Category: Amazing Things

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, On The JobLeave a comment

With All The Rain We’ve Had……..It Can Always Be Worse.

lewisotr

I think back on how wet it’s been and how devastating all the rains can be on the construction business. I will recall a couple of my biggest weather related nightmares that were a result of heavy rains. The Memorial Day Flood in Austin back in 1981 found us building Jester Blvd off of RM 2222. We were getting close to the end of it. We had been more than a year doing that project and we were days from being ready pave the roads. One single night 11 inches of rain fell on top of Jester Mountain. In just … Continue reading With All The Rain We’ve Had……..It Can Always Be Worse.

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A Strange and Tragic Happening In Bertram on July 27, 1887

lewisotr

This was covered on here before. Something was mentioned on another post a few days ago when we were talking about the old lumber yard in Bertram, so thought I’d bring it back around. Joanne Myers added this copy of a newspaper clipping. Complete newspaper clipping on Burnet TXGenWeb here: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txburnet/Phinney-Sinclair.html Continue reading A Strange and Tragic Happening In Bertram on July 27, 1887

Amazing Things, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Then and Now

lewisotr

I graduated from high school in May 1970. By the fall of 70 I went to work in the underground utility industry. I believe I was earning around $3.00 per hour. Considering the minimum wage back then was $1.60, I was doing pretty well. A top operator was paid $3.75 per hour. By late spring of 1972, I had learned enough about the business, plus what I had picked up being around trucks and machinery my whole life, I subcontracted my first water line installation project in Burnet, Texas. I had a crew of 4 or 5 people including myself. … Continue reading Then and Now

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What A Novel Idea !!!!

lewisotr

We have all grown used to calling up customer service and talking to someone that you can’t understand. That’s because that person is actually sitting in a call center in India, The Philippines or Bangladesh. I was having a conversation with a lady that works in a call center located right here in our fair little town of Bertram. You say you didn’t know there was a call center located here. It’s right in her home. Yes, she and her husband can remotely log in when they have time, day or night and take calls from people all over the … Continue reading What A Novel Idea !!!!

Amazing Things, The Early DaysLeave a comment

A Strange Thing Happened Early This Morning

lewisotr

I woke up and decided finish watching America’s Got Talent that I had drifted off in middle of last night. What would I do without a DVR? As I watched I bumped the remote control, causing it to change channels. It went to live TV. The following commercial was on. I picked up on it the second it started. I let it play out, then backed it up and recorded it. The reason I went to all that trouble you see, I saw my life playing out. Yes, 47 1/2 years ago my girl friend and I walked in the … Continue reading A Strange Thing Happened Early This Morning

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You’ve Always Been Told To Not Light A Fire With Gasoline

lewisotr

We were taking earlier about a boy dropping a match in a dump truck gas tank and how dangerous it was. Well this is something I saw done in Mexico at Kenny Ranch that he used to have before life became so dangerous across the border. Out on the patio at the lodge there was a large fireplace with a grill where they cooked steaks on an open fire. The workers would pile wood in it then get it going with gasoline. Yes gasoline. Here’s what they would do. They would cut the top off of an aluminum beer can, … Continue reading You’ve Always Been Told To Not Light A Fire With Gasoline

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MORTON SALT MINE – Grand Saline, Texas

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The following is an article that was published in the Tyler Morning Telegraph Newspaper. GRAND SALINE — The Morton’s Salt Mine here is a large-scale operation, generating 450,000 pounds of salt for a wide assortment of products each year. (PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ABOVE PRODUCTION RATE APPEARS TO AN ERROR – my best guess is they produce that amount per day – 450,000 pounds is equal to eighteen 18 wheeler loads. It’s possible the real amount is 450,000 tons per year) Aside from the 207 employees working at the five-day-a-week plant, the inner workings of the mine are rarely seen … Continue reading MORTON SALT MINE – Grand Saline, Texas

Amazing Things, Another Daily Happening, The Early Days2 Comments

It Took Me Weeks To Figure Out Why She Was Upset

lewisotr

Not 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, My Friends, On The JobLeave a comment

My Old Friend Horst

lewisotr

Horst was truly one of the nicest old fellows I ever met. He worked as a superintendent, building apartments. He may be the only man in that position I never had a head-butting with. There was something about the way he approached things, that I worked extra hard to be sure I pleased him. We first started working together in the mid 1990s. Our friendship grew over the next few years. Horst loved deer hunting. I started including him in any hunts we were going on, whether business or when I was taking my sons hunting. He had wonderful stories … Continue reading My Old Friend Horst