What are ‘tickle bees’? :)
Small native, sting less bees. They can be caught by hand very easily, after which the buzzing movement of their wings tickles.
As a kid sometimes would catch one on the way to school, put it in a shirt pocket, then discover it later in the day, put it in hand, get tickled a little, then back into the pocket to be later released on the way home.
The type then local to that area seemed to prefer yellow flowers, or could be found on that color.
Here's a link to a Google images page which shows some of the "andrena" types. I'm not certain which sort was once prevalent in that part of Texas, in that era, though now assume that was what they were.