Amistad National Recreational Area (NRA)

I have been wanting to go to Amistad Lake and the recreational areas since yesterday.  Although late in the afternoon, was finally able to do so today.
 

Of course, I had to start at my favorite campground, Governors Landing.  In all my years cruising through there, I have never seen it as packed as I did today.  There were no empty camping spots, this one guy did not let that deter him and he set up his own campground.

In the past while all the available campsites were taken, it was mainly two, max four people.  Not today...there were tons of kids and family members...some had eight or more.  I was happy to see it being used to its fullest.

At Governors Landing there is also a large picnic area for those that do not wish to camp out but want to enjoy a cookout at the lake.  I was absolutely surprised at the number of cars in the parking lot, some had to park to the side.  It was filled to capacity.

For my Midland/Odessa friends...you know who you are...your favorite hangout was packed as well.

It was getting late but I had to go check out Billy Bob's and Barney's favorite campground...San Pedro.  Sorry to say that there was not even one person camped there.  I do not know why more people do not use it.

The Billy Bob tree

To me this campground is perfect, it is big, it is private and you can actually hear yourself think.  It gives the illusion of being in the middle of nowhere yet it is not too far from civilization and Billy Bob's favorite store...Walmart.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

May 2016 trip to Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico

When you cross the border, Mexican Customs has an automated buzzer that rings randomly. If it sounds when your car approaches, then you are searched. Today for the first time in years it rang. The guy was apologetic and quick.  He did ask me where I was headed and I told him the grocery store. He said...no wonder you have two coolers.  Inquired if I saved a lot in comparison to buying it in the USA and I told him most definitively.

They are constructing new toll booths in the
U.S. side of the border

I first headed to Aurrera (owned by Wal-Mart) where I usually can find apple yogurt something that I have not been able to find in Del Rio.  Aurrera also sells the regular size containers of my favorite hot sauce which I can not find at the other stores.  Today though I only found the smaller size, thank goodness I bought quite a few the last time I was here.  I also purchased "nopalitos" which is tender cactus. This is great for lowering your blood sugar, cholesterol, and so many other things.

It has been a long time since I have not shopped at Soriana another local store.  Actually, I just went in to check on the price of their galvanized containers for the dogs.  I bought one last month but with so many dogs, I needed a bigger one. Did not purchase it here but found lettuce at a good price $6.90 pesos a head.  At $16.50 exchange rate it comes to .42 US cents.

Though it was cloudy, the humidity index was higher than in Houston today.  It was 90 with a heat index of 95 degrees.  So I headed to my favorite store Gutierrez which has covered parking.  This is something I really appreciated on a day like today.

My purchase of the day were tomatoes.  Today being Fruit and Vegetable day they were selling one kilo for $3.95 pesos.

1 Kilo = 2.2 pounds.....that translates to purchasing tomatoes for .24 US cents a kilo or .11 US cents a pound.  While I also bought mexican squash, serrano peppers, cabbage and cilantro...the bargain of the day were definitively the tomatoes.

I purchased a galvanized container for $289.50 pesos the equivalent of $17.55 US dollars. This one is double the size of the one I purchased last month.

I stopped at the Veterinary Clinic to inquire if there was a way I could possibly drug Tammy so I can get her in the car and finally get her fixed.  The vet said there was, I could slip her a pill he would provide and she would be out for a while.  Only problem is how do I lift her up and place her in the car?  I am not good at judging weight but she must weigh between 30 to 35 lbs...or perhaps more? Got to think on this a while.

There was only one car in front of me when I crossed back to the USA.  I barely had time to get my passport out and present it to the officer.  Wow, what a good looking man he was and on top of that a very sweet customs agent.

Samplying of Exchange Rates down Exchange Rate Alley...

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

No Medication / Late call / Friends

While I appreciate the almost daily rain showers we have received in the past two weeks, I am ready for a reprieve. The weeds are sky high. the mosquitoes unrelenting and the ants are completely out of control.

It was a good thing we decided to follow the Uvalde doctor to San Antonio, Texas. In the short time that the new doctor has been in charge, he has decided he is not going to put up with the Del Rio hospital and clinics not sending the lab results on time.  He is requiring his Del Rio patients to drive the Friday before to Uvalde for their blood draw.  Making two trips there is the equivalent of driving to San Antonio.

Tuesday we went to see her primary physician here in town. We are still waiting on coding from his office so she can get her medication.  Today I got tired of waiting and asked how much it would cost if I paid for it...$109.50 for the generic...guess we will wait.

Last night the phone rang at 10:15 p.m. When I lived in Houston, I got calls at all hours from my friends. However, it really bothers me now because for one, it is not good telephone etiquette to call after 10:00 p.m. secondly this is not my house and thirdly it was an acquaintance not a friend. I can see if it was an emergency but this was not the case.

On a positive note, I also heard from my best friend. She along with some other friends will be coming to Lake Amistad in the not to distance future.  The only place I get to see them is in Terlingua so I am really excited about that.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

E-mail account updates

I am a little frustrated as I have been trying to upload photos to my new PC.  Windows 10 It does not give me many options like on my older computers.  Was going to buy a program to transfer everything over seamlessly but after reading the reviews decided to pass...besides it only allows you to extract data from one PC and I still have things on my first laptop that uses Windows XP.

Have decided that amongst the vast list of skills that my Tall Weathered Cowboy must possess...advance computer knowledge is a new requirement. Lol, no wonder I don't have a man in my life...jajajajaja ;D

Today, I also tackled deleting mail from my multiple e-mail accounts. There are a couple of posts where I give tips to newbies that are considering going to the Terlingua Chili Cook-off. On those post I give an address of terlinguadreams@gmail.com please do not use that address as I hate G-mail and seldom check it.  If you need to reach me please do so at terlinguadreams@outlook.com.

Another e-mail I mention on those posts is MsBelinda@hotmail.com...I retired that a long time ago as I was getting private correspondence for a lady with a similar account name.

I got a strange e-mail from whom appears to be my best friend...but one never knows...if you are reading this post check your e-mail.  I ask you to answer a question that only you and a hand full of people would know.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Camping Van / Gasoline Prices

Have been asked why I have not posted gasoline prices lately.  No reason really, I guess I have either not had access to my purse or I left my camera at home.

Stripes in Uvalde, Texas

Last week when we went to Uvalde I spotted the perfect camping van.  It wasn't in the best of shape but it had great bones, When his owner came out he saw me taking pictures of it.  I told him how pretty it was.  He looked at me and in Spanish said "are you making fun of me?"...No, Sir I replied...I like your van.

Look at all the space up on top. I could carry so many supplies to Terlingua.  Heck, I could probably bring a lot of things from Houston to Del Rio.

The Corolla gives great gas mileage or I would have filled up in Uvalde as it was cheaper than in Del Rio.

HEB in Del Rio, Texas.

It has been so hot and humid lately. Have been under thunderstorm warnings but luckily they have not materialize.  We have had two more power outages...the last one this morning.  Woke up to a flashing alarm clock so Mom got her medication at 7:30 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m.

Gasoline prices have been on the rise, thus was pleasantly surprised that it went down seven cents yesterday.

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If anyone would like to read more about the puppies you can click on this link or click on my header picture and it will take you to my other blog. http://mylittlewalter.blogspot.com/

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

Besides my beloved Spurs, I also follow other NBA teams.  This evening I was happy for Corey Joseph a former Spurs and now Toronto Raptor.  They have so much fight in them.  I certainly hope they beat that Miami team.

Even though this evening Golden State beat the Portland Trailblazers and advanced to await the winner of the Spurs vs OKC series...give Portland a lot of credit.  They have played their hearts out and never gave up, no matter the score, I have so much respect for them after following them in these playoffs.

I hope my Spurs win tomorrow.  GSG!!!

May 2016 trip to Uvalde

We had an appointment today with the Uvalde, Texas doctor.  With wait times ranging from three to five hours and to mother's dismay...we usually arrive late.

At some point upon our arrival we are seen by his nurse who takes mom's vitals and updates any new information.  Today for the first time she actually reprimanded me for my tardiness.  Her comment went something like this " Your appointment was at 2:00 p.m. but you did not arrive until 3:00 p.m. With the new doctor you will have to arrive before your appointment unless you choose to be followed my Dr. X who will only be seeing patients in San Antonio."

Hold your horses...what new doctor?  Why were we not notified?  The last time we saw the doctor was 8 weeks ago and he never mentioned anything to that effect.  Well...she said...that is because he just recently made that decision.  She continued...today is his last day and you will be meeting the new doctor shortly.

Talk about a surprise!  We made up our mind before even meeting the new physician...we shall follow Dr. X to San Antonio, Texas.  You see it is very rare to find a doctor who apart from being knowledgeable in his area of expertise also has an excellent bedside manner, is charismatic, speaks Spanish but most importantly shows a great deal of interest and concern for his patients in particular elderly ones. Yes, he makes us wait a long time but in his case...he is well worth the wait.

If we follow him to San Antonio, we will not have to deal with mother's labs not being faxed or being lost.  The new lab we used Monday failed to send the results to him. The San Antonio office has a dedicated lab with at least ten techs drawing blood.

A couple of days ago we received what looked to be a bill of some sort, I almost threw it in the trash as I had never heard of Frontier Communications.  It appeared to be a telephone bill but with our home phone number.  It showed we owed two months but what caught my attention was that it said...Do not Pay, you are enrolled in Auto-Pay.

Called them only to find out that Frontier bought out Verizon.  When did this happen?  Again, we were never notified!

I am having a heck of time making this post even though I am using Blogger's browser of choice...Chrome.  Not even spell check is working for me tonight, so if you see a couple of misspelled words please forgive me :(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

April 2016 trip to Ciudad Acuña

Tuesday - April 26, 2016

Got a late start this day.  Did not head to Ciudad Acuña until a little after 1:00 p.m.

In Mexico the main meal is eaten between 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. that is why the street on the main drag looks deserted.

As I sat waiting on a stop sign noticed that the ponchos on the store next to me where of American NFL teams.

We headed to the beauty shop...again because of the hour (Mexican meal time) we had the shop to ourselves, unlike the last time we were here.

Tuesday is Fruit and Vegetable Day so we headed to Gutierrez.  I really like this store and even more since they have installed shade canopies ( I am not sure if that is the correct name for them).

Here are some of my Mexican Bargains...

Even the dogs lucked out, got a good deal on a galvanized tub.

The line to come back to the USA were not that bad, about a 20 minute wait.

These are the Dollar to Mexican Peso rates down Exchange Rate Alley...

Sorry for taking so long to complete this post but I am having to resort to using my slow almost dead laptop to be able to upload pictures.

After publishing it, it looks like the pictures came out gigantic and I have no idea how to fix that...:-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Like a call from the principals office...

Yesterday we tried a new lab to process mother's blood work.  It is part of the clinic were her primary physician is located.  I like this location because there are no long lines to register and a short wait for the draw.  Her primary physician can also order tests to check her thyroid levels that have been previously ignored by the other labs despite having his orders.  I tell you if this happens in this small town, I can only imagine what takes place in the big cities.

This morning I got a call from her doctor's nurse telling me that mother's lab results show her thyroid levels to be out of control.  I have never had children but I felt like a parent who had just received a phone call from the principals office letting me know my kid had misbehaved!

You see mother has never believed she has a thyroid problem.  Last time I ordered refills I asked her why she still had a lot of pills left for that medication and not of the other when I refilled them at the same time.  Silence...all I get from her is silence...grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

As of tomorrow I will personally administer her medication once more.  Now she is going to have to take an even higher dosage to bring it under control.

Which brings me to another issue.  I had recently been given a medication for my high levels of glucose and yesterday I received an e-mail asking me to participate in a study of this medication and offering money to do so.  I was going to send it to the junk file when it dawned on me...how did they find out about this?

I have a separate e-mail where I only receive correspondence from my doctor's office and from HEB Pharmacy.  I can not blame HEB because I did not have my medication filled there.  I can not blame Walmart Pharmacy because I noticed they still have my Houston address listed on the label and they never had my e-mail to begin with.  That only leaves the physician's office.  How dare they sell my personal information to third parties!  Has this ever happened to anyone else?

End of rant.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

I am highly pissed for the none call last night in Game 2 of the Spurs vs Thunder game.  Not even the guys on TNT could believe it or for that matter the announcer who was covering the game on TV.

Ginobili handled it like the professional he is on his exit interview.  I, as a fan did not do so.  Can hardly wait till Friday....revenge!!!!!!!!!!