Pleasant Weather / Medical Appts / Disappointed

We have had very pleasant temperatures this week as well as much-needed showers. The A/C did not come on automatically until this afternoon. During the evenings I have left the bathroom window open and with the temperatures dipping into the low 60's I have had to use a blanket.

Yesterday I had my four-month follow-up doctor's appointment and this morning I went to get my labs done. I was glad that they are still following Covid protocols, are making you fill out a questionnaire and following up by checking your temperature before they place a bracelet on your wrist to indicate you have been checked as well as requiring you to wear a mask.

Before going anywhere else I decided to drive to the Del Rio Civic Center to cast my early ballot for the May elections. It appears this will be the new early voting location from now on and not the Val Verde County Courthouse.

I was disappointed to see hardly any vehicles in the parking lot of actual voters. They were mainly of the voting personnel and the vehicles with the candidates' placards and their supporters.

The above barricades are to bring ballots to the cars of handicapped voters.

Vehicles of candidates' supporters

When I went in I did not have to wait in line and it appeared that they were glad to see someone show up. There was only one elderly gentleman voting besides myself.  By the time I finished two more people had come in.  Hope more people show up on election day in May.

Once I completed my civic duty I ran a few errands and as I passed Whataburger I saw very few cars in their parking lot as it was only 11:00 a.m. so I decided to go in and beat the lunch crowd.

Now that my labs were completed I could treat myself to a Whataburger with jalapeños and cheese, some french fries, and an unsweetened ice tea.

If I were to rate my meal on a scale from 1 being the worst and 10 the best...I would rate it 7.5...the best thing was the iced tea.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

April 2022 trip to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila - México

I had intended to go to Ciudad Acuña (border town with Del Rio, Texas) next week but due to the incompetency of my doctor's office, they scheduled me for an appointment with another physician even though my appointment card clearly has his name written on it as well as my online health profile.

Friday morning we again had light rain, wind, and overcast skies until the afternoon when the heat and humidity set in. I believe the last time I went to México was in October 2021 when I took Muñeca and Molly to the vet to get fixed.

There is a lot of road work on the way to the main International Bridge. The store below I did not notice until I was editing the pictures that it now has a new name. If you click on it to enlarge it on the bottom left you will see a small white building with a flashing sign that tells you the peso to dollar exchange rate. This is the only Exchange House we have in Del Rio except for some banks but the banks charge much more. The rate today was $20.00 Mexican pesos to purchase one US dollar and $19.00 pesos to sell you one US dollar.

It costs $4.00 to cross into México at the main bridge. It is free if you cross at the Amistad Dam International bridge but that one is out by the lake and does not operate twenty-four hours like this one.

The lines going into México were not that long and it took maybe five minutes at the most.

As I was waiting this van pulling a trailer caught my eye at the self-declaration zone. I do not know if you can see how packed they are. It reaches at least four feet on top of the van and the trailer must be at least ten feet of well-stacked junk.

I ran a lot of errands on the north side of town where I stopped at Aurrera (owned by Walmart) but when I went in they had no carts. I asked an employee and he told me I had to go to the parking lot and track one down...I did not like that answer and told him so.

Anyway, that Aurrera is much too large and I had forgotten my disposable bags in the trunk of my car anyway. México stores no longer provide you with plastic bags you have to bring your own.  I did not have much on my list so decided I would stop at their near downtown store which is smaller.

At this store, the lack of carts was also noticeable. I have finished my Dollar Tree tetra packaged milk stash and need to replenish it but not at $1.25. I came across a six-pack of Lala light milk for only $122.00 pesos (122.00 divided by 20.00 exchange rate) for the dollar equivalent of $6.10 or $1.02 USD each.

Nutri Leche is another brand that I have bought in the past except it is whole milk. Selling for $18.50 or .93 cents.

Salsa Herdez jumped in my buggy at 25.00 pesos or $1.25 USD.

Isadora refried beans were going for $13.90 but I picked Walmart's Great Value at $10 pesos /.50 US cents.

A special offer on Nescafé Decaf with an extra 17% more product at 86.00 pesos / $4.30 USD

I love Jabón Zote but it is difficult to find the white one in Del Rio mostly they sell the pink ones. This bar was larger and at a very affordable $7.50 / .38 USD cents. Zote is a popular bar of laundry detergent.

I also bought bananas but I can't find my receipt. It was under one kilo (2.2 lbs) for about .50 USD cents.    

Usually, on Friday the lines heading to México are long and the ones coming to the USA not so much, or at least that was the case pre-pandemic. 

I had a 40-minute wait but I had a very nice officer greet me with a big smile which again is not always the case...he made my afternoon :-)

The picture quality of tonight's blog is atrocious. I used my Tracfone instead of my Metro by T-Mobile as I just do not see myself buying an expensive phone and paying over a thousand dollars...I would rather buy a large TV which are rather reasonable these days and with my diminishing eyesight a better buy.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Terlingua Dreams

Finally rain!

After the record-setting 104-degree day on Easter Sunday, I was surprised by the 360-degree change our temperature took on Tuesday. During the evening I leave the small bathroom window open as no adult not even Twiggy could sneak in through it, it got so cold I had to get up to close it.

The news at noon announced a very strong thunderstorm entering Val Verde County from the northwest which is mostly ranch land and not very populated. The weather guy said it did not look like it would drop far enough south to make it to Del Rio.

As I have mentioned many times we live on the southern tip of Val Verde County. We are closer to Ciudad Acuña, México than to HEB or Walmart. I was therefore very surprised when around 1:12 p.m. we got hit with a severe thunderstorm accompanied by strong wind gusts. Why do I bother to listen to the weather forecasters?

The 4:00 p.m. news showed we were at 67 degrees and it felt wonderful! I do not know exactly how much rain fell as different parts of the county received varying amounts and I fell asleep before the ten o'clock news for the official total.

Only my steel tubs got rainwater the reason you see former Clorox bottles floating is that I had them holding down the tubs to keep them from blowing away due to the winds before the rains came. It would not have been a good rain catchment anyway since the roof was covered with dust from the winds and the water was chocolate colored.

Since we are in a drought I have been filling my rain catchment containers with city water in case the Russians hack our utilities. Though I am more afraid of them turning off our grid I am not about to go buy a generator or have gasoline around to power it. I will have to pretend I am in Terlingua and set up my tent and my shade structure to mitigate the heat should that happen.

Even the cats were taken by surprise. This cutie pie is Grayson.

This is Muñeca my beautiful little girl and my favorite...shhhh do not tell the other cats 😉

Today it was hot, humid, and muggy. I swept up the storm debris and being trash day I decided to also give the garbage can a good wash with Fabuloso.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Setting all kinds of records in Del Rio

On Easter Sunday I was going to drive by the local parks along San Felipe Creek where after two years of Covid lockdown the citizenry was once again allowed to camp out for the weekend. Unfortunately, when I went to open the gate it was way too hot and I quickly changed my mind. Telemundo's 5:00 p.m. news said we were at 102 degrees. No wonder it was so hot!

The evening news reported large size hail in the Hill Country that ranged from large to tennis ball to tea-cup size...posting pictures sent by their viewers. JudithK, I hope you're Ok.

What would be my surprise this morning but to learn that the actual temperature in Del Rio had reached 104 degrees setting a record high for this area. Not only did we have the highest temperature in the state but also in the United States.

If that was not bad enough we also set an all-time record for the driest start in over 115 years of record keeping.

Today it was in the '90s as I set out to run errands. I will make a post tomorrow as I am having issues editing and uploading those pictures to my computer this evening.

HEB and Walmart had the cheapest price for regular unleaded gasoline at $3.529 and Diesel for $4.529.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Record Heat / New Covid Cases

I had planned to run errands in town today but as usual, the time got away from me, and by noon it was much too hot to even consider that option.

We broke a record dating back to 1986 when we reached 102 degrees this afternoon.

The cats are lethargic and I am missing a cat...I will write more about that in Walter's World if I get a chance.

We have nine new Covid cases bringing the total of active cases in Val Verde County to 58 persons.  They range in age from two years to 90 years. The majority of the cases are of people between the age of 50 and 59 years old. They also report two new deaths. I can not help but think that after this Easter holiday we will once again have a new surge.

If anyone is considering going to Mexico for the weekend I would urge them to reconsider especially when it comes time to once again cross back to the USA. Seems our governor is on full re-election campaign and has ordered 18 wheelers to be thoroughly searched upon entering Texas...the delay is costing millions of dollars to truckers, businesses, and consumers...making our supply chain issues even worse not to mention the delays at the bridge to normal traffic.

One reason for this new strategy might be Beto's polling numbers but Abbott is not only hurting Texans but other states who need car parts, chips, produce, and so many things that cross into the USA daily.

If you insist on going to Mexico, I do have some good news...the Amistad Dam Port of Entry...is once again open to the public and you do not have to pay a toll though it is a long drive back to Del Rio but it beats the expected long lines at the main International Bridge.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Beer Humor

HEB Pharmacy / Dairy Queen / Pesky Baby Mesquite

I had to go pick up my medication at HEB Pharmacy but as usual, it was past three o'clock and the parking lot was packed. I went to check out the drive-thru window and was glad that the right lane was finally fixed as I did not want to go inside.

I do not know why every time I take a picture of the gasoline prices at HEB the price comes out blurry.  Regular unleaded gasoline was selling for $3.649 per gallon...

I filled up last week at $3.679 per gallon or I would have filled up today. I was hungry so I decided to treat myself to a Dairy Queen hunger buster combo.

When I took the first bite I chuckled as they gave me a rather large serving of lettuce. I could not help but think of an Aunty Acid meme that more or less says..."Woman for the love of God eat a salad instead". 😁😁

Here is this week's drought map for Texas...Del Rio is in a severe drought.

Fellow blogger JO once said "Mesquite trees could survive a 500-year drought" and I have no doubt they would. The rain we received on Tuesday was not very much but it made those darn trees even lusher 😢

See the green things that look like weeds?  They are not weeds but pesky baby mesquite...grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

The news at noon said Pharr, Texas reached a high of 111 degrees yesterday while a city in Utah recorded a low of negative 1 degrees. That is a temperature difference of 112 degrees. I am glad I am old and won't have to live with the consequences of climate change for long.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Saying of the Day