COUNTY COMMISSIONER SPEAKS ON 71

Gerald Daugherty, county commissioner, spoke to a group of residents from Spanish Oaks and the Preserve Monday evening. Our number one concern was traffic and a light on 71. Bottom line: the light isn't likely.

A light at S.O. Blvd would back up traffic as it flies over the hill heading east, right into the rear of the backup.

Widening the road for a middle turn lane would not happen for about 6 years once the process has begun (it hasn't.) Environmental concerns about the bridge would likely stop any widening, and there's not enough road from the bridge to S.O. Blvd for a center lane there.

Some called for less speed on 71.

What we can do: call or write the governor (who appoints the 5 member highway commission), Daugherty repeatedly said that the 'squeaky wheel' gets noticed and the way to exert pressure would be to make the calls, have meetings, and express our concerns clearly (and he'd help as he shares our concerns.)

Discovery Land thinks the back road will be completed in January or February at this point.

Noted: how hard it was to find the West entrance into S.O. in the dark. Several owners expressed that they had real difficulty. So did we. Even reflectors would help.

The turn from 71 (westbound) onto 620 is slated to have twin right turn lanes (as you might know - it takes about a half hour mornings to get to that turn, which is now one lane. TxDot will fix that as the work approaches completion.

COMMUNITY FOUND

Dear Bob:

When I first wrote into the blog I mentioned that we picked Spanish Oaks not only because we loved the house, but the promise of a real community where people actually know and care about their neighbors. Well yesterday proved us right. John was late getting out to meet our 7 year old at the bus stop. Because of safety rules regarding unescorted minors, the bus driver would not let her off. At the next stop in Spanish Oaks one of the children mentioned that my child was not let off the bus. Within seconds I received a phone call from one of the Moms letting me know. I immediately contacted my husband who went out to find the bus. No sooner had I hung up from him than another Spanish Oaks Mom called me saying the bus was still in Spanish Oaks, she had called the Guard House to have him stop the bus and
let my child off and that she was going to get her. In the end, John was able to stop the bus himself, but I was so impressed that in such a short time we have developed into a community where people lookout for each other.

Thank you to Lori and Kam. It is great having them for neighbors.

Bob, feel free to post any or all of this on the blog.

--------- Donald Abrams, HOA rep responds: ----------

Not having children, I can only imagine how proud a parent is when there are significant milestones in a young ones development. The homeowners here are beginning to get together and look out for our growing community. As an example Lori and Heather setting up a trick or treat solution. Neighbors looking out for the young ones on a school bus. Having members of the SPHOA call me personally with complaints and other issues in an effort to resolve problems quickly and discretely. I see these all as positive growth steps to ours becoming the type of community that we all signed up for. I do not know the particulars for the bus issue, but I want to add my thanks to those who helped out.

As we mature, we all need to pull together, follow all of the rules and not try to negate what we all agreed to do.

Donald Abrams

MORE GATES

East entrance now has all new gates. Actually, makeovers over the old gates, but better. I'm sure they will stain them once the rain stops and things dry. Now if only we east enders could get the fireplace like the westies have, so, upon returning at the end of a long workday, the smell of a wood fire would welcome us back to the ol' homestead...

Rejected ideas:

Those plug-in things that spray scent every 20 minutes.

Those rearview mirror hangers.

Incense.

Burning logs in a 50 gallon drum. (Ideal for junk mail too.)

Having guards hold hemp-tastic torches.

NEW SO WEBSITE by DISCOVERY

Good name, Discovery - you have to discover things since they don't tell you. Anyway, a tipster informed us that their new site is up, and it is. Some highlights from surfing it:

Social Club memberships are mentioned, but not priced.

Clubhouse et. al. expected completion March 2009.

The Club will be member owned when turned over by the developer.

You can access parts of the site but not all of it without a login. Sorry, I can't help you there - it says to contact the sales office.

I must say the site is slick and well done!

http://www.spanishoaks.com/ is the link. I noted up to 4 different opening pages, so don't be thrown by that on subsequent visits. Great photography! Produced by a big agency out of NY and LA. At this moment, inside (login) contents are not ready.

PARK PARTY

To celebrate our new completed kids' park, they held a party.

Competition was fierce for attendance, with another event at local school, a golf tourney, and UT football on TV - an unusually early start... WHAT A CLOSE ONE!!! Whew!!! But even so, some kids and adults found their way to the new park and each other.

ONE OCTOBER MORNING

GATE MAKEOVER

Apparently the bigs weren't satisfied with the new East entry gate and it's been fancied up. Now we can guess why they only did one side. It was a sample. Here's the latest gateway to paradise.

THE RELENTLESS MARCH OF PARK PROGRESS

Indeed. They've already begun to go to work on the next park - the one at the top of Musket Rim. Earthmoving as I write this!

HALLOWEEN 2006

The question has been raised... what if some parents organized, in effect, a car pool and drove their kiddies around to homes participating in treating the little ones?

Can we quickly figure out who in our community would be open for the visits? Who would volunteer to drive/oversee?

E me and I'll pass along: this is WITHIN SO only. Thanks rwood24@Austin.rr.com

COPS

I've been meaning to post this but kept forgetting - beware if you try to shortcut through the HEB shopping center lot, to avoid traffic backups on 71 West in the AM - there are motorcycle cops there "especially for you" as Bob Eubanks used to say on the Newlywed Game.

A NEW GATE A NEW DAY A NEW PICTURE

We've been away. Interesting to see what has or hasn't happened in a week. Actually, the hands of time move slowly sometimes, and so do the wheels of progress.

Several homes are being outfitted with so-far scrawny landscaping as construction finishes. We see the truck loads of sod ready to claim more vista for turf. Time will tell if they bring in the trees, but so far it looks like mud, sod, and scrub. You can look up nature in the design guidelines and decide for yourself how to interpret 'the natural look.' Guidelines are on the website for owners.

And then we have one new gate... entrancing owners will realize the new look. Exiting owners will remember the old look. Perhaps the other side is on order, or the other other side is a test?

East Entrance Gate Du Jour

Here at Stately Wood acres, just yesterday I planted millions of seeds which will have been rained into the ditch by now. Look forward to beauty of wildflowers next spring - all the way to the drainage grate.

A thought: if you are bringing in an expert for something, maybe you could post it and several like-minded folks could get a group deal or rate? Just a thought.

Also, at the rate blogger downloads/uploads pictures, every one you see in this blog is a miracle in patience and computerwerks. Even low res small files load like time has stood still.

SPANISH OAKS OWNER WEBSITE OPEN

With a little "ta" and a lot of "daaa" the website is up and running.

Ah, but there's always a catch, right?

The board wanted a secure site. So here's how that will work: Each time I send out a weekly E-mail to those who have opted in, it will include the active address of the website.

If you're not on that list and wish to be, then E me at rwood24@Austin.rr.com We will verify all as owners, then add you to the list.

Simply copy and paste the address into your browser, or click on it. Once in, you can visit the various sections and are welcomed to contribute too. If necessary, periodically we might change the site entry, so you want to get those E mails.

At this time there are several empty pages; yes, we are working on those and others. And for some reason, the residents pictures don't work yet. I will get to those as soon as possible.

Also, if you would like to see your home or some feature as the header picture or elsewhere in the site, E me. I need to stock up and anticipate a site that changes headers at least seasonally, if not more often.

FISH CAMP - 'LAKE SPANISH OAKS'

Man, is this ever BIG! As I wrote before, the cedar tree dump has been removed. First impression is one of size. Doubt if you can see me in this picture... the top is a blowup of the bottom - in it I am tiny and would have been deep underwater. The camera just can't capture the size of what will become a large lake. The lens just isn't wide enough.

THE LONG AND WINDING (BACK) ROAD

Hiked back there today. First surprise: it doesn't quite follow the old road - at least not through the second gate (if you remember that). From the top of SO Blvd, the road goes more to the left than you will remember. It's a whole different route, and progress is obvious. They've got it pretty well scraped, and what appears to be some utilities in, in certain places. A lot of work to be done, for sure, but quite a lot has been accomplished!