Austin ModHouse

it was a busy week followed by a weekend of 4 birthday parties... 

Picked #1 son up from a party here in West Lake Hills.  Would I care for a glass of wine?  well, yes, and thank you!  it was good wine too.

the scene above might lead one to believe we were in some rural area, far from city life.  the great thing about West Lake Hills is that the natural setting is only about ten miles from a bustling downtown, the Tx State Captiol and UT campus.  West Lake Hills is a city within a city, we are surrounded by the city of Austin, but still separate.  an island of rural inside an urban area.

It was Eeyore's 50th birthday party. 

I saw this friendly guy passing by with a fistfull of fresh onions, dirt still hanging from the roots.  "NICE ONIONS!"  I yelled (I yell at people often).  he stopped to complain that nobody wanted his onions.  kat was glad to accept some of his harvest.  "thanks onion man!"

some rituals must be observed, the giant smoked turkey leg, best wurst, real ale and saint arnold's

some of the costumes this year.

he was "Donkey Hote" (Don Quixote)

unicycle football...

Hula Hoops...

we had a bit of a scaled back Eeyore's birthday this year.  we didn't really dress up, we didn't take along any percussion instruments and join a drum circle...  we had another 50th birthday party to attend that same day.

Blanton Musuem of ART turned 50!

membership has its benefits.  the reserved table and complimentary food... all good! 

the membership is worth this one party alone. 

DJ El John Selector was working in the courtyard

Brownout was AWESOME! 

they even had some break dancers getting into the music.

T Bird and the Breaks were great as well.  I hope we can find a show to take the kids along to see T Bird, we all love their music. 

and in the middle of this past week, we attended a Yelp Elite party at Lucy's Retired Surfer bar. 

exotic rum drinks, beer from Kona Brewing Co (Hawaii), chicken, shrimp and lei'd exotic women.... 

YELP even gave us some awsome ELITE socks!  I'll admit that Alicia looks better in her socks than I did mine, won't subject you to a pic of me in the socks.

the school hosted an evening of art, eat and play.  #1 son signed up to play guitar.  he was happy to sing songs (Deep in the Heart of Texas, Yellow Rose of Texas etc).  he performed steadily for the whole 30 minutes. 

we attended the "grand opening" of a new rooftop deck downtown, Micheladas. 

free alcohol brings out all sorts of people.  it was crowded and it only takes a few tobacco smokers to fog up a whole outdoor area.  the table of 4 next to us chain smoked the whole time.

the food and drinks were pretty good!  but we'd had enough second hand smoke.  we made a quick exit and decided we'd rather pay to be comfortable.  we left for some Portugese wine and some salad over at Fleming's.

Fleming's was pretty good!  they regularly send us $50 gift certificates to come in and try them, I won't discard the next one!  kat enjoyed browsing their wine list-iPad.

we also had a neighborhood ice cream social this weekend, and yet another birthday party.  #2 son asked for a face tattoo as we were getting ready to go hang with the neighbors.... sure. 

Posted by paul at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

over the past couple weeks, I've noticed more, and more TESLA around Austin (especially westlake).  we had some friends come camping down at our wimberley home.  they packed their giant tent and camping gear into the TESLA and made the trip out of town. 

BIG TESLA (CAMPER EDITION)

Cargo space for camping gear is generous, since there is no engine.  it has two trunks!

BIG (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)

it almost dresses up our tear-down of a shack.  what would you bet that this is the first TESLA that has been used as a weekend warrior camping trip vehicle?  if only I could get a TESLA that could pull our airstream....

we stopped at Trattoria Lisina in Driftwood for lunch on the way back to austin.  we found THREE other TESLA in the parking lot, just pure happenstance.  I don't think the other people were returning from camping trips. 

in preperation for our wimberley weekend cheese happy hour, I drove #1 son to Antonelli's and let him select some cheeses.  the friendly staff was glad to help guide his palate. 

his three cheese selections.

we tasted along with raw honeycomb and sopressata.

walked down to look at the blanco river.  the water is still a bit chilly, but the boys just HAD to get in.  they enjoyed hot showers back at the cabin before dinner.

BIG

he snuck back in and had all that cheese to himself...  I'm not sure we would approve of licking the cheese planer. 

kat's annuals have survived a week!  the deer did not find them in their well protected location.

I did chaperone a pre-k field trip to kiddie acres. 

kat and I did enjoy a yelp elite party at the Hilton Hotel, Liberty Tavern.

Kat even won a Tito's handmade vodka gift bag! 

video below is the daughter practicing her guitar.  she wasn't prepared for me record her, and then post it on the interweb.  I was trying out a new lens for my camera.  I've learned that I need to turn off the image stabilization (whirring sound in background) next time, or use an off camera microphone. 

Posted by paul at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I revisted an old wimberley sketchup model.  I worked in a second floor complete with deck that would face the big valley view.

BIG

BIG

I realized that having a small cantilevered second floor deck was a more elegant solution to kat's request for a second floor deck that recieved some direct sunlight. 

BIG

I went back and applied the same method to the sketchup model I posted last week. 

Posted by paul at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wimberley:  I found an aligator lizard inside the old house.  I called everybody for a look.  it must've thought we were a threat, it ran straight between my legs and over #2 son's feet.  he freaked out just a bit.  not the daughter, she patiently stalked it until she could coax it into her grip. 

she also managed to catch a skink lizard. 

kat found one of those giant orange, yellow and brown centipedes.  that sent her running and screaming.  she also found a scorpion (I killed it), and a snake. 

kat bought a bunch of flowers.  she had forgotten that deer LOVE to eat flower salad.  she regrouped and came up with a new plan.  hopefully this setting will protect them. 

I finished my in table wine/beverage bucket.  all sealed and ready for ice and bottles.

HAPPY HOUR!

we purchased some cheese from a local (austin) shop.  we were looking for the artisan alpine cheeses we love.  this cheese from GA is supposed to be in the same style....  but it lacked the punch in the face flavor (stink) we've grown to love from Rolf Beeler cheeses.

kat and I enjoyed the last of the Rio Star Ruby Red (texas) grapefruit.  she made the kids some age appropriate beverages with some blueberry syrup and lime. 

CHEERS!

I don't really like boilled eggs... I don't really like pickled eggs... but I DO love these spicy pickled quail eggs, QUEGGS!  SO GOOD!

the daughter made a few of these pretty snack bites from toast, raw honeycomb, cherry tomato and salt. 

#1 son contributed some juice from of his beloved fire roasted mushrooms.  she said it was really good.   

we enjoyed beef tenderloin (sous vide prepared and grilled over mequite) with moody blue cheese and mushroom gravy. 

we lined up the outdoor chairs before we left.  hoping to protect the new plants from the deer. 

kat and I had reservations at the salty sow for restaurant week.  we really liked their craft cocktails and I LOVED the oyster and boudin balls. 

we had an issue with the salad.  kat didn't really care for the big cheese cubes.  we checked the menu and noted the salad was supposed to have Point Reyes Blue Cheese.  I tried a cube it it tasted more like an irish cheddar.  then we noticed the salad was missing the carrot, and the bacon lardons, and the dressing was not as described.  I flagged down our server, she checked with the kitchen and confirmed that we were served "yesterday's salad".  she explained the error like this "it's easy to make that mistake when you have a different salad each day.  but at least this one is good too!".  she somehow glazed over the fact that kat had pushed all the cheese cubes to the side. 

I'm not sure how serving food other than what was ordered became acceptable.  still, we liked salty sow!  I looked forward to going back to enjoy the happy hour.  kat enjoyed the mixed grill, it was a huge plate of meat.  however, about 5 hours later, she was less than impressed (food poisoning).  so sorry salty sow.   

Posted by paul at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

earlier this year I posted some sketchup ideas for our place in wimberley.  I shared them with the wife to get some opinions.  she made one request, a second floor deck, that receives some direct sunlight as well as provides shelter.  I gave up on my strict constraint of the original footprint, and i also gave in to a full second floor, and I think the design benefited from the new version.

BIG

we now have more of a semi-private entry between two larger volumes.  the white section at the front of the second floor would be transluscent (polygal), but would receive no direct sunlight except for the middle of winter. 

BIG

I've not worked on a floorplan, or window placement.  But you CAN see the second floor deck on the sketchup below. 

BIG

we have an important event to photograph in a few months.  I've already started to assemble my photo bag and list what equipment to acquire/pack.  I’ve purchased a new off camera ttl (ettl) flash cord.  this allows me to move the flash from directly above the lens.  I held it up and out just a bit.  notice the shaddows move a bit to the side and this allows for a slight shading on the face (nose)

close crop

Garage Band:

I think it was last summer, I overheard #1 son playing a new song on piano.  I asked, "is that House of the Rising Sun?".  he confirmed it was , but refused to admit it was the same song as played by The Animals.  I checked with his instructor (Owen Summers) and I was right!  Owen said the lesson version was simplified, but they could learn it as it's done by the Animals. 

Then, I printed out the guitar tabs, and asked his guitar instructor to teach the guitar part...  I had an idea 

I figured he could do a cover of the song, where he played all the instruments. 

I asked him to lay the guitar track today.  he played ... a few seconds, and said, "I'm done".  I was less than impressed, the actual song is more like 4 minutes.  His reasoning was, "it just repeats, so I'll loop it".  I was still less than impressed.  He counted out how many measues (not sure if that is correct nomenclature) and then he did a few clicks, and it did repeat his guitar part.  I was unsure if I should compliment his use of technology or call him lazy. 

I realized this was not going to be a one day project and we can always go back and replace individual tracks. so we moved on to piano.  we plugged the electric keyboard directly into the ipad/garage band, he could listen to his previously recorded guitar track on headphones and play along.  it was then that he realized his guitar loop was MUCH faster, he had a hard time playing along with it.  he eventually got it.  but again, he recorded a portion and looped it. 

we moved on to the vocals.  we used my ipad to play the original over heaphones, but I had to use the jamup app to speed the track up to 1.5x original speed (50% faster) to match what he'd made.  then we noticed piano and guitar tracks  lost synchronization pretty early on into the deal.  it's a learning curve. 

Posted by paul at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

despite a late night with quality time around the fire...  kat and I managed to get up at 5 AM and hide eggs in the dark.

coffee, yes, we need lots of coffee to make this happen. 

the younger kids enjoyed some art time while waiting for the daughter to get ready for the egg gathering. 

GO!

the easter bunny was good this year, gold dollar coins in some of those plastic eggs! 

Posted by paul at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

the kids have no access to internet at our place in the country.  our place is smaller there.  they end up playing together, like kids did in the olden days.

out in the country, families play board games together...

out in the country, boys make slime balls from blanco river muck...

out in the country, we plant basil under our windmill.  then make a barbed wire, rock, and wine bottle fence around it (hoping we can make pesto before armadillo get to it).

out in the country, kids can enterntain themselves with a stump and a 2x6.  #2 son called it a "weight checker".

out in the country, shiner bock is enjoyed in the blanco river. 

out in the country, we shower outdoors.  I built a new solid shower door with leftover polygal from construction of AustinModHouse.

out in the country, we flush with rain water.  we finally replaced the old toilet in the A-frame (tear-down) in wimberley.  the OLD toilet was SO inefficient.  it took almost 3 gallons to flush, and wasn't that great with the actual flushing.  we flush using rain water from the roof catchment, all those extra gallons down the hole resulted in a lot of extra work filling jugs. 

the new low-flow dual flush toilet works SO much better and uses a LOT less water.  the light in there is also via solar power (solar charged 12v battery).

out in the country, dogs like to play in the river and fetch sticks (not our dogs though, they are busy watching our home in austin)

and when the sun sets out in the country, and that golden light illuminates oak tree trunks... it's awesome.  our home is up on a bluff 50 ft above the blanco, so we get that last bit of golden light before night provides the darkness.

and when the darkness arrives, we enjoy time around the fire when we are out in the country.  HEY!  notice the hole in the table is gone!  I've made a solid walnut piece to fill it, OR....

remove the walnut lid, and we have a recessed ice or wine bucket in the middle of the table. this will get more use now that summer is on the way. 

out in the country, I don't shave but I do have sunshine on my shoulder...

out in the country, we DJ... 

a few weeks ago, at the Urban Outfitter's SXSW party, they gave me a gift bag with this slussen iphone device.  it's supposed to split the audio out so you can separate headphone and speaker output.  they also have a free slussen app that brings up two songs on virtual turntables with DJ features to queue, synch and adjust BPM.  you can even scratch using the app.  I was demonstrating my DJ technique when the boys became interested.  #1 son was VERY interested while I was mixing Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes) with Elephant (Tame Impala Todd Rundgren mix). 

hours later, we found #1 son was up WAY past his bed time, had those two songs repeating because "they sound so good on my headphones".  he (we) paid for his lack of sleep the next morning. 

while the kids may not have internet via wifi out in the country, we do have a mobile wifi media server.  this clever mobile hard drive has its own battery and local wifi.  it has plenty of space for the entire itunes library and movies.  it can serve several devices at the same time.  (purple U device is the iphone DJ slussen thing).

Posted by paul at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

 some years back, the daughter caught some guppy fish down at garner state park, in the rio frio.  somehow we also had a few come home from school.  we had a small guppy school on our counter, for years.  I figured they don't live long.  over the years, they died off, except this one survivor. 

at some point, we figured it must be lonely (unless he was finally glad to be rid of those other fish...)  either way, we decided it was time to return it to the wild. 

we often see guppy around the rocks in the blanco river near our wimberley cabin.  a plan was hatched to take him from his aquarium in our austin home, and release him in the river near our wimberley home.  one final car/truck ride to say our goodbyes.

a quick walk down the path from our cabin to the river.

we were all back to nature.  kat let the water temper for twenty minutes, did a partial water exchange, and let it go..

it stayed in the same spot where it was released for quite a while (I used photoshop to darken it in the pic).  then it swam away... 

Posted by paul at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

somebody got a light saber for his birthday.

and his first watch. 

years ago, when we built the house...  the budget quickly shot way above what we'd all (architect, builder, and ourselves) had agreed on.  the builder was quick to note that he shared no responsibility for the budget (despite going to the bank to sign a contract that had an exact dollar amount) and seemed eager to get rid of our architect.  we scrambled to save $ any way possible.  although I don't think we saved much on these light fixtures, we've been unhappy with them since day one.  we have now replaced them with recessed can lights, as the architect had originally intended.   

one reason to make the swap now is the availability of LED fixtures at reasonable costs.  these fixtures cost over $100 a few years ago, now cost $30.  they have a life span of 25 years and use almost no electricity.  but, we now have some dim spots on the counter in the kitchen...  I'll sort that out. 

we also replaced the pendant lights in the screen room.  the recent wind storm had ripped one right out and we had broken glass everywhere.  the new bullet lights also have LED bulbs. 

Posted by paul at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)