FORT PARKER WEEK 3

Tuesday March 2: Sunday was moving day. After church we finished putting things away and hooked up for the long move from the maintenance area to the campground. The weather was very cooperative and backing into the spot was not too bad. By late afternoon we were all settled in. Lydia has more sunbeams and Lilly has some new smells and views too. We are along the main road into the camping area so on the weekends we will have lots of traffic passing us. This is our new home location for the next month.

After we moved in we walked up to get our bikes and talk to Tom about our duties now that we are in the campground. He told us to just keep doing what we are doing, but he would like us to be ‘available’ on the weekends when campers are in the park.

This is the view of the sun setting across the lake from us.

Overnight Sunday into Monday it began to rain – and rain hard at times. By the time we were ready to start work it had let up some. We decided to work on the inside of one of the cabins rather than working on the outside of the dining hall (we had the windows to take care of). It was not a nice day so we knocked off early. In the afternoon Bill and I went to the shop to make some repairs to a ladder and gather some more materials. Tuesday it was chilly in the morning but the sun came out and it warmed up nicely. We finished the cabin and moved on to wrap up the outside of the dining hall. We did not’t complete the dining hall as we found more broken windows to replace. Replacing the glass with Plexiglas can be a pain. Most of the problem is getting the old glass out as the window stiles are so old and thin.

Wednesday March 3: We were slow moving this morning so instead of Judy and Lois walking Lilly, we walked to the Rush’s for coffee and discussion on our work plans. Judy and Lois have been walking Lilly each morning. They turn on the walkie-talkie’s about 8 and make a decision on time for the walk. Today none of us felt like doing much too early so we did not get started until nearly 10. We used up the cut plexi on some windows in the dining hall and finished the inside cleaning. We have two more panes to replace, but will wait until we know how many more need to be cut when we do the last cabin. We finished the last bath house and moved everything to the last cabin. In the afternoon, Judy sewed and Jon went to the shop to repair 3 screens from the bath house, do laundry and spend some time in the office. Need to download all the old waypoints from the park’s old GPS unit so they can be put into the new one. In the evening we played another game of canasta and the ladies won again.

Thursday March 4: Another beautiful day, though still a bit chilly for Texas. On the way to the group area, stopped by the office and gave the GPS unit another try. Was able to download the data to a PC so at least it is safe for now. Someday I’ll spend some time in the office working on separating it and then get what we want loaded into the new park GPS unit. Next week one day I’ll go around with Dan and we will locate all the water valves, hydrants and electrical shut offs.

We worked on the last cabin today, and it was the messiest! It is mostly in the shade and there were big, thick cobwebs between the screens and windows. Speaking of windows, we had to replace 7 panes. We pushed on through and finally finished it and Bill installed the last two panes in the dining hall about 1. We rewarded ourselves by heading up to Kirby’s BBQ, about two miles north of the park. When we were here five years ago, it was located closer to Mexia in a very old building with more outside than inside seating. We will definitely have to return for lunch again. It is only open for lunch hours – mainly 10 to 3, except on Saturday when they stay open until 5. As an aside, when President Bush (the second) would be on his ranch near Crawford, the agents would come to Kirby’s for BBQ.

Now that the cabins are done and all that is left is the Rec Hall, Lois wanted to count the windows they have washed. Four cabins with 16 windows each with each widow having 12 panes….got tired trying to do the math!

Anyway it is a sunny lazy afternoon with the animals sleeping in the sunbeams and Judy busy cutting quilt squares. From the looks of it, we will have another pretty sunset over the lake.

Saturday March 6: Friday we decided to just take it easy. As we are now a ‘Campground Host’ we are to be available to help campers as needed and the Group Barracks area is rented and we were not sure when the group would arrive. We needed to do a load of laundry and I needed to do some more work on the GPS data so That occupied my time on Friday and Judy took care of more oopsie daisy work. It was such a pleasant afternoon so we built a fire and sat around with the Lois and bill having a few snacks and watching the sunset and a few campers come in and set up. All in all it was a relaxing day.

On Saturday we took Lilly on a long walk and picked up trash along the way. By the time we got back to the camper it was near lunch and we decided to head into town to check out a store we had learned of and get some lunch. After lunch we picked up some equipment to replace a trail maker and headed out to replace it.

Seems like I am forever driving in trail markers!

Later I tried to do some more bike adjustments (both our bikes need a serious tune up by a professional) and Judy and Lilly enjoyed the sunshine.

Tomorrow starts a new week. The weather has warmed and we are nearly done with the barracks buildings! Well the cleaning part. We still have to paint the interior of the staff building.