Finding The Stash Of Stolen Beer

Back in the early 1960s, Kenny and I were doing what we usually did just about every day. We rode horses. That was our job, our vocation. We weren’t pleasure riders. We broke and rode horses to make our spending money. We had a contact to ride Shetlands for a fellow. I’ve written much more about that, so I’ll just place that down at the bottom of this story. We rode up an old cedar chopper road that was down below our house a little ways. The road was overgrown with small cedars and a tight squeeze to get up … Continue reading Finding The Stash Of Stolen Beer

The Odyssey

I have a friend, I’ll call him Jack. We had been doing the same type of construction for many years. He had worked for a couple of my competitors, but each were friendly competitors, so we have been in various joint venture arraignments throughout the years. Somewhere along the way, due to a divorce or perhaps it was the cause of the divorce, Jack developed a serious cocaine habit. He came to me in the need of employment. His habit had caused him to be let go from his last job. Not realizing that cocaine addiction couldn’t be cured with … Continue reading The Odyssey

Cruising The UT Drag

The spring of 1971 found me and Jimmy Frasier (Feline to his friends; not because he was a cat) in Austin one Friday afternoon. Probably for no other reason than hoping to find some excitement. I had a new Chevrolet pickup and we decided a drive down to the Drag was in order. We got as far a 34th street on Guadalupe, heading south when we encountered a red light. A couple of pretty young UT types were in the right lane, with us in the left. Paying more attention to the girls than to driving, when the light changed … Continue reading Cruising The UT Drag

The Unfortunate Incident With The Motorola Radio’s

Things are so different today than when I first got into the business some 50+ years ago. When people were out on a jobsite and you needed to tell them something, you drove out and delivered a message in person. Austin was a much smaller then, but a message could be delayed several hours at times. I think we had better planning skills then or our expectations for getting much done was a lot less. Somewhere along the way voice pagers came into vogue. But when you were out on a job with machinery running, if you heard the thing … Continue reading The Unfortunate Incident With The Motorola Radio’s

Glenn at the Circle Inn

A favorite story told by many puts Glenn Lewis at the Circle Inn on a Saturday night. It was one of those hot summer nights that caused people to not always get along. Glenn and another patron got into a fight and the Proprietor, Alice Sayers ushered them outside. Alice wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. (I know, I’m married to her granddaughter) Rather than get in his pickup and leave, Glenn walked to the back of the building (he had consumed huge amounts of beer) and took the back off of the old huge swamp cooler that blew … Continue reading Glenn at the Circle Inn

I Had A Dream Last Night

It was a haunting dream. I was at a friends funeral. It wasn’t at a church or at a cemetery. Instead it was at a park in Marble Falls. That park was actually the old rodeo grounds in town. A lot of people showed up. It became a grand event. As things got underway, something strange started to happen. It went from a single to a double casket affair. Everyone was saying such nice things about these fellows, whom had be friends for just about their whole lives. It got around to people getting up and telling stories about these … Continue reading I Had A Dream Last Night

The Gift

Some of my best memories growing up was hauling hay and doing the hard work. Back in August of 2012 when Madeline and I turned 60, our kids along with Kenny and Carol threw us a grand party out at their place on Cow Creek. Jimmy Palmer brought me one of the best gifts I could have received. It was his hay hook that had hung in their barn for all these years. He wanted me to have it to remind me of the time that when he got out to open a gate and he got back in I … Continue reading The Gift

Cec And The Spare Tire Rack

Back in “68” Cec bought a new 1/2 Ford Pickup down at Truck City Ford on Ben White Blvd in Austin. There was a brand new thing that he couldn’t do without. Back in those days pickups never or hardly ever came with a rear bumper from the factory. They were all installed by the dealer and most of the time in this area they were supplied by D&D Bumper in Seguin, Tx. The dealership name would be imprinted in it, so when you bought a bumper you paid for the privilege of advertising where you bought your truck everywhere … Continue reading Cec And The Spare Tire Rack

One Thing That Shouldn’t Be Said During Church

I had a good friend that was a steady church goer. When they got to the prayers and concerns portion of the service this friend stood up ask for prayers for this fellow out in West Texas. The West Texas fellow was the father of this friend of mine’s grandson. A divorce had caused a lot of consternation between each side. Back to the church house that day: He said, if old (what’s his name) doesn’t watch himself, “I’m going to drive out to West Texas and shoot him”. Now taking that this was a very small church 4 or … Continue reading One Thing That Shouldn’t Be Said During Church

The Bet – The Naming Of A First Born

I got to the visitation at the funeral home for my friend LJ Henderson, Joy, LJ’s oldest daughter said “your mother’s name was Bonnie, right” ? To which I said yes. She told me the following story. LJ and Cecil were sitting in a beer joint just a couple of days before Joy Henderson was born in the early part of 1950. Both wives were heavy pregnant at the time. Cecil said, “that baby of yours is gonna be a little girl”. A little arguing went back and forth and a bet was formulated right then and there? If it … Continue reading The Bet – The Naming Of A First Born