This evening, we have been back in the house for almost two weeks. Although not completely settled, it seemed like it’s time to share some photos of our rehabilitated (if not resettled) home.

The Living Room

The Kitchen

The Dining Room

The Master Bedroom

The Guest Bedroom  (Clearly the least settled space)

The Office

We are very happy with its recovery. And we feel like we are back at home even though it feels and looks substantially different.

We will probably try to have some sort of “open house” soon. But it will not be a “House Warming Party” – no gifts, no dinner, nor even cookies, nothing but a chance to drop by and look around and visit a while.

Thanks for all of the love and support through this,

Dennis and Mike


OMG ! I almost forgot -

This summer we are vacationing in Austin, at the Holiday Inn Express in Sunset Valley. Sounds lovely doesn't it? We've been here since March 21 as guests of our insurance company while we have been restoring the house from flooding. Because of the work on the house, we don't expect to be able to leave town. So, herewith, we offer photos of our house and various little sights around Austin.

Water coming out of the front door and garage after we got home from our Spring Break trip to Big Bend – March 18, 2016

 Walls ripped open, wet insulation removed, and all carpet pulled up to be thrown away – March 20, 2016

 

Mike in the garage with many of our possessions and about 20 drying fans, after the house was dried out – March 26, 2016

Weeks passed and then we finally got workmen into the project. The master bedroom and living room after furniture had been moved out and the repair work was about to begin – May 22, 2016

Ripping out the kitchen and ceramic tiles and preparing the walls and ceiling for paint - May 23 thru about June 6

 

The Kitchen in fresh paint and waiting for cabinets - June 16

But we have managed to get out for walks along the Violet Crown Trail, Gaines Creek, Town Lake in flood, and Lake Travis in flood.

With the damage to our house and on-going repairs, we may not be able to go on any camping trips for months. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't go to the Austin Botanical Gardens yesterday. So here are a few photos of us, some flowers, and one wild animal that ran by.

See you again soon,

 

Two more days here in West Texas.

Monday we went to Fort Davis and the Davis Mountains State Park and Indian Lodge. Then on Tuesday we drove down into Big Bend National Park. Big Bend was very hot and we have the sunburns and blistered feet to prove it (still, always a favorite). Rather than try for full heat exhaustion we have taken today off and rested and relaxed.

An old gas station in Fort Davis – now closed.

Scrub Jay

A Raven’s nest high on a cliff wall, above the Indian Lodge.

In Big Bend, Dennis and an ocotillo in full bloom, off of Old Maverick Road.

Detail of an ocotillo bloom.

The only two cactus blooms that we saw in Big Bend. Big Bend is still in extreme drought and is rationing water for visitors. This is not a good year for the spring bloom in Big Bend.

A Vermillion Flycatcher in Cottonwoods Campground.

Mule Ears.

Apache Canyon with the Sierra del Carmen in the distance, at the border with Mexico. (Try to put a wall up there Donald.)

A tiny flower in the desert. (We have never seen one of these before and don’t know what it is. The whole plant was only about three inches tall.)

Mike and his petrified snake.

Range stock adjacent to our camp site.

Big Bend Blue Bonnets at the side of the road: Spring in Texas.

Spring Break 2016

We left Austin Friday afternoon in a fairly heavy rain storm and stopped for the night in Sonora, TX. Saturday morning we pressed on to Alpine, TX where we are staying in a small private campground just south of town called La Vista RV Park. It gets a pretty high score: small, inexpensive, simple, clean, well-cared-for, quiet, half a day’s drive away from all sorts of fun places. We’ll show you some of them.

Sunrise over Sonora Texas.

Pictures from our first evening at La Vista. Wild Turkeys. Mule Deer – half a dozen staying in the cover. A herd of Javelinas – must have been 20 of them.  And a treetop Mockingbird.

Sunday morning we went for a long hike on Hillside Trail above Sul Ross State University. Although it is said that there is a desk atop one of the hills, we were unable to find it and just wandered the desert hills. By the way, the bird is a Pyrrhuloxia, sometimes called a Desert Cardinal.

Hope you like these. More soon.