Terlingua Dreams

Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas

Friday, February 27, 2015

A whole lot of nothing going on

In comparison to the rest of the nation, we have not really had very cold temperatures.  It has been cold in West Texas, cold being in the 30's. Yet not cold enough to kill mosquitoes, darn what does it take to get rid of them suckers?

We are still not feeling up to par but at least I am doing better than mother.  She refuses to take DayQuil or NyQuil or any other medication.  If there is such a thing as a silver lining, it is that we have been sleeping quite a bit.  If you are a long time reader of this blog you know I am an insomniac. These days I am getting at least ten hours of sleep...that is whenever I finally manage to doze off.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Spurs Corner

The Spurs finally won a game tonight and Tony Parker came ready to play. This will definitively help in getting a good night's rest.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Road Closure

Many of my long time readers know that I live in the southern tip of Val Verde County closer to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico than to the Del Rio, Texas city limits.

This was private ranch land for years until the owners died and their heirs who did not live in Del Rio decided to sell. There was only one way in and one way out until the flood of 1998 brought to light the plight of the residents who were pretty much land locked and unable to get out including my mother.

Fortunately for her she had me, whom I have always been a bargain hunter and why not...a hoarder. She had water, canned goods, powdered milk, paper goods and staples to get her by until the Texas Guard was able to cross the swollen creek that separates us from the rest of the county and bring in provisions.

At the time there had been talks with the owners of adjoining ranches to donate land to make an alternate exit to the north part of the city.  It took years and when it was finally built it was named Milagro Road (miracle in Spanish) because it was a miracle it was ever built.

However, no one ever wanted to address the fact that the Duck Pond crossing was dangerous and was not built for all the traffic that crossed it daily.  Finally the current commissioner found the funds to re-build it and it was closed this past Monday,


I was a little upset that I would have to go to the north part of the city and then head south to go to the Post Office, HEB and Mexico but you know what?  I absolutely love it!

This is the reason we moved to the county 40 plus years ago...for peace and tranquility. Since we are closer to the Duck Pond there is hardly any traffic unless you happen to live on this street.  No cars means the neighbor's dogs don't go crazy all night with every passing vehicle.

I could even ride a bike, if only Santa Claus had brought me one.  I even plan to go walking with our two strays...of course that wont take place until our cold front that is due tomorrow goes bye bye.

I am in hog heaven and now I wish they would not re-open the road.  I so plan to enjoy this month long reprieve.  It is as though I was in Terlingua :)

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Reminiscing

My goodness this is the second time this week I do not get up until after 3:00 p.m. even mother went back to sleep after listening to her church service on the telephone,  If it had not been for the darn neighbor's dog, I think I would have slept longer.

Was looking at my pictures from many moons ago including the first year they brought back Mardi Gras to Galveston.  It only got better and better each year but it has been a long time since my last visit to the Island.

Now the Houston Rodeo is just around the corner, what great times I had there as well. I recalled my first time there with a friend and forgetting where the heck I had parked.  My feet were so swollen I just sat on the parking lot and waited for everyone to leave.  Not a minute to soon...as I finally spotted the car...it began to rain.

Another person in Billy Bob's blog posted about the honky tonks in Pasadena and Baytown and how they are always full from the three daily shifts at the refineries.  It reminded me of my old stomping grounds the City of South Houston, Pasadena, and Deer Park.  Always something to do or somewhere to go in the big city no matter the hour.

Where else would you find beer joints named The Doghouse, He is not Here, She is not Here and so many more other funny names that currently escape me?

Reminiscing...I guess that is what one would call it.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Playing Catch-Up

I feel like I have been out of commission for a month instead of ten days.  What pissed me off is that I caught it at MY doctor's office and not at the multiple doctor's offices I take my mother to throughout the month.

Did you know that if you do not visit your doctor for a year you have to start the process all over again including paying the hefty fee as a new client?  You would think someone would have mentioned this to me along the way...but I had no idea.

If I am going to be able to take care of someone else, I better be in good health myself.  Finally decided to quit putting off going to the doctor and got some female tests out of the way.  Hospital called to tell me that I needed to have a doctor to send my test to because I was not a patient of Dr. X.

What do you mean I am not a patient?  No, you are not...you have not been to the doctor in over three years.  Long story short, had to go to my former doctor's office and fill out paperwork. When I got there it was during the lunch hour and there were not that many patients there.  However, there was this rude woman with a horrible cough whom she told anyone who would listen that she caught it in Fort Worth.

She lost her insurance card and was waiting for them to fax it to the doctor or she would not be able to be seen.  Why in the world would she not cover her mouth?  I was sitting in the other end of the small waiting room trying to cover my face with a Kleenex.  Unfortunately, I had to wait to be seen by the nurse practitioner as my doctor was out of town and an appointment with him could not be scheduled until April!

The next day I was feeling lousy. I tried to stay away from my mother but two days later she caught it as well.  All because of one inconsiderate woman who at her age should of known better.

I can not believe we are in the last week of February.  We have not really had a winter except for a few cold days here and there.  In early February the trees were already covered with that green thing and now they are blooming.


A cold front is expected tomorrow but nothing severe or harsh like the country is experiencing up north this winter. My goodness there is no way I could possibly live in Boston, New York, Chicago, etc, etc.

As soon as those worthless mesquite trees start blooming...you will hear my cries...:-(

If you are from up north, here in the South we skip spring or we might have two weeks of it and then we jump to summer.  I am dreading it.

Guess what place people do not frequent on a Saturday night?  If you guessed the Laundromat...you're right!  The laundromat is about a mile away starting Monday the main road will be closed for repairs for a month.  If I want to go wash, I will have to travel to the north part of the city and then head back down south.  It will turn into a twenty mile round trip.  This gal is not having any of that. So true to my procrastinating ways, I waited to the last minute to head there.

I went at noon and spent two and a half hours.  Returned this evening and spent three more.  I was the only customer besides the lady who takes care of the place. That is one less thing off of my To Do List.

Only good thing about having computer problems and being sick...I have only used 3.85 of my 6 GB plan.  Wish AT&T would roll over the data I do not use this month on to the next month, like they do with their cell phone plans.  I am perhaps asking for too much?

Please forgive me if I have not stopped by your blog, I hope to get caught up with all my blog reading soon.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Having Computer Problems

I am about to pull my hair out!   I have been having so many computer problems lately.  I do not know what in the world I did to my main computer but it just isn't responding.  I have restored it and my little Netbook back to an earlier time but nothing seems to work on it.

I am currently using the Netbook but it is a struggle at best.  Wednesday, I even drove down to the County library but since it was in the mid 80's they decided to turn on the air conditioning to an ungodly freezing temperature.  That made the people who were already sick start coughing and the kids that were accompanying their parents start whining...I left real quick like!

This is when I miss Houston.  I have at least two Best Buys, four Walmarts and two Targets all within a 10 mile range of my house.  In Del Rio all we have is Walmart and they are all out of the cheap tablets they are peddling this week. :-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Monday, February 9, 2015

Snafu

It was an absolutely spectacular day...sunny in the 80's...which for a winter day is not bad! Needed to go run some errands but wanted to check some ads online.  Bad choice!  I swear...I guess I will never learn to leave computer related things alone!

Had the bright idea to bring my bookmarks from IE to Chrome and everything went downhill from there!  It has literally taken me HOURS to be able to get back online.

I was so preoccupied with that, that I actually FORGOT my Spurs were playing tonight...grrrrrrr!!! Well, maybe it was all for the best as they unfortunately lost...:-(

My friends like to call it a senior moment...I do not like that terminology...I will just chuck it up to CRS (Can't Remember Doodoo).

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

I love blogs

I remember when I first got started on the internet there were only chat rooms and forums. I thought how amazing that was how so many people could come together from different countries and chat in one location. Most of my chat room friends were from the west coast so they were two hours behind me which meant I stayed up quite late a bonus since I am a night owl.

Then I discovered blogs and was sucked in to the blogosphere.  I read many blogs and in the process find equally fascinating ones.  Remember when I asked Santa for a bike for Christmas?  If you don't here it is http://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-letter-to-santa.html

I wondered if Santa left my new bike at Wal-Mart how I would get it home?  I don't have a truck or a vehicle big enough to strap it to.  Surely I could ride it home...right?  The store is in the north side of the city and I live in the southern edge of the county.  Lots of 18 wheelers on their way to Mexico and roads in not such good shape on the way home. Since Santa never delivered and I never wanted to buy one and get run over in the process of bringing it home...I had to strike that off of my wish list. :-(

Barney of OFM Adventures http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/  featured a couple from Houston on his blog.  They had sold everything they owned and were going to embark on their dream to ride their bikes to Argentina. They are Sarah and Scott of Wander Wheels http://www.wanderwheels.com/

Have been following their journey for more than a year now.  They have been through everything!  I feel silly now wondering how to get a bike home when the store is only about 10 miles away. These folks have ridden for thousands of miles and are in the home stretch of their trip.

In their tjourney they met up with a fellow cyclist Heather, a girl riding alone.  Wow, that really caught my attention because she has cycled through ten countries by herself.  People that takes guts! Her pictures are beautiful and her adventures are unique.  If you care to check it out, here is her blog Cycle South Chica https://cyclesouthchica.wordpress.com/

Aren't blogs wonderful?  You can live vicariously through the adventures of others without ever leaving home.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

February 2015 trip to Uvalde, Texas

We got an early start today as we had an 11:15 a.m. appointment in Uvalde, Texas. It was very cold this morning.  While I fixed mother breakfast, I decided to skip mine but stopped to buy me a cup of coffee so I could be awake and alert. Remembering last month's nearly tragic trip http://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2015/01/morbid-thoughts.html  I gave myself more time to get there while not having to drive over 55 mph in case another deer decided to give me a scare.

Just this past Monday gasoline was selling for $1.91 a gallon and today it was going for $1.99...it was nice while it lasted.  Was hoping it would be cheaper in Uvalde but it was the same.

HEB in Uvalde

I have mentioned before that we really like her Uvalde doctor and he is well worth the two or three hours that we have to wait to be seen.  With that said, I draw the line at five hours!

He comes from San Antonio once a week and they over book him.  Wish they would call and say he is running behind and tell us to arrive later like her primary doctor's office in town does. My poor mother was starving to death by the time we left his office!

I turned into the first fast food place I saw which happened to be a Jack in the Box.  My mother does not like fast food much less hamburgers but she gobbled it up.  I bought some coffee for her as she was freezing and the guy behind the counter told me he was going to brew her a fresh pot.  We had excellent service and they won her over which is not easy to do.

Neither one of us are coffee people...I am still jittery from my morning cup...hope mother can get to sleep tonight as she had hers in the afternoon.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Measles / House Fire / Gas Prices

Today we had to go to the local hospital for mother's monthly blood draw as well as an X-ray. Got to watch CNN as we waited.  Had no idea the measles epidemic was that bad or how easy it is to contract it.  Kind of scary particularly because we frequent hospitals and doctor's offices.

Did you know that an infected person can leave a room and someone that walks in up to two hours later can still become infected?  Not news I wanted to hear :-(

On January 23rd there was a house fire in which a lady tragically died.  My mother thought it was the wife of a friend of my father's. Today we drove by there but it wasn't the person she knew.


The lady was in her late 70's and lived alone. The space heater caught on fire because she had a lot of things in close proximity to it.  Things like this really sadden me.


It appears that gasoline prices are once again on the rise.  This afternoon in our way into town this was the price at the local Exxon.


A block away HEB had the following price.  I commented to mother that I bet when we made our way back home they would have raised it.to match HEB...sure enough that was the case.


Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Hope your team won

I no longer follow football and besides there was no team from Texas or even the South in the big game tonight.  As you know I severed my ties with Time Warner Cable a couple of months back. BTW to the person that e-mailed me that the game was going to be carried on national TV and not cable...in Del Rio if you don't have cable you have a blank TV or you have to settle for the free channels that are beamed to the border from Mexico City.

There was so much hype about the game and the half time show on Mexican TV that I decided to watch it.  It did not disappoint unless of course you were rooting for the Seahaws.

Spurs Brother, if you are reading this...did it not take you back to our game 7 loss in 2013 to the Miami Heat?  I have always questioned why Pops had Duncan sitting on the bench. It was a rather bitter memory. I think Seahaws fans will question that last minute play as well.

Hope your team won!

Good night,  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.