S.A. weather: A-a-a-hhh!

Yes, I understand, dear reader! You're wondering about my title for this posting, when five postings ago I told how the "weather outside frightful." But that's the way it is here in south-central Texas during the winter. A few days of bitterly cold air, then a few days of spring-like sunshine and fresh breezes.

So yesterday and today have been BEAUTIFUL! A-a-a-hhh! Indeed, last evening as the sun was setting and I was soaking in the warm, fresh late afternoon air, I meditated on how a day like this day made one GLAD to dwell in south-central Texas! A-a-a-hhh!

How ironic about today's meteorological beauty, then, that this morning was the annual Cowboy Breakfast. This warm-up for the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo usually entertains dreadful, wintry weather. And true, it WAS very cold before dawn (the free meal commences about 5:30 or 6:00 AM), with thick frost on the lawns. But the sky was clear, with little or no breeze! This means that the traditional trail rides into the city from various origins in all directions (e.g., Bandera, Laredo) will also enjoy decent weather (unless a "blue norther comes sweeping in from Alberta suddenly).

Speaking of the trail rides (they use highway rights-of-way rather than bona-fide paths), while we lived in Devine (1992-92) I happened to hear on the radio that THAT bunch of riders was coming thru the Devine area that very afternoon. I gathered up as many of the Boy Scouts in my Troop as I could, and we went down IH-35 southward a-lookin' for the men and their stock. Turned out the riders were taking a break, so the boys got to see the horses up close. It was a fun serendipity!

Back to the Cowboy Breakfast. My first year here it was at North Star or Central Park Mall, I think; I didn't attend. Next year it was at Sunset Station north of the Alamodome, I think; again I didn't attend. But since then it's happened behind Crossroads Mall, next to IH-Ten and VÍA's Crossroads Park & Ride. I've gone each year, to enjoy the free tacos, biscuits 'n gravy, coffee, etc. And the free live entertainment, the various organizational booths that pass out info about their services, provide sign-up for Rodeo raffles, give out trinkets, etc. It's always crowded (and usually cold and wet -- but again, not THIS year). But I enjoy it; as my chicano neighbors might say, "Es puro San Antonio."

It's pure S.A. because, as I mentioned in my latest post about museums (see 13 January), San Antonio IS truly a "cow town". You know, when I was a student at the University of Idaho (Class of '76) I hated that my alma mater was called a "cow college". I shouldn't have been so touchy, after all, the U of I indeed has an agricultural college and sits at the edge of a small county-seat town, Moscow, with fields of wheat, peas and lentils spreading to the horizons opposite the town side of campus. And as I affirmed in that earlier posting, this city was very important in the late 19th Century, because it first was a gathering point for feeders into the famous old Chisholm Trail, up which tens of thousands of cattle, mostly longhorns, were driven to rail heads in Kansas. Later, when the rails reached here, S.A. itself became an important shipping and packing locale for beeves!

And thanks to the annual Rodeo, this city, cosmopolitan tho' it be, remains imbues with a touch of the old "cow town" ambiance! And even tho' the weather more often than not is in SOME manner uncomfortable and inconducive to outdoor activity, when the weather IS good it's REALLY good! And appreciated!

So, while mother nature graces us as she has these past two days, it's time to get ready for our annual February shindig. "Let's rodeo, San Antonio!"