My gosh: 4 teens arrested, more charges to come?

It was a lead story on my TV station tonight, and on a couple of my competitors too, and it's not the kind of news we want to be known for. Here's a link to FOX 4's 6pm video story and a separate link to a text story. It's not pretty.

Four teens, three from Flower Mound and one from Lantana, have been arrested for what FMPD says was a spree of some 30 related crimes over the past two months, including burglaries of homes and cars, and arson and weapons violations. A police spokesman told us that four other teens are under investigation, and that those cases will be referred to the district attorney.

Police say that most of the stolen loot has been recovered, and that they don't believe the teens were trying to fence it. So what turned our Flower Mound neighbors into criminals (according to police)? Summer boredom, getting kicks?

Hey Star-Telegram! We're up here!

Will someone tell the sports editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Flower Mound has two pretty-good high school football teams, both of which were worthy of mention in their season preview sections this morning? The Star-T this morning did capsules on all the local 5A schools, but never mentioned Flower Mound HS or Marcus?

The Star-T is a great paper, better than the DMN these days in my view, but they don't cover Flower Mound sports very well. I think it's because we're outside Tarrant County, and we're in a district with teams that are not anywhere close to the Star-T's circulation reach. So they just ignore us for sports, and that's a shame. Bet they put the FM accused teen crooks (below post) in their paper tomorrow.

Update 9/2: I e-mailed my concern to the Star-T sports editors. The reply said there are very few subscribers in Flower Mound, so they chose not to include our two high schools in their preview section. But they promise to cover the Jags and the Marauders this season on the field. We'll see.

More on the planned Veterans Memorial

Just a reminder the folks at Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church are spearheading a drive to raise money for a Flower Mound Veterans Memorial, just off Dixon Lane, 1/2 block north of Marcus High School.

Click to download a new pamphlet (in PDF format) with lots more details and ways to get involved.

An Update on the Flower Mound News Project, and a big question for some of you

We're up to a half-dozen volunteers -- people who've e-mailed me to say their interested in helping us start the Flower Mound News Project (More below in this column.) So far I've gotten very supportive e-mails from several others in our community, including some of our top leaders.

One question has come up a couple of times, and it bears discussion here.

If anyone can be a reporter on the site, how can we know someone isn't posting news that isn't true?

There are several sites that are already functioning with a community-journalism model, and most have in place a system where anyone can post a story, but that story doesn't appear on the site until it's been approved by one of the site's volunteer editors. If the news being posted was about a community event, or something non-controversial, then the editor would likely need only check for spelling and grammar. If the news being posted was more serious or more controversial, then the editor would need to do some fact-checking, or perhaps take a closer look to make sure the story was journalistically sound, and fair and balanced in tone and perspective. It's not a perfect system, but it does weed out most of the crackpot posts we're likely to see. We may get people trying to post fake stories on the site, but we'll build a system of checks and balances to make sure our viewers never see those fakes.

The Flower Mound News Project: Day 1 update

Reference Your News, Your Way just below.

Less than 24 hours since I first published the concept of the Flower Mound News Project, and I'm thrilled to say three people have contacted me to express their interest.

Why would a community-built and -managed hyper-local news website be so useful? Here's one example:

Two and a half weeks ago, a young girl told her mom a strange man tried to kidnap her on a Flower Mound neighborhood street. Notwithstanding the FMPD's dropped ball on getting the word out to the mainstream local media (read my recent blog post and all the subsequent comments), there is still going to be a time issue with getting the word spread to the media, and then to the people who need to hear it most -- our neighbors in Flower Mound.

I'll be thrilled if/when the Town builds an urgent e-mail notification system, but I still think we, the community, can do better. And that's one of the features we should build into the Flower Mound News Project. If the police get the word out, great -- we'll hear about it. But even quicker, a neighbor can get on the site, and publish an article about what happened. We could tie our site to an independent breaking-news alert system. Think how fast the word could spread when time is of the essence.

Take a look! Be a part of something great for our Town! Let me know if you're interested.

Did Michaels close at Grapevine Mills?

Saw their big-box store on FM2499 shuttered up today. The company has always seemed to be up and down in their fiscal fortunes. Anybody with news?

A great summer day, but not much rain

I love rainy summer days, but we don't get many of them around here, particularly in a drought. But when they come, they're always welcome at my house.

Today's rainfall total, however, was not impressive. Just 0.37", as the only rain we got was pretty light. At least it keep the temperatures down.

Is the new Kroger open?

Haven't stepped on the property yet, and I haven't seen any ads, but when we drove by the new Kroger (3040/Morriss) the other day, it sure looked open.

Is it open, and has anyone gone in? Thoughts, opinions, reviews?

One thing's sure to happen: Between the new Kroger, and the nearby Tom Thumb/Albertsons duo a mile away, there's sure to be a lot of attention on prices. I would expect you'll see a lot more items on sale, and for lower prices. At least for a little while. It's a good time to be a grocery shopper in southern Flower Mound.

It's Time: Your News, Your Way

A few months ago, I blogged a post titled "What this blog wants to be when it grows up". I wrote then that if I didn't have a full-time job, I'd be starting a new news website that lets Flower Mounders produce their own news.

Well, I still have the full-time job, but that doesn't mean we (not me, but we) can't start a great local news website that's all about Flower Mound. In fact, now's the time. Flower Mound needs a 24/7, instant, hyper-local news source. Flower Mound residents need an interactive outlet to share their local news, happenings, opinions, ideas, photographs, whatever. Flower Mounders are smart enough and engaged enough to produce this material themselves. I can help.

Introducing ... the Flower Mound News Project! Follow the link to learn all the details, but the idea is that we (there's that word again) can make our own news and can manage our own news and community portal site. The tools are available to create a terrific ground-breaking project that will be the envy of our North Texas neighbors. Here's a chance to set Flower Mound apart, in yet another way.

I'm looking for volunteers to help me start this project. This won't take up much of your time, unless you want it too. What kind of volunteers would help most? Click the link -- learn more. Let me know if you're interested. We'll set up a get-together in a couple of weeks and start from there.

By the way, FlowerMoundRoad isn't going anywhere. This new project is something for all of us to build together.

How Flower Mounders get the Mapsco shaft

Because we have to buy both the Dallas and Fort Worth books of the area's most popular mapguides just to get across town.

Here's what's really screwy. My house is in Fort Worth Mapsco 13D, but just barely. You cannot get onto my small street without coming in from the Dallas Mapsco, page 649W. So if you want to get to my house using a Mapsco, you're going to need a Dallas book to get into the neighborhood, and then a Fort Worth book to find my street. Why can't they cross-over a couple of these pages? I guess they have to draw the line splitting Dallas and Fort Worth somewhere, and I guess it's right through the street where I live.

Yeah, I know you can avoid the whole two-book mess by buying the Denton/Grayson Mapsco, but that's a third book.

Surprise - it's Baris - 80 miles west of Flower Mound

Sunday afternoon we were hopping along Hwy 180 on our way to Possum Kingdom Lake when all of a sudden we saw the familiar Bari's logo on a sign alongside the road. Bari's? Our Bari's? Way the heck out here Bari's?



Turns out we were looking for somewhere to eat, and hey we like Bari's in Flower Mound, and it looked like the only decent place in town to eat. So we went in. Food was great. Service was terrific.

So how did Bari's get all the way out here. I met the woman who was running the store. She says a nephew of the owner of the original Bari's in Flower Mound opened this restaurant where he wanted to live. There are apparently 8 or 9 other Bari's around the state - in places like Austin and Pflugerville, Denton and Flower Mound. The Bari's in Mineral Wells is the only one in the group that's owned by a relative of the original Bari's owner. Even the original restaurant in Flower Mound is managed by someone not related to the family. (The founder of Bari's, I'm told, is retired from day-to-day operations.)

Anyway, it was interesting to run into a familiar restaurant out in the country. Perhaps one of you knows more about Bari's family and can comment about it here.

Highlights from Town Council tonight -- the wacky public hearing on DCAD and appraisals

I give our Town Council a lot of credit for holding tonight's public hearing on property appraisals. Perhaps you know already that the Town doesn't have any real say over how appraisals are done. The Town sets a tax rate, but what you wind up paying each year depends on how much your property is worth. And that duty falls upon the Denton Central Appraisal District. They're the ones who set property values each year.

The hearing went a couple of hours, and it was quite colorful at times. Mayor Pro Tem Joel Lindsey tried to follow the normal procedure for public hearings and gave constant reminders that individual property cases would not be heard, but that didn't stop several people from trying to go freestyle.

Some thoughts from my living-room viewing:

1) It was quite noble for DCAD officials to come to the hearing, and to stay for all of it. They took a lot of heat. Perhaps some of it is deserved, but I don't know. All I know is what I've read (mostly in The News Connection. I've not had issues with my own appraisals in recent years, so I haven't done much investigation. Our home has stayed pretty consistent throughout the 6 years we've lived here.

2) Someone please give our neighbor Jack Stufflebam a copy of Robert's Rules of Order. And a stopwatch. And what was up with that rogue Powerpoint he sprung on the meeting?

3) Why did they let these out-of-Towner citizen complainers take up our Town's valuable time? Were these guys "ringers" brought in for emphasis?

4) Council members Tim Trotter and Joel Lindsey did a good job of trying to keep the meeting focused on general appraisal-district policies and procedures. It was a hard fight, against hordes of people wanting to have their own individual grievances heard.

I know at least a few regular readers of this blog were there at the meeting tonight. I only watched it on TV. What did you see or hear? Post a comment below.

Follow-up: Where's a Flower Mounder to weekend or retire?

Posted these thoughts a few weeks ago. We're trying to decide if we're interesting in investing in a weekend/vacation retreat. Nothing fancy for now. Just a lot in a nice place, for occasional use and for safe-keeping.

Yesterday, we visited The Cliffs resort community on Possum Kingdom Lake, about 2 hours west of Flower Mound. But the sales experience was really a strange one, totally perplexing. If you're interested in reading how we were treated on our official sales visit, click this link for all the details on my personal site. Look for the story "A beautiful piece of land".

Going to the Fiesta! Are You?

I've been a Flower Mound Chamber of Commerce member for the past couple of years, even though I don't own or run a business. In fact, I'm one of about five Flower Mound residents who have "individual" memberships. Paul Stone and Bob Rheudasil are two of the other four.

I've never done much with my membership, but I'm glad I have it to show my support for our Town's businesses.

Next Saturday night 8/26 is the chamber's annual Fiesta pdf download, billed as the Town's biggest party. 500 people are expected to show up at Circle R Ranch. I've never gone, but this year my wife and I will be there.

Any Fiesta veterans out there want to share advice on the auctions or the rest of the fun? Can't wait to see you! If you don't have tickets, call the Chamber at 972-539-0500.

Appraisals -- front and center Monday night at Town Hall

Both the News Connection and the Messenger have articles this weekend regarding concerns over the Denton County Appraisal District. After badgering the DCAD for weeks, this week the News Connection fawns over two of their senior staffers, who agreed to join TNC editors and Mayor Smith and Councilwoman Long in a joint discussion/interview. Seems like the DCAD was able to assuage any of the TNC's long-held concerns about fairness and equity.

The Messenger article previews a public hearing at Monday night's council meeting (download agenda) in which DCAD officials will defend their practices and address Flower Mound resident concerns. Could be a good hearing, worthy of Tivo. This appears to be the highlight of Monday's meeting, unless you count approval of minutes or "coordination of calendars" more exciting.

Flower Mound's on YouTube Too!

I guess I must be bored, or else in a very inquisitive mood tonight. I did a search for Flower Mound on everyone's favorite website YouTube.

Five videos come up in the search. A couple of them are youth-sports related. Another is a FMHS student in a drum solo performance, and still another is a bunch of guys driving through town talking like guys will talk. Click on the search link above to all the clips, including any more that show up.

And then there's this last clip, which I'll feature here. That's the Studio B cast of "Godspell" performing at our local Braum's, looking for tips or perhaps free ice cream. Break a leg, ladies!



I'll make this offer. If you do a Flower Mound-related video and post it on YouTube (it's really easy), I'll post it on Flower Mound Road. How about that!

Flower Mound has a Wiki

Of the 1.3 million and counting articles on Wikipedia, the you-can-edit-too Internet encyclopedia, our little Town of Flower Mound is one of them. The page is a straight-forward and reasonably detailed compilation of our Town's history, location, geography and demographics. The Flower Mound page has been produced so far by a group called WikiProject Texas, a group dedicated to building and maintaining Wikipedia entries relating to the state of Texas.

But the good thing about Wikipedia is that you can edit the information. You could add any kind of relevant information about the Town. Take a look at what people have done to build Dallas' page on Wikipedia. You can do the same with our page. Keep in mind others can edit behind you, but it's a collaborative effort. Take a whack! Let me know if you add anything.

As scary as it gets around here

Get a good look, then look again. This is a composite sketch of a man Flower Mound police are looking for. An 8-year-old girl told her mother and then police that a man who looks like this tried to kidnap her August 10 (a week ago) on Stanford Drive. This is just a couple of blocks away from Old Settlers Elementary. He's approx 6-2, 200, about 40, short hair. His pickup truck with unknown lettering on the sides and red flames in the back.

FOX 4 had live coverage on this story Monday night and Tuesday morning, but that was four days after the report came in. Don't know why FMPD didn't get word to local media before then. I got my first tip on this Sunday night from a Flower Mound Road reader.

Be careful out there, and watch those kids.

Flower Mound's new Veteran's Memorial

You'll be hearing more about this in the local papers in the coming days and weeks, but here's a sneak preview of a new Military Service Memorial planned for construction this fall on the campus of Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church on Morriss Road near Marcus H.S. The memorial will be on Eastglen Drive, the street that connects Dixon Road with the back entrance of Trietsch's parking lot. The church owns the land between its primary campus and Dixon, including the smaller wooden church facing Marcus H.S. on Dixon. The memorial will sit between the two churches on Eastglen. The church has been working closely with its Waterford Estates neighbors.



The length of the memorial will be about 400 feet, adjacent to a new sidewalk. The height of the wall at its tallest point will be 15 feet. The flags will be taller, of course. The church has been working closely with its Waterford Estates neighbors. Obviously, the neighbors on the west side of Eastglen will have a front-and-center view of the memorial across the street.




The church is building this memorial, but is seeking donations from the community. Four groups of servicemen and women will be honored: 1) those from Flower Mound and neighboring communities who have paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for our freedom, 2) those who have served in foreign wars, 3) those who have provided a lifetime of service in the U.S. armed forces, and 4) those who have volunteered or were drafted to serve, and who served honorably, in the armed forces in peace or war. Those names who fall in group 1, 2 and 3 will be added to the memorial by the church, at no cost to the family. Families in the 4th group can purchase bricks to add their loved one's name to the memorial.

If you're interested in helping with the completion of this memorial project, please call the Trietsch church office at 972.539.8547. The church hopes to have it built and ready for dedication on Veterans Day this fall.

Editor's note: In full disclosure, I'm a long-time member of Trietsch.

A good deal: 10% off at Tom Thumb through August

Update 8/19/06: Thanks for some loyal Road readers, I've learned this appears to be an inside sale only. Not every Reward Card holder gets the additional 10% off. Perhaps we got it here because we spend about $5,000 a year at that store. I guess store-loyalty counts for something now and then.

Tom Thumb at FM2499/FM3040 is quietly giving its Reward Card customers an additional 10% off its grocery purchases through the end of August. I don't know what qualifies for the discount, but my guess it's pretty much everything except for alcohol, cigarettes, prescriptions etc. Let me know if there's important details I've overlooked.

I'm sure the southside Thumb is for one last time rrying to build some customer loyalty before the new Kroger Signature store opens in a few weeks, over at FM3040 and Morriss. Watch for more deals (better deals probably!) from both stores when Kroger opens.

Thumbs-down for FM's plan to switch recycling plans

Thanks to regular Road reader Marcia for reminding me the results are in on the Town survey regarding a proposed switch in recycling services.

I'm not surprised, but the results were overwhelmingly against paying more for less service, albeit with larger tubs.

Fortune-telling at Magic Mikes

I've written before on these pages how Magic Mikes gas-station-slash-corner-monopoly on FM2499 at Grapevine Mills is a great predictor of where retail gas prices are going. Even when prices are going down.

Late Friday, I noticed MM's had dropped their prices by 15 cents, from $2.94 to $2.79, while everyone in Flower Mound seemed to be between $2.89 and $2.99. It was a big enough shock, and a good enough story, that we did a "falling gas prices" story from Magic Mike's on our Good Day Saturday newscast yesterday.

Sure enough, the other stations around town are dropping prices now. Unless something wacky happens on the gas futures/wholesale markets in the next few days, I hope we'll be paying less for gas for a bit.

Another good rain tonight

There's an old weather forecaster's axiom that goes "never bet against a drought". That's certainly been true for much of this summer since we haven't gotten very little substantial rainfall. But this week, we got two great rains that combined for one inch. Monday we got 0.47" in our corner of Flower Mound. Tonight 0.53". Nothing wrong with that!

Lifetime Fitness: open house this weekend

Sorry for the late notice, but it's Open House this weekend at Lifetime Fitness. Members can bring guests, or you can just walk in off the street. There's a big open-to-all-Flower Mound pool party tomorrow (Sunday) from 1-3pm with Lite 103.7 DJ's on hand to spice up the fun. The outdoor pool at Lifetime Fitness is a well-designed facility.

I'm sure Lifetime is looking to drum up more members, of course. Hey, it's a great club, but I wonder if they'll ever cut off sales to new members. Not for a while, if ever, I suppose. They have huge beautiful facilities, and I've never had to wait on a piece of equipment. The pool and the lockerroom facilities are first rate, although a few days ago I counted 8 available (out of about 300) lockers in the men's lockerroom. They're all first-come, first-serve. It must have been a busy day, one of those where everyone's trying to beat the heat.

What's with Flower Mound women and the O?

Two articles in the local media this weekend are spotlighting the growing go-to-see-Oprah movement by the publisher of the new Flower Mound Woman magazine. Neither article, in the Leader and Messenger, is online unfortunately. Check the Leader's site on Monday; sometimes they're a little slow in posting links from their weekend edition. But you can click to the magazine's link above, to surf page-by-page through the current issue. Or better, just look at the magazine that came in your mailbox this week.

The bottom line is they're trying to make a dramatic run at getting 300 Flower Mound women on Oprah, to spotlight Flower Mound women making a stand against domestic violence. Sounds daring and noble. Oprah airs on Ch8 here in town, and a source very very very close to this blogger confirms they're working through the local station and through Oprah's producers to convince the show to put them on.

There's a big "Breaking Out" 5k walk/run being planned for November 4 at Shadow Ridge H.S. near FM2499 and Spinks Road.

All the best, ladies. Post a comment here if there's more information to pass along.

Adventures at Patrón: HV's new Mexican restaurant

The new Patrón restaurant on 407 near Morriss is full of surprises, but not all of them were good on our family's first visit. The restaurant's been open about a month, and it appears they've still got some kinks to work out. But there's promise.

In short, the service was wildly inconsistent, and it started with a phone call. We were on Old Settlers Road, about 10-15 minutes away from the restaurant. We called to see if there was a wait. The gentleman who answered said the wait was 20 minutes. I asked if I could put my name on the list, but he said we had to be there in person to do that. OK, no big deal. We figured a Friday-night wait at our local favorite Christina's (1171/Shiloh) would be 30 at least.

When we got to the restaurant a few moments later, we found the place quite busy as expected, but we weren't expecting the news we got from the hostess: the wait was now 30-35 minutes. WHAT? We said we'd wait, partly because we're suckers for a new Mexican restaurant. (Note to restaurateurs: please adopt a call-ahead system. You'll be rewarded with happier, repeat customers. They are the lifeblood of your business.)

Thankfully the frustration was short-lived, because we were seated in 15 minutes - go figure. The restaurant is medium-sized, not too big, not too small. But with high ceilings and concrete floors, Patrón is very loud. Louder than Anamia's. Louder than Cicis when there's a baseball team party there. Loud loud.

Our waiter Julio was friendly, hard-working and earnest, but I think he must have been waiting on 1/2 the tables in the restaurant. Still, he got us our chips and salsa (a good mix) and our drinks and kept reasonably close by during our stay. We ordered a kid's taco and kid's quesadilla for the little ones (both fine), enchiladas verde and taco carne asada. The verde enchiladas were terrific, my wife reported, even though the cooks added sour cream, which had specifically axed by my wife when her order was taken. My soft tacos with steak were both simple and perfect. High marks for the food.

A nice touch by Julio. Even though we protested, he insisted on removing my wife's dinner from our tab. We added it back into the tip.

Patrón? Check it out, especially if you don't mind a loud place to eat. Be patient with the service. Perhaps they'll smooth things out over time.

What's happening here?

Anxious elementary school kids and parents gathering around the new class lists posted at Old Settlers Elementary tonight.

School starts Monday -- better watch your speed!

Strip mall blues

A drive tonight revealed that two businesses near Kroger have closed, both in the same strip center on the west side of FM2499. Gone are Athletic Warehouse (a sporting goods and athletic wear store) and that Tan & Coffee joint a few doors down.

Any back-story here? Just not enough business to keep the doors open, or something else?

It's called "Rain"

For many of us, water falling from the sky is a strange concept. Something we've seen on TV perhaps, or read in a history book. For those who need a refresher, it's called "rain", and right now, we're getting a bunch of it in this little corner of Flower Mound.

I'll update with a rainfall total later on (read below the photos), but for now let's just say we might not have to water for another day or two.

By the way, that loud noise is called thunder. And watch out for those white flashes ("lightning"). One strike mess you up pretty good, or so the history books will tell you.

For the record, I think this is the first rain we've had at this address since July 4th or thereabouts.

The proof is in the photos, looking forward and back from my house.





Update 6pm: The official rain gauge reading is 0.47 inches of rain, and two dead bugs. It's been a dry month. The good news is, I won't need to think about watering the lawn until this weekend, at the earliest. If you got a good rain, turn off your sprinklers for a few days.

Anyone tried the new indoor Sonic yet?

The new Grapevine Mills' Sonic is open. (previous post) It's the first one I've seen that doesn't have a parking lot with speakers. This one looks like any other fast-food joint. Anyone been there yet? Are there any other differences?

No more free ATM at WAMU Flower Mound

You gotta admit, the Washington Mutual stodgy bankers ads are funny. A very clever campaign. But what's not so funny is that their local drive-through ATM (1171 @ Morriss) is no longer free for any customer. For several months, no matter which bank your ATM card belonged to, you could go to WAMU and get cash without having to pay a surcharge. No longer. Now, it's $2.00 at WAMU, which is about the same as everywhere else you need to get cash.

Now I'm not going to get all tied up in a knot about this. In this day and age, I don't really expect a bank to give away its ATM usage. Yeah sure, I remember those days 7 or 8 years ago and before, when you never had to pay an upfront surcharge. But that's part of the past now. Still, it's been nice to have a place in town where you could get your cash for free, without having to open an account first.

Follow-up: the Tom Thumb gift card saga

Reference this previous post, in which I detail the horror and shame (ok, not such much) my wife experienced in trying to give a Tom Thumb-purchased gift card to one of our neighbors. Today, after four weeks and one superficial e-mail exchange, I got this detailed and personal response from a Tom Thumb/Safeway representative.

Dear Mr. Mahaney:

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the gift card incident at your local Tom Thumb store. I do apologize for the confusion this has caused both you and your wife and your neighbors. Here is some information I did find regarding gift cards, which I hope will be helpful to you in the future.

Generally, we do not return or refund any gift cards (except California where it is required by law to refund gift cards upon request). All refunds, returns, and disputes must be accompanied by the gift card, sales receipt, and the activation receipt.

For Partner Cards, we cannot receive credit from the retailer for returning a card. All requests for refunds on Partner Cards should be referred to the applicable retailer.

Lost, Stolen or Damaged (unreadable) Cards Gift Cards are considered like cash. We cannot retrieve any gift card numbers from the club card or from any transaction information. Therefore, we cannot replace lost or stolen cards. We cannot devalue gift cards to provide a refund. Damaged Cards can be taken to the store for replacement/redemption.

I apologize that the cashier did not activate the card. This should have been resolved when your wife returned to the store for assistance. Your comments are important to us and will be forwarded to the store manager for further review and corrective action. We want to ensure this type of problem doesn't occur in the future. Thank you again for taking the time to let us know how we can better serve you.

Better late than never, I suppose. Of course, there should be a little more urgency at the Flower Mound Thumb these days, with the brand-new Kroger Signature store soon to open.

Who reads the Road?

The July traffic log reports 4,090 visits to flowermoundroad.com this month. Not too bad for a little home-grown site that relies primarily on word of moth.

The report wants to give me credit for 1,800 monthly unique visitors, but I don't think it's calculating the number correctly. By my calculations, my true monthly unique visitor count is between 200 and 300. So we're small still, but growing. It's good to have a regular audience.

Thanks for being a part of this growing community, and feel free to post a comment anytime, or send me an chip@smartbusy.tv.

Nice lot, but a good deal?

Drove up Old Settlers Road today to get to Lifetime Fitness and saw a "for sale" sign on that 3-acre lot with the big pond about a block south of Flower Mound High School.



I'm not here to plug a listing, but to save you time, I'll forward the link here.

The listed price is $290,000, or about a hundred-grand an acre. Not cheap, considering you can't build on about half the land because of the water. Could you even build on the rest of it? Does the pond there mean the land's in a flood plain? Dunno. If you could use the land there, or if you could elevate the house a bit over the water, you'd have a gorgeous piece of property.

Anyone know the scoop? Are there other unique home-building lots or small acreage sites available in town?

My school's rating down

Did you see the new TEA school ratings? Our little neighborhood school, the venerable Old Settlers Elementary dropped to Recognized -- this is the first year, I believe, OSE has not been Exemplary. An article in yesterday's Leader blames the OSE drop on declining math and science scores. All the neighboring elementaries are still Exemplary. Hmmm.