Doing It Right

Growing up in Denver, the Fourth of July was not a big deal.  Sure, everyone had the day off and sometimes you'd get invited to a back yard party, but there was no real celebration.  It seemed like we were always in a drought state so fireworks were forbidden except for sparklers and smoke bombs which are kind of lame.  Or you could drive somewhere and watch a professional show with thousands of other people which was pretty but kind of a hassle.

When we moved here to Lincoln, I was astounded, astonished, dumbfounded at the level of celebration for Independence Day.  Houses are decorated, streets are closed off and neighborhood parades abound. 

Yesterday was no different although these parade pictures are from years gone by because my girls declared themselves too old to be in the parade this year and Hayden zoomed by so quickly I didn't get a picture.

After the parade we have a party in the neighborhood park with tug of war, balloon tosses and bubble gum blowing contests.  I sent the kids yesterday, but didn't go myself because I was getting our house ready for the block party.  Well, the section of our block party.  We have a really long street and there were three or four parties along it last night.  We have always celebrated with the same four or five families who live closest and have kids the same ages as ours.

When the kids were little, we would eat dinner and the dad would supervise as the kids carefully lit their smoke bombs and snakes.  Then the kids would sit on the curb as the fathers lived out their pyromaniac dreams and lit the bigger fireworks.

It's a whole new world now.  Faith, at 10, is the youngest of the kids.  The oldest is 19 and most of them are boys.  Between them, the kids set things ablaze for nearly six hours solid last night.

Before it was even dark out, the street was littered with firework guts.

I wish I could show a picture of the street at the end but it was pitch black out.  It took eight people with big brooms to sweep up the mess and the lawns are liberally sprinkled with ash and confetti today.

Literally on our street, people set off things like this.

Those are some high dollar explosives there.  Just one of those can cost upwards of $70 and we had a neighbor who must have set off ten of them.

Our kids don't have that kind of cash, but they still manage to make a fine spectacle.

It is sheer craziness and somehow, year after year, we manage to get away with just minor burns here and there. 

God looks after children and fools it seems.

My kids will grow up and move away - probably to the big cities that they are sure are so much better than this town.  They will have fine lives I am sure.  But every year on the Fourth of July, they will sit and wistfully tell their friends about the celebrations of their childhood. 

And all the times they very nearly blew their hands off.

To Do Today

- Pick up shrapnel from the yard.  The rain stopped about 6:00 last night and fireworks went off on our block continuously for the next six hours.  It was pretty last night.  Not so much in the light of day.

- Crack the whip at the kids.  We've spent the last week in vacation mode and the house looks like it. 

- Tackle Mt. Laundry.  It's bad people.  Very, very bad.  The entire floor is covered in a pile about two feet high.

I'm considering arson.

- Nag Rich.  He seems to think that because his company gave him the day off that it applies here as well.  Silly, silly man.

- Eat leftovers.  The trifle is all gone but there's half a pan of Chili Corn Bread Salad left.  I'm posting the recipe In The Fridge somewhat reluctantly.  I liked the dish, but it's not something I would crave or request the recipe for.  However Rich did eat it and even liked it which counts for something.

**Rabbit Trail:  In my part of the world, the word "salad" is a very loose term.  It seems to mean any strange combination of ingredients served as a side dish.  No lettuce - or even vegetables - are required.

The side dish may resemble dessert.  It may be hot or cold.  It might serve as a main dish.

"Salad" is a word best viewed with suspicion. End of Rabbit Trail.**

- Outfit Reagan and Hayden for detassling.  This year Hayden is joining his sister in the glorious past time of getting on a bus at 5:30 a.m. to ride out to a cornfield where they will spend the rest of the day pulling tassels off of plants taller than they are.  To do this, Hayden needs boots and long socks.  They both need Camelbaks and lunch box friendly food.

- Take Hayden out for pizza.  He got straight A's on his report card.  His reward is that Rich and I take him out for dinner at the restaurant of his choosing.  Whether or not his sisters go is up to him.

He chose Pizza Hut without his sisters.

- Take a quality nap.  The Fourth of July is no good for napping.  Or sleeping at all before 2 a.m. on the 5th.

Cooking For My Husband For A Change

It is  raining.

It is the Fourth of July and it is raining.

Rain on Independence Day.

It just seems so wrong and yet, what can you do?  Fortunately we had the neighborhood parade yesterday and in anticipation of the rain had the kids light most of their fireworks last night.  Which just leaves . . . 

Potluck!

In this part of the world, a party in the garage is a perfectly acceptable thing.  Luckily the neighbors whose turn it is to host this year keep a clean garage.

If it had been our turn we'd be canceling.

Canceling would be a tragedy because then I'd miss out on my favorite potluck.  My neighbors can cook which makes me very happy while I'm eating but slightly nervous while I'm cooking.  I don't want to be the one who brings a bad dish and there's some real competition here folks. 

Usually I make Roasted New Potato Salad or Chopped Salad with Salsa Verde Dressing.  Both are delicious and real crowd pleasers but this year I thought I'd try to make something that Rich will eat.  Rich won't eat the Chopped Salad because it has jicama in it and he's strongly opposed to foreign vegetables or food he can't spell.  He won't eat the roasted potato salad because it has olives in it.

Isn't he silly?  Doesn't that look scrumptious? 

I think so.

In fact, I'm kind of regretting not making it now.  Because the recipe I chose is making me nervous.  The ingredient combo is a little strange but it has bacon in it so I do have hope for good results.  If it turns out well, I'll post it this week.

For dessert tonight, I'm making Banana Berry Trifle using the pound cake recipe from last week.

The upside to this lousy weather is that my trifle will not turn into soup.  Trifle is not really a summer potluck friendly dish, but the kids love it so I'm taking a walk on the wild side here.

In The Fridge today is the appetizer I made last Sunday and served with Lemon Bars.  It's a warm, cheesy green chile concoction that goes with tortilla chips.

Try it.

You'll like it.

Have a glorious Fourth!

Fourth

It is 10:03 p.m. and I am inside with Faith listening to my neighborhood explode around me. Faith gets freaked out when the big kids start lighting of the giant exploding fireworks and so she wanted to come in. I am so glad. Honestly, big kids lighting giant exploding fireworks freaks me out too. In ten years of our neighborhood block party we have yet to have more than a minor injury.

I’m thinking we’re running up against the odds here.

Yes, the giant exploding fireworks are illegal but no one seems to care. Certainly the police can see them but illegal fireworks seem to be low on their list of concerns. Either that of they are so vastly outnumbered that they’ve given up.

Earlier today though, things were fun. We started with our traditional neighborhood parade. Reagan is too cool for the parade now, but the younger two still participated. Hayden took The Poodle.

Faith pulled our neighbor’s grandson in his little wagon.

Then we headed to the park for fun and games. Faith rocked the tug of war.

With her as anchor, her team won the 8 and under contest. Then she joined Hayden for the 12 and under round.

Again, big tug-of-war winners.

Reagan decided that competing in the 18 and under contest was something she could do and still be cool.

Her side was up against 6 high school football players. The football players lost. Hee-hee!

We ended with our fabulous neighborhood potluck. So, so good. I didn’t even bring a main course because the side dishes are always so good. Once again, I ate too much and have no regrets.

Well, maybe one regret.

You see, it is COLD here today. Cold in July is just plain weird. We spent the whole evening huddled up in jackets, enduring intermittent rain while we supervised our pyromaniac offspring. Despite the cold I had a big helping of homemade ice cream that my amazingly talented neighbor made. It was soooo good, but by the time I finished my teeth were chattering.

Thankfully that’s about when Faith wanted to come in and so here I am in my relatively warm house waiting for the explosions to stop so I can go to bed.

I am such a party animal.