Another beautiful autumn day

The weather geniuses have been forecasting rain for the past couple of days and to date it has not materialized.  Called the propane guy yesterday but he never returned my call.  Just to be on the safe side decided to open the gate early this morning.  Good thing I did because I can came back in and went back to sleep.

The sound of his vehicle woke me up.  I guess I am spooked after the mechanic took out the gate a while back...but this guy has a lot of experience getting in tight spaces. I even scored two calendars from him.

Decided to drive into town this afternoon and run a few errands as I definitively do not plan on going anywhere near a store this weekend or next week.  I was originally just going to buy milk, orange juice, cereal and a loaf of bread.  There is some truth when they say not to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach...I ended up spending $102.00!!!

I apologize for slacking off and not posting gasoline prices.  It seems that every time I go into town, I either forget my camera or it is in my purse in the back seat.  Click on this or any picture on my blog to enlarge it.  The going price around town for regular unleaded is between $2.20 and $2.23 a gallon.

While I was out and about, it was a very pleasant 70 degrees with clear sunny skies.  Not bad for an autumn day in December!

If you are not into basketball or are not a Spurs fan...you may exit now...

Sb - I am not a betting woman but if someone had told me that we would go into a third consecutive overtime in two days...I would have lost :(

It was so close but I guess the guys lost their legs on the third OT.  Good thing the season is still young.  I do not hold out much hope for playing the Dallas Mavericks tomorrow.  They are a rested and very tough opponent.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Windy, Cold, Gloomy and a Love Story

Windy, cold and gloomy pretty much describe yesterday and today, with the exception that we had severe thunderstorms last night that made the electricity go out a few times.  Since my computer is pretty old as is, I did not want to take any chances with it so decided to power it off and post my blog afterwards.

Afterwards never came as I thankfully fell into deep slumber.  For those of you who have no problems going to sleep you will never know how fortunate you are and how many people would love to be in your shoes, me included. 

I had not left the compound since Thursday when we went to Mexico.  True to my procrastinating ways I had to go into town to pick up some items at HEB since it was the last day of the specials and as you know, I tend to leave things to the last minute.  I also needed to mail a condolence card to my friend who recently lost her brother.

With the news that gas was expected to go up this week, decided to fill up even though I had more than half a tank left. Lucky for me the price in Del Rio had not gone up, it was still $3.18 a gallon.

Can’t leave you without a Terlingua story:

In the sixteen years that I have been attending the Chili cook-off, I have met many people.  Some I only get to talk to for a few minutes others much longer. The “A” Brothers camp is comprised of guys from different Texas towns as well as out of state.

Their older brother Jr. is from Fort Worth and he always brings a lot of his buddies down to the event.  One night I was talking to one such buddy, a guy I had met in prior years but had never had a chance to talk to at length.

We were discussing foreign soap operas and how some love stories are really far fetched. This particular night he confided in me that he fell head over heals in love with a very beautiful and popular girl while in High School who was also crowned homecoming queen.  He had became friends with her brothers just so he could visit their home and hopefully run into her.

He was never able to profess his love for her since she was in love with someone else who would later become her husband. Even though each had gone their separate ways, he had never forgotten her.  He would frequent her brother’s restaurant just so he could hear what was going on in her life. Mind you almost forty years had already gone by and she still held a special place in his heart.

Coincidently she was living in Houston like I was at the time.  One thing lead to another and to make a long story short, she turned out to be one of my dearest friends!!!  Boy this is a small world.  He made me take a bunch of pictures of him so I could show them to her and implored me to bring her the following year.

That encounter never happened as my friend in not “the camping type” and there is no way she could survive a day much less a week in the desert. The girl of his dreams is my friend who recently lost her brother.  She called to tell me that HE had attended the funeral.  He had held her hand as he lovingly looked into her eyes and asked if she remembered him, to which she replied "I am sorry I do not".  He introduced himself and added “didn’t Belinda show you the pictures and tell you about Terlingua?” lol….always the Terlingua connection.

The Virginian

For some inexplicable reason I have been going to bed before eleven o’clock and waking up at five o’clock in the morning.  Of course today that I needed to be at Target when they opened, true to form, I woke up late.  One good thing about Houston, if the store you are at does not have it, you can always drive to another location.  Took me three stores but I finally tracked down what I needed.

 Kroger (local grocery store) offers a .03 cent reduction on your gas purchase if you have a store card.  The closest store to my house does not have a gas station so decided to stop and fill up at $2.96 a gallon at a Kroger I do not frequent and that was across the street from Target.  I needed cereal so went in to buy it and got in line in the express check out. There was an elderly gentlemen in front of me in one of those electrical store cars for handicap people and he had more than the allowed 10 items, no big deal I was not in a hurry and at his age he deserves to get in whatever line he chooses.  The cashier, a girl in her late 20’s was very nice and attentive toward him and had to repeat some things to him since he obviously had a hearing problem.  The guy bagging the groceries was equally attentive and offered to help him to his car but he declined and said he could manage.

The guy bagging the groceries was not a “ bag boy” he was older, nicely dressed and looked to be one of the store managers.  He told her “ do you know who that is?” She said “No”.  He told her he was _____(blank failed to catch the name).  She responded that she did not know who that was.  Then he said he used to be in “The Virginian”.  She replied she had never seen the show but perhaps her dad would know him or her husband since he was into westerns.

Now I have to admit that I never even heard of that show.  As a kid the only westerns that I used to watch was Bonanza and Big Valley.  So I hurried outside to get a better look at him without being too obvious.  He was parked in front of the store in the handicap section but he was busy arranging his trunk and had his back toward me so I did not get a look at his face.  Ran to my car and got my camera and drove by slowly but as you can see, it is not a good picture. 



He had his trunk raised and he appeared to have a suitcase as well as other items inside





Wish he had looked up so I could of gotten a shot of his face

He was reading something and gave the impression that he was waiting for someone who was still inside the store.

 Wanted to welcome Suerte for signing on as a blog follower.  Thank you.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Home Again

Finally after postponing my trip for the umpteenth time due to the weather, left early this morning.  Got to see a sunrise something I don’t always get to do.  Even the agents at the Border Patrol Check Point were in a good mood and did not bombard me with questions.

My only regret is that I did not get to meet Ara and Spirit who were going to be coming through Del Rio…maybe next time.  I did however visit a mom and pop eating establishment in Sabinal, Texas called Nora’s Tacos which he featured on his blog http://theoasisofmysoul.com/?p=16289.  I told Nora he had sent me.  Lucky for me they were celebrating their 6th anniversary of being in business today and I got my choice of pozole, cabrito or cake.  I chose pozole and just heated it up a while ago, it was as delicious as their tacos.

Dang, there were tons of DPS troopers on I-10 from San Antonio to Houston.  Was surprised considering it is not the weekend.  Had no other choice than to follow the speed limit.

Glad I filled up after my visit with Billy Bob because Monday gas went up ten cents from $3.09 to $3.19 and I don’t know why.  It was $3.06 in San Antonio and $2.98 a gallon here in town.

Remember my rant about Time Warner Cable?  When I got home I scanned my TV converter box and I have 80 free channels here in Houston and they don’t cost me a dime!!

It is freezing cold in the house, need to go buy me an electric heater for my bedroom.  Only had four hours of sleep last night so I think I going to turn in early.

Good night and may you have Terlingua dreams.