Rainy Summer

Last year we had a drought and this summer a flood! Seems like it's been raining everyday all summer.
Onion Creek is full of water ( and snakes, bugs and other things), but at least the gardens are doing great!

We'll hope for more hot and humid days for swimming before school starts.

Down trees :(

We came back from our vacation to a yard full of downed trees from last Sundays storm.
They said it was a storm with 70 mile an hour straight winds, but it looked like a small tornado came through Buda. Special Thanks go out to ALL our GREAT neighbors who looked out for us. They helped PEC get in and repair the fallen electrical lines, turned off the power and helped us clean up the mess. Here are the photos before we cleaned up. And Thanks to the City of Buda for providing free dumpsters for all the tree limbs! At least our yard has more light, we may even be able to grown some grass now.

Mela Fair!

If you've always wanted to travel to India but haven't been able to... Barsana Dham in Driftwood is the next best thing. We try and attend their annual Mela Indian Fair each spring for inspiration. They had elephant rides, children's activities, beautiful gardens and a brief introduction to Hinduism. This years event was also graced with the presence of their spiritual master Shree Kripaluji Maharaji. They also have year round yoga classes and peach picking in the summer......

Weiner Weekend

Buda survived another Weiner dog weekend. There was a great parade with weiners in costumes, bouncies, slides, funnel cakes and cotton candy for the kids.

With his eyes on the prize, Copper became the first 4 time winner and will retire after this year. Tyson came in second for the second time.
Maybe he'll win it next year!

Ninja Weiners!!!

This time it's the return of the teenage mutant ninja weiners! The Buda Lions Club is gearing up for their 10th annual event at Buda City Park the last weekend in April. Don't miss the pet parade at 9am!(and we always try and catch Elvis!)

Missing Main

We sure miss Modern on Main, Marla Coffee's mid century modern shop on South Main street in downtown Buda. She had fabulous furniture and jewelry and showcased local artists each month. Shannon Lowry and I were lucky enough to have a show there last year. We still love seeing the fresh paint job and modern landscaping but wish she was still here........
:(

Buda Grocery

Buda Grocery certainly smells funky but we love walking downtown and getting an ice cream and just sitting outside watching the world go by. It used to be Buda's main grocery store run by the Montague family and has great old wood floors and tin ceilings. We wish someone would renovate it and turn into a Health Food store. But we'd still like Mike to work there and always wave when we go by.

Coyote Junction

We loved our nature walks along Onion Creek with our dog Zula. It's a great place to let her off lease and run and swim in the creek. The kids named all the trails and places along the walk, playground ridge, bluebonnet trail and coyote junction. We named it that because we found bones and scat with fur. We knew there were coyotes but didn't think we were ever at risk during the day time. Last week we went out at 4:00 with the dog. She was staying with us and was coming back as we called. When she was gone a little longer than usual we called her, then heard these horrible sounds, like a bunch of wild kids screaming and realized that Zula must have found the coyotes. She was gone only a minute but it seemed much longer. J kept calling her from the top of the ridge, then finally saw Zula running toward him with 3 coyotes chasing after her. They are much larger than dogs, they looked like big German Sheperds with long furry tails. Zula ran to J and once the coyotes saw the humans, circled back into the brush. When we got home we realized Zula was pretty beat up, we took her to the South Austin Emergency hospital where they cleaned her up and gave her a couple staples in the neck and sent us home with pain killers and antibiotics.

We feel SO LUCKY and blessed that she made it out alive.

It just makes you realize how beautiful but dangerous these wild animals are and how close they live to all of us.

See this link: living with coyotes.

1898 Store

I love this funky old store in downtown Buda. It's only open on weekends but is full of great junk. You could spend a whole afternoon looking through relics from this old department store. Owned by artist Jeanette Chelf, and her husband Carl,a geologist who moved to Buda to start their own artist colony. The store is full of their artwork as well as boxes of great rocks to entertain the kids while you search for your treasures.

Clint's Cabin

Clint's Cabin was once on the grounds of the old Carrington Hotel on Main Street in downtown Buda. It is a small wooden cabin that served as a home for the servant of the Carrington Family. The cottage was probably built around the same time as the Hotel, and it was rumored that he was the only black allowed to live in the city limits.
The Cabin is gone now and will be relocated to the Old Stage Coach Property. It seems to have lost it's historical significance moved away from the Carrington House but at least it will be preserved.
This cool sign and funky addition were almost covered up with the construction of the new buildings but you can see them in the crack between Raby Roots and the Tea Room.

Weather Poem

Wonderful snowflakes
Echoing the exaltation of their bright and vibrant snow
A hummingbird is darting
Trees are wearing scarlet gowns and golden crowns and bits of them are falling
Hearing
Enchanted things like
Rivers and streams

Live Oak, Buda Elementary Campus
by Matilda,age 7 with lots if inspiration from (A Year in Poems and Quilts by Anna Grossnickle Hines)

Onion creek

With all that rain last week, Onion creek now has water flowing in it which makes great swimming for some of us.

Funky Buda

I loved what this blog did for the school board issue by creating a dialogue of ideas for people to voice their opinions about the decision to either relocation or renovate Buda Elementary school.

Based on the lower campus being in the flood plain and new Fema building laws the district decided not to expand on the lower campus. Instead the school board proposed a bond to renovate both campuses.
The community passed the $3.6 million dollar Bond in November.

We'll look forward to seeing how they can improve this great school in downtown Buda.

Like "Keeping Austin Weird", I still like the idea of "Keeping Buda Funky" by supporting local businesses and appreciating the history of this sweet little town before it disappears.
I'd like to use this blog to share photos of the people and places that make Buda funky.

Write letters or email!!!

If you are against the renovation please let the school board know NOW!!!! We only have until August 1st before their vote. The bond in November will pass because it is a no tax increase bond and we do need the bond for 2 new elementary schools on the east side.

Speak now or forever hold your peace, once it's done it's done. it will never be a school again.

Send your emails and letters to the School Board in care of
Julie Crimmins (crimminsj@hayscisd.net) she will send it on to Dr. Kirk London and the school board members and make it a part of public records.

We can do it if we all speak out!

Keep Buda Funky!!!!

Keep Buda Funky

"As Henry Altmiller said at the school board meeting, Buda Elementary School has always been funky. Well sometimes funky means good!"

Keep Buda Funky!!!

This blog is to voice public opinions about the proposed $10 million dollar renovation of Buda Elementary School from a uniquely split upper historical campus level (3rd through 5th grade) and a lower campus level (Pre-K through 2nd) to build an all-new two story building into the existing lower campus.

This would modernize the lower campus to be much more like other new elementary schools in Buda and would consolidate all the grade levels into one space. This new building would increase capacity by only 100 students and is located in a flood plain.

Though Buda Elementary needs renovations, the school board seems to be ignoring the least costly proposal for a $ 3 million dollar plan for upgrading both campus's with electrical, plumbing and roofing and cafeteria upgrades. And leaving the split campus's in place.

Most parents and teachers like the separation of the younger grades from the older ones . This school has been a historical institution in the City of Buda for over 80 years. Though our community is growing the need for a larger elementary in this neighborhood is not needed.

There is a growing census that big schools don't work and there is a new movement to make schools smaller again.

The closure of the Historical upper campus will become a ghost town to an already struggling downtown community.

What keeps the spirit of Buda Elementary alive is the use of these buildings as a working school with all of it's history to teach the future children of Buda a little about it's past.