Zombie Invades Wimberley!

A flesh eating Zombie has been reported in Wimberley, and here is a photo.  Either that, or this is my hand after getting a nasty reminder that poison ivy lurks in the woods.  Somehow after ten years of clearing brush and trees I never got any, but a short walk in the woods last weekend did me in.  Does it itch?  Do Zombies eat flesh?   

Garage with a View

A big part of the home design here in Wimberley was based around the view of the nearby hills.  Now the garage is getting started at long last (first photo), and I decided that it too should take advantage of the view.  I'm framing in a couple of 48" square picture windows so that when we pull into the garage, or when I'm working on some project inside it, the view will still be there (second photo).  I was standing inside the garage and looking out through the framed openings for the first time a few minutes ago.  Now I'm thinking that bird and/or hummer feeders hung from the eave just above each window will be just the thing to complete the exercise of bringing a bit of mother nature inside the garage.   

Attention Residents!

This notice was sent to everyone with homes in our subdivision today:

ATTENTION RESIDENTS:

A resident driving southeast on Windmill Run saw a mountain lion crossing the street about 200 feet before the intersection with Lone Man Overlook at approximately 11:30AM on 10/19/2011. She had to put on her brakes to avoid running into it and it just calmly walked then sort of trotted on into the brush. It was last seen heading south down the backs of the houses on Lone Man Overlook.

Photo added by me; it was not in the notice. 
(lady who spotted it was likely shaking too badly to take a photo)

Mary Ann Expressway Grand Opening

I just completed the new stair handrail, just in time for Ernie and Mary Ann's visit this past weekend. As you can see, Mary Ann gave it her thumbs-up.  This is the first time she's gone up the stairs, which she pronounced as worth the trip to see the view of the hills from up there.  Anyone else want to give it a try?  Come on out, the Mary Ann Expressway is open for business.  

Scaffolding, Sort Off

I've been doing some photo file cleanup and came across this old photo of the American Clay plastering contractor working in the stairwell/entryway.  I had been working away upstairs without paying much attention to them, having last checked on them when they were starting their scaffolding setup.  It turned out that they didn't bring any of the pieces needed to bring the scaffolding up the stairs.  So I discovered that they had procured my ladder (foreground, yellow) to create a custom scaffold system.  The only marginal credit I'll give them is that they actually had a guy stabilizing the ladder (you can barely see him at the photo bottom).  But they lose even that credit since he was standing underneath the 2x12 with the plasterer on it.  Thankfully I'm now all finished with contractors in the house, so the only worker I have to keep an eye on is ME.   

Hard Rain

We finally got an inch of rain and cooler temperatures for one day in Wimberley last week!  Along with this not-so-welcome hail and three hours of power outage.  But we'll take it!  I'm saving a few of the hailstones in the freezer to bring out during the next heat wave and remember that day with.   

Saving Face

After about six years of exposure to the elements, our tree face creatures were starting to look pretty shabby.  After all, it looks like they are made of just plain old plaster with a dash of paint on them.  After powdering their noses with an extra heavy coat of the cheapest spray paint I could find, they are once again ready for action.  Protecting our property from a full 100% of the supernatural creatures which would undoubtedly be haunting us if not for tree face vigilance.