John Rich

Lots of homes need pressure washing.  They develop a "bathtub ring" around the bottom where rain splashes onto the sides.  Homeowner Associations send nasty-grams to residents to keep 'em clean.  I see people just driving around neighborhoods, and when they see a place that needs their services, they stop and chat with the homeowner to try and strike a deal.  Simple, easy.

I can't tell for sure from your screen print, but you may not have the latest 8.1 update - it gives you a hidden bar across the tops of the full-screen (what used to be called Metro) apps with an "X" in the upper right hand corner.  Take your mouse to the top of the window and it should appear.

Thanks for that tip!  I have a ribbon appear with the "x" when the viewer first opens, but then it disappears about two seconds later.  And I couldn't figure out how to get it back.  Your tip of moving the cursor up there makes it re-appear.  That's much better!  How the heck are new Windows 8 users supposed to know that trick though?

With regards to adding a new text document, yep it's gone (who knows why they decide these things), but you can add things to the New... menu if you want, by editing the registry (ugh):  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140333

Oh man, I hate messing with the registry.  It seems like every time I do that, something gets seriously screwed up.  And even though I take a registry backup, then the registry restore will fail for some reason and I'm stuck with a serious problem.  I try to avoid doing anything with the registry at just about any cost... 

Yep, don't like the touch screen stuff.  For one thing, it just leaves greasy smudges all over your screen, and then you have to clean it all the time.  Why wave my hands all around, when I can just wiggle a mouse a few fractions of an inch. 

How about the new document viewers?  For example, click a pdf file an the file viewer opens.  Lo and behold, there is no longer that "x" in the upper right corner that we've always used to exit the document.  So how in the heck do you get this thing off your screen now?  You have to go google the internet to find out that Alt-F4 is how you exit.  Excuse me?  What idiot took away the friggin "x"?

Attached: pdf file display of an IRS form.  Yep, that's all the viewer gives you?  See any control buttons anywhere?  You get a plus and minus sign, and a scroll bar - that's it! How to exit when ready?  Nope, no clue given.  Need to do anything else?  Tough noogies! 

Why is this photo of interest to anyone?

Just bought a new computer, with Windows 8 operating system.

So tell me what you hate about Windows 8!

Gee, where to start...

How about this one: If you want to create a new text file, you used to be able to right click on a folder, in the pop-up menu click "new", and in the next pop-up menu click your desired file type and enter the name.  But no more!  Microsoft, in all their wisdom has decided that this was too easy.  You get only one "new" option now: "Folder".  If you want to create anything other than another folder, well, tough noogies.

Now you have to click to highlight a folder, then go to up to the taskbar "ribbon" at the top, click "home" and "new item".  Yeah, that's it, a text file is now a "new item". 

What idiot thought up this change?

Your turn.  Go.

I was just curious about some of you folks, and what might be a guilty pleasure like a movie or a song that you probably shouldn't like, but do.

There's no reason to feel guilty about liking something.  Enjoy it.  Who cares what other people think of what you like.  It's none of their business.  Like what you like, and don't let peer pressure make you believe you shouldn't.  Don't be guilty, be happy.

I ran across this unusual plant while hiking in San Felipe State Park along the Brazos River, west of Houston.  It's a small bushy tree with lots of small bulbs on the tips of branches, and the bulbs are covered with soft spikes and lots of orange pollen dust.  It has my usual plant expert friends stumped.  The orange pollen was like the orange cheese powder in the bottom of a bag of Cheetos snacks.  Does anyone have any idea what it is?  Two photos attached.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+growler%3F

TMTA

Speed limit should be lowered for environmental reasons. 

How do you figure that?

Which burns more fuel and emits more carbon:

1) A 30-minute commute at 50 mph, or;

2) A 60-minute commute at 25 mph.

I'd rather see it remain a cattle pasture...

I second that motion.  I like having a place where you can still see longhorns grazing on a normal drive through town.

What's a "growler"?

A place that sells angry guard dogs?

Get out of the middle of the road before you're run over!

Thanks for carrying this research forward! Your research seems to match my previous intuition of the route of that missing segment of rail line.

Very cool. Does this connect to the little spur of Terry Hershey that runs up to I-10.

Yes it does! It now continues under I-10 and runs up to the dike, where it turns west and heads toward the Addicks Park & Ride lot.

There is a new hike & bike trail along the Addicks Reservoir dike between Highway 6 and Eldridge. This is connected with the greenbelt trail that follows alongside Buffalo Bayou.

And if you've ever wondered where and how the water from the reservoir is released into Buffalo Bayou, there are photos for this included.

Photo album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/JohnRich3rd/AddicksHikeBikeTrail?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Click the link, then click "slideshow". If the automatic scrolling changes the images too fast, click the pause button at the bottom ("||"), and then scroll manually using the arrow buttons, or the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Enjoy!

really enjoyed the photos John. Guess this will all be neighborhoods, big box stores , chain restaurants, and strip malls soon?

I'm sure it will take a few years for all this to come true, but no doubt it will, as developers take advantage of the new super-highway surrounded by "empty" land. Glad you enjoyed the photo album.

Okay X-man, I'll catalog you in my head as someone who really isn't interested in any kind of discussion.

2. Will the corridor still be 400 feet wide if Harris County builds it (rather than TxDOT)?

I've hiked the stretch under construction from I-10 in Katy north to Hwy 290, and I can tell you for sure that it is more like 400 YARDS wide. It cuts a very wide swath through the countryside. The roadway itself is elevated with fill dirt to get above the prairie flooding, then you have shoulders on both sides, and then you have a wide drainage ditch beyond the shoulders, and finally another shoulder outside the drainage, before you get to the new pasture fencing. Or you can just drive the already-completed stretch from I-10 going south to Sugarland, and look at how wide that is.

Highway 99 - Katy Prairie

by John Rich

These photos have been taken during my hikes along the new section of Highway 99 (Grand Parkway) which is under construction from Interstate-10 north to Highway 290. The general theme is the contrast between human construction and the natural beauty of the Katy Prairie. During this spring season, wildflowers were in profusion, and quite beautiful. Come see the prairie beauty, before it's gone...

https://picasaweb.go...5JYK&feat=email

The freeway looks better.

"Better" is a relative term, in comparison to something else. So you think the freeway looks better than what? Just say what you mean straight out, and don't be coy.

Highway 99 - Katy Prairie

The photos in this album, below, have been taken during my hikes along the new section of Highway 99 (Grand Parkway) which is under construction from Interstate-10, going north to Highway 290. The general theme is the contrast between human construction and the natural beauty of the Katy Prairie. During this spring season, wildflowers were in profusion, and quite beautiful. Come see the prairie beauty now, before it's gone...

You can view the album, containing 116 photos, here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=JohnRich3rd&target=ALBUM&id=5740989815108729025&authkey=Gv1sRgCP6anLSW2bP6Cg&invite=CN_25JYK&feat=email

Personally, I stay away from the Brazos, too many alligators.

I've canoed the Brazos for about 93 miles from Navasota down past I-10 to Wallis. I've never seen a single gator, nor tracks, despite all the rumors. I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the river down nearer the coastline, but once you're north of Sugarland - no gators. There ARE giant toothy gar in there though, as well as wild pigs with large tusks, bobcats, and zombie beavers.

For gators, the place to go is east to the Trinity River, Lake Charlotte and Lake Anahuac area. Full of 'em!

This is an interesting subject, one I've enjoyed learning more about, today. Thank you for sharing it.

The reading I've done on San Felipe & Sealy has been enlightening. Apparently, everyone moved to the railroad town, Sealy, after San Felipe refused to grant a major railroad right of way through it's land, they only offered a small piece of land.

My past knowledge of San Felipe have been in relation to its link to Harrisburg, Texas history.

Railroads are so much a part of Texas history.

Yes, San Felipe was the beginning of Texas, where Stephen Austin handed out Mexican land grants to "the original 300" settlers. And before the railroads spread their web across the countryside, the steamboats and rivers were the modern day equivalent of 18-wheeler trucks and super-highways, transporting goods and people from and to the coast and the interior. There were 12 steamboats sunk on the Brazos River alone, plying their trade on its waters.

Here's a book review I've written for the Houston Canoe Club on this steamboat period of Houston history:

"Sandbars and Sternwheelers"

It seems to be a big unofficial secret. It's bordered by private property on both sides, so you can't get to it without landowner permission, and driving across pasture land. There's a kayak play park a half-mile upstream where kayakers play in the big whitewater flowing over the house-sized rocks when the river level is high. But that's around a bend and you can't see the dam and lock from there. I'm not even sure the people that go there know what lies just downstream. So the only way to see it is by boat. And with the shallow water in many spots, even motorboats don't have ready access. There is no good put-in spot for a canoe or kayak nearby upstream, so you can't really start there and make your way downstream to visit as you go by. That leaves the only way to get there as the way I did it - with a tough upstream paddle, then turning around and coming back. I'm not even sure I would want to do it again, certainly not on a windy day. So the lack of easy access helps keep this an unknown site. The only good thing is that in Texas law, the rivers belong to the state, so they are public property, and that includes the land between the riverbanks up to an average high-water mark (or something like that). Anyway, that means you can beach your boat on sandbars, and you're legal, not trespassing. That allows exploration of such things, without worry about arrest.

NenaE: By gosh, that reference you provided is beautiful! The photos labeled "lock and dam #1" are it! They match exactly with my own photos. The ones called "#8" are almost identical, but must be a different one further upstream, as the lock is on the oppostie riverbank. Those photos show how those steel beams held up a wall of steel plate to hold back the river. They show how the recesses in the inside of the lock walls held the swinging doors which closed off the ends of the lock. Those photos answer a lot of questions! THANK YOU! Very darned cool.

I'm going to add copies of two of those photos to the Facebook album previously mentioned.

Another day canoe trip on the Brazos River. I've canoed in the Houston area for several years, but had never heard of this dam & lock structure before, until I read the book "Sandbars and Sternwheelers". That made me curious, so I went looking for it! This trip started at the Highway 105 bridge over the Brazos, just west of Navasota, Texas. I paddled upstream 3½ miles to locate an old dam and lock built in 1910. The purpose of this large and impressive structure was to raise the water level over Hidalgo Falls, which is a rocky stretch of river that was a barrier to steamboat traffic. The lock would then lift the boats from the lower water level below the dam and falls, to the higher water level behind the dam. The raised water level behind the dam allowed the boats to pass over the rocky shoals without ripping open their hulls.

The odd thing about this is that steamboat trade on the Brazos had already almost completely died out at that time, having been replaced with railroads. Previously, paddle-wheel steamboats were an important means of bringing goods from the port of Galveston into the frontier, and for shipping out cotton, sugar, lumber, hides and other products from the plantations back to Galveston.

Photos:

1) Map of the area, with the location of the falls and the dam & lock shown.

2) The put-in location.

3) High dirt banks with layers of stratified color.

4) Concrete ahead! I think I've found the dam and lock! The dam still exists on the left, and the lock is on the right. The center of the dam is missing, with some debris still in the river. When this operation was shut down, maybe they dynamited the center to restore natural flow, or maybe mother nature did it on her own over time.

Well, it seems I've used up all my photo space here. So if you want to see the remainder of the photos, go to this Facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1934353928440.2092457.1530082411&l=585ada3a80&type=1

This is supposed to be a public album, so you shouldn't need to open an account to view it. It's a 32-photo slideshow, with captions to explain what you're seeing.

Feel free to ask questions or comment.