Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Runaway Tractor

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We always had a problem with trucks, cars and machinery taking off and rolling away when we parked it at our house. Most of the time it worked out without being a real disaster. We didn’t live on top of a hill exactly, but the ground wasn’t level either. Which was good and bad. Bad if the brakes weren’t set good, but good when the battery was down on a vehicle and you needed to roll it to get it started. Once I started to town, forgot something and came back. Forgetting to set the parking brake and in a … Continue reading The Runaway Tractor

Crazy Times, My Sons, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Runaway Trailer

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Matthew, our first born, was just the age where he wanted to go with me everywhere I went. We left the house early on a Sunday morning and was making the 8 to 10 mile trip to our construction yard where I was going to unhook from the rather heavy built shop-made bumper pull trailer we had on behind. Back then, in the 1970s you could get out and drive around Austin without running across all that many other cars on the road on an early Sunday morning trip. Matthew, about 3 years old, was standing up in the passenger … Continue reading The Runaway Trailer

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, My Friends, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

The 58 Ford Pickup Takes A Roll Or Two

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It’s funny the ideas that young boys can have! Living about 9 miles out of Marble Falls meant a drive home every night on a very crooked stretch of paved country road. It’s common knowledge that deer feed at night by the moon. So on a moonlit night there were more deer along the roadway. We were convinced that on nights when the moon was really bright that driving home without headlights provided an overall better chance of not hitting a deer. With headlights off you could see the silhouette of the deer along beside and in the road. The … Continue reading The 58 Ford Pickup Takes A Roll Or Two

Crazy Times, Meeting New People, Thoughts and Musings3 Comments

The PreCast Concrete Venture That Exposed Me To A Ponzi Scheme

lewisotr

The year was 1991. I had spent 20 years digging ditches and I thought enough is enough. The economy was in the crapper. The great real estate boom of the 80s was over and all the big water and wastewater lines had been constructed to the far reaches of the city and beyond in Austin. The future didn’t look so swell for our business. I needed a break. I thought it was time for some new scenery, so to speak. I had two groups of employees by that time. The old and the new. It was time for the old … Continue reading The PreCast Concrete Venture That Exposed Me To A Ponzi Scheme

Amazing Things, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

It Was A Day, Not So Unlike Today – October 6, 1971

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I got off work up in Burnet where I’d been shooting dynamite all day, so we could lay sanitary sewer lines all around town. I had to make sure I didn’t run the track drill any that day, because I couldn’t afford to get as dirty as doing that would get me. Big Jimmy Palmer stayed up ahead drilling. I hit the road to Austin as soon as I could. I wasn’t as clean as I needed to be, but I knew I could shower at my sweethearts place before our big date night. But no way I’d be able … Continue reading It Was A Day, Not So Unlike Today – October 6, 1971

Thoughts and Musings12 Comments

The Killdozer – Haven’t Many Of Us Been This Fed Up Government.

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When we were on the train from Denver to Moab, Utah last week (September 2021), our guide was telling the story of this happening, as we passed by Granby, Colorado. I remembered it happening, very well. Today is a special day. June 4th 2018 marks the 14th anniversary of the Killdozer’s rampage through Granby Colorado. Sit down kids and let me tell you a tale, about a reasonable man driven to do unreasonable things. Marvin Heemeyer was a man who owned a muffler shop in Granby Colorado. The city council ordained to approve the construction of a concrete factory in … Continue reading The Killdozer – Haven’t Many Of Us Been This Fed Up Government.

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Old Dog - New TrickLeave a comment

Hanging Upside Down

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I have had problems with ruptured discs in my neck for much of my adult life. In fact about the only serious surgeries I’ve ever had, have been on my neck. Three of them, starting in 1985, again on 2005 with I hope the last one in 2010. Now most of the vertebra in my neck region are fused together do using plates and screws and even one is wired together with what looks like bailing wire twisted together. That one freaked me out the first time I saw an X-ray of it. The doctor assured me it was good … Continue reading Hanging Upside Down

Thoughts and Musings3 Comments

Being Lucky Is Much Better Than Being Smart, Sometimes

lewisotr

When riding the train from Denver to Moab, Utah a few days ago the little speck on a mountainside appeared. Our docent on the train told us the story of some teenagers, 4 of them that were around 15 years old went for a joy ride, unauthorized by the parent of one of them. The Oldsmobile Station Wagon was stopped by a law enforcement officer. Discovering that none of the kids had a drivers license, he made the decision to let them go, but insisted that one of the gals would have to drive. As they headed on their way, … Continue reading Being Lucky Is Much Better Than Being Smart, Sometimes

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, The Early Days, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Cecil and Brackenridge Hospital

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One night in 1963 my Dad, Cecil Lewis fell sick. We lived out on Bull Creek. This wasn’t the first time he had been deathly ill from the same cause. He had a long history of stomach ulcers since soon after he and momma married in 1948. The doctor told him he would need to stop drinking and watch what he ate. When he felt his ulcer acting up he went on a diet of soda crackers, sweet cows milk and raw eggs. Usually a few days of consuming those three things he would improve and go back to eating … Continue reading Cecil and Brackenridge Hospital