Happy Birthday, America!

Cowboy didn’t go to bed until almost 2 a.m. He’s said in the past that he likes to try to keep his work schedule up when he’s off.
It makes it easier when he goes back to work.

I got up at 7 a.m. and got my little stray cat fed. Since it was a better morning for me and I had a little energy, I managed to straighten up the house, clean the kitchen, and the bathroom.
Then I plopped myself down at the computer to check social media, hoping someone posted one of the five grandchildren. Nope. Modern‑day grandparenting, I guess, keeping up via Facebook.

Heron popped in the door with his dog at 8:30 a.m. He worked today and wasn’t too happy about it either.

After he left, I straightened the living room up a bit, then sat myself back down at the computer.

It was nearly 9 a.m. when Badger finally crept out of bed. It’s been a while since she’s done that.

I was deep‑cleaning my desk when she came into the living room. Being in the living room, everyone uses the desk as a dumping ground, and the cats use it as a bed.
I guess I wasn’t cleaning properly, Badger ended up cleaning it for me.
She got the old thing cleaner than it’s been in a while.
She likes to use alcohol on everything; she says it sanitizes better than Lysol or things like that. The desk is just an old thrift‑store find that came to me already badly stained, but she got it pretty darn clean.

Then she went in and precooked mine and her burgers. Cowboy was doing a heck of a lot of grumbling about the non-beef burgers, so I bought him four darn moo burgers. Like real genuine was‑once‑out‑in‑the‑pasture chomping‑grass moo. Red meat once in a while won’t kill him, I guess.

Surprisingly, Cowboy was up at 10:50 a.m. He ate breakfast, then went back to sleep until 2 p.m. He’s not on this new schedule.
His body is still keeping him on the old schedule.

Badger and I kept quiet in the house until noon.
She stayed in her room while I played on the computer. Then we went outside. I sat on the swing and read. She did some woodworking.

Once Cowboy woke up and headed outside, I left him and Badger out there. Badger was happy with her woodworking, and Cowboy was stripping copper.

I came in, got the moo meat cooking, and tossed the gobble meat in the oven to rewarm.
Badger had tater tots on warm in the toaster oven. That was our celebratory meal, along with two frozen pies. With just three of us here, there wasn’t much use in making anything huge.

We ate, and then Cowboy headed outside for the rest of the evening.

Badger and I just watched television in the cool. The meteorologist says we made it to 91° today. It didn’t feel as bad outside, or maybe I’m finally just adjusting. Of course, that’s like six degrees cooler than it has been.

The neighbors started with the big pretty fireworks about 9 p.m. Badger went out to take pictures. I put my noise‑cancelling headphones on and followed. Cowboy laughed at me, but I just can’t take loud noises anymore. Weirdest thing ever, any loud noise just makes me literally jump.
I’ve never been as sensitive to noise as I have lately.

Eventually, Badger headed back to her room, while Cowboy and I headed to the backyard. We watched the neighbors’ fireworks show until Heron finally made it home from work at 10:30 p.m. He and Cowboy set off their fireworks.
They were very disappointing. The neighbors’ fireworks were better, but then Cowboy likes loud boom, not pretty boom.

I had enough of the loud booms and headed back in to play on my computer for a bit. My hometown posted pictures of their Fourth. They always have a parade, never fails. And they always have a big firework show. It used to be in the park, but I don’t know if they’ve moved it.

Jefferson City has their parade and fireworks, too. I haven’t seen any of their pictures yet.

It’s hard not to compare it to here. We’re a literal ghost town. Nothing here but cows, houses, and churches. This town doesn’t do a thing for the Fourth. It’s just another boring day.

If it wasn’t for the neighbors setting off their own fireworks, the whole day would pass like any other.

Unless you can drive to the bigger cities, the Fourth is quiet and boring.

I miss living in a town that actually does something. This place doesn’t. If we lived somewhere that wasn’t dead, we might’ve had a more exciting Fourth.

I’m quickly typing this up and getting off of here. The carport camera just dinged. It’s 11 p.m., and Cowboy and Heron are heading back inside. I’m sure Cowboy will be watching his TV soon.