TGIF!!

My old ass is wore out from that fence job. It's done and I got paid!!

I had a Realtor call me today and they need three rent houses painted and some other inside repairs done.
I should be starting on that in a week or so.

I haven't decided on my housing situation yet. If I can manage to do most of my work in Fort Davis, I'll probably move to the old house in the resort. If most of my work ends up in Alpine, I'll go there. I'm not doing the driving thing here to go to work.

I don't like Alpine as much as Fort Davis. It's a college town with quite a few punk ass kids.
Fort Davis is a slow paced, easy going small town.
Yes...we have REAL cowboys out here. Not the wannabes like in Fort Worth.
Those douche bags have never touched a horse in their life.
I went into Murphy's pizza the other day and four dusty guys walked in with boots and spurs on. Not because they thought they looked cool, but because they are real cowboys working 500,000 acre ranches.

One more thing. As most of you know, I despise country music. Out here it's tolerable because it kinda fits.
I can't wait for you guys to come see me. You'll understand why I left the big city.

Sorry...no pics today. I'm tired and we didn't have any excitement at work today.
I'm sleeping late tomorrow. I'll post more tomorrow.

I'm coming home Sunday morning early and leaving to come back Friday the 15th.

First day at work!!

It is a fence job for the City of Alpine Water and Sewer. They're having 60,000 KW solar array installed.
Its going to power the facility so we were there to build a fence a fence to keep animals and people out.

My back is a little sore and I was covered in dust, but it was a cool experience. I worked with 2 - 19 year old kids. They were really cool but I had to keep on their butts. They like to sit too much and that was the reason I was hired.

Kevin, my boss warned me about them. Out here, you take what you can get for help because labor is hard to find down here. We'd be screwed if he got rid of them.  The owner was gone for several hours so I was running the show on my first day. I worked right beside them, but when it came time to mix concrete for fence posts, I took a break. :) 

I'm not sure how long I'm gonna be able to help him. I had to leave at 6:30 to get there by 8 am!!
It's NOT traffic out here...just distance. 30 mins to get out of the resort on steep dirt roads and 13 miles down 166 to 17 and 23 miles to Alpine. You should have seen the sunrise though!!! BEAUTIFUL!

I really need to find something in Fort Davis. This really was the reason I left stinky ass Fort Worth.
My cards will be ready soon! Thanks Shauna!!

I didn't have my DSLR today, so I used my cell phone for pics.

The big excitement for the day was boss man, (Kevin not me) was using the bobcat back scraping the lot and backed into an abandoned sewer treatment tank and rolled it on it's side in stinky ass water.
The weeds were sooo high we didn't even know it was there. No sign, no fence...nothing but 3' weeds and 4' of old crap water.

I got a pic at distance with my phone because the City workers were standing around and I didn't want to piss anyone off. I snapped one at the truck.

The big loader was pulling in at quitting time to pull the poor little bobcat out, so I didn't get anymore pics.

Going to bed! Gotta get up at 6 am!!!




                                     Nobody was hurt or got wet. He jumped out like Superman!

                                    Mack mixing concrete. See the city dog pound to the left??



Hump day!

Speaking of hump...I can't wait to get to see Shauna! :)
Anyway...enough of that.

I talked to Jarrett dirt and concrete this morning. I might be working for them. I'm going to call him when I get back from Fort Worth 10/18.

I spent the day in Alpine.
More resumes and applications. I spoke with a someone at the local hardware store and an A/C service company.
While I was at the hardware store, I bumped into a local handyman. I gave him my resume and he called me back to discuss my pay requirements. Then I talked to his wife. I guess she handles the business side.
He has a huge fence job coming up so hopefully he'll call.

As I was typing this he called. I've got to be in Alpine at 8 am!! YIPPEE!!

Here are some pics of my day. This country is just beautiful!!

Crotalus lepidus or Banded Rock Rattlesnake. Laying on the road coming up the mountain. It was getting cool and he was sunning. 

Coming into Fort Davis from Alpine on 118 west.

Looks like a Windows desktop picture.

Sunrays. I went to my quiet spot on the rock on my way home.

I was laying on the rock watching the clouds and the buzzards started circling. Look what else I caught in the top right corner. I didn't even see him until I got home and looked at the pics.

Another day on the town

Another day filling out applications and handing out resumes. I met some more great people. This town is full of them. Spoke with another real estate agent and a broker trying to round up business. I found another contractor in town and his help just moved back to Austin. Hopefully this will pan out.
Ate lunch at Murphy's pizza. They have the BEST pizza I've ever had!!

I took a drive up to the McDonald Observatory and spoke with them. I'm going to fill out an application online before I go to bed tonight. In the next few months, I'm going to volunteer at their star parties. This should be fun showing tourists the night sky. They have a 16" and a 22" telescope they use for star parties. Some of the locals bring their scopes for people to observe through too.
http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/visitors/programs/

HET - Hobby-Eberly Telescope

http://www.as.utexas.edu/mcdonald/het/het.html 

http://hetdex.org/

View from the 82" dome

On the way back home I decided to stop at the picnic area by the resort. I climbed on the rock and kicked back for a while. 

Met a friend while I was up there.

Country store in the resort. There is an old restored house behind the store I may move into.

There it is!! 1 bedroom 1 bath. See the water tank to the left. It's not a pool. :)

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to check the inside out. I was in it 2 years ago. Real nice and fixed up inside. And the only heat comes from a wood burining stove!! How freakin cool is that?? 

On my way back up to the cabin, this guy crossed the road.

The big day....job and house hunting!

Well I got up early this morning, printed off resumes and headed to town. I went into just about every shop in town talking to the locals. I'll bet I'm going to be the talk of the town in the morning. I filled out several applications from concrete work to hotel work. I don't care what I do for work down here. Side jobs are plenty down here.
I went to the Chamber of Commerce and spoke with two nice ladies. They were very helpful pointing me in the right direction.

Anyway, I found a place to live. It's here in the resort behind the general store. 1/1 furnished $450 a month! I'm going down tomorrow to check it out.

Check out the pics from today.

Click the pic for hi res.

 This guy was crossing the road this morning. 

Fall has arrived in Big Bend!