I Have Decided After Almost 6 Years That It’s Time For A Change

I have found that it’s time for a change with The Angora Chronicles. I don’t see it going away, but I think it would be better if we change the way it is brought to you. So rather than it being in written word form, I am tooling up for it to become a series of audio clips, photos and memes. Of course it will still have titles and brief descriptions of what you will see in the clip, that will be written out. It will be necessary for each of our comments to also be an audio clip. It … Continue reading I Have Decided After Almost 6 Years That It’s Time For A Change

The Circling 4-Wheelers

Back in the winter of 1984, Kenny had a deer lease on several thousand acres of south Texas land between Laredo and Freer. He was so gracious to ask me down a few times. (or anytime I wanted to come). That weekend several people were there, but all were still out hunting. Kenny and I both arrived back at camp lodge, on our 4 wheelers. The timing was such that coming from opposite directions we reached the big open gravel parking lot in front of the lodge at the same time. We skillfully headed for each other but turned slightly … Continue reading The Circling 4-Wheelers

When A Man Has A Good Wife Behind Him

This is a complication of stories (3 of them) that were written by Kenny Lewis. In the beginning of the third story he proclaims it’s the last one. That may be correct, but as long as Kenny Lewis is walking around on this earth and still drawing breath, there’s a chance another incident could still be yet to come. If another one comes along, he may not write about it, but I’ll gladly do the honors. Wife To The Rescue – Part 1 For those that are not aware, I have been married three times. Even though I’m sure, had … Continue reading When A Man Has A Good Wife Behind Him

My Mother

Bonnie Gay would have been 87 today. She grew up poor, in a very large family. She was the 8th out of 11 children. Her father died when she 9 years old. She married at 15, had her first child at 17. She waited until she was 19 to have her 2nd child and that was me. She only lived in Smithwick and Jollyville her whole life. She was a friend to many and an enemy to no one or nothing. She was a deadly shot with a Winchester 30/30, lever action rifle with open sights. She wasn’t very big, … Continue reading My Mother

My Friend Jim

Here I was a couple of weeks ago, sitting thinking, thinking of my past. I decided 20 years was too long to go without seeing and talking to my ole friend Jim. Jim and I had once belonged to the same church, played on the church softball team together and between the two of us, we had 9 kids, with only 1 girl in the bunch. We had a lot in common, yet hardly anything in common. Jim was college educated and had worked in the non-profit world and I barely made it out of high school and was attempting … Continue reading My Friend Jim

The Young Detectives

Our dad was working for an old time contractor by the name of Holland Page, installing a new wastewater system all around the town of Gatesville. The year was probably 1963. That summer we went there part of the time to spend with him. He had an apartment rented. They had a guy working previously that was trying to make an insurance claim for a back injury that supposedly happened on the job. Cec, my dad, knew that wasn’t possible because “the guy had been too lazy to pickup anything“. After talking to various people around town, this fellow had … Continue reading The Young Detectives

Harold Crider Was A Great Bulldozer Contractor

He was honest, hard working and ran a really great operation. A man to be admired. Whether building a stock tank or pushing and piling brush, he could get it done. He had really great operators working for him. As much as I remember watching and looking up to him (even though you had to be fairly short to actually look up “to” him) there was one peculiar thing that I most remember. He always hauled his dozers around on a float type trailer (that’s a trailer that the bed is approximately 5′ off the ground) instead of a lowboy … Continue reading Harold Crider Was A Great Bulldozer Contractor

We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

I grew up around construction equipment and trucks. In the 60s when I was in high school, my dad, Cecil Lewis ran a fleet of dump trucks. Among other things we had the contract to haul the blasted rock from the Pure Stone Quarry out south of Marble Falls back to the crusher in town. Even as young and as small as I was at 14 or 15, I would single-handedly pull transmissions and replace clutches in those old dump trucks and did brake jobs. I knew how to do all that then. For sure, there was always a lot … Continue reading We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

How Different Things Were In 1960 In Austin

A while back on another group I’m on, we were commenting about Bruce’s & Barnett’s Fried Pies made me think about the other things that were happening around Austin around that same time. It made me realize how simple our lives were almost six decades ago. The selections of eateries was really limited, but people didn’t eat out very often. Eating out was a special occasion instead of a way of life. My first memory of eating in a real restaurant was when I was 6 or 7. We were traveling home to Jollyville and it was getting late so … Continue reading How Different Things Were In 1960 In Austin

You Never Know Who You’ll See In Vegas

One time playing blackjack in Las Vegas there was a fellow sitting at the other end of the table. I finally put together who he was. Rollie Fingers the MLB pitching great. Being amused by this, then another guy set down beside me. It was Catfish Hunter, another MLB pitching great. We played for a long time with neither of the 2 ball players acknowledging the other. The thing about the two of them that I knew the best – they both were known for their mustaches and I knew they both had played for the Oakland A’s, but I … Continue reading You Never Know Who You’ll See In Vegas