April Fools' Day 2020

As usual, Aunty Acid is right on the money...

We are up to five cases / Third visit from Spectrum

Two more people tested positive for the Covis-19 virus...a teller at the biggest Credit Union in the city...and a local doctor bringing the total to five cases for the area.

I am still in self-isolation and though I need to go pick-up my mail as well as mail a payment...all these confirmed cases make me very leery to leave the safety of our home. Per El Zócalo most stores, restaurants, bars, city and county offices, consulates, and gyms are closed.

This afternoon I was watching TV in the kitchen when I heard a reeling noise. Looked outside and a Spectrum truck was right next to the fence...I mean like butted up to it.

You can not see another truck from the damaged pole sending cable to this truck.

This should be their last visit as they finally finished the installation of the new cable.

After he left I walked over to check out the fence and made sure it was not damaged. Two years ago when I had the lot cleared I did away with most of the purple sage.  Since I seldom walk to the fence line I had no idea they were blooming in my mesquite and cactus over-run lot.

More free yard work...the funny thing is that even though they only ran over weeds and small trees...it smelled like freshly mowed grass.

The day started out cloudy and gloomy but by the afternoon the sun came out.  We had a low of 58 and a high of 81 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 14 / Strong Winds / A mystery

Woke up to strong winds and cooler temperatures. Closed the window and grabbed another fleece blanket. I have not been sleeping well lately so I forced myself to go back to bed. I think the howling wind made it easier for me to do so. It reminded me of the last time I was in Terlingua except for the fact that it was in a terrible windstorm and I was inside of a cheap nylon tent.

This afternoon I was picking up fallen tree branches when I came upon a mystery.  As you know the Spectrum people were here yesterday, it was three guys in two trucks and another truck on our adjacent lot (the one behind the cinder block fence) that is infested with mesquite trees so the guy had to walk in.

Why did they not connect this cable to the utility pole?

There were a total of four men running a new cable from a pole a couple of lots down to mother's utility pole and were here for a while. So why did they not finish the job? They left the yet to be connected cable next to the pole.  I am suspicious by nature and this is just adding to that. In case you were wondering the Irish guy was not among them.

This is not a good picture but you can see the cable coming from the other lot thru the trees and I followed it to the pole that is why I know it is not excess cable but the cable that was not connected.

I suppose this means they are going to make a return trip on Monday? This is very strange!

Today marks Day 14 of my self-isolation apart from going to the post office next week, I plan to continue our now mandatory shelter-in-place County order. We live close to the main street that goes into Del Rio so it is heavily transited. With or without shelter-in-place orders I have not seen a reduction in vehicle traffic. Is no one abiding by it?

We now have a fourth confirmed case of Covid-19 and I know this is just going to get worst.  I can not believe how those brave health care professionals in New York, California, Washington and other hard-hit areas of our nation can do their job without the proper protection.  It is shameful...this is the United States of America for heaven sakes!

We had a low of 52 and a high of 83 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 13 / More Covid-19 cases / Spectrum

Once again I had to go to El Zócalo newspaper for information versus our local newspaper.  Please DO NOT tell me as my cousin did to open a Facebook account...that is not going to happen!

Per El Zócalo there have been 26 tests administered of which they have received results for 19 of them. Of those three came back positive and they are still awaiting the results of the others to arrive from San Antonio.

I know the report is in Spanish but I could not find any in English. They make mention that one of those cases did not involve outside travel but was locally acquired which really scared me!!!
http://www.zocalo.com.mx/new_site/articulo/registra-del-rio-texas-tercer-caso-de-coronavirus

This afternoon I was washing dishes when I saw a Spectrum truck fly by to the northern part of the property followed by another truck that then did a U-turn and came to a stop by the utility pole. What were they thinking?

I was FURIOUS!  I have a big sign on the front door telling people I am self-isolating so I can not come to the front door but if they need me to call and I give out our phone number.  I had to do this after Pollito's unwelcome visit.

I have FOUR cats that take naps wherever they feel like it...they could have run over them!  I grabbed my mask put on my shoes and ran outside to look for them. One of the guys came up to me keeping his distance and asked who I was looking for as I was frantically calling out for each of them.  I told him MY CATS you all drove in very fast and they sleep everywhere.

He apologized but said that before they came in they walked over the terrain to make sure their vehicles could clear the area and he did not see any cats. He told me they were getting ready to run new cable between Mom's house and the next utility pole.

I went to the southern part of the property to look for them but could not find them. At least I did not see any run over bodies. I was headed to the front door when Katie spotted me...the cat that after over a year is still afraid of me...I think she was actually glad to see me.  I cracked the door open so she could come in as I set out some food so she could eat and I could keep her safe while they were here.

Though I am grateful their heavy trucks ran over more branches and weeds I was left with ruts...so be it...free yard work!

Today we had a low of 61 and a high of 90 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 12 / First Covid-19 case / Mandatory shelter-in-place

On the Wednesday evening news on News-4 in San Antonio, it was revealed that Del Rio had reported its first Covid-19 case. The person was a male that had arrived in San Antonio via airplane with his family driven to Del Rio and self-quarantined as soon as they got home.

The local newspaper did not have much information to offer. El Zócalo the newspaper from Mexico said it was a male that had been on Spring break with his family.  It would not be until Friday that more information was revealed. http://delrionewsherald.com/news/article_f1ba8fc8-6fbd-11ea-a11d-6b8e998e58f1.html

Penelope, you were right the circle of counties in the area imposing shelter at home mandates was closing in on us.  However, even with that possibility, I did not want to break my 14 days of self-isolation. The City of Del Rio, as well as Val Verde County, has now imposed such ordinance.

I will no doubt have to make a trip to the post office as I am sure I have a stack of mail waiting for me. I also have to mail a payment that can not be handled electronically. If it were not for that I would not leave the house.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 11 / Record breaking temperatures

Once again we have gone from a couple days of spring right into summer. We had a low of 70 and a high of 98 degrees breaking the record of 95 degrees set in 1935.  We are expecting a cold front this weekend that will bring the temperatures down to 83 degrees.

Today is Day 11 of my self-isolation. I am in good spirits and really nothing has changed in my life.  I would like to say I have more time on my hands but I do not. One thing I have noticed is a decrease in telemarketers as well as calls from flippers...that is always a good thing!

A couple of years ago I bought a box of 100 Nitrile disposable gloves - light duty 3 mil thickness and yesterday I found the half-used box still in good shape to add to my "prep stash".

I had a chance to try a pair out this morning as I once again had to go pick up trash along the street side of the fence line as Wednesday's are trash day and I failed to do so last week. What really irritates me is that the litterers are adults, not kids...grrrrrrrrrrr!

I hope everyone is doing well whether you are in self-isolation or government-mandated stay at home orders. Stay positive this too shall pass!

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 10 / Americans rushing to the border / A very warm 93 degree day - UPDATE

I outsmarted Paquito this morning and turned the TV on so I would not hear him whining by my window. It worked because I never heard him if in fact, he did.

Today is Day 10 of my self-isolation. This virus is getting closer...Eagle Pass, Texas a border town 60 miles south of us has its first confirmed case.

Even though the border with Mexico is closed to non-essential travel you can still cross to seek medical attention.  Read that people have been crossing in large numbers in this case in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua border with El Paso, Texas and buying out Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria medication known as Plaquenil the medication this administration described on its Daily Coronavirus Briefing as a "game-changer" though there is no evidence to support that...https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/03/24/border-towns-see-run-on-drug-touted-by-trump-but-unproven-as-coronavirus-cure/

Gutierrez a grocery store I frequent in Ciudad Acuña is also limiting entrance into their stores to only one or two members of the same family, no children under 12 years of age and in order to protect the senior population they are only allowed to shop from 8:00 a.m. to noon. They mention that most shelves are bare of essential items like toilet paper, antibacterial gel, most cleaning or disinfecting supplies and eggs. When available they are placing a limit of 3 items per family.
http://www.zocalo.com.mx/new_site/articulo/limitan-comercios-acceso-y-ventas

Today we had a low of 59 and a high of 93 degrees. Most of Texas reported higher than normal temperatures.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


UPDATE

When NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard asked the woman what she wanted others to know, she said, “Oh my God. Don't take anything. Don’t believe anything. Don’t believe anything that the President says and his people because they don’t know what they’re talking about. And don't take anything—be so careful and call your doctor. This is a heartache I'll never get over.”

It’s true that clinical trials have begun for using chloroquine, one of the world’s oldest anti-malaria drugs, and hydroxychloroquine, a less toxic derivative of chloroquine that treats lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, to treat the disease caused by the coronavirus. But the FDA can’t approve a drug, much less fast-track it, without solid evidence of safety and effectiveness, and it hasn’t approved either of these drugs for COVID-19 treatment.  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2020/03/23/man-dead-from-taking-chloroquine-after-trump-touts-drug-for-coronavirus/#3399f08172e9

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 9 / That Darn Man!

This morning did not start out well. It was cool and drizzly and Paquito decided to serenade me by my window and did not shut up until I got up to feed him. I now have to bring the cats in through the front door to keep Elvis (the stray black cat) from eating their food...I feed him separately.

When I opened the door Paquito, and Nico rushed in. Katie after more than a year is still afraid of me so I have to leave the door open and go back inside or she won't come in. I then went out of the kitchen door to feed Elvis. For some reason, he decided to come around the front and seeing the door open came in only to have me run him off as I do not want him near the boys. You will have to read my other blog and see his picture to understand why.

The boys left a track of wet and dirty paws so I had to mop them and with Elvis having come in I also had to disinfect the tile. I overdid the Lysol so I left the door open to air it out. I had to stand guard in case he tried to come back in when a white truck comes to a stop next to the gate. That darn man rolled down the window...he was about to get off...when his phone rings so he stays inside but we had already seen each other.

In case you are wondering who that darn man is...you got it...Pollito!  I closed the door furious that he had stopped and went looking for his card so I could call him to let him know I was on Day 9 of self-isolation. I could not find it and/or my plastic gloves so just grabbed my mask and cracked the door open.  He had already let himself in, I suppose through the gate because he was all decked out and was not going to walk through the down fence of the adjacent lot. The first thing I told him was that I was in self-isolation...he looked surprised.

I asked him what he needed and he said he noticed that the baby mesquites had grown in just a week and it would be better to cut them now before they got bigger as well as the three large mesquite trees. I called him back in July 2019 when he came for 10 or 15 minutes and said he would come back the next day and now March 2020...8 months later he comes back to want to finish the job?

I told him that with the economy tanking I was not going to buy the shed I intended so I no longer had a  need to clear that lot. He also knows that I hate to have any yard work done when the ground is wet and in this case saturated by the recent rains. He insisted and I told him I just plain did not have the money to which he said he could clear it and I could pay him later. I thanked him but told him that was not the way I did business. He looked disappointed and told me to give him a call whenever I needed and took out his card. I told him I had his number he walked toward the door and I put my hand out to tell him to stop we needed to keep our distance so he tried to put the card on one of the columns but it fell off so he got it off the ground and gave it to me anyway....grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

I closed the door and sprayed the hell out of it with my disinfectant and left it on the floor as I ran in and washed my hands very thoroughly. Why the heck can't people leave me alone? He ruined my day!

We had a low of 64 and a high of 82 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 8 / Another cool day

This morning woke up to light showers and cool weather. The sun never came out today. We had a low of 60 and a high of 74 though it felt much colder inside the house.

Today is Day 8 of my self-isolation. While Texas is not under mandatory orders to stay at home I think I am the only one on this block to do so. I see the neighbors going to work every day. There really aren't any children on this street the only ones were the rowdy/drunk neighbor's but thank goodness he made up with his wife and left town.

Apart from watching the daily CoronaVirus Briefing which was bizarre, to put it mildly, I really did not do much. I am very tired wish I could sleep like normal people :-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 7 / A Cold and Miserable Day

Mother Nature had one last hurrah up its sleeve and today was it. We had light rain last night that extended on and off to all day today.  We had a low of 54 and a high of 58 degrees.  I am relishing in these temperatures as next week we are expected to jump into summertime and looking to be in the '90s.

Today is Day 7 of my self-isolation and though I spent zero time outside due to the rain and cooler temperatures I feel pretty good.  I received an e-mail from Sirloin Stockade...my favorite weekend breakfast spot...letting me know they are closed until further notice.  That is too bad but I knew it was coming.

I was reading The Del Rio News-Herald...our local newspaper online version and was SHOCKED that they allowed me to read news stories I had an interest in...of course after a select few they blocked you and asked you to subscribe.

In the few articles I read, I learned that the Val Verde County Library is closed until further notice, we have a ban on the number of people that can be in one place at a time, etc.etc. glad to learn our local leaders are taking this pandemic seriously.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 6 / Loud knock on the front door

Last night we received even more rain too bad I do not have any more containers to store it so all those gallons went to waste.  It was a warm humid day that started out with lots of clouds and then gave way to some sunshine before the cloudy skies took over again. We had a low of 54 and a high of 87 degrees.

I was in the kitchen when I heard a very loud knock on the front door. WTH? Is it the FBI coming to pay a visit? The front gate was closed so who could it be? I had the television on so for me to hear it...it was loud! I went to the living room and I could see...as much as you can see through the beveled glass door...a person in a green jacket with an orange stripe? or was it an orange jacket with a green stripe?

For a second I thought it was Ramón (not his real name) Juliet's owner and former Walter's owner..whom I always see wearing a similar jacket. Though after much thought I believe it is green with a white reflective stripe when he feeds her after coming home from work in the afternoon. Did he want to bring her to graze?  It turned out NOT to be him but a Spectrum employee with an Irish accent wanting permission to access the pole in the back yard.

He said he could drive through the downed fence but thinking of the ruts his truck would leave I told him he could come through the main gate. I tried to keep my six-foot distance from him as after all I was on Day 6 of my self-isolation.

He was out there for a while. I asked him if the Internet had gone down he said they were having problems with a portion of the cable ever since the fire that burned down a shed a few lots down.  Actually, it wasn't a shed it was a house that our late neighbor had built for his daughter and granddaughter in the back portion of his property. It was burned to the ground on the 4th of July two years ago due to stupid people popping fireworks.

Yeap, he left ruts but at the same time, he also ran over dried branches. Liked that he drove to the end of the property and then turned his truck around rather than trying to back out.

Ran over some cactus as well and saved me the trouble.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 5 / Our soon to be out of control yard / Rant

Honestly, nothing has changed in my life since I went into self-isolation. I still have my morning chores that often extend beyond the morning. The only new thing is I turn on and actually sit and watch the Coronavirus daily briefings. I thought the administration was making headway after finally admitting this is "not a hoax".  It started ugly today with the repeated phrase "the China virus" and then went downhill with the darn lies. I suffer from high blood pressure so had no choice but to turn the television OFF.

Went outside to take pictures of our soon to be out of control yard. Facing north it may look like grass but it is all weeds and branches Pollito's wino sidekick never came back to burn.

In case you are wondering the land behind the cinder block fence also belongs to us...actually to me and it is totally covered by horrible mesquite trees :-(

Our front yard...

The Pecan Tree covered by weeds...

The worst part is the Southern part of the property that butts up to what was once Walter's corral and where Juliet now lives.  She came back in February but I have not had a chance to blog about it though I have no idea what happened to Romeo.

All those green things...you got it...pesky baby mesquite trees...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

It was a very warm and humid day. We had a low of 62 and a high of 87 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

The cone of opportunity is getting smaller

From all the programs I have been watching these past couple of days, it is apparent that the cone of opportunity is getting smaller before all hell breaks loose and it will become dangerous to go outside based on data from the Italian model. If you need to stock up or run last-minute errands you better hurry up.

I did an inventory of what I have on hand and found stuff I forgot I even bought. I am good for six months. Since I have not been able to go grocery shopping in Mexico I stocked up on tetra packages of milk at Dollar Tree. I found a medium container of Nido powdered milk that will go well with all those boxes of cereal I purchased last month.

The boys only have a month to a month and a half supply of food. I went on Chewy.com and found their prices to be comparable to the local stores and will probably place an order with them.

I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for next week but canceled it. The last time I went out was last Saturday when I went to little HEB...it has been four days of self-isolation...funny it does not feel like it as my routine continues to be the same. I have therefore decided to continue the self-isolation.

I hope you have had the opportunity to prepare yourself for what is certain to be some very trying times. Stay healthy!

We had a low of 66 and a high of 80 degrees.  We are expecting thunderstorms this evening.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Finally some liquid gold!

The weather gurus had said it would rain on and off all day Sunday...that did not happen at least not in the southern tip of Val Verde County...until 11:26 p.m. last night.  We had very heavy downpours netting the area 1.59 inches of much needed liquid gold.

It was a warm and humid day with a low of 70 and a high of 84 degrees today.  The sun came out and quickly dried some hand washables.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Not ready to hunker down yet

Yesterday I posed a question to my readership and yet I did not know what my own answer would be. I suppose that only means that I am NOT ready to hunker down yet.

I still need to buy cat food though they have enough for about a month and in a pinch, I could feed them white rice. Need to go by the hardware store and pick up some A/C filters as with or without Coronavirus the heat will soon be upon us.

Headed into town around 8:00 a.m. and even turned in to HEB's parking lot only to see it was almost full. They must have run out of grocery carts as I saw people carrying packs of water. The interesting thing was that they were only carrying ONE multi-pack which means there were restrictions in place always a good thing to keep hoarders at bay!  I hate crowds and I hate waiting in long lines so headed to the post office instead to pick up the mail.

The post office is near HEB #1 otherwise known as "Little HEB" so drove by to see if it was as packed as Big HEB. To my delight, it wasn't and there were plenty of parking spaces. I do not know how long this is all going to last and when I finally decide to hunker down I will not be able to come buy my serranos or garlic. On this occasion, there were no serranos or garlic to be had! So picked up one of my favorite hot sauce Tabasco the big bottle.

Headed to the Dairy aisle and was surprised they were almost out of eggs so I decided to purchase a dozen even though they were not on my list.

I also grabbed two packages of cooked ham. When I passed the beer aisle I had no intention of purchasing any so I went to check on the water situation. I was only interested in taking a picture when I heard the clerk telling a customer that as far as the HEB brand of water was concerned it was all they had left. So I asked the guy if he would place two on my cart (that was the limit) since there is no way I can lift a 32 bottle multi-pack.

I went down other aisles for a picture op for the blog.  I had no idea they sold baby water...but they were out.

There were a few rolls of paper towels left...

However, if people went looking for toilet paper there wasn't a single roll to be had...

Returned to see if they had taken all the HEB brand water and they sure had...

The water is next to a small section of wine so out of the blue decided to purchase some. I then passed the beer aisle and decided why not buy some as well :)

I recalled I needed milk...with all the spirits I bought almost forgot...jajaja :D

This is my shopping cart at checkout came to a total of $62.82 for 11 items...money well spent.  I usually tear open large packages of bottle water or 30-packs of beer in the parking lot as I can not lift them and then place them one by one in my ice chest or free cardboard boxes I get from the store. Today I lucked out and a manager that was rounding up grocery carts asked me if I needed assistance...thank you, Sir!

Today we had a low of 70 and a high of 78 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Is it time to hunker down?

Is it time to hunker down?  I am glad I listened to those who tried to give us an early warning of what was to come and that I paid attention. 

Though like I have mentioned before I credit my preparedness to my years of living in Houston, Texas and having to stock up for Hurricane season.  I was going over my December 2019 receipts that I have yet to record on my manual spreadsheets and found that I had purchased four bottles of 128 oz bleach at Dollar Tree since they shrunk their size a while back to I believe 94 or 96 oz.  The following day I went back and bought an additional three. Earlier this month I ran into the bigger bottle and once again bought a couple more so I am good as far as sanitizing items.

On the news today they showed how Californians tired of empty shelves went to Tijuana, Mexico and cleaned out the aisles of Mexican stores....jajajajaja...I do not know why but I find this hilarious :D

Yesterday I learned something new from JO's blog "Mom's Little Run Away" http://momslittlerunaway.blogspot.com/2020/03/stocking-up.html

I had no idea you could keep rice and beans in glass containers...before you judge me...bear in mind that I barely cook.  The culinary fairy skipped a generation when I was born.  Another blogger commented that if you add one or two dried bay leaves it would keep bugs away.  Who knew?  Thanks for the tip!

Need a couple more items but I will wait until next week when the kids return to school from their Spring Break provided the school district does not decide to close the schools.

I was elated to hear that Fiesta in San Antonio was not canceled but re-scheduled to November 2020.

Today was a cloudy day with a low of 68 and a high of 77 degrees. Hope all my readers are doing well and are well stocked to confront this terrible pandemic.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

A lovely 91 degree Winter Day

While it was cloudy this morning the sun came out at noon and the temperatures quickly rose. We had a low of 67 and a high of 91 degrees today. Have we once again skipped Spring and gone directly into Summer while we are still technically in Winter?

As I have been typing tonight's post the NBA announced they have suspended the remainder of this season...what?  The one sport I truly enjoy and that brings me happiness is on hold? The Houston Rodeo the largest rodeo in the world has been canceled, no St. Patrick's Day Parade and it is only a matter of time before Fiesta in San Antonio is canceled as well.

Now Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have the Coronavirus, they were diagnosed in Australia where they are currently located.  Wonder what State-run TV has to say about that...is it all a hoax? That is my two-cents for the evening.

I am having so many problems with Blogger it is not letting me know when I have comments as it has discontinued sending me e-mail notices.  Is this happening to anyone else?  I also subscribe to other blogs feed and I am not getting those either.

Yesterday after my trip to HEB made a quick trip to Dollar Tree and saw an item I had never seen before...readers but in sunglasses...what a novel idea and at a buck each they had very few in stock so I purchased two.  I do not know if I got the right grade level but it was the one that gave me the best possible vision...+1.50

Can you hear me crying?

I know I ask you this question every year but it is truly hell when I go outside and from one day to another I see those darn mesquite trees blooming. That only signifies winter is over in West Texas :(

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day