Thanks Mr. K,
The house is charming. Looks very warm and inviting.

Nakia who wishes she were there.

It looks lovely Mr K and seems to be set in quite a big plot of land. Are there neighbours near by?

Thanks Nakia.

Hi Sue; The house is on a corner, and normal size city lot, and there is a house next door, about 50 feet away, on one side, and an empty lot on the other side, and across the street, but across the other street is a row of houses. The neighborhood is of older houses, some are from early in the 20th Century, and most are from later times. This house is probably from the 1940s.

OK, look at Google Earth, or Google Maps, and look at Huntsville, Texas, at the corner of Avenue N, and 15th Street. In Street View you can see the neighborhood. If you look several blocks to the East, you can look at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Prison, most of the prison units are in the surrounding area, more out in the countryside, but this one is very close to Sam Houston State University. Most of the economic activity in Huntsville is ether with the Prison, or the University. Nice little City, a real mixed bag.

Your Friend in Texas

Criminals on one side and students and instructors on the other. Interesting mixture.

I like the colours used to paint the house in. Here in England, colour wise house painting tends to be pretty low key - apart from in Suffolk where the house are often pink. I also like the wooden construction that American properties have - just love the porches and general design. My home is very ordinary in comparison.

Its all in the eyes of the beholder or maybe what they are used to. It is a lovely house in a lovely setting but I would not call in an unusual house. I found the architect England, France and Italy fascinating. Developments are usually boring. Go Levittown on Long Island to see boring. Although by now the residents may have been able to spice things up some. I could paint the house purple if I wished to but I can't change the exterior of the house otherwise. We do different things to our yards to get some individuality. I could put a statue in the yard but it would have to be cemented down as people steal them.

Hi Sue;

Most neighborhoods I have lived in are boring to look at, all the houses where built about the same time, and the architecture is all just about the same. If it is a neighborhood from the last 40 or 50 years, there is probably a Home Owners Association that you have to get permission from to do anything to your house that can be seen from the street. That is good, the Home Owners Association rules stop people from doing very odd things to their houses, like paint them purple, or pink. I have seen things like a front yard that had been paved to make it not have to be mowed. Or have very strange yard decorations, like one house that had a toilet with plastic flowers in it, that was there in 1983, I bet it is there now. OK, I just checked that yard in Google Earth, and it is gone. I lived in that neighborhood for 4 years, and it was there the whole time. I have gotten cards from my Home Owners Association for my yard needing to be mowed, or the last one was for needing to rake the leaves. There is a person that has the job of driving around and taking notes on violations of the Deed Restrictions.
The point of having a Home Owners Association is to keep people from doing things that will lower the property values of the houses in the rest of the neighborhood, but it does keep all the houses looking boring.
I wouldn't have it any other way.

Your Friend in Texas

Hi Everybody;

I have been very busy around the house, or playing Planet Scape 2 for a wile. My Wife took off 2 days to make a 4 day weekend last week.

With Kim moving into a house, I need to do a small thing to fix a coat rack I made 2 or 3 years ago, so it can hang on the wall. They never told me it did not hang strongly the way I set it up before, but in the move, I asked them about it, so now I have it here. I need to rout keyhole slots in the back so it can hang on the wall without moving, or falling off. No big deal, I just need to get a new bit for my router and set-up the cut, so the slots are in the perfect spot. With wood walls, all I have to do is put 2 wood screws in the wall to slip into the keyhole slots, and that will hold a lot of weight.

Over the long weekend, we went looking at Antique shops for a nice, and cheep mirror. Got a very nice one for less than $45 Bucks, it is for over their bathroom sink, it looks great hanging there.

Katie's room-mate is moving out at the end of this semester, and my Wife wanted to find a kitchen table and chairs for her. We fond a table that Katie really likes, it is from the 50s, and has chrome legs and a faded red Formica top, (about $40) and at a different shop we found 4 teal green chairs that go well with the table, but they cost more ( 4 for about $130). Now I need to do some repair and clean-up on the table and chairs. Not looking forward to that, but it will be nice to have it looking good, not new, but old, beat-up, and in good shape.

Shopping for Antiques is fun, and I really like to see all the old stuff, and a lot of old furniture is a lot better made than most new furniture, and cheaper too. You just need to know what you are looking at, to pick old un-restored old furniture. You need to make sure it is not broken or that you can repair it without spending any money. If you need some new furniture, don't go to an Antique shop that has a lot of refinished or restored stuff, it is always a lot more expensive than un-restored. Cleaning and using some good wood oil, or polish on an old wood finish can bring out the wood and not remove the old patina. http://www.refinishfurniture.com/patina_basic.htm

Well for now, I got to wash my little dog, she is the dirtiest dog I ever had, and she has been having trouble with Fleas. Not fun, but it needs to be worked on; Wash Ginger with anti-flea shampoo, wash her bed, put flea poison on her, and her bed.

Your Friend in Texas

The house and furnishings sound charming. Sounds as if we are both having gun redoing a house. I am happy they have you to help and that you are enjoying it.

What kind of dog is Ginger?

Nakia

Yes Mr K, what type of dog is Ginger? Tell us more!

Hi Dog lovers:

Ginger is a Lhasa Apso: Link to more info http://www.akc.org/breeds/lhasa_apso/index.cfm

She is about 10 years old, and small for her breed, about 10 pounds. She is the only dog I ever had that would reliably retrieve a ball, in fact she is obsessive about her ball, it is a blue rubber ball almost as big as her head, she will play with it a lot by throwing it around and stepping on it to make it move around. And she will teas you with it, by putting it someplace that is hard to reach and stare at it, and look at you to tell you to get it. And if I start throwing it for her, she will chase it all over the yard, until she is out of breath, and then she will find a nice spot to lay down, and in a few minuets she will start playing all by herself. She will carry it around in her mouth for a long time, it looks too big to fit, but she carries it anyway. She has the kind of hair that doesn't shed, it just gets longer, and more matted, so she needs a haircut every 2 or 3 months. I will have to get a picture of her in the morning, she is sleeping now.

Your Friend in Texas

OK, here is a Link to one of the TED Videos, it is a good one about Classical Music, and if you think about what Benjamin Zander is saying, and change it from Classical Music to anything you are passionate about, you can see how to pass your passion on to others. He is like many very smart and passionate people, interesting, funny, and totally convincing.

http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

Your Friend in Texas

I had a Llhasa Apso. He was big. Well big for a Lhasa. They are a lot of fun. Need a lot of attention and can be very possessive of a person.

I will take a listen to your TED link when I get back from the foot doctor. Mark came early this morning. I was awake so I decided to get up. The garbage people just arrived to pick out all the things we are getting rid of. There is a lot between my discards and Mark's. Christine has taken several bags of clothing and other cloth item to put in the proper receptacle. Mark has moved his house plants in and it looks very festive. I was a good outdoor gardener but a lousy indoor one. I just couldn't keep indoor plants alive.

Ginger sounds cute and the link to information about the breed has a good picture of how she must look with a full grown coat. Have you had her all of her 10 years Mr K, or is she a new addition?

I have played ball with Echo this morning and taken her for an hour and a half walk. She is now in her bed near my machine, snoring gently.

Hi Everybody;

I can't remember for sure when we got Ginger Coconut Shrimp, but I think about 10 years ago, the kids where in Elementary and Middle school at the time, now they are out of collage and in the second year of collage.


Here she is laying in the Sunshine in my back yard, just a few minuets ago. I gave her a haircut 2 or 3 weeks ago, and a bath yesterday, so she looks good.

Your Friend in Texas

She is a beauty. I see the ball. Have you decided what type of dog you are getting her? I think I see a pensive look in that eye that tells me she wants a playmate. Maybe she is just watching a butterfly.

Maybe she's enjoying being No 1 dog, even if it is for a short while. She looks lovely Mr K - appears to be a gentle soul.

Hi Nakia and Sue;

We have talked about getting another Standard Poodle, and one of the Breeders we looked at has a line of Red Standard Poodles, very interesting dogs, but more Expensive. We can't afford a new dog right now, but maybe in a few months.
http://www.bijoupoodles.com/Brown.html
Take a look, lots of pictures, and info.

Your Friend in Texas

Very nice but go down to the animal shelter and save a life. You save money too. All my cats came came from a Shelter. Except my first one as a child and he had been dumped out of a car and left to fend for himself. Poor baby. Some people should be drawn and quartered.

They look beautiful Mr K. Perhaps, part of their appeal is that they are similar enough to Ryelee to bring back fond memories of a much loved dog. However, they also look to be a very individual breed in their own right, especially with the colour of their coat, so any memories they do inspire hopefully won't be overwhelming.

It's almost 2 years since we had to put Sweep to sleep and I still feel her loss keenly.

Hi Dog Lovers;

I have had several Cats that gut showed up, or we got at a shelter, and cats have very similar behavior that that work fine, but for dogs, they are so different individuals, and for all the dogs I have had from when I was a Kid, most of them where strays, or from a shelter, most of them had some bad or odd personality traits that we did not want around the Kids. Back in the mid 90s, we decided to get a Dog for the Kids, and we studied a lot of info, to try and get a predictable personality. That is when we got Holly, a Lab. Best family Dog there is, as long as you make them a part of your Family, and don't mind all the shedding. 4 years later we bred her, and sold or gave away all but one of her pure Lab pups. Maggy was a very good Lab, but not as intelligent as Holly. We went to a Pet Shop to get some fish stuff, and the Kids saw some little, very cute puppies, well after 2 or 3 days of saying no, we went back and got Ginger, she is still with us, and doing well. Ginger is a little bossy, and she does not play well with any of the other dogs. At that point I wanted a 4th dog, and after studying a lot more, we got a Standard Poodle, Ryelee. We where thinking of raising Labradoodles, a mix between Labs and Standard Poodles. We bred Holly and a Poodle from the Breeder we got Ryelee from, and later we bred her with Ryelee. We sold the Puppies, and shipped them all over the US and one To Canada, and we donated one to a charity auction. After the 2nd litter, we found out that the Home Owner's Association had a limit of 2 dogs. We had 4 adults, and with the Puppies, 12, and about a year or so later, 10, that was just too many for my Back-Fence neighbor. Luckily, I noticed him taking pictures over the fence, and I talked to him, and convinced him to not turn me in. I was not all that good as a Dog Breeder, and the money was not very much for all the work, for the 3 months that each litter of Puppies needed before they where all gone. Having Puppies was a lot of Fun, but I live in a neighborhood with good, and well enforced Deed Restrictions.

Any way, I need to have a predictable personality in the next dog I get, and it would be nice to not have so much dog hair everywhere. I agree with the idea of saving dogs and cats from a Shelter, but that is not for me.

Your Friend in Texas

As you wish, Mr. K. You know your needs and wants. I can't even take care of a pet properly. I would love to have a bird from the parrot family but a good one would be expensive and need a lot of attention.

Hi Nakia;

A Parrot!?! They need lot's of attention, and a Parrot owner that knows how to do what the Human owner wants them to do. Yes, they own you, more so than any Dog.

In other News, My Wife is taking off all next week, and I may not be around much, so if you don't hear from me for 2 or 3 days, that's what I am up to. We don't have any set plains, so no telling what I will be doing.

Your Friend in Texas

Have fun, Mr. K, don't forget to do something romantic. Just the two of you.

Nakia

Hi Mr. Poodle-Wolf
I hope all is well with you. Just wanted to remind you to check your PMs.

Nakia