Winfield and the Wimberley Bank

I thought that the incident with Winfield and the speeding tickets had taught him a lesson. I found out later how clueless I was about what all was going on in that man’s head. If you set and listened to him you would really take him to be just a big talker, but you knew he wanted to make it big one day. He had been around a couple of years by this time and my business was going through a very tumultuous time. My bills were all behind, creditors were beating our door down and Winfield was spending most … Continue reading Winfield and the Wimberley Bank

The Lady With the Beautiful Green Eyes

In the spring of 1969, my dad had a trailer truck that he would send down below San Antonio to pickup carpet grass and deliver around up in the Marble Falls area. There was a man and his wife that built a new house just down off of Haynie Flat Road near Paleface Ranch. The house was right on top of a big bluff overlooking the Pedernales River. It was a very nice, ultra-fancy place for those days. We had the job of hauling a bunch of good topsoil in, to go over the rocks. I got several of my … Continue reading The Lady With the Beautiful Green Eyes

The Hood Wasn’t Fastened And Blew Open At The Most Inopportune Moment

A month before Madeline and I married in 1971, I had a 3 year old Ford Galaxy 500 and I rear ended a Williamson Country Road Maintenance Pickup in Liberty Hill, completely demolishing the front end. It took a couple of months to get it out of the shop. I finally got it out of the body shop on a Friday afternoon. On Saturday we were leaving for the Jordan Christmas Party in Houston. The Jordan Christmas Party was a huge deal. I had made every excuse imaginable about why I didn’t need to go. I didn’t know any of … Continue reading The Hood Wasn’t Fastened And Blew Open At The Most Inopportune Moment

Uvalde Rock Asphalt Company (continuous since 1912) and White’s Uvalde Mines (since 1923).

This area down out of Uvalde, Texas is unique in that there is mining of asphalt, ready to pave a road as it is dug from the ground. Limestone gravel coated with an asphaltic bitumen content similar to that produced in operating asphalt plants. Many roads in south Texas have been paved with this product. I’m not certain that it meets TxDot specifications to pave state highways without farther processing, but it looks and acts like a hot mix/cold lay material produced in just about any asphalt plant and used mostly on private roads and temporary patches. On a personal … Continue reading Uvalde Rock Asphalt Company (continuous since 1912) and White’s Uvalde Mines (since 1923).

The Mechanical Calf

This story was originally told by me back on Oct. 4, 2016. When You’re Me, I Never Know What I’m Going To Be Thinking About When I Wake Up In The Middle Of The Night. This morning I woke up around 3:30, which happens way too often. The first thing that popped on my mind was a fellow I met in about 1971. I knew Leroy fairly well for a few years. He worked for another utility contractor, one that we had a working relationship with. Leroy ran their shop and was very mechanically inclined. As I got to know … Continue reading The Mechanical Calf

Cec And The Soldier

Cecil was my Dad. My brother and I called him Cec. No one else did. It was our name for him. He was from the old school as they say. He had a very rough exterior. Come to think of it he had a rough interior too. He was in the construction and trucking businesses. He worked hard his whole life. I always thought he was the toughest man I knew. He never backed away from anything or anybody. Once when I was about 13 or 14, my friend Billy Gene Henry and I accompanied Cec on a trip to … Continue reading Cec And The Soldier

The Flying Stick

It was my 16th year of life. My brother Kenny was in college up at Tarleton, his second semester and had moved into an apartment, that had formerly been occupied by a cop he was told. The cop had left a night stick behind. Kenny was sure that I would need that club one day, so he brought it home to me. He always looked out for me like that. The wooden stick had been drilled through the core had a steel rod inserted. I kept it stuck between the seat and the console. My means of transportation was a … Continue reading The Flying Stick

The Story Of The Bonnie & Clyde Movie (as told by Dink McDuff)

Paul Pruitt was a cattle buyer and had a feedlot down along the border. Dink had met him, I suppose, hanging out in one coffee shop or the other when he was there working on the water and sewer system in Eagle Pass back in the 60s. One day Paul invited Dink to fly with him to look at some cattle down at Laredo. Paul flew his own plane. They made it there and took care of the business they needed to and got ready to leave to fly back to Eagle Pass. A rain system was moving in so … Continue reading The Story Of The Bonnie & Clyde Movie (as told by Dink McDuff)

A Little Digging Pays Off

This post is about the name I found on my Paternal Great Grandparents (Moses and Judy Maybelle Linebarger) Marriage License. I was curious about who the Minister was that married them. The spelling of the name was hard to make out. Trying several different spellings I finally went to the Burnet Co. History Book – Vol. 1 and found the name Bro. Rucker. Seeing that he had been at a church, Hale Spring Baptist Church which was located up Hamilton Creek, I decided this may be the man I was looking for. But it didn’t give a first name or … Continue reading A Little Digging Pays Off