Wild time

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower center is one of our favorite places near Wimberley. It is living proof that special places can indulge the soul, educate the mind, and be a commercial success at the same time. I'm sure it also engourages greater respect for the environment, although most of the visitors seem to be pretty far down that path already.

So, what better place to bring two of our favorite Houston friends Pat & Chuck for their first visit? We lucked out with the kind of weather which makes you feel lucky to be alive no matter where you are, and especially in a place like the Wildflower Center.


If there is one thing better than the Wildflower Center on a beautiful Fall day with good friends, it is the same gig on a beautiful Spring day. So if you are reading this and have not been or want to go again, let's get put it on our calenders now for the Spring version. Even more wildflowers, even more bliss.

Bamboozled

We decided on the world's hardest wood flooring to go throughout the upstairs and on the stairs themselves. A stranded bamboo, which means it is basically pulverized to make it even harder than regular bamboo, which is pretty darn hard to start with. It also makes it incredibly heavy, so the task of hauling it all from the street (shown here) into the house and up the stairs really nasty.

So this week I started installing the very hard floor and discovered that very hard wood is very hard to get nails to penetrate. I bought a pneumatic nailer recommended by the flooring

manufacturer, but it was still tough going. I then bought a higher-pressure compressor to drive those suckers in- still slow but as you can see in the second photo I'm making progress. I'm installing it over a recycled felt-like product which greatly reduces noise transmission to the floors below. I'll test out the noise reduction effectiveness by dancing all over the floor in celebration once the last piece is installed, and see if Ann can hear anything downstairs.