Hey Y’all I Have A Serious Question

When someone recommends a book to you, and as you read it, it has very sexually graphic parts in it, how do you feel about it. Are you left thinking – Why am I reading this trash ? The author could have done this book without such language? Why wasn’t I warned more about this? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a 70 year old male prude. I can read just about anything. Books can be very graphic and I’m not bothered at all by it. Life in itself is very graphic. The human animal can be very graphic. … Continue reading Hey Y’all I Have A Serious Question

You Haven’t Lived Until…….

On the road seeing the sights of the beautiful mountains of New Mexico and Colorado. Motorhome travel has its own special treats. Pull over and stop whenever you please (within limits). This morning I poured myself and my wife/driver nice paper bowls of a good Kellogg’s cereal, the kind that has a variety of flakes and dehydrated strawberries. Once the milk hit the bowl the strawberries came to life. We each finished our last bite at the same time. I actually scraped the bottom of the bowl to get the very last of that yummy goodness. That last spoonful tasted … Continue reading You Haven’t Lived Until…….

The Lone Ranger

My friend of many years, John R Hughes, who passed away 4 years ago next week, told me many times that he was named after his great uncle the famous Texas Ranger John Reynolds Hughes. John R. as he was always refereed to, not John very often, but John R would tell a story. I’m sure if he ever told me that his famous great uncle was actually the Lone Ranger (without a mask I’m almost sure) I probably would have laid it off to just being a wild tale or something. But doing a little reading up on the … Continue reading The Lone Ranger

A Hunting Trip To Utah

Back in the days, mid 1980s, when I had the energy to trek up and down mountains hunting deer I went off to Utah with few others to hunt for the big one. We were supposed to spent five days up there and not a one of us ever got a shot off. Of course it was the worst spell of rain to ever hit that area. It was however one of the greatest adventures that any of us had ever been on. This trip happened right in the middle of the double tailed quarter episode that I’ve written about … Continue reading A Hunting Trip To Utah

Chief The Stuttering Mexican

Back in the days, the 1970s and into the 1980s when blasting was necessary on almost every project, we would have to hire outside “blasting contractors” to supplement our forces. We had done this for a big subdivision we were building and this guy was well into a project and he hadn’t shown up for a couple of days. I would stop by and it was evident his crew was without leadership and therefore without direction. So I ask where their boss was. No one knew but they were beginning to get concerned because payday was coming up and he … Continue reading Chief The Stuttering Mexican

Things Are So Much Different Now Than They Were 50 Years Ago

When I was a teenager, you could get a gun pulled on you and not end up dead. During a two year time frame, my junior and senior years, I was on the receiving end of a handgun four times. Each circumstance was way different from the others. But back then people knew how to point a gun at you and not pull the trigger. Now when someone shows you thier gun, there is a good chance they are going to shoot you. In fact out of those four incidents, there was only one time that a gun even discharged. … Continue reading Things Are So Much Different Now Than They Were 50 Years Ago

The Schefflera Plant Incident

Madeline had a plant she always kept right outside the front door in a huge pot. She took such great care of it. She would have me bring it in during part of the year. She always monitored my coming and going with it to be sure I didn’t knock any leaves off of it. She was very particular about that Schefflera. It was about 4 feet tall, therefore it required a large pot which was really heavy. She said something to me one day that I didn’t take real kindly to and rushed out the front door. I know … Continue reading The Schefflera Plant Incident

The Strange Case Of The OSHA Inspections

We were involved in a very high profile construction project in Austin, the north extension of Loop One. This was during a time span between 2005-2007. We were a subcontractor relocating various water and wastewater lines to allow for the highway expansion. All eyes were on us, as we were working for a consortium comprised of two large highway contractors, with oversight by TxDot, The Tollway Authority and City of Austin. Our work is always under scrutiny, due to the dangers involved in digging deep trenches, but this project had many extremely difficult circumstances with traffic congestion being one of … Continue reading The Strange Case Of The OSHA Inspections

It’s All About Timing

A fellow I know used to enjoy having a few beers in the afternoon as he’d make his rounds feeding cattle and such. It was pretty late in the evening, or perhaps I should say night, it occurred to him that he didn’t want to start the next day with a dirty pickup. So he pulled into an automatic carwash, the kind that has an arm that starts at the front on the passenger side and slowly makes its way down that side, circles around the back and heads back to the front spraying soap and water the whole way. … Continue reading It’s All About Timing

The Strange Encounter With Heiko

 When we first bought our home in Corpus Christi back in 2012 we did a minor makeover job to it. This mostly was done before we moved in. We hired a contractor to do the remodeling and painting. We also found a pool contractor to build what I called the largest hot tub or smallest swimming pool in Corpus.  I couldn’t find a good and affordable landscape company so I was glad when Madeline handed me a business card that a fellow had stopped by and given her. Madeline had been out in the front yard, when this very large … Continue reading The Strange Encounter With Heiko