A SOUR DEAL TURNED SWEET
A SOUR DEAL TURNED SWEET By Dub Ramsel It was the summer of 1989 and I was parked in my car in front of the old H.E.B. store on University Ave. in Georgetown Texas. I had just placed my real estate sign on the doors of my car and they looked pretty good. Suddenly a black man who looked to be in his late sixties or seventies approached me and...
A very special Christmas.
It was Christmas morning in our new house on Norwood. Standing at the top of the stairs in our red white stripped pajamas we found the note attached to the end of a big red ribbon! At five, I could not read the note very well so my older sister took control and read it aloud to us all. Follow Me the note said! Slidding down the stairs,...
Aimee Whitley-George
Aimee is an artist, real estate agent and raconteur. Her stories seem to focus on her family and friends.
Austin, Honky Tonks and Shopping Carts
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Wedding on a Dusty Lake Shelley King Drought in Texas Wedding on a Dusty Lake Not too long ago, before the drought. Texas had lakes. As bad as that sounds, there is a real benefit from the quarter to half mile expanses of sandy lake bottom that are currently exposed near empty docks that have been threatened by...
BBQ-A WAY OF LIFE IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY
BBQ-A WAY OF LIFE IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY By Dub Ramsel FoldUnfold Table of Contents BBQ-A WAY OF LIFE IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY BBQ in the Story Chip Forum Hausenfluke Update The photo above was taken in about 1957or 58 in the San Gabriel Park. A barbecue was being prepared for the Williamson County Livestock Association to raise funds for the...
BLM Mustangs
Some of you may remember in November of 2000, we bought a little weanling mustang from the BLM auction. Sundance was to be my horse, but he bonded inexplicably with my weird, professor husband who had never been around horses before in his 52 years. The closest he's ever come is a love of old cowboy movies! Nobody was more surprised than he to find...
Bud Mills - the Stud Horse Man
Bud Mills - the Stud Horse Man By Dub Ramsel Bud was not someone who wore Levis and boots with a denim shirt to pretend to be a cowboy. He was genuine. He did some rodeoinq when he was younger and ranched the rugged hill country around Leaky in Real County, Texas. Real County is about the ruggedest part of the Edwards Plateau. It was not known by...
BULL SHIPPING IN CENTRAL TEXAS
BULL SHIPPING IN CENTRAL TEXAS By Dub Ramsel I began buying cattle on a commercial basis in the early 1960's after my feed lot business began losing money. I had inherited customers from Lee Karr - who had the first commercial feed lot in Texas - as the result of a lawsuit he was limited to a thousand head in numbers at any time, so leased his lot...
Cedar Park, Texas
The archaeology says that what is now Cedar Park has been the home of Texas natives for over a thousand years. As likely as not, the proximity of Lake Travis and the herds of deer that today graze casually in suburban front lawns were the main attractions for pre industrial cultures. About a hundred years ago, a train depot made the area the...
Drought and Buzzards
DROUGHT AND BUZZARDS By Dub Ramsel It was July of 1955. Williamson County was suffering from the worst drought in history - Everything looked like a desert. The North and South San Rivers had dried up, except for deep holes and they were beginning to smell like sewers. The farmers and ranchers were getting assistance from the Government. Hay was...
Dub Ramsel Talks About his Stories
Dub Ramsel on his Stories These stories cover a period from early 1950's to the late eighties. These stories have come from my memory with an occasional quote from some Williamson County residents. When I arrived to Williamson County in 1952, Georgetown, like most other small communities were dependent on Agriculture almost entirely. When the...
Ghost in Tyler, Texas
For many people, the only difference between people who have experience with ghosts and those who do not is the willingness to accept what is directly in front of you. Jo is one of those who has experienced many different ghosts in many different locations. She prefers to keep her accounts semi private as she has become accustomed to hearing...
HORSE TRADING IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY
HORSE TRADING IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY By Dub Ramsel There were two full time horse traders in Georgetown when I arrived to the County in 1952. Fred Perry lived and had his lot on University Avenue, or Hwy 29 west. It was on the south side of the street near the bridge that crossed the South San Gabriel River. Fred also kept a sorrel stallion for...
Jack Murray A Man With A Plan
Jack Murray A Man With A Plan By Dub Ramsel When I first met Jack Murray shortly after I arrived in Williamson County, I knew that here was a man who knew where he was going and how he was going to get there. He was a rancher and spent every day except Sunday at the many man killing chores that went along with getting the job done. Only these...
JACK SUDDUTH - A MAN OF FEW WORDS
JACK SUDDUTH - A MAN OF FEW WORDS By Dub Ramsel Jack Sudduth grew up in Williamson County Texas and came from a large family of five boys and three girls. When I first met him hp and his wife Nettie and one daughter, Joyce, he youngest child, lived on a 20 acre tract of land north east of Georgetown, Texas. Jack had built a home there and had...
Jim "Popi" Meadows
Andice General Store Andice, Texas My artist stopped in Andice, Texas (population 25) to have lunch at the Andice General Store but quickly found herself listening to the owner's stories. She left my card with the request that those stories be added to Story Chip. Not long after, I got a call from a gentle man who was too excited to leave...
Lee McGavin
Many people felt that the most significant event of the last millennium was the invention of the printing press. There is no doubt that brininging affordable literacy to the population of the world changed everything about culture and allowed Harold Innis to begin writing about the exchange of information as an economy. Innis' presentation...
Lee Rister - The King of "Dirt Movers"
Lee Rister - The King of Dirt Movers By Dub Ramsel Some call them ponds and some call them tanks. It made no difference to Lee Rister. He knew how to build them, and when the location was left up to Lee it most likely held water. There are many reasons for construction tanks on farms and ranches. The most important reason for them is to impound...
Legacy of John Mc Donald
Legacy of John Mc Donald by Dub Ramsel John H. Mc Donald was born on November 11, 1919 in Jonah, Texas. This day being Veterans Day was cause for a double celebration. His daughter Patti said that she thought everyone was celebrating her Dad's birthday, and he did not tell her differently for some time. I first became acquainted with John shortly...
LESSONS FROM THE OLD MASTER
LESSONS FROM THE OLD MASTER By Dub Ramsel One time I called Mr. Carl about a pen of feed lot calves that I ran across that were too heavy for my order most of the packers at this time, back in the fifties and sixties were using handy weight carcasses. The chain stores required this size of beef so that one man could handle a quarter without hoists....
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