Water Buffalo

Yesterday I received a phone call intended for my lieutenant husband. This has been happening a lot since the military put me down as the contact number during his deployment. Evidently, they forgot to change things back when they finally got around to sending him home. Regardless, the person calling was looking for the Lt. to "ask about the water buffalo for the air show". Naturally, I was curious. Water buffalo and I go way back...

Here's a water buffalo I met just a few years ago when I was home for Christmas:

Here is where the baby water buffalo kissed my belt buckle:

So the immediate course of action was to find out why there was going to be a water buffalo at the air show and what was wrong with my husband for not telling me about this crucial piece of information. However, being a thoughtful wife, I politely texted and asked him to tell me the story when he got home... instead of demanding it post haste. He called me a little bit later and the conversation went like this:

J: What about the water buffalo?

M: I want to know the story.

J: We're having one at the air show.

M: Really? Why didn't you tell me about this?

J: It's not that big of a deal.

M: Yes, it is, Josh. Everybody wants a water buffalo. Yours is fast but mine is slow.

J: I'm hanging up on you now.

Essentially, completely unsatisfying, and all because I had the hilarity to quote Veggie Tales at what he deemed was an inopportune moment. When he got home, the cross-examination began during which time I found out that when you're in the military and you talk about water buffalo (unless you fought in the Vietnam War), this is what you mean:

It stores water. I was rather nonplussed. A real water buffalo would've been so much cooler.

PS Unfortunately, the Water Buffalo song got stuck in my head so I was singing it for the rest of the day. Littles did not appreciate the verse that says, "Everybody has a baby kangaroo. Yours is pink but mine is blue." He wanted the blue one. Typical. msf