Category: Crazy Times

Crazy Times, On The Job, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Day Jimmy Shut The Job Down

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We were running short on work one time when Big Jimmy and I were young guys. We went over to help a competitor get caught up. Big Jimmy was a real pushover. He always carried packages of gum. All the labor crew would aggravate him about wanting a stick of gum. It was costing him a small fortune to keep them all in chewing gum. Or at least that was his claim. He was complaining about that when we made our morning stop at a store. There in the sundries were packages of Feen-A-Mint Gum. I said give them each … Continue reading The Day Jimmy Shut The Job Down

Crazy TimesLeave a comment

Don’t Always Believe What Your Children Tell You

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It was the mid 80’s. We were still living in south Austin on a secluded little street. It was a neighborhood anyone would want to live in, if you have to live in the city. We moved In with on Jan. 1, 1977 and spent a decade there. We had a 2 1/2 year old son when we moved in and by the time we left there our family had grown to a total of 5 sons. We were having a party. We had lots of parties. There were an abundance of friends and family there. The door bell rang. … Continue reading Don’t Always Believe What Your Children Tell You

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it.Leave a comment

A Story About My Great Great Grandparents, Hugh and Mary Ann Bible Clark

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This was taken from the very fine book “The Bible Family” by Naomi Chadwick. This account of an afternoon in the life of Hugh & Mary Ann Bible Clark. It was pretty much a fact of life in that time period. This story connects to many of us on this group. Often when I read this I think about how much the course of many of our live’s depended on that decision made on this mans way to the lot that day. Below was contributed by Grant Ray Thompson Hugh Clark I ran across this remarkable 1 inch square picture … Continue reading A Story About My Great Great Grandparents, Hugh and Mary Ann Bible Clark

Crazy Times, On The Job, The Early DaysLeave a comment

We Weren’t Made To Feel Welcome In Victoria, Texas

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Back in the late 70’s things were going pretty well for us in the construction business, but had slowed a bit. As things often happen, a miracle job fell out of the sky. A Burnet County fellow, Fritz Heine had gone off to Houston and was doing well contracting with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. I knew of Fritz but mostly just by name. He was a generation ahead of me, about my Dads age. He had a son named Henry that had finished his senior year of school in Marble Falls, then he came and worked for a year or … Continue reading We Weren’t Made To Feel Welcome In Victoria, Texas

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