Category: The Early Days

Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Mind You, I’m Not Bragging

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But I’ll have to say that after going through an old box of papers, I have formed a different opinion of what was normal. These are papers I left behind at Smithwick when I moved on to start the “calmer period in my life”, when I got married, that my mother so carefully archived for me. I look back on my early “growing up years” and think that I was a fairly normal boy. I got into a few things, but nothing much that I was ashamed to admit. The following photograph is a vast array of traffic tickets I … Continue reading Mind You, I’m Not Bragging

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

Hooking A Cutting Torch Up To Gasoline

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I went out to Las Vegas in about 1982 or 1983 to Con-Ex-Po. That is a trade show for machines and equipment in the construction and mining industries. You can see the biggest machines and all the newest innovations known to man. Anyone in my business will walk around in awe at some of the things you see. Nothing caught my attention more than a fellow at one booth that was cutting really thick slabs of metal. He was slicing through 2″ & 3″ thick pieces of steel like any one I’d ever seen before cut 1/2″ metal. It was … Continue reading Hooking A Cutting Torch Up To Gasoline

Crazy Times, The Early DaysLeave a comment

My Food Phobia

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The mind works in mysterious ways. At least I know mine does. I claim to have an eating disorder. No it’s not anorexia. I have a difficult time eating if I don’t know the cleanliness practices that were used while preparing food. I didn’t grow up worrying about such things, but for my adult life I’ve had this fear. I know it’s irrational to go into a fast food place where 12 teenagers, without a care in the world past body piercings and heavy metal music are preparing food that has been handled by who knows what. Those places are … Continue reading My Food Phobia

Crazy Times, Old Dog - New Trick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Learning How To Dance

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I never did really learn how to dance when I was younger. It just always seemed like something odd to be doing. I was kind of shy about getting up in front of a bunch of people and jigging around. Besides forever so long the girls were all taller than me, and I figured that would really cause me to stand out. Anyway along about the mid 1980s my wife said we needed to go take dancing lessons. I went along with it, anything to make the little woman happy. She signed us up for private lessons one morning a … Continue reading Learning How To Dance

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

Left To Sweat It Out

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I was a sophomore in high school and still small for my age. All the big boys liked to pick on me, but I’m sure I provoked a lot of it. I was in the building trades program where we learned about carpentry and actually built a house during the school year. It was a rowdy class. Our teacher was Robert Woodard, but we called him Jake. Our shop/classroom was in the old bus barn. It was just a big tin building with no insulation. The temperatures in that building could be extreme, both directions. We had caused enough trouble … Continue reading Left To Sweat It Out

Marble Falls and the Area Around it., My Friends, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings12 Comments

My Friend Tommy, A Marble Falls Original

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Tommy was the only kid I ran around with that had any measure of responsibility. I’m sure there were others that were equally responsible, but we didn’t travel in the same circles. Tommy received his first car, a new 1968 Roadrunner. During our high school years we were seldom not in the company of each other during our off time. When I say he was responsible, I mean in terms of his belongings. He treated that Roadrunner like an old woman would treat her Chrysler New Yorker. He of course changed the oil and did routine service much more regular … Continue reading My Friend Tommy, A Marble Falls Original

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 in 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 five of us traveling together. Pat Taylor, a MF school classmate that was year older than me, Kenny and Vicki Jackson, a gal by the name of Martha Rucker and Me. Pat and I were making the trip just to help transfer vehicles, but the other three were moving there to … Continue reading A Trip To Pennsylvania

Smithwick, The Early Days, The History of TexasLeave a comment

Cattle Guard Dogs

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A practice that I’m sure would get you locked up nowadays was to post a dog, chained up at each cattle guard along the country roads. There would be a dog house, to protect them from the weather, whether the hot sun or the freezing cold. The rancher would come daily and put out food and water for them. It seemed like a lonely existence, but I guess they served their purpose. Looking back I feel like that was mostly where goats and sheep were kept, but maybe wild cattle too. They may still be used in some places, but … Continue reading Cattle Guard Dogs

Cowboys & Rodeo, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Sound of Hoof-Beats

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I was the kind of kid that wanted to ride a donkey while everyone else rode horses. Tar Baby was an average donkey to most but he was my pride and joy. We rode in rodeo parades with me dressed as a clown. Tar Baby & Me Kenny, my older bother was quite the horseman. He lived to break and train horses. I was made to help with the horse breaking, but it was something that I could have done without. By the time I was 7 or 8 years old our spending money came from working with Shetland Ponies. … Continue reading The Sound of Hoof-Beats