MOVING SALE

I don't want the blog to become Craig's list, but here's a special case. The Duncans are moving - forced by work. As such, they have to downsize. As you'll see, this isn't typical "garage sale" stuff - these are very nice quality furnishings.

We'll miss the Duncans.

You can find our listings easily on craisglist Austin by typing teamduncan@aol.com in the search box. It would be worth mentioning that the prices have been reduced on some of the previously listed items and they can see them all by searching for teamduncan@aol.com

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/358536931.html
pace sofa

http://austin.craigslist.org/art/358534073.html
MOMA Picasso print

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/358529471.html
side table

http://austin.craigslist.org/clt/358527440.html
king and queen oil paintings

http://austin.craigslist.org/clt/358523488.html
Jim Buckels "Blue Ruin" signed print


http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355675975.html
sofa

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355671093.html
equipment cabinet

http://austin.craigslist.org/ele/355664807.html
TV

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355661700.html
pine table and seagrass chairs

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355654086.html
game/pub table and chairs

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355643643.html
bamboo and hide stool

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355639612.html
Ikea bookshelves

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355679287.html
cargo chairs

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355684667.html
parson's table

http://austin.craigslist.org/fur/355692049.html
cowhide rug

http://austin.craigslist.org/spo/355871667.html
gymnastic/tumbling mats

http://austin.craigslist.org/clt/355865182.html
cigar box

http://austin.craigslist.org/for/355863820.html
music stand

SECURITY

New faces are popping out of the guard shack; it's a new security company. Evildoers beware!

ZAPPA

Let's hope this isn't necessary detail at this point in the summer - I would have posted it earlier but it was just added to a forum I look at. Don't know about you, but we have our computer on a brickwall filter which claims to stop damage from lightning (ZeroSurge). Many of the power strips you read about or see at Target or best Buy aren't likely to work, sorry to say. I've seen good devices run from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars.

I have some of my audio gear on a sacrificial circuit (box) which would give itself up when necessary. Same with the TV.

Apparently one of the surge problems is when the electricity comes back on. It's a good idea if we have a blackout/power failure, to turn off your computer (or unplug it) and also the $5000 tv.

Here's the entry:

Spent many years in the Southeast working for one of the now-large computer companies. As a hardware repair guy, I dealt with many, many weather-related issues and electronic equipment. Here are my 20+ years of observations:

* Lightning is fickle: I've seen direct hits to buildings not necessarily wipe out everything. In fact, I've seen failure of one rack of gear in the middle of a row of racks! A lot depends on the quality of the grounding system in the building and how well the individual wire joints have continuity and, of course, how exactly the lightening made its entry.

* There are many ways for lightning's effects to enter a building: For most residences, there are 3, maybe 4, specific ways electrical energy from lightening can enter: Your main electrical feed, your cable system, your telephone system and any antennas you may have erected around the house. All, or any combination, can deliver the punch your gear can 'feel'. You *must* have solid and reliable grounding systems in place to help mitigate the effects of lightening on these entrances.

* Failures are not immediate: Sudden electrical surges, combined with any number of potential ground loops, poor or non-existent residence grounds, coupled to poorly-maintained electrical distribution will manifest itself in stressed components. That is, there are all kinds of reasons why the gear in the house is stressed but not to the point of specific failures of a component as the surge happens. I've seen multiple failures across days and weeks, depending on how long it is in operation, the amount of ambient thermal heat involved and heat-up/cool-down cycles involved. In other words, if you've had a hit and lost a couple of items, you *may* have more failures.

* Don't forget the electrical distribution system: Mentioned above, the quality of your home's electrical, cable and phone distribution system goes a long way to dissipating that energy that we tend to lump into the term, 'surge'. How well that extra energy is bled off to ground is really important. Most folks do not have their electrical system shut down and the joints throughout the house cleaned and retightened to proper torque spec, even though this is a common practice in most manufacturing environments. For this reason, purchase of much of the add-on power conditioning equipment marketed to the consumer today isn't really valuable unless the rest of the distribution system is up to spec. Don't mistake me, these devices have their place and can be valuable but they depend on your house's electrical system to be up to spec to have any reasonable effect.

So, short answer to your question, "did the lightning you observed and the consequential failure in the neighborhood cause a problem for you with your power bar in the line?" is: It depends.

POPEYE THE SCORPION

Yesterday our little innocent dog, Jessie, was sitting on her chair while I did office work. Suddenly she launched herself halfway across the room - very unusual behavior - and we thought she was having a seizure - something was clearly wrong.

We tried to calm her and it seemed to work, but it took a while.

Later I found a mini-lobster on that chair (and brushed it to the floor after putting on my lead-lined gloves.) Yes, I do believe Jessie was stung by a scorpion. This particular scorpion was a larger model, with good Popeye arms/legs/mandibles/pincers/whatevers. It was an SUV of scorpions. After 190 pounds of shoe, it appeared stunned, so I gave it a free pass to Schlitterbahn aka The Toilet. I wonder if bugs have thoughts. What would it make of the grinder pump?

The moral of the story (and see below too) is that it's that time of the year. And coming in the very near future... recent snake sightings. Tell your kids - watch your dogs.

CREEPED OUT!

Another several of these bad boys have been sighted.

Bob, we've had 4 large "giant red-headed centipedes" in our house, and countless babies (despite regular visits by ABC Pest control). It must be a bad year for them, because everyone is seeing them for the first time. Go on Google and search for "giant red-headed centipedes" and you'll not be able to fall asleep. They grow to be 12" long and eat mice.

Oh swell.

Here, I'll save you the trouble:

The Red Headed Centipede, Scolopendra heros castaneiceps, is one of three subspecies of Scolopendra heros, which are often collectively referred to as "Giant Desert Centipedes". The Giant Desert Centipedes are some of the largest and most attractive of all centipedes, but the Red Headed Centipede is widely considered the most impressive of the bunch. They are commonly kept as display animals and can make wonderful additions to any collection.

The Red Headed Centipede is a desert dweller that spends the day tucked away in moist hiding spots to avoid the desert's drying affects. They are often found in rock crevices, under leaf litter, and under rocks, and will sometimes burrow into the ground. Red Headed Centipedes are nocturnal predators that feed primarily upon insects. They are well equipped to avoid being preyed upon. This species of centipede has a tail that looks similar to its head, confusing would-be predators and thus, helping to protect its most vital areas. If it is attacked, it can respond with a very painful or even deadly bite. This species of centipede is quite fast and typically very aggressive. Although the venom of this centipede is not considered deadly to humans, all centipedes have a certain amount of venom in their bites; and while being bitten usually results in nothing more than a very painful wound, some people may be allergic to the venom. Pain from the bite may only last a couple of hours, but it could last as much as a couple of days.

The Red Headed Centipede is one of the world's largest species of Centipede and can reach 6 to 12 inches in length. They may have dark blue, purple, or black bodies with red or orange heads, and attached to each body segment is a pair of yellow legs.

The Red Headed Centipede is a relatively common species found throughout much of the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

EXCHANGE STUDENT/ ACTRESS

We are writing to you about a foreign exchange student coming to the Austin area in August 2007. We work for an exchange student agency called the Center for Cultural Exchange and our job is to locate potential host family homes. We are asking for you help!

Sophie, age 16, until today had a host home in Round Rock. She is from Germany and has studied acting at an actor's school in Berlin for two years. Sophie has had parts in two TV series and played the main character in "The silence of Hanna." Unfortuantely, the host home she was supposed to go to encountered a family emergency and canceled the placement today. Now we are in need of another host home for Sophie and am hoping to be able to tell her in the next few days that she
lost her first host home but another one has been located. Sophie is scheduled to come to Texas in August for a school semester. Here is the link to her short bio:

http://www.cci-exchange.com/aypdatabase/BioDetailRecord.asp?
ps=9iq9gw

We are asking if you could either host Sophie or are willing to send this email to others you know who might be interested. Hosting an international student is like taking an extended vacation to their country as you learn from then on a daily basis. All of the exchange students are "high functioning" teenagers and come with a very no nonsense J-1 visa.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this email and any help you can offer. We look forward to hearing from you soon. We can be reached at the phone numbers below any time.

Sincerely,


John and Charlotte Gemar


Charlotte Gemar
Center for Cultural Interchange
Area Representative Austintxcci@sbcglobal.net
(512) 291-8638
Cell (512) 965-2554
www.cci-exchange.com

FIELD OF DREAMS

Mystery! The cattle field to the right of the east entrance driveway has been cut back, the fence outfitted with lights and orange tape marks the boundaries. Appears to be parking for a gala something. Could be interesting. Didn't get the invitation though.

Mystery Solved!
Parking for a wedding reception connected with the family that owns the property... which I believe includes the hill in the middle of Spanish Oaks.

IN LIVING COLOR

Spanish Oaks roadside Wildflower Bonanza as seen through cellphone camera.

INKY DINKY

Shae Reilly sends these pictures of a guest on their front porch.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2007

Memorial Day weekend sights:

Walked dogs. Erosion. Cacti flowers. Wildflowers, many many many wildflowers. Green. Mud. Sprinkler systems on in downpour. Mushy Westend Phone Directories in driveways. Clouds. Lightning. More green.

MILESTONE

We just passed 20,000 page views. Thank you very much for your help!

292 posts so far.

ON THE WING

Let's see: crows, vultures, parakeet!, whipper wills (and if you've ever had your will whippered you know what I'm talking about), cardinals, archbishop... no, wait... grackles, owls, warblers, roadrunners, hawks, swallows. I'm not into birding much, but I do enjoy watching the crows and vultures ride the thermals which rise up slope to our house. Seems like a pretty good variety here.

What have you seen?

PARAKEET FOR DINNER

A little green one. It seemed almost friendly. As we ate dinner outside it hopped around the pool deck. I made bird noises and attempted to win it to my outstretched finger. It seemed interested but politely flew away.

Only to return for a repeat.

Wouldn't have know what to do with the bird on my finger if it perched. It was tiny. Did someone abandon a pet, lose a pet or do they breed for generations in the wild. I would expect a predator to narrow that chance.

62 POUNDS OF FUN...

Dear Friends!

We have a handsome golden retriever "puppy" (he'll be one on June 10; 62
lbs at last checkup) named Yogi that some of you have met. We love him, but he is too much dog for us. He needs older children or people who have more of a doggie lifestyle - or both! He is trained to "sit", "down", "heel" and "place", but sometimes forgets when he is super excited! He has been neutered and is up to date on his shots and heartworm prevention. Do one of you lovely families have a big place for him to roam, play, have other animal friends and big strong grownups who like to play fetch? He is really a sweetheart and wants to please!

Thanks for any leads!

Jennifer Harrison
home 894-3493 cell 964-5215 myjennifer@earthlink.net

IT CAME CRAWLING THROUGH OUR HOUSE...

..screamed our neighbor!

Don't know what It is but surely must be female because of all the needs for shoes. OK, cheap shot.

This bug - you can't tell in the picture - is 8 inches long.

I believe it's a CENTIpede. Amazing what's out there, isn't it? We should have a prize for the oddest. Someone saw a porcupine the other day. I smelled skunk the other evening. Scorpions are starting to appear. One was parked in our garage this morning.

Tim Sabo, who enjoys creepy things tap dancing across his kitchen floor, asks: Does anyone have a contact for the bug entomologist who was in attendance at the FISH CAMP get-together?

Or the person who hires such people for the S.O. events?

WATCH THOSE PLANTS!

This reads like an urban legend... if it weren't for the pictures. It comes from one of our homeowners, though I believe it happened to one of her acquaintances.

I almost had a heart attack this week. My son got me a potted plant for my birthday. I kept it on my kitchen counter the whole time. This week it was warm enough to plant outside. It was in a plastic pot wedged into a decorative outer container. After planting the flower, I got a knife to get the plastic pot out of the glass one. When I wedged the knife around the sides, something moved. I told my son it looked like a snake, so he took the liner out. To our surprise, there was not one snake, but two baby copperheads. I almost died! When we took the plastic pot out, there was a piece of cardboard up the side. There must have been eggs in the holes of the cardboard that hatched out when it got hot. I am sending you pictures.

Take my advice and don't bring nursery plants inside. This could have been really, really bad. The plant was bought at a grocery store; I won't give the name because I don't want to ruin their business, plus I'm pretty sure it was the grower & not the store who was responsible. Growers should take more care when potting plants.

I just want to warn you guys not to bring plants inside; who knows what could be lurking way down under those roots. I am only thankful it was not intended as a house plant!<





Wasn't it last year a woman was bitten by a snake in a pot at one of the "big box" retailer-garden centers?

IT DOESN'T WORK!!!

We all thought the back road would be THE ANSWER to our east entrance trouble. Buuuuuut Nooooooooooooo! In the morning the backup to the turn from 71 to 620 is so long you can't get into it AND can't get across to go the other way either (say, to Marble Falls) because the turn backup blocks you.

Nice.

What we seriously need is a re-programmed turn signal at 71 and 620!

Or maybe a light at our West entrance?

Will the cut behind the new mall make a difference to this situation? NO. Because you have to turn onto 620 from eastbound on 71 to use it.

A NEW HOME DESIGN

They are just starting to put up the concrete retaining boards.

This from Paul Streeter:

Robert,

Just broken ground on a new home on Paraiso Parkway which has been designed by renowned contemporary architect "Dick Clark" and may break the mold a little bit of what is being built in here. I have attached a drawing and thought it may be of interest to other residents. I think half will love it and the other will hate it.

Best

Paul

TRAPPED AT THE AUDI DEALER

This is the second attempt at this post. I hit the wrong button and blew out 20 minutes of writing. I'll try again, but my enthusiasm is waning. I'm on the computer at the car shop while they uncover more $400 things to fix on my car. I hope to return home today. (The best car on the showroom is sold, and at $101,000, I'm happy for the new owner. It's not even the top of the line - only a V10. The guy just wimped out when it came to the V12!) If you care, the redesigned TT is awesome. The old TT looks like a VW in comparison.

The back road IS open. The Road Closed signs exist to remind you that workers are in the area. And today - my first try to avoid the Hill Creep up 71 to 620 - by taking the back road, I noted perhaps 2 dozen workers installing irrigation, jogging paths, landscaping, whatever.

Surprisingly (though better than the Westbound hill creep) traffic from 71 to 620 was deeper than the turn lane, and the signal at 620 seems to only allow 5 or 6 cars through at a time. So it took maybe 5 or 6 cycles. This was at about 9:15AM. Probably worse earlier. That light needs to be retimed.

I want to invite anyone who knows their stuff to come up to The Wood Compound. Please let me show you two mystery weeds, armies of which have invaded our property again. Despite my best holistic and chemical efforts, they thrive. After spraying, stomping, pulling, cutting, I am ready to try a propane torch or exorcism. "KILLS 200 WEEDS" didn't work. ROUNDUP wiped out circles beyond the dribble I aimed at each darn weed. Hello, orange patch. Maybe if I know what they are I can use a more targeted approach.

The best advice I've heard is to make the grass grow more vigorously and that will crowd out the weeds. So after days of spreading steaming compost, I have healthier weeds.

We prefer the natural look, but NOT natural enough to include these intrusive visitors from plant hell. HEY, science, grab some of this tenacious DNA and splice it into Buffalograss, will ya?

WHAM! BANG! BOOM!

Last night hit like the script of an old Batman comic book. We counted 160 exclamation marks! If you slept through that, then consider buying yourself a plot and marble slab with your name on it.

Two of the lightning hits (at least) we so close there was no gap between flash and bang. I think one hit the old water tower on the east ridge beyond the Preserve.

Our dog, Jessie, normally disallowed in the bedroom, was granted special permission as she really gets worked up in thunder storms. All of a sudden she was on the bed, trying to be inconspicuous. It didn't work.

Some of that lightning was so intense...

... our lawnmower started by itself.
... David Letterman lost a letter.
... the garbage disposal shot chicken bones through the ceiling.

your liners are welcome.

We may have lost a shrub.