PSA

We interrupt this travelogue, such as it is, to bring you a couple of FYIs.

First, the question has been asked, "Why San Antonio?"

Well, a year and a half ago, a member of an online board for the housekeeping challenged that I frequent invited anyone who wanted to come to meet up with her and visit in Albuquerque. Since I have loved the idea of Albuquerque since I first heard that Bugs Bunny missed a left turn there often, and I was overtaken with a spirit of daring adventure for once, I went to San Antonio to meet up with Grace and carpool with her the rest of the way.

Yes, I just got up and went to meet a bunch of strangers, and it was the most fabulous thing I had done in years. It was refreshing, it was beautiful, it was a renewal of spirit I needed. It gave me time away from the family, something I hadn't had in years. It gave the family a chance to watch the house fall apart and realize how much they depended on me.

It gave me great joy, and brought me great friendships.

So this year, when Grace said she wanted to continue the tradition and be the hostess, there was no way I was going to miss out. She and I spent countless hours talking on the road last year, and she is someone I love and admire deeply.

So, that is what is in San Antonio, besides the Alamo. There is friendship.

Second, an update on Silverstream. She is now being lovingly called "Stumpy" as she stumps around the kitchen on her cast, and the vet believes she will heal up with no trouble. The cast should get changed one more time, next week, and then taken off a week or so after that. Meanwhile, the kids didn't want to get her cast wet, so they weaned Athena and Tawnykit, but poor Silverstream missed the boat and is having a very hard time learning. She honestly doesn't think she can eat unless the bottle is next to her mouth, even when she is drinking from the bowl!

Third, a shelter update, because I can't help myself.

No, I didn't let Grady out tonight. Little Girl did and #2 Son did. They used the Grady gloves, but he really didn't fight back. He seems to be resigning himself to getting caught and put back. He is still in the big room with Candy, Prissy, Ginny, and Clint, who is still in hiding.

Frieda is so happy in the office, she is now friends with everyone!

The back cages only have Gidget and Queso, both of whom they are trying to get to make friends with the others so they can get into rooms.

Angel and Dustie are still doing well, no eye problems right now.

Nacho is now on a tea tree oil salve that I recognize they got at Whole Paycheck. That spot on his neck is the craziest thing, we have tried everything else, from vitamin E to prednisone, why not this? He is rooming with Devon and Curly Sue, who has gotten FAT! She was practically skin and bones when she came in, and now she looks like she is letting herself go to pot. She went back to the food bowl several times while I was there, and now her head is looking too small for her body. I'd say put her back in the big room and let her run, but she bothers Prissy too much.

Allie is on an ear medication, and you have to get out the ladder to get her down for it as she hates the stuff. She is rooming with Runt, who is doing well.

JuJu is as mean as ever, but has condescended to allow Baxter to join her and Bowie. Apparently her prejudice is only against people, not other cats.

Maisie, Maggie, and Mamie are all sharing a room, and Mamie is on meds for an upper respiratory infection.

Sofia, Princess, Corrie, and Roxanne round out the rooms, and are all in good form. Princess is not ill, as I knew all along, it is just her asthma.


Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- South Korea

Children's Day -- Singapore

Christmas Seal Campaign begins

Day of the Caudillo, Spain

Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux (patron of florists, foreign missions, France, pilots; against tuberculosis)

Festival de la Primavera, Peru

Fides -- Old Roman Calendar (goddess of faithfulness)

Fire Pup Day

Independence Day -- Cyprus; Nigeria; Palau; Tuvalu

International Day of Older Persons -- UN

Kalends of October

Magic Circles Day

National Cubicle Day

Pudding Season begins (Time to preserve meat from slaughtering for the winter by making meat puddings.)

Right-Brainers Rule Month begins

St. Remigius' Day

St. Romanos' Day

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus' Day

Tuvalu National Holiday

Unification Day -- Cameroon

US Fiscal Year begins (Why in October?)

World Vegetarian Day


Anniversaries Today:

South African College is founded, 1829 (Now University of Cape Town)
Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone National Park are founded, 1890
Stanford University opens, 1891


Birthdays Today:

Mark McGwire, 1963
Randy Quaid, 1950
Julie Andrews, 1935
Richard Harris, 1932
George Peppard, 1928
Tom Bosley, 1927
Jimmy Carter, 1924
James Whitmore, 1921
Walter Matthau, 1920
Bonnie Parker, 1910
Vladimir Horowitz, 1903
Henry III, King of England, 1207


Today in History:

Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia, BC331
The Russian Parliament accepts the annexation of the Ukraine, 1653
First session of the new French legislative assembly is held, 1791
Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty, 1800
The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orléans, Louisiana, 1811
Maria Mitchell discovers a non-naked-eye comet, 1847
A cyclone strikes Calcutta, India, killing 70,000, 1864
Karl Marx' "Das Kapital" is published, 1867
The world's first postcards are issued, in Vienna, Austria, 1869
John Philip Sousa becomes the new director of the USMC Band, 1880
Thomas Edison opens the first electric lamp factory, 1880
The USPS begins special delivery mail service, 1885
Arab forces under T.E. Lawrence, a/k/a Lawrence of Arabia, capture Damascus, 1918
An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft, 1926
The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens, 1940
Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom, 1946
First broadcast of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, 1962
The Concorde supersonic transport plane breaks the sound barrier for the first time, 1969
Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States, 1971
The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama, 1979
EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World, 1982