By Buddy Hazell

At the time this transpired, I had sold my first horse. Blaze and I wanted another horse. I had looked at several horses that were advertised in the paper, but didn’t see any I liked.

One day I decided to go to the North Houston Sale Barn to see what they might have. All I had was $50, but thought it might be enough. When the sale started, the first thing to enter the ring was a small black and white paint mare, she stood about 13-14 hands high and seemed to be gentle as a lamb.

Back then, all horses came into the ring wearing a braided grass rope halter

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By Buddy Hazell

Back when I was firefighter (firemen stoke fires, firefighters put them out) one of our favorite pastimes, after our station work was done and there were no fires, was playing ping-pong. My partner was a man named Richard Railsback. Rails as we called him was a 6 foot, 3 inch man who weighed about 230 pounds. In spite of his size, he was an excellent ping-pong player. He and I took second place in a city-wide tournament three years running. A team from fire Station 51 beat us every year, before we finally won the Houston Fire Department Championship.

I wasn’t a nice person in those days, you might say I was not worth knocking in the head; but let’s share a story. About two o’clock one morning, the alarm went off and the dispatcher said, “Fire at the U-Tote-M Store, West 43rd and Ella Boulevard, 213, 231 and 232 respond.” An easy location to get to, out the door turn right and go one mile and you were there. I hit the seat, started the pumper,

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By Buddy Hazell

March 1, 2012, I was sitting in my recliner watching the 5 o’clock news, when a tear came rolling down my cheek. I thought to myself, “What’s wrong with my eye?” Then out of my eye came another tear. Not knowing my wife was looking, I wiped the tears away, and I said, “Honey, it is just a few weeks away.” She replied, “Yes I know”; I felt as if my heart had burst, and I got up and went into the bedroom, weeping as I went.

This story will be short, because my eyes are already watering up. My wife says that in my old age I am getting mellow, sentimental and emotional; maybe she is right. But, on March 25, 2010 God called my number three daughter home. He left me

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Back to Rockdale, living with Dave and Nettie. It was early spring; Dave and I had been in the Bottom grubbing out persimmon sprouts since daylight. Our water jug was empty and we were hot and thirsty. Dave said, “Let’s go to the house and finish up tomorrow.” I was ready for that. We had a mule hitched to a slide and we were both tired enough to just get on the slide and ride back to the house.

Nettie called to us, “That old momma cat hasn’t been here all morning and her kittens are hungry.” Dave replied, “Aw, she’s probably at the barn, or the crib, or maybe just out hunting.” I must have been the dumbest kid the world has ever

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By Buddy Hazell

Before we get into this story, let me clear the air. This happened a number of years before I had repented of my sins and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. When I told my wife that I was going to write this, she very emphatically told me, “Don’t you dare write about that, people will think you still do those things.” However, people who know me know better than that. So, here we go:
In the late 1960’s, I was running a Horse Ranch just outside of Tomball. The ranch covered 2,000 acres and was owned by a lawyer in Houston. I had

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By Buddy Hazell

I was saved January 4, 1970 and I was amazed at the changes that God made in my thoughts, attitude, habits and language. Before January 4th, I could not even say “Good morning,” without a string of four letter words describing you and your family. This story is about just one of the changes God made in my life.

About four months after I was saved, a neighbor, Bob Thornton, who lived half a mile from us (this distance is critical to the story), wanted me to build a barn for him. After we sat down and discussed just what he wanted, we agreed

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By Buddy Hazell

The date was July 4, 1943. I was staying with Dave and Nettie Scott for the summer. Rockdale was having a big Fourth of July celebration with a parade, barbecue, games for the kids and horse races. This was also a day when horse traders would be in town to buy, sell and trade horses and mules.

Dave’s old cow-horse had gotten so old, that he could no longer do his job, so Dave had to replace him. I put Dave’s saddle and bridle in the pick-up and Dave, Nettie and I headed to town. Dave parked by the train depot and he and I walked over to the stock pens to see what was there. Horse traders and other people were just beginning to get there, so we walked back to the truck to get Nettie and walked over to the fairgrounds.

The parade was getting ready, the high school band was getting in place and there

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By Buddy Hazell

The town of Hull, Texas is about 11 miles south of Batson. FM 70 runs through Raywood, to Daisetta, and Hull to Batson, then turns east to Saratoga. Going to Hull for us living in Batson, was like going from Malakoff to Dallas. Hull was, “the big city.” The main street through Hull was concrete, and there were no board sidewalks, they were also concrete, with curbs! Hull also had a railroad and train station.

My Uncle Harold owned the drug store in Hull and when we went there we could get a free double-dip ice cream cone

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By Buddy Hazell

Do we remember the ‘Outhouse’, with its Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog; or the Monkey Ward catalog? Then, there was the ‘Slop Jar,’ for ladies and girls of the house; and there was ‘Hesitating’ off the ‘Gallery’ for the men and boys.

We had just one pair of shoes and wore them only when going to town or church. We had two pair of overalls, one for everyday use and one for going to town and church. Mother made our shirts and underwear from chicken feed sacks, and bed sheets from flour sacks. We wore socks until they had been sewed up so many times that there was more thread than sock.

Hats were not baseball caps, but made of straw with a wide brim to keep the sun

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I begin this with my great, great, great-grandfather, Elisha Hazell. Elisha was born in Culpepper County, Virginia in 1764. He and a cousin, Ignatius Hazell, joined the St. Mary’s County Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Elisha and Ignatius decided to move to Kentucky. They loaded their belongings and families; both of them had children, Elisha a son, John N. Hazell and Ignatius a daughter, Mary Hazell.

They followed the Shenandoah Valley south, skirting the southern part of West Virginia and entering into Kentucky. Coming to Green County in south central Kentucky, the decided to settle there.

In the spring of 1826, John N. Hazell died. He did not live to see his first son

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