What do you mean 02.01.16

            It is the first day of February and you are asking what I did this week end? I guess I could say I stayed inside out of the cold weather but that would not be the truth.

            It was mid 70s Saturday, and according to the tempt gage in the Ford’s Chevy, it was 82 Sunday. So what did I do, well let’s see. I can’t believe you are that nosy, to ask what I did!

Friday; I trimmed all the bushes behind the Ford Homestead, completing that task, and no I was not told to get out there and trim those bushes. After that, I decided to till the garden. Garden tilled, I then took a nap.

Saturday; after lunch with my first wife at a local deli in the city of Waco, I returned home and took a nap. Waking from the nap, I went to the shed and got the tiller out and preformed necessary maintenance. The tiller is 20 to 25 years old so it needs to be treated to fresh oil and other lubrication at least annually. After the lubrication I started the tiller and ran it a few minutes. I then proceeded to the rocking chair near the garage door and a cold drink.

Sunday; after brunch with my present wife, I returned home and called my number two son. That kind of sounds like Charlie Chaplin on old time TV.  I changed clothes and hooked the trailer to the Ford’s Chevy and went to Dave’s house. We discussed our plans for the day and then headed for Lowes. I was almost at Home Depot, which is where I usually go, when Dave said we need to go to Lowes. After changing course, we arrived at Lowes. Dave purchased 3 sheets of ply wood, which will be used in the construction of a new shed behind his house.

Still Sunday; back at Dave’s, plywood unloaded, we went to the back yard to start construction of the shed. The location was determined and some shrubs / small trees were removed. We staked off the area for the new shed. We used a string level attempting to determine what type of ground work would be needed. We read the instructions and then re-read the instructions. We determined that we would take a different approach that had first been considered. Even though the shed comes with a frame for the floor we have decided not to use it, we will build a frame from 2 X 4s.

That is how my weekend went, how did your weekend go? 

            Sorry for being so abrupt, I just get a little upset when questioned by that person.

I hope your week is special!

If not, then you should do something to make it special.

Don Ford

Repairman 01.29.16

            Mindful of my critics, I want to make this story short as possible, but informative.

            Being a person on a fixed income, I must try to save a penny when I can. A couple years ago I purchased a Coleman battery powered lantern. It was still in a box but it had defective written on the box. I took a chance and purchased the unit for the sum of $2.00, hoping to be able to repair it for little or nothing.

As you should know, I am very mechanically inclined which, “qualifies me to do anything with nothing”! 

            On a close examination of the lantern, I determined the problem to be the recharging plug. The unit had two methods to recharge, one using a wall charger, and the other using the cigarette lighter in a vehicle.

Now that I have written that, it occurs to me that vehicles no longer have ash trays or cigarette lighters. I would assume these holes in the dash and other places in the newer vehicles, may now be referred to as power outlets. 

            I digress, I quickly determined the only problem was the plug from the wall charger. Being almost a genius, I quickly solved the problem, repaired the plug and charged the lantern.

That was two years ago. I tried to charge the unit last week, and the battery would no longer accept a charge.

            The above info has provided you with background, so I can now tell my short story.

I tried to charge the lantern but the battery would not accept the charge. I had to order a new battery. It is now installed and the lantern works as expected.

                                                The end

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *            

            New thought: as I walked to the recycle bin I heard a sound that at first, sounded as if it were coming from the recycle bin. I approached in a very cautious mode, not wanting to be attacked by a bear or other carnivorous creature. Arriving at the recycle bin, I determined the sound was not coming from the bin, so I place the corrugated item into the bin. 

            At this point, I began to survey the area for the knocking sound. The mystery was solved. The sound was birds in the old metal bird house. The bird house is on a ten foot piece of pipe that is secured to a fence post. I placed this bird house there, probably 20 or so years ago. The post and house leans just a little to the neighbor’s side of the fence. That means the neighbor gets all the fertilizer from the birds.

            The temp is supposed to be in the mid-70s this weekend, so these, “early birds” (do you like the play on words) may start laying eggs.

Would you believe these birds are cleaning the house in preparation for building new nests? I guess the warm weather has them getting an early start on home making. It sounded as if the birds were pecking on the floor and walls of the metal bird house.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Different subject: I occasionally consider seeking employment in an effort to keep me busy through the day. Needing something to do other than chores that my wife of 46 years forces, I mean allows me to do, I have considered getting back into the hobby of ham radio. It would be easier and more fun than working.

I checked the web site of the Club I use to be a member of (HOTARC, Heart O Texas Amateur Radio Club), and it happen that they were having a meeting last night. I decided to attend the meeting to determine whether I want to join, and if so become an active Ham again.

I was a member of this club when I first became a ham, a quarter century ago (that is back in 1991, didn’t what you to have to do the math). Not all members were in attendance, but of those who were, there was 5 people that I recognized who were still members from 25 years ago.

I was going through some old files and I found a printed list of radio and related equipment I had purchased over a two year period. The list may not have been all inclusive, but it totaled almost $5,000.00. That was a lot of money, a quarter century ago.  

All of my equipment is old, and being on a fixed income I may not be able to afford to be an active ham again. Donations will be accepted, please identify them for, “the revitalizing of the ham radio station”.

All donations over $100.00 will be strongly appreciated!

Donations under $100.00 will be accepted.

Have a generous day, donate to a needy ham!

Don Ford

The Look 01.28.16

                “Hideous”, not a word that I would often, if ever use, but it was used to describe me if…

                This story originates, as many of my tales do, while driving to school. Grandpa (me) likes to be silly during the trip and this particular morning I had commented to The Gabi, “I think I should have a pony tail.”

                Gabi slowly turned her head in my direction and proceeded to, “Give me the look”. This look, was a look of disbelief, and total disgust. I knew I was about to be on the receiving end of a comment that would put me in my place!

                I wasn’t aware that all females of the species, regardless of age, were able to deliver the look. I have wrongly thought it was something that was achieved only after being married to a male of the species.

                Remember, I had said, “I think I should have a pony tail.” Gabi gave me the look and then explained that I did not need a pony tail and the reason why, using only one word, “Hideous”.

                I had been verbally beaten, like a red haired step child, using only one word. Truthfully, I think most old men who have a gray pony tail do look odd. I can only assume these old males of the species can’t get the hippy from the 60s out of their system.

                Being a silly grandpa, I am usually ready for these verbal assaults. My comeback was, “how do you spell hideous?” Heck, I wasn’t sure how to spell it myself. From the back seat of the pickup Alex noted that the word ended in “S”. Not being surprised that my grandson who is in kindergarten knew that it ended in “S”, I said you are right. That is when Gabi spelled the word. I acknowledged that she was correct.

                I am glad that both of my grandkids can spell better than me. If I didn’t have spell check, I couldn’t compose these wonderful journalistic masterpieces. NO, those last three words are not open for debate!

                Being a naturalized Texan, who was originally from Missouri, I still keep track of some things that happen in Cape Girardeau, MO, by reading and online version of the Southeast Missourian Newspaper. I realize I have commented on this in the past but, I worked at this News Paper in the 60s.

                While scanning through the posting I saw a photo of a person who looked familiar to me. Upon closer inspection, I found that this person was one of my nephews. The photos were taken in what is now the Central Junior High School, which was the High School when I went there in the 60s.

                I will post two of the photos of my nephew, Terry Kitchen, who was a student and later a coach at Central High. Terry has retired from teaching but continues to work for the school system. 

I guess it is time for a cup of coffee so I will stop now. I know, you’re happy that I have stopped, big deal!

I am back, yes the coffee was good!

My wife pulled a couple shirts out of the closet that use to belong to our son Dave. He was a big kids so the shirt fits me, it is a little tight but I got it on.  I thought you should see this colorful shirt with cartoon characters, and how I make it look good!

Do you think the grandkids will think grandpa is silly, or just cool, with this shirt on? No it is not a PJ top, why do you always try to disrupt my wonderful musings! Yes, I do know what the word musings means, do you!

                Sorry for that outburst, I occasionally need to put that person in their place. Ok, all is well here at The Ford Homestead, I think I will take a nap.

May your day be enjoyable, colorful and safe!

Don Ford

It don't get any better 01.26.16

This photo must be worth a thousand words!

What more can I say!

The Donald

Dirty White 01.25.16

                Let us get started off on the right foot. The exciting title, “Dirty White”, could stir up certain thoughts and even be seen as referring to, a bad white person, but that is not even close to the subject matter in this more than delightful journalistic endeavor.  

                Before we get into the meat of this story, I want to note that I found the first 10 minutes of my morning exercise somewhat difficult. It was hard getting started this morning, but after completing the 30 minutes and a second cup of coffee, I feel wonderful!

                Now that I have thought about the title line if this more than interesting tail, I mean tale, the title could have been White and Dirty. It’s too late now so let’s go with Dirty White. 

                Last Friday the weather, “prognosticators”, that is a politically correct term inclusive of both male and female weather guessers, were predicting heavy snow falls and blizzard for the north east. Heck, I didn’t know they had Dairy Queens in the northeast, but if they were going to have a Blizzard, I guess they do.

                Anyway, the snow did occur in copious amounts. The so called news programs on TV were delighted, they had something to talk about other than politics. That being said, would you believe that one TV announcer said, “The heavy snow was nature’s way of telling liberals in the northeast that they should not vote for a democrat?”

                One of the so called TV news programs noted this morning, that the Washington DC government was shut down today due to the snow. Why do some people get upset when the so called government is shut down for a day or two due to the so called congress not passing a bill to fund them but they don’t complain when the snow shuts them down?

                Having all the snow scenes on TV caused me to begin thinking about snow. Have you noticed how quite it is when the snow first starts falling? You can’t hear the snow, and the snow seems to block out all the other noises. It is peacefully quiet, and all seems to be right with the world.

When the snow starts to cover the roads and everything is becoming white, if you look around color seems to go away, and all one sees is white, black or shades of gray. It is about this time that adults start complaining, and the once pleasant surprise of a gentle snow is now becoming an obstacle that they must overcome. Many adults consider a snow fall during the week as a problem but ok, due to the possibility of not having to go to work. The same snow fall on a weekend is just plain unacceptable.

The pretty clean white snow becomes and ugly dirty mess when the snow movers and removal people get involved. That is where the title of this journalistic delight comes from. As I began to consider the ugly gray dirt, on what was once clean white snow, it dawned on me that the Ford’s Chevy was once a clean white, but is now covered with ugly gray dirt. Since today is going to be a warn and sunny day, with temps of 68 degrees, I decided to wash the Colorado.

                I might get a blizzard after I wash the Colorado!

May your day be warm and bright!   

       Don Ford

Fire 01/22/16

First I want to say Thank You to those of you who have given feedback as to whether I send one spam-mail for several posting, or a spam-mail for each posting. I will decide which way to continue, when the opinions cease being presented.

Was there a fire in the back yard at The Ford Homestead, yes!

Did I call the Fire Department, no!

At one time, in a past life, I was a member of, “The Hewitt Volunteer Fire Department”. Having all that past experience, I did not feel the need to have a paid, fire department, come to The Ford Homestead! 

It was a cold day, that 21^st of January, although the sun had been shining during part of the day, when I decided to venture to the shed and get my chain saws, (more than one) which I will loan to both sons. Each of the sons have small trees that need to be removed and or trimmed. I just had a thought, I should have also acquired my ax, as I am sure it may be needed to remove some stumps from below the ground.

Patrick and Karla will be here this weekend, as we will be celebrating his upcoming birthday. Pete (nick name I have given to Patrick) will be able to get a chain saw at that time. David is going to be building a shed at his house and must remove a small tree prior to the construction project.

Having completed the procurement of the saws, I then decided to attempt to destroy some incriminating, I mean personal information type documentation.

Before that one person asks, yes I have a shredder, but I had years of old documentation which would take hours, if not days, of shredding one page at a time. I decided to attempt to build a fire and then burn all the paper.

I have the fire pit and I decided to use it as a paper burner. I put some charcoal in the pit and started a small fire. I took a small bag of papers out to see if I could effectively burn the paper without too much ash or smoke. After determining which way the wind was blowing, I placed a chair on the opposite side of the pit. Taking a seat I began feeding small amounts of paper into the fire.

The fire pit worked better than expected, so I returned to the house for another stack of paper. It wasn’t very long until the old adage, “smoke follows beauty”, proved itself correct again. The smoke was blowing in my face. It only took a few minutes of that darn smoke to cause me to move to the other side of the pit. The smoke must have thought I was very beautiful because, I had to move three times.

Finally, I moved away from the pit and the smoke could not find this beauty. 

It took better than an hour of burning to get rid of all the old paper. I hate to say it but, one bag of the documents had been sitting in the garage for about a year.

Let’s hope, smoke follows you, too!

Don Ford

Distracted again? 01.20.16

            On the 19^th day of January, 2016, I, Donald R. Ford was returning home from the local trim shop, also known as a hair stylist, in the olden days it was the barber shop.

Before we get to any comments about the main topic of this soon to be, well written and almost perfect blog posting, I feel the need to share a brief comment.

            At the trim shop this morning, a female person with scissors and hair clippers ask me how I want my hair cut. I explained that when she finished I wanted to look smarter, younger and richer! This person replied, “I can’t do that”, I can make you look better! I then said, I would settle for better if that is all she could do.

            Now back to the subject of this, “exceptional journalistic endeavor”.

            After leaving the trim shop, I ventured to the Star Bucks for a cup of coffee. The coffee was free, due to a Christmas gift card for Star Bucks. I was pleasantly surprised that there was only one car in front of me in the drive through.

            Tall coffee in hand, I began my return trip home. I drove past the Do it Best building and again noticed the very small state and federal flags that are flown at the building. Yes, I know they say size doesn’t matter (like heck it don’t) but putting a 3 foot flag at the top of a 30 foot pole just doesn’t say I am proud of my state or my country. It does say, “I am cheap”!

            Passing the DIB building I was stopped at the traffic light for a short time. I took a sip of my hot coffee and the light changed. I, not being in a hurry, moved away from the light, somewhat slower than the traffic to the left side of me, that is when I first noticed a vehicle that was being driven illegally, “displaying a handicapped placard by hanging it from the mirror of a vehicle, that is being driven”.

I also caught a quick glance in my mirror of the driver, a female subject who appeared to be using a cell phone while driving.

            In the olden days, a female subject driving with a short skirt, provided a major distraction for most male drivers. Not true anymore!

What? I knew it, you feel it would not be fun reading this if you couldn’t interrupt me! Ok I will explain for this one person! It is not true due to three reasons. First, fewer ladies where skirts, and fewer yet have short skirts. Second, vehicles are designed smaller which restricts the viewing area. Third, those darn tented windows.

Distraction over, let’s get back to my story.

There was something else that caught my attention about the female driver that just passed me. I wasn’t sure, but the quick glance caused me to believe that she might be an older female, who was using the cell phone.

I accelerated a little and eventually caught up to the vehicle. I could see this little, old, gray haired lady, with one hand on the steering wheel and one on the cell phone.

To help you understand what I saw, when I say little, this little old lady driving her black Toyota, was not big enough to see over the steering wheel, she appeared to be looking through the steering wheel. I would estimate her to be at least 80 years old, which might indicate her reflexes could be slowed. She had one hand on the steering wheel and one on the cell phone and her mouth was moving, indicating that she was either talking, or chewing tobacco.  

You talk about distracted driving, I was being distracted by this senior female, illegally displaying her handicapped placard, using a cell phone, mouth moving, looking through the steering wheel of her vehicle!

May your driving be focused on the road, not other drivers!

Don Ford

Sidewalk 01.19.16

            Walk, is something that people and animals alike do, it is a way to get from one location to another. As we all know, most people walk less than we should, and drive or ride most of the time.

            I have occasionally wondered if I could pick a subject at random, and then write something about that subject. The subject I picked is, “sidewalk”, and I will write something about it. 

            Sidewalk is a term used for cemented areas that people walk on. If you live in a poor neighborhood like those of us who are retired and on a fixed income, you might be lucky enough to have a walk from the street to your front porch, but there is no walkway along the street.

            I remember in the olden days when I was a children, (I like saying I was a children more than saying I was a child) there were sidewalks along most paved streets. Also in those days, if you lived on a gravel street, you were poor and there were no sidewalks. At some point in time it was decided that the builders could save money by not installing sidewalks, regardless of what your income was.       

As a kid we could usually ride our bikes, roller skate and just run and play on the sidewalks and not be in the street. If we were going to a friend’s house a couple blocks away, we did not need to walk in the street, as people in our neighborhood do now. 

As I think about this subject, there were not a lot of grown people walking on the sidewalks, even in the olden days. There was a city bus system in Cape Girardeau, MO. I am not sure but I think it cost a nickel to ride the bus. 

            It may have been pointed out to you, “Most likely incorrectly”, that the sidewalk has leaves on it and it needs to be swept. A walkway from the street to the house is just that, a walkway, and not a sidewalk.         The term, “Sidewalk”, indicates that you would be walking beside something, like a street, that is why, “side” is in front of, “walk”. 

            In our neighborhood the kids play on the street. There are teenage boys that throw the football around and younger kids that ride their bikes and scooters on the street. People who are out for exercise, whether it is for them, or their dogs, they walk in the street.

            An interesting factoid, the city owns about 10 feet of everyone’s front yard here in Hewitt, but is someone was walking up and down the street and if they were in that 10 foot area the home owners would be upset, especially if they had a dog. The area is owned by the city but taken care of by the home owner.

            A couple times I found myself saying something like, “playing in the street”, but to be correct shouldn’t we say, “Playing on the street”.  If one was in the street, wouldn’t that mean they were a part of the street itself? 

If, being on the street, is considered to be like being in a room, then we would in fact say, “In the street”. Please feel free to provide instructions to me as to which is correct!

Would you believe, that had I have won the 1.6 billion from the Powerball, I would have paid to have sidewalks throughout Hewitt? I would not believe it, I just wondered if you would.

In or On, Walkway or Sidewalk, enjoy the day!

Don Ford