30+ years ago we bought this 7+ acres on a road that was little traveled and had mostly large ranches (150+ acres) and other small parcels 10-50 acre tracts. This tract was a fairly rare beast being under 10 acres. So to say it was quiet was an understatement but it was exactly what we wanted. Peace and quiet.
We honestly thought that we'd live out our lives on this piece of property. Our reasoning being that our back fence line was Army Corp of Engineers land. This Corp of Engineers Land contains part of the North San Gabriel River which runs into the Georgetown Lake. To our East was a family property that would remain in that family because so many of them were living on it and the property to our West was a very funny shaped piece of property. It also had only one place to build on it and that would put them directly behind another house. Most people that move out to the country do so for the solitude and privacy. It also had another interesting fact attached to it...the back 1/3 of it was under the "flowage easement" restrictions that the Army Corp of Engineers had put on it. The rules stated that you could not build anything permanent on such property...reason being that they (the Corp) have a right to stop discharging water whenever they want. And if they did the water could back up to certain elevations. The property to our West had those elevations. And we've actually seen the water up to and above those elevations about 3 times since we've lived here. Georgetown Lake was built as a flood control lake originally but now it's a water source for communities downstream. So no house, no road, no water or electric line...nothing...nada...zilch could be built below those elevations. So even though someone could build at the front of the property, they could never build in the back and we could live with a house up in the front...but not one in the back. We were safe....forever...or so we thought.
Some where about 6 years ago....The Army Corp of Engineers revised their restrictions unbeknown to us. This was about the same time that Lake Georgetown became a water source for other communities...we gave it little thought but should have paid more attention. So someone bought the property to our West and decided to build not just one but 2 houses on a very narrow 5 acres. The first house is in the front of the property but the second house is back here right next to us. Having lived relatively privately for the last 23 years it is very hard to get used to any noise let alone building noises or the sound of peoples voices. But alas...that is where we stand. There are just some things that you can live with and some you can't. It's hard for people who live in the city to understand what we are talking about but once you live with the privacy that we have you would understand.
So a little over a year ago Bob and I decided to start looking for another property to buy and build on.
We looked at a LOT of properties and liked a few of them, some more than others but for most of them there was just something missing...something that would tell us....This is the place. In March we found our place to land. And so begins this blog...as a way of documenting the new building process and also an easy way to keep family and friends updated on what is going on.
