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