Old Pictures found in shoebox

 I have recently started buying abandoned storage units that go up for auction. Mostly I do it to keep me busy during my off days from my regular 9-5 job. Overall, I find junky items, but I have found a few valuable gems. Not long ago, I started finding boxes of old family pictures as well as  VHS family footage. 

1983 GW Parade with Mr. South Texas

Is this around the base? Hillside area?

Cedar St 1973

Slowly I have been going through the video footage in search of scenes from Laredo and a few have popped up (expect that someday). Also, I have found some good vintage pictures of Laredo that I have decided to rescue from landing in the dumpster. I tried returning the family pictures to the storage manager but he said those units had been "abandoned for years". Because of that, I kept the pictures in order to share with you and in the hopes of finding the family members and be able to return their cherished memories. So help me out  #Laredo! Recognize anyone? 

1957 Cotulla, Texas HS Prom

Unknown music store Laredo, TX

Everyone has that one cool uncle

1973 on Gustavus St. 

cool old guy enjoying a 7up in 1975

love the posters on the wall!! Seems like what 1990? Maybe

Daytrip on HWY 359 to Hebbronville (part 1)

 Work keeps me busy but blogging must continue. Now and then, I do venture past Santo Nino, Texas in order to view the outside world. Recently, I took a daytrip to visit the city of Hebbronville. I had never actually been there, other than to drive past it on my way to another destination. I was rather surprised at the feeling of these small towns that dot HWY 359 in south Texas. 

First stop was Oilton. Cool name but if you sneeze you will surely miss it. It's the the feel of a 70s action movie where the the small town sheriff harasses the out of towner, and that's exactly what I was expecting and I poked around town and took random pictures of the town. 

HEB sending wares as they rule south Texas

USPS drop off bin seems to be there since 1965

Empty town like in Children of the Corn, minus the corn

No more lonches at this stand

  

LareDon't do this to me

For reasons that are not too clear to me at the moment, I haven't stopped by this blog and shared my thoughts with my public lately. There are few things worse in life than letting down all 11 of my loyal readers.

Maybe I was too busy running for office. Maybe I just could not be dragged away from those spinning maquinitas that line every corner of this creepy city. Or maybe I was just too sick from all the carne-asada ingesting, Dallas Cowboys orgy-loving that seems to once again wrapped its kinky arms around this god-forsaken city.

Truth is I have been indulging myself in endless re-runs of shitty TV shows that have made it difficult to drag my fingers from off my remote control onto this aging laptop, with keyboards so sticky you'd think I ate toast with jam over it. Alas, the stickiness is not due to strawberry jam.

Which brings me to my point. One such show that seems to have hit a little too close for comfort is Californication. You might know the show or its premise. If you don't, its cool, I wont bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that, some of the gritty, over-the-top, disgusting moments from that show seem to bare some strange resemblance to the last three years of my life. But as that old disclaimer says, any resemblance to real people is clearly coincidental. I'm not saying I'm David Duchovny, in fact I've been told I look like Paul Rodriguez' ugly younger brother. The point is, I've been busy not blogging due to so discrepancies within my own twisted life.

However, there comes a time in a man's life, even a man like me, a poor schmuck from Santo Baby, TX to grow the hell up. There comes a time to look past the instant gratifications of the flesh, throw caution to the wind and immerse oneself in a good-old fashion, south-Laredo monogamous relationship that even Ricky Ricardo would approve.

Having been married several times already, I figured what the heck, why not again? Maybe because I've had so much practice at being married, I could actually do it right this time. That's what I figured. How many times can a man mess up? Isn't redemption always just around the corner? Having driven around all the the major points of this city throughout this Sunday afternoon, from Meadow to Saunders to Pita Mangana Road, I've come to the conclusion that it's definitely OK to accept my past, but its much more important  to mold a better future for myself. Having said that and having invited a band of cliches to take a seat upon my couch, I decided mucho more than just that.

We all make minor changes within our lives, at one point or another. This blog has always been therapuetic for me and, heck, I can honestly say it has been instrumental in keeping me in touch with who I am and where I come from. And I'm ok with that. Even though I neglect the blog, I know I can always come back to its waiting arms, ever so desperate for my warm embrace. And I know what I am, now. I'm a 30-something year old man from south Laredo with big dreams, no money, zero talent but all the ambition in the world to correct the wrongs and make them right. And I'm OK with that. All it took was a quiet Sunday drive from Meadow to Pita Mangana Road to make understand the obvious.

I'm definitely OK with that.

The Hand goes on vacation

"A man needs to get out and experience the world," my dad would always say when I was a kid. Now that I'm a grown man I try to get out and view the sights in order to experience everything that the outside world had to offer. However,  it's hard leaving Santo Baby, TX, but since I had a few days off for vacation, I gathered the courage to venture out beyond Webb County.

Friends and relatives waste no time in gloating about their summer excursions. Co-workers always mention to me their trips to Vegas, Europe, and the Caribbean as if I should be melting with envy. Nonetheless, I too took a weekend getaway trip, but being that I have a limited budget, I could not afford to visit Amsterdam, so I took the next best thing, a trip to Pearsall, TX.

You see, every now and then, even DeLaredo needs to periodically travel beyond the city limits of beautiful Laredo, TX. As luck would have it, destiny and circumstances swept me to Pearsall, TX, a city about 100 miles north of Laredo. Here I present to you just a small sample of my Saturday afternoon in this hidden gem of a town.

I thought of just swiping the washing machine, but....

Every great town has a Radio Shack!



Awesome name. See you at "The Point".

Great place for lunch!

Who needs 3D?

 

With a new HEB on I-35, the old building sits vacant


 Sometimes it's great to just sit back and enjoy the scenery. I had an opportunity to do that in Pearsall, TX, a place I had never given much time of day. Most times I skip the town and avoid the business district. I was glad however, that I took the time to see this city and walk the downtown area. For some reason I figured this is what Laredo looked like circa 1977.

Lesson learned: Pearsall, TX has some awesome people, great places to have lunch and a brand new HEB! Also, next year, I need to save my money and take a "real" summer vacation. Asi se aprende.

The hand goes to Arlington

This past weekend, the hand was fortunate enough to go to Arlington and watch the Texas Rangers sweep
the BoSox. The hand had a great time!

Today, an early game at 1pm almost caused me to play hooky from work. I had my hand on the dial ready to call in sick...its only April though.

The hand outside Ranger's Ballpark

The hand an hour before the game