RW> My SIL, anticipating a large family when he got married, bought a 5300
 RW> sqft house in Austin. So far, they only have 4 dogs living with them.

 LOL !!! :) I'd keep the dogs! Forget kids.
................................

 CH> How are you defining shack? To me a shack is a house poorly built and
 CH> in need of repair no matter HOW big it is. Or also called a dump.

 RW> Anything that doesn't reek of rich.

 But but wait. :) You could have small house (deceptive shack) see and
and you could buy really nice stuff to put in it, not tooooo much...
but must right..and 'reek of rich' to those who have the HUGE house
but can barely afford to keep up on their tp and pt and pb supplies :)

One foreclosed house, a biggie (don't cry but only 300K),
featured in the Star Telegram (FW) last year showed ONE room-
a bedroom. Oh my fog. YOu could tell right off the batty bat bat what
they were spending their mortgage money on. It didn't reek of rich.
It reeked :tacky. Know what I mean?

The room pictured before eviction (this is done for a reason)... was
cluttered with oversized ornate (expensive) furniture (HUGE bed with
an egomania type headboard) ... glitzy framed artwork... ick. And
that was just one room. The article went on to say, three huge screen
tv's were put out on the front yard...

Those people are what I am told : called the 'nouveau rich'.
And sooner or later the biggest losers.
.....

 CH> Ick. There's some subdivisions like that here in Orlando. And you
 CH> know here's a funny thing. SO many  areas named WInter this or that
 CH> for some reason . Winter Springs, Winter Gardens, Winter Park, WInter
 CH> run...

 RW> Ditto for California and Texas...probably because of the 'snow birds'
 RW> who come from the 'winter' states, looking for warmer winter.

 Yeah that is probably it. In Winter Springs a little north to
Orlando  (and three tolls) there is one villa tucked in a low hill
area by the golf course. The units are all stucco.. ditto looking.. I
think it is one of those snow bird villas...
There's a large development in Winter Springs called "T... .. " sorry
I have to look it up but they spell it three different ways. It's an
Indian name. OH btw there's also Winter Haven.
......................

 CH> By the way, seeking Israeli toasted couscous- we found it at "Fresh
 CH> Food Market in South Orlando.. coming back north, passing a
 CH> subdivision named 'Winter Run' there's "Texas Avenue". No kidding!

 RW> As well a Florida St in San Diego and a Pelican Pl and Snowy Egret Dr,
 RW> in New Braunfels, an area where there are no such birds.

  :) There's a Cindy Street in Keller , Texas. :)
  (As well as  Beach Street (no beach tho..)
 CH> .....
.........


 CH>  That- is an affirm. Did you read about that company starting up with
 CH> teeny little two room houses? :) To use as motel rooms / short term
 CH> rentals. Talk about extremes. One end huge boxy 3K sqfters to teeny
 CH> 1000 or less..  I think the tiny are going for something like 60K.

 RW> Not really.

 It just started. Tiny Texas I think it's called. They're toting the
 house as units for motel use. Rentals or to buy.
 ....................

 CH> "We have a lots of room to waste" is a sad statement. Do you know
 CH> why? I bet you do. I don't want to get into it unless you do. HINT:
 CH> humans think the land is all for them. To heck with the rest of life
 CH> forms... ohokay I'll shut up now.

 RW> I don't think it's so sad. What animals we have around here share the
 RW> land anyway. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't see deer

 Yeah they do. Though the bulls aren't allowed out into the fields
near the roads anymore. A few years ago, summer 2006 I think it
was..the hottest we've ever known..somebody drove by and shot a bull.
Just for fun...  They have no idea or care how much those animals
cost.... of course the meat was not salvable by the time the animal
was found.
...........................

 RW> feeding on someone's property. If it weren't for man, they may not
 RW> even exist. Deer are considered pests around here.

 Well if it helps any there's some NON developed areas, all the more
power to them.. folks using goats and horses to mow their yards. :)

.....

 RW> Driving across Texas, mountains are rare, except in the mountainous

hehe... in our first year, we drove west of FW a bit in search of "Eagle
Mountain" uh.

Well we saw what to us (from Upstate NYS) looked like a knoll.. two
rolling little bitty bumps together.. wooded nicely yes... Lots of
skeeters. Drove through a camp site. There's a "lake" there. And yes
the real mountains are far to the south/west IIRC.

................

 RW> areas, of course. The panhandle and points east are as flat as
 RW> anywhere else. A few hills in south-central Texas (Hill Country), but

That is for sure. Yet as you go toward LA, there's a gentle bit of
rolling hill and the Thicket begins.. Let's all love the Thicket. It's
what makes Texas more likeable.

I became more 'tree aware' in Texas. Cyprus, Live oak, red oak,
Chinese pistachio, Silver maple... creping myrtles and a few hardy palms...

I do wonder why live oak are called live oak , and oak at all. They
bear no resemblance to the common oak we all know of the north.

.............

 RW> not what I would
 RW> consider an obstical to development.

They are pushing up the land a bit for drainage and to make it more
interesting... At least they're now leaving more trees alone. Trees
are great for helping with excess rain, when it rains that is.

BTW last spring, (07) was very very wet. We even had frogs out back!
.............

 RW> Perhaps the 'inspection' department is on the take.

 Reminds me of NASA. lol.

cind

... Nobody notices when things go right, I'm always noticed.

--- PPoint 3.01