notablogger
I guess I am not a blogger. I tend to more like directed emails, but I can see where blogging is useful if you practice it often.
Anyway, surprise! I Am Back! This is the end of the first week back in EG on this rotation. The last time home was a blast. We picked up the Grandson and kept him for a week, then returned to Austin and picked up his mother and went to San Antonio for a few days. Spent time on the Riverwalk, enjoyed some good TexMex, watched some Mexican Hat Dancers in costume, etc. Then took him to Sea World. His most favorite things in the world are Whales, Sharks and Dinosaurs. We covered the Whales and Sharks for sure. We were there about 22 years ago when our kids were young and the park was new. This time around with the Grandson it was very smooth and polished. The Beluga Whale show with the Cirque De Soliel-like performers was my favorite. Of course, Shamu was the big hit with Braedon.
The next time home, we have RV slots for Dinosaur State Park in Glen Rose Texas. That is an awesome place. The Glen Rose formation is an early Cretaceous limestone deposit where there have been many footprints found. The Paluxy river has cut a channel thru the limestone and unearthed these footprints and fossils. That area was the site of an ancient ocean precursor to the Gulf of Mexico. During that time, it was a marshy area near the coast. The footprints are those of sauropods migrating along the coast and a group of carnosaurs following and hunting them. (the carnosaurs lived during the Jurassic and late Cretaceous and both the T-Rex and Allosaurs(pictured below), belonged to this family.) When we went there and I saw the huge, deep clawed footprints of the predators following the leaf eaters, it brought the dinosaurs to life for me like nothing else. It was a mental slap on the side of the head. I am excited to return with my grandson and see them again.
Although I have been carving our place in Buffalo out by hand for over 11 years now, it is starting to sink in that I will not always be able to sustain the constant physical labor, nor want to always have a huge list of chores that have to be done. Looking down the road, 5 to 8 years, I see a time when I just want to minimize things, 'sideline' as Karen says and drop out of the consumer economy per se. With that in mind, I have set a new course for us. Since we have been going to Austin to visit my eldest and the grandson, I have really grown to like that area. I have always liked the Hill Country. It is famous in Texas for miles of limestone hills, pure clear, rock bottom streams from the Edwards Aquifer, fishing , hunting and all sorts of touristy attractions due to the beautiful countryside. There are abundant small towns with great restaurants, crafts & antique shops and pretty much whatever you like. The Boy Scout summer camp of the Houston Area Scouts is there, near Wimberly. We went there every year when I was Scout Master and I really liked the vegetation, shrubs and trees. And the wildlife. You would see abundant deer, wild hogs, roadrunners, turkeys etc. Beautiful brightly colored birds from Mexico. I liked the way the earth smells in the summer. The heat from the sun causes a distinct pinesol aroma in the air, coupled with the sigh of the breeze thru the cedars. It is a truly serene and beautiful place. Apparently everybody else thinks so. The real estate in the Austin area is skyrocketing in price and the high prices are extending in ever widening circles from the city center. If I am ever to have a place there, I will have to buy the property now. I cannot afford it if I wait 5 years. So, with that in mind, we are starting to look for a few acres. I want a place on top of a hill with a scenic view. Eventually I plan to build a cabin out of the native cream and buckskin colored limestone with a metal roof. I want the living room to have glass panes with french doors opening out on to a porch area with an outdoor kitchen. I want the porch to have the scenic view so that I can sit there with a cool drink in the summer, smoke a cigar and just contemplate the distant horizons. A small place , but with enough room for a guest bedroom, a place for our RV and a workshop. Small enough to mow with a garden tractor, not a 55horse behemoth like I have now.
Once we find the land and purchase it. I will trade up my existing RV for a motor home and we will use it to stay in while we work on the Hill Country place. When the time is right, I will sell Buffalo.The property values have gone up so much there that I can take the equity out of it and build my dream cabin on the hill.
Anyway, I am a dreamer. The Johnston family motto is NUNQUAM NON PARATUS which translated from the Latin means, Never Unprepared. To me, that means to have a plan and to work it.
That has always been my guidepost in life.
Anyway, surprise! I Am Back! This is the end of the first week back in EG on this rotation. The last time home was a blast. We picked up the Grandson and kept him for a week, then returned to Austin and picked up his mother and went to San Antonio for a few days. Spent time on the Riverwalk, enjoyed some good TexMex, watched some Mexican Hat Dancers in costume, etc. Then took him to Sea World. His most favorite things in the world are Whales, Sharks and Dinosaurs. We covered the Whales and Sharks for sure. We were there about 22 years ago when our kids were young and the park was new. This time around with the Grandson it was very smooth and polished. The Beluga Whale show with the Cirque De Soliel-like performers was my favorite. Of course, Shamu was the big hit with Braedon.
The next time home, we have RV slots for Dinosaur State Park in Glen Rose Texas. That is an awesome place. The Glen Rose formation is an early Cretaceous limestone deposit where there have been many footprints found. The Paluxy river has cut a channel thru the limestone and unearthed these footprints and fossils. That area was the site of an ancient ocean precursor to the Gulf of Mexico. During that time, it was a marshy area near the coast. The footprints are those of sauropods migrating along the coast and a group of carnosaurs following and hunting them. (the carnosaurs lived during the Jurassic and late Cretaceous and both the T-Rex and Allosaurs(pictured below), belonged to this family.) When we went there and I saw the huge, deep clawed footprints of the predators following the leaf eaters, it brought the dinosaurs to life for me like nothing else. It was a mental slap on the side of the head. I am excited to return with my grandson and see them again.
Although I have been carving our place in Buffalo out by hand for over 11 years now, it is starting to sink in that I will not always be able to sustain the constant physical labor, nor want to always have a huge list of chores that have to be done. Looking down the road, 5 to 8 years, I see a time when I just want to minimize things, 'sideline' as Karen says and drop out of the consumer economy per se. With that in mind, I have set a new course for us. Since we have been going to Austin to visit my eldest and the grandson, I have really grown to like that area. I have always liked the Hill Country. It is famous in Texas for miles of limestone hills, pure clear, rock bottom streams from the Edwards Aquifer, fishing , hunting and all sorts of touristy attractions due to the beautiful countryside. There are abundant small towns with great restaurants, crafts & antique shops and pretty much whatever you like. The Boy Scout summer camp of the Houston Area Scouts is there, near Wimberly. We went there every year when I was Scout Master and I really liked the vegetation, shrubs and trees. And the wildlife. You would see abundant deer, wild hogs, roadrunners, turkeys etc. Beautiful brightly colored birds from Mexico. I liked the way the earth smells in the summer. The heat from the sun causes a distinct pinesol aroma in the air, coupled with the sigh of the breeze thru the cedars. It is a truly serene and beautiful place. Apparently everybody else thinks so. The real estate in the Austin area is skyrocketing in price and the high prices are extending in ever widening circles from the city center. If I am ever to have a place there, I will have to buy the property now. I cannot afford it if I wait 5 years. So, with that in mind, we are starting to look for a few acres. I want a place on top of a hill with a scenic view. Eventually I plan to build a cabin out of the native cream and buckskin colored limestone with a metal roof. I want the living room to have glass panes with french doors opening out on to a porch area with an outdoor kitchen. I want the porch to have the scenic view so that I can sit there with a cool drink in the summer, smoke a cigar and just contemplate the distant horizons. A small place , but with enough room for a guest bedroom, a place for our RV and a workshop. Small enough to mow with a garden tractor, not a 55horse behemoth like I have now.
Once we find the land and purchase it. I will trade up my existing RV for a motor home and we will use it to stay in while we work on the Hill Country place. When the time is right, I will sell Buffalo.The property values have gone up so much there that I can take the equity out of it and build my dream cabin on the hill.
Anyway, I am a dreamer. The Johnston family motto is NUNQUAM NON PARATUS which translated from the Latin means, Never Unprepared. To me, that means to have a plan and to work it.
That has always been my guidepost in life.