Out west and around the county

- Spring Creek tributary -

The four inches of rain that fell west and south of Hobbs during the beginning of November swelled up the dry creeks. The tank behind my house spilled over twice. That ought to tide us over for a little while. It can be quite a dry spell between fall and February.

Next Wednesday looks like we might get close to a freeze. Those last few tomatoes better grow fast before being pulled to ripen on the window sill.

The Rotan water line project is coming along. Right now, they're about to cut across Fisher County Road 347, north of FM 1614. They are replacing a part of the Snyder to Rotan aqueduct. 

I got lost in McCaulley today. First I went too far east towards Anson, and then I couldn't find the community center. Sometimes I'm a real airhead. Just go to the big bridge east of Roby on US 180, then go north on FM 57 about two miles. Find the old school and then look to the east. There's a huge metal building. There will be a lot of cars around it. 

They're having a big sale out there and have all kinds of good stuff to buy. I got some books and a quilt and a necklace. The sale will be continuing tomorrow (Saturday) at 9 a.m.

Also going on tomorrow, as well as Sunday, is the Pete Garcia Estate Sale in Rotan. It's taking place at 1011 North Tyler and starts at 8 a.m. both days.

It looks like the Dollar General store in Roby will be opening soon. There are people inside of it putting up inventory. I noticed today that the Rotan site is called DG Market. The outside of Ace Hardware in Rotan is up. I'm looking forward to getting in these stores.

I finished up my jaunt by getting a .25 cent gallon of water in Rotan and going to The Country Store. A person can never have too many books, right?

Following a trail to Mount Zion

- Mount Zion Cemetery-

I decided to follow up on my Nettie West story by taking a trip out to where she was buried, the Mount Zion Cemetery, between Rotan and Hamlin.

Expecting to find something like the Hobbs Cemetery, with a fair amount of graves kept up regularly by caretakers, I was surprised to find a fenced off acre or so with about 25 graves scattered in small groups. It was mowed enough to walk through, the back quarter of it in pasture. The most recent grave I could find was from 2014, a good many being from the early 1900's.

The cemetery is not in ruins, though it looks unfrequented. It is situated on County Road 241, going north off of State Highway 92.

There are discrepancies in the information I've found about Nettie West and her family. The article from The Farm magazine cited Nettie as saying her brother Jim Tazewell died in 1942, but his headstone has 1944 as his year of death. She said she was born in Illinois, but the death certificate information on the Find-a-Grave website says she was born in Texas. The certificate text gives her maiden name was Tazwell, but it was spelled Tazewell on her father's and brothers' grave markers. Genealogical researchers must have headaches all the time from trying to sort out such stuff, just from errors alone.

That same website says that Nettie married Charlie Bailey in 1900, and Johnny West in 1947. 

The site lists 42 memorials for the cemetery. There are graves there marked for the Bates family, Nettie's neighbors who took her to town.