Perfect fourth, rainy morning following

 

My classic Greek salad, almost ready.  I added some sliced hard-boiled egg after I had taken the photo.  It went over well with the hot dogs and chips and stuff at the family gather.  We topped the day with water gun fights (the young folk), fireworks, and root beer floats.

Setting up dad - son water action.  Mom & dad got into a water gun battle that spilled over onto grandma taking the video.  

Again, no photos of the FGC, due to the system rules, but he was off-screen in that photo, to the left, standing in a bin of water with a refillable water shooter.  By the end of this action everybody had to go change clothes!

The spectators for the fireworks.

Classic family Summer gather.  I haven't done one of these for the fourth in a while.  Having a kid in the mix makes all the difference!

As for the pets?  Carl was medicated and mellowed out.  Ember stayed home in her safe space.  The Prisoner hung out in his luxury suite.

With the Holiday landing on a Friday the weekend was pretty "normal" for a holiday weekend.  Ember and I hid from the heat, choosing to walk outdoors in the mornings.  It was a good weekend to catch up on movies.  I had never seen Titantic, the movie, which came out in 1997!  At least not all the way through. It was not what I expected, and instead of being "icky" it felt pretty "normal disaster movie" for the most part.  As long as I was on the theme of disaster movies, I also took on Dante's Peak.

My heart aches for the folks down in Texas Hill Country!  * rant * One thing I hate to see is all the finger pointing that seems to take us over when something bad / tragic happens.  No amount of blaming or defending is going to bring those people back.  Each one of them has people grieving over their loss.  Is there a place for planning to prevent the loss of life in future?  Absolutely.  But arguing over "who let these people down and let the system erode", well there's plenty of blame to go around, and to spin on a disaster?  Roll up sleeves and go to work, instead!  * end of rant *

I remember reading about the similar flash flooding in 1987, when I was mom to a young son.  The stories of kids swept away in that earlier era, clinging to trees, saying goodbye to one another, and strong faith that the youngsters were hanging on to.  The feeling of deja vu that came over the news sent me to Google to look up the time frame of the earlier flood.

On a Spark note, I had a moment at the grocery store over the weekend.  I lifted my 20 pound box of cat littler onto the belt, and as the 20-something bagger had to lift it back into my cart, she said, "You've got good muscles."

Yay!  That's why I pay a trainer, right?  Hearing admiration from a young person when you're over 70 will keep you working out!

Tuesday night's giggle has to do with the flyswatter brigade.  I think I may have mentioned in a prior blog that I bought several manual fly swatters.  I am trying to train targets (for Ember's nose to touch) and flyswatters not only swat pests, but they are also inexpensive dog training targets!  Since Ember has a history of destroying these things, I bought six.  I keep them atop the 'fridge until I'm ready to train with one of them.

But they are also functional fly swatters, and Tuesday during "last call" a fly got into the house.  I snatched one up and used it.  I got the fly!  And two seconds later, a furry dark blur brushed by me while leaping onto the dining room table.  She had it in her mouth (if you expand the photo, you can see the teeth marks on the handle).  I could not help myself; I laughed!  She looked a bit confused to find herself atop that table, as it's not a normal place for her to be.  

Ember exited the tabletop and took her prize into her x-pen.  I was careful to be casual about my request to give it back "Mommy needs that".  But she dropped it, and accepted her "thank you" treat.  I put it back atop the 'fridge and just kept on smiling.  My only regret is missing getting the photo of the look on her face when she was on the table.

On Wednesday morning, I had a trip to the dentist.  X-rays and fluoride, and I'm good until next January.  Ember seemed happy to have an extra day care day.  The Prisoner was happy to have another dog-free day, and he came up for extra pets.  

That's how quickly a week zooms by!  Hope everyone is surviving whatever life's throwing their way.  And that we can all breathe and accept that Life is good, by definition.  Keep on sparking!