Blogging from the library

I have been getting up early in the mornings to run errands before the suffocating heat takes over. It has been positively hellish hot not just in Del Rio but in the entire state of Texas. Took the car early in the morning for its annual inspection and I guess everyone else had the same idea. He told me it would be a 40-minute wait but people began to get impatient and left so my wait was cut in half.

With inspection document in hand headed over to the courthouse to purchase my license tags. Would have liked to run a couple more errands but I needed to head back home. Tried to do a post from the house but kept on getting bumped so decided to come to the library.

To think that when I began my blog Del Rio was pretty much a Wi-Fi dead zone.

I could not for the life of me find a parking space as they were having some type of event.  I almost gave up but I needed to answer a lot of emails that I just can not do from my cell phone.  My clumsy fingers are of no help.

They finally installed the new computers though I think they may well be the old ones, can not tell as I brought my old laptop just in case. It keeps on telling me that an error has occurred while trying to save or publish my post...so we will see how that goes :-(

An hour after I got home I heard the sound of thunder, went outside to check it out and had to make a mad dash to remove the clothes from the clothesline.  I was not prepared so only manage to get 35 gallons from my primitive rain catchment system.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

The extra mile

I have been putting off pulling the plug on Dish TV and Internet. First because of the NBA Finals, then the NBA Summer League and now because my Colombian Series (no longer called telenovela) begins its second season next week.

I tried to make a post two days ago and kept on getting disconnected, what gives?  Being only three days into the new billing cycle I learned that I was already out of data.  I was furious, how can this be?  It is not like I am on my computer all day, I even turned off WiFi on my cell phone. I unplug my modem and router after I turn off my computer or tablet just in case someone hacked my WiFi password which I doubt since I had Dashlane choose one for me and they are very secure.

Called Dish and got a nice young guy who told me that since I do not go online on a daily basis when I do, Windows 10 runs updates in the background that eat up a lot of data. He asked me what I used my computer for and I told him, blogging and e-mails.  He was excited to learn I was a blogger as he was one as well but his blog was in Phillipino. He asked for my blogs name and I gave it to him. He offered to give me 5 GB's. Suspiciously. I asked him on account of what? He replied, just to be nice. Asked him how much it was going to cost me and he said it was free for being a Dish customer. I secretly think as mad as I was, he probably thought I was going to dump Dish right then and there.

Actually, I have no problem getting rid of my Internet service as I can go to the County Library. The problem is my addiction to basketball, foreign soap operas, HGTV and CNN.

Stopped at the local MetroPCS store to inquire about their cell phone plans that will let me use my phone as a hotspot. They are my current cell phone service provider, I am on the $30.00 plan that gives me 1 GB of data. I like them because I am not tied down to a two-year contract...you know how I hate commitments of any type.

The service guy upon learning why I wanted more data offered to give me 2 GB's for the same price but it did not take, the offer had expired. I did thank him for his good intentions. I will mull over if I want to pay $60.00 for 8GB, seems a bit on the high side.  It made my day that two employees were willing to go the extra mile to satisfy a customer. Kudos to both!

I went to Ross to purchase a Universal Tablet Mount so I can clip my tablet to just about any surface, raise it or lower it without having to hold it.  I have seen them online but with the cost of shipping and handling, it was cheaper to purchase it here. I could not believe that I waited 20 minutes in line just to check out. They only had one cashier and a bunch of unhappy customers. The guy in back of me was pretty irate. Had it been any other item, I would have walked out.

The store that sells Betty Boop stuff is close by so paid them a visit.  I found three things I could not live without but.....shhhhhhhh...do not tell my mother.....:D

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

I am still hot under the collar about the Spurs not matching The Orlando Magic's offer of 20 million for Jonathan Simmons. The guy is great and he is just going to get better. He is my second favorite player after Kawhi Leonard. I wish him the very best and I hope the Spurs do not live to regret it.

This afternoon NBA TV was showing Hardwood Classics that was replaying Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Miami Heat.  I guess I am a glutton for punishment as it is a series I will never forget. It took me four years to put it behind me and here it was rearing its ugly head today and like an idiot I watched it!

Thunderstorms

I recall the late Ben in Texas saying that weather forecasters had the only profession where you could be wrong most of the time and yet never lose your job over it...how right he was. Yesterday, they said we would be having showers this afternoon but on today's forecast, they revised it to only a 10 percent chance.

Looking up at the sky told me that the probabilities were a lot higher than ten percent. Had to make a mad dash to get my clothes off the clothesline before they got soaked.

Thursday it also rained, I would later read that northern Val Verde County by Comstock and Langtry, Texas received over six inches!  So glad we only had a light shower in the southern part of the county.

I did not do too bad this afternoon, I harvested a little over 100 gallons of liquid gold in my primitive rain catchment system.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.                            

Happy Birthday Linda Lou!!!

Today is the birthday of a very dear and close friend of mine Linda Lou, alias Baby Doll, whom I have also referred to in this blog as my friend the former beauty queen.

We will not go into her numerological age or mine for that matter but our friendship goes back a little more than three decades.  I have often mentioned that I used to be a Disco Duck and that the 70's was my era. When Disco died a little bit of me died alongside with it.

When a chapter in your life closes another opens and sometimes it is even more amazing than the former. It was the 80's and I decided I wanted to get in touch with my Tejano roots. Tejano music like the name alludes was born in Texas and is basically Mexican songs that our parents grew up with but with a new and updated sound.

I met Linda Lou in a unique Tejano night club in Houston, Texas.  I say "unique" because unless someone specifically told you about it, you had no way of knowing of its existence. They did not advertise, it was just word of mouth something different for that time and period. Once you went there, you fell in love and you did not want to share this well-kept secret with anyone except your closest friends.

There were many Tejano venues at the time, some quite large that accommodated some of the better-known bands of the day, like Little Joe y La Familia, Mazz, Ruben Ramos and the Mexican Revolution, Freddy Fender and so many others. This little club could not afford bands of their caliber, but you often saw the aforementioned relaxing and having a drink for they too wanted to check it out.

While now divorced Linda Lou was in good terms with her ex-husband who was a local high school band director and musician who was often invited to sit in with big name as well as local bands.  He knew them all and by default so did she. So many musicians had crashed on their couch or been to their home after a gig that we usually got into events free of charge.

Sorry to go into so much detail but with my CRS who knows if in the not too distant future I will also forget how I met her!

Going out with her was always an adventure, you never knew who you were going to meet or where you were going to end up at. Often told her that we were creating memories for our golden years at the nursing home.

Linda Lou always did things big.  I remember arriving at her apartment after one of her infamous birthday parties and not finding a single parking space. There were people in the courtyard and on the stairs leading to her apartment, people we did not know. Of course, she had invited them all to her party and the word had gotten around. I told her "You are aware that we do not have enough beer or food to go around?"  I do not remember how that turned out...sometimes it's good to suffer from CRS!

Linda Lou, you know that I would be there celebrating with you if I could. Maybe in five years in what will be your milestone celebration, I can say present and help build those anecdotes.  Have a great birthday Baby Doll!

Dollar Tree / Library / San Antonio

I am having a hard time finding anything but the new spiral energy efficient light bulbs even in Mexico. While I like their low watt consumption I have never found that they live up to their supposed longevity ranging from 7 to 11 years. The most I have ever had one last me is two years. It is a shame that I have a bunch of the old fashion ones in Houston that I could sure use here.

Went to Dollar Tree hoping to find some to no avail. While there I noticed an older couple loading their shopping cart with what seemed to be like 20 or more 18 count egg cartons.  Asked the gentlemen if those also sold for a dollar and he replied: " Yes, Sweetheart...you better get you some before they're all gone"...I must admit that put a smile on my face...it has been a long time since someone called me "Sweetheart." I had no idea Dollar Tree sold eggs. I did buy them but only one 18-count carton.

I am so tired of the Val Verde County Library not being finished after more than two years of renovations, at least not on the inside.  The new computers have not been installed and they have no control as they did previously on how long people use them.  I do not have a printer and needed to get directions to the new installations where the former Uvalde doctor and associates have moved to.

The one positive about the library is that it is always nice and cool. It was 98 degrees outside but a refreshing 69 degrees inside.  I almost did not want to leave!

After Googling the directions,  I decided that they were too complicated and I wanted no part of I-10 West or US 87.  My comfort zone is I-410 North going to the Medical Center and I-410 South returning to Del Rio. I inputted the former address as a starting point and got directions that even I could follow without ever having to go the route they wanted me to.  All I had to do was stay on Fredericksburg Road.

Monday morning we left early as I gave myself five hours to allow for traffic or other mishaps. The new facilities are beautiful, the patient drop-off/pick-up area was better than the former site and best of all I did not have to go up four levels to park in a very congested parking garage.  This location has ample parking space and best of all it's free.

Mother was ushered early to get her labs done and we only had an hour wait which in and of itself is amazing for this doctor.  I sometimes whine about long waits but I want to say that in his case, he is well worth the wait or we would not have followed him to San Antonio.  Of all the doctor's my mother has seen over the years this doctor, as well as her Primary Physician (who is not a doctor but a PA), are our favorite.  She hit the jackpot with both.

I was glad to see that gasoline prices are holding steady.  Hondo, Texas had the distinction of having the lowest gas price between Del Rio and San Antonio today at $1.93 per gallon for regular unleaded. I filled up in Uvalde since I like to stop at Stripes at $1.95 a gallon.

On a side note the only place I saw blooming purple sage was in Uvalde, Texas.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Ciudad Acuña / Machete Freerider

Though I would never recommend going to the beauty shop on a Friday in Ciudad Acuña, mother wanted to have her hair done as she had an event this weekend.  We got a late start to begin with but the beauty shop Gods were looking down on us. We arrived just before the masses descended on our hairdresser's salon.

Met a lot of nice ladies. One had just arrived from Midland, Texas and demanded that her sons take her to Claudia's as it had been six months since she was last here. One young lady was going out for the first time with a guy she liked...oh yeah, date night...how quickly one forgets!

Even though I was last here on June 26th in those eleven days our groceries had dwindled.  I had to buy more rabbit food (lettuce and carrots) serranos, melon, papaya, bananas, yogurt smoothies and sweet bread for my mother.

They had a special on carrot cake at Gutierrez only $20.00 pesos, which is less than $2.00 USD but amazingly I exercised self-control and passed on it.  I forgot to take my camera so I was not able to document the trip or today's exchange rates down Exchange Rate Alley.

I had never been in a store when the electricity goes out so it was a first today, it did not take long for their backup generator to kick in.  When I was checking out they went out again and this time the register froze.  It was a good thing we did not buy a lot of things as they had to check to make sure everything had been scanned.

With the long 4th of July weekend barely behind us, there were no long lines heading in or out of Mexico so I had the opportunity to ask the ICE officer a question on behalf of a fellow reader.

Machete freerider -  You had a good question and I did not want to answer it in the old thread just in case someone else might find the information useful.  With regards to whether you could cross the Texas border using your new enhanced Florida driver's license instead of a passport...the answer is YES, but it must be the "enhanced driver's license".

As to the border feed you had watched online, he stated that ALL persons crossing back into the US from Mexico must have their documents scanned. That includes passcards, passports, enhanced driver's license, green cards or visas. He suggested that perhaps the feed was of Border Patrol checkpoints much like the one coming out of Terlingua in Alpine and that being on US soil you do not have to present your documents unless you are not a US citizen or the officer suspects you are lying about your immigration status.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A complicated day

I had intended to make a blog post last night but we had such a busy and hectic day that I fell asleep watching my nightly telenovela. You know I am tired if I can not stay up for that!

Funny how people give advice but do not follow it, myself included. I have often told people if at all possible to pre-register at the hospital.  This past Friday it was in the three digits and I did not want to go out in it. Wrongly assumed that it being a long holiday weekend there would not be that many people come Monday.  How wrong I was...I should not assume anything!

We were there at 7:45 a.m and the waiting room was already packed. It took over an hour to be called to be registered (there is that darn word again). Lucky for us the Radiology Department only had a one person wait and the procedure did not take very long.

With the cataract surgery and other eye issues she has been experiencing, we had put on hold mother's driver's license renewal. While she no longer drives she has a license for identification purposes. She decided she would just get a regular State of Texas ID.

My goodness, I had no idea how difficult it would be to go from a driver's license to a state I.D. I could understand if it was the other way around. You have to prove that you have been a resident of Texas for at least 30 days, you have to have two government issued I.D.'s which showed her physical address versus the P.O. Box which is our official mailing address. She needed two utility bills in her name and would not take her water bill because it is in Dad's name and he had to sign off on it. I explained to the clerk that he was dead and she has been paying for it all these years!

We had to make two trips to bring back all that is required including her voter registration and US passport. Another problem was that in an effort to control our mail clutter I signed her up for e-billing. The lady clerk did help me with that as I have no idea how to get into the utility website, download the current bill and then e-mail it to DPS from a computer, much less from a cell phone.

The Optometrist office is just down the road from the DPS station, I wanted to see why they had not refilled her prescription. A sign on the door answered my question, they are closed for a week.

It was 100 degrees so decided to treat her to a sundae and me to an iced coffee. The coffee tasted awful so had to buy me an ice cream cone to get the terrible taste out of my mouth. Oh, what a complicated day it was!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Riding around Del Rio

I was curious to see how many people were camping at the Amistad Recreational Area on this long 4th of July weekend, so off we went. The motels we passed on the way appeared full.

The first thing I noticed even before we got to the city limits, was the increased law enforcement presence and it was that way all the way to and from the lake. My first stop was at Diablo East Marina, was disappointed at seeing the low water levels but that did not keep people away, the parking lot was full. It must be fun to have a boat and take it for a spin. Would you believe I have never been on a boat at Lake Amistad?

Headed to my favorite campground Governors Landing and it was almost full, there were only two or three campsites available.  Most tents I saw were the regular nylon ones and with the gusty winds, I bet some will not make it through the weekend.

Governors Landing has a separate area for day use and it was packed to capacity.  I could not even find an available parking space so I could stop and take a couple of pictures.

Decided to head to San Pedro campground to photograph the Billy Bob tree and perhaps get him to leave a comment or at the very least get him to make a blog post...are you listening, Billy Bob? I am sure I am not the only one that misses you :-(

What would be my surprise but to find that the campground was closed!  Don't ask me why...I don't buy the local paper...so I have no idea.

We went to several area parks along San Felipe Creek and people were out in droves.  They were bar-b-qing, swimming, tubing, listening to music and generally having a good time.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.