It’s always fun listening to kids, starting back when I was one, dreaming about where their life would take them. “What I want to be when I grow up”, kind of stuff. Then I heard it from the next generation, my kids and their friends. Now I get to hear the dreams of my own grandchildren. I’m going to be a pro-ball player. I’m going to be an astronaut. Life is made of dreams. I was no different. Well maybe a little different. As I got on up in my teen years I just thought more about doing whatever it … Continue reading The Shetland Jockey’s At Paleface Park

After a lifetime of thinking I knew how to spell his name I recently found out it is Blisard. With it being the time of year when the temperatures are cooling down, let me tell you about a Blizzard we once experienced. His name was Vernon (Blizzard) Blisard. He worked with my grandmother Ruby at the State School. That was in the early 1960s, over in west Austin. I don’t know what Vernon did at work but away from work he traded in Shetland ponies. He didn’t just deal in them, he was a Major Shetland Pony Trafficker. If you, … Continue reading Vernon Blizzard

There are things that happen in our lives that leave us wondering about human nature. This story left me feeling less trustful. I had become very good friends with an old gentleman that was my neighbor. Upon his retiring after a long and successful career as an excavation contractor in Austin, I bought his office and yard and several pieces of his equipment. I didn’t buy his business per se, and I’ve alway questioned why I didn’t. He had almost cornered the market on doing the big excavation projects around Austin. Oh well, I guess things work out. One of … Continue reading The Double Cross

By whatever name you call it, it’s all the same thing it appears. But one thing there is not in dispute about; they have a real history right here in Burnet County and the surrounding area. The following link credits HC Wilkes with starting to call them Blue Lacy’s in the 1990’s. I sure remember that being the one thing they were called well before 1990, most likely by HC Wilkes and many other others. I think the most common name I heard was Lacy Hog Dog. The article below tells us a lot about the breed. Check out the … Continue reading Lacy Dog, Blue Lacy, Lacy Hog Dog or just a Lacy

Back in 1978 my company contracted to excavate for the new Capitol National Bank. It was the largest job of that type that Lewis Contractors had ever taken on. Considering it was excavating 30′ deep a full block square downtown Austin from 7th to 8th St. between Guadalupe and Lavaca and it was solid limestone rock it had its challenges. The only real way to accomplish a project like that was to blast. If I remember correctly, we did it in around 60 days. Considering the equipment we had to work with in those days, it seems remarkable to me … Continue reading EXCAVATING FOR A NEW BANK BUILDING

While it’s probably evident that I enjoy talking about myself, I have a few stories to tell that were told to me along the way. This one provided a good lesson, that proves up that things are not always as they seem. Years ago I had an accountant working for me that previously had worked for a wealthy gentleman over in Rockdale. GK was the accountant, Pete Coffield was his previous employer. Mr. Coffield was in almost any business where he could make money. His earlier years, during the Depression, he had a little money so he hired guys to … Continue reading Selling Firewood

Gk was my accountant for several years. I’ve mentioned him in a few of my other stories before. 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 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 do shorthand and took dictation at an amazing … Continue reading GK Worley And The Coffield Family