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.
Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas
I was outside most of the morning because a man came to give us an estimate on removing that big oak tree that fell blocking my driveway (the one my son cut down and it fell the wrong way), and a few other trees that could cause problems if they came down. Wow!! I was in the wrong business, tree cutting pays more than engineering. . . Anyway, it was so humid that if I tried to catch a mosquito, I would just grab a handful of water (grin). Don't you miss Houston in the summer time??
ReplyDeleteYep, tree cutting is quite expensive...that is the reason why we have not chopped down those darn mesquite trees!
DeleteBTW...No, I do not miss summers in Houston but this year the humidity has been just as bad in Del Rio.
Having done a lot of backpacking and living in a tent for several months I feel the same way - I believe I could survive for a long time in most situations.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt about it Gypsy :)
DeleteWhenever the power goes out (which these days is more rare than when we first moved out to Natalia), I ponder how life must have been for the people in wagons making their way West. No A/C, no microwave, no DirecTV. Back fifty years ago, sleeping on the porch or in the yard was a normal thing for a lot of folks.
ReplyDeleteI too thought of how rough the early pioneers must of had it without all the things you mention and which we now think of as "necessities".
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