Positive comments 04.29.16

            Last evening, I, along with a few other bikers, assembled at a prearranged location for clandestine various reasons. I was wearing an old long sleeved shirt, in an effort to keep the sun off my arms while riding. I explained to others that the red spots on my shirt were not red paint, instead these spots were blood, and not my blood! I don’t think anyone believed me.

            After some planning, our group gathered and began the ride. We rode for over 2 minutes prior to reaching the planned destination. Arriving at the location we dismounted the bikes and as a group we entered this establishment.

            Each of the bikers acquired their own items, and we reassembled in an area where we could conversate (conversate means to discuss, communicate in a non-public manner).

            During this period of private discussions, one of the bikers said to me, “The photos you have posted of your yard, appear to be that of a retired person”! For that one person who does not understand that comment, it means, the yard looks good and it appears to be taken care of by someone with plenty of time.

            It was a nice comment, which made me feel happy! I guess The Grounds Keeper, here at the Ford Homestead, does a good job!

            There were 3 riders, other than the Honda guys, not a very good turnout, on the ride last evening. Our ride was less than one mile, as the ride master was not feeling well. I had a turkey sandwich, coleslaw and tea. The conversation was lively. Following our evening repast, the group broke, up and I rode home.

            A non-exciting evening, for a retired person, with Biker friends!

Be safe, be nice, and enjoy friends!

Don Ford

Table top 04.26.16

Above we see the beginnings of what should be, at some time in the future, a table top. Below we see a few boards glued together with clamps attached.

The following photo shows the frame that the table top is to be placed on.

Next we see the boards 24 hours later, they are secured together with glue.

To get the correct pattern for the top, we have placed the table upside down on the bottom of the boards. We outline the circler top.

Clamped to the workmate I needed to cut the boards into a circle.

Circle cut, we see the saw used in this venture.

The top is now cut, and the edge has been routed and sanded. 

Below, the new top is painted and attached to the table.

The maintenance supervisor here at The Ford Homestead has said it will need a couple more coats on the top and the frame should also be painted.

The handy man’s work is never done!

Don Ford

Maintenance 04.25.16

            Here at The Ford Homestead we had a fairly work intensive weekend. It started Friday, when we had Alex for the first half of the day as he has somehow gotten a Ring Worm (on his nose near his eye) and at the same time he had Strep throat. His father Dave, picked him up about noon o’clock.

Our grounds keeper decided to purchase more blocks and attempt to finish this one side of the flower bed, shortly after lunch. The ground was damp and easy to work in, due to the rains earlier in the week. 

            The following photo will show the work our grounds keeper did on Friday afternoon.

  

Please do not look at the grass as our grounds keeper has plans to mow this weekend. The professionally composed photo below is of the same work, but a different view. You should have noticed, if you are observant, that there are no large blocks in front of the bench. That was intentionally done, not due to the fact that we could not afford the four blocks (even though we couldn’t), instead, it was done to help the seniors who might need to access, said bench. In other words, so they don’t have to step over a big block to get to the bench!  Why do I have to explain everything?

  

 

Saturday, what a Saturday!

            It started out as usual, but soon evolved into a labor intensive work project for The Ford Homestead’s Handy Man. It seems that the commode in the master bath, had a slight leak. This leak would require removal of the entire commode, which would allow a new wax ring to be installed.

            Our Handy Man, having worked as a plumber in his earlier life, knew how to do this work. It was decided after a lengthy debate, that we would replace the internal parts in this remodeling process.

Having worked at a Hardware Company, our Handy Man had some of the necessary parts, although others would need to be purchased from a hardware store ($22.00). The process started about 1:00 and was completed many hours later. The Handy Man was observed carrying the dismantled Commode, in and out of the back door, twice. Our Handy Man was very tired and was not sure he had stopped the leak. There was water on the floor that was wiped up and then our Cleaning Supervisor, she is a very demanding person, saw to it that the floor was scrubbed and mopped. Paper towels were lain on the floor Saturday evening, by the Handy Man. If the towels stay dry we have stopped the leak.

Sunday morning the towels were dry! But later, after the john was used a small leak occurred, The Handy Man will be on his knees Monday.

Sunday afternoon our Grounds Keeper mowed, or should I say, “Manicured the grounds” at The Ford Homestead. In the photo below one can see the manicured grass, the new flower bed border and my first wife sitting in a chair, biting fingernail polish off her nails.

 

           Click on photo to enlarge.

We want to give a special thanks to our Grounds Keeper, Handy Man and Cleaning Supervisor for their valiant efforts this weekend;

THANK YOU! 

May all your staff,
provide as good service, 
as those at The Ford Homestead! 

Don Ford

It stopped for a while 04.22.16

            It stopped yesterday before noon and we are now expected to have some days without it! One hates to even comment on this, as we will likely be begging for it in the near future. Why, are humans like that? It seems that we are never satisfied, for very long.

            As many of you may know, I am one of the few humans, that does not vacillate between being satisfied for a while and then not! I just refuse to be happy about something one week and the next week be complaining about the exact thing.

            Staying focused on one subject, and being true to that one subject regardless of how it might change, is at the core of my being! To be honest, I can teach you how to not waver in your thought process, if you would desire it.

            The rain, here at The Ford Homestead totaled 5.3 inches, according to the official rain gage, over the last 5 days.

            Today is supposed to be a very nice day with lots of sun shine and temps in the high 70s. I have even gave some thought to working on the flower bed border. It would cost about $35.00 (including tax, title, and license) and I am not sure whether my present spouse, would be willing to work longer hours picking up the aluminum cans, to pay for the blocks.

                Anyway, I hope the weather is good today where you live.

                What? You have a question? OK, what is it? Oh, ok, yes I will explain, thanks for reminding me!    Let’s see if I understand your question, how do I stay satisfied all the time, especially when things change to a complete opposite?

            OK, first you need to understand that I did not say, I was satisfied all the time! What I said was, “I do not vacillate between being satisfied for a while, and then not”. To explain, I am never satisfied, so I do not change my opinions. See, it is easy to not change, never being satisfied is known as being a pessimist, or if you must be satisfied all the time you are an optimists. You can decide.

May your day be one, or the other!

Don Ford

A tale from The Don 04.20.16

                Would you believe that when I was a boy scout, a couple years ago (1950s) that these mean people treated me, the new boy in the group, this way?

Some stories are easy to believe like the previous story about Noah, while others are not, even though the information may be true.

As I remember this event, I was the new boy in the Boy Scout troop. There was a campout for our group and we were all excited. The location of the camping trip was some farm a little ways out of town. The troop leader and a couple other adults took about 20 boys camping. We were in a field not too far from the farm house. Downhill from the camp site was a tank, for the northern reader, a pond.

We set up all the tents and put our sleeping bags inside the tents. We built a fire so we could all sit around it and tell ghost stories after dark. The leader put a large pot of chili on the gas camp stove.

A little before dark we all had chili for supper. Then we lit the fire and everyone gathered around for stories. I know there were several stories told but the one I remember was about a creature named, “Red Eye”. This creature had one big red eye in the center of his head. I may have been a kid but stories about Red Eye did not scare me.

At some point after the story telling was over, all the boys, including me, went down to the pond / tank. Since I was the new boy I was to be initiated into the group. We climbed over the fence to get to the pond. One of the boys had a rope and I was tied up and left there.

The group of boys all left me alone and tied up on the levy of the pond /tank. I was able to easily remove the ropes. I decided to stay there and see what they had planned for me.

It was a few minutes later when two of the boys, one was riding on the shoulders of the other, came walking toward me. The boy on the shoulders of the other had a flash light with a red lens, pretending to be “Red Eye”. They did not know that I had untied myself, and they hoped I would be scared to death.

They were getting close to me when they stepped into a hole and fell down. I was laughing at them and not scared. They were upset that I did not stay tied and that I was laughing at them.

We all made it back to the tents and had a good night’s sleep.

The next day we had breakfast and then went on a hike. We were walking through the woods and I needed to take a leak. When I had finished my nature break, I found that the group was out of sight. Now I needed to catch up but which way had they gone? After about 20 minutes of not seeing another human I had tears running down my face.

I had noticed that there were several buzzards circling overhead which means they were looking for something dead to have for lunch.

Lonely and crying I walked past several cows. I climbed over several fences but still no other scouts. I even tried hollering for help and that did not work either. Alone, left behind by the scout troop, no one caring whether I was alive or not, I reached for my handkerchief.

As I tried to unfold this clean white hankie, I shook it a few times to get it open so I could wipe the tears from my eyes. Taking time to stop and wipe my eyes, was putting me further and further behind the group.

As I stood there with my handkerchief in hand, suddenly the Buzzards began to land all around me. I can only assume, they had seen the white handkerchief I was using to wipe the tears from my eyes, and they may have thought it was a sign of surrender on my part. 

One buzzard said to the other, how long before he is dead? The second buzzard said, who knows, I am not waiting, let’s kill him and eat.

Before you ask, no, the buzzards did not eat me! If they had ate me, I could not write this wonderful exaggeration. Some of your questions are just silly!

Believe it or not, it’s your choice!

Don Ford

Was it that bad 04.18.16

            As I sit here, acting as if I am enjoying my oatmeal with raisins, and a cup of instant coffee, can’t afford the good stuff being retired and on a fixed income. I began to wonder why?

            Yes it has rained a lot over the last two days, but not too bad here at The Ford Homestead. We received just a little over 2.5 inches of rain while others just a few miles away received 6 inches.

            I am attempting to keep everything in this posting truthful, honest, no fibs! Yes in the past there may have been a posting or two that had some non-factual information in them. This posting is totally factual.

            Next door to the Ford Homestead there is a young man whose name is, “Noah”. Ya, his name is “Noah”, no kidding!

            Adding to that, there is a boat in their yard!

            I have observed various animals and numerous birds in and around their yard!

            It started raining yesterday, and is expected to rain almost every day this week!

            All that being true, I am now wondering, should I be worried?

Look around, there are interesting things happening!

Don Ford

Part way there 04.15.16

            I am now part way there. The rumor that I was seen on my knees, in front of The Ford Homestead, crawling on the ground, wishing someone would help me, is true! To anyone who may have driven down our street yesterday, and just laughed at this poor old person, on his knees needing help, I forgive you.

            Even though I receive no help from anyone, I was able to do the assigned work, and later I was able to crawl on my knees to the old rocker where I sat, trying to get enough strength to put the tools away.

            The following photo was taken at the beginning of this forced labor, showing the blocks that needed to be removed, prior to installing the newly purchased blocks.

 

The yellow string was used to insure the new blocks would be in a straight line. Before you comment, yes the string was later tied tightly to stakes.

            Next we see the recently installed blocks. I did not weigh these blocks, would you believe they weigh over 60 pounds each? Maybe they just felt as if they weighed that much to a senior citizen, on his knees, crawling around in the dirt, not wanting to be punished for less than perfect work.

 

            Later in the day, I was again forced back on my knees to install more of these hugely heavy blocks. The following photo shows the additional work.

 

            This project is not yet complete, I will need to install about the same number of blocks to complete this project. If you would like to volunteer to work on this project, send your resume to my website, and my assistant will contact those qualified applicants.

            If you would like to purchase some, are all of the used blocks, go to my web site click on the button “Used Bricks” and make a bid.

            If anyone cares, my elderly body is not hurting too bad today.

            Gabi got As and Bs on her report card (3^rd grade), Alex got all Ss on his (kindergarten).

In the olden days I got mostly Ds on my report cards. My parents thought D stood for Don, but it really meant Dumb. 

May the time on your knees be in prayer, not in work!

If you are on your knees working, pray for help!

Don Ford

Should it be legal 04.14.16

            I have commented on this subject in the past, but no actions have yet been taken by your elected government servants, even though they do read my postings and email.

            My subject today is cross walks for pedestrians, and those safety challenged pedestrians who use, said cross walks. Also in this topic we have those who are equal to, the north end of a south bound horse. These are the pedestrians that do not use and do not know what a cross walk is for, along with those who ass/u/me, that the drivers sees them!

            Yesterday, as I dropped my grandkids off at school, I was again face with pedestrians who haven’t a clue, and or, don’t care.

First there is the woman (I assume a mother) with two kids who walked into moving traffic and not even close to the cross walk. This female pedestrian, likely assumed that the drivers saw her, and would not run over her. She was also setting a very good example for her children, who probably have never been told, “use the cross walk and look both ways before crossing a street”.

Next was the elderly woman who came from the school and walked in front of my stopped vehicle (she was in the cross walk) and she never once looked at me or my vehicle to see if I saw her. The danger here was the pickup truck that was attempting to drive past me and had to stop suddenly for this senior female pedestrian!  Again this female pedestrian likely assumed that drivers knew she was crossing.

Possibly we could have a vote to see if it should be legal, to run over these safety challenged pedestrians who, do not look, and do not care.

Always look both ways, even in a cross walk!

“The Don”!