Magnolia House-Sit
We left Palmetto State Park and headed to a house-sit gig in Magnolia Tx. Not great. There are home owners that have a better way of welcoming sitters to a house-sit than others. On rare occasions, we get the impression that homeowners feel as if they are doing us a huge favor letting us stay at their home. We are always appreciative, but it should be a two-way street. There were issues here. We were told we would have the use of one of two cars, but when we arrived, the owner told us that after several attempts on her part, she could not get the insurance company to return her calls in order to get insurance on either vehicle. But she did say, “Oh sure, you can still drive it if it’s not insured, don’t you have your own insurance?” Texas law stipulates that insurance must be present on the vehicle in order for the registration to be valid. Huh. And her listing of the home said that she lived in a quiet neighborhood. As it turns out, she had a neighbor next door that worked 2nd shift. And when he returned from work, he liked to open his garage, crank up the music and party until 4:30 in the morning. Part of that late night affair included riding up and down the street on his dirt bike. Hey, I like a good "brammmpp!" of a dirt bike, but not at three o'clock in the morning. After talking to neighbors in the following days, this guy had punched out a neighbor for complaining about the noise. And that’s just scratching the service. If it wasn’t for the dogs, we would have locked the doors and given the keys to the neighbor…(not the ex-con…or maybe). We did meet a lovely neighbor who came over and checked on us. But all in all, we're happy this one is in our rear view mirror.
Thank goodness for a couple of sweethearts.
Sisterdale House-Sit. A great house sit to balance the scales. Awesome limestone cottage overlooking the Guadalupe River and Texas Hill Country.
Private Ranch Community RV Park located next to the Guadalupe River. This is Glamping! The RV park is for guests of the development and is located right on the river!
The Guadalupe River. Clear and deep. Great walks along here especially during sunset. Our house-sit backed right up against it. Access was by a customer's custom stair way (stone and steel) that lead down the limestone cliffs on the right.
Thankfully, after that house-sit, we headed to a town called Sisterdale (TX) for another house-sit. Wow, what a difference! This particular homeowner was incredibly warm and welcoming. The community she lived in had its own miniature version of an RV park with hookups and bathrooms (complete with showers!) We met with our new host, Mary Ellen the day we arrived and then again for breakfast the next morning.
One of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Her house was located next to the Guadalupe River with great views of the surrounding hill country. It was located within a “ranch” style living community (I think back east we would refer to this as a building development.) which included several building lots of 3 acres on up to 300 acres. With one way in and one way out access to the development, crime is reduced and also cuts down on the road noise. It was an awesome experience being able to meet Mary Ellen and have her share her home with us.
Black Board BBQ for a little brisket, Asian Slaw and Creamy Maque Choux. Super!
The Hungry Horse Restaurant in downtown Boerne Tx. Chicken Fried Steak, Fried Okra, Mashed with gravy, coleslaw and a roll. Yvette had the same but instead of chicken fired steak, she had the grilled trout. So much I had leftovers for breakfast the next day.
Yet again we stopped off at the Hungry Horse, this time for a catfish sandwich. Supper than evening was not required. I was still full at breakfast!
We were able to sample some of the local food as well. A place near by called the Black Board BBQ and a little farther in town a place called The Hungry Horse Restaurant where we carefully exceeded our days calorie count. Brisket, Chicken Fried Steak and Trout were just some of the things we were fortunate to sample.
Our daily visit from herds of Axis and White-Tailed Deer. The Axis breed all year, and the population here reflects it.
The Guadalupe.
Our daily walks around the neighborhood, and along the Guadalupe River always turned up deer sightings in numbers that we weren’t used to. Yvette held the record with seeing over 80 deer (Axis & White Tailed) in less than 3 hours. Not bad. I also burned the crap out of my head because I decided to go for a walk, that turned into a three-hour hike with no hat. Sunburned the scalp pretty good. As we said goodbye, we made plans to get together once again in two weeks when we'll do another house sit about 15 miles away in the town of Boerne Texas. Now off to see some great state parks.
In Other News...
Fuel Tank Blues-
Many you may remember that during our trek south during the fall, we took on some contaminated fuel. The all was said and done, it cost us about $900 for the repair. GOOD NEWS! The owner of the gas station has reimbursed us for the entire bill including a nights stay at the local Hilton.
Wanna Help?-
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