Category: The Construction Biz

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Harold & Catherine

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Harold and Catherine were some of the first people that moved in at Smithwick Mills, the subdivision my dad had built from our old home place. They had spent most, if not all of their long married life in Houston. With the crime and meanness going on, they felt Smithwick calling. They became very good friends to my parents. In the later part of the 1970s Kenny and I had contracted some work up on Mormon Mill Road, in Marble Falls, installing water and wastewater lines for a development that Mike O’Connor was building. It required a lot of blasting … Continue reading Harold & Catherine

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

Did Your Mother In Law Ever Gift You Anything Like This ?

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Back several years ago I had a friend that was the Director or the American Quarter Horse Association. She had seen our Company BBQ Trailer that we had put together and wanted to know if I’d sell it to her to auction off at their Annual Meeting that was taking place out at Los Angeles, California. It looked pretty good back in the day, but it had been pulled many miles and would need a makeover before it would have been suitable to send. Besides, that would have left us without a trailer to drag around to job sites to … Continue reading Did Your Mother In Law Ever Gift You Anything Like This ?

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

The Styrofoam Cup Incident

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Back in 1977 I was finishing up a project out west of Houston and had another one going down in Crystal City, Texas. I spent a while on the Houston job that morning lining out the guys there. Paul was the one I was leaving in charge. We drank several cups of coffee. I pulled out about mid morning for south Texas, a good long 5 hour drive. It started to rain and it was a cold wintery day. I got over onto I-10 and was heading to San Antonio. Somewhere along the way it occurred to me in a … Continue reading The Styrofoam Cup Incident

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, On The Job, The Construction Biz3 Comments

Glenn and the Hat

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If you grew up in Marble Falls, you knew Glenn. If you ever passed through Marble Falls you may have encountered Glenn Lewis. His was a real cowboy, doing ranch work most of his life. You always hear it said, that ol boy was born a hundred years too late. In Glenn’s case, there was never a truer cliché ever used. He was rugged, both inside and out. As a young man you would seldom see him that he wasn’t riding a horse or didn’t have one in a trailer behind an old pickup. He was 5 years older than … Continue reading Glenn and the Hat

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

The Princess Mobile Phones

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Back in the early 70s there was a fellow that started a new mobile phone service operating out of Austin. It was a far cheaper option than Southwestern Bell had at that time. That service could run into hundreds of dollars per month. I believe it cost “X” amount per call placed plus something like 50¢ per minute. Some high rollers would actually spend over a $1,000 per month, but it was the cost of doing business. Larry Bird with Capital Communications, the new guy, tapped into some new technology which allowed for a fairly small radio box to be … Continue reading The Princess Mobile Phones

Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Machine That Developed A Mind Of Its Own

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Back in 1973, we were doing a project out in the Northwest Hills Area of Austin. We had just acquired a new C14 Hein Werner Excavator, much like the one below. To make it travel the 2 shorter levers (with the black grips) in the picture below would be pushed forward or back depending on the direction you wanted to travel. Of course only pushing or pulling one lever would cause the machine to turn. If you were traveling for a far distance they could be snapped in, so you didn’t have to hold them. At the end of the … Continue reading The Machine That Developed A Mind Of Its Own

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

The Pipe Bursting Experiment

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Back in the 1980s I was contacted by the owner of an apartment complex over in “Apartment City”, the area along Riverside Drive east of I-35 in Austin. The city was requiring them to upsize the wastewater, as it wasn’t adequately handling the amount of flows that the apartment was generating. Evidently a few years before, when the project was built there had been a sizing miscalculation. With it being a nice property with beautifully landscaped yards they wanted the disruption to be held to a minimum. I made some phone calls and found a company in Louisiana that was … Continue reading The Pipe Bursting Experiment

The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

It’s Strange The Things We Remember

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It’s been almost 45 years ago that I walked into G & L Stationeers on South Congress. The year was 1977. They were in a building just north of where the Night Hawk Restaurant was at So. Congress & Riverside Drive in Austin. I had decided it was time to put a distinctive mark on my company. They had a graphics designer that worked with me to make a company Logo. I still remember his name, Duane Kelly. In just a few minutes he was putting the finishing touches on the big LC that would grace our new sign out … Continue reading It’s Strange The Things We Remember

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

The Difficulties Growing Up A Black Kid In Today’s World

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As hard as it is growing up in this world for teens now, it has to be so much harder for black youth, especially in any of the large urban areas. I often think back to a half dozen black kids I befriended in the Oak Cliff in the late 1980s while doing a job there. I’ve written before about them; Freddy, Herman, Terry and the others names escape me just now. I would load them up in my suburban, after checking with their mother, grandmother or other guardian, (always a female – never remember even one of them having … Continue reading The Difficulties Growing Up A Black Kid In Today’s World