Category: Amazing Things

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

Amazing Things, Grandchildren, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Enjoying 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 Time With My Two Oldest Granddaughters

Amazing Things, The Early Days2 Comments

Travels Across The Desert

lewisotr

Few people ever went long distances prior to the last 4 or 5 decades. If they did it was making a migration to hopefully find a better life. That was in the summer of 1955. Maw-Maw Nonie and Paw-Paw Theron went with my parents and us to visit folks in California. Kenny and I were both were pre-school age, 3 & 5. All six loaded up in a new Mercury 2 door car that Cec had just bought. It of course didn’t have air conditioning. Being in the hot summertime Cec bought a contraption called a Car Cooler. It was … Continue reading Travels Across The Desert

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz5 Comments

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

lewisotr

I had a new Cat 385 that was delivered probably in 2003 or 2004. I ordered it equipped with a mass excavation boom and a short stick. I knew it would limit our ability to go very deep, but most of the jobs we were bidding on were hard rock jobs. When I compared the different stick and boom configurations, the breakout force of the one I ordered was almost double of a long stick machine. If we were going to be successful digging hard rock we need the most force that we could get at the teeth. The machine … Continue reading You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

Amazing Things, Old Dog - New Trick, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Story Of How A Little Ol’ Utility Contractor From Bertram, Texas Came To Own Two Giant Excavators

lewisotr

When we first acquired these machines in the later part of 2007, they were bought for a particular project, that was in some fairly hard limestone. We had approximately 6 to 7 miles of very deep wastewater to lay. We didn’t have our own deep trenchers that it would take to dig the depths we were going to need. We would generally subcontract that portion of the work out. We had equipped our two 385 Cats out with Leading Edge buckets (the very strange buckets at the bottom of the page) and had been having great success excavating rock with … Continue reading The Story Of How A Little Ol’ Utility Contractor From Bertram, Texas Came To Own Two Giant Excavators

Aging, Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., My Friends, Thoughts and Musings17 Comments

Let Me Tell You About John And About Friendship

lewisotr

John and I had many parallels in our lives. We both arrived in Marble Falls the same year, in the 8th grade. We both graduated five years later, in May of 1970, as did each of our future wives. All four of us were merely 19 years old when we married; both couples have been married every since. John went to college and I went straight on to work after high school. Very soon we each were in business. Therefore, neither of us really worked for anyone after just a short time, spending our whole lives in business for ourselves. … Continue reading Let Me Tell You About John And About Friendship

Amazing Things, Thoughts and Musings7 Comments

The Fox and the Ravens

lewisotr

A few days ago I was enjoying a nice spring afternoon sitting on the front porch swing. Sudden I heard the sounds of what appeared to be a couple of Ravens. They were close by. When I got up to go see what all the commotion was about, I saw them sitting in a live oak tree just outside of the yard. Not the actual bird, but one like it. The sounds of the common raven Just then I saw Oliver the Cat sticking his head through the net wire pasture fence that runs along the east side of the … Continue reading The Fox and the Ravens

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Kenny LewisLeave a comment

Kenny Lewis was always hard on vehicles

lewisotr

This was the result of a run-in with the bridge across the South San Gabriel River in RM 1869 just out of Liberty Hill, back in 1979. He hit the side of the bridge and flipped and landed about 30 feet below. Remarkably he wasn’t seriously hurt. He did get to spend the night in Brackenridge Hospital. I think he was pretty sore for a few days. A little addendum to this event: He got our mother and dad to pick him up at the crash site, but started feeling bad on the way to Smithwick, so had them turn … Continue reading Kenny Lewis was always hard on vehicles

Amazing Things, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Early Boyhood Memories

lewisotr

The Old Oak Tree at my grandmothers house along the highway in Smithwick (we lived in that house until I turned 4) that we played under and climbed in when we were kids. There were always at least a half dozen well made toy trucks and equipment, all constructed from metal that made their home under this marvelous tree. The Old Crib and Pens down behind the house. It is very weathered, considering it hasn’t been used or had any upkeep in more than 50 years. It was several decades old when I was a kid, for it to still … Continue reading Early Boyhood Memories