Category: The Early Days

Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early Days2 Comments

Dink – The Final Chapter

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Dink could and did extract money from me on several occasions. He had a good deal for me almost every time I saw him. He wanted to see me become rich right along with him. He never did become rich. He didn’t do much for my bottom line either, at least positively. Dink always was a lady’s man. A real charmer. He charmed me as well. But with time we lost touch. By happenstance I ran on to him in a café in north Texas one day in 1991. We visited. He had a deal for me, but I wasn’t … Continue reading Dink – The Final Chapter

The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

She Was Mawmaw, Then She Became Mawmaw Nonie Before She Was Nonie

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No matter what we called her, she was always a seamstress extraordinaire. She made all of Kenny and my shirts in the early years. Even on up to our early teenage years. Just about all of our shirts, at least early in our lives were made alike with the same fabric. I guess she thought it looked cute. When we got a little older, we started asking for specific things. Kenny wanted western cut shirts with pearl snaps and I just wanted something that made me look handsome. Looking through all the photos from Kenny’s service, made me realize that … Continue reading She Was Mawmaw, Then She Became Mawmaw Nonie Before She Was Nonie

Kenny Lewis, On The Job, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Ken’s Pearly Whites

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Back in the fast and furious years of the late 1970s we had contracts with Lakeway to build a bunch of new streets. Kenny put a huge culvert pipe on a trailer behind his pickup that was needed to go in the middle of a big draw. When he got out to the project, no one else was around so he was going to unchain it and let it roll off the trailer. When he popped the boomer (the levered device below) the end of the handle hit him directly in the mouth with tremendous force. Over the Motorola 2-way … Continue reading Ken’s Pearly Whites

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, On The Job, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

The Disease

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It was in the hot summer time and I was out of school for the summer. I was about 14 or 15 years old and working for my Dad, Cecil Lewis. We were building a road down by Turkey Bend. Just country roads are all we built back then, hauling and spreading out caliche for new subdivision roads. I always ran the loader, loading the five or six dump trucks that hauled the caliche. The trucks were driven mostly by our school age friends, the ones at least sixteen and could get a commercial license. Socks Jackson was the mechanic … Continue reading The Disease

Crazy Times, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

The Highway Patrolman At Paleface Park

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Besides racing Shetland’s at Paleface and eating lots of BBQ at the old Paleface Store, I have one other story that connects to Paleface. Kenny and I together with our wives were heading to Luling for our great grandmother Purcell’s birthday celebration on a Sunday morning. I was driving Madeline’s 1974 Pontiac Granville. This incident happened in 1975 or 1976, given the car we were in. Most likely I was exceeding the speed limit. Oh of course I was. They had reduced the speed limit to a maximum of 55 MPH, so almost everyone broke the speed limit. How were … Continue reading The Highway Patrolman At Paleface Park

Aging, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings3 Comments

The Lady With the Beautiful Green Eyes

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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

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Meeting New People, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

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

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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

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days3 Comments

Cec And The Soldier

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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

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Kenny Lewis, Past Angora Chronicles Stories, Smithwick, The Early Days1 Comment

The Flying Stick

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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

Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, Kenny Lewis, On The Job, The Early Days2 Comments

The Mystery Caller

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Woody was getting hard of hearing and even a little cranky when it came to answering and talking on the phone. The Woody I’m referring to was our office manager back in our early days in the construction business. In fact he was our head accountant also. Okay, Woody was the only person we had in the office and the only one we needed. He did it all, when it came to answering the phone, payroll, our payables and receivables and keeping the tax man happy and insurance all straight. He did then what now takes a whole office full … Continue reading The Mystery Caller