We are roasting in Texas

It has been incredibly hot in Del Rio and it is not even summer yet. The forecast does not look good for the coming two weeks either not to mention we have not had a drop of rain. The only lucky ones have been people that reside in the Panhandle and parts of Dallas that saw precipitation. We reached 109 degrees this past Monday.

The temperature at 10:30 p.m. has been in the 90's.  I feel for the people that do not have air conditioning or have it but can not afford to pay for the electricity to run it.  After watching this news report I quit my "b*tching" and felt fortunate that I live in this great country of ours.

In Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua border town with El Paso, Texas people have been sleeping outside their humble homes made of cardboard and wood pallets and cooking outside to mitigate the high temperatures. If that was not bad enough no water was coming out of their faucets.

They insulated their house with cardboard boxes and newspapers they picked up from the street. 

You would think that I would have stayed home but unfortunately, I had to go pick up some items I ordered online and make good use of my gas by running several errands while I was in town. We are fortunate that our gasoline prices are lower than in other states.

Unleaded $4.49, Diesel $4.94

I made a mini grocery run to HEB where the prices have not gone up much. Their soup is still $1.58 a can. What did go up was the cans of menudo but I stocked up on them a couple of months back.

I bought some pre-packaged salads and some avocados to make them more palatable.

Did you know that they grew tomatoes in Marfa, Texas?  Neither did I...

Laundry detergent is going up so decided to buy Sun Tropical Breeze (the purple bottle). You can save money by buying the yellow one for $5.00 at the $1.25 Dollar Tree.

HEB brand milk Hill Country is still reasonable, the one I bought was $3.98 a gallon.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Aunty Acid

Bickering Politicians / More Covid Cases / Triple Digit Temperatures

Our COVID-19 cases are on the rise as well as the number of deaths. The obituary section has gotten longer and sadly two people I went to high school with have perished. Not making matters any better are the bickering back and forth between the Mayor of Del Rio and the Val Verde County judge with regards to the coronavirus.

My routine has remained the same getting up early so I can be outside by 7:00 a.m. watering the trees and doing yard work before the oppressive heat makes it unbearable. I overdid it Friday morning and paid dearly for it. Today I took the day off and no yard work took place.

We have been in triple digits since the beginning of August and expect the same until August 21st when it will go down to 99 degrees.

Today we had a low of 78 and a high of 103 degrees.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.


Aunty Acid Saying of the Day

Heat / Eclipse Sunglasses

We have been experiencing three digits temperatures for a while. It makes me lethargic and takes away any kind of motivation to tackle the weeds and vegetation due to the heavy rains we have received. I am now having to deal with the mosquitoes generated by said rains. Though on the positive side it has made the purple sage bloom like crazy all over town.

I contemplated driving to the lake to take pictures as I am sure the purple sage blooms are hardier there because the northern part of Val Verde County has received considerably more rain than the City of Del Rio or for that matter the Southern part of the county where we live. But like I previously mentioned, the heat even in an air-conditioned vehicle makes me sluggish.

I  have to admit that after nine years of living in Del Rio, I have finally fallen victim to the small town mentality that thinks that driving the ten or so miles to the lake...is too far...imagine that!  I am sure my Houston friends will die laughing when they read this as I thought nothing of driving from Northwest Houston to Pasadena, Channelview, Deer Park or the City of South of Houston on a whim.

The last time I was at the library they were giving away special eyeglasses to view the upcoming eclipse. Took them up on it before they run out like they have in San Antonio at the events where a local television station (KSAT12) has held such give aways.

I can not believe that now that I actually have a fast internet connection, this is only the second time I go online since I got it.  I do not know if to blame my Fibromyositis, my laziness or the hellish temperatures for my lack of energy.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Late blooming purple sage

A year ago in the latter part of May 2012 the purple sage in the area had some beautiful blooms http://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2012/05/sage-is-blooming.html   not so much this time around.  Only the sage by Walter's corral where I dump the water he refuses to drink has blooms of any significance this year.

The on going drought, lack of rain and red ants have taken their toll on the trees as well.  Mother has lost three pecan trees...even though I might have had a hand in that when I decided to prune them when I was not supposed to last year.  But Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh....let's keep that little secret to ourselves :-(

Got up at 7:00 a.m. to put out the trash and decided since I was already up might as well water the trees even though I watered them last night.   Yesterday (Tuesday) we got to 104 and today we reached 103 degrees so I wanted to make sure the trees, shrubs and plants had plenty of water.

Decided to make an early run to town before the heat of the day set in.  Tonight I watered the trees as well... as I might not be able to get to them...what with the NBA finals starting tomorrow.  GO SPURS GO!!!!!!

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.