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4th of July Adventures
2:15 p.m. - 2008-07-08


We used to sit in the parking lot of the local junior college to watch the fireworks, but they have not been very civic minded the last two years, tearing up the parking lot to install some incredibly ugly overhang-light-fixture thingies and roping off almost the whole campus as a fireworks fall zone. Also having no restrooms open which is just unAmerican. This year we decided to try again. I started by calling the college and the police to see if the restrooms would be open, but got the usual bureaucratic runaround and no usable info. We parked in the faculty parking area and hiked around the yellow danger tapes until we came to a nice spot by the pond right behind the tape. We set up the lawn chairs and sat down.

I don't see what the big deal about the fireworks fallout is. The element of danger has added a lot of fun to our 4th over the years with the works exploding right over our heads and the fire raining down. Good times!

Anyway, after awhile a security guy who looked sweet and about 15 came around in his golfcart to tell us to get the heck off campus and go somewhere else. I quizzed him about the restrooms and found out that they were going to unlock the one in the administration building. I decided to go see where that was, and when I was fairly lost, I chanced upon the fledgling security guard in his cart talking to another guard. I asked him where the admin building was, but the other guard said that no, the restrooms were in the quad area. I set out to see where that was and the young security guy offered me a ride in the cart! Really fun, roaring down the narrow paths and across the campus! While we were tearing around, the security guy told me that he had questioned his superiors and found out that it was OK for us to sit behind the tape. Once he showed me where the quad was, he had to stay there to supervise the unlocking of the restroom, so I hopped off the cart to walk back to the rest of the family. It is always good to know in advance where the restrooms are. We sat by the pond until the fireworks started, but they turned out to be obscured by a tree so we had to move anyway. We had put in a call to Janelle's phone so that the J's would know where we were, but they never got the call. Instead, they happened to walk right up on us by accident, so we all left our not-so-good spot and walked throught the blocked off area to the street in front of the high school. We had a great view of the fireworks and a comfortable place to set the chairs.

After that we said goodbye to the J's and walked back across campus to the car and headed home. Turns out that the traffic is mucho better on the other side of the campus and there was no backup at all. We eventually ended up right behind the J's as they turned into their street. We honked and headed home.

This week we are headed into another stretch of horrible over-100-degree days. The spouse and I put up the shade cloth finally and already we notice how much better the AC works when the sun is not beating down on it. I am staying cool and working on the red Mexican Peasant blouse applique.

The soon-to-be-a-professor nephew flew in on Monday to stay at his folks' house out in West County. His folks are not home yet, being in transit from a family reunion in the southwest, so they were not here to pick G and his two kids up at the airport. My spouse volunteered to go to the airport and drive them out to West County. The kids are 4 and 1, and it was a good thing that the spouse had a surprise luncheon at work so had his bag lunch leftover, because the kids started to fall apart from hunger. He was able to provide a banana and my apple cake to keep them cheerful on the long drive through the afternoon traffic. My nephew's wife is staying home at their new house to do the painting while her husband and kids are visiting the grandparents and was glad of the opportunity not to have the kids underfoot.

The spouse dug up the front flower bed by the driveway and yesterday I planted out the new daylilies. It really looks so much better. I should water the other half of the bed this week and maybe he will dig that half up this weekend. Weather permitting.

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