It could have been a bad day...

Though I did not go to bed until 2:25 a.m. it was not easy to fall into deep slumber because the cats kept on running on the roof and then got into a catfight with whom I presume were other strays. The neighborhood dogs did not appreciate it and started barking in disapproval...there was no chance I was going to go outside...they were just going to have to fend for themselves.

I was surprised I slept until 8:40 a.m. but did not get out of my warm bed until 9:00 a.m.  There is a little place down the road that makes excellent menudo on weekends but really on Saturday since they started closing on Sundays a couple of years ago. Now if I want to eat it on Sunday I have to buy it the day before.

By the time I decided that is what I wanted they told me they were all out...it is a good thing I called!  Since I was dressed and ready to go I figured I would take the short cut to the north part of town where all the restaurants, fast food places, mall, and basically most of the commerce is located.

Right before I exited our gate my brakes made a funny noise so I got off and looked around at the tires and everything seemed fine. The back road to the northside of town is about six or seven miles (not really sure) just as I was stopped at the red light by Stripes to the left and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to my right...and about to turn unto Veterans Memorial (our main drag) the car started shaking...I panicked hoping it would not die on me in this busy intersection.

The first thing I could think of was to take a picture of my dash that had lit up so I could show the mechanic or whomever.

It shook some more but this time the VSC is OFF light had gone out. Thankfully, the light turned green and the car kept running.

I drove straight to the Toyota dealership that is located about two miles away. A lady greeted me asked what service I was having performed then she checked with another gentlemen who told me that since my car was out of warranty (it is eleven years old) I would be charged $175.00 or more per hour to have it diagnosed. Like what other alternative did I have?  So I agreed.

One of their mechanics drove it down the highway and turned it on and off several times but did not experience what I did. She told me if I had it happen again to call her so they could schedule an appointment. When I asked how much I owed them she told me nothing so I went on my merry way feeling much better and thinking how bad it could have been.

Walmart is not far away so I stopped at Murphy USA and filled up. Not wanting to tempt fate I drove back home. The going price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $2.299.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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Drove to town / Pharmacy / Little HEB

Drove to town to pick up our mail and prescriptions. HEB had a lot of vehicles in its parking lot but not as many as they usually do. That confirmed my theory that most people had once again stocked up and now the rest of us could do our shopping.

I wanted to fill my gas tank as I am down to a little more than a half tank not because I have gone anywhere but during the arctic front I tried to start up my car every two days or so to keep the battery from dying. The lines to fill up were long and as most of you all know...this gal does not wait in line unless it is a matter of life, death, or starvation.

Decided to use the drive-thru to pick up our prescriptions and then drive down to Little HEB where it is not as crowded. This store is small and as you enter you usually find the staples most people are looking for like water, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. This area was completely empty making the store look bigger.

Looked in my purse for my phone but forgot I left it on the passenger seat after having taken the above picture. The store was stocked though some of the usual items were noticeably absent. They had a limit on quantities but I only bought...one carton of eggs and one loaf of wheat bread of said items...the limit was 2 per customer.

I did buy my usual serranos, packaged salad, salt-free canned black beans, tomato sauce, and some wheat saltines.  I absolutely LOVED the dark chocolate Kisses I bought the last time and purchased some more. This HEB does not have a bakery so I was not tempted to buy a carrot cake or any other decadent goodies.

The sun made an appearance later than usual but it warmed up nicely this afternoon. The wind is what made it feel nippy this evening.  I am freezing it is 62 degrees in my bedroom right now.  I suppose if I took off my shorts and put on some warm pants it would help but I want to finish this post first.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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Local water compromised / Newspaper dead zone

Yesterday we had a sunny warm day but the Del Rio weather station is still not able to disseminate its information in the aftermath of the storm of last week. That is why there is a difference of information KSAT-12 said it was 88 degrees yesterday while KENS-5 had a reading for Del Rio of 82 degrees. Either way, it was a lovely warm day.

We were warned the weather would change starting last night and they were right. It began raining in the early morning hours and the sun never came out. We had a high of 68 degrees but it felt cooler with the wind. Had to transfer my water catchment around to other containers as more rain is expected in the following days and we certainly need it.

I had high hopes the snow and freezing temperatures would have killed the weeds but I was wrong they appear to have grown more and now we have tons of ant mounds all over the property. These are the pissy ant mounds we get every year in spring but this time they are ahead of schedule.

It is so frustrating not to have any information of what is going on in Del Rio without a city newspaper and it seems that El Zócalo the Ciudad Acuña newspaper has revamped its webpage and they no longer have a Texas section. While they do have one or two articles about Del Rio they are old. For example, today's online edition focused on empty shelves at Walmart and HEB on Monday.

I am concerned about an item I saw on CNN it was a virtual interview with the Del Rio mayor Bruno Lozano where he stated that San Felipe Creek that is fed by San Felipe Springs had been contaminated when sewer water accidentally was released. This is the water source for Del Rio.

I saw a clip of a military plane landing at Laughlin Air Force Base with tons of pallets of drinking water that were meant for law enforcement, the hospital, and nursing homes but not the local residents.  While we do not need any water I am sure there are other people who still have busted pipes that could use some.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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Texans now have to deal with the aftermath of the storm

Texans now have to deal with the aftermath of the storm and it is not going to be pretty. There are still people that do not have power, grocery stores are being emptied daily by panic buyers, many towns are on a boil water notice including Del Rio, there are busted pipes statewide and very few plumbers to address the situation...and these are just a few trivial ones.

I am scared that our electric bill is going to be in the thousands of dollars since we never lost our power. While the first nights, we were warm...I then started seeing reports of electric bills being sky-high...in many instances a 10,000% mark-up.  Many from $3,000 to $17,000 for only a couple of days.  Today I learned that the already much disliked Texas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones owns one such company that benefited from selling power to ERCOT and made millions in a couple of days while Texans froze.

The lady below is named Nora Flores an Edinburgh, Texas resident that works at a local nursing home making $11.25 an hour and for just a few days got a bill for $3,315.01 she has no savings or any way to pay it.  Is her electricity going to be turned off?

On the other side of the spectrum, there was a gentleman that got a bill for close to $17,000 and it had already cleared his bank since he was on this form of payment.  If you have that much in your checking account you are a person of means but I still think it was too much and he was not happy about it either.

By coincidence, my CPL bill was debited from my checking account today that is why I did not cancel my autopay last week but I think I will do so soon. Would like to hear from other Texans that are on this plan how they are going to handle it?

San Antonio's energy provider is CPS and they have decided to cancel everyone's autopay and are blocking the Manage My Account page where customers can see what their bill is.

Turns out Ted Cruz's "let's go on vacation while everyone else is freezing" is not unique to him. Today we learned that the controversial Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton and his wife Sen. Angela Paxton went to Utah during the Texas freeze. What a despicable character this man is!

Where is John Cornyn the other recently re-elected Senator?  Why isn't he helping out to pass aid to his suffering constituents?  We certainly elect a bunch of losers in the Lone Star State!

The only good thing is that our temperatures are back to normal. We had a sunny day with a high of 73 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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Another night of record cold in Texas

Last night and this morning we were experiencing a lot of power surges and while they only lasted two or three seconds it takes five to six minutes for the modem to reboot. I decided to disconnect every appliance we did not need including my computer and called it a night.

We have one more frigid night to go through.

I need to download the pics from my phone and get those posted as well.  We had record-breaking snowfall both in Del Rio and surrounding areas.

Here are the Del Rio numbers in terms of prior setting records...

These are the South Texas snowfall reports. In case you are wondering Lake View is by Lake Amistad. I apologize for the poor quality of the shots as I have a cheap cellphone and I took pictures off of the TV.

This would have been a good picture...I really need a new camera!

I can barely make out some of the readings I took.

Good night may you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Getting ready for the second snowstorm in a week...

We live in West Texas known for its triple-digit summer temperatures and not for frigid winter snowstorms and certainly not for having two snowstorms within a week. We might get a couple flakes of snow every couple of years but not inches of the white stuff.

That is what is going to take place this evening and is already doing so in the northern portions of Val Verde County.

I do not know whether to believe the bottom graphic or not but we are expecting anywhere from three to six inches of snow.

I sincerely hope that all the people currently having to make do without electricity and water will soon have it restored.

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz flies to Cancun with his family for the weekend and requests police resources to get to the airport. After being caught he now says he was just being a "good dad" and was going to fly right back....yeah right!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

More bad weather on the way

I have been getting caught up on local news by reading Ciudad Acuña's El Zócalo Texas section.  Found out that due to the inclement weather we are under a curfew and one could be subjected to a $500 fine for violating it. HEB was not open until noon on Monday and Walmart closed early because there was no power. Other businesses including restaurants and fast food establishments did the same.

Our Civic Center has been converted into a shelter.  Most of the town is shut down.  This evening we expect a hard freeze and tomorrow night more snow is on the way.

San Antonio is about to break a record of the longest period below freezing that is 108 hours set back in 1951.

Only a few San Antonio area HEB stores are open and there are long lines to get in with up to an hour wait in the freezing cold.

I do not see any social distancing in play here.

There are limits on different items depending on the store's location.

They were interviewing people as they exited the store and many said there was hardly anything on the store shelves. It boggles my mind that after a year into Covid people do not have the foresight to have food and water in case of an emergency.  It is not like they did not have any warnings, the San Antonio media (where we get our channels from) warned us of the severity of the event.

I was charging my phone when they gave the snow forecast expected on Wednesday evening/Thursday morning so I could not snap a picture...it was between 2 to 5 inches...I think that is an exaggeration but we will see :-(

The rowdy/drunk and his family came back to his parent's house.  His grandmother told me that they were renting an apartment.  I suppose his power and water went out?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Winter Storm Uri

Last night the snow began falling in earnest around 7:17 p.m. I could see it from the kitchen window as I glanced at the corner street light. Then the wind gusts began and the power spikes started that is when I retreated to my room to work on my blog.

If you read me regularly you know I sometimes tend to give long answers in particular if it has something to do with politics or a current national event. I lost my comment three times due to power spikes so I gave up. Then the Internet went out followed by the cable but I was able to use my cellphone to leave a comment not as MsBelinda but as TerlinguaDreams.

I was glad the power grid held up and that we had a toasty house to sleep in. Today I read that the power went out in South Del Rio and while we also live in the southern part of the county it is not within Del Rio city limits. That area has many old mansions including the Brinkley Mansion so their power outage was not long-lived.

Today was the first day that we finally saw the sun and I was able to charge my solar lights since it had not made an appearance in days. This morning the cable was messed up and the only channel I was able to get was Channel 1 which is Spectrum Texas News...hmmm...how convenient!!

This afternoon the only way I could watch television was through my computer.  If I tried to cast it to my Smart TV it would not let me. Did not want to call them as I know they were probably busy and was glad that at least I had access to TV channels.

I was disappointed that I did not know the actual temperatures recorded in Del Rio last night or the snow totals as it appears the local weather station was having issues and could not report them even this afternoon.

The strong winds blew snow up to the kitchen door an area where Bonnie Mae and Mauricio's cucha is located. I had to shovel snow so I would not slip and fall when I went outside to feed them. I will write more about that in Walter's blog when I have time.

My rain catchment tubs and containers were frozen solid but I have three other 32-gallon containers filled with Del Rio tap water.

Even the cars in the garage/carport were covered with snow due to the strong winds. This afternoon I started my car and let it warm up for a long while. The last thing I need is to have a dead battery though I have no plans to leave the house.

I hope all the people that are able to read me did not suffer too many inconveniences due to winter storm Uri.  It definitively was a PITA for us Texans.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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Snow in the forecast

This morning I was outside early. I used the last of my pool noodles to insulate the exposed outside pipes.  I had a 36 lb. bag of cat food in the car that I had not had a chance to cut open and put in individual yogurt containers as they are easier to handle and it keeps the food fresh for longer...got both chores out of the way before the rain began.

Note how green the tree is behind the water take and how many weeds we already have. I am thinking after the severe freeze and snow in our future that will not be the case for long.

The ten o'clock news from San Antonio showed long lines of HEB customers in that city preparing for what will be three frigid days beginning tomorrow.  I have no idea why people would wait until the last minute to go shopping.  My best friend told me the same scenario took place in Houston today but she sent her boyfriend to the store...smart girl!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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