Category: Crazy Times

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, On The JobLeave a comment

With All The Rain We’ve Had……..It Can Always Be Worse.

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I think back on how wet it’s been and how devastating all the rains can be on the construction business. I will recall a couple of my biggest weather related nightmares that were a result of heavy rains. The Memorial Day Flood in Austin back in 1981 found us building Jester Blvd off of RM 2222. We were getting close to the end of it. We had been more than a year doing that project and we were days from being ready pave the roads. One single night 11 inches of rain fell on top of Jester Mountain. In just … Continue reading With All The Rain We’ve Had……..It Can Always Be Worse.

Crazy Times, Meeting New People, On The JobLeave a comment

“Hey Bossman”

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As hard as it is growing up in this world for teens now, it has to be so much harder for the black youth, especially in any of the large urban areas. I often think back to a half dozen black kids I befriended in the Oak Cliff in the early 90’s while doing a job there. I’ve written before about them, Freddy, Herman, Terry and the others names escape me just now. I would load them up in my suburban, after checking with their mother, grandmother or other guardian, (always a female – never remember even one of them … Continue reading “Hey Bossman”

Crazy TimesLeave a comment

A Very Memorable Vacation To California

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One of our family vacations that we were able to plan ahead and actually take was to California. I say that, because many times we planned vacations and because of being self employed the business would get shoved in front of family. For that I’m regretful but being in business afforded us opportunities that perhaps we wouldn’t have had otherwise. The year was 1986 I think. It started out in Los Angeles doing some of the same stuff most people do when they go there. A tour of Universal Studios and other Hollywood stuff, then we went to see the … Continue reading A Very Memorable Vacation To California

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

1960s Trucking

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Hauling things were much different back when I was young. Many ranchers and cowboys had a set of sideboards they’d put on the back of their pickup and then a horse and sometimes two would be loaded in the back. I can remember how unstable a 1/2 ton truck was with that much weight swaying back and forth and the high center of gravity. Many of the old-timers weren’t very accomplished drivers, either. While we did that some I think of something now that seems much more risky. Hauling a JD 450 loader in the back of a 5 yd. … Continue reading 1960s Trucking

Crazy Times, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Jake the Building Trades Teacher

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I always considered Jake pretty easy going, knowledgeable and a good teacher. But if you got him riled up, you better watch out. Some of the older guys and a few of the younger ones were real hoodlums. They would always try Jake on for size. He swung a hard paddle. But the maddest that I ever saw that man was pretty late in the school year. A couple of little young pretties were dispatched from the school newspaper to do a story on the Building Trades Program. Jake had told us they were coming and we needed to be … Continue reading Jake the Building Trades Teacher

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, On The JobLeave a comment

He Bit My Thumb

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There are a few things in life that really don’t mix. Being really tough and drinking too much are a good example of this. Cecil Lewis was tough guy and he drank a way more than he should have. Back in 80 – 81 I had contracted to build a new state park and campground area down on the Guadalupe River near the little community of Bergheim not far from Boerne, Texas. When I needed him my dad would help me out on projects. On this job he mostly drove a water truck driver. He never drank while on the … Continue reading He Bit My Thumb

Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early DaysLeave a comment

My Green Thumbs

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This is one of those stories from the early days of Angora, that I wonder why I even told it. Oh, I know……..it really happened. I could be a little foggy on how much help I had when I went to the restroom. Looking down in the comments section , I have had a lot of THUMB debacles in my lifetime. When we were kids, well teenagers, Cec had Kenny and me building a new shop building out from the house in Smithwick. It was a pipe frame, a simple structure. The cross bracing was used sucker rod (the steel … Continue reading My Green Thumbs

Crazy Times, The Early DaysLeave a comment

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, My FriendsLeave a comment

People Don’t Always Remember What They Remember

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I once had a friend, Gerry Young, that mentioned in a conversation that we were having with an Equipmemt Salesman that he used to play on the same football team with Johnny “Ham” Jones. The fellow was very familiar with Ham Jones and what a good player he was. He even remembered some of the great tackles, and QB sacks and interceptions Gerry had made during his years of playing for the University of Texas. There was only one problem, Ham and Gerry played high school football together for the Pied Pipers of Hamlin, Texas not for the Longhorns. After … Continue reading People Don’t Always Remember What They Remember

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, The Jollyville YearsLeave a comment

My Harvey Penick Story

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This really isn’t about Harvey Penick per se, instead involves his daughter. I used his name because it will grab ahold of just about anyone that has ever played the game of golf or has connection to The University of Texas. Below tells the Harvey Penick Story, and what he has meant to the game of golf: http://www.harveypenickgc.com/about-harvey-penick/ Mr. Penick owed a ranch down the road from us when Kenny and I were growing up down on the Bull Creek out of Jollyville. This would have been in the early 1960’s. I think it was Mr. Penick’s weekend get-away, but … Continue reading My Harvey Penick Story