Its my favorite holiday of the year by far.

I think I'm gonna start reading U.S. Grant's memoirs sometime today.

While I do like Independence Day, it's also one of the dreaded holidays around my neighbourhood. Illegal fireworks (not the 'safe and sane' variety) shooting off for about 2-3 weeks prior to the actual date. Two of my dogs are very sensitive to the sounds and become neurotic, lose weight, nervous and quiver in fear. You'd think it was a fuckin' warzone. This year is a bit better, but I hate to hear what tonight is gonna be like.

Tonight, the boys and I are staying indoors...after we BBQ that is.

I'm having some friends over to eat some steak and watch some shit blow up.

Hope you all are having just as good fun.

We cleaned yesterday so now today we're lounging. I'm reading, josh is playing vids. I made a nice lunch for us and now I'm getting ready so we can go to Target to buy Bday Presents for my son who turns 8 next sunday.

Then Josh will make dinner and we'll do more nothing. yay

np:

Happy 4th yall...not gonna do much, just kick back and enjoy the downtime

I'm taking a break myself. Just went to the grocery store (whatEVER was I thinking?). Got the potatoes boiling on the stove to make some homemade potato salad. Got the beer chilling. Gonna cut up the celery and green onions soon. Make some refried beans and prepare the meat for this evening's BBQ.

Only one problem -- I'm eating alone. My mother managed to get food poisoning yesterday and isn't eating. Oh well, more for me, I guess.

Oh yeah, I'm also making homemade guac.

Sweet! I made homemade salsa/pico for my party yesterday with the tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro all coming straight from my garden.

Also my kicked up ranch was a hit with the (also from my garden) fresh veggies.

And the big plate of sweet peppers....

Gardening is fun---especially when you can pile off some of the bounty on your friends.

And thank god my man Jigga showed up to man the grill again. Big ups J-hova.

I just got home from work. Fireworks were last night and I know of no BBQ, so umm... I'm going to open up a beer and, I don't know, light something on fire.

Does Vermont celebrate a different Independence Day than the rest of the US??

I learned something today. Of the million people who live in Calgary there are over 75,000 Americans. So, Happy Independence Day to them, and all USians!

Ha! Tania that was funny.

Chicago does the same thing though. The big fireworks show is always on the third, mainly because if you think about it, everyone has the 4th off, but who usually has the 5th off also? This way people can be out late and not have to go to work the next day etc. It's better this way I think.

I mean the neighborhoods, the burbs-most of them still have their shows on the 4th.

Man, last night we laughed from our place as we watched everyone get stuck in traffic on the main streets around us after the fireworks show in Grant Park. The traffic on s. wabash didn't move for an hour it seemed.

reading about the history of us foreign policy since 1938 all day will make for some mixed sentiments on independence day

and mixed sentiments of course lead to mixed drinks

Yeah, that whole World War II thing is a wicked pisser, eh? If only a few more people could have gotten killed in freaking ovens, what a wonderful world this would be.

i'm talking more about nsc68, the development of the military-industrial complex, and the fact that eisenhower failed to back up the policies he trumpeted financially, but if you want to interpret everything i say as immature bullshit, you're free to do that.

and i also love the fact that we crossed the 38th parallel to try and liberate pyongyang before a UN resolution was passed to approve that.

i'm just talking about american arrogance.

what we did during world war II was noble and great. i wish our country was still like that- hesistant to go to war, but doing it when necessary. i wish i could be super-patriotic and sign up for the military and get behind a cause. if we were fighting the nazis, maybe i could...

We're on Green Mountain time, baby!

Also, it's a big tourist weekend here. They'd lose a lot of money if they did their festivals and such the day the people were leaving.

But what about the girl? I caught Nancy Grace for a few minutes last nite, and she was trumpeting her unearthing of another missing-white-girl case. Seventeen-years-old girl from Vermont. Where she at? Huh? Huh?

Would you say American foreign policy was more arrogant than England during that same period?