Montgomery County Library System

The Woodlands enjoys the presence of two libraries from the Montgomery County library system.  These two libraries provide state of the art services, but there have been some recent county funding issues. One can check out paper books, videos, and e-books. Items are checked out for two weeks and can be extended one additional two week period, if required. 40% of county residents own a library card. I have had mine for 10 years and discovered recently that it had expired. Each card expires after 5 years, but it is renewed electronically. I renewed mine over the telephone. I needed it activated, because I checked out an e-book.

The library also offers free computer classes, use of their computers connected to the internet, with a fee for supplies like paper. Free tours of the library is offered to acquaint residents with what is where. They also have meeting rooms that can be reserved. There are story times for toddlers, babies and preschoolers. They offer ESL and adult tutors. The Genealogy Department is recognized statewide for its services. It ranks as the 3rd largest such department in Texas. Another popular services is the same-day library-to-library transfer service. One can request a book be transferred from one library to another in order to check it out.    

Two million items were checked out in the last year in a county with a population of only 400,000 residents. They have an agreement with Lone Star College to exchange technology books for non-technology books, so that each library system can stock more efficiently. That brings the ability to loan technical books to residents without any additional cost  burden to the county. There are several programs available to help the library. In The Woodlands, one is "Adopt a book". Another is the "Friends of the Library" organization.  The "Friends" raise funds by operating a used book store at both libraries, a semi-annual used book sale and from donations.

An interesting trend away non-fiction to fiction material has been occurring over the past few years. A typical book must be replaced after about 46 uses. The library needed to replace some 879,000 books  last year but only was provided enough funds to replace 300,000. This is also a trend. The county is reducing the library's annual funds. Next year, the library will be provided with $50,000 less than 2009! We have empty shelves at some locations.

South Regional Library: 2101 Lake Robins Dr., 77380 Mon-Thurs - 9AM-9PM, 9AM-5PM on Fri-Sat
936-442-7727, 936-788-8372

George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library: 8125 Ashlane Way, 77382, same hours as above
936-442-7728, 281-362-0772

Website: www.countylibrary.org



       

Yellow Mellow - Fall is here

Have you ever been taken back by what you see in nature? Here on the pond near my home in The Woodlands Texas, I noticed this last week an unusual scene. Everything I saw seemed to be yellow! Well, today cool air has put it all into perspective. It is fall! This weather has brought a mellow feeling from my childhood that definitely includes Halloween and the beginning of the yellow leaves. Yellow is a harsh color to me in the summer. It reminds me of heat! By golly, we have had plenty of that this year.

What caught my eye this week was the yellow reflection on the surface of the pond. Then and only then did I become very interested in the color. Now I could see the departure of summer and coming of cool weather. On closer inspection, I found nature in change.

Honey bees were gathering honey by the bucketful.

Busy as a bee has real meaning on the pond right now. Winter is approaching and the last opportunity to collect honey in abundance will wane in the coming month.

One needs to look closely at the life on the pond  to appreciate what is going on. Small and large butterflies are also in abundance, preparing for migration to southern winter habitats. Look at the yellow reflection under the wings of this little guy. This is the hardness of the summer sunlit yellows of the flowers. This will be replaced by the more subtle colors of autumn very soon as the trees change color.

Various other butterflies are abundant as well. The pond is simply teeming with wildlife, seeking the nectar of the wild yellow flowers.

When the Monarchs suddenly showed up, their size and magnificence seemed to eclipse the colors of the other creatures. I had to say to myself, it has been a long difficult summer for many creatures, but look what is happening before my very eyes! The pond is full of creatures celebrating the coming fall and the drought has been broken.  Yellow is not so extremely hard after all. It became absolutely beautiful!

So mellow yellow? That it is!

"They call me Mellow Yellow.
Born-a high forever to fly.
Wind-a velocity nil.
Born-a high forever to fly.
If you want your cup, I will fill.
They call me Mellow Yellow"

Go Texans! Professional Football is back!

The Woodlands is not very far from Houston, but you can't get to the Texans Reliant Stadium ball park in 30 minutes! Not much more than that on a good traffic day, it was nevertheless our recreational destination this week. My friend has PSL seats, so we get to view the game from a terrific vantage point. Definitely an amenity, I am so glad we live here. Our neighbors to the south host football, baseball, two basketball, hockey and soccer teams at a top professional level. This time it was the preseason opener at home for the Texans against the New Orleans Saints. I took my camera to share the event with readers.

First there was the Tailgating party. And partying was what the fans was doing! First game of the season at home. The real fans show up at this. These two photos were taken at a Tailgate bus whose owner sounds a siren each time a toast is to be made and passes out a beer to everyone in the crowd. The beer is to be chug-a-lugged on the spot without spilling it all over you. It is opened at both ends. I told the guy after the first time, I need a lesson on drinking a can of beer from both ends at the same time. Well, the guys in this photo showed me that you drink from the bottom. So "TOPS UP!" or "BOTTOMS DOWN!".

You might see Texan ladies in shorts with high heels like this one. For those who don't know, the little lady is all dressed up for a Texan game, and it was very hot outside! She was just fine. Party time!

You will run across Tejanos (if you are unfamiliar with this word, you can look it up. It means a native Texan who has a Mexican heritage.) "Tejas" was a state of Mexico and is Spanish for "Texas". Remember that Texas was at one time part of Mexico and then became a nation with mixed Tejano and gringo blood lines.

Part of being there is to watch the game, but part is to cheer them on as well. Ya gotta watch the cheerleaders to do that part, so we were good boys and did just that! Meet Brandi, one of 29 fabulous 2009 Texan Cheerleaders. She danced good too! Then there is another aspect of the game to appreciate - the fans themselves. Cute ones, wierd ones, young ones, old ones, ... you name it, that type of fan was there!

To see more photos of fans, cheerleaders, players and the festivities, I have quite a few for you to enjoy at this site:
Woodlands Photo Studio (Woody's Photography).

Morning view of outdoors from inside

Many of us in The Woodlands Texas can relate that it feels better to have breakfast these days inside. I do it both ways, outside on the patio and inside depending on my mood. August and September typically are hot and humid months. So on this Saturday morning at the breakfast table, I looked to the west from my chair and this is what I saw. I thought, "this is why I am here". Many homes in The Woodlands have such views, because the forest surrounds the home. A home with many windows reaching high in an open house is a practical and desired design for being a part of nature. In many locations however, especially new subdivisions, this is not the case. Trees were not as valued in construction. Builders liked to remove them. Custom builders do a much better job than the traditional large companies. That is a shame! If you want such a view from inside your home and have no trees around your home, please plant them. In any home, you need trees around the house. Some people have a phobia about trees and hurricanes. The pleasure you or any new home owner will have is beyond words. Looking through glass panes to the outside world is what living should be in The Woodlands. This is the reason I am here. The squirrels are visibly playing in the trees; we have two families of fledgling Cardinals growing up in the yard, two families of Sparrows, one family of Mockingbirds, and one family of Hummingbirds. The bird feeders are apparent and I watch them as I pass through the house every day. Woodpeckers and Blue Jays are regular visitors in the yard. At times, we also have Crows. This is a great place to live and enjoy nature.

Remembering the Gardenias

Today I took photographs after the rain and was thinking about the love my mother had for gardenas. Now we always pronounced that like it was in Spanish - Gardiñas.

Mother, I remember when you told me you would love to have Gardenas because of their bright white flowers. You and I loved their smell, but you said we could not grow them well in Corpus. You could not get enough iron to their leaves;they yellowed and produced little flowers when they produced anything at all. The plants were in reality ugly, sickly. You certainly tried over and again by adding iron supplements. We have a lot of iron in our soil here. In fact we have an iron clay soil that gets harder than a rock sometimes. I bought these two Gardenas because of your love for them. Now I have two large plants and they bloom over and over in the summer. I love them. Look and see some blooms! I don't know if I ever told you some of these things.

I explained to Maria (my daughter) once that I believe it is important to say what you think and feel. That is an obligation, not an option. The other person deserves to know. You, Mother, instilled that in me. I have known it all my life but not always practiced it. I thought many times it had to be obvious. You never thought your mom loved you but she did. You were insecure in love and I don't blame you, but you were very loved by me, my brother and my sister. These flowers live and thrive; they are for you.

Woodlands Texas does rank among the best

The Woodlands was just ranked 14th by Forbes in The place to move. We beat out all but four other Texas locations on criteria mostly related to "relovilles". In other words, we rank high on the list of ultimate living destinations for people outside of this area. Other Texas locations on the top 25 include #6 Frisco, #9 McKinney, #12 Carrollton, #19 Allen, #24 Roundrock, and #25 Plano. Large metro areas of Texas represented include Houston(The Woodlands), Austin (Roundrock) Dallas(Carrollton, McKinney, Frisco). Sugarland was close to being in the top 25.

Forbes article

Pesty House Flies - declaration of war

We asked ourselves, "where are all these flies coming from?" I have not thought much beyond that until today when a friend, clear out of the blue, said exactly the same thing. This is a bad year, caused by lots of water at just the right time, followed by a lengthy dry season. House Flies live for three weeks. That is a long time to have them tickling the hair on your arm! I have decided to do something about this around the house. I am not a person who avoids all pesticides, but I do not like to use them either. Flies like to find places where there is food (our food does just fine, thank you), and where the temperature is more comfortable. You guessed it. Air conditioning! Yes, they love temps about 80 degrees, right along with other household pests, such as mealworms and roaches and such.

So you have a few options. Put all exposed food in the freezer or fridge below 60 degrees, put the heater on in the house to live in 100+ degrees, freeze the home by keeping it below 60 degrees, or maybe use a pesticide and maybe clean up everything outside and put traps inside. Some people will say go totally with the traps. That is fine if that is what you want to do. Maybe you have guessed what I am going to do.

Stop chasing and swatting. If you insist on swatting, do to it music. It is a lot more fun that way. I had one of these bothersome creatures land on the tip of my nose. My kids got even with me and swatted it. Trust me, it is better to manage the situation a different way!

So pesticides are on their way to the porches (they hang out there waiting for you to open the door - cool air here I come), the pantry boards (waiting for an open package), on the windows (they hang out there looking for a crack to get in), around the lights outside (fools them - they think it is air conditioned).

I will spray around and inside the garbage can and the compost pile. Then put pout some fly traps in the house. I am trying not to change the bird feeding. My wife insists that the sugar in the hummingbird feeders is THE source of the problem. Sorry, I disagree. Never seen a fly on the feeders, not once. I want to minimize the impact to the environment but war is war and I have declared war!

I ran across some interesting websites but nothing that substantiates any reason for the this years number of houseflies. I did confirm my own knowledge before I wrote this, but don't know which sites had the pertinent information. Although a naturalist, I am not a fan of houseflies. They are just a human pest! Going to get the cannons and set up a fire line right now.

Digital Television in The Woodlands

This also pertains to Tomball, Spring and probably Conroe, Texas. Today I jumped into this ocean of digits and found that I like it! I sort of stumbled into it by buying a converter and then a digital antenna. Since my daughter was moving in back with us for the summer or even longer, her HDTV was the first experiment. As it turned out, all I needed was a small $30 antenna, just rabbit ears essentially. At first I thought this device did not work, because when I programmed the channels, I got noisy reception just like before. It looked the same - static reception, because we are so far away from the Houston broadcasting towers. But then I tried something, just out of intuition and curiosity. Wow! I found another signal source on the menu of the television set that was digital. The other source was the old analog broadcast method. The world of TV changed in an instant! Now I have perfect reception for those channels which have already converted to digital broadcasting. And when I mean perfect, I mean perfect! Essentially cable TV through the airway!

Expectations are soaring. Could this be the end of cable TV for us? There will be many questions to be answered soon. Will the value of having piped-in digital reception be significantly lowered? I believe so! Now the question for residents in our area will be, "do I need to have the hundreds of channels provided by my cable TV supplier?" Movies might keep us tuned in, but my son has already found an alternative to that. He has connected his wide-band internet to his TV and now watches on-demand streamed movies from Netflix for a fraction of the cost of cable. I just looked at my cable bill which includes about four paid movies. It is $150, but that includes wide-band internet.

What else might be on the plate? I just looked at my $60 bill for a house phone service. I can purchase equipment for less than $300 to move that service to the wide-band internet without any monthly charges. The house phone will have two lines (two telephone numbers) and one will be the same as I have now. There will be free calling to anywhere in the USA and low cost international call services available, as well as all the telephone amenities we are accustomed to such as call waiting, conference calls, and CallerID. In these times of frugality, I can see equivalent or even better service at much less cost.

Technology continues to offer useful alternatives to quality living, right here in The Woodlands. I am looking forward to the new technology television when the local stations all change their broadcast over to digital on June 12th of 2009. I need to find a place to dispose of my antenna in the attic. I have not used it for years but now it will be worthless. It just takes up space. I will research that issue and share the information with my readers... ps ... after receiving a comment from one of my readers below, I have added a reference on antennas.² Apparently the old antennas will work. I will try out ours in the attic and update this article later.

Now the even better news. We have channels available right now which broadcast only in digital and never have been available for analog TVs. The Houston area is large and there is a wide variety of broadcasters available now. Each analog channel can and will broadcast sub-channels in addition to their current analog mainstream channels. For example, we will have 24 hour weather. I don't have that with my AT&T service except for an application they provide, a slow alternative to direct broadcasting. Of course we will not have a DVR service unless we take the broadcasts through a state-of-the-art home entertainment system or equivalent.

I wonder now how far away from the city one can be and still pick up these channels? There is more research to do. We will point our digital antennas South. I am not sure yet how much we might have to tune up direction to pick up all the channels.The standard network channels all will retain their channel numbers. ABC channel 13 will remain channel 13 for example. Some broadcasting may be on different channels until June 19th. I just previewed all available channels and am having a difficult time picking up channel 45. All others seem to be working just fine. There are three sub-channels for channel 2. Channel 13 had a dedicated sub-channel for the weather. They cover more than just local weather, sort of like the weather channel on cable. I noticed some temporary interference on channel 39. Maybe the weather will affect reception. The television set seems to adjust to fuzzy signals when it loses signal. I checked on reception grade using a website ¹ that will characterize the reception expected in any given zip code; it shows we can expect a "strong" signal, so we qualify for indoor reception. There is a lot to learn. We will dedicate one of our TVs to this new technology and see where we will go from here with the others.

References
¹FCC Information
²Antennas with digital TVs

Why live in The Woodlands Texas?

Every once in a while we have to ask ourselves, "Why in the world do I live here, instead of some exotic place in the world?". Well, maybe we don't normally ask about exotic places, but at least we do have choices locally.

I have lived here or called this home most of my life. Near the coast and in the forest, The Woodlands is what I call "home". It is north of Houston, not in Houston! I still consider Galveston reasonably close for a day trip. I also have easy access to Freeport and other coastal communities where there are plenty of birds and a number of bird sanctuaries. Although the ocean water is warm in the summer, the seashore provides many neat things to do whether it be fishing, crabbing, boating, sailing, bathing, etc. It is all there, from bike rentals to shopping to about anything you can do on and near the water. That barely touches what I like about this area.

Here I like the weather. Coastal weather is humid, but that is not too much of a reason to say it is horrible in this part of the country, like some people do. Up here some 60+ miles from the coast, the ecology, weather and just about everything totally changes. It is hot at "high noon" but normally mild in the evenings. We go outside in the evenings to enjoy the outdoors even on very hot days. There are some days which we prefer to be inside, especially when we have mosquitoes and high humidity, but we learn to deal with that. In the winter, we can have a week of 70 degree days. That has certainly been the case this year. Even cold days are not very cold, at least in recent years. One year that I recall vividly, we had a rare week of temperatures lower than freezing. You do get rain, wind and coldness when the climate goes south. It can be uncomfortable outside. So there are days we prefer to be inside.

We love these piney woods north of the big city. Just recently, I went to observe our Bald Eagles in a short sleeve shirt early one morning. Two days earlier, I went to watch migrating birds. Yesterday, I went to watch some deer in the evening. Our kids like to watch and play with the ducks on the pond. We have one of the best concert pavilions in the nation right here in The Woodlands, and we are making it bigger and better. There is simply no end to what we have available for recreation and dining.

Sometimes, we like to go to the big city. One member of my family likes to go to a Discotheque there sometimes. There is plenty of nightlife in Houston. We all like to go to the zoo or planetarium or museum in Herman Park. We like to go to an opera or a ballet or a concert. For bargain hunting, we sometimes go to the city. One of the best medical facilities in the world is found in the medical district of Houston.

I consider the Houston area to be the best place to live in the country, but of course it depends on what you really want. I want it all and believe I have it. I fish right here and have three big lakes nearby - Conroe, Livingston and Houston for skiing and water sports. I have a lake right here - Lake Woodlands for kayaking, canoeing, sail boating and fishing. Really, I cannot imagine anywhere on earth as good as it is here, and I have lived, worked and visited diverse places all over the world and the USA. We like to think of ourselves as a secret. I do not like to "sell" our secret place. I am afraid too many people will find it.

But then again, we don't have hardly any snow, nor do we have mountains. Remember that when you think about living here. It is a good reason not to come.

Barking Dogs in The Woodlands Texas - How to remedy

Technology is making a difference and giving residents new options to resolve issues with neighbors, especially with dogs that incessantly bark and interrupt sleep or lower the quality of living in the household. In no residential neighborhood is it acceptable for a domestic animal to be the cause of insomnia or inability to concentrate on activities within the home. Here in The Woodlands, we expect a quiet place to live, especially inside the home. So what can be done about a barking dog? Call the police? Nope. They should come only as a last resort, so I will give you some proven remedies to try before you would do this. There is no ordinance for this in The Woodlands or in Montgomery County, and it looks like there is no need for an ordinance to control this issue. If someone's dog barks, I recommend trying a new device. I think I would not even talk to the neighbor, just do it. Stressing relationships over a dog's bark is not required and not desired. Save yourself from conflicts with your neighbors. But if it comes to that, I will give some more advice later about an available service that could help with that issue in this article.

We have had no-bark collars available for years now, but that is a cruel way to try to quiet an animal. Electric shocks are not a natural way to control a bark. We now have a more natural means to do this, by sound. There are two methods that I know about.

One such method is new a new technology that was introduced to me by a neighbor. It is a birdhouse! Yes, I fell over too when she told me that. I sort of smiled and said, what did you have to drink this morning? Well, I guess that was not the thing to say. She was simply beaming with new found joy about this birdhouse. OK, I said, since she was being serious and so happy, how does this work? It emits a high frequency noise response to a dog's bark. It is directional, so when the dog barks, it is not responding to other animals which might also be affected by the response. The barking was killing me! she said. Now, the dog doesn't seem to make a sound. The neighborhood is quiet again and the dog is apparently outside the same amount of time. It would not shut up before!

Knowing this and having visited the supplier's website, as this neighbor suggested, I have discovered a new product that looks like a birdhouse, blending in the environment perfectly. What a perfect solution for The Woodlands. It is suggested that the batteries for it be purchased from the same source unless you have some 9v batteries hanging around the house somewhere, unused.
Ultrasound Dog Bark Birdhouse

OK, so you now have a problem with your neighbor. You went to the neighbor complaining and got into an argument about this or you said, "I should not have to buy one of these. It is your fault that I am having this problem and you should fix the problem!" Oops. Now you have to mend the fences so to speak, and you need some help with this. If you do need help out of this situation, there is a service in Conroe to mend problems with any person-to-person issues where you and the person cannot resolve your issues alone. Don't feel alone in this. It happens all the time.
Montgomery County Resolution Center

Now you say all of this has not worked out for you. You have taken all steps in your power to fix the problem and the neighbor will not take responsibility for his action or non-action. You are determined to get something done about this problem! Now you should document everything your have done, document the noise, and call the sheriff at the non-emergency number. They will be glad to talk to your neighbor about being a public nuisance. The noise must be greater than 85db to be able to accuse your neighbor of breaking this law. Otherwise, you are just able to get help from a law enforcement officer with the problem by him just knocking on the door. He has significant law breaking issues to deal with, so please do not call him out unless you really try to fix the problem yourself and have run out of alternatives.

Car Watch Program : prevent auto theft and burglary - Living Advice in The Woodlands Texas

This program is actually a Texas program. It is sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation. The Sheriff department and other law enforcement agencies here cannot stop an automobile without due cause unless the owner provides those agencies with permission to stop the vehicle without cause. This particular provision of state law is to help law enforcement officials catch auto thieves. The Texas Auto Burglary & Theft Prevention Authority registers vehicles through a process known as H.E.A.T. to enable law enforcement officers to suspect the vehicle is stolen between the hours of 1AM and 5AM if the car is on the road during those hours. So if you do not regularly use your vehicle between those hours and wish your car to be more visible as a possible theft, you would use this service. 1-800-CAR-WATCH or register online at H.E.A.T. This process also enables cars to fall under suspicion at the Texas Mexico border, so don't be surprised if they stop you at the border and ask additional questions or proof of ownership if the related decal is displayed on your vehicle. That is a good thing to help protect your property! A quote from the the state website: "A car is stolen in Texas every five and a half minutes. More vehicles are stolen between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. than any other time." Montgomery County participates in state wide efforts to identify and catch car thieves. It is called the Montgomery County Auto Theft Task Force. There has been a big drop in reported stolen vehicles for Texas since 2001, indicating the program is working. Also, Texas has a 74% recovery rate for stolen vehicles compared to 63% nationally. Some cars are more prone to be stolen that others. Lately, the Acura has been one of the more desired vehicles by thieves. ALso to understand that as many as 25% of 4-wheel vehicles on the road in Mexico are stolen. Mexico allows vehicles to cross into their country without being checked. Almost every vehicle that has been stolen is identified as being stolen after crossing using border surveillance equipment by the law enforcement agencies. But that does not mean the car is recoverable. Leaving your keys in your car is a class "C" misdemeanor. You can be fined up to $500 for doing so. Insurance will not pay you for damages to your car if the keys are in it. It is also a felony to operate a car without the owners permission. Keep that in mind when you borrow someone else's car. The old saying, "three strikes and you are out" applies to this. Three felonies and you lose your privileges. A related program is sponsored by this state agency - HLT, or HIDE LOCK TAKE. This program particularly pertains to The Woodlands residents. This program requests that residents help law enforcement officials by hiding your things in the car, locking your the doors to your car, and taking your keys out of the car when you leave it. Burglaries are a constant threat and an auto0moible parked in a driveway of a home is a target for mischief and theft when these precautions are ignored. Other related advice is to not park too close to the auto in front of you. Think "I need space to get out if confronted by a thief or threatened by suspicious persons nearby." Give yourself the option to leave in a bug hurry if you need to do so. While we are at this, the Sheriff's department recommends that people in this county use steering wheel locks. They are a deterrent to thieves.

• Web Link to Texas Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority
• H.E.A.T. Web link

Barack Obama and his Chicago Home - Woodlands resident

Getting out and about the neighborhoods often reaps surprising stories. So it was with this little 87 year-old lady. Sitting outside on a bright beautiful typical spring day here in the southeast, she was watching me as I passed by, so I decided to go over and talk to her. After a few normal greetings and introductions, she goes into the garage and pulls out this heavy iron chair, picks it up and puts it next to hers. "Here! You sit down and relax for a while."

I was out trying to get people to vote in the coming May election. So I took a break. We talked about families of course, and then she breaks out with "I like Obama. I am going to vote for him. Do you know that I used to live in his home?" Hmmmm I thought, this is going to be unusual. "Yes, we used to live by a church and they held Sunday School in our home. That house now is Obama's home in Chicago. We lived close to the water and shared this home many years ago with others. Our children attended that Sunday school.

She told me to wait a minute and and she would get a photo of it. So she went in the house and brought out two photographs. "Now look at this", as she pointed to a house from a newspaper clipping. When I saw this in the newspaper, I told my son, there is something familiar about this house." He said, "isn't this our home in Chicago?" "Yes, it is. Now look at this", as she points to the same house in an old photograph she hangs in her house. "It is not much different. They added some windows on this side of the house and re-did the front porch, but not much more." So now you are a celebrity. "Oh no! I am just a person here in The Woodlands, enjoying this beautiful weather."

You can't help but love to get to know people like this lady. She was a delight to talk to, but I had to get on with the business at hand. One of these days, I will pass by there again looking for her. And by the way, she insisted on moving that heavy iron chair herself. She told me about the chair she was sitting in. She said nowadays, someone converts this exact web chair into an expensive leather strapped chair. "Mine just falls apart over time."

Liv'n the early Spring Season in The Woodlands Texas

To see a larger and clearer view of pictures in this blog, you may click on the picture.

What a beautiful place we live in here! We can walk or drive in the village streets and observe Azaleas and other early flowering plants. One can almost hear the plants yelling for joy as the bees pass over the blossoms. So everything begins to multiply, leveraging its beauty to reproduce itself.

To supplement those abundant colors in our neighborhoods, we have the Texas and Eastern Redbud trees. But the white Dogwood tree is a striking and prominent under garment of the forest. The Dogwood is considered a jewel of the east Texas forests because of its brilliant white blossom clusters, contrasting so much against the new fresh green and yellows of the towering pines and hardwoods, which simultaneously start budding new growth and bloom. The Dogwood is a small tree. Its place in the forest ecology is normally found in partial shade due to its size. It loves the marsh bogs found throughout east Texas. An appreciation of this tree is found here in many yards and park areas here where homeowner, developer or association has planted the tree. We also have other varieties of the Dogwood, but this one is native. Each spring in Tyler Texas, a festival is held honoring this diamond of the forest. That festival is underway as I write this blog article.

So feast you eyes. These colors go away quickly as summer approaches.

Liv'n Christmas Decoration Evaluations

And how do you choose the best decorated home? Or the best decorated neighborhood? I am challenged with participating in the selection of a the best neighborhood and home this year. Here are my criteria to consider:

1. Content Theme - is the neighborhood or individual home themed well? How well? This indicates a team spirit which presents a neighborhood concept instead of an individual concept of what is valued by spectators to gain group recognition. For an individual home, the theme must be recognized and consistent to be recognized. I will lean toward community or higher abstract themes more than technical or mechanical.
2. Colors - are the colors pleasing to the eye? Of course this is the reason the people who are challenged as a judge are called judges - to figure this out. And no two people see it the same way. Color themes are sometimes part of the content theme but are judged independently. For a neighborhood, I am looking for transitions from one home to another in addition to an overall color theme. Colors usually provide primary evaluation significance to the common spectator.
3. Ingenuity - the thought behind the decorations is very important. When the judge can say "wow, great ideas went into this", the recognition is likely to be higher.
4. Gaudiness - too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Minus points on this front. Christmas decor should be in good taste and in the spirit of Christmas. It is not in motor horsepower drawing Santas' reindeer 100 feet over the neighborhood. It is not spending gobs of money to be the best display. It is in the human aspect of presenting a message.

Lov'n the little lady who sold her property

One little country lady has been our customer for years. She raised her children here, saw her home burned by fire, went through the death of her husband here, and at the end sold her home to The Woodlands Development Company. She will move on to new pastures. Some commercial center will rise up from her land in the bustling new village of The Woodlands in Harris county. Moving away but staying in her state, she will be remembered for her fishing stories in the rain forests of Vancouver, her dog stories, her "better than nuthin" response when we would ask her "how are you today?". In fact right after she had a significant fire in her home, she came for a pedicure with a very sullen face, and when asked how she felt, she responded "Better than nuthin". We will miss her for many reasons, but most of all because a long time resident will leave and along with her - part of the country of horses, small ranch estates and good people in the Tomball area.

Happy fishing to ya Jenny! May the bass leap right into your pockets!

"The Woodlands Development Co. has purchased 3.6 acres at 26619 Kuykendahl from Jenny Huber. Charles Underwood and Carson Underwood of McDade, Smith, Gould, Johnston, Mason + Co. represented the seller."

Houston Chronicle November 25th, 2007, "Real Estate Transactions"