Meeting New PeopleLeave a comment

Mr. Bob Coffee – Sculptor Extraordinaire

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I was at a funeral in Smithwick this morning of Marvin Turner. While standing around visiting afterwards I sauntered over where Kenny was conversing with a group of gentlemen that were all neighbors with he and Marvin down on Cow Creek. After Kenny introduced me all around, a kindly gentleman, the most senior of the group said “you are the fellow that wrote that book, The Angora Chronicles, aren’t you”? Of course I immediately took credit for it. He said he has just finished reading it. He asked if there were other editions. I feigned at how busy I am, … Continue reading Mr. Bob Coffee – Sculptor Extraordinaire

Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

I Remember When I Enjoyed Reading The Readers Digest

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I went for years reading it every month. There wasn’t a section of it that I didn’t enjoy. We even maintained a subscription to it for many years. That poor little magazine seems to have dwindled to almost nothing. I bought it a few times after they changed the format, downsized it and made it awful. Did the publisher of that magazine ruin it on purpose or what. You could say that the talent just isn’t around that can be hired. But really so much of it was stuff sent to them. Good stories, good jokes. But as for becoming … Continue reading I Remember When I Enjoyed Reading The Readers Digest

Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

Can We Have A Real Frank Discussion Here Today ?

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The following story is one I told very early on, when this group was started. It was a valuable lesson I learned once and it applies now in the age of social media. After you read the story, I have a few more words for you. A 2 Minute Talk That Has Lasted For 40 Years. Udo was of German descent. He had a coarseness about him, but an incredible refinement as well. He adapted to the situation he was in at the moment. When he retired after a long career in the excavation business, he sold me his office … Continue reading Can We Have A Real Frank Discussion Here Today ?

On The Job, The Construction Biz3 Comments

When You Can’t Buy It, Just Build It.

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For many years we would be working on projects and an idea would pop in our head of a better way to do something and with a good team of fabricators on board with us we’d just build it. Not everything we built worked as well as we hoped, but when we got a winner, it was the real deal. Below was something we built that allowed us to set a large diameter pipe one it, the larger rollers were hydraulically powered and would slowly turn the pipe while the hydraulic pipe saw would move down to the correct mark … Continue reading When You Can’t Buy It, Just Build It.

Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, On The Job, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The VW Bus Was Parked In A Bad Spot

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I wasn’t long out of school, probably had just turned 18. One of my first jobs was driving a haul truck for Nelson Lewis, a cousin in the utility business. He had just landed a project in downtown Austin, laying a wastewater line up West Ave. It started down at 7th St and would continue up to about the 24th block on Rio Grande St. Right up in the middle of the University of Texas Campus. The first piece of equipment I hauled to the job was an old White-Oliver Rubber Tired Backhoe. It was a beast, 4 wheel drive … Continue reading The VW Bus Was Parked In A Bad Spot

Aging, Crazy Times, Thoughts and Musings7 Comments

It Set There All Day

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When Kenny had a ranch in Mexico and was going back and forth a lot, so he bought a helicopter. He also used it to look at projects around the state. It was pretty handy. I had a lease agreement with him, so when I’d need to get around to take care of business it was at my disposal. To make sure I was as cool as my brother I built a helipad at my house. The pilot would fly in, grab me and we could leave Bertram and be in Arlington, Tx in an hour and twenty minutes. One … Continue reading It Set There All Day

The Construction Biz, The Early Days2 Comments

Learning To Fly

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In my younger days in the construction business I had a bookkeeper, G.K. , that was always after me to take up flying. He wasn’t a pilot but claimed he almost was. He told me how we could fly to faraway destinations to look at and bid jobs. How we could head out to the coast and go fishing at the drop of a hat. I was a little queasy about me flying an airplane, but I finally figured that I’d get used to it, as many people had. Why would it be different for me? Finally one day I … Continue reading Learning To Fly

Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction BizLeave a comment

Harold wasn’t known as a man with a stellar reputation

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Sometime in the later 1970s Harold showed up in Austin as an underground utility contractor. There have been a bunch of them that have come and gone in Austin over the past almost 50 years that I’ve been around. But none like Harold, that would cause you to feel like you needed a bath, from just having a conversation with him. Okay that last sentence is a little bit of a lie. There have been several others that gave me that feeling. Harold had a gift of gab and you knew he was a bullshit artist the second he started … Continue reading Harold wasn’t known as a man with a stellar reputation

Crazy Times, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

Sam From Sales

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We were talking a day or so back about Radio Personalities and the chemistry some have together. I found this (and many more) YouTube clips of an afternoon skit that Hal Jay (the in-studio DJ) and Dick Siegel (helicopter pilot flying around doing traffic reports) and one of the news guys that would pose as Sam From Sales. At an appointed time, “Sam” would come in and spend a few minutes telling a story about something going in his life. In the background you could always hear the whirrrr of Dick’s helicopter, and the almost constant distinctive laughs of both … Continue reading Sam From Sales

Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days8 Comments

Melvin Wright and The Country Store

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You know you haven’t strayed too far from your early years when you can go to the refrigerator and make yourself a sandwich with ham, jalapeño cheese and Best Maid Sandwich Spread on plain white bread on a Saturday Night and it tastes just like Melvin Wright had made at the Country Store well over 50 years ago. Of course I’d always get me a bag of BBQ flavored potato chips and a quart of Superior Dairies Chocolate Milk. The milk was to wash it down and the chocolate part was my dessert. It tends to make me feel a … Continue reading Melvin Wright and The Country Store