Busy Week

Like I mentioned on my last post my favorite uncle (mom’s baby brother) came for a visit.  I had warned him that I had a terrible cold but he said he was not worried because he always gets his annual flu shot.  Well you guessed it…he caught my cold and was on his deathbed.

I felt bad and offered to share my medicine with him so as you might expect neither one of us got well since I did not finish the complete antibiotics treatment and he only took a couple and did him no good.

Been divorced so long had forgotten what it was like to have a sick man in the house.  Let me tell you it was not a pretty picture.  Why are men so silly?  They act like they are the only ones in the world that have ever been ill.  Since he was sure he was going to die, he decided it was best for him to die at his house, lol (me rolling me eyes) so he left yesterday.

After he left I decided to go back to Mexico to see the doctor. This time he gave me more potent pills and some herbal pills for my cough.  The pills are called Cetoxil and come with 10 tablets.  I have to take one every 12 hours for 7 days so I had to buy 2 bottles. 

I really did not want to buy the herbal pills for my cough but my mother insisted saying they are better than the Nyquil I am taking…well at least the Nyquil knocks me out and allows me to sleep J

Pharmacy was having some kind of special so instead of $295.00 pesos I paid $245.00 pesos for the medication.  Doctor was $35.00 pesos for a grand total of $280.00 pesos.  The exchange rate was $12.95 yesterday so it came to $21.62 USD.

I certainly hope this takes care of it because I sure am tired of being sick.  If the Chili Cook-Off was next week I don’t think I would be able to attend.  Lucky for me I still have 31 days  though October is promising to be a very busy month as my mother has several doctors’ appointments scheduled and I have a lot of things to do to get ready for my upcoming trip to Terlingua.

Company, Dr. visit, more rain

Hi guys :-)  Decided to stay one more day in Houston and drove back to Del Rio early Monday morning.  Good thing I decided to load the car the night before because it was raining quite hard at 5:00 am and the last thing I needed was to get wet.

Knew my favorite uncle was going to come visit us but in a way I was dreading it because I have brought so many things down from my house in Houston that my room is crammed full of boxes and since my room also doubles as the guest room, that meant moving them.

Yesterday me, my mom and my uncle went to Mexico so I could see a doctor.  Most pharmacies have a separate doctor's office and I got to see one with no waiting line, was given a prescription, went and got the medication at the same pharmacy and was on my way in 15 minutes only because I had to go back to get him to apply the two penicillin shots he prescribed for me.

He charged me $35.00 mexican pesos for the office visit and $20.00 for each shot he administered for a total of $75.00 pesos.  Since I am lazy I use an exchange rate of $10.00 pesos to 1 USD.  So I saw the doctor for about $7.50 USD.

Medications cost $216.00 pesos or the equivalent of $21.60 USD.  The medication included 15 antibiotics, 10 gelcaps for fever and aches, 2 shots of penicillin, a small jar of cough syrup and a package of 4 disposable syringes.

Total cost for doctor and medications came to $291.00 mexican pesos or $29.10 USD. probably less because the exchange rate yesterday was $12.85 to $1.00 USD but I had pesos handy so I did not need to exchange dollars.  If I had bought dollars it would have cost me $22.65 USD.  For people who live along the US-Mexico border and do not have health insurance this is a viable option.

Last night we got more rain, I don't know how much but it was a good test for my Kodiak Canvas tent and it passed with flying colors.  I did not get a single drop of water in it and all my boxes are dry.

It finally rained

Last night I went to bed at 6:10 p.m.  this cold has really worn me down.  I woke up at 11:00 p.m. and decided to see if the hoodlums were outside partying.  No hoodlums just my lovely next door neighbor, the town crier watering her lawn. Humm....we are not supposed to water our lawn until 12:01 am to 10:00 a.m and tonight from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

I was not feeling up to watering the yard at midnight so I went back to bed.  Got up at 5:00 a.m. to put out the trash and to go buy me breakfast at Jack in the Box.  For some reason I have been starving since I got sick...odd :-(

Talk to mom and she is convinced that I have something else besides a cold.  Like some kind of mosquito transmitting disease.  If I don't get better I will go see a doctor in Cd. Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico.  That is the border city across from Del Rio, Texas.  As I do not have health insurance, it is easier for me to go see a doctor there where the costs range from $5.00 to $30.00 USD.

This afternoon around 1:00 p.m. it finally rained, don't know how much but it rained for a good while and at a steady pace.  Right now I am fixing to go pick up my dry cleaning and the Sunday paper...I know it is not Sunday, but in Houston we buy the Sunday paper on Saturday :-)

If I get to feeling better I will leave tomorrow if not maybe Monday.

ADT Security

For those of you with security systems in your homes, do you do the monthly test?  No, me neither.  Last time I was here I noticed that the red monitoring light did not go off everytime I walked by.   Kept on walking by it and no dice.

Called to schedule an appointment and was told it would a week to ten days.  Funny how when they broke in they had their agent at my door the very next morning, actually I thought it was the detective assigned to my case but no it was an ADT salesmen.  Must clarify the break in had occurred a month and a half prior but I did not know about it until I came home and made the report.

He was a nice gentlemen who worked with Brinks security for years but now that ADT bought them out he was glad he still had a job.  Apart from signing a three year contract if anything goes wrong with your system you have to fork out $25.00 for a service call.  The things I do for peace of mind...

Talked to my mom today and unfortunately I gave her my cold.  I knew I needed to leave and head back to Houston because I feared that would happen but there was no way I could have driven feeling the way that I did.

For the Texans who may be reading this, do you all recall that famous Houston hand doctor that patented a special hand surgery method?  his name is Dr. Brown of the Brown Hand Centers?  He was a creepy older guy who would come out in commercials with his much younger wife and a bunch of little girls and finally his baby son?   I had no idea he was going through such a public divorce.  They talk about him in the news like he was some sort of celebrity.

His wife was such a homey looking woman and now she is dating Jeff Bagwell!!  How did she go from creepy guy to Jeff Bagwell?

Well good night fellow bloggers.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

So I'm a wimp!!

I had a terrible night.  I was sweating profusely but I did not know if it was because I am sick or because of the humidity.  It was hot and muggy even with the ceiling fans going.  Finally was able to go to sleep around 6:00 am but only managed to sleep until 10:30 a.m.

Went to run errands and when I came back the house was a living inferno.  Sorry, I'm a wimp...but I turned on the air conditioning!!  It is now nice and cool in here :-)

Now on a different topic every year when I go to chili cook-off I take two tents expect for last year because my trusted van Terlita was having transmission issues and I had to take another vehicle.

You're probably asking yourself, Belinda why would you need two tents?  Very good question,  You see your first night there you probably have had very little sleep staying up packing and repacking your vehicle and making sure that you don't forget something important, like your beer :D

When you first get there, you are too busy greeting everyone and someone always hands you a beer and asks you to sit a spell and chat.  Repeat this several times as more people from your camp and/or surrounding camps arrive.  So after a couple of beers, some grilled steaks, good music and dancing, setting up a big tent is not a priority.  Thus the reason for two tents, one for the first and last night and your regular tent for the other days.

I had no problem finding my first and last day tent but I have no idea where the poles are.   I sure hope they were not in the shed they broke into :-(

Well guys I sure am sleepy.  I have no doubt I will have sweet Terlingua Dreams.

Funeral, Computer, Bad Cough

No, I did not give up on my blog...yet :)

Left for Del Rio early last Friday morning to attend Mr. C's wake and funeral.   It was supposed to take place Monday but the out-of-town children being the majority changed it to Friday and Saturday so they could get back to their lives.

I started feeling a little weak and tired after the funeral but thought it was the lack of sleep and the long drive but I began to feel worst.  Most people in the blogger world know that I am a night owl, I may go to bed at 7:00 a.m. but NEVER at 7:00 p.m.

I then developed a BAD cough and I think that was due to all the ice water I had to keep cool as I did not turn on the A/C while in Houston...got to prepare for life off- the-grid when I finally make it to Terlingua.  But I am feeling much better now.

However my old laptop I think has finally bit the dust.  It powers on and I get the picture desktop but NO icons.  Oh well, it served it purpose for 7 years.  I am blogging from the infernal keyboard of my netbook.  I thought my carpal tunnel syndrome was a thing of the past but I am finding that not to be the case.

I am back in Houston for a couple of days or until I can resolve some issues...more about that on future blogs.

Wanted to thank Hobojoe and Pat Dwyer for signing up as followers.  Thank you for your readership. :-)

Been to a dollar store lately?

The first time I ever heard of a dollar store was back in the early 90's.  My best friend was always raving about them so I tagged along one day to one in Pasadena, Texas. For those not familiar with Texas it is a suburb of Houston where most of the oil & gas refineries are located.

These were owned by foreign immigrants from Pakistan, India and the middle east.  They were mom and pop outfits and you pretty much got your dollars worth.  Then came the chains Dollar Tree, 99 cents only store, etc. with their china made products.

I used to get such bargains at 99 Cents Only stores but now it is just a bunch of pardon my french, crap!!   The bottles have gotten smaller or they have reduced the quantity.  I always found Sara Lee bread, 5 lb bag of potatoes or large brown eggs and these days I can never find anything worth buying.

There are the other dollar stores still owned by foreigners Giant Dollar and Dollar King but nothing is a dollar anymore, now $1.09 or some items cost much more.

Today pretty much ran around all day so I could get all the things that I needed.  Even found my fold in half 4 foot table for my upcoming trip to Terlingua.  They had ran out of them in Del Rio back in July and never re-stocked up on them.

Was going to load the car tonight but the hoodlums from across the street are outside drinking and who knows what else.  Will try to get up before dawn so the Town Crier wont see me and then inform the whole neighborhood I have left.

My back is still hurting and believe it or not I am dying of sleep.  So good night my cyber friends I am going to get some shut eye and catch me some Terlingua Dreams.

Yard work

Last night I slept with the windows open, it felt good to feel that nip in the air.  Started mowing the front yard at 7:30 am and part of the back.  Boy my back hurts, I think I over did it.

Ben in Texas mentioned that he had tried the green chile burger at Whataburger so I decided to try it as well.  Like Ben I was not impressed but it was edible.  Needed to be more spicy.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a seven.

On a sad note Mr. C passed away today.  May he rest in peace.

Traveling Day

Made myself go to bed at 2:00 am this morning but did not manage to nod off until sometime after 4:00 am.  Woke up at 6:30 am stared loading the car and by the time I knew it, it was already 8:40 am.

No problem at the Border Patrol inspection point on highway 90E.  This time they did not ask me where I was going, only my citizenship. They must of been tired from all the holiday travelers that went by this weekend.

About 20 miles after San Antonio I found me a front door (by the way is that still proper CB lingo?)  It was a Houston Police Canine Unit patrol car, figured it was not his jurisdiction so he could not ticket me, cruised at 80 mph until I pulled over at a rest area.

A little past Katy Mall there were some longhorns grazing and they had set up a blue EZ up shade for them two were resting under it.  Reminded me of Benita, too bad I misplaced my camera.

There never is a good time to enter Houston city limits but I have found that if I time it after the lunch hour and before the afternoon rush hour, traffic  is tolerable.  Made it home at 3:10 pm.  Had not even taken in the second load when my wonderful neighbor "The Town Crier" came out to inform me that they had broken into my shed.

All the neighbors try to avoid her because we have caught her in so many lies.  She has 5 dogs, one of them pretty fierce, so why didn't he bark?  He is always barking at me when I 'm home.   I had nothing but junk in the shed so no big loss.

Had take out at Taco Bell, we don't have one in Del Rio.  Feels good to have my pick of places to eat right around the corner without having to drive into town to satisfy my taste buds.

Bought a 16 oz cup of coffee this morning to keep me awake but my god I am still jittery.  I don't know how Billy Bob and Ben can drink so much coffee and it not affect them.  I sure hope I'm able to sleep tonight and catch me some Terlingua Dreams.

Dani, thank you for signing up as a follower :-)

Labor Day 2011

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day.  My day started off early, a cold front came through.  Got to watering the plants and trees this morning so I would not have to do it this evening.  I was still half asleep when I saw fire coming from a house down the road.  With all the news about wildfires I turned off the hose and ran to the corner to see what was going on.  It was some idiot burning rubbish when this county is under a burn ban and has been for months.  Did I mention we also had wind?  Some people are so foolish.  Several cars stopped and he finally put the fire out.

We took Mom's car to town.  The brakes work but there is some loud noise coming from the motor, noise the worthless mechanic said was due to the fact that the car was old.  Funny it did not make that sound before he got a hold of it.  But I don't want to dwell on that or I will get upset.  Guess we will just have to learn to live with it :-(

This afternoon we took Dad's car for a spin around the block.  Runs OK but has a strong smell to gasoline.  I swear these cars are a big headache.  Sure wish I could find an honest mechanic but I think I have a better chance of winning the lottery.

Good night.  May you have Terlingua Dreams.

Campground Scouting Report

I believe my last outing to Lake Amistad was back on the 4^th of July.  Much to my mother’s chagrin I decided to go check out San Pedro’s Campground.  This campground is the largest one we have in Lake Amistad, it has 35 sites, and a large covered picnic area that you can reserve for large groups, vault toilets and a special walk-in only tent area.  It is $4.00 a night, $2.00 if you have a Golden Age/Golden Access card.

 I knew there would not be many campers but I was saddened to see only a young couple  taking in the beautiful sunset.  They must have been locals as I did not see that they had any camping equipment.

Though it was getting a bit late decided to go check out Governors Landing.  This campground has 15 sites, each with a covered picnic table and a BBQ grill but with the burn ban in effect you can only use gas grills or propane stoves.  That goes for all the campgrounds on the lake until further notice.

Governors Landing is my favorite campground and the only one that has potable water. Fee is $8.00 or half price with your Golden Age/Golden Access card.  It sits high on a hill and you get beautiful views of the lake.

This being the last holiday weekend of summer I figured there would be more people but only 4 sites were occupied.  I don’t know if it is due to the fact that school has already started, the economy or both.  So if you would like to come down to the border and don’t care for crowded campgrounds keep Amistad National Recreational Area in mind.  That ends my Chamber of Commerce plug of the day.

Good night.  Terlingua Dreams.

The Sandwich Generation

Called the hospital to inquired if my mother’s neighbor was admitted and the lady confirmed he was.  This is the neighbor that was taken by ambulance on Thursday but whose family we could not reach since they no longer had a home phone.

We paid him a visit this evening; he was sitting in a recliner and looked as he normally does, but quiet.  What struck me most was how tired his daughter looked.   She said her sister had spent the night so today was her turn to do so.  I asked about her other siblings and she said that since they lived out of town they so no need to drive to Del Rio unless “he was really sick”.  Mom’s neighbor had 10 children but only his two younger girls live in town.

His wife died last year after not wanting to undergo anymore dialysis treatments.  Doctors had given her one month to live but she lived three (if you can call that living) but at least Mr. C helped them take care of her.  Again none of their siblings even offered to help or even came to look after her. Ten kids and only two did right by their mother.  Things are looking the same as far as caring for their dad.

Susie, the daughter that lives with Mr. C is a single parent and has an 8-year and a 20-year-old daughter.  Cherry, her younger sister is married and has two children not older than 5 years old.  They like many are part of the sandwich generation, that is taking care of their families while having to take care of mom or dad and in some cases both parents.

Mr. C has dementia but it has gotten worst since he was hospitalized.  His doctor told them he will have to refer them to a neurologist in San Antonio and they just do not know how they are going to do that when they have jobs and families here to take care of.

I know this is not the happiest of posts but it is a situation many of us baby boomers are facing or will face sometime in the future.

Good night and may you have Terlingua dreams.

Slow Friday

I don’t feel like I accomplished anything today.  Needed to drive into town but the day just got away from me and before I knew it, it was 4:00 p.m.  Will see if I can make that trip tomorrow.

I found this on the web, it reminded me of the Airstream that John Wells is restoring

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/garden/for-burning-man-a-designer-airstream-qa.html?_r=1

You all have a good night and may you have Terlingua Dreams.

Does anyone have a landline phone anymore?

This past year it has become clear to me that less and less people have a home phone.  Every year the phone book gets skinnier.  If you were looking up old friends all you had to do was go to the phone book or go online and use the phone book databases and whala you found the person.

This afternoon I could hear the sirens coming but had no idea if it was the fire department, sheriff, or ambulance.  Went to look out the window and saw it was an ambulance and then the sirens stopped.  This time I went outside and saw that it had stopped at our neighbors house which is three lots down.  He is an elderly gentleman who lost his wife last year.  His daughter and grandchild live with him.

Concerned mom called his house and that number is no longer in service.  This is something that happens to her all the time as she calls members of her congregation even senior citizens like her have turned their landlines off and now carry cell phones.

A couple of months ago I ran into an old friend and when we exchanged phone numbers, she said, “this is a landline, don’t you have a cell number?”  I told her I did not have one and she looked at me with distrust, like I purposely did not want to give her my non existent cell phone number, lol :-D

I wanted to thank the people that have signed up as followers; Billy Bob, Offgridterlingua, Bel, Brenda and Lou.  I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog.