Official Austin Chat Thread (Atlanta: insurance, unemployed, neighborhoods)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

There is a new subdivision going up, (again) here in Hutto. Looks like farmland, (used to be) but also had a small strip of what they call "woods" around here. (yes, I have nature bias) There is also a new trail next to it. I started walking it a couple months back when houses were just going up. The trail was lovely and no one else was using it, (nice). Lately I've seen and smelled jasmine and garlic! Saw where the jasmine was on an old cedar post fence and up a tree. The garlic was along the side of the trail. I've never seen wild garlic before. Not sure if jasmine is wild here or if it was part of a homestead area where someone planted it. Same with garlic. Wonderful to walk past it all. At one point there were these bright yellow wild flowers...an ocean of them. Breathtaking! Spectacular! It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful. A very small part of the trail is covered by tree growth...rare. I even saw a poppy. Where the heck did that come from?

Yesterday I went and saw three huge earth movers and a roller tilling up and flattening the soil so they can put more homes in side by side, on top of each other even closer to the trail. No more wild flowers, no more peace.
Made me want to cry.


I'm just glad I was able to experience it when I did before it becomes one more crowded, crap littered trail.
That area would have been perfect for a small nature preserve but preserving isn't something that is going on around here, sadly. You'd think it could have been marked preserve since it was so close to a small stream...another lovely sight.
I so miss the nature preserve back home, peaceful, quiet.

[Trainwreck20]

Just got 1.3" of rain in the last couple hours. I did not think it was suppose to be that much, but will take it.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Just got 1.3" of rain in the last couple hours. I did not think it was suppose to be that much, but will take it.

It rained up here in Leander all day almost. Early this day we had a Tornado Watch and it came down pretty strong.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

It rained up here in Leander all day almost. Early this day we had a Tornado Watch and it came down pretty strong.

Up to 3.08" for the day now at our rain guage.

[Need4Camaro]

For those into investing, look into Groupon, stocks seem to be increasing.

[Trainwreck20]

Unfortunately, I can't upload the video, but there was a ~4' long rat snake out on the dock by our boat this weekend. Totally unconcerned by us and just going about his business. He swam out behind the slip at one point and was actually quite striking in the sun - the gold in his pattern shone like it was on fire. Quite interesting, I don't think I had ever seen one in the bright sun.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Unfortunately, I can't upload the video, but there was a ~4' long rat snake out on the dock by our boat this weekend. Totally unconcerned by us and just going about his business. He swam out behind the slip at one point and was actually quite striking in the sun - the gold in his pattern shone like it was on fire. Quite interesting, I don't think I had ever seen one in the bright sun.

Damned politicians are everywhere.

How was the lake? I miss our old Glastron ski boat, at least as far as zipping up & down Lake Austin & Travis, but not the maintenance.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Damned politicians are everywhere.

How was the lake? I miss our old Glastron ski boat, at least as far as zipping up & down Lake Austin & Travis, but not the maintenance.

Hey, don't insult the poor snake! He was on rodent control and (judging by his size) doing a damn good job!

As for the lake, it was a perfect weekend - the air temperature was 90ish and the water was right around 79. The winds were light-to-moderate, so nice for the sailboats. Water clarity is currently outstanding - you can can easily see 10' down. The only negative was the number of boats on the lake, which kept it too rough for any really water sports. We anchored, though, and had a super pleasant day. By the time we left the cove ( 2 ish?), there were quite a few boats anchored there, maybe 30? I didn't count but it was easily more than I have seen in that cove in years. Navigating back to the dock required a cautious speed due to the number of boats under power and the chop due to the boats.

As an aside, the new rule that requires being connected to the dead man switch whenever you are going faster than headway speed is (imho) more dangerous than not being connected. It is easy to get it tangle on something and accidentally kill the engine, potentially at an inopportune time.

[Need4Camaro]

Welp. I had to return to Atlanta after the riots settled down and not even a full day of being here, someone broke into my car while I was eating... and no, I was nowhere near downtown or the areas where riots broke out.



Pretty pissed off. Glass everywhere and they even tried to hide what was left of my window under my car. I was looking forward to coming back to my hotel and getting some sleep as I havent had any since Thursday... Now I'm on the phone with Geico instead. I have to try to get it fixed before I can return to Austin.

[ScoPro]

Man that absolutely sucks!

Hope you can get it fixed ASAP.