Early morning yard work / No breakfast

I was up early this morning and outside as soon as there was daylight watering the trees and dragging fallen tree limbs to the curb.  Being Sunday the neighbors slept in and there was very little traffic, I grabbed my shovel and took out the cactus bush that the person I hired three weeks ago neglected to do.

Last week I went to Home Depot to purchase some weedeater line or is it called string trimmer line?  My goodness, the price has certainly gone up!  I was going to simply buy another weedeater but due to my bad back it has to be a very light one and they did not have any. Noticed that they now carry more RYOBI products than other brands.

Maybe one of these days I will finally get around to assembling the electric lawnmower I bought four or five years ago...have I mentioned that I am a procrastinator?

Saturday I decided I would treat myself to breakfast at the Sirloin Stockade. I love breakfast but since I don't cook and with my high cholesterol levels I can only treat myself once in a while. I got there at 7:15 a.m. but there were hardly any cars. Someone was sweeping outside and I inquired if they were open, he told me they now open at 8:00 a.m. instead of 6:30 a.m.  Decided there would be too many people at that time so passed on breakfast.

Walmart and HEB have the lowest gasoline prices in Del Rio. I mentioned in a prior post that Murphy Oil was building a new station so HEB had long lines. The prices in other stations range from $2.75 to $2.79 per gallon. Since I don't do lines I gassed up at $2.649 per gallon in a small store close to the house versus $2.629 at HEB.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Took a Day off...no politics, no Internet, no phones

Yesterday I woke up with mental overload. There are so many things going on at the same time some more worrisome than others but equally draining the little motivation and energy I have left. Decided to give myself the day off.

I did not turn on my usual cable news channels, avoided the local news, did not turn on the computer and let the answering machine do its job.

I worked on removing more weeds with the hula hoe and dealing with the cats in particular "that black cat" who is making me more stressed out by the day.  I will write about that when I get a chance at Walter's World.

I did, however, watch my Spurs and perhaps I should have avoided that as well. Though they won it was only by one point and I practically had a heart attack. Were it not because of these darn medications I would have had a couple of beers to celebrate and de-stress.

This morning I treated myself to the breakfast buffet at Sirloin Stockade. Yes, I know I am not supposed to eat bacon so sue me...it went well with Tabasco sauce and an unsweetened ice tea.

They ran out of Menudo so had to wait a while for the next batch but it was worth it.

I have mentioned that I buy most of my Terlingua clothes at a store called Fallas. They sell irregular items, factory rejects, and cheap crap from China. This is where I bought my $5.00 Terlingua coat and jacket last year.

Went to walk off my breakfast and ran into an item my uncle wants. They have the same items as Marshalls but at a much cheaper price. Though it would cost me more to mail it to him than the item itself.

He wants Christmas motif pajama pants.  They had them for $1.99 but I will have to find out what size he wears.

This pillow made me smile because I saw that on an Aunty Acid saying the other day :-)

I'm sorry, did I roll my eyes out loud?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Terlita / Menudo / Another record broken

I miss Terlita (my camping van) it has been patiently sitting in the garage since 2010 waiting for a new transmission that seems to never come as other items take priority.

Terlita is a full size 1991 Dodge Ram 150 van that I could fit everything and even throw in the kitchen sink...my Toyota Corolla...not so much :-(    Having a dedicated vehicle for camping makes preparing for the Chili Cook-off less stressful.  I can pack it ahead of time and when I return unpack at my leisure.

I need to go to Ciudad Acuña to purchase supplies for my trip and a bottle of Kahlua.  Looked at the Border Wait Times app and it was 60 minutes this morning...no thank you!  Headed to town instead as my lab results have been mailed.  I was surprised that there were so many cars at the post office, street, and Federal Building.  It's Saturday there are no trials and the post office is closed so what gives?  Apparently, there was a parade downtown.

I have been getting so little sleep lately two to three hours and my blood pressure has been high even when I take my medication religiously at the same time every day.  I have so much stress that I am hoping to erase when I am in my favorite desert.

I have been good since the last time I went to Sirloin Stockade and had four plates!  I was going to go pick-up some menudo at the drive-thru window of a little restaurant but it is quite pricey at $8.66 includes tax.  Decided instead to go to the breakfast buffet at Sirloin Stockade...don't panic...I did not have multiple plates on this occasion!

 The bowls are smaller than they appear since this is a buffet.

I had two bowls of menudo and a glass of unsweetened ice tea and that did the trick.

Headed to HEB to fill-up my car the going price today was $2.229 for unleaded and $2.499 for diesel. Then I went inside to purchase eggs so I can finally try out my Egglettes.

We broke a record set in 1938 of 93 degrees.  We had a low of 62 and a high of 95 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.



Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Smorgasbord of medical tests as well as lunch dishes

I barely slept Sunday night fearing that I would not wake up in time to make it to my early morning appointment at the Del Rio Civic Center where Life Line Screening had set up shop.  If you recall last year I miss out on registering and was told there was a Texas law that prevented them from doing so within a 21 hour period (why not 24 hours?). Now I believe the person I spoke with must of been a new uninformed employee. The lady I spoke with today said walk-ins have always been welcomed.

Arrived earlier even though on their e-mail they said that was not required I would be called at my appointed hour. Glad I did because they were having problems with their internet connection and their tablets were not working adequately.

If you are new to my blog you must know that it also doubles as my Cyber Journal as I do not have the best memory and if I document it here then I have easy access to it. I do not have medical insurance so at least in my case, I find the tests provided by Life Line Screening in particular if you bundle them up to be affordable.

These were all the tests I had today:

1. Stroke Risk Carotid Artery Plaque Build up
2. Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening
3. Osteoporosis Risk
4. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening
5. Atrial Fibrillation Screening
6. Kidney and Liver Function Screening
7. C-Reactive Protein Screening
8. A1C Test

I had to be fasting for all these tests and my last meal of the day had to be half of what I normally eat.  So I ate half a bowl of cereal at 11:00 p,m.  Needless to say, I was starving by the time my tests were completed.

Felt that I needed to treat myself so I headed to Sirloin Stockade for the lunch buffet.  Please do not be judgemental as I mentioned before all I had to eat Sunday was cereal for breakfast, no lunch and half a bowl of cereal for a late dinner.

Here are some of the selections I indulged in...remember NO food shaming!

Lasagna, zucchini, and cabbage

Baked tilapia, cabbage, zucchini. and
garlic bread (was not very good)

A hamburger patty, green beans, mashed potatoes
and more zucchini

Breaded pork chop (too salty), mashed potato, and cabbage

Went home to work off my lunch by doing yard work.  I was pleasantly surprised when all of a sudden we had a five-minute rain shower.  Unfortunately, the humidity became unbearable so I had to go inside.

Later in the afternoon, I went for an hour walk since I had missed my walk on Sunday and Monday morning.  In case you are wondering I have not eaten since lunch yesterday, in fact, I am not even hungry.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A nice and fulfilling lunch

As my regular readers know I do not go online until after midnight that is why I have my blog setting set to Pacific Time to give me an additional two hours to make my post for that day.  Yesterday I was two minutes shy of that deadline so please excuse me for all the typos and grammatical errors as I did not have time to review them before the time change.  I have now updated the previous post and clarified some items.

Definitively I had a full day yesterday but for the reason outlined above, I was not able to blog about it. As Chris Cuomo would say...let's get to it!

I was starving to death but we do not have breakfast buffets in Del Rio except on weekends at the Sirloin Stockade but as you know I am not a morning person unless I have not gone to bed.

I finally made my way to Sirloin Stockade for lunch and here is what I ate...OK, no food shaming guys :-)

I enjoy fish so like the last time I was here I had baked tilapia, macaroni and cheese, Brussel sprouts, zucchini prepared with tomato, cheese and cut up bacon. I was only going to put lemon on my fish but spotted some tartar sauce, unfortunately, I did not intend for a big blob to fall on my plate.

First dish

 Did I mention I was hungry?  This time no mac and cheese...

Second portion

They usually have three soups.  One was beans (not a fan) the other some creamy soup (per my doctor should avoid) and then a version of Caldo de Res (Mexican Beef Stew).  While I ate it, it had a different taste perhaps due to some unknown spices, white rice and too salty.

Caldo de Res

I am not big on sweets or desserts and on my last visit the ice cream cone machine was broken but not today so I indulged ;-)

My snow cone

It was very hot yesterday with a low of 78 and a high of 102 with a heat index of 105 degrees.

For some reason I am having problems with the spacing, it is not intentional and I have no idea how to fix it. Sorry about that.

Good night,  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Sirloin Stockade / Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

Yesterday I ran a lot of errands and then realized that the Golden State Warriors vs Toronto Raptors Game 5 was going to be played Thursday and not Friday as I erroneously thought so I raced home to watch it.  I was so hungry but there is something wrong with the cable box or my TV ( I do not know which or perhaps both) so I am unable to watch television in the kitchen and had to do so from my room.

Had to make another trip to town today so decided to stop at Sirloin Stockade as it has been years since I had been there and though it was lunchtime, I had not eaten since yesterday.  I had never been to their lunch buffet before. Was told Friday was seafood day. My first plate was more breakfast like as I enjoy that meal but not being a morning person I do not get to delight in it very often.

 My second plate was baked tilapia, rice, and broccoli. Ok, no food shaming me!

Headed to Walmart to walk off my meal and pick up a couple of items before the Memorial Day masses descend on Del Rio.  I saw this nice Volkswagen Beetle Convertible in the parking lot...for some reason, I thought they had quit building them or perhaps they just quit building them in Puebla, Mexico?

Car was bought in San Antonio

Murphy Oil at Walmart had the cheapest gasoline in town at $2.389 per gallon. This is the gasoline station that reader Andy V. gave us a heads up that gives a  .05 cent discount if you use their credit card.

I was lucky because as soon as I finished gassing up all these vehicles came out of nowhere and invaded the station.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A Pleasant Fall Day

I had a very busy day yesterday so I went to bed early and therefore woke up at the crack of dawn. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals but since I do not know how to cook all that well, decided to treat myself to the breakfast buffet at the Sirloin Stockade.

As an added bonus I also got to people watch but with it came having to listen to people's conversations.  Why is it that when individuals talk on their cell phones they do it like the person on the other end was deaf?  I am enjoying my breakfast I could care less what you did last night or are going to do today. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

The funny thing is that it was not teenagers or young adults doing the blabbing, it was people my age and senior citizens.  Then the lady a couple of tables down starts on the government and what is going on in Washington.  We all watch the news, I do not want to hear your take on it lady!

When I drove up, there was a nice looking guy in the parking lot and soon another guy arrived apparently they had not seen each other in a while as one commented to the other how much weight he seemed to have lost.  These guys were in their mid-twenties.

As luck would have it, they sat next to me.  For such young men they had a very intelligent conversation...if they had a cell phone...it never rang.  I struggled to hear what they were saying since they spoke moderately, just loud enough for the other to hear...unlike the others around us.

It was such a pleasant day, we only experienced a high of 79.  It was cloudy and we got .14" of an inch of precipitation. As I type this post it is 60 degrees outside...what a wonderful fall day it has been :-)

Gas prices around town today Saturday, October 5th in Del Rio, Texas.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Test driving Mom's Mini-Van

It is not often that I go to bed at 10:45 p.m. on a Saturday evening but I did last night.  It is no surprise I woke up equally early.  Decided I would treat myself to the breakfast buffet at Sirloin Stockade and at the same time test drive mother's mini-van farther than one mile.

I am worried... it smells to gasoline when usually the vehicle that smells like that is dad's old car...not this one.   Swung by the P.O. Box and came on home.  As I passed by the area where they broke the water main, I saw several City of Del Rio Water Dept. personnel at work. Yeap, you guessed it...when I got home the water had been turned off yet again!  Hopefully for the last time.

This afternoon I told mom I wanted to run her mini van on the highway to see how it performed versus city driving.  We don't really have much choice it is either Highway 90-E toward Brackettville or Highway 90-W toward Lake Amistad or what is left of Lake Amistad with all the water the International Water Commission releases, it resembles a creek now :-(

Many of you are familiar with Barney, of OFM Adventures fame http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/  he just left Del Rio after having spent a couple of weeks here.  On his blog he had pictures of his adventures on Lake Amistad and some were really sad, as they showed the very low lake levels.  I must say that seeing it in person is even sadder.

I had not been to the lake since November when I took my uncle to see the old now visible 277 bridge that used to be underwater.  It is much worst now.  I also noticed that the store/gasoline station/camping ground at the Y had closed.  Guess I am going to have to break down and buy our town's newspaper, misspelled words and all, so at least I know what is going on around here.

 I saw this vehicle at my favorite campground at the lake...Governors Landing.  I apologize for the poor quality.  For those new to the blog I am a member of a vandweller's forum.  I love to see all the creative ways people come up with to outfit their vans and other vehicles.  Some only use them to travel in but many make them their full time home.  I would have loved to have asked them where they were from, what cities they had visited and where they were headed but alas they were not outside.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Beautiful Breezy Day

Having gone to bed so early last night it was to be expected that I woke up equally early.  Decided to once again treat myself to breakfast at the Sirloin Stockade.

Went to return an item at Home Depot and to check out the prices on the storage sheds that have gone down considerably since last April…wonder if the competition from Derksen Portable Buildings had anything to do with it?

Swung by HEB and it was wonderful to see almost no one there.  Went by the P.O. Box, stopped to buy the local newspaper and then came home.

Same shed a couple of months back

Speaking of the local newspaper…I stopped buying it a long time ago and now I remember why.  I recently decided to give it another chance.  I will be the first to admit that I am not the world’s best speller nor do I use what would be considered proper grammar.  However, I do not write for a living and this is just a cyber journal.  I hold a newspaper to higher standards and I cannot believe how many misspelled words I find in all the issues I read.  Del Rio News Herald have you all heard of spell check?  Do you not have proofreaders?

It has been a beautiful breezy day.  The sage has started blooming once more in the area but the wind is blowing away its petals.  I bet it is beautiful out towards the lake but I was not able to make out there today.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Never Ending Problems with my ISP

Ever had the urge to fling your computer across the room or to stomp on your air card until it has broken into a million pieces?  Well these past couple of days I have had both and in more than one occasion I might add!

Yesterday, Saturday- September 15^th I decided I wanted to go eat the breakfast buffet at Sirloin Stockade.  For $7.99 plus tax you will more than get your moneys worth with their excellent selection of border plates as well as fruits and cereals. If you are ever in town, I highly recommend them (and no they are not paying me to write this) jajajaja :D

The Cricket store front is practically across the street so I timed it to finish breakfast just as it would be about to open.  I guess a lot of other people had the same idea in mind.  Would you believe there were people already waiting in line for the store to open?  Thought these things only happened for Black Friday sales.

In a nutshell they could not do anything for me because I needed to have come in when I started having problems with the air card going dormant.  Remember I was going to go to a less congested store in Houston?  Well I never got around to it and now I have to fork out for another broadband modem or air card or whatever you call it.  No doubt I am the queen of procrastination!

I remember when Barney (Old Fat Man Adventures) was in town he opted for a Sprint air card.  Went to check them out, it is also 3G (no 4G in this area) a little more than I am paying now plus I have to sign a two-year contract.  What to do, what to do?  Will have to give it some thought.

The promised rains finally materialized yesterday afternoon and lasted throughout the night.  They fell ever so softly and gave the area a much needed soaking.  Temperatures have been wonderful as well.  However, per the weather guy tomorrow they will be back up in the 90’s.

Need to upload my pictures to Photobucket but you guess it…it keeps going dormant! So no pictures for this post, sorry L but I will keep on trying. If you do not see me post or comment on the blogs I follow…you now know why.  Have a great Sunday.