I became much more pro-American after living there, which is no doubt better than becoming much less so. Happy You're Not The Boss Of Me Day! May you eat stuff and watch fireworks.

Downstairs has been vacuumed, trash taken out (I felt like I was being mugged by the heat when I stepped out of the door), the strawberries and rhubarb chopped and macerating in the fridge. Think I will wait until very late to actually cook it. Now to see what is on Netflix, so I can still feel like I went to the movies.

4th of July. Attended a small town parade (Tumwater) to gather signatures for a local public power initiative*. Seems very appropriate for the 4th July to petition for redress of grievances.

*Reason for the initiative. Thurston County (Washington State) has a private utility, Puget Sound Energy which has the highest rates in the state and the worst maintenance record. We are surrounded by counties with public power which have a much better record. Mason County and Tacoma both have public utility districts with good records. Even Seattle City Light, which is a somewhat awful city owned utility in Seattle has a better record than Puget Sound Energy.

We got my (awesome new) car washed, then did some dog training in the park, then saw Moonrise Kingdom, which I loved, even though it was VERY twee. After a very late lunch at our local diner, we are in for the night, as Truman, our standard poodle, is deathly afraid of fireworks.

I think America is complicated, but almost anything is complicated. So my feelings are. I'm proud of a lot of things about America and Americans but there's a lot that Americans do that I'm not proud of.

Kinda like how I feel about my family.

So Will came over and we went for a drive (looking for a certain snack stand that I guess was closed). We cleaned. My apartment looks so much better and it's so much easier for me when there's someone who can keep me on track. My old vacuum didnt' have attachments (they were lost) my new one does so I got up tons and tons of cat hair.

Heh. The the fellow who invited me to dinner apparently had cosmetic surgery this week and canceled the party. I was the only one he didn't email.

Upside 1: It was right across the street, so despite getting dolled up, it was no big transpo issue.

Upside 2: I'm cool, eating something I shouldn't and watching SG-1.

Upside 3: Did I mention the cool?

Yeah. I'm good.

I just saw a bunch of people headed down to the Mall for the National fireworks show. I wish them luck and proximity to medical care if they have heat stroke!

Tonight's dinner was seafood salad on a bed of lettuce wrapped in a multi-grain tortilla times two.

The cobbler is now in the oven; I am looking forward to it mightily.

My only concession to the holiday has been to watch my DVD of Captain America. I figure that's enough in this weather. I don't feel like going out to fireworks when it's 93 degrees out. And I still have laundry to do. Ugh.

We're home. The 4th of July traffic wasn't as bad this year.

The cobbler is now in the oven; I am looking forward to it mightily.

This is what I get for watching historical shows, my first thought was "But what did the shoemaker do to deserve that!"

I wouldn't do that to my great-grandfather! Besides, he'd be a little old and leathery to bake.