105 Degrees

It reached 105 degrees at 1:36 p.m. something that does not usually happen until four or five o’clock in the afternoon and I was crazy enough to be out at this particular time.

There is no way I will ever repeat my trip to downtown Houston just to go to the bank, so made sure I took care of that chore before I left. 

The water bill has not arrived yet so had to go to the City of Del Rio Water department to leave a deposit equal to last months bill.  It would be a bummer to come home in this sweltering heat after a long drive from Houston to find the water had been disconnected.

Trouble was asking about Walter.  Had not seen him since the day he bolted out the downed back fence.  Spoke to the kids last week and they told me they had gone to a party that day and came home late at night to find my note.  They found him grazing in the empty lots behind the church.

The following day their father took him to their cousin’s house and that is where he was until yesterday afternoon that I once again saw him in his corral.  Today when I was getting ready to go into town I saw him out on the street where two cars almost hit him…he had gotten out again!

I ran to get my keys so I could go tell the kids but by this time they were both running after him trying to catch him and that made Walter run even more.  They were finally successful and I watched them take him back to his corral.  I do not know what has gotten into that horse :-(

With gas prices going up decided to fill up.  Regular gasoline was going for $3.45 a gallon today.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Trip Downtown

It rained again yesterday so I could not mow the lawn.  Had not gotten around to reading my e-mails in over a week so did that as well as read my snail mail.  Back in April I had gone in person to my local insurance agency and asked that they change my mailing address to my Del Rio one.  At the time I also wanted to pay my home insurance premium but was told that it was not due until June and an invoice had not been generated yet so they would not even know what to charge me.

Thought it was strange that I did not get a bill in May or early June.  Knew I would be making a trip back home so decided I would handle it when I got here. The reason I did not get my bill was because they never made the address change and it was mailed to my house.  Turns out it was due June 15^th, I was very upset because I always strive to make my payments in a timely fashion.  To make a long story short I had to make a deposit to my checking account so I could make the payment and thus keep my policy from being canceled.

Went to the closest IBC, which is a 20-mile round trip and lord and behold…it wasn’t there anymore! It had been closed for months per the HEB employees, as had other branches in the area. Came home and called the main office to find out why and was told they closed all the IBC locations located inside HEB and Kroger stores.  Only stand-alone locations were kept open in the greater Houston area.  My choice was to drive to Pearland, Sugarland, Katy, Kirby or downtown Houston.  Knew I was probably going to regret it but drove to the closest one, that being downtown.

Located on McKinney and Main had no problem locating it…the problem was where to find parking.  In search of a parking space I managed to get lost for a while but found it once more. There were three employees outside passing out flyers and I got one of them, a very nice guy named Blake, to hop in the car with me and lead me to their parking garage.  As expected the parking was tight and I did not want to hit the Lexus next to the only available spot so he offered to park my car. Thank you Blake!

It was fun trying to find my way out of downtown especially since I had not been there in ten years.  When I first moved to Houston I worked in downtown for three years and I swore I would never work there again.  Of course back then they did not have Park and Ride or the rail system.  Wow, I was very impressed with the rail trains I saw today.  Somehow even though I was a nervous wreck, I could not help but notice the beauty of downtown Houston.  I was very impressed! 

Tonight was the Homeowners Association annual meeting and election of officers but with all the drama I went through today decided to skip it. Instead I turned on the A/C, bought me a Pollo Asado and accompanied it with a nice glass of wine.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Cold and Windy

I woke up at 3:33 a.m. to the sound of a heavy downpour. Got up and looked out the window and was thankful that the rain predicted finally materialized. However, the heavy downpour only lasted five minutes and then it was just a light rain that ceased by 3:50 a.m.

For some unknown reason every time I have to go somewhere or do something important I cannot go to sleep…I hate that.  Early this morning I went to start up the car and brought it around the house.  Man, it was cold and windy!!  

This is not the type of weather that I would choose to go out in but we did not have much choice as mother had a doctor’s appointment and multiple errands to run.  Just as we were going out the door I heard the sound of a weed eater.  Yeap, it was Mata Gatos (Cat Killer) who finally decided to show up to finish cutting mom’s lawn (weeds).  Of all the beautiful days we have had since he came in December he decided to show up today on pretty much the worst day possible…go figure.

I am happy to report that I officially have a new checking account at IBC or should I re-phrase that and say “the gentleman and I whom unknowingly shared the same account number for four and a half years, now have separate new bank account numbers”.  I sincerely hope that this has served as a wake up call to their internal audit department as well as their management.

I do have to give credit to their branch manager who is a true professional and who addressed all my issues and concerns and made no excuses for her personnel.  I like people who are straightforward and honest. She is a great asset to the institution she works for.

You might ask, “Belinda why didn’t you open up an account at another bank?”  Have to admit that it did cross my mind, but up until the aforementioned incident I have never had any problems.  They are opened 7 days a week and most importantly they are the only bank in town that have a physical presence in Houston.

“Why is a physical presence in Houston important?”  I rarely if ever carry cash on me and if I have to pay to have my lawn mowed or do some repairs in my home I like to pay with a check.  The people that do this type of work usually do not have bank accounts thus the need for a physical presence so they can go cash them.

Mother and I were gone for about four hours.  When we came home I fully expected to find the lawn mowed, but he only weed ate around two trees and a bougainvillea shrub.  This is just totally unacceptable but I am going to stay out of this only because I do not want to upset her and she is after all the one who hired him and who is going to pay him, that is if he ever finishes.  Worthless, worthless, worthless…

Good night, it has been a long day.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Joint Problem

To say that I got a good night sleep would be a lie.  Could not go to sleep no matter how hard I tried.  Finally got up at 7:30 a.m. and people in the blogsphere know that unless I am traveling or have some pressing business…this gal is NOT a morning person.

We had beautiful weather and a little bit of wind, which is conducive to doing laundry and actually getting it to dry (we don’t have a drier, we use a clothesline).  However I could not get my mind off of my shared bank account number with an absolute stranger.

Got the phone book out and looked up the gentlemen’s name and thank goodness he had an actually landline number listed.  Debated for a while whether to call him or not and inform him of the situation since I knew darn well IBC Bank was NOT going to do it.

At noon after weighing the pros and cons decided if the shoe was on the other foot, I would want to know about our joint problem.  I must say he was a very nice gentleman and just from talking to him I could tell he was a man of honor, and that was of great comfort to me.

He has not one but several accounts at IBC and informed me that the one we have in common is not a checking account but a CD account.  That is the reason why no money was actually commingled or compromised in our duplicate account. 

Around 3:58 p.m. I got a hysterical call from the little boy who had unsuccessfully tried to help me at the bank yesterday but did not have the cojones to go up to the manager in charge and interrupt his dual conversation on his cell phone and regular phone nor his immediate supervisor who was engaged in a very loud personal conversation with one of his “boyfriends”.

Did he really think I was going to leave it at “Believe me you have nothing to worry about.  If I thought your account would be compromised in anyway, I would be the first person telling you to close it.”  He obviously does not know me…

He wanted to know HOW I had been able to locate Mr.____  I told him “ how do you think?  The phone book of course” his next question was “what did you tell him?”  My answer “why don’t you tell ME what YOU are doing about my problem?”  His reply “I told you your account was not being compromised”. 

Well this little boy better be trembling in his boots (even though he was wearing shoes) because my account may be a little measly one which they can easily afford to lose but I don’t think they want to lose this gentleman’s business.  He must have scared him silly for him to have called me in such a panic :D

This afternoon a man from my mom’s congregation came by because “he had noticed her grass was tall”.  I had not seen him in four years and though I cannot prove it, I think his son had something to do with the disappearance of my beloved 14-year-old cat that mysteriously vanished the last time he mowed her yard. 

Of course mother hired him on the spot.  I would not have a problem with it if it weren’t for the fact that he never quite completes the job.  He will mow one day and then show up two or three weeks later to “finish the job”.  There is nothing I hate more than people who do not honor their word or lack a work ethic, to me they are BUMS.  However, I cannot say anything bad about him or my mother takes it as a personal attack on her friends.  It was hard to keep my mouth shut but I know deep down inside that he is NOT going to show up tomorrow.  Oh well, it is her money not mine.

I would like to welcome the Foot family (Big Foot, Little Foot and Underfoot) for signing on as followers.  Thank you.

Incompetent Institutions

On the agenda today was to go by the P.O. Box, the library, the bank, the county clerk’s office, and the pharmacy.

My life has been a whirlwind since September and I have not had the time to focus on things that really required my attention.  I did find it odd that I had not seen a bank statement in a while.  Decided to go to the bank and inquire.  What I found was a horrific nightmare.

Turns out someone (they told me the name but I have no idea who that person is) signed up for e-mail statements for his account and somehow registered mine.  But wait it gets better, turns out that we both have THE SAME ACCOUNT NUMBER.  How can this be?  How can a bank be so terribly incompetent to issue the same number to two different customers?  Even worst is how did they not know?  Do they not have an audit department?

I might add that I did not just open my account.  I have had my account since August 2007 and the other person since July 2007.  If it weren’t because I stopped getting my statement I would have never found out.  I presume that other person already knows or maybe not since he has not notified the bank. Thankfully I don’t have much money but imagine if the bank had deducted his checks from mine or mine from his.  This is just totally unacceptable!!

Yesterday, when I went to the P.O. Box I found another jury summons for my mother.  This is the third summons in five years even though each time she receives one I have gone and personally hand delivered an exemption request and been assured that she will not get another one in the future.



Val Verde county courthouse



For those readers who are not from Texas or are from another country a person gets a jury summons about every two years or so to appear at the courthouse from a pool of citizens whose names are derived from voter registration records and/or driver’s license data banks.  However if that person is over 70 years of age they can choose to exclude themselves.  Theoretically this should only have to be done once, but this will be the third time mother has to file one.

Back of courthouse where the County Clerk's offices are located

 Last week I called in to refill mother’s medications.  The automated service said they would be ready on Dec 23^rd but I did not go to pick them up till yesterday.  Only one was refilled because the other two needed authorization from the doctor so the pharmacy sent the doctor’s office a second fax.

Today I went to pick up her prescriptions and no response from the doctor’s office so will have to make another trip.  Guess today did not turn out like I envisioned but heck at least I am alive and in somewhat good health.