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.