Catching Up After a Long Lapse

Whoa... Long time no post, so we had best get with it.
In the last 5 (has it been that long?) years, the mooooove has been completed, a larger area fenced off around the place so the longhorns are no longer looking in the front windows---they are a curious lot.
Its taken a few years to get all things ironed out with regard to this newly constructed home. Nothing fancy, but surely solidly built to last forever.
Collecting rainwater is the way to go in dry, central Texas. In this rural area, one has to either drill a water well (950 feet down into the Trinity Aquifer) or collect rainwater. There are no other choices. NQ99HQ depends on rainwater entirely. Here, with no planted lawn and minimal gardens, the rainwater storage of some 22000 gallons is sufficient. One inch of rain yields about 3000 gallons. The most significant problem is watching collected rainwater overflow the tank to the ground. Here is a good article on the ins and outs of rainwater collection written by a professional: www.jclonline.com/residential-rainwater-collection-systems.aspx

Hard to believe, but collecting rainwater for whole house use is not permitted in two states!

NQ99HQ sits on about 50 acres and we have our share of wildlife. More on that later.

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Encounter in Blanco

We often drive to Blanco to get outdoors and seek a cure for our cabin fever, to enjoy the local barbeque, and to hunt for books at the library. We could get addicted to this if it weren't for some concern that this routine would lead to just another form of cabin fever. This time, we stopped for some gasoline and found the local people all in a buzz about the sighting of an extraterrestrial ship. The first accounts were that it was all a hoax and then others came forward and told of the sighting which made us think that a mysterious ship did make a visit. Nobody witnessed the craft's landing, but most sensed that there was some form of transport of a group of beings that somehow made the craft exit and then, without any commotion, they just melded into the mix of people of the area. Now that was a problem because we had always thought that ETs would not look and dress like us but instead have exaggerated bodies and some dress that suggested space travel. W...

Must be the Moon

It could be the phase of the moon, or it could be the combination of the moon and the fall equinox. but no matter what the cause, people were really talkative today, Wednesday the 28th of September 2022. We decided to journey off to Blanco because this small town, the ex-county seat of Blanco County is a friendly place and is the home of the Old 300 Barbeque shop. I call it a shop because it is not really a cafe nor is it a restaurant. It's just a place to buy barbeque plates or sandwiches and of course beer and the essential cobbler for dessert. Calling it a joint would be derogatory in our minds. We always opt for the pork loin sandwich that we share because one is too large for either of us. We bypassed the cobbler because we had also planned to visit the gelato place on US281 that we had prospected for the last few years. We did justice to our sandwich outside on the front porch and made an offhand comment to an older fellow who was reassembling his leather get-up....

Smithville, USA

If you are not observant while traveling northwest on Highway 71, Smithville will be in the rearview mirror and so then you will have missed it all. It's not on the main road but off to the south a block or so. We have driven past Smithville many times but this time, in order not to miss it, we decided to make that our destination. Smithville's main street runs parallel to the highway that runs north-south and therefore parallel to Highway 71. Highway 71 connecting Houston with Austin runs on the north side of the Colorado River and Smithville is on the south side of the river. This narrow separation from the main trunk line highway is what has spared Smithville from the ultimate doom of either death from isolation or ruin from big city influence. We often travel miles and miles for a new lunch experience and this trip was no different in that it was a 90-minute drive to reach our destination of the Old World Bakery and Cafe. The bakery part is ...

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