Wine and Beer tasting at HEB

Noticed that the temperature inside the house was on the warm side.  Went to check the thermostat and it was 84 degrees when I had it set on 78.  Then this little thing was flashing at me and I had no idea why.  This A/C unit is only 2 years old so I did not expect it to break down so soon :-(

Called the A/C people and the lady told me that the flashing light was to alert me that the batteries on the thermostat were low.  She told me to just yank off the cover and replace the batteries...glad I did not do that!  After I got my step stool saw that there was a battery compartment that I could not see since I am short....see why I need a tall weathered cowboy?

Put in fresh batteries of two different brands but nothing worked so called her back and asked her to send me a technician.  They told me it would be late in the afternoon before they could get to me but they made it sooner and it was the actual owner and his worker.  A part will have to be ordered and wont arrive until Wednesday but they fixed it so that we still have a working A/C.

Needed to go pick up a prescription at HEB Pharmacy and was dreading it since it was Friday afternoon and the start of the Labor Day weekend.  Was pleasantly surprised to find only one person in line but as my luck would have it...it was one of mother's chatty friends!  Oh well...

On two separate occasions I have seen a wine and Frio Light beer (HEB's house brand) tasting set-up but was too busy to stop.  Today I decided a taste sample was in order.  Don't for a minute think that you get a nice glass of wine...it is a little plastic cup the size of a ketchup paper container at a fast food chain but smaller.

The wine was a red California table wine called Plush and quite good.  I bought a bottle for steak night in Terlingua.  I had to ask her if I could also sample some Frio Light which she took out of some cold compartment which made it taste better.  What beer does not taste good cold?  Think I need at least a six pack before I can give a fair review.  If some HEB executive is googling Frio Light reviews...I could use a couple of cases of complimentary beer for the Terlingua Chili Cook-off.  Drop me an e-mail at terlinguadreams@gmail.com

I told her it tasted a bit like Keystone Light.  She told me samplers had mentioned that it tasted like Natural Light, Keystone Light and even Coors Light..........BLASPHEMY!!!!  I had to correct her on the spot that it did NOT taste like Coors Light! 

As you know my beer of choice is Coors Light but if finances are low I will go with the more budget friendly Natural Light for my trips to Southern Brewster County which is only two months away :D

Cyber Journal Note:

Mother's neighbor Joe mowed along the outside fence line and I thanked him.  Said it benefits both of us as he also parks his cars there.  Real sweet guy.

August 2013 trip to Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico

I was down to my last two pills so there was no way around it... had to make a trip to Ciudad Acuna to get my medication.  For those new to my blog, I do not have health insurance so I go to Mexico which is about five minutes from my mother's house provided there is no traffic or surprise ICE (U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement) stings at the International Bridge.

As luck would have it there was a sting today but it was different from others I have experienced.  Usually ICE stops you after you pay your toll at the bridge and question your reason for going to Mexico, ask you if you are carrying more than $10,000 U.S. dollars with you and if they so choose will search your vehicle. Mainly they are looking for weapons and/or ammunition.

Today the agents were right beside the toll booth operators but the agent I got did not ask me a thing or even spoke to me.  Do not know if to feel flattered that I do not look like a gun runner or sad that since I was in dad's old car...he probably thought I was a deadbeat who could not possibly have over $10,000 dollars on me...jajajajajaja...I will go with the former rather than the latter :D

Went to Gutierrez (a grocery store) and got my medication, I was surprised to see the pharmacist from Aurrera (owned by Wal-Mart) and whom I had not seen in about two years now working here.  This is also the store that sells the yummy chocolate cakes but I need a chocolate cake like I need a hole in the head...so today I passed on them.  Aren't you proud of me?

Gutierrez had so many specials today that I pretty much got everything on my list here.  I also went to Aurrera who do to their buying power usually have good prices but found their fruit and vegetables section to be rather high and with very little inventory, something unusual for them.

If you have to go grocery shopping in Mexico...I highly recommend you do so on a Monday or Tuesday. Since school started nationwide on Monday except for two states with worthless teachers who are always going on strike...I had a nice child free shopping experience.

The return trip to the U.S. took 35 minutes and it was HOT as dad's car has no air conditioning.  I think I surprised the agent by handing him the grocery store receipts to the two stores I shopped today.  He only asked me if I had other items with me that were not on the receipts and I told him NO.  He asked me to open my trunk and when I turned off the car to get off...remember my dad's car is a 1982 Fairmont...he told me I could stay in my vehicle and just took the keys and opened the trunk himself.

I apologize for not taking pictures but I misplaced my camera and did not find it until this evening :-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Welcome to Sharon Wallace

Want to welcome Sharon Wallace to the blog roll.  Thank you for signing on as a follower and feel free to comment to your hearts desire :)

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A little bit of everything today

After serving mother breakfast and setting up her telephone connection so she could listen to her church service...I went back to bed.  Would you believe I did not wake up until a little after 2:00 p.m.?  I think I could of slept longer but duty called.

I spent the rest of the day outside shoveling horse manure, pruning branches, watering trees and bagging up trash.

Last night the neighbor's full grown son who moved back home with momma about a month ago had a party. Why is it that both in Del Rio and Houston if it isn't the neighbors it is their kids and/or pets who cause all the problems?  Had to put up with his music and loud friends and this afternoon also found his beer bottle in our yard.

For those that follow my other blog...notice all the weeds that my little John "Walter" Deere has grazed on. Glad he did or I would have never seen the beer bottle and probably would have stepped on it.

Talking about bad neighbors...I am so tired of the people in back of mother's house and their yapping dogs.  If you have outside dogs I would think it would be so they could alert you if strangers come to your house. Common sense would tell you to look outside and see what the heck they are barking at.  Apparently her neighbor does not share this sentiment and neither checks up on them or tells them to be quiet.  At 10:30 p.m. I went outside and yelled at the top of my lungs both in English and Spanish to shut their dogs up...guess it worked for tonight...have not heard the yappers since.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

My review of Motel 6 - San Angelo, Texas

Was recalling that two weeks ago I was researching hotels in San Angelo, Texas.  Had never been to this city before and did not even know how long we would be there until we had our first appointment with the neurosurgeon.

We left without reservations and without having read my blog to warn me about the oil boom going on in the area that has been the culprit for the ridiculous room rates.  The doctor's office as well as Shannon Hospital are located in the south part of San Angelo an older area of town.

Having located his office we proceeded to check out the hotels and motels within a short distance and found several but they looked old and run down, I recognized a couple with bad reviews.  Saw several billboards on the way to San Angelo advertising Motel 6 new rooms.  For some reason I never bothered to check them out when I was online as I had not taken them into consideration.

In comparison to the other motels in the area Motel 6 did not seem like a bad choice.  It was exactly one mile from the doctor's office and from the hospital.  Decided to book it for one night and look for another motel or hotel once we knew how long we were actually going to be in San Angelo.  Should of read my blog where Frann and Leilani suggested I book a room beforehand!!!

I asked for a downstairs room but they were completely booked except for a downstairs "handicap room"...I asked what a handicap room consisted of? They said the bathroom was large enough to accommodate a wheel chair and had several grab bars in the toilet and in the shower area.  The tub had a built in sitting rack and a hand held shower head.  The bed was lower and the closet could also be accessed from a wheelchair. It sounded wonderful to me and I booked it on the spot. Why is it that I never heard of handicap rooms in hotels or motels before?  If you have an elderly parent or handicap loved one this is ideal.  Hope this helps someone out in the future when considering making your travel plans.

We liked the room so much we decided to stay for the duration.  We had a very nice chambermaid, a young lady in her 20's who went out of her way to make sure my mother and I had everything we needed.  On the last day of our stay she even gave my mother a card, I thought that was so nice of her.  Of course I wrote a nice note about her on the survey they have you fill out. I also personally told management how fortunate they were to have such a hard working young lady in their employment.  Connie is her name and she was a sweetheart!  She told us she had been working there for 28 days and only one person besides us had tipped her during that time.  That is a shame these ladies work awfully hard cleaning up our mess and only make minimum wage.

On a scale of 1 to 5, five being the high score I would rate Motel 6 San Angelo a 3.5 ...would have given them a 4...but the telephone in the room did not work.  This might not be important to most since almost everyone these days has a cell phone but we don't.

Forgot to mention that they charge for WIFI and I feel this should be free in all hotels and motels.  In this trip it did not matter as I had no time to go online.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Negotiating with Santa

July 2013 will not be a month I will forget anytime soon and neither will August 2013.  Half the month is now gone and I am now playing catch-up.  Had to let a lot of things go by the wayside as mother's health is my number one priority.

Thankfully she is doing much better now and I can focus on other things...like the nightmare my Houston homeowners insurance has become but that is for another blog post.  All I am going to say is that Allstate or at least my agent has not lived up to the company motto of  "You are in going hands with Allstate".

My back has been killing me.  I am so thankful my mother is a petite lady but even as tiny as she is...it was difficult to lift and move her around when she had no strength to help me out.  It really makes you think about who is going to take care of you when you reach your parents age.  Having no children of my own and my family members being older than I and living in different cities, it gives you food for thought.

Dear Santa, if you are reading this I want to change my Christmas Wish List.  I no longer want a Tall Weathered Cowboy...I want a Tall younger than me Weathered Cowboy to take care of me and I am willing to negotiate the tall part...maybe he can be average height?  But he still has to be a cowboy!!!

It is 12:33 a.m. and I am waiting for the temperature to go down.  It is still 91 degrees outside and I need to water the trees.  I have not done so in two days because I have been going to bed early. The plus side in all this saga has been that I have been sleeping eight hours for a change.

For my bloggers that follow gasoline prices...this was the price at our local HEB in Del Rio, Texas today.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A big Thank You to my readers

I want to thank all my wonderful readers that left comments and suggestions on my prior post.  It means a lot to me that you would go to the trouble of trying to help me find accommodations in San Angelo when I am sure you have better things to do with your time.

A special thanks to Tonya for suggesting a Bed and Breakfast something I had not considered but is an excellent idea not just in San Angelo but in any location.

My mother's back surgery went well and she is feeling much better.  The change is like day and night even though she does have a little pain but that is to be expected.

Thanks again guys for all your support.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Library / Hotel Reviews / Back Room

Went to the library yesterday to do some research and to be able to print the results since as previously mentioned the only computer that I am able to print from I can not connect to the Internet after the idiot Time Warner Cable guy did something to it.

I do not know why I bothered as the local library has everything disabled.  Was trying to look up hotels and print out rates to no avail.  Decided I would read some blogs instead but since due to my CRS, I can only remember my blog name and Tffnguy's...googled his as mine does not have a blog roll.  You guessed it...the library has disabled links on blogs as well.  Turned off the machine with still 15 minutes left on the 30 minutes they allow per day. If I have to write everything down long hand...might as well do it from the comfort of my own home and without time limits.

Was trying to recall the last time I stayed in a hotel and it has been ages.  When did they get so expensive?  Darn, all I want is a regular room, not a suite :-(

Must admit I was a little taken back at some of the hotel  reviews especially considering some of these are supposed to be "good ones"...so much for that!  I think I will wait until I get to San Angelo locate the doctor's office and then find a hotel.  I am leaning more toward a motel though.

Today I had to tackle my vehicle's trunk.  Remember I took my Kodiak tent down a couple of months back?  Well I had no place to put the stuff I had in there so my trunk and mother's mini van were the recipients.

Had to clean out the shed/bathroom/tool room/catch all room we have in the back and make it all fit.  Took me a while but I was able to pull it off.  As you know I do not drink coffee very often but I needed something to get me going.  Recalled I still had a Mexican Coca-Cola and decided to drink it.  Would like to say I noticed a difference since it is made with real sugar...but I didn't, oh well!

Since I do not know how long we will be gone I have been watering the trees and plants both in the morning and evening to give them a fighting chance with this terrible heat wave we are experiencing.  It will be the survival of the fittest...if it was up to me I would hire a bulldozer and get rid of everything but the shade trees, Esperanza's and bougainvilleas.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

An exhausting day

Got up early to take care of all the errands and chores I did not get to yesterday.  I am pretty beat from all the research I have been doing on mother's chronic back pain, the heat and just plain physical fatigue.

Drove dad's old car into town and rolled both windows down...actually the heat was not so bad using this arrangement but then again it was only 98 degrees at the time.

True to my procrastinating ways...I usually put off buying my license plate tags to the last minute.  Was expecting a big crowd but there was only one person in front of me.  Living in a small town does have its advantages.

Went by the hospital to pick up a copy of mother's MRI for her upcoming appointment in San Angelo, Texas.  It paid to call ahead of time or I would have had to make two trips.  Was told I had to take a letter signed by her authorizing me to pick this up on her behalf along with her picture I.D. as well as mine.  It is good to see they have measures in place to protect patients records.

I went to HEB to pick up a couple of items, was going to use their free phone to call Mom.  It appears that either it was not working or they disconnected it :-(   Oh well...I am still not going to buy a cell phone!

For my European readers who ask that I keep posting the gasoline prices in the States...here are the going prices in Del Rio, Texas today.  I apologize for the poor quality...I took them through a dirty windshield! Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Late this afternoon I took a two hour nap, got up at 9:00 p.m. and had to go water the trees and plants that are looking pathetic with the three digit temperatures we have been experiencing lately.  It took me two hours to water them and I could have probably stayed out there a little longer.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.