Number 3 for Numbers 1 & 2

Three working toilets in our Wimberley house. Heavens. Admittedly this 3rd fixture upstairs by the guest bedroom is just barely working. That curvy shape to the right is the template for the very green recycled glass counter top soon to be installed, so this bathroom does not even have a sink yet. And you can see that I've only installed just enough ceramic floor tile to set the toilet. As for a door to the bathroom- nope, waiting for the counter to go in first.

But the toilet itself is awesome to this green geek. 1.28 gallons per flush, and it actually flushes. Everything.

Wimberely Drought Gauge

One of our little traditions on each drive to Wimberley is checking this roadside puddle about a mile before our home. In normal years it's usually at least muddy since it gets runoff from a big hill off to the right. This year it's been bone dry since Spring. This drought gauge helps prepare us for what we'll see in a few minutes when we arrive- which lately has been mostly brown vegetation or no vegetation at all. What a delight this week to find the puddle full. And an amusing sight for the neighbors to see a driver stopped in the road taking pictures of a water puddle.

The rain kept coming, more than three inches spread gently over four days and nights. The great drought of '09 may not be over yet, but I've never been so happy to be completely rained out of all outdoor activity.

Hungry Deer

Record drought in the Wimberley area makes life hard for our four-legged friends. These deer wandered through our backyard this morning looking for something to eat. Seemed to not really expect to find anything. And of course they found precious little there since our "lawn" has been reduced to mostly dirt and rocks. We noticed them nibbling on some tree leaves, which can't be too nutritious or tasty compared to the usual tender young grasses. What do you use to buy food for these deer? Doe.