Charkes

10:04 am: Dam Hoses
I took these photos yesterday evening. The river flow at Wimberley is 3.97 ft / 112 cfs. These photos were taken at the dam on the west side of the park, upriver from the entire park. All the slots on the dam are dry. There's a hole at the bottom of one of the slots to allow water to run. Now they've got hoses!

• The hoses
• Looking over the dam
• Looking across the dam; river flows right to left

This photo was taken back in spring when the water was flowing over the dam.

10:44 am: Hey, an Update!
I haven't written a blog entry in a while. A lot of things have been and are going on.

I'm writing the weekly article in the newspaper about Blanco's Comprehensive Master Plan and what its various groups are doing. The Texas Hill Country and the Blanco area are growing quite rapidly; the city's master plan guides the growth in the city limits while protecting the historic buildings and houses. There have been a lot of changes--such as a new planning and zoning board and historic preservation ordinance--that have happened since the CMP was started last June.

There are a lot of people involved, mostly volunteers like me working on the historic preservation section of the CMP, and the Texas Historical Commission is helping. Things are changing in Blanco, and a lot of changes are so the city can stay the same. I'm also working on the CMP website and a plain English version of the historic preservation ordinance. It's all about communication.

I've also just started helping with the Blanco Library's Oral History Project. I'm running the camera during interviews. The first interview was last week and will continue with the same man, a local historian, this week. The videos will be put onto CD along with scanned copies of items (photos, papers, etc.) people bring. This is a large project and we've just started.

Mom has visited several times--sometimes with Fred and/or the dogs--since my last blog entry. Mamal bought an airbed so visitors can have a better night's sleep than on one of the couches. Honey, Jack, and Teddy enjoy Blanco very much. Jack has a special part of the front yard where he likes to lay and chew a bone. Honey likes talking to the neighbors' dogs on the other side of the street. Teddy likes to sit outside and watch people.

We're dry here. We haven't had a good amount of rain since last month. The house has started shifting as the ground dries. Doors don't close like they used to. The river (measured at Wimberley) is 3.97 feet. The last time I was in the state park, the dam at the west side had stopped flowing. There's a hole in one of the slots to allow some water to go through. I plan to go on a walk this evening to see what the river is doing now.

10:44 am: Birthday Happenings
On Saturday (June 4), Mamal and I went to the Chess Club Cafe at lunch. I had my favorite: Turkey Santa Fe. Mamal gave me pocket money for my birthday that I can spend around town. She also made a blackberry cobbler. Woo.

On Sunday (June 5), mom came down and we all went to Fredericksburg. We ate at Mamacita's for lunch. We arrived 5 minutes before the church crowd; they had waitpersons standing around waiting for the rush. The service was excellent and the food was great. I had chicken enchiladas with Mamacita's tomato/onion sauce. Mamal said it was good food the last time she was there and even better now.

After lunch we went to Wal-Mart so Mamal could get her vitamins and stuff. Mom and I went to the DVD section and got my birthday present: NewsRadio Complete Seasons One and Two. The $5 DVD bin at the Fredericksburg Wal-Mart was full of movies and, amazingly, they were all widescreen. Few people had picked through it. Mom found two old Clint Eastwood movies and I got Short Circuit and Superstar.

From Wal-Mart we went to HEB to buy groceries. I found Tobasco Spicy Soy Sauce on sale (close out). That's good stuff.

Dad, Judy, and Erin sent me an Amazon.com Gift Certificate. I'm thinking I need a DVD burner. Hmmm.

Thanks, everyone.

09:46 pm: Update
Historic Resources Survey
T.D. and I have been going around section C of Blanco for the Historic Resources Survey. We've been finding old houses and taking photos. Last Friday we photographed all the houses in the Pittsburg section that T.D. and C. had cataloged. Yesterday T.D., C., and I tackled the city east of the highway and north of 4th. There are quite a few qualified houses (built in 1960 or before) in that area. Several houses face the highway and today I walked up the west side of the highway and snapped shots of the houses from across the street.

The next task is filling out survey forms for all those houses; T.D. and C. are going to start on them. I've got some house mapping to do. I'll put the photos up on the HRS site soon.

Dairy Queen
Our cataloging/photographing outing was cut short since T.D.'s wife had choir practice, and they had to eat dinner before, or we would've done section C south of 4th. I went to the square a little later to pick up a couple of copies of the local newspaper (see below). I then walked over to Dairy Queen for an Oreo Blizzard. I haven't visited that DQ in 5 or more years! I walked in to find T.D. and C. eating dinner with their spouses. Dairy Queen's atmosphere is excellent; the furniture is the old multi-colored benches, large tinted windows looking out at the highway, and lots of brick. I hear the hamburgers there are excellent. I'll have to try one next time.

Charles Scott Memorial Flagpole
Mom, Caroline, Sam, and the dogs arrived Sunday so we could all attend the dedication of the Charles Scott Memorial Flagpole on Memorial Day. Many organizations in Blanco, especially the American Legion & Auxiliary (see the Pancake Dinner Fundraiser), have worked hard to raise funds for the flagpole and flag. The flagpole is in front of the Blanco Library and is lit by floodlights at night. I filmed the ceremony and took a ton of photos. The newspaper called the night before and asked for some photos; this week's newspaper has two of my ceremony photos on the front page, another inside, and one on the back of the front section. Whee! I'll post the ceremony photos to JudgeScott.com soon and the film sometime after that.

Panoramas
I've given up on PhotoStitch and moved to Hugin, a GUI for Panorama Tools. Mamal and I went out to the cemetery after Memorial Day and I took photos for panoramas. This is one of my favorite panoramas. Papa's grave marker, flowers, and flag are in the foreground.

05:48 pm: Stitchin'
I've discovered Canon's Photostitch 3.1. I've done two stitches so far:

• The Front Yard (image; 317KB) - This panorama was taken this morning after the rain stopped. I went outside and took the photos without a tripod. Use the scroll bar at the bottom of the window to pan. If your web browser scales the image to the window, click the image once to zoom to actual size.
• The Side Yard (Quicktime VR; 2.4MB) - Use the mouse to click-and-drag the camera around.

10:37 pm: May 18-19 Photos

• Wildflowers in Blanco State Park
• Hazy View of the Blanco River - It looks like fog on a crisp, early morning (like my Fogwalk photos) but it was a warm, humid evening.
• Looking down Pecan St. - The hills disappear into the haze.

08:00 pm: Lavender Festival, Market Day, and Classic Car Show
Saturday, May 21 was a big day in Blanco. Market day and the first annual two-day Blanco Lavender Festival both took place on the grass surrounding the old courthouse. Lavender farms in and around Blanco were open for tours and bloom cutting. Two shops on the north side of the square, Brieger Pottery and Real Foods, were also involved in festival. Brieger Pottery sells a variety of lavender products year-round and Real Foods sold addictive organic frozen lavender blueberry limeades, which really helped in the early hot, sunny weather.

On the same day, the annual Blanco Classic Car Show was in the Blanco State Park. Cars lined the road in the state park, divided into classes for judging and prizes were awarded at the end. I'm not a car lover, especially in the heat, but I had to take some photos.

Mom also bought a lavender festival t-shirt, real kettle corn, and more lavender soap.

(The lavender has had a hard time this year with the wet and overcast weather. It needs sun and heat to bloom and we hadn't had much before the festival. The farms are certainly getting sun and heat now.)

Photos:

• Blanco Market Day, May 21, 2005
• Blanco Lavender Festival 2005 (tents on the square)
• Blanco Classic Car Show 2005

04:15 pm: A Mention of Pittsburg
I was searching on American Memory and came across a mention of Pittsburg, the precursor to Blanco. The town was established in 1853 across the river from present-day Blanco, dwindled in population when Blanco was established in 1858, and finally swallowed in the late-1940s.

Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1856
FRIDAY, July 11, 1856.

The following petitions and memorials were laid on the Clerk's table, under the 24th rule of the House, to wit:

• By Mr. Bell: The petition of citizens of Austin, Texas, praying for the establishment of a mail-route from Austin, via Kapp's Mills, Cannonville, Pittsburg, Middleton, Curriate, and Listdale, in said State; which was referred to the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads.

(The links are to Texas Handbook articles on the towns.)

09:28 pm: Various photos
I walked over to Pittsburg (the old Blanco) in late April to take a few photos of Amenthal. The view was amazing crossing the 4th St. bridge. Notice the hazy hills in the distance.

The episcopal church is located in the Pittsburg section, with a sign on Chandler St. pointing toward the church. I've passed by the sign many times, but only in a moving car. I never noticed what the sign said until now. Can you spot the error?

08:48 pm: Cat in the Ashes
I burned the brush pile on Thursday. It caught with just two pieces of newspaper and a match. I had removed half of it beforehand since it was too big, and slowly added that half back as the pile burned down.

Afterward, I found Chris asleep in the wet ashes. Yes, he's an outside cat.

01:17 pm: Tree Sculpture
I took two photos of the tree sculpture yesterday. Enjoy.

• Photo 1 - close up
• Photo 2 - wide shot with pecan tree and Japanese ligustrums in the background

01:10 pm: Fun and tiring weekend
Mom, Fred, and the dogs came for an overnight visit. We were all tired by the end, except for Fred who napped and listened to an audiobook. :)

On Saturday, we had BBQ chicken from Riley's. Mamal made a spinach salad and her roasted tumeric vegetables. Later, mom, Fred, and I went for a walk through the Square and into the park. We stopped at Brieger Pottery so mom could pick up some lavender soaps.

On Sunday, it rained. We got 1.85 inches of rain. Mom made dinner for Mother's Day: beef and chicken for tacos and soft tacos, black olive salsa, and cupcakes (which were served covered in strawberries). It was a great dinner. After the rain let up, Mom and I went out for a drive all over Blanco and stopped at Blanco Rose for coffee.

The dogs were perfect all weekend. Hardison was a very good dog. They had to trade off. Hardison was in the master bedroom, when our dogs were out. Our dogs were in my bedroom when Hardison was out. I made sure Hardison was out as much as our dogs so he didn't feel like a prisoner while they visited. I think Honey and Hardison could get along pretty well.

I'm still a little tired from the weekend despite a good night's sleep. It was a exhausting weekend.

06:21 pm: Updated website
I've updated charkes.com with a slightly different appearance, simplified content, larger random photos on the front page, and a postcards page to let you see all the randomized photos. Enjoy.

06:16 pm: Preparing for the visit
Mom, Fred (my uncle), and all three dogs (Honey, Jack, and Teddy) are going to visit tomorrow, spend the night, and leave Sunday. I've swept the back porch (for Teddy), mowed the front yard, and I'm about to vacuum. Hardison and I can't wait!

During my weekly stick pickup around the yard, I looked up into the trees along the property line and pulled down quite a few dead branches. (I even found an old tree that was starved by the Japanese ligustrums and is just a single trunk.) I added the large branches I pulled down to my wood sculpture in the middle of the yard. The sculpture started out as half a dead pear tree I sawed down. I'll have to post photos.

06:06 pm: Historic Resources Survey
I'm now on the Historic Resources Survey team; it's part of the city's Blanco Comprehensive Master Plan. We're cataloging the houses of historic significance built in 1960 or earlier. I've been working on the website, hrs.charkes.com, which will hold the photos and data about the houses. We're using forms from the Texas Historical Commission to gather the information; I created a database and online editing tools to enter the forms into the website. The forms are very extensive--252 potential options!

Mapping is next on my to-do list for the HRS website. I'm using MapServer for the interactive map. I'm also using map data from the 2000 Census (TIGER/Line) with some custom data filtering for more accurate roads. The map can pan, zoom, and will soon display clickable houses.

More search options are on the to-do list after mapping. After a lot of houses are entered, we can use the website to search for houses that have possible threats like damage or neglect, or search for houses built in the 1940s.

Eventually, the entire database will be printed for archives at the local library, the county, and the Texas Historical Commission in Austin. It will be easy since the entire database can be formatted, indexed, and printed. Indexed maps are a must.

I'm having a lot of fun.

05:54 pm: Luncheon
Yesterday Mamal and I went to the home extension luncheon. Texas A&M runs an education extension in Blanco County; people in the program submitted their recipes for a cookbook and cooked their dishes for the luncheon. People from around the county came to the Gem of the Hills Community Center here in Blanco to eat, talk, and listen to live music. Mamal made spinach salad and peanut butter cookies. The salad was gone at the end and only a few cookies were left. Success!

I've spent a couple of days updating bessie (the server Clint runs at SLCC). bessie was a Red Hat 7.3 server and is now at Red Hat 8.0 with a 2.4.x kernel. Red Hat sucks; it's a pain in the neck to do anything. We'll be switching to Debian when the term is over.

I've been forcing myself to spend time outside every day, especially on these days when upgrading servers and programming takes up most of the day. I'll take a walk or do stuff in the yard. It's very nice outside today. I think I'll mow in a little bit.

06:30 pm: Mom and Kendra Visit
Mom and Kendra (see entry about Clint, John, and Kendra) visited yesterday. Both are apparently envious of my life here in Blanco. Kendra got to see some of that life.

Mom, Kendra, and I walked to the Square near noon, planning to meet Mamal at Riley's after church. We walked around in Better Days Antique Mall until it was time. Mom found and bought a teapot she really liked. Riley's parking lot was almost empty but I could feel the church crowd approaching. I got everyone across the street and into the line while it was short. Several cars then pulled up and the line immediately extended to the door. Mamal came in a few minutes later, joined our group, and got to meet Kendra.

We had an assortment of BBQ--sausage, brisket, chicken, and ribs--and it was excellent that day (especially the brisket).

After lunch, we went back to the house for a little bit before walking to the park. I took a few photos at what we're calling "the water garden" (a dam and an old bridge at the end of the park). I only took three photos because I was enjoying the walk and the conversation too much.

The park's hidden nature trail was, for the first time since I found it, dry enough to use. Water from the highway had been blocking the entrance of the trail for weeks. The muddy areas had dried enough to cross without getting too wet and the water had stopped flowing. (Of course, the trail is inaccessible after the .63 inches of heavy, wind-blown rain last night.)

The nature trail is one part of the park that I've never seen. It seemed to be long enough to reach the 4th Street bridge but stopped at a dam near it (where I expected the trail to end). We turned back, went across the low water crossing bridge, and strolled down the other side of the park. We came out of the park next to Real Ale Brewing. They're brewing something besides their normal brew now; the air outside smelled different.

We stopped at Brieger Pottery and Kendra bought some lavender soaps. The shop sells all sorts of lavender goods from Hill Country Lavender and other area lavender farms. Kendra's planning to be back (with John next time) for the Blanco Lavender Festival which takes place on May 21 and 22.

Back at the house, Mamal had tea, almond macaroons, mixed nuts, cream cheese with Mrs. Renfro's Raspberry Chipotle Salsa, and a plate of watermelon and strawberries. Wow.

10:37 am: AirLife
Last night, I heard on the scanner that the fire department was preparing for the air ambulance, AirLife 2 from San Antonio, to land in the football field. They described the landing zone to the pilot as apparently this was his first time landing in Blanco. The pilot said he was going to make one fly-over before landing.

I went out into the front yard to watch. Helicopters from San Antonio go over or near the house. I saw AirLife 2 fly into town west of us and make its way toward the football field. The helicopter then turned right and flew over the houses, waving its spotlight around. AirLife 2 then came directly over Hardi and me in the front yard and waved its spotlight over us. It then flew back west and landed in the football field.

Air ambulances visit Blanco almost once a day. I wasn't expecting to see much and was satisfied with seeing the flashing lights in the distance. It was a surprise to be looking directly up at the underbelly of a helicopter.

03:24 pm: Visit
Mom visited yesterday and brought me a cable release for the camera, the old Bearcat 210 scanner, and several other things.

After an excellent chicken over salad lunch, Mom and I headed up Cherry to look at the blue house I mentioned previously. Clint wanted me to get the realtor out there to let me in for a look around. I knew that going into the house would ruin it for me and, luckily for the reason in the next sentence, it was unlocked when Mom and I visited. We went inside and almost instantly felt sick. The front room was solid and well-built; the rest of the house had sloping floors and walls askew. It was like a carnival fun house. I walked around slowly, ready to fall through the floor or have a wall fall on me. The floors were quite solid, however, and it was just the sickening feeling that was worrying me. See? I was right! Going inside the house ruined it.

From the blue house, Mom and I walked a couple of blocks up to the elementary school complex for a look around. The view of Blanco from the steps of the old school was neat. We then walked down the Square for a look at the Civil War Living History Day on the Square, and a quick walk through Better Days Antique Mall and Cranberry's Antiques. Nothing caught our interest in the Square and we headed for the park.

Mom had to stop and enjoy the good vibes from the river as soon as we crossed the park border. I guess I don't consciously feel the vibes now that I've been here for a while. I do find myself drawn to walking through the park as many times as I can despite knowing most of it by heart.

Now that I have the Bearcat here, I can listen to Blanco's police, ambulance, fire, and state park radio chatter. I found the frequencies on the FCC license search but I can't tell if they're correct since it's Sunday and Blanco isn't hopping with crime, injuries, fires, or emergency tree trimming.

02:05 pm: The House on the Berm
Our house is on the corner of Hackberry and an unpaved section of 2nd St., known to us as "the driveway." 2nd St. goes along the left side of the house and ends at a fence that runs along the back of our property. On the other side of the fence is a field, a deep ditch, and then Elm St. The field is big, stretching from the half-point of our property to a few feet across where 2nd St. should continue. It's an empty field and has been for a long time. The owner decided to lease it out. He has leased it to a woman who lives in a mobile home park that is experiencing higher and higher rates. Many of the residents are moving away and this woman is moving to the field behind our house. ( Read more... )