Our Friday adventure, our new addition

Friday at about 5 a.m. Mama, Grandpa and I left for Decatur to look at properties. I had the day off – Good Friday – and it seemed a perfect opportunity to look over four or five properties since the realtor was willing. Mama had lined up four properties and I had asked the realtor to investigate a fifth, so we knew we would have to hit the ground running.


We got to the realtor’s office at about 9:30 a.m. and left ten minutes later; backtracking to Bowie, TX about twenty five miles back northwest. The first property was twenty six acres. It was nice property, with a large tank, a well and an electric drop that looked like a camper had been recently hooked up to. There were large open meadows with gently rolling ground – all of it tillable – and access on two sides, one to a state highway, and the other to a county road; very doable and with a price tag to meet out budget.

The second was the eleven acres that I had hoped would be the property we could start out with. It was a disaster. It was attached to and downhill from a rapidly deteriorating house; one that had begun well but was, sadly, not being finished. Grandpa and I had to walk around to where the fence had fallen down to get on to the land. Our main interest being the tank that was supposed to be there. It was an even bigger disappointment –poorly situated, overly deep and completely dry. I was very disappointed.

Next stop was a forty acre plot of ground. The owner got in the van with me and Grandpa and gave us a tour. It had a very large tank in the front and as we drove over the property, the owner, a delightful horse trader, gave us the history of the land. We wound our way around to a second tank and when Grandpa and I got out to look at it I wanted to laugh. He explained that the government had helped pay for the installation, but it was the worst I had ever seen with no real hope of ever making it right. (Scratch that one!)

Lastly – my suggested property did not work out – we looked at a sixty acre farm with a small house. The whole property was terrible neglected and had been for many years. I supposed it was being leased since there had been cattle on it recently. The house was the repository for someone who had never thrown anything away yet had, sadly, chosen to leave most things right where they had fallen as they abandoned the house.

It was awful! The realtor was afraid to go in. An attitude quickly adopted by Mama. There were papers scattered everywhere, dirty dishes filled the sink and every counter, clothes filled every closet and dresser as well as being piled on every flat surface – including the floor. Surprisingly, it did not smell as awful as it looked. Outside was very different.

As Grandpa and I looked past the mess and began to see the possibilities we both got a sense of a plan that had been carefully laid out and implemented over the last many years. What remained of those plans had died with the original owner. None of the heirs had seen fit to learn or follow through on them. They had only let what had been done fall into ruin. Never the less, we could see that someone had gotten most of the way done and what they had done was well done.

There was a meadow – now long overused – and five fenced pasture areas. It has four tanks with water in them. It looks like three of the four are spring fed – they are beautiful. In addition, there is one tank that is massive in design but the drought has left it only 20% full. Grandpa and I found four huge clusters of blackberry bushes as we investigated the large tank. Across the upper part of the meadow, towards the road is a stand of old oaks; a perfect place to build a home. It is the farm we hope to buy.

On Saturday we picked up the puppy Mama and I had looked at Thursday evening. She is a Scottish terrier. I can’t remember the name the girls and Mama settled on even though Victoria spelled it for me half a dozen times – I guess I really don’t like it much. The pup, I think, will work out well for us.

Even Chase is excited about it.