Severe weather on the way / Civic Duty / Photobucket

Decided to make my blog post this afternoon versus this evening because we are expecting severe storms with strong winds and the possibility of hail this evening. To some Del Rio residents, it also means power outages.

Sorry for the poor quality I had to use my old phone
 as I misplaced my current one

Sunday morning when I went to feed the cats I was pleasantly surprised that it was cooler outside than inside the house so I turned off the A/C and opened the windows. While it was cloudy we never received any of the promised rain showers we were expecting. One of my mother's friends who lives close to Laughlin Air Force Base said they got 1.5-inch hail yesterday.

Wednesday, May 18th I went to vote early for the statewide elections that will be held tomorrow Tuesday 24, 2022. I went to the Del Rio Civic Center where we had a very poor turn-out for the primaries last month. Only 10 percent of the eligible voters cast their ballots so they moved the elections from the main ballroom to a smaller banquet room.

Once again there were more election workers than voters. Many people were confused including me as I thought I was able to cast a vote during the April primaries for a hotly contested congressional seat but this race was not on the ballot this time? 

Our local channels come from San Antonio where they constantly bombard you with political ads. Is that where I got the idea I could vote for the 28th Congressional District between Henry Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros? I asked the election official and he did not seem to know anything about that congressional seat.

Another lady was very upset because she came to vote for governor and when she was told that the race wasn't until November she was not happy. We NEED a local newspaper!

Our Covid cases are on the rise in Del Rio while in Ciudad Acuña they do not have a single reported case as of today's El Zócalo webpage edition.

Yesterday afternoon I covered up dad's old car with cardboard and three tarps just in case we receive any hail. It is not a pretty sight but I don't care as last year during a hail storm his car suffered damages. I weighed it down with half-gallon and gallon water jugs and bricks...jajaja...I do not believe if dad was still alive he would consider it funny...but I do 😁😁

I misplaced my darn phone so no pictures today...hopefully, I can upload them later but with all the changes Blogger made I am not making any promises. 

That reminds me that Photobucket keeps on harassing me to either pay for their service or delete my account. I need to buy another computer so I can download the pictures off their site but I think that will mean I will also lose pictures from my early blogging years. At the time I had no other choice but to use their services as I had dial-up internet along with other equally slow internet providers and back then Photobucket did not have a limit on their free accounts.

Photobucket now charges $299.99 a month to host images for a blog...are they crazy? At that price, I guess I will just lose pictures.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

A sliver of sun

After more than a week of cloudy, wet and gloomy weather we finally saw a sliver of sun if only for a while. I really needed to charge my Wakawaka and D-Light as I use them as nightlights and emergency lights for the frequent power outages that occur in this part of Val Verde County.

Wakawaka solar light

I just love my D-Light  it can also charge
a cell phone or tablet.

We had a 24 hour period to dry out and I took the opportunity to clean all the debris outside that was blocking the front gate.  I have been looking for my tent stakes and finally recalled that I put them in the trunk of dad's old car.

As soon as I opened the trunk the smell was awful and it was soaking wet.  I usually place beer cartons in the trunk of all my vehicles and that helped a lot.  However, I needed something else to aid in the cleanup. That is when I realized that my horse pine pellets would be perfect for this job.

Horse pine pellets soak all the moisture and remove the musty smell. With more rain on the way,  it will definitively come in handy.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

While we have only played two games...one we won, one we lost...I have a good feeling about our team and the new players.

Looking forward to the game tomorrow with the Lakers.

A Day of Errand Running

As is typical of me...I have been putting off several errands...decided to tackle them today.  First stop was the Municipal Building downtown to pay the water bill.  Darn, the line was long, it was hot and dad's old car does not have a working A/C.  Instead of waiting in the drive-in line decided to go inside.  To my surprise there was only one person in front of me and I was out the door.

Off I went to the Post Office dreading to find it packed to capacity since after all it was April 15th and all the  late Income Tax filers were going to be mailing off their returns right?  How wrong I was...there were hardly any people there!  Everyone must of filed early or sent theirs electronically.

Since this is also my Cyber Journal needed to make a notation.  Went to the bank to have my Passcode re-set so I can once again have access to my account...have no idea what could of happened :-(

A stop at Ross was next on the list.  I will be darned what is it about Ross and purses?  Almost had no inventory.  Was not in the market for a purse but for a wallet...but they were almost sold out of those as well. 

The price of gasoline has gone down.  Here are some prices around town.  You can click on the picture to make it larger.  I thought I had zoomed in when I took the first picture...apparently not!

It wasn't until I got back home that mother told me about the explosions that took place today in Boston.  Another tragic day in American history.  My heart goes out to all the victims and their families.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

A warm breezy day in the 90's

It was a very warm and breezy day in the 90's.  Had to drive into town to mail off some items and took Dad's car.  A lot of people waved at me and I had to wave back because I knew they were mother's friends who recognized the car.

Late in the afternoon the wind picked up considerably and since I had the time decided to pick up all the trash that has blown into our yard these past couple of weeks (mother has three lots).  I found this long reach tool in my closet while in Houston and thought I would put it to work and that is exactly what I did.

If you are following Walter's World, he had a wonderful day as well.  Here is the link if you care to check it out http://mylittlewalter.blogspot.com/

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Easter Saturday

Got up very early (for me) as mother tends to have company drop by on Saturday's and today was not the exception.  We needed to go run a couple of errands and also take dad's old car for its weekly drive.

I did not feel like getting dressed up or putting on make-up so I just threw on something and grabbed my cowboy hat and big sunglasses.  Our first stop was the post office and as I was headed back to the car a guy stopped me and asked if I recognize him?  Before I could answer he told me who he was.

Well of course I did not recognize him he is big and tall now and the last time I saw him was like four or five years ago.  Apparently neither did mother.  His grandfather was a very good friend of my parents and he is the gentlemen that built their house.  I met this kid when he was six years old.

I was going to go to HEB and come back home but curiosity got the best of me and I decided to head out to the area parks to see how many more campers had arrived.  If you look at my posts and pictures from last year, it is evident that there has been a decline.  However, I would not know what to attribute this to.

These were taken at what I think is now called Star Park (don't quote me though) but back in my day was the State Park since it faces Highway 90.

These were taken at San Felipe Lions Park...

This was taken at Moore Park, this was the family that was having a cook-out on Thursday when we drove by but had not yet set up camp.

After satisfying my curiosity went to HEB and as I was waiting to merge with the line to exit the store a guy in a motorcycle waves at me, so I wave back.  Then the motorcycle gets out of line and drives up to us and when he smiles I realize it is Cliff my Del Rio blog reader.  I asked him how he knew it was me?  He said there aren't that many red Ford Fairmont's in Del Rio....jajajajaja :D

I do not think Mr. Ponce's grandson or Cliff would have recognized me if I had been in another vehicle.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Answering E-mails

I devoted today to answering my backlog of e-mails.  I apologize to everyone involved but as you all know...I am a procrastinator and/or sometimes with my CRS syndrome...I do not remember whether I sent a reply or not  :-(

Late this afternoon we had to run an errand in town so decided to drive dad's old car.  It ran good, however  when I turned on the lights to come back home...found one of the headlights was out!  So what to do?  I did what everyone with a busted headlight does...turned on the bright lights :D

Seriously, we live in South Val Verde County very close to the Rio Grande so there is always all kinds of law enforcement vehicles of various entities and I just knew I was going to be pulled over and my fine was not going to be cheap like the one I paid in Mexico.  Lucky for me I made it home safely.

Noticed gasoline prices went down...that was a welcome change!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

No Water...Again!

Yesterday afternoon I went to the laundromat up the road.  Noticed that there were a lot of electric crews installing new telephone poles, did not give it a second thought.  It was a pretty hot day so came home and showered before eating my supper.  It was a good thing because when I got ready to wash the dishes...there was no water!

I knew I paid the water bill but who do I call to inquire if it is only our house or area wide?  The neighbors have all ditched their landlines and I have no idea what their cell phone numbers are.  The water department was already closed so went online to the City of Del Rio webpage.  There I found out the contractors putting in the telephone poles broke a water main.  They refer you to their Facebook or Twitter account for further information.  Darn, I don't do Facebook or Twitter or for that matter use social sites!

The day before I had given Walter 9 gallons of water and since I was in a hurry I did not fill them back up,  the good thing was I still had 8 gallons left.  Heard the toilet tank filling up around 2:14 a.m. but it was filling up with a lot of force...I was afraid it might bust the tank!

This morning I went to water Walter since I knew the owner's son was not going to fill his water barrel before going to school.  As you can tell from the angle the sun hits the barrel...it was empty and had been for two days. Darn kid!!!

By this afternoon the water looked clear so I found some more milk jugs and managed to fill 20 gallons worth.  Good thing I did, because around 7:00 p.m. the water went off again!

On a different note... I spoke to the mechanic earlier this afternoon and he told me to send him Dad's car.  Called Triple A at 1:15 p.m. and they did not show up until 3:55 p.m.  Heck I get faster service in Houston than I do here. On the positive side, it is on its way to be fixed.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Mechanic makes a House Call

As you will recall I flooded Dad's old car back in October 2012 but with taxes, getting ready for the Chili Cook-Off, Thanksgiving, Christmas as well as visits from relatives I had not been able to get to it.  Then in December mom's van quit running, I thought it was a dead or a loose battery but true to my procrastinating ways never got around to it either. :-(

I had gone to see the mechanic on two occasions but he too was busy with IRS audit problems but today he finally made an appearance.  Even with a new battery for dad's old car, he could not get it started.  Needs to take it in to his shop and believes the fuel pump might be the culprit.

What I thought would be a simple jump start for mother's van turned into something else. Somehow gasoline is getting into the oil and that has to be addressed.  Had to make a bee line to have the oil changed even though I had it changed about 500 miles back. The fuel  air filter smelled to gasoline as well and had to be replaced. The car is so old they do not carry them, so it had to be special ordered.

Made two trips into town.  It was a nice warm day even though a bit on the cloudy side or it would have been downright hot!

Gas just keeps on going up and up....

The good news is that there is a 50 percent chance of rain for this evening. Look how cloudy it was this afternoon.  I sure hope they materialize, we definitively need the rain.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.