July Fourth and Rockets All Around Me

Well, Happy Birthday America. Glad we’re still around.

I have decided that I will have to build myself a giant tree-house to live in when my lease here runs out. And it has to be AT LEAST six stories above ground level. As long as it’s above tree-top level so I can see as much of the sky as I do now.

Now if I could just get all the yahoos around me to take their illegal versions of fireworks somewhere else, the evening would be topped off almost perfectly. Having some company would have been nice, but it's been fun on my own, too.

From my vantage point, I could see no less than 5 displays that seemed to be legal versions—and about the same number that were clearly illegal. The fireworks in my parking lot, at the water’s edge, were very much illegal and way too close to my building. Actually, I should say “are illegal,” since they’re still going full blast, with a capital Blast. It’s about 10 p.m. now, so hopefully they’ll wind down soon.

The poor cats are frantic; so much so that Binks, the tiny panther, ran in terror from the noise, even in the midst of a hunt for Howard’s little sister, Chloe.

The best parts about my view this evening were that I didn’t have crowds all around me, and the air conditioning was only about 4 feet away.

I could critique the various displays, but I don’t see the point. The legal ones were all equally impressive and the illegal ones were all equally annoying. They still are annoying, but the ones in the parking lot are gaining a distinctive edge over all the rest.

Anyway, it has been my tradition over the last few years to watch the Capital Fourth on PBS so I can enjoy some nice music and be away from crowds and watch from the AC. So as usual, I put on the show and watched it exclusively until the sky became dusky. At that point, I stepped out on the balcony to watch the local show with the TV as background music. I could have done without the background music. It did not fill me with endless joy. After a while, I turned it down and stood on the balcony singing “Star Spangled Banner” to myself. It was, in my opinion, much better than the show the Beach Boys put on. Sorry guys; you just didn’t do it for me.

So the real shows are over and I’m now going to wash the dishes from my turkey nachos and get ready for bed. Hope everyone else had a great Fourth of July Weekend!