It’s been 1 year

Everything changed one year ago. I could no longer write stories about Kenny Lewis, in my most honest voice unless they were telling about his finer virtues. No more poking fun at him, where he would need to defend himself. Not that he would ever join us here on Facebook. But he had surrogates, that kept in informed. Then he would always set the record straight through them, mostly his son Kody. Over the past year I have retold a few stories about things that involved Kenny, but it’s never been the same. Very little is the same. There are … Continue reading It’s been 1 year

The Smashed Finger

It was a cold February morning in 1971. My dad had leased a truck out to a San Antonio Trucking Company with me driving it. I spend all week living in a small rundown motel that set along I-10 on the east side of San Antonio. The trucking yard was just down the frontage road. Most of the time I hauled equipment around San Antonio, but one afternoon I was dispatched to a steel company on north I-35 to load steel beams to go to Houston. I got loaded and parked the truck in the yard for the night. I … Continue reading The Smashed Finger

The Story of Little Wilson

Wilson was a child born probably in the mid to late sixties. There were siblings I remember hearing, but I’m unsure how they faired in life. Wilson ended up at the Austin State School. A ward of the state. My Granny Ruby worked there for many years in 60s and 70s and maybe even a little in the early 1980s. She took a special interest in Wilson. No one ever came to see him, so she took him under her wing. It was easy to tell that Wilson never really developed physically or mentally, but he had a sweet disposition … Continue reading The Story of Little Wilson

The Race Was On

This is a story of one of the greatest car races ever held in Smithwick. His name was Curtis Brown Parker. Brown Parker was how he was known. Brown was the person my Dad looked up to more, maybe than anyone else. Brown was several years older that Cecil Lewis. I believe that Brown help him become a man in more ways than one in his early days in Smithwick, Texas. However in the 1940s Brown and Eula moved to California, the same as a lot of people did during that period of time. Eula was one of the Turkey … Continue reading The Race Was On

The Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge Collapse

Four days after the horrific 9/11 attacks on this nation, Madeline and I decided to go to South Padre for a few days. I don’t remember if it was planned a way ahead of time or we, like so many, others just needed to go somewhere to reflect on what had just happened. We owned a condo on the beach side, at about the mid point of the island at that time. We found so much serenity in going there, watching the sunrises and mostly enjoyed sitting and reading and hearing the waves constantly rolling in. We had left late … Continue reading The Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge Collapse

Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

UPDATE: This is a post from a couple of weeks ago. My son Jason questioned me about it. We even set down and simulated it at the kitchen table. A little while later he sent me a text with the following link. Seems that when I first thought about it, I was a couple of centuries too late. It even has name, The Martindale System – named that in 1939. Oh well, I should have looked it up on Wikipedia back in the 80s. Wait, we didn’t have such a thing, now did we. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martingale_(probability_theory) I was sitting around one … Continue reading Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

A Thanksgiving Feast With Charlie & Minnie

Charlie and Minnie were an old couple I’ve written about a lot over the years. They showed up in Smithwick ready to campout down by the river but ended up staying in the Old House, as we called it. This was where my grandparents, Theron & Leona had lived before his passing, and the house where all the Smithwick Lewis Clan had resided for decades. Minnie wasn’t a tidy housekeeper by anyone’s estimation. I guess living in an old farmhouse without a screen door would make it hard to keep things clean. Especially if you had a strong penchant for … Continue reading A Thanksgiving Feast With Charlie & Minnie

LBJ was a unique piece of work

I had a fellow tell me about this barber we both know in Austin that got a call one time summoning him to cut LBJ’s hair. When it came time to settle up, he was told that he shouldn’t charge for his services, because cutting the Presidents hair was an honor. Well that was the one and only haircut that Lyndon got off of him. That story reminded me of the following happening: I went down to the LBJ Library and got them to run me a copy to cassettes of all of Lyndon’s phone calls while he was in … Continue reading LBJ was a unique piece of work