Category: The Early Days

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

Amazing Things, The Early Days1 Comment

The Miracle of the Internet, Facebook and The Angora Chronicles

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During the few years since the birth of The Angora Chronicles on Facebook we have uncovered several facts that may otherwise never been unearthed. One day while discussing a doctor that played a huge part in the lives of many of us from Marble Falls, I told of this doctor delivering me on August 22, 1952. Dr. Alonzo Church Wood III delivered and cared for many citizens of Burnet County prior to his deciding to move on in the spring of 1968, determined by a letter I found in papers left behind by my Grandmother, Leona. It help us to … Continue reading The Miracle of the Internet, Facebook and The Angora Chronicles

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Twist & Turn

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The summer of 63 had us spending part of the summer in Gatesville, Texas where Cec was working as a general superintendent for Holland Page Construction, installing a new sewer system all around town. The apartment we stayed in while in Gatesville that summer was really a duplex with another smaller unit that was directly above each lower unit. The upstairs had a set of stairs that you used that went up the outside, along the side. Very reminiscent of the way you went up to enter Doc Adam’s place on Gunsmoke. Kenny Jackson (or Big Kenny as most everyone … Continue reading Twist & Turn

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., My Friends, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings1 Comment

John Kemper’s Corvette

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Don’t remember if it was our Junior or Senior year of high school but John Kemper bought a “59” Corvette. He decided it needed a new paint job. A Pearl White was the color was selected. A very difficult 2 part epoxy paint was used. He made arraignments to use the old building at Main and 2nd (currently a Title Co) as a makeshift paint shop. With nothing other than a bunch of teenagers (about a 1/2 dozen of us) the car was stripped down, sanded and painted in a very dimly lighted room. I had painted a few cars … Continue reading John Kemper’s Corvette

Another Daily Happening, Kenny Lewis, The Early Days, Uncategorized3 Comments

On A Quest To Buy A Truck

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On the day after Thanksgiving in 1977 Kenny and I went to Cross Plains, Texas to look at a potential truck purchase to haul our equipment with. We started out from Smithwick. We were both there with our families where we were spending the holidays with our mom and dad. Being a 3 hour trip up to northwest we left early in the morning and arrived in Cross Plains by 8:00 AM. We had seen an ad for this used truck dealer in a magazine. When we got there, they had a sea of trucks on the lot. We test … Continue reading On A Quest To Buy A Truck

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early Days11 Comments

Brown Parker’s Well

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Brown Parker and wife Eula moved back to Texas after spending 3 decades or so out in California, to a couple of acres down on our old home place on the hill overlooking the Lake. He went up to Marble Falls and bought a building that needed to be moved. He set it up on stilts the way it had been in town, so it would improve his view. Many of you may remember this building. In the earlier 60s it was a snack bar that Mr. Seals and Mr. Hill had built at the mini-golf place. To have water … Continue reading Brown Parker’s Well

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, The Early Days1 Comment

A Trip Up Sheffield Hill

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(Originally posted on March 8, 2017) I had been waiting almost 47 years to retrace some tracks that I made in what seems like a different lifetime. My wife and I made a trip out to Big Bend a few years ago, so it was a prefect time see what the big deal with Sheffield Hill was. (also called Lancaster Hill) Driving A Cattle Truck Soon after graduating from high school, I was still 17 years old, I got hired on as a relief driver, driving a cattle truck for the Wenmohs Ranch. I was Wallace Herbert’s swamper. I guess … Continue reading A Trip Up Sheffield Hill

Crazy Times, The Early Days

The Crane Lawsuit

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My first experience with being involved in a lawsuit didn’t take long once I got out into the working world. Sometime in late 1970 we leased a truck out to Charlie Evans Trucking. Mr. Evans had been a trucker in Austin for many years and decided to expand his business by opening a terminal in San Antonio. I had just turned 18 years old. I decided it would be a good adventure to go there and live in an old run down motel and make hauls all around San Antonio. The Spur Motel was just a block or so down … Continue reading The Crane Lawsuit

Crazy Times, On The Job, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

A Loader Laying On It’s Side

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In the early days we didn’t have the best equipment to work with. We didn’t expect anything to start without jumper cables or pulling or pushing it to start it. We had an old HD 5 Allis Chalmers Track Loader that we’d been using to clean out a stock tank down on our place. When we stopped for the day, on the before we parked it beside the road so we could reach it with a pair of jumper cables. There was a road cut with the bank about four feet tall that the loader was sitting up on. When … Continue reading A Loader Laying On It’s Side

Another Daily Happening, Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Doing A Head-Plant In The Mud

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I was 17 years old. Lake Travis was really low like it often is. We had a D-7 bulldozer and a Cat 12 motorgrader down along the bottom land adjacent to the water, cleaning up and leveling out so when the lake came back up. We knew it wouldn’t stay smooth but Cec had a good idea. Mainly something to keep me busy. My helper was David Jordan, my one day in the future brother in law. He was a couple of years younger than me. If I remember correctly it had been a fairly uneventful day, that is until … Continue reading Doing A Head-Plant In The Mud