Hill Country Livin'

I can't believe it's been over five months since I last posted an update to the blog. Time sure has passed quickly. Lots of changes, so I'll jump right in. Probably the biggest change, I retired from ConocoPhillips after 32 years of service. It didn't take very long out here at the lake to help me make that decision. We have been slowly moving furniture from Houston over the last few months, and we now spend more time at Canyon Lake than we do in Houston.

Our daughter Kelly is living in our home in Copperfield, but she recently became engaged and will be moving with fiance Anthony to Baton Rouge, La. That means we will have to get our act together, finish moving the remaining items from Houston and put the house on the market.


So what's been going on at the lake house, you ask. Lots, and here are some pics. I mentioned in my last post we were looking at flooring for the garage and patio. We got that done in February and it turned out very nice. We had a crew from Garage Experts in Pflugerville do the installation, and they did a great job.

We had our first house guests in March, when my parents. Kelly, Anthony, Tim, Nina and Merced all came out to see us.

We have been adding some furniture as we get settled in, but we are trying to space things out a bit. It seems like there is always something else we need to get.

We had quite a crew out for Memorial Day, 12 of us staying in the house at the peak. There was a testosterone bug going around, and everything in sight was deep fried, including corn dogs, onion rings, battered bacon and Oreo cookies! 

 We finally have our landscaping project underway, and the crews have been hard at work cleaning up the lot and are now starting to build some rock walls. The landscaper has told us it should be complete in a couple more weeks.

And after living on the lake for several months, we finally got our first boat ride!

What blog post would be complete without a few pictures of the critter population we are learning to live alongside.

I'll try to make it back a little quicker next time. See you then.

It's Ours!

Well, almost. The loan will fund on Tuesday, January 18. We signed the papers at the title company last Wednesday, but because the underwriters requested one more comparable, we didn't find out until late Friday afternoon that the loan was approved. We didn't let that stop us from sharing some champagne with our builder after we signed the papers!

We took the bar stools from home out so we could at least have a place to sit. We're taking a U-Haul truck out on Saturday January 22 with more furniture from home so we can start making weekend stays.

Other than a few finishing touches, the house is complete. Carpet has been installed in the guest rooms and media room and all the appliances are in.

The light fixtures are hung and the steam sauna is all hooked up and working. I can't wait to try it out!

We will probably be out the next few weekends getting the place livable. We still have major appliances to get (refrigerator, TV, home theater system to name a few). Phone, cable TV, internet access and security system are getting installed at the end of January. We also made a trip to Austin last Saturday to look at the garage flooring I want to have installed. We visited the home of a very nice lady who lives up at Lakeway on Lake Travis to see a recently completed installation. It was so beautiful, Winnie wants it installed on the back patio as well! Looks like I'm going to be working for a little while longer after all.

The Grandchild Visits

We visited the house on December 22nd, more as something to do while we waited for the birth of our first grandchild, Merced Alita, who was born at 11:59 pm that day. We were out again on December 26th, again primarily to see Tim, Nina and Merced, but also took the opportunity to take Tim and Anthony to see the house.




The laminate flooring has been installed in the master bedroom, and it almost looks like real wood. The grain really shines through.

The wrought iron railing was also installed on the upper and lower patios, complete with more Lone Stars!

Hard to believe, but our next trip out may be to close on the loan in a couple of weeks. And then we get to start making payments! Happy New Year!

Looking Like Home

We made trips to the lake on December 11th and 18th. We took my Mom and Dad and Kelly out on the 11th. It was the first time my parents had seen the house. It was a good thing the driveways and sidewalk had been poured, otherwise we might have been carrying my Mom onto the premises!






The pea gravel drive looks fantastic. The outdoor fixtures are up now as well.








Another addition to our Lone Star collection has been installed. Stay tuned, there are more. Fixtures and fittings were also prominent everywhere.






Shower jets are available from every conceivable direction.










The outdoor sinks have been put in on the patio and in the garage. And we have running water!








The great room, from both directions.








Picture this
<----

With this ---->

(Did I mention more Lone Stars)





We'll be back after Christmas when the railing will be put up, with more pics for your viewing pleasure. Merry Christmas to all.

Getting Ready for the Pour

These pics are from the trip we made on Friday, December 3, 2010. The forms for the driveways, sidewalk and lower patio have been set and the pour is scheduled for Tuesday.







We decided to go with pea gravel instead of stained concrete (nice looking, more durable and cheaper, too).







The front doors have been stained and are really looking nice. They are made from"knotty alder", and really have "character".





Winnie's china hutch and the bookshelves stained and ready to dust.





Into the man-cave, with the entertainment center and wet bar. The wet bar will have the brass beer engines I brought back from London mounted on it.





I still have quite a bit of old vinyl, so we made some pull-out shelves for my turntable, LPs, and other gear.








We'll be back next weekend to see what it looks like.

Our First House Guests!

No, we haven't moved in yet. But our neighbors from Houston did want to see first hand what we keep going on and on about. So, on November 27 we and some of our neighbors made the trip out to Canyon Lake.







Cabinet work is pretty much complete, and the stain is going on.









In the garage, the workbench, pegboard and
shelving are now in.











We even took a hike down to the lake at the Pavilion. What a gorgeous day! We topped it off with lunch in Gruene at the Grist Mill before heading back to Houston.