I am so glad I discovered blogs, they give you a different perspective on things, you get to travel vicariously with the people you follow and hopefully you also learn something along the way. Such was the case last night when I was reading Rob's blog http://observations-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2013/05/mondays-arent-so-bad-its-your-job-that_13.html
I have always been fascinated by western movies and how life was in the old days. Became intrigued by Wyatt Earp and his wife Sadie Jo and started reading up on them. Very interesting, thanks Rob for awakening my curiosity.
I have often griped about mother's friends showing up unannounced or saying they forgot her telephone number. Do not know why, she has had the same telephone number for over forty years and is listed in the phone book. Even had some cards printed up and I pass them out whenever they come.
With my insomnia and reading up on the Earp's I did not go to bed until 6:10 a.m. Woke up at 8:00 a.m. to serve mother breakfast then went back to sleep. I kept on hearing a knocking...but as sleepy as I was, it did not register that someone was at the front door. Then someone banged on the living room window and startled me as I was napping in dad's recliner.
After she yelled at me and told me who she was I went to open the door. The first thing out of her mouth was "why is your living room always so dark?" Wanted to tell her that we do not open up our blinds when we have the air conditioning going but of course since she lives off her daughter and son-in-law what does she care what they pay on their electric bill.........grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Next thing out of her mouth..."you know your plants are dry, you really need to water them". I looked at mother and she gave me "that look"...bit my tongue and told her "thank you for letting me know"...darn busy body! OK...end of rant!
It was hot and humid and felt a lot warmer than the 86 degrees we supposedly reached. Rains were forecasted but did not materialize until after 9:00 p.m. We got .19" and a lighting show to go with it.
Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.
Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas
How do you function on that amount of sleep?
ReplyDeleteI don't know Trouble, I just do. Have been suffering from insomnia for at least two decades.
DeleteI guess my body has just gotten used to it.
Yes, how do you function on that amount of sleep? You must walk around in a daze. Have you ever tried some melatonin?
ReplyDeleteOne would think I would walk around in a daze but that is not the case. My friends and people that know me will vouch for me.
DeleteIf you did not know I suffer from insomnia and can go three days without sleep...it would be hard for you to tell.
I tried Melatonin in the 90's but that is not a long term fix. Besides Melatonin is really not good for you are it is a hormone and can cause worst side effects.
ReplyDeleteDriving in West texas and Terlingua Tx
When we first came to this area we asked someone how to get to a certain place. The reply was, "go to the middle of nowhere and take a right, then go even more to the middle of nowhere - you’ll be within a few miles from there".
That was a pretty fair statement at the time. Now, things are closing in a bit. It doesn’t feel so isolated and the distances seem more manageable. That’s one thing about West Texas - the distances. It’s 1.25 hours to get to the nearest hospital (if you can call it that), 3.5 hours to the nearest commercial airport (5 hours to the next nearest), 3.25 hours to reasonable groceries and a real hospital, 7-8 hours to a real city, and only 30 minutes to a bank branch and a post office. All of this is on good straight roads with speed limits of 70-75 miles per hour.
Every so often I’ll drive the 3-3.5 hours to go shopping, spend maybe 3 hours hitting the butcher shop, grocery store, liquor store, pet shop, home center and wholesale grocery and drive back the same day. You need to be very organized to do that run.
Our neighbor who is building a house has to make the trip about once a week and it doesn’t seem to phase him. Texans are used to distance and they usually talk in terms of hours instead of miles, it’s easier because some places aren’t far but they are hard to get to. When we came down to look for a place to buy the realtor put on 250 miles one day just showing us around - pretty usual for her but we were exhausted. Some days that 250 miles yields no sale.
A drive across Texas from El Paso in the northwest to Brownsville in the southeast is a hard two day trip and I’m not talking backroads but interstate highways most of the way. Personally, I’d do it in three days just to get in some quality scenery time.
Texas backroads are a treat. You can drive for miles without seeing a soul on the road. You can pass through very small towns without seeing anyone on the street. Yet you can stop at a farm stall out in absolute nowhere and they’ll have sold out the melons for the day.
It’s interesting. In all this open, deserted country, people are far more observant of speed laws than around cities. You can be driving down a stretch of road that is absolutely straight for 15 miles and no one is doing more than 3-5 miles over the limit and most are right on the limit. Texans don’t seem to mind driving.
So, being so far from anywhere, what do you do in an emergency? Well, you mostly hope that there isn’t one. If there is, the ambulance is 30 miles away or more but usually a Sheriff’s Deputy is only 10-15 miles down or up the road. And, they’re all good at what they do.
They loaded me up in the ambulance one day and trucked me up to our non-hospital. We had to go through a Border Patrol checkpoint on the way and some windy mountainous country. From call-in to delivery was about two hours including a pretty thorough exam at our house prior to leaving. Of course, if I’d been very bad off they’d have transferred me to the real hospital another two hours away. If you have a really serious problem your chances are poor.
If you choose to live out in the boondocks you need a couple of things: good health and a real appreciation for the inside of a motor vehicle, because here you’re "going nowhere in a hurry, fast".
posted by Jack Hennessy 2006
Pablo - I read this article written by Jack Hennessy a while back and I thought it was the best and most accurate description of what living in Terlingua and/or the Big Bend area was like.
DeleteFortunately life in Del Rio is not so bad. If I get bitten by a snake I can be airlifted to a San Antonio hospital and probably live to tell it. Of course I will probably go bankrupt trying to pay the helicopter ride and medical bills. In Terlingua...I would probably die :-(
Thanks for stopping by.