More yard work / Old Blogger Format

Wednesday I was able to fill another 55-gallon trash bag with newly fallen leaves. On Thursday I decided to tackle the area where I have my "command post" on the southern part of the property close to what was once Walter's corral and is now home to Juliet.

I gave my Terlingua rock rake a good work out along with my shovel. The shovel I use is not the traditional type but rectangular...I am able to clear a larger area to free it from weeds and prickly plants (some of them).

Yesterday I started out early...I managed to clear a path so I can drag the tree limbs to the curb without having to drag them to the main gate. I spent most of the morning doing that and then raking the debris into piles.

 
Needless to say, I was beat last night and actually went to bed early and slept soundly. We are expecting rains and wind this weekend so I needed to bag more yard debris. I was at it by 7:10 a.m. for the second day in a row beat the school bus that comes to deliver breakfast for school-age children and I was still at it when it came back with lunch.

The southern part is where most of the mature, as well as now two-year-old baby mesquites, are more prevalent. When we had the hail storm earlier this year a lot of limbs fell as well as twigs.  After I filled my second 55-gallon trash bag I realized that I needed to have used contractor bags because the twigs poked holes all over them.

I then moved to the area by the garage where I cleared and raked cactus and older leaves. All those trees will have to be cut as the very hot past three summers along with an ant infestation have managed to kill them.

I do not know if it is because today is the last day that I am able to use the old blogger format even though they said it would still be available for a limited time but it is only allowing me to upload one picture at a time and it is taking me forever. Now several of my pictures do not appear in my picture folder and this computer has slowed to a crawl.............grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

I was disappointed that the 10:00 p.m. news showed that the storm that was headed for Del Rio had bypassed us and was headed to Brackettville instead.  I could hear the rumblings but that was about it.

We had a low of 79 a high of 101 with a heat index of 107 degrees.

As I am typing this it is 1:14 a.m CSD and all of a sudden it is raining not hard but raining nonetheless. :-)

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

                             

Car Inspection / Tax Office

It is no surprise to anyone that I tend to put off things until the last minute. If anything positive has come out of this pandemic has been the fact that I am trying to do things on time such as my taxes. My license plate tags expire at the end of the month though in the State of Texas law enforcement gives you a five-day grace period before they issue a citation.

Yesterday I took my car to Mario's Tire Repair to get it inspected. They are a family-owned business and we have been doing business with them for years. There was no wait and I was on my way in ten minutes. One of the good things about living in Val Verde County is that I do not have to pass an emission test like one has to in larger cities. The cost was $7.00 this is the first time I have paid in cash in a long time as they do not take credit cards.

I have not been able to find the form the state sends you to renew your tags so I went to the County Tax Office to see if I could obtain them anyway. There were so many cars people were even parking by the church across the street.

There was a line to get into the building.  I had a 12-minute wait and my temperature was taken before I was allowed inside.  Lucky for me I was able to purchase my license tags without the form they mailed me. Cost $74.00 but if I used a credit card I would have to pay a $2.11 surcharge. Why this odd number I have no idea, did not ask.

Stopped by the post office to pick up the mail and headed home as it was hot. We had a low of 74 with a high of 100 and a heat index of 102 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Great sleep / Yard Work

It is complex for me to go online during the daytime. Except for one night this past week, I have not even made it past the ten o'clock news.  Even this evening I fell asleep from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. The only reason I got up was to send off an e-mail reply to an important text I received two days ago.  Why do people insist on texting me or calling my cell phone when they know I only turn it on when I leave the house and frankly with the situation we are all living that does not happen very often.

I have been saying that I have been tackling the yard work a little at a time so as not to throw out my back and when I do I wear two back supports.  This morning I woke up at 6:55 a.m. and though it was not cool it was as cool as it was going to be.

I had bought some 55-gallon trash bags exactly for that purpose.  There are so many leaves and yard debris still left-over from the hail storm we had a couple of months back that I needed to address. Did not notice until I looked at this closely that it had 19 bags...why 19 why not 20?

After filling the first one up decided to keep on trucking until I filled four.  By then it was 12:15 p.m.
and it was hot and humid so called it a day. Paquito was happy about that as he has taken a likening to A/C and sleeps all day in the kitchen.

By the time I finished that chore my solar lights had fully charged.

I like this one as I can charge anything that uses a USB port and comes in handy during power outages and my camping trips to Terlingua.

This is my Waka-waka, at first, I was not happy with it but I like its smaller size.

While Hanna is not supposed to come anywhere near here, with our infamous power outages I am ready for this weekend.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Sad trees / Two missed rain events / Tropical Storm Hanna

I hate to sound like a broken record but it has been so hot lately it has taken a lot out of me even though I have been getting up earlier than usual in order to water the trees. Though I wonder if it is a lost cause. If I had been in a coma and could only look at pictures by the look of the trees and all the leaves on the ground I would swear it was winter.

Tuesday afternoon it got very dark toward the northeast. I could hear the thunder and see the lightning but it never made it to this part of Val Verde county.

Look at the poor trees. The only green ones are those darn mesquite ones in the lot behind the fence that unfortunately I own :-(

The same happened on Wednesday all the liquid gold fell by Amistad Lake and to the north of the county. We were hoping that the two tropical events that are in the Gulf would bring some much-needed precipitation to this area but the San Antonio weathermen dashed my hopes this evening.

It appears that tropical storm Hanna will be entering the state of Texas further south than previously anticipated only bringing 0.34" to Del Rio. Hopefully, they are wrong?

Today we had a low of 82 a high of 104 with a heat index of 107 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Recycling Center / Closed Parks / Little HEB

Had to run some errands in town. I was hoping to get an early start but my morning chores took longer than expected. As I headed to town I saw a long line to get into the Val Verde County Community Center for a free food give away.

As I passed big HEB I noticed that gasoline prices were once again on the rise. Regular Unleaded gasoline was selling for $1.979 a gallon... before we know it, it will be over $2.00 a gallon...and I have not been able to take advantage of it.

My steel cans and plastic bottles were growing exponentially and were begging to be taken to the Recycling Center so that is where I headed.

The City of Del Rio Recycling Center is very close to the parks that are along the banks of San Felipe Creek. I drove by some of them and only Moore Park had cars in its parking lot but I did not see any people.

Headed to San Felipe Lions Park where they had barricades set up to keep people from parking and it worked as I did not see a single soul there.

The County Library is close by and it was open today it had some patrons but I bypassed it and went to pick up our mail. When was the last time I was here?  Our P.O. Box was full, glad I stopped by.

Having been by the main HEB and seeing a full parking lot, there was no way I was going to stop there even if it meant that I would miss out on buying my favorite ice cream or my larger size package of spinach for my salads.

Little HEB was the focus of my shopping on this day. While the parking lot was not full a vast majority of the people that shop here walk to the store. This store is small so I had to go around the aisles a couple of times to respect the social distance.

Happy to report that egg prices have once again gone down to even lower prices than pre-COVID.  Before a dozen medium eggs sold for .88 cents and today, they were priced at .77 cents a dozen which made them cheaper than at Dollar Tree.

I was going to take a picture but had left my phone in the car.  What did go up was the price of beer by $2.00 for a 30-pack of Natural Light and it appears that the "beer smugglers" have taken a break or perhaps are buying beer at larger establishments like big HEB and Walmart to then smuggle into Mexico for resale.

I only purchased 23 items mostly bread, serranos, a large bottle of Tabasco, eggs, and canned goods.

We had another triple-digit day. Per KSAT12 we had a high of 103 degrees and were the hot spot in Texas.

Per AccuWeather, the high was 104 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Tainted Hand Sanitizer

I finally had the opportunity to read some of my AARP e-mails. One of them caught my eye and I decided to check it out and glad I did. https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/methanol-hand-sanitizer-recall.html?cmp=EMC-DSO-NLC-WBLTR---MCTRL-071020-TS1-4702756&ET_CID=4702756&ET_RI

Remember I wrote back on May 1st, that I had found some Hand Sanitizer for $3.00 at Dollar Tree? Well, it turned out that the one I bought made the list.

MODESA Instant Hand Sanitizer Moisturizers and Vitamin E, manufactured by 4E Global, SAPI de CV (NDC: 60599-007-33) made in Mexico.

Fortunately for me, I never opened it since I had plenty on hand. I decided to purchase it that day since I had not seen any on store shelves for a while. Not that I can take it back as more than two and a half months have elapsed and  I clearly marked the day I bought it and wrote my name on it.  Just wanted to give a heads-up if anyone else bought the same item.

Today Del Rio marked its 19th straight day of triple-digit temperatures with no end in sight.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

All parks along the banks of San Felipe Creek are closed

I had no plans to make a blog post this evening but upon reading our local newspaper The Del Rio News-Herald I felt compelled to do so. While I do not have a large following I have been sharing a lot of pictures of our local gem San Felipe Creek...not that my blog had anything to do with people visiting...but all the parks on its banks are closed and have been for a while.

Today's article is pointing to the fact that law enforcement is having a problem with Out-of-Town park violators from other Texas cities such as Eagle Pass, Midland, New Braunfels, and Austin.  Here is a link to that article http://delrionewsherald.com/news/article_95f402fa-c7b0-11ea-96e1-ab2546d55ec1.html

Thank you for visiting Del Rio but please note San Felipe Creek is closed for now.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Took the day off...

I can not believe that tomorrow is Wednesday once again trash day...where has the week gone?  It is much too hot outside to even attempt to rake more leaves. As I have mentioned before the heat this summer has done a number on the trees. Even watering them in the morning and late afternoon has made no difference in their leave shedding.

I was so tired today I decided to take a day off and just watch TV.  I do not know if that was good or bad let's just say...thank you CNN and Telemundo for cutting away from that so-called "press conference".

It was hot but I have no idea what the actual high temperature for today was.  Per KENS-5...it was 109 degrees.

Per KSAT-12 it reached a high of 110 degrees.

If you were to believe Accuweather it got to 112 degrees.

It really does not matter it was HOT today.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Tied an all time record high for Del Rio

Texas was sizzling today and we managed to tie the all-time high since Del Rio began keeping records in 1905. We reached a high of 112 degrees.

Tomorrow it will be equally hot in the Lone Star State. Crossing my fingers the power grid holds up.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

 

Second day of record setting temperatures / That hideous man

For the second day in a row, we set a new high for the day. Both yesterday and today we reached 109 degrees.

It was miserably hot even at 8:00 a.m. as I was watering the trees.  Paquito was waiting for me by the kitchen door and as usual, ran inside before I could do anything about it. I am getting much too old for this...hope to have a post on the other blog with regards to this soon.

I have also been watering the trees during the day in between commercial breaks using one-gallon milk jugs but the trees are in pretty bad shape as they are old and ant-infested. 

During one such commercial break this afternoon I went out the kitchen door heading to the front of the house when I ran unexpectedly into Pollito in his new bigger tractor or backhoe or whatever it's called. 

He had the nerve to stop and turn it off to start a conversation with me. The first thing out of his mouth was...when do you want me to start clearing the mesquite trees on the other lot?  Is he freaking kidding me? It was ONE YEAR AGO this month that he came for 10 minutes and never came back to finish the job!

I could feel my blood pressure go up...perhaps it was the heat or just my sheer loathing for this individual but I wanted to CUSS the hell out of him but of course had to keep it bottled in because I have to remind myself that this is NOT my house and my mother would not approve of such unladylike behavior.

Like I told him the other time he asked...we are currently self-isolating and do not have the money at this time. He looked at me weirdly as I walked away. When I finally decide to clear that lot, I hope to find another person to do it even if they charge me twice as much.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Heat Wave / Power Outage

It has been incredibly hot lately. Thank goodness for the breeze and wind gusts. If I am not outside by 8:00 a.m. it gets too hot to water all the trees. The heat has done a number on them and with the wind, they are shedding their leaves as though it was fall.

Today was the first time in a long time that there has been low water pressure. The water coming out of the faucet was also warm even though it was on the cold setting. It remained that way until late in the afternoon.

I have been cleaning my 32-gallon rain catchment barrels (trash cans) as soon as I empty one I fill them up with Del Rio City Water whose source is San Felipe Springs. We are very fortunate to have this true gem as our border city neighbor to the south...Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México has to rely on the Rio Grande for their drinking water.

San Antonio is already under Stage 1 - water restrictions as many other Texas towns so we are lucky in that respect.

With this heat wave, I have been doing some yard work but just a little at a time. The only plus to being in a severe drought is that it has kept the weeds at bay. If only it would also kill those darn mesquite trees!!!

I had just taken a shower and had sat down to watch the 4:00 p.m. news. The nice cold A/C was blowing in my face and I started to doze off when the power went out at 4:16 p.m. I could not believe it! Why did I not lower the A/C earlier so the house could stay colder longer in case of that eventuality?

After I while I went outside and I heard someone's window unit running. Mr. Joe's wife was watering her lawn so I asked her from my side of the street if her power had gone out. She said she did not know but would go check...it had gone out. Though it seemed that the neighbors in the back of her house (the next street over) still had their electricity on...that is why we could hear the window units still operating.

Our landline telephones are electric so I could not use them to report the outage. When I found my cellphone it only had a 20 percent charge plus I did not have the number to report it to. Instead found my solar lights and took them outside to charge. One of those lights has the ability to also charge cellphones and tablets.

Power outages are common in southern Val Verde County the last one was just a couple of days ago and lasted six hours. We were fortunate that the power came back on at 5:09 p.m. after only 53 minutes.

We had a low of 81 a high of 108 with a heat index of 115 degrees. This weekend is going to be extremely hot in the Southern States. Stay inside and be safe.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Taxes / Dollar Tree / Unknown high for the day

The tax deadline is fastly approaching after it was extended from April 15th to July 15, 2020, due to the Coronavirus. If you have been reading me for a while you know I am a procrastinator and just file an extension. However, this year I need to tackle this on time.

Went to the library to make copies only to find that it was closed. I think they must have taken a three day weekend. I had to settle for photographing them instead, then dropped them off at my CPA's office. Now they are in her capable hands and I can check that off my To-Do List.

Since I was already in the north part of town dropped my mail off here as I have mentioned before that my post office (on the southside) has a habit of losing or misplacing correspondence.

On my prior trips to Dollar Tree, they have been out of small jars of mushrooms and bread so went to check it out. They had the mushrooms but they did not have the wheat and whole grain bread I was looking for.

All they had was white bread and not a good selection...

They did have a good buy on cereal.

I have wanted to purchase a cooler tote with the Lone Star flag but they were out of them at HEB the last time I was there.  I found a girly one here for $5.00.  Put my two frozen pizzas, sour cream dip, and shredded cheese for the trip home...it worked great!

Found a welcome mat...not for the front door...for the cats to lay on.

It was very hot but I do not know what the actual high for the day was. AccuWeather claimed it reached 109, the Weather Channel said it was 102, and San Antonio's KENS-5 said it was 103 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Fireworks / Strawberry Moon / Hot Temperatures

I can not tell you how glad I am that the 4th of July celebrations are over and done with though I know tonight more firecrackers will be popped and just like it happened on New Year's they continued for almost a week...certainly hope that is not the case for this holiday.

If you are new to my blog I hope you do not think I am being unpatriotic...nothing could be further from the truth...I just dislike indiscriminate use of fireworks in Val Verde County when we are in a severe drought. Had to water all the weeds near the house both during the morning and in the afternoon.

Yesterday we had a high of 107 with a heat index of 110 degrees that worked favorably to postpone the celebration until it cooled down somewhat. It was not as bad as some previous years as I suppose people value buying groceries more than fireworks which I am told can be expensive. With that said the last ones were fired at 1:30 a.m.

If you were outside last night you no doubt caught the beautiful Strawberry Moon.  I tried photographing it but did not do it justice. If you missed it you can see it in all its glory this evening and tomorrow night.

I watched on television firework displays from different parts of the country while keeping a watchful eye on what was going on outside.

As I am writing this it is 109 degrees will wait a while before I go water the darn weeds for Fourth of July - Part 2 this evening.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Thunderstorms / In the dark for six hours

Why do I even pay attention to the weather forecasters? We had been warned of the possibilities of thunderstorms for days but only for the northwestern parts of the county where the rain usually falls by Lake Amistad.

The ten o'clock news last night was no different warning of the same. I do not usually go online until after midnight when I can make a post if I need to, answer e-mails and read the blogs I follow.

Around 3:10 a.m. it began thundering, we had strong winds, and then miraculously it began to rain... something much needed in this area as we are in an extreme drought. On the rare occasions this happens I will log out and turn off the power to the computer and modem but I was in the middle of answering an important e-mail.

At 3:38 a.m. the power went out and after a few choice words, I had no other alternative but to go to bed. Being that I am an insomniac and with all the thunder and lightning going on, there was no way I was going to fall into a deep slumber.

From past experience when we lose power it is usually for a while. I was more concerned about my ice cream melting even though I had plenty of frozen water and juice bottles in the freezer to keep it from doing so.

The good thing was that as soon as I heard the thundering I lowered the A/C just in case and it certainly helped especially since at midnight we were still registering a temperature of 90 degrees.

Power did not come back on again until 9:25 a.m. having left us without electricity for almost six hours! :-(

Today we had a low of 78 and a high of 103 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Early voting, grocery run to HEB

How time flies...I can not believe it is already July 1st...where did the month go?  For that matter where did half the year go?

It has been very hot lately and there is no relieve insight worst yet the holiday weekend is almost here so I did not want to postpone the errands I needed to run.

Had to do my civic duty so headed to Val Verde County Courthouse to cast my early vote.  Found that early voting is no longer inside the courthouse but on another building in its grounds that once housed the County Jail.

If you did not know any better you might have thought you walked into a hospital. The personnel was in full PPE gear which made me feel much better.  At the time I went in, I was the only voter inside.

The courthouse is caddy corner to HEB #1 (Little HEB) ordinarily, I would have done my shopping there but I had gotten an e-mail saying our prescriptions were ready to be picked up so had to head to Big HEB instead.

Needed some more spinach and other items for my salads.

They had a good price on grape tomatoes.

Avocados...

 Hot dogs...

There were limiting many items.

As reported on San Antonio news media there is once again a run on paper products.

I was surprised there was a limit on ice cream as there has NEVER been an occasion that I have needed to purchase 4 tubs of ice cream in one transaction.

Gasoline prices keep on going up, therefore, I decided it was a good time to fill-up before it goes up even higher.

I apologize for the poor quality. Price was $1.879 a gallon
for unleaded gasoline.

It was an extremely hot and humid day. We had a low of 81, a high of 105 with a heat index of 109 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day