I'm expecting to see a witch fly by at any moment

We are having an uncharacteristically windy day - usually, the air is tepid and still here - so we opened up earlier. However, the wind has gotten a little out of control. According to weather.com, the gusts are at 40mph. I am now half-convinced the next gust will make us airborne. Hey, you live in a mobile home, these things are possible. Unlikely perhaps but still feasible.

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I took Scratchel to the vet this week for a checkup (now that he's over 16 and officially geriatric, I get a little paranoid when he has the slightest change of behavior). I like this vet because they have a really kind staff. When I got Scratchel's chart from the vet in DC, I was rather chagrined to read "AGGRESSIVE" all over it. Not my little angel! This vet has someone who warms up towels to wrap him up in during the examination and pets and calms him before doing any procedures. He's still ornery but not nearly as bad.

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Jesus, weather and my cat. Next thing you know, I'll be talking about what I had for lunch. Just kidding, but I am reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and it's causing me to feel guilty every time I eat something that's out of season and thus has a huge carbon footprint (for having been carted all over hell and back to get to my grocery store). However, I may have to start making my own cheese - according to her, it's a piece of cake. How dangerous would that be....

Soon my ass will cradled in buttery leather goodness

Not like THAT. Perv.

We finally bought a couch this weekend. And even though we had both very firmly stated that we didn't want a leather couch, well, that's what we ended up getting. Specifically, a chocolate brown leather sectional. It was just so comfortable! And every other couch we looked at was boring green - excuse me, celadon - or beige. I had wanted maybe a blue couch to replace my old one, but that ain't happening this year, as apparently the furniture designers have gotten together and decided that blue is so early 2000's.*

So much leather...I'm hoping that Scratchel will continue to contain his scratching to our legs and his scratcher boards and keep his sharp little claws out of the couch. Otherwise, he and I will have to have words. And to think how back in high school I used to look at wearing leather as being almost on par with wearing fur. How the judgmental have fallen.

Because of the way the sectional is designed, the recliners are at opposite ends of the sofa. The Texan and I will never sit next to each other on the couch again. Ah well, we've had a good run.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure we bought the exact same couch that J-Ditty and her husband bought a few weeks ago. They live in Florida now so I haven't been able to confirm that personally, but from the way she's described it, I think we did. Long-time friends can tell you how much I hate ordering the same plate as someone else at dinner, but this one I will have to let slide.

* Speaking of being out of date, the Express-News had its special bridal section in yesterday's behemouth of a Sunday paper. I flipped through it out of curiosity. I shouldn't have, though, as I learned that my halter wedding dress is so OUT this year. Good thing I've already worn it then. And, please note, that eight months after the wedding, my gown is finally ready to get picked up from the cleaners. Not their fault, either - that's one task I let get past me. Eh, it's not like I'll need it anytime soon.

Guilty pleasures

I listen to the radio a lot when I drive because sometimes it's nice to be surprised by a song you'd forgotten you'd ever liked. Of course, this means you do get a lot of drivel too, but them's the breaks, right?

Anyways, my favorite station is the local college one, but they insist on playing horrid bluegrass and the like during the day (indie music comes on at night), so I must constantly hunt for acceptable alternatives while the sun's up. And I am one of those people who is constantly scrolling through my options, too - gotta love the scan button.

So I have stumbled across a station whose music I would mock when surrounded by others but while riding solo I do love to car-dance to. How to describe its music....late 1980s or early 1990s hip-hop/Top 40 I guess. Just the sort of stuff I listened to while in high school; in fact, a lot of the songs remind me of riding on the bus with my volleyball team off to a match or something along those lines. The "bands" - or I should say, "performers," because I really doubt they wrote their own music OR lyrics - are groups like Bell Biv Devoe, Tony Toni Tone, En Vogue, etc.

The other day I heard the song, "Mentirosa." Come on, you know it - it has that riff, "Today you tell me something / y manana oltra cosa." Lyrics half in Spanish, half in English, all idiotic about a guy's girlfriend who's cheating on him? When I was in high school, I took French, as it's such a useful language in growing up in LA. Oh wait, no it's not. But I took it anyways, so I wasn't able to crack all the lyrics to "Mentirosa" while the song was popular. But now, after having studied Spanish (erm, years ago, but good enough!), I can understand them entirely. It's kinda fun, albeit extremely insipid to be so intensely focused on what they're saying.

My favorite part I think is the "spoken word" portion in the middle, where the singer gets to face the woman who done him wrong and accuse her of all sorts of infidelities. The portion where you just know he's thinking, "Ooh, burn!" is when he asks her if she can go to confession...and tell the truth! Undaunted, she claims she does, and lobbies the query back at him. He of course avers he is completely innocent and has nothing to confess. Surrrre you don't.

At any rate, music industry, take note: more Spanglish songs, please! It's like a crossword puzzle for your ears. Or maybe a Word Search for them.

Goddamned snow days

Not here. Here, it's 35 but steadfastly dry. But in DC, where a lot of my friends and colleagues are located, it started snowing mid-morning. With it came an avalanche of increasingly-jubiliant emails of people having to leave early due to "travel concerns." Nah-huh. Or those who are ready to get a five freaking day weekend. Sigh.

I on the other hand have to figure out where I put my hat and gloves. The Texan loves this weather as he gets to finally sport the black leather duster he got while in Thailand last year. A jacket like that is useless 99 percent of the year here, but by god it fits the bill that one percent of the time.

There's a new kid in town

My friend, GI Jane, just moved to SA for a three-year stint and I've had the pleasure of showing her around the city. She came out to visit last year, so I'm off the hook regarding the typical tourist spots. Instead, I've taken her to all the *truly* important places. So far, we've gone to the Quarry (a shopping center), La Cantera (an outdoor mall), and Target (no explanation needed, unless you're a godless North Korean communist or something). This weekend we're expanding our repetoire: we're going to a bar. Do I know how to show people a good time or what?

For once, not a complaint

Shocking, I know. But I must give props to San Antonio's emergency responses. Last weekend, The Texan had what we thought was a sinus infection. That aggravated his asthma tremendously, to the point on Sunday where he was wheezing so much and to such little avail that his lips were blue. I have been accused of being a hypochondriac, but come on, even the staunchest anti-trips to the doctor person out there - you know, most men - would have to agree that that was bad.

At first The Texan, being one of those aforementioned anti-trips to the doctor types, refused to consider going to the ER. However, I finally got him to agree to it, which was good because he's bigger than me and there was no way I could force him there. So I called 911 and got an an ambulance to come pick him up. I was worried about getting lost or separated from him on the way to the hospital so I insisted on riding with the EMTs. I got to sit up front, which was pretty cool (they use GPS now to get them places. We are moving to a world where no one knows how to read a map). No siren though, as they got him stabilized.

Because The Texan is a military veteran, we had them take us to the VA ER (motto: where everything is free to the honorably discharged). I gotta say, I was worried about a long wait or endless bureaucracy. There wasn't any of either. We got right in and they started giving The Texan oxygen immediately. The nurses were nice and even let me use the employee-only bathroom.

After some x-rays - they brought the machine to him, a nice touch I thought - they found out he has pneumonia. We got some meds and after a couple of saline drips, we were allowed to get in a cab (my poor husband was in his bathrobe and it was only 40 degrees out. Good thing he had a fever anyways to keep him warm) and go home.

He's slowly getting better but is still pretty much creeping around. I have had to take up the slack on cooking, typically his forte, and it has not been pretty. I made perhaps the most peppery corn chowder in existence yesterday. Oh well. I still think he went through all this to get out of taking down the xmas decorations, but if so, he's VERY good at staying in-character.