Good morning
We have been working on a house in Austin and one afternoon we arrived to find this lovely Texas spiny lizard sunning on some old bricks in the yard. The bricks are reclaimed from the chimney of the house. The house was built in 1925. When one of the previous owners modernized the house, they took out the heating stove. It did not appear to have had a fireplace, but rather a hole in the bricks for a pipe from a wood burning stove. The chimney had been walled in and was this small, square, floor to ceiling outjut in the corner of the living room. The house had not been taken care of when we purchased it and needed major repairs, this was how we discovered the old chimney. When we first reclaimed them, a neighbor of ours, Robert Burns, took them to use in front of his house along the street. After he sold the house and the new owner remodeled, the new owner knowing that they had come from our house, returned them.
Coffee and Captured Moments 
Awesome photo of the lizard! Interesting that you are restoring a 1925 house. It must be a rustic charming house when done. I hope you will show us once restored😊
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It is a small house, about 880 square feet, that was common at the time. Since it was before central air conditioning and heating, they designed it for cross ventilation. There were eight doors – two front doors and two doors per room along with the twelve windows. These could be opened up to allow the house to be cooled with the prevailing winds as much as possible in our hot Texas summers. We did the renovations about 25 years ago and were recently doing some maintenance to it.
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Wow! Sounds really great in harnessing natural air cooling and am glad you did as sometimes too much aircon can be drying to skin.
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The previous owners had actually added heating and air conditioning. we added a new unit and an attic fan, so all of the windows can be opened and the fan turned on to cool the house and not use the A/C.
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Sounds like you guys are really energy savers, saving the ozone and enjoy natural cooling! You really have a great house from what you shared here. Nothing is better than using natural air flow and fan to augment cooling during summer. 😊
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I appreciate your comments. I will admit the air conditioning is nice when the temperatures range around 90-100 degree Fahrenheit.
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Trust me I know as in Singapore we are having 33C to 34C daily. I need airconditioning as I live in a pigeon hole in highrise. Thank you for sharing your home😊
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