Recycling Center / Ollie's and Dollar Tree / KFC

I can not believe it is already December...time has sure flown by! With the Thanksgiving holidays, I had avoided going into town to elude the crowds. The Mexican citizens that had not crossed the border to shop in the United States are thankfully back and it has been a boom to the local economy. Per my border crossing app, the lines at the international bridge were one and a half to two hours plus this weekend. Have I mentioned that I do not venture to Ciudad Acuña during November and December for that same reason?

First stop this morning was picking up the mail at the post office. Post office #1 is across the street from the Federal Courthouse there must have been a big trial because there were law enforcement vehicles everywhere and few parking spaces.

Headed to the Recycling Center to drop off the recyclables I have had in the trunk of my car for a while and was pleasantly surprised to be the only one there. With that checked off my To-Do List, my next stop was Ollie's. Another pleasant surprise awaited as the store was practically empty.

Ollie's has a large section of As Seen On TV products so headed to that section but the Christmas music was so loud that I just picked up what I was actually there for which was to purchase a wireless mouse and keyboard combo. I took pictures but as usual...I am not able to upload them at this time 😢

Dollar Tree is in the same strip center so left my purchase in my trunk and headed there. I was lucky to find a cart as there were only about six left. The difference was like night and day from Ollie's there were a LOT of people there.

Headed to find my buttered popcorn, mushrooms, and canned whole jalapeños peppers. No luck with the popcorn or mushrooms. Picked up some cleaning supplies and some large cans of Campbell's Tomato soup.

There was no Christmas music playing at this store but two girls decided to start singing as they shopped...they had probably been to Ollie's...😄

I almost stopped at Walmart as there were very few cars there but my right foot was starting to hurt so only passed by Murphy Oil USA and confirmed that they had the cheapest gas in town at $2.659 for unleaded and $3.169 for diesel.

Drove by Whataburger and Sirloin Stockade and even though it was around 2:00 p.m. their parking lots were full so had to settle for KFC. They did not have original KFC so had no choice but to buy crispy. I hate it when I cheat on my diet and the food is not up to par!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Cold morning / HEB drive-thru Pharmacy / Mail for my late father

It got down to 33 degrees this morning. The only bad thing about having an electric central and heating unit is that it does not warm as well as a gas one and costs more to operate. Last month we had the lowest electric bill this year I even thought there might be a mistake but then I realized that the air conditioning was not used except for a day or two and only for a few hours.

Received an e-mail last week that my medications were ready to be picked up but there was no way I was going to go to HEB during Thanksgiving week even if only to use their drive-thru pharmacy. Got another e-mail yesterday alerting me that if I did not pick them up by this afternoon they would be returned to stock.

As usual, got a late start so by the time I arrived the drive-thru line was long and this gal does not do lines. So I went inside where there were two people ahead of me and was in and out in six minutes.

Drove to the post office and even though it was past four o'clock and they close at 4:30 p.m. they had a long line waiting to mail their packages, unlike last week when there was hardly anyone there. I was surprised we had so much mail including some for my late father who passed away more than two decades ago.  

Who sells Medicare information to third parties? Why would they bother sending their brochures to deceased individuals?

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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Val Verde County Property Taxes / High of 87 degrees / Rowdy-drunk neighbor is back

Went early this morning to the Val Verde County Courthouse to pay our property taxes. There was no line or anyone taking your temperature at the entrance like there was back in July when I was last there to buy my license plate tags. One less item crossed off my To-Do List.

The Courthouse is caddy-corner to HEB #1 better known as Little HEB. I was surprised that there weren't that many vehicles there but I do not currently need anything so headed off to the Post Office to pick up our mail.

No lines there either I suppose people will not be mailing their Christmas presents until December. Decided to head home but as I passed the car wash I pulled in to finish washing my car that I only got half washed after the incident with Paquito.

The rowdy/drunk neighbor left Friday morning I thought to go spend time with his family who lives out of town. Monday he came back with his wife and three kids. The dogs on this street like peace and quiet they started barking like crazy because his eldest kid was going up and down the street first in his bike then in his skates. Right now he has the music full blast in his truck as he bar-b-qs in his step-father's grill.  Oh, joy...this is going to be a long week!!!

We had a warm day as temperatures reached 87 degrees today. We expect cooler temperatures this weekend.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

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City of DR billing problems/ Prescriptions / Americans smuggling beer into Mexico

The City of Del Rio Water Department has been having billing problems for a couple of months now that I was not aware of until I saw it being covered by the San Antonio television stations a few months back.

The city was hacked in November or December of 2018 and it apparently caused many problems. People were getting bills for $700.00 or more and citizens were showing up at City Hall meetings by the hundreds. Since it did not happen to us I figured we were in the clear.

Our bill has doubled and it is showing an outrageous amount of usage so I contacted them before Texas closed down and issued stay at home orders. I left dozens of messages who were not returned. This past Tuesday I was finally able to speak to an employee. A city worker came by today and with that out of the way I was free to run my errands.

I have been putting off going to pick up our prescriptions since we have had strong winds, gray skies, with the threat of storms not to mention very hot temperatures all this week.  I had no choice but to go today as the crowds are going to double in the stores with Mother's Day shoppers.

Finally was able to give my car a much-needed wash before heading to HEB to pick up my prescriptions. Was surprised gasoline prices still remain high in comparison to other parts of Texas. This Exxon corner station was selling regular unleaded for $1.739 a gallon.

Used the drive-thru as I did last month to pick-up my medications. If you look to the right of the picture you see a white vehicle...this is the area where you park and pick-up your order if you requested curve-side delivery. Last month there were quite a few cars using this service not so today.

Even though I was in the safety of my own car I had both my gloves and mask on.

I drove around the front of the store to see how long the line was and was surprised that there was no line at all. While I prefer shopping at "Little HEB" there are many items that I have not been able to find on my prior visits such as pre-packaged salads, larger packages of pre-washed spinach, lettuce, good quality serranos, avocados and larger bottles of olive oil.

HEB was very well stocked and even at noon they still had plenty of toilet paper.

The same held true for paper towels. My favorite being Viva.

This one is for JudithK. They had more Bounty than Viva...so I win...even though it was not a competition, lol, just kidding :-)

I was literally dying for some sugar-free ice cream and my serranos.  Hopefully, I won't die by catching this virus by having ventured out to purchase them! Little HEB does not carry this brand of ice cream.

This week I saw HEB advertise in the San Antonio stations that they were limiting the purchase of any type of meat to two packages per customer.  I was surprised that in Del Rio they were allowing five items per transaction.  Since I do not cook it does not affect me.

I wanted to try turkey bacon but did not know what " Uncured Turkey Bacon" meant and I did not want to ask anyone so I bought a package of regular bacon instead.

I finally found out why there is a shortage of beer on the six o'clock news. It appears this problem is confined to border towns.  I mentioned on a prior post that Mexico declared the beer industry "non-essential" and ordered it to close during the pandemic. This resulted in panic buying throughout Mexico  All that beer has now been consumed so American citizens are smuggling beer into Mexico to sell to their families and friends.

You might ask...how can that be when the border with Mexico is closed? American citizens can still cross into Mexico...it is Mexican citizens with laser visas that can not cross into the United States unless it is an emergency and it is up to the border crossing agents to make that call.

We as Americans can cross back to our country any time we feel like it 24/7.  So that is why there is a shortage of beer in Del Rio. Even at big HEB, there were no 30, 24, 20, or 12 packs available.  However, I lucked out and took the last three 15-packs of my more affordable (sounds nicer than cheap) beer.

I was in and out in no time flat as the check-out lines were small.  Everyone was wearing masks and this old guy who was riding in an electric wheelchair had a pair of pink women's underwear as his mask...takes all types!

Swung by the post office to pick up the mail and send off a payment. So this was my exciting day!
We had a low of 61 and a high of 88 degrees today.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Trip to the post office / grocery run / bare shelves

Yesterday Wednesday, April 1st on Day 18th of my self-isolation and April Fools Day at that I had no other choice but to drive to the post office to pick-up my mail. Coronavirus or not bills do not stop.

I went early in the morning to avoid the crowds. As I passed HEB on the way there I pulled into the parking lot to take a picture of the falling gasoline prices but I forgot my cellphone. The parking lot was full and there was a long line wrapped around the store. Everyone was keeping their distance and there appeared to be red markers so you knew where you had to stand.

At the post office, there was only one other person and he was reading his mail as he sat in his truck. I was surprised I did not have as much mail as I thought I would but then again bills arrive in the early and not the latter part of the month.

I have consumed two and a half weeks of my grocery stash so I gave careful thought as to whether or not I wanted to wait in line as there is no assurance how long this is going to last and my goal is to try to have a six month supply on hand...so I headed to "little HEB".

There was also a line wrapped around the store but this is a small store and with the six feet of separation it made it look longer. I was surprised most people were wearing masks and had brought with them their own cleaning stash much like myself. That is a good sign that at least my little town is taking this seriously.

They did not have containers of pre-washed packaged salad or spinach so bought lettuce instead.  Stocked up on serranos, garlic, onions, and bananas. I arrived at the store at 8:10 a.m. and it took about 10 minutes to be let in. The people who were exiting the store were mostly buying water, large bags of dog food, sodas, eggs, and paper products (there was a limit of 1) so either they bought out the meat and chicken section in those twenty minutes or their shipment had not arrived.

Equally bare was the milk and egg section. I still have a dozen eggs I bought the last time I was here two and a half weeks ago. They had toilet paper and paper towels and even though I have enough, for the time being, I bought a package of toilet paper just in case. Apart from that, I loaded up on canned goods.

I have not been sleeping well but yesterday I felt like I had a heavyweight lifted off my shoulders after picking up my correspondence and mailing a payment. I slept great last night.

We had a low of 70 this morning with a high of 84 and a heat index of 89 degrees.

Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day