Making the jungle go away

Spent two days looking for a business card without success. On a whim did a Google search and lord and behold the person I was looking for suddenly popped up...why did I not think of it sooner?

His business partner who happens to be his son answered and told me his dad was out of town on a job where there is no cell phone coverage, gave me his number and told me he would be back that afternoon.  This happened to be on Wednesday the day I went to Mexico, came back late and had to prepare dinner for mother.

I called him on Thursday and never got a callback.  Called him again on Friday only to get his mailbox.  He finally returned my called and told me "why did you not say you were Mr. X's daughter?"...I so wanted to say "because he has been dead for nearly two decades...but decided to bite my tongue".

He told me he would be right over, this was around 10:00 a.m.  I guess his definition of "right over" and mine are not the same.  I told him that sometimes it was hard to hear someone knocking on the front door because mother has the television volume on high.  He told me he would call me before coming.

At 4:25 p.m. I hear some loud honking but paid no mind as I thought it was the neighbor. Honking continued so I went outside and there he was. No call just showed up six hours and 25 minutes later. Said his telephone had not registered my number so he had no way of reaching me.

Told him all that I needed to be done, he gave me an estimate and we came to an agreement.  He said he would come today but that it would probably take him two or three days to make the jungle that is our yard go away.

 

 Once again thought he would come early but he did not show up until 4:45 p.m.  That is two wasted days that I was not able to make it to Stripes to purchase lunch plates as most of you know I hate cooking!

After seeing all that he accomplished this afternoon, I calmed down and thought...why did I not call him sooner?  This man is a hard worker, he loves to make money and he does not care that even though he is 69 years old he is willing to work 7 days a week if need be.

My dad and he were good friends and I am thankful that he still remembers him.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

September 2018 trip to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México

I was finally able to make a grocery run to Ciudad Acuña yesterday.  When you cross Mexican Customs you go through an automated line that flashes green or red.  If you get a red light the buzzer sounds and you have to go to a second inspection.  I think this is only the second time I have ever had to be searched.

Currently, it is not the Customs Agents who do the inspections but rather Mexican soldiers.  He asked me if I had anything to declare and I said I had an ice chest in the trunk. He looked at the empty ice chest as he brought the drug-sniffing dog around who did not seem interested in my car.  The young man was very respectful and quickly sent me on my way.

They are building a new state of the art Customs Facility and much progress has been made since the last time I was here. Due to the construction, there are a lot of detours and if you are like myself that needs to go down the main entrance into Acuña to find your way around, you might end up getting lost.

Here were Wednesday's exchange rates so you can see what the price would be in regards to its US dollar equivalent...

Compra = Buy ------->  you purchase $17.90 Mexican Pesos per $1.00 US dollar

Venta = Sell  ----------> you purchase $1.00 US dollar for $18.60 Mexican Pesos


Typically Exchange Houses have more favorable rates than banks that is why if you Google yesterday's exchange rates they will be higher than those featured above.

Started my shopping spree at Bodegas Aurrera.  Here they have a 12-pack of Bud Light on sale for $99.00 Pesos ( 99.00 divided by 17.90 equals $5.53 USD).  You have to take into account that you have to pay additional Texas Alcohol taxes in order to bring it back to the USA. 

They also had a good price on bottled water...the US equivalent of $1.25

My next stop was Soriana's. I like this store because it does not have large crowds and has fresh fruits and vegetables.

I bought a bottle of Kahlua for $149.00 Mexican Pesos...$8.32 USD plus $3.75 Texas State Liquor Tax for a final price of $12.07 USD.

El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is just around the corner.  Pan de Muerto is a very popular bread made during this holiday and Mom wanted me to buy her some so I obliged.

The return home was a breeze and only a three-minute wait.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

The last holdout

When we moved to Del Rio there was one HEB, Arrañaga's Grocery, Piggly-Wiggly, Gibsons and a couple of Mom and Pop grocery stores. We currently have two HEB's and Super Wal-mart.

HEB entered into a deal with the city to buy two city blocks the details of which I have no personal knowledge of. They bought out all the homes, demolished them and built the location of HEB #2, there were two notable holdouts but HEB did not care they built around them.

One was a home/workshop and the other a former car dealership.  The home/workshop was sold by the family after the passing of its owner.  Now the last holdout of what was once Arledge Motor Company sold its property to HEB.

Would love to know the purchase price but in Texas that information is confidential.  I do not know how many parking spaces that will add but a piece of Del Rio history was lost.  Wish I had known so I could have photographed the old building for posterity sake.

It seems like all the landmarks of my youth are disappearing.  Arrañaga's Grocery is now a Medical Clinic the sad part is that even the personnel that work there had no idea it had once been a grocery store until I enlightened them.

Gas prices at HEB on Friday $2.549 for regular gasoline. Saturday they dropped one penny to $2.549.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

My first political rally...

If you are new to my blog, I would like for you to know that I seldom if ever bring up the two subjects that I consider taboo...religion and politics.  I have quit following many a blog that does or if I happen to like the blogger I will just skip that day's post.

With that said, besides this being my Blog it is also my Cyber Journal where I document things that are of importance to me and which I do not want to forget.  Wanting to be respectful to all my readers...today I am going to write about politics...so you might want to skip this post and hopefully come back to read my next blog topic.

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My parents instilled in me the need to make our voice be heard through voting and I do so religiously, not just on important elections but in all elections in particular local ones. These are different and trying times in our country and voting is just not enough.

I am an Independent voter, I vote based on the values, positions, and merits of a candidate, not party affiliation. I have been following a candidate for Senate closely and like what he represents. I have never donated to a political candidate before but I felt compelled to do so because there is a lot at stake here.

I was elated to learn Beto would be in Del Rio today and I just had to make an appearance. This was my first political rally so I did not know what to expect. I showed up very early and got a good seat. We were treated to an excellent local band "Conjunto Mi Rey".

Beto has the backing of the "twins" better known as Julian and Joaquin Castro.  Julian is a former mayor of San Antonio, Texas who went on to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Obama.

Joaquin Castro is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas 20th District.

This promising young man Beto O'Rouke gives me hope. He has traveled to all 254 counties in Texas wanting to listen to what the constituents want from their representatives.

I do not know how he does it for last night he was in a debate with his opponent that was covered nationally from Dallas, Texas.  Yet here he was at an 11:00 a.m. rally in Del Rio, Texas. I should point out that his opponent left immediately after the debate yet Beto stayed and took additional questions from those in attendance.

After the Del Rio event, he was headed to two more rallies in Eagle Pass and Laredo, Texas.  I have NEVER seen his opponent anywhere near Del Rio, he has not even held a single town hall meeting.

BETO for Senate!!!


P.S.  A video you might enjoy if you are a Beto supporter
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFn04RRqazc

I have not left the house in a week!

I can not believe that I have not left the house in a week!  Mostly because of the rains, though today it was a beautiful sunny day.  I took the opportunity to wash some clothes as the rains return tomorrow.

I was hoping to drive into town and run a couple of errands but that did not materialize.  We are running low on groceries. Gypsy, a fellow blogger http://gypsy97.blogspot.com/2018/09/if-st-first-you-dont-succeed.html  tried the grocery store delivery offered by her local store.  I just might try the one HEB offers.  Though I think they only offer curbside service but that's OK.

The mosquitoes have been terrible, they are so fat I can see them without my glasses.  I have to put on long sleeves and pants whenever I go outside.  I got tired of spraying insect repellent and feeling sticky besides I am sure the DEET is not particularly good for you when used constantly.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Heavy downpours continue

The rains do not want to leave us. The only saving grace is that we have a few hours in between heavy downpours and I get to go outside to sweep away the rain puddles, no more bailing water. The horse pine pellets have worked very well in absorbing the excess rain that I can not capture as I am out of trash cans and five-gallon buckets.

This afternoon I was finally going to head into town when the weather guy said we were minutes away from another heavy storm.  Sure enough went outside and the sky facing south (Mexico) was very black. There has been a lot of flooding in Mexico as well.

I do not drive in the rain, so I changed clothes opened a can of soup and made us another ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.  That is another trait my tall weathered cowboy MUST have...he needs to be a good cook!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Kahlua with ice cream

I do not know what is wrong with me, I have been getting up very late this past week.  I am tired yet I have not done anything substantial to merit such tiredness.

The mosquitoes are terrible and they are even inside the house.  I know I should not complain in particular with all the flooding in the wake of now tropical storm Florence taking place in the Carolina's but I am really sick of all the rain.

It is currently raining right now and the weather forecasters told us to expect from three to four inches tonight and tomorrow.  I briefly considered going to buy two additional trash cans to capture more rainwater but the thought of going to Walmart on the weekend made me change my mind.

Remember the trash can I tried to repair with duct tape but failed?  It has been put to good use by the cats.

This evening as I washed dishes I watched old episodes of Anthony Bourdain - Parts Unknown,  boy did he used to eat well!  Anderson Cooper once remarked that he had the palate of a five-year-old yet Anthony would try to push his limits and have him try exotic food.  I laughed when he said that because I feel the same.

After watching the Berlin and Quebec episodes I so wanted a glass of wine or a beer but I do not have any.  All I have is a bottle of Tequila (that I bought a couple of years ago for Terlingua) and a bottle of Kahlua that I use to spike my eggnog during Christmas.

Today is Mexican Independence Day and I could have had a celebratory shot of Tequila, though I don't really like Tequila unless it is served in the form of a frozen Margarita.  I think the last margarita I had was in 2013 at Taco Cabana in Houston.

Mother wanted some ice cream for dessert...then I said to myself, why not have Kahlua with ice cream?  For ME, not her. It was different but tasty, though I would rather have a beer.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


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The opposite of yesterday

While yesterday was very productive, I can not say the same about today.  Mother and I are not morning people but today it got a little ridiculous even for us...we did not get up until after 2:00 p.m.

Me because I get really tired the day after a hectic day and Mom because she refuses to take her sleeping pills and winds up staying up all night and finally dozing off in the morning.

I was sound sleep but could hear a lawn mower, turned to look at the clock and it was 8:00 a.m.  Looked out the window and it was mother's nice neighbor mowing the weeds on the street side of her fence.  Thank you Mr. Joe...went right back to sleep!

The recent rains have made everything grow exponentially.  Mom's backyard looks like a jungle. I took out the weedeater but gave up before I even attempted to plug it in.  I think I need to hire a professional :-(

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A very productive day

The phone rang at 8:00 a.m. it was a computer generated call from FedEx letting us know they had a delivery that required a signature.  Even though I had only slept for three hours decided to get up in anticipation of said delivery.

The FedEx guy is a friendly and personable guy not to mention he is also easy on the eyes. Why is it that a women looks old with gray hair but a man looks distinguished by comparison?

Finally got mother to fill out her ballot (she votes by mail) and drove to the post office. When was the last time I was there?  Our P.O. Box was overflowing. The County Courthouse is close by so went to exercise the most important right in our democracy and did early voting.

Headed to the Recycling Center to get rid of my plastic, steel cans, cardboard, and junk mail.  The railroad tracks are behind the center and there was a train that was going nowhere so decided to go pay my dad a long overdue visit.

Have been thinking a lot about him especially during the funeral and tributes to the late Senator John McCain. I can not believe he has been gone for 18 years and I still miss him terribly.  Dad always included me in his plans so I was a  little dismayed when I found out he had bought two gravesites but failed to buy one for me.

When he passed away I decided to purchase my own gravesite.  However, all the ones in the proximity to my parents had been sold years before. Well, at least I will be in the same cemetery.

I was getting hungry so headed back into town. While I am a full grown woman responsible for my own decisions, I am placing all the blame on Barney of Old Fat Man fame for my choice of eating establishment.  He recently wrote about his visit to Whataburger and I have been thinking about doing the same since then.  It was delicious!!!

Headed to the mall to walk off some calories and stopped at Ross and Marshalls...the best part...I did not purchase a single thing!

Then headed to Long John Silver's to pick up some dinner for Mom.  All in all, I got a lot done today.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Rainy September

We have been having a lot of rain lately the good thing about that is that it brought the temperatures down to the high 70's but the humidity has been terrible. Today mother nature gave us a break and I was able to wash some clothes.  Rains are supposed to return tomorrow.

Being the insomniac that I am, I often watch infomercials late at night. There is one about this super tape where a man cuts his boat in half and then tapes it back together to show how waterproof this product is.  I think it costs $24.95 plus S&H, in my opinion, a bit too much.  Why do I mention this?  I have five 32-gallon trash cans where I collect rainwater...I refer to them as my primitive rain catchment system.

The big trash can with Paquito trying
 to catch a butterfly is NOT part of my
  rain catchment but the other two black ones are.

One of them developed a leak so I just quit using it. With all the rains from this week and from three weeks ago, I have used every trash can, bucket anything that will hold water.  I do not like wasting my liquid gold so decided to duck tape the trash can, but it did not work.  I do have a roll of heavy duty duck tape, I think it is called Gorilla tape but heaven only knows where amongst all my boxes it is located...see my need for a storage shed?

If you are new to my blog you might be wondering why I am storing rainwater...I am practicing for my eventual move to Terlingua.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Rain in the forecast?

This past trip to San Antonio really tired me out, it has taken me several days to recoup. I finally made it to the grocery store Saturday afternoon but it was too late to pick up a lunch plate at Stripes, everything was dried out by then.

I did not feel like eating another salad so stopped at KFC as I do not think my mother could take another one of my meals!  Today, I did make it to Stripes but I guess they made their green hatch chile enchiladas early as they looked dry...I bought them anyway!

I stopped at The Dollar Tree to pick up a couple of items before it becomes the Three Dollar Tree with all the planned tariffs on China. Ended up buying more than I thought so nixed the trip to Walmart to stay within budget.  Maybe I can make a grocery run to Ciudad Acuña sometime this month.  Just remembered that Mexico celebrates their Independence Day on September 16th so it will have to be after that date as the lines to cross will be long on both sides of the border.

Being the "centavera" that I am (Spanish for penny pincher) I was going to treat mother to a frosty at Wendy's (they are on special for .50 cents) but when I was going to bring the car around it had gotten very cloudy and the wind had picked up so nixed that idea.

I am ambivalent on the weather forecasters claim of rains for the next couple of days.  Our yard is already a jungle from the ones two weeks ago. Where is my tall weathered cowboy who enjoys mowing the lawn?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.