Category: Another Daily Happening

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Opening Day Of Deer Season

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I was probably no older than 13, but maybe 14. At least old enough to drive myself down in the pasture to kill a deer. We had company in from California. My mother’s youngest sister and her husband. Knowing I’d have better luck if I went across the fence that bordered us to the west. That was LCRA Property. There was no hunting allowed on the LCRA. To young boys, especially sons of Cecil Lewis, there were certain rules that we didn’t abide by. Especially that one. Either those same deer had just left our property or would be crossing … Continue reading Opening Day Of Deer Season

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

My Green Thumbs and Other Thumb Stories

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When we were kids, well teenagers, Cec had Kenny and me building a new shop building out from the house in Smithwick. It was a pipe frame, a simple structure. The cross bracing was used sucker rod (the steel rods lengths that were used with windmills to connect the wind-motor to the bottom pump) It was a misty rainy day. Kenny, using the skills he had learned in Ag Class was doing the welding. My job was to hold the long lengths of sucker rod. With it being wet, when he would strike an arc I would feel the current … Continue reading My Green Thumbs and Other Thumb Stories

Another Daily Happening, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, The Early Days, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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, my dad, 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 would single-handedly pull transmissions and replace clutches in those old dump trucks and did brake jobs. I knew how to do all that then. For sure, there was always a lot … Continue reading We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

Another Daily Happening2 Comments

The Case Of Mistaken Identity

lewisotr

People always think I look like someone I’m clearly not. But it’s been going on for a very long time. Since the 80s. That’s when a TV show came on and it was fairly popular. So everyone started referring to me by the name of a main character in that show. I wasn’t exactly flattered, but it is what it is. Sometime back the following incident happened to took the mistaken identity deal to a whole new level. So here goes. I go to Cracker Barrel fairly often to eat. The lady that seated me remarked that she thought I … Continue reading The Case Of Mistaken Identity

Another Daily Happening, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Treehouse Of My Youth

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I was running a little ahead of time for a doctor appointment this morning in Austin. I decided to drive by the place we called home from 1958 until 1965. What was back then a small wooden structure built on uneven ground, up a canyon that was 65 acres comprised of mostly shin oak scrub brush and rocky soil with a scattering of live oaks that has now given way to yet another suburban neighborhood. The street leading off of a then unpaved country lane is now Talleyrand Dr. The rocky little trail up to our house is now Rolling … Continue reading The Treehouse Of My Youth

Another Daily Happening, Cecil Lewis, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Cecil Lewis Wasn’t Always A Patient Man

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It wouldn’t be hard to take away from my previous stories that Cec wasn’t a perfect man in every way. He was hard on us boys. Not just his sons, but all those that worked for him or even just hung out with us. He wanted stuff done and done then. He didn’t take to a lot of foot dragging. For any of his faults he could fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. But as strange at it may seem, if anything broke or got wrecked, he always kept his cool. It was as if at … Continue reading Cecil Lewis Wasn’t Always A Patient Man

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Old Dog - New TrickLeave a comment

Hanging Upside Down

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I have had problems with ruptured discs in my neck for much of my adult life. In fact about the only serious surgeries I’ve ever had, have been on my neck. Three of them, starting in 1985, again on 2005 with I hope the last one in 2010. Now most of the vertebra in my neck region are fused together using plates and screws and even one is wired together with what looks like bailing wire twisted together. That one freaked me out the first time I saw an X-ray of it. The doctor assured me it was good grade … Continue reading Hanging Upside Down

Another Daily Happening, Construction, Crazy Times, On The Job, The Early DaysLeave a comment

A Slight Miscalculation

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We were working in Lakeway laying a wastewater off a really steep hill. This was back in the late 1970’s. I ordered gravel that came all the way from Georgetown. I would place an order for 200 tons, about 10 truckloads, but 2 trucks would show up. The next day the same scenario played out. We were really needing some gravel, if we were ever going to finish that job. I decided I would get that truckers attention so I ordered 1000 tons. I figured that way I may get my 200 tons that I needed. I was a Friday. … Continue reading A Slight Miscalculation

Another Daily Happening, My Friends, On The JobLeave a comment

Big Jimmy Finally Got A Belly Full Of Me

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This is a story I wrote a couple years ago. I know this because it was the 43rd birthday of my oldest son Matthew – August 22, 1974. Sometimes it takes a call from an old friend to stir up memories from the past. Jimmy Palmer called to wish me a happy birthday. He always likes to sing happy birthday to me. I reminded him that 43 years ago today we were working over on Knuckles Crossing Road in Southeast Austin. I remember that because we lived just a very shorty distance from that job while Madeline was really big … Continue reading Big Jimmy Finally Got A Belly Full Of Me

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, My Friends, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Gift

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Some of my best memories growing up was hauling hay and doing the hard work. I’m not sure why those are my best memories, but they are. A few years ago when Madeline and I turned 60, our kids along with Kenny and Carol threw us a grand party out at Kenny’s place on Cow Creek. Jimmy Palmer brought me one of the best gifts I could have received. It was his hay hook that had hung in his barn for all these years. He wanted me to have it to remind me of the time that when he got … Continue reading The Gift