Rice Culture in Colorado County

Marker erected: Intersection of Main & Commerce Streets, Eagle Lake Marker Text:The rice industry did not spread into the coastal plains region west of Houston until the very end of the 19th century. In 1898, Captain William Dunovant (1845-1902), a local plantation owner and entrepreneur, planted 40 acres of rice at the southeast corner of Eagle Lake (2.5 miles south) as an experiment, using convict labor from a nearby prison farm to construct levees and harvest the new crop. The small tract produced such encouraging results that in 1899 Dunvovant built a pumping plant on the lake and irrigated 250-300 … Continue reading Rice Culture in Colorado County

10 South Texas Windmills by Atilano Salas

All but two of the windmills on the ranch were built to the same design, but no two were alike when the wind put them to work. Visible for miles jutting above the chaparral, each sounded out a tuneless melody, an almost unbroken clanging, slow and comforting and rhythmic, coupled to the occasional metal-on-metal squeal of the tail adjusting to a shift in the breeze, its blades slicing air with a tempered whoosh, pulling up clear cool water flowing steadily into the cistern through the long galvanized discharge pipe. It was as though these lone sentinels scattered in a sea … Continue reading 10 South Texas Windmills by Atilano Salas

Pulling A Tooth

Sofia is getting to the age where she is starting to lose teeth. She came over the other night and wanted me to pull her loose tooth, her first. I sent her to get a handkerchief from my chest of drawers to aid in getting a grip. She pointed to the tooth. I worked and worked with the tooth and it wouldn’t come out. It was bleeding a little but would not come out. I finally told her we needed to wait and give it a little more time. She went on her way. She got over to her house, … Continue reading Pulling A Tooth

A Good Deed, That May Never Go Away

This story goes back several years. It all started when an old gal I know needed some help. She desperately needed some help. She lives in a very decrepit old house. I got word that the City (an unnamed city) was going to condemn her home that had been in her family for many decades. There was junk piled up higher than an Elephant’s Eye. (I finally found a way to incorporate that line in a story. It was included in a nasty letter I received from a homeowner years ago that we had installed a wastewater line adjacent to … Continue reading A Good Deed, That May Never Go Away

Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way

I think his first motorcycle was a 125cc that he had when I first came to school in Marble Falls. That was starting in 8th grade. I don’t think he ran all over on it, but rode it over on his side of town. Then he jumped up to a 350cc. It was metallic blue. That’s the one he wrecked on. (More on that below) During the repairing of it, he switched the color to a metal flake orange. A few years later he went up to a 450cc, then eventually a 750cc. Buy the time he and I became … Continue reading Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way

My Friend Tommy, A Marble Falls Original

Tommy was the only kid I ran around with that had any measure of responsibility. I’m sure there were others that were equally responsible, but we didn’t travel in the same circles. Tommy received his first car, a new 1968 Roadrunner. During our high school years we were seldom not in the company of each other during our off time. When I say he was responsible, I mean in terms of his belongings. He treated that Roadrunner like an old woman would treat her Chrysler New Yorker. He of course changed the oil and did routine service much more regular … Continue reading My Friend Tommy, A Marble Falls Original

Speaking Of Having No Filter

This story popped up as I was looking for something else. It was first published on here about 9 years ago. I wondered how things have changed. I really guess they haven’t. One of my lovely DIL’s bought me this very nice and may I say perhaps appropriate cup, albeit the biggest cup I’ve ever seen.I’m not into the whole hashtag thing so I thought it best if I did a little research to be sure that there wasn’t some hidden meaning behind it. I did find the following article about people with “no filter”. I have to admit I … Continue reading Speaking Of Having No Filter