THE OLD GOOD OLD DAYS?

We arrived by buckboard wagon all those years ago (January, 2005.) We were among the earliest settlers here in Spanish Oaks. I thought it might be interesting to list some of the early day memories for those who look back. While at it, let's give Daniel Porter thanks as we sit down to TurDuckEn, for his initial vision of what this special place could be.

You might remember:

Ray Ware - the salesman who enthused so believably (and who semi-promised a traffic light in a year.)

The East Entrance Sales Trailer - work-home of Ray; and his touted Tanya Streeter Autographed poster.

The Bohls cabins history outing. Back in the day there was no split between 'club' activities and Spanish Oaks activities.

The festivus/Christmas pole/tree on top of Musket Rim. (Until Valentine's Day?)

Naturalist tours.

The 'legend' of the loose monkey.

SO Blvd ending at the top of Musket Rim.

The sunken boat in the dry fishing camp lake.

Earth tones, discouragement of turf.

The Discovery Land Co. blowout party to announce their participation. (With Lance Armstrong, Darrell K. Royal, others... was that Sheryl Crow? Don't think so. UT cheerleaders greeted all at the valet parking dropoff.)

Maybe you have some you'd like to add? Email me and I will include.

GET TOGETHER

Last night at the Lodge, newbies mixed with old settlers as Spanish Oaks Fall Happy Hour brought a couple dozen residents together at the Lodge for several hours of meet'n'greets. In great contrast to the contentious 'annual' meeting, this low key affair really was a pleasant evening.

GETTING AGGRESSIVE?

Spanish Oaks, for years said to be somewhat 'reserved' in its approach to sales, has apparently turned up the heat.

First there was the LIVESTRONG two-home tour, bringing what looked to be thousands of viewers into the development.

Now there's an auction this weekend, open to the public 'worth the drive'. Not of a house, but of items brought in for the auction - it's not all that uncommon, but it might be a first here.

Also in the Sunday paper what appears to be a group-broker promotion - 5 homes linked in a "Progressive Open House Party."

Is Discovery turning the heat up?

WORK ON 71

Enjoy it now before they squeeze the lanes while widening the road to accommodate the turn lane (westbound). In the picture above, crews continue to reposition some utilities.

2009 SPANISH OAKS TOUR OF HOMES

Some snapshots of some beautiful builds:

JAUREGUI

Brick driveway

Two story Library

Great Room looking toward Kitchen

Sitting area

Bathroom

Outside

EMERALD CREST

Entrance

Just inside entrance

Great Room

Game Room

Office

Hallway

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY!!

PARAGLIDER
If you heard the noises but neglected to look UP this fantastic morning, you might have missed the twin paragliders scooping through the Spanish Oaks skies. Boy would I love to give one of these folks a camera to shoot away from up there.

SMILING FACES

Finally another new neighbor greeting party!

Thursday, November 19th at The Lodge

5:30 - 7:00 PM - Drinks & snacks will be served.

Please bring a gift of canned or dry food to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank.

also....

The Lodge Grille will be open 11 AM - 5:30 PM Wednesday-Sunday, 10/31-11/8 durng the Tour of Homes!

PS: I am healing and will try to fill the blog with more good info but I sure could use YOUR input, pictures, observations. email to rwood24@Austin.rr.com

HALLOWEENY FUN

Spanish Oaks Neighborhood

Trick or Treat Hay Ride
6:30pm Departure from Lodge - Halloween!
Kids and Adults wear your best costumes- awards given!
Please call Liza @ 533-2363 for reservations - we'll have 4 trailers, so please RSVP

Pictures welcome... send to email at right.

WHY HAS THIS BLOG SLOWED DOWN?

An accident has kept me from blogging lately, and likely will slow down what I have been doing, at least for the next month or so, although today is the second day back at the computer in over two weeks.

I was cutting the grass when I tripped over a rock while walking backwards - you know - you go forwards then backwards over some areas. As I went down on my back, the only thing I was holding was the handle of the lawn mower and I must have pulled it toward me. Over my foot.

I came very close to cutting off my toes.

So, long story short: 3 hour surgery, hospital, now home and long recovery. Maybe not long in the scheme of things, but at least another month to go. I am lucky that the surgeon saved my toes. They are still attached.

It's a day by day thing - believe me, getting back to the computer is a VERY big deal. I am going to blog the whole recovery period at once, when it's over, and am keeping myself busy with writing daily thoughts. Until yesterday, all via Blackberry. The notes give me the ability to get my mind off the long road ahead. As I heal I will gain energy and return to writing other things as they come into my life and thoughts. If you made it this far, thanks for hanging in!

HOW MUCH RAIN?

How much rain did we get the past two storms?

This is unscientific but absolutely real. I put an empty bucket out where our pool equipment lives. It was empty. We had two storms. I haven't touched it and the roof empties onto a gutter so that's not it. Hope you can see it's almost full!

DISCOVERY BUYS INTO YELLOWSTONE CLUB

It'd be nice if they'd spread some money this way.

Read all about it here.

OIL, STRIPES, ROADWORK

In reply to the road cleanup issues several posts below, Pam Chandler writes, "I've received several calls concerning an oil spill on the Boulevard, running from the east entrance all the way back to Krause Lane. We do know the guilty party, and they will be cleaning up the spill, as well as moving the large boulder at the roundabout that the same truck moved."

Also, re the striping: "On Monday, 9/21, our paving contractor will be on-site to do striping work. They will be re-striping at the east entrance near Hwy. 71, will be painting a double yellow stripe on the bridge at the east entry, and will be re-striping the double yellow stripe on the west side bridge. Please watch out for workers and traffic control cones when coming and going on Monday. In the event we are "rained out", the work will be done on Tuesday, 9/22"

This will, we hope, keep people more alert about where on the bridge and entry they actually ARE, as in, in your lane coming toward you!

And about Highway 71: "The project is now slated to start sometime in January. The work will begin with the widening of the road and bridge, and we should anticipate that only one lane in each direction on Hwy. 71 will be open during this project."

AN INCH OF RAIN...

is 27,000+ gallons per acre, according to a source I just Googled.

At our house I believe we've had over 4 inches of rain in this storm.

WATER!!! RAIN!!!

It seems we got a lot more than the Bee Cave totals on TV last night. All of a sudden you are thinking drainage thoughts if your home is brand new to rain.

COUGAR/ MOUNTAIN LION

One and the same and more sightings have been reported in the Preserve, to S.O.'s immediate east end.

MEETING WITH OWNER HOA REP

"What we have here, is a lack of communication..."

Tonight was a step in the right direction, though it seems clear all our concerns will not be addressed or addressed in a manner we find satisfactory. But that's okay.

We can assume we all chose S.O. over competing developments because we like it here and want to be a part of it.

Here's the deal - the bottom line - if the rep, Pam, the board, whomever, would apprise us on a regular and ongoing basis of the items and issues being addressed, we'd all feel more pride in the ownership and a greater sense of belonging.

Maybe they don't do that because they fear inundation by other points of view or agendas. I understand that fear, but also feel it comes with the territory. We all are united in wanting this development to live up to its potential.

REMEDIATION... EFFORT?

There are some locals who believe the development is going downhill. Here's recent evidence. To be blunt, this would have to be put to the issues of:

Communication
It flat out stinks, and our HOA "rep" had to be goaded into holding a meeting (next week) with anyone who still cares, as he's the opposite of communicative or proactive. His term is without limits?

The board communicates as if in their ivory tower. You have to ask yourself if they even visit? Our HOA manager, Pam Chandler, is likely hamstrung by their inaction or by gag order. TIMELY responses and fixes are woefully lacking. Priorities can't be those of everyone with an 'issue' but better - much better - communication would pull us all together and feel that there are wise and concerned hands on the helm.

Striping the east entrance road as a safety measure was promised asap back at the annual meeting... just an example.

Resources
What resources exist are a mystery. We apparently have no maintenance. Drought and water conservation have seemingly infused our buffalo grass common areas with many weeds.

CC&Rs
We have at lease several WHITE houses (an EARTH TONE?) - more sweeps of non-natural turfgrass, and now - we hope! temporary - an asphalt driveway.

Management
Write any definition of management you wish - perhaps behind the scenes it's a well-oiled machine, but to the owners who have invested, it's not at all obvious that proper attention is being paid.

And here's a sobering thought/question: how many of Discovery properties around the US have had their HOAs turned to the owners? As it stands now, I can't imagine how far off in the future THAT will happen here, if ever. Which means the status quo is one we seem to face for a long, long time.

One example (this is a followup to the post one post below):


Some truck leaked what looks like oil or tar over our roadway (SO BLVD) and drove over the sidewalk pavers. The stream goes as far at Highway 71. Workers were attempting to clean it Friday. Has someone tried to trace this back to the source to make them clean it up? Or was this their effort?


Here's a picture of the missing rock referenced in the post below. It was dragged away by a truck, and never replaced. This is a very visible spot in a multi-multi million dollar development.


Now, as recently as Friday, another rock has been dragged. If the first rock (apparently ineffectual, by the way, as it was there to prevent trucks from riding up over the circle) wasn't ever replaced with another rock to hide the gouge, then what can we expect here? It's now proven they don't work. Can we expect a cleanup/solution? When?


Here's the 'cleaned' area on the 'sidewalk' of the circle - the street doesn't appear to be touched. Is that IT? (Ref: bad communication; resources; management.)

OIL? TAR?

Don't know what it is - some truck managed to leave a pretty good stream of black liquid onto the east side traffic circle and then down the road to Highway 71. They even drove over the pavers at the circle.

In an unusually quick response (days, instead of weeks or months or longer - as in the promised east entrance striping) Discovery apparently has a crew trying to get it up - at least on the pavers. I stopped and chatted with the guy who seemed to be in charge. "We're trying acetone," he said... "do you have any idea what would work?" I suggested a pressure washer.

You can see that the offending truck tried to beat the radius of the turn and that's when it drove over the pavers. Once upon a time we were told that circle would be redone to accommodate larger trucks which find the radius too tight. And that was... years ago?

Looking at the circle, they have never replaced the boulder that was dragged away under another truck (leaving a gouge) what seems like a long time ago. It was one of three, in place to try to stop trucks from going up on the pavers. A grass patch would at least spiff that up.

You have to wonder if, for the LIVESTRONG open houses this fall, perhaps some work will finally be attended to? Yes, the economy has faltered, and that must surely have affected projections for sales at S.O. - but at some point the weeds and other things which need attention accelerate the spiral down, and cost more in the long run.

MEETING

Where: the Lodge
When: Wednesday, Sept. 9th, 6 to 8 pm
What: an evening with your homeowner Board representative, Donald Abrams.

If you are new to the community, this will be a great opportunity to meet your neighbors and your HOA Board rep. If you're a long-time resident, this is an opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions, and to meet new neighbors.

71 WRECK

A lot owner reports flaming car, lifeflight, etc. at east entrance? No other details at 12:45PM Saturday. From our location, can see traffic backed up westbound.

If you have details or pictures please send to rwood24@Austin.rr.com

We saw the highway - the accident appears to have been not exactly at the east entrance, but farther down toward the bridge over Barton Creek - the bridge on 71, not within our entrance. Update: 9 PEOPLE INJURED. Apparently someone was turning, was rear-ended, and that vehicle was then rear-ended.

KEYE video, click here