arabian girl:

Gosh I am sorry to hear Houston is getting caught up in this insanity.  My big nightmare is that Texas will fall prey to the same fate as Calif. has done.....mindless building, no natural areas, no place for our horses, etc.  I love West Texas because it is probably about 20 yrs. behind where I came from and wish it would stay this way! 

The wierd thing is that they'll clear cut beautiful areas of forest to make way for the subdivisions and strip malls and but you can see they are really making efforts city-wide to plant hundreds of trees around freeway intersections and other areas. 

That's good, but if they were more careful with their cutting in the first place, it wouldn't be as necessary. (But it's still nice to see)

Eric did comment on his last trip that one thing he liked about Houston was that it is so green - lots of foliage everywhere.  He commented that the hills around SF go brown in mid-spring and stay that way till fall.

 I couldn't live without green.

arabian girl:

That is exciting about your new house, move, etc. It will be a big change from Calif., let me tell you!  But I hope you find it is a good change, as I did.  People here are just so wonderful and kind and caring.  Where we came from in Calif. it was getting to be so irritating; people were just too "busy" to care about anything but themselves, and the whole attitude there was just about money, and status and drinking the right stupid wine! 

Thanks.  Actually I already live here and have done for ages. Eric and I have had somewhat of an unconventional relationship.  We met online and have been in a long distance relationship for four years.  We just got married in October last year, but he can't actually move down here till the fall. So we're still doing the long distance thing.

Eric is looking forward to leaving California behind him.  As you say, the people in CA are very self-centered and Eric was very pleasantly surrpised to find people actually smile and wave to each other here in Texas instead of "what are you doing in my space?"

 He says it's going to take him a while to acclimatize to Houston summers but hey - that's why we ordered the industrial strength air conditioner on the new house!

I've got a section on my personal website where I'll following the building progress

http://www.geocities.com/jaynep12002/new_house.htm

I think Eric will be in for many happy surprises when he moves to Texas!  Bet it will be great fun for the two of you to finally live in the same state?  Lol!  I've heard Houston summers are very humid, moreso than here, so I guess it will be an adjustment, but three cheers for the big A/C! 

Yes, Eric is right about the green hills turning brown around SF.  Where we lived was about 60 mi. north of there.  The really funny thing about that is, when I told people in Calif I was moving to Texas, they said lots of things about ugly desert, heat, and no water or greenery.......wonder if Eric has heard those stories too?  It surely is a  different climate but I like it so much better.  In the Bay Area, it is foggy and damp, even in the summer.  To me that is just depressing!  I want sun and warmth in the summer!  Besides, the cold damp was beginning to give me aches and pains.  I don't tell most people I know in Calif. how nice Texas is....I'm afraid they will believe me and move here!  Lol!

Yeah,.I sometimes wish we had more rain here (like when I was trying to get the grass pasture to grow) but I really really hate mud, and when it rains here, we only have mud usually for 2 days or so; the longest I remember was a week and that was forever.  That was when my mare hurt herself badly somehow in the mud, and never did recover even after 6 months of grief.  Just one more reason to hate that gooey crap!  Here, it usually lasts long enough to keep the horses penned for a day or two til the slipperiness goes away, then they can get out and have one good mud roll before it dries up. 

Wigs would be great fun to try on, but I don't think I could stand to wear one; guess you could get used to it tho.  They are like hats; I think big decorated hats are fun, but cannot keep them on for 5 minutes!  Guess it's good I can stand clothes.....lol!  I usually start out clean in the morning, but but by the time it's noon, I often look like I've been making mud pies or something.  This morning I had to clean out a water tub and be ready to be picked up by friends to go into town by 9:15.  Just ran in, scraped off mud, washed hair, threw on clean clothes and headed out!  Glamour is not in my repretoire..(sp).....

Pretty house, Jayne!  Nice plan, too.  Bet you are excited about getting it all done, huh? Hope you can save some of the pretty trees!

arabian girl:

 

Wigs would be great fun to try on, but I don't think I could stand to wear one; guess you could get used to it tho.  They are like hats; I think big decorated hats are fun, but cannot keep them on for 5 minutes!  Guess it's good I can stand clothes.....lol!  I usually start out clean in the morning, but but by the time it's noon, I often look like I've been making mud pies or something.  This morning I had to clean out a water tub and be ready to be picked up by friends to go into town by 9:15.  Just ran in, scraped off mud, washed hair, threw on clean clothes and headed out!  Glamour is not in my repretoire..(sp).....

 I hear you!  LOL  My long, curly hair took no less than 40 minutes to wash, condition, and style.  Now I'm wash-and-wear!  I attend a lot of charity events, so I have to occasionally look extra-nice.  For those times, the wigs will stay in my closet.  It's a relief not to have to wear them, but it's nice to have them around for those times when I just can't be bothered to waste time trying to whip my hair into shape. 

 Jayne, that's a gorgeous photo on your site!  Is that an actual picture of the house or a painting of it?  I would love to live in a place like that!  I'm totally jealous! 

Thanks :)  Yep, we're very excited.

We saved a mature pine tree in the back yard and there's a country road behind the wall that dead ends at some farms.  On the street side of the wall are three or four more pine trees, so we have a little grove behind the house.

There's a beautiful oak tree a couple of lots down, but unfortunately it's right about where the living room will be when they build a house on the lot.

I've always wished I could have long, pretty hair, but....my hair is so thick, it gets completely out of control when it gets too long, and just looks like a big bush on my head....Lol!  I'm usually lucky if I have 40 minutes altogether to get ready to go somewhere.  Guess it's good for us to "gussie up" sometimes; it makes me feel good once inawhile even tho I grumble while doing it!

How about Jayne's house?  Is that beautiful or what?  We have a brick house too, and I just love it.  Probably because in Calif. you can't have much brick because of the earthquakes there.

Cool!  You could have an atrium in your living room, and save that gorgeous Oak tree!  Seriously, it is so pretty and with all those trees, it will be really nice in the summer.  We don't have a lot of trees around here, but we do have many in our yard near the house, and it sure makes a difference on a hot summer day to have that shade!  Keep us up to date on how the house is coming along.