder, we assumed it would be raining when we came out. Inside the store they had some umbrellas setting near the entrance. There was an older fella looking at the umbrellas, so I open my mouth and said, you don’t need that until you are ready to leave the store., thinking I was being funny. He kind of grinned, and we walked away. I have been told, I need to think before I comment, especially to strangers.  

            Now let’s talk about the Saturday walk with the Tres. as we walked up the street, we observed that blue rag still laying in the street. It is now against the curb and smashed flat as it appears vehicles have driven over it. It seems to me that it has been on the road for about a month now, why would the perpetrator, that is the person who owned the pickup truck that it seemed to have come from, and this person owns the house that the blue rag lays in front of, has not picked the litter up. It has been there so long that it is now fading.

            I again will not comment on the amount of rain we have received, but I do have a photo.         

            I think I have commented about the squirrels and the way they are trying to ingest (for that one person ingest means, they are eating our cons) all the pecans before they become ripe! I, and my present wife now have another complaint about these varmints.

            During the day Saturday, I had made a cup of homemade coffee and went out to the front porch to enjoy the nice weather and coffee. The Tres had come out with me, and he found a comfortable location on the front porch to recline and nap.

As I sat there looking around, I noticed this squirrel who was looking at me, he might have been looking at the sleeping Tres, but he was looking in our direction, as he slowly came down the tree. He slowly ventured from the tree to the red metal bench where my present spouse has placed the scarecrow as a part of the Fall decorations. This squirrel went to the scarecrow and began pulling the stuffing out. The squirrel got a big mouth full and headed back up the tree.

From where I was setting, I could see that the squirrel had made a couple holes in the shirt and was pulling the stuffing out. Finishing my cup of homemade coffee, I got up and walked over to the scarecrow and was surprised at what I observed, photo to follow.

            These are called scarecrows because they were used to scare crows and birds away from the fields, why don’t they scare squirrels? The scarecrow is no longer on the bench.

            My favorite wife and I did sit outside yesterday afternoon, after we removed the scarecrow, and enjoyed the nice weather. Our conversations vary, and the good thing about being outside, we don’t have the distractions of the TV.

            Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope your day is filled with love and kindness and safety.

Squirrels bad!

Senior ole person who don’t need to water the pots today, Don the Ford

 

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

September 16, 2023

            I guess we made it to Saturday again, wow how many Saturdays can one ole person have? In the posting I will include several photos with a couple short comments. In the first photo I am showing you that it was raining.

 As I sat on the front porch enjoying the rain, I noticed an odd dryness on a wet tree. There is an area down the center of the tree that appears to be dry.

                                         
            I did not need to get the kids from school yesterday, so my only venture out of the house was to get Dave home from work. My favorite wife and I did sit outside yesterday afternoon and the weather was excellent.

In the photo below, one may be able to see that it was foggy when the Tres and I started our morning walk today. Moisture from the rain may cause fog.

            Since you did not ask, I am not going to tell you how much rain we have received over the last couple days, we hope there will be more today.

            I have an interesting photo of, “The Star Dog”. As you may be able to see, there is a star on the foot of Tres, aka “The Star Dog”.

            Well, I guess that is all the photos I have, our only plan for today is to purchase some popcorn from the boy scouts again. While we are out, we might find a place to purchase a sandwich for lunch. Depending on the possibility of rain, I could address the grass in the front yard, that means I could decide to mow.

We hope you have a good day, stay safe, and as always be nice to the ole people.

If a Photo = 1000 words.

Then this senior person just gave you more than 5000 words, Don the Ford

 

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

September 15, 2023

            Hello to each member of the reading group, yes, and even to you. I know you do not consider yourself a member of the reading group, but I enjoy having you here with the group. Now I have nothing to provide to the reading group today, but I will comment on this matter. A couple days ago we purchased a short hose which was used to replace the short hose that was leaking, and we purchased a new sprayer for the end of the hose as the old one was broken. Now why would I bring those two items up, he asked, well allow me to expand the thought. We paid cash for these two items, and we installed both items. We did a short test to be sure they worked, and they do, then it started! We have had rain each and every day and I have not been required to use them. Money spent and unable to use the items! 

            Actually, I am thankful for the rain, we have had a total of almost 1.25 inch here at the Fords homestead. It is predicted to rain today and there could be a storm in the area. Rain please, storm no thanks!

            The walk this morning started about 6:30. To say it was dark would be an understatement. It was pitch-black outside. Now I know some of you have no idea what Pitch is, but I do. When I say it was pitch-black, I am saying it was very dark. The fact that it is cloudy increased the darkness.

            During the morning walk we did not have any interesting events, as a matter of fact, it was a very boring walk.

            Different subject: I have an appointment to have a local repair person to come to the Ford’s home and see if they can fix a problem on the refrigerator. This repair is through the Lowes warrantee company. I called this so-called local business yesterday to confirm the appointment and to see if I could get them to also work on the washing machine. They did not answer the phone, I left my name and number, they have not yet returned my call.

            I was going through some appliance info from years past and I found a note that explained that this same local repair group, had worked for us before, and did not perform very well.

            The front yard needs to be mowed but the rain is keeping me from the task. Heck if it keeps raining, I might need to mow the back 40.

            Well, I guess that is all from here at the Ford homestead, we hope you have a safe and productive day, or at least a safe and enjoyable day.

Thankful for the rain!

Senior ole person who thinks a cup of coffee while sitting on the front porch during a little rain storm might be good, Don the Ford

 

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

September 14, 2023

            Another day another bill to pay, or was the work free? We did get the stove repaired yesterday, and it was covered by a warranty, so the work was free. Now we need to get the washing machine repaired, but it has no warrantee, that will cost money. I need to find someone who can do the work at a fair price.

            By the way, it is raining this morning, YAY! We had some off and on rain showers yesterday with a total of about ¼ inch of rain. We are hoping for another day of rain with a larger amount. I doubt that any of this rain has run off into the lakes, the ground is soaking it all up.

            This morning Tres and I went out front as usual, but the rain kept Tres on the porch most of the time. I sat on one of the rockers and enjoyed the darkness and rain. I would have sat there longer if I would have had a cup of coffee. Tres did leave the protection of the porch (went out into the rain) to relieve himself on the mailbox post.

            As I sat there in the dark, I decide to attempt to get a photo which would allow you to enjoy the early morning darkness. The photo isn’t very good but my ole cell phone doesn’t have a good camera, or the photographer isn’t that good, you can decide.

            The orange light is coming from the streetlight. As I sat there and Tres was laying on the porch, we observed a flash of light, but not a lightning streak. I wondered if it was lightning, or something else that cause the flash. It took several seconds before we could hear the thunder, and it sounded as if it was very far away.

            As I sit here looking at the security cameras, I can see the rain fall is “picking up”, for that one person I meant to say, the rain fall is increasing. Even though the rain has increased, I still do not see any large amount of water flowing down the street.

            I am back, I just went out to the driveway and moved the flowers that were partially under the car port, so they would share in the rain, (get some water). During this venture into the wet world, I looked that the Free rain gage and it is showing ½ inch of rain total for yesterday and this morning.

            There was some thunder and Molly the cat came in out of the garage. I guess she don’t like the noise. I just thought, with all this rain I will not be allowed to mow the front yard, darn it, I was looking forward to getting some exercise. I have an umbrella, I guess I could take Tres for a walk, nope I guess not. It just thundered again, and he has come and got in under the desk.

            I guess we are now in a thunderstorm as it keeps thundering and raining.

            I will call it quits for now, we hope you can stay dry and that it keeps raining. Please be safe and careful in the rain.

Night photographer!

Senior ole person who might take a cup of coffee and sit outside, Don the Ford

 

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

September 13, 2023

            We made it to mid-week, and it is sprinkling rain this morning. We are hoping for real rain and we are thankful for even a sprinkle of rain, anything is better than nothing.

            The Tres and I did take a walk this morning, it was a cool 70 degrees and there was a very slight breeze when we turned and started back toward the homestead. I have a couple comments on this morning’s walk, one is, early mornings I hear and see crows in the area. Now I am wondering if they spend the nights here and then go somewhere else during the day. I do not usually see or hear them during the day or when we sit outside in the afternoon.

            A second comment would be, as the Tres and I were approaching an intersection walking south, there was a vehicle approaching going west. The vehicle had a stop sign, so it stopped, and we also stopped. I being a nice ole man waved at the driver, whom I could not see, to go on. The vehicle then started across the intersection, and it appeared that this person was giving me the finger. His hand was at the window, there was one finger standing up and I could not see this person’s face. Now I could be wrong, and he may have been looking at his fingernail…

            I am trying to determine how much rain we might get, and do I need to water the flowerpots. I can see on the security camera that there is more light rain happening, although the driveway is still dry under the tree limbs, so we haven’t had much rain yet.

            I have a photo of some blooms that are growing in places where I do not want them to be, they are in our Jasman bed.

            The front yard needs to be mowed but I am sure it is too wet for me to get outside and mow, maybe I can get the yard man Alex over on Saturday. If we get enough rain the back forty might need to be mowed. The riding mower has not been started in several weeks.

            I could get my hair cut today but then I would be attractive again, then my favorite wife would get mad when the other female subjects start looking at me.

            I decided to review my bible study homework yesterday, and I am happy to report it looked as if I had answered the questions correctly. I received my book several weeks ago and I went ahead and completed the first week’s work, when I first received the book. 

            Well, I guess I will stop for now, it is sprinkling a little harder now, so I will try to stay dry. We hope you have a good day and stay safe while you are being nice to ole people.

Rain, nice!

Senior ole person who may do nothing today, Don the Ford

 

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

September 12, 2023

            The bible study group meeting went well last evening. I got to see some of the people I had studied with last year, and met a bunch of new people. I think they said there are 170 men in this bible study session.

            Now let’s discuss this morning’s walk. The walk started about the same time but it was much darker than it has been, I thought it was probably due to clouds, but as the walk proceeded, I could see that there was not an excessive number of clouds. I guess sun rise is getting later each day.

As the Tres and I walked we approached two different people without them seeing us. There was a vehicle between us and the man who got in his van, he left the door open for a short while then closed it and left. He did not know we were standing on the other side of the vehicle that was parked next to his. If I had been a bad person, I could have taken his vehicle from him easily.

Then up the street and around the corner there was a female person who walked out of her house, she did not appear to even look around to see if anyone was there, Tres and I was within 40 feet of her at first, and as she was trying to unlock her vehicle, her back to us, we walked behind and past without her ever seeing us. People should look around when they go out of their house or get out of their vehicle.

Topic swap; we were supposed to go to an out-of-town football game in which Alex would have played, but for some reason it is canceled. I guess we will learn why later.

We got some rain last night, but not a lot. When Tres and I went out this morning there was a wet spot on the driveway, I said wet spot, not standing water. I checked the Free rain gage and there was a little water in it but not enough to measure.

Now let’s talk cons: the tree has a lot of pecans on it, but as dry as it has been we are not sure they would produce good pecans. We will probably not get any this year as the squirrels seem to be taking more than their share. There seem to be partially eaten cons on the driveway all the time, photo to follow.

            I guess I will stop for now, stay safe, be nice, and have a good day!

Studying again? I mean Studying again!

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

 

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

September 11, 2023

            Well, today is 9/11 and we all remember where we were when the attacks occurred. I was in New York state working between the towns of Middletown and Newburgh.  

            But let’s first review Sunday, as I am writing this first part on Sunday afternoon. My favorite wife and I did go out for breakfast at the cracker store. A couple things about this breakfast, one we only recognized possibly two people who work there, they have a bunch of new employees. The second comment is the food prices have gone up a little but the amount of food received is smaller. Part of my meal was pancakes, there were two and they were smaller than what they use to be, heck even the supposed to be scrambled eggs did not appear to be two complete eggs.

            After eating, we went to the Woods store hoping to find a 20-foot hose, but they did not have a 20-foot hose. They had 50, and 100 feet but no short hoses. we also need a couple sprayers for the watering of plants and they had some but we did not purchase one.

We left there and went to Wally world looking for a hose and we had no luck there. I did see something I should have purchased and that was a string trimmer for $99.00. My trimer is old and could give up at any time, I might need to go back and get the trimer.

Arriving back at home, having purchased nothing, I proceed to get into, or is it onto, the ole recliner, either way, I took a nap. 

Awaking from the nice nap I decided to go out back and remove the Poopa-Loopa from the back 40, as trash day is Monday. Having successfully removed the Dog Waste I then decided to pick up the sticks and debris from the back and front yards. The temp is a lot cooler than normal, it was only 97 degrees, wow I can work outside and not die of heat exhaustion.

I have purchased three fire extinguishers, so I decided to install one here in the ole office. Before you ask, the ole office is close to the kitchen and there was no place in the kitchen to install the extinguisher, that is why it is in the ole office. Photo to follow.

            Before you ask, no I do not know what all those keys go to. Some keys have been there a long time.

            The yards cleared I decided to repair the front water hose. The problem is the clamp that holds the rubber hose on to the connector leaks, so I thought I would put a second clamp on the connection. I went out to the shed to see if I could find another clamp and while I was there, I installed a fire extinguisher in the shed. As you might know, I get distracted easily, and I was distracted by some bird seed that I did not know I had. I distributed the bird seed. I did also find a clamp and then I headed back to the front yard and I was hoping to add the second clamp.

            The second clamp was too small it would not fit so I decided to see if I could make any adjustments to the connection. I found that it just needed to be tightened, and the leak stopped. I guess I should have tried that a month or two ago.

            My favorite wife was cleaning the back patio off so I took the leaf blower out there and did the initial sweeping of the area. I blew the dirt and dust off the patio so my wife could do all she needed to do, and there would be a lot less sweeping. I also hauled the dog’s bed to the trash container, the bottom was falling apart, and the BBQ grill cover was also taken to the trash container. Then I came in here and started writing this posting. It is now 3:45 on Sunday afternoon and I will stop writing now. There may be more comments added tomorrow.

 

            Today is Monday; it is cool today with a temp of 69 degrees. Heck when Tres and I went for our walk it was almost a shock with cool air and a breeze. Speaking of Tres, he did get a bath yesterday afternoon, then we sat outside for a while. It was nice enough that we did not need the fans to keep us cool.

            The lady who lives next-door and her two sons came over while we were sitting outside. They brought treats for Tres and for Molly the cat. The youngest boy likes cats and he really likes Molly. Tres got a kick out of all the attention and petting he received.

I don’t intend to comment on the 9/11 disaster, I think the TV seems to be covering it pretty well.

            Our bible study begins this evening, I hope I can study and learn something this year.

There is rain in the area, we hope it will get to us. Well, I guess that is all for today, we hope your day is filled with things you enjoy, and we are hopeful that everyone will stay safe.

This posting was too long!

Senior ole person who needs to do something, Don the Ford

 

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

September 10 2023

            We have made it to Sunday again and all seems to be well here at the Homestead. I have watered the flowers and berry beds and have done nothing else.

            I want to say thanks to everyone who commented on the photos of the sunrise in yesterday’s post. I thought they were very interesting and unusual.

            My favorite wife and I have decided to go to the cracker store for breakfast this morning. I have no plans for the rest of the day, my wife will probably continue to place fall decorations inside and outside the house.

 

            Thats it for today, stay safe and be nice to everyone, especially ole people.

Positive comments appreciated!

Senior ole person who needs to get ready for breakfast, Don the Ford

 

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