Today, I pulled a Leroy

Today, I pulled a Leroy.  Today would have been my dad's 88th birthday, so it is only fitting that I pull one like this.  I guess the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.  The picture to the left is me, my dad and my oldest grandson when he was about 3 or 4.  One of my favorite pictures.


For those that didn't know my dad, you missed a character.  But for all his great qualities, he was quite dangerous to be around.  I have seen him almost blow up his bbq pit using gasoline as a starter, he shot the end of one of his fingers shooting a 22 rifle, he either sunk or was thrown out of several boats.  But he laughed all the way doing it.


One time at the lake while working on the boat dock in the dead of winter, he slipped and managed to get me thrown in the freezing water.  He put me on the plow behind the tractor at the deer lease when I was about 12.  The purpose was to hold the plow in the ground.  I swear he ran that tractor at full speed.  If you knew him, you had your own story.


But I think he  was looking down on me today and laughing.


I was going to fix some fajitas on the gas grill on the back porch.  I started out as usual and started the burners to burn off the grill.  Usually let it get to 300 degrees and clean the grill.  Got distracted today and forgot that it was on.  My wife came in and told me the grill was smoking really bad and there was a fire in the bottom.  Well, when I got there the temperature gauge was past the 800 degree mark.  It was hot.  My wife said the window behind the grill was extremely hot.  I just turned off the gas and went back in the house.


A few minutes later, I came back out and the temperature was at 500 so I cleaned the grill.  I decided I could cook these fajitas with the gas off, it was still that hot.  I put the meat on and went back into the house.  There was still some fire at the bottom of the pit due to old grease.  I wasn't worried as I thought it would burn out. I went back into the house.


A few minutes later, my wife said that I had better go look at the grill.  There were flames everywhere and a wire was on fire.  I said the gas is off, so there is no problem.  She insisted and I went outside.


I quickly realized that I was in trouble.  The heat was over 500 degrees and the wire that she was talking about was the rubber hose that went from the propane tank to the burners.  Yep, even though I had turned the gas off, it was burning from that hose.  At this point, I told my wife to go get the water.  Instead of going for the hose, she went inside to bring me a pitcher of water.  It was getting worse.


Now I have forgotten to mention at this point that I had some blue jeans on that are a little too big for me.  I need to wear a belt with them.  I wasn't wearing a belt.  Now back to the story, I ran to get the water hose to spray on the fire that was getting bigger.  On the way back to the grill from the water faucet, I lost my pants.


They fell down around my ankles and I almost fell down running with the hose that was blasting water.  I managed to kick the pants off and start spraying water on that burning hose.  There I was in a shirt and my underwear fighting a propane fire with a water hose. My wife didn't know whether to laugh or cry or run for cover.  I had some of those thoughts myself. After about 3 or 4 minutes, I managed to get the fire out, and then I could shut the valve off on top of the propane tank.  Those were a tense 3 or 4 minutes.  I was afraid I might burn the house down.


I got the meat (of course) off of the grill and took it inside.  Leroy would have done that too.  I sat down and remembered it was his birthday.  I pulled a Leroy and I know that he was laughing at me from heaven.


I decided to tell this story because of self defense.  My wife promised not to tell anybody until she saw them.  Anyway, it's not all that bad, it made me remember a great man today and one that I loved dearly.  Even if he was dangerous to be around.


Mike



I always like to include a video to go with my stories.  The only fitting one I could find was Leroy, the Redneck Reindeer by Joe Diffie.  My dad in later years always wore suspenders and a Caterpillar hat, not a John Deere.  My brother in law works for Holt.


Leroy, The Redneck Reindeer    Watch this video, Leroy the Redneck Reindeer and my dad were a lot a like.

My Dad's New Glastron Boat, We should have named it The Titanic

Mom and Dad had a lake place on Bee Creek on Lake Travis. My dad always had a boat but it was always a little metal 10' boat or a 12' fiberglass boat. These boats were all used for trot line fishing. I'll have more to tell about that later. Us kids were starting to get older and were interested in skiing. We could ski behind one of the old fiberglass boats, but we didn't look cool.

Dad went and bought a new Glastron inboard/outboard boat. Our boat wasn't a jet boat, but it had the same marking as the boat in the video. It was beautiful.. I really don't remember if it was the maiden launch or not but the boat was brand new. We had a dock down on the creek that we tied all the boats up to. We had a place to fish inside the dock. It was lots of fun.

Well, anyone on this particular day, Dad launched the new boat and after cruising around Bee Creek came around and tied it up to the dock. We all went up the hill to the lake cabin to do something. When we came back down to the dock, the boat was still tied up the the dock but it was upside down. It had sunk.

Well, it wasn't that funny at the time. Dad was really mad. I don't know how it happened but the drain plug had been left out and the boat just filled up with water and sank right there at the dock.

We had to get someone from town to help us get the boat out of the water. It was at the start of the summer and by the time we got the boat back from repairs, summer was almost over. And the boat never really did run that good again. Always had trouble.

But that's just one of the great memories that I have at Bee Creek.

Happy Anniversary, Carla Jo

33 years ago today, our pastor, Charles Stewart, married us at Kinney Avenue Baptist Church. Wow, so many memories. 33 years ago today, I became Christi’s daddy.

We dated a little over two years before getting married. Everyone in the church was happy for us. We were a first for our pastor, Charles Stewart. He was a strict Southern Baptist preacher and he didn’t believe in divorce. He wouldn’t marry anybody that had been divorced. We were engaged in January and had a few counseling sessions with Charles Stewart right after we were engaged. He announced in church soon after we were engaged that he would now consider marrying someone that had been divorced. He had been in the pulpit over 10 years at that time and we were the first couple that he married that had involved a divorce. Believe me, that was a huge change for the man. I thought that was pretty special and believe me it wasn’t because of me. Carla, everyone loves you and he did too.

The picture below is one of my favorites from the wedding. Your parents, Cliff and Margie are standing by you and my parents; Janette and Leroy are standing by me.
Right beneath that picture is another picture of our new little family. Carla, Christi and me.

I think the pictures say it all, Carla, you are the love of my life.

I was watching the movie “Jerry Maguire” last night and the last clip of the movie is what I want to share.

The film shows a man at his desk. His name was Dicky Fox. This is what he said; “ I don’t have all the answers in life to be honest. I’ve failed as much as I’ve succeeded. But I love my wife and I love my life, and I wish you my kind of success.”

You know, that kind of sums up my life.

In closing, I picked a song that tells you, Carla, just how I feel. It is from the movie, “Heartland” and is the closing scene. It shows your favorite singer, George Strait, singing “I Cross My Heart”. I love you, Carla Jo.




Coming Tomorrow: Our engagement Don’t miss this one.

Mom and Dad's Anniversary

This is a really tough day for me. I know it is for you, Mom. Today is not only my Mom and Dad’s Anniversary, it would have been their 60th anniversary.

I don’t really have much to say today. Mom, I know that you miss Dad. I can’t begin to understand the pain that you have there. Tomorrow is Carla and I’s 33rd anniversary and I know how much she means to me.

Mom, just know that I love you. I tried to think of something else to do, but all I can think about is the great song that you had played at Dad’s funeral. I think I just want to listen to Vince Gill sing that song today. I can know that Dad is in a better place. In the intro to the song, Vince encourages everyone to sing along. Mom, I'm singing.

I love you, Mom.

Mike



Mom,
I was going to post the next video tomorrow for Carla, but I really felt Dad talking to me.



Coming Tomorrow: Carla and I celebrate 33 years of marriage.

Leroy Carlson, My Dad

My dad passed away at the age of 85 on August 16, 2007. He was a truly wonderful man that got better with age. I have so many stories about my dad, that it would take a years writing every day just about him.

My dad was a full-blooded Swede. My grandfather came to America from Sweden in the early 1900’s. East of Austin, the Germans and Swedes settled the area. From Manor to New Sweden and Elroy and places in between.

My grandfather, Gustav Carlson, had some kinfolk that had come to America a few years earlier and sent for him. He came along, going through Ellis Island on the way to Elroy, Texas. My grandmother, Ruth Carlson, (that’s right her maiden name was Carlson) came to America first through Minnesota and then came down to Texas.

My grandmother had 4 children, before she died in childbirth with the 5th child. The baby died also. My dad was the second oldest. He had an older brother, Edward, a younger sister, Ethel and the youngest, Leonard. My dad was about 10 years old when his mother died.

My grandfather was a tenant farmer in Elroy. He farmed some of Judge McAngus’ land. When I was a teenager we use to go dove hunt on the McAngus property and I saw what was left of the house that my dad grew up it. It literally was a shack.

When my grandmother died, my dad quit school. He was in the 6th grade. He had to go help his dad out in the fields. My Aunt Ethel, who was about 8 or 9 at the time had to take up household duties. Washing clothes and cooking and cleaning. My dad was always very protective of his sister. He would fight anybody that crossed her.

My dad was to first to leave the farm, he was about 20 when he came to Austin to work at the old Brackenridge Hospital as a porter. He cleaned bedpans and waxed the floors at the hospital. It was hard work and not much pay, but he wanted off of the farm.

I am not sure when he went to work for Binswanger Glass in Austin, but he started out learning how to install auto glass. He liked the work. He had a friend that worked for Binswanger in Fort Worth and his friend wanted him to go work there. Dad transferred to Fort Worth and worked at Binswanger there, but he didn’t like it. His family were all back in Austin. When he tried to get his job back at Binswanger in Austin, they didn’t have a place for him.

Not knowing what else to do, dad opened up his glass business. His first was a leased stall at the old Austin Top Shop on West 5th street. Billy Pannell owned that shop. They installed seat covers and convertible tops. I’ll have another story about the Austin Top Shop.

Well dad was in several locations. The first location that I remember was on Riverside Drive between South Congress and Barton Springs Road. Before he left that block in 1969, he had a shop in 3 different locations on that same block. They were right next to one another.

Well, my dad married my mom on April 9, 1949. I am the oldest of 4; I have one brother Larry, and two sisters, Diana and Lisa.

As you can tell from the early life of my dad, he really didn’t have a childhood. All he knew was work. He could fix practically anything. If he didn’t fix it he probably tore it up.

Dad really didn’t know how to deal with kids. Mom was a stay at home mom and she took care of us. She administered most of the punishment. If we were really bad, she threatened to tell dad. I can only remember him spanking me one time, but the threat of his punishment got us kids to straighten up.

People loved my dad because he was caring and compassionate. Since he died, I have had more people tell me stories about my dad and the good things he did then I could have ever imagined.

But dad was one of those guys that really started to mellow as he grew older. My youngest sister is 8 years younger than my brother. She was the baby of the family. Dad was 44 when Lisa was born in 1966. His tenderness was growing rapidly after that. Then in 1976, I married Carla and dad got his first grandchild.

Then other grandchildren started to come along and I almost didn’t recognize the man anymore. He talked about those grandkids all the time and worried about them. Then, my daughter and Kelly (Diana’s daughter) begin to have children and give him great-grandchildren. I have a great picture of dad holding one of Christi’s kids at Gattitown. He was unbelievable. It was almost funny, but really was fun to watch this man age.

I’ll stop now because I just wanted to give you some of the basics about this man. You can see the other stories fit in place as I tell them.

Coming Tomorrow, How I became Pop and why Tucker doesn't like the song; Barbara Ann by The Beach Boys