Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary

On April 1st the family and I decided to go to the zoo. I had planned on going to Waco but my husband mentioned the Austin zoo. Thinking that it would be a nice big "city" zoo I agreed. I looked up the website Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary to find the address and admission prices. I should have done a little more homework because when we arrived it was not what I expected.

Now there wasn't anything "wrong" with it. I just wish I would have actually "read" the website. "Zoo" should be used very loosely. It is more of an animal sanctuary. "The mission of Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary is to assist animals in need through rescue, rehabilitation and education." In saying that, that is all they have. If the animal is not a rescue then they don't have it. If they didn't rescue an elephant, they don't have an elephant. This is a very good organization and I love the idea of it being an animal rescue but I don't like the idea of "zoo." I have been to San Antonio, Denver, Colorado Springs and Fresno Zoos; That is what I am used to. That was the major upset for me.

It is located in the Texas Hill Country and anyone who's from Texas knows the hill country is covered in Mesquite and Cedar trees. I don't tend to have allergies but this place was absolutely covered in it, that you could smell it. Of course this is no fault of the zoo but I was miserable. And to make matters worse the ground is not paved it is "crushed granite gravel." So it was just a dusty miserable place for me.  "I" didn't mind walking on gravel, that is not a big deal to me but my nose has a different opinion. I did also see a few woman struggling with strollers. I think a jogging stroller would be beneficial at this place.

Now a good thing was  the "animals are housed in native Texas Hill Country enclosures created to fit in naturally on our grounds that allow the animals to enjoy real grass and landscaping as opposed to concrete exhibits." This was very nice. They had a lioness and a tiger that just about walked right up to fence. Beautiful animals. There is also a train that you can take. We didn't get on it so I can't really say where it takes you. It is an additional charge aside from admission.

Overall this isn't a bad place. It just let me down. I had high expectations. The animals are taken care of and rehabilitated so I guess that's all that matters. So make sure you put on your walking shoes (allergy pills) and have a nice day in the Texas Hill Country.

Comments from someone who works in Transportation.

I was left these comments on on of my later posts and thought they were very informative so I thought to make a whole post for them. I hope you find them very useful...



I work at a Transportation Office for the US Army and I would like to comment on a few things that you stated in your blog about your moving experience. The most important thing would be what you said about the movers reimbursing you. First, if you have a claim to file, you must do so through the same system you booked it with...the Defense Personal Property System. The carrier that moved your shipment (TSP) is the one who will pay the damages. These people may not have even touched your property at all. The packers are not the carriers. They are agents of the carrier and as such, they will be the ones who will actually compensate the TSP if there is any damage to your property. But the carrier will handle that, not you. You only deal with the carrier, not the packers (or movers who were your packers in your case). Your government shipment is insured up to $50,000 at full replacement value. This is major improvement over depreciated value up to $40,000 from years past. You don't go through the government unless you have to. You are correct in stating that the movers reimburse you, but it has to be done through the system which then is tracked by the SDDC (the "Government"). If the TSP (transportation service provider aka the carrier) doesn't honor his agreement with the government to provide the claims coverage, which may be a straight offer of less than $500 at residence for minimum damage, a repair to restore the damaged item to it's previous or better condition, a negotiated settlement or outright payment for the item, then you could turn the claim over to the military claims office (JAG). The government will pay out your claim at depreciated value as they have in the past, but they will go after the carrier, for lack of better language, and recoup the balance of full replacement and when they do, you will get the balance of your claim. This doesn't mean you get $50,000. It means that you will be compensated at full replacement value for your property if it cannot be repaired or replaced up to that amount. Usually, the carrier will pay out you rather than go through the repair or replacement phase. You are also on a time line when you file your claim. You must file the loss/damage report within 75 days of delivery to your residence, but you actually have a total of 9 months to file the claim. Almost all claims are settled before going into a full blown claims status...about 30 days after the loss/damage report filing. The TSP knows that you can select him again if you are pleased with the way he handled your move or you can choose him as the "non-preferred" TSP. And, more importantly, you have a mouth. You can use it to either talk good about the carrier...or not...to your other military friends. May bad mouths will drop the carrier off the government's list. You almost always have a choice of carrier when the government moves your shipment as long as that carrier is in the quad that serves your area on the particular day you choose to move and you have given enough lead time notice to pick up your shipment (shipments scheduled less than 6-7 days from the day you give Transportation your paperwork is called a short-fuse shipment and it is laid out there for any carrier to pick). If for some reason you cannot go through the DPS system to file your claim initially, you must fax, email, mail or somehow get the Loss/Damage Report to the carrier within your 75 day window. As long as they receive it before the deadline, you are good to go back onto DPS when you can to file. Document who you sent it to and any type of delivery receipts.

Next section...

Some transportation offices, like mine, will even fax it for you, give you numbers to call and help you anyway we can. Some other offices just won't even if they could and many are really too big for micro-personalized assistance. Go up the chain of command at that post if you must. Don't be afraid to do it, just follow the chain and document, document.

If you notice issues with your packers or your delivery people on the day they are doing their stuff, you need to call your Transportation Office to send someone out to check it out. We have 2 Quality Assurance Inspectors at our office and we are a much smaller post than most of the army posts in the country. Many posts don't have any, but they do have supervisors and a Transportation Officer. If you are not happy with the way the Transportation is handling your move, go to the Transportation Officer...not the supervisor who runs the office, the head guy...the government guy who runs Transportation/Logistics.

Not sure where your property came from, but when your property is put into storage for delivery instructions, they are not put into crates. They are set on pallets in the storage warehouse awaiting delivery in the same boxes they were packed in. The only time something may go into a crate would be an OCONUS move for HHG or Non-Temp Storage which is longer than 6 months in most cases. Crating for CONUS moves have to be pre-approved by the TO and if not, then it is it at your cost.

Hope you took pictures of your "fixed" lamp because that's still a damaged lamp. Seems that someone tried to pull one over on you. Make sure you file if you haven't already.

I always advise my clients to take pictures of everything they own before they get packed up so they have some documentation of what things looked like before someone became Handyman or Conan the Destroyer. Take photos of your TV on and off. Take a video of your microwave working, etc. And always have at least one other person with you when it's moving day. The more people you have for eyeballs, the less hectic for you and the less chance of something going missing because you weren't there to see it put into the box.

The packers are not supposed to label what's in the boxes on the boxes. That's what your inventory is for.



When you are delivered out, it is your ENTITLEMENT to be fully unpacked and placed once by whoever is delivering your property UNLESS YOU REFUSE THE UNPACKING. Furniture must be reassembled if it is disassembled at origin by the packers. You can choose to be partially unpacked or not unpacked. But your entitlement is to be fully unpacked and placed once (dishes in blue cabinet. Later, during the unpacking you want them in the red cabinet...tough beans, they were already placed once. Hubby must move to red cabinet.) Some unscrupulous folks are hoping you don't know your entitlements. Please make sure that you do. That's your responsibility (and your husband's).

It is also your responsibility to speak up while the packers/delivery people are there so that the Transportation Office can do something about it right then and there. Even though some of us have and can perform miracles with pickups, we don't have ESP. If it is after hours, then you call them first thing the next morning. Like I said, if the supervisor cannot or will not help you, go to the TO. If he's a problem, go to JAG or the Inspector General on post. You never ever have to take any crap from a packer or someone who just will not do their job. Ever. On the reverse side, if you are rude and unreasonable with the packers/movers...you will get it back tenfold even though they should know better. If you are going to file a complaint, go through the channels and keep going until you are satisfied.

As far as being late...you or your releasing (or receiving agent at destination) are required to be at your residence each packing day and the pickup day between 8 am and 5 pm. They can come any time in that time frame. They are not required to set an appointment time. They may accommodate a morning or afternoon request depending on the rest of the day's schedule, but they are not required by their contract with the government to be there at any specific time except between 8 am and 5 pm. Look at it like you would the cable guy or the phone guy and you are not the only one that they are servicing that day.

If this doesn't work for you, there's alway a DITY move...now called a PPM...and you will know your things are packed properly, nothing gets stolen, nothing gets lost unless you lose it yourself. You have access to your property immediately. You are still authorized 90 days of temporary storage at destination if you are lacking a residence. You will be reimbursed for the storage once your property is out of storage. Ask at Transportation.

Nice tip about the packaging. I will remember to counsel my soldiers on that.

Wish I could help on the housing situation. Killeen, Lawton and surrounding big towns around military bases have and will survive without Ft. Hood or Ft. Sill. It's the smaller ones like Daleville, AL that would croak. You are absolutely right about getting screwed on housing. The "economy" landlords know about your BAH and they are going to suck every penny out of you that they can. You are almost better off giving all your BAH to on-post housing if the housing is fairly decent. At least you'd be on-post near your commissary and PX and other things, your grass will be cut, you have free water and power to a reasonable level. But if you really think you are getting screwed by the off-post landlords, again, the Inspector General's Office is a good place to start. Do not let these kinds of things fester. Do something about it. If the ones at the top don't know about it because the ones on the bottom or in-between don't say anything, then nothing gets done and people get away with it.

Good luck on future PCS moves. Contact me through here if you need information.

The Problem with Playgroups

As a military family you are constantly moving and would like your children, especially your non school aged children, to socialize since you are not around family. So you go out and look for playgroups and frg socials to find someone to connect with and have your child play with. I am a member of Meetup.com. This is an excellent way to find social groups around you. People go to this web site and advertise their "clubs." For example, playgroups, scrapbookers, knitter, bike clubs, book clubs and so much more. I found this site when I was living in San Antonio and my son was an infant. I met up with a group twice but it wasn't for us. My son was just too young to socialize than.

When we moved to Colorado Springs my son was one and walking around so I decided that we should join a playgroup. I went back to meetup. com and joined Connect - the - Tots. This group was just great. The first time I arrived to a playdate I was immediately greeted by the organizer and was given the low down and at the end of the date I was asked what I thought and was ask to continue showing up. I did. This group did expand to over a 100 moms but I think that was great because there were NO CLIQUES. Of course you had a group of moms you saw more often and hung out with more often but I never ran into anyone unwelcoming. Everyone I met was very welcoming and spoke/treated everyone with great respect. I miss these women very much. I wish them all the best.

Well I got to Killeen and it was all a different story. I almost want to say because they are army wives because I did have a few problems with the few army wives in Colorado but this place is army wife central so I don't know. I joined Hot Mommas, a group of about 20 moms. Just like the previous playgroup the organizers here were absolutely wonderful. I was always greeted and always spoken to. The rest of the members never said a word to me. I would try to get into the conversations or make small talk but I would get a quick, "ha ha," an eye roll, and a walk away. I spoke with the organizers most of the time I went to anything. I did talk to one mom there but that is because she directly came up to me and told me that she would talk to me because no one else will welcome me.  I honestly don't care as long as my son has an opportunity to play. The last event I went to was the Valentine's party. My son was running around with another little girl.  They ran into each and bumped heads. She ran to her mother and said she got hit. I tried to apologize to the mother since he daughter was crying (even though I shouldn't have had to) but she didn't want to hear. "Oh well." I thought. Later that night she posted on the playgroup message board that her daughter got punched in the face. I was furious. I told her that if she spent more time watching her kids and less time socializing she would know what had happened. Evidently that comment opened up the floodgates and I was told by the organizers that I shouldn't "insult" anyone. If you people think that comment was an insult you got another thing coming. Every one of those mom lets there kids run wild to where they run outside the building, are sitting on the bathroom floor eating toilet paper and beating each other up. But since I said something, the truth, I rocked the boat and pissed everyone off. I left this group. I couldn't believe what idiots, yes Hot Mommas, IDIOTS, I was dealing with. Unfortunately Killeen is a small town and everyone talks to everyone, I haven't had luck with another playgroup. I "applied" to another one on Feb 12th and still haven't heard anything. I guess I will just have to wait until my son turns 3 in a couple of months then I can put him in sports.

Hair Salon Review

Here's my first review happened a few months ago but it still boils my blood.
Great Clips. Harker Heights
I am a stickler when it comes to customer service. I walked in and was standing at the counter to check in. Now the stylists were all busy but someone could have said, "Hi, have a seat we'll be right with you." I understand you are busy but don't just see we walk in and pretend I'm not standing there waiting to check in. So I waited. A stylist finished and then ran away to the back. I am assuming she was the manager since she was doing inventory and telling the other stylists what to do. She never came to the front to sign me in. I finally got up and asked to be signed in. I was given the eye roll. I guess I was inconveniencing her. I had my son with me since it was for his haircut. I wanted to see a product that was on the shelf so I asked him to get it for me. The "manager" was doing inventory nearby and saw him reaching for a product. She was telling him not to touch and I kept shouting "It's ok I want to see the product." She was more than likely ignoring me and as I was walking over to him I was able to stop this broad from SLAPPING my son's hand. I slapped the crap out of her hand to push it away from his. By this time I had the whole salon in a uproar about her attempting to hit my son. While I was yelling at her and how dare she attempt to hit someone else's child all she did was respond with, "I'm going to refuse you service. You need to leave". Ha Ha big loss to me. So if you go here and you see a fat, black haired woman watch your kids or they might get whacked. I understand that these stylist probably take a lot from peoples kids. Some run around screaming and knocking down things but that in no way gives them the right to strike a child. I probably should have called the regional manager to file a complaint but from what I hear from other people is that stylists change at that store so frequently that it probably wouldn't have matter.

Back with a Vengence

So I know it has been about 6 mos since I have written but that is all about to change. I have a little more time now. I have learned how to better manage my time. I have also decided to to change the format of my blog. Even though I am an army wife that does not consume my life. Actually it doesn't effect me at all really. I can not base my blog on this because I would not have anything to write. I am also a veteran, a  mother, a fashion follower, and a consumer. I have decided to make this blog a little more personal and talk about things that interest me. I will talk about how I can't for the life of me get my son to listen. How being an army wife COMPLETELY overshadows the fact that I am a veteran and shouldn't be treated like I'm uneducated. I will also be doing reviews on places/playgroups/people I come across. I feel this is helpful and "military" related since we are always moving and wondering about places. As a mom I like to hear about products that were awesome or were a waste of money. I will not do many of these as you could just look them up at the store's website, but if I find something that's worth mentioning I will. I am trying to do a little bit of something for everyone. I always have things to say and now I can. I hope you enjoy my "expanded" blog.

****DISCLAIMER****

• I am going to be COMPLETELY honest. I will NOT sugarcoat anything! A swear word might slip in. I am very passionate about what I write.
• I will not use people's names. I will however use sgt, 1sg, cdr... whatever title they hold.
• I will not say anything negative about any military program. Unless something was utterly out of line. If I had nothing good to say about them that means they were, "ok"
• I will mention civilian businesses, products and playgroups by name and release location information.
• Any product reviews that I do are non bias and are based on my own opinion. I buy all the products and review them without receiving pay.

MOST IMPORTANTLY... If you figure out who my family is, or any person that I am talking about, I ask that you  DO NOT mention it on my blog. Any comments will be removed and you will be removed from my blog. Thanks

FINALLY settled in but it wasn't easy!

This is going to be a long post. Have LOTS to say.

The movers came like they were suppose to but late of course. I was very satisfied with these movers very friendly and accommodating.  My only complaint was they put my dining room table together completely wrong. I don't even know how they thought it was put together, when I wanted to slide it over a little so my son could play on the title the table just fell apart. Thankfully my husband was nearby to catch the table top or it probably would have cracked and cracked the tile. I had told the movers that we did not need them to assemble anything but the bed since it is easier with more people. Other then that hardly anything was broken. I think things became broken when they got "Shoved" into the storage crates. When the mover opened one of them up he was almost crushed since everything fell out on top of him. Thankfully it was just clothes and oddly shaped things. What was broken was a DVD rack. It was "cheapy" since it was from Wal Mart and made of partical board. Everything like that seems to get chipped or broken. My Dresser had a bent handle. Lot of force to bend a handle they were really shoving. Also a Torchiere lamp that I had to replace from the last move. I had 2 of the same Tochiere lamp one had a broken shade but was glued back together. The new one was perfect. When we received it the "fixed" lamp shade was completely shaddered and the new one was cracked. On the body the reading lamp portion was completely separated from the body. Some how all our other glass survived. Oh here is an important point of advice,

**When unpacking the boxes open up EVERY piece of wrapping paper.**

Even if you think it is for stuffing or there is nothing in it. LOOK! We had unpacked the whole kitchen and couldn't find the plastic piece that makes the microwave plate turn. We knew that it could only be in the kitchen boxes since they were the last thing packed. Thankfully we threw all the paper into the tall garment boxes. I opened up every piece of paper and finally found the plastic piece . A few other items were like that so be very aware.
So for the broken things the MOVING COMPANY reimburses you not the government. When you go to Transportation to turn in your paperwork they well give you all that information on what to do. The hubby hasn't showed it to me yet.

Ok so lets talk about this damn Property Manager of mine. When you are living in a predominately military town where they wouldn't exist if the post/base was there (Killeen, Lawton, etc)you are going to get royally screwed. They know soldiers need a place to live and if one soldier doesn't get it another one will. Thankfully I have gotten the workorders I have put in fixed. I just don't understand why they weren't fixed in the first place. "Normally" you wouldn't put a house up that looked like this,

To Be Continued (Laptop Dying)

Somethings wrong with this Picture

So thankfully this move has been a success. The packers arrived promptly at 9am. 2 women. They came in looked around and went to their truck (size of a uhaul) to gather their materials. They started packing the master bedroom. I had stepped out to changed my son's pamper and when I walked in most of the room had been packed. I don't really have nice breakable things so I wasn't worried about that. They were just so quick that honestly I don't think they had time to go through things. Whatever I had that was breakable was nicey packed and labled. I was very confident about these packers and would recommend them to others. The one thing I did not care for and actually really bothered me was when they packed a "valuable" item in a box they put the name of the item and the serial number on it. Since our things were to sit in storage briefly I was uncomfortable with this, but they said it was policy. I later called and was told it was. There was a brief 30 minute delay between the packers and the movers. Although it was nice that the packers were not the movers. The driver was a little annoyed that it was not mentioned in his paperwork that he also had to pick up at our storage unit. He was driving a semi and no way was he going to make it in the storage unit. His attitude quickly changed and he was very thorough and proficient with his inventory of our boxes. Actually he was almost a little to thorough and didn't leave for our storage until 4:30 pm. He arrived at 12:30. My husband went with them to our storage and helped them move the boxes from there because we were tired and hungry.
We went house hunting (rental) this past Monday and did find a house we did like BUT what a crappy property manager. When they charge the previous tenant for damages done I would think they would fix the damages before they tried to rent the property again. Well not this place. Most of the damages are things we don't mind replacing like torn screens but when a dog destroyed the siding on the house to expose studs and water pipes then I am going to raise hell.

 

We were told that when the inspector comes out to go over our move in checklist with us he will "decide" whether things need to be replaced. If this is blatantly obvious that this needs to be fixed then I am going to raise all kinds of hell. It was a nice house, was available now and was a good deal that's why we overlooked it. Tuesday is when the inspector comes so we'll see what happens then. Also they gave us the wrong zip code so when I called USAA to move things over the agent noticed that I had the wrong zip. That meant I had to call all of our utilities over AGAIN because I was given the wrong zip.  
Tell me since when has it taken 3-5 business days to have the electricity turned on! I have paid a prorated rent but can't "move in" until the 31st because the electricity isn't on. I really feel like I am being scammed.