Proud To Be An American

Yet again I am behind on my posts, but you would be too if you had to water your lawn CONSTANTLY to keep it from dying a slow and terrible death. There is no rest for the wicked or for people who don't have a sprinkler system. I have also been a little out of sorts since finishing Beatrice and Virgil. It sounds like an innocent enough title, right? Wrong. I'm sorry if you want to read this book, but am about to tell the ending. Turns out the main character gets stabbed by an evil Nazi taxidermist who wrote a play about Beatrice and Virgil (a donkey and a howler monkey) who die a gruesome death at the hands of a teenage boy. The main character survives, but he is never the same after the stabbing. Also, his beloved dog somehow contracts rabies and mangles his cat, so both animals have to be put to sleep. Needless to say, I don't recommend this book unless you have a strong stomach and an urge to be depressed.

Let's concentrate on the happy, shall we? Yesterday Mike and I celebrated the 4th of July. It was actually the 3rd of July, but since the holiday falls on a Sunday this year, most people celebrated yesterday. There seems to be some controversy as to what day to celebrate, but personally I don't care much what day we celebrate as long as we can celebrate. The only bad thing about the 4th of July is that Bear is terrified of fireworks. I mean TERRIFIED, as in she looks like she fears serious bodily harm. She has tired every hiding spot in the house including the bath tub which she will usually go nowhere near. But she never seems to find a satisfactory place to hide because she never stays in one spot for more than five seconds. When she is not hiding she follows me and Mike EVERYWHERE with a look of, "Let's get out while we still can!" I feel so bad for her, but I don't know what to do short drugging her into unconsciousness.

Mike and I celebrated at a nearby park with family and friends. We played Frisbee, had ice cream and snow cones, lit sparklers, had a picnic, and watched fireworks. Basically, we did all of the traditional stuff, and I must say it was pretty fun. I am not a especially patriotic person and I don't love setting off fireworks all the time, but I am very happy to have been born in this country. I love having the freedoms that we enjoy, and I am thankful for all the people that died for that. As for fireworks, they seem like a pretty good way to celebrate all that we have.