Showing Off Our New Set Of Unbreakable Dishes

Many years ago Madeline bought a new set of dishes. We hadn’t seen married all that long, but were beginning to have kids. It was Corel Ware. It was a good idea with the kids to get something that we wouldn’t be breaking every time we turned around. It was a good investment. My father in law came to visit. We were showing him the new dishes, when I flung one over in the floor to demonstrate how they were unbreakable. Well it just shattered into a thousand pieces . That’s when Madeline explained to me they weren’t unbreakable, they … Continue reading Showing Off Our New Set Of Unbreakable Dishes

The Fire Alarms

Within a year of Madeline and I marrying we had lived in a big mobile home, then moved next door to a little trailer house (rented from an old couple that meddled) and in an old motel in Burnet (because there was nowhere else to rent). Actually that all happened in the first 10 month of our marriage. Then we rented a mobile home in a Mobile Home Park in Oak Hill, in the western edge of Austin on Texas 71. When answering a knock on the door one evening we found a fellow there that had good news for … Continue reading The Fire Alarms

The Martin’s, Father and Son Roadhands

Uncle Bob Martin worked for me a couple of times in the 70s. He was slow and steady but was accomplishing something with every motion. He was my maternal grandmother, Nancy’s brother. Uncle Bob’s oldest son Butch Martin worked for me several times. We was opposite of his Dad. He was fast and all over everything, but man could he move dirt. You just always knew it wouldn’t last long, before he’d twist off and not show up. Each time I’d swear that was the last. But he had an uncanny way of arriving when you most needed someone in … Continue reading The Martin’s, Father and Son Roadhands

Writing Letters To My Brother

I never was much of a writer when I was younger. But I told myself that I’d stay in touch with my brother, Kenny by writing him often while he was away in Vietnam and also when he was stationed in Germany. Telephone calls were not possible in Vietnam, and much too expensive when he got to Germany. I would write and tell him what all was going on in my life. I’d tell him about everything crazy happening in Smithwick. There always seemed like something Cec had gotten into that needed to be told. He wrote back to me … Continue reading Writing Letters To My Brother

How I Began My Woodworking Hobby

We have a very unique table. We got it from Madeline’s mom, Maxine, many years ago. It was a coffee table brought back from Venezuela by Maxine and Ted in the 60s. It’s not just a regular coffee table, it is huge. It’s made for a crosscut piece of Honduran Mahogany that is approx 3 1/2″ thick by 4’/ 5′ oval diameter. It’s a very impressive piece. The legs are made from branches of same type of tree that have been turned down on the end to make a dowel that fits into a drilled hole on the underside of … Continue reading How I Began My Woodworking Hobby

The Things We Find Out About Ourselves. (August 8, 2016)

I attended a funeral today, along with many others. It was a funeral where tears were shed, but no real outward displays of the terrible sadness that you know many felt. That comes from deep faith. That comes from the knowing and understanding that there are more good things to come. I left that service a bit saddened by the loss of an old friend, but that’s a normal reaction. I had a completely different emotion that I felt going away from there today. A complete feeling of dismay. It stems from an incident that supposedly happened around 50 years … Continue reading The Things We Find Out About Ourselves. (August 8, 2016)

Mrs. Lily Mae Little

Back in 76 we were needing something to do. (That is what we say in the construction business when our inventory of work has been depleted) An acquaintance of ours, a competitor, had landed a big project up in North Texas, in the Possum Kingdom Area. It was more work than his crews could adequately handle, so we contracted for part of the project. We would be laying a 10 mile long segment of 24” water line. I was only 24 years old at the time. Madeline, our not yet 2 year old son Matthew and I relocated to that … Continue reading Mrs. Lily Mae Little

Marble Falls Rodeo Association – Marble Falls, Texas

Since 1957 the Marble Falls Rodeo has been going strong. Nothing said summer time back in the early days like “The Rodeo”. Seeing Lloyd Woodley’s trucks loaded with stock rolling into town and a grand parade bringing traffic to a halt on Friday afternoon. There was excitement was in the air ! You knew it was time to rodeo when the turntable playing Hank Williams records over load speakers at the rodeo grounds could be heard all over town and then that ever familiar voice of Charley Taylor would come across to announce that things were ready to get underway. … Continue reading Marble Falls Rodeo Association – Marble Falls, Texas

Cecil and TSO (Texas State Optical)

I thought I had told this story of a very amusing day in my life, but I sure can’t find it anywhere. Since it’s a true story I should be able to tell it again and it come out the same way. That’s the way true stories work. Back in about 1975 I had a project over in the west central part of Austin. It was a Friday afternoon and my mother and dad rolled up. She was driving. It must have been a pre-planned trip for them to come to Austin, since they knew where to find me. They … Continue reading Cecil and TSO (Texas State Optical)

Just So You Know

I have several people that follow me here on Angora Chronicles, WordPress Addition. All of these story’s end up on my FB Group, The Angora Chronicles. If you are a member of Facebook, please join us. Many times my true stories based from here are made much better with the comments from others on FB. The Facebook Group is almost 7 years old and has around 2400 members. I started using WordPress a couple of years ago, as it was a way to add pictures throughout the story, instead of just attaching them at the end. It gives me a … Continue reading Just So You Know