Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

The Race Was On

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This is a story of one of the greatest car races ever held in Smithwick. His name was Curtis Brown Parker. Brown Parker was how he was known. Brown was the person my Dad looked up to more, maybe than anyone else. Brown was several years older that Cecil Lewis. I believe that Brown help him become a man in more ways than one in his early days in Smithwick, Texas. However in the 1940s Brown and Eula moved to California, the same as a lot of people did during that period of time. Eula was one of the Turkey … Continue reading The Race Was On

Amazing Things, Crazy TimesLeave a comment

The Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge Collapse

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Four days after the horrific 9/11 attacks on this nation, Madeline and I decided to go to South Padre for a few days. I don’t remember if it was planned a way ahead of time or we, like so many, others just needed to go somewhere to reflect on what had just happened. We owned a condo on the beach side, at about the mid point of the island at that time. We found so much serenity in going there, watching the sunrises and mostly enjoyed sitting and reading and hearing the waves constantly rolling in. We had left late … Continue reading The Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge Collapse

Crazy Times, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

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UPDATE: This is a post from a couple of weeks ago. My son Jason questioned me about it. We even set down and simulated it at the kitchen table. A little while later he sent me a text with the following link. Seems that when I first thought about it, I was a couple of centuries too late. It even has name, The Martindale System – named that in 1939. Oh well, I should have looked it up on Wikipedia back in the 80s. Wait, we didn’t have such a thing, now did we. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martingale_(probability_theory) I was sitting around one … Continue reading Making Money At Black Jack (well not exactly)

Aging, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Always holding out hope that families can come together

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This is the time of year when you want to see things come together. It’s painful standing by watching people have their differences, especially when it’s within a family. I always think about how when these situations play out with neither side wanting to budge and many times it’s gone on so long that people don’t even know what originally happened that got them where they are. Life is not perfect and people make mistakes. To me it’s about carrying things too far. Everyone needs to get over themselves at some point. Following is a story that I have been … Continue reading Always holding out hope that families can come together

Amazing Things, Thoughts and Musings, True Marble Falls CharactersLeave a comment

The Baby Left In A Basket By The Door

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This is a story I will tell from the bits and pieces I’ve gathered up from various sources, including accounts on the internet. It seems there was a Jones family that lived in Oklahoma. W.W. and Mandy Jones were both born in 1874 so they probably had been married for a while by 1914. On the morning of June 1, 1914, they found a newborn baby girl at their door. They took that baby and raised her as their own. This baby was named Laura Mae. Most likely the Jones Family was driven out of Oklahoma by drought and the … Continue reading The Baby Left In A Basket By The Door

Marble Falls and the Area Around it.2 Comments

THE OLD FACTORY BUILDING in Marble Falls, Texas

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I grew up in Marble Falls in the 60s.We always referred to the old building on the north side of the river as “The Factory“. During my high school years (1966-1970) it was a burned out shell of a building where kids would go exploring. Then in 1971 it was torn down, only leaving a concrete slab for more than the next 25 years. These most of the views are as you enter Marble Falls from the south, as you come down the hill, looking across to the old section of the town. Now two restaurants and a hotel occupy … Continue reading THE OLD FACTORY BUILDING in Marble Falls, Texas

Kenny Lewis, On The Job1 Comment

Flying Low

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In the early part of 1978 Nelson Lewis and I came to an understanding that we would be best served to sever ties and go our seperate ways. We had formed Lewis Contractors in August of 1973. In March of 78, I was strung out between a project finishing up in Houston and another one in the later stages of completion in Crystal City, Texas. Kenny had been out of the Army for a couple of years and had joined us. He was doing a project in Kempner, Texas. There had been a storm brewing between Nelson and me, (all … Continue reading Flying Low

Kenny Lewis, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Writing Letters To My Brother

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I never was much of a writer when I was younger. But I committed to 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 … Continue reading Writing Letters To My Brother

Amazing Things, My Friends, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Never Assume The Best Mousetrap Has Already Been Invented

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Ryan was probably the more studious of the two brothers. Roy was the more sociable. There was a third brother by the name of Ricky. He was in the middle by age and there was a younger sister, Monica. But Ryan and Roy were the two that I was the most familiar with. Ryan was the same age as my oldest son Matt . Roy and my second son Mike were in the same grade. They went to school together for about six years in Dripping Springs. Ryan and Matt were pretty much alike both having more reserved personalities. They … Continue reading Never Assume The Best Mousetrap Has Already Been Invented

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The Lawson Products Caps

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Lawson Products had a salesman that made the rounds to all the contractors shops to sell them nuts and bolts. He kept our bolt bins full to overflowing. We never complained. We knew him coming meant he’d bring a good supply of good quality caps. Of course our Office Manager, Woody, always wanted to know why our bolt and nut bill was so high. This was in the 1970s and before the nice quality cap craze really got started. I really think that these caps are what showed people that a gimme cap didn’t have to be cheap looking. Wasn’t … Continue reading The Lawson Products Caps