Category: Thoughts and Musings

Aging, Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Old Man Cardwell

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When we were young, I would have been a preteen, we went all over Smithwick horseback. Mostly it was Kenny, Jimmy Palmer, Glenn Lewis and me, but sometimes other boys in the community joined in. I guess it had more to do with whether a youngster had access to a horse. Everett and Maude Jackson had the little store beside the road just below the cemetery, back towards the church house. The store had really limited fare. Mostly snacks and soda pops. Maybe some soda crackers and Vienna Sausages or potted meat. I don’t remember there being many perishables. Seems … Continue reading Old Man Cardwell

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

Amazing Things, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

One Of The Greatest Things I Was Ever A Part Of

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In the fall of 2013 I made plans to go to Washington DC. Madeline and I drove to New Orleans where we boarded the Amtrak Train and made the two day and one night trip to DC. We had reserved a sleeper berth so it was a fairly easy trip. We arrived and got to our hotel. Madeline was only there for a short time, maybe a day, then she flew away to a meeting, to which I can’t even remember where, these 8 1/2 years later. It was a little difficult getting around town on that trip. We had … Continue reading One Of The Greatest Things I Was Ever A Part Of

Amazing Things, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Vision

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I once had a vision that I thought would be helpful. I was sick of listening to clips of a hundred different news sources, yet there was not one place to go to get the true facts. Through social media I was of the belief that when businesses act out, take sides on political issues it would be easy to identify and list those businesses. What got me riled up was the way Paula Deen was treated and how businesses jumped on the bandwagon against her. In that case it was hard to keep track. I was wanting to create … Continue reading The Vision

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

Borrowing Money

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Gaston Kenna was his given names, but he always went by the initials G.K. I first got to know G.K. in 1973 when Dink (from another of my stories – okay a few of my stories) and I were teamed up doing projects together. GK was hired by my cousin Nelson, whom I already had a long working history with. G.K. had worked for a wealthy businessman in Rockdale for many years. A drinking problem had been the cause of him needing to seek employment with Nelson. A few years later G.K. became my traveling accountant / sidekick / office … Continue reading Borrowing Money

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

Amazing Things, Funny Happenings, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

It’s an all new experience for us.

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Last week Madeline and I purchased our first motorhome in a very long time. So we left on our maiden voyage a couple of days ago. This coach is small enough that she feels comfortable driving it, but roomy enough that we can move around within with ease. We were intending to leave out Sunday morning but Saturday afternoon we looked at each other and said let’s do this, so we headed south. Our reservation in Port A wasn’t until Monday, so we knew we’d stop along the way. Madeline introduced me to something new. Boondocking. I got a Boondocking … Continue reading It’s an all new experience for us.

The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

The Little Maverick

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My wife’s car when we were seniors in high school was a reddish copper colored Maverick. Her mother bought it for her from Tiger Penny. Madeline said he brought it up to Johnson City football game. It was a surprise for her. That little car served her well. After we married I took it down David Fishers Car Lot, along the creek between 8th and 9th Streets and US 281 and traded it for a Ford Pickup. If memory serves me correctly, that car was just under $2000 brand new off the lot. History Of The Ford Maverick (from Wikipedia) … Continue reading The Little Maverick

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