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

The Car Business

I often talk about all the different cars I drove when I was a kid. I may have shown up to school in a different vehicle just about any day. To say we were in the used car business would be an over statement. Cecil Lewis was an entrepreneur of his own kind back in the day. He dabbled in about anything that made a little money or kept his sons busy. Buying and fixing up used cars was but one of his ventures. In my early days working for Charlie Ulbricht, I watched him do body work out of … Continue reading The Car Business

He Has A Hurting In His Groin Area

I had an appointment in Austin this morning at my urologist. Just a routine checkup. When I walked in a fellow was checking in just in front of me. He was a very handsome guy. He had something close to a Fabio hairdo. I wasn’t actually trying to hear what he was saying but it was unavoidable. It appears he didn’t have an appointment, instead just stopped in to see if they could work him in. I heard him say he had a hurting in his groin area. About that time the gal handed him a clipboard so he could … Continue reading He Has A Hurting In His Groin Area

Then & Now

I graduated from high school in May 1970. By the fall of 70 I went to work in the underground utility industry. I believe I was earning around $3.00 per hour. Considering the minimum wage back then was$1.60, I was doing pretty well. A top operator was paid $3.75 per hour. By late spring of 1972, I had learned enough about the business, plus what I had picked up being around trucks and machinery my whole life, I subcontracted my first water line installation project in Burnet, Texas. I had a crew of 4 or 5 people including myself. I … Continue reading Then & Now

Before I Became Civilized

Back in high school driving around and drinking beer or even stronger libations was a common practice. Most all the nights run together, one not being different from the other. Occasionally something happened that sets certain nights apart. Getting intoxicated and left up at Roadside without any clothes on, ending up in jail for the night, now that was memorable. A night when a quite a bit older fellow decided I needed to be taken down a notch or two, so we met up in the Lakeland Minimax parking lot and entered into an extended slugfest that could have lasted … Continue reading Before I Became Civilized

Slamming The Cabinet Doors

Granddad can get cranky at times. Not just because I’m getting older, heck this incident happened 20 something years ago. I wouldn’t have even broken the 50 year old mark at that time. I haven’t always been cranky. I think it set in for me in my thirties. I have to admit I became an old man before my time. I had an Opthomologist tell me I had “old people eyes” once when I started wearing trifocals in my early twenties. He said eyes like yours are usually reserved for old people. At least they never worsened. I guess there’s … Continue reading Slamming The Cabinet Doors