Category: Crazy Times

Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Dink And The Jeep

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Dink had fallen on hard times at some point in the early 80’s. He flew into Austin and caught a cab ride over to my office. He ask if I had a spare vehicle he could drive while he was in town on business. All I had sitting around was a 77 Jeep Cherokee Chief. It had pretty well been placed in retirement. It was the same one that I told about that Kenny and I made the epic journey across Texas in and it jumped time over in Lufkin. He drove it a couple of days and stopped by … Continue reading Dink And The Jeep

Crazy Times, My FriendsLeave a comment

A Lincoln Town Car With Dual Tires And Wheels All The Way Around It was

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Down south of Dallas at the town of Waxahachie, my friend Gerry and I would meet at the Colonial House Restaurant every morning. This one morning we got there at the same time. As we were walking in we saw a really strange sight. A new Lincoln Continental Town Car was parked front and center. It looked like any other car of that make, except it was equipped with dual tires all the way around. The tires each were about half way in size between and car tire and a motorcycle tire. It was the strangest thing I’d seen in … Continue reading A Lincoln Town Car With Dual Tires And Wheels All The Way Around It was

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Telephoning Catfish (As told by Kenny Lewis)

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I suppose the statue of limitations has run out on this story, so maybe I can tell this without Joe or me going to jail. As I’ve said earlier Brown Parker was one of my Dad’s best friends as was Joe Alderson. Brown lived in California and he and his wife owned a very successful Commercial Laundry business. Every summer they traveled back to Smithwick for two weeks of vacation. He almost always brought his boat and a case of Jim Beam whiskey. It was always a happy time for the community.Cec and Joe made sure they had ample time … Continue reading Telephoning Catfish (As told by Kenny Lewis)

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Cec and the Riviera

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Kenny (my brother), Cec (my dad) & I headed off one Saturday morning to buy Kenny a new car to go off to college in. Cec was sure that Kenny should have something economical, so a nice 63 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4 door was acquired for him. It was a pretty common looking little car. It looked more like our grandmother should have been driving it. Kenny was less than pleased, but knew that life was going to be tough for him, with his going to school and plans to get married soon. So he went along with it. On the … Continue reading Cec and the Riviera

Crazy Times, The Early Days, The Jollyville YearsLeave a comment

Cecil Lewis Knew How To Have Fun

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If I start talking about a telephone used for fishing, there are a few that wouldn’t have a clue what I’m talking about. But it would also prove they aren’t from Smithwick. A telephone is actually an electrical generator box that was used with the old-timey crank telephones. For whatever reason if you were in the lake and you possessed one of these boxes and you dropped a couple of wires over the side of the boat and started cranking on telephone, for some reason the fish (only catfish) would come to the top of water and take a short … Continue reading Cecil Lewis Knew How To Have Fun

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Cec And The Big Billy Goat

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When we were building the Guadalupe River State Park my dad, Cecil took his small travel trailer down at the very end of the park at the rivers hairpin bend, to stay away from everyone else. The park land extends across the river at that narrow point and has some primitive camping and hiking over there. Between the time we bid that project and it actually getting under way, there was the huge flood that snapped off gigantic cypress trees and altered the landscape forever. Cec would sit and watch a herd of Spanish Goats that climbed the rock bluffs … Continue reading Cec And The Big Billy Goat

Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Betting on Football

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I was convinced back when I was much younger that no one was unlucky enough to lose 13 out of 15 football games but I proved that theory wrong. The year was 1985. I felt like I didn’t even have to know who was playing and that I could pick almost half of the games correctly. Statistically speaking, just looking at the point spreads. Because I watched a lot of football back then and we all talked football I was sure I knew as much as anyone on the subject. The mid 1980s were prosperous times. Thanksgiving weekend rolled around … Continue reading Betting on Football

Crazy Times, My Sons, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

A Nice Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Ride

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A few years ago we were doing a project in Brownsville, Texas, a seven hour trip to the south. Being a nice Sunday I decided to ride my Goldwing down. Madeline was coming down later so she was pulling the trailer so I could haul it back home later that week. Ron Jr. was working on that job so he was already down there. He had a motorcycle so I suggested he ride up to Corpus so we could meet for lunch then ride back together. After having lunch we headed out for the 3 hour trip to the valley. … Continue reading A Nice Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Ride

Crazy Times, On The Job, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings3 Comments

I Felt Kind Of Guilty For Contributing To This Fellow Getting Fired

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Alvin was a TxDot employee, the supervisor over all of the survey crews. I first got to know him in the early 70s when we were contracted to work on the I-35 expansion through downtown Austin. TxDot did all the layout in those days and had a bunch of survey crews. Now-a-days they mostly hire it all out I think. In fact they may not even have a survey division. Sometime later, around 1980, Alvin was seeing retirement coming so he started his own surveying company and would go out on weekends and do work. I hired him to do … Continue reading I Felt Kind Of Guilty For Contributing To This Fellow Getting Fired

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Meeting New People, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Dust Up At The Post Office

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We were talking about the Post Office on here one time and it made me think of an incident that I got involved in a few years ago at the Bertram Post Office. I walked in one day to transact some business. I found myself behind a young lady being waited on by the Post Mistress herself. The gals mother was driving a truck cross country and found herself out in Ontario, Ca. broke down and in the need of funds. She had left a credit card here at home that she was in desperate need of.Daughter was trying to … Continue reading The Dust Up At The Post Office