A sunny day in the 80's but change is on the way...

With my nighttime comedy shows on Christmas hiatus, I have been watching Hallmark, ION, and Lifetime movies in their place and usually doze off before the movie ends which being an insomniac works out well for me. 

This morning woke up to Paquito whining demanding to be fed at 6:00 a.m.  As I opened the door to let him in I could barely see outside as the fog was so thick.  However, by nine o'clock the sun was shining brightly. Today we reached a high of 81 degrees.

Being Wednesday it is trash day and I usually do not take mine out until after 10:30 a.m. when everyone is already at work and I do not have to deal with people driving by.  As usual, I had to go pick-up trash the darn litterbugs throw along the outer fence line. There was absolutely no one around but a sedan coming way down the street. Such is my luck that it was a car I did not recognize but soon saw was driven by Pollito. Here I thought I had finally gotten rid of him and again he stops to talk to me when I am busy and he is not even wearing a face mask. I forced myself to be civil and greeted him but kept on walking as I tended to the task at hand.

Here I thought I had until next week to finish raking the leaves before New Year's but last night the worthless rowdy drunk reminded me otherwise as he and his kids were popping fireworks. Fortunately, it did not last long but definitively a glimpse of what's to come.

This evening we are expecting a cold front that will be ushered in after midnight with strong wind gusts that will bring the temperature down to the freezing mark.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Header Picture

Second day of record setting temperatures / That hideous man

For the second day in a row, we set a new high for the day. Both yesterday and today we reached 109 degrees.

It was miserably hot even at 8:00 a.m. as I was watering the trees.  Paquito was waiting for me by the kitchen door and as usual, ran inside before I could do anything about it. I am getting much too old for this...hope to have a post on the other blog with regards to this soon.

I have also been watering the trees during the day in between commercial breaks using one-gallon milk jugs but the trees are in pretty bad shape as they are old and ant-infested. 

During one such commercial break this afternoon I went out the kitchen door heading to the front of the house when I ran unexpectedly into Pollito in his new bigger tractor or backhoe or whatever it's called. 

He had the nerve to stop and turn it off to start a conversation with me. The first thing out of his mouth was...when do you want me to start clearing the mesquite trees on the other lot?  Is he freaking kidding me? It was ONE YEAR AGO this month that he came for 10 minutes and never came back to finish the job!

I could feel my blood pressure go up...perhaps it was the heat or just my sheer loathing for this individual but I wanted to CUSS the hell out of him but of course had to keep it bottled in because I have to remind myself that this is NOT my house and my mother would not approve of such unladylike behavior.

Like I told him the other time he asked...we are currently self-isolating and do not have the money at this time. He looked at me weirdly as I walked away. When I finally decide to clear that lot, I hope to find another person to do it even if they charge me twice as much.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Day 9 / That Darn Man!

This morning did not start out well. It was cool and drizzly and Paquito decided to serenade me by my window and did not shut up until I got up to feed him. I now have to bring the cats in through the front door to keep Elvis (the stray black cat) from eating their food...I feed him separately.

When I opened the door Paquito, and Nico rushed in. Katie after more than a year is still afraid of me so I have to leave the door open and go back inside or she won't come in. I then went out of the kitchen door to feed Elvis. For some reason, he decided to come around the front and seeing the door open came in only to have me run him off as I do not want him near the boys. You will have to read my other blog and see his picture to understand why.

The boys left a track of wet and dirty paws so I had to mop them and with Elvis having come in I also had to disinfect the tile. I overdid the Lysol so I left the door open to air it out. I had to stand guard in case he tried to come back in when a white truck comes to a stop next to the gate. That darn man rolled down the window...he was about to get off...when his phone rings so he stays inside but we had already seen each other.

In case you are wondering who that darn man is...you got it...Pollito!  I closed the door furious that he had stopped and went looking for his card so I could call him to let him know I was on Day 9 of self-isolation. I could not find it and/or my plastic gloves so just grabbed my mask and cracked the door open.  He had already let himself in, I suppose through the gate because he was all decked out and was not going to walk through the down fence of the adjacent lot. The first thing I told him was that I was in self-isolation...he looked surprised.

I asked him what he needed and he said he noticed that the baby mesquites had grown in just a week and it would be better to cut them now before they got bigger as well as the three large mesquite trees. I called him back in July 2019 when he came for 10 or 15 minutes and said he would come back the next day and now March 2020...8 months later he comes back to want to finish the job?

I told him that with the economy tanking I was not going to buy the shed I intended so I no longer had a  need to clear that lot. He also knows that I hate to have any yard work done when the ground is wet and in this case saturated by the recent rains. He insisted and I told him I just plain did not have the money to which he said he could clear it and I could pay him later. I thanked him but told him that was not the way I did business. He looked disappointed and told me to give him a call whenever I needed and took out his card. I told him I had his number he walked toward the door and I put my hand out to tell him to stop we needed to keep our distance so he tried to put the card on one of the columns but it fell off so he got it off the ground and gave it to me anyway....grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

I closed the door and sprayed the hell out of it with my disinfectant and left it on the floor as I ran in and washed my hands very thoroughly. Why the heck can't people leave me alone? He ruined my day!

We had a low of 64 and a high of 82 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Pollito / Propane delivery

I got up early this morning as I had a lot of things to do today. It was a little foggy and very humid. Being trash day I grabbed my five-gallon bucket and went to pick-up trash along the outer fence line. Wouldn't you know it a white pick-up stopped and it was no other than Pollito with his wino sidekick in tow.

Would you believe he had the gall to ask "when are you going to get me to clean your lot?"  I had to bite my tongue to keep from hurling insults at him.  I calmly said, "I have been waiting for you to finish the job you started back in July!".  He actually LAUGHED like it was a joke and then said he had been really busy.  He noted that he had sent his sidekick but that his lawnmower was left unrepairable after he mowed my yard. I told him that both the north and south lots require a TRACTOR, not a lawnmower.  I added that I need the southern lot cleared but in one day at the most two when he has a chance.  I am not going to hold my breath on him showing up.

You might ask yourself...Why don't you hire someone else to do the job?  Because it is difficult to find someone to clear lots that have a tractor and the only one that I was able to get an estimate from charged a little more than double what Pollito does.

I am glad I picked up the trash as it then started drizzling and being the Queen of Procrastination I would have put it off for another day.

Last February I ran into my old propane guy as he was driving by the house in a propane truck from an outfit in Eagle Pass, Texas a town 60 miles south of Del Rio.  He gave me his card and I called him but it turns out he is no longer employed there so I called our local provider.

The propane truck was manned by a young lady in her 20's.  I am glad they gave a woman the opportunity to work in what is mostly a male-dominated industry.  I purchased 100 gallons of propane at a cost of $2.35 per gallon for a total of $235.24.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Headache / Dairy Queen / Dilapidated Trailers

After all, I accomplished last Wednesday I was pretty much beat for days. Thursday I had a terrible headache.  All my life I have suffered from them but they miraculously went away when I quit working.  I have no idea what brought this one on.

Friday I had to run errands in town.  I do not know if you recall that a year ago on the 4th of July another neighbor's house burnt down due to fireworks. The next day the County came with heavy machinery and helped the owners knock it down.

I kept on hearing heavy machinery both Thursday and Friday but when I drove by there it was Pollito knocking down two old dilapidated trailers that had been vacant for years.  Nice to see Val Verde County finally doing something about all these abandoned eyesores.

Swung by Crown Recycling (where they pay you) for your aluminum cans. Made $5.25 which is better than nothing.  Then went by the City of Del Rio Recycling Center to take my plastics, metals, cardboard and paper products.

It was so darn hot but I still needed to go make copies and since the local library is the cheapest place to make them at .10 cents a copy headed that way.  As soon as I walked inside it was like I had walked into heaven!  It was so nice and cool I could not bring myself to go back into the heat.  So settled in one of their comfy chairs and read the newspaper.

It was was 4:00 p.m. and I had not eaten all day so decided to reward myself and headed to Dairy Queen.  For some reason, Texas Dairy Queen does not honor the national specials we see in television commercials.  I wanted the hamburger/fries/drink with a free small sundae special for $6.00 but had to pay $7.99 for it.

I do not know why like Whataburger, Dairy Queen in Del Rio is hit and miss.  If you are going to cheat you want to make it worth your while otherwise I will just settle for my daily salad.  The fries were cold and did not taste fresh (it is a good thing I share them with the cats). The hamburger bun was cold and the meat tasteless.

The only tasty thing was the sundae.  I won't be coming back anytime soon.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Sirens / Yard Work / Cobwebs - UPDATED

Was outside by 7:00 a.m. picking up trash along the outside fence line with Paquito following me around like he was a dog.  Cars were whizzing by as they were headed to work and hard as I tried putting him back in the safety of the yard he kept coming back out.

We had 60 mph winds in June that knocked down a lot of limbs that I had put aside hoping that Pollito would take them away but since he has not been back decided to take them to the curve and let the trash take them.  I was hauling them out when Pollito passed by and waved at me...how did he expect me to wave back with tree limbs on both hands?  That man has no shame!  What I did give him was a dirty look.

Got one of my old 30-pound dog food bags and filled it up with more debris ended filling up two more bags. While I was doing that I could hear sirens heading into the neighborhood but that is nothing unusual.  The vehicle with the sirens turned on the street before ours so I never found out if it was an ambulance, police or a fire truck.

Even more vehicles with sirens blaring headed into the neighborhood.  I happened to look up and saw a black cloud not far away.  A while later as I was dragging more stuff to the curb two ladies who were on their morning walk said to me "whatever you do DO NOT burn your weeds".

They stopped to talk to me and said a lady that had recently moved to a house down the road was doing yard work and decided to burn the weeds...it got out of control and burnt the house down.

We had some old magazines dating back to the '70s that were yellow and dusty and did not make good recycling material that also went to the trash heap.

I finally got sick and tired of all the cobwebs in the garage and the back shed and got rid of them as well.  I drank a bottled iced coffee that cooled me off and energized me. Did laundry and cleaned the kitchen. It was so hot today we had a low of 78 a high of 103 with a heat index of 107 degrees.

It is no wonder that my back and my arms are aching at this hour.  I have not been able to find my aspirins and I do not want to take a Paracetamol.  I just may turn in early this evening or not.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Pollito / Darn Flippers / A Henry Lookalike

Yesterday I got a late start trying to make my way into town and by the time I was ready, it was way too hot to go anywhere. This morning I made sure I got up early (actually I never went to sleep) to get my morning chores out of the way while the temperatures were still tolerable.

I was loading the frozen water bottles into my ice chest when Pollito and his wino sidekick drove by. They were headed to his son's house down the road pulling an empty trailer which usually has his tractor on it both looked surprised, I presume to see me outside early or because they have YET to finish the job I hired them for.  As I spotted them  I smiled and waved...ordinarily Pollito would pull over but this time he kept going...jajajajajaja...it was too funny :D

My first stop was the post office to pick up my mail and to no one's surprise, it was nothing but darn letters and postcards from house flippers wanting to purchase my Houston home.  How many darn letters have you sent me in the past twelve years without receiving a reply?  When are you going to GIVE UP???

Second stop was HEB as I have not had a chance to do a grocery run to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico in some time.  I was minding my own business when I saw this TALL good looking guy with a ponytail and glasses...I had to do a double-take!!!  Yeap, he looked like a clone of Henry Garza. You might ask yourself who is Henry Garza?  He is the lead singer/guitarist of my favorite band...Los Lonely Boys :)

I always purchase perishables last so as I made my way to the dairy aisle I ran into him again. I just had to stop and ask if anyone had remarked about his amazing resemblance to Henry...and without having to ask what Henry he just smiled and said they had. We talked about their music for a while but I could not get the courage to ask if I could take his picture.

It is so funny because Leilani (a blog reader) had previously said I should go to San Angelo, Texas and try to interview Enrique Garza (The Lonely Papi) a darn good looking widowed Tall Weathered Cowboy and patriarch of the Garza family using my blog and readers request as a passport to do so. This guy doppelgänger said he wanted to drive to San Angelo to meet him as well and maybe share a laugh about his resemblance to his son.  By the way, this lookalike doppelgänger is from Del Rio. He certainly made my day!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Los Lonely Boys

This is my FAVORITE song by them...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvkzoqQ5Oak
Enjoy...you're welcome :)

Crop of Weeds and Stickers

Now that I know we will not be affected by rains this weekend I bit the bullet and called Pollito this morning to come to mow our crop of weeds and stickers.

Guess who is back?

He said he would come this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. and believe it or not he actually showed up on time.  Of course, true to form he only stayed about 15 minutes just enough to tackle the big weeds. 

Looking South toward Walter's old corral the little horse
that now lives there got scared by the noise from Pollito's tractor.

Said he would be back tomorrow morning to finish using the lawnmower and weed eater as it was too hot to get it done today.  I do not blame him the heat was stifling. We had a high of 99 a low of 74 with a heat index of 110 degrees today.

See all those trees behind the northern fence line?  Those, unfortunately, are in my lot adjacent to my parent's property and will need to be addressed soon.  In case you are wondering...YES...those are horrible Mesquite trees :-(

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Thrilled to leave the house

I can not remember the last time I was so thrilled to drive into Del Rio proper.  My first stop was Tractor & Supply to buy the boys food.  When I got to the parking lot I started moving stuff from the car to the trunk to make room for my purchases.

All of a sudden a white truck hauling a long trailer parked sideways longways behind me and a man with a cowboy hat and yellow colored glasses (the type Marvin Zindler used to wear but his were blue tinted ones) got off and made a beeline towards me...WTH?

I guess he saw my puzzled look...then he said...don't you recognize me?  Then it hit me that it was...Pollito!  He looked taller like he had lost weight was dressed in a clean outfit with a brand new cowboy hat and "those yellow glasses".

He said my weeds were getting high and he could mow them next week.  I again for the umpteenth time told him that I wanted to wait until everything was dry because I did not want more ruts!  He was with a younger guy who was headed inside the store and he followed him as I kept on moving more stuff to my trunk.

It was a good thing that when I came back out he was gone.  Headed to the P.O. Box and it was crammed full that is when I realized it had been a week since I was last here.

Ran more errands and had planned on stopping at the Sirloin Stockade for lunch but when I got there the parking lot was full.  There is no way I am going to stand in line for anything...with the exception of perhaps a Los Lonely Boys concert.

Today we had a high of 91 and a low of 73 degrees...each day from now on it will be getting hotter.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Snake / Yard Work / Water Catchment

Began my day early as I wanted to tackle a portion of the backyard where the cats have been getting into a lot of stickers and where I usually park my car in order to unload groceries since it is closer to the kitchen and the nosy neighbors can't see what the heck I am bringing in.

We have not had much sun until today so the first thing I did was take my solar lights outside to be charged.  For those new to my blog...I am deathly afraid of snakes...I HATE THEM!!!  I can not even Google anything about them because a snake image will always pop up no matter the webpage and it traumatizes me.

I know it was the cats that killed it since this "baby snake" was dead, had a couple of ants eating it but for good measure, I pounded it with my shovel, moved it to where I was filling in the ruts covered it with dissolved horse pine pellets and as an extra measure of precaution pounded the dirt some more.

Early Saturday morning I was headed to HEB. I was opening the gate when a white truck came to a screeching halt and then went in reverse...it was Pollito...wanting to know when I was going to call him to do the yard.  Told him after the rains of this week pass and once the ground dries as I do NOT want any more RUTS.

After getting rid of the "dead snake" I went to put on my rubber boots, grabbed my trusted garden shears and began snipping away at the weeds after spraying myself silly with mosquito repellent. The mosquitos are everywhere including inside the house and Daddy Long Legs and his cobwebs are doing little to trap them.

I cleared an area big enough for my car and a little more but the pictures did not turn out very well. I filled in the ruts with almost sand like horse pine pellets that have been exposed to a lot of rain these past months.

Paquito was my supervisor this afternoon

Here is part of the debris I cleared and of course Paquito, Nico, and Sonny had to play in it and then mark it...Darn cats!!!

It appears "the boys" were worn out from watching me work so they took a nap...

Paquito napping by the 32-gallon water catchment
containers and the 5-gallon bucket.

Nico and Sonny sharing a hug as they napped completely
 exhausted after having to watch me do yard work.

I moved some more of my rain catchment around to three and five-gallon buckets as we are expecting rain all this coming week and I need more room in the 32-gallon containers I have dedicated for that purpose.

It has been hot and humid it reached 90 today with a heat index of 95 degrees.  I hope I can get some well-deserved sleep tonight.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Mr. Joe's wife / Pollito / Heavy downpours

I mentioned on a prior post that Mr. Joe, mother's nice neighbor mowed along the outer fence line.  We have so many darn litterbugs that throw their trash out their car window but I had not had a chance to go pick it up.

Trash day in this part of the county is on Wednesday.  Looked out the window and the sky was really dark so decided to hurry up and go pick up the trash before the storms began.  Mr. Joe's wife came out rolling her own container to the curve and we got to talking.

Turns out she also goes to Ciudad Acuña for pretty much the same thing I do...doctors, labs, the vet and groceries.  The only difference is I go in the mornings or at noon and she prefers late in the afternoon. Told me she got home at 11:00 p.m. the other night after spending two and a half hours in line.

Pollito (the lawn man) drove by in his 18 wheeler dump truck and stopped to join the conversation though this is a narrow street and he was blocking a lane.  He asked me when I wanted him to come mow the weeds.  I told him in May but only if the ground was not wet because he had left ruts the last time from his tractor.  Also threw in that I would prefer if he could get it done in one or two days so it would all grow out evenly.  Last time it took him two and a half months...grrrrrrrrr!!

All of a sudden the skies opened up and we received a very heavy downpour. Thus, I did not get to pick up all the trash I had intended as we all headed different directions seeking cover.  By the afternoon the sun was out and we had beautiful blue skies while the temperatures were still in the '70s.  I knew it was going to probably be the last Spring Day we would enjoy in a while. Today as well as for the coming days we are expected to be in the '90s...sigh!... :-(

Last night I was so tired I fell asleep watching an NBA game I really wanted to see.  Was going to get up and make a post but decided my sleep was more important. I, therefore, can not wish you Terlingua Dreams because it is 1:36 p.m.  So have a nice afternoon instead.

Weeds / Pollito

It seems all I can do is write about my ever growing weeds rather than tackling them head-on.  I so hate yard work the closest I have come is picking up tree limbs from the heavy winds of late. Where is my tall weathered cowboy who enjoys yard work?

Trees are already blooming but look at the height of the grass

More weeds at the northern part of the property.

If weeds could be pretty, they would look like this...

 
Or these...

Have all these little weed bushes growing all over

Though it is just February and it has been cold this winter, this little tree never lost its foliage.

Neither did the pomegranate trees...

This is looking at the southern part of the property. This is the last part that Pollito cleared.

Speaking of Pollito he saw me outside and he and his little wino helper stopped to chat.  He asked if I was ready to have my grass (weeds) mowed.  I hesitated but then remembered that it took him three to four months to complete a two or three-day job so said Yes.

Paquito

At least I have the hope of him completing the job "sometime" without me having to actually unbox the electric lawn mower I bought two or three years ago.  Wish the cats would earn their keep and help me.

Paquito and Nico

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.

Venting my First World problems

I got up early (for me) so I could run the errands I have not been able to get to this week waiting on the yard man to finish clearing the lots. Went to little HEB, the post office, Walmart, Stripes and was back home before noon.

The first thing I noticed this morning was how much my arms and back hurt.  Thursday I decided to trim or re-trim the trees his assistant did not get to or did not do an adequate job with.  His assistant is a guy in his 70's who is in charge of mowing, trimming and weed eating. 

Unbeknownst to him, I refer to dad's friend as Pollito (young male chick)...because per his words, not mine, he likes Pollitas (young chicks) by young he likes them in their 40's top 50's...he is 69 years old.

Pollito

Earlier this week Pollito told me he had to go to another job but his assistant would remain. Saw him working hard so went to take him some cold bottled water during his break only to find that he had already downed two beers and was about to pop open a third. I am not a prude and I certainly enjoy a cold beer but not when I am working. He left soon afterward.

I am glad I got my ladder out and trimmed as many trees as I could and added them to the pile of trash as Pollito came back on Thursday afternoon with his big truck to remove the debris from the two lots cleared.
 

He started clearing the final lot on the southern part of mother's property but did not make much headway.  Pollito did not show up Friday or today...hoping he shows up tomorrow?  This has really stressed me out and kept me from doing other things I need to get to.

Next week we have an out-of-town doctor's appointment and they called to re-schedule it for an earlier time.  There is no way I can make that appointment without having to go the day before and staying overnight at our favorite motel.

When did my life get so complicated?  Once again just venting my First World problems...

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.