There’s Always More To The Story…..

This was an early Angora Chronicles story. The Doubled Tailed Quarters story is always a favorite of mine. When Kenny got one of the original books from me yesterday he took it and really dissected it last night and this morning. He called a little while ago, to ask why I didn’t finish the story about the Doubled Tailed Quarters. I knew that was coming so I had my ready answer. That rest of the story was the hook to get him on here and involved. Anytime that story gets told, he always adds the karma part, the last laugh … Continue reading There’s Always More To The Story…..

The Mean Streets Of Houston

As a boy going up in the small central Texas town of Marble Falls, I dreamed of getting out of high school and finding a vocation without ever needing to go on to college or any other formal education. I grew up in a family where operating equipment and driving trucks came at an early age. I thought a career as a truck driver and maybe even owning a fleet of trucks one day was in my future. I was a high school senior, but not yet eighteen. At that time, you could get your drivers license at 14 and … Continue reading The Mean Streets Of Houston

The Incident That Almost Left My Brother To A Life Of Infamy

It was a late afternoon in the late 1970s. Kenny had put in a full day in Austin with the construction business and was headed to Marble Falls to finish off his day with his ranching activities. He headed out of Oakhill on Texas 71 and as he approached Paleface Park he looked up to see a white Mercedes Sedan pull directly out in front of him. With a quick reflexes he stomped the brakes and locked up all four tires. In a cloud of blue smoke he skidded right up within a few feet of the drivers door of … Continue reading The Incident That Almost Left My Brother To A Life Of Infamy

Ridiculous Things People Ask You To Do

One time years ago we were working beside North Lamar out just north of Rundberg Lane. A few blocks south of our job site 2 cars got together in a pretty bad crash. Attorneys got involved and started suing everyone they could think of. I’m not sure how our name got involved but it did and we were named in a lawsuit. I turned it over to the insurance company. Several months or even years past when an attorney called me to get a statement. She had almost worn me completely out when I told her that I would send … Continue reading Ridiculous Things People Ask You To Do

My Love For Donkeys

This was originally written in the early days of The Angora Chronicles, with the times freshened up for this time period. In about 1959 I got Tar Baby. He was a fine specimen. Kenny always had good horses, but I preferred riding Tar Baby. He was given to me by my Grandmother Leona’s brother, Uncle Ed Purcell. I rode him in many rodeo parades and just for a leisurely ride. I usually wasn’t in a hurry and neither was Tar Baby. When it came time to help gather cattle or goats, I’d have to mount up on a horse. Otherwise … Continue reading My Love For Donkeys

The Ugly Phone Call

I was sitting in the office one morning 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”. 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 telephone salesmen I’d already heard from. He said “no, no I’m … Continue reading The Ugly Phone Call

We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

This was written back in September 2014. Within a month or so in the beginning of The Angora Chronicles. I grew up around construction equipment and trucks. In the 60s when I was in high school Cecil Lewis ran a fleet of dump trucks. Among other things we had the contract to haul the blasted rock from the Pure Stone Quarry out south of Marble Falls back to the crusher in town. Even as young and as small as I was at 14 or 15, I commonly and single-handey pulled transmissions and replaced clutches in those old dump trucks and … Continue reading We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

Snow Skiing – Ronnie Lewis Style

In the mid 80s several couples all went to Lake Tahoe for a little get away. I wasn’t an accomplished skier when we got there. To tell you the truth I had never had a pair of skis on. Several in our group had never skied either, including my wife and my brother, so they enrolled in Ski School. Only one couple with us were accomplished skiers. John and Belinda Kemper made it sound easy. So rather than waste time with ski school I got my equipment on and headed to the top of the mountain. I had never seen … Continue reading Snow Skiing – Ronnie Lewis Style

Harold & Catherine

Harold and Catherine were some of the first people that moved in at Smithwick Mills, the subdivision my dad had built from our old home place. They had spent most, if not all of their long married life in Houston. With the crime and meanness going on, they felt Smithwick calling. They became very good friends to my parents. In the later part of the 1970s Kenny and I had contracted some work up on Mormon Mill Road, in Marble Falls, installing water and wastewater lines for a development that Mike O’Connor was building. It required a lot of blasting … Continue reading Harold & Catherine

I Just Had A Winfield Memory Pop Up In My Head

Not long before Winfield’s death, I was in Houston and met him for lunch near his downtown office. He had not yet been disbarred for getting busted with drugs. He was making plans to come to Austin and open a practice. The rules about Attorney’s had changed allowing television advertising. Houston was saturated with those commercials but it hadn’t so much made it’s way to Austin. He was sure that him investing in a great advertising campaign would put him on the map post haste. He certainly had the line of BS to go a long way. Maybe had things … Continue reading I Just Had A Winfield Memory Pop Up In My Head