Last post for September 2017

I dread going back to see my doctor next month, I think my labs are going to be horrible. I have not been faithful to my diet and my blood pressure numbers have not been good either.I will place the blame on all the stress I have been through these past five weeks and leave it at that.

Got to Stripes too late for breakfast but just in time for lunch.  As you know I hate to cook and prefer to pick-up my meals here. Perhaps that is why my BP numbers are high, they at times tend to go overboard with the salt.

Gasoline prices are slowly going down but not as fast as they went up after Harvey.

Today was another cloudy and drizzly day but at least that kept temperatures in the 70's.  Had hoped to make it to the laundromat but with all the rains this past week they are very crowded and as you know I do not do crowds (except for the Chili Cook-off).

So this is my last post for September 2017...time sure flies!!!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

The type of speech a true leader gives

I am so bummed about what is going in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane María and the total lack of coordination and inefficiency from part of the Federal government and outrageous statements from our leaders. My goodness, these are AMERICAN citizens!!!

I never thought I would see another Katrina but I stand corrected this is so unacceptable.  How is it that a celebrity chef can go there on his own dime and manage to get volunteers to help him feed so many people including doctors, nurses, hospital patients not to mention regular people?

Why is it that FEMA has not even managed to pass out water to the population?  I am not looking for answers...I am just venting and wondering out loud.

If you have been reading me for a while you know that I do not bring up politics, religion or other controversial subjects on my blog and no longer follow blogs that do so.  With that said, this blog is about my life and I must admit that many of the natural disasters that have taken place lately have deeply impacted me.

Just when I thought nothing could snap me out of it,  I heard a speech delivered by Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria - Superintendent U.S. Air Force Academy after some Afro-American cadets were victims of racial slurs.  This is the type of speech a true leader gives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU0RfhvYN8s

After listening to it, it made me even prouder to be an American and to know that our military has men and women of this high moral character.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Mother nature is still angry

I had cleared my calendar in order to finally go to Houston to check on my house after the passage of Hurricane Harvey a month ago.  However, mother nature had the last laugh. We are under flash flood warnings and it has been raining heavily and will continue to do so for a couple more days.

Actually, it would be difficult to even try to make it to San Antonio as Uvalde, Texas has received a lot of precipitation and many roads are closed.  I was surprised that one of San Antonio's television stations sent a reporter to Del Rio to cover the expected deluge.

This morning my arms, legs, and back hurt from bailing all the water yesterday.  Mom's old house needs a lot of TLC.

I had to go into town as we were running low on everything.  At both HEB and Walmart had to wait for the rain to die down but at least we are stocked up in case they put up the barricades out of the subdivision as is the case when it rains a lot.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

One hellish month

This past month has been one of the worst that I have had to live through.  While only Hurricane Harvey personally impacted me, Hurricane Irma and María plus three earthquakes in Mexico also took a toll on me.

My heart aches for all the Texans, Floridians, Puerto Ricans, people from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and the Caribbean Islands.  There has been so much devastation caused by three major hurricanes in such a short time span.

My favorite uncle (mom's baby brother), as well as my cousin (the son of my mother's late sister), live in Mexico City.  As you can surmise my mother is not in the best of health and I had to think long and hard before I gave her the news.  It did not help that I was not able to get in touch with them as everyone was probably trying to do the same and saturated the already congested telephone lines.

I am so glad I dumped DISH because with Spectrum I have free long distance service in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.  Within an hour I was finally able to contact them and ascertain that while shook up, they and their home had fared well. I am very sorry for all those people who lost it all and will never be able to go back into their homes to retrieve what little they have left because their apartments, condos, and houses are on the verge of collapsing and to do so could cost them their lives.

The first thing I do in the morning is turn on the television to CNN.  My heart skipped a beat to learn that there had been another earthquake with a 6.2 magnitude early this morning.  What the hell is going on?  Three major earthquakes in the span of less than a month?

Once again grateful that I have free long distance service and could reach my family. I could tell that my uncle was visibly shaken and I stayed on the line for almost two hours to help reassure him. Invited him to come stay with us but he declined.

If that was not enough the rhetoric between us and North Korea seems to be escalating and who in their right mind wants nuclear holocaust?  Dang, makes one wonder how much longer civilization as we know it will exist!  Sorry for all the doomsday talk but this has been one hellish month.

Good night.  Hope you all have Terlingua Dreams because I think I am going to have Doomsday nightmares...wish I was in Terlingua!

Equifax data breach

With the aftermath of both Hurricane Harvey and now Hurricane Irma and watching continuous television coverage of both, I have neglected to take care of other things.  One of those being the Equifax data breach.

I am still angry that Equifax kept the breach concealed for so long. Unfortunately, today I learned that I am one of the millions of Americans whose information was compromised.

From what I have read freezing my credit report with the three credit agencies is probably the only thing I can do. It pisses me off that I am going to have to pay to do this.  The only way to unfreeze it is by entering a PIN number and now I read that this number and the way it is generated is not safe either. What a nightmare!

I wonder who the hackers were and what they are going to do with all this information?  There are definitively more questions than answers.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A day of long lines

We left early this morning for San Antonio, Texas.  It is a good thing that I give myself a little wiggle room for unforeseeable events. There was a long line just before we left Brackettville city limits after all this is Highway 90 East a very heavily traveled highway. I figured there must have been a serious accident and they were waiting to clear the scene.  However, that did not turn out to be the case, the TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) guy said the railroad was fixing their lines and we would have to detour through a country road to reach Uvalde, Texas.

This country road was very narrow and it had far too much traffic for comfort including speeding eighteen wheelers whom you could literally touch if you stuck your hand out the window. There was no shoulder and if you tried to pull over the grass was extremely high and you could possibly start a grass fire.

Then traffic came to a halt and for those that might be worried that our borders would not be secure...well lord and behold Homeland Security and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) had set up a temporary Border Patrol Check Point with at least 20 agents. They did this because the road closure circumvented their permanent facility on Highway 90 East. Had to roll down the passenger window and while I appreciated that they did not question my mother...with a suspicious glance was asked to verbally state the country of my citizenship...so wanted to say "same as yours"...but figured I would probably delay the line even further and possibly risk being arrested. Lordy, lordy, long lines wreak havoc on my nerves and patience!

It takes me one hour and ten minutes to reach Uvalde, today it took two hours and fifteen minutes. We arrived at the doctor's office fifteen minutes before her appointment time.

We left the doctor's office at exactly 5:00 p.m. at the beginning of rush hour. It has been a while since I have been right in the middle of so much traffic. It took us 55 minutes just to get out of San Antonio. I was hauling as I knew I would not be able to reach Del Rio before sundown and my night vision leaves a lot to be desired in particular having to go back down an unfamiliar country road in the dark.

Stopped in Uvalde to gas up at Stripes, while they had plenty of fuel this morning that was not the case this afternoon, but at least some pumps had gasoline and no lines...yeah!!!  Filled up at $2.49 per gallon for regular unleaded.

It only got better, the detour route was no longer in effect so I was able to cruise back to Del Rio at 70 miles per hour versus the 40 to 45 mph we had to endure this morning.  When we got back home we picked up some KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and stuffed our face :D

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Have I lost my taste buds?

I continue to watch what I eat as I do not want my doctor to put me back on Statins. However one day a week I allow myself to eat what I like within moderation.  Today I treated myself to an avocado and bacon burger at Whataburger.  It did not taste as good as I remember it tasting.

Two weeks ago I bought some menudo and the same thing happened.  While this is good as it will keep me from purchasing it again, it makes me wonder if I have lost my taste buds.  The worst part is that I have lost my taste for beer!!!  What am I suppose to do now, drink wine?

I have been trying to cut down on following news coverage of all the tragedies.  Three hurricanes and a major earthquake just this week has had me on edge. That is without taking into consideration Hurricane Harvey and the trip that I have yet to make to Houston.

Just because my home did not flood does not mean water did not come in through the windows. My homeowner association lady friend installed energy efficient windows two years ago and water still managed to trickle through. I have the same builder grade windows from when I bought the house.

Sometimes I think I should listen to my mechanic. He told me to sell it to one of the multiple flippers who constantly bombard me with offers and just pretend that my house burnt down!  That is easy for him to say as it is not his house or belongings.

To all the people in the path of Hurricane Irma, stay strong, positive and safe.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Finally no lines!

Ordinarily, I would not be concerned about gassing up but we have an upcoming doctor's appointment in San Antonio. Unbelievable that two weeks after Hurricane Harvey there are still gasoline shortages all over the State of Texas. HEB and Walmart are the only stores that have not run out of this vital commodity but you have to form long lines. This gal swore off such lines when I left Houston.

I had 3/4 of a tank left so could have made it to San Antonio, getting back might have been a little tricky but I think I could have managed to do so even though the car might have been running on fumes. I was therefore overjoyed to see that the Stripes I patronize had received a new shipment but most importantly that there were no lines...yeah!!!

They only had regular unleaded and remain out of diesel and premium.  Though I last filled up at $2.02, I was more than happy to pay $2.389 per gallon. On a full tank, I can make the round trip without any problem.

This week I also purchased propane as we were running low.  I have no idea if the higher price had anything to do with Hurricane Harvey and since this guy was new did not bother to ask him. Purchased 100 gallons and we should be good for another six months.

I hope everyone in Hurricane Irma's path has evacuated or soon will do so. Take care and be safe.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Long lines in Del Rio?

Drove into town this afternoon and could not believe the long lines at the gas pumps at HEB. The two Stripes (convenience stores) I passed on the way were completely out of gas as well as smaller gas stations.
http://delrionewsherald.com/news/collection_bbdfd1d0-8eae-11e7-aad6-530025fa005e.html

I can understand this happening in larger cities but in Del Rio?  This is a small town and unless you work by the lake or at Laughlin Air Force Base you do not have a long commute. I can easily go a month on a tank of gasoline unless I have to make a trip to San Antonio.

Spoke to my best friend who lives in Houston and things have not gotten any better. Long lines at the grocery stores...eggs, bread, and milk...very hard to come by.  She lives in the city of Deer Park so is also under a curfew as most cities in the Greater Houston area are.  Her boyfriend and she gassed up before Hurricane Harvey and stocked up on provisions but after more than a week are running low.

She noted that there are very few eating establishments open. She advised me to not even try to come at this time. With what is going on in the world, namely with North Korea and Russia, we may not be around much longer and I won't even have to plan a trip.

I have yet to hear from Linda Lou, she lives with her daughter and her family so I know she is safe somewhere.  She has a regular landline phone so I do not understand why her calls go directly to her answering machine without even ringing.

I have been glued to CNN and the Weather Channel since last Thursday.  Believe it or not, have not even watched my Colombian soap opera.  I picked the perfect time to pull the plug on Dish as they do not carry the Weather Channel in their line-up. This channel was instrumental in me being able to follow what was happening back home.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.