San Felipe Springs

I do not know how so many mosquitoes got in the house. I barely got any sleep swatting them until I finally turned on the ceiling fan in my room.  Found an online homemade solution to spray on myself, but need to go buy the ingredients. Will report back if it works.

Drove mother to our local hospital for her monthly labs. We went at noon to avoid the morning rush but to our surprise it was packed.  It took us over an hour just to get registered.

It got to 96 degrees (35 Celsius) today which for us is mild.  Since the hospital is close to several area parks decided to drive by. City workers were busy mowing and weed eating for the upcoming 4th of July festivities.

There were more people than the pictures show, mostly families swimming and having a picnic.

This is known as San Felipe Springs and it is where we get our local water supply.  As we were headed to another park we saw this beautiful lush pink crape myrtle and I just had to photograph it.

My neighbor in Houston said my own crepe myrtle was doing nicely...hope I can finally go home and see it for myself.

This park used to be known as State Park as it faces Highway 90 but now I think it is known as Star Park but don't quote me on it.

This is the calm before the storm as I am sure it will be packed on Friday.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A tour of our weed infested yard

With all the rain we have received it was inevitable that the weeds would start growing at a very fast pace.

 If you guessed these to be baby mesquite...you are right :-(

 

If that was not bad enough all the ant mounds I got rid off have come back exponentially.
 

Yesterday afternoon on my way to check on Walter, I came across many little yellow flowers that were not there that morning.  As usual I did not have my camera on me so decided I would photograph them today...alas, they were not there...that is until this afternoon.

For a couple of weeks now I have been seeing a rather well fed cottontail rabbit munching on some grass but I have not had my camera with me.  He or her does not appear to be afraid of me, though I did have to chase him over to the lot next to Walter's so I could get a close up picture this afternoon.

When I did, I noticed that the little yellow flowers were once again in bloom...how odd, whoever heard of afternoon flowers?

The pomegranate tree is coming back to life after the ants almost killed it...

We even have one that grew on its own without me ever planting it.

The pecan tree in the front is not doing well, again the darn ants have been the culprit.  Even the cactus and cacti have grown taller and soon will have flowers and/or fruit.

Of course those pesky mesquite trees have already started to have pods and some have started to fall...that only means more work for me :-(

This concludes the tour of our weed infested yard :D

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Loyalty > Royalty

I could not help but get a kick out of this billboard touting Duncan's loyalty to his team. I am elated with his decision to exercise his option to sign on for another year :-)

Did you all happen to catch Duncan tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman?  It was pretty funny.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Three weeks later...the leak is fixed!

Last Wednesday (June 18th) I had had enough of waiting on mother's worthless plumber and by this time so had she.  Called a plumber of my choosing early Thursday morning only to be left wondering if I had not made an equally bad choice.

You see they told me they would be here that afternoon.  I got a call at 4:30 p.m. letting me know they were tied up at another job and would not be able to come until Friday morning or at least by noon.
 

Friday came and went and no plumber...this time not even a call.  I tried to be understanding knowing a lot of rain had fallen and they probably had a lot of jobs. Saturday, I called them again and the kid who answers (later learned he is the manager, lol) said that with all the water it would be hard to detect where the leaks were...darn I already knew where the leak was...I even put an orange cone to pin point it.

Finally the plumber showed up this morning and after paying $190.90 the leak is fixed.  I think I got a pretty good deal as I am used to paying Houston prices and having to explain to them that I do not want to sign any kind of contract so they can come check my plumbing every three or six months.  I like that in Del Rio they come, they fix it, you pay and they go away until you need them in the future.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Torrential Downpours

Photos courtesy of El Zocalo - Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila

We wanted rain and boy did we get some!  It began after midnight and it went on for hours.  I went to check the kitchen where we have had problems in the past, that were fixed a couple of years back. Glad I did because the top portion of the window was leaking and I caught it just in time.

Went to check the fireplace and more leaks!  However, I always keep a bucket in there just in case. I was glad my mother was sound asleep.  That is until the second round of storms when thunder and lighting woke her up.  Per the weather channel we got from 3.96 to 7.96 inches depending on where you live in Val Verde County.

Since I do not buy the local newspaper and their e-edition in practically worthless I have no idea how Del Rio fared.  However, Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila has an excellent newspaper El Zocalo with an equally good webpage. http://www.zocalo.com.mx/seccion/articulo/pierden-todo-cientos-de-familias-1403333432

There I learned that one person drowned, 500 people had to be evacuated at the height of the storm to shelters and many more were rescued from atop their roofs this morning. Actually, many cities in the state of Coahuila flooded due to this weather system.

I cross this road on the way to Bodegas Aurrera (grocery story owned by Walmart) over Las Vacas creek which rarely has any water but now resembles a river.

Hope everyone got a good dose of liquid gold and that you were not adversely affected.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Spurs Victory Parade

I have been on an emotional high since we won our 5th NBA Championship Sunday night.  If you are not into sports or do not like basketball feel free to skip this post.

Words can not convey the emotional roller coaster that has been this year's playoffs.  To me Sunday's win was the culmination of so many things.  I think you would have to be a Spurs fan to understand what I am talking about.

I have been sitting in front of the television set for six hours watching the victory parade down the San Antonio Riverwalk as well as the celebration afterwards at the Alamodome.  People drove from all parts of Texas with their entire families just to be a part of this.  This is the stuff that memories are made of.

They had to turn away people at the Alamodome as the San Antonio Fire Marshall deemed it to be at capacity.  There were between 65,000 to 75,000 fans who had gathered to thank the Spurs.

Our MVP

The parade and rally were carried live by the three San Antonio networks.  It was also streamed online and watched by people all over the United States and abroad who were tweeting their locations and appreciation.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Redemption!

Congratulations to my San Antonio Spurs for being crowned the 2014 NBA Champions and in the process obtaining their fifth NBA title.  I am so proud of them and all they have accomplished this year.

It takes a very strong mental and physical team to come back from the agony of defeat...shake themselves off and strive to become an even better team.  They managed it and in a very convincing manner.

Apart from their fan base no one gave them a chance to come back and win it all. The national media wrote them off.  Maybe this fueled the Spurs even more...all I know is that I am a die hard fan and will always be there cheering them on even in adversity.  To this day it still hurts to remember Game 6 and 7 of the 2013 Finals.

My congratulations also go out to Kwahi Leonard for being named the MVP of this year's finals. This 22-year-old young man is a star in the making and well deserved this honor.

Thank you my Spurs for all the great moments you have given us not just this year but throughout the years.

GO SPURS GO!!!

Spruced up front yard

I woke up early ( 9:30 a.m.) and decided to cut the grass and weeds growing in the front yard. Had to use my garden shears first so it would not be too much for my little electric weed eater.  It has been a long time since I have used it.  Did a lot of raking as I never got around to picking up the fall leaves after I got sick this past December and earlier this year.

It was hot, we reached 101 today.  Last night we were under tornado and severe thunder storm warnings that never materialized.  Uvalde, Texas 70 miles east of us got a tornado, hail and thunderstorms...we only got lighting :(

Picture courtesy of a KENS 5 viewer in Uvalde

The news mentioned that gas prices were on the rise due to the events in Iraq, glad I filled up yesterday.

Regular gasoline was going for $3.349 a gallon at our local HEB.

Went ahead and reloaded my gift card so I could take advantage of the .11 cents per gallon discount they are currently offering.  Ended up paying $3.239 per gallon.

After gassing up, I was supposed to get us something to eat but I had a CRS moment and did not remember until I pulled into our gate...so we ended up eating sandwiches, lol!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

It was a thing of beauty

Tuesday night as I watched Game 3...I thought how privileged I was to have watched the best executed first half in Spurs history...hell, it was the best played first half I have ever seen period!

Even Pops said in the exit interview how it would never repeat itself.  Indeed, it was one for the NBA records books.  No small feat when we are talking that we did it against the two times world basketball champions.

While I never expected them to have another Game 3 performance...Game 4 did not disappoint. It was like a continuation of Game 3.  Those hypocrites at ESPN who favored the Miami Heat from the beginning could not believe what they were witnessing either.

When you think about it...if it wasn't for those four missed free throws on Game 2...we would be talking about a sweep.  I am so proud of my Spurs!  One more game guys, it would be a great Father's Day gift to many many fans :)

GO SPURS GO!!!

SLAMMED....again!!!

Every two or three years we inevitably get slammed by some unethical telecom company.  This time it was by New Century Telecom out of Alpharetta, Georgia. Called Verizon our monopoly telephone company in Del Rio and was told they only bill on their behalf.

I explained to her that we never contracted with this company or any other to be our long distance carrier because we don't use long distance.  Further explained that the last time we were slammed they had placed a notation to that effect on our file.  Was told they never had that option!!!  The hell they didn't....grrrrr!!!!  I even have a note to that effect in my Houston telephone where I used to get slammed as well.

Called those crooks at New Century Telecom and was told by a lady with a terrible Asian accent that she did not show mother's telephone as being a part of their network and that I would have to fax or mail them a copy of the telephone bill in order to issue a credit. That made hot under the collar, does she really think I have time to be mailing stuff and writing letters?  I gave her an ear full.

Remembered seeing a Time Warner Cable commercial where they had a bundle package special and gave them a call. As usual TWC only has these offers for NEW customer and the hell with the ones that have been with them as my parents have for 45 years.

The customer service lady was nice and civil and said that for $10.00 more than we are paying which is $75.97 a month we could add a telephone line with free long distance in the USA as well as free calls to Mexico.  Told her I would get back with her after I spoke to my mother about it.

Learned one thing though...do not turn off your home phone because it has to be active in order to be able to port it.

Have been on the telephone all day confirming appointments and reservations...but on my wonderful MagicJack Plus phone that I can use to call all over the continental US and Canada for a very small yearly fee and with great sound quality.  Who the heck needs Verizon or TWC!!

In case you are wondering...NO, mother's worthless plumber has not shown up yet. The ground is fairly saturated and is now ponding.  Been looking at YouTube videos and I think I can shut off the water at the meter before we leave for San Angelo.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

My thoughts on Game 2 of the NBA Finals

It seems like weeks instead of days that we played Game 1 of the NBA finals. There was no doubt in my mind or anyone else's that LeBron James would come out blazing and seeking to redeem himself after the loss on Thursday.  I knew we would lose tonight but boy I sure hoped that I was wrong.

The game was so close and we had our chances but the two missed free throws by Parker after getting elbowed by Mario Chalmers followed by Duncan's unlikely miss of two more free throws came back to bite us.  Even then we had a chance but the Heat wanted this game badly and out played us the last nine seconds. Final score Heat 98 - Spurs 96.

This brings me to another topic...did your cable keep on cutting off tonight?  Key plays and the darn screen would go blank.  We have Time Warner Cable and as much as we pay for the standard basic package I expect to see a ball game without interruptions.  It did the same thing during Game 1 but not as much as tonight...grrrrr!!

I am still going with Spurs in 6.  I am emotionally and physically drained just from watching the game, so I am going to call it a night.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Inspection Sticker / Game 1 of NBA Finals / Worthless Plumber

What is it about me and inspection stickers?  Last year I forgot and got pulled over...luckily was only issued a warning.  Yesterday (Thursday) we were on our way to Uvalde when I looked at the sticker and realized it had expired and the grace period ended that same day...oops!

We drove to Uvalde for mother's monthly appointment.  This time we only had to wait two and a half hours...then again we had to wait just as long when we saw her old Del Rio doctor.  All in all, I much prefer driving to Uvalde as mother and I like this new doctor in particular his bedside manner.

Well, yesterday was Game 1 of the NBA Finals and it did not disappoint.  I was beside myself with joy especially in the fourth quarter.  I just knew Danny Green would come through and he sure did in a big way!

I am not familiar with LeBron James other than he is considered the No. 1 Basketball player in the world and deservingly so...that is why I was very surprised that an athlete of his caliber and conditioning, cramped up so badly.  I hope he gets well soon because when we win the 2014 NBA Finals...I do not want people to say it was because LeBron was not 100 percent.  I still remember the 1999 Finals when we won our first championship and basically all the media wrote us off as a fluke and said we only won because it was a shortened season due to the player lockout.

First thing this morning (noon) I went off to get the car inspected, it is legal for another year. Stopped at Walmart since it was still early and learned that tonight is graduation night.

Yesterday mother placed a call to "her plumber" and he claimed to be at a funeral. Went online and there were no funerals or wakes scheduled for Thursday. Told mother he is a Spurs fan and I had seen him last year all decked out in his NBA jersey buying snacks at HEB so he was probably going to be watching the game. He asked her to call him back today.

She placed a call to him this afternoon and now he claimed to be with his sick grandfather at the nursing home...so who knows when the leak will be fixed!! Only reason I mention it, is because this is also my Cyber Journal.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A leak was sprung

I was so tired yesterday I went to bed early without watering the trees.  I woke up equally late but with a lot of energy thanks to the shut eye I received.  I apologize to the blog reader that I promised I would show another picture of the "Sally Hoe" on last night's post...that was never made.

This hoe is shaped like where you put your foot on a horse saddle to mount the horse...sorry, but I am not up to date on my horse riding terminology :)  You use a back and forth motion as the head moves and the weeds come off.

Better yet this product is NOT made in China...it is made by our neighbors to the south...Mexico. You can buy them in any hardware store like Sutherland's or Home Depot.

Last year, I bought a garden hose at a good price for my house. Being that I am going on 15 months without a single trip to Houston, decided to put it to good use here.

I had watered the trees really good earlier and decided to unwrap the water take in the front yard of its winter protection.  I noticed there was standing water by the tree closest to the connection...quickly took off the protection but found there was no apparent leak.  Went to the water meter on the street side and it had water.

It was almost five o'clock and I knew they would probably be closed but I found an emergency after hours number and they guys came promptly.  I do not know why we have so many problems with this meter.  They fixed the leak and also installed a new meter.  However, they said that there was definitively a leak on our side, and we needed to call a plumber.  Fixing it will not be as easy as it sounds...as I know mother is going to want to call her worthless plumber.  If you have been reading me for a while you know how long it takes him to make a house call :-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aborted Trip

After we got back from our trip to the neurosurgeon in San Angelo, Texas last month I sat down to input all the information on my calendar.  It is there that I realized that his nurse had scheduled both the MRI as well as the office visit for the same time.

Called his nurse and never got a return call.  Call the next day and got another nurse who "re-scheduled" the MRI to an earlier time. I knew something did not feel right and I should of followed my gut instinct.  Fast forward to this morning. We were about out the door when the telephone rang and it was the doctor's office wanting us to be there an hour and a half earlier as he had an afternoon surgery. Told her that was not possible because mother was scheduled for her MRI at that time.

The person I spoke with was an office worker not the nurse.  She told me to take my mother to the hospital earlier as she was sure they would take her in and then to come by the doctor's office.

With all the CT, X- rays and MRI's my mother has had throughout the years...if there is one thing I know is that...Radiology Departments rarely if ever will take you in ahead of time, especially in a large hospital.

This time I followed my gut instinct and called the Radiology Department directly. Glad I did because come to find out they never changed the time for her MRI, it was still as scheduled which would have been too late to see the doctor as he would be in surgery.

Fortunately I got a person that actually knew how to do her job and she told me to sit tight and not come to San Angelo until she got this matter resolved with the neurosurgeon's office.  Shortly thereafter got a call from his office re-scheduling both events.

Amazing how this very efficient lady in the Radiology Department of Shannon Medical Center whose name I do not even know had to get involved to do the job two incompetent persons failed to do. My heartfelt thanks go out to this lady.

I am so glad I did not re-schedule the appointment we have with her other doctor in Uvalde, Texas as I was afraid the back to back trips would be too much for her. Since we were all dressed up and with no where to go decided to drive into town and run a couple of errands.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Heat, heat and more heat!

It has been awfully hot these past couple of days and looks like we have a couple of 100 plus degree days ahead of us.  I just don't know when I became a wimp!  I used to love hot summers, the hotter the better...not so much now :-(

DEL RIO, TX Weather Updated: Jun 02 8:06AM CDT

Mon   Jun 02

Sunny

Hi  99º

Lo  73º

CHANCE OF PRECIP   0%

Tue   Jun 03

Partly Cloudy

Hi  98º

Lo  74º

CHANCE OF PRECIP   0%

Wed   Jun 04

Sunny

Hi  101º

Lo  75º

CHANCE OF PRECIP   0%

Thu   Jun 05

Sunny

Hi  103º

Lo  75º

CHANCE OF PRECIP   0%

Fri   Jun 06

Partly Cloudy

Hi  103º

Lo  75º

CHANCE OF PRECIP

I have been so wrapped up watching the Spurs make their way to the NBA Finals that I am behind on a lot of things.  So much for my Brazilian soap operas,,,,jajajajaja :D

This evening I spent three hours watering and re-watering the trees as this heat wave is taking a toll on them as well.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.