Fourth of July

I am sitting here under my canvas patio shelter.  It's 9:25 PM.  I am surrounded by loud noises, pops and booms and the sputtering and hissing of various fireworks.  There is a faint smell of burnt gun powder in the air.

How many kids today see the holiday as nothing more than the opportunity to shoot off fireworks?  I still, on the Fourth, think of the Founding Fathers in tight pants and ruffled shirts, shoes with big buckles, wielding quill pins on parchment, writing words of great import, and the Colonial army, carrying flintlock muskets and wearing tricorn hats.  Ah, those were the days.  They made for us a great country of almost unlimited freedom.  Sorry we couldn't keep it, Founders.  Perhaps this day is, after all, just an excuse to explode fire crackers and shoot off fiery fountains and sparklers.

My dog, Bogie, is terrified of loud noises, but mom has given him a sedative and he seems almost okay with the barrage.

I hope you are having a happy Fourth of July.