Walmart Auto Service Center / Sirloin Stockade / Mr. Gatti's Pizza

I picked up an old rusted roofing nail on my right passenger side the other day and lucky for me I noticed it and even took a picture of it. I took it to the small family business shop we frequent but the guy told me that it wasn't there. How odd I thought as from prior experience I know these things don't come off easily. When I got home I looked over the tire and while the square top had come off...the nail had not...I even used a marker to pinpoint the location. How could he not see it when he took the tire off? I must say I was rather disappointed.

Last August 18, 2022, I bought new shoes for Midnight as well as road hazard, wheel balance, and rotation for the life of the tires. The service guy suggested I not only get my tire fixed but also rotate my tires at the same time...I agreed. He told me it would be at least an hour and a half before they could service my car but the way I see it, it is better to wait in an air-conditioned waiting area and not by the side of the highway waiting on a Triple-A truck to come to my aid. However, I would like to add that I absolutely 💓💓💓 my Triple-A membership and have nothing but praise for the organization and its drivers.

I must say Walmart Auto Service Center has gone high-tech since last year. They asked for my cellphone number and kept on sending me texts letting me know they had started working on my vehicle and that I could click on a link and watch it live?  I tried but I needed to have the Walmart App...if you have been following me for a while you know how I feel about Apps...👎

I walked around the store checking prices as it has been a while since I purchased food since I have at least a year stash of non-perishable items. Was glad to see many things had gone down in price. I also found new products such as Blue Bunny Soft Ice Cream. I will need to try it out but today I did not bring my ice chest with me.

It was almost two o'clock and I was starving so I headed to Sirloin Stockade (a buffet restaurant). An older couple was leaving as I was heading for the door when the gentlemen said," Sorry Honey, we were not able to keep the lights on for you". I just smiled and went inside...that is when I understood what he meant. The lights were out though there were a few people still eating.

The cashier told me they could not accept payments and were now closed. I asked if it was a rolling blackout but she said No...that their power had gone out slowly during the lunch buffet. They currently had an electrician working on it but he had to turn it all off including the A/C...that was my clue to make a beeline for the door...in Del Rio, you can not be without air conditioning.

What else was open where I could eat a buffet-style lunch that included salad, fruit, and hot soup? I knew just the place...Mr. Gatti's Pizza. My friends would be proud of me and probably not believe me if I told them I only ate two small slices of pizza but a lot of the other stuff.

It has been extremely hot this summer and we still have more days in the triple digits to look forward to.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Car inspection / Dairy Queen / Life is Good / DD's

I had intended to drive into town early but as usual, other things came up.  At three o'clock I decided that no matter how hot it was I needed to take my car to get inspected. I lucked out as there was only one car ahead of me and I passed the time talking to the owner's father who is a very jovial individual. I have mentioned this small family business before it is called Mario's Tire Shop. They will gladly do business with you but they do not take checks or credit cards only cash.

Today was Double Spoon Day at Dairy Queen, that means you get an extra spoon that will count toward the five spoons required to get a free meal. I do not care for Apps on my phone, I only have two...Dairy Queen and Border Wait Times.

It was delicious! 😋

Headed to my bank but this time to the branch at the mall since I was running out of cash but forgot to ask for a checkbook cover and a register that my new credit union won't provide for free. Marshalls is across the way from them so went to check it out. They had lots of things on sale but I only purchased this neat contraption that is a 4-in-1can cooler that will accommodate a regular can, tumbler, slim can, or a bottle. It will come in handy when I go camping this fall.

I liked the story behind the guys that started this company. For five years, Bert and John Jacobs drove up and down the East Coast, selling their T-shirt designs on the streets and in college dorms. They slept in their van, lived on PB&J, and showered when they could. Then in 1994, with just $78 to their names, they designed their first Life is Good t-shirt to counter the negative news and discovered how those three simple words could inspire people to focus on the good. Today, Life is Good continues to spread the power of optimism and help kids in need.

Then I headed to DD's where I bought a collapsable dish rack and a little sink mat. The dishwashing rack cost $4.99 and the matching nonslip soft sink mat was $2.99 much cheaper than online or at Ollie's.

Tomorrow will be another day of running around hopefully I can take care of everything in the morning hours.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Ran errands / CRS moments / A/C came on

I do not know what happened to me today but I definitively forgot what it was like to drive into town.  I do not know if it is because it has been a while since I left home or my CRS is getting worse. It is a good thing I stopped trusting my memory and made a detailed list of all the errands I needed to run.

As usual, I got a late start and was almost in town when I realized I was not seeing clearly. I thought my face shield was perhaps dirty and when I looked in the mirror it looked clean...then it hit me...did I remember to put my glasses on?  I looked again, but I was wearing my face shield with a glasses frame to keep it in place so I could not tell. I took off the shield at the stoplight, and sure enough, I did not have my glasses on, but it would have taken too long to drive back home.

This previously would not have been a problem as I always carry spare glasses, sunglasses, change, and all the stuff most car owners carry in their vehicles. However, since I started having car problems I emptied the car of everything in case it burned to a crisp.

The first stop was the southside post office where there was not a single place to park so parked on the street. This older lady decided to do the same but she was not doing a good job so I came back and moved my vehicle to give her more room but most importantly to keep her from hitting me. I could not believe how much mail I had. Since it was late decided to trust this post office and mailed my payment from here rather than drive to the northside.

Headed to the City of Del Rio Recycling Center where I got rid of a large bag of magazines, pamphlets, and basically most of our junk mail as well as our metal cans. As I was getting ready to head to my next stop I looked down at my tires and one of them seemed low. Decided to head to Mario's Tire Shop instead. The guy's dad told me that three of my tires were low not just the one I brought it in for. So for $2.00 plus $1.00 tip, I got that potential problem resolved.

Forgot to mention that I also did not bring cash with me as I usually pay for everything with a credit card but this small mom-and-pop shop does not accept them so had to make an unplanned trip to the bank.

When I went by the main HEB the parking lot was full as usual so headed to Little HEB instead. I was in and out in 15 minutes. It was so hot I did not have the energy to finish the rest of my errands...they will have to wait for another day.

We had a high of 101 degrees today and though we have already reached both 102 and 103 in April 2021 somehow it just felt a lot hotter than that. Sure glad we do not live in Cotulla or Laredo! It is no surprise that the A/C came on this afternoon.

This evening Boerne and areas in Bexar County (San Antonio) got pelted with more hail.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Header Picture

Blogging from the library

I have been getting up early in the mornings to run errands before the suffocating heat takes over. It has been positively hellish hot not just in Del Rio but in the entire state of Texas. Took the car early in the morning for its annual inspection and I guess everyone else had the same idea. He told me it would be a 40-minute wait but people began to get impatient and left so my wait was cut in half.

With inspection document in hand headed over to the courthouse to purchase my license tags. Would have liked to run a couple more errands but I needed to head back home. Tried to do a post from the house but kept on getting bumped so decided to come to the library.

To think that when I began my blog Del Rio was pretty much a Wi-Fi dead zone.

I could not for the life of me find a parking space as they were having some type of event.  I almost gave up but I needed to answer a lot of emails that I just can not do from my cell phone.  My clumsy fingers are of no help.

They finally installed the new computers though I think they may well be the old ones, can not tell as I brought my old laptop just in case. It keeps on telling me that an error has occurred while trying to save or publish my post...so we will see how that goes :-(

An hour after I got home I heard the sound of thunder, went outside to check it out and had to make a mad dash to remove the clothes from the clothesline.  I was not prepared so only manage to get 35 gallons from my primitive rain catchment system.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Paid up and up-to-date for another year

The first thing on the agenda today was to go down to the County Courthouse and pay our property taxes.  In Val Verde County if you pay them in October you get a tiny little discount but we will take it :D

The license plates division is also housed here so I got the tags for dad's old car and headed to the Auto Parts store to finally purchase a new headlight for it so it could pass the State Inspection.  Remember I have mentioned Mario's Tire Shop before on this blog?  Their dad has an used car lot next door where he also performs oil changes and minor car repairs.

I was originally going to take it to my mechanic but decided they were closer.  He only charged me $5.00 ...I am sure my mechanic would have charged me twice as much.  I then went over to his son's place and got my inspection sticker.  Dad's old car is good for another year!

For those of you that follow Walter's World...there is finally news on that front.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.