Category: The Early Days

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

Learning To Water Ski

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Kenny and I grew up on the lake and were out on it a lot. We spent a lot of time running up and down Lake Travis in a boat gathering up fish. We weren’t setting out trot lines or dropping hooks in the water either, but that’s a whole other matter we’ll have to get to at another time. I had a little boat that I had bought and had been waiting for Kenny to get in on leave from the Army before I launched it. We put the boat in the water one afternoon at Smithwick. The boat … Continue reading Learning To Water Ski

Construction, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, On The Job, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Big Loser

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I know I’ve told y’all this story before, but I can’t pull it up. That may be because it was in the comments of another story. Anyway, I don’t have much going on this morning so I’ll just re-tell it. It’s actually worthy of being a story all on its own. Back in the late 1970s I contracted to do the excavation for the Capitol National Bank in downtown Austin. The project called for the removal of approximately 100,000 cubic yards of solid limestone. The excavation was a hole that was a full block square by about 30’ deep. It … Continue reading The Big Loser

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Men Never Stop To Ask For Directions

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Isn’t that always the claim!!!!! Once when Madeline and I were newly married we decided to go to Six Flags in Arlington. I was somewhat familiar with the area so I figured I could drive right to our hotel without looking at a map. I admit that once we got close I became slightly disoriented. I may have driven in a circle for a moment. It was late and Madeline wanted me to stop and ask for directions, which wasn’t something I would have ever done. I had her busy looking at a roadmap while I drove. Finally, exasperated she … Continue reading Men Never Stop To Ask For Directions

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early DaysLeave a comment

My Senior Trip To California

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It was a trip that I will always remember. While it was a trip that took place during my senior year, it wasn’t “The Senior Trip“. Our Senior Trip wasn’t quite so exciting or far away. It was an all day trip to San Antonio. Since I was working across the street from the school at Luther-McDuff Chevrolet, Buick and Oldsmobile, I was offered a chance to help get some vehicles out to California. I was in a program that allowed me to get out of school at noon in my senior year and work at the dealership. It was … Continue reading My Senior Trip To California

Crazy Times, Meeting New People, The Early DaysLeave a comment

A Trip To Pennsylvania

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The week I graduated from high school, May 1970, I was invited to take a trip up to Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania. There was a slight catch to it, the trip wasn’t going to pay much or maybe nothing at all. But all expenses were paid for. There were 5 of us traveling together. Price Allen “Pat” Taylor, a MF school chum – year older than me, Kenny and Vickey Jackson, and a gal by the name of Martha Rucker.Pat and I were making the trip just to help transfer vehicles, but the other 3 were moving there to be employed … Continue reading A Trip To Pennsylvania

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Race Was On

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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

Crazy Times, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

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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)

Aging, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Always holding out hope that families can come together

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This is the time of year when you want to see things come together. It’s painful standing by watching people have their differences, especially when it’s within a family. I always think about how when these situations play out with neither side wanting to budge and many times it’s gone on so long that people don’t even know what originally happened that got them where they are. Life is not perfect and people make mistakes. To me it’s about carrying things too far. Everyone needs to get over themselves at some point. Following is a story that I have been … Continue reading Always holding out hope that families can come together