November 1, 2023

            We made it through Halloween, we did not answer the door when the goblins knocked or rang the doorbell. One good thing about the ring door bell, I can see who is there without going to the door and I can talk with them without opening the door. We had a few come to the door, but not many.

            The grand kids came to the house this morning, it is the first of the month and Claire has to report to work early. I had forgot that they were coming, and when I remembered, I was just verily able to get dressed before they arrived. We did go to the star coffee place for a cup, and then I took them to school. First cup of real coffee in a month.

            It was supposed to freeze last night but they said it did not. I did see what appeared to be frost on top of a neighbor’s home. The weather people may not be right all the time. My new thermometer is supposed to be here today, I plan to put it in the hot house so I can see how cold or hot it is, without going outside.

            I might attempt to retrieve some of the acorns that seem to cover the yard today, if I can stand the cold. I picked up debris from the front and back yards yesterday, I know I got at least three five-gallon buckets of debris. The back 40 was not as bad as the front.

            The grass looks as if it needs to be mowed, maybe a frost will stop it from growing.

Did I say that my favorite wife plans to have a garage sale this Friday and Saturday. We got the permit and maybe she will be able to sell some of the items. We would both like to see the garage more or less empty.

I guess that is it for now, have a nice day, stay warm and please be safe.

Sale or give away!

Senior ole person who needs to get out of this chair, if I can, Don the Ford

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

October 31, 2023

            We made it to the last day of the month, and I am still the silly grandpa. If you would allow me to explain, this morning as I was putting some clothing on my ole body, which I do almost every morning. I had carried socks, shirt and jeans over to my side of the bed where I attempt to clothe my ole self. Sitting on the side of the bed I put the socks on, then the shirt, then the pants, all while I was considering which shoes I would wear. Yes, I have more than one pair of shoes!

            I looked around for my socks, now I knew I had brough them to the bed, was the dog laying on them? It took about 15 seconds before I happened to think, I had already put my socks on. Yep, silly grandpa!

            Bible study went well last night, when they were going over the prayer list, we learned that the neighbor that I had put on the prayer list was on the list twice. Yep, there was another person listed who was on chemotherapy, and we learned that two of us had requested prayer for the same person, we had not listed Steve’s name, so we thought there was two people.

            Now about today, it is 37 degrees outside, they say we will get up to 50 today, and there should be some sunshine. If I can bundle up good enough, I might let the Tres take me for a walk. I do need to pick up the debris from the yards, front and back. We had a lot of wind and there is debris everywhere. Speaking of the wind, I have a photo which may explain windy.

            My favorite wife is wanting to have a yard sale, and it takes a lot to get ready. Contacting the city, need a sign or two, get the items placed on tables, stay outside all day hoping that someone would stop by and purchase things.

            Well, I guess I need to get moving, we hope all is well with you, and please be safe.

Winter is here?

Senior ole person who needs to do something, or not, Don the Ford

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

October 30, 2023

            What did the Don do yesterday, well he went outside and worked his ole body in the cold weather and almost froze. The temp seemed to drop as the day went by. At 3:00 it was 48 degrees. Now the Don did get the flowers in pots that can’t stand the cold weather, into the so-called hot house. He did connect the extension cord from the house to the hot house and he found that one of the heat lamps is broken. I have a photo of some of the potted plants that are now inside the hot house.

            We hope that the winter weather is not as bad this year, as it was last year, we lost several flowers last winter. We are supposed to have our first frost Tuesday or Wednesday. It did rain a little early morning yesterday, but the rain stayed away during the day, even though there was mist quiet often during the day.

            I have a photo that I had taken a couple days ago, and I found it interesting. This photo is of a cloud up in the sky, at least I think it was a cloud. I guess it could have been a spaceship that looked like a cloud, and it also looked like a pyramid.

            Clouds can be interesting to ole people who have nothing else to do.

            It was too cool for the Fords to sit outside yesterday afternoon. My favorite wife did work in the garage for quite a while yesterday getting some items ready for a garage sale. Now I am not a garage sale person, but I will be there as a helper for my favorite wife, and we hope she can raise some money at the sale, I don’t want her to be going out on the cold nights looking for aluminum cans, even though having some extra funding would be nice.

            I have a trash can almost full of acorns, that our neighbor has for the most part donated. I am saying the neighbor and friend has done most of the work picking these acorns up.

            I went outside this morning, (even though it is still raining, and the wind is blowing like crazy, and it blew all night long, the temp is 40 degrees), to check the free rain gage. We have another .5 inch of rain in the gage. According to my math, we have received 6 inches of rain here at the Ford’s homestead over the last few days. Now the drought may not be over, but Lake Waco is 100% full, in fact they said it was 3 foot above normal. Do you think the watering restrictions have now ceased? 

            I do not think I will allow Tres to take me for a walk unless the wind stops, it is cold outside, and the wind doesn’t help. No plans for the day, the grand kids or out of school today so I will not need to get them from school. I see a retired neighbor, via security camera, across the street putting his trash can out, he has his pajamas and house coat on, and he is hustling. I will need to take the garbage can out to the curb sometime this morning, maybe it will stop raining just long enough to get it out to the curb.

            I guess I will stop entering data into the ole computer and say, “stay safe and have a very good day!”

Cold, rain, wind!

Senior ole person who needs to do something, but not outside, Don the Ford

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

October 29, 2023

            Let’s see where we are in the rain fall count. The Ford’s ole rain gage had 2.25 inches of rain, when I dumped the water out, starting again with an empty free rain gage. This morning I went out to check the gage and we now have another 3.25 inches of water. If my math is correct, we have received 5.5 inches of rain over the past few days, and there is more coming. Also, they are predicting our first freeze for the year, in a couple days. That means I will need to get some flower pots into the so-called hot house today and or tomorrow. It is 54 degrees outside this morning, ole people (the Don) don’t like to work in the cold rainy weather.

            I did nothing yesterday, well, my favorite wife and I did go out for lunch with Patrick, Karla, David Claire, Gabi and Alex yesterday. The restaurant was completely full, it seemed as if everyone was talking and or shouting. I, being a senior person, could not hear Gabi when she was talking, and she was sitting next to me. This was one time when I wished the other people who were there, would have gotten their phones out and started texting, instead of talking. Everyone in the place was talking, and no one had their phones out!

            I think I might stop complaining about people who set at the table in restaurants and look at their phones, at least they are being quiet!

            We wanted to wash the dog yesterday, but it rained so much there was water standing in the back yard again, so the Tres still stinks. I have checked the back 40 this morning and even after the 5.5 inches of rain, there is no water standing in the back 40. That should tell you how dry the ground has been. Now it is too cool outside to wash the dog and it is not easy when you try to wash him inside the house.

            I just thought, if we are going to have two nights of temps at freezing (32 degrees) that means I will need to activate the furnace. Now the first time the electric furnace is activated it will burn off a bunch of dust and the house will smell like burning dust, but I guess that is better than being cold.

            As cool as it is this morning, I doubt that we will be able to sit outside this afternoon. We did sit outside yesterday afternoon, we were on the front porch due to the rain.

            Well, I guess I will stop adding to my personal log, which any one can read, and maybe get a cup of homemade coffee. We hope you are able to have a warm and dry day, (aka stay inside the house) and stay safe.

Flower pot mover!

Senior ole person who will need a long-sleeved shirt today, Don the Ford

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

October 28, 2023

            Well, it is a good morning here in Hewitt, Texas. The sun isn’t up yet, as I start this posting, but I did go outside and check the free rain gage to see how much rain we may have received yesterday afternoon and into the night.

            Now if memory serves me, yesterday afternoon I went to get Alex and Gabi from school. Alex came out to the Ford’s ole Chevy as usual and we headed over to the high school to get the Gabi. When we arrived at the high school, we found a parking space in the usual area. We sat there for a while but no Gabi. I then attempted to call her a couple times, no answer. We then called her dad to see if we were supposed to pick her up from school.

            We then learned that she was staying after school (school gets out at 4:00) with her boyfriend and she was planning to attend the football game which starts at 7:30. Somewhat disappointed that we did not need to get her from school, we started for home. I did get Alex home safe and I made it to my home, a little later than usual, but safe.

            My favorite wife and I decided to sit outside as it was not raining. Our neighbor who has the cancer came over and sat with us for a while. He seems to be in good spirits and is keeping a positive attitude about the situation, even though the chemo seems to be reducing his energy.

            Our neighbor spoke of the people who came over to pray for him yesterday, and that he was thankful for all the prayers. As we sat there talking it began to sprinkle some rain. It did not take long and we decided to go to our front porch, to get out of the rain, and he went to his front porch where he and his granddaughter carved a pumpkin.

            At about 5:20 the rain became very hard and we did get a bunch of rain for several hours along with lightning. The free rain gage has almost 2.25 inches of water in it. We were wondering what our granddaughter was doing during the rain storm, at the football stadium? That rain storm went on into the night.

            Today, Patrick and Karla are supposed to come up for a visit, possibly we might even be able to go out for a light lunch.

            My ole senior brain started working this morning when the clock sounded off. I got the thought, “What does o’clock mean?” People have a tendency to say it is five o’clock, which I think means it is “5:00 am or pm”.

Now would you believe I have studied this word (o’clock) for weeks, reviewing page after page from ole history books, and I have come up with the answer. O’clock is an abbreviation (for that one-person abbreviation means shortened) of two words and it started back in the year 1321, by a fellow named Jess. Each time he would look at the big wall clock to see what time it was he would say, “5 according to the ole clock”. As time passed, he shortened it to, “5 ole clock,” then it became easier to say, “5 o’clock”.

Now would you believe you have just learned some history from a senior ole person?

That’s it for now, we hope you have a good day with friends or family. Please stay safe and be nice to at least one person today.

Definer of words!

Senior person who knows a lot, but a lot of what, wow, I am a poet, Don the Ford

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

October 27, 2023

            Friday has arrived and it is not raining, yet. Yesterday’s rain in my free rain gage showed 1.5 inch, prior to that we had .75 inch, that is a total so far of 2.25 inch. They are predicting more rain today, with some good chances about the time I pick the kids up from school.

            I have no big plans for today, I do hope to get the big flower pot into the ole green house, that is with Daves help. They are also predicting some temps down into the upper 30s next week.

            We have a neighbor who has cancer, I did get to talk with him yesterday to see how he is doing, and we are keeping him in our prayers.

            I do believe that people can be healed due to prayers, and even though it is not biblical, this is my way of looking at healings. There can be an immediate healing, (instant miracle) like we read about in the bible, I think these type healings happens infrequently. Then I think there are the healings that occur days or even weeks after the prayer. I like to think that God flips a few switches in the person’s brain, and the body begins to repair itself. God created the body, and a way for the body to repair (heal) itself.

Mark 9:23       “All things are possible to him who believes!”

Consider for a moment, if you believe, also known as having faith, anything is possible! You could say to a rock, turn into bread, and it would. Now the question is, where do you get this much faith, or belief?

Mathew 17:20 “If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move, nothing is impossible to you…”

The ability to do anything may be built into humans, if we just had the faith, if we could believe.

            A person tries to use faith and it does not work; they then say I knew it would not work! They did not have the faith; they did not believe, and that is evident by the word tries.

            Ok I will get off the subject and get back to normal schedule. Tres wants to go for a walk while it is not raining. I have already had my cup of homemade coffee so I guess I will say, “have a good day, be nice to all, and be safe”.

Faith and belief!

Senior ole person who has some and needs more, Don the Ford

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

October 26, 2023

            Well, its here! We got the rain, and it is still raining. I haven’t gone outside to check the free rain gage yet, you don’t want this sweet ole person to melt in the rain, DO YOU?

            Let’s see what happened yesterday: it was about 3:00pm and the Don was getting ready to head over to the school to get the grandkids when he heard a dog barking. Now this sound of a dog barking came from just outside the ole office door, was it a dog barking, he asked himself, how could I know unless he opened the door. But if I open the door will the dog, who is barking, come after me, the Don asked himself. What should I do, I need to leave but I hear a dog barking just outside my door. The Don slowly opened the door and looked toward the driveway; there it was the neighbor's dog coming at me. What should the Don do, I stood still and said, hello girl, did you get out? Then I saw the neighbor coming up the driveway hoping to catch the little dog. Yes, he was able to subdue the little dog and get her back home.

            Adventure over, what else did the Don do yesterday? Well having no plans to do any work, it came to the Don that he might try to remove a few limbs that hang over the roof of the house. He then went to the shed and procured the tree trimming pole and brought it to the house. The Don then attempted to cut a small limb, but to no avail. When I pulled the rope to cut the limb the spring that was supposed to pull the blade back, would not.

            The Don then decided to see if he could make the spring stronger by reducing the size of the spring. Have you ever tried to make a spring stronger, don’t. Springs are made to keep their form, and if you try to change the size or just bend a part of the spring you will find that it is much more difficult than one might think.

            Now the Don has more ability than many ole people, and he was able to make the spring a little tighter, and it does now open the cutting blade of the limb trimmer. I did cut a few small limbs and I have a photo of a couple. I took the photo to show the number of acorns that are still on my trees.

            With all the rain this morning, I don’t think the Tres will take me for a walk. It is Thursday and we hope to go out for supper this evening, the rain may let up by then.

            That’s it for now, have a wet day, and try to be safe and careful when driving.

Spring changer!

Senior person who might go sit on the porch and watch it rain, Don the Ford

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

October 25, 2023

            Another dark but very warm morning here in Hewitt Texas. Yes, we have had some nice rain, and they say there is more coming. Hay, they are predicting possible flooding to the west of us tonight and tomorrow.

            As to yesterday, I did very little other than enjoy the rain. Now my favorite wife worked her butt off all day yesterday. (I am allowed to write butt, aint I?)

So let us compare workloads. I worked about 5 hours re-lighting the angel; I did take a couple breaks in the process. My favorite wife worked about 12 hours, not counting the time it took to purchase the items and to cook the meat. There is mixing the masa which is time consuming in itself, and getting all the items needed like the corn shucks ready.

With all the needed ingredients on the table she began making the tamales one at a time, and this goes on for hours. When the tamales are made, they have to be cooked (steamed) for about 45 minutes. then they have to cool off, and get bagged for the freezer.

Now there is another part to this story, the freezer is full and my hard-working wife plans to attempt to move some of the items around so she can put them in the freezer today, yes, they are in the refrigerator now. Is she done with the tamales? Nope, she will be making more later.

Finally, everything needs to be washed, and the pots, pans, and very heavy mixer needs to be put away. I did help carrying a couple items.

Personally, it would be difficult for me to even consider putting that much effort into any project, unless it could be broken up into 2 hour work periods.

We did get to sit outside for a while yesterday afternoon, while some of the tamales were cooking (steaming) and it was raining. The rain seemed to be one of those slow relaxing rains that one can enjoy. No wind, no lightening, just the nice sound of light rain.

I should note, as we sat on the front porch during the rain, I observed a bird fly to the bird house which was about 4 feet above where we were sitting. I guess we did not seem to be aggressive, and he wanted to get in out of the rain. 

I have nothing planned for the day other than the dog walk which was cut short yesterday morning as it started to rain and we quickly returned home. My favorite wife usually goes grocery shopping on Wednesday, I will offer to go along, but I doubt that she will want me there.

I did pick up a few acorns yesterday, and our neighbor has been collecting them from his yard.

That will be all for today, have a good day, stay safe and pray for Israel.

Acorns are not fun!

Senior ole person who don’t work as hard as his favorite wife, Don the Ford

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