It is Sunday afternoon as I write this. I had a wonderful time at church this morning. I really enjoy my Sunday School teacher which is saying a lot. Having completed half the required classes for a Master of Divinity degree, I often get bored as I know more than most lay teachers, but this guy does an excellent job. I also like the simple country ways of the preacher. His simple sermons are to the point and perfect for this country community.
In San Antonio I attended a rather large city church. The membership population of the church is a lot larger than the entire population of Edward’s County, the home of AOCCCI. The church I now attend in Rocksprings is your basic country church but it is growing and doing a lot of good things in the community. God is really using it. Another unique feature of this church, which you will never find in a large city church, is that chickens live on the property. Often one can see the rooster and chickens roosting in a tree behind the parsonage. Today I saw a mother hen with half a dozen baby chicks following her. All I can say is they were sooooo cute.
Edwards County is basically a dry county and water is precious here, so all efforts to conserve water must be employed. Before I moved here I attended a rain water catchment seminar where each participant was sent home with a rain barrel. I positioned my rain barrel in a spot where rain water naturally falls off the roof. It has filled up several times since I moved here, but is currently running on empty. I also positioned buckets in spots where rain water naturally falls off the roof. All this water has gone to watering the garden. Not only does this save water but it also saves electricity. The only other source of water on the property is from the well. It takes electricity to run the well pump that pulls the precious water out of the ground. The Edwards Aquifer is large, covering hundreds of miles, but San Antonio (one of the largest cities in the country) also draws its water from the same aquifer, so conservation is a must. Capturing rain water just makes a lot of practical since.
In case you do not know, an AC produces a lot of distilled water, which most is just wasted. I had seen the white plumber’s pipe lying on the ground. I had no idea why it was there. E
arlier this month I spoke to an HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) expert. About a week later I walked by the white pipe. The air conditioner was running and I noticed the ground was all wet where the pipe ended. Then it occurred to me, that pipe was draining the excess water the AC was producing. My eventual goal is to feed that pipe into a rain water barrel but until then I have lifted the pipe so the water can flow into a metal watering pan. My hope is the deer find the water soon and start visiting the house. It is pretty dry outside since it has not rained in awhile and I know the deer are thirsty.
This has been a very busy week for me. No house is perfect and shortly after getting the key I discovered one big problem. The previous owner’s dog had used two rooms in the house as his toilet. I shampooed all the carpets in the house but the family room and one of the spare bedrooms was not salvageable. The stench was just unbearable. I purchased new flooring for the rooms months ago but not until this week were they installed.
God has been good in leading me to several excellent handymen. In July a handyman replaced all the electrical sockets in th
e living room (they all had been painted), ceiling fans installed in the two small bedrooms, and a small plumbing job. Another handyman installed some solar shades for me in the living room. The shades allow me to look out onto this beautiful land but block out the harsh sun. After three weeks in Florida, the first handyman returned and on Tuesday he called to see if he could come out and start on the floor. It took three days of hard work but now the pee soaked carpet is gone and family room (future community room) and the small bedroom (which I plan to rent out to someone) have a beautiful new floor. I am so happy. It won’t be long now and this place will start looking like I envisioned it back in January.
In San Antonio I attended a rather large city church. The membership population of the church is a lot larger than the entire population of Edward’s County, the home of AOCCCI. The church I now attend in Rocksprings is your basic country church but it is growing and doing a lot of good things in the community. God is really using it. Another unique feature of this church, which you will never find in a large city church, is that chickens live on the property. Often one can see the rooster and chickens roosting in a tree behind the parsonage. Today I saw a mother hen with half a dozen baby chicks following her. All I can say is they were sooooo cute.
Edwards County is basically a dry county and water is precious here, so all efforts to conserve water must be employed. Before I moved here I attended a rain water catchment seminar where each participant was sent home with a rain barrel. I positioned my rain barrel in a spot where rain water naturally falls off the roof. It has filled up several times since I moved here, but is currently running on empty. I also positioned buckets in spots where rain water naturally falls off the roof. All this water has gone to watering the garden. Not only does this save water but it also saves electricity. The only other source of water on the property is from the well. It takes electricity to run the well pump that pulls the precious water out of the ground. The Edwards Aquifer is large, covering hundreds of miles, but San Antonio (one of the largest cities in the country) also draws its water from the same aquifer, so conservation is a must. Capturing rain water just makes a lot of practical since.
In case you do not know, an AC produces a lot of distilled water, which most is just wasted. I had seen the white plumber’s pipe lying on the ground. I had no idea why it was there. E
arlier this month I spoke to an HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) expert. About a week later I walked by the white pipe. The air conditioner was running and I noticed the ground was all wet where the pipe ended. Then it occurred to me, that pipe was draining the excess water the AC was producing. My eventual goal is to feed that pipe into a rain water barrel but until then I have lifted the pipe so the water can flow into a metal watering pan. My hope is the deer find the water soon and start visiting the house. It is pretty dry outside since it has not rained in awhile and I know the deer are thirsty.This has been a very busy week for me. No house is perfect and shortly after getting the key I discovered one big problem. The previous owner’s dog had used two rooms in the house as his toilet. I shampooed all the carpets in the house but the family room and one of the spare bedrooms was not salvageable. The stench was just unbearable. I purchased new flooring for the rooms months ago but not until this week were they installed.
God has been good in leading me to several excellent handymen. In July a handyman replaced all the electrical sockets in th
e living room (they all had been painted), ceiling fans installed in the two small bedrooms, and a small plumbing job. Another handyman installed some solar shades for me in the living room. The shades allow me to look out onto this beautiful land but block out the harsh sun. After three weeks in Florida, the first handyman returned and on Tuesday he called to see if he could come out and start on the floor. It took three days of hard work but now the pee soaked carpet is gone and family room (future community room) and the small bedroom (which I plan to rent out to someone) have a beautiful new floor. I am so happy. It won’t be long now and this place will start looking like I envisioned it back in January. 
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