Not what we expected but we will take it...

The weather forecasters have been promising rain since Monday but it eluded us until this afternoon. However, it was more drama than precipitation. A strong wind gust came first, kicking up so much dirt I could barely see in front of me as I ran to bring in all the cats' bowls while they were still eating. This was followed by loud thunder and then a three-minute shower.

This is all I got in my primitive rain catchment.  Since it had not rained in a long time I got more dirt from the roof than water.

This is the larger of two metal tubs
I used to have for the stray dogs

Because I knew the quality of the rain I would capture would not be pristine I did not open the lids of the water containers that from lack of rain I had filled with City of Del Rio water. Del Rio gets its water from San Felipe Springs which then feeds San Felipe Creek and that I have featured many times on this blog.

This weekend I spent raking all those pesky mesquites pods managing to fill the trash can that thankfully went into the city dump today. Even so, I still have a ton more for next week and was afraid that the rain would make them sprout. My arms still hurt 😢

You can see my little piles of
those nasty pods 😠

You can see from the above picture how little rain actually fell and how many more piles of pods I have to deal with.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Feeling sluggish

This Texas heat is taking a toll on me, I say this every summer but this particular year I am truly feeling it. To make matters worst we are in extreme drought conditions. While many parts of Texas have seen their fair share of rain Val Verde County that hugs the Mexican border has not. http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?TX

Last week I went to Lions Park along the banks of San Felipe Springs (where we get our drinking water) and it is evident the water flow is not as fast moving as in prior years. Still, it is a free popular hangout for the locals as not everyone can go to Lake Amistad for recreation.

Have lost track of all the three digit days we have had thus far including today.  If it wasn't because I have to take mother to her physical therapy as well as her doctor's appointments, I would not leave the house.

I needed to run several errands this afternoon but after just a few stops I threw in the towel and came home. Uruguay is sounding really good to me right now. On the bright side, the Chili Cook-off is less than four months away.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

For the first time in a very long while I have not suffered from NBA withdrawal. I am beginning to not care. These super teams that are forming are ruining it for me.  If Kawhi wants to leave to join LeBron and the Lakers, so be it!

I have mentioned before that I have commitment issues. I am so glad I never bought his jersey or I would be burning it right about now....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

A quiet place

Every now and then we all need a quiet place to retreat to.  Of course my number one choice would be Terlingua.  However, that is not possible in these awful three digit temperatures of West Texas.
 

 
I also like to go to my favorite campground at Lake Amistad...Governors Landing...but not in a non-air conditioned car.

So I decided to go to my old stomping grounds about two blocks from where we lived when we first moved to Del Rio.

I think I have mentioned on prior posts that moving from Austin, Texas to Del Rio was a cultural shock.

Dad had interviewed in Uvalde, Eagle Pass and Del Rio.  However, the job offer came from Del Rio.  Mother was hoping for Uvalde, Dad was hoping for Eagle Pass and I was hoping they would forget about moving and we could stay in Austin.

One of the things I loved most about Austin was going swimming at Barton Springs, it was cold as the dickens even when the temperatures were in the 100's.

While not Barton Springs by a long shot San Felipe Springs offered a nice place to cool off and make friends.

This particular area along the creek is not a popular location like say by the State Park or San Felipe Lions Park...both of which I have featured on this blog on several occasions...in particular during Easter when you are allowed to camp out for the weekend.

After the deadly floods of 1998 they made this into a park.  During the weekdays there aren't too many people here which suits me just fine.

This day it was just me and some friendly ducks.  They came up to me hoping I would feed them.  Sorry, maybe next time...

I liked her little poofy hair :)

 They made a nice couple.

Even Dad's old car seemed happy here in the shade.

Of course there are always those darn people that don't care about putting trash where it belongs, grrrrrrrrrr!!!

Apart from the above two pictures, everything was beautiful. The sound of the water had such a calming and relaxing effect.  If I had a strong back and could drag my zero gravity chair by the banks...I bet I could of taken a nice nap.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Podiatrist / Library / San Felipe Springs

What is it about me that when I do not have to go anywhere in particular, I have insomnia...yet when we have an appointment or a place we have to be at, at a given time...all of a sudden I get sleepy and usually over sleep?  Such was the case today.

Against all odds we made it on time to the downtown clinic I dislike to see the only podiatrist in town for a follow up visit.  To my surprise there were hardly any people and we were in and out in record time.

It was another 102 degree day, 39 Celsius.  Since we were already downtown decided to go check out the progress at the future library.  Hummm....what progress?

 No wonder it is going to take them two years to build it!

Not far from the library is San Felipe Lions Park.  Drove by to see how many people were enjoying the cool spring waters.  To my surprise no one was in the water.  They must of been home hiding out in the A/C.

I was thirsty so stopped at my favorite convenience store for an Icee but here they call them Slush Monkeys.  Noticed the price of gasoline had gone down.

 Price with a Stripes gift card...

This afternoon Walter paid us a visit.  I was so happy to see him...but you will have to read about that on his blog :)  http://mylittlewalter.blogspot.com/

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

San Felipe Springs

I do not know how so many mosquitoes got in the house. I barely got any sleep swatting them until I finally turned on the ceiling fan in my room.  Found an online homemade solution to spray on myself, but need to go buy the ingredients. Will report back if it works.

Drove mother to our local hospital for her monthly labs. We went at noon to avoid the morning rush but to our surprise it was packed.  It took us over an hour just to get registered.

It got to 96 degrees (35 Celsius) today which for us is mild.  Since the hospital is close to several area parks decided to drive by. City workers were busy mowing and weed eating for the upcoming 4th of July festivities.

There were more people than the pictures show, mostly families swimming and having a picnic.

This is known as San Felipe Springs and it is where we get our local water supply.  As we were headed to another park we saw this beautiful lush pink crape myrtle and I just had to photograph it.

My neighbor in Houston said my own crepe myrtle was doing nicely...hope I can finally go home and see it for myself.

This park used to be known as State Park as it faces Highway 90 but now I think it is known as Star Park but don't quote me on it.

This is the calm before the storm as I am sure it will be packed on Friday.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Early Birds

I have mentioned many times in this blog that all the programming we get on TV comes from San Antonio, Texas a town 144 miles east of Del Rio.  I am more aware of what goes on in that beautiful yet far away city than I am of what is happening locally where we live.

These guys were having a lot of fun, especially with an ice chest full of beer!

San Antonio has a tradition dating back 30 plus years of allowing the population to camp out at Brackenridge Park over the Easter weekend.  Families go a week early to stake out a claim and save a space (usually grandparents or their non-working relatives) so their kinfolk can join them later in the week.

Campsite complete with an Easter basket pinata

I guess the powers that be decided to give us Del Rioans a chance to start a tradition of our own using San Antonio as an inspiration and a couple of years back allowed camping in the local parks during the Easter weekend.  Per the local newspaper this starts on Friday but I drove by late this afternoon and there were a lot of families already there.

See that nice house in the background?  It is located in the Del Rio side
This park is located in the San Felipe side.

These lucky owners get to go down the stairs of their deck and enjoy
the creek all to themselves.

All parks in Del Rio welcome campers during this time but the most popular parks are those that are along the banks of San Felipe Creek.  Long before there was Lake Amistad we had this wonderful creek that is the source of our local drinking water and where the majority of the locals learned to swim.

I cannot remember how many times my friends and I jumped off this bridge.
This is part of Moore Park but since it faces highway 90 it was known back in my day as
The State Park.



Back in the late 60’s not everyone could pay a quarter or however much it cost to swim in the only swimming pool Del Rio had at the time and which was located at Moore Park.  Even if you could most of your friends were swimming in the creek anyway, so that is where the majority of the people congregated.  Besides it was in town and within walking distance.  Back then people only had one vehicle and dads usually drove it to work, so going to Lake Amistad was like going out of town.

San Felipe Creek snakes along the city and divides the town from the poor working class mostly Mexican-American that live in the neighborhood bearing that same name (San Felipe) and the Anglo-Saxon and/or middle class Mexican Americans that live in the Del Rio side.

Our schools consolidated in the 70’s and I am proud to be a member of the Del Rio High School class that went all four years with the former members of San Felipe High School.  One of these days I may do a post on the history and importance of San Felipe Creek.

For now I leave you with a couple of pictures of the early birds and hopefully I can bring you some more on Saturday or Sunday when the parks will be packed to capacity.  Wish they had given us the opportunity to camp out when I was kid, it would have been a lot of fun and made for some great memories.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.