Error, did you catch it 03/08/19

               Yes there was at least one error in the last post. I know, you didn’t read it and thusly, you did not catch the error. I do know how to spell the word but my spell check helped me.

          Today it is only 64 degrees this morning at 5:00.

          Yesterday:

          I did install the black berry bush.

          I did build the duplex for birds.

          I did haul dirt to locations in the front yard.

          I did not pull weeds!

          I have grass in the back yard that needs to be mowed. Have you ever seen a pasture with new wheat growing, and were cattle are grazing. There are spots throughout the field where the cattle have relieved themselves, which are growing much faster than the normal wheat. We have spots in our back 40 that grow faster than normal, could that be caused by a dog relieving himself. Photo to follow, click to enjoy.

                                                          

          I need to go, I will take Gabi to school then I need to go out to D I B to pick up a retiree order. The rest of the day I will work my poor body to a point of exhaustion.

Work not, and you get nothing done!

Senior yard care taker; Don Ford

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Out the door 03/07/19

            How do I start this commentary? Let’s start by saying, this winter weather is getting old. Every morning when I go to let the cats out, the cold air is like being hit on my poor ole body with an ice covered baseball bat. This morning I went to the door, both cats were there waiting. I hesitated for a moment and then reached for the door knob. I slowly turned the knob and the door opened. I was unexpectedly surprised with an influx of air that was not below freezing. It was 50 degrees, maybe spring is finally here!

            Get ready to change your clocks this weekend. For that one person who needs to know, you move the clock forward. Oh, I need to explain a little more for that one person. When we say, “Move the clocks forward”, we are not talking about physically moving the clock, we are talking about changing the time by, setting your clock one hour ahead. (2:00 am to 3:00am). It is good that I am here to help those who need help.

            Since it is warm today, I am planning on “installing” a new black berry plant. (Installing = planting) This black berry is thorn-less. We tried a thorn-less plant in the past but it did not survive. We are trying again.

            I also need to pull some more weeds from any of the flower beds.

            I also purchased another two fence pickets, and have created a plan for a duplex bird house. Do we need this bird house? Nope! I just like building them. I also have the pieces for three more single residence bird houses cut and ready for assembly. Alex and I may work on them next week. “Spring Break”! 

                                                          

            I need a cup of coffee, C U L.

            (In the olden days, when I was on the ham radio a lot of the time, we used initials (acronyms) for words. Morse code uses dots and dashes for each letter of a word. To save time the hams would, where possible, use acronyms like C U L (see you later). The people who text today, use a lot of acronyms, possibly they think they created the short cuts.

Work hard at what you like, it will be fulfilling!

Armature radio Ham KJ5OD; Don Ford      

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Learn something new 03.06.19

            How do I start this article? I know it will be informative to everyone. I am sure this information is unknown to you, and if you say you knew this, I would find it difficult to believe.

            Yesterday, after picking up the grand son from school, during the drive home, I had asked Alex a question. Instead of an answer he burped, loud. I looked at him, and after a short laugh, Alex explained. A loud burp means, “yes”, a quiet burp means “No”, and an in between burp means, “Maybe”! I learned something new, and there was several more burps on the way home.

            Wow, do you think they teach that in school, and what else are they teaching the kids in school now days. In the olden days they tried to teach reading, riting and rith-ma-tic.

 

            We have another cold start to the day here in Hewitt. We are told that tomorrow will be better and it should be in the mid-70s but Friday. That means I can go outside and do some work around the flower beds and would you believe, the winter grass in the back yard needs to be mowed. Heck I have not changed the oil in the mowers yet. 

            When it gets warm I will be complaining about having to work in the yard. As I have stated in the past, “I don’t enjoy working on certain things, but I do enjoy the fact that I can still work!”

 

Being unsatisfied is normal, complaining is how I express it!

 

Senior complainer: Don Ford

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Where there's a will 03.05.19

            As I was waiting for the Gabi today I was also listening to the radio. One of the people on the radio commented, “Where there’s a will there is a, family member waiting…”! I had never heard that comment but it does ring true.

            A more pleasant subject; Monday morning it was 27 degrees and it was time to get the so-called newspaper for my first wife. Tres and I went to the front door, I opened said door, and the cold weather was so obvious I did not go out. Tres had his coat on and he volunteered to go out. Upon leaving the door, the Tres first relieved himself, (number 1) and then he went directly to get the newspaper. He grabbed the paper and quickly returned to the house, where I opened the door and he came in. I told him he was a good girl and gave him some rubbing on his back. I call him a girl so he don’t get the big head, you know, you have to keep their self-confidence and expectations, low. 

            Today the normal low temp should be a comfortable 46 degrees, our low today is a freezing cold 22 and that is a new record low for this day! Wow, another day when old people have to stay inside because it is too cold. 

            Yesterday was my favorite grandson Alex’s birthday. He turned 9 and we did not celebrate. There was no cake and no presents. When you are on a fixed income, as we are, you can’t always celebrate birthdays or holidays. (The celebration will be this weekend. There will be gifts and a party.)    

            Yesterday, I was once again threatened by my mean wife. This was not an overt threat, it was implied in a way that I took it as meaningful. She needed someone (me) to provide her with a piece of wood, as she was remodeling an old foot stool. The old foot stool’s base board, which was cheap pressed board, was broken in half. She took the stool apart and I measured the broken piece.

            I then ventured out into the cold weather and made my way to the Ford’s ole shed where I acquired a piece of ½ inch thick plywood. I made my way back through the freezing winter weather, to the main building, here at the homestead. After an hour of warming by the ole pot belly wood stove, I went into the garage and got the ole table saw out.

            After proper measuring and marking the wood, I cut the board, I then rounded off the corners per instructions. The CEO then took the plywood and recovered it, it looks nice. I did not have the screws needed to attach the unit back together, so I will get those screws today, and finish the project. I did not get a comment like nice job, but I did get supper which was very good!  After my spouse of almost 5 decades was satisfied, I returned to the garage and finished trimming the parts for the bird house.

Do as you’re told, you don’t need thanks!

Thankless, but well feed; Don Ford  

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It could happen to you 02.04.19

            As I understand it, astronomical spring has begun. Is that why we were in the 20s this weekend? Spring is supposed to be warm, but for some reason it isn’t. What the heck happened to climate warming?

            Cold or warm has nothing to do with my thoughts, my thoughts have to do with sleeping. I, personally wake up many times during my night of sleeping. I roll over many times and I am almost always out from under the covers, (I wanted to say I am usually hot but you would have taken that statement wrong).

            I was told by my sister that my mother would go to sleep and stay in the same sleeping position all night. I did not get her sleeping habits.

            Anyway, my favorite wife purchased a couple new pillows and they are supposed to stay cool. That would be a good thing for me if that were true, a cool pillow would be nice.

            Well we used the new pillows Friday night and we both slept very well. I only rolled over a couple time all night, and that isn’t like me. My spouse of almost 5 decades said she didn’t wake up or roll over at all. Could those pillows work, or was it just luck, we will try again Saturday night and keep you informed.

            Saturday: we had another good night of sleeping. For me it wasn’t as good as the first night but it was defiantly an improvement over my normal sleep pattern. I guess we will keep the pillows.

            Sunday: we went to the Barrel restraint for breakfast this morning. The manager came by our table and I suggested that since our table was located at this poor location, he should give me a free Tee shirt. He said he would if I would wear it, to which I agreed. Photo to follow.

            The quality of the photo isn’t very good as it was taken with my ole cell phone. I hope to someday get a good quality cell phone, one that cost more than $49.00.

            After breakfast I tried to get gas at the local gas station, the wind was blowing like crazy. The machine kept indicating I should remove my card and then it wanted me to try again. After about 4 tries I decided I could do without gas. Frustrated, I also decided that I did not need to go to Wally world either.

            After a short nap, I decided to go into the garage and cut some boards. It was very cold so I had a heater turned on. I butchered three boards, which give me enough pieces to build 4 bird homesteads. I am hoping Alex and maybe Gabi, will want to build a bird house during spring break. I swept the garage floor three times after sawing, and then vacuumed the floor in an effort to remove the saw dust. I had completed the work and clean up and brought my favorite wife’s vehicle back into the garage. I picked up my notes and I then realized I still needed to make a couple more cuts. I guess there is no rest for the seniors. 

            Monday: It is below freezing this morning, and they are saying our temp may get as high as 37 degrees today. That is cold for those of us who live in this area of Texas. The so-called weather people are saying these cold temps will stay for the next couple days, and by Friday we could be in the 70s. As they say, “If you don’t like the weather in Texas wait a little while, it will change”!

May your week be warm and safe!

Wood butcher extraordinaire; Don Ford

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Another month past 03.01.19

            Just in case you haven’t noticed, a new month has started today. Yes, it is now March, and that means important things will occur.

            First, my favorite grandson will have a birthday! Alex will be 9 years old and we will need to get him something as a present.

            Second, your favorite time will be here again. Yep, daylight savings time will start on the 10^th of March.

            Third, spring break for the school kids. Here in Hewitt spring break begins on the 11^th.  So many things happening in March, I don’t know how we will handle it all.

            Let us change subjects. I have a photo, which isn’t very good, but I am going to post it anyway. The photo is of our cat Charlie, and he was trying to get an extra bite of food. One might say, “Charlie is a sack cat”!      Sorry for the photo quality.

                                                           

            He has his head in the food sack, even though he has food in his food bowl.

            It is cold here today, I may need to stay inside where it is warm with a real cup of coffee, even though I want to go to the Home store for a couple items. My preferred wife has a couple jobs for me. I am to install a new air filter in the furnace, then remove the charging devise for her battery powered vacuum. After removal of said device, I then will be required to install a new charging device for her new battery powered vacuum. Where does she get the money?

No rest for an old senior laborer!

Senior laborer; Don Ford

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Changing of policy 02/28/19

            As the title of this amazing article states, we here at the Ford Homestead have in fact had a, “Changing of policy”. For those thousands of people who read the preceding article, they all know we had planned to not open the doors to the new bird homesteads until we received, “the first and last month’s rent in advance of moving in”! We had also planned to charge more for couples with babies.

            There was a board meeting here at the homestead, and after hours of discussion a vote was taken. We will no longer charge for any of the bird community staying in any of the houses, new or old! We have also open the new homes and temporarily hung them in a tree. Photo to follow.

                                               

            We will attempt to find permanent locations for these two houses.

            I would like to say thanks for the advice received from readers, as to the door openings for bird houses. The size of the hole has a direct effect on the type of bird that inhabits the house. We did use 1.25 inch openings on these houses, which seems to be the right size for sparrows. We have been working on the documentation of the plans and bill of materials for the bird house, hoping to get a patent on the house.

            I was able to remove an old dead rose bush from flower bed #5. It took some digging and an ax to get it out of the ground. Being very careful during the removal process, I was stuck only one time by the thorns.

May your day be filled with kindness, some coming from you!

Bird homestead contractor; Don Ford

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No work for the wicked 02/27/19

            The title line seems a little off, No rest for the wicked was what I was trying to state. Wow, I made my first mistake again. Today I did not pull weeds from the flower beds as I did yesterday. I had decided to build a bird house similar to what we had seen at the big home store the other day. My thought was to create a bird house similar to the one we observed at the store and then create a set of plans that anyone could follow it they want.

            I have the plan but have not completed the bill of materials yet. The sample was built using a fence picket which isn’t overly expensive. Also I do not have a hole saw that is the size I needed. I will need to go to the Harbor store tomorrow, and try to get a 1.50 inch hole saw. Also I used screws to hold it together, I want to be able to take it apart, but nails would work just fine if one did not want to take it apart later.

                                   

            Yes, you are correct, that may be the first time you have been observant in a long time, I am almost proud of you. The holes have not been drilled. They will be drilled into the houses when the birds pay the first and last month’s rent in advance of moving in! (We charge more when they have babies.) You know we are on a fixed income and every penny counts.                                

            That’s ok, you don’t need to show interest in this subject, my grandson might want to build one since they are talking about hand tools and wood working projects in the cub scouts. He said his Nana likes birds and she would like a bird house. (Nana is the other grandmother.)

            We will provide more info on this project as we make progress in completing all the planning and details.

You don’t need to like it, as long as I do!

Senior bird house landlord; Don Ford

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