The Auto Theft From Giesecke’s Supermarket (or was it HEB by that time)

I worked at the Luther – McDuff Chevrolet Dealership my senior year of high school. Others that worked there were: Cecil Rhoades – Manager and car salesman extraordinaire. JC Copeland – A very nice, rotund old fellow – a lifelong car salesman type. John Miller – The most genteel person I’d ever met, and a life long MF resident. Everyone trusted John. Karen Schaefer – a pretty young red head that my brother had dated in high school and had married not long before this incident. We were all sitting in the office one day when several police cars arrived. … Continue reading The Auto Theft From Giesecke’s Supermarket (or was it HEB by that time)

More About Jester Blvd.

We had just finished getting the entire length of the boulevard built from bottom to top, the base was laid and tested, the curbs were all in, all we needed to do was put the asphalt down when the Memorial Day Flood of 1981 hit Austin. During the course of that one night and day, the torrents of water that came down, coupled with the extreme steep grades, we saw 3500 tons of limestone flex-base disappear from that hill. To give you an idea of how much that is, it took 150 large 18 wheeler loads to replace it. In … Continue reading More About Jester Blvd.

BEVO was “What’s For Dinner”

Nostalgia: When Bevo was barbecue, and other trials of Texas’ most famous longhorn By Jim Weber Jim Weber runs the college football and men’s basketball site LostLettermen.com. This week, he looks at the early trials of Bevo, introduced to Texas on Thanksgiving 1916, ahead of Thursday night’s rivalry showdown between the Longhorns and Texas A&M in Austin. There isn’t a fan base more proud of its school or more in love with its mascot than the faithful from the University of Texas. Longhorn fans stay true to their school by traveling en masse to road games, decking themselves head to … Continue reading BEVO was “What’s For Dinner”

Sometimes Keeping Your Mouth Shut Is A Good Thing

Years ago we were on a cruise in the Bahamas. One stop allowed us a day of sightseeing and gambling. I was in a casino playing blackjack. The dealer and another player were talking sports, mostly football. At some point the topic changed and Mr. Knowitall was telling the dealer all about Wimbledon and why this one had dominated and why this other one should think about retiring. I instantly thought, hey we are playing blackjack here, deal the cards a little faster. Who cares about tennis. But I never said anything. A few minutes later the subject went back … Continue reading Sometimes Keeping Your Mouth Shut Is A Good Thing

Fasten Your Seatbelt

I once was passing my neighbors weekend place out of Dripping Springs and saw he was there. It was a weekday and I realized he being a state employee, probably had the day off. It was Texas Independence Day. When I pulled up he came outside and we visited a few minutes, then he said, “why don’t we drive into town a buy a 6 pack of Lone Star Beer and drive over to the lookout and sit a spell and enjoy the afternoon”. I had nothing going on so that’s what we did. Amazing conversation, I’ll get into another … Continue reading Fasten Your Seatbelt

Rubbing Shoulders With Eva Longoria

During a rant earlier on my Political Speak Group I related the following true story. I didn’t repost it in its entirety due to my desire to not politicize this group. But you can gather I have a very different view of life than she does. Now for the story: And to think – I once found myself rubbing shoulders with this bimbo. “Yes, the Ronbo here rubbed shoulders with Eva Longoria”. I was invited to sit on the floor at a SA Spurs game in the owners seats at courtside. Eva and Tony Parker were an item at the … Continue reading Rubbing Shoulders With Eva Longoria

Throwing Darts

I was 8 or 9 and Jimmy was three years older. Hannah had made the purchase of some new furniture, perhaps a Lazy Boy. The furniture store delivered it in a pickup with tall solid wooden sideboards, that displayed the store name on it. It made have been WF & JF Barnes Lumber and Furniture, but I can’t be for certain about that. But what I can be for sure about, when the men headed in the house to get the new piece setup, Jimmy and I started throwing darts at the side of that pickup, having a good ol’ … Continue reading Throwing Darts

The Crash (this was originally written Nov. 6, 2016)

Traveling through Liberty Hill on our way home from our anniversary brunch I am reminded of a story that happened just a couple of weeks before we married in November of “71”. I was working in Burnet and Madeline was living in South Austin with Dixie Lewis and another gal. On Wednesday nights I’d drive to Austin to court her, spend the night and head out early the next morning so as to arrive in Burnet by 7:00 AM. Now when I say I would go court her, it was actually more like picking Madeline and Dixie up and heading … Continue reading The Crash (this was originally written Nov. 6, 2016)

A Slight Miscalculation

We were working in Lakeway laying a wastewater off a really steep hill. This was back in the late 1970’s. I ordered gravel that came all the way from Georgetown. I would place an order for 200 tons, about 10 truckloads, but 2 trucks would show up. The next day the same scenario played out. We were really needing some gravel, if we were ever going to finish that job. I decided I would get that truckers attention so I ordered 1000 tons. I figured that way I may get my 200 tons that I needed. I was a Friday. … Continue reading A Slight Miscalculation

The Disease (rewrite)

When I originally wrote this story I left out a few minor details as I didn’t think it was right to possibly bring shame on my brother, mostly, as he has always been a pretty wholesome, upstanding sort. But in an attempt to tell it like it was, here goes. It was in the hot summer time and I was out of school for the summer. I was 15 years old and working for my Dad, Cecil Lewis. We were building some roads down by Turkey Bend, for Frank Wycoff. They were just country subdivision roads. That’s about all we … Continue reading The Disease (rewrite)