The Goliad Hammer

After a stop in Rivera, TX, on Baffin Bay we stopped at Goliad State park. Little did we know we were driving in to 300 years of Texas history and a very nice park. There are two Spanish missions dating way back, which we missed an I’ll explain in a minute. Then there is the birthplace of General Zaragoza at Presidio La Bahia, and the Presidio itself, the site of the massacre of Colonel Fannin and his troops who were made prisoner there after the Battle of Coleto Creek during the Texas War for Independence. Plus a couple of Indian tribes that figured in somewhere? So we saw the Presidio which has been restored and the Fannin monument. Fannin and his force of 400 were massacred by Santa Ana as prisoners of war based on a Mexican decree that anyone in Texas bearing arms against Mexico was to be executed. This occurred not long after the defeat of the Texans at the Alamo and prompted the battle cry at the later battle of San Jacinto where Santa Ana was defeated. That cry being, “Remember the Alamo and La Bahia” Bet you didn’t know that! But before that General Zaragza was born at La Bahia, probably before he actually became a General. However he was responsible for the pivotal victory in the Mexican War for Independence from France on May 5, 1862, and by this time he was a General. Ring any bells? How about the Mexican National Holiday of Cinco de Mayo. Bet ya’ probably didn’t know that one either. But it wasn’t a test. I would have flunked too. Anyway it was very nice and picturesque. So there you have it, except for the pictures of which there are none.

We did intend to go back and get some pictures. We didn’t know about all this and of course didn’t have the camera. So we were going to go back until the dispute between the hammer and my left index finger. The finger lost. Smacked it pretty good! I probably said a couple of expletives which I will not put in, and then thought to myself ‘ I need to go to the doctor. So I went to the motorhome door and told Kat “ I need to go to the doctor”. She rushed around gathering towels and ice to staunch the flow of blood and we were off. Dr Claire Zingerle of the Goliad Family Practice Clinic put in 6 very nice and neat stitches about an hour later. “Piece of cake!” The clinic and the Park staff were great. Because we stopped at the park office about where to go and for directions we had to do an accident report when we got back. I guess the whole thing is, that it seemed to be one of those times when you are being looked out for, like maybe somebody is up there watching????? Anyway if it had to happen, this seemed to be a really good place for it! Which is not to take anything away from Kat. She was her usual competent self, if a little tight in the tummy. And of course I’m not really squeamish myself and pretty good in a pinch. Like I said, “piece of cake”. But we didn’t get back for those pictures and the park was full after that. But it was a good place to put on our list of places to go back to. So remember, Goliad Family Practice on Franklin Street and while I’m at it the ‘Empressario’ restaurant on a really neat old town square. They have an old ‘pressed tin’ ceiling and great burger. And the DQ is pretty good too.

I just had to get that ‘pressed tin’ thing in. One of those funny things. I noticed the ceiling and knew it was pretty old. You just don’t see those much any more. But I don’t think I ever knew what that kind of ceiling was called and I was thinking of mentioning it but I didn’t know what is was called. So I’m reading a novel about the Pennsylvania oil fields in 1936 a couple days later and there it is! ‘Pressed tin’ ceiling! How cool is that? Well I can see it’s not ‘blowing your dress up’, but I thought it was pretty neat!

And in 3-4 more days I’ll take the stitches out and get back to doing some carving. If my finger weren’t smashed I probably wouldn’t be so impatient to be carving. But it is and I am. You don’t miss it so much until you can’t do it.