Author: lewisotr

One Hell Of A Guy, If I do say so myself.
Crazy Times, Grandchildren4 Comments

Don’t Do It

lewisotr

I had told him several times to not do it. But I guess he couldn’t help himself. Tyler was living with his family in San Antonio. He was probably around 5 years old. When I would go down there to check on jobs, I’d often bring my oldest grandson back home to Bertram with me. I bought him one of the wooden rubber band guns when we left San Antonio. The revolver type, that held multiple rubber bands. Several times he pointed it at me, in a playful teasing way. Each time I’d tell him “you had better not shoot … Continue reading Don’t Do It

Crazy Times, My Friends, On The Job, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Dink Wrote Me A Check

lewisotr

George Lester McDuff was a fiery little fellow. Everyone called him Dink and he always had a story to tell. He had the ability to make me laugh. He could make anyone laugh. I first met Dink in 1963, when I was just a kid. He and my dad worked for the same utility construction company. Dink ran the roadboring division. Roadboring is where a horizontal hole is drilled under a roadway or railroad track a then pipe is installed. It was dirty work with mud knee deep and oil and grease everywhere. But everyday Dink showed up in starched … Continue reading Dink Wrote Me A Check

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early DaysLeave a comment

I Would Be Considered Dink’s Stalker In Today’s Terms

lewisotr

Dink McDuff was one of my best friends in my earliest days in the contracting business. I had know him since about 1963 or 64. He and my Dad had worked for the same company, doing underground utility construction. I thought he was the funniest person I’d ever met. Being about 12 years old upon our first encounter, it didn’t take much to impress me. After going into business at 19 years old our paths crossed and it didn’t take long for us to have some sort of a partnership. It wasn’t an enduring sort of deal, so within a … Continue reading I Would Be Considered Dink’s Stalker In Today’s Terms

Amazing Things, On The Job, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Check Washer

lewisotr

Years ago, maybe 1977 or 78 a fellow showed up in our office selling portable check embossing machines. Those are the ones that punched a series of tiny perforations in the amount line of the check, to make it less likely to be forged. As part of his sales pitch he had us write out a check and within 3 minutes he had put a solution on the check and washed all the ink off. He left our signature on it by taping over it before the washing started. Then he made it out to himself with a million dollars … Continue reading The Check Washer

Crazy Times, On The Job, The Construction Biz1 Comment

Hiring The New Office Guy

lewisotr

Many years ago I had lost my office person to a better opportunity in Houston for him. I knew of this young man that I thought would be a perfect replacement. This fellow was very good with radio’s. In fact he had been trained in electronic repair. He was a HAM Radio Operator. That would come in handy, because back then when most all of our dispatching was done with 2-way radios. We had just started using computers in the business and Joe was already getting into computers himself. This fellow was very orderly and organized like no one I’d … Continue reading Hiring The New Office Guy

Uncategorized2 Comments

Unraveling A Fifty Five Year Old Mystery

lewisotr

I never thought that I’d be the one writing this. But I figured someone needs to. Not wanting to hurt anyones feeling or cause pain to anyone, I intentionally left out the names of those involved. Anyone familiar with the story will recognize it immediately and if you don’t, it shouldn’t make any difference to you. I find myself between a rock and a hard place telling what I believe is the answer to a decades old murder, a murder of a young girl that was killed in my hometown, when we were in the 8th grade. I am writing … Continue reading Unraveling A Fifty Five Year Old Mystery

Construction, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz2 Comments

I Could Never Pass Up Tools Laying In The Road

lewisotr

It always amazed me how often I used to find tools, like wrenches, hammers, screw drivers and the like laying on the road when I was traveling from place to place. I always accused my careless mechanic Paul of being the one that lost most of them. Almost any day I could drive out of the yard and find something Paul had left laying under the hood or on the bumper that would fall off. Of course he wasn’t too worried about it as long as I had charge accounts at all the parts houses in Austin. Paul’s carelessness fed … Continue reading I Could Never Pass Up Tools Laying In The Road

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz3 Comments

Some Days It Goes From Bad To Worse (June 2020)

lewisotr

The day seemed bad when you can only see a little bit of the Cab and Blade on a D-8 showing. Then you bring in a Cat 349 Excavator to dig it out. Now there are 2 truck loads of crane mats, a Cat 385 and 4 more D-8 winch dozers on the way to rescue this mess. Well they got it all worked out and have moved right along since June 2020 – Tesla Gigafactory https://www.torquenews.com/14335/tesla-austin-texas-stunning-giga-factory-aerial-footage/amp Concept Drawing of Finished Building Continue reading Some Days It Goes From Bad To Worse (June 2020)

Amazing Things, Grandchildren, Thoughts and Musings4 Comments

If you want something badly enough, can you make it happen?

lewisotr

Is it possible for a person to want something enough that they can make it come true ? My case in point; My grandson Will loves basketball more than almost anything. He knows that being tall will make him a better basketball player. He comes from a family of not extremely tall people, on either side. But now as he starts his sophomore year in high school he is 6’-2” tall and it doesn’t appear he’ll stop growing anytime soon. So is there a special force at work? I guess we’ll just have to stand back and watch what happens. … Continue reading If you want something badly enough, can you make it happen?

Amazing Things, Funny Happenings, Grandchildren, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Enjoying Spending Time With My Two Oldest Granddaughters

lewisotr

It was 8 years ago yesterday when Holly and Emma were early teen and preteen. The three of us went down to The Woodlands, Texas for them to attend a music concert. As they look back and reminisce about that trip I think they count it as one of their best adventures. Now we are one a 8 day trip that had us fly into Salt Lake City, then we drove up to Bear Lake and stayed our first night with them and their Grandma sleeping in a Conestoga Wagon (fixed up very nicely to accommodate the three of them) … Continue reading Enjoying Spending Time With My Two Oldest Granddaughters