Category: Crazy Times

Crazy Times, In and Around Austin4 Comments

A South Austin Hailstorm

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It happened along about 1975. My life has been mostly marked by the year model of this car or that pickup I was driving and at this time. I had a “75” Chevrolet El Camino, two tone blue. Midnight blue top and bottom with a medium blue in the middle. I needed a new pair of work boots, so I headed over to Herman’s Workshoes and Workbooks on South Lamar at Oltorf St. Being young married at the time, we did a lot together back then so my wife met there. She was driving a “74” Pontiac Grand Ville. We … Continue reading A South Austin Hailstorm

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Kenny LewisLeave a comment

Hunting at the Cinco Loma

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(Another very fine story from Kenny Lewis) Back in the 90’s we searched various ranches for the best hunts available in South Texas. We had gotten to know Dusty Davis who owned the Cinco Loma Ranch between Batesville and La Pryor. It was not a large ranch (2500 acres), but with high quality deer. This ranch was along Highway 57 on the way to Eagle Pass and surrounded on 3 sides by a large ranch called the West Wind. Larry Martin owned it and was a very successful business man from Houston who had sold his Waste Company for Millions … Continue reading Hunting at the Cinco Loma

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

More About G.K.

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I wrote about my drunken accountant a while back. “GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem”. GK may have been an old drunk, but I had a real fondness for him. Following is a story about the evening goings on for the crew when we were up building a 24” water line in Stephens County. Our office for the Stephens County project was in a small town of Ivan. Actually Ivan wasn’t a town. It was a beer joint and then our little office building. We were on a party line with the Kate’s Place.Ms. Kate was like our answering … Continue reading More About G.K.

Construction, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem

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Gk was my accountant for several years. I’ve mentioned him in a couple of my previous stories. I mostly called him Worley, his last name. GK was so fast on a desk calculator, you’d think the keys were going to fly off. By the time I got to know him, he was pretty much an old drunk. He would shake a lot. But when he would sit down and had a pen in his hand that man had the nicest handwriting of any person I’ve ever known. He had gone to a business school when he was young. He could … Continue reading GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem

Crazy Times, My Family, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

The Battle Of The Smithwick Lewis Family

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This story dates back to the late 1950s. I will be telling it from my perspective, which is the side I was born on. FP and Florence Lewis had a bunch of kids. There were two girls and seven boys (couple more died young) and they raised them in Smithwick. Best I know they had several pieces of property but our old home place was originally Stinnett land that they bought from Grandmother Florence’s family or inherited it. It was comprised of 450 acres that stretched from FM 1431 down to the Colorado River. It was approximately 1/2 mile of … Continue reading The Battle Of The Smithwick Lewis Family

Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

There’s Always More To The Story…..

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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…..

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings3 Comments

The Mean Streets Of Houston

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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

Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

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

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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

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz2 Comments

Ridiculous Things People Ask You To Do

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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

Aging, Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, No Place Like Bertram, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

My Love For Donkeys

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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