Not getting anywhere with your accusations against The Man? If you're in Texas, there may be another way...

No need to go all Punisher on your target (sorry, Marvel's wiki was down). Just get an affidavit stating that you are a "credible person" (you are a credible person, aren't you?) and submit it to a grand jury. The grand jury meets in secret and has the power to charge suspects with crimes which might otherwise have been overlooked by law enforcement.

In this instance, a man in Dripping Springs brought up the point that many of our elected law makers are not present when voting occurs and that they have others vote for them. He believes, as do I, that this violates a couple laws (impersonating a public servant and tampering with a government record). After numerous attempts to have it investigated by law enforcement and the DA, another lawyer mentioned the law about submitting the case to the grand jury.

In short, the grand jury found that no laws were broken. I'm guessing that is probably due to how common the practice is (voting for someone not present) and/or that they interpreted the actions as not violating the intent of those laws... ah well, at least it shed some light on the law so that the lawmakers can plug it up before it's used again. :-)

Back from vacation, absence of communications, and more...

Went on a two-week jaunt to NC,VA, and FL with the family.
Among other things, I saw family, friends, deer, rabbits, heron, lories, gorillas, tigers (went to Busch Gardens), tourists (which I apparently have become as well), and more. Some more notable findings were that the Royal Empress tree (paulownia tomentosa), which I wrote about earlier, is in fact invading much of the Appalachian area's disturbed land (roadsides, mostly) with already at few flowering/seed producing size (3+ years), and many, many more ending their first or second years of growth. As invasive as they are, I'm not so sure their harming their surroundings in any way. The leaves are great for natural composting as well as for wildlife, and with their fast growth rate, they'll help curb erosion. Really, the only downside I see so far is that these are growing in place of other native trees.

As for the lack of posts, the mountains aren't exactly friendly to the wireless service industry. Neither is low population density, as AT&T didn't have any services available (not even roaming) in Clarksville, VA. Having zero bars every now and then is a nice change. Especially when relaxing in a lake.

With all that said, I must now get back to work. Oi!

When installing new outlets...

We needed a couple extra outlets in the garage. Luckily, that's where the circuit breaker is. Even luckier, we needed it just below it. Even luckier-er, one of my friends is an electrician. So we-err- he got it installed in less time then it would have taken me to look it up on the internet. The lesson? Start at the outlet and work your way back to the breaker. No risk of shock that way. Thanks again Ben!

July 4, 1826

President John Adams and President Thomas Jefferson both died on this day. 50 years after they signed The Declaration of Independence.

We have a police officer on the block.(yay!)

While walking with Connor and Susan to get the mail we met up with a few of our neighbors and their kids (Great bunch, by the way). Well, low and behold, we meet another great neighbor. A very friendly, informative, and helpful police officer.

As a result of meeting her (the officer), Susan may be helping to coordinate a neighborhood watch. That's something our neighborhood has needed for a while as the some of the kids have become a bit unruly...

The Paulownia Tree

In searching for ways to help cool our home and prevent more $250/month power bills (all windows already have blinds, and are UV coated), I thought I'd see what mother nature could offer in the form of some quick shade without breaking the bank buying a already semi-mature tree ($150+ for a 15 ft tall oak? c'mon). I figured that I'd need something that can grow at least 40 feet when mature, and shade at least the sides of the house over the next couple of years... Have you seen the sunny side of our house? The Dark-gray shingles don't help much either.

It's not like my yard is without trees as I have some a few Texas persimmon trees (little dark green trees in the front), a few honey mesquites (seeds/seedlings are a pain in the arse foot), and the two required trees from D.R. Horton (of the oak variety), all of which will look beautiful in 20 years or so, but what am I to do in the mean time? So, I looked around the interwebs to see what types of fast growing shade trees are available. Central Texas Gardener was very helpful, as was the USDA's PLANTS site, and DavesGarden.com, Then I stumbled onto the Royal Empress Tree on fast-growing-trees.com and thought I had found the holy grail.

The Royal Empress Tree, also known as paulownia tomentosa grows 10 - 15 ft. per year, provides a wide, even shade canopy, is freeze tollerant, somewhat drought tolerant, loves full sun, and even produces a number of beautiful flowers in the spring (which Susan will love). That's when I started thinking, this must be too good to be true (which it was). Conveniently left out of the sales information was the fact that this particular species produces millions of tiny seeds that take to the air with the slightest of breezes, and that it is considered invasive by the USDA, as well as the states of Connecticut and Kentucky (other states too, but it really looks like they just copied what CT and KY wrote... lame...USDA did too, DOUBLE LAME). So, just as I was about to settle with Central Texas Gardener's (great show/site, btw) recommendation of a Monterey or Lacey Oak, I found out that there are other species of paulownia available. The most popular of which are the elongata, kawakamii, orienta, and fortunei.

Long story short, I found out that these other species are not invasive and don't spread seeds. They are grown for a number of lumber uses (surfboards, musical instruments, and furniture). They absorb a ton of carbon, and help clense soil of toxins (which means you have to be careful with herbicides and pesticides), and their leaves make great compost (more benefits here). So, come the end of July, I'll be planting two of them. One orienta for the side yard which will grow to about 50 ft, and one kawakamii for the back yard which will grow to about 35 ft. I'll post a few picts when they get here.