Papa's Gems Crosswords Puzzle #2 Solution

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SATXBlog Crossword Puzzle 4-"Tricolored"

Tricolor by Myles Mellor

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San Antonio Board of REALTORS  January 2012 Sales Statistics

A five percent increase in sales shows the steadiness of the San Antonio market,” said Angela Shields, President and Chief Executive Officer of SABOR.

January 2012’s average sales price for single-family residential homes registered at $174,789 while the month’s median price was $141,200.

“This month, we saw a slight decrease in both the average and median sales price, but nothing to be alarmed about,” said Liza Reyes, SABOR’s 2012 Chairman of the Board. “Slight fluctuations are very common to the San Antonio market. San Antonio is known for being a healthy market and any healthy market will reflect little ups and downs, it is very natural.”

According to recent Newsweek comparison of the 200 largest U.S. cities, San Antonio was ranked third for its strong scores in business development; transportation and infrastructure; sustainability; and livability. This ranking comes just on the heels of the Boeing and Eagle Ford Shale’s announcements for plans to create more jobs in San Antonio within the next three years. The economic impact from Boeing alone to San Antonio is over $500 million dollars annually. Shields is optimistic. “It is easy to see why San Antonio is such a great place to live. With the expected job growth coming in from Boeing and Eagle Ford Shale in 2012 and San Antonio’s affordable home prices, SABOR is anxious to see the many benefits the housing market will most likely yield in the upcoming spring season.”

Market data is compiled from the San Antonio Board of REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service report. The San Antonio Board of REALTORS® is the largest professional trade organization in San Antonio and represents over 7,000 REALTOR® members. SABOR is one of over 1,600 local boards and 54 state and territory organizations of REALTORS® nationwide that make up the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).
Please visit SABOR.com for more information

Texas AgriLife Extension Service offers Wellness Training

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Bexar County will present its 2012 Master Wellness program volunteer training March 8-April 19 in Suite 208 of its San Antonio offices in the Conroy Square business complex, 3355 Cherry Ridge Dr.

Training will be 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on March 8, March 15, April 5 and April 19. The deadline for registration is March 2.

“Participants in Master Wellness program training receive 40 hours of health and wellness education,” said Dr. Connie Sheppard, AgriLife Extension agent for family and consumer sciences and Bexar County training coordinator. “Once they graduate, they’re required to give at least 40 hours of volunteer service back to the community.”

Sheppard said the training focuses on basic nutrition and dietary guidelines, food safety, health education, weight management, health and nutrition trends, food preparation, healthy lifestyle choices and children’s health. Instruction is provided by experts from AgriLife Extension, an educational outreach agency of the Texas A&M University System.

“This program provides training for volunteers who will go out in the community to give Bexar County residents objective, science-based information needed to make healthy lifestyle choices,” Sheppard said. “Volunteers are critical to helping us deliver our wellness programming to the community.”

She said some of the reasons people become Master Wellness volunteers include a desire to give back to the community, learn more about nutrition and wellness, and live a healthier lifestyle.

Sheppard noted that while health and wellness professionals are among the county’s current Master Wellness volunteers, the training is open to adults of all professional and non-professional backgrounds.

“Our volunteers also include social workers, homemakers, civic leaders, human resource managers, students and retired people,” Sheppard said. “All volunteers need is the desire to learn about health and wellness, and the ability to share with others in the community what they have learned.”

Master Wellness volunteers provide instruction to adults and youth in small group settings, such as community centers, service or volunteer organization locations, schools, churches and businesses.

The cost is $50, and participants receive a binder with copies of all training presentations, as well as healthy recipes to share with their community.

For more information, go to http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/ or contact Sheppard at 210-467-6575 or csheppar@ag.tamu.edu.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

by Celia Hayes

It's one of those odd side-effects of having knocked around the world for three decades that there are places that feel more like a home-town to me than the town where I actually grew up. This is compounded by having had to research certain places down to almost the sub-atomic level, with the unsettling result that I finish up knowing the history of certain places in the Hill Country almost as well as a long-time native does.

Last Saturday, my daughter and I had to be in Fredericksburg for the German Heritage Foundation; a breakfast meeting at the Kuckucks' Nest shop to talk about certain historical things, and what was going on with the planning for this year's Pow-wow? Was it still going to be held at Fort Martin Scott, as per usual? Looks like it: the Pow-wow commemorates the signing of a peace treaty between the new residents of Fredericksburg and the Penateka Comanche, when the town was first founded in the 1840s. The Kuckuck's Nest sells German clothing and accessories, and there was a generous space behind the sales floor for the breakfast buffet.

When the meeting was done, my daughter – the queen of all thrift-shopping - wanted to check out the Hospice Thrift Shop on Granite Avenue, just by 87 as you come into town from Comfort. Alas, the various antique stores on Main Street have all gone so very up-scale that the only way that we can afford antiques from Fredericksburg is to shop at the Hospice Thrift Shop. She was not disappointed: a nice little green Indiana Glass candy dish, a blue iridescent tumbler, and a tiny green perfume bottle made up for having to get up at 6 and drive for an hour and a half without any breakfast.

Then a promenade along two or three blocks of Main Street to check out our favorite stores; Der Kuchen Laden, and Dogologie. The Kuchen-Laden is hands-down the finest cooking gear store in this part of the world. If they don't stock it, you probably don't need it. When we first discovered the store, they were at the far end of Main, but soon they moved to the old Keidel Memorial Hospital – just the one wing, at first. Every time we returned, they had converted another tiny room on the ground floor into yet another specialty department, and now the entire ground is crammed full of every kind of kitchen accessory and gadget. So many things! So little money!

Further on down Main Street, there is a candy store with a giant cowboy M&M outside, offering every sort of delicacy covered in chocolate. But chocolate-covered pickles? Just because something can be done, doesn't mean that it should be done.

Dogologie – we love this store, since you can actually bring your dog inside! Everything for the discriminating dog-owner, wanting to spoil their pooch with every accessory and treatsie known to man; last Saturday, the cashier actually had her own dog with her: a long-hair Chihuahua puppy with enormous ears. They usually say that a dog will grow to the size of his feet: this pup will grow to the size of his ears. Dogologie is undergoing renovations, and the storefront next to it is empty: could it be that the store is expanding? We'll know for sure later this spring, I guess.

We dropped into a couple of other stores, including the Double R Drygoods – which was unique in that there wasn't a single thing there that I admired that I could afford. Nope, not even the scented candles ... which is sad. But there was one nice thing at the Double R; the manager was giving out a single red rose to every woman who came in to shop, or just look around. Valentine's Day, y'know. That was an incredibly sweet gesture and marketing strategy. Should I ever become the Margret Mitchell and buy my dream Hill Country home, I will definitely come back and buy something ... but not the stuffed squirrel with a holster belt and a drawn toy pistol. Some nice accessory for myself, I think – like a pair of boots or an embroidered sheepskin vest.

 Best of Texas - Newsweek Says Texas Cities Can-Do

Five Texas cities “have it going on” even in the face of economic worries, according to a 2011 Newsweek comparison of the 200 largest U.S. cities.

El Paso leads the pack with strong scores for business development; transportation and infrastructure; sustainability; and livability. Assigning each of those categories a point value, Newsweek ranked its list of “Can-Do Capitals” while considering emissions, education levels and unemployment.

Texas Best Can-Do US Cities

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

SATXBlog Crossword Puzzle 3-"It's a Numbers Game"

"It's a Numbers Game" by Myles Mellor and Sally York

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 San Antonio Home Uncluttering

One of my favorite moments from childhood was going to my aunt's house to hang out with my cousins. Aside from getting to play video games with my cousins, my aunt's San Antonio home was an adventure in itself. It was a quaint little house only five minutes away from my own house. It wasn't big at all, but what lacked in size made up for mini-adventures. Bookshelves stacked with large books about different wars, model airplanes, and chain mail and armor from the medieval times. My seven-year-old self would always look up at these things with awe. My uncle would continue to buy model airplanes, assemble them, and display them proudly up on his bookshelves. From an early age I knew that it was very "Look, but don't touch."

Of course, as my uncle's collection accumulated, the space to store his goods became smaller and smaller. Their garage became cramped as well. The books slowly became an overwhelming sight to see and my aunt and uncle finally decided to place (a lot of) his things in a storage unit. I remember helping them pack and store his books and other trinkets in a storage facility. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy is a book that instantly comes to mind when I think of the storage unit. Watching their house uncluttered definitely made the house more open. All of the books were not removed, so the magic was still there. The scary suit of armor still lurks around the house.

Decluttering your living space does not mean you have to take the personality out. You may have items that you don't want to throw away. Don't go through the woes and troubles of deciding what to let go. Instead, use a storage unit to help declutter your living space while not having to let go of anything of importance. Storing your items in your garage is a waste of space. You could easily have your very own workroom in your garage, an extra refrigerator, or even be able to park your cars in your garage! Or better yet, you could convert it into a little den if you have the space. My great-uncle converted his California home's garage into a bar/den, so whenever they would have parties, an open bar would be set up with a karaoke machine running and the drinks pouring.

Getting rid of things and actually throwing them away is a difficult task. The memorabilia that you may be contemplating on throwing away may possibly be worth something in the future. It also doesn't need to clutter up your living area. Think about using a storage facility to help store your things and potentially organize your house.

Joseph Ver is an intern at SpareFoot. He is a double major in Digital Media Management and Marketing at Saint Edward's University. His hobbies include cooking, exploring the city of Austin, and finding good places to eat. Searching for a storage unit near you is very easy SpareFoot. With SpareFoot, you can compare prices and locations to help you with your decluttering project. You may contact Joseph or Sparefoot Storage at 1-877-687-9771.

City of Waters

It only makes sense that San Antonio would be most famous for – after the Alamo – for the Riverwalk. The downtown landscaped banks of the San Antonio River are a tourist draw without peer. Less well-frequented, or newer developments – say, through King William and Southtown, or along the new Pearl Brewery-Museum Reach are a secret and treasured green-space as well as a breath of fresh air for residents.

The existence of the San Antonio River is more than just a happy coincidence and landscaping opportunity; when San Antonio began to expand and industrialize in the late 19th century, the river provided power for establishments like C.H. Guenther's Pioneer flour mill – as well as power and a necessary ingredient for breweries like the Pearl and Lone Star. It was also noted by travelers and early residents like Mary Maverick that the very nicest houses in town had gardens which backed on the river – where residents could cool off in the afternoon with a dip in the cool water. The very fact that there was a constant and plentiful source of water existing in this otherwise rather dry region was the reason that San Antonio was founded here to begin with.

When Spanish exploring parties first reached the area in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they found Indians camping around the San Pedro Springs, in the present-day Olmos Basin and on the grounds of Incarnate Word, near Broadway and Hildebrand. There was where many of the springs which fed into the San Antonio River originated. Taking full advantage of every drop of water emanating from the springs, the Spanish established a string of missions along the River. Being accustomed to the construction and maintenance of elaborate irrigation systems – in use for centuries in Spain since the time of the Romans – the missionary fathers constructed an elaborate series of ditches and aqueducts to conduct water to the fields where it was needed. The irrigation system – or acequia for the Espada Mission is still largely intact. Other missions – including the Alamo itself – had their own water systems to water their own farmlands. There is still a narrow water canal in the gardens behind the Alamo chapel today.

The historic springs were the outfall of the Edwards Aquifer; a kind of enormous geologic sponge – which the limestone plateau of the Hill Country soaked up. The hills gathered it up – and places like the San Pedro Springs, the Comal Springs in New Braunfels, and Jacobs' Well near Wimberley are some the places where it leaked out. (The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) gets the vast majority of the water for all of its San Antonio water customers from wells in the Edwards Aquifer.)

One of the most spectacular springs which fed into the San Antonio River was later called the Blue Hole. It actually gushed out of the ground with great force. 19th century visitors to the area described the scenic wonders of the various springs in prose which verged on the purple, describing the clearness of the water, the beauty of the waterfalls and pools, the ferns, water-lilies and reeds, while wistfully speculating on the presents of water nymphs and naiads. This area became a place for recreation and Sunday afternoon gatherings: in the late 19th century there was a beer garden, a pavilion for dances, and of course – swimming pools. Alas, as the Edwards Aquifer was drilled into in many other places, the natural fountaining effect was diminished and many springs ceased to flow at all, save after heavy rains. To this day, though – the rivers and the springs and the areas around them are still cherished as parks.

San Antonio Airport International Passenger Numbers Soar

by Randy Watson

The San Antonio International Airport;s (SAT) International boarding passenger count had a major increase in 2011, reaching 182,031, or a 33.1 percent increase over 2010.

Domestic passengers continued to rise in 2011, totaling 7,898,793, up 1.2 percent over the previous calendar year. Total enplaned and deplaned passengers reached 8,171,824 in 2011, a 1.7 percent increase over 2010.

The large international passenger increase was primarily due to added seats in the market.

Source: San Antonio Airport System