This was written back in Oct. 2018 and shared on this group. As I attended the funeral of a friend, I reflected back on the first memory I have of this man. John R. Hughes was a young man then. … Continue reading The Sad Facts We Face – Burying Friends
On US 281 in Burnet, right where the Diary Queen and the NAPA Automotive Parts Store now sits, little south of the center of town. According to the cars parked in front, I would guess this photo is from the mid 1950s. Dr. Allen’s obituary explains about the Clinic. Continue reading The Allen Clinic and Hospital
These are the same building. One in 1938 and 80 years later as seen on the east side of US 281 north of downtown Burnet. (Corner of Seventh St. The old building held up well over the years ! Continue reading The Original Shepperd Hospital in Burnet
I have a dedicated crew of guys that are mostly from one family down in the interior of Mexico. The first of these fellows came to work for me around 1980. Leoncio or Shorty, the name I gave him shortly after … Continue reading A Journey Deep Into Mexico
When we were kids, well teenagers, Cec had Kenny and me building a new shop building out from the house in Smithwick. It was a pipe frame, a simple structure. The cross bracing was used sucker rod (the steel rods lengths that were used with windmills to connect the wind-motor to the bottom pump) It was a misty rainy day. Kenny, using the skills he had learned in Ag Class was doing the welding. My job was to hold the long lengths of sucker rod. With it being wet, when he would strike an arc I would feel the current … Continue reading My Green Thumbs and Other Thumb Stories
I often talk about all the different cars I drove when I was a kid. I may have shown up to school in a different vehicle just about any day. To say we were in the used car business would be an over statement. Cecil Lewis was an entrepreneur of his own kind back in the day. He dabbled in about anything that made a little money or kept his sons busy. Buying and fixing up used cars was but one of his ventures. In my early days working for Charlie Ulbricht, I watched him do body work out of … Continue reading The Car Business
When my ol’ friend and neighbor, Udo, decided to retire in 1977 from the excavation business I bought his office, yard and some equipment. The office was in a great location, not far from the current Austin airport. Woody had been his accountant for many years and a deal was struck for him to come with me. Woody was trustworthy and meticulous. Just the kind of guy I was looking for. He and I became best of friends. Woody and Lucy were both around 60 and had been married for about forty years. They never had children. Madeline and I … Continue reading The Story Of My Friendship With Woody and how friendships can take amazing paths.
Kenny and I grew up on the lake and were out on it a lot. We spent a lot of time running up and down Lake Travis in a boat gathering up fish. We weren’t setting out trot lines or dropping hooks in the water either, but that’s a whole other matter we’ll have to get to at another time. I had a little boat that I had bought and had been waiting for Kenny to get in on leave from the Army before I launched it. We put the boat in the water one afternoon at Smithwick. The boat … Continue reading Learning To Water Ski
Back Row: My Grandma Nancy, Cecil Lewis, Hopper & Maurice Bible with Bonnie Gay and her favorite Son up front. Wonder where Kenny was? Continue reading A Get Together
The Lewis Brother’s holding up a couple of large rattlesnakes back in the spring of 1960. We lived “Down on the Creek” as referred to it. That was just above Bull Creek out of Jollyville. The hilliest, rockiest piece of ground you ever tried to walk across. We were riding horses, our enterprise back then was breaking and training shetlands, when we rode up across the hill looking down toward our house. These two snakes were rearing up and wrapping themselves around each other. I’m sure we thought they were fighting, but mostly likely they were romancing. Kenny tore on … Continue reading Rattlers Were Ever-Present
Angora Chronicles 