I Voted / KFC

I barely slept last night as I watched cable news most of the evening and early morning keeping up with the Ukrainian invasion. It was cold and cloudy this morning as I went out to feed the cats. Around 12:30 p.m. the sun miraculously appeared and it certainly lifted my spirits.

I decided to take this opportunity and went to vote as tomorrow it is supposed to be colder.  El Zócalo interviewed a local candidate who urged the population to come out to cast their ballot as early voting had been disappointing thus far.

This is the first time that early voting that in the past has taken place at the Val Verde County Courthouse has been moved to the Del Rio Civic Center. There were hardly any cars or lines. I went right in presented my voter registration and driver's license. With these new voting rules, I was forced to listen to some stupid generic recording saying that I declared I was eligible to vote and had not voted in another county or in another party's primary then I had to sign on a tablet before I was given a ballot and took it to the area where the voting machines were located.

There were about six people voting at the time but there were plenty of voting machines so I just went to an empty one. When I finished I took my ballot and fed it to another machine where a worker thanked me for voting and asked if I wanted an "I Voted" sticker which I accepted. I just took it off my sweater that is why you can see black fibers.

There were more candidate support vehicles in the parking lot than actual voter vehicles. I apologize as this picture came out blurry.

I was hungry so I stopped at our local KFC and decided to try their chicken sandwich. It was ok.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Funny Saying of the Day

A 50-degree swing in temperature

Yesterday we had a high of 93 degrees today we had a high of 43 a fifty-degree swing in temperature. It is cold and the winds which thankfully have not been as strong as other days still cut right through you when you are out in the elements.

It could be worse as some parts to the north and east of the state will see winter precipitation. Yesterday I took the opportunity to hand wash some of my nicer sweaters. During a normal Texas winter, I only have to wash them two or at the most three times...I have lost count of how many times I have washed them this winter. Needless to say, the central heater came back on.

My insomnia has returned. Last night I took a melatonin pill around midnight but it did not take effect until 4:11 a.m. but I was wide awake by 7:00 a.m. so it was useless. For some reason, melatonin does not work well for me.

As I type this MSNBC is announcing Russia is attacking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. This is so sad, I firmly believe Putin has lost his marbles. Today I filled my 6-gallon camping water containers along with many more one-gallon milk jugs just in case Russia launches cyber attacks on our infrastructure.  

I also filled my five 32-gallon trash cans that I use for rain catchment as it has not rained in a while as a backup for personal hygiene. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.  

Aunty Acid

                                                            

This crazy weather / HEB

Yesterday the weatherman said it would be sunny, warm, and windy. This morning it was cool and cloudy the only part they got right was the "windy". I got an e-mail from HEB Pharmacy reminding me that I had not picked up my prescription and I only had three days or it would be returned to stock. I had planned on going tomorrow since today is a federal holiday and the post office was closed but I decided it would be best to go today.

I was surprised there were so many people picking up their mail. For those that do not have a P.O. Box while the post office is closed the lobby stays open 24 hours. By now it was around 2:30 p.m. and the HEB parking lot was packed...when are they going to build another store or the city allow a competitor to come to town?

They have yet to fix the pharmacy drive-thru but I needed to go inside anyway. I inquired about the free N95 masks the government was giving out but the clerk told me they had run out and she did not know when the next shipment would arrive.

Other than a canister of Nestle Hot Chocolate, my pre-packaged salads, bananas, and serranos I did not have a plan to purchase anything else. That is why I have no idea how I ended up spending $105.71... money does not go as far as it use to 😒

Glad they lifted the ban on avocados from Mexico and that the price has not gone up. 

I did not buy these but Jumbo avocados were selling for $2.50 each.

Pre-packaged salad has not gone up in price, it is still selling for $3.08 each.

When I saw the saltines I could not help but think of JudithK.  No saltine cracker shortage in Del Rio...

I had not seen Jalapeño Saltines before so I bought some to try them out...

Lucked out and found some Nestle hot chocolate...

Bought some Light Fruit Cocktail...

I was not able to find Strawberry Flakes cereal at Little HEB but they had plenty here...

Now that everything costs $1.25 at the Dollar Tree decided to buy hand sanitizer for only $1.00 here...

Bought a lot of canned goods, toilet paper, decaf coffee, two dark chocolate bars, chips, dip, and way too many cookies 😏

Gasoline was selling for $3.069 for unleaded gas and $3.549 for diesel...

At the corner Exxon it is was considerably more...

It was very warm as I drove home that I had to turn on the air conditioner. I would later learn that the temperature reached 96 degrees. The winds were terrible I had to hold on tight to the steering wheel. More of the same is expected tomorrow before another arctic freeze descends on us Wednesday.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Prolonged winter / Tayhlor Coleman

I do not recall the last time that winter has been so prolonged in Del Rio. It was cold this morning and though the sun shone all day it did not warm up until the afternoon but the darn winds made it feel much colder. That is another oddity...strong winds almost every day. I have wanted to set up my large tent since November 2021 so I can take down all the stuff I have in Terlita (my camping van) and make an inventory of what I have but due to the daily winds, I have not been able to do so.

Speaking of vans I am a big fan of women who live in vans and have their own YouTube channel. I had no idea there were so many events that take place for vandwellers during the winter months in Arizona.  They do not limit it to just vans as there is a new trend of people who live in their cars. You might be asking...Ok, Belinda so where are you going with this?  Patience my friends...

This is what I call "van dwelling with a purpose" this young lady named Tayhlor Coleman, a Houston native has a van that she is going to use to travel to all 254 counties in Texas to register voters. She named her van after former congresswoman Barbara Jordan, she calls it "Barb". She could not have picked a more fitting name.

Alex Wagner who is filling in for Rachel Maddow on MSNBC had her on Friday night. At the end of the interview, Alex said maybe you (the viewers) would like to help her buy a tank of gas. Today when I did a Google search she thanked all the people that have reached out to her because of the interview and she gave her Venmo. I have to admit I had no idea what that was...still don't but I will find out and make my contribution. BTW her Venmo is tayhlord!

On Friday, February 18, 2022, the 830 Times finally published an article letting people know where to go vote, the voting hours and how to cast a vote using the new voting machines. I am sure the residents of Del Rio and Val Verde County would have appreciated this information on Monday, February 14th the first day of early voting but I guess it is better late than never?

https://830times.com/news-early-voting-begins-in-primary-elections/

Since many of you read this blog from your cellphones you probably can not see my header picture so I will also paste it here. This explains why the workers at the voting polls did not want to help the seniors or anyone else out as reported by El Zócalo...turns out they could face criminal penalties under new voting legislation.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Senior Humor

Early voting is not going well / 85 degree day / Blogger Problems

Texas is the first state in the nation to begin early voting under the new restrictive voting laws signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. It is no surprise that nothing is going well either in Del Rio or the rest of the State.

Early voting in Del Rio has always taken place at the County Courthouse close to downtown. the last time I voted they had moved the voting location to the old County Jail that is also located within the grounds of the Courthouse. It was the first time that voting machines were introduced in Val Verde County.

I do not want to sound like a broken record, but without a city newspaper, citizens had no idea that they had moved the early voting location to the Del Rio Civic Center, which is about 2.2 miles away...a long walk if you are a senior without transportation. You would think that the 830 Times website that masquerades as a newspaper would have mentioned that or all the problems that mainly seniors are experiencing since they have no idea how to use the machines and are not getting support from election workers. No, not a peep about that, as usual, I would have to find out about it on the Ciudad Acuña online newspaper El Zócalo webpage. https://www.zocalo.com.mx/inician-mal-votaciones-en-elecciones-primarias/

Without support from voting authorities, many people decided to not vote in the primaries and left. It is evident that the voter suppression laws are having their intended effect. 

This lady in the bottom picture reminds me of myself.  After getting rejected twice she did not cave in... it made her even more determined to sign up for the third time. She shared a wonderful story about her dad on the Lawrence O'Donnell show that reminded me of my own father and his mission to get friends and neighbors to register to vote.

In Harris County the largest populated county in Texas and home to Houston, Texas it is a complete nightmare. Hundreds of early voting applications are being rejected and this mainly affects seniors as only voters over 65, the disabled, or those currently out of the state can vote by mail.

It has been in the news (our channels come from San Antonio) as well as in national cable networks like CNN and MSNBC. We are the laughing stock of the nation and the world...Ok, end of rant!

We finally had a nice warm day, we reached a high of 85 degrees even the winds did not dampen my day. 

Thursday it may be different as we have a Red Flag alert with wind gusts expected to reach 39 mph.

I am having problems making this post. Blogger is giving me an odd template, and it has mushed together my post. Even skipping lines does not work, nor will it let me post pictures.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Another cold front / Breakfast tacos / Little HEB

Even though we have had temperatures in the 70's as soon as the sun goes down it gets cold fast. If you have been reading me for a while you know I do not do well in cold temperatures. Last night (Friday) I went to bed at 8:45 p.m. so it is not a surprise that I was wide awake by 4:00 a.m. I was not about to get up at that ungodly hour so remained in bed.

I have been craving menudo and Stripes breakfast tacos so as soon as daylight broke I was out the door. Bought four different kinds of tacos and some chocolate Abuelita (a popular brand of Mexican hot chocolate). Being a truck stop I was surprised that there were few people there.

Swung by the post office to pick up our mail and since Little HEB is just down the road I headed in that direction. This is a very small store and its parking lot is even smaller. I was no longer living in Del Rio when they built the new larger HEB and the plan was to close this store down. My parents told me that the people organized, petitioned, and held demonstrations to prevent its closure and they were successful in their efforts to keep it open.

The front parking lot was empty and the side parking lot had three cars so I was not sure if the store was open or not but walked in anyway. I guess the early bird does get the worm as I practically had the store to myself.  All I wanted to buy was a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and some serrano peppers. I apologize because when I email me the pictures for some reason they shrink and I have no idea how to make them bigger so you can see the price. Anyway, serranos remain at $1.37 lb.

I was not planning on purchasing avocados...but you know how that goes! As usual, I bought the small ones at .88 cents each. Medium avocados were selling for $1.25 and jumbo ones for $2.50 each.

Bananas remained the same at $.48 cents a pound.

I had heard that potatoes were one item that had remained stable in price. I do not typically buy them unless I am headed to Terlingua where I cook them or my idea of cooking is wrapping them in foil paper and placing them in the campfire.

15 lbs bag $3.47

5 lb bag $2.26

I would later look at the Joe V's ad (HEB's discount store in Houston) and shed a tear when I saw their price for avocados and potatoes. 😢

HEB Whole Wheat bread sells for $2.00 a loaf but with their in-store coupon, you could save a dollar if you bought two and that is exactly what I did.

Bought a couple of cookies as this store does not have as big a selection as their main store.

I had missed their Oatmeal Raisins cookies...

While I do not buy meat as I do not cook, I noticed they had placed limits on some items...

I like their black beans with no salt, they went up a nickel to .78 cents so bought a couple of cans.

Canned sliced peaches were on sale for $1.68

I was not expecting to find Juanita's Hot and Spicy Menudo but did not hesitate to take the last four cans on the shelf at $3.68 each.

They jumped right into my cart 😁

Some HEB brands of cereal were on sale for $1.98 each bought only two as I really wanted the one with strawberries but they did not have them at this location.

Since it was early I do not think they had sold out of milk, it must be a supply chain issue. They did not have my Non-fat Milk, or 1% Milk so I had to purchase their 2% Milk for $2.86 a gallon.

They had plenty of name-brand paper towels...

They finally got around to selling 40 bottle packets of water previously I could only find that at Walmart but they never had anybody around to put it in the cart for me. I did not need any water at this time.

I saw these Unsalted Restaurant Style chips for $2.18 so purchase one to try it out...

I ended up spending $59.81 which I don't think is too bad as I also bought frozen broccoli florets, hot salsa, foil paper, and HEB brand 1000 sheet bath tissue.

On the way home I passed by the main HEB and as expected it was already getting packed. I took this picture while driving so it did not come out very well but gasoline prices are going down for now no telling what they will be tomorrow.

$2.989 for a gallon of unleaded

A block away at the corner Exxon, it was going for much more...$3.249 a gallon or 26 cents more.

I got home just in time as the strong winds from the north were ushering in yet another cold front. I am sick of winter. 😭

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid