NOT MUCH TO REPORT

Some road patching is ahead - unsure exactly where, but watch for it.

If you feel the gate guards are not responding to your voicemails or are letting vendors in without calling you, please report this to Pam or Donald.

Yesterday a firetruck and ambulance circled Paraiso and Musket Rim looking for their right address. It was a building site - never do find out what happened or who it happened to.

GOD'S FINGERPRINT OVER SPANISH OAKS

OUR OWN MUD DISTRICT

Spanish Oaks Opens New Road

Road patch crew unload half a load of excuses.

The intel: They finally patched a hole in the (still unnamed) street.
After finishing the job...the asphalt truck's brakes collapsed, flew down the road and ALMOST took out a car. The truck swerved into the landscaping and managed its way out eventually.

Heck of a job, fellas!

OUT AND ABOUT

There hasn't been much action - no posts for a week at least - we were away in Santa Fe. Locally, there's no news other than a few divorces which aren't appropriate for the purposes of this blog.

Notice how some truck drivers simply can't stay on the road as they leave deep ruts here and there - I wonder if that's just some sort of contempt?

It seems that every time we pull in there's another new guard!

Some cooler evenings and nights have given us some beautiful dog-walkin' morning weather. I snapped the picture above with my phone... wish it had better detail. I hope you can appreciate the moment.

The coalition of whatever its called for Highway 71 got some great press in The View, local Lake Travis and area paper. One of the points made was that there could be a permanent turn lane... IN SEVEN YEARS!!!

Interesting, isn't it, as they redo 71 at Bee Caves road. And surprise of all surprises, the Bee Caves parkway project seems to have helped traffic flow control on 620, Bee Caves and 71!!!

The mall is starting to look less like a construction project and more like what it will become. Barnes and Noble, here I come!

As always, your contributions are more than welcome.

THE LABOR DAY BIRD WISHES YOU A HAPPY WEEKEND

ACCIDENT?

Another accident reported at the entrance this morning but I can't find any details on-line. Anybody have anything on that?

BAYOU BASH

Courageous settlers pursuing the American dream rode westward in slow moving wagons.















Oh yeah, the good times were a-rollin' last night at the third attempt of the Bayou Bash. Owners, prospective owners, celebrities, and other guests were beguiled by a perfect evening, soft cooling breeze, a hill country sunset, Cajun music, great food and adult beverages.
And a gator. Or croc. I forget. All I know is I don't want to see the little tyke in my garage!

This was one of the future's 'good old days!'
It's amazing how many new faces there were!

Special mention to the berry cobbler. The best I have ever tasted. That was OUTSTANDING!

HOW'S BAYOU?

Looks like the weather will allow Bash de la Bayou to take place tomorrow evening. I will take pictures (in focus this time - what a concept!) Let the Good Times Roll!

See you there.

MISSING EMAIL?

Yesterday I sent out an important email with 2 attachments regarding Highway 71. My ISP bounced many attempts back because there were a few errors on the list I was given. It turns out that one error in a list would stop the whole list (which I find bizarre.) So several times I tried to delete the problems and resend. I fear some got the same message several times, while others not at all.

I sent these to the entire list of owners, not the weekly email opt-in list. If you are a Spanish Oaks owner, and have not received yesterday's email, please let me know at rwood24@Austin.rr.com and I will follow-up.

Sorry for all the confusion. Also, if you change email addresses, please be sure to let Pam Chandler know!

One more thing: you have to re register for this next attempt at Bayou Bash Friday, for yourself and also your kids... even if you registered for #1 or #2. Michelle is your contact in the office.

SEEKING SCORPIONS

I suggested a few posts back that you use a flashlight. Now neighbor Bruce Hamilton has a better way - wait till dark, but use a portable BLACKLIGHT instead. Bruce says the scorpions fluoresce under that light and are very easy to spot. They go from about $9.95 to $45.

GONNA BE A HOT ONE

SPANISH OAKS CONDOS... from $115,000!

Yes, you read right if you looked in the American Statesman today. Only thing is - it's another Spanish Oaks. 407 E. 45th Street. Do you wonder if Discovery will drop a cease and desist on them (or even if they can?)

Described as a newly remodeled conversion project in Hyde Park... with "THE WORKS."

Get ACQUAINTED

Here are some pictures from the Get Acquainted/new neighbor party. Although I took many more, these are the barely passable ones - the rest were blurry and with flash they shouldn't have been. All the pictures were somewhat blurred so something is wrong with me, the camera or more likely the settings I chose. One thing which IS clear: the camera is smarter than I am. I apologize and promise next time I'll have it figured out completely.

It was a fun evening and nice to meet new people who tend to get lost in the general meetings or social events when people who already know each other tend to hang with themselves. Thanks to Lynn Bickley for hostessing in her beautiful new home.

* I found out what was wrong with my photos... the auto-focus was turned off by Mister Finger who was paging through the menus too quickly. Mister Finger has been carefully instructed to never do that again.

SCORP-PATROL

I stumbled across a better way to find Scorpions in your house than walking around barefoot in the dark. Turn the lights off at night and shine a flashlight along the floors from a very low perspective. Any debris - including crawlies - will show immediately.

EAST VERSUS WEST

An informal survey on my drive through over the back road... I believe there is more new housing under construction on the west side than the east at this time. Workers are very busy along the 'boulevard' putting in landscape, digging irrigation trenches, stonework, etc.

There are several new cul-de-sacs in various stages of roadwork.

I write this one for the out-of-towners who can't be here now or yet.

Some churn on lower Musket Rim as I count 6 homes for sale... only 1 is a new build.

BTW: In the comment to this post is neighbor Jim Lay's new website. If you have a website and live in or own a chunk of Spanish Oaks, if you'll send the url to me I'll start a list.

SPANISH OAKS... SO EXCLUSIVE...

We have twin fireplugs - one for regular and one for sparkling water.

THE BUZZ ABOUT BEE CAVE

BEE CAVES, TEXAS. Bee Caves (Beecaves or Bee Cave) is at the intersection of State Highway 71 and Farm roads 620 and 2244, twelve miles west of Austin in west central Travis County. It was named by early settlers for a large cave of wild bees found near the site. A post office opened there in 1870 with Martin V. Lackey as postmaster. By 1871 Wiley Johnson was operating a trading post at the settlement. In the mid-1880s the Bee Caves community had a steam gristmill, a cotton gin, a general store, a church, a school, and twenty residents. The population fell to ten in the early 1890s but rose to fifty-four by 1914. The post office at Bee Caves was discontinued in 1915, and mail for the community was sent to Cedar Valley. The Bee Caves school was consolidated with the Teck common school district in the 1940s and with the Dripping Springs Independent School District in Hays County in 1951. The population was reported at fifty from the 1940s through the 1980s. In 1990 it was 241, and it grew to 656 in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mary Starr Barkley, History of Travis County and Austin, 1839-1899 (Waco: Texian Press, 1963). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).

Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl

EVEN MORE RAIN

Forecast for Friday from the NWS - 6 to 8 inches of rain. Arg. Feel sorry for the car wash owners.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

This is currently posted on the News 8 website: (Lori Bales checks in)

Wettest Start to Any Year

The year 2007 tops Austin rain charts as the wettest January to July period according to weather records dating back to World War II. Wow! In a similar replay to what unfolded last month, a slow moving (if not stalling) disturbance will hover over Texas, generating greater uplift in the atmosphere and a continued threat for flooding rains. Lawns won't need watering anytime soon...
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Don't know about you - what I'm saving in water I am spending on salt for the pool. Rain keeps washing the salt out. I also discovered that if your chlorine cell is clogged or crusted, your salt reading will go down and down. You keep adding salt. Then you finally clean the thing and discover how high your salt really IS. Not that it happened to me.... cough.

IT WASN'T LIKE THIS

Last year the summer was hot but dry; very sunny - after mornings, rather low humidity and a southeastern breeze. This summer is a record breaker. Just want you to know - if you are new here since last summer - this isn't normal.