Category: The Early Days

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Young Detectives

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Our dad was working for an old time contractor by the name of Holland Page, installing a new wastewater system all around the town. This was in the summer of 1963. The project was in Gatesville, Texas. That summer we went there part of the time to spend with him. He had an apartment rented. They had a guy that had worked for them that was trying to make an insurance claim for a back injury that supposedly happened on the job. Cec knew that wasn’t possible because the guy had been too lazy to pickup anything. After talking to … Continue reading The Young Detectives

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Cec Got Caught In A Tight Place

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Cec bought a 1960 Ford Falcon when they first came out. He drove the heck out of that little ol car. It eventually became Bonnie Gay’s car after he got the new worn off of it. These were the days when we lived in Jollyville area but would come to Smithwick every weekend to take care of the place and see too the animals. The Falcon developed a bumping sound up in the front end. He could see a shock absorber was loose. He got the bumper jack out, one of the tall stand type jacks that were just waiting … Continue reading Cec Got Caught In A Tight Place

Construction, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, On The Job, The Early Days2 Comments

A Case of Limestone Poisoning ?

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Sometime in 1973 we were doing a project for the new I-35 expansion in downtown Austin. It was a crazy, difficult project with old pipes running underground every which way. We had one place that we were excavating about 40 deep and then bored underneath I-35 for about 250 feet to run a new wastewater line. In those days the road bores were done where water was mixed with the limestone rock cuttings that were being excavated. It was called Wet Bore Method as opposed to now most all road bores are done using the Dry Bore Method. Wet Boring … Continue reading A Case of Limestone Poisoning ?

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

Glenn Lewis’s Old Blue & White “62” Ford Pickup

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Anyone that was around Marble Falls in the 60s should remember Glenn’s old pickup. It was his main mode of transportation for at least a decade. Often could be seen pulling that old single horse trailer. When we finished our first project which was in Burnet in 1972, we moved on to Lakeway, A few months later we completed that job that was called The Greenway Condo’s. Glenn’s Old Blue Ford Pickup had given up on him and he left it sitting in a field at the side of those condos, out in a patch of cedar trees. He started … Continue reading Glenn Lewis’s Old Blue & White “62” Ford Pickup

Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, My Family, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Finding The Stash Of Stolen Beer

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Back in the early 1960s, Kenny and I were doing what we usually did just about every day. We rode horses. That was our job, our vocation. We weren’t pleasure riders. We broke and rode horses to make our spending money. We had a contact to ride Shetlands for a fellow. I’ve written much more about that, so I’ll just place that down at the bottom of this story. We rode up an old cedar chopper road that was down below our house a little ways. The road was overgrown with small cedars and a tight squeeze to get up … Continue reading Finding The Stash Of Stolen Beer

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

The Unfortunate Incident With The Motorola Radio’s

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Things are so different today than when I first got into the business some 50+ years ago. When people were out on a jobsite and you needed to tell them something, you drove out and delivered a message in person. Austin was a much smaller then, but a message could be delayed several hours at times. I think we had better planning skills then or our expectations for getting much done was a lot less. Somewhere along the way voice pagers came into vogue. But when you were out on a job with machinery running, if you heard the thing … Continue reading The Unfortunate Incident With The Motorola Radio’s

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Glenn at the Circle Inn

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A favorite story told by many puts Glenn Lewis at the Circle Inn on a Saturday night. It was one of those hot summer nights that caused people to not always get along. Glenn and another patron got into a fight and the Proprietor, Alice Sayers ushered them outside. Alice wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. (I know, I’m married to her granddaughter) Rather than get in his pickup and leave, Glenn walked to the back of the building (he had consumed huge amounts of beer) and took the back off of the old huge swamp cooler that blew … Continue reading Glenn at the Circle Inn

Funny Happenings, In and Around Austin, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

This Is The Spicewood Home Demonstration Club Cookbook circa Early 1960s

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While there are many delicious recipes in this book, I am concentrating on the advertising that was contained within. There were business from Marble Falls, Burnet, Johnson City, Lampasas and Austin that many of us grew up with. This cookbook was most likely purchased by my Grandmother, Leona Lewis or her sister Mandy Lewis and given to their sister Rose Anderson, who resided down in Bastrop County. Rose’s daughter, Kathy Anderson Strittmatter sent it to me, knowing how much that I and many on The Angora Chronicles enjoy looking back on our past. Thank you very much Kathy. Continue reading This Is The Spicewood Home Demonstration Club Cookbook circa Early 1960s

Crazy Times, My Friends, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Gift

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Some of my best memories growing up was hauling hay and doing the hard work. Back in August of 2012 when Madeline and I turned 60, our kids along with Kenny and Carol threw us a grand party out at their 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 their barn for all these years. He wanted me to have it to remind me of the time that when he got out to open a gate and he got back in I … Continue reading The Gift

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

The Cushman Scooter

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I once had a Cushman Scooter like the one below, except it was painted gray. it had the little jump seat on the rear, just like this one. Most scooters like that just had a single seat. I can’t remember where it came from, but as I recall it didn’t run when I got it. But I tinkered with it and got it going. Smithwick probably wasn’t the best place to have a motor scooter like this. It didn’t have much ground clearance and would bottom out on a terrace in the field or drag on a rock laying in … Continue reading The Cushman Scooter