Amazing Things, Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Things Can Move Slowly At Times

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Trying to work out a little issue with the IRS. I finally got assigned a Tax Payer Advocate to help me figure things out. That was back about this time last year. I can’t call or email her. That just the way things are done. I have to either fax her question and she gets back to me or I can call her, and leave a voice message on her direct number. She has been very good all year about giving me updates on the progress. Of course that’s only one a month, and I need to strive to grab … Continue reading Things Can Move Slowly At Times

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

The Girl Guard

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Back in the mid 1970s, things weren’t as advanced as they are today, with security devices and Ring Doorbell Cameras. We had a safety guy that doubled as a few other things. A plan runner, chased parts when he could find his way to the designated base pace and then he sold insurance on the side. Bob had a little drinking problem at that point in his life. But visiting bars gave him a chance to run onto good deals that would help in his entrepreneurial spirit. He came in all excited one morning with a great big box of … Continue reading The Girl Guard

In and Around Austin, Texas HistoryLeave a comment

Town Lake, back when that was the name

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An early photo of the railroad crossing the Colorado River (now Lady Bird Lake) downtown Austin.This was taken south of the river looking north, a few blocks from the Austin Train Depot. The large building to the east of the tracks is the Seaholm Power Plant. Above photo appears that the Lake is just starting to be filled. There is real beauty looking at downtown Austin, the railroad bridge and the now decommissioned Seaholm Power Plant. The second bridge in photo above is the railroad bridge. The continuation of the railroad bridge to the north as it passes Seaholm Power … Continue reading Town Lake, back when that was the name

Amazing Things, In and Around Austin, Texas History, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Nothing is ever plain or simple in Austin

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The Pfluger Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge is a good example of this. While I considered the cost to be extravagant for a pedestrian bridge, I have grown fond of it over the years. It’s a beautiful addition to the city, especially the way it is lighted, as shown in the wonderful drone shot.Christopher V. ShermanOverAustin.com https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_D._Pfluger_Pedestrian_and_Bicycle_Bridge This is a link to a video I took back in July 2016 from the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/EvCPwLy92QVJWFtv/?mibextid=WC7FNe Continue reading Nothing is ever plain or simple in Austin

Crazy Times, My Friends, On The Job, The Early Days5 Comments

Dink – The Man, The Myth, The Legend

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Dink was a once in a lifetime friend. He could do things to a friendship that would test it beyond limits. I never went five minutes in his company without laughing. He was as much an comic entertainer as anyone you see now on TV or at a comedy club. Dink first entered my life when I was a pre-teen boy. He and my Dad worked construction together in the sixties. Dink was a hard worker and knew his trade. I guess you could say his specialty was road boring. That’s where a big machine drills a hole underneath a … Continue reading Dink – The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Amazing Things, In and Around Austin, Texas History, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

KRUGER’S JEWELERS, Austin, Texas

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An Austin Institution !!!! My wife, Madeline, and I bought our wedding rings from a very young David Kruger, back in the fall of 1971. I’m not for sure, but he may have still been in college, working there part time. He dealt with this very young couple (we had both just turned 19) so nicely. You knew he was meant for the jewelry business ! On November 6, we will have been wearing these rings for 53 years. This article was in a special addition of the Austin American-Statesman March 2, 1986. Current photos of Kruger’s Jewelers Continue reading KRUGER’S JEWELERS, Austin, Texas

Aging, Amazing Things, Smithwick, Thoughts and Musings4 Comments

Charlie & Minnie Campbell – A Love Story (and other stories about this old couple)

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This is a story about an old couple that showed up in Smithwick when I was just a kid. One day Minnie and Charlie Campbell arrived in an old Studebaker car. When people around Smithwick said their name, they always left off the “p” and the “b”. It was Charlie and Minnie Camel. I had never heard them mentioned in my 10 or 12 years or so I’d been around at that time in the early part of the 1960s. But that’s not surprising as they weren’t a very remarkable couple, until I got to know them. Then there was … Continue reading Charlie & Minnie Campbell – A Love Story (and other stories about this old couple)

In and Around Austin, The Early Days, The History of TexasLeave a comment

Butler Bricks – the bricks that built Austin

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The brick company that has been in Elgin for years, actually started out at Zilker Park in Austin. BY PHOEBE ALLEN Michael Butler & the Butler Brick Legacy Irishman Michael Butler arrived in Austin in 1873 and began manufacturing mud bricks at the foot of East Avenue (now IH-35) on the north bank of the Colorado River. An 1875 flood resulted in his move to the south bank of the Colorado River – between Barton Creek and today’s South First Street and between the river and Barton Springs Road – at brickyards that remained in place until 1958. Butler bricks … Continue reading Butler Bricks – the bricks that built Austin