Category: Amazing Things

Amazing Things, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

It Took Me Weeks To Figure Out Why She Was Upset.

lewisotr

No long after we married in 1971, I came home with Madeline a brand new 1972 Dodge Demon automobile. It was an absolute beauty. White with a White Pearlescent Vinyl Top and Snowy White Interior. Very sporty but not in a hot rod sort of way. More in a very hot, young chick sort of way. That baby had all the beauty and innocents that my new wife had. My Dad had gone with me to Austin to buy it. I needed him to drive my pickup back. What better thing could a new husband do than go buy the … Continue reading It Took Me Weeks To Figure Out Why She Was Upset.

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

Eat More Goat

lewisotr

That is if you can afford it. The popularity of eating goats has sure driven up the price. Something about eating goat meat that really appeals to me. It’s not the taste or the texture. It has more to do with nostalgia. At Smithwick Homecoming time, at those long sheet iron pits out under the liveoak trees at the site of the old Smithwick School House (now the Smithwick Community Center) waiting for one of the men to cut off a sample is where my love of goat meat started. Fresh and hot, right off the pit. The sop that … Continue reading Eat More Goat

Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Dennis Gerald Skinner – Burnet County Hero

lewisotr

Yesterday a story was floated around here about a young child that was brought before the whole school or at least his class and given licks for taking something that didn’t belong to him. I wasn’t present when it happened but somehow I remember hearing about it. It was sort of a legendary thing around campus, I guess. I knew Dennis in a very minor way, running across him from time to time. The last time, he came and interviewed with me for a job, sometime in the late 1990’s. I remember we met at a job site near US … Continue reading Dennis Gerald Skinner – Burnet County Hero

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, My Friends, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

And This Fellow Loaned Me, A Complete Stranger $50,000

lewisotr

Back in the Winfield days of my construction career, we found ourselves a bit short of making a payroll one week. Winfield went to his former employer, the owner of a large CPA firm in Austin and asked him to make us a loan. Without any hesitation he agreed to spot us $50,000. His only request was that I come down to his office so we could meet. I met Winfield there and we went in. Without additional fanfare Mr. Simpson called his check writer person’s extension and requested a check. We walked out of that office with a check, … Continue reading And This Fellow Loaned Me, A Complete Stranger $50,000

Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The History of TexasLeave a comment

Bat Guano Mining Around The Area and Blowout, Texas

lewisotr

Bat Guano Mining During The Civil War:https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dkc09 I have never heard of this place or such a thing happening over by Johnson City or Round Mt. or Willow City. Blowout, TexasMore on primitive bat dooky mining and the hazards associated.http://www.texasescapes.com/MichaelBarr/Blowout.htm Blowout Community, a settlement fifteen miles northwest of Johnson City in northwestern Blanco County, dates back to 1854. That year a party of two dozen homesteaders from Kentucky settled on the east side of Comanche Creek near Comanche Spring, about three miles below the creek’s origin. As more settlers moved into the area the small community of Blowout developed upstream … Continue reading Bat Guano Mining Around The Area and Blowout, Texas

Amazing Things, The Early Days, The History of Texas6 Comments

Evolution of a State by Noah Smithwick

lewisotr

This is a post I originally made on the Texas History Books – Facebook Group I have always heard it said that this is one of the best, if not the best first hand account of the settling of Texas ever put into book form. I grew up with a 1st edition, 1900 copy of this book in our home. It had belonged to my grandfather, A.T. Lewis. I knew it was a book that had to remain in our family. I grew up in Smithwick Texas, with the old Smithwick Mill on the Colorado River being on part of … Continue reading Evolution of a State by Noah Smithwick

Amazing Things, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, The History of Texas, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Texas Crushed Stone Georgetown, Texas

lewisotr

Most everyone has driven by the huge rock crushing plant between Round Rock and Georgetown. How many know where it was located prior to move there in the late 50s? The area in Austin along Mopac and from Far West Blvd south was the original location for this operation. The area where Doss Elementary & Murchison Jr. High is located was once being blasted away to make limestone road base used all around the city. Being in the construction business building roads and underground utility lines all around central Texas for more than 4 decades we have used a lot … Continue reading Texas Crushed Stone Georgetown, Texas

Amazing Things, In and Around Austin, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

How Different Things Were In Austin Back In 1960

lewisotr

A while back on another group I’m on, we were commenting about Bruce’s & Barnett’s Pies made me think about the other things that were happening around Austin around that same time. It made me realize how simple our lives were five and half decades ago. The selections of eateries was really limited, but people didn’t eat out very often. Eating out was a special occasion instead of a way of life. My first memory of eating in a real restaurant was when I was 6 or 7. We were traveling home to Jollyville and it was getting late so … Continue reading How Different Things Were In Austin Back In 1960

Amazing Things, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Mary Ann Muldoon

lewisotr

Once again Facebook and The Angora Chronicles came through. (June 9, 2016) A couple of days ago, a letter showed up at the Marble Falls Post Office. It was addressed to the Post Master. In the letter was a note and eight photographs that were taken back in the 40s. The author of the note said she had an old friend, from childhood that she lost touch with and hadn’t spoken to in about 25 years. She gave the lady’s family name and her married name, as of 25 years ago. The 85 year old lady wanted help finding this … Continue reading Mary Ann Muldoon

Amazing Things, My Friends, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Summer Of 1961

lewisotr

Much of our summer of “61” was spent down in Woodsboro, Texas. Our dad was the chief inspector for Marvin Turner Engineers in Austin. He was sent to Woodsboro to oversee a complete makeover of the Water and Wastewater system. Knowing that we needed to do stuff that regular city kids did, we started off the summer by going to Austin and Navy Store on Congress to buy baseball gloves. I still have mine 60 years later. A new start up company, B & T Construction from Port Lavaca had the contracts to perform the work. I turned 9 years … Continue reading The Summer Of 1961