Category: Amazing Things

Amazing Things, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

What Would Life Be Like If This Move Had Taken Place

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Back in 1963 or 1964 my dad was working for an old highway contractor in Austin. Holland Page, as a young man had started building Texas roads and highways when they were moving dirt with fresno’s and teams of mules. Mr. Page and Cecil Lewis developed a real liking for each other. We would go in with our dad to the office on Saturdays. We would prowl around the shop and yard area, which was about 4 blocks north of US 183 on North Lamar in Austin. Mr. Page would caution us about watching for rattlesnakes out in that jungle … Continue reading What Would Life Be Like If This Move Had Taken Place

Amazing Things, Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz2 Comments

Another Rock Blasting Story

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During the first 15 years of my contracting career most trenches in rock were blasted, before good productive and dependable rock trenchers were developed. We had one crew that their primary job was drilling and shooting (term we used for blasting) rock. We were building a new subdivision right behind the Bannockburn Baptist Church, before it was built, on Brodie at McCarty Lane in southwest Austin. All was going real good on that project. Don the crew foreman and our ace blaster was short handed, so he hired an old hippie that happened by. The old hippie’s only job was … Continue reading Another Rock Blasting Story

Amazing Things, Cecil Lewis, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Let me give you a little insight into my dad, Cecil Lewis.

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I hope I don’t give the impression that Cecil Lewis was an outlaw or something. He was, what can I say, he was Cecil Lewis. Truly a one of a kind. If he liked you he’d do anything for you, if he didn’t like you, he’d still do anything for you. He was liked by most people, respected by many but people knew to give him a wide berth.I owe much of my success to him. Not only in the things he taught me to do, but in the things I learned not to do. He was the nicest yet … Continue reading Let me give you a little insight into my dad, Cecil Lewis.

Amazing Things, My Friends, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Bud Lockhart – Trucker Extraordinaire

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I was about 13 years old, up underneath an old dump truck, single handedly putting in a new clutch. We were allowed to use an old covered platform dock down at Pure Stone for the purpose of working on our trucks. It had originally be put there as a loading dock, to load rail cars, but was no longer needed for that purpose. I could tell that a fellow had walked up and was standing beside the truck. I continued on working. About then this fellow squatted down so he could take in what was happening. We chatted as I … Continue reading Bud Lockhart – Trucker Extraordinaire

Amazing Things, Crazy TimesLeave a comment

Some Of The Craziest Things I’ve Even Seen Involving Fire

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I was watching the PBS Program Nova tonight. It showed a guy cutting a metal baking pan using bacon for the fuel. He had fashioned a tube out of bacon and by sending oxygen though the tube it made a dandy, yet crude cutting instrument. It made me think back to other wild things I’ve seen using fire. Of course growing up, I was like many kids that got out and built fires, like camp fires but we weren’t camping. We just built fires to entertain ourselves. The following is a story about those campfires https://www.facebook.com/groups/729839877052650/permalink/2260462960656993/ Below is a story … Continue reading Some Of The Craziest Things I’ve Even Seen Involving Fire

Aging, Amazing Things, Funny Happenings, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., My Friends, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way.

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I think his first one was a 125cc that he had when I first came to Marble Falls, starting the 8th grade. I don’t think he ran all over town on it, but rode it over on his side of town. Then he jumped up to a 350cc. It was metallic blue. That’s the one he wrecked on. During the repairing of it, he switched the color to a metal flake orange. A few years later he went up to a 450cc, then a 750cc. Buy the time he and I became reconnected in the 1990s he was riding a … Continue reading Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way.

Amazing Things, My Family, SmithwickLeave a comment

Andrew Theron Lewis – Graduate of The Sweeney School of Automotive Repair.

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May 29, 1920 I was going through some old files this morning and ran across this diploma of my grandfather. I had seen it before but never had really examined it. But to find this and look at the dates help me to understand how being shortly after the end of WW I and with more and more automobiles coming about, there was a real need for mechanics to keep them running. I don’t know how long he worked in the business of fixing cars, but being a farmer, the skills learned here were put to use throughout his life. … Continue reading Andrew Theron Lewis – Graduate of The Sweeney School of Automotive Repair.

Amazing Things, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

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I grew up around construction equipment and trucks. In the 60s when I was in high school Cecil Lewis ran a fleet of dump trucks. Among other things we had the contract to haul the blasted rock from the Pure Stone Quarry out south of Marble Falls back to the crusher in town. Even as young and as small as I was at 14 or 15, I commonly and single-handedly pulled transmissions and replaced clutches in those old dump trucks and did brake jobs. I knew how to do all that then. Now I have trouble putting a spare tire … Continue reading We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

Aging, Amazing Things, My Friends, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Don’t Wait Too Long To Rekindle A Friendship

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I was reminded today when a post from 2 years ago popped up, that this friendship almost got away from me. You can’t imagine how much I appreciated this thank you from him. A person would have only needed to have been around a few years prior on Facebook to know how crosswired the two of us become, arguing about stupid politics. Then with a special amount of coaxing on my part, he and I reunited and formed a special friendship, albeit for a fairly short time maybe just a year or so, before Larry passed on on May 22, … Continue reading Don’t Wait Too Long To Rekindle A Friendship