Murrah Blog

Don't Forget the Indian Paintbrushes

2009-04-14T19:25:00.001-07:00

Although not as well know as the bluebonnet, many Texas roadsides also have fields of a reddish flower somewhat similar in appearance to bluebonnets, known as Indian paintbrushes. They are also planted by the Texas Department of Transportation, and they provide a very pretty contrast to bluebonnets. We found these Indian paintbrushes alongside a street on the edge of Huntsville while on a trip to Home Depot.

Bluebonnet Time in Texas

2009-04-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

Every year from March to May the roadsides in many parts of Texas burst into carpets of blue flowers. These are bluebonnets, the Texas state flower, and seeds are sown along Texas highways by the Texas Department of Transportation to keep the annual show going. We have several large fields of bluebonnets alongside Highway 19 between Riverside and Huntsville. It is not uncommon to see Texans stopping their cars alongside the highway and taking photos of family members lying in a field of bluebonnets.

Martin's Gospel Jubilee

2009-04-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid in East Texas, my parents liked to go to gospel "singings," which featured lively vocal music in the Southern gospel style. Recently one of our RV club members stumbled upon a private campground on Lake Sam Rayburn that hosts an annual gospel "jubilee," which is three days of camping out, eating and listening to gospel music performances. The surprising thing is that it is absolutely free! And our club was invited to attend.

The owner, a wealthy Houston man (he invented the A-frame air conditioning coil) who acts as host, emcee for the performances, and some time performer. He is a talented songwriter and poet. He also has a large collection of classic cars in a museum that opens only when he is there. He is often around to provide a personal tour and gave us a reading of a touching poem that he wrote about his father's hat. The car collection includes an RV-like bus that Franklin Roosevelt used in his run for Governor of New York in the late 1920's.

The meals were high cal all the way -- fried catfish, barbecue, bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, and so on. In addition, they served homemade ice cream every day as shown in the nearby photo. Note that the ice cream maker was powered by a restored antique one cylinder John Deere "hit and miss" engine. By the end of the weekend, we were hitting the antacids pretty heavily.

The music featured everything from amateur open mike performances to professional groups. The music was all gospel, and much of it was in the bluegrass style. There also several very good traditional gospel quartets. One of the performers was my old grade school buddy, Kenneth Ryan. He played bass in a local bluegrass gospel group. Neither had any idea that the other would be there.

Guests included Donna Douglas, who played Ellie May on the "Beverly Hillbillies" and Tom Lester, who played Eb on the "Green Acres" series.

It was a very good weekend, and we will probably go again next year.

Lost in Texas

2009-04-01T06:08:00.001-07:00

After our four wheeling run at Tree's Ranch, Cec and I played tourist for a day. We drove over to Utopia, Texas for lunch and waymarked some historical markers (www.waymarking.com). A group is photographing and measuring the coordinates of all Texas historical markers with GPSs.

After lunch we drove on to visit the Lost Maples State Natural Area. Maples normally do not grow in hot climates, but they do grow in the canyons of the Sabinal River. The cool spring fed river and the sheltered canyons provide an ideal microclimate for them. The maples came to Texas with the glaciers in one of the ice ages and found a home.

We decided to hike the first section of one of the two trails in the area, but we just kept walking, crossing the very shallow river via stepping stones several times and climbing a very steep, rugged trail to a hill top where there were several very nice overlooks. On the down side of the trail we ran across the lake shown in the photo above. The attendant at our RV campground in Leakey later told me that he had camped there as a Boy Scout and that there was an artesian well that sprayed water up into the air.

Eventually, a tired pair made it back to the parking lot after a hike of almost 6 miles. We slept soundly (and early) that night, but surprisingly we were not sore the next day.

Anatomy of a Trail Fix

2009-03-31T21:09:00.001-07:00

Broken parts are a part of four wheeling, and ingenious trail fixes are often necessary to get the vehicle back to the parking lot where it can be trailered home.

In a previous post I mentioned that one of the Jeeps in our group at Tree's Ranch, a TJ model (97-06), broke a rear axle trying to climb a ledge. Luckily it was near the end of the day, and the trail fix was an interesting part of the run.

When a rear axle breaks on a TJ, the axle shaft comes out of the axle tube and the wheel begins to stick out from the side of the Jeep. If it is not restrained, it will eventually separate from the Jeep.

The fix in this case involved two steps. First, the rear drive shaft was disconnected, which made the Jeep front wheel drive only.

The second part was to take the vertical bar from a high lift jack (a 4' tall jack made for heavy equipment but beloved by four wheelers) and tie it across the tire using parts of a ratchet strap (the type used to tie town loads to a trailer). One end of the jack bar was tied to the Jeep frame on the rear of the tire and the other on the the front of the tire. As the photo shows, this lets the jack bar slide on the tire while holding the tire and axle shaft in place. The tire was lubricated with WD-40.

Unfortunately, the jack bar tended to rise up on the tire as it turned, and one of the guys rode on the bar as the Jeep drove back to the road. As the Jeep moved, the rider sprayed the tire to keep it lubricated. The Jeep had to drive very slowly, obviously, and a trailer was sent to pick it up at the first accessible location.

Four Wheeling at Tree's Ranch

2009-03-31T20:42:00.001-07:00

We had not been four wheeling since we left Michigan, and we decided to join the Jeep Nation club out of San Antonio on a run to Tree's Ranch, which is about 125 miles west of San Antonio not far north of the small town of Leakey.

Tree's is a 5500 acre exotic game ranch that opens one weekend a month for four wheeling. It is in the Texas Hill Country, which has limestone hills several hundred feet in height covered with cedar and mesquite trees and cactus. The ground is littered with broken pieces of limestone of all sizes, and the land is cut by creeks that are dry most of the year. Among the rocks live rattlesnakes and scorpions, although we did not see any on our trip. As they say, the area is filled with things that stick, sting and bite.

We ran the intermediate trails which required tires at least 33" in diameter up to 37". (By comparison most full size SUV tires are about 28" in diameter.) Our trails crossed creeks, went up and down very steep hills and followed dry creek beds. The creek beds were filled with rocks and had numerous dry waterfalls that we had to climb or descend. The adjacent photo shows my Jeep descending a waterfall.

As a testament to the difficulty of the trails, our run had a broken U-joint and transfer case yoke on one Jeep, a broken track bar on another and a severely dented rim causing a flat tire on a third. We heard of a rollover on the extreme trail, but those guys are prepared for that with extensive roll cages. The worst breakdown of the day in our group was a broken rear axle on a TJ style Jeep, which I will detail with a photo the following post.

My Jeep, also a TJ, came through with only a severely dented front license plate holder and plate and a slightly dented rear license plate holder. That happened when I got stuck between two rocks in a stream bed. Another Jeep used its winch to bull my rear tires sideways to give me room to maneuver.

Oh, yes, they say I almost rolled my Jeep on the same obstacle, although I did not notice it from inside. Oops!

Tree's is an outstanding offroad facility, and we had a wonderful time driving the trails and socializing with the Jeep Nation folks. We followed the day with a nice barbecue dinner. I also won a tow strap in the door prize drawing after dinner Saturday night.

What I'm Going To Be When I Grow Up

2009-03-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

I have always been interested in archaeology; and when the Walker County Historical Commission was looking for someone interested in attending a workshop on historical archaelogy, I jumped at the chance.

I joined the Texas Archeology Society (that's the way they spell archaeology) and headed down to Lake Jackson south of Houston the first weekend in March. They had very interesting lectures by a professional archaelolgist on the basics of archaelogy, pottery identification, and the Jackson plantation and sugar mill.

We ended the session with a field trip to the Jackson planation to view the ruins of the home and sugar mill, which sold a remarkable $600,000 of sugar in 1860. The lady in the picture was our main lecturer and tour guide.

If It's Spring, It Must Be Time to Plant A Garden

2009-03-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Last year our garden was only moderately successful. We put it in hurriedly and did not prepare the soil nearly well enough. This year we are in our new home, and we decided to build raised beds with good soil. Cec is taking the Master Gardener course sponsored by the Walker County Extension Agent, and we are applying what she has learned there.

I built two 6'x16' frames from landscape timbers secured with 60p spikes in pre-drilled holes and lined the sides with plastic to insulate the soil from the timber chemicals. I finished the bed by topping it off with deck boards (not shown in photo) to provide a comfortable seat. I also added vertical pieces of PVC pipe around the inside edges so I could make a cover frame by inserting and bending smaller diameter PVC across the bed. We used it to cover the garden with a tarp last weekend to avoid a late frost, and it worked great.

I have to mention the Makita 18v. portable impact drill that I bought to install the straps for the PVC and the deck boards. I borrowed one from my builder last year to build a wood fence and was so impressed that I decided I had to have one myself. The drill is very small and light and will practically drive a deck screw through a 1" board. It is one of the most effective power tools I have ever owned.

The soil came from a mushroom farm near Madisonville. They have to change their soil every 7 years, and they sell the very rich used soil to local gardeners and landscapers. I used my Kubota tractor to scoop the soil and transport it to the beds. Love my tractor!

We have already planted tomatoes, onions, peppers, squashes, canteloupes and turnip greens and will add climbing green beans tomorrow. One of Cec's Master Gardener buddies is going to give us bamboo to stick the beans. Most of our sets came from the Walker County Master Gardeners plant sale. The tomatoes were 12" tall when we bought them!

How Many Turtles on the Log?

2009-03-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

I count 25 or 26, but who can be sure?

We see some interesting sights in out little lagoon on Bethy Creek, but this is one of the more interesting ones. It's right up there with the invasion of the pelicans in November. We also see quite a few egrets and blue herons strolling through the shallow waters of the lagoon searching for fish.

Our lagoon is a dead end from quite a few pieces of flotsam. We get fishing lures, bobbers (or "corks" as we say in East Texas), tennis balls, plastic jugs that many use for trot line floats, and last week a log.

It was not long before the turtles discovered the log and climbed aboard. They are very skittish making it hard to get a close-up photo. This one was taken at 50 yards with a medium telephoto lense, and it was heavily cropped.

Spring Is Coming

2009-02-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Texas weather is warming up, and the landscape is greening. So it is time to work in the yard. In the photo at the right Lee moves fill dirt to a low spot in the front yard with his favorite toy, a 23 HP Kubota diesel tractor. He has moved three dump truck loads of dirt with the tractor and front end loader.

We are building two raised beds for a vegetable garden, and we are planting trees. We have planted a key lime and a orange and will be planting a pear as well as 10 evergreens to block the nearby campground from view.

Cec is taking the Master Gardener course in Walker County, and we are benefitting from her new knowledge. We have also joined the Walker County Beekeeers and will probably also put in two bee hives.

February Campout

2009-02-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

In February Lee and Cec went on their monthly campout to Goodrich, Texas (near Livingston) with the Luf2Go Sams. The group is big on pot luck dinners and cookouts. The highlight of the Goodrich campout was a barbecue brisket. The photo at the left shows Charles finishing up with the brisket and some sausage on the campground's horizontal smoker.

In the afternoon and evenings, we played a domino game called Mexican Train.

The smoker is a home brew affair and features a 1970 Chevrolet axle and differential as a brace connecting the front legs.

Scooting at 90

2009-02-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

In February Lee and Cec visited their friend Johnny in Marble Falls, Texas. Johnny is 90 years old, and believe it or not he bought a motor scooter several months ago. It is a Chinese-made 49cc scooter, and it cost less than $1000. Scooters with that size engine do not require a special motorcycle license.

Johnny enjoys riding the scooter around his condo complex and the adjacent neighborhood. He does not ride in on the highway or into the downtown area. In the adjacent photo Johnny gets Lee geared up for a ride on the scooter.

What a guy!

Colorful Sunrise

2009-02-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

In early January Lee caught this colorful sunrise over Bethy Creek Bay from his back porch.

Brutal Texas Winter

2009-02-28T13:20:00.001-08:00

In early December we had a rare snowfall in Riverside. The adjacent photo shows snow accumulation on Lee's Jeep and a few patches of snow on ground. The weather warmed, however, and the snow quickly disappeared.

Unfortunately, Lee did not get to see the snow since he was on a business trip to California. The snow melted before his return.

Deer Everywhere!

2009-02-28T11:55:00.001-08:00

Our Christmas campout with the Luf2Go Sams was at an old Boy Scout camp at Garrison, Texas. Late in the afternoon I was startled to see several deer wander by our camper. I grabbed my camera and followed them around to the campground maintenance area. There were even more deer there than I had seen earlier.

I discovered that it was no accident that the deer were in the campground. The owner feeds them ever day, and they are almost tame. One would even eat from his hand. The buck was very wary, though, and kept his distance.

Unusual Pine Tree

2008-12-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

I was driving down the same road I have driven for 10 months, but for the first time I noticed a strange looking pine tree. It was the usual tall slender pine, but it had a number of small, dark, bushy branches growing from the trunk below the main branches. It looked like a small, separate tree of a different species. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Maybe I'll send he photo to a forestry professor at Stephen F. Austin State University to see what they say.

Smoked Turkey

2008-11-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a recent post, I smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Cec bought a turkey breast with legs and wings removed, which weighed about 8 pounds.

I prepared it by injecting the breast with a small amount of Worchestershire sauce with a little Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning sprinkled in (too much will clog the injection needle) and sprinkled the same seasoning on the outside. I smoked it in my horizontal smoker (firebox on end) in a foil pan using a combination of hickory and mesquite chips at 300-400F for two hours uncovered and then another two hours covered with aluminum foil.

The result was one of the best turkeys I've every had. That with all the wonderful dishes prepared by Cec made this one of my best Thanksgivings ever.

I had my first fried turkey last weekend on a campout with the Luf To Go Sams camping club. It was very good, but I think I like smoked turkey a little better. It is certainy lower in calories.

Egret

2008-11-28T08:02:00.001-08:00

Speaking of egrets, here is one that showed up in our lagoon this morning. We see these almost every day. Occasionally we have a visit from a blue heron.

Life in a Small East Texas Town, Chapter 1

2008-11-27T16:34:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, after a wonderful Thanksgiving meal (smoked turkey, cornbread dressing, corn casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean salad, homemade rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, cocoanut cream pie, and pecan pie), and just as the clean-up was begoinning, Cec yelled that the water was off. The water system is run by two guys who live just across the road from us, and I gave them a call to find out what was wrong. Howard said Doug had just left to check on it.

A while later Doug stopped by to tell us that a woman up the street had a drainage problem at her home and did not know how to turn off the water. For some reason she knew the location of one of the main valves at the water plant and how to turn it off, which she did. That turned off water to about 1/3 of the water system customers.

In the big city the perpetrator would probably be conferring with her defense attorney about now. In Riverside, however, our guys just told her never to do it again and turned the water back on.

Invasion of the Pelicans

2008-11-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

We have lots of birds around the lake. Egrets and blue herons feed in our little lagoon almost every day. They stand very still on their long legs in the shallow water and every so often peck at the water, bringing up a small fish almost every time.

Today we had an invasion of American white pelicans, a species usually seen on the Gulf Coast. I was sitting in the yard with my back to the water watching my step-son Paul and his two sons burning a stump when I heard a whooshing, splashing sound. I though someone had driven up in a boat, but much to my surprise I found several hundred pelicans landing in Bethy Creek bay next to our property. They swam back and forth across the bay for about a half hour apparently feeding on the fish. Suddenly they started flapping and left as quickly as they had come. It was quite an unusual sight.

We saw a hawk in the persimmon tree in our back (lakeside) yard a couple of days ago, and I have heard there are bald eagles on the lake. We'll keep a lookout for them.

How I Saved the Country Last Weekend

2008-10-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I attended the Wings Over Houston air show at Ellington Field in Houston. I went as representative of the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veterans Museum of Texas where I am volunteer. We took two of our area veterans, M. B. Ethredge and John Fuchs, to appear at the Legends and Heroes autograph tent. Mr. Ethredge was an infantry officer and said to be the second most highly decorated soldier of the war next to his good friend Audie Murphy. Mr. Fuchs was a B-17 crewman who was shot down over Germany on his first mission and spent 8 months in a prison camp.

Others of note in the tent were Dick Cole, Jimmy Doolittle's copilot on his raid on Tokyo, and Glenn McDuffie, the man in the famous "kissing sailor" photograph taken in New York on VE Day.

The show featured flights by World War two aircraft like the P-51 Mustang and B-17 Flying Fortress. Most of the famous warbirds of WWII were there except the B-29 bomber. The world's only flying B-29 bomber, known as "Fifi" is out of commission having new engines installed. There were several fantastic aerobatic demonstrations as well as demonstrations of current aircraft such as the FA-18 Navy fighter, the C-17 cargo aircraft and the Apache helicopter. The show ended with a flight by the Air Force Thunderbirds team.

The highlight of my day is illustrated in the photo above. The photo is very poor quality since it was taken from a movie -- I had my camera on the wrong setting. I know the Navy cap looks goofy, but it was way too small for my head, and I know nothing about how to wear Navy gear.

So here's the story.

The Commemorative Air Force (formerly Confederate Air Force) stages a Tora! Tora! Tora! reenactment at air shows. They use WWII trainers reconfigured to look remarkably like Japanese Zeros and other aircraft to simulate the Pearl Harbor attack. The aircraft zoom in and "bomb" the area while pyrotechnicials on the ground set off a series of explosions that create a lot of fire, smoke and noise. Several American aircraft also get involved. In the past I have seen a B-17 bomber do a one wheel down touch and go landing in the midst of the bombing as actually happened at the fateful day.

The attack is preceded by a number of American Jeeps and military vehicles filled with soldiers and sailor milling around near the attack zone. The vehicles are owned by members of a WWII reenactment group in Houston known as the 6th Cav. When the airplanes arrive, the men initially wave but then quickly realize their error and start to shoot back using machine guns on the vehicles. Some are wounded and fall to the ground.

That's where I come in. The man who runs the Legends and Heroes tent got me a slot on one of the Jeeps to participate as one of the men on the ground. They gave me a navy cap and shirt and away I went in the rear seat of the Jeep. I got to simulate shooting the 50 caliber machine gun while the aircraft ware attacking. I also treated a wounded colleague, but for the most part I crouched behind the Jeep. We were very close to the explosions, and I could feel the heat every time a charge went off. It was also very noisy with propeller driven aircraft buzzing all around, though not directly over us, and charges exploding. Fortunately someone had given me a set of ear plugs.

It was a once-in a-lifetime experience for me...unless I can find a WWII Jeep to buy and restore so I can be a regular part of the action. I also need a WWII uniform.

Catching Up

2008-10-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

I have not posted for several months, for which I apologize. The blog was established primarily to keep everyone informed about he progress on construction of our house, and we have now finished it and moved in. In addition, Cec became ill this summer. I won't go into details here, but it was a scary situation. Thank God, she is OK now.

Some of my readers have requested more posts. So here goes.

Moon Over the Lake

2008-07-18T20:45:00.001-07:00

We went to the Woodlands today to do some shopping and have dinner for my 61st birthday. We went to Landry's Seafood at the Woodlands Mall and had a very nice meal.

When we arrived home, there was a full moon over the bay behind our house, and the adjacent photo was taken from our back porch. It does not do justice to the beauty of the sight. We see essentially the same sight from our bedroom window, but my attempt to photograph from the bedroom failed. I am going to get my good SLR digital camera ready for the next full moon and try to get a better shot.

Y'all Come Set a Spell!

2008-07-02T13:44:00.001-07:00

When we were planning the house, there were three features I wanted: a metal roof, a screen porch, and a porch swing. All are matters of nostalgia from my childhood. Many of the several houses we lived in when I was a child had metal roofs and screen porches. I love the sound of rain on a metal roof and a screen porch is a great way to enjoy the outdoors without fighting mosquitos.

The porch swing goes back to my grandparents' home. My grandfather had a porch swing that I enjoyed using when he was not in it. One time I was sitting in Paw Paw's swing eating a bowl of jello (raspberry as I remember). I got the swing going a bit too high and tumbled out of the swing into the yard with the bowl of jello.

That is the intro to my deja vu experience. Last Saturday evening, we invited friends from Huntsville (he is a professor at Texas A&M at Texarkana) to dinner at an Italian bistro in Trinity (yes, you heard me right, and it's very good). We stopped back to show them the house and "set a spell" on the porch. After about a half hour of gentle rocking in the swing, the mounting bolt came out of the ceiling and we crashed to the floor. The bolt hit me on the head and caused quite a bit of bleeding, although it was not a serious wound. The framer, who swore he knew where the 2"x12"mounting boards he had installed were located, had mounted it for me a couple of days before. Apparently, he slightly missed the boards. Luckily, I and not my friend was on the end that fell. It is now remounted, and I am warily watching it for a while.

We bought the swing at a local hardware store early in the spring, and I had to assemble it, which was straighforward. We bought four matching rocking chairs as shown in the photo, and I have assembled two of them. The assembly was not quite as easy as the swing since glue and fitting spindles into pre-drilled holes were involved. It was not difficult until I got to the runners. The holes were not precisely drilled, and I had to shave the spindles and the holes with my pocket knife and use a hammer to make them fit. But they seem to rock just fine. Only two more to go.

Generator

2008-07-02T13:37:00.001-07:00

Because we were in a blackout in Michigan for three days, and our area was hit fairly hard by Hurricane Rita, we decided to install an auxiliary generator. Most new homes in this area have generators. The 18kw unit can be seen in the adjacent photo. It operates on propane and starts up once a month automatically for testing. The propane tank, which was shown in the previous post, is just outside the picture on the left.

The guys in the picture are the builder, Philip, in the yellow shirt and two guys from Consumers Gas. They are probing for the pipe that runs under the driveway to the house. Luckily they found it.

New Propane Tank

2008-07-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

We chose a gas furnace for the house since electric heating is more expensive. Cec also wanted a gas cooktop. However, natural gas is not available in Riverside. That leaves propane as the only choice. So we rented a propane tank and had it set out by the barn. It holds 200 gallons max, and at the present price of $2.80 per gallon a fill-up costs $560. Not too much more than a tank of gasoline, eh?

The man in the photo is Don, who is a retired aeronautical engineer. He accompanies the builder on his rounds on most days and helps out when he can (such as installing drawer pulls). He is a great guy, and we look forward to seeing him when the builder comes to check on his subcontractors. He was invaluable in helping me sort out my TV and sound installation.

The propane tank was the last item required before we can move in.

TV and Internet Installed

2008-07-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

The builder helped me install a Peerless wall mount and 52" Sharp Aquos LCD HD television above the fireplace. The Peerless has arms that extend out about 2' from the wall, which permits easy installation of cables on the back of the TV. As I mentioned in a previous post, the retracted mount protrudes from the mounting surface by several inches. To compensate for this I had a box built into the wall above the fireplace. When retracted, the TV fits almost flush with the wall.

We chose Dish over DirectTV as our satellite provider. I was initially looking at DirectTV since they are said to be better for RV use, but it turned out that I did not have enough wires installed in the attic (I had two) to bring their signal into the house. Each TV and the DVR requires a separate cable to the antenna. However, Dish uses a multiplexer that lets them use only one.

We already had a Phillips 37" HDTV (now in my office) and we had several HD channels on Comcast in Michigan. However, I was not terribly impressed. Initially, I was thinking about foregoing HD service, but I learned that there is a Smithsonian channel available only in HD. So I got the HD service, and I am really happy I did. The Aquos HD picture is far and away better than the Phillips. Dish seems to be the leader in HD channels, and they have HD for most of the major channels.

We also now have DSL Internet service provided by our local telephone company, Windstream. It seems to work very well, although DSL is not quite as fast as cable.

Maybe I Should Buy a Lottery Ticket

2008-06-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today was a very lucky day for us. The builder delivered our appliances to the new house this morning and began installation.

The lucky part was what did not happen. Since we bought the appliances through DirectBuy, we could not control the delivery schedule as we would had we bought them from a standard retailer. So the builder was kind enough to offer to store them in his warehouse and had been doing so for for a month or more.

Timing is everything. The appliances arrived at our new house in two loads before 11 AM. About 3 PM the builder called and told me that his warehouse burned shortly after noon today and destroyed most of the contents. We missed losing our new appliances by only a few hours!

Now you understand why I am considering buying a lottery ticket.

Tiling Completed

2008-06-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

The tiling is now essentially complete. One of the last things to be done was the decorative tiling on the fireplace and hearth.

A/C Compressor Installation

2008-06-09T17:16:00.001-07:00

The air conditioner compressors, one for the first floor and one for the second, have been installed. The design of the house with porches on three sides and a carport on the fourth made locating the compressors difficult. There was only one possible location adjacent the carport. That made access to the carport on the back side a bit difficult, but we relocated the support posts to open it up and protect the compressors.

When the compressors were charged with refrigerant, a new one called Puron, there was a leak! Turns out one of the nails securing the siding had puncture the line in the exterior wall, and the did not have to do much tearing down to access it and repair it.

The air conditioners were a priority since the house needs to be de-humidified before the wood flooring can be laid. That is occurring as we speak, and the floor will be installed in the next few days.

Driveway Pour

2008-06-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

The builder decided to pour part of the driveway so he could install the air conditioner compressors. The compressors, one for the first floor and one for the second, will sit on the same paved area adjacent the driveway. Only the front and back entryways to the carport were poured. The main drive from the house to the street will be poured later.

Timber!

2008-05-29T21:10:00.001-07:00

After the house was underway, we noticed that there was a nearby dead pine tree that had to come down and several other large pines that are too close for comfort. Removing the dead tree was a no-brainer, but even live pines are fairly fragile and can break and fall on a house in high winds. So vitually everyone here advises removing pine trees that could fall and hit your house.

We had been planning remove quite a few dead pines from out lot as well as several live ones on the lake side. We had already lost several pines from a combination of drought, pine bark beetles and Hurricane Rita and had had the dead hulks removed.

Even though I think pines are pretty, they are an absolute pain to have in a yard. The pine needles fall year round and have to be constantly raked and burned. In addition, the needles are acidic, which kills grass directly under the tree.

The builder will do most of the removals, but he did not want to do the ones close to the house. So we hired a guy who specializes in taking down trees near houses. One of the trees, which was nearly 100 feet tall, had to be topped, leaving only a bare pole as shown in the nearby photo. If you look closely, you will see the climber who donned a climbing belt and spikes and hauled a chain saw up the tree where he spent several hours lopping off all the limbs. After that was complete, the sawyer used a chain and comealong to pull the tree away from the house while he sawed it down.

Kitchen Countertops and Backsplash

2008-05-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

There are things happening with the house but not much that makes for a good photo. The major change on the interior is completion of the countertops and backsplash. The photo at the left shows the granite countertops and backsplash. The granite is called Shivakashi yellow, and the backsplash is a travertine called Jerusalem gold. The tiles have black highlights every so often.

The same countertops are used in the beverage bar and in the utility room. However, the backsplash is repeated only on the beverage bar. The same tile will be used on the fireplace but without the black highlights. In the utility room the backsplash is lower and is made from the same granite as the countertops.

Fish Story

2008-05-24T09:04:00.001-07:00

My friend Darrell, who is a patent attorney for the Navy in the Washington, D. C., area, was in town last week to handle his mother's estate, and he came by to see the progress on our house. He was our first visitor after we arrived in January. He brought his brother Bob, who lives in Groves, Texas, near Beaumont, and they invited me to go fishing with them.

So Friday morning about 5:30 AM I hit the road in my Jeep and drove the 140 miles to Groves. We attempted to go offshore and fish near oil platforms about 6-12 miles out, but the wind was too high. So we stayed in Sabine Lake, which is a large salt water lake just inland from the Gulf of Mexico on the Sabine River.

As the photo shows it was a pretty good day for me. I caught the largest fish of the day, a 28" redfish, which is the largest redfish you can legally keep. I also caught a couple of nice sized gafftop saltwater catfish and a black drum. We caught bunches of small catfish, but they all went back into the lake. I had the most unusual catch of the day, a small hammerhead shark, which obviously was thrown back.

Bob fileted the fish when we arrived back at his home, and he sent me home with two large freezer bags of fish. It was great fun. Bob promised to bring his boat to Lake Livingston to see what we can catch here.

Nine Years

2008-05-24T08:50:00.001-07:00

Nine years ago Thursday, Cec and I were married at Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii. These have been the happiest years of my life. It is wonderful to have someone who loves you and admires you despite all your obvious faults.

We celebrated with a dinner at La Evente, a very small Italian bistro in Trinity (Did you say Italian bistro, as in restaurant, in Trinity, Texas? Yes, I did. We do have something other than barbecue and Tex-Mex, you know.) It was decorated very nicely, and they played operatic solos for background music.

The food was excellent and much better than many big city Italian restaurants I've been to. The restaurant has space for only 7 tables, and reservations are recommended. They served free wine by the glass since they do no yet have a liquor license. After the main course, they honored our anniversary with a complimentary frozen cheesecake dessert, which was very good.

Underground Utilities

2008-05-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

The final stages of home construction are beginning. While the tile is being laid and countertops being installed inside, the outside utility hookups are beginning.

Murph, the builder's son who does all the dirt work, began ditching and laying pipe and conduit for water, sewer and electric. The water was connected and could be used if the sewer were completed. That final step will be done by the plumber.

The electrical panel will be on the front of the barn to the left of the door in the adjacent photo. It will go underground from the utility pole to the barn and from the barn to the house. The electrical conduits are in place and covered. All that is left is for the power company to install the panel and feed the wire through the conduit. The electrical subcontractor will do the same between the barn and the house. In addition to the electrical conduit, we also laid a conduit for my ham radio antenna cables.

Very importantly, Murph's crew laid a sewer line to the future RV parking area in front of the barn and to the left of the door. We will also lay a water line and electrical circuit for full hookups. We are considering extending the barn in the form of a carport to cover the RV.

The builder says we may be in the house by June 1!

Floor Tiling Begins

2008-05-15T09:31:00.001-07:00

The tiling contractor has begun laying the floor tile. That's Jeremy fitting "tacos" (accent pieces) into the entryway tile. Jeremy lives not far from us, and he is also a Jeeper.

The tiling has probably given us more agony than any other aspect of the house (well maybe paint colors come in a close second). We have traveled to at least 5 flooring stores and warehouses in Conroe, Woodlands, and Houston looking at tile, some several times. We obtaned free samles at some places and bought a few samples at a tile warehouse and brought them home. Some did not look right, and back we went to find something else.

When we were on the road to Birmingham last week, Jeremy called to tell us that we had managed to pick the most expensive tile that Interceramic makes and that the travertine we had picked for the kitchen backsplash and fireplace was pretty expensive also. But the actual cost difference was not enough to make a change that would have required another series of trips to the tile store, and we liked what we had already picked.

Bath Countertops

2008-05-15T09:22:00.001-07:00

Things are moving along rapidly now. The cultured marble contractors have installed the countertops and bathtubs. The countertops are cultured granite and the tubs and sinks are cultured marble. All the bathrooms (master, upstairs, and utility) use a different color cultured granite and marble. The guest bath in the entryway hall will use a furniture-style sink cabinet and wall cabinet. The sink cabinet comes with the sink already installed.

The adjacent photos show the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom (countertop slightly visible) and the countertop in the upstairs bathroom.

Porch Flooring Done

2008-05-15T07:36:00.001-07:00

To complement the country look of the metal roof, we decided to floor the porches with treated wood. We saw another house the builder had done with a wood porch, and it looked wonderful.

We are a bit of a guinea pig on the method used to install the porch boards. Previously the builder drove nails into the underlying concrete. On ours he embedded 2x4 boards in the concrete and used screws to attach the boards.

Note also that we selected square posts. The builder wanted to use round, turned posts, but without a railing they looked naked. We did not want a railing because it would obscure the rock siding. We think it turned out nicely.

Cabinets Finished and Painting

2008-05-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple of weeks since I updated the status of the house. We were in Birmingham, AL last week in the RV tending to a family matter.

The cabinets are now completed. As the photo at the left shows, the doors and drawers have been added, and they have been stained and finished. We are very pleased with the way the look. You will have to ignore the painters clutter on the counter top.

The painters have also completed the walls. Picking the paint color was quite a ride. At the painter's suggestion we picked a color (rice grain) that when applied turned out to have a green cast. It looked awful! The bad part was that the painters had already done the upstairs and entry area. After agonizing about it, we asked the painters to stop work and consider a new color. They were not pleased, but they ultimately came over to our side. We went to the Sherwin Williams store and picked a beige (realist beige). It looks great!

The Mother Lode of Berries

2008-05-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in a previous post that we stumbled upon a prolific dewberry patch. I could not let that pass without posting a photo of a small section of the patch showing berries "as thick has hair on a dog's back." On one pull I collected seven berries. We picked for several hours and filled 5 quart paint buckets several times.

Where is it? You know I can't tell you that! Tell you what I will do, though. Come by for a visit and we'll serve some of our tasty dewberry jam.

Texas Opry

2008-05-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

We have had several invitations to attend a country music show called the Texas Opry in Crockett, a small city about 35 miles north of us. My Uncle Charles and Aunt Patsy dropped by last Thursday to see the new house construction, and they reminded us that the Opry would be held on Saturday. So we decided to drive up to see what it was all about. They met us at the door and took us to great seats in a reserved section near the stage.

The program had an announcer just like the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The program began with a prayer by the organizer, Dennis Ivey, and singing of the national anthem. Then the music began with the entire band playing the Bob Wills classic "Steel Guitar Rag," featuring, of course, the steel guitarist.

I had heard the Opry was pretty good, but I did not expect it to be as good as it was. The musicianship was excellent, and the quality of the vocals was very high. It is difficult to understand how the musicians played together so well since they were from all over East Texas and one from Louisiana. There were several really good singers, including Dennis Ivey. They played a variety of styles from traditional country to modern country to a little pop and R&B. The keyboard player brought the house down with his rendition of Jerry Lee Lewis' rock and roll hit, "Great Balls of Fire." This being an "opry," there was, of course, the traditional rube comic, whose performance was no overly painful to watch.

We noticed in the program this morning that Ivey is a minister at a church in Crockett. That probably explains why the songs were mostly on the positive side, and I don't recall a single drinking song.

It was a great show, and we will probably go again.

General Sam Houston Folk Festival

2008-05-04T07:19:00.001-07:00

Some might argue that Texas is stuck in the past; but even if that is true, I like it. Yesterday we went to the General Sam Houston Folk Festival in Huntsville. I went to work a display tent for the Veterans Museum of Texas, but I got the chance to look around a bit. The Festival featured music, food, and historical displays and demonstrations.

I talked at length to several people about Scottish heritage. Three clans, Gunn, Cumming and MacKay had tents there. Turns out that I am eligible for membership in Clan Gunn through my mother's Johnson family ancestry and in MacKay through the Morgan family on my Dad's side. I am also pretty sure that my Landrum ancestry would get me into Clan Cumming. There are more people of Scots ancestry that any other cultural group in the South, and it affects, if not defines, the key aspects of Southern culture -- music, attitudes, outdoor pursuits, etc.

Costumes from the Texas Revolution Period were the order of the day. Many women wore long dresses with full skirts and hats and others wore long every day dresses and bonnets. A few men were dressed as gentlemen with early Texas-style hats in the style of Sam Houston (nothing like modern "cowboy hats"), but most wore period common trousers and shirts topped with broad-brimmed straw or slouch hats.

There were several re-enactment groups, mainly representing the era of the Texas Revolution. They camped out in period tents and cooked over open fires. I watched a very interesting flintlock rifle demonstration by the Cane Island Volunteers. Every so often another group fired a very loud cannon, but I never made it over to their display.

I talked to a couple of guys representing the Sons of the Republic of Texas. The SRT is a heritage organization that requires an ancestor who lived in Texas prior to 1845 for membership. I have three, including one of whom, Thomas H. W. Forsythe, fought in the Battle of Bexar, in which the Texian forces captured San Antonio several months prior to the battle of the Alamo. Fortunately, shortly after the battle he had to travel to Mississippi to settle his father's estate, thereby missing the Battle of the Alamo. Had he not left San Antonio...well, you get the picture. I will probably apply for membership since I am a CHN (certified history nut).

Cec and her mother Joanne visited the "airing of the quilts" in downtown Huntsville. All the quiltmakers in the area bring their quilts and hang them on balconies and racks around the courthouse square. This simulates the old practice of hanging the quilts in the sun in the springtime to freshen them. I heard that one of the quilts sold for $5000.

The music included folk, Gaelic, African-American, Scottish and Mexican. I attended a performance by a three person Western swing band called Back at the Ranch.

Making Dewberry Jam

2008-04-27T17:24:00.001-07:00

We continue to pick dewberries, and we now have picked about 22 pounds. Some of them we ate fresh over ice cream, but we are "canning" the rest. Most we have bagged and put in the freezer. Due to limited space, we are even using the freezer in the motor home refrigerator. Looks like our freezers will be overloaded with dewberries until we can get the new freezer going in the new house.

Today we took a new tack. Cec made two batches of jam the old fashioned way - without pectin (Sure Jell). She crushed the berries, added sugar and boiled them down to a thick consistency. Then the jam went into small jars that were sterilized by boiling and lids secured. Then the filled jars were boiled to seal the lids. After they cooled, they began to pop, indicating that the seal was secure. The jars have to sit for an additional 12 hours without being disturbed to ensure that the seal is not broken.

The total production today was 18 half pints. I got to scrape the pot for last remaining bits of jam, and it was delicious! As my father would have said, "It'll make you slap your pappy down!" For you non-East Texans, that means something is so good that it makes you take leave of your senses and do things that are otherwise unthinkable.

Today's Berry Haul

2008-04-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is Cec with the dewberries we picked today. More tomorrow for sure.

Back when I was a kid, my Mother would put on her big hat and long sleeved shirt, grab a pot from the kitchen and head for the nearest berry patch. This was usually a fence row or on a railroad right-of-way, places that did not get mowed or chopped by farmers (that includes my Dad), or eaten by cows.

Most of the berries went into jar after jar of blackberry jelly, which we enjoyed all year long. Of course, some of the berries went into blackberry cobblers.

We probably won't make any jelly this year since our house is not completed, but we will have blackberry cobbler! If we pick a lot of berries, we will freeze them for use later in the year.

Berry Picking Time In Texas

2008-04-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

They bloomed several weeks ago, and now they are producing ripe berries. I am speaking of the early variety of small wild blackberry known as "dewberries." The larger wild blackberry comes along in a few weeks.

Several days ago we noticed that we have several patches of dewberries on our property and that they are beginning to ripen. We picked just enough for a taste on our low-fat, ice cream sundae last night. We walked down today with two containers and found quite a few ripened to a dark black. We picked about a quart, perhaps enough for one of life's most delicious experiences, wild berry cobbler.

There are many others beginning to turn red and an even large number still green. Our builder told us about another area near Trinity where there are many, many vines. We plan to drive over there tomorrow.

Berries tend to grow in low, inaccessible areas, perfect habitat for snakes. Texas has several varieties of rattlesnakes, copperhead moccasin, water moccasins and coral snake all native to this area. And did I mention fire ants? Mean suckers that cause a pustle every place they sting. The rule in Texas is don't put your hand or foot any place you cannot see. So we took a stick to prod around in any area we could not see before stepping or picking.

The vines themselves are not very friendly and have spines that stick and scratch. You usualy return from a berry picking trip with punctured fingers and scratched arms. Cec concluded quickly that gloves would be a good addition to her berry picking repertoire.

Gardening

2008-04-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

The plants have been in the garden almost three weeks, and they are coming along nicely. Only one or two of the plants died, and all appear to be thriving.

The hoses running along the rows near the plant are dripper hoses for irrigation. I put an electronic timer on the faucet so I could water when we were out of town a couple of weeks ago. We have had enough rain since that I have not had to water, but I think I will turn it on tonight since the surface seems a bit dry. I used tent stakes to position the hoses and prevent them from breaking the plants as I pulled them into position.

I have ten or so tomato plants as I recall. So we should have plenty for fried green tomatoes early on and plenty of vine ripened tomatoes later in the season. Anyone who has not experienced a home grown tomato has missed one of the most sublime experiences of life. Those "truck ripened" tomatoes you buy in the store range from barely passable to very bad.

Despite being red, most supermarket tomatoes are not truly ripe. The shelf life of naturally ripened tomatoes is so short that it would not be practical to truck them from California or Mexico. Instead they are picked green and artificially ripened using an inert gas. They are red, but they are not ripe.

Stone Work in Progress

2008-04-22T11:07:00.001-07:00

The stone masons arrived yesterday and began to lay the stone siding. We chose a color called "Marble Falls" and a light mortar. It is manmade but looks very natural. The stones are darker than on the samples used for the selection, but the light mortar lessens the effect. We are very pleased with the result. The stone rises about one-third of the way up the wall and will extend all around the house except for the screened porch.

The Cabinets Are Stained...Granite and Tile Upcoming

2008-04-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

As previously reported the cabinets are now complete, and the painters have now stained them golden oak. You might have noticed that the doors are missing. That is because the doors are not made on site but are ordered from a manufacturer. They have been ordered and will be stained later.

The trim and doors have been masked and will be painted white soon. That will be followed by the walls, although we have not selected a color.

We selected our granite countertops last week--an Indian granite called Shivakashi Yellow.

We spent most of last week looking at tile for the kitchen, entry, and bathrooms, and we have decided on all but the kitchen. We thought we had the kitchen also, but the builder is trying to convince us that our selection is too close to the color of the granite. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Mariachis

2008-04-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

In the previous post I mentioned being serenaded by mariachis at Mi Tierra restaurant. They offered us either a happy song or a romantic one, and we chose the latter. The photo at the left shows the musicians with Cec.

San Antonio

2008-04-13T20:27:00.001-07:00

We traveled to San Antonio this weekend to meet our friend Nancy and daughter Michelle, who were visiting on a band trip from Michigan. We stayed at the Hotel Mimosa Riverwalk, which is where our friends were staying. It was a nice hotel, which despite the name is located about 2 blocks from the River Walk.

Shortly after we arrived we walked to the fabulous River Walk Area, which is shown in the adjacent photo. The weather was beautiful and the temperature ideal for a visit to this paradise in the midst of downtown San Antonio.

We decided to have dinner at Mi Tierra, a Mexican restaurant located in the Market Square area. Market Square is located 8-10 blocks west of the River Walk area, and we decided to walk over instead of retrieving the car from the hotel parking lot. It was a bit long but not unpleasant. We had never been to Mi Tierra, but it was highly recommended on the Orangebloods (University of Texas sports) message board. The food was excellent, and we were serenaded by mariachis! On the way out we stopped at the bakery and bought a bag of delicious looking treats to share with our friends.

We met Nancy and Michelle on Saturday and spent the day with them at Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park. We had a very nice time despite a very rough ride on the Rattler wooden roller coaster at the end of the day. We rode a couple of water rides and got splashed pretty heavily, especially Cec. Unlike when I was a kid, I avoided any rides that go round and round or loop and twist. My favorite ride is the swinging ship, called Overboard there but Pirate Ship elsewhere. The ride is pretty mild, but it gives you a repeated zero gravity experience at the top of its swing, which feels very good. (I probably would enjoy skydiving if I could ever get out to the airplane.) Cec does not fare well on most rides, and Nancy and I rode all but water rides, on which Cec joined us.

Lotsa Travel

2008-04-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Cec and I are in Port Huron, MI, which is not far north of Detroit. I am here for a business meeting with a company for which I am working part time.

The day before we left for Michigan, we went to a party at the Houston Museum of Natural Science celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Akin Gump law firm. Our very good friend is a partner there. The Museum is featuring the Lucy exhibit, and we were thrilled to see it. Lucy is a 3.5 million year old hominid who was discovered several years ago in Ethiopia.

We arrived in Detroit on Saturday on Continental after a 4.5 hour delay due to a broken airplane. We arrived just in time to attend a meeting of the Wolverine Four Wheelers, our old off-road vehicle club. We told only one member that we were coming, and we successfully pulled off the surprise. It was great seeing our dear friends. We really miss them.

The business meetings went very well, and I am very excited to part of the new business. I believe it has tremendous potential.

While I attended meetings, Cec had a great time visiting with her buddies in the Troy area.

We return home tomorrow and then on Friday head to San Antonio to meet a Wolverine friend and her daughter, who are there on a high school band trip. Ironically, we saw them at the Saturday meeting, but we will be happy to spend more time with them in San Antonio than we could at the meeting. I think we are going to Six Flags for the day. Hope they have a good wooden roller coaster!

On Sunday we drive up to Marble Falls to attend the 90th birthday party of a dear friend who was one of my first inventors back in my Sun Oil days early in my career. He is an eternally optimistic, perpetually creative and loving person who is joy to be around,

We plan to arrive back in Riverside late Sunday ready to get back to overseeing the home construction.

Cabinets in Progress

2008-04-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

The cabinet makers arrived last week and are proceeding quickly. They also hang all the doors and do all the window and door trim. The photo at the left shows the partially completed kitchen cabinets.

Since we did not have complete architectural drawing done on the house, we are designing the cabinets in detail as we go. That leads to some interesting dilemmas such as the size of the opening for washer and dryer in the utility room. The standard opening for top loaders is 62", each unit being 29" wide, leaving a gap of 4". However, the washer dryer market is moving toward front loaders, motivated in part by government energy regulations. Front loaders are 27" wide, leaving a gap of 8", which is unacceptable. The cabinet makers built for the old standard, but we finally decided to have them move one cabined to close the gap.

There are always compromises, but in general things are going well. The cabinet makers are doing an outstanding job.

Garden Time!

2008-04-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, we always had a huge vegetable garden. Some people gauge their success in life by the number of dollars in the bank; but my mother measured hers by how many tomato plants she set out and how many quarts of peas she put in the freezer.

My favorite garden vegetable is tomatoes, but the only garden we've had space for in recent years were tomatoes and peppers in flower pots. The results were not very favorable.

So when the dogwoods began to bloom this year, the tug of the ancient ways asserted itself, and we knew we had to put in a garden. Since we have not identified a good spot for a garden at the new home, and it is still chaotic, we decided to put it behind the my mother-in-law's trailer. I bought a small Honda tiller (FG 110) at Home Depot to cultivate the soil, and it has turned out to be an outstanding choice. It is fairly easy to handle, it starts with one pull, and it does a nice job of tilling.

We bought fertilizer and our plants at a small, old-fashioned farm store in Trinity. Plants were picked over this year in most places, but they had a good supply. The man at the farm store said that high food prices have led many more than usual to plant gardens this year. We bought all sets - tomatoes, peppers (hot and mild), onions, squash, canteloupes, cucumbers and okra. My mother used to plant all but tomatoes, onions, and peppers from seeds, but we did not get started soon enough to do it that way. We did not even consider crops such as peas and beans due to the lack of space and the preparation required. We had to get it done quickly, and the result is a bit chaotic.

Everything is planted, and now we water and wait. I can't wait for a plate of sliced tomatoes!

Theater Tryouts

2008-03-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

Cec and I went to tryouts for "The Cemetery Club" at the Huntsville Community Theater last Tuesday evening. I went to volunteer to help behind the scenes, but Cec decided to read for a part.

I tell people that my only stage experience was in a first grade program in which I portrayed a fireman and did a short recital, which is not entirely accurate. There was the time I subbed for Dan Rather in a comedy skit. Yes, Kenneth, I do have the frequency. It was the real Dan Rather.

When I was in law school at the University of Texas, I wrote a skit for a student-produced musical revue called Assault and Flattery. The skit was based on CBS Evening News and starred an anchorman named Dan Either. When we were rehearsing, I read in the Austin paper that the real Dan Rather was to be in Austin for a speech the weekend of the performance. His brother was a high school football coach at an Austin high school at the time. Hmm, I thought, why couldn't Dan Rather play Dan Either. Since he had once been a law student at the University of Houston, he might just be willing to do it. We had a history in Assault and Flattery of inviting local celebrities like outrageous car or furniture salesmen ("I want to sell YOU a car!" and "You don't need money--just a little bit a month!") to appear in the program as surprise guests. Dan Rather would be real coup.

So with a Law School dean's permission (long distance calls were expensive in those days) I boldly called CBS News in Washington and asked to speak to Dan Rather. It was amazingly easy to contact him. After being transferred only a couple of times, I heard someone say, "This is Dan Rather." Wow, me a nobody law student was talking to a big star! He was very cordial and said he'd be happy to do the part but that a breaking news story would keep him from traveling to Austin. So you guessed it. I had to step in as his substitute and play the part myself.

Cec's only previous acting experience was as lead in a high school play. She says she got the lead because no one else was willing to play an older person. In the middle of the play during a complex movement sequence, either she or another actor turned the wrong way and they collided. Suddenly everything went quiet. Thinking quickly, Cec reached for the other actor said "You must be Aunt So-and-so. I forgot my glasses." That saved the scene, and the director quickly punched the lenses out of a pair of sunglasses for Cec to wear in a subsequent scene. The play was a big hit, and everyone remarked how real the collision scene seemed.

Anyway, I was very proud of Cec's performance at the tryout. She really did a great job, and one scene in which she knelt and spoke at the grave of her dead husband was really moving, eliciting spontaneous applause from the other aspiring actors. We did not see Monday night's truouts, but I thought that Cec was one of the best on Tuesday.The producer for the play (the director in charge of casting was a Sam Houston State senior student) was sitting in front of me, and she was shaking her head "yes" and making approving hand signals as Cec said her lines. Now, Cec was not perfect, of course, and one would expect reading an unknown play cold, and several of the others clearly had had more acting experience. However, I thought they overplayed their parts while Cec sounded natural. (I define acting doing something unnaturally in a way that seems natural). On the way out of the theater, several of the others stopped by and complimented her.

Ultimately, Cec did not get a part, but I think she made a very good impression. I predict that she will be in a play in the near future, and I think we will have a lot of fun with the Theater.

Always...Patsy Cline

2008-03-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Patsy Cline has always been one of my favorite singers. Her voice was incredible, and her country-pop stylings have become timeless classics.

I became a fan of Patsy Cline as a result of a 1985 biopic about her called "Sweet Dreams" with Jessica Lange playing Patsy. I read the book on which it was based as well. Several years later I heard of a musical called "Always...Patsy Cline" based on Patsy and her music that was playing to excellent reviews at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

I did not have the opportunity to see a performance of the musical until this week at the Huntsville Community Theater in Huntsville, Texas. We learned about it last week when we saw a banner stretched on a building on the courthouse square. We drove the block over to the theater and were peering in the window when the director appeared and invited us in for an impromptu tour. She even invited us to try out for the next play! When we mentioned Cec's experience in television, she told us about a new cable television station in Huntsville, which just happened to be directly across the street. She took us over and introduced us to the owner, who encouraged Cec to develop and produce a program that could be used on the station.

Cec and I went to the musical performance Friday evening with a law school classmate of mine, who is now a professor of criminal justice, and his wife.

The performance was very enjoyable, though not flawless. The story revolves around Louise Seger, a fan with whom Patsy became close friends. Louise, played by local math teacher, Lastell McVey, tells the story of her meeting Patsy at a Houston honky tonk and their ensuing friendship. Louise acts as the narrator and provides larger than life comedy and even joins Patsy in a couple of numbers.

The star was Mary Allen-Keating, a Huntsville native with a big voice. She sings with Herb Remington and the River Road Boys out of Houston, who also performed in the on-stage band in the play. Remington is a renowned steel guitarist and well-known performer of Western swing music, including a stint with Bob Wills.

We had a very enjoyable evening, and the HCT will probably be a regular stop for us. We might even wind up in a play one of these days.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

2008-03-15T21:44:00.001-07:00

A small Texas town may not seem like the most likely place for a St. Patrick's Day Parade, but Riverside, Texas does not let the lack of settlers with Irish ancestry get in the way of a good time.

There parade had four fire trucks, a dozen or so "floats" and automobiles carrying dignitaries and political candidates, quite a few motorcycles (including four very fancy Honda trikes), and perhaps a dozen classic cars. I had offered to drive military veterans in the parade for the H.E.A.R.T.S. Military Museum, but we were not able to coordinate it.

The only problem with the parade is that there were more people in the parade than spectators,unless people were gathered on a part of the route we could not see. Several vehicles tossed candy and trinkets to the kids (little kids and big - the Werther's chews were very tasty). Fortuntely there were enough kids to pick up most of the candy, although Cec and I did find a few stray pieces as we left for home.

After the parade the Chamber of Commerce served free hot dogs at the fire station to about 50-75 people, including the Murrahs.

TV Mount

2008-03-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

One of the problems we had to solve was where to place the TV. I wanted a large LCD flat panel TV, but we had to coordinate locations for a fireplace and the TV without blocking the view of the lake through the rear great room windows. We finally decided place the fireplace in the middle of a side wall and mount the TV above the fireplace. That locates the TV a little high, but we figured that recliner couches and chairs would solve that problem. We also decided to use a low hearth and place the mantle as low as possible to reduce TV height.

The width of the fireplace will permit us to install a 50-52" LCD television. We are looking at a Sharp Aquos since it has a great picture and has the smallest footprint for a viewing area that size.

Mounting a TV on the wall makes it difficult to reach the rear connections and controls So we decided to use a Peerless Smart Mount,which uses an extendible arm to permit the TV to be pulled away from the wall about 2 feet for rear access. The Peerless mount, which was recommended by a friend in Michigan, is being used in a new terminal at Detroit Wayne Airport.

We wanted the TV to mount as close to the wall as possible, and this required a recessed box as shown in the photo at the left. The entire mount mechanism will fit into the box so the TV mounts flush against the wall. We will probably tilt the TV slightly downward for a better viewing angle.

The builder had not understand our plan for the mounting box, and we had to delay drywalling around the fireplace to construct the mounting box. That area should be completed next week.

Drywall Continues

2008-03-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

The hanging of the drywall (see photo at left) is now complete, and it has been taped and "mud" applied. One nice feature that the builder uses is installation of a plastic quarter-round on all corners. Not only do they look very nice, but they protect the corners from chipping and other damage.

The next phase is texturing, which begins next week. The style we have chosen is splattered on and then the peaks are flattened. It gives the wall an almost stucco appearance and looks very nice. This phase should be complete in about a week.

Snow!

2008-03-07T08:36:00.001-08:00

Yesterday's rain turned into today's snow. When we awoke this morning, large flakes were falling amid the rain. It did not last long, and it did not stick. All it did was leave a slush on the porch.

In my experience, which admittedly is 20 years out of date, it snows enough to cover the ground slightly about once every 5-8 years in East Texas. My mother-in-law has been in Texas for at least 5 years, and she said this is the first snow she has seen here.

The largest snow in my lifetime was about 1950 when, as I remember it, there were probably several inches on the ground. The big treat when it snowed was to make snow ice cream with milk, sugar and vanilla. Only several days ago I saw a story that snow contains too many potentially harmful bacteria to let children eat it. If the truth be known, snow was probably dirtier in 1950 than it is today. In those days we had sawmill boilers belching out black smoke all day long, and the bacteria count has not likely changed. There was a time in the late Cold War era when nuclear testing contaminated snow with dangerous amounts of radioactive fallout. Snow ice cream was not a good idea in that era.

Drywall Begins..,and We Dodge the Rain

2008-03-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Installation of the drywall, which I've always called "sheetrock." began yesterday. The photo at the left shows a drywall installer standing on a scaffold in the living area.

The builder told us some time ago that he would not start installation of the drywall until the roof is complete because water severely damages drywall board. If it gets wet, it has to be removed and replaced.

Unfortunately the roofing was only about one-half complete when the drywall crew showed up yesterday. The weather forecast stated that rain would start as early as noon today.

A rain shower several days ago illustrated the potential leakage problem. The interior of the house had been pretty dry since the roof decking was installed in late January. However, the roofers installed horizontal strips to support the sheet metal, and they created little dams that prevented the water from running quickly off the decking. The result was several leaks into the living and dining area on the back side of the house. The front side was dry because the roofing was complete there.

So the roofers began a race with the rain to get the vulnerable areas covered. They worked until dark yesterday and began very early today. Fortunately, the rain did not arrive until late afternoon today, and the roofers covered all the areas that matter. Only areas over porches that do not contain drywall remain to be covered.

As this is being written, it has been raining for about three hours. We made it just in time!

Nearby WWII POW Camp...and Golf Course

2008-02-28T19:19:00.001-08:00

Anyone who knows me well, understands that I am a history buff. I should have a bumper sticker that says, "Danger! I Brake Hard for Historical Markers".

There is an unusual area not far down the road from Riverside toward Huntsville called "Country Campus." I have passed by the Country Campus many times through the years, never understanding its significance. Since there were always cattle on the property, I assumed it was some sort of agricultural facility associated with Sam Houston State Univesity.

Several days ago I noticed a historical marker and stopped to read it. Turns out that the area was originally a POW camp in World War II that housed German prisoners, mainly from the Rommel's Afrika Corps. After the War it was donated to Sam Houston State. Hence the name "Country Campus."

I also noticed a sign indicating that a golf course lay down a dirt road somewhere on the property. Peculiar place for a golf course, but I was curious. So yesterday I drove down the road to see what the golf course looks like.

When I arrived there was a bearded guy who dressed like a construction worker sitting on a golf cart. "Wanna play some golf?", he asked as I walked up.

"No," I replied. "Just looking around."

"Want me to take you on a tour of the course?", he continued.

"No, that's all right," I replied. "You work here?"

"Yes," he said, "If you want, you can take the cart and look around the course."

So finally I agreed and took the cart around the 9 hole course. It is pretty rough and not very challenging, which would be perfect for me.

As I was driving around, I noticed a very old, barrack-style building in an adjacent pasture. It had to be one of the original barracks from the POW camp! When I returned to the metal building that served as the club house, I asked about the building. The attendant confirmend that it was one of the original barracks, but unfortunately it is not accessible to the public. The property is now owned by a rancher, and one of these days I'm going to try to get permission to poke around the barracks building.

Oh, yes. "What is the greens fee?" I asked.

"Six dollars," replied the attendant.

Sounds like my kind of golf course.

Packages for Soldiers

2008-02-28T19:12:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am volunteering at the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veterans Museum of Texas in Huntsville. Several of the volunteers prepare packages of candy, cookies, and snacks for soldiers on duty and in military hospitals. Today Cec and I helped prepare 12o packages that were sent to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Walter Reed Army Hospital. Cec is shown in the adjacent photo putting mailing labels on the packages.

The Roofing Begins

2008-02-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

The carpenters began installing the roof this week. Completing the job will require 2-3 weeks.

We chose metal for both aesthetic and energy reasons. Although metal roofing now comes in numerous colors, we think colored metal makes a house look too much like a commercial building. So instead we chose the unpainted variety because it provides more of an East Texas country home look reminiscent of farm houses built over 100 years ago. We also plan to use limestone siding about 1/3 of the way up the walls all way around the house, and the combination of stone and metal roofing provides a Texas Hill Country look.

There is another reason Lee likes metal roofing. Lee grew up in several old East Texas farm houses with corrugated metal roofs. There is nothing quite like the sound of rain on a metal roof. Sleep is never more pleasant than on a rainy night with rain clattering on the roof and thunder in the distance. Although it will never happen on this roof, Lee remembers climbing to the peak of a metal roof on a barn and sliding down the roof on his feet.

Metal roofing also has energy benefits since unpainted metal reflects most of the energy from sunlight, reducing the heat load on the house. The metal is being mounted on strips nailed to the decking. That provides an additional 3/4" of insulating air space under the metal. Combined with aluminum backing on the underside of the decking, the air space in the attic and R-24 insulation in the attic and R-14 in the walls, we are hoping that the house will be energy efficient.

Color Confusion (cont.)

2008-02-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

The painter brought the two paint samples today and applied them. His first words when I arrived were, "I like the original colors better. They blend in well with the surrounding." Actually I had liked the original colors better the second time I saw them.

I called Cec to come down for a look, and we agreed that the best of the new colors made the windows disappear. So we asked him to paint the over the trim color in curved sections above the windows with the original color and the best of the new colors.

Painting the curved sections above the windows in the original main color instead of the original trim color made a dramatic difference. The problem was not the color at all--it was the painting style. It toned down the neon effect of the original trim style but did not make them disappear as did the new color. The main color and the window color blended very well together. The combination also looked better as the paint dried. Our first choice was the best one after all!

Colors are very deceptive. Here are several lessons we learned:

1. Paint chips do not tell you much about how the paint will look when applied.

2. It is a good idea to buy small samples and apply them on as large an area of the house or building material as possible.

3. Wet paint looks different from dry paint.

4. Colors can "grow" on you.

5. Painting pattern or style can make a big difference.

6. Think about the natural surroundings when picking exterior colors.

7. Take samples of any color you like to Home Depot (and presumably any big paint store). They can scan your sample with their computer and match it very closely.

Color Confusion

2008-02-18T19:21:00.001-08:00

Selecting colors is one of the trickiest parts of building a new home.

Cec and I agonized for days over exterior colors until we realized that that beige-green with medium green trim on the barn worked well on our lot, which is dominated by tall pine trees. One of our objectives has always been to make the house look like it belongs on the lot.

We made several trips to Home Depot to match the color and eventually bought a quart of the main color and a quart each of two potential trim colors. The scanned our color samples with their computer and amazingly matched them almost exactly. We brought them to the house and painted three pieces of Hardie plank siding (a natural looking siding made of fiber-filled concrete), which we placed by the house along with the trim stone (man-made Marble Falls stone for the Texas Hill Country look) we had selected. The main color and one of the trims looked very good. We also viewed the beside the galvanized roofing and some of the trees.

We gave the painter the colors and a few days later we saw the scene in the photo above. Our hearts sank. We though it looked awful, especially the small sections above the windows, which are a story in themselves. We chose windows with arched tops to contrast with the sharp peaks of the roof. However, it is very difficult to build a curved frame from Hardie plank as you can with wood. So the carpenter built square frame. The painter did not know how to paint them and filled the upper corners with the trim color. That made the trim color look oppressive and the almond windows stand out like neon lights.

The next day we call the builder that we wanted a different color. He said, "No big deal," and told us he'd have the painter out the next day to select a different color. The painter had been ill with flu when we made the original selection, and he apologized that we had had to do it on our own.

The painter came out and told us that he had not liked our colors when he started to apply them but that they had grown on him. Nevertheless, he agreed that a different color would be better. We selected a couple of main colors that better matched the windows, and he agreed to buy small samples and paint the windows again.

(To be continued in the next post)

Size 36 Waist!

2008-02-14T08:04:00.002-08:00

Cec and I have been on the Weight Watchers diet for just over a year now. The last time I weighed I had lost 59 pounds, but I suspect that I may have lost a few more in the past several days. With my balance beam scales in storage, weighing is not as easy as it was before the move.

The reason I think I may have lost a few more pounds is that I can now fit in pants with a 36" waist. My old 38s were getting a bit sloppy, and Cec found me some 36" cargos on sale at Wally World yesterday. They fit perfectly!

I can't say enough about the Weight Watchers diet program. I was very skeptical when I started. I had lost 10-12 pounds on the South Beach diet, but that was it. I eventually gained most of it back. Then I ran into a guy a work who had undergone a remarkable weight loss. I asked him how he did it, and he replied "Weight Watchers."

The diet is low calorie, low fat, high fiber. Weight Watcher diet we used (there are two) uses a points system. The number of points is equal to calories/50+grams of fat/12-grams of fiber (up to 4 max)/5. Based on my weight and age, I started with 34 points for the day. With my weight loss I am down to 28 points per day. I am permitted 35 extra points per week for special occasions, but you are not supposed to use it every week.

I can honestly say I have not been hungry as on other diets, and we have dessert almost every night. Usually we have some sort of ice cream (low fat, or course) with fruit. Every week or two, I have Mexican food with chips and salsa, barbecue, or fried catfish. But next meal we go back on the diet and stay on it until the next splurge.

In my view you cannot eat out a lot and stay on the diet. Only Subway and Applebees have food that are easy to incorporate into the WW diet. You can find things at other restaurants, but you have to choose very carefully. Cec likes to cook, and she finds recipes that she wants to cook and revamps them to use lower fat and calorie and higher fiber ingredients.

I can honestly say I have not eaten better than on the WW diet. When you diet, you'd better like what you have to eat because that is what you will have to eat from now on. You cannot diet, meet your weight loss goal, and then go back to cheeseburgers and lasagna on a regular basis.

You also need to find something for snacks. I like carrots, although you have to count points if you consume more than a few. Dill pickle spears and low cal bread and butter sweet pickles are also good snacks.

If you are serious about overcoming "middle age spread," I unequivocally recommend the Weight Watchers diet.

Window View

2008-02-14T08:04:00.001-08:00

Here is a view of the lake through the upstairs living room window taken from the balcony.

In the distance you can see the Bethy Creek RV campground. The campground was recently expanded to locate RVs on the water within clear view of our lot. We were initially concerned, but we decided that the site was too good to give up. So we moved the house back from the water where the campground will be partially hidden when the leaves are on the trees. Amazingly, moving the house back improved the view!

We also decided that as motor home owners who camp amid other RVs at similar campgrounds, we could hardly complain. It appears that the campground is well done and that the RVs on the water lots are in good condition. The owner of the campground built a very large, expensive home on the other side of the campground, which provides additional comfort that the campground will not become an eyesore.

And besides that, its a lake where things are more relaxed. Gotta work on ridding myself of the big city way of thinking!

Speaking of Mud Daubers

2008-02-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

In the previous post I mentioned the pests known a mud daubers, or "dirt dobbers" as they are commonly known in East Texas. Mud daubers look very much like stinging paper wasps, but they are not aggressive and will not normally sting you. I have never known of anyone to be stung by one.

They are mainly a nuisance because of the dried mud nests they built on porches and in accessible buildings. Every year you have to knock them down with a stick and wash the remnants away with a power washer.

Mud daubers are especially bad near the lake, where they can easily find the mud required for their nests. Some people install automatic foggers on their porches to ward them, and other pesky insects, away. We opted not to do that because I do like the idea of constantly buying a supply of chemicals, and we did not have a place to hide the barrel required to hold them.

I understand that there is a chemical you can spray on the nests to kill the larvae. Since the daubers that build the nests this year were larvae at the same location last year, there will be no daubers to return the year after the treatment. Eventually a few new ones will wander into your building and start a new colony, but the treatment supposedly greatly reduces the problem.

Teasing My Builder

2008-02-14T07:26:00.001-08:00

Shortly after installing the windows on the lake side of the house, the carpenters dropped a sheet of plywood and the wind blew it into the window with the results shown nearby. The photo shows a piece of wood protruding through the broken glass, but that was a later addition.

Of course, I gave the builder, Philip Morrison (Morrison Bros. Construction, Trinity, TX), a hard time about it, but he swears that broken windows are a rare occurrence on his jobs.

I told Cec about a house I built in Houston in the 70's. The carpenters installed the windows, and then promptly broke several of them. That let in the mud daubers, who built a mud nest in a closet, before he windows were replaced. Then the painters arrived and painted over the mud dauber nest! Finally, the touch-up crew removed the nest and repainted the closet.

That's the difference between a large, mass construction builder and a custom builder like Philip, who builds only 3-4 houses at the same time.

Building is Messy

2008-02-14T07:01:00.001-08:00

Building site are a mess. Start with the yard where newly moved dirt becomes a quagmire when the rains come. And it has been raining a lot in our area this year. To get into the house, the builder lays board, cardboard, and plasting sheeting for stepping stones. When those are not available, and even when they are to some extent, you wind up with mud on the floor of your automobile. One of the first things we bought after arriving were cheap floor mats for the minivan. I had already bought plastic floor pans for my Jeep.

Scattered around the ground are small pieces of every kind of material that goes into the house - boards, hardy plank siding, insulating board, roofing tar paper, etc. Add to that stacks of materials that are yet to be used in the construction. On cold days the wood slowly disappears as the workers build fires to stay warm. The hardy plank stays because it won't burn -- it is molded from cement and fibers.

Inside the house the floor is covered with a combination of sawdust, wood chips and shaving, and mud tracked in from the yard.

A Friend Gets a Makeover

2008-02-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

Monday night Cec and I attended a "reveal" for Cec's friend Terri Thompson Saylor. Terri, who was one of Cec's videography students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is now runs the video department at Stephen F. Austin State University at Nacogdoches, Texas, was awarded the makeover by a Nacogdoches community group. With the help of a gastric surgeon, dentist, makeup artist, hairdresser and trainer, Terri dropped over 90 pounds, rid herself of thick glasses and achieved a stunning new look. The event was inspirational, and everyone is very proud of Terri's accomplishment.

Seen on the Side of the Road

2008-02-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

We were driving around the Riverside area last week, and we ran across this old Jeep CJ-2 on the side of the road. It is from the late 1940s or early 1950s. My Jeep expert buddies in Michigan can probably tell the model year from the photo.

Brutal Texas Winters

2008-02-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

For my friends in Michigan (and Minnesota), here is a photo me in our yard enduring the hardship of Texas winters. As a Michigan buddy pointed out, ice fishing will be rough this year.

Texas Veterans Museum

2008-02-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Cec is a Weight Watchers lifetime member, and I accompanied her to several meetings at the tiny mall in Huntsville during our recent visits to Riverside. Cec had been to the mall before and pointed out that it houses a small military museum. So while she attended her meeting, I wandered down to the Texas Veterans Museum. It turned out to be quite good, and I asked about volunteering. History is one of my deepest interests, and I am particularly fascinated by World War II, which I refight night after night on the History and Military Channels. They told me need vounteers and to "Come on down!"

Monday I visited them again, and I reiterated my interest in volunteering. They invited me to visit the museum today and sit with one of their experienced volunteers to learn the ropes, which I did on the 10-2 shift.

I head a great time time talking to the volunteers and staff. I totally admire the WWII combat vets, and hero worship is not too strong a term. Today I met a Navy vet whose aircraft carrier, the Wasp, was torpedoes in the Solomon Islands, and he spent 16 hours in the water! Another was a gunner in a bomber who was shot down on his first mission over Germany. Of course, he spent time in a Nazi prison camp. I also met M. B. Etheredge, known to everyone as "Colonel," who was a highly decorated soldier of WWII and a close colleague of Audie Murphy, the most decorated solider of WWII.

The museum has a State grant for a new building north of Huntsville near the Texas Prison Museum (features "Old Sparky," the infamous electric chair). It will be built in conjunction with a civil defense shelter, and the veterans have volunteered to staff the shelter when it is in use. Hurricane Rita created frightening chaos in this area, and the State is planning for the future. The agreement with the vets seems like a win-win situation.

They asked me to come back next week. I'll be there.

Riverside City Council

2008-02-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

Last night Cec and I went to the Riverside City Council meeting to get acquainted with others in the community and let them know that we are interested in helping out on civic matters.The city secretary had encouraged us to attend, and we decided it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, we arrived at 7 P. M., but the meeting was at 6 P. M. and was just breaking up. However, we did get to meet a council member, the volunteer fire chief and acting city secretary, who it turns out is our neighbor.

We got a short report on what happened. A group wants to build either low income housing or a senior citizens' home within the city. No one knows for sure which it is since it has been described both ways in correspondence with the Council. The Council wisely postponed endorsement of the idea until more information is provided.

We also heard that the Texas Department of Transportation is studying a Texas Transportation Corridor/ IH 69 through East Texas, and one potential route passes through our area. IH 69 is proposed to provide a commercial artery from Mexico, through the central U. S. and entering Canada near Detroit. TXDOT is looking for Riverside area citizens to serve on an advisory committee, and the Council apparently did not have any volunteers. I thought about it overnight, and today I stopped by city hall and volunteered for the position if a long term resident is not interested. It sounds like a great way to meet a lot of interesting people and be involved in a momentous project.

Cec was invited to the meeting of the local chamber of commerce. They say they need new blood and new ideas. She may have a political career ahead of her.

Latest on Car Registrations

2008-02-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

We now now have the Jeep Rubicon registered and plated, and we have the Chrysler minivan and 97 Wrangler TJ registered and plates on hand. Amazingly, Cec was able to obtain "CEC" personalized tags like she used to have in Nebraska, a feat she was unable to accomplish in Michigan. I plan to get a ham plate, KY8T, for the Rubicon, but I did not have a copy of my ham license with me when I registered it.

Since Texas requires both front and back plates, our Michigan-bought vehicles are not readily equipped for a front license plate. I had to drill out the front bumper (fortunately plastic) to install the front plate on the Rubicon. It appears that more drilling will also be necesary on the minivan. The 97 Wrangler has a steel bumper with a hitch receiver, which leaves no room for mounting a license plate and makes the drilling much tougher. So today I ordered a receiver insert with license plate frame from J. C. Whitney.

The motor home is another matter. The last time we went to the county clerk's office, we did not have a required weight certificate. Texas registration fees are based on weight. So I went to a farm chemical business at Trinity recommended by my builder and had it weighed after they assured me that the weight would be certified. When we returned to the clerk's office there were two further problems. First, the safety inspection station had omitted one digit from the VIN on the motor home inspection certificate, and they would not register it without a correction. Second, the weight was not certified as promised.

So back to the safety inspection station, and they filled out a new certificate without complaint. Then back to the place with scales. This time they told me contrary to their earlier assertion that they do not certify weights but that they'd never had any problem with it. Problem is that they are in Trinity County, and I am registering in Walker County. Different people, different standards. Although I sometimes invoke my "yell and scream" warranty, I decided to let it drop since it only cost $5 and they were sincere about not having any problems in Trinity County. So now I have to go to the Pilot truck stop at Huntsville to get a certified weight. But now I have to unhook the rig and get it out of a muddy area. We decided to let it ride until spring when we have to move the rig again. When the house is complete, we can unload the rig and pay a lower registration fee. It might be worth the wait.

I also stopped by the Walker County Appraisal District today to claim my homestead exemption. For non-Texans a homestead exemption is a fixed amount that is deducted from the tax value of the property on which you reside. They needed a photo ID, but the driver's license office confiscated by Michigan license. All I had was a temporary paper license without a photo. Fortunately, they accepted the photo on my Costco American Express card. That card had gotten us out of a couple of fixes, including getting Cec on a Continental flight last year when she had temporarily misplaced her driver's license.

Plumbing and Electrical

2008-02-06T15:37:00.001-08:00

The house continues to progress, although the changes are not dramatic. The carpenters are installing Hardy plank and window trim on the second floor as well as the living room ceiling (a false ceiling to accommodate A/C ducts and more insulation. The plumbers have pretty much finished installtion of inside plumbing. The electrical crew should start in a day or two, and the builder says our metal roofing has arrived.

We decided to order an upgraded A/C unit so we could have Puron, the new refrigerant that will be mandated after 2010. The old R-22 will be outlawed, and it will become increasingly expensive to service units using it. The unit also has some bells and whistles that seem useful. It was close call, but my technogeek side prevalied over my frugal side.

Cec and I have been haunting Lowe's and Home Depot Stores looking at paint, light fixtures, stone, and bath fixtures to be ahead of the game. We do not want the builder to tell use we need to pick out something by tomorrow and not have time to make a rational investigation and decision. Believe me, shopping for home stuff is no more fun that shopping for anything else, but it has to be done.

Retirement Officially Begins!

2008-02-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first official day of my retirement. I have been off work since before the Christmas break, but I was on holiday the last week of December and on vacation all of January.

The highlight of the day was lunch at the Golden Corral in Huntsville with Cec, Cec's mom Joanne, and friends Jim and Flo. Jim swore the fried catfish was the best in the area, and it certainly was good. The desserts were especially good, and the chocolate cake with pudding on the bottom was outstanding. Lunch was off diet, of course, but we were back on the wagon at dinner. Lunch was followed by a trip to Wal-Mart.

It has been an exciting retirement so far!

Progress and More Rain

2008-02-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

Slowly the house is taking shape. The roof is now completely covered with decking and tar paper and the windows are now in. The metal roof is on order. We met with the A/C contractor yesterday to plan ducting, and it will be installed next week. We are meeting with the electrical contractor to finalize plans.

The major A/C choice still to be made is whether to select the standard high SEER (13) Bryant A/C unit or their top-of-the-line, high tech Evolution system. The SEER rating is higher, but even the A/C guy says the money savings are not substantial and hard to obtain in practice. The main benefits seem to be quieter operation due to use of multi-speed DC motors and better humidity control. There is also an interface box available that permits control via Internet or telephone.

The A/C guy did tell us that we have a good, energy efficient design. Energy savings was one reason we wanted wrap around porches and a metal roof. Both are staples of pre-air conditioning East Texas folk architecture, and they are still valid in our energy limited, air conditioned era.

Perhaps the key issue in the decision is that the refrigerant used in the standard unit is being phased out and will not be available after the warranty expires in 5 years. That would mean a new A/C unit if replacement of the refrigerant is required. The difference in price is about $4000, and I am on the fence whether to upgrade.

The builder asked us to pick out shower and bathtub fixtures so they could install the valves. He directed us to Home Depot in Huntsville, but their stock was pretty limited. So we drove to Houston earlier in the week to visit Great Indoors, but that was pretty much a bust. We stopped at Lowe's in Houston and found a good selection. We went back yesterday to Lowe's in Conroe and bought all the fixtures. Fortunately, we had a 10% discount coupon that we received when we changed our mailing address, and that saved over $100.

We have decided on Austin stone (probably man made) for exterior accent since it works well with the metal roof to give the Hill Country look. So while at Lowe's and Home Depot we picked out exterior paint colors that would work with the stone. Home Depot let us take a pice of broken stone for use in matching window trim.

We visited the house last evening and discovered that one of the recently installed windows was broken. The builder says that the carpenter dropped a sheet of plywood from the second floor and the wind caught it and cartwheeled it into the window. I told Cec that this is par for the course in home construction. In a house I built in Houston several years ago, the carpenters installed the windows and then accidentally smashed several of them. Before the panes were replaced, mud daubers entered and built a nest in the corner of a closet. Then the painters arrived and painted right over the mud dauber nest! House construction is controlled chaos.

The rain has continued off and on. We have one day of sunny weather that dries up the mud followed by a day of rain. We had a full blown thunderstorm yesterday morning. We were sleeping in the motor home, and it was great to wake up tot he sound of booming thunder and rain on the roof.

The ground finally dried up enough that we were finally were able to park the RV back in its slot beside the mobile home. It is fortunate that we did not get it back in earlier since we discovered that we have it weighed for registration. We accomplished that a couple of days ago. Now all that is required is a trip to Huntsville with plenty of money.

And our mailbox is up, and we are receiving mail.

Rain, Mud and East Texas Engineering

2008-01-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

The heavy rain that was so uncharacteristic of Texas last year seems to be continuing. We have had only a couple of dry days, and little sunshine, in the week that we have been here. The rest have been rainy, drizzly, or foggy. Seems that we have a stationary warm front in East Texas.

The result is mud. We expected that at the home building site, but we also have mud in the driveway at the mobile home where we are staying. The surface is solid, but there is a thin layer of mud on top that tracks into vehicles and the house.

We took the RV in for a safety inspection this morning, and we stirred up a mud hole getting in and out of the parking spot. We looked at buying a load of gravel, but that would cost over $400, and we are told that it would simply sink into the mud anyway if we lay it down before the ground dries. So we took the East Texas engineering approach and laid down scrap plywood from our building site to support RV wheels. Looks bad, but its is only temporary.

Another View of the New Home

2008-01-23T18:55:00.001-08:00

This view shows the house from the small lagoon on the lake shown in the previous post. The house will be Texas style with a porch that runs around most of the house. The roof will be corrugated sheet metal and the walls will be mostly covered with Texas Hill Country stone. We have a screened sleeping porch off the left side of the house as shown in the photo and a second floor deck above the porch. The dormer in the middle of the house encloses a vaulted family room.

Home Construction

2008-01-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

Our home is now framed and pretty much dried in. The view of the lake is going to be wonderful. Here is a view of the lake from the second floor deck on the west side of the house. More views of the home construction can be found here.

Fighting the Bureaucratic Wars (Continued)

2008-01-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today we successfully completed registration of our minivan and Jeep Rubicon and officially became Texans by successfully obtaining Texas drivers licenses. There were only two additinal hitches. The hassle we went through to obtain evidence that we had paid sales tax on the Rubicon and minivan in Michigan was for nought. We still had to pay a $90 new resident fee. The other was that neither agency would accept an out of state check, and we were forced to use cash and a credit card. The credit card cost us an additional fee of 2.5%. Oh well, we are Texas citizens now, y'all.

Now all that remains is to get a safety inspection on the motor home and register it and the Jeep TJ.

Thank You, Rick

2008-01-23T06:40:00.000-08:00

We hired our friend, Rick, who we know from the Wolverine Four Wheelers, to help us with the move. Rick did as masterful job of loading our belongings, filling every nook and cranny with something. We needed every square inch and filled the truck to the door. Rick drove the truck the entire distance from Michigan to Texas.

After a nice visit, sprinkled liberally with Rick's famous stories, and several meals of local fare, including barbecue and Mexican food, we took Rick to Houston on Sunday to fly back to Michigan.

Thanks, Rick! We appreciate your help and value your friendship!

Fighting the Bureaucratic Wars

2008-01-23T05:37:00.001-08:00

Texas requires that new residents register their vehicles and get a drivers license within 30 days of arrival. We knew we had to get a vehicle inspection before we could register, and Monday we headed down in the Town and Country minivan and 07 Wrangler Rubicon to a muffler shop in Trinity for an inspection. They told us we needed proof of insurance before they would do the inspection. Fortunately, Cec had her insurance certificate, and they inspected the minivan. The Rubicon would have to wait.

Later that day we had to go to the builder's supply store to look at windows. Since the Texas Department of Public Safety driver's license office was right on the way, we decided to stop there. Closed. Martin Luther King Day.

The next day we took the Rubicon and 97 Wrangler TJ to the muffler shop and got them inspected. We asked about the motor home, which they said they could do. However, they cautioned that turning the rig around in their lot would be difficult and that we should come before 10 o'clock so we could exit through Church's Fried Chicken parking lot before they open. Then they dropped the other shoe. They probably would be out of inspection stickers on Wednesday and would not get any new ones in due to delays caused by the King holiday.

On Tuesday we also returned to the driver's license office. It was open, but we discovered that we needed our Social Security cards in addition to proof of insurance, and our vehicles had to be registered before we could be licensed to drive them!

We returned to Riverside to retrieve our Social Security cards. On the way back I remembered that we might be able to save the $90 new resident fee for auto registration if we could prove that we had paid sales tax on our vehicles in Michigan. So we needed to find our sales receipts also.

My social security card was in my business papers that I had kept aside for the move, but Cec had put hers in a file box that had arrived on the moving truck. We went to our storage barn at our new home site to search through the chaos there to find her Social Security card and proof of sales tax payment. Luckily Cec pretty quickly located her social security card and sales receipt for the minivan. However, I could not find the file box containing all my auto papers. They were buried under stacks and stacks of heavy boxes. Better to pay the $90 than move all that mess. We decided to concentrate on the minivan and Rubicon and forget about registering the motor home and TJ Jeep until we could get access to the files. They won't be driven on the road for a while anyway.

Cec suggested that I might be able to obtain a copy of the receipt for the Rubicon from the dealer since we bought it less than a year ago. So we called Golling Chrysler Jeep in Michigan, and amazingly my salesman had a copy. The only problem was getting it to us. We do not have a fax machine, and mail was unavailable for two reasons: (1) we do not have a mailbox up at our new address yet, and (2) we did not have a key to the post office box we share with Cec's mom. She is out of town until early February, and we could not find the other key here even with her help. So we decided to have the fax sent to Office Depot in Huntsville.

Off to Home Depot to get the fax and then to the courthouse annex to register the vehicles. There were only two minor problems. We had failed to bring our file folder with vehicle titles, and we had to show proof of Texas insurance. The still-in-effect Michigan insurance was not acceptable.

So off to the insurance agent's office to get proof of Texas insurance. We had already made arrangements for Texas insurance, but we had not received the confirmation in the mail. It might be there, but recall that we cannot access the post office box for lack of a key.

So we think we have everything we need now. We'll report on that later.

Off to Texas!

2008-01-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

We loaded our possessions in a 26' Penske rental truck on Monday and Tuesday with the help of our friend Rick from the Wolverine Four Wheelers and headed to Texas. Rick drove the truck with Lee navigating, and Cec followed along behind in the Town and Country minivan. We flat-towed the Jeep Wrangler behind the truck.

We spend the first night at Hartland, MI near where Rick lives, and he joined us Wednesday morning for the trip. We decided to take I75 south out of the Detroit area so Cec could stop at her favorite Goodwill store in Troy, OH. Cec loves to discover treasures at second hand stores. We then continued through Cincinnati, Louisville and Nashville. We stopped at a small town just west of Nashville for the night.

On Thursday we drove through Memphis and Little Rock. After stopping in Texarkana, Texas for dinner, we decided to drive on and reached our trailer at Riverside where Cec's mom, Joanne, lives about 11:30 PM. Joanne was in Nebraska for a funeral, and we had to get everything turned on before we got to bed. We did not set the alarm clock the next morning.

We got up on Friday and took the truck down to the new home site to unload it in our storage building. Our builder called and offered to send his crew over to help us. Three guys arrived in about an hour, and we got the truck unloaded in a couple of hours. We need to unload a small freezer and sewing machine at Joanne's trailer, and we can then turn the truck in.

My old college friend Darrell will be visiting us on Saturday and Sunday. Late Sunday we take Rick to the airport for the trip back to Michigan.

It is great to be home, even though our new house will not be completed until spring. We will live in the trailer with Joanne and in our motor home, which is parked adjacent the mobile home.