July 4th Celebration!

[wyntrout]

We wish everyone a very happy Independence Day! I know that last year we had a real celebration as a nation and there are many detractors out in the open this year.

We still have a LOT to be thankful for and many blessings and liberties... even as they are being assailed by the Left.

We can't let that get us down and let them win. We need to keep the faith and support each other and join forces to retake our country and protect what our forefathers risked everything to give us.

We are very thankful for what we have and keep standing up for Freedom and ALL of our RIGHTS.

I'm starting this new thread to also post about my new flag pole and get the discussion out of our humor thread. :)

Now I need to get out and mow the lawn before it starts raining again. We have rain every day for the next week and Elsa will add to that around Wednesday.

I hope that everyone can celebrate this birthday of our great nation... safely, too! Watch those fireworks and be careful! I keep thinking about trying to cobble a "boom" together, but I don't have any ingredients for that and want to be safe! :D

God Bless America and God bless you all!

Wynn & Desiree

:amflag::Amflag2:

When I get some wind, I'll try to post some pictures of our flag pole! :)

[Canine Dave]

I wonder what other's do to celebrate our nation's birthday? She's 245 years old today, who would have thought?

Last night we went to the Blossom Music Center to listen to the Cleveland Orchestra, followed by a pretty decent fireworks display. About 20,000 others in attendance(!)

Today the family is coming over for a cook-out, inspite of the fact that my club has a Steel Challenge scheduled and open trap practice.

Our flag is out now. Always surprised how few in the neighborhood do that.

[BirdsThaWord]

Happy 4th everyone! Well put Wyntrout. Those words certainly ring true!!!

[Bawanna]

One of our momma's brought her new baby for some feed, dad came by a few minutes later. Baby and dad were nosing each other, never seen that before. We have several that are regular everyday visitors.

[wyntrout]

Nice. I love to see the critters. We see a lot when we go to SW Colorado and visit my wife's folks. They live in the mountains east of Durango and we see deer everywhere... sometimes Elk.

We started off cloudy here and I think it's supposed to rain in a few hours, but the sun is in and out now and my neighbor's cutting his grass. I managed to get mine done yesterday between sprinkles and rain. The grass didn't clump as badly as I feared, but I did have to kneel down and scrape the grass and dirt from the mower deck. It was substantial and I cleaned all of my implements, throwing the dirt onto the stump hill that I'm trying to get covered with grass.

I'm still waiting for some wind to take pictures of the flags.

It's a quiet Fourth here, so far, but will be noisy and a fireworks show by the neighbors on the river below us. Nothing is supposed to bang, but sometimes theirs rival the professional shows. I love those mortar tube things. I bought some one year and really liked them... the thunk and then a humongous explosion and bursts!

I guess I could get out my Vietnam pen flare launcher with some UHF CB cable fittings on the end that allows me to bust a 209 primer, but that's kind of pitiful! :D I did that last year, I think... maybe for New Years... popped 4 primers.

I hear one or two bangs in the distance at midnight, but that was it.

83 degrees and waiting for the rain. I'm so glad I got the mowing and several other chores out of the way yesterday... rain off and on for the next week.

[JohnR]

We’re making apple pie and I may have some hot dogs. Just need baseball and Chevrolet and it’ll be complete. For those who remember the ‘70s TV commercial.

[Bawanna]

Got a shot of Dad when he came back for seconds. He's sprouting some pretty nice antlers, will be fun to see how far they go.

[getsome]

Happy Independence Day to everyone…..Fly the flag and say a prayer to the Good Lord that we stay free……We beat the Brits and we will beat the Socialists…..Keep the faith!

[Armybrat]

4th of July beach parade in South apadre Island, Texas.

[Armybrat]

Well durnit! Dunno why it is upside down.

[jeepster09]

Hmmmm....happy 4th!:amflag:

[wyntrout]

We don't eat breakfast and we're on our own for lunch. About 3:15 PM I noticed that there was some wind.

A rain storm was moving in and the rain was just this side of the bridge about 1.5 miles away, so I had to hurry. I had just made my Gouda Cheese omelet and put it on a plate at my table. I got the camera and ran outside. Of course the lens fogged up going from 72 degrees and 40% humidity to about 84 degrees with 80% humidity. It was wipe the lens, shoot, wipe the lens, shoot.... I tried to adjust the flags a bit and lowered the flag pole... with lightning getting closer. I couldn't resolve the one flag or the other being twisted around the pole a little. They are connected to the second position and can go their separate ways, twisting one or the other a bit around the flag. i may look into getting two more single "swivels".
I won't fly the heavier 3-ply POW/MIA flag when we have rain and higher winds. Of course, I'll collapse the pole during hurricanes. It telescopes with stainless steel pop out pins to hold the sections in place. Raising and lower is easy, but I have to remove the screws holding the lower swivel down to fully collapse the poles.

I tried to load a Facebook video post, but no luck.

:Amflag2:

[getsome]

Thank you Wyn, it looks perfect!……Great job!!!

[Armybrat]

Nice!

[wyntrout]

Weather permitting, I'll see if I can get some pictures tonight with fireworks in the background. The neighbors on the river about 140 yards away love to fire off some big stuff... the almost commercial mortar types. I love the PHUT! or thump sound as they are fired from the tubes and then a few seconds later the burst and large boom... awesome. I got some of those out of state one time... really fun. You light the fuse and drop it into the tube... almost like the real mortars. :D

We'll be eating, though, and I have the prime rib "resting" in the oven now... 5 minutes a pound at 550 degrees for rare, then oven off and don't open the door for two hours... works great. 6 minutes gives medium to medium-rare. Pink all of the way through, at worst. And 7 minutes per pound for <shudder> well done.

I forgot and used 5 minutes. I usually use 6 for us... wifey doesn't like much "juice". I'll have to toast hers under the broiler for a minute, maybe.

I've opened and capped my 2019 Kirkland Châteauneuf-du-Pape, so it's ready. We'll have nuked baked potato with LOTS of Kerry Gold Butter, and I have my fresh hot horseradish. Wifey likes some weaker stuff. We'll have a whole avocado each as well. I'll have my green tea concoction to take all of my pills, tablets, and capsules... prescriptions and MANY supplements.

We're looking forward to the 4th celebration in DC, too. Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA ALWAYS brings tears to our eyes. That USAF video special of the song last year(?) did the same... beautiful. God Bless the USA doesn't just bring tears to my eyes... it chokes me up and I just plain cry with pride and happiness... usually!

:Amflag2:

[tokuno]

I mustered a band :-)
Ended up being about 115 volunteer instrumentalists playing a 90 minute free concert in a local park, complete with a color guard, Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem, and a whole bunch of patriotic songs. I violated my rule of limiting the music selection to American composers, because I wanted to include a piece by Alford - a British composer - that celebrates the American flyboys who traveled to England to help defend them during the Battle of Britain prior to America's entrance into WW2.
June has been an exhausting month pulling this together amidst career & family stresses, but the result was spectacular. Happy Independence Day to all of us individuals honored to call ourselves Americans.

I was too busy to capture anything more impressive than a few quick snaps, but these give the general idea:

17935
17936

[yqtszhj]

I mustered a band :-)
Ended up being about 115 volunteer instrumentalists playing a 90 minute free concert in a local park, complete with a color guard, Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem, and a whole bunch of patriotic songs. I violated my rule of limiting the music selection to American composers, because I wanted to include a piece by Alford - a British composer - that celebrates the American flyboys who traveled to England to help defend them during the Battle of Britain prior to America's entrance into WW2.
June has been an exhausting month pulling this together amidst career & family stresses, but the result was spectacular. Happy Independence Day to all of us individuals honored to call ourselves Americans.
I'll try to post some pictures later.

Nice

[Armybrat]

....

[wyntrout]

Tokuno, thanks for helping celebrate our Independence Day! I know that most of us are thankful for our country and the freedoms we have. There are too many that don't even know what FREEDOM is. It sure isn't having a "benevolent" government give you everything that (they think) you need.

:Amflag2:, but really :amflag:

[JohnR]

I took the dog out to walk last night and wasn’t sure if the neighborhood was foggy, or smoky from the huge amount of fireworks everyone has.

[tokuno]

Tokuno, thanks for helping celebrate our Independence Day! I know that most of us are thankful for our country and the freedoms we have. There are too many that don't even know what FREEDOM is. It sure isn't having a "benevolent" government give you everything that (they think) you need.

:Amflag2:, but really :amflag:

My daughter texted us from Disneyland. She's a US Marine flute/piccolo player, and they had run two of their three performances - apparently didn't leave them much time to relax and enjoy the park, and no, they get neither overtime nor comp - good stewards of our tax dollars :p. If you're familiar with Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever, she's Johnny on the spot for the familiar piccolo obbligato near the end. We haven't seen her perform live yet, so were sorry to miss the chance to fly down and thrill to her performance, but it was a choice of two great options.

[wyntrout]

Wow! I just searched for and watched this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-7XWhyvIpE

"The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band playing that. I skipped a few minutes to the piccolo part... 4 ladies... wow that is bright and brisk... gave me chills.

The video is from 9 years ago, though.

I know that you must be so proud. :)

[Bawanna]

I managed to get a couple shots with fireworks in the background. And a shot of my VW flag pole base.

[wyntrout]

Very good! I didn't have as much luck with the fireworks and my flags... no wind and my camera quit, too. I've been trying to find a replacement... 9 years old and dropped on concrete a few times!

I got a few with my phone, but they aren't very good and my viewing angle wasn't as uncluttered as yours!

I'm still working on a light, too. Going to Lowe's to return the 4'x6' flag and get some more stuff... always need more stuff. :D

[Bawanna]

My light timer baffles me too, I need to come up with a better set up and want to get the light on the street side so your not looking at the light as you drive by. I have the solar light deal on top but it don't put out much light.

I got real lucky on them photos with my phone, just plain luck.

Just finished cleaning up after the shindig, celebrated my Marine son's birthday with a bunch of buddies and other friends. A lot of big bang stuff blown up and beer cans from here to the horizon and back. I got 3 craters in the front yard I hope I don't lose the lawn mower in, powerful stuff.

[wyntrout]

Well, it sounds like y'all had fun and celebrated the 4th!

I fired off about 8-10 #209 shotshell primers with my old pen flare igniter. Big whoop! But there were plenty of heavy duty mortar thingies around us. It sounded like a war zone. :)

[AJBert]

Sad to say my 4th wasn't much fun. My wife was in the hospital due to a stroke she had on Jun 26th. The really great news is that she was discharged today and should have a complete recovery in 3-6 months. That Saturday was the worst day of my life as I drove her to the ER 20 miles away. Today was one of the best days of my life as I drove her home today.

Still, the 4th means a lot to both of us. She was born and raised in England, but is more American than most people in this country. She had a great view of Pike's Peak from her room on the 7th floor in Colorado Springs and got to see a number of fireworks shows. Me? I got kicked out of her room at 8pm (Covid rules), drove the hour plus home, drank a couple of beers, said a prayer or two and gave thanks, then went to bed. Got up at 6am and drove back down to the Springs, went with her to her different therapy sessions. The doctor came in during her last session to give us the good.

The joy of the 4th may have been delayed, but I still feel blessed. I am so thankful to have my wife home with me, and the dog was more excited to see her come home than I have ever seen him!

[Bawanna]

I'm glad she's better and pray she recovers completely and quickly. We had an officers wife do the same thing, she thankfully recovered fully. One just never knows.
Good news that she came home and dogs know stuff.

[Armybrat]

Sorry to hear about your wife’s stroke Bert, but it’s good to know that she is well on the way to recovery. I’m sure she will progress quickly with your devoted care. Good thoughts.

[getsome]

Me too Bert, very sorry but glad she’s doing well and will recover……Ischemic strokes are nothing to mess with and the quicker the person can get to a hospital the better chance they have to recover fully, there isn’t a long period of time to be able to get the TPA-clot buster injection so you did the right thing getting her to the hospital quickly……...She is in my prayers…..

[wyntrout]

Bert, I'm happy to hear that your wife is back home. I wish her a speedy recovery and I hope that you two don't have to go through this again. Take care my friend, and celebrate together when you can... all 3 of you. :)

[AJBert]

Thanks all, she is doing much better mentally by just being home.