The History of THE FOG

THE FOG Halloween 2014

THE FOG is more fun than grown men should have!

Last Friday night, Halloween night, THE FOG rocked the house at The Harbor Inn on Richland Chambers Lake.  The band was in fine form reuniting with a truly great player, Gary Poe on bass, playing and singing like only Gary can.  Cast Iron Songs and Torch Ballads entertained the loud crowd all night!

THE FOG summer 2012

  I have had the gift of music in my life as long as I can remember.  I grew up listening to LP's on the console stereo. Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Bing Crosby, Marty Robbins, Herb Alpert, Elvis and countless others played through that big cabinet in the living room.  As soon as I could I joined the band in school, eventually playing trumpet in a school sponsored jazz band complete with full horn section, piano, guitar, bass guitar and a heck of a drummer.   My friends and I always had a garage band which came in different forms, some more talented than others, each with it's own set of memories. I went from trumpet to piano, to bass guitar in those days.  Within a few years real life caught up with me in the form of marriage, kids, houses and building businesses so the music took a back seat, never abandoned, always alive in some measure.  

When we opened LakeSide Dreams I started playing with friends, old and new around the lake.  I had taken up 6 string and harmonica a few years before. Soon I began learning and relearning classic rock greats, The Beatles, Dylan, Fogerty, Clapton, my Texas rock roots: ZZ Top, Stevie Ray, Doug Sahm and many others.

  We started playing regularly at The Harbor Inn on Richland Chambers with Vernon Bryder on drums, Gary Poe on bass and vocals and me on rythym guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals and harmonica and usually someone on lead guitar. 

  I came across one of my first bandmates a few years ago and he said if the old band ever got together again we should call ourselves THE FOG, for The F'n Old Guys, (Four Old Guys, The Fabulous Old Guys...) So THE FOG was born.

Gary on bass, Vern on drums, John on guitar fall 2010

   Now we are about 4 years or so down the road and we have played most every 4th Friday night on the Harbor Inn stage.  We have had a lot of fun shows with lots of great players and singers sitting in. We've had lights, lasers, fog machines, a lot of dancing and some really good music. The band has gone through some changes over the last few years but it has never ceased to be fun, entertaining and sometimes surprising.  We have stuck to our roots of playing 60's and 70' rock and roll, songs every body knows the words to.

  

I hope THE FOG never grows old.  We always try to bring new songs and create some magical, musical moments for our friends, new and old, enjoying the the music we all know and love.

Now life is settling down some after building & opening RE/MAX LakeSide Dreams, enduring the Northshore Harbor experience, the kids all launched and re-launched and now most recently building a new house, moving and selling the old house...  Whew!!!  

 I appreciate my band mates, our fans and everyone at The Harbor Inn over the years for giving me a wonderful opportunity to share and enjoy the gift of music.

"Werewolves of London" THE FOG Halloween 2014

THE FOG with Debbie Carter December 2012 

John, Vern, Bobby Perry and Gary THE FOG 2013

Kevin, Vernon, John and Gary THE FOG Jun 2011

BTW,  for an explanation of "Cast Iron Songs and Torch Ballads"  Check out Bob Dylan and The Band 'Planet Waves' album.

THE FOG December 2012

The FOG at Lakeside Methodist Church Music Festival 2013

Todd Jones with THE FOG sometime in 2011

THE FOG with Curly Joe 2010

THE FOG with Lucy, "The Goose" and Kenny Carter 2012

Yours Truly Having fun...

Richland Chambers Lake Azure Bay

 

Azure Bay on Richland Chambers is one of those places that combines the beauty of a Texas Oak Forest with the grandeur and majesty of miles of open water.  Azure Bay is located on the south side of Richland Chambers and is restricted to site built homes 1500+ sf.   The subdivision dates back to the early 1990's when the lake was new and now the waterfront is mostly built on.  There are a lot of very nice homes in the neighborhood and plenty of fine folks.  Azure Bay is right off of FM 416, the drive in is easy and the neighborhood has good roads. There are some deals to be had on a precious few waterfront lots and some cool homes for sale

Check it out:  BuyRCLake.com/Azure-Bay

 

Richland Chambers Lake Level Oct 2014

Richland Chambers Lake Level

The last 5 years at Richland Chambers Lake have seen 3 of the 5 lowest water levels in lake history.  The lowest water level Richland Chambers has seen was in 2006 when the lake reached 11.5 ft below pool level on Dec 3rd.  The second lowest level before these last five years was in 1996 when the lake reached 7ft below pool. Through 2008 the Richland Chambers Lake level averaged about 2.9 ft below the pool level of 315. So the normal fluctuation for most of the life of the lake has been +/- 3ft.  We have been getting more frequent rain this fall only hopefully the drought that a lot of the nation has experienced will finally break for us.

Graph taken from US Lakes online

The was designed a s a rainfall lake.  The watershed is 1957 square miles and touches 6 counties. The lake has filled very rapidly in the past from record lows.  The record low in Dec of 2006 (11.5ft)  saw the lake full by the end of the following February and from 2011's low of 8.75 ft the lake filled by the second week of March 2012.  Man that was a fun summer on the water!!!

Richland Chambers will fill again and hopefully this fall and winter...

Follow up on lot 15 Sweetwater Ranch

We did get lot 15 sold.  This was a heck of a deal.  Premium open water property in a great community with a double slip, double decker boat house with all the frills... Sold for 135,000.  The cost for boathouse and all the utilities installed are knockin' on half of the sales price.  Wow, great deal on Richland Chambers Lake

Do prices follow lake level?...Best Deal on the Lake...10-16-14

Best Deal on the Lake Alert!!!   Low lake level at Richland Chambers Lake does have  upside.... 

What can possibly be the upside to the current lake level at Richland Chambers Lake?  Well for frequent boaters you do get to get to know where the hazards are located, but besides that:

 1. When the lake comes back (and it will) there will be lots of new underwater cover for spring spawning and bait fish. So an already great fishing lake will be that much better.. and...

   2. With lots of property for sale and only a few properties selling,  some prices have fallen with the lake level.  If you are looking for a good deal on prime water front property, this is it,  lots 32 And 33 Azure Bay.

Both lots have northerly facing wide open water front with a steel retaining wall in  place and in the neighborhood of 100' of waterfront each.  They are priced at $95,000 each, which in was unheard of in years past for premium water font property.  Azure Bay is a very nice community with only site built homes and lots of wildlife.

Check it out:

Lot 33 Details Lot 32 Details

Great deal on Richland Chambers Lake, lot 15

We have a great new listing in Sweetwater Ranch over on the Northeast side of Richland Chambers Lake.  Lot 15 is an open water lot down on Stockton Point listed for $139,500 and has $60,000+ worth of improvements.  It is .69 of an acre and is mostly cleared with a few strategically left trees down the sides and towards the front. The lot has a nice slope to it and will make an excellent building site.  It  has a retaining wall in place and a huge double slip boat house with a full sized top deck for enjoying the sun and the open water views.  All the utilities are in place and ran down to the boathouse.  I'll post a link when we get it live.  www.BuyRCLake.com

Richland Chambers Lake house part 5, more about mechanicals..

In our Richland Chambers Lake House there are a lot of things to think about with the mechanical systems of the house.  Electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, gas, central vacuum, home automation, speakers and sound all the way down to the doorbell, when you cover it all up it is difficult to go back and change things.  A good contractor for each item who works with you for placement and access to everything is crucial.  Now that we are about to be in our house all these systems are going to be a way of life. We wired the house up with two 200 amp breaker panels to provide plenty of power for our home, the boat house and any future needs. The breakers are clearly marked for ready access when needed.  The plumber ran water supply and drainage to all the critical places by using pex pipe throughout the house and providing a manifold for individual control of each part of the plumbing system.
Our HVAC system is really cool... we have 2 - 5 ton, 20 SEER, high efficiency units with a damper system for separate control of the upstairs portion of the house.  These things have an outdoor temperature/humidity sensor. They are designed to give you maximum efficiency for heating and cooling by processing the data from inside and outside the house.  Along with our foam insulation we are looking forward to low energy costs. They were installed by a local contractor here on Richland Chambers Lake, Area Wide Services.   Area Wide also installed the venting for our range hood, clothes dryer and bathroom exhaust fans. Check them out: www.areawideservices.com .  They stay current with new technology and are fast, dependable and local when it comes to service.
We started the building process in about April 2013 and by the end of September 2013 the house was framed up, sheathed, roofed, the mechanical systems were in and we began hanging sheet rock.

Richland Chambers Lake Level March 2014

Richland Chambers Lake Spillway

 The gates are closed and have been for a while at the damn on RC. Richland Chambers Lake level is still going the way of most Texas Lakes.  We are 7.12 feet below pool level as of March 22, 2014.  Our historic drought has seen the state's total water reserves as low as 65% in 2013 with Texas lake levels down across the state.  Not wanting to be the harbinger of bad news but we need some rain!  Richland Chambers lake level is not the product of increased demand, in fact the pump station at RC lake was shut down for a period of several weeks this winter due to pipeline construction in the area and maintenance on the pump station.  Tarrant Regional has been taking water out of the lake since day one back in 1989 and still operates one pump station on the lake. We just need rain (did I say it again?)  Julie and I have lived on Chambers Creek for over 20 years.  Our backyard has been about 150 acres of Chambers Creek bottom.  During normal conditions the creek gets out of it's banks 3-4 times a year and fills the bottom for several thousand acres.  The creek takes a few days to get back in its banks as the water makes its way downstream and the lake fills.  The same thing happens in the Richland Creek bottom as well.  When we get a good rain in the right places they open the gates at Navarro Mills Lake west of Corsicana.  Richland Creek floods and flows into Richland Chambers.
The lake will come back when we get some rain.  Check out this link:  Navarro County Rainfall History
Also get the Current Lake Level on our lake level page.  In the mean time pray for rain...

Property for sale just south of Richland Chambers Lake

 We have a great piece of property for sale on the south side of Richland Chambers Lake. 77 acres, unrestricted and you can see in the picture has some nice whitetails running on it.  The property is bordered on 2 sides by The Wilderness on Richland Chambers.  It is off of FM 416, accessed from a little road called spur 190.  I walked it with some clients a couple of weeks ago and found this skull.  Judging from the size of the rack this was an older, smart deer.
The property has utilities available to it and most of the fences are in good shape. It would make a great home site with plenty of elbow room.  It has lots of good trees, some elevation changes and not to mention you are just across the street from the third largest lake in the state.

The property is unrestricted and could be divided and developed or  made into a small ranch. It has been owned for many years by a private foundation and is now for sale.
To see the listing click here:
77 Acres Spur 190 Streetman

Moving day on Richland Chambers, finally

Yes it is late March and our house in The Shores is finally ready to move in. When Richland Chambers Lake fills we will be ready.  All the trim and painting is finished, the cabinets are done, floors are down, appliances are in and the punch out clean is going down today.  Our moving process will be kind of slow since the driveway has to cure for another 6 days before we can drive on it.  Everything has turned out pretty well and the yard and landscaping remains to be done.  We are getting excited about being at Richland Chambers Lake all day every day and being a part of the community.  Our new neighborhood, The Shores on Richland Chambers, is great.  It has wonderful amenities, lots of places to be and good neighbors all around.  My original intention was to blog and document the progress of our build as we went along (didn't work out so well) but you will see some posts documenting the various aspects of the process.  I was the builder and designer, with Julie's input,  for our new home.  All I can say is that it is a monumental task to undertake while trying to make a living.  We saved some money however the process took a long time.  Best idea, find a great builder you can trust.  In the mean time some of the sources we used for materials which did save money was Floor Decor and More in Dallas and a website call BuildDirect.com. Both of these turned out to be money savers in the long run.

Rent a spot on Richland Chambers Lake

Want to come to the lake this Spring and Summer? Most Texas Lakes are still down but there is plenty of open water at Richland Chambers There are lots of fish and places to explore.  You can explore the lake from one of several homes right on the water without a lot of expense.  We have four vacation rental homes on the shores of Richland Chambers Lake. Whether you are looking for a private get away for you and your significant other or a place for the family to come and gather, we have the place for you.  RC Lake is quiet and uncrowded, just the ticket for some serious unwinding and relaxing.  All of our rentals are centrally located on the lake, easy to find and easily accessible.  They are fully equipped with all the essentials, beautifully decorated and are just nice places .  We can sleep up to 10 guests at 407 Hidden Oaks or for a small party Northshore Harbor Condos may be just the ticket.  Prices start at $169.00 per night so a lake getaway is very affordable.
Check it out at: www.buyrclake.com/richland-chambers-lake-vacation-rentals or call me at 903-641-3359.

Finishing can be challenging

Finishing the house is turning out to be a pretty good challenge.  It seems to be going on and on.  We have been redoing some things which always takes more time than if you did it the way you wound up wanting it in the first place.  Among other things we have been moving some light fixtures which means cutting out sheetrock and ceilings and delaying things.  Also we have had to move the plumbing for the vanities in the master bath, (missed by just a little bit).  All of these things do not sound like much but they wind up slowing down the whole process.  To anyone planning to build always think through every detail.  A good builder will help you in this process and speed things along.

Good places around Richland Chambers... Richland Chambers Hardware and Lumber

Richland Chambers Hardware and lumber is one of those hardware stores that has it all.  This place is packed from floor to ceiling with all things hardware and then some.  From the basics of nails, screws, light bulbs, rope, paint all the way to lumber, pipe and plumbing supplies you can find it here.  They've got lawn mower belts, gas cans, boating supplies, mops, brooms, gardening supplies, they make keys and well, you get the idea.  Les and Bev are always friendly and ready to help.
Richland Chambers Hardware and Lumber is located on the South Side of Richland Chambers Lake on FM 416 so you don't have to travel a long way to get the things you need. Check out their website at  www.rclakehardware.com .