We stopped in Kingsland Sunday morning for breakfast at Sweet Things. It was packed with lake people and townies. We took our doughnuts and sausage tortillas to go! Drove about 10 minutes to the "Slab." Off Hwy 1431, on Hwy 3404, there's a a low water crossing over the Llano River. The river here is more like puddles in some spots, small waterfalls and deep pools, in others. The base of the river here is mostly pink and red slab marble. In the early morning, it's cool and quiet...a perfect spot for breakfast and a hike. In a couple of hours families and groups of young people will show up with coolers and lawn chairs to stake out their spots. Not a safe place to be when the river is running after a rain, but great for rock collecting and just cooling off. Our only complaint is that people rely on others to pick up their beer cans and trash, leaving piles of refuse on the outcroppings that eventually blow into the water, traveling downstream, polluting as it goes.

There's very little shade, and the river abuts private property, so folks need to stay along the river bed and bring their own "shade" with them. The only parking is along the hwy, off the right-of-way, and a few spots that used to be the entrance to the river from the hwy. That's now blocked off thanks to too many 4-wheelers.

The pools are deceivingly deep where the water cuts thru the marble. The narrow dark green area was up to my ribs.

There's enough shallow water running to keep you cool, and lots of deep pools below the falls for the more adventurous.

Some of the rock formations.... We're curious about the black rock. Looks like tire tracks!

Nice! I'm glad they did something about the four-wheelers. I've seen the damage to the environment those cause in the hands of people that don't care!

The trash is awful, tho. Beer cans, diapers, sooo many cigarette butts, wrappers,etc. We get a lot of floating beer cans, watermelon rinds, and junk on Lake LBJ. We're used to that, but in such a small area to see so much trash... I don't remember seeing a receptacle anywhere either. Of course, the county probably would rather you not go there anyway....

The counties can't legally keep the public away from waterways that cross a public road. Trash...that's another kind of environmental damage...and they are breaking the law. Along the Guadalupe, residents always complain about trash from the tubers. I always wondered...would it hurt them to carry a small bag for trash? I always keep plastic bags and an auto trash container in the car. I never throw trash out away from home...unless there's a trashcan somewhere.

We've always picked up our own litter, but my SIL has made me more "socially aware" of our surroundings. We were at the ball park this spring, and the team had dropped empty bags all around. I was picking up the ones I could identify as "our team's." I picked up a bag that had been dropped by the other team, and absent mindedly dropped it saying, "Not ours.'' SIL looked stricken....DD picked it up quickly. Without a word, it was my "ah ha" moment. Such a small insignificant piece of trash....but I chose not to be responsible for it. I guess I just assumed the other team's parents (or grandparents) would pick up after their kids. I don't really know, but it sure wouldn't have hurt me to add that bit of trash to my pile.

Now, as for lake trash....oh, don't get me started. I can't believe how many people just toss their beer cans over the side of the boat....or sit on the sand bar with a case and then leave the empties...in the box...and get back in the boat. And the little wine bottles they toss.. float, so they're a danger to boats and skiers. We'll have watermelon rind floating under our dock, along with beer cans on Sunday mornings...ug..

When I was just a very small child, I remember my dad telling me not to throw trash out the window of the car. Well, one time I threw out a gum wrapper. He pulled over to the side of the highway and handed me a bag and told me to fill it up with trash. That was the fifties and there wasn't as much trash around as there is now.

We had to get back onto the highway and pull over a few more times for me to fill the bag. I NEVER threw anything out again in my life.

Later on in my life, we were all together in the car when my oldest son soiled his diaper. That was a cloth diaper btw! My father drove us around until we found a dumpster where I threw that stinky thing away! I often remember that when I see someone's disposable diaper laying in a parking lot sometimes it is near a waste container! The thought occurs to me, that the offender should be made to pick up trash and fill a bag! That would break them from their bad habit of tossing offending diapers where they just happen to be changed.

Hi Bubbles! Haven't seen you in a while, I have been busy!

Charlene

Gee Charlene, that was one powerful lesson! I had to run to Wal Mart yesterday to get some spray paint. There was a couple and kids in the car parked next to me eating. When I came out 10 minutes later, they had left the big McDonald's bag of their trash behind my right front tire. I guess that's so I could smash it for them???? Didn't know what I ran over till I'd backed out. ....And no, I didn't block the row to get out and pick it up...but I did think about it at first.

We've been busy here too. Trying to keep the yard from frying after having such a great July of rain.... Kind of spoiled me. This afternoon, I'll be moving some colocasias that are frying in the afternoon sun. They had been fine up until this past weekend. Amazing what a little rain will do...and the lack of it.

Stay cool..... Hope to see you at another swap this fall.

Charlene, that was a great lesson! More people should do that! Reminds me of how they use the prisoners sometimes...or people will be granted probation on condition of doing things like that. I keep hoping some chance of rain will pop up in the forecast...not happening so far. But at least we got some cloud cover today. I got chiggar bites last weekend...at least now the itching is starting to get better.

I just flew back from D.C. yesterday. The flight attendant asked us to clean up our trash. pull down the window blinds and turn off the lights and air to keep the plane cool. Maybe that is a step in teaching people to be more responsible.

Do what they tell you. Don't want them to freak out like that JetBlue guy did! Really, I feel for people with stressful jobs dealing with the public.

When I sponsored cheerleaders, the drill team, or any other school group, no one left the bus at the of the trip by school rules until all trash was picked up and in the big bag. It's amazing how fast kids can collect trash at 2 a.m. The bus driver washed out the floor for spilled drinks, but the kids picked up their trash.

Yikes! It was 104 yesterday at the lake... We stayed in all afternoon, after mowing and trimming in the morning. Got home at 5:30 to see our yard here looking a little crunchy. We were only gone a couple of days, and had watered before we left. The back looked a little better because of the oaks shading everything. It's too stinkin' hot to spread the mulch I have. Where's fall??? When's it coming?

Hey...it's raining...and hard! A nice summer rain, complete with thunder in the distance. I was so happy, I took an umbrella and walked around the house to see if the new gutters were working.... Just about over now... Will be nice not to have to water tomorrow.
Going back outside to feed the fish and probably get eaten up by mosquitoes!

I really want rain, but I wouldn't want your high temps that go with it. It gets hot here, but I don't think we've gotten as high as triple-digits anytime recently. S.A. has had some lately, so I do feel it when we go into town, like we did today.

We pretty much stay inside when it's so hot. Ran errands this morning and just got back. DH will nap for an hour, I'll play on the computer...then we're going to look at other people's windows!!! We need new windows, and the last guy to come out gave us a list of all the homes they had done work on in our area. We'll probably get reported to the police for driving slowly around and stopping....thinking we're casing houses to burglarize.
Might rain again this afternoon, but still going to hit over a 100 before it happens...if it does.