February 2007



Feb
27
2007
 4

Roddy House, Part 1


My friend Meredith invited me to visit her new house a few weeks ago. A rambling ranch home on the east side, it was perfectly preserved in 1969, the year it was built. Meredith and her husband Ted bought it from a pair of sisters who had kept the house in pristine condition, right down to the fake crystal chandelier...


Feb
21
2007
 11

A New Erwin


We had to cancel our vacation to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. One sick kid would have been enough, but we had three. So what do you do to make the weekend special? You get a dang dog, that's what you do. We started out at our local animal shelter. They seemed to only have Labradors, which Christiane vetoed, and Pit Bulls,...


Feb
17
2007
 10

Door Buzz


Thank you house bloggers for all the buzz and links to Crestview Doors. Many people are posting photos of their doors. It's really cool to see the regional differences in these doors. Meanwhile Back at the Ranch has a "Madison". I highly recommend this placement of a devil tiki mask when installing a "Madison". Ranch Redo...


Feb
15
2007
 15

Cat. Bag. Out.


I let the cat out of the bag in a comment on Ranch Redo on Monday. I'm starting a new company to sell a very narrowly defined, but otherwise completely unavailable style of front door. The Company is called Crestview Doors. I named the company after the neighborhood where I live. This is where I have noticed and slowly...


Feb
10
2007
 6

We did it!


This morning over 2500 of my neighbors showed up to protest the bloated Walmart that Lincoln Properties wants to jam in place of the rotting corpse of Northcross Mall (eew!). We made a ring not just around the mall, but around the whole block. By my estimation (using Google maps) the line was about 6000 feet long. I really...


Feb
9
2007
 1

A Pox on Our House


Chickenpox is here. We are going through it with typical Erwin House efficiency. 7 year old got it about 3 weeks ago and now 7 month old and 4 year old are synchronized. Both produced spots this afternoon. We know the drill and it should be over (forever) in about 7 days. Hu-boy. Family vacation in 8 days. Hope we can go because...


Feb
7
2007
 2

Drawing Lines


This is what the neighborhood is asking for instead of a monster Walmart. It is mixed use retail/office/residential. It's nice. We would go there. Roll your mouse over to see the current mall. Trammell Crow is building a similar development (Crestview Station) on the other side of our neighborhood. Nobody is protesting...


Feb
6
2007
 3

This Saturday: A Call to Arms


If you are one of our local Austin, Texas readers, please mark this Saturday, February 10th, at 9:30 on your calendar. We will be at Northcross Mall with several thousand neighbors showing support for our neighborhood and protesting the super-mega-ultra-giga-Walmart that Lincoln Properties is trying to stick there. We will...


Feb
5
2007
 3

An Unwelcome Neighbor


Walmart is trying to build in our neighborhood. Not one of those cute little Walmarts you see on the highway -- this would be the biggest Walmart in Texas. Two stories, 225,000 square feet (1000 times larger than Erwin House). They want to keep it open 24 hours. The ass end of a 3-story parking garage would face the street....


Feb
1
2007
 0

Like a Lazy River of Concrete


Having to call AAA to tow the minivan out of our backyard was the last straw. So we ordered up a driveway. You know what it's like when you go to the grocery store hungry and you buy, like, a lot of food? Well, we're getting a lot of driveway. And a new sidewalk to boot. The driveway starts out two cars wide, swoops around...