Monday, July 18, 2011

It's summer all right

Saturday July 16th, the neighbor Mary and I got pedicures at D'Anthony Salon.  That was fun!  Afterwards, I drove over to Kathy's house, where she was holding a garage sale.  It was so hot out there on that driveway, even though we were sitting under a nice big beach umbrella.  Just a few people came while we sat out there, and soon Kathy was ready to put things away.  Before we had everything put back in the garage, a wind gust came and blew the beach umbrella over her house!!!  Carlos found it on the backyard fence.  Good thing it didn't go even further!

Today is Monday, July 18th, and tomorrow Mom and I fly to Albuquerque, hoping we'll get to visit with Jackie, but ready to just enjoy visiting the city.

Friday, July 15, 2011

So busy today

Wow, there seems to be so much to do everyday.  After watering Guillermo's garden and feeding all the plants, I went to spend the rest of the morning at the IRS office.  Our return has been rejected 3 times now, and I was hoping I could get some answers from someone there.  I sat down at 10:20, fully expecting to wait at LEAST 2 hours or more.  My number was 910 and I had no idea where I was in the lineup, since the numbers on the board seemed to be in the 5 and 6 hundreds.  But after about 10 minutes they called 904, so I figured I wasn't TOO far away.  910 was called exactly 1 hour and 50 minutes after I sat down, so that wasn't TOO bad.

After explaining my problem to the lady, and her looking up my account, and calling someone else in to help decifer the error codes, both of them also were stumped as to why the return keeps being rejected.  Their big suggestion was to give up filing online and just file the paper form, as there is no "electronic stuff" in that to be rejected.  So, I picked up several forms and figured eventually I'd file the paper form.  I have until October.

From the IRS office I drove to HEB on DeZavala to buy a few things then came home and fixed lunch and watched the rest of a video I've been watching.  After finishing the movie and washing the dishes, I went outside to cut some vegetables from the garden and talked with the neighbors who told me they had also picked some squash from the garden earlier that day.  So, that was good to hear!

In the evening, I drove over to Mom's house to get our mail.  Linda and I had decided earlier in the day that we should also try to go see our cousin Louis playing in his band at the base of the Tower of the Americas.  Mom decided she wanted to go with us!!  So, we drove to Hemisfair Park, found good parking and walked over to where his band was performing.  We got a table, waved to Louis and he was so happy to see us there!   Right after we sat down, a waitress came around asking if we'd like a sample of the margaritas they were selling.  There was only one sample and Mom said she'd try it!

After playing a few more songs, the band took a break and Louis came over to our table and sat with us until it was time for his band to get back onstage.  A little later, Louis's wife Terry and their two girls Sofia and Rachel arrived and they joined us at the table.  It was an enjoyable evening!

Here we are with cousin Louis, who plays in the band Hogg Shedd.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

And they're off!

Took Guillermo and Alfred to the airport this morning, for their 1:09pm flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.


Waiting to turn in the bags they're going to check.  The airport was quite busy this morning!

Another picture, really?!!?  Ok, last one.

At least where they're going the weather will be nice and cool, if not cold.  They are lucky to be getting away from this intense heat and drought.

Monday, July 11, 2011

This morning, I went over to the house of a former colleague from Elrod, where I helped her (Becky Mendez) and another friend (Cherri Hasenkamp) reconnect and/or connect for the first time on Facebook.  That was fun going over things with them and seeing their excitement in discovering friends from the past.

This evening, we are staying up quite late because we are going to the airport to pick up Guillermo's brother Alfred, who should arrive on a 1:10am flight.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The old gang

Yesterday, 16 of us that used to work together at Elrod Elementary got together at La Hacienda de los Barrios for a wonderful evening out on the patio.  It was great seeing everyone again and catching up on their lives.  Wow, you can even see the mist that the fans were blowing from the misters in these pictures!!



Today, Thursday, Guillermo and I went out to dinner with our friends George and Sandra.  We went to La Gloria mexican restaurant along the Museum reach of the river walk and after our delicious dinner we walked along the river a bit - to as far as the fishes that hang from under the highway.  We stopped along the way to watch several ducks, a cormorant, and even a yellow-crowned night heron flew in real close to us!  I didn't bring my camera this evening, so Sandra was kind enough to send me the pictures she took with her camera.  So, the following 3 pictures were taken by Sandra Garant.
The Cormorant.  He was making his throat quiver the entire time we watched him.

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

New art work along the river.

After walking along the river, we drove to Brindles Ice Cream and had some ice cream!!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Taco trucks

The other day, Sunday I believe it was, we thought we try the food at another taco truck around town.  Our first taco truck experience was last year, at Tin Can Tacos in Helotes.  The tacos were good and it was comfortable since the truck was parked near some trees.  That is a great thing to have by a taco truck since it is so hot outside.  So, at Tin Can Tacos, you can sit at some picnic tables placed under the trees.
On Sunday, we tried the tacos out of a truck called Chela's Tacos.  Actually, these vehicles are really more like old Air Stream trailers than trucks.  Chela's Tacos is painted bright red and all it has to escape the heat is a little awning over the area where you order.  This little Air Stream is parked out in the sun, no shade around and no picnic tables.  But oh those tacos are delicious!!!   We ordered three, and ate them standing up beneath the awning.  You get your drinks from a huge ice chest that is next to the trailer.  (Bottled coke from Mexico!)  Those three tacos were so good that we decided to order some more to have the next day for breakfast.  At both Tin Can Tacos last year in Helotes and at Chela's Tacos, there were lots of people waiting to order tacos.
We will definitely go back to Chela's Tacos if we are ever in the area (UTSA Blvd), we only wish they had shade from trees and a few places to sit down.

Friday, July 1, 2011

updating

Not too much new happening around here lately.
Yesterday Guillermo and I went to dinner with our friends Joe and Sharon.  We went to Olive Garden and had a very relaxing dinner with them.  Afterwards we came back to the house here, walked down to our old property (where we actually felt a few rain drops falling on us and saw double rainbows in the sky!) and then came back to the house and sat out on the back deck for a little while.

Today we picked mom up for lunch and went out to W.W.White Rd. again and tried another restaurant that had been recommended.  The food was decent and we enjoyed the lunch.  Afterwards, we drove around Hi-Lions Lake, stopped by Linda's to water plants and pick up our mail and took mom back home.  At her house, she gave us some bright fabric flowers that blow in the wind.  When we got back to our house, we mowed the lawn and then placed the flowers around in different spots.  We think they look quite nice out there!