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Saturday, November 22, 2014

Spring like Storms and Advancement on Job!!

Good Morning, World!!  It has been cold, wet and windy here for the past week or so! And it is still changing from day to day. In fact, even the weathermen are having a hard time getting out the "7 day forecast" because it is seemingly changing every 12 hours! This rain today was supposed to have been done by lunchtime today, and now they are saying it will be here until tonight. The high today was supposed to be upper 70's, that will be here tomorrow. So I just sit back & watch out the window to see what it is like this hour!!  LOL

I finally dropped by that little VW shop this week to see what it would cost to get one of the VW "Things" that were on the lot....I shouldn't have....I almost fainted!! The prices for the VW's has gone thru the roof!  The most inexpensive "Things" on the lot were $8,900!  That little 'ol VW Pickup in the picture above.....well.....a month or so ago he had a guy walk in one day and offer him $25,000 for it....and he turned it down because it would bring more! My heart is broken!!  So I guess I will be looking for a mid 70's model of a Subaru Brat!  



They have really been moving along with the job here. They have been pouring concrete for sidewalks and parking areas all week. And working late nights to try to get caught up...but catching up when you're 5+ months behind is an almost impossible task! But they have about 20 or so apartments lit up trying to "condition" them so that they can finish the final details of getting they ready to turn over to the owners.



The pool guys have really been working hard at trying to  get the common area in the middle of the main building complex done. Pouring the sidewalks, patio areas and entrance/exits into the buildings.They have been here all night a couple of nights, and way into the night all the other nights.  But at this rate, they just might get done soon!



It will be nice when they do get through with it all. They also laid the tile in the pool and are coming along with the "fountain" part of the pool....I can't wait to see what it is going to look like!  They are bringing in shrubs and palm trees and are trying to make it look like a resort on the coast. Should be interesting! I'm not sure who had the task of doing decorating and furniture choice for the "clubhouse"....but I'm not very impressed. I'll try to remember to get some pics of that later and add them.

But the insides of the apartments are looking pretty good. I wandered thru a couple of them the other night and was surprised at how good they were actually looking!

 They are actually looking pretty nice. I'm not real into the "contemporary" lighting decor...or the cabinets (they are really just too dark for my tastes) but it does look fairly good!  I do like most of the plumbing fixtures they are using. The a quite nice!  :-)


The kitchen countertops are what I really like! They are all a gray marble top, well done finishes and nicely cut and edged! All the entrance doors are 8 feet, which I'm told is what comtemporary decorating is doing to give them a "classy look" for today's style....if you say so!!  Heheh!




Well, the rain just keeps coming and going each 30 minutes or so...literally! It has just started again, been about 40 minutes since the last little shower.  

And as the day wears on the green/yellow/red areas on the radar is supposed to get quite a bit larger. But I'm not complaining...these poor people have been needing raing for several years, so it is a welcome site! Now if they could just learn/remember how to drive on wet roads!! And the temperature is supposed to hit 75* today, rain moving out after midnight tonight, sunny tomorrow and the high is supposed to hit 80*!  Glad I have the A/C unit still set up!

That about covers it for today. Time to do a little house cleaning, sorting & "positioning" of "stuff"!  See you in a couple of days!  


Thursday, November 13, 2014

Winter hits South Texas!!

Well....more or less....winter has hit south Texas....and you can get a good grin when you look out and see folks here dressed like they are in Denver!! It is currently 39* (was down to 34* this morning)...and tomorrow is supposed to be colder. And these poor folks are not used to temperatures like this! I'm quite happy with this weather...but these poor folks are not looking forward to this winter. It just might possibly be a long and really cold winter for this part of the world!

   The "community area" in the middle of the main buildings is also coming along nicely. The pool area is coming right along. It go slowed down with all the rain we got last week....the middle area turned into basically a small swamp!  But it has dried out (kind of) and they are getting ready to do the final pours of the pool area and walkways and "patios". So it is all coming together!




They are coming right along with this project. In fact, I am amazed at just how much they have gotten accomplished in just the past 2 weeks. In fact, they have moved in furniture at the "clubhouse" and office section of building 8. And from what James has told me, they are getting several apartments ready to be turned over to the owners....which I am quite sure has made them very happy. There is even hard power in that little section of the building. So just maybe before too long I will have a hard power drop of a 30 amp line for me and Bertha.  That will be a blessing!  No more fighting with workers that would overload my little 20 amp plug!


Now on for some of the practicality of the goings on here.....concrete!! They have poured and cured the entire driveway around the complex....to the point that all that is left is the main entrance approach!  This sounds like a minor accomplishment on a project like this...but for me and Bertha and Abbie....this is a major thing!  The generation of dust has been decreased by at least 90%!!  Which means my sinuses and the interior of the house has been brought an amount of relief that is almost tangible!! I only have to dust 2 or 3 times a week now instead of 2 or 3 times daily!!! Oh,what a relief it is!!  LOL


This picture is what my current pot of "stew" started out from...and it came out pretty good....but I will have to get a larger crock pot if I plan on using all these ingredients in a meal at once. For a meal for probably 3-5 folks, you can't beat this mix!!  LOL   Started out making a cup of rice in my rice cooker.  Then transfer it to you crock pot. Add to that 2 cans of canned beef and gravy (drain off "gravy" if you get Great Value..just too much like water), then let it simmer for 10-20 minutes.  The drain the liquid off of a can of mixed veggies and blend them in.  About 10 minutes later, add about half a pack of Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix...DRY! Don't add any water, just mix it in a best you can and put the lid on. Let that cook for on high for 20 minutes of so, then remove the lid and mix it up real well with large spoon. That's when the gravy mix will totally mix up and disperse.  What you come up with is a moist, tasty "stew/soup" that is actually quite good!  And the cost is about $7.00....maybe!  Might actually be less that that. But it is good!


Time to take a little rest period and get ready for another night. Thought I would close out today with a nice sunset pic from the heart of  San Antonio!
 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Rain, Rain, Rain!

This is what the radar has looked like here for the past 24 hrs & it has been great! Overnight we had over 2.5 inches of rain. It had settled into a good 'ol soaker! And the weatherman is saying it will be here probably until Friday morning! Glorious! And with the train had come some really cool temperatures! The high today is 60°. And cold temps are coming!