Yee-Haaaaw

In the early days of the Austin Rodeo moving to the new facility at the Travis County Expo Center in the Mid 1980s, Kenny had been very involved and was a “Founder“. A lot of the contractors in town volunteered a lot of time and money to that effort. I was not quite as involved. In fact, I just pretty much rode in on my brother’s coat-tails and enjoyed all the fun of the annual stock show and rodeo. He was very generous with tickets and the like. One night he and I decided to take my 3 older boys … Continue reading Yee-Haaaaw

Ride With Me To Austin And I’ll Take You Back To Smithwick Tomorrow

Once Kenny and I were fooling around doing God only knows what one Saturday in Smithwick. I was living in Austin and Kenny was at a “flexible stage” in his life. I’m referring to when he was blowing in the wind, unattached. At some point something happened and it became necessary for us to go Austin. He wanted to go get his pickup, but knowing it was going to take up valuable time, I said “come on and ride with me and I can drive you back up to Smithwick tomorrow”. He agreed and we spent the night at my … Continue reading Ride With Me To Austin And I’ll Take You Back To Smithwick Tomorrow

My Brother And I Have A Very Special Relationship

Kenny and I see each other almost daily, but talk on the phone for sure every day. Now what do we have that is so important to talk about ? We have business interests together but that doesn’t seem to occupy much of our conversation time. We are much more likely to talk about the old days, the crazy people that have been in our lives and the really good people we’ve came in contact with. We tell each other about what animals we’ve seen, wild and domesticated. He runs cattle on my place so I keep him up to … Continue reading My Brother And I Have A Very Special Relationship

Road Hunting; In The Middle Of The Day !

As boys growing up in Smithwick, we always had venison in the freezer. In order to do that we had to take advantage of every opportunity to shoot a deer. We had been working down around Jonestown and we’re headed home. When we got to the top of the hill just before getting to Turkey Bend, Kenny looked out across a clearing and saw a nice fat doe and threw on the brakes. We always had a deer rifle in a gun rack behind the seat in those days. He learned across me and made a clean shot out of … Continue reading Road Hunting; In The Middle Of The Day !

Cec And His Home Brew Recipe (As Told By Kenny Lewis)

Cec was one of the men in the fifties that was plagued with stomach ulcers, which seemed to be fairly common in those days or at least much more than now. His diet consisted of raw eggs, raw oysters, milk and crackers and certainly no alcohol. Even with his best attempt at the home remedy cure, the situation worsened until finally in the middle of the night he had to be rushed to the hospital and emergency surgery to remove a portion of his stomach. It was the cure he had needed for a long time. Thankfully he was back … Continue reading Cec And His Home Brew Recipe (As Told By Kenny Lewis)

The Rattlesnake Bite Victim

Cec allowed an old fellow from Marble Falls to establish a wrecking yard on a little patch of ground on our property. Old Man Hugh Hampton was as nice of a fellow as I ever met, and a very hard worker. He was honest as the day was long. (Whatever that saying is suppose to mean) Hugh had a fellow working for him up in the junk yard pulling usable parts off of cars. It was in the summertime, because Kenny and I were both at the house. I’m betting we had stopped by to grab a bite to eat. … Continue reading The Rattlesnake Bite Victim

Lackey vs. Lewis (As told by Kenny Lewis)

Our parents made us aware of danger by telling us the consequences of what would happen if we got to close to something that might hurt us. One was that if you got too close to a Snapping Turtle, it would bite you and not turn loose until lightning struck. That was the case with Cec, when he got in a fight. Ronnie found that out when he embattled Cec and literally pulled his top front two teeth out trying to get his thumb out of his mouth. Dad operated a fishing camp on the family land he had inherited … Continue reading Lackey vs. Lewis (As told by Kenny Lewis)

Cecil Lewis Was Always Resourceful And He Taught Us

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

The Circling 4-Wheelers

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

Kenny In the Corn Field

Back in the day before age caught up with Kenny Lewis and tamed him, he would put in a full day in the construction business and then run around the country side taking care of his livestock interests. While mixing alcohol and construction was never a good thing, he felt differently about the consumption of a few beverages while tending to his cows. One particular evening late, I think his actions will demonstrate that, he may have overindulged in drink. He was in a fully decked out Chevrolet pickup pulling a long gooseneck cattle trailer on the country roads out … Continue reading Kenny In the Corn Field