The Ugly Phone Call

I was sitting in the office one morning a few years ago and had received several solicitation calls. I was busy and was fed up with all nonsense calls when the phone rang again. It was an area code I didn’t recognize at all. I picked that phone and the guy said “Hello Ron, This is Dave out here in New Jersey, how is everything going down in Texas?”. I launched into a complete tirade about how sick I was of getting these $:;@/”:?!)$ phone calls, and to never call here again. He had sounded just like the several other … Continue reading The Ugly Phone Call

The Best Resource There Is For Texas History

I know most of you love history, Texas History for sure. This is a list of some of the very best FB Groups on Texas History. One thing all these groups have in common are their Creators/Administrators. My FB friends, Bob Dunn and Will Beauchamp have done a wonderful job of bringing us just about anything you can think of when it comes to Texas History. Browse through the list below and find something you are interested in and take a look. Many of you belong to these fine groups but you may not realize how many others there are. … Continue reading The Best Resource There Is For Texas History

My Ol’ Daddy Didn’t Live A Good Clean Life

No apologies for that, as I can almost guarantee you what he would have said if someone offered their opinion on the matter. He smoked his whole life from about age 9. He drank heavily except for about a decade and half, which was from when I was born until I became a teenager. But before that time he was hell on wheels and after that time he became legendary around Smithwick and beyond. Cecil Lewis lived his life throwing caution to the wind. He didn’t spend a lot of his time contemplating his next move. He just got a … Continue reading My Ol’ Daddy Didn’t Live A Good Clean Life

Cecil Lewis Wasn’t Always A Patient Man

It wouldn’t be hard to take away from my previous stories that Cec wasn’t a perfect man in every way. He was hard on us boys. Not just his sons, but all those that worked for him or even just hung out with us. He wanted stuff done and done then. He didn’t take to a lot of foot dragging. For any of his faults he could fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. But as strange at it may seem, if anything broke or got wrecked, he always kept his cool. It was as if at … Continue reading Cecil Lewis Wasn’t Always A Patient Man

The Story Of The Beagles

I have a long love affair with Beagles. A lot of people will find umbrage with me claiming to love dogs, but never having an inside dog. That just speaks to different peoples tastes in pets and how much they want to be one with them. I’m fine with a dog having a nice comfy bed in the garage and waiting for me to come outside and go for a walk. But if someone wants to share their human bed with a dog, that’s you own business. What a man or woman does in their bedroom is up to them. … Continue reading The Story Of The Beagles

Call Me Clueless

Let me tell you something that I even find hard to believe and I was at the center of it. A few years back my wife and a couple of my sons were talking about The Eagles. I simply had no idea who or what they were talking about. It was like “you’ve got to be kidding, you don’t know who The Eagles are ?”. I could honestly say that I had never heard of The Eagles. After them explaining to me that they were one of the most popular bands of the 70s and again in the 90s I … Continue reading Call Me Clueless

I Was Always The Tag Along Little Brother

Kenny and his friends always had something going on, which would have them loaded up going some place or the other. This incident I’m fixin to tell you about was most likely after football practice. A full carload were jammed in, with me being in the back seat, on the passengers side next to the door. I was probably a Freshman in high school with most of them being a couple of years older. I always ended up being picked on constantly, which could have been caused by my own habit of picking on all of them. We had been … Continue reading I Was Always The Tag Along Little Brother

The “55” Chevrolet 3/4 Ton Pickup With Sideboards

Cecil picked up this slightly used Texas Highway Department Pickup at a sale somewhere. That was along about 1961, so the old truck had a lot of good left it it. It was Highway Department Yellow, with the state emblem sanded off of each front door, making it not very attractive. To class it up a bit he had a fellow paint it for him. Cec never did have much of an eye for colors so he went and picked out a color I’d never seen a vehicle painted before or since. I guess it would be something between a … Continue reading The “55” Chevrolet 3/4 Ton Pickup With Sideboards