April 20, 2024

            Good rainy morning to one and all. I did not know it was raining until I went out into the garage and Molly the cat came to me to be petted. Now the garage door was up enough for her to go in and out, and when I bent over to pet her, I could feel that her back was wet. The rain appears to be light and needed.

            Plans for today Saturday 20, 2024: well, if all goes well my favorite wife and I will go into Waco for a lunch sandwich, and maybe stop at the cheap store to look around. Alex’s school is taking the Orkestra members to Austin for the day. As I understand it, they will go to a very large mall and then to a place where they play games. Claire will be going as a chaperon. Since she will have their vehicle in Austin, we thought we would call Dave and see if he wants to venture into Waco with us for a sandwich and a visit to the cheap store.

            What did I do yesterday, well not a lot that morning although I did go into Waco and visit the Harbor store. I purchased a small compressor for the shed. Every time we use the riding mower we have to put air into the tires on the mower. I thought I would make it easier for yard man Alex by having the small compressor in the shed. Does it work? Yes, it works. I used it yesterday in preparation of mowing the back 40.   

            All week they have been talking about the rain and storms that are coming, so I decided to get outside and mow the back 40 before the rain arrived. The weather was mostly cloudy, and the air was cool and dry when I started the process. There were very few sticks in the yard to pick up, and not a lot of Poopa-Loopa to recover, I did need to roll up the hose before starting.

            There are three processes in the mowing of the back 40, string trimmer, walk behind mower, riding mower. I needed to decide in what order to proceed. I have learned the string trimming for me should be last, and that is because if I do the trimming first, I have a tendency to trim more than needed, and let’s face it, trimming for this ole person is real work. I decided to do the walk behind first, then the riding mower, then the trimming. While mowing I observed a new flower blooming.

             Something else I noticed was one of the black berries has started changing from green, heading for black. Now it isn’t black yet, but it has started.

            I have three string trimmers, my ole one, the newer trimmer that Alex likes, and the electric trimmer. Well, I started with the ole trimmer and it wasn’t long until it quit, so I went to the one Alex likes, but it does not have a straight shaft on it, and I find it difficult to use.

            Summary: I was tired when I finished, and the yard looked good. I don’t know why I used the curved shaft trimmer; I could have used the battery powered trimmer; it has a straight shaft. I should make better decisions.

            All that work done just in time for me and my favorite wife to sit outside. One friend came over and set with us. After a little while a second friend came over and joined our discussions. Yes, we have more than one friend. 

            Well, I guess that is enough for now, we hope you have a good day, stay dry and stay safe.

Ole yard man The Don

Senior ole person who needs a break from this computer, Don the Ford

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

April 19, 2024

            A happy good morning to you, but not to them, they just don’t really care about you, and that makes me mad. I like you and hope you have a very good day.

            News, the bird that has been sounding off all night, was not sounding off last night or this morning. Whatever he / she had been singing about must have changed.

            Well, allow me to review yesterday in my mind, and yes, I do still have a small mind, at least I think I do. My favorite wife and I went into Waco to visit the Cheap store as planned, and we did not find anything that we were looking for. Sometimes you find what you want, and sometimes you don’t.

            Back at home I reviewed the front yard and since they said it was going to be raining later that day, I decide to mow the front yard. I was able to get done before starting my pickup service.

            I did get the Alex from school, and Dave from work, and yes, I got them home safely. Arriving back at home my favorite wife and I headed for the George restaurant where we had a nice meal, and good service. The couple sitting at the next table were friendly, so that made the date night even better. (one of the servers some time ago said we were on a date night)

            Back at home we sat outside for a while enjoying the late afternoon even though it was hot and humid. 

            Plans for today, well I don’t need to get Dave or the kids today, so my normal schedule has changed. Heck, I have time to do something different. What can an ole person do that is not on their schedule? How would an ole person be able to consider different things to do? Since ole people don’t have any funding (aka money) even if they thought of something to do, they couldn’t afford to do it. Wait a minute: I could go to the Harbor store and act like I was looking for something to buy. Wow, I have something to do!

            Different topic; I have a photo of a butterfly on the berry bush. You have to look closely as the butterfly is on a white bloom a little left of center.

            Yes, there are a lot of green berries on the bush, but I was trying to show you the little butterfly. Yes, we will start reviewing the black berries daily before long.

            Well, I guess I will stop for now, we hope your day is filled with blessings and happiness. Please be safe in all you do, and if you can, be nice to that one person, you know who I am talking about, even if they are not nice to you. You will feel better, and you will be blessed!

Green berries will be black soon.

Senior ole person who needs to get started doing nothing, Don the Ford

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

April 18, 2024

We hope it is a good morning for all, and that the day will be even better than good. I do not have anything interesting to discuss in today's post, so I will just stop entering data and take a long-deserved break.

Before I get to the break, I will again comment on the bird that seemingly sings in the back 40 all night. Late evening I was in the Ford's ole bed room at 8:00pm and the bird was sounding off, loud and clear. At 1:30am the bird was sounding off, and at 6:30 this morning the bird was sounding off. I have started to believe one of the neighbors who live behind us has a recording of a bird sounding off, and plays it all the time.

We are more or less back on a normal schedule today; I will get the kids from school and Dave from work. we will probably not sit outside this evening as they are predicting storms to be in the area about 5:00pm.

Yesterday afternoon we went out to the front porch, we being Tres and I, so I could read from the book about Revelations. I still have a few more chapters to go, and for me it is very interesting. We had been out there for a while when my favorite wife came out to sit with us. I continued reading until I got through that chapter. All three of us just sat there enjoying the quiet afternoon, even though the humidity was very high, that is until a UPS truck decided to come into the neighborhood.

Now Tres doesn't like UPS, USPS, or FEDEX trucks or their drivers. We were sitting there and Tres was laying there, we thought he was sleeping, when he jumped up and started barking. The truck wasn't even in sight when he started barking, he could hear it, and knew it was one of the three. Tres is a loud mouth when he barks, and he don't stop just because we tell him to. We were happy when the truck left the area.

The neighborhood was then quiet again as we continued enjoying the afternoon. Shortly after that a friend dropped by to see how we were doing. We then proceeded from the front porch to the swing on the driveway as there are only two seats on the front porch. We all sat outside discussing things, when I noted, "it seems as if we were talking about aches and pains and problems that everyone seems to have". We agreed that we were, and maybe it has to do with age. It was about 6:00pm when we adjourned the visitation. 

My favorite wife and I plan to go into Waco and visit the cheap store this morning. While we are out, I should drop by the teller machine and get our stipend for the week, and my favorite wife needs to stop by the pharmacy to get a prescription. Heck with all that to do, I may not even get a nap today.  

Well as I said earlier, I have nothing to write about so I will sign off for now and wish everyone a good day, and please stay safe.

Be positive.

Senior ole person who had a decaf coffee this morning, ☹ Don the Ford

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

April 17, 2024

            Good morning from us to you all. We hope today will be a blessing to all, and that we stay safe in all we do, if we do anything.

            I did almost nothing yesterday, the most exciting thing we did was to sit outside yesterday afternoon and enjoy the nice weather. I did get the heart monitor put on yesterday, it is small and it will be on for 7 days. Yep, that is a long time to have this thing on, but I assume it will be helpful.

            I wrote about the rabbits that were in the front yard yesterday, well at least one of them was back this morning. Tres was in the garage and he was barking at something but I could not see anything on the monitors. I let him come in the house and then on the monitor I saw a rabbit come from the neighbor’s yard into our yard. I like the rabbits but Tres does not. He killed one about a week ago so they better be careful around our pot hound. 

            No plans for today, we will just see what happens. The grass is growing quickly, and they are calling for rain tomorrow, I think. The Revelation book is still interesting, I try to read a chapter daily. I have found that the front porch is a good place to go and read, it is quiet, Tres enjoys it, and I can keep an eye on the neighborhood. Normally, in the afternoon, there is no activity in our neighborhood. I think ole people take naps or watch TV.

            Well, I guess that is it for now, we hope your day is pleasant, please stay safe in all you do, and think some positive thoughts, it helps.

Porch reader.

Senior ole person with nothing to do and needs a cup of coffee, Don the Ford

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

April 16, 2024

            Good morning to you all, we hope your day is starting well, and all your plans succeed.  Not a lot going on here at the Ford house. Yesterday the Tree trimming people arrived and cut a few limbs. Then I noticed the noise had stopped in the back 40 so I wondered what was going on. They were looking up into the tree and talking. They came to me and said, if they continue, they will likely damage some things, and they don’t want to do that. They offered me a price for the work they have done, or they can continue with the possibility of damage. They also gave me a price to remove the entire tree. I paid their reduced price. They are gone and I still have some dead limbs in the ole tree.  

            We did not do much of anything yesterday. I did sit out on the front porch and read from the book I have on Revelation. There was no sitting outside with my favorite wife yesterday afternoon, as it was bible study night, I did go to bible study last night and it was good as usual.

            I was able to get the potted plants watered out front yesterday. The bird baths were totally empty of water and our pot hound Tres, has a tendency to drink out of the one next to where I sit and read. 

            This morning Tres and I went to the front door to go out front as we usually do, but I stopped at the door. I could see a rabbit in the front yard and I knew the Tres would go after him. I moved away from the front door and went to the garage door to get outside leaving Tres inside. I wanted to persuade the rabbit to leave the yard. As I walked around to the front yard, I saw that there were two rabbits that needed to leave. They left and Tres and I went out. Tres is part blood hound as he was smelling of everything and I assume he was tracking the rabbits.

            Well, not much planned for us here at the Ford house for the day, we hope you have a good day and stay safe in everything you do.

Rabbit remover.

Senior ole person who would like a real cup of coffee, Don the Ford 

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

 

April 15, 2024

            Good Monday morning to everyone, we hope you have had a good weekend. Before anyone asks, yes, I have the trash can out at the street. What, you weren’t going to ask that. Sorry, I thought I heard someone talking in the back ground about the trash can so I thought you were going to ask.

            Well, yesterday, my do-nothing day, actually had a couple things to do. My favorite wife allowed me to take her to the cracker store for lunch. It was crowded, the food was good, the service was also good. Returning home I attempted to take a nap, but the nap did not materialize, so I proceeded to the back 40 where I decided to remove the debris that we had raked in piles and that Alex mowed around. I thought it would be a lot of work but it only took about 30 minutes to remove the sticks.

            I then decided to mow over those areas which improved the look of the yard. The tree people should be here this morning, it is now 8:00am and they are not here. The back 40 seems to be dry enough for them to work and it they do not come today it is supposed to be raining tonight. 

            My favorite wife allowed me to help with replanting a large flower, we moved it from one pot to another and it was a team effort. We then planted flowers in two other pots. I then watered the flowers in pots in the back 40.

            All that strenuous work completed; we then washed the dog. I did not set up the dog washing station (two benches that we sit on to wash both sides of the pot hound at the same time) in the usual location, and Tres seemed to be suspicious of what we were doing.

            Washing done, I decided to read a little so I went to the front porch where it was comfortable and quiet. After the reading was over it was time to feed the pot hound. We decide to go outside and sit on the Ford’s ole swing to enjoy the quiet time together. As one might see, my do-nothing day had a few events to keep me occupied. 

            Well, I guess I will stop for now, we hope you have a good day and please be safe in all you do.

A little more than nothing day.

Senior ole person who again has no plans for the day, Don the Ford

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

April 14, 2024

            Good Sunday morning to all, we hope everyone has a blessed day.

            What did the Don do yesterday, just a little more than nothing. My favorite wife and I went into Waco for lunch, we may be going there too often as the lady who takes the orders did not ask what we wanted when we arrived. She greeted us, placed our order without asking what we want, took our money. Yep, we do get the same thing all the time.

            On the way back home, we went over to get Alex our yard man to do our mowing. He was willing and able to mow the front and the back yards. The yards look good. Now I did pick up the Poopa-Loopa wile Alex got the mowers ready.

On the trip back to Alex’s home we did stop at the star coffee place to get him a big drink, and before anyone asks, yes, I did compensate Alex with some cash for the work.

            I did put some time in on the front porch reading from the book on revelations. Even though I was sitting on a chair directly under the bird house, the birds continued flying in and out. I guess they think ole people are too slow to hurt a bird.

            My wife made a pot of vegetable soup and corn bread for the neighbors down the street. This neighbor lady had her foot and part of her leg removed a few weeks ago and is now home recovering. We enjoyed visiting with her and her husband. She is doing good considering all that has happened.

            Back at the fords homestead my present wife and I sat outside enjoying the noise of the birds. It seems like every bird was chattering yesterday afternoon.

            Today: absolutely no plans for the day other than some reading. We hope everyone has a good day and as always please stay safe in all you do.

Short posts are good!

Senior ole person who could use a cup, Don the Ford

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

April 13, 2024

            Good morning to you, but not the rest of the reading group, you are my favorite and the rest are just likeable. It is Saturday again and we hope you have a good day.

            With nothing much to do yesterday I ventured forth to the back 40 and reviewed the area for the possibility of having my lawn man Alex over for some mowing and trimming. About ¾ of the back 40 is mow-able, the other ¼ is not. There is a lot of small limb debris that is left from the tree trimmers a few days ago. Speaking of the trimmers, they are supposed to come on Monday and finish the trimming, if the ground is dry enough.

            I have thought that we might be able to rake the debris into a line and then have Alex mow around them. The trimmers are supposed to remove the debris when they complete their work.

            While I was in the back 40, I reviewed the black berries and we have green berries in the vines, yep, photo to follow.

            Later as I was nosing around in the garage, I happen to observe the cat, Molly. I think she was relaxing, and I am sure she was not aware of my presence.

            Later in the day we did sit outside for a couple hours enjoying the nice sunny weather. A friend came over which always helps keep the conversation lively. We do allow our pot hound Tres to join us as we sit outside, I guess he could also be thought of as a bodyguard, photo to follow.

                                                 
            I think Tres was taking a nap when I took this photo.

            Well, I have no real plans for this Saturday, we will just play along and see what happens. We hope your day is full of interesting things and that everyone stays safe.

Warm sunny day.

Senior ole person who likes the warm day but not the hot day, Don the Ford

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