I was standing on this fallen section of the pier in the marina when it went down. Fortunately, I kept my balance and was able to get off. Larry Rabe was able to use the long bird house pole as a lever to pry it back up and secure it for now. This pier is beyond repair and will likely have to be removed soon.
Another break in the sewer system occurred this week. The shock tube near the boat wash area cracked under ground and had to be replaced. Larry was able to do this by himself so we saved a plumber call.

As usual this time of year, the mitigation site has become unfishable. It looks nasty and will not return to normal until late March. Fish seem to avoid this area when this happens also.
There have been a few trout off the pier, but nothing to write home about. Kevin(501) spent a couple of hours on the pier last evening and had only one big enough to measure and that one was short.

Mel and Jo Biggs(207) had all their windows replaced with new high efficiency windows on Saturday.
The final result looks pretty good.

I'm told Phase II will have a special meeting of owners this weekend to elect a new board of directors. Tensions are still running high among some owners as law enforcement was called out to resolve an issue on Saturday morning.
Rob has been working to remodel the front of the rental office. The entrance and steps have been removed. I guess they will use the side entrance. Rob is so good at this type of modification. He can blend the old and new to look as if it were originally built this way.
Rental activity seems to be at an all time high this winter season. I don't recall ever seeing the parking lot as full as it is right now.

Kevin Durkee(501) sent this picture of his recent success at deer hunting. I never see deer like this when I'm in the woods. I did get one doe this year. I almost got a second on Monday evening while returning from Walmart. A doe ran across just in front of me just before I reached the Racket Club. She was really moving and that's a good thing.
I understand that Kevin and Cyrena have placed their condo in the rental pool with Roxanna at Coastal Management. There seems to be a pattern here.

Work continued on repairing the blocked sewer. The plumber rented a mini excavator to dig the trench to find the sewer.
The now exposed sewer can be seen going directly under the palm tree.
The sewer line was rerouted to go around the tree to prevent the tree from sending roots into the sewer line. The biggest problem was a huge buildup of nearly petrified grease in the pipe.
In other news, a Port Aransas ferry boat got loose today as it lost power while carrying cars across the channel. It was a strange scene to see two other ferries trying to herd the adrift ferry back into the dock.
My thermometer this morning showed 34 degrees. That is the lowest I've see it this year. The cold weather is causing the heating units to get a lot of use and the old outside 125 amp breakers are not handling it well. Keith and Sandra(508) came in this evening to find their condo at 45 degrees and no power. One of the problems is that the required 125 amp breakers are not readily available. B&R electric will have to order some before any more can be repaired.
On Wednesday, Keith and Ruth Ann Boyer(606) arrived for their winter stay. Today I visited with Ron and Vi Powell(607). They are staying in their RV as their condo is rented until late February.
I believe today saw Murlin Tomlinson(506) celebrate his 85th birthday.
The trout are back at the pier, but very small. I do hear larger trout are being caught on the east shoreline of Port Bay.
I had a representative from Haynes Roofing come out to check our roof for damage. He said many roofs in Rockport had a lot of damage, but ours looks fine. That's good news.
Mel and Jo(507) are having new energy efficient windows installed in their condo tomorrow.

Today started off with a bad sewer backup. Larry Rabe tried to use our 75 foot snake, but with no success. I called Gene Perkins, but he was out of town. However, he sent a crew over with a 100 foot snake. All the 500 and 600 units were affected. They started on the last overflowing cleanout at the corner of 601. The snake would not reach the clog.
Work then shifted to the front of unit 604. There were not other cleanouts between 601 and the maintenance shed. A hole was drilled in the sewer here and this time the snake would not penetrate the clog.
Next a hole was dug to expose the sewer at the corner of 608 and a hole was drilled in this pipe. This time the snake only went down about 16 feet and stopped. After more tries, a small hole was make in the clog to allow the water to drain, but the snake cutting blade would not go through.
By using the length from the previous attempt, a hole was dug to try to locate the section of stopped up sewer. The ground proved to be too difficult to expand the hole. Gene arrived from out of town and we decided to try again in the morning with a mini excavator to dig into this area. They tried to push the snake from the cleanout in front of the maintenance shed, but it again stopped about the same point as when the snake started from the opposite direction. Gene believes either the palm tree here has sent roots into the sewer or the pipe has broken from a shift in the ground or pressure from above. I guess we will find out tomorrow. Gene will then install cleanouts at the two places where the pipes were drilled open. He will also install new wax rings in the units that had a problem. There may be more affected units, but I don't have all those keys.
Meanwhile, I talked to Brad at B&R Electrical this morning. We are having some electrical issues in the bayside electrical boxes. He will come out tomorrow to evaluate and give a cost estimate.
I contacted the AEP today to tell them we have some street light problems that I reported earlier. Their records show they were repaired. They will reissue a workorder.
While all this was going on, the winter Texans had their best red fishing day of the season. I guess that's the Ying and Yang of things.
Pier fishing last evening was absolutely nil. I went out about midnight and did not see any aquatic life and none wanted my lures.

Before it turned cold this week Larry Rabe used his carpentry skills to replace stair boards behind the 500 and 600 buildings where they were needed. Some of the salvaged pier boards were used.
Larry then applied his electrical skills to completely rewire all the lighting,security cameras, and wifi on the post at the boat parking. He also installed a new security light on the pole.
Larry mixed seven bags of concrete to fill the hole caused by the garbage truck when picking up the dumpster across from the 100 building. We had placed two concrete blocks in this area years ago, but the new trucks create a different path that missed the old blocks. Notice the new sprinkler head that had to be moved. It was located at the bend in the curb and the trucks had crushed the old one. This week Larry has worked inside the maintenance shed to repair the hail damaged window screens. So far he has completed twenty of the fifty two that were damaged.
Christy Aguirre posted a comment on my last post describing the storm damage she saw in Rockport. Today's Rockport Pilot has a lead story about the storm with some pictures of what Christy describes. A link is at the top right of this post.
The only inside storm damage so far was in unit 404. It seems to have come from the unit above through a roof leak. No one has been able to enter that unit to see if they have any damage. Mike McAdams had come out to the our complex just a few days before the storm to repair roof leaks in 405 and 103. He said he will come out to do some more repairs soon. We have a five year
warranty on the roof.
My cars had hail damage too. My insurance adjuster came up with $1,700 for each car. I carry a $100 deductible on each so I hope his allowance will be enough. Interestingly, when the sun comes out and heats the metal surfaces, the hail dimples are hard to see, but when the cold comes back, there they are again.
The Rockport Urgent Care Center opened for business this week. A service like this was really needed.
My blog stats this week show a lot of folks must have been looking at the blog for storm damage reports. This blog was accessed 98 times from San Antonio. Second only to Texas, California sent 28 logins.
Our new television service provider, Cobridge, has been responsive to calls for repair service. I hope this level of service will continue.
Another bid for the irrigation upgrade that owners voted for came in today. It appears we will be able to complete the project for less than the estimated cost. The lift station pump replacement cost was received yesterday and this will be about $5,500. With all the savings this board is achieving, I believe this cost can be absorbed without an assessment. Even today, I made a trip to Lowe's and purchased all 18 hose bibs that they had in stock. They were $3 a piece cheaper than at ProBuild although Probuild had plenty. We will need about 35 to complete the work on replacing the the hose bibs on the outside of the buildings. I think another trip to Lowe's will be worth it.

We experienced a bad hail storm in the early morning hours today. The hail sounded like a herd of stampeding animals on the roof. Our insurance carrier has been notified and will file a claim to have the roof inspected. The damage to cars was slight, but significant.
The storm came from the southwest and the hail stones piled up on the north side of the entryways as they hit the south facing walls.
I counted 52 hail damaged window screens. The one here is about average. The worst were on the end units like 501 and 308. Those screens were obliterated. It was interesting to see some screens badly damaged while the adjacent screens had no damage. Every screen on the front of the 100 building was damaged except the two on 102. Many outside lights on the ends and sides of buildings were shattered.
By mid morning the hail stones were still to be seen piled in the vegetation. This is outside of 203.
The avocado trees in front of 601 and 602 had about 30% of their leaves sheared off.

Scott and Ray worked on Sunday to trim the palm trees behind the 500 and 600 building. The trash pickup comes on Monday so they nearly filled all the dumpsters. We have had a most active board this year in a lot of ways. I think it's partly because they may be the youngest board Kontiki has ever had. Four board members have school age children. Of course, it could be because three of them are Aggies and even this Longhorn will admit that Aggies are highly motivated and ambitious.
Fishing off the pier was good again last evening. I caught my quota of two keepers in about 10 minutes. I don't like to bring in more than two because I don't like to freeze them. This evening was different story. I fished for twice that long and caught one 8 inch trout.
The mitigation site is beginning to be covered by the annual algae growth. It must be the temperature. Every year from January until late in March the pond becomes virtually covered with slimy algae and is not fishable. It has now covered all the shoreline areas and is moving toward the middle.
Roxanna at Coastal Management continues to do a great job for those owners who have switched over to her company. Jim and Jeannine(401) switched a few weeks ago and their calendar is filling up. It can be seen by cutting and pasting this address into your browser. http://www.homeawayconnect.com/calendar.cfm?pid=663015

Paul(505), Scott(504) and Ray(601) started off the New Year's Eve morning by sorting through the lumber left from the washout of our pier earlier this year. Removing the nails was a chore. They transported it back to behind the maintenance shed to be used for projects around the complex. They were all still up for a party later in the evening and a fire works display that set new records. However, this morning it is pretty quiet around here.

This post was given to me by Greg(121 Phase II). He, like others recently, has found that the rental management company operated by Roxanna Ponton is providing excellent management services for owners at Kontiki.



Here's my daughter battling into a yellow fin tuna when the wife and kids went to the state park at Padre Island. The only recipe I found was to sear small pieces on the grill for 10 seconds and was some of the best fish I've tasted. I did want to share the experience with my new rental company Coastal Bend Property Management. I was astonished while singing the contract Roxanna had a winter Texan already waiting for the unit as I told her I'll have to pass as I am the winter Texan but would pass the info to my network of friends at Kontiki. Not only was she on top of the game she noted her web site would post availability and in the near future be able to process transactions as well. It was a southern friendly business atmosphere with someone in the business who enjoys what she does. Almost forgot, she under cut the in house company by almost half, glad to see some competition in the neighborhood. http://onthecoastrentals.com or 361-727-0909