Ben---Gone Too Soon---GRRRRRRR PHOOPIE

Bill and I are still a bit stunned about Ben's untimely death. It's left a little empty space in our hearts. We 'followed' him everyday and his blog was the last one that we read each morning---a save-the-best-for-last situation. We met him a few times and will always remember him as the sweet, generous, gentle man that he was.

We hope to meet some of our fellow bloggers (in addition to Ben's friends and family) this evening at the get-together to exchange memories about good ol' Ben.. . . . . ".An Older Texan Remembered."

Caren

Mattie Lou Ewing 1947

Since I have been so remiss, I'm going to start over with publishing entries from Mattie Lou Ewing's Diary. For any newbies--These are entries from a journal I bought at an antique shop in Fort Worth. This is a woman who lived a farm life in post WWII Texas. Some is very mundane, but it's all a very interesting look into 'everyday life' at that time. (B.B. or Buster is her husband. Jo or Jo Beth is her daughter. Les is her son-in-law.). You'll see various places where I have inserted comments about readability, etc. I've kept most of her misspellings and grammar errors.

1947

Wednesday—January 1

This is the first diary I ever attempted to keep, but I know I will enjoy every “day” of this new year. The snow and ice has everything completely covered, and its’ a very beautiful sight. I have a head-ache, but am having a wonderful time, with my rag rug. B.B. is at the farm and will bring the calf home for food. (?—One unreadable word)

Thursday—January 2

It’s still dark and gloomy out-side. Buster is at the farm feeding cows. I am feeling fine today and “Short Tom” is enjoying our bright fire. We went to see “Janie Gets Married” at the mission. We came home by 8 and listened to radio. The calf was delivered to plant and killed. We will have plenty of beef.

Friday—January 3

It’s bitterly cold today. Quite the coldest of the season. Planned to spend the day with Jo Beth, but decided it was too cold. Am chrocheting (sic) Jo a new doilie out of the new thread so am really enjoying myself. Buster is in a H.(not sure about the H) S. A. meeting today. He reported a very busy day at the office.

Saturday—January 4

It was unusually cold last nite. Kept the gas on all nite and windows were covered with ice this morn. Car was dead too. It was too cold to try to work at store so am at home. B. B. and Les are feeding cows at the farm. Lorena came over this morn for a visit. Ma died one year ago today.

Sunday—January 5

We buried Ma one year ago today. It was a gloomy sad day. Today has been sad. Buster was nervous. We all attended S. S. and church. Jo and Les came home for lunch, but none of us enjoyed it. It’s still very cold and no hopes of warm weather yet. Jo and Les went home early. I made cookies for Rosemary’s shower.

Monday—January 6

It’s sleeting this morning and looks like bad weather for sure. I walked to Aunt Letha’s (?) and rode to town to select our gift for Rosemary. We made final plans for shower and have it all planned. Buster is still “nervous”. Listened to radio and started on a new doilie.

Tuesday—January 7

Looks a little like spring this morning. The sun is shining but it’s “weak”. Did a big wash the old time way and had a big day. Bob came for me, so went to shower at 6:30. It was a nice party. 14 guests and all gifts were very nice. Am glad it’s all over as it’s a lot of responsibility. Rosemary seemed very grateful and we enjoyed doing it for her.

Wednesday—January 8

Another dark, gloomy day but I kinda like them. Takes these kind of days to make us appreciate the beautiful ones. It would be a shame to take too much for granted. Got up at 5:45 and am all thru my work at 8:15. Am all tired and should take it easy.

Thursday—January 9

Had a sick headache this morning. Stayed in bed until eleven. Bill and Buster came in for lunch at 12. The Veterans of Como came and inspected the farm and cows. I ironed and chrocheted (sic).  Spent the evening at home. The Satterwhites came and visited until 10.

Friday—January 10

I carried B. B. to the farm and brought car home with me. Jo and I went to food locker (? Not sure about food locker) and had my hair fixed at 9:30. Then on to grocery store and we fixed lunch and carried it to farm. We all ate and worked all afternoon and did a lot of good work on house. (Linda lost her calf).

Saturday—January 11

Went to work at Levine’s (?). Had a good day. Made 3.70. Bought me a new hat $3.40. Ate supper with Jo and Les and B. worked all day at the farm. Buster and I came home early and went to bed before 10. The entire family was dog tired. Oh yes: 20 eggs today.

Sunday—January 12

Another sick headache. Too sick to make it to S.S. and church. We went to farm at 11 with a load of hay and on to Mother’s (?) for lunch. Saw all the folks. Home at 3. Les was real sick all day. We visited with him Sun. nite.

Monday—January 13

B. B. and I got up early and fixed lunch. Worked all day at the farm. The Wilhites moved in and the house is full of people. We made everything look nice. The cow tester was here and we visited with him and did our chores. Too tired to go to the show.

Tuesday—January 14

The cows did unusually well. Am turning “Blondie and Blossom” dry this 15^th. Joe Beth is 22 years old today. She is spending the day with Letha. Jo, Les, and Letha visited until 8:30 with me. Bob called and said Nell and Richard were at (unreadable). We will try to see them Wed. Buster figured his income tax, again with Mildred.

not anything exciting....just some pics and stuff here

load of salvaged junk from the apt rehab job....the roof fan runs great

found some old mini "super balls" from the 60's - 70's in the dryer roof vent fan from the coin-op laundry

had to build a make-shift sheep shed due to all the spring rain storms we've been having

My son had me pick up some used tires he bought off Craigslist in DFW area for his next rock crawler project 

from last cabin trip....on the porch...Pug on a chair shelf...relaxing

Our cabin neighbor James Jackson and his pet horse "Thunder" at our porch one morning.

Caren, making a birthday cake for her 1yr old nannuy kid she takes care of

His favorite book is "Grumpy Bird".....turned out pretty damn good huh?

Last wknd I decided to build some carport shelves from old 1964 apt salvaged lumber...used up 4 plywood shelf boards....only 900 more to use up....WAY too many plywood shelf boards saved...may have to use them for siding on some more sheds.!!! I've got 2 more van loads to pick up and haul home.

Here it is semi-finished...still need to put some doors over them and sides

Here's a couple of rolls of #1 GA stranded copper underground elect cable that I talked my elect sub out of from the project....1964 era stranded cable....scuffed up here and there...but not to be scrapped....only to be used for solar stuff at the cabin.

That's all folks....too busy working now, and I hate that 2 hrs of heavy traffic driving...can't wait to be laid off and go back to Terlingua for a good long while.

Bigfoot

1970 Coupe De Ville...gas hog for sale

My son is liquidating his former toys and hobbies. He has this 42 year old lead sled (w/o the 472 cubic inch motor) parked at my house while it runs on Craigslist for $1500.

It was red with a worn out white vinyl top. He, all by himself, did alot of body work, fixed a big gouge down the side of the car, had a body shop repair the rusted panel across the rear window trim, and did all prep work before having the body shop shoot the white paint on it. Turned out pretty nice.

It has air bag suspension he installed. Interior is all original but less, much less than "pristine".

We bought it for $900 when he turned 16 and he drove it a couple of months before it spun a bearing and seized up. He and my mechanically minded youngest brother pulled the motor and rebuilt it with a mild cam. My son also rebuilt the Turbo400 tranny (with a little help from a tranny shop on some parts) and put a mild shift kit in it.He also rebuilt the Quadra-bog carb and fine tuned it. Electronic ignition added and some other rocker arm upgrades, etc.

He made a few trips to CA and LV and other car shows in Mississippi, etc in that Caddy.

After that he found an old '68 Caddy Hearse rust bucket that only had 55K miles on it, and still ran and was drivable...but was a Kentucky car and was badly rusted underneath. He pulled the body off, rebuilt the frame and somehow re located the engine height so he could install air bags and drop the frame to the pavement and raise it up just enough to drive. Those old hearses all came with positrac rear ends, and after he swapped the rebuilt 472 from his white Coupe De Ville into the hearse, he could smoke the tires like nothing else...both of them. (kinda a waste of rubber....but real attention getter) He was in Austin with some buddies for a car show they have down there every summer, and was on Congress Ave downtown one night, and did a major tire burn to show off. The hearse had no floor in the back since he rebuilt with tubing the rear frame, and the car filled up with white rubber smoke. A cop tapped on the glass and as my son rolled the window down, a ton of white smoke drifted out. The nice policeman just sternly said "no more of that"....and walked away.

Long story here...so I'll wrap it up.

He's working for TAMU now, just turned 28 yrs old and  married and they are expecting baby #1 later this year. So he's selling all  his hobbies. But does have plans to  build a new rock crawler since he's sold most of his tricked out Suzuki Sammy, but the next crawler will have a Caddy engine and trans...with Ford Dana axles. He's a very skilled mechanic and can fix damn near anything. Nothing like me, hell I can barely change  my oil.

I had one of these same cars back in the late 80's...fun to drive and loads of power....but even when tuned perfectly best you could get was 10-12 mpg...but then again gas was 22 cents a gallon when this thing was new. When I was in school at TAMU in '75 I drove a pink and white 1959 Caddy Sedan with the huge tail fins. Years later I (1982) finally sold it to a Mexican homosexual dude for $2500 that owned a couple of restaurants in College Station and he planned to make a salad bar out of it, but ended up keeping it to drive.

I used to love Caddys....owned a bunch of 'em, but I like Lincoln Town Cars now.

Mattie Lou: 3-4 January 1947

Friday—January 3

It’s bitterly cold today. Quite the coldest of the season. Planned to spend the day with Jo Beth, but decided it was too cold. Am chrocheting (sic) Jo a new doilie out of the new thread so am really enjoying myself. Buster is in a H.(not sure about the H) S. A. meeting today. He reported a very busy day at the office.

Saturday—January 4

It was unusually cold last nite. Kept the gas on all nite and windows were covered with ice this morn. Car was dead too. It was too cold to try to work at store so am at home. B. B. and Les are feeding cows at the farm. Lorena came over this morn for a visit. Ma died one year ago today.

Notes: Jo Beth is her daughter. Les is her son-in-law. Mattie usually works a few hours on Saturday at a store.

A&M Graduation

On May 11th my 'baby' Bruce graduated from Texas A&M with his bachelor's degree in psychology. I'm a proud mom. He will now join his brother (Ben) in Austin and attend culinary school to become a professional chef. (This from a kid who, for years, would ONLY eat hot dogs and mac and cheese. Go figure. You just never know . . ) He's in Las Vegas with some friends right now. Not to gamble, but rather to experience all the famous chefs' restaurants along the Strip.

Ben's latest project is playing the lead role in Shakespeare's 'Measure for Measure' which I think opens some time in June.

Above: Ben, Bruce, Me (the short one), and my mother.

Mattie Lou Journal Entries--1947

Here are two entries from Mattie Lou's 1947 diary. She lived on a farm in Sulphur Springs, TX.  This is her first diary and I'll just start at the beginning. (B. B. and Buster are the same person--her husband). I've kept her misspellings, quirkiness, and grammar errors, etc. And I make notations when there is an unreadable word--or sometimes just put a question mark--or take a good guess at what the word is and put a question mark right after it.

Wednesday—January 1

This is the first diary I ever attempted to keep, but I know I will enjoy every “day” of this new year. The snow and ice has everything completely covered, and its’ a very beautiful sight. I have a head-ache, but am having a wonderful time, with my rag rug. B.B. is at the farm and will bring the calf home for food. (?—One unreadable word)

Thursday—January 2

It’s still dark and gloomy out-side. Buster is at the farm feeding cows. I am feeling fine today and “Short Tom” is enjoying our bright fire. We went to see “Janie Gets Married” at the mission. We came home by 8 and listened to radio. The calf was delivered to plant and killed. We will have plenty of beef.

Going to the 'show' was a major source of entertainment 'back then' and it's fun to research the movies that she writes about throughout her journal. And to think--these were the 'new releases.'