It was at dusk on Sunday evening 12/15/13. As I drove north on I35 nearing Hillsboro, Texas I had an encounter with an apparent drunk driver. In front of me I saw a white S-10 Chevrolet pickup (an older vehicle … Continue reading The Mystery
If I started telling you about the Willy Willy Christmas Tree you’d have no idea what I was talking about. But to Madeline and me, we have known this special tree by that name for 50 years. That special tree is the Zilker Park Christmas Tree that just about every Austinite has probably stood under and twirled around. When our first born son, Matthew (born in 1974) was young, 2 or maybe 3, we had planned to go see “The Christmas Tree” one evening. There had been a big build up to seeing it, he had probably seen it on … Continue reading The Willy Willy Christmas Tree
Bonnie Gay would have been 93 next month, but she left us behind 35 years ago. She was only 57. Her sudden death on December 14, 1990 was one of the greatest shocks in my lifetime. It just didn’t seem like it was that time. She grew up poor, in a very large family. She was the 8th out of 11 children. Her oldest sibling was born in 1916 and the youngest was born in 1937. Her father died when she 9 years old. Bonnie went through the 8th grade at Smithwick Community School, then the 9th grade at Palm … Continue reading My Mother
Back in 1970, not too long after I graduated from high school, I was driving a truck for Nelson Lewis, hauling equipment all over the state. I remember being dispatched to Devine, Texas to haul a Parsons Trencher from there over to Port Lavaca. It was a trip of around 200 miles, maybe more with weaving my way down through the many little south Texas towns. This was before any big highways were built. Those towns were connected with Farm to Market Roads and a few State Highways. I got to Devine late in the afternoon one day, loaded the … Continue reading Hauling A Parsons Ladder Trencher
I wasn’t long out of school, probably had just turned 18. One of my first jobs was driving a haul truck for Nelson Lewis. He had just landed a project in downtown Austin, laying a wastewater line up West Ave. It started down at 7th St and would continue up to about the 24th block on Rio Grande St. Right up in the the middle of UT. The first piece of equipment I hauled to the job was an old White-Oliver Rubber Tired Backhoe. It was a beast, 4 wheel drive and all. It didn’t travel real fast, so the … Continue reading The VW Bus Was Parked In A Bad Spot
I was driving a truck for Nelson Lewis hauling equipment around the state, in the later part of 1970. I was 18 years old. I was driving a 1967 GMC 9500 “B Cab”, I think it was. I don’t think the truck collectors/restoration folks are seeking out these beauties. I had worked on a job-site in Burnet all day, but needed to be in Port Lavaca the following morning. There was an Inley Excavator (or a Trackhoe as we called them) there that needed to go up to Lake Jackson, further up the coast toward Galveston. Having a chance to … Continue reading My Wildest Trucking Story
Not so very long after we bought our place here in Bertram, I went up to a local used tractor dealer and made a deal for a Poppin Johnny Tractor. It was well past being worn out, but I more wanted something to play around with and work on occasionally. It was a John Deere “G”. I had grown up around one like it and loved the sound of it starting up and then listening to its unique sound of that 2 cylinder engine. The fellow I bought it from had done a good job of giving it a new … Continue reading Back in the 90s – When a City Boy Moved to the Country
This happened back in the winter of 1981 – 1982. It was a cold evening. I remember when this happened the same way I mark time for so much of my life. By what vehicle I was driving. It was 3/4 ton Chevrolet long bed, crew cab, a 1982 model. Chevrolet had just started making a 6.2 liter Diesel engine for their pickups. It was advertised to be the greatest advance in power that had ever been. I had to have one. I found one. I didn’t care what color it was or where I had to go to get … Continue reading The Guy Had An Accident. Perhaps You Could Say He Had Two.
LJ lived in Burnet. He and my Dad were friends for most of their lives. They entered the service at the same time. There is a story of them hitchhiking back home to Burnet Co. at some point. Either during … Continue reading LJ Henderson – The Best Blaster In The Country
I was about 10 years old. LJ was drilling a well for us in Smithwick. He got me off to the side to ask me a few questions. “When your daddy goes fishing, what kind of bait does he use“?I was more than willing to tell him my daddy didn’t use, bait. He used a telephone to fish with. He got me to tell him exactly how it was done and how many fish they would get each time. About that time he reached in his pocket a flashed something, real fast, saying “you see this badge, I’m an undercover … Continue reading An LJ Henderson Memory
Angora Chronicles 