Reclaiming the Jungle

Before we bought our house it was vacant for 2 years.  This means that the yard was a serious jungle when we moved in.  We struggled through the summer with small projects here and there, but turns out, summer in Texas isn't actually a great time to attempt yardwork.  Since we just cleaned out the houseboat, we figured why stop there?  Why not overhaul the back yard while we were at it?  You may remember our savage back yard.

Would you believe me if I told you these photos were actually taken before the jungle took over the entire back yard?  We spent a couple of days one weekend this February and extended the patio and planted our first plants!

Now our houseboat (ahem, partyboat) is a real backyard hangout!

Partyboat is the new Houseboat

So we have this building on our property.  It's not really a shed because it's finished inside and it's rather nice-ish.  It's not really a guesthouse because there is no bathroom.  It's not really a pool house because we own no pool.  We call it the houseboat because we figure what's important is to agree on a totally arbitrary name that makes no sense at all.

When we moved in, it quickly became storage for just about everything (including my extensive collection of chairs.)  We don't have a photo of the storage bonanza because while we love photodocumenting, we hate clutter.  (we = Nicci.)  Instead, here is an artist's rendition of what the houseboat looked like inside:

Basically it was a whole big pile of tandem bikes and mid-century modern chairs.  Also the walls were cream.  And orange.  Eww!  So we pulled everything out.

We painted.  (Did I mention it was cream and orange?)

And then we made it into a comfy outdoor-ish living space.

Eventually there will be a fridge/kegerator, perhaps a bar and maybe even some sort of decorative scheme.  For now, it's a great place to drink beer and play cards!

Home for Xmas in February

Eddy recently had to travel to KU for work and that's just a hop, skip and a jump from Ozark, MO, where the Cobbs live.  We headed on over to have some post-Xmas fun.

We did the usual playing with the dogs (Georgia and Stewie).

And we watched the Super Bowl at Metro with my parents.

We also visited our beloved Mud House.  Double punch Sundays, baby!

And we ate some other stuffs.  You know, like Andy's Frozen Custard.

Mmm...  Ozark...

One Pet Per Person

Eddy has this law.  He only allows one pet per person. Under said law, the Westbrooks were not allowed to get another pet because:

Nicci ----> Rupert

Eddy ----> Ada

On February 8, 2012, the one pet per person law was effectively repealed.  Meet Norman.

Eddy claims that he got Norman for me (which is very sweet).  However, as you can see from this evidence:

Nicci ----> Rupert
Eddy ----> Ada and Norman

Oh yeah, and also I heart Norman.

Now, to potty train Norman.  Pictures to come.  Just kidding.  Maybe.

The Road Home

On our way home from Fredericksburg, we stopped at my favorite TX city, San Antonio!

They have ducks there.

Did I mention that I love San Antonio? We had just enough time to sup at our favorite SA restaurant (although that's really hard to determine because we love so many restaurants in SA) Shilo's! We had an awesome German lunch

and Eddy basically insisted that we eat this giant cheesecake.

Then we took our Captain Duvet and headed home.

It was a great Texploration road trip!

Fredericksbeer

When we finally made it to Fredericksburg, we focused our time on beer. We stayed at Fredericksburg Brewing Co.

They have themed rooms there and we stayed in the Admiral's quarters.

In addition to beer, Fredericksburg also has a Japanese Garden,

some interesting shopping,

and statues

all of which we chose to mock.

Everybody's Somebody

Eddy and I decided sort of spur-of-the-moment that we needed to take a Texas style road trip.  Last time we did that was Valentine's day, 2010, so we were overdue.  On the advice of our neighbors Rod and Ruby, we decided to head out to Fredericksburg, Tx.  On the way out, we stopped at Luckenbach, TX--population 25--to gather round the wood stove at the country store/post office/bar and hear some live music.

Apparently in Luckenbach some (towns?)people ride their longhorns to the festivities.

They also have guitar parking outside of the country store.

Did you know everybody's somebody in Luckenbach, Texas?

Runs in the Family

Remember this picture of Eddy?

Well, apparently this behavior runs in the family.