More Coronavirus Cases / Breezy and Hot

The city of Del Rio and Val Verde County recorded the 15th and 16th cases of the novel coronavirus over the Memorial Day weekend, and the 17th case was announced yesterday Tuesday, May 26th.

The 15th case is attributed to domestic travel while the 16th and 17th are considered to be community spread related. Both patients remained under quarantine, according to the announcement.  Out of the previous cases, the 14th patient remains under quarantine while the other 13 have recovered.

Both the city and county recorded the first coronavirus case on March 24, 2020.  All factors considered I suppose my little neck of the woods is not doing so bad but the fact that two of the newer cases are community spread has me very worried as they could have picked it up anywhere.

Sad that this day also marks 100,000 deaths and counting from this terrible virus in the United States. Even worst that this administration twits about everything under the sun but as of this writing has failed to acknowledge this terrible milestone in our nation. Where is the empathy?

Since I do not subscribe to the local newspaper nor am I on social media I was not sure if we were still under mandatory stay at home orders. The article I was able to read free of charge said: "City officials reiterated it is imperative for the community to remain home if they are able to do so, and practice social distancing and all guidelines provided by the Centers of Disease and Control Prevention, and the Texas Department of Health Services."  That statement leads me to believe we are not though I am staying home unless I absolutely need to go out.

It was a sunny, breezy, and hot day.  We had a low of 72 and a high of 101 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Menacing Skies / Tree Rot / Pissy Ants

Every afternoon we have menacing skies. Sunday as well as yesterday this part of Val Verde County lucked out and missed the storms.  From looking at this picture you would have expected a good rainstorm.

We received strong winds and thunder but most important of all NO HAIL!!!  The storms fell on the north part of Val Verde County dropping the temperatures significantly.

Today we have been the beneficiary of sunny skies. Rain is not in the forecast until Wednesday and Thursday.

Last year when I was getting ready for my Terlingua trip I posted how the ants had weakened and rotted the trees. I have been watering them daily but the strong wind gusts we have been experiencing has broken off many of its branches.

Speaking of ants...pissy ants have come back into the picture after several years of absence. Tiny black ants are everywhere there is water like the kitchen sink and bathroom. Ordinarily, I would go buy ant baits at Home Depot but I just can't bring myself to go just yet after hearing from several bloggers about their recent experience at that establishment.

I think I am going to make an early afternoon post as my arms are tired from dragging tree branches to the curve for heavy trash pick-up. 

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Storms / Trip to town

We have had several severe storms this past week. While the rain is very much needed, we could do without the strong winds, thunder, lightning, power outages, and thankfully only pea-size hail.

We had a strong thunderstorm this afternoon but at least the power did not go out like it did on Wednesday. Just like then, I lowered the A/C to 75 degrees in case it did...the house would be cool...this is going to cost me!

The strong wind gusts have done a number on the trees, there are branches and limbs everywhere.  If you have been reading me for a while you know I HATE YARD WORK!

Friday, May 22nd I had to go pick up the mail at the P.O. Box as I was waiting for this year's insurance premium (Houston house) as I have a bad feeling that we are in for a heck of a hurricane season. While it had arrived the Flood Insurance which is billed separately had not.  Even though my house was not flooded during Hurricane Harvey or any prior storm before it...one never knows what catastrophe awaits with climate change.

I left early in the morning to run my errands and not seeing many cars at the main HEB stopped to get the items that are not usually carried at little HEB.  Filled up on pre-packaged salads and large containers of organic triple-washed spinach.

Happy to report that the darn "beer smugglers" had not made their presence felt yet. The beer coolers were well stocked and I took advantage of that. With Memorial Day weekend on the horizon, the meat was going fast. Chicken was selling for $1.29 lb which is not bad since it usually sells for .99 cents a pound.

Noticed eggs had gone down to $1.49 a dozen for medium size but it was not the HEB brand.  However, name brands and larger quantities were still expensive. I still have not used the eggs I bought at Dollar Tree two weeks ago but will boil them soon now that I can eat them with my salads.

They are still out of Lysol disinfecting wipes but they did have some generic ones. They were well stocked with toilet paper as well as paper towels. While I did not need some...I went ahead and bought Charmin Ultra Gentle...one never knows when will be the next time it will be available.

This is selling for $12.97 at HEB
wonder what other parts of the country are paying for it?

Stocked up on canned goods, pasta, and cereal.  Since it was early there were not that many people and I am happy to report that they were all wearing masks!

I needed some items from Dollar Tree.  I think the lines are over and done with since the Governor decided to open up the state of Texas. I walked right in to buy what I needed and what is cheaper here than at HEB...like canned mushrooms, minced garlic, dishwashing liquid, frozen vegetables, as well as frozen fruits for our oatmeal and cereal.

I did buy a flex tub for $5.00 (remember I mentioned that they now carry items costing more than a dollar) so I can soak my fine washable until I work up the nerve to go into a laundromat. With my insomnia, I stay up late at night reading many blogs (that I do not comment on) I remember reading one where a couple bought a small portable washing machine for their RV but I will be darn if I remember which blog it was as he was going to post his review. If anyone knows which blog it is please let me know as I spotted it in someone's sidebar.

I must say it took me longer to wipe down and bring in all my purchases than it did to actually shop for them.

Today we had a low of 73 a high of 96 with a heat index of 100 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

New Record Setting Day for Del Rio, Texas

Though we are still technically in Spring we have been experiencing very hot temperatures of late.  Today we set a new record high for this day of 108 degrees breaking a record of 104 degrees set in 1973.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

A Terlingua Vintage Video

Just when I had no material to make a post this evening...I got a wonderful link to a Terlingua Vintage Video that was just recently uploaded to YouTube.  Thank you, Frann!

https://youtu.be/v_zaIK0X8SM


We had a low of 71 and a high of 102 degrees today and tomorrow it is forecasted to be in the 105-degree range.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Summary of my exciting week

Can you believe it is already May 16th?  Time sure flies by had no idea a week had already transpired and I had not made a post until a friend of mine called to make sure we were alright.  Like I explained to her I am not a daily blogger I wasn't pre-COVID 19 and I sure am not now that I have decided to continue with my self-isolation no matter what Greg Abbott the Governor of Texas says.

When you do not go anywhere it is hard to come up with content worthy of a post. We received much-needed rain on two occasions this week.  Monday night the weather guy said strong storms would only be affecting the Northern parts of Val Verde County...Del Rio and the Southern parts of the county would not be affected...WRONG! There was heavy rain, lightning, and the power went out for a few minutes but at least it topped off my rain catchment.

Last night we also had a rain event but this time we were forewarned since Wednesday. What caught my attention was the mention of the possibility of a one-inch size hail.  I covered dad's old car with cardboard to protect the front and back windshield as well as the front headlights and back tail lights.  It looked like a car from the barrio which is exactly what it is :D

The back windshield

Covered the front headlights...

The back tail lights...

 

The problem was that there was going to be a lot of wind and I did not want the cardboard to fly off so I threw some old bedspreads and pillows on top of the car and weighed it down with water containers.  Not exactly a pretty sight.

This is what it looked like this morning as they had been blown off the vehicle. The good news is that hail did not make its presence felt.

I considered putting a tarp on top of everything but I could not find my bungee cords or any kind of cords for that matter. As usual, the lights kept on going on and off but we only lost power for about five minutes.

The Mexican public address system came on while I was outside prepping the car saying a strong storm was on its way and to seek shelter and then their alarms went off. They timed it just right because as soon as the alarm finished the storm began.

You might ask...Belinda, why did you hear the alarms in Mexico and not the alarms in Del Rio?  That would be because my mother's house is on the southern tip of the county. We are closer to Mexico than we are to HEB.  If the alarms in Del Rio went off I did not hear them as I ran inside the house.

That, in a nutshell, is what consisted of my "exciting week"...now you know why I did not make a post!

This afternoon in the national news in Telemundo they were interviewing people on the American side of Tijuana, Mexico...San Diego, California...at a corner store and documenting all the beer people were buying to take back with them. The manager said they usually sell 50 cases a day but that since beer production ceased in Mexico they have been selling ten to twenty times more cases of this precious liquid!

We had a low of 68 a high of 92 with a heat index of 99 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

City of DR billing problems/ Prescriptions / Americans smuggling beer into Mexico

The City of Del Rio Water Department has been having billing problems for a couple of months now that I was not aware of until I saw it being covered by the San Antonio television stations a few months back.

The city was hacked in November or December of 2018 and it apparently caused many problems. People were getting bills for $700.00 or more and citizens were showing up at City Hall meetings by the hundreds. Since it did not happen to us I figured we were in the clear.

Our bill has doubled and it is showing an outrageous amount of usage so I contacted them before Texas closed down and issued stay at home orders. I left dozens of messages who were not returned. This past Tuesday I was finally able to speak to an employee. A city worker came by today and with that out of the way I was free to run my errands.

I have been putting off going to pick up our prescriptions since we have had strong winds, gray skies, with the threat of storms not to mention very hot temperatures all this week.  I had no choice but to go today as the crowds are going to double in the stores with Mother's Day shoppers.

Finally was able to give my car a much-needed wash before heading to HEB to pick up my prescriptions. Was surprised gasoline prices still remain high in comparison to other parts of Texas. This Exxon corner station was selling regular unleaded for $1.739 a gallon.

Used the drive-thru as I did last month to pick-up my medications. If you look to the right of the picture you see a white vehicle...this is the area where you park and pick-up your order if you requested curve-side delivery. Last month there were quite a few cars using this service not so today.

Even though I was in the safety of my own car I had both my gloves and mask on.

I drove around the front of the store to see how long the line was and was surprised that there was no line at all. While I prefer shopping at "Little HEB" there are many items that I have not been able to find on my prior visits such as pre-packaged salads, larger packages of pre-washed spinach, lettuce, good quality serranos, avocados and larger bottles of olive oil.

HEB was very well stocked and even at noon they still had plenty of toilet paper.

The same held true for paper towels. My favorite being Viva.

This one is for JudithK. They had more Bounty than Viva...so I win...even though it was not a competition, lol, just kidding :-)

I was literally dying for some sugar-free ice cream and my serranos.  Hopefully, I won't die by catching this virus by having ventured out to purchase them! Little HEB does not carry this brand of ice cream.

This week I saw HEB advertise in the San Antonio stations that they were limiting the purchase of any type of meat to two packages per customer.  I was surprised that in Del Rio they were allowing five items per transaction.  Since I do not cook it does not affect me.

I wanted to try turkey bacon but did not know what " Uncured Turkey Bacon" meant and I did not want to ask anyone so I bought a package of regular bacon instead.

I finally found out why there is a shortage of beer on the six o'clock news. It appears this problem is confined to border towns.  I mentioned on a prior post that Mexico declared the beer industry "non-essential" and ordered it to close during the pandemic. This resulted in panic buying throughout Mexico  All that beer has now been consumed so American citizens are smuggling beer into Mexico to sell to their families and friends.

You might ask...how can that be when the border with Mexico is closed? American citizens can still cross into Mexico...it is Mexican citizens with laser visas that can not cross into the United States unless it is an emergency and it is up to the border crossing agents to make that call.

We as Americans can cross back to our country any time we feel like it 24/7.  So that is why there is a shortage of beer in Del Rio. Even at big HEB, there were no 30, 24, 20, or 12 packs available.  However, I lucked out and took the last three 15-packs of my more affordable (sounds nicer than cheap) beer.

I was in and out in no time flat as the check-out lines were small.  Everyone was wearing masks and this old guy who was riding in an electric wheelchair had a pair of pink women's underwear as his mask...takes all types!

Swung by the post office to pick up the mail and send off a payment. So this was my exciting day!
We had a low of 61 and a high of 88 degrees today.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Dollar Tree no longer sells things for a dollar

In my last post, I mentioned that the State of Texas was starting the first phase of opening up the economy on May 1, 2020, even though we do not even meet the criteria to do so set out by the White House...but that is another story that I am not here to debate. The reason I bring it up is that I do not want to be in the streets when it happens as I am afraid this is going to be bad when the numbers come in in two weeks.

I got up early on Friday, May 1st, and headed to Dollar Tree while the morning was still cool. Dollar Tree in Del Rio is about the size of little HEB but it took twenty minutes of waiting in line before I was let in. Everyone was wearing masks and keeping their social distance.  I was the only one I saw that was wearing gloves.

I have not been here in a while and while I am not surprised things are no longer selling for a dollar. They are now carrying items costing $3.00 and $5.00 much like .99 Cents Only Stores...another store I miss from my days in Houston.

While HEB has limits and is low on many cleaners and disinfectants Dollar Tree only had a limit on eggs (two cartons per customer) and hand sanitizer (one per customer).  I only bought one dozen.

I was not thinking about buying hand sanitizer but when I found they were selling it I decided to do so. Though it cost $3.00 and you had to ask the cashier to give it to you.

I did stock up on Ramen soup, pasta, mac & cheese, spaghetti sauce, and mushrooms.  I saw a YouTube video where they suggested you write with a marker the date you bought your supplies that is why I have 5-01-20 on my items.

They had plenty of cleaning supplies including bleach.

Regular cleaners...

I have been reading that hair coloring was in low supply in stores nationwide and we all know about toilet paper.  I did not need either as I still have the Nutrisse hair color I buy at half the price in Mexico but picked one up as well as a package of toilet paper to either gift or use to barter should things get worst. You could buy all the toilet paper you wanted there was no limit.  So if you can not find the things you need at your local big-box store or grocery store head to Dollar Tree.

I do not plan to go out at all until I have to go pick up our prescriptions but like last time will use their drive-up window.  Another thing I bought that I almost forgot to mention was potato chips.

We have been having temperatures in the triple digits. Today was bad because the humidity came back. We had a low of 72 and a high of 102 with a heat index of 104 degrees.

For my real-life friends who read me, I decided to place the picture I could not send from my cellphone on today's blog. This is the gal that was in line in front of me at Dollar Tree. Now tell me she is not the spitting image of Ms. Toni from behind!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

After three weeks in isolation I ventured out into the real world...

Thursday, April 30th three weeks to the day I could no longer put it off as the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott was going to open up the State on Friday, May 1st  and I had to go pick up the mail at the post office in Del Rio.

I was busy during the day and then the heat struck. I decided to postpone my trip until after 7:00 p.m. As I passed by the laundromat I noticed it was still closed and had the same paper notice on the door as it had three weeks ago. 

Del Rio has two post offices this is the oldest and the only one in town when we moved here.

 Had new signs that were not there the last time I was here but that I agree with.

We have a small P.O. Box and it was full. The post office is not far from "Little HEB" and I had seen in their commercials that the hours had been extended to 10:00 p.m. so drove by there.  I was so surprised that there were no lines, plenty of parking space, and few customers.

Made a beeline for my serranos but once again they were not fresh so I only bought a few as well as garlic and bananas. No pre-packaged salads were available but that's ok...I'm sick of them. They were putting out freshly cut meats and poultry but limiting it to two packages per customer.

There was plenty of toilet paper and paper towels but either they had no brand name or they had names I have never heard of before.  I am good for a long time as I can not live without my Viva paper towels and thankfully have plenty on hand.

I was going to buy another dozen eggs but noticed that they had gone up in price since the last time I was here.  I wanted some chips but the HEB brand was cleared out and I am too cheap to pay for the national brands.

I went to the beer aisle and there were no 30-packs, 24-packs, 18, 15, or 12-packs to be had. They only had 16oz six-packs or the individual large single beers. Ok...now I will wail...HOARDERS!!!

I went to the wine aisle and they only had the small box wines.  I believe I have mentioned before how my dear now-departed mechanic would get so mad because I would buy wine when I much prefer beer and I could almost hear him telling me that in his own unique way!

The sun was starting to set and even though I brought with me my one dollar night time anti-glare sunglasses I decided to head home. As I passed the main HEB I stopped and filled up. 

The car needed to be washed as it was still covered in dust from our last wind storm but the sun was setting fast so I will tackle that chore next time.  Funny this time when I drove by the laundromat, the Open Sign was turned on and there were two cars upfront.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day