[Gun & Garden] "I imagine a big herd of buffalo might have come through here," says Fred Zipp, standing on a rocky ridge above the Llano River about an hour and a half’s drive northwest of Austin, Texas. Zipp; his wife, Jodi; and three other couples had been hunting for a quiet escape from the ever-growing buzz of Austin, a place to ride their bikes, reconnect with nature, and recharge. Still, when they found this oak-studded, ten-acre ribbon of land in the Hill Country west of the town of Llano, they knew it would require some work.
"When we first looked at it, it was not really that inviting," Zipp says. Head-high stands of invasive Johnson grass and ornamental privet threatened to choke out mature oaks and native plants such as black persimmon. Hoping improvements might lead to a quick sale, the previous owners had bulldozed a road to the river but left giant debris piles high on its banks. Even so, the Zipps and their friends could see its potential as plainly as the Precambrian pink granite that braids this idyllic if rough-hewn landscape. Soon the project had a name: the Llano Exit Strategy.
A former editor of the Austin American-Statesman, Zipp made his own exit from the newsroom in 2011. But during his thirty-two-year career, he regularly had a front-row seat to development debates and, more recently, the Lone Star water wars, amplified by Texas’s ongoing drought. So from the get-go, the group wanted to create a retreat that was sensitive to the area’s limited water resources. "This is a magical place, but it’s arid," Zipp says. "We’re doing what we can to reserve as much water as possible for the native trees and grasses. Fortunately, they’re beautiful." Keeping the footprint minimal and costs low while still building a stylish, comfortable compound was also a priority.
The Zipps didn’t have to look far to find an architect whose vision jibed with their own. A San Antonio
#3
Each cabin employs a cantilevered “butterfly” roof to capture rainwater, which is then channeled into 100-gallon collection cisterns arranged to help irrigate the property.
#5
Yeah, what would old commie Woody Guthrie (This land is your land, this land is my land) have to say about rain taxes? Like all commies I'm sure he'd rationalize it somehow...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/07/2019 12:51 Comments ||
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#6
My friends in Hawaii get 400 gallons of water per inch of rain off their roof. Then into rain gutters, pipes, and into a 10,000 gallon water tank. Nothing magic. Simple.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/07/2019 13:46 Comments ||
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[Townhall] House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) last month sent a letter to former Fox News host Diana Falzone asking for her to provide documentation about the conservative cable network's decision not to run reports about Stormy Daniels' alleged affair with President Donald Trump. Although Falzone has a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) with Fox, her attorney said NDA's exclude government investigations.
According to a report from The New Yorker, Falzone had specific details about Daniels' alleged affair with Trump and the amount he allegedly paid her to keep her quiet.
"She had the amount, she had the corporate names that the original settlement was named in, she had the dates of the affair and she asked me to confirm those details," Daniels' attorney, Keith Davidson, told MSNBC.
One of the Oversight Committee representatives, Ted Lieu (D-CA), said he believes in subpoenaing people who have NDAs if it allows them to speak freely:
#3
Other newsrooms punted on this story due to a lack of corroboration just as Fox did; I'd tell Mr. Gorilla Cookie Face to get bent until he sends them letters as well.
[Free Beacon] House Republicans want to hold Democrats accountable for the party's near-unanimous opposition to caring for babies who survive abortion.
The GOP is pushing a bill that would force doctors to provide life-saving care to babies who survive abortions. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act failed in the Senate after only three Democrats crossed the aisle to support it, falling short of the 60-vote threshold. The Democrat-controlled House has blocked a similar bill from even coming to a floor vote, leading congressional Republicans to launch a discharge petition to rescue it from dying in committee.
GOP whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.) is spearheading the petition drive. His outreach effort to Democrats, however, has only yielded three signatures‐putting him 18 votes short of getting the bill out of the Judiciary Committee. Scalise said Democrats will not be able to dodge the issue.
"I hope they recognize that the country is paying attention now," he said.
Late-term abortion gained national attention after New York adopted a bill that allows abortion up until the point of birth and prevents people accused of murdering pregnant women for being charged with the death of the unborn baby. The debate over the issue reached its peak when Virginia Democrat governor Ralph Northam, a career physician, defended allowing a newborn to die on the table unless the mother approved of resuscitation. Scalise said lawmakers will have to answer for their failure to act on the bill, even if they do not actively vote against it. Blocking the discharge position, he said, is tantamount to a vote in favor of infanticide.
#1
Someone I know has a family rule that was enforced in the raising of their children -- Education, job, marriage, children-in that order no exceptions. The rule is working and nowhere in this plan is there a place for abortion, probably because the education (including strong moral guidance) has been effective.
#5
Someone I know has a family rule that was enforced in the raising of their children -- Education, job, marriage, children-in that order no exceptions.
I hope they're not disappointed when they never get grandchildren.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/07/2019 14:37 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Gun & Garden] "I imagine a big herd of buffalo might have come through here," says Fred Zipp, standing on a rocky ridge above the Llano River about an hour and a half’s drive northwest of Austin, Texas. Zipp; his wife, Jodi; and three other couples had been hunting for a quiet escape from the ever-growing buzz of Austin, a place to ride their bikes, reconnect with nature, and recharge. Still, when they found this oak-studded, ten-acre ribbon of land in the Hill Country west of the town of Llano, they knew it would require some work.
[Townhall] House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) last month sent a letter to former Fox News host Diana Falzone asking for her to provide documentation about the conservative cable network's decision not to run reports about Stormy Daniels' alleged affair with President Donald Trump. Although Falzone has a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) with Fox, her attorney said NDA's exclude government investigations.
