Cabin Fever / New lane for trailers / Re-Opening of Amistad Dam Port of Entry

A cold front arrived Monday bringing down our temperatures to the '70s both yesterday and today.  Woke up to rain again this morning. Would have been nice to enjoy these unusual low temperatures for this part of West Texas but we are overrun with flies, mosquitoes, and wasps making it impossible to spend any time outside.

I am beginning to experience cabin fever. Have not left the house in days. First, because it was too hot, then we got a lot of rain and if I drive the car out of the garage/carport to the front gate I am going to make rut marks which I will then have to fill in. The last thing I want to do is add more things to my To Do List.

Supposedly the rain will end tonight and tomorrow we will be back up to the '90s which are the normal temperatures for this time of the year.

Forgot to mention in case anyone is planning a trip to Ciudad Acuña / Del Rio...that they have made the right lane coming back to the USA...exclusively for trailers and 18-wheelers.  So stay to the left because no one is going to let you cut in.

The hours of implementation will be Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  Saturday's from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

In case you are wondering why I mostly post newspaper articles in Spanish, it is because the Del Rio News-Herald our local newspaper does not hit the newsstands until 3:00 p.m. while El Zocalo an excellent newspaper from Ciudad Acuña has theirs available for sale by 5:00 a.m.

Glad I did not go the day it went into effect as per this article it generated
a bottleneck that backed up traffic to Ciudad Acuña and it took more than
two hours to cross the International Bridge.

When we leave early for San Antonio I often see El Zocalo's delivery trucks as far away as Uvalde and Castroville, Texas.

A magnified copy of the article.

There is also good news, they have re-opened the Amistad Dam Port of Entry after "We the People" complained to our Senators and they wrote a letter to CBP (Customs and Border Protection) urging them to re-open it.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Camping at area parks / Mr. Joe / Killer hail

Even though I went to bed late I was wide awake by 7:00 a.m.  Last night since it was Spurs game night I did not have time to eat dinner as I was trying to finish my other chores. I had a small bag of chips at half-time to squelch my hunger.

Decided to treat myself to some breakfast tacos this morning. Leilani would be proud of me, I did not wear a lick of make-up, put on my cowboy hat and sunglasses and no one was the wiser.

For some reason, I kept on thinking today was Thursday instead of Good Friday.  This morning after 10:00 a.m. the city parks along the banks of San Felipe Creek were open to the public for camping during the Easter weekend.

Mother's nice neighbor once again mowed the grass along the outside fence line...thank you, Mr. Joe!  Now if I could just muster the will to take care of what is inside the fence :-(

I mentioned on my last post that Ciudad Acuña and surrounding "rancherias"...little ranches in nearby towns...had suffered the brunt of the baseball size hail.  I found the story on the Mexican newspaper El Zocalo but instead of showing pictures of the hail they chose to show pictures of dead sheep, goats and other animals that were killed by said hail.  I do not have the heart to post the picture on my blog.  If you want to read the story here it is  http://www.zocalo.com.mx/new_site/articulo/mata-la-granizada-a-ganado-en-jimenez

I was a little bummed out because today is not the first, second, third but fourth time within the past four weeks that someone I know passes away and I do not have any knowledge of it. Many people are choosing not to be listed in the local newspaper because apart from the cost hardly no one reads it. Such was the case with the lady that was laid to rest this morning. I had to go to the funeral home's webpage to learn of her passing.

I think I have managed to write a "downer post" without meaning to but what can I say, this is what I have to work with.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Que será, será...

This morning I woke up to the sounds of a loud tractor. Hooray, Pollito finally made an appearance! I did not go outside until he was about to break for lunch.  He said the southern part of the property was still very wet and his tractor kept on slipping.

This is when he gave me the bad news that he was going to have to charge me an additional amount as there were more trees than he could see when he first gave me the original estimate. He had filled more truckloads full of debris which in turn increased the fees he had to pay at the landfill.

To be fair he did give me a good price. Last year I had gotten an estimate solely based on the southern part as that is where most of the older mesquite trees are located. That figure was more than I am paying to clear the three lots.

I had to go into town to run some errands and when I got back neither Pollito nor his assistant were here. I have no idea when he will be back to complete the job...I am no longer worried about it...Que será, será!

One of the errands I had to run was a trip to a clinic for a free flu shot...I like FREE!  I happened upon this information when I was trying to access the Del Rio newspaper's website for another matter but was not able to do so without having to incur a payment for said information.

Went online to the excellent Mexican newspaper website "El Zocalo" who does not charge a dime and came upon this nugget.  As you recall last year I also happened on a flyer at the post office and I was able to score a free flu shot.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry

I was out and about yesterday when the headline of this excellent  Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila newspaper El Zocalo caught my eye.  It announced the re-opening of Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry, this quaint crossing station that was closed down after the events of 9/11.

Boquillas del Carmen is located in the Mexican state of Coahuila and borders Texas at the Rio Grande or Rio Bravo as it is known in Mexico...at Big Bend National Park.

Before you decide you are going back to check it out after more than a decade of being closed...may I remind you...you now need a Passcard or a Passport in order to come back to the United States.

Also note their hours of operation Wednesday to Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Most of my Terlingua friends (from the Chili Cook-off) have been there and I had already made plans to go when they closed it down.  I will definitively try to get in a trip this year.

Here is a song by Robert Earl Keen "Gringo Honeymoon" about his trip there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=doKaXwZ2gnM

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Practically No Damage

Was  up early surveying the aftermath of yesterday's strong winds. Actually it did us a favor by knocking down a small dead tree.

We also had a couple of branches that broke from some of the mesquite trees.

So as you can see we were very fortunate.  The neighbor down the road lost a good part of the shingles on his roof and he was at it early making the needed repairs.

Could no longer put off my trip to the laundromat.  While waiting for the clothes I decided to walk to the nearby store and purchase our local newspaper so I could see what damages the wind caused in Del Rio and surrounding areas.  Told the clerk how surprised I was that they still had the Sunday paper and she said that was because there is no Monday edition.  For some reason probably my CRS I forgot it was Tuesday and did not ask nor did I see today's paper on the stand, lol :D

I did however buy El Zocalo which is a very good Mexican newspaper printed in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico and whose coverage of Del Rio news and events is excellent.  All in all it appears there was some damage but nothing severe on either side of the border.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Health Fair

The local newspaper Del Rio News Herald has a very limited free online edition.  It only allows you to read the first paragraph of whatever the cover story might be that day and if you want to read more…well you have to pay.

Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico (the border city across from Del Rio) has a GREAT online section not only covering Del Rio events but also happening all over the various border towns on the American side.  The name of the newspaper is called El Zocalo and they let you read the complete story and most importantly they do so for free.

Reading El Zocalo I came upon an article that invited people to a Health Fair today at the local Casa de la Cultura.  With me not having health insurance I jumped at the chance.  Showed up punctually at 10:00 a.m.  The article mentioned that this would be the third year of them hosting the event.  However there were very few people there and I can’t help but think that if the local paper had mentioned it in their online edition there might have been a better turn out.

This is historic Brown Plaza in the neighborhood known as San Felipe,

As I was waiting in line to take my blood pressure I struck up a conversation with an elderly couple and I asked how they had heard about it and they told me that the priest mentioned it in the last church service they attended.  Another lady said she read it in El Zocalo.

This is La Casa de la Cultura ( the House of Culture) where the Health Fair was held.

Murals painted by local artists at La Casa de la Cultura across from Brown Plaza

The reason I attended was to get my blood glucose level checked because I live in morbid fear of becoming a diabetic.  I have one of those pricking monitors but I hate needles and poking my finger is just something I cannot bring myself to do.  While the health fair was limited in offerings: glucose check, blood pressure, and weighing you…I am grateful that they have these types of events for the general public and that for now I am not a diabetic.

Wanted to welcome David H who signed on as a follower.  Thank you for reading me.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.