2020... Wow... What a crazy year!

As I look back on the year, it's sometimes hard to get too excited about it! With these crazy politics, the lawlessness and then covid on top of all that, it's hard to believe I'm living in the United States of America. And what things just start to get you down, you walk out into you pasture and poof, there is a newborn baby calf looking it up at you! Three times this year!

It's so thrilling that I almost feel like a new Daddy or new Grandpa! They are cute as buttons and so much fun to watch grow up. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a lot of work. Lol.

Yeah, that's right, John Denver lied to us! It's not quite as easy as he sang about! But I sure wish I'd have done it a lot earlier because we really love it. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed my career as a Biomedical Systems Engineer and all the travel, adventure and excitement that went along with it. But gosh it sure is nice not to have to get up at 4:00AM, get dressed and rush off to the airport!

We've come a pretty good ways with our little farm. We replace a lot of the old fencing with new wood and some crisscross wood fencing. We started the remodel on the pole barn using the old fencing as siding for for a distressed worn look on the inside. We have a big raised garden built. I started digging a pond with my little John Deere tractor and backhoe. I used the dirt that I dug up to raise the garden about 10 in above normal level.

Our little herd of...Continue Reading

It's been over 2 years now since the Harvey flood destroyed our home. Several have asked how we are doing and if we have recovered.

We have been blessed beyond our expectations!

Everything we lost has been restored several times over. Even the oak trees! We lost 2 live oak trees my wife loved. We now have 15 oak trees and 5 nice pecan trees.!

We spent seven months in a hotel and actually survived each other! Lol

Out insurance company came thru and did not give us a bit of problem on our claim.

Everybody around us had problems with their claims. The insurance adjuster came in, looked around, got us a small check to get us going, And within 4 weeks of the inspection we had the final check.

They actually paid for all my lost airplanes and radio gear too!

But we decided not to remodel a second time. We sold the house to an investor.

As many know we were flooded the year before in 2016. We had just completed the remodel when the Harvey flood came.

While in the hotel we looked around in different areas to find a place to settle down. We looked out in Brenham. We looked up in Tomball and Magnolia. We went up to Tyler Texas.

I even found a nice home on Palestine Lake with a hangar and a runway for a full-scale airplane! But it was $750,000!!!

We didn't get THAT much from the insurance!

We settled on a small 2 bedroom brick home up and Livingston across the road from a small lake. So we have a lake view out of our front living room and family room windows. But without...Continue Reading

They said the hurricane probably wouldn't hit us.
It turned just enough to get us.

They said we would get 2 feet of water.
We got 9 1/2 feet in the street.. About 7 feet in our home.

The hurricane devastated Houston Texas.

A short videoof our house is on my Facebook page at;
https://www.facebook.com/don.daniels...0846228302266/

As powerful as Hurricane Harvey was, as overwhelming as the flood waters were, nothing was more powerful and overwhelming than the outpouring of love and support we received from family, friends and people we didn’t even know.

Over 30 volunteers came out to our home on Saturday, including a Battle Buddy from California who came all the way from Sacramento to help his friends. In one day they had all of the debris out of the house. They had all of the walls, doors, cabinets and wood work torn out. It was amazing

We have a bunch of Angles visiting us Saturday! And other Angles brought food. Street tacos, pizza and even some food From Jason’s Deli. Watermelon and pineapple for desert too!

Several members from RC Groups donated airplanes, radios and accessories to help replace the trainers we had built for the Boy Scouts. A couple of members even sent enough to set me up with a coupe of planes to fly.

It just isn’t possible to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of these volunteers. You know who you are. Know also that we love and appreciate you more than we can ever say.

Thank you and God bless you.

Don and Diane

(PS: It ain’t over ya’ll! We will overcome!)

A bit about me?

Well, I don't really like to brag about myself.

Oh ... who am I kidding! Of course I like to brag about myself!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So ......Continue Reading