I was watching the YouTube video (link below) recently about the disasterous Highway 1 problem that continues to plague California. https://youtu.be/UWtVTnsLgLA?si=9WtaSlBWI5_z5f6V Then I remembered reading a book one time, many years ago about RG LeTourneau and what happened to him … Continue reading Highway 1 – Big Sur, California
I was talking to my granddaughter Emma last night. We were saying what a great thing it is that she is teaching at Faith Academy. I know she loves her job and that the kids that she teaches love her. … Continue reading The Butterfly Effect
Taggants is a word I have seldom used, but I’ve held it in my mind for the past almost fifty years. Yesterday I was watching an episode of Forensic Files. A very dated episode at that made probably 20 years … Continue reading Taggants – Used In Explosives
We once had a project, installing a really large waterline in Dallas. It was actually in the Oak Cliff neighborhood south of downtown. This was in the late part of the 1980s. It was a really rough part of the city. I haven’t spent much time there in the past couple of decades, but something tells me that things haven’t improved much. I’ll tell you how bad things were, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to find a dead body along the right of way of our project, which started out down near the Trinity River and came up … Continue reading Vicious Guard-Dogs – Oak Cliff, Texas
Usually you think of multi-car wrecks happening in Austin or Houston or Dallas. A little known fact is there was a wreck that happened right in Marble Falls, Texas that involved 13 vehicles back in the spring of 1970. I was involved. It was my senior year and I only went to school in the mornings and worked at a local car dealership in the afternoon. This one afternoon things weren’t to busy at the car lot so I ran home and grabbed a small trailer mounted air compressor and headed to Kingsland to drill a few holes for dynamite … Continue reading A 13 Vehicle Accident In Marble Falls
We had moved to Dripping Springs in the mid 80’s. It was a great place to raise kids. Life was really wonderful. Madeline was able to find something to occupy her time with every second of every day. And night. All of the little angels were involved in sports and a variety of other activities. We had an active church life with a great church family. Madeline was the Den Mother for the younger boys. It was Christmas time and we were hosting a party out at our place. Bunch of little Cub Scouts everywhere. Madeline could talk my brother … Continue reading Santa Comes to Dripping Springs
Anyone remember this story ? I read it in the Austin Statesman, about a fellow that worked downtown and would drive past Camp Mabry each day. One of the Jets on a pedestal caught his attention after awhile. The tail … Continue reading Jet on a Pedestal @ Camp Mabry
Fallout or Bomb Shelters were both used to describe these underground structures. Talking about the Nike Bases that were built to protect Bergstrom Air Force Base made me think back to the early 60s in Austin. My dad was working for a construction company doing what I’ve spent my lifetime doing, installing underground utilities. The company transitioned into building “private underground bomb shelters” all over Austin. The only one I remember ever seeing built was over in a neighborhood off of Airport Blvd., very near the old Austin Airport.I wonder how many are still intact after all these decades. The … Continue reading Private Fallout Shelters in the 1960s
In 1960 my Dad, Cecil worked as a construction inspector for Marvin Turner Engineering. He was assigned to overseeing the building of two missile launch sites in the Austin area. There were deep underground silos dug into the ground where the Nike Missiles were to be launched from. I’ve read that the launch sites were decommissioned in 1966. I think the program was being scuttled before it really ever got off the ground. There is one off of Bee Caves Rd. The Command Center, for both launch sites, has now become the Bee Caves Armory, is across Bee Cave Road … Continue reading Nike Missile Bases Built To Protect Bergstrom Air Force Base
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
Angora Chronicles 