Living the Good Life In Georgetown Texas: February 2010

Want to live in a countryside setting but want to remain close in?  Then take a look at Oakcrest Estates in Georgetown Texas.  

This close in neighborhood is bordered by the San Gabriel River, DB Wood Rd, and the Georgetown Country Club.  As you follow Country Club drive    

you notice the split rail fences, and the scenery gets rural, yet you are only a couple of minutes from Wolf Ranch and the Rivery shopping centers.  Cross the bridge and enjoy the serenity of this quiet enclave.

  Most of the homes were built in the late 1970's through 1990, and are ranch style ranging in size from 1500 to 3500 sq ft.

  The lots are large most from 1/2 acre to 1 acre.  Some areas are heavily  treed with Oaks being predominate.     And where you have a country setting, lots of tree cover you are going to have wildlife.  Deer abound!      Be sure and plant deer resistant landscaping and fence your garden, because these deer love snap beans, peas, lettuce, and most bedding plants.

Oak Crest is a perfect combination of city and country.  With paved streets and shady avenues and good neighbors    Yet you can walk 2 blocks and see cows grazing and listen to the windmill creak and groan as it pumps water.   Oak Crest is the best of both, rural and urban at the same time.  The neighborhood has an active voluntary homeowner's association that sponsors an annual pic nic and neighborhood garage sale.  If you would like information about this neighborhood or others in the Georgetown and Williamson County area contact me, I'd love to show you around.

It is said that one man's junk is another's treasure and no where is that statement more true than   Louis Miller's Mechanical Mart in Georgetown Texas.

I've always been fascinated by tractors and farm implements and well anything mechanical and this spot in the middle of a the historic area of Georgetown has always fascinated me.  Mr Miller has been pulling these relics of our agricultural past out of fields and barns for years and assembled one of the finest collections in the country.... All in the shadow of Southwestern University and the historic Georgetown Tx historic square.

Everything from huge steam driven tractors and combines to 1950's Farmall tractors are scattered around the yard.

 I like the flared fenders on this one.... racy don't you thing?  Notice the huge steam driven machine in the background.

This is one of my favorites, if you look someone has combined a Model T front chassis with an early horse drawn mechanical plow.  Now that's some early Aggie engineering!

 Surely, you rmember the Rumely Tractor?  I can just imagine how much this must have cost back in the day.  At least you didn't have to worry about the tires going flat.

 need traction?  just bolt on these iron spikes,, no problem.  You could also run a leather belt off the pulley and and run all kinds of equiptment even a portable sawmill. There are scores of these antique tractors on this private yard all owned by antique tractor collector Louis Miller who operates a repair yard at 806 E 8th Street in Georgetown Texas. 

If you are in the market for a Home or information about Georgetown Texas give me a call and I'll give you a tour of this and other interesting places in Georgetown and Williamson County Texas.

This morning at approximately 10 am, a small plane reported to be a Piper Cherokee crashed into the side of the Echelon I office building located at the intersection of Highway 183 and Mopac(Loop 1).  The 7 story building was engulfled in flames and smoke could be seen for miles.  The office complex included several buidlings including the headquarters for Keller Williams, howerver the KW offices are not believed to be located in the building that was hit by the plane.  You can follow the live feed from local station kxan.      photo from news report

Here we go again, just another day.  Had an inspection scheduled today for a house I have listed.  Actually it's a re-schedule, the house was a remodel and wasn't quite ready last week, so extended the option period another week to give the seller's contractor plenty of time to get the house ready.  You know the drill, always anticipate what can go wrong, so....... I spend an hour on my Sunday checking the house, find that the power isn't on , the HVAC thermostat isn't there, and not one, not ONE DAMN thing has been done all week.  Call seller, he calls contractor and excuse after excuse they promise that the house will be ready Monday afternoon.  Inspection is 3pm. 

Of course, I reschedule my Monday morning so I can check on the progress. Good sign, when I get there, there are 3 pickup trucks, a front end loader and 2 loads of dirt dumped in the driveway.  POWER IS ON! I check with contractor, everything will be done in plenty of time.  I bite my tongue and dont' comment on the fact that he had all week...

Come back an hour before inspection, trucks gone, dirt spread, so far so good.  Inside is a mess, but at least the 15 punchout items seem to be mostly done.  There's even a thermostat on the wall.  I notice it's off... turn it on... nothing.  Find manual.. try again... nothing.  Call contractor, he says he couldn't make it work either so he was gonna call manufactuer tomorrow!   I won't repeat my conversation at this point.

Call seller, tell him the situation, he's at work can't get away,, just take care of it he tells me.  No problemo, it's what we do.

So......I call the service company I normally use,. they rush over a HVAC tech, he fixes short in system caused by improper installation and I give my personal check to cover the bill.  I then call a makeready clean up team I've used, luck would have it they were finishing a job and could come over in 30 min.  

Inspector shows up just as HVAC is hooked up, cleaning is on going, and buyer is due to arrive in 30 min.  Sheesh....what we go through to get THE JOB DONE!

Georgetown's new transit station is a model of green building designed to leave a minimum carbon footprint and operate off the grid.  The new station scheduled to open in the spring of 2010 features solar panels, a rainwater collection system and an electric car charging station.

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A 60 ft wind turbine that generates electric power is visible from Interstate 35 .

The rainwater collection tank is artfully screened.  The station is part of the Capital Area Rural Transportation System or CARTS for short.

When the station opens this spring it will offer public transportation options that include bus, carpool, and van service to surrounding communities in the Austin Metro area.  For more information visit the CARTS web site