Happy Halloween

It has been cold for a couple of days but I had not had a chance to call the A/C company to see why the new unit was not putting out heat.  I remember from our last air conditioner the same thing happened and it was because according to the repair tech since they installed it in the summer they had not turned on the heating element.

I do not know what the reason was this time around but they were here for a while and at last, my mom who is always cold is in a toasty house though by tomorrow temperatures will be in the high 80's and the A/C will once again come back on.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and this year it is bittersweet since I usually am in Terlingua at this time.  My Houston friends arrived this past Saturday and I am sure tonight they will have a BIG celebration.  Drink one for me guys!!!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

So you are new to camping - How to make a cheap port-a-potty...UPDATED

In my endeavor to make life a little easier to Chili Cook-off heads and Terlingua Chili Cook-off "Virgins", I will tackle the long-taboo subject of port-a-potties in the desert.

First of all, you must know that the TICC (Terlingua International Chili Cook-off) does not open up its port-o-potties until Wednesday prior to the Thursday grand opening ceremonies.  So how do regular attendee's deal with that problem?

Actually, there are several ways...one you can cut the ties that lock the port-a-potties or you can make your own.  Since I like to follow rules, I won't do that. In my 20 plus years of attending I have tried practically everything, from Double Doodie bags as per the picture indicates and in case you are wondering...NO... they do not work, they stink and are pricey.  Have also experimented with kitty litter and peat moss with more success as well as a small portable toilet but that has to be dumped.

First and foremost try to buy a shower tent.  It is here that you can use such tent as a port-a-potty and as a shower.  If you do not want to go this route, you can use a five-gallon bucket as a bathroom inside your tent. At night it might be a good idea to move it there as it gets pretty dark and there are snakes lurking around.

I wish I could remember what website I got this from but as you know I suffer from CRS!  All I remember is that it was a lady who was once a girl scout.

From Walter (the neighbor's horse)  and his grazing on mother's property, I know that horses pee a lot!  For those that have horses, you know that having horse pine pellets in their stables will soak up all the urine while not causing any additional odors and make cleaning up a snap.

So how does this help you at the Chili Cook-off?  Well, if you bring a 5-gallon bucket lined with two heavy duty trash bags, horse pine pellets, and sawdust shavings....it equals an odorless and earth-friendly bathroom...and as a plus you do not have to put up with smelly port-a-potties with long lines.

If you have space in your vehicle it would be great to bring a port-a-potty for #1 and one for #2 but if space is an issue...it is not a problem...you can accommodate both if you add pine shavings to the mix.

So to make this perfectly clear... you pee in your 5 gallon bucket lined with two heavy duty trash bags with horse pine pellets... if you do #2 you cover your deposit with pine shavings and you will never encounter any bad odors.  After a while, the pee will weigh down on your pellets so I recommend changing it daily in particular if more than one person are using it. I also recommend that you use  heavy duty trash bags, cheap flimsy bags will not work.

Now we address the toilet seat.  You can buy a plastic snap on lid at Walmart or Amazon but I found they are cheaper at Academy.  I bought mine at Academy for $4.99 which was a bargain at the time.

You can also use plastic noodles, the kind kids use when they swim.  You can pick them up for a dollar at The Dollar Store. The benefit of going this route is that it holds your trash bags in place and cushions your tush.  It is all a matter of preference.

Hope this works out for you.  Please leave any comments that might be helpful to other readers.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Cold front on the way

We have had several cool fronts this month something rare for this part of Texas, tonight we are expecting a "cold front" for us that is in the 40's.  I am not going to complain as it is a welcome respite from the hellish summer-like temperatures we have been experiencing.

After taking mother twice to have her leg wound treated at the doctor's office, today we had a nurse come to the house to change her dressing and will continue coming for a week.  Thank goodness for home health care!

After three years I finally filled up my SD Card in my camera.  I have another one but no telling where it is.  It is sad to think how organized I have been all my working life but not so much anymore.

I am trying to upload the pictures I took with my cell phone to the computer but I have not had any success, it won't even upload to Dropbox.  Where is my tall weather cowboy with his computer knowledge?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

Good to see them getting off to a good start, well up until tonight.  I do not feel bad that we lost because we played lousy.  My second favorite player in the NBA...Jonathan Simmons, a former Spur played his heart out for his new team the Orlando Magic.

I said it before and I will say it again, hope we don't regret letting him go.  Simmons is destined to become a great player.

Go Spurs Go!!!

Time does not pass in vain

It has been a week today since we got back from Houston and I am still tired. You would have thought that instead of spending a week deep cleaning my house and pruning trees, I had spent a week partying in my favorite desert...time does not pass in vain :-(

This darn vertigo does not want to go away. In Houston, while on a ladder cleaning the ceiling fans or pruning trees I got dizzy and almost fell on more than one occasion.

Sunday morning I left mother listening to her church service as I made a quick trip into town. Came back to find her laying on the floor...while this is not the first time...it never gets any easier! I have a bad back and though she only weighs 92 pounds, there was no way I could get her up.

I do not know why she did not just stay in the dining room instead of dragging herself to the living room and further injuring herself.  She did not want me to call 911 because she did not want the neighbors to know...I could care less about the neighbors!  Two EMS ladies came to our rescue, got her up and bandaged her up.

I tried to remove the bandages yesterday as per their instructions but the gauze had stuck to the skin so decided to have her doctor do it.  She was put through the torture chamber but I think she has finally understood that if she falls she needs to stay put.

On a different note it had been seven years since mother had been to my house and at the time she mostly got around using her cane. Now she uses her walker and it quickly became clear that my house will not work for me in my "Golden Years".  The doors into both bathrooms are too small to maneuver using a walker and the only way in...is going in sideways.  Hopefully, I have a few more years before I have to address that issue.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A trip home

Just got back tonight from a week's stay at my home in Houston, Texas.  I am so grateful that Mom decided to accompany me on this trip as it was thanks to her sacrifice that I was able to pull it off.

While my neighborhood was spared the terrible flooding that Hurricane Harvey brought to Texas, I did not know for a fact that water had not gotten in through the old windows in my house or through the kitchen door where water manages to sip in during heavy downpours.  That is the manner how many of my neighbors were surprised by water damage in an otherwise unflooded area.

I am glad to report that there were no signs of water damage and a big weight lifted off my shoulders. I did not fare so well during Hurricane Ike back in September 2008 when the tree in my front yard took out my chimney and left a hole in my roof.  If that was not enough I also had my neighbor's tree fall on my bedroom. Thankfully both trees somehow managed to block water from coming inside my house.  To add insult to injury neither one of us had home insurance.  I have since rectified that situation.

Had a lot to do since the last time I was home was 14 months ago and prior to that three and a half years.  I went to bed every night almost dead from so much work but with a great sense of accomplishment.

I was going to take a TV with me but I am glad I chose not to as I do not think I could have accomplished as much as I did with one around.  I still had my phone if something important happened that I absolutely needed to know. Found that without a television set, mother and I had the opportunity to bond more.  My next posts will be about my trip home but this is all for tonight as I am very tired.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A welcome taste of Autumn

Woke up at 4:45 a.m. to heavy rain pounding my bedroom window and some strong winds.  As much as I wanted to continue my Terlingua Dreams had to get up to check the kitchen for leaks before they became my Del Rio nightmare.

I guess I got up too quick and my head started spinning...darn it all...just when I thought my problems with Vertigo were a thing of the past! On the positive side, it only lasted for a little while.

So glad to report that there were no leaks.  Opened the door to let some fresh air in and it was actually a little cool, it felt wonderful even though it will only last for two days.

This month I have to go get my labs done and then go see the doctor so I am being really really good and sticking to my diet.  Just as I was going to fix me some horrible oatmeal which I had just opened yesterday, I noticed black ants inside the packaging....grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

It's funny because I had just commented on Gypsy's blog how I had gotten rid of my ants and all of a sudden they decided to show up.  Did they come in for comfort food and to get away from the cool temperatures?  Guess I will put it out for our neighbor's free-range hens who frequent Mom's property.

While I am currently happy with Spectrum through whom I have TV, Internet, and telephone service I had no idea that when they ported my mother's telephone number it would do away with her name and be in mine.

A new low was reached today...home flippers are calling the house now that the telephone is in my name.  I do not know why but I thought they would somehow slow down after Harvey...guess not :-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Dirty dishes

I had every intention to drive into town and finish all the things I did not get to yesterday but I just did not have the energy to do so.  That does not mean I just laid around at home.  I had fine washables as well as dishes that were calling my name.

I used to have an aversion to seeing dirty dishes sitting in the kitchen sink, not just mine but if I went to my friends home and I saw that, I immediately began to rectify the situation. I remember my friends' children upon seeing clean dishes drying on the rack would say..."Belinda has been here!".

The aversion has not gone away but I have found ways to work around it.  I have learned that an unused ice chest can become your best friend...well, at least for me...I can hide my dirty dishes and nobody is the wiser...though sooner or later I have to address the issue and today was the day :-(

I guess anything is better than having to face the reality of yet another hurricane or wondering what the hell does "the calm before the storm" means.  By this please do not think that I am trying to interject politics into my blog, but it is an issue that personally deeply troubles me.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Rains / Linda Lou / Worthless DISH

I am so sick of rain if it wasn't because I had to take mother to have her labs done, I would have stayed home. I have noticed that if I go somewhere the next day I feel very tired. I don't know if it is my Fibromyositis, my age or both.

Used the pharmacy drive-thru window to pick up a prescription.  Was headed to the post office when it began to pour so decided to head back home instead.

Yesterday I finally heard back from my friend Linda Lou, she left me a message saying that this past Monday her telephone (a landline) was finally fixed. more than five weeks after hurricane Harvey hit.

I am also mad as heck with worthless DISH, they have yet to refund the money they charged my credit card even though I had already disconnected my service. I had a bad headache this afternoon but I hope to tackle this soon. Learn from my mistake...do NOT higher DISH!!!!!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

October 2017 trip to México

It has been almost three months since we last went to México, we decided to rectify that today. I have mentioned in previous posts that the new toll booths had taken an awfully long time to be built. Glad to report they are finally operational. Took out my camera when I came to them but the SD card was locked and I had cars behind me, will try to get a picture on my next visit.

I asked the toll booth operator when they had opened and she said since Sunday, October 1st. It looked like they were going to start the demolition of the old structures. Decided to take one final picture for posterity sake.

Our first stop was at the Beauty Shop, we were her first customers and were in and out in less than an hour. Her family moved to Ciudad Acuña from Mexico City after the big earthquake of September 1985.  Her cousins were so shaken after the last three earthquakes this past September that they are considering doing the same.

It was a rather warm day so I left mother with the car running as I went to grab a couple of items at Aurrera and Gutierrez.  The heavy rains in México have affected the crops and it is reflected in the prices. I only bought a couple of tomatoes, a papaya and some serranos,

Was surprised that it being Tuesday there were long lines to return to the USA. However, they had most lanes opened so it was not a long wait.

Our beautiful flag flying at half-staff in honor of the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Good night,  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.