Monthly Archives: July 2013

A City on a Hill – House of Worship

From “A City on a Hill: A Story of a Community, a Church, a People” by Jewel R. Johnson, Second Edition, 1979, Merchants Press of Taylor, Texas

Individual pages appear below in the TIFF format. Your browser may not display them automatically, depending upon your security settings. If they don’t open for you, even after you click on them, you can download a PDF copy by clicking on this link: House of Worship

This is part of a continuing series of stories. If you want to see previous postings in this series, just go to the search bar at the top of the home page and type in: “A City on a Hill”. They will appear in chronological order. There is more than one page of listings.

House of Worship 1

House of Worship 2

House of Worship 3

House of Worship 4

Avoid Lines at the Tax Office

WilcoFrom the Williamson County Public Information Office:

July 19, 2013 (Williamson County, TX) – –Williamson County is one of the fastest growing counties in Texas. The increase in county population, along with many people waiting until the end of the month to get their motor vehicle tags renewed, has caused longer lines at the Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector’s four offices. Below are tips to help vehicle registration renewal customers avoid standing in those long lines.

Online renewals may be processed through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles at www.txdmv.gov and are assessed a $3 convenience fee. Allow a week for your documents to be processed.

Mail-in your registration renewal and payment by the 15th of the month in order to have your vehicle registration processed and returned by mail before the end of the month.

Current month vehicle registration renewals can be done at AAA located at 13376 N Hwy 183 #108, Austin or AAA at 201 University Blvd., Round Rock, and at all Williamson County HEB Business Centers, currently excluding Taylor. The Taylor HEB will begin processing vehicle registration renewals by September.

Renew current month vehicle registration by phone through our Information Services Department by calling 512-943-1602.

Avoid the first and last week of the month, as well as lunch time if you go in person to the Tax Assessor/Collector’s Office.

If you are going to the tax office to pay property taxes or renew a registration, remember drop boxes are found inside at every location, except Georgetown where the drop box is located on the front of the building.

We also encourage residents to pay property taxes by mail. We honor United States Postal Service post marks. Receipts will be provided upon request.

“We know that time is very precious to our customers, so we want them to be aware of all their options in order to avoid waiting in a line,” said Deborah Hunt, Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector. “With the increase in gas prices, it is worth paying the small processing fee to renew online or by mail.”

The four tax office locations are below:

Cedar Park, 350 Discovery Blvd. Suite 101

Georgetown, 904 S. Main Street

Round Rock, 1801 Old Settlers Blvd. Suite 115

Taylor, 412 Vance St. Suite 1

 

Want to Get Into the Occult?

No, not THAT kind . . . the astronomical kind. This is from Sky & Telescope’s online feature called This Week’s Sky at a Glance:

Friday, July 19

Telescope users looking at the gibbous Moon from most of North America tonight can watch the Moon’s invisible dark limb creep up to and occult the 4.4-magnitude star Xi Ophiuchi. Only Florida and the West miss out.

Some times of the star’s disappearance: in western Massachusetts, 12:38 a.m. EDT; Atlanta, 12:32 a.m. EDT; Chicago, 11:10 p.m. CDT; Winnipeg, 10:50 p.m. CDT; Kansas City, 11:00 p.m. CDT; Austin, 11:07 p.m. CDT; Denver, 9:39 p.m. MDT. Start watching early.

I will be out with my telescope. Seeing an occultation is very cool. Let’s hope it’s clear!

Here is an image of the Moon grazing the star Spica.

Here is an image of the Moon grazing the star Spica.

Keeping Your Head in the Clouds

IMG_3818As we go about our daily routines, it’s always good to take a moment to marvel at the wonders of nature. I hope you saw this beauty late on Wednesday afternoon but just in case you didn’t,  this image is of an isolated cumulonimbus cloud that developed to the southeast of Coupland.

Since there is so much more rainfall to the east of this area, we are occasionally treated to some amazing light shows from distant thunderstorms, especially this time of year. About two weeks ago, we we saw a wonderful dance of lightning in and around the clouds of a storm near Houston. I would estimate that it was at least 50,000 feet high. Thunderstorms in the tropics have been measured as high at 75,000 feet. That’s over 14 miles straight up.

Airliners fly around 30,000 – 40,000 feet, depending upon various factors, so there’s no going over even moderately-sized storms. For all our accomplishments, we are puny indeed when we come face to face with things like thunderstorms, which Mother Nature builds up and knocks down with regularity . . . like a pre-schooler with a pile of stacking blocks.

Of course, pictures can’t possibly live up to the splendor of the real thing so don’t forget to look up whenever you go outside because if you don’t, you’re missing out on some amazing sights.

This Week at St. Peter’s Church of Coupland – July 21

peanuts2

Pastor Frank Dietz says this about the service planned for July 21:

The Peanuts gang will assist us in exploring the for-real issues of faith and faithfulness found in the Mary & Martha episode as reported by Luke. Following last Sunday’s excursion with “the whole body and self” into the Samaritan’s good neighborliness as a person of deep caring and outreach, some further discoveries will be made. It is interesting that Charles Schultz found a way to gather a diverse and multi-gifted crowd of characters, manifesting the myriad of ways God expresses life and blessing. Perhaps we find ourselves in the cartoonist’s jests as we do in the role descriptions of the synoptic Gospel writer’s witness. All exploring faith and faithfulness are always welcome!

It will be the ninth Sunday after Pentecost.

The scripture readings are:

Amos 8:1 – 12

Psalm 52 or Genesis 18:1 – 10a

Psalm 15

Colossians 1:15 – 28

Luke 10:38 – 42

Williamson County Lifts Burn Ban

WilcoPUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Connie Watson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

512-943-1663 (office)

512-844-3542 (cell)

WILLIAMSON COUNTY LIFTS BURN BAN

 July 16, 2013 (Williamson County, TX) – – County Judge Dan A. Gattis lifted the burn ban for unincorporated areas of Williamson County today, Tuesday, July 16, 2013.

Even though the burn ban has been lifted, no outdoor burning of combustible materials will be allowed during Critical Fire Danger Days and Red Flag Warning Days.  To view the current fire danger status, go to the Texas Forest Service website and click on Fire Danger/Drought.

Please be cautious with any outdoor burning activity.  Outdoor burning must be conducted under state regulations found in Texas Administrative Code Section 30 TAC 111.219.

Prior to conducting control burns, please take the following steps:

  1. Please contact your local fire department – Some fire departments may require a Burn Permit.
  2. Please contact Williamson County Communications – Please call and report your control burn to Williamson County Communications at (512) 943-1389.  Williamson County Communications should be able to inform you of any burning restrictions that Williamson County Communications has been made aware of and that may exist.