Rain / More Covid-19 cases / National Grandparents Day

It was a gray and rainy day and it rained non-stop for almost an hour. Once again the backyard was a small lake. The leak in the kitchen is getting worst thank goodness for horse pine pellets they are true lifesavers. There is money in the budget to get it fixed but I do not know anyone I would trust to do it especially not in the middle of a pandemic.

The Zócalo (Ciudad Acuña's newspaper) online edition reported that of the 289 COVID-19 tests performed last week...51 came back positive!  I was also reading where there were massive crowds at the Amistad National Recreational Area during the Labor Day weekend as they once again opened the area up during the weekend. That can only mean more cases in the pipeline 😟

Spent a great part of the afternoon and early evening watching shows I had taped but had not had the opportunity to see. I do not know why I even tape "Going RVing",  I think I have watched every show at least a couple of times...thank goodness I suffer from CRS and can not remember what unit they picked out.

My best friend and her boyfriend have gotten their money's worth with theirs and are considering upgrading to a bigger unit preferably one that they do not have to tow with their truck.

Today was National Grandparents Day and while I am not a grandma...I found an applicable Aunty Acid to commemorate the occasion for those who are.

I am trying out the new Blogger interface where nothing is familiar. The only thing I like is the emojis. 

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Deluge / Disinterment / Horse Pine Pellets

I had barely closed my eyes to go to sleep when the heavy rains began accompanied by thunder and lightning it must have been around 2:15 a.m. I say "must have been" because the power went out as is a common occurrence anytime there is a thunderstorm.

This deluge was different as the intensity did not vary and it was coming down in sheets.  It was leaking in the usual places where I already keep buckets close by.  Electricity came back on and the telephone rang around 5:00 a.m. a robocall from the city alerting us to the fact that we were under a flash flood alert as it had already rained more than three inches and more was on the way.

We ended up with 4.75 inches and Laughlin Air Force Base received close to 8 inches.  Both the front as well as the backyard were a lake.  I do not know why the boys did not go to the garage or the little shed to seek shelter from the rain as they do during the winter.  They were by the kitchen door getting wet...silly cats!

It did not dry out until the afternoon when the sun came out.  My old pulverized horse pine pellets that I used to cover the ruts and bury the snake floated away.  I was not happy to see that the darn snake had been disinterred and that I had to once again deal with it.  Where is my tall weathered cowboy to deal with things that frighten me?  Had to drink me a beer to give me the courage and another one to calm my nerves after I finished the deed.

I still had not finished shoveling the old horse pine pellets so I could lay some fresh ones down.  If you are wondering why?  We live downhill and when it rains water ponds behind the kitchen. If you are not familiar with horse pine pellets...you lay them down in stables and it makes cleaning up a snap.  In case you did not know horses...when they urinate, they urinate a lot...horse pine pellets absorb this liquid and also eliminate the smell.

This evening and around the same time period as last night we are expecting more storms.  Starting Thursday the temperatures will be the high 90's to low 100's.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

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.

Heavy downpours continue

The rains do not want to leave us. The only saving grace is that we have a few hours in between heavy downpours and I get to go outside to sweep away the rain puddles, no more bailing water. The horse pine pellets have worked very well in absorbing the excess rain that I can not capture as I am out of trash cans and five-gallon buckets.

This afternoon I was finally going to head into town when the weather guy said we were minutes away from another heavy storm.  Sure enough went outside and the sky facing south (Mexico) was very black. There has been a lot of flooding in Mexico as well.

I do not drive in the rain, so I changed clothes opened a can of soup and made us another ham and cheese sandwich for dinner.  That is another trait my tall weathered cowboy MUST have...he needs to be a good cook!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Use it or lose it

I had a coupon for 10% off of my total purchase at Tractor & Supply that expires at the end of the month.  I would have normally used it by now but since my little strays abandoned me or somehow met with foul play, I have not had a reason to go back to the store.

I have seen several commercials touting the effects of O'Keeffe's Working Hands cream and decided to give it a try. I wash my hands a lot and just in the five hours I have used it, I am already seeing a difference. Will write a review at some future date.

While there decided to buy some Horse Pine Pellets...remember my post on making a cheap port-a-potty? I am trying to put a link to the post but Blogger is telling me it does not exist...grrrrrrrrrr...Yes, it does!

No, I did not buy them for that expressed purpose but in case water comes into the house as we are expecting rain and a cold front this Friday.

I give myself a treat once a week and indulge in moderation in the foods I would otherwise avoid.  Had another coupon for a free Whataburger that also expires at the end of the month. So headed to claim it...it was delicious!

Hope everyone has finished or is closed to finishing their Christmas shopping.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Spurs Corner

I think the Spurs want to give me a heart attack!  Tonight was another close game.  We were very fortunate to have won considering all the turnovers.

GSG!!!

So you are new to camping - How to make a cheap port-a-potty...UPDATED

In my endeavor to make life a little easier to Chili Cook-off heads and Terlingua Chili Cook-off "Virgins", I will tackle the long-taboo subject of port-a-potties in the desert.

First of all, you must know that the TICC (Terlingua International Chili Cook-off) does not open up its port-o-potties until Wednesday prior to the Thursday grand opening ceremonies.  So how do regular attendee's deal with that problem?

Actually, there are several ways...one you can cut the ties that lock the port-a-potties or you can make your own.  Since I like to follow rules, I won't do that. In my 20 plus years of attending I have tried practically everything, from Double Doodie bags as per the picture indicates and in case you are wondering...NO... they do not work, they stink and are pricey.  Have also experimented with kitty litter and peat moss with more success as well as a small portable toilet but that has to be dumped.

First and foremost try to buy a shower tent.  It is here that you can use such tent as a port-a-potty and as a shower.  If you do not want to go this route, you can use a five-gallon bucket as a bathroom inside your tent. At night it might be a good idea to move it there as it gets pretty dark and there are snakes lurking around.

I wish I could remember what website I got this from but as you know I suffer from CRS!  All I remember is that it was a lady who was once a girl scout.

From Walter (the neighbor's horse)  and his grazing on mother's property, I know that horses pee a lot!  For those that have horses, you know that having horse pine pellets in their stables will soak up all the urine while not causing any additional odors and make cleaning up a snap.

So how does this help you at the Chili Cook-off?  Well, if you bring a 5-gallon bucket lined with two heavy duty trash bags, horse pine pellets, and sawdust shavings....it equals an odorless and earth-friendly bathroom...and as a plus you do not have to put up with smelly port-a-potties with long lines.

If you have space in your vehicle it would be great to bring a port-a-potty for #1 and one for #2 but if space is an issue...it is not a problem...you can accommodate both if you add pine shavings to the mix.

So to make this perfectly clear... you pee in your 5 gallon bucket lined with two heavy duty trash bags with horse pine pellets... if you do #2 you cover your deposit with pine shavings and you will never encounter any bad odors.  After a while, the pee will weigh down on your pellets so I recommend changing it daily in particular if more than one person are using it. I also recommend that you use  heavy duty trash bags, cheap flimsy bags will not work.

Now we address the toilet seat.  You can buy a plastic snap on lid at Walmart or Amazon but I found they are cheaper at Academy.  I bought mine at Academy for $4.99 which was a bargain at the time.

You can also use plastic noodles, the kind kids use when they swim.  You can pick them up for a dollar at The Dollar Store. The benefit of going this route is that it holds your trash bags in place and cushions your tush.  It is all a matter of preference.

Hope this works out for you.  Please leave any comments that might be helpful to other readers.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Heavy downpours / No Electricity

The skies got dark and thunder and lightning made themselves present around 6:30 p.m.  My mother only has one show she watches and that is the Lawrence Welk Show on PBS. Informed her that with our worthless Dish satellite that goes out at the slightest hint of rain or wind, she would probably miss it.

True to form we lost the signal and soon after the electricity went out at approximately 6:50 p.m. We were hammered by strong winds and heavy downpours. Once again we got so much water in such a short period that had it not been for the fact that I used mulch bags to dam up the windows where the water got in the other time it would have been a repeat performance.

Unactivated horse pine pellets

This time I could not go outside to bail water as there was lighting involved. The house got hot fast and it brought back memories of the two weeks where we suffered without air conditioning. After the storms passed, the neighbors began to congregate outside in their effort to keep cool. With the storms gone, I had to go bail water once more.

I only had half a sack of horse pine pellets but they certainly came in handy.  If you are not familiar with them, they are used to facilitate the clean up of horse stalls and soak up horse urine. In my case, they soaked up backed up water,

Once wet the horse pine pellets look like vomit

By 9:00 p.m. the neighbors across the street had their electric service restored. Our side of the street and the neighbors in back of us stayed without electricity.  To make matters worst, since I seldom use my cell phone it had not been charged in days and the battery was down to 20 percent.

In an effort to contain our mail clutter, I signed up mother for e-bills on most of her utilities. Thankfully, I remembered that I still had the bills I had to present at the Department of Public Safety so Mom could get a Texas ID card and was able to report the outage. The service tech said it would not be until midnight, so we went to bed early.  At 3:55 a.m. I felt the cold breeze of the A/C hitting me in the face. We were without power for nine hours and I still do not know why. With no more internet data available and speeds worst than dial-up will have to wait until someone fills me in.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Bailing water

It got very dark around two o'clock this afternoon, it looked more like 8:00 p.m.  It did not take long for it to start raining cats and dogs. The leak in the kitchen that sprung up last year but had not leaked since started up again.  The fireplace another culprit started leaking as well but we keep two containers in there in case it rains and we are not home.

The thunder and lighting began so I went to my room to watch TV knowing fully well that the signal would go out anytime. I barely slept last night and I got up early this morning, so decided to take a nap. Just then a bolt of lightning hit and the rain came down even harder. Decided to go check the leaks and then went to what was originally a reading room for my father but that since his passing has become a catch all room.

All of a sudden I see water on the floor, lots of water but this room has never had a leak and I do not see one in the ceiling.  Then I see that the water is coming in through the window.  I panicked trying to think what exactly I had in the boxes that were getting wet.  Where are the towels? Oh yeah, they are in the trunk of my car in the garage. I then accidentally tripped over a bag of horse pine pellets I had forgotten I had. If you are not familiar with horse pine pellets it is used to make the chore of cleaning stables easier.  I truly believe my dad had a hand in me stumbling into it. I spread it around and the water was easily absorbed.

I went outside and started bailing water to keep additional water from coming in. The rain was cold so I came inside threw on a heavy sweatshirt and put on my rubber boots. I was soaked from head to toe when I finished but felt a sense of accomplishment to have adverted a tragedy, well at least a tragedy in my book.

Three hours later it began to rain again!  The windows are almost floor to ceiling and this had never happened before. Tomorrow I am going to buy some sand and some more horse pine pellets. It is almost 2:00 a.m. but I am afraid to go to sleep.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Spurs Corner

Who would have thought that the second oldest player in the NBA, Manu Ginobili would be the highest scoring Spurs in Game 3?  I love you Manu, I have finally come to terms with Game 6 and 7 of the 2013 Finals.

If our luck was not bad enough we lose another player in David Lee :-(