Category: Crazy Times

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

A Lesson Learned Young

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I’m guessing I was probably in the 3rd grade and Kenny was in the 5th. Mr. Henniger was the principal at Pond Springs School, the little 3 room school we attended in Jollyville. After we ate our lunch each day, in the Mr. Henniger’s office there was a chest type freezer where he kept ice cream bars. If you had your nickel you could buy a ice cream sandwich or a fudgesicle to eat out on the playground. He would go in there and we’d all line up and watch as he unlocked the freezer with a key on the … Continue reading A Lesson Learned Young

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Parking a Little Close.

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I pulled into a parking space that has a tree right up close by it this morning. Noticing how close it was, I was hesitant to get out and go in, thinking that would be a fine mess if I forgot it was there and swung into it as I back out later. I’m living dangerously today so I decided to chance it, and walked into an appointment. That made me think about one time I went into a podiatrists office in South Austin and parked right next to the building. This was in the early 80s. I went in … Continue reading Parking a Little Close.

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, No Place Like Bertram, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

BBQ For The Super Bowl

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I went to the best BBQ Joint around and bought the largest spread I could carry. It was on a huge circular tray with every kind of meat imaginable. It even had a huge pile of burnt ends that tasted like delicious rib meat for sure. Did I tell you I love beef ribs? There were juices almost running over the sides of the tray. I had to be very careful not to tilt it and spill it. Perhaps not the best way to package that kind of a spread for transport. I think that’s the way they bring it … Continue reading BBQ For The Super Bowl

Aging, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Thoughts and Musings4 Comments

A Simple Trip To The Drug Store

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A few days ago I drove up to the window at Walgreens in Burnet to pickup a couple of prescriptions. Prescriptions that I’d been trying to get refilled for several days. But finally got a text telling me they were ready. She kept telling me that I didn’t have anything ready yet. After debating the issue a few moments I finally sent my phone in for her to see for herself. “Lady it’s not like I’m making it up”. After looking she let me know, with a little smirk on her face that my prescriptions were ready at CVS, and … Continue reading A Simple Trip To The Drug Store

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, My Friends, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and Musings, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Pete and the Boulder Busters

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Times have changed a lot in the 50 years that I’ve been in the construction business. The only economical way to excavate rock for installing underground utilities in the first 10 years was blasting with dynamite. It tapered off over the next decades to where that method is rarely even used today. We blasted up and down streets in very congested areas. In my first 4 or 5 years there wasn’t even a city permit required in Austin to transport and use explosives. Anyone dealing with the City of Austin now, would find that hard to believe. Now you need … Continue reading Pete and the Boulder Busters

Crazy Times, In and Around Austin4 Comments

A South Austin Hailstorm

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It happened along about 1975. My life has been mostly marked by the year model of this car or that pickup I was driving and at this time. I had a “75” Chevrolet El Camino, two tone blue. Midnight blue top and bottom with a medium blue in the middle. I needed a new pair of work boots, so I headed over to Herman’s Workshoes and Workbooks on South Lamar at Oltorf St. Being young married at the time, we did a lot together back then so my wife met there. She was driving a “74” Pontiac Grand Ville. We … Continue reading A South Austin Hailstorm

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Kenny LewisLeave a comment

Hunting at the Cinco Loma

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(Another very fine story from Kenny Lewis) Back in the 90’s we searched various ranches for the best hunts available in South Texas. We had gotten to know Dusty Davis who owned the Cinco Loma Ranch between Batesville and La Pryor. It was not a large ranch (2500 acres), but with high quality deer. This ranch was along Highway 57 on the way to Eagle Pass and surrounded on 3 sides by a large ranch called the West Wind. Larry Martin owned it and was a very successful business man from Houston who had sold his Waste Company for Millions … Continue reading Hunting at the Cinco Loma

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

More About G.K.

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I wrote about my drunken accountant a while back. “GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem”. GK may have been an old drunk, but I had a real fondness for him. Following is a story about the evening goings on for the crew when we were up building a 24” water line in Stephens County. Our office for the Stephens County project was in a small town of Ivan. Actually Ivan wasn’t a town. It was a beer joint and then our little office building. We were on a party line with the Kate’s Place.Ms. Kate was like our answering … Continue reading More About G.K.

Construction, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem

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Gk was my accountant for several years. I’ve mentioned him in a couple of my previous stories. I mostly called him Worley, his last name. GK was so fast on a desk calculator, you’d think the keys were going to fly off. By the time I got to know him, he was pretty much an old drunk. He would shake a lot. But when he would sit down and had a pen in his hand that man had the nicest handwriting of any person I’ve ever known. He had gone to a business school when he was young. He could … Continue reading GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem

Crazy Times, My Family, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

The Battle Of The Smithwick Lewis Family

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This story dates back to the late 1950s. I will be telling it from my perspective, which is the side I was born on. FP and Florence Lewis had a bunch of kids. There were two girls and seven boys (couple more died young) and they raised them in Smithwick. Best I know they had several pieces of property but our old home place was originally Stinnett land that they bought from Grandmother Florence’s family or inherited it. It was comprised of 450 acres that stretched from FM 1431 down to the Colorado River. It was approximately 1/2 mile of … Continue reading The Battle Of The Smithwick Lewis Family