Category: Thoughts and Musings

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

The Construction Biz, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Bar Ditches

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Bar Ditch is what we commonly refer to as the ditch along side of driveways, roads and highways. Like so many other things in our Texas Speak, Bar Ditch is a shortened version of Borrow Ditch. So called because when building the roadbed, dirt is taken or borrowed from the sides of the road and brought to the middle to build up the roadway. This provides positive drainage so the rain runoff can be directed natural drainage ways. Streets with curbs don’t have bar ditches because drainage is achieved with inlets, flumes and networks of underground piping to direct runoff … Continue reading Bar Ditches

Aging, Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Thoughts and Musings9 Comments

Well I Just Ran Into A New One

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Let me start out by telling you all that I’m a restless sleeper. I’m up and down and all around the whole night long. I’ve gone through a lot of different mattresses, pillows and just about everything ever invented to help an old boy get a good nights sleep. I bought one of those beds that each end jacks up and down and vibrates. Then I’ve gone thru several different mattresses but finally found one that seems to work better than the others. If I remember correctly I paid about $3600 for it. And it’s just a queen size. BTW: … Continue reading Well I Just Ran Into A New One

Amazing Things, Another Daily Happening, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The History of Texas, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

C.H. Roper – Dentist

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I was asked one time if I knew of a dentist in Marble Falls by the name of Roper. I hadn’t heard that name come up before.He went on to tell me he believed that he moved on to Austin with his practice sometime in the 30s and by the later 40s he had been involved in a murder, but didn’t know a great deal about it. After doing a little research I found several things that seem to be quite interesting about this dentist. Yes, he had in fact been convicted of murder (I couldn’t find out much about … Continue reading C.H. Roper – Dentist

Marble Falls and the Area Around it., Texas History, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

As I Start Down This Slippery Slope

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Why am I bringing this up? I’ll probably be asking myself the same question before the days out. Actually I saw something on an old map, from 1903 a few days ago, that I had never seen before. There was a crossing below Wirtz Dam that was named Nigger Crossing. (More research will be done to fine when that name was expunged from the USGS Maps) Did it get that name because they had their own crossing? If so, did the white folks cross wherever they wanted? That seems special to have your own crossing. I was well aware of … Continue reading As I Start Down This Slippery Slope

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

Marble Falls and the Area Around it., Smithwick, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Cedar Choppers

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This isn’t an actual story. It is the notes that I made to read off of while I gave a talk at The Falls on the Colorado Musuem last Saturday June 3, 2023. A fellow said to me before I gave this talk: ”You ain’t gonna claim you used to cut cedar are you? How are you going to get up and talk about it?” I said “I talk about things all the time I’ve never done, thankfully.” Good morning everyone . I am here today to talk about Cedar Choppers. Primarily the Central Texas Cedar Chopper. Hasn’t The Museum … Continue reading Cedar Choppers

Amazing Things, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

Machinery By The Pound

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Back when I was a kid, the old times would often reference how much various machines cost by weight. They would say things like “that excavator weighs about 40,000 pounds and costs $40,000” or “that bulldozer weighs 60,000 pounds and costs $60,000 “. This was a way of quickly estimating the cost of equipment based on its weight. This may not seem like a very sophisticated was to do things, but considering there weren’t computers in those days and many of the men in the business had limited education, a lot of simply ways were developed to relate to various … Continue reading Machinery By The Pound

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

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

The Odyssey

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I have a friend, I’ll call him Jack. We had been doing the same type of construction for many years. He had worked for a couple of my competitors, but each were friendly competitors, so we have been in various joint venture arraignments throughout the years. Somewhere along the way, due to a divorce or perhaps it was the cause of the divorce, Jack developed a serious cocaine habit. He came to me in the need of employment. His habit had caused him to be let go from his last job. Not realizing that cocaine addiction couldn’t be cured with … Continue reading The Odyssey