H.O.T. Hot!

Dear friends,

My grandmother never cursed, but she had her special words she used instead. For example, when it was hot outside, she'd announce, "Well, it's H.O.T. hot out there. Hotter than a firecracker. Y'all want some ice cream?" As if by spelling the word, it was emphasized. My other grandmother said it was "Hotter than H.E. Double Toothpicks." That comes closer to what I'm saying right about now. LOL

Either way, it's hot here, been hot here, and will stay hot here for quite some time. Which makes me wonder why I always pick this time of year to decide to buy a house, sell a house, paint a house or move a garden. Maybe it's delayed spring fever.

Over the last two days, I've eyed my poor shriveled tomato and pepper plants I put out in March. They were very happy for a while, but over the last week or so have almost succumbed to the heat. I've spent way too much time nurturing them from seeds, and too much money spent on buying transplants, so I've decided to move them to the new property. We put in fall gardens anyway, I figured why not? Within hours of digging up the plants and putting them in pots underneath the oak tree, they perked up. I have hopes that once moved to the new house underneath those gorgeous pecans, they'll survive and flourish. We shall see.

The next Big Job at the new/old house is to wrangle the air conditioning so we can work inside without succumbing to the heat ourselves. I figured I might lose some weight this summer, but ya know, there's that ice cream thing. :-)

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Search for home

Dear friends,

When we downsized from a big custom home on seven acres to this smaller place in town, we said it was only temporary. It's been a good in-between place for us, because we couldn't fathom moving from 3,000 square-feet straight into a 1,000 SF home on a tiny town lot.

Now that we've lived in this 1,700 SF home for four years now, we've decided that there's a lot of wasted space here. And I hate wasted space! So now we're looking for another home in another area. This area is lovely, and has a wonderful school system, but since we don't have kids, we find it a bit annoying to pay for new stadiums, etc. when there are many other schools who don't even have the basics.

Over the past six-months, I've looked at thousands of homes online, and toured inside a couple of dozen. After looking around South Austin (and fantasizing about moving back to the town we consider home), slogging through the traffic, we decided to look at smaller towns.

Our recent home hunt has taken us to Taylor, Texas. It looks good provided we can maneuver through the very strict process of going through the city for permits and such. (Here's a rant...why don't these small towns make it easier for folks like us to come in, buy older homes, and fix them up? Maybe they don't want folks moving in? I don't get it.) Anyway, I digress...and it ain't the first, and it won't be the last time I do so. LOL

Taylor is one of those quaint "vintage" towns that is home to the Morning Glory stuffing company (used in quilts for years), and Louie Mueller BBQ---internationally famous and one of the former favorite hang-outs of the Democrat Trinity of Liz Carpenter, Ann Richards and Molly Ivins, or so I've been told. RIP, gals! Where are those time machines when you need one? I mean, really, wouldn't it be a hoot to happen on that bunch at lunch? But I digress, again. Told ya I would!



Anyhow, we're trying to decide if we've gone stark raving bonkers for even flirting with the idea of buying an old house (I ain't talkin' 1950 here, folks) and fixing it up. I do need a project. LOL. Somebody stop me!

We shall see. Stay tuned!

bobbi c.