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Texas Lakes Disappearing | Pray For Rain

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Texas State Park police officer Thomas Bigham walks across the cracked lake bed of O.C. Fisher Lake Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, in San Angelo, Texas. A combination of the long periods of 100 plus degree days and the lack of rain in the drought -stricken region has dried up the lake that once spanned over 5400 acres.  See More on O.C. Fisher Lake

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SAN ANTONIO — Will record-breaking droughts become the “new normal” for South Texas?  That question was posed by the state Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon at a meeting of the Edwards Aquifer Authority board Tuesday.

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The current drought, which started four years ago, is among the five worst in the past 500 years, he said. If it continues to be as dry as it is has been, the drought could be the third worst.

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The current drought, which started four years ago, is among the five worst in the past 500 years, he said. If it continues to be as dry as it is has been, the drought could be the third worst.

El Niño conditions “definitely seem to be on the way,” he said, which could usher in a cool, wet winter and up to 5 inches of additional rainfall.

In the long term, because of changes in the global climate, South Texas “could see both worse droughts and worse floods,” Nielsen-Gammon said.

These are pictures of Lake Medina, which water level is down 90 feet.  See More Of Lake Medina

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Texas Reservoirs – Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 66.3% full on 2014-05-28

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Click here to see the current water levels of all Texas Lakes

 

 

Camp Wandawega | Elkhorn, Wisconsin

Tiny House Plans, Small Home Plans, Micro Tiny Home Plans, Micro Home Plans, Tiny Home plans, Tiny Homes, Tiny Houses, Tiny House Builder, Tiny Homes Builder, small houses, small house plans‘This is an opportunity to go back in time,’ says David Hernandez, who attended Camp Wandawega, in Elkhorn, Wis., as a child. He bought the camp with his wife, Tereasa Surratt, for about $400,000

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Nostalgia motivated David Hernandez and his wife Tereasa Surratt to buy the 25-acre camp where Mr. Hernandez spent summers in his youth. The same emotion has helped turn their vacation property into a marketing phenomenon.

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Camp Wandawega, in Elkhorn, Wis., about 90 miles north of Chicago, was for years run by the Catholic church primarily for Latvian immigrants. Its origins are racier: It was originally built in 1925 as a site for prostitution and illicit liquor sales during Prohibition.

Tiny House Plans, Small Home Plans, Micro Tiny Home Plans, Micro Home Plans, Tiny Home plans, Tiny Homes, Tiny Houses, Tiny House Builder, Tiny Homes Builder, small houses, small house plansMr. Hernandez and Ms. Surratt, both advertising executives at Ogilvy & Mather in Chicago, bought the camp for around $400,000 in derelict condition in 2004. They spent years slowly restoring the property, filling it with flea market finds—from teacups to tennis rackets to canoe paddles—made from 1925 to the 1960s.

Tiny House Plans, Small Home Plans, Micro Tiny Home Plans, Micro Home Plans, Tiny Home plans, Tiny Homes, Tiny Houses, Tiny House Builder, Tiny Homes Builder, small houses, small house plansFriends and family helped fill the 65 rooms across eight structures during the summer, though the couple never installed air conditioning or televisions.

Tiny House Plans, Small Home Plans, Micro Tiny Home Plans, Micro Home Plans, Tiny Home plans, Tiny Homes, Tiny Houses, Tiny House Builder, Tiny Homes Builder, small houses, small house plans“We bought it because we wanted to save it, with absolutely no financial plan. It was basically like our summer home,” said Ms. Surratt.

Gradually, however, word of their rustic retreat spread and the couple began renting the camp out for corporate retreats and weddings. They use the income to pay for charitable events, including a weekly church service and free camp activities for the community.

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Camp Wanadwega looks like a really great place to visit and stay at. Check out the really cool Camp Wandawega website, it has lots of great pictures and information.

 

 

Glen Rose, Texas | Dulcimer Festival

Tiny House Plans, Small Home Plans, Micro Tiny Home Plans, Micro Home Plans, Tiny Home plans, Tiny Homes, Tiny Houses, Tiny House Builder, Tiny Homes Builder, small houses, small house plansWhile exploring Glen Rose Texas the other day with a dear friend we stumbled upon the Lone Star State Dulcimer Society Festival, which was just getting started at the historic, Oakdale Park, a well known camp ground, RV park and cabin rental facility in the Heart of Glen Rose, and located directly across the street from the Paluxy River.

Dulcimer, Glen Rose Dulcimer Festival, Dulcimer Music, Lonestar Dulcimer Festival,

Oakdale Park not only features one of the oldest concrete swimming pools in Texas, it’s home to many long running music festivals, primarily bluegrass music. My friend and I had never been to a Dulcimer Festival before so it was pretty cool to experience some of the opening day at the annual, 3-day event, as well as meet some nice folks who appreciate and support that kind of sound and music.

The Dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument originated in the Middle East and was adopted in Europe in the Middle Ages. It is a wooden box with strings stretched over it that are struck with small mallets. The number of strings may vary.  It’s known in varying forms, in Turkey, Iran, China (including Tibet), and other parts of Asia, and N. Africa. The popularity of the dulcimer continued in Western Europe until the 17th cent., when it sharply declined, though a German, Pantaleon Hebenstreit, enlarged it to make an instrument called the pantaleon in the early 18th century. It is still much used in Eastern Europe in Gypsy bands. In Appalachia, a plucked dulcimer, very similar to the zither, is very popular. It has an elongated hourglass shape and is held on the player’s lap. 

 Glen Rose Dulcimer Festival, Dulcimer Music, Lonestar Dulcimer Festival, The Wright Family(the Wright Family warming up before taking the stage)

 

 

 

Willie Nelson’s Old Tour Bus Is For Sale

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The beaut above is a 1983 Eagle that gets an eco-friendly seven miles per gallon when the generator is running. It’s got crushed velvet curtains, and — just a guess here — a few dozen places to hide your weed. Because, oh yeah, it’s Willie Nelson’s old tour bus, and it’s hard to look at without daydreaming about living a life on the open road in all the glorious comfort she no-doubt offers. If you want it, you should act now, because the guy who listed it says his phone hasn’t stopped ringing since he listed it on easttexas.craigslist.com Sunday night. “It’s been non-stop,” he says. “I’ve gotten calls from as far as Washington state and New York,” he told us when we called him ourselves. His name is Alan. He was very polite (naturally — Texas). Here’s the story he gave us about this treasure.

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Alan works in IT and listed the bus for an older friend who isn’t quite so tech savvy. That friend does lots of business in and around Texas and its neighboring states, and so when he was tipped off to something rumored to be Willie Nelson’s old tour bus being sold in Alabama, he checked it out. He bought it “three or four” years ago, and has used it frequently ever since. He’s “giving up the hobby” and is ready to unload it. He owns “several other vehicles” according to Alan.

Alan says the frequent calls he’s fielding from curious buyers are 75-percent serious. Some, like us, just have questions.

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