Short and Sweet 09.30.16

            No, not me, I am tall and sweet!

            This is the last day of September, where did the first 9 months go? Now that I am looking back it seems as if time has flown this year, but there was days this summer that were so hot and dry that they seemed as if they would never end. Memories usually seem nicer and faster than they actually were.

            Well that has nothing to do with the subject of this short and sweet story, or does it. Possibly my memory of last evenings ride is better than the actual ride, not!

            We met at 6:00pm and decided to ride directly to Clifton Texas, to have our evening repast at the Bunkhouse. The ride was about 40 minutes long and the temperature was a perfect 77 degrees. Not hot and not cold, just right for riding.

            The food and lively discussions at the Bunkhouse were very enjoyable.

            After eating we decided to take a less direct route back home. Casual riding as the sun was setting through numerous curves and hills made the ride relaxing. The temperature dropped to 63 on the country roads causing me to think I should have had a heavier jacket on.

            I was back home by 8:30 all relaxed and happy.

            It was a, “Short and Sweet ride”.

May you have a sweet, relaxing day!

Don Ford

Foxy 09.29.16

            You are correct, this time! “Foxy”, does not describe me! You are correct again, the proper animalistic definition of me would be, “Hound Dog!” Although hound dogs are often thought of as being lazy laid back and calm, they are great hunters, which means they are good providers for family. It is not often that you are correct, but today you have been!

            The provocative title of my story has nothing to do with a good looking young lady, who dresses in a very small yellow bikini while working in her yard. Now that I think of it, to the best of my knowledge there are no young ladies that even live on our street, let alone that might wear a bikini, darn it!

            The title has to do with my early morning brisk walk, during the pre-dawn hours (pre-dawn means before the sun rise). I was heading north on the avenue when a creature that was hiding in plain sight, moved.

            By hiding in plain sight I mean, it was dark enough that had this creature not moved, I may not have seen it at all. Now that I think of it I could have been attacked during my innocent morning exercise program.

            This creature was actually in the street against the curb and I got within about 50 feet of it before it moved. Startled I stopped and observed as best I could. It was a hairy creature, choosing to run down the avenue and again stop hunkering down at the curb.

            I, being a brave individual, began to move forward toward the creature, determined to see what it was. Remember, it is pre-dawn, AKA dark.

            There, it moved down the street again and I could see what appeared to be a fox. Yes, even in this less than adequate lighting event, I could see it was that orange red color of a hairy fox. The big bushy tail was a dead giveaway. What would a fox be doing in our neighborhood? Now that I think of it I have seen a deer, and wild turkeys on this street in the past, so a fox would not be to unusual.

            As I continued toward the creature it decided to leave the Avenue and go through a neighbor’s yard. In the dim light I could see the profile of the creature and it was in fact a fuzzy orange cat. Disappointed that it wasn’t a fox I continued walking.

Foxy or hound dog, if you can’t have fun, don’t do it!

Don Ford

Bucket in a Bucket 09.27.16

            Over the years I have attempted to impart my knowledge to those who may be knowledge-less! Some have listened and learned while others have, let us say, “Not listened and are still lacking in knowledge”. Did you see how I use a politically correct phrase, in an effort to not upset the reading public?

            Yesterday, our grounds Manager was allowed to get on his hands and knees to pull weeds at the Ford Homestead. He originally baulked at the work request stating that he did not want to pull those wonderful wildflowers, photo to follow.

            You may want to click on the photo in an effort to see the bloom of the so called wild flower. After a short debate, I did agree with the grounds manager that the plants were wild and they did have very small blooms, AKA flowers. I end the debate saying pull the wild flowers AKA weeds, now!

            I did keep a close eye on his endeavors as I thought he might stop pulling the weeds. I noticed that our grounds manager, although he may be lazy, does manage his time and energy. The title of this wonderful article, “Bucket in a Bucket”, came from a process I observed our grounds manager using. He placed a bucket inside a bucket then he got down on his knees and began to pull the wild flowers weeds. Seeing this, I decided to investigate. I asked, why a bucket inside a bucket, to which he replied, “Time and energy management”.

            What do you mean time and energy management? He began to explain in his slow and rhythmic voice. It is easier to carry one bucket than two, so I put one inside the other. He continued, when I am on the ground pulling the wild flowers and placing the remains in the bucket, I must occasionally move from point A to point B, and having a bucket inside a bucket means I only need to make one move to get both buckets to point B.

            When the inner bucket is full I remove it and let it set as I continue to eradicate the wild flowers. Having two buckets saves me from wasting energy of getting up to empty a single bucket, thus half as many trips to the trash container.

            I give the grounds keeper credit, he is a wise manager of time and energy!

            He also uses an old floor mat from a vehicle to sit on when his knees and back gets tired. I noticed that he had moved away from the mat for a few minutes and Charlie, our adopted cat, had been supervising the removal of the wild flowers weeds and decided to use the floor mat for himself. The grounds manager was not surprised and allowed him to continue using the mat.

                The grounds manager still has about an hour or so of weed removal to do today, even though his hands and other muscles are tired and sore.  

May all your wild flowers be pretty!

Don Ford

Too Much Time 09.26.16

            For the retired senior person who is on a fixed income, what do they do to pass the time? Well this retired person who is on a fixed income, (and would you believe, can’t afford to participate in activities that require money), takes sticks and scrap pieces of wood that others have tossed out, and passes his time trying to make things. It is difficult to be on a fixed income! Donations are accepted in amounts of $100.00 or more at the Ford Homestead, “Fund for the retired person with limited financial abilities”.

            I will post photos of projects that required no expense.

 

 

Stick snake, as I have named the above project, was shown to my grandson and he thought it was scary and would be a good thing to take with him, trick or treating.

Another project is a version of tic tac toe, commonly known as X and O’s. As you may be able to see, I started with a piece of wood, cut a few groove in the wood and then stained it a little.

 

I still need to put something like varnish on the boards to finish the project, if I wasn’t on a fixed income I could be done by now.

 

The red and black circular items (known as home made checkers) are from a previous checker board project. Yes, I still have the checker board. I have learned that the checker board can be use under my lap top when sitting in the recliner, too keep my tender legs from getting hot!

                Different subject:

            Here at the Ford Homestead we had a service that was going to renew in a couple days, at a cost that we could not afford being on a fixed income. I called the service, name not to be divulged, and told them I want to cancel. They asked why, and I replied it is too costly. The person said she would look for any special offers that they might have. She then said we have a promotional price for a one year agreement and told me the cost, asking if I was interested. The promotional price was 48% less that the original. Almost half off just for asking! You should ask for a discount where ever you go! 

                Different subject:

                Our grounds manager, as he is now known, will be on his hands and knees in the back yard not only praying, but also pulling weeds. We received an inch of rain Sunday, which makes it easier to get the roots of the weeds. Yes, this week is 6 weeks since his operation and we now expect him to get back to work!

Watch the debate this evening, it might be fun!

Don Ford

Karate Kids 09.23.16

            The grand kids have started karate classes. My present spouse and I observed the class last evening. I think it is a good thing for the kids if they will stay interested. They do not just teach people how to defend themselves, they also teach the kids that they must read every day, they must have three chores that they do each day, and they must say sir and mam when addressing adults. There is exercise and stretching at the beginning of the class.

The above photo taken at the Ford Homestead. Below photo taken during class.

Different subject:

They are almost promising rain for this weekend, so I watered everything today.

            I have another photo of an abandoned home. It is so sad that the neighbors just move out without saying goodbye. Photo below, click on photo to enlarge.

May your day be filled with kindness!

Don Ford 

Hit Again 09.23.16

            It is difficult for me, a retired senior citizen, to believe I have been, “hit again”.

            Assaulted in my own neighborhood twice, in two days, first by a leaf from the pecan tree, and now today by a flying insect. It all happen this morning during a predawn hour as I strolled south on Oklahoma Ave.   

            I left the Ford Homestead at 15 minutes before 7:00am this morning, and it was still dark. I believe I will need a flash light in the future if I am going to walk prior to the 7:00am hour, as it was not light enough to see everything I need to see. 

            Possibly the sun rise is now occurring later, due to this being the first day of fall.

            What was today’s assault? It was an unknown flying bug that flew into the glass portion of my glasses, over the left eye. Had it not been for the glasses I could have lost my left eye. Before you ask, yes there was bug juice left on my glasses. I now assume the assault was, “a suicide attack”. What type bug flies before sunrise?

            Could this be some type of vindictive assault on my person? If not, why were both attacks at or near my left eye, and during my morning walk? This seems to me to be a coordinated event!

            I can see that one person, you know the person, he is always ready to ask a question that he believes will either prove me wrong, or upset me. Yes, he is happy that I have been assaulted twice in two days. Could it be this person is coordinating the assaults?

            Different subject:

            The prognosticators are predicting that our temperatures will be much cooler in about three days. Remember, we had a day that was 99 degrees this week, and next week our high may be what the low was this week, 75 degrees! Finally, we may be able to turn the air conditioner off, but, we will most likely need to turn the furnace on! L

            The weather is controlled by career politicians, and they cause it to change drastically in order to force us to pay higher utility bills. This is done so they can help those who donate to them, utility companies and others, to make more money, so they can donate more!

May your day be comfortable!

Don Ford

Feel Good Day 09.21.16

            Yes tomorrow is the first day of fall, but no one believes it here in Texas. It was 99 degrees here yesterday, missing the all-time record high set in 1954 of 100 degrees, by just one degree. They say it will cool down in the future, but we are not sure they know what they are talking about.

            The above paragraph has nothing to do with today’s subject, so you can ignore it!

            Today subject has to do with a comment made by our neighbor lady this morning, during my morning meditative walk.

            Before we get into today’s subject I would like to impart some information that also occurred during this morning’s walk. I was walking under a pecan tree when a single leaf impacted my head. This leaf was about 4 inches long and about one inch wide. I was in full stride when I observed an object just above my left eye. It was too late to take any action as this quickly rotating leaf was just a couple inches from my head.

            The actual impact occurred at my left temple where my glasses cross the side of my head. I believe that is the first time I have knowingly been impacted by a leaf falling from a tree. I was glad it wasn’t a pecan, there may have been injuries if it had been a pecan! The photo below is of pecan leaves, providing you with a view of several pecan leaves. Click on photo to enlarge.

 

            Now let us get started with today’s feel good story. I am not saying it will make you feel good, but it did make me and my spouse of 47 years feel good.

            I was walking west on Arkansas Street approaching Oklahoma Ave. when I observed a female neighbor and her grandson, Noah, (he is about 8 years old) leaving the front door of their home heading for their vehicle. This lady lives next door to the Ford Homestead. She asked if I wanted to hear something funny, to which I replied, “yes”. I walked closer so I could hear her better, senior retired people, sometimes can’t hear that good.

            She began, “this is the week that grandparents can eat lunch with their grand kids at school. She said that Noah wanted to know if her or her husband (grandma and grandpa) were going to come to school and eat with him. She then said Noah asked, “what about Don and Donna”. Noah has always called my first wife and me by our first names.

            I can’t tell you how very happy it made me feel, to know that Noah, thought of us as grandparents, and that he would want us to come to school and have lunch with him!

            I explained to Noah that we are kind of like, “adopted grandparents” and he seemed to like that idea.

            I then explained to our neighbor, that I had in fact eat lunch at school during grandparent’s week with another young man that was not our grandson. That young man is now a junior in college.

            As I stated earlier, it might not make you feel good, but to know that a young person would consider us as grandparent’s, and would want us to come to school and eat lunch with them and their friends, made Donna and me feel special!

I hope your day is as good as ours!

Don Ford

How to do it 09.20.16

It is true that each of us learn from experiences, and that is today’s topic.

If you touch something hot, you learn quickly that it is hot, and not to repeat that action, “learned from experience”.

We go to school and experience the learning process. You may want to consider all the interactions and experiences you had while in school. Not only what the teachers presented, you learned from their actions and reactions. Think of the things you learned from class mates and others you met in school, after school and school events. I can’t speak for you, but I learned more from the other students than I did from the teachers.

We learn from experiences with our parents. What we learn from parents (good and not so good) will last throughout our life. I learned many things that I have used throughout my life, even though I did not understand that I was learning at the time. My parent’s actions and reactions are with me still today.

I believe children should have two parents! Consider a child with one parent, he / she receives half as much interactions (experiences). Even though it is a one sided experience, it is better than no experience, but not as good as two. Often the one parent may be bitter, and may unknowingly express this bitterness to the child.

            Consider, what occurs if there are no parents. The child may be put in foster home/s and those experiences, even the good ones, or no substitute for real parents. Possibly the child is raise by grandparents who sometimes are just too old, or too tired to provide the necessary guidance for a young person.

            We learn from interactions of those we choose to associate with. This applies to all stages of our life. As children, we should be involved with other good kids. All children will at some point associate with a less than desirable kid. How the good kid responds will often depend on their experiences with their parents.

            There is an old saying that goes something like this, “you are known by the company you keep”. You are influenced by those same people, and these experiences are likely to form your actions and thoughts, now and in the future. It is almost impossible to associate with others (friends, co-workers, family) without being influenced, either negatively or positively by their actions and comments.

            Again, this applies to all stages of our life. Although we would like to believe, as adults, we would choose to associate with upstanding people, and that when we were in the presence of less than upstanding people, we would not be influenced by their actions or comments.  We are influenced by others even when we think we are not.

            Being aware of the fact that others influence us, is the only way we can be sure that the influence is what we want it to be. Being aware is our key to developing our own attitudes.

            For those of you with children, being aware of all their interactions with others is an impossible task, but that should not keep you from being aware of as much of their interactions as possible.

            Parents, you must set good examples all the time. How do you do this, by remembering that your children are watching and learning from all your actions and comments?

            Want to learn what is going on in your child’s life, find a way to talk with your kids in a non-serious manner. Conversations that seem casual will provide you with much good information. When someone is not guarded, adults or children, they are apt to open up in their comments.

           

In summary;

Being aware is the key to developing your own attitude!

Being aware and being there, is the key to helping your children develop their attitudes.

Don Ford