Feb-April 2024, Three Months in One

 Three Months Blog in One 

When you go away from home for 9 months you never really think of the things you do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to maintain the old homestead. When you return you slowly begin those missing projects to get things back up to par. It seems the exterior projects were the ones that needed attention. No problem though as the weather was very mild and getting things done streamed along. I managed to spread 90 bags of mulch.  Also getting things done for the Admirals 91 year old father, Big Dave, were on the horizon. The items on the list did not include blogging so 1 for 3.

We drove up to Ft. Worth to hang out with the Admirals dad for the week. We chose this Ridglea neighborhood for a walk, I remember playing pickup football here at this park, it was full tackle and of course no protective equipment. 

I landed flat on my face somewhere around here after Bobby Trout tackled me and knocked the air out of me. That is the only time in my life I have had that happen. If you have not felt that before imagine trying to gasp for air and nothing happens. 

Then when driving down West Camp Bowie Blvd. we noticed a lot of goings on here at this old cafe.

Lots of movie making gear around.

Turns out they are shooting episodes of Land Man here see: https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/land-man-cast-plot-and-everything-we-know-about-the-taylor-sheridan-series

Walking through Big Dave's neighborhood we amazingly see a family of Canadian Geese, What's going on?

Back in Austin we noticed the deer population seems to be increasing in our sons family's neighborhood

Back in Windsor Park some are getting clever.

The Blue Bonnets are springing early and it seems to be a bumper crop everywhere you go.

A walk around the Capital complex and this old historic tree has plenty to lean on.

Ella Comes home to Austin for a visit!

I got this off Facebook, but that is what it really looks like around here.

Then Liv comes home from Oregon and we have a family get together.

The two winners of this match happen to be the two youngest!

We found the Waggoner Trail Head along the Clear Fork of the Trinity River, something new for Ft. Worth.

Finally a nice trail along a waterway that is not busy with auto traffic and other city life, it does run parallel to the busy train tracks and major train yard in Ft. Worth but there are some natural barriers that keep that noise low.

And this is the first for seeing Cormorants this far inland.

Another First for us, I'm glad they marked it!

See: https://youtu.be/sYJSppKBGqU

They need some signs like this in Austin.

The most famous bakery shop in Ft. Worth

Nothing like a walk through Arlington Heights.

There's a Helping Hand

Well when I walked to Stripling Jr. High I guess I never noticed this historic home.

The black pole on the left is a siren warning station for tornadoes and bad storms.

Art that moves you see: https://youtu.be/TglvH0k2_Ig

We found Big Dave's boyhood home, slightly modernized.

And Big Dave's North Hi Mount Elementary School that's over 100 years old

Few hitching post remain, but when I was a kid running around here there were several around.

Big Dave collects stuff and he had this old can from Leonard's Department Store that has long since gone the way of the past,

But he wanted to donate it to the Leonard's Museum

They were happy to get it and the lady host was very nice to give us a personal tour. 

You would drive to a big open parking lot and walk a short walk to get on the Subway ( The only one in Texas Forever) and then ride underground to Leonard's in Downtown Ft. Worth.

Even our son Graeme rode on this subway car when he was very young.

Just one piece of the mulching project, did I say 90 bags?

Just happy that the clouds parted enough to enjoy the total eclipse.

Turned to night in the neighborhood.

Even the street lights came on.

Richard avoided looking directly at the eclipse, instead he had his clever hole in the box screen to enjoy.

So many variations on the theme.

Graeme Rides to Windsor park for a visit.
Then rides away, See him ride away: https://youtu.be/UU91caGZx6o

January 2024 Meanwhile Back in Texas

 

We managed to dodge the record 2023 summer in Texas but it was time to get back and check on our old homestead.

A crisp sunset on our flight back to Austin reminded us of a favorite song by 
Chris Rea : https://youtu.be/9hegovELGH0?si=FEmepnXjNbPu5TK6

 

First up was a walk through the neighborhood just to see what's changed the last 9 months

A school teacher is building this home as he brings Bali to Windsor Park

Just three blocks away is a park where you might catch a movie scene being filmed, 
this time it was a scene for Texas Walker Ranger

This guy has an interesting project.

On another walk over at neighboring Mueller neighborhood we find a park we did not know about.

A walk around our sons neighborhood reveals what appears to be an increasing deer population.

I kept this old Dell Latitude laptop on the boat,
it was time to let it go, it was excruciating slow.

I began taking screws out to get the hard drive out so I could destroy the hard drive,
I have always loved taking things apart!

Smashing 20 years of data is fun too!!

Our favorite Austin Meteorologist Chikage Windler often post the lake levels of Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis which provide water for the Austin Metropolitan area. The only other time the Lakes were this low was back in the sever drought of 1951.

We decided to go out to Windy Point at Lake Travis to find out for ourselves.

There is no lake here, it is just a the winding Colorado River. 

All of this should be covered with plenty of water., Windy point has grown at least 3/4 of a mile out.

I have sailed across this portion of the lake in our previous 30' Catalina Hey You!

As I walk down to the waters edge I look back at what used to be Lake Travis.

I am standing by the waters edge and I pulled up Lake Travis on my phone

See that Green dot? That is where I was Standing!!!

That is Commanders Point Marina which has been pulled out to where the water is now, just across from where I was standing, we kept our sailboat there but is was in a very nice fjord that is obviously dry now.

Some old tree stumps

I took a couple of rocks and a stick where there used to be at least 60' of water.

This is a picture from when the lake was full taken at Windy Point.

From above on a hill you can see the winding river that was Lake Travis.

Lot of people paid a lot to live amongst the Juniper for a Lake view.

Marshall Ford Marina pushed out into the remaining water.

That island is known as Sometimes Islands which were only occasionally exposed, I think it is actually a land bridge now across the entire basin area of the lake.

Then we drove over to the Hudson Bend area.

 

New sidewalk extension.

They are taking advantage of the low water levels to remove debris from the bottom of the previous lake assuming the water will return.

Years ago I worked for this company, Just For Fun, that provides captained charters on 50 passenger barge party boats. Their marina has shrunk by 2/3rds at least.

It has seemed to me that the arid West Texas climate has been shifting eastward and now includes part of Central Texas, This site discuses that idea: https://www.earth.com/news/warming-shifting-climate-boundaries/

"Researchers are reporting that the 100th meridian west, the longitude that forms an invisible boundary between the humid eastern United States and the arid western plains, is gradually shifting eastward due to climate change.

According to two recent studies, the dry climate of the West is expanding into the Midwest and will impact the future of farming and other pursuits. The experts have also established that this divide across North America is actually very real, with distinctive populations and agriculture on each side. "

With over a hundred people moving into the Austin Metro area every day plus several big named companies moving into the region I sure hope it rains soon!

I traded in a guitar I was not using for this Yamaha A1M electric acoustic, Very happy with it. 

And I thought it was time to return the Washburn Hollow Body electric that I borrowed from my son almost 4 years ago, I found this nearly perfect 2018 Gretsch 5420 on Craigslist here in Austin plays just as nice as the Washburn but it has that old Gretsch sound and has a Bigsby tremolo bar that is way fun!

My 9 months in Seattle I had a Yamaha APX500 electric Acoustic that helped me maintain my practice. I left it on the boat so I would always have an instrument while in Seattle. I am just now beginning to explore some new tunes and hope to revive my recording soon.

Found this interesting about my First Guitar Hero
His Gretsch looks just like mine but it is the the next model up and three times more expensive.

And the best part of January was getting about two thirds of the family together for a fun family dinner and games.