We lived in Azle for 8 years on four acres off of Confederate Park Road (FM 1886). It really was the perfect location. The house was a two story frame house and was really really really old. It had two fireplaces. One was in the dining room and it had a swing out hook, like you would hang a pot on. The house had obviously been built onto and needed major electrical and plumbing work done on it. For instance you couldn’t turn on the mircrowave, if the coffee pot or anything else was plugged in.
In the Spring of 1998, we bought 25 acres in S.E. Jack County. About a year later we bought the 25 acres that adjoined it. We bought a travel trailer and put it there to stay in on the weekends. We bought cows. Every weekend we spent there, playing in our little travel trailer. We loved being away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was fun camping in the travel trailer on the weekends and holidays. We couldn’t get any television signals out that far. We could however, pick up a Hispanic radio station. We had no idea what they were singing about. But it was happy music to fill in the background when we wanted it to. Our spot was also a quiet place to just sit and talk or read a book.
We talked about just packing up and moving there. We talked about building a house. So at the end of April in 2001 we decided to put our house on the market and see what happened. At that time it was a sellers market. We lived in an area that was building beautiful homes all around us. Huge homes. A few short weeks later we had a contract on the house. We held our breath waiting for the inspections. The buyer missed his time slot to send the inspector out. He did come eventually. We have no idea what he found. We were too scared to ask and already knew we weren’t fixing anything. Since he missed his time schedule the buyer was stuck with the contract or would lose his earnest money. Granted it wasn’t a lot of money, but we were elated when he continued with his plans to buy the house.
What to do now we thought? The quick fix was to move a manufactured home into the country and build a house later. So that’s what we did. Once we closed on our house, we couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We giggled at what they paid for it and wanted to be gone before they realized what they had done. So to the country we went and began our new life there.
Doug was so excited the day they moved the house out to the land. I was too, we had been living in a travel trailer for a couple of weeks and it was tight quarters. I have to give Doug a lot of credit. He is a doer. He doesn’t like depending on other people. Once the house was set up, he did all the plumbing and connected all the electrical. I held my breath with the electrical. I was a little afraid I was going to be a widow with a new house and no electricity. But he did it all.
So here we’ve been for the last ten years. TEN YEARS!!! My how time flies when you’re having fun! We still talk about building a house. Right now we aren’t sure we will stay in this spot when we retire. So in the double wide we stay. We have a nice big deck on the back and a lovely yard. Sometimes we think “We should have just built a house.”
Our plan is to retire in about 8 or 9 years. Then we will build a house. It won’t be anything fancy. We have a general idea of what we want. Doug will be his own general contractor and will do the work that he is able to do himself and with my help. That’s what I’ve learned the last 18 years. Marriage is a partnership. We do things together and enjoy each other’s company.
When we do retire, we may not stay in Jack County. It could be in Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma, somewhere else in Texas, or we’ve even talked about Wyoming or Montana. But I think those two states are just a little too far North for me. But it will be in the country. I don’t think I could live on a regular residential street, with neighbors just on the other side of the fence. I like our wide open spaces. I like walking it. I like feeding the fish in the pond. I like looking out my window and seeing cows. I like going to the feed store. I like Tractor Supply and places like it. I like looking at tractor implements. I like having an area for any size of garden I desire. I want chickens. I would love a pig. I like watching the deer cross from our property to our neighbors, feeding along the way. I like watching the male turkey spread open his tail feathers and do his little mating dance for the hen watching him.
I don’t think I could stand to sit on a patio in the back yard and listen to cars going up and down the street or the neighbors talking on the other side of the fence. Country things. These are the things I love.