The Story Of My Friendship With Woody and how friendships can take amazing paths.

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.

Learning To Water Ski

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

Rattlers Were Ever-Present

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

Is It Possible To Regain Your Reputation?

A lot of people have done things in their lives that caused a hit to their legacy. Almost everyone will at some point during a long lifetime have a circumstance that will tarnishes the way people see look upon them. Sometimes it’s justified because of their own actions. But that’s not always the case. I’m currently going through one of those periods. A story is floating around where I’m being accused of betraying the trust of a good friend. I will not lay it all out in this short essay. In fact if this is all Greek to you, then … Continue reading Is It Possible To Regain Your Reputation?

I always said “Do Your Research And Move On With It”.

I’ve been thinking I needed to buy a new lawnmower. Couple of my boys had bought electric lawn equipment and they were very proud of the EGo brand. I used their leaf blowers and I was impressed. When they all lived in Georgetown and had regular sized yards they could mow them without stopping to charge the battery. The reviews had good things to say about EGo riding mowers so a couple of Saturdays ago I went to Leander at the Lowe’s Store to look one over. After about two hours of wheeling and dealing they figured out they had … Continue reading I always said “Do Your Research And Move On With It”.

Looking at our Lineage

If you are thinking about getting married and you both have deep roots in Burnet County, it’s a good idea to look at your genealogy. You never know who your cousins are. In our case my 5th great grandfather and my wife’s 6th great grandfather were one and the same. Of course this isn’t a new discovery, but it’s the first time I’ve diagrammed it out to this degree. Continue reading Looking at our Lineage

Maxine’s Stories

EARLY LIFE I was born in Burnet, Texas, February 2, 1932. My mother was from Marble Falls, Texas and my dad was from Marietta, Ohio. He was working on Buchanan Dam when they met. They never told me too much about how they met and for some reason I never asked them; now I wish I had. My dad worked for Brown & Root Construction Companyand we moved a lot. I hated that, and I remember thinking that when I grew up I was not ever going to move. Yes! I have moved a lot. I lived in Venezuela, Egypt, Israel and who … Continue reading Maxine’s Stories

An Interesting Look At Burnet County, Texas

This newly released book about Burnet County is very well researched and written. Well worth the purchase. I was very taken by the one chapter about Will Fish. I had never known about Mr. Fish until a few years ago. While spending time with my good friend Sam Hall he has often referred to his Uncle, Doctor Will Fish. For ever so long I thought he was using that as a metaphor of some sort. When he’d be telling a story about all the fish he caught with his buddies out at Decker Lake, the he’d say “my Uncle, Doctor … Continue reading An Interesting Look At Burnet County, Texas