[thechat] Joel's Ireland photos, round 1 of 367

[Luther, Ron]

Bob Davis noted:

>>Heather and I just went hiking here :
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/hillcoun/
>>Bandera is a cool area.

Hi Bob,


Wow!  Cool Park!

Mary has said good things about Bandera. I haven't been over there yet. 
We head up through Kerrville and Fredericksburg about once a year or 
more to 'climb the rock' and hit the microbrewery. We also run through 
Georgetown and Salado about twice a year. (Although we usually stay down

in Round Rock.)  

>>Hill Country?
>>Awesome.
>>It's beautiful. 

Yup. (Might even be a decent enough reason to pick up an old motorbike!)

;-)

We're heading up a bit further North this time. Gonna spend the long 
weekend in 'Wack-o' ... see the zoo ... got tickets for a play ... had 
just planned to bum around ... till Mary started researching real estate

... Again!  

She found some interesting things on Lake Cherokee and Lake Tonkawa. So 
we will probably go see those.

[Our first choice is, of course, Lake Austin ... But I haven't won the 
lottery yet. Hosers! ... I swear! ... I know *I* keep buying the 'right'

numbers ... those dummies just keep picking the 'wrong' ones! ... It 
*can't* be that hard to get it right, folks! ... Straighten up! ... 
't'ain't my fault!]


>>I'd love to have a big chunk of land out there - 50 or 100 acres would

>>suffice. Some day... some day....

I dunno ... Mary and I have talked about that a few times. My original 
idea was for some kind of 'personal sporting resort' ... get a 50 acre 
square ... trim back a small area right in the middle - put the house 
there, maybe a small pond stocked with bass, a deck for the grill and 
the hottub, maybe mow a small pair or triangle of 'Par 3's - throw a 
couple small dirt bikes or four wheelers in a shed for the 'kids' to 
whack around on ... and let the rest go wild, cuz I don't want to spend 
all my time on upkeep.  

That sounded good ... until ...

... Mary started plotting ways to claim the 'agricultural exemption'! 

(Now, to be fair, you really _have_ to do that ... in order to lower 
your property taxes with that much land ... it's a very smart move.)

I haven't been able to find any 'definitive' information yet, but this 
seems to 'steer' you into needing to throw some cattle on your land. 
Which means you now need some equipment; pens, trailers, a larger truck,

a tractor, a barn, probably some horses and dogs ... and everything that

goes with that ...

At which point it started to sound waaaaay too much like 'work'. Even if

I were retired, I don't think I want to spend my weekends mucking out 
stalls, mending fencing, and attending cattle auctions. 

Not my cup o' tea!

(And then my brother-in-law caught wind of the idea and got all excited!

He figgered it meant free grazing for him for his cattle and extra
storage 
for his 'toys'. Wrong-o Buckwheat!)

No ... I'm looking for something a little more 'relaxing'.  ;-)


RonL. 

(Hmmmm ... then again ... if you throw on a "cattle guard" ... maybe 
your Elise _would_ make a fair to middlin' "cutting horse"!)