Terlingua Dreams

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

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

RIP Betty

I just recently found out that Betty, a long time Terlingua friend and a staple at the annual CASI Chili Cook-off, passed away. While I do not know the exact date, it was on or about the 6th of June.


Betty was a fun loving person who knew how to party and always had a great time!  If you ever went to a cook-off you surely saw her or if you were lucky enough, got to meet her. She was originally from New Jersey and both she and her beloved husband Irwin moved to Terlingua in the early 70's.

She would tell me and my camp mates stories about the early days of their arrival, their struggles but most importantly...the love for one another and their love for the Chihuahuan desert.

Besides our love for Terlingua, Betty and I had another bond...that being, that we were both avid Betty Boop fans.  She would joke that she was more of a Betty Boobs!  That is because of her annual participation in the Boob contest which she won more than any other individual in CASI Chili Cook-off history. The last time she won it, was two years ago against strong competition and in her 80's!

Last year neither she nor Irwin were feeling well. They did not spend the night at the cook-off  as they usually do. She made the effort to come out because they were going to give her a special recognition down at Krazy Flats.

I am so glad they stopped by my campsite and that I got to give her one last hug.

My condolences to Irwin, her family and her legion of friends.  May you rest in peace dear Betty.


Sunday, June 28, 2015

Hulla Hoe / Weed eating

As I mentioned on a prior post...I am having problems going back to sleep after administering Mom's early morning medications. This past Friday, I got tired of laying in bed and decided to give the hulla hoe a workout before it got to a high of 95 degrees.

It did not take long to make my hands hurt even while wearing gloves.  Then a light bulb went off and I decided to use my leftover water noodle (I think that is what is called) and it worked great!


I was only planning on addressing the backyard but decided the area on the street side of the fence needed it more. Turned out to be too much work using the hulla hoe...so I pulled out the electric weed eater.

The last time I went to my house in Houston...I took one of my two-100 ft extension cords so I could mow the yard using my electric lawn mower. Little did I know it would be over two years and counting before I could go back. Therefore, I unknowingly left my extension cord there.

I really needed the extra cord to finish the job.  Did the best I could under the circumstances...that being the heat and humidity...if only I had done this two months ago, it might have gone a lot smoother.  Folks, take it from me...do not procrastinate :-(

I was planning on finishing the job on Saturday morning but was not planning on it raining in the early morning hours...I left the weed eater along with the extension cord outside!

Even half way done, I felt a great sense of accomplishment.  We will see what next week brings?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

A day without electricity

Lately, I have had a hard time going back to sleep after giving mother her early morning medication.   Rather than laying in bed, I have been getting up and doing other things.  Yesterday I decided to make an early trip to the laundromat.  Had never used a maxi load washer (equivalent to four loads), used two...now towels and linens are once again done for the month.

Since I was already out and about drove into town to check the P.O. Box, gassed up the car...$2.51 a gallon for regular unleaded and picked up three lunch plates at Stripes (one was going to be my dinner).

I felt a sense of accomplishment that my chores were done by 11:30 a.m.  It would have been a great day had the electricity not gone out at 2:00 p.m.  We are no strangers to losing power in the area where mother lives.

The house got hot pretty fast as my mother is always cold and the A/C is usually set at 80.  This is one of the main reasons why our electric bill is higher in the winter rather than the summer.

We sat outside for hours where fortunately there was a nice breeze.  Then a darn wasp bit me in the face!  It was my fault because again due to my procrastination, I had not exterminated the nest. Went on a killing rampage and did away with a bunch of them.

Mother wanted to eat in the kitchen but I nixed that.  Way too hot and even hotter if I heated something on the stove.  Decided we needed to go for a ride in an air conditioned car and pick up something to eat in town.

Was very surprised to find police directing traffic and businesses shut down on Veteran's Memorial the main artery in Del Rio.  Even Stripes and HEB were closed.  Saw some people at Domino's where I stopped and asked what happened?  Was told the main transformer had exploded and the only fast food places still opened were McDonalds and Subway as you come into Del Rio from San Antonio.

Mother does not like sandwiches and I rather starve than eat at McDonald's but out of curiosity drove by there.  My God!  I have never seen McDonalds so jammed packed....for the record, I don't wait in lines either.

We have two HEB's...drove by the old one that is located in historic downtown but the whole street was blocked off as the light company was working on the lines.  So we came home to eat cereal and milk.

Opened all the windows and put mother to bed.  I went outside and sat with the dogs. Surprisingly it was not very dark though the moon was only half full.  I could hear the neighbor's voices, so a lot of people were sitting outside as well. Went inside at midnight and woke up at 2:43 a.m. when I felt the air conditioning hit my face.

It is amazing how we come to rely on electricity. If it had only been me, there would have been no problem...I would have slept outside in my zero gravity recliner. While Terlingua is a huge party in the desert, sometimes described as Spring Break for adults, it has also taught me a lot about survival.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Friday, June 19, 2015

Me and my procrastination :(

In the blink of an eye this month is almost over and done with.  Where has the time gone?  It sure seems to fly by faster now that I am older.

I have so many things I need to tackle but that I keep on putting off.  One thing I finally accomplished was taking down my Kodiak canvas tent that I put up last October...well, kind of, sort of...


I have had it up for eight months...not something I am proud of.  I have gotten rid of a lot of the mildew but I did not count on the main ridge pole not coming apart.  Guess the dust and wind had its way.  I rubbed vaseline all over it but the problem is in the inside.


All I could do was drag it to the carport/garage and place a tarp over it until I figure something else out.  My procrastination ruined a $500.00 tent.

Remember I thought the strong winds had turned off the gas water heater?  Well, it turns out that might not have been the case...seems we almost ran out of propane because...you guessed it...I forgot to check the gauges!

If that was not enough procrastination...I have never gotten around to weed eating the yard and even with Walter's help (the neighbor's horse) the weeds are out of control.

As many of my old readers know...I like to change my header picture on a regular basis. However, Blogger changed the way to upload pictures and I am not given the option to remove the prior photo. If you go to Walter's blog (you can click on my header picture to get there) you will see that I now have two header pictures and one is way too big.  I know...I should be banned from using a computer and even more so from having a blog...(me with a tear running down my face)...:(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Congratulations Golden State Warriors!

What a great NBA Finals it has been, it certainly lived up to the hype and then some!  Forty years is a long time to wait for an NBA championship and the Golden State Warriors certainly deserve it.


Congratulations to Andre Iguodala for being named the MVP of the NBA Finals.


Congratulations as well to Steve Kerr, a very well liked and respected former player and assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs.


What can I say about Stephen Curry better known as the "baby face assassin"?  This young man has a phenomenal future ahead.


As short as this post is, it took me over two hours to be able to publish it last night.  Then had to revise it this morning. I apologize for the picture quality but as you can see I snapped the pictures off of my TV...real high tech, I know!   Nothing but the best for my readers :D