We thought we might be in the path of Hurricane Ike, so we like so many others, evacuated to Junction City for a few days. The RV parks and hotels were all booked up and some RV'rs were in the overflow parking lots. We left on Sunday afternoon, after hearing everything was alright. When we got home there was no signs of a hurricane at our house. Thank goodness.
The Fort McKavett Post Hospital is a modification of the standard, two-2q4e military hospitals build after the Civil War. Completed about 1874, the hospital has only one ward room, offices, dispensary,, hospital steward quarters and a rear wing with a kitchen and dining room. Surgeons were kept busy treating the occasional gunshot wound, accidental injuries, and venereal diseases spawned in the nearby parasite settlement of Scabtown, and other common minor complaints, most the result of eating spoiled food.
The 8th Regiment U.S. Infantry established Fort McKavett in 1852 as part of a frontier defense system stretching from the Red River to the Rio Grande, and along major transportation routes to El Paso. Troups of the 8th and 1st Infantry regiments and the 2nd Dragoon regiment occupied Fort McKavett in the 1850's, charged with deterring raids of Native Americans, who fought to hold their home land. Farmers and ranchers moved into the region as frontier settlement pushed westward. During the Civil War,the Confederate state governments failed to protect the frontier, and the line of settlement retreated eastward a hundred miles in some areas. At Fort McKavett, residents moved into the abandoned buildings for protection. After the war, in 1867, the Army began rebuilding the frontier line, occupying Fort McKavett in April 1868. Fort McKavett served as the headquarters for the 24th and 10th infantry regiments during the post war occupation. By 1880 raiding had ceased in Central Texas, making Fort McKavett unessential for frontier protection. On June 30th, 1883, Company D, 16th U.S. Infantry marched away, and the local citizens once again moved into the abandoned buildings.
Not everyone has a urinal in their bathroom. I personally think it is ugly, but the old man that built the house was very proud of it. He said his wife got tired of him peeing on the floor so he put this in. Wow! He actually called it a beaudea' (not sure how that is spelled) How funny!!
We are living in our bedroom for now until we get the house furnished. As you can see the bedroom is good size with room for two recliners and a sitting area and of course his new "42 TV. It's what you call priorities. We did splurge and buy a man size Laredo recliner and new bed and new TV. Those are our new purchases. The rest will have to wait. He's actually talking to him Mom here and telling her about the house. I've painted the bedroom a sandalwood color and still need to paint the one wall, which is facing toward the street. I eventually would like to put french doors right where that big window is. The sun comes up in the morning there and it would be a great place for a front porch. That too will have to wait.
Our back yard is like walking in a park. The swing is in our side yard right off our back porch. Directly behind is our carport and Jerry's work shed and in back is our motorhome with its own set up for RV hookup. This is Jerry's first time mowing the back yard. He has already done alot of yard work and it's starting to shape up.
We haven't been moved into the house for one day and our next door neighbor came over and told Jerry he was the campaign manager for the electing Smith for Sheriff. He brought Smith over to our house and the three of them sat in our empty living room on lawn chairs and admired Jerry's retirement badges and exchanged law enforcement stories and the next thing we knew we had a sign in our front yard. Sounds so familiar!!
This is the first time we drove our motorhome in the driveway of our new home in Smithville, Texas. The house was built in 1978. We bought it mainly for the property which has approximately 10 oak trees. As we drive in the driveway, their are huge cactus plants. It's unusual to see cacus and grass and trees together. Jerry has his yardwork cut out for him, approximately 3/4 acre.
