Austin with Dr. Bill

Sorry about the long periods between posts. Still doing things but just don't take the time to get the photos posted. I do continue to capture our travels in digital and will eventually get all of them posted. This is our trip back down to Austin for a great visit with Bill of Austin fame (as opposed to Bill of Plano fame). We had a super visit.









Bill took us up to the highest point in Austin to a great overlook of Lake Austin. As you can see Austin has a few folks who had more money than anyone really needs and chose to put a little of it into a 'cabin on the lake'. I doubt that too many of these are part of the 'foreclosure' issue - well who knows?












I was not able to really capture the essence of Bill's house on our last visit so thought I would try again. Just to keep you from becoming bored, I have also included the two Bill's fishing trip to Baja and Bill the Younger's big catch. The three of us are more than a little competitive so have to give him the credit publicly of catching the biggest fish. Bill the Elder and I are not conceding the title for all time - he is just temporily in the lead.











I tried to portray Bill's saltwater aquarium the last time we visited and was not happy with the result. These do a little better job but it is still one of those 'you had to be there' things.

Painting Restoration

Our good friend Dr. William N. Milner, Jr. (or just plain Billy to this old man) had a painting that was in pretty bad shape. The painting was special to Bill as he was friends with the artist, it came from a close friend in the Keys plus it was a view of a street familiar to him in the Keys. At his request Becky took on her first 'restoration' project. Since the outer edges of the painting were deemed to be beyond repair the project involved 'relocating' some of the key elements of the painting in addition to considerable cleanup and restoration of the total work. Fortunately Bill understood the magnitude of the project so time was not a factor. The painting traveled from Texas to Oklahoma, Missouri and on to Colorado for the summer and received its final touches back in Texas just before Thanksgiving. Here is its progress and final home back in Dr. Bill's basement game room in Texas.









This how it looked when Bill gave it to Becky. Notice in particular the ragged edges on the bottom and bottom right, the discoloration of the sky, street and buildings and that when room is left for framing, the street sign, artist signature and painting name must be relocated.




I decided to play with some digital 'enhancement' to get an idea of what Becky would want it to look like (under her direction, of course). This is what looked to be the best option for the final 'size'.




This was one option for moving such key elements as the street sign, signature, electric pole, etc.




This was another option plus I made an attempt at some digital cleanup on the bad spots on the street.




Then the artist took over and this is a progress shot. Yes, I know the 'real thing' is much better than my feeble digital attempts but at least it gave us an idea!!! By comparing the photo above, the one opposite and the one below you can see the evolution of this rather special painting.






Here is the finished product as delivered to Bill and is ready for framing.












Bill and Becky discussed frame options and this is the painting back on a wall in Bill's Basement game room. We are all very pleased with the whole project. Well done Becky and Bill!!!

Potpourri

Didn't have a good place to put these shots so I'm just grouping them together. The first set is Becky's first Wall Cloth (as opposed to her more common Floor Cloths). This one was at the request of a lady we met here in Belton and is for the lady's grandaughter. It was well received.













This is the finished product - ready to hang.


















An 'in-progress' photo prior to the scollops along the top and making the name 'fancy'.






















And then some detail shots of different portions of the final product.




















Becky has made these LEBKUCHEN German Christmas cookies for several years but never in the RV (she has 'borrowed' friends/relatives kitchens). The taste is the SAME!!! and they are all mine.















We needed a 'filler' piece of wood for our entertainment center where I exchanged the TV for a new Digital Flat Screen one. We met a woodcarver here whose wife wanted a small painting she had seen for her kitchen. Becky painted this and swapped it for the carved wood. Barter is still alive and well in Texas!!




















Found this one while out running around on the lake one day. Could not talk him into turning around for a better shot though and when I moved up underneath him he, of course, flew.








This guy seemed to like sitting on the top of the broken limb. Doesn't look too comfortable but the view was great.

Dallas and Waco

We finally made a couple of trips around the area and captured a few scenes of the cities. I am pretty much a country boy (surprise, surprise his friends say) so don't often indulge in city life but these shots were crying out to us. Hope you enjoy. Not much to say about them so I'll let them stand with little comment.










First a small taste of Big D as we were headed up to visit our friends in Plano.





















And then a few of Waco. Here we were out walking and driving around the old town after visiting the Texas Ranger Museum. Sorry but no photos made the cut of the museum. Take my word for it - it was worth the visit.









As you can tell I was intrigued with the old bridge. The sign talks about it.

Boat Repair for James

James had the engine on the bass boat worked on but the interior still needed quite a bit of work. He and I stripped out the old carpet and coated the floor and walls with bedliner material (we like how it turned out) but did not get the carpet work done nor did we manage to refinish the paint. Since we will be here in Texas (on a lake) until April, we decided it was worth James bringing the boat half way and Becky and I would then pick it up and I would finish the job James and I had started. This is the result.





Here is one of the original lid covered with the old carpet.






First you have to pull off the old carpet (easy) but then you have to remove the old glue and the underside of the old carpet (not easy). These two shots show the results after each of the processess.








Here is what a finished lid looks like alongside an old one. Yes, the old ones were green and the new ones are grey - it actually works - trust me.






A few shots of work in progress and then some after all carpet is in place.










The console has seen a lot of modifications over the years and had left a hole right in the center. I decided that we could use a power outlet to charge cell phones, run a spotlight or whatever so now we have a power point where the hole use to be. This worked out since I had previously put a cover and toggle switch in the hole but had a 'leftover' toggle switch hole so it was just a two move operation and now all holes are used!





The boat had been in some of the 'dirty' lake water at Lake of the Ozarks long enough to make the stern look pretty bad. Should have taken a 'before' shot but this 'after' shot demonstrates what a bit of elbow grease and finish renew can accomplish. You bought some good stuff James.




Believe it or not these shots were my attempt to show how much the finish is improved. For some reason I just cannot get it to show up as well as I would like. The console does the best job but, believe me, it looks as good as it has in many years. May not be new but sure runs and looks good.












After all that work the new cover will keep it looking good until James gets to use it after we go west in April. Enjoy James and Cher!!!