Destination French

Dallas, Texas is the third largest city in Texas so there is plenty of fun to be found. Dallas has plenty of historical content for those of you who enjoy your history. The Sixth Floor Museum has a full tribute to President Kennedy as well as full information on his assassination.

Fair Park in Dallas is a hub full of different things to see and do. Some of the various sites include 9 museums, 6 areas for performing arts, and a beautiful ice skating rink. It is considered to be a National Historic Landmark. It is also home to the largest collection of 1930′s architecture you will find in the United States. The State Fair of Texas takes place here annually as well.

For those who want a traditional day of shopping, eating, and enjoying the sites Grapevine Mills has it all. There is more than 200 retail shops, plenty of great restaurants, an arcade, and various types of entertainment taking place daily. If you want to go back in time consider shopping in the West End Marketplace. The streets are lined with brick and you can take a horse drawn carriage down the Victorian Era.

The Dallas Zoo offers 95 acres of animals to observe, some of them traditional and some of them exotic. The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens offers acres of beautiful scenery to enjoy on a nice afternoon. You can take a walk, have a picnic, or just relax in the outdoors for a while.

If you plan to visit Dallas, Texas you will find it has something to offer for everyone. Regardless of your interests you will find plenty of places you want to explore. The hard part is going to be narrowing down your selections to fit the amount of time you have while you are in Dallas to enjoy them.

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Rainwater Harvesting

We are so used to turning on the faucet and getting good, clean water to run out that we take it for granted. The infrastructure was built over the last century and has supplied us cheap, plentiful water for decades. However, access to cheap, plentiful water is becoming a thing of the past, not only in the Austin area, but around the country and the world.

City Of Austin water utility plans to make more than $1 billion in capital improvements, including the proposed Water Treatment Plant #4, through 2015. Debt service for those projects is set to grow from about $165 million in 2010 to about $219.5 million in 2015, a 32 percent increase. Operations and maintenance costs will grow from $177.3 million to $217.9 million, a 22 percent increase. Water rates will rise. Austin Water officials said the proposed rate increases are necessary to make the debt payments and are appropriate, citing the new water plant’s long-term economic benefits.

Just how much water rates will go up is always a matter of contention, but even the official numbers state that from 2011 to 2015 the increase will be approximately 6% per annum. More accurately the 2011 number was predicted at 5.70%. In reality the number was like 10.10%. Following that trend we can only assume future numbers will be skewed upward as well.
This is a great time to think about harvesting rainwater.

The process does have an initial investment attached to it. You will need a water barrel (or barrels) and if you don’t already have guttering on your house, you will need to that also. But, once the system is set up, the water is FREE! Some people want to harvest rainwater for household use and this is possible, but it includes treatments such as UV or Ozone to make the water potable and we’re not going to talk about that in this article. We are concentrating on water for the landscape.

Most barrels hold between 50-100 gallons of water and should be mounted a few feet above the ground. That will give you a static water pressure (SWP) capable of powering a drip line or soaker hose into nearby flowerbeds or vegetable gardens. Remember that every foot you raise your storage tank increases the SWP by about.433 psi. It may be less due to pressure loss through friction (1 psi ~ 3.21 feet of fresh water head). So, if you need the harvested rainwater to irrigate a lawn you will need to add a pump to your system.

The formula for figuring out how much rain water you can collect off your roof is roof square footage x.623 gallons per square inch of rainfall x annual rainfall. Square footage of the roof of the house x amount of rain and the last variable is.623. A cubic foot of water being equal to 7.48 gallons, which when divided by 12 (i.e. inches in a foot) equals.623 gallons per inch of rain. So, for instance, if you have a 2000 sq ft roof area that has been guttered, you can expect to harvest over 1,200 gallons of water from a single inch of rain! Also, consider this: even in the severe drought of 2011 the Austin area still received 16.90 inches of rain, converting to a yearly rainwater harvesting total of over 21,000 gallons for the same sized roof!

Remember that different roof types yield different amounts of water. A 95% efficiency can be expected from most roofs (metal, tile, concrete or asphalt) but if you have a gravel roof the rate will drop to around 70%.

Rainwater harvesting is only part of the ongoing water conservation effort. To learn more about water conservation visit our website at http://www.xeriscapeaustin.com/water-conservation/

There is a wealth of information on the concepts and practicalities of Xeriscaping at our main site here: http://www.xeriscapeaustin.com

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There are certain concepts of a good teacher that are extremely well presented by the writer L. Ron Hubbard. In his writings he stresses that excellent teachers aim to teach effectively by presenting the subject being taught in its most interesting form, and not only that but a truly effective teacher will demonstrate how the information can affect a students life. He will present the subject in the simplest and easiest way of learning, and will evaluate the students understanding, of that which is being taught.

A good teacher will not assume his importance because he has knowledge of the subject, nor diminish a student because he does not understand the subject right away. These we know as excellent qualities in a teacher, and we can all remember there being at least one of these excellent teachers in our lives. In the Austin area, there are some of the best School districts in the State, and among these is that of Round Rock ISD. This school district believes in its teachers, and believes that students can achieve an excellent education given the opportunity, but both teachers and students need to be held accountable for that education.

Recently in 2002, legislation also realized the importance of this form of teaching and in 2002 they passed the No Child Left Behind Act. This law presented educational reforms that affect all school districts and some of the largest changes since the Education Act of 1965. The Texas school districts and especially the Austin school districts, including surrounding school districts like the Round Rock ISD have taken these changes seriously to heart, and districts like the round rock school district are making every effort to create and give students the opportunities they need to get ahead in life.

Among the points that are most developed by the Round Rock Independent school district are those of:

Stronger accountability for results – States, districts and schools are accountable and responsible for their academic standards, and are held responsible for the learning of every child and the proficiency in math, and science at all levels. The Round Rock Independent School District firmly believes in this point to the new law, and works hard to meet these requirements.

Options for parents – Another strong point that the Round Rock ISD focuses on is the parent’s involvement in their children’s education. Giving parents different options to help, explain, and identify their child’s problems and areas he or she may need to work on.

Location

The Round Rock Independent School District is located in the southern part of Williamson County and northern part of Travis County. It includes the City of Round Rock and certain areas of Austin and Cedar park. The entire District covers 110 square miles and is a part of suburban and retail areas. The Round Rock School District has had a very large increase in population in the last 5 years with a growth rate of about 21% and a 4% growth rate annually. The schools in this district are designed to be smaller with the concept of the “neighborhood school,” The idea behind the smaller schools is to get the neighborhoods involved, and to be able to give students the needed time, so that every student learns.

Culturally Diverse

This school district is culturally diverse with approximately 25% being Hispanic, 53% Caucasian and 11% of ethnic backgrounds. There are close to 40,000 students enrolled in the different schools with a student-teacher ratio of 14.5.

Excellence

Most of the students in the Round Rock ISD plan on continuing their education, the estimates show approximately 87% who plan to continue their education. The dropout rate of this district is very low with only a 0.4%. Most students take both the SAT and ACT and acquire very high scores.

In conclusion, if you are moving to the Austin area, and are extremely focused on the benefits to your children the Round Rock area is an excellent option as far as schools, and quality education for them.

About this Author

Austin Referral Realty offers an exclusive Round Rock Real Estate search by Round Rock ISD elementary, middle, and high school campus. Saving you time by searching only Round Rock Homes within the schools you desire.

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