Winter in Texas?

My Ice Plant in the front planter continues to bloom despite the two hard freezes we had last weekend. Very nice. I plan on propagating it come spring.

As for the Simplicity roses, they keep blooming as well. They've been at it non-stop since early June. The frost hasn't stopped then either. All the other plants have started to go dormant.

Below is a picture of the ghosts of summer. They are finally on their way. The sunrises have been stunning as well.

Ghosts

Sun Rise

Holiday Party '07

Another year has come and gone. We celebrated good times at the Holiday Party. To the right is a picture of the guys toasting with the Ginger Bread Nog. Very tasty and potent I was told ....

Here's a picture of the girls by the Christmas tree.

Final Pizza Party for '07

The season has come to a close. We had the final pizza party for '07 in mid-October. It went down as the hottest. Not from a weather standpoint but rather from the fire. It burned hot. The melting was taken to an all new high. Many new objects were put to the test on the flames. I'm sorry to report, none survived. The new items were various coins along with beer cans and other assorted bottles beyond the usual fair.

Here's a shot of the first victim - a Bud Light bottle. Paul was in charge of the melting. He took a different tack at the start. Normally the bottles are inserted into the oven on their sides. Paul wanted to see how they would react when inserted standing up. As you can see in the photo the neck of the bottle felt the heat first. With the biggest impact on the back side. So the first move was from the top and towards the fire. It slumped very quickly.

Here's a shot of most of the die-hards. It was a chilly evening so we spent most of the time huddled around the fire. At this point Paul was done with all his experiments. Justin was caught telling one of his tall tales. Time for serious fun.

Special Visitor in Long Hollow Estates

One of Johnnies girls came for a visit today. She started out in Julie and Shane's yard for breakfast. Then proceed down the street. I hear through the grape vine she made it down to Russell and Angela's house before being escorted home. On her mosey she made a bit of a mess of Steve's yard. Here she is in Julie and Shane's side yard.

And another next to Shane's truck. I think she may have left a mark ...

Mark's Bomb Off the Roof

Diving at the Big Build

Laura kindly took some pictures of the dive show at the Labor Day party :)

Here I am attempting a swan dive from the 5M. Looking ok. After reviewing all the pics of my list, I know realize this is my best dive by far. I need to work on staying tighter on the others! At least I know what to work on before the big meet next weekend. Off to NYC for our summer nationals.

Here's a picture of Logan jumping off the lower level. She didn't bring her suit so she dove in her clothes. Can't believe she came to our house without a bathing suit. What was she thinking!!!! Luckily she had lots of extra clothes.

Here's a picture of Blake jumping from the top! She's the crazy one of the bunch. At the party Laura also taught her how to dive from the 3M. She really improved as the evening progressed ...

More Work at the Big Build

Finally there was a break in the rain long enough to pour the patio by the pool. We are starting to make progress on more permanent structures in our outside living space! The table is still the two slabs of rock held up on cinder blocks. But that is next. The latest plan is to pour a concrete table and polish it like the headers and sills in the house. I think that will make a very nice dark contrast with the light grey color of the concrete patio. Note the patio is polished and scoured like the basement floor. It looks very nice! And it was all done in time for the Labor Day party :)

More Permanent Structures Taking Place


To the right is the path way leading into of the pool area. This is also getting very close to it's final state. The crushed granite mulch will be the theme in the area between the car port and the pool area. There will be random plantings of Agave, Verbena, Cactus and various other sun loving drought tolerant plants. Around the stepping stones, I'm will be planting "Walk-on-me" Thyme. This plant grows a mere 3 inches and when walked upon releases a lovely scent. It also produces a pretty pink flower. The desert region folks are known to plant an entire "lawn" in this manner. We'll see how it takes to my desert garden.


Below is a picture of the path looking out of the pool area. Beyond the large rock is where the car port will be located. Not as nice. Still needs lots of work. But the big stone is in it's final resting place. I plan on planting English Lavender around the base. Hoping that takes well to the hot and sunny location. If that doesn't work out, I'll replace it with Latana, Verbena, or Sage. The two stone columns are the beginnings of a trellis. The plan is to grow Honeysuckle up the inside steel columns (not completed just yet), up onto a rectangular steel structure that will sit on the top of the stone and the steel columns. Can you see it? Well hopefully it will be complete before winter sets in. But not too sure about that ...

The Pride of Barbados is in Bloom

My Pride of Barbados has come into bloom. It was a long wait but it was worth it. It is stunning. Here is a picture of the first couple of blooms. More blooms have come out since this picture. It's getting more and more beautiful each day. They seem to pop over night providing a nice surprise each morning. I'll post some more pictures once it is in full bloom. I only hope the deer do not eat it in the mean time.

Here is another picture of the hibiscus. Still blooming and ever changing with each passing day. I was attempting to capture the size of the blooms. Not sure it really worked. As note earlier, they are the size of dinner plates. Very impressive. The deer have been staying away ever since I started using a heavier hand on the Deer Off. Not sure if the Deer Scram worked because it rained with in a day of the application. The commercials say that it will last for 45 days even when it rains. The directions indicated otherwise. And of course, it didn't just rain, it poured a few times. Needless to say, the pellets washed away. I think the Deer Off is working just fine. I've been applying it every week or so just to make sure those pesky critters stay away. Happy to report they seem to be under control.

Travis Peaked at 702

Last week the lake finally peaked at 702. Here is a picture of the pasture below the house. The lower branches of the large oak trees were submerged. LCRA has opened four flood gates in order to reduce the lake level. The lake has been going down a foot a day for the past week. The lake level is currently at 689. More rain came today and there is more in the forecast for the beginning of the week. This maybe the weather pattern for the summer. I guess we'd best get used to it.

When will the rain stop?

Well it's still raining here in Jonestown! The forecast is rain week at least another week. Travis is now higher then I've ever seen it. I think it's at 701! My personal record was 697. That level was hit Nov '04. The picture at the top of my blog was taken during that flood. The all time record is 710. I don't think it will make it that high this go 'round. But then again I was sure it would stop raining after May. Not the case, it rained most of June and there is no end in sight.

The lake is closed through the 4th at this point. I happen to be enjoying it. It's nice not to have party boats docked in our cove "entertaining" their guest with karaoke in Korean ( I think that was the language) or cigarette boats racing from one end to the other. Keep in mind Lake Travis is just a river that has been dammed to form a lake. It's not very wide, however it is long - 63 miles I think ....

Anyway, no worries the lake hasn't reached the Big Build yet. Joker and I surveyed the rising waters as it pertains to our property over the weekend. The lake was 80 yards from our lower edge. I think it's higher now. But it will need to rise 15 more feet before we have lake front.

Hopefully the rain will slow down enough such that I can take some pictures. I'll post them once I'm able ....

More Blooms

The Hibiscus is in bloom! It's stunning :) Turns out it did come into bloom while I was out of town. Above is a close up of one of two blooms that opened up this morning. The blooms are the size of dinner plates. The color is a deep red. Very beautiful. However, they are very delicate and seem to only last a day. So I been photographing them every day. Today I had the best success.

As for the deer .... They love these plants. I've been spraying them every other day with Deer Off. This seems to be working, however I didn't spray the entire plant and those darn deer reached to the back at munched on one of the stalks :( I think they were here yesterday while I was at work. I think I'll put out the Deer Scram but I'd like to wait until it stops raining. But alas there is no end in sight. The lake is way above full and the rain is still coming.

Deer Damage

The deer have been enjoying my garden too. Unfortunately not in a good way. Check out the damage they have done to my hollyhocks. This is the same hollyhock I posted a few days ago. It's right up next to the front door. I have to say these deer have a lot of guts! But look out you pesky deer, I've ordered Deer Scram. I hope it works. But as a back up plan I'll be building the robo-crow. Once released, these guys should put a stop to your menacing ways :)

Even More Flowers

Here are some more pictures from the garden:

Red Cosmos

Pink Cosmos

Barrel Cactus

Welding at the Big Build

The welding has resumed. Below is a picture of Dave and Tim working on the real platform. Turns out it will be at 5M and a foot or two. Tim is standing on the make-shift platform I've been diving from thus far. It's at 4M or so. It's been great for line-ups, but really want to be able to practice my full list. Hopefully soon!

More Garden Pictures

Here are some more pictures from my garden ....

Rose buds - This is a snap shot of a few of the hundreds of my Simplicity lavender hedge roses from Jackson & Perkins. I have five and they are on their second bloom. They stand almost 6 feet and are covered in blooms. I think next winter I'll be a bit more aggressive on the pruning so that they do not grow so tall.

Pink bougainvillea - I have several, however they are not performing very well. This is a close-up of one small cluster so they don't look too bad. I hope they start to bloom a bit more.

How Does My Garden Grow?

With all the rain we have received this spring, it is growing very well, thank you. Here are some photos -

Hollyhocks

Coreopsis

Cosmos

Iceplant

Coming soon my newly planted rose hedge, Hibiscus, and hopefully my Pride of Barbados. Keep an eye out for postings of these beauties.

New Patio

Things are always changing at the Big Build. The past few weeks we have been working on a new patio. Well I should say Dave has been working on a new patio. The patio is in the front of the house. He first poured the concrete base in April. Now he is covering it with stone. It is due to be completed in a couple of days.

Here's a picture of it basically completed -

Stormy Spring

The rains finally came to North Lake Travis. We are all very happy. The lake is now above full which is a good thing because we are heating up. There have been several severe thunderstorms over the past few months. Check out the lighting picture.