Austin ModHouse

we went down to wimberley this weekend and cleaned up scraps from around the cabins.  I also put down some base board and trim to give it a bit of a finished look. 

we had a much needed rain.  notice the water streaming off the roof outside the bathroom (outhouse)

this big oak was one of the reasons we located the cabins at the back of the property.  it survived the drought of 2011 and had a much deserved drink.

view of that big oak from inside the screen room that separates the two cabins. 

the entry canopy received a little bench made from scraps we were cleaning up.  making the most of the waste also equals less work carrying it out through the woods.

koitastrophy II:

we are now down to two of the original koi.  it was a real tragedy and I'm tired of burying fish, hummingbirds, rats and opposum (yes I buried all that in a weeks time).  for the past two years we have been topping off the koi pond water almost daily.  this last refill was too much tap water and we forgot to add water conditioner.... I came home to find ten floaters.

we took the opportunity to completely drain the pool and I did find a leak!  we bought some tiny baby koi to start over.  we were not amused to see that twelve inch koi are $110 and up at the store.  so I buried more than two thousand dollars worth of fish this summer....  anyhow, we have the problem fixed and our new baby koi can enjoy the good life with two remaining big fish.

the pic above is the temporary tank they lived in for a week while I patched the big pool with a liquid rubber liner product.  we also got some comet and shebunkin

eats:

#1 son had a rough day of school this past friday.  we decided that some happy hour fun might cheer him up.  the first place we went did not impress him.  he said "this food is pretty low quality, I'd give it one star", then he turned his back away from the table and watched traffic.  we figured we'd bump it up one notch and went to gabriel's cafe on the UT campus.  He approved of the sweet potato fries but we all loved the truffle tater tots.  this place is has the same exec chef as carillon, between the two restaurants he must buy truffle oil by the barrel. 

music:

it was ACL this weekend and we could hear kanye west LOUDLY till about 10:30 the first night as we sat out on the screened porch enjoying kat's martini drink she adopted from the carillon 256 bells drink.

we didn't have acl tix this year.  that didn't equal no live music for us.  monday night had kat and I at the saxon pub for bob schneider.  we arrived early to find only two tables were not reserved.  I left kat the camp and I left on foot (didn't want to lose my parking space) to find food.  found take out pizza and came back to enjoy the show.  we also found that some girls bought us drinks if we would share our table with them.  we would've shared anyhow but a free pint of shiner made it all the better.

I was familiar with his music, but we were happy to find he is funny as well.  good entertainment.  next time we have friends from out of town, we'll try to get them to go see bob.  it's an austin slanted thing for sure.

acl aftershow...

the daughter came along with me to catch yim yames (jim james from my morning jacket ) play an acl after show with local hero iron & wine.  YY played the whole show on a bass guitar and pulled it off well.  sam (of iron and wine) addressed the crowd as "neighbors" and said this about the acl festival "there is a bunch of boring shit going on over there".  I'm not sure it was all boring over there, but I was glad to be at stubb's last night.  I&W did a dance/rock version of boy with a coin that reminded me of yo la tengo (my personal opinion) that had the whole crowd jumping.  for an encore both singers got together and did a sort of medley of some old classics, clapton's wonderful tonight and stuck on you (lionel ritchie?)