Category: Crazy Times

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Cecil Lewis Was Always Resourceful And He Taught Us

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In the early days of our roadbuilding careers, there was a need to haul heavy pieces of equipment, mostly a D-7 Caterpillar Bulldozer, from Smithwick to Jonestown. We didn’t always have trucks that had the horsepower and the gears to get us over all the hills. We knew from experience which ones were going to give us fits, so I’d go along in a pickup and before we’d get to one of those such hills we’d pull over and hook a chain to the front of the truck and I could give just enough of a tug with the pickup … Continue reading Cecil Lewis Was Always Resourceful And He Taught Us

Crazy Times, Meeting New People, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Connecting People (it’s like connecting the dots)

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It’s strange how people all around the country are connected and we never realize it. I was reading about the Wolf Family from Georgetown (they owned the land where the Wolf Ranch Shopping Center is located). We did a lot of work around that development and got to know some of that family. Actually I had known Harry Robertson that married into the Wolf family since childhood. His sister had married one of my first cousins, back when I was just a kid, so we would see them every so often. Later Harry operated a Gulf Station at I-35 and … Continue reading Connecting People (it’s like connecting the dots)

Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Another Strange Happening

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When we were kids going to school in Jollyville, there were the Reeves boy’s that were the same age as Kenny and me. Donnie was Kenny’s age, while Danny and I were in the same grade. We often visited each other’s house and played together. Then the Reeves’s cousin Elvin Horner came to live with them. He was Kenny and Donnie’s age. The Reeves family moved and we lost touch with them. That was about 1963. By the mid 80’s I was awarded a contract to construct a development project in Round Rock. When we got started building it, I … Continue reading Another Strange Happening

Crazy Times, My Friends

Another Strange Coincidence. How many are there?

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I Was Just Reading Along Online About Various Crimes That Have Been Written. Something I often do. I’m not sure why True Crime interests me, but I’m intrigued by those stoeies. As I was reading a couple of names appeared that I recognized. They are a couple I met a few years ago. Carl and Tricia Adams Pool (Tricia is a member of this group) from Jonestown. They even own a ranch and wedding venue right here just out of Bertram. They are mentioned in the later part of this article. This incident happened a long time before we met. … Continue reading Another Strange Coincidence. How many are there?

Crazy Times, Meeting New People2 Comments

The Rainbow Vacuum Cleaner Salesman

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The son of a friend of ours had failed at several different jobs and vacuum cleaner selling was going to be his ticket to the future. The sales pitch to us was he just needs to come to give his presentation (his mommie asking for him) so he can get his act down. We didn’t know this young man actually, perhaps we had met a time or two, causally. The mother was the girlfriend of a family member. He arrived and vacuumed every room in the house demonstrating how much better his was that the one we had. All the … Continue reading The Rainbow Vacuum Cleaner Salesman

Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Head-Plant In The Mud

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I was about 17 years old. Lake Travis was really low like it is now. We had a bulldozer and a Cat 12 Motorgrader down along the bottom land, cleaning up and leveling out so when the lake came back up it would……….,,,,,..no we knew it wouldn’t stay smooth but Cec had a good idea. Something to keep me busy. My helper was, David Jordan, my one day in the future brother in law. If I remember correctly it was a fairly uneventful day, that is until I started out on top with motorgrader. Just when I got to the … Continue reading Head-Plant In The Mud

Crazy Times, On The Job, The Early Days

My Wildest Trucking Story

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Being raised up around trucks and owning many during my working career, I’ve had many memorable trucking experiences. There are none that compare to this two and half days. I was driving a truck for Nelson Lewis hauling equipment around the state, in the winter of 1970-1971. I was 18 years old. I had worked on a job-site in Burnet all day, but needed to be in Port Lavaca the following morning. There was an Inley Excavator (or a Trackhoe as we called them back then) there that needed to go up to Lake Jackson, further up the coast toward … Continue reading My Wildest Trucking Story

Crazy Times, Old Dog - New Trick4 Comments

The Double Tailed Quarters, The Whole Story

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There was a time in the 80s when times were really good in the construction business. I was flying high, as was Kenny and our friend Coy. We all had our own businesses but we worked together at times, hiring each other’s companies to help out on projects. Kenny & Coy had a lot more in common with each other than with me. During that phase of their lives they each were without the benefit of a wife at the time or at least they acted like it. They worked hard and partied hard as the old saying goes. Now … Continue reading The Double Tailed Quarters, The Whole Story

Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days2 Comments

When Dean Came Home From Boot Camp

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Dean and I ran around together. My brother and his sister dated throughout much of high school so that connection threw us together. They eventually married after high school. Dean was a little older than me so he had left school to join the Army when he became eligible but I was still just sixteen years old and a sophomore in high school. After completing basis training Dean came in on leave. He and several of our friends came out and picked me up to celebrate his return. It was a Saturday afternoon around 2:00 PM. They were in Larry … Continue reading When Dean Came Home From Boot Camp

Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Circling 4-Wheelers

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Back in the winter of 1984, Kenny had a deer lease on several thousand acres of south Texas land between Laredo and Freer. He was so gracious to ask me down a few times. (or anytime I wanted to come). That weekend several people were there, but all were still out hunting. Kenny and I both arrived back at camp lodge, on our 4 wheelers. The timing was such that coming from opposite directions we reached the big open gravel parking lot in front of the lodge at the same time. We skillfully headed for each other but turned slightly … Continue reading The Circling 4-Wheelers