Tricia Jumonville, EcoBroker®, ASP®

Texas is a land of oddly consistent inconsistency. As the weatherman once said, during a weather report, "Drought. Flood. Drought. Flood. Drought. Flood. In other words, normal Texas weather."

Thus, rainwater collection is nothing new in Central Texas. (Or anywhere else, for that matter.) It's been practiced since the early days; even today, in some of our finer inner city neighborhoods, you'll see an old stone cistern, a remnant of the time when there was no city water and your water was obtained (if you didn't live right by the river) from wells and rainwater collection.

Today, rainwater collection is new! and improved! There are companies that provide rainwater collection systems (and we appear to be swimming in them), or you can build your own. The City of Austin offers a rebate for those installing approved rainwater collection systems in order to reduce the strain on the limited water supply during summers. Many city properties, businesses, and schools have demonstration systems for the public to see. (My favorite, just because of its location, is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Some horse properties use rainwater collection systems for their barns, for watering their horses - sure saves on the water bill!

Far from being something only strange people do, rainwater collection systems have gone mainstream. And that's good for our planet, good for our community, and good for us!

Today was back to school day for me - Independence Title, one of our local title companies, was putting on their Fab 15 days, two days of courses approved for MCE credit in Texas, and I needed just one tiny little credit hour before renewing my license, so off to school I went. The course I signed up for was one that I'd been very much wanting to take (I'd already been to the presentation for the consumer, but this one was for agents) - Wildlife Management Valuation.

Wildlife Management Valuation is an option for those who own land that already has its 1.d.1 agricultural valuation for tax purposes. Instead of raising crops, or cattle, you manage the land, using a plan carefully designed and approved by the county appraisal office, to manage your land for wildlife using choices from 7 different categories (one from column a, two from column b, and so on). The purpose is to preserve the land and the native Texas wildlife for future generations. While you CAN make money on the land doing this (leasing it for hunting, for example, as part of the harvesting of wildlife to keep the population in balance), it is not necessary to do so - you can do this for "recreation", as well, which includes the recreational use of yourself, your family, and your friends.

This option does not entirely rule out livestock, as long as it does not conflict with the preservation of the land for native livestock - this means that someone who wishes to buy a horse property in order to have a few horses of their own in addition to preserving the open space can take advantage of it.

The type of wildlife must be native - it could be anything from white-tail deer to bats to butterflies, as long as it is native, and it is being preserved for "human use", including recreation.

We currently have our 1.d.1 on our own acreage, and have on occasion contemplated going to WLM. It was interesting to learn of the many things we already do that qualify for this valuation, simply in the course of keeping the land in good shape for ourselves and our animals. The information was useful from that perspective, but even moreso when thinking of buyers that I have that want to live in the country, but don't want to have a "farm" - they want to enjoy the land for itself and to preserve it for the future. This tax valuation encourages such preservation and rewards those who undertake it for the future of us all.

Late winter/early spring is rodeo time in Texas. We go see the events, listen to live music, look at the animals being judged for the livestock show and horse show, eat way more than is good for us, and generally have a good old time.

This year, the dates for the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo held in Austin at the Travis County Expo Center are February 29 through March 15. Put that on your calendar - you may want to go more than once!

Top notch musical entertainment ranges from the likes of Willie Nelson and George Jones, in the main arena to local bands on the Niece Equipment Outdoor Stage (Ray Wylie Hubbard, the Walburg Boys, the East Side Blues Band, and many others). I especially enjoyed, when my kids were younger, sitting on the grass listening to music on the Outdoor Stage while the kids wandered the carnival midway within eyeshot.

The Livestock Show encompasses everything from Junior Livestock (4H and FFA kids bringing their projects for judging and sale for scholarship funds) to Open Livestock to Western Art.

Remembering that we're all about the food, there's also a Chuckwagon Cookoff.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what's available at the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo each year. If you live in Central Texas, or are just visiting, you really ought to drop by and check it out. It's worth the visit!

Another agent and I went out driving Friday afternoon to look at a property in eastern Williamson County, some acreage, that she may be listing. We found a beautiful property in need of a little TLC that would make a lovely horse property (remove some mesquite trees to highlight the fantastic view of the countryside and the lake, that kind of thing, nothing major), roamed around it, and headed back. However, while we were locating it (country properties don't always have addresses so you have to go by plats and landmarks, we noticed, off in the distance, what looked like a classic church steeple, and determined to go see it, figuring that all country roads lead to town sooner or later, and that the church was roughly in the direction we wanted to go. (I'm never lost; I may not know where exactly I am, but as long a I can get back to where I came from, I'm good!)

We followed country roads, contemplating a right or left wherever such a decision was necessary, and eventually came to the most beautiful, classic little church. As we approached it from a little distance, she said, "I'm going to bet Methodist or Lutheran. Maybe Presbyterian." I demurred on Presbyterian; something a little non-Presbyterian about it even from a distance.

Turned out it was the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, that clearly, from the small adjoining cemetery, had been there for quite some time. A perfect artist's rendering of a classic little country church.

After admiring the church and taking some photos, we drove on, trying to guess exactly where we were located in relation to where we wanted to be. Turned out we were much further west than we had thought, and found ourselves driving into Taylor, Texas, from the east. Shortly before we got there, however, we noticed another unusual building and I managed to take a photo of it. I'm not quite sure what the purpose of the building is. It's not large enough to be a single mausoleum, though there could be ashes inside, I suppose. Though it doesn't show in the photo, the inside is painted as beautifully as the outside and shows through the wrought iron gate even as far away as the road. It's sitting there, on the edge of a crop field, just waiting for passersby to notice it. Someone put a great deal of work into it; I'm going to have to find out its purpose.

Williamson County, and Central Texas in general, has lots of little jewels like this spread around the countryside relating to its past and its Hispanic/Scottish/Germanic/Czech/You Name It heritage. It's always a delight when I run across a new one.

The State of Texas has just released a new program that will make it easier for some folks to drive clean and green (in more sense than one).

Currently available in just a few participating counties (including Travis and Williamson in Central Texas), this program gives a voucher worth $3,000-$3,500 to anyone willing to turn in their older (ten years or older) vehicle that meets specific qualifications (registered in the participating county for the past 12 months, failed an emissions test, gasoline powered, and others).

The participant can take the voucher to a participating dealer and use it towards the purchase of a vehicle that is 3 years old or newer, fits certain federal qualifications for being "green", and is $25,000 or less.

The vehicle that they turned in will not go back on the road. It will be dismantled and the metal recycled.

Just one more way that Texas is pro-active in cleaning up our State, and one more good reason to live here. Remember, Don't Mess With Texas!