Author: lewisotr

One Hell Of A Guy
Amazing Things, My Friends, The Early Days, The Jollyville Years1 Comment

Just Another Strange Happening

lewisotr

When we were kids going to school in Jollyville, there were the Reeves boy’s that were the same age as Kenny and me. Donnie was Kenny’s age and Danny and I were in the same grade. We often visited each other’s house and played together. Then the Reeves’s cousin Elvin Horner came to live with them. He was a grade ahead Kenny and Donnie. The Reeves family moved and we lost touch with them. That was about 1963. By the mid 80s I was awarded a contract to construct a development project in Round Rock. When we got started building … Continue reading Just Another Strange Happening

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

My Crooked Nose

lewisotr

I earned my crooked nose. It took me a long time to learn what to do to keep from getting punched in the nose. It was mostly all about keeping my mouth shut at the right time. Back in the mid 70s we were doing a project on the east side of Houston. At I-10 and Federal Rd. to be exact. The job keep me later than usual so well after dark I found myself standing at a pay phone outside of Jim’s Coffee Shop on Federal Rd. Probably letting Madeline know to not wait dinner on me. At the … Continue reading My Crooked Nose

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz1 Comment

Cell Phones On The Cheap

lewisotr

After the prosperous years of the 80s came the real estate bust of the late 80s and early 90s. Kenny, Coy and I (of double tailed quarter fame) were teamed up again doing work together. The days of mobile phones had given way to pagers and pay phones.Mobile phones were very expensive in the early days. My average phone bill in the 80s was $1,000 – $1,200 per month. That wasn’t for the whole company, that was just me. I stayed on the phone constantly, conducting business and doing a fair share of BSing. Those costs just weren’t in the … Continue reading Cell Phones On The Cheap

Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Teacher’s Pet

lewisotr

I wasn’t the most well behaved student in Mrs. Corkers 8th grade class. That year was the first and only time I ever had to change schools. I must have tried hard to fit in. I certainly got my share of attention, for a new kid. She was considered a good teacher, but was very stern. English was my most difficult subject. I didn’t like it, I didn’t understand it. Mrs.Corker didn’t take to students that failed to excel in English. It was obvious that the two of us were going nowhere, fast. One day during class, she was talking … Continue reading The Teacher’s Pet

Aging, My Friends, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Sometimes If You Keep On The Trail, It Lead You To Where You Are Going

lewisotr

I had a good friend that passed on a while back. When he was still alive, he would sometimes ask me what I thought ever happened to a gal, that was his first love. I got busy and found out where she lived, even found him an address, which wasn’t too far off his beaten path. He never got the courage to make contact. I think he knew it’s wasn’t the thing to do. His life had made many turns and given that it appeared she had married a couple of times and had children and grandchildren, not making contact … Continue reading Sometimes If You Keep On The Trail, It Lead You To Where You Are Going

Crazy Times, The Early Days, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Car Sickness

lewisotr

It doesn’t seem like kids get car sick as much now as they used to. For nine years, from age 4 until I was 13 we maintained a Friday afternoon family ritual. When school would get out on Friday afternoon we would leave Jollyville and head to Smithwick. The road for some of the way was still unpaved, just a gravel road from Lago Vista to Smithwick. That stretch of road became RM 1431 and was paved, starting in 1958. The road from Whitestone to Smithwick was even more crooked back then than it is now. A way more crooked. … Continue reading Car Sickness

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, The Early Days1 Comment

My Wildest Trucking Story

lewisotr

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 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 have my old buddy Tommy Houy go along, I decided to wait around until he got off work at the Exxon Station at 11:00 PM. … Continue reading My Wildest Trucking Story

Aging, Funny Happenings, My Friends, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

When A Situation Presents Itself, I Always Say Take Advantage

lewisotr

Earlier this week I arraigned a lunch date with two high school friends, Sam Hall and Ronald Mayfield, from high school. They were good friends back in Marble Falls, but hadn’t seen each other since, which was about 50 years. We established that 11:30 AM at County Line on the Lake would be the place and time. I was passing near one of our projects where my middle son, Ron Jr was at. I thought it would be nice if he could join us, to get a flavor of what old time friendships are like. He jumped in an we … Continue reading When A Situation Presents Itself, I Always Say Take Advantage

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Nelson Took A Tumble

lewisotr

We were on a project in the early 70s between 12th and 32nd St, installing new water and wastewater lines all up and down I-35. We were moving water and wastewater lines for an expansion of Interstate 35. It was one of the most difficult projects I have ever been involved in. Nelson Lewis had a very sharp mind and could figure out these difficult jobs and how best to make everything work. Nelson was a great person to study under and learn the business from. I will always be thankful that I got my start working for him. Most … Continue reading Nelson Took A Tumble

Another Daily Happening, Kenny Lewis, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Our Dancing Pumps

lewisotr

My brother and I, growing up in a big rock pile in the late 50s and 60s, out on Spicewood Springs Rd, were very hard on shoes and cowboy boots. We could go through a pair of black hightop Keds in a few weeks. We always got black ones, because the white ones sure wouldn’t stand the test of time. I’d be off in a mud hole the first day. We had cowboy boots, mostly of the pointy toe variety. Round toe boots didn’t make a real entry until later in the 60s, it seems. But the leather soles on … Continue reading Our Dancing Pumps