Ryan's Here!

Ryan flew in thursday nite without the ubiquitous red book bag. He flew without baggage and decided he needed a larger carryon. Quick stop at Rudys for some moist and lean and then a stop at Wallyworld before we headed home.

Friday Ryan moved all the pea gravel back up the driveway and then lined the edge along the grass with large logs from around the property. Dan insulated the foundation along the northeast corner ( where we had frost damage last winter) and then covered it with vinyl siding. The siding and insulation goes up to the window. I will continue it along under the bay windows another day. I have insulation and enough small pieces of vinyl to cover it. That should keep the room a bit warmer this winter and maybe a little cooler in summer. The half bath is already cooler with the air leaks plugged.

Ryan also cleared out miscellaneous wood and piled it over the tank on the northside. We are watering the foundation along with the plants as the drought continues. Its been cloudy in the evenings and it stays pretty warm thru the night usually about 81 F. Thats a break from the 105 in the daytime.

Saturday we cut and nailed up the vinyl siding on the west wall of the shed. The pieces are small (maximum 8') and have to be spliced together but they were free. Normally the siding in nearly 14'. After a full day of splicing and cutting and learning we only have one big scrap and it may be reusuable some way.

Sunday we head to Wimberly and tubing with the Cuz. Monday, Ryan will catch up with Suzanna from Germany and then we will head down to Charles Schwab for some business.

Drought continues

article on the drought, not the worst yet but definitely the leading contender

The cats are attached to the cool tile floor, getting lots of brushing. The garden has some new-to-us shade cloth. I am headed out this morning to get some more free siding. will quit by 1000 hrs and work inside on the soffets (adding holes and screen). The attic seems to be cooling a bit better despite the heat. got a few more spots to patch and spackle like the little bathroom. It seems to leak a lot of heat into the house. There may be a hole in the bottom of the floor.

More winter prep

I spent the last two mornings 6:45 to 7:45 in the attic turning the insulation to fluffy side down and paper on the top. I also pulled it away from the soffet vents. Everytime I enter the attic thru the hatch in the hall there is a whooosh of air up. Not good, that means the roof vent is pulling harder then the soffet vents. It also means the roof vents will try to pull air from the house thru the insulation. More reasons to get better air flow into the attic.

while I was up in the attic this morning, I replaced the tape that holds the insulation around the duct going over to the master bedroom. The other duct needs work but I ran out of tape and its way the heckover on the north side which is harder to get too. I still have only seen light ( and hence air flow) on the Northwest corner of the attic. Need to spend more time on the north, maybe tonight.

I put the extension ladder up the side of the house and got grey foam insulation on the airconditioner cold line all the way up the wall to the roof. I can see the line in the attic but I will be belly crawling thru the insulation to wrap the foam insulation round it. Another morning project. Its only gonna make a difference in summer temps, I need to be sure what ever I do covers both seasons.

I am even watering the big trees as I am losing some branches on one of the big oaks. Suddenly the leaves turned yellow. It maybe too late, but I watered anyway. One of the star Jasimine gave out and the shrimp plant turns black and then a few days later replaces the missing stems. One jasmine is still trying to climb the chain but it is very slow progress. The lantana is hanging on but not producing blooms. I lost one of the 3 vincas atop the water tank. I have 4 more waiting to replace it. I wonder if those are ready for full sunshine?

Found more siding

I hit craigslist and found some siding for the removing over in RoundRock. Beautiful location on the creek ( its full!). One side of the house and some really wide soffets. It turned out there was some insulation in the walls. That will go into the attic to keep Liz and the cats warmer this winter. The color is a bit darker then the house but it won't be directly visible unless you are looking down from the Cox's house. Anyway I worked from 1830 to nearly 2200 last night.

When I walked this morning, it was spitting almost rain.

Too hot

started at 0500 and even gave Madison the pug a circuit around the mountain. He doesn't normally get out for a large walk in the summer. Spent a few minutes on the deck trying to make shade out of the old metal from the storage shed. I cleaned a few more vinyl pieces, two corners and the last 4 vinyl siding. I will remount the chainlink posts out a bit so it won't interfere with the siding. The west side should be ready for siding tomorrow. Its 103 and a high wind, and at noon I gave up and went in to the house and made a meal. I am being decadent and cranked the temp to 82, at least I am getting some laundry and cleanup done. Maybe I will head out again at 6:30pm tighten down the last screws in the ridge vents.

New clothes for the shed

Well the vinyl siding is cleaning up nicely with a scrub brush and lots of irrigation water. I have added soffet vents on both sides and a large triangle on the north gable. I have enough siding to do one side and maybe the north face in pieces. I still need to cut out the bottom 6 " of paneling all around base as its gotten minor water damage. Everything was properly painted except the bottom cut edge by the ground and being masonite it absorbed some water over its 10 years at the Dell Diamond ( tha)ts a baseball stadium,

Todays project is to work on the chain link fences on either side of the shed and maybe even hang the gate on the west side of the house. If you ever work on a fence by the aluminum wires to hang it on the cross bars much easier then the galvanized wire I am using.

Shed is ventilated

I cleaned up some leaves around Josie's house and she asked if I could move the pile of old scraps from the vinyl siding about 10 years ago. I started cleaning up of the leaves and seperating out the parts and pieces of vinyl. It came out a full pickup full, kinda dirty from the composting oak leaves but I now have enough vinyl soffet to add to the house soffets. Its an older style but it won't show on the north side of the house. Its much easier then drilling the 180 holes per piece of soffet.

I cleaned put pieces of channel and then cut the soffet pieces. It only took 2 12 foot pieces of soffet and 8 pieces of channel . I had to remove the old unvented masonite soffet but it looks great with new vinyl and I won't paint it in my lifetime. I added a single vent in the north gable of the roof. I still might do a cupola or a pair of roof vents if it stays too hot to store the furniture. Nothing on the southface, will probably use some bat insulation to insulate the door as it is the main heat spot. Actually the east wall is pretty hot especially as the sun bounces off the future water cistern pad.

194.5 two mornings now, got in all my morning walks.

Waiting for the Shed

Last two days have been wait time for the shed. No word yet on exactly when it will be delivered. Robert pointed out the was some fire damage in his shed. The wood look black and charred but it does not rub off and there is some white powdery stuff near it. Its only up in to soffet area around the ends of the rafters. I did not notice any similar damage in mine, but its not here yet and I did not have a ladder to check things. Maybe it will come tomorrow.
I had noticed all the sheds were without any real ventilation other then garage doors. Chris's the largest one had a small air conditioner poked thru the wall. It has barnacle like mold on the edge of the soffet for nearly 2 feet. I internet-checked up on moisture and mildew and finally found some information on mildew and prevention and repair. Looks like we will need some bleach water and maybe some paint and ofcourse adding some ventilation. I already have some soffet vents and two ridge vents to put in before I even think about windows. Actually we may never put windows but maybe a cupola which would give us both skylight and ventilation. If it just for storage windows will just be one more place for water to come in. I probably need to check my attic ridge vent next am up there and make sure there is no mildew evidence. Now I am certain that I will put that tar paper under the building as a vapor barrier to prevent any water from venting up from the ground. Its not as nice as a waterproofed basement but we don't get that much rain here anyway. If we poured footings those would be waterproofed. The water might stand on the tar paper but probably not for long. Water seeping up from the ground is more likely.
Air conditioner just turned on and its set for 80 F, will reset to 81. Attic is 113 F and its 1847hrs with a hot wind blowing across the property. Outside temperature is 100 F. We will have clouds again tonight so I may not head up to see check the attic vents from the inside. I might crawl thru the Pyracantha one day and check the other attic. Yuck, I better be very bored before I do that. Anway the picture is of the rolled up devil weed that I need to cart away tomorrow and hopefully get ready for the shed. The vicuna flowers above the water cooler are surviving but the sun has bleached out most of the color I checked and they used to get very little afternoon sun. Not many choices in that location just sun or more sun. At least the watering is automatic.
The picture is of the area where the shed will go and the low piles of devil weed were 5 times higher before I figured how to roll them into tight bundles. They actually stick to each other and make it pretty simple.
Some discussion about hooking up the chain link fence after the shed is in. I had thought of just putting it inside the fence and forgetting about digging holes for two endposts ( they are different from between posts). Another approach is to attach bolts to the side of the house and just bring the fence up to house. Robert is in favor of getting complete endposts and hardware, digging holes and cementing them in place, then getting a come-along and stringing each side. I will look into both methods, my approach is definitely cheaper and faster though I will have to add two timbers(4by 4s) to the garage corners to be sure its strong enough. I will price the eye bolts to put thru the walls. Looks like I get a trip to Home Depot or Tractor supply for those items. Lowe's does not carry that stuff. I probably need to check on the side gate and see if I need stuff to finish that. I know I will need a couple posts for that.
I finally got some other flowers in the garden area too.

Clearing more trees and devil vine

got a huge pile of devil vine. I cut one huge limb off the oak tree near the shed location and it would not fall as it was still attached by the vines. Finally hacked enough away to get it down. Chris gets the little branches for his smoker, Robert the larger limbs for his winter chinenea. Took the leaves to the goats. Picked up some vicunas flowers from Josie as a trade for cleaning some leaves and put them atop the water barrel. Its automatically watered by a wick extending down into the rainbarrel. Finally have some flowers in the garden. The red and purple ones should bloom but I never had time to check after 1000 hrs. The front door is now sealed a bit better fixed the threshold and has greg's oval window in it. Its caulked and nearly ready for paint. Added another soffet.
here is a link to some photos.
gotta get up early, am going out for 3 hours of volunteer time at Balcones Wild Life. My reward for working hard. Will leave after breakfast and watering maybe about 0600. Gotta get off the mountain and do something......
nite.

Robert's Shed is on the slab.

Karen and Robert had a fajita party with all those in town and then about 1600 hrs the Shed came up. Robert had to cut back the oaks a bit to get the shed into the spur. After backing the trailer up Sam got out his remote and we watched 2 men, a amazing hydralic trailer some pvc pipe ( for rollers) and two small hand jacks swivel the shed 90 degrees into position. Actually there was a small 4 man push at one point. The shed sits on the slab with 6 feet of clearance on the east and south sides for a nice deck. There is still some repair work required but its enclosed. The chicken coop is on temporary hold.
I am wetting down the new fill and gonna stomp on it abit. Mushu is enjoying sitting in the window and feeling the breeze and listening to the birds. Bebee spent an hour next to me while I read. Micka likes to sleep on the dining room table when I am at the computer. Its the appeal of the ceiling fan 3 feet overhead
I have a few more branches to cut and then take the green branches down the hill to the goats. I am also adding soffet vents by removing the panels and drilling vent holes by hand. It takes time but its easier then trying to vinyl soffet delivered in Texas. takes about 45 minutes a panel, most of the time is consumer in drilling the little holes. I am really quick on the rest of the process, though I have not gone up to the second floor North side.

Almost ready for the shed

Got most of the vines and cutting out of the area for the shed. Still have one more tree limb on the oak tree to cut. I took most of the cuttings with leaves down to Jody's ranch at the bottom of the hill and filled in the gullys. The goat herd finally came up to check it out. They were really excited by all the green leaves, though Bettima seemed as enamoured with nice branches to scratch her head between the horns. It was dessert as they had just eaten.
moved everything to piles for recycling and then moved them again for the backhoe. We got 4 loads of fill from in front of Chris's house. Its spread so I have a 24foot pad for the twenty foot shed. There is even a pad on the side for a rainwater tank. [the shed will have as much roof space as the second floor but will be much easier to put on raingutters. My goal is to eventually have a fully automated drip garden eventually. I have a planter on the deck doing with a Dutch cotton wick and nothing else. I will put a similar wick in the front rainbarrel planter as soon as I find enough rags to make a wick that will cover floor of the planter and then hang down into the water in the tank. anyway its late and will get finishing up in the morning. The bill for 1 hour of backhoe and 4 loads of fill was 120$ not bad for a combined deal with me Chris and Robert. A special thanks to Edward and his son for all their work.

The old Shed is torn down

its in piles of parts screws and bolts. A few panels are intact but most are in a pile for the recycler down on Trails End. Got a pile of household trash too. The shelf unit from the shed is now in the pumphouse and has helped me organize that area. Got enough baling wire and signal wire for an army. I will need some of that as I will be openning up the fence so we can put the shed into the lot. Chris will have some extra file dirt for me and it will go down towards the water tank. I will probably use the cinder blocks from the old trash cans and maybe a few more. I might use a few railroad ties if I can find them nearby.
The delivery time for the shed is weekend after this. Price rose to 400$ from 250$. Still a deal. It will cost 65$ to move and deliver that fill dirt also.
more clearing out tomorrow and will need to pick up a few parts to connect the fence. I have my list but will have to go down to get those at tractor supply. The idea is unhook the fence and pull out the poles then roll the chain link back and set the Shed down. Then get the fence back up before all the deer on the mountain find out about back garden. I might have to pull the fence back tomorrow if the fill comes in right away. Think I have a day or so.

Wow 4 days since last post

Last Friday I worked some on the presentation for the Travis Country Appraisal District. I will focus on the condition of the roof as the land is priced pretty accurately. I finished the mould ing around the front door and need to seal a few more things next week and then put a coat of paint on it. Its still sitting with its original primer and nothing else. I found a new can of exterior white semigloss which should be just right.
Over the weekend I realised the pictures needed to be dated and retook most of them. Walgreens did a great and swift job of printing them. Since the Apprailsal board has been known to keep your pictures and board I bought a new trifold board from Office Depot . Nearly forgot the bowed roof on the north side and had to put those pictures on Monday before the afternoon presentation. I drove down and got everything done in 2 hours including arriving an hour early. We are at the same valuation as last year, though the land is valued less by 10 and the house slightly more. After comparing all the houses on the circle we are doing pretty well. I have the spreadsheet if anyone is interested.
The heat continues and the evenings are still hot due to cloud cover. No rain in the forecast but more 3 digit days. The attic is too hot, maxs at 131 F today. At least it cools faster with the better air flow. Hard to believe the summer is just started.
Its so hot the the shed that we were going to get 10' by 12' grew to 16 by 20 with a height of 11'. Its going in where the old shed was except it will poke out thru the fence like a regular garage, actually the will be a garage door to open if you wish. It is about 10 years old but the folks who have seen them say they are great shape. The original builder is going to move them for us. Robert's is a little bigger then ours and will sit directly on the old slab.
I emptied the old shed and placed most of the contents. The shelf went into the pumphouse and other stuff is piled for recycling. Tomorrow morning I take all the branches and tree trimmings down to Jody's house and will fill in her erosion. That was convenient. There is another p
ile ready for the metal recycling center. I may have a full pickup truck full of household trash too. Thats cheap at $4.00. Its crunch time as the shed will be delivered on Friday and I need to set some cinder blocks for the skids under shed. The very back may require some buildit up about two levels.
Time for bed now, early day tomorrow..................

There will be a new camera breed

check the gallery link most change in camera since silver to digital. Hope Liz gets a chance to play with one.

getting ready for the Tax Protest

I walked around taking new photos for the Tax protest hearing on Monday. We got word last night that we are now paying members of the water coop. Actually it was a text message from someone to Karen. All this for water for the trees and landscaping and I guess for fire if it comes to that. just need to keep it off the leaves of the plants. I tried the new hinges and they make the plantation shutters easier to move and they are much easier to put up and adjust.

Last night I added or cleared two more soffet vents. Several have been closed off with pieces of the insulation. The attic is cooling down faster in the evenings. The rooms will be better insulated when I finish turning all the insulation with the glass wool down and the paper side up. When I finish that, I will add the reflective insulation. There should be a much warmer winter.

The front door is getting its final moulding today. I insulated it and will attach it and be ready to paint the door ( it was primed but never painted). It will be white like the windows with a few small green details like the whole house. I will probably have to buy some white paint but there may be some hiding in the storeroom. Still no further information on the possible shed for the back yard.

Off to look for some paint and then pickup a trifold for the Tax Presentation.

Big Thunder Storm and rain last night

Lots of lightening flashes and then rain all at once. The wind tore two grommets out of the sun sheild over the deck and the one over the little garden. My round gardens were completely flooded, as I forgot about all the runoff from under the deck. It was sure cool this morning. Openned the windows and cooled the whole house down quickly. I headed for Home Depot and got more rain gutters. I fixed the one on the south side of the house so it does not leak and put in a larger rain barrel (85gal). That barrel is moved to the back (North side) of the house. Most of the deck is guttered enough to catch any rain tonight.
I picked up a free red Oak about 18" tall, and some small elms and put them in the island until they mature. Maybe tomorrow I will cut more from the cedars.
time for bed.....

Last Days

Spend most mornings in the attic turning the insulation paper side up and stapling it to the rafters. I figured how to use our red fiberglass ladder to get up. Still more to do but it will be finished in a month. Its cramped and hot and dangerous ( nails protrude from the nailed on asphalt shingles) and I can only spend a hour or so and then want to come down and get shower. I have 4 bays done and maybe 20 to go.

Fathers Day I got a long phone call from Liz and later in the day with Ryan. It made it a very happy Fathers Day. I went to South Austin and visited the Natural Gardener. Spotted some great trellises, trees and even some Pomegranates that might work as a screen down at the bottom of the property. Need to get at least one to see if it can survive down there . They are hardier then bamboo and won't need as much water. Shade clothe is the same price as HD (Handy Dan). Bought some seeds and got some Texas/Mexican Buckeyes. Not the same as the German ones but still a sturdy tree with a three seed pod.

In the afternoon I helped Maggie choose two ceiling fans, weather stripping, Hot water heater blanket, and reostats for the lights. Even got one reostat to work with a two switch light ( 9$ in stead of 5$). It was late and just got the main ceiling fan and light installed before it got too dark to work ( you have to cut off the power when you put up a ceiling fan) Got some dinner and saw the Central Market down in South Austin.

The heat continues............

and Two more this morning

And this morning before the heat got going I did two more soffets. This time it was on the top roof. I pulled the soffet, drilled a hole and then sawed out the openning. The insulation was easy to move on one and not so easy on the other. I guess I will have to do that from the inside in the morning.

Time for a shower and some breakfast or maybe brunch.

Got two soffet vents installed

I started with the easiest vents, those on the lower roof and in front on the south side and for summer thats the side with the prevailing wind. Two working soffets are now located on either side of the large window under the eaves. I called Dana the installer and she talked me thru the required procedures.
I also made a small tool to pull the panels apart.
After removing the nails along the green metal edge I removed the soffet and added a large hole to allow air to enter the attic. I also added a chute to make sure no one could push the ceiling insulation and block the soffet. Its important to have good air exchange to remove moisture from the attic and keep the temperature oderate. All our air conditioning ducts are in our attics and will pickup any extra heat from the attic air. Anyway the lower roof is done, I know the procedure and tomorrow I get to do the two story side of the house. That should make a big and measureable difference.
I also started some bean sprouts and set up two small container gardens on the north and shady side of the house. There is talk of 20% chance of rain later next week. We even had a small forest fire in Leander over near Mike's house. Its out now but things were touch and go on thursday.
time for another shower and bed, night all

Catching up

Well its Friday and I need to catch up on whats been happening..
I finally got water delivered from The Water Drop at 1130pm on Monday night 13th. I made some spinach spatzle for Steve and Laura. They are starting their business in the middle of what may be the biggest drought in Texas History. He lived the other side of Kitzingen DE around 1982-5. Hindenberg Kaserne was his location where he worked as a diesel mechanic. I heard several Hohenfels and Graf stories as we topped off our big black cistern. Took a shower and ran the dishwasher.
Maggie (Henslee) Moody lives in South Austin in a new subdivision retro styled in bungaloes reminding me of the Heights and Montrose neighborhoods. Shes been my tour guide around South Austin. Went to the Zilker Botanical Garden to an annual Butterfly Count ( count or list the varieties found within a large circle arount Mt Bonnel). " Watch for a bunch of folks with big floppy hats", she said Everyone was carefully turning over leaves looking for various caterpillars and their eating marks. Further along there are nectar plants for the mature animals ( butterflies and moths) . We spotted about 6 varieties. Maggie and I took a break for breakfast at Motzarts on Towne Lake and split a bagle and cream cheese and a chocolate croissant. We continued tours of local spots from inside the car and eventually had an early dinner at Torchies on of Austins Trailer Restaurants.
The next day was the Cool House Tour a self guided tour of solar and energy aware homes and rebuilds around Austin.
Well what have I done on the house. Changed out the front window glass oval in the front door for the really nice one we got from Uncle Greg. Installed a new programable thermostat with settings for Morning, Day, Evening and night. It will also allow programmng for each day of the week. I added a sunscreen outside the masterbed room windows. Took the rest of the screen and made two trianglar sunscreens ( they dont get caught by the wind like the square ones). One shades the upstairs patio sliding glass doors. The second one is set to shade the Jasmine garden on the east wall. It's shade plants or watch them wilt before your eyes. Karen and Roberts tomatoes got moved close to the west wall of their house from the west edge of the slab.
The Kamenzind rainbarrels were nearly dry and Robert and I replenshed them a bit from our cistern. The wind continues as has the temperature stays in the hundreds. The plants are growing but very slowly. I picked up some straw and manure from the horses and the goats down the by Trails end and Johnson road. The Jasmine garden, the Burr Oaks and even the piracantha got a got dose of manure and some straw and bark mulch. The piracanthat will ventually be moved but its providing great shade on the west side.
I am cutting back the cedar to allow any other trees a chance to grow. I have trimmed the one out by the mailboxes and added some manure and mulch inside the rock enclosed area. I would sure like to have it as lush the Kamenzind area across the road. Neither is watered but the difference is night and day as some would say, will change when I remove the cedar trees and let the oaks and elm grow up more. Each time I cut a limb down I try to cut all the limbs off and they go to debris dams on the west side of the property along the road. When it rains.... the dams will slow the water and direct it to the property and our meadow. Our backyard meadow is the largest on Mount Chalet except for JW's lawn in the center of the circle. Its just "watered" by runoff from the circle and the spur and a tiny bit from our drainfield.
The hummingbirds are back at the feeder, the cardinals are diving thru the cedars, and there is a Road Runner who showed up and cruised the back porch. I hope he returns, very majestic. The hawks and vultures are circling higher and higher with the rise in temperature and wind speed.
-time for a quick nap stayed up late reading Water from Stone, the story of Selah, Bamberger Ranch Reserve

Sundasy
took the cool house tour around Southern Austin. lots more retro fits this year even had a rainstorm in the middle oft afternoon.
Monday
still no water, got up early and blocked off some more of the rafters in the attic. Its still really tigh to crawl around up there. and it gets hot pretty fast.
Went down toJodys and picked up more old bedding for the garden. maybe 6 bags full planted an iris, and the shrimpplant. planted the souvenir garlic upstairs in the deck planter. uses automatic watering from the air conditioner water. made dutch wicks they seem to be working pretty well
several of the homes we visited used low pressure drip irrigation and rainbarrels to irrigate their landscaping and gardens.
I wrapped the new insulation aroundthe cold freon line of the air conditioner had to wrap entire line as the temperature difference pops the adhesive slit open. Its the same foam but nod==w the whole thing is wrapped in duct tape not spiralled just around.

mexican heather is getting dryed out and still have not figured out where to plant the other two irises. I want a planter area under the trees on the back porcsh somewhere. maybe I can get by with some buckets. If I can keep them in the shade they may do better then the other planter spots. Lots of mulch seems to help all the planters even at the Kamenzinds. planted some heirloom beans, I just wanted to replace on planter but after soaking so many beans I just planted them everywhere even around the trees just to see if the soil will handle it. I will have to make a cage for thme to keep the deer away butat least will know if I can add somemore plants arond the trees. The mulch has really changed the ecosystem.

Wednesday projects includea trip to the post office to mail stuff to MEB and liz, get $75 for the water drop.move the canopy from the west. see if the Home depot still has the corrugated special will also need some 1 b 2 and eventually some paint. see aout new gable door for the upper story. Temperature got up to 130 in the attic outsidewas about 105 F

Last weekend in Austin

0500 Saturday Morning I got up and spread some of the old horse bedding and straw around the plants. [ I picked up bunch of straw and pine bedding from the little stable at the bottom of the hill] I will be away for a while today going to Zilker Park for the annual Butterfly count with the local butterfly group at 0800. " Just watch for a bunch of nerds in floppy hats" said Maggie. We started thru the Botanical Gardens carefully watch for eaten leaves ( evidence of caterpillars) and then turning them over to spot the caterpillars. Pretty soon the butterflys were flittering about the various plantings. There are two kinds of plantings in the garden. One is food for the caterpillars and the other is nectar plants for the brief life of the butterfly. After a few hours the group decided to head for Mount Bonnel . The Count is supposed to use that as a center point for the count.
Maggie and I headed down to Motzart's on the dam above Town Lake and split a bagle and cream cheese and a chocolate croissant washing everything down with a cold latte. Like so many areas around here it also has free wifi. We toured around and then returned to my car and I headed back to Leander.
I headed north up I-35 to Georgetown to visit my cousin from Philadelphia who lives in Georgetown off exit 266. Its in one of those golf course subdivisions with the course stretching all through the area. Guarantees lots of homes "on the course" and a goodly share of broken windows, lost and unretreiveable balls. Jay Hirsch and his wife Rachal don't golf, have a house in the back of the subdivision up against some raw land and of course marauding deer. Front yards need to full of plants the deer don't like or they are gone.
The Hirsch's are foster caring a baby and hope to have the legal items squared away in the next week for full adoption. Jay is a physician assistant specializing in cardiovascular surgery and Rachal is a high school biology teacher originally from Long Island. We talked about all the various brothers and sisters and cousins. Jay's hobby is cabinet making and Rachal is a parttime chocoatier among of things. The house is shared with an older siamese cat and two blue point siamese brother cats and upstairs there is a yellow brown lizard as long as the cats. They all get along famously in the Den upstairs. We went out to the Monument Diner in Georgetown and had a late lunch. Took a drive through the town square and then headed back.