Fourth of July

Greetings my fellow Americans, and friends all over the world. This is The Daily Bone and I’m your patriotic doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel along with my independent-minded associate Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel.

Today is the Fourth of July! Two hundred thirty-eight years ago the United States of America declared it’s independence from England. Hooray! 

It was nine AM when my ghost writer turned on the computer and started writing this for me. After a couple weeks of oppressive heat and humidity and daily thunderstorms, today is nice and cool, so we turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows. We could hear the cardinal family chirping to each other in the nearby trees, the robins and chipping sparrows singing, the mourning doves cooing, and the inevitable drone of a lawn mower from a few blocks away. Incidentally, the grackles have all concluded their nesting business, closed up shop, and moved out of the neighborhood. What a relief! Then, POW! Somebody was already lighting off fire crackers! In New York State, it is illegal to have fireworks for personal use, except for sparklers. But hardly anybody follows that law. As soon as it gets dark we know that several of our neighbors will be setting off their own fireworks that they smuggled in from Pennsylvania. 

On TV, the Fourth of July is the reason for big sales at furniture stores and car dealers. They start advertising two weeks before and go on for two weeks after. (After this time period, it magically turns into Back-to-School shopping time.) Joey dog and I have yet to figure out why they do this, except they must think everybody has the day off and would like nothing better than to wander around their stores and parking lots, rather than have a picnic with their friends and family. 

Joey dog and I will be spending the holiday at home with Mom and Dad. After working seven days in a row, Mom plans to do absolutely nothing! She might, though, give some thought to getting back to work on her novels. These are totally different than The Daily Bone because they are scary murder mysteries! But I digress. 

Instead of noisy fireworks, we would like to show you some things from our yard that kind of look like fireworks. 

We hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July. Remember, many doggies are afraid of loud boom booms and bright flashes, so be considerate for their sake. 

Oh, if you want to see something special that happens every Fourth in this area of New York State, put the following words in your search engine: ring of fire fingerlakes. It’s quite spectacular. And that’s a memo. 

10:30PM. This is a Fourth of July update:

Dad cooked some mouth-watering steaks on the grill this evening. 

Wow, look at this: grilled filet mignons with mushrooms and
roasted potatoes and vegetables. 

With the dishwasher running, we could hardly hear the fireworks.  Good night.