The Car Business

I often talk about all the different cars I drove when I was a kid. I may have shown up to school in a different vehicle just about any day. To say we were in the used car business would be an over statement. Cecil Lewis was an entrepreneur of his own kind back in the day. He dabbled in about anything that made a little money or kept his sons busy. Buying and fixing up used cars was but one of his ventures. In my early days working for Charlie Ulbricht, I watched him do body work out of … Continue reading The Car Business

The Story Of My Friendship With Woody and how friendships can take amazing paths.

When my ol’ friend and neighbor, Udo, decided to retire in 1977 from the excavation business I bought his office, yard and some equipment. The office was in a great location, not far from the current Austin airport. Woody had been his accountant for many years and a deal was struck for him to come with me. Woody was trustworthy and meticulous. Just the kind of guy I was looking for. He and I became best of friends. Woody and Lucy were both around 60 and had been married for about forty years. They never had children. Madeline and I … Continue reading The Story Of My Friendship With Woody and how friendships can take amazing paths.

Rattlers Were Ever-Present

The Lewis Brother’s holding up a couple of large rattlesnakes back in the spring of 1960. We lived “Down on the Creek” as referred to it. That was just above Bull Creek out of Jollyville. The hilliest, rockiest piece of ground you ever tried to walk across. We were riding horses, our enterprise back then was breaking and training shetlands, when we rode up across the hill looking down toward our house. These two snakes were rearing up and wrapping themselves around each other. I’m sure we thought they were fighting, but mostly likely they were romancing. Kenny tore on … Continue reading Rattlers Were Ever-Present

I always said “Do Your Research And Move On With It”.

I’ve been thinking I needed to buy a new lawnmower. Couple of my boys had bought electric lawn equipment and they were very proud of the EGo brand. I used their leaf blowers and I was impressed. When they all lived in Georgetown and had regular sized yards they could mow them without stopping to charge the battery. The reviews had good things to say about EGo riding mowers so a couple of Saturdays ago I went to Leander at the Lowe’s Store to look one over. After about two hours of wheeling and dealing they figured out they had … Continue reading I always said “Do Your Research And Move On With It”.

Looking at our Lineage

If you are thinking about getting married and you both have deep roots in Burnet County, it’s a good idea to look at your genealogy. You never know who your cousins are. In our case my 5th great grandfather and my wife’s 6th great grandfather were one and the same. Of course this isn’t a new discovery, but it’s the first time I’ve diagrammed it out to this degree. Continue reading Looking at our Lineage

All The Vehicles I’ve Driven

1963 Ford Galaxy – 2 door – 390 automatic (used) 1964 Riveria – 465 automatic (used) 1965 El Camino – 327 – Automatic (used)  1966 El Camino – 283 – 4 speed (used) 1966 Fastback Mustang – 289 – Automatic (used) 1968 SS Camaro – 396 – 4 speed (used) 1968 Corba Jet Mustang – 429 – 4 speed (used) 1970 1/2 ton Chevrolet Pickup – 350 – Automatic (new) 1968 Ford Galaxy 500 – 390 – Automatic (used) 1970 Ford 3/4 ton pickup 289 – 4 speed (used) 1972 Ford 1/2 pickup – 360 – Automatic (used) 1972 Ford 3/4 ton pickup – 360 – 4 speed (new) 1973 … Continue reading All The Vehicles I’ve Driven

Recurring Dreams

I think at 73 years of age, I have finally left a couple of recurring dreams behind. I had these dreams until sometime in the past 10 or 15 years. The first was driving in a car at a high rate of speed between home and town. Home was at Smithwick and town was Marble Falls. Everything would be fine as the car would float along because a turn or dip caused you to let off the gas, but when you topped out at Winn Hill, there was a long curve and a mostly straight stretch down through Mesquite Flats … Continue reading Recurring Dreams

I received a message from a FB Friend with several Honor Flight Austin clips in it.

I was in DC back when the Obama shutdown happened. It was the second one during his term, in October 2013. I attended a rally at the Mall in front of the Capitol Building. The shutdown had been going on for a few days. Garbage collection wasn’t happening, therefore the grounds were strewn with trash. I joined a large bunch of others and we started to walk along picking up litter. Someone had anticipated what would happen when a bunch of patriots saw the condition of the grounds and had boxes of trash bags at the ready. We went along … Continue reading I received a message from a FB Friend with several Honor Flight Austin clips in it.