Category: Thoughts and Musings

Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

911

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I stopped by the office in Bertram, before I headed into Austin to make my usual rounds of all the projects. I walked out and got in my truck and headed East, with the radio on and tuned to MSNBC In those days I watched MSNBC each and every weekday morning. I would start out watching the Don Imus Show at 5:00 AM. When it was time to leave out I’d pick it up on XM Radio and listen. I pretty much hung on everything word coming from that show. To say I was a Imus junkie would be putting … Continue reading 911

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

Trucking Back In The 1960s

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Hauling things were much different back when I was young. Many ranchers and cowboys had a set of sideboards they’d put on the back of their pickup and then a horse and sometimes two would be loaded in the back. I can remember how unstable a 1/2 ton truck was with that much weight swaying back and forth and the high center of gravity. Many of the old-timers weren’t very accomplished drivers, either. While we did that some I think of something now that seems much more risky. Hauling a JD 450 loader in the back of a 5 yd. … Continue reading Trucking Back In The 1960s

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Throwing A D-7 Dozer Off Of The Trailer

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Kenny and I went down to Turkey Bend and loaded a D-7 Cat Dozer and was headed back to Smithwick. The road was not paved back then, which was probably in 1968. The bar-ditch was usually wet from the springs that flowed out of the rock outcroppings. It was fairly clean without cedar brush back then. Kenny was driving too fast and got too close to the ditch as he came into the corner. This caused the truck and trailer to slam into a 4′ high vertical bank on the right side with great force. This resulted in the truck … Continue reading Throwing A D-7 Dozer Off Of The Trailer

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

The Adventures Of Driving Under-Powered Trucks

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The 60s were a different time than now when it comes to the horse power of trucks. Today our trucks operate in the range of 500 to 600 horsepower. Back then the common range was 180 to 250 HP. We still hauled equally heavy loads over the same roads as today. Trucks were used much longer and maintained must less rigorously than by today’s standards. It was common for when we were hauling a heavy dozer in hillier areas for me to go ahead in a pickup to assist. When we knew there was a grade too steep coming up, … Continue reading The Adventures Of Driving Under-Powered Trucks

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., My Friends, Thoughts and Musings, TravelsLeave a comment

A Thought Occurred To Me Today, Just As It Does Every Time I Leave Out of Llano And Head Up To Brady

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I had graduated from high school shortly before, so this would have been an afternoon in the summer of 1970. I had landed the best gig I thought anyone possibly could. I was getting to drive a cattle truck for the Wenmohs Ranch. Joe Wenmohs only had one cattle truck at the time, a Ford Cabover that was turned up to where it would run with almost anything out on the highways. That tractor was hooked up to a 52’ triple deck Wilson aluminum trailer. That truck primarily ran from the Wenmohs Ranch out by Blue Lake, Llano County, to … Continue reading A Thought Occurred To Me Today, Just As It Does Every Time I Leave Out of Llano And Head Up To Brady

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Trucking A Load Of Roping Steers To California

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Eating In Del Rio I was a 17 year old kid just shortly before I turned 18. I had graduated from high school in May of 1970. This incident happened that summer. Butch Sayers got me to go with him to Marysville, California to deliver a truck load of Corriente Steers (Mexican Roping Steers). We left Marble Falls in the middle of the afternoon and arrived in Del Rio at the stockyards after dark. The trip had been sprung on me suddenly and I didn’t have a chance to eat before we left. I mentioned to Butch a couple of … Continue reading Trucking A Load Of Roping Steers To California

Amazing Things, In and Around Austin, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Man in the Little 4 Foot Wide Watch Repair Shop

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We were driving down Guadalupe by the State Hospital a while back. I glanced over to see something I hadn’t thought about in years. The tiny watch repair shop. As a small boy I had been there several times with my mother to drop off or pickup a watch. Back in an earlier day (the early 60s) watches needed repairing, cleaning or adjusting pretty often. I guess I was puzzled by not only how small the place was, but how the watch fixer was able to get into such a small place. Then one day we arrived at about the … Continue reading The Man in the Little 4 Foot Wide Watch Repair Shop

Crazy Times, My Family, My Friends, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Gifts That Kept On Giving

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When I was about 11 or 12 I started collecting cigarette coupons. Benson and Hedges coupons. You could trade them for prizes out of a catalog, just like trading stamps. There were two or three brands that fell under the B&H brand so they all had a little coupon attached to the package, beneath the cellophane cover. Extra rewards came when you bought a carton. Back in the 60s just about every adult that I was around smoked. Socks and Lois Jackson were still married at that time and I spent a lot of time over there with them. Lois … Continue reading Gifts That Kept On Giving

Amazing Things, Cecil Lewis, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Texas History, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Woodsboro, Texas

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it was the summer of 1961. I would turn 9 in late August. An engineering firm from Austin, Marvin Turner Engineers sent my dad down as the Chief Inspector for a project to upgrade the water and sewer systems for the City of Woodsboro. There were pipes being laid all over town, the wastewater plant was upgraded and the water tower was being sandblasted and repainted. Our family, well my mother, brother and I went down to spend the summer with him as it was a very active time and required him to be there all the time. While all … Continue reading Woodsboro, Texas

Amazing Things, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Is It A Lighthouse ?

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This very unique water tower/standpipe is located on a hill top above Mansfield Dam, overlooking Lake Travis. I think it is sitting atop of McCormick Mt. Besides being a good looking specimen, it is special to me in another way. My company had the contract to build this structure in about 1986 or 1987. We hired a tank builder to actually construct the welded tank, while we performed all the associated work. It would have looked more like the last picture when we completed it (blue plain tank). One day, several years ago, I was driving down Highway 620 and … Continue reading Is It A Lighthouse ?