Moving houses and other large objects

Ken Herman, a writer for the American-Statesman, recently published a lengthy report about the trials and tribulations of moving a synagogue built in 1893 from Brenham to Austin. It seems that it has been many years since there was a minyan (a quorum of ten) Jews to assemble for prayer, let alone a Rabbi, in Brenham. The last remaining members of that synagogue, an elderly couple, set out to move the building to the campus of the Dell Jewish Community Center in Austin, where it would once again be put to use.

Herman pointed out that it was widely recognized that in all likelihood, a new structure could have been built for less than the cost of moving the existing building, but money was not the point. Tradition, as Tevye would say, and generational continuity was the point.

Before long, those involved began to feel that something, or Somebody, didn't want the structure moved. Bad weather, rain, labor disputes, permits, trees, utility lines, mailboxes and local police all contributed to numerous and costly delays, but finally, after a year's preparation, over a period of a couple of weeks, the 3 parts of the house of worship were successfully transported and reunited in Austin on Valentine's day. There is an hour-long documentary that Ken made of the move which you can watch here. I found it fascinating,  but the rest of you may have a life.

The story triggered a couple of memories for me. First, moving houses of any kind is a dying industry. When I was young, it was a regular and normal occurrence, and a fun thing to watch as houses made their way down the main street of my hometown, on the way to some other location. Of course building methods and architectural styles are the primary reason - today's houses are most often built on a concrete slab. In my youth, most houses were on piers with a crawl space beneath the floor; much easier to pick up and haul away.

Mind you, it is possible to move big buildings. I cannot verify this story, but I remember my father talking about the telephone exchange in downtown Dallas being moved, while the operators were still in it and phone service continued! Moved only a few feet, to allow for the widening of Main Street, it was nevertheless a prodigious feat.

Which brings me to my second thought. House movers and Telephone men do not get along. Like cattlemen and shepherds, there was always a range war when a building came through town. Snagging lines, or worse, cables, was a common occurrence. Though often there were men on top of the structure to facilitate sliding underneath the lines, they sometimes could not reposition the line far enough, and that's when they called my father.

I remember his being called out late one late, and I rode along with him to the scene of the crime. Only a few blocks away from our house, a mover had snagged - and damaged - a cable suspended across Walker street, the main thoroughfare through town. The mover was still trying to pull his truck free, continuing to scrape the cable across the rooftop when we got there. And that night I saw something I had never seen before, and never saw again. I saw my father get angry!

My placid, peace-loving, gentleman-to-the-core father was livid! He climbed up on the running board of the truck, yelling at the driver, and for a moment I thought he was going to physically pull the man from the cab of the truck! I don't remember anything else about the episode, but I never see or read about a building up on those big steel rails but I don't think of my father and the night they tried to pull his cable down.

Monday Meandering - 2.23.2015

Last week we were sitting in Chuy's (I know that's hard to believe) when a guy came in carrying flowers and a big teddy bear. He joined a young woman already seated, and I'm guessing he was either very late for their dinner date - or had had completely forgotten Valentines Day.

Let's hear it for the beginning of UT Baseball and Softball. Sort of fills in the spaces between basketball games and keeps the TV background noise level just right.

I was talking to a customer service rep the other day and she gave me an address of the company in Minot North Dakota. I mentioned that she probably was a little chilly right about then. Her response: "I don't want to talk about it."

A tow truck passed me the other day hauling a banged-up vehicle with "ABC Driving School" emblazoned on the side. I thought that ironic and reached for the phone to snap a picture. Luckily, it dawned on me that that act would probably run afoul of Austin's "No handheld devices" ordinance, and I decided that the picture was not worth the $500 fine. You'll just have to imagine what that looked like.

And I guess it really is Spring in Austin. The illegitimate cabbage is blooming abundantly and the Bluebonnet plants are showing up (though not the Bluebonnet flowers themselves). Bradford Pears are showing white blossoms and the Ash trees are well and truly leafed out. And for sure the Oak, Ash and Elm pollen is making itself known.

Bless you!

Skyline Club - a little bit of nearby history

I stumbled across a Facebook page called "Traces of Texas" the other day. A fellow Austinite posts historical Texana pictures and stories on a regular basis and if you are fascinated by that sort of thing, like I am, you may want to follow that link to his page and "like" it so that you can see all of his posts.

The author of this page used to have a blog, as well, but he hasn't posted anything in a couple of years. However, one of his old posts mentioned the Skyline Club, and that resonated with me.

When we moved to Austin the Skyline Club was alive and well, located on the corner of Braker and North Lamar, just 2 miles from our house. It was a low-slung, run-down accumulation of structures that didn't look like much, but it sure could draw a crowd. - on "10 Cent Beer Night"  the  dirt parking lot couldn't hold all the cars and people would park all along North Lamar for miles (Braker did not continue  east of that intersection at the time).

The reason for the crowds was that everybody who was anybody in the country and western world played the Skyline; Hank Williams, Johnny Horton, of course Willy Nelson, Ray Price, Marty Robbins and a bunch of folks from the Grand Ol' Opry. My friend Elvis even performed there in 1955.

When all this started - in 1947 - the Skyline Club was miles past the Austin City Limits, on what was then known as the Dallas Highway. The Skyline stayed in business until 1977, when the owner's declining health precipitated a sale and a name change to Soap Creek Saloon. Under that name it hung on for a few more years and even embraced Rock and Punk music, but in the '80s it closed for good. Today a CVS Pharmacy stands on that corner.

There's a bit more history that really stands out. In December, 1952, Hank Williams played a show at the Skyline, in a manner of speaking. He was so into pain killers and the bottle at that time that he only performed one of three scheduled sets. He went back to Montgomery to recuperate for a couple of weeks and died of heart failure in the back seat of his Cadillac on New Year's Day, en-route to a gig in Canton, Ohio. His short set at the Skyline was his last.

Like Hank Williams, Johnny Horton's last ever appearance was also a show at the Skyline Club, on November 4, 1960.  He was killed later that night driving to Shreveport in a head on collision with a truck driven by a drunk driver. In another little twist of the story, Johnny was married at the time to Hank Williams' widow.

I thought about the Skyline Club the other day while I was waiting for a prescription at that CVS. I wondered if, late at night, one might hear faint music on that spot? Or the sounds of boots scootin' on a wooden dance floor? Just a thought.

Monday Meanderings - 2.16.2015

We have a new alarm clock. There is a woodpecker who visits a tree in the backyard every morning. Early every morning. For a rather smallish bird, this woodpecker's rata-tat-tat  is very loud and very penetrating at that hour of the morning.

It's that time of year in Austin when plants and trees (and people) get a little confused. It has been in the 80's for several days, and there are dandelions blooming in my backyard and the neighbor's ash tree has a faint illusion of buds - but... it got cold again and it may get real cold again. It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.

 Is it a sign of old age when you have a daily reminder on your phone to check your reminders? No, I didn't think so, either.

You know those screens that pop up when you go to Amazon.com, and that great computer in the sky says "People who bought/looked at/thought about such-and-such product also ended up buying/looking at/thinking about..." and then there are some products that Amazon will send you at the drop of a hat, or the push of a button, and you can even get them delivered on Sunday? I think the computer algorithm might need some tweeking.

Last week Amazon suggested Wax Traps (have to do with hearing aids and probably suggested because I buy hearing-aid batteries) and plastic landscape edging. Huh? What do these products have to do with each other? And then later the pairing was for skin-care lotion and a ball of twine. I'm clueless.

And here is a product that I really didn't know I needed until I saw it at Walmart. Remote controlled "candles."  Really?

Monday Meanderings - 2.9.2015

Perhaps I should feel somewhat bad about wandering about in shirtsleeves this weekend while folks in the Northeast are digging out from yet another snowstorm. Nahh! That's what they get for living north of the Red River. At least that's what I thought today while catching some patio time. February is fickle though; it has been as hot as 102 degrees (1996) and as cold as 13 (2013). This too, shall pass. Probably as soon as next week.

I have noticed a new set of questions when checking in at the doctor's office these days. "Have you been out of the country in the past 21 days?" And "Have you had any contact with an Ebola patient?" Interesting times we live in.

Lower gasoline prices present somewhat of a conundrum. The lower they go the happier we are every time we have to fill the tank. But low gas prices impacts the stock market - and the Dow and retirement go hand-in-hand. Of greater importance, when one owns .0084152% of an oil well, cheap gas is a personal affront.

Monday Meanderings - 2.2.2015

I keep a list throughout the week of notes referring to things I want to include in the blog. One for this week says, "Bad memory." Which, as it turns out, is an absolutely true statement, because I cannot for the life of me remember what that note refers to.

Disturbing news of the week: scientists now claim that "sitting will kill you." It seems that sitting for hours on end does bad things to your circulation and your heart and causes numerous other health concerns. That does it. I'm staying in bed all day from now on.

I walked out of our neighborhood public library the other day, just a few steps behind another gentleman. When we reached the middle of the parking lot, he turned, put his hands in the air, and said, "I got no money." I stared at him in disbelief for a few moments and then said, "Me neither." "Oh," he said, "I thought you were going to rob me."

Seriously? Broad daylight, 20 feet from a group of people at the bus stop? By an elderly gent with white hair? If he was serious, he may need to rethink using that particular library.

My latest book project at Learning Ally is to read Five days at Memorial by Sheri Fink. The book is a factual telling of the events at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and the subsequent criminal charges brought against a Doctor and two nurses for allegedly euthanizing a number of elderly patients. An interesting book by a Pulitzer-winning writer.

From a reader's standpoint, my first stumbling block was a list of names in the Front Matter of the book of patients, doctors, nurses, administrators, lawyers, etc., who would be referenced as part of the story. Names like Artie Delaneuville, Craig Famularo, Charles Foti, Tesfalidet Ewale, and the principal character in the book, Dr. Anna Pou. How the heck do you pronounce the names of these actual people?  For that matter, how do you pronounce New Orleans correctly? NAW lens? New Or LEENS? New AR LENS? 

Learning Ally has a number of resources for researching public names and I gathered up many from the public record - for example, I found the Doctor's name in a CNN newscast (pronounced POE). But many remained a mystery.

After a lot of Google searches, I found an email address for Ms Fink (pronounced like you think it is) and sent her an email explaining the need and asking if I could submit a list of names. In a couple of days, she responded, and said she would be happy to help. I shot back the list, and a day later I knew that Charles Foti pronounces his last name FOE tee, among others. And by the way, it's New AR LENS.  And I don't want to hear about how your aunt who lives there pronounces it. It's already in the recording more than 100 times my way.