Well, it was the 4th of July, and I saw fireworks for sale at the store. No, no, I reluctantly put down the two-foot tall cone that promised me 'golden chrysanthemums'. You see, I remembered my brother, the fireworks fanatic, being chased all over the farm by one of those when it fell over as it went off. But, in fond remembrance of my brother, and my (very) long-lost childhood, I bought sparklers! I figured the 'kids' would enjoy them, too, since Polly is so interested in chasing lights. Besides, it's no fun to have fun all alone. Now, it's been very hot here, so as it cools down in the evening, I put the fan in the window so it blows the hot air out of the house, and pulls the cool air in. Sooooooo, it got dark and I got out my little sparklers. I went outside in front of the window, and began to light the sparklers, waving them around to attract the cats' attention. Jamie (the Sheltie) was outside with me, being actually rather bored, since he's used to Mommy doing very strange things. I got burned by a couple of sparks from the lighter, that was rather more entertaining, I guess, since I dropped the lighter and tried to suck at the burn while holding the lit sparkler in my other hand. Then I tried to find a black lighter on the ground in the dark. Had to get another lighter to light the next sparkler so I could find the first lighter. And then, with a red and blue sparkler lit, I got into the patriotic spirit of the thing, and began to sing that famous Sousa march they always play on the 4th of July. But, I couldn't remember any of the real words (if there are any), so I sang "Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebody's mother", ya da da da da da da deeeeee, yum ta dum dum, da da da da deeeeeeeee!!!!!! Rather loudly, I might add, being patriotic and also living in the middle of nowhere, with only the groundhogs and an occasional skunk to disturb. Jamie looked at me like I was nuts. The cats were interested in the sparklers and the singing; they like it when I sing to them, even if it does sound like "cat-erwauling". Guess they would like that, wouldn't they. During all these festivities, I forgot how much smoke those sparklers make, and also forgot that I had the fan drawing air into the windows. Well, the smoke was going right into the house, and, um, the smoke alarms went off!!! The cats got scared and ran, knocking things over, and Jamie started barking like crazy, either because of the alarm noise or because the cats were behaving badly, and I was caterwauling about a duck being somebody's mother! I was holding 3 lighted sparklers and singing, so there was nothing I could do, except maybe pee my pants laughing. I didn't go back inside until the alarms stopped, but I did stop singing and calm the dog down. I found all the cats, some under the bed, some behind the couch. They're all ok. They were afraid of the treats I offered them, but Jamie ate his milk bone.

I can't wait for the Labor Day celebrations to begin!!!

With love and laughter,
Marji