Austin ModHouse

when I left you last week, we were in the middle of an impossible situation.  we were trying to complete half a year's worth of upgrades and maintenance within ten days time.  I had been contacted by a producer of one of those home design reality TV shows.  there had been a lot of talk, contracts signed etc.  then I was given firm production dates. 

it was a LOT of stress.  everything else was put on the back-burner.  middle of this week I was high atop a ladder, painting the ceiling in the screen room.  I suddenly noticed the phone had not rang for a few days.  normally the production staff would increase the phone calls and emails...  I came off my ladder, shot an email to the producer asking for another confirmation of the start date.  he could not confirm.  I pressed him with a few direct questions and he also could not confirm the show itself was still in production.  it happens all the time, shows get cancelled before their first air date.  I suspect that to be our situation.  while we were excited about the show, we were also relieved to be able to slow down and aim to have our list done by the end of summer, instead of a few days.

so we took it easy this weekend.  kat went back to finish her flower box project. 

#1 son has a guitar recital at stubb's bbq next saturday.  it's going to be a great show.  he has a full band supporting him.  I recorded him practicing his guitar part at home.  and of course #2 son said "it's my turn" and expected to be recorded and have his picture taken.  videos of both posted at the bottom of the page. 

BIG

VOLUNTEERS:

I toss many of my kitchen scraps right out the door, onto the ground near the kitchen.  every year we get some volunteers from the seeds in those scraps.  this year has been very productive from the volunteer arm of the garden due to all the rain.  we have several volunteer tomato with big fruit and we even have some BIG pumpkins in the works...  I'll be so impressed if we carve our own pumpkins this halloween.  at this rate, we might be able to carve one into a full size carriage. 

we have started to track what we take out of the abandoned house we bought in wimberley.  kat made a charitable donation of a bunch of housewares, I sold some jeep doors I found there on ebay ($800!) and we now have a bunch of small appliances including, crockpot, waffle iron, gaggia espresso machine, vegetable juicer, and now an air popcorn maker!

BIG IT UP CLICKY HERE

these things have actually increased in value.  people like to buy them and roast their own coffee beans.  we may try that as I am a bit of a DIY junkie.  but for now, the kids are enjoying healthy (less fat/sodium/microwaves) air popped corn. 

we have had a few days where it was warm enough to swim.  he was so happy to be able to use his new flippers.  he obsessed over them every day until we finally gave in and bought him some.  he'd seen flippers in an old navy swim suit ad.  he just KNEW they were the thing for him. 

we tried a new indian food restaurant.  the food was fantastic. the service started out ok but then took a nose dive when our waiter was unavailable to us.  we spent the last half of the meal trying to get his attention...  I can't recommend pakwan. 

Posted by paul at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

we attended yet another fun filled yelp elite party at ray benson's rattle inn. 

BANG BANG!... you got me.

I asked a friend his opinion of the beer, "one is really hoppy and the other is a bit too yeasty".  I went inside and asked for one of each, combined them in one glass and started a new trend.  everybody started going in and asking for one of each along with an empty glass.  the southern star brew was good and always glad to find a can option for boating and river fun times when glass bottles are unwelcome.

pretty yelp elite cowgirls insured a fun evening.

Z tequila offered delicious paloma and a few other cocktails.

short shorts and a pair of pistols.

I did chaperone another preschool field trip.  way out near bastrop, behind a mobile home park, somebody had the idea to carve a path in the woods and plop life size fiberglass dinosaurs and charge $5 a head. 

he still won't cooperate for a picture.  the statue mode is my only hope to get him to stand still for the camera. 

he holds his hands out like that when he is a statue....  ok. 

I made it back to wimberley to replace the missing section of siding.  with a bit of patchwork I did it with just one sheet.  I trimmed the window with pieces I removed from the big house that will be torn down.  I need to replace the front door, trim it, caulk paint and then it'll start to look finished. 

treated ourselves to another great meal at haddington's.  they make their own tonic water there, quinine bark in a pressure cooker or something like that.  the tonic ends up looking brown/reddish.  kat really enjoyed the house made pork cracklin' and we really loved that duck meatloaf with blueberry reduction.  scallops (below) were good too. 

a year’s worth of home maintenance and cleaning crammed into ten days...

the home and I are supposed to be reality tv show ready in ten days time.  I have an impossible list of things to be done.  stripping the old floor finish puts me in a bad mood.  and none if it helps with kat's disposition either.  she hates this sort of stress, especially when so much of the house is disassembled in mid cleaning and project phase. 

I finally finished installing glass tile around the outdoor shower.  I realized I left my tile float down in wimberley, so I made my own.  the one on the right worked so well I didn't try that thing on the left.  left over rubber from the roofer, two screws and a scrap of wood. 

had some friends over for dinner and wine in the screen room (indoor dining table is non-op due to floor project).  kat was all worn out from stress and cleaning.  she laid down to rest a minute and never woke up, slept through dinner and all.  I made a soup of cauliflower, leek and cashew and drizzled a carrot and ginger juice and cayenne sauce over the top.  it looked like mashed potatoes with buffalo wing sauce... everybody seemed to enjoy it (kat ate hers the next day)

zoom-zoom-zoom

Posted by paul at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

spent the last part of the weekend at the blanco river barn near wimberley and fischer, tx.

I got the on-demand water heater connected to the 12v water pump and water tank.  hot showers!

I made use of a stack of hardi backer board found in the house, made a small screen.

that river.... within a moment of dropping the tired feet into that cool, clear water...  relaxation is suddenly abundant.  it's like some sort of magic.

heating up the grill. 

the boys played with a low tech telephone, I made them put the iphones down.

and they played with bricks...

future grill master?  he insisted upon putting the grates over the burning charcoal.  he was careful and received no burns.

#2 son piled the dijon mustard high while the daughter lopped of chunks of the pungent Morbier.  she asked, "what cheese is this?  I REALLY like it!"  that's my girl!  they ate a big wedge mostly themselves. 

we grilled salmon, grean beans, onion and tomato..., the daughter made wild rice,  it was good. 

and now that we have electricity, we have a/c and the kids enjoyed a movie inside that evening.

we took the spare projector down and they kids watched chitty-chitty bang-bang,  it worked out great. 

we found a window on clearance at lowe's.  I'll be glad when the front of the barn is less ugly.  the window had to go in before I replace the missing siding.

we made great progress at cleaning out the abandoned house.  kat carefully packed up the kitchen, made notes of everything to be dropped off for donation and cleaned.  we found a few jewelry boxes (but no jewelry).

the daughter carefully cleaned them and applied orange oil to make them less sad after being left behind.  possibly the most love they ever received... the one box plays "memory"

Posted by paul at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it seems that more people came out than ever before to wish eeyore a happy birthday day.  we had planned to get costumes organized and get #1 son a potato sack so he could practice for the sack race...  well, they didn't have sack races this year and kat worked a slew of late nights this week and we did well enough just making it to the event.

1965 ford econoline hubcaps make nice drums and hats at the same time. 

#2 son has a handle on this birthday thing, he is so ready for his next birthday.  talks about it constantly.  so we had talked up eeyore's birthday.  he asked "where is eeyore".  I think he was calling our bluff.  but when we took him to see the real donkey he quickly clammed up and backed away.  #1 son was more comfortable wishing eeyore a happy birthday

throw the sack games...

the most fun part of eeyore's.... the people watching.  we camped under a tree, enjoyed some best wurst, kat got her giant smoked turkey leg, and some saint arnold's.  it was a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

lots of girls wearing body paint.

we found a field of hula-hoops as we walked out of pease park and much hooping did ensue..

we had a quick stop at kat's office (more work) and then we had a very refreshing dinner at imperia. 

sat at our usual booth and made our selves at home.

chop sticks are not so easy without his helper but he tried...

easier to eat sushi with fingers.

sit on the floor, stand, lay down and eat.... whatever it takes.  we took it casually. 

yes, he got food on his nose.  because he eats like this...

Posted by paul at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

this past week had had a months worth of events. 

kiddie acres is way north from where we live.  it's way outside my usual boundary.  but his teacher talked me into going along.  the place, is made up of aging worn out kiddie rides.  to adults, it's a bit pathetic.  but to these kids, it is the BEST place in all the world!  he's talked about it every day since.  he did refuse the pony ride, I can't blame him.  I'm also skeptical of riding some beast that is larger/smarter than I am.

the wimberley butterfly festival was HUGE this year.  they had so much more to do and many more people did come out for the event. 

kat took the kids to the festival while I worked at the river barn property.

#1 son was so careful to be a good host to the butterfly that chose his wedge of "camp-a-lope".  for half an hour he walked slowly to protect the butterfly.  he made it into the truck with it when I picked them up.  then, marvin (the bastard dog) jumped up on #1 son and stomped on the butterfly.  he cried for quite a while and it was heartbreaking, but I'm sure there is some sort of life lesson in there.  we did slaughter about 500 butterflies last week on our trip back from palo duro canyon, the whole front of the truck was covered with them.  I know, it's not the same. 

eanes ocean show is put on by mrs. wright's class every year. 

pre show goofing around.  the ocean show is a big deal, it's AWESOME!.  the kids dress in all black and use a bunch of props to simulate an underwater adventure with a jacques cousteau theme.  it is great fun and they all put a lot of work into it. 

the set before the lights go out. 

the soundtrack for the ocean show is recorded in advance in a professional studio.  a few nights ago kat asked me "didn’t we see the heartless bastards during sxsw?  I heard a song by them on the radio?"  I was showing her my favorite HB song on youtube when I recognized the studio!  it's the same one where we recorded the ocean show!  spoon has also recorded there as it’s owned by drummer Jim Eno.

leaving the school I saw this funny sticker "CAUTION ASIAN DRIVER".  I didn't get a chance to see who the driver was. 

after MONTHS of hassle. I finally got the transmission shop to fix the tranny leak.  promptly had it towed to a shop that is used to working on hotrods to address the electrical problems. 

Posted by paul at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

hmmmm, I wonder if we will see a spike from new visitors today... we found some nude beer (unopened) in the abandoned house.  these came with a scratch off bikini top, this one was removed and there is another that is partially scratched off.  I guess if you've seen one nude beer pair you've seen 'em all.  sell them on ebay? (click for NSFW version)

I purchased a 275 gallon water tank.  cleaned it all out with bleach water, strapped it to my utility trailer and filled it about 80% of the way.  it probably weighed nearly 2k lbs.

I dropped kat the kids off at the wimberley butterfly festival.  how to get it off the trailer?  how would the egyptians have done it? 

I strapped the tank to an oak tree and PUNCHED IT!

.

OK, so maybe it wasn't that graceful and maybe it did fall on it's face and maybe one of the strap hooks is now straight... but it worked.  we have water for flushing the toilet.  although we have noted that the toilet takes 3 gallons to flush and it's a lot of work hauling the water per flush. 

oh yeah, there is a real bathroom and toilet in that spooky house.  of course a spooky house always has a spooky bathroom.  we bleached and scrubbed that bathroom with an incredible assault of chemistry.  I ran a 12v bulb/fixture powered via solar/battery and now....  it's still spooky but bright!

kat has started to sort, organize and clean the crap left by previous occupants.  a new copy of Angela's Ashes! , pulitzer prize winning literature...  and a bunch of junk...  but who left all this stuff?  the cooktop must have quit working at some point.  they had hauled in an electric stove and just pushed it up against some cabinets.  I suspected those cabinets had not been opened in a long time, and held more (crap) clues to the people who left this place....

found this pic in there (among many other treasures) looks like early 90's to me.

the place has inspired many questions.  why are those pieces of all-thread up there?  and who would attach a shelf bracket over the miniblinds putting a shelf across the front window...?  ah screw it.  let's start ripping it down. 

it was dark around the spooky bathroom.  less spooky now that I removed the drywall on a few walls and let the light in. 

he's not supposed to be up on the deck, he's testing his limits. 

I worked pretty hard cutting and dragging cedar trees.  you may wonder why I hate cedar trees so much.  well, besides the whole cedar fever thing, cedar trees operate a bit like this...

notice the cute baby cedar tree getting all cozy with the mature oak tree.  seems innocent enough, right?  NO!  it's a KILLER!

(dead oak on the left, Cedar tree in the middle) the fast growing cedar consumes much more water and quickly chokes its oak tree host.  soon the area is thick with cedar trees and the oak trees are now being deprived of sun light and water...

as seen on the unmanaged lot next to ours, the cedar trees soon cover everything.  several hundred year oaks are being threatened by a sizeable cedar army. 

while I labored with the chainsaw outside, kat was busy cleaning and making lunch.  although it was put together from food I previously cooked it was greatly appreciated and delicious.  it was a nice change of roles, she usually goes to work and I cook and clean.  I imagined this was more like my farming grandparents lived.  he'd go out in the field and work till lunch, come home to a meal and go back farming.  but then again, he died out in that field so maybe I'm putting rose colored shades on it.  but that salmon with stereogum sxsw party sauce was delicious, as was the HUGE salad, the garlic herb cous-cous and ruby redbird.  later that afternoon, we walked down to the river.

a group paddled by on kayak and canoe.  the weather was just perfect!

he wanted to see how it looks while blocking the blues.

Posted by paul at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)