July 4th and Other Things

Yes, I know it is past the 4th but I’m going to talk a bit about the holiday so this still seems appropriate.

As I’ve mentioned before, our symphony does a great 4th of July show at a real nice outdoor venue. We had plans to go both the 3rd and 4th even though there was rain in the forecast for both nights. The rain held off on the 3rd so we got to see the whole show with the fireworks at the end.

The 4th was a bit dicey. It rained all morning and all the forecasts were calling for scattered showers through the rest of the day. It was supposed to clear up by the time the fireworks went off but you typically need to get there a few hours before showtime to grab the best seats so it might mean sitting through a few showers. We were still planning on going even though it was raining as we drove to the place. I kept checking the radar to see what was happening and it looked like we weren’t going to be lucky so we just ended up bailing.

Turns out that the weather forecasts were all wrong and the rain did stop and it would have been fine. But we did get to see the fireworks once so that was fine.

Funny to think that we’ve been doing this for thirty plus years. Sure doesn’t feel like it but that’s what happens when you get old. The same guy has been the conductor every time we’ve gone. I think it is tradition now although he did seem to be slipping a bit this year. At some point, they’ll have to break someone new in I guess.

Random trivial fact about me – I’m related to someone who signed the Declaration of Independence. Obviously, the political part of the family didn’t extend all the way until today.

As it turns out, I was kind of glad we were home on the 4th. Turns out the cat was not a fan of the fireworks. At the first big bang from the neighbors, he went and hid under our bed. Eventually, he came out to sit with me for a bit but he wasn’t happy with all the noise. I ended up looking it up because I didn’t know cats could be as sensitive to loud noises as dogs. Thunderstorms don’t seem to bother him but he didn’t care for the fireworks.

One last cat story. I decided to mix in a different type of food for him. He’s on one that is supposed to help clean his teeth but he also gets hairballs from time to time so there is another food that was supposed to help with that. I did read both ingredients lists and it just seems they’ve switched around a few things so it kind of feels like a scam to me but I guess it can’t hurt.

Even though the ingredients are basically the same, he didn’t take to the hairball food. Ate all the other kind and left his dish full of the hairball stuff and then came begging for more food. Told him he had food in the dish and he disagreed with my assessment. He’s started to come around but the original stuff is still the favorite. Gone are the days when we first started feeding him and he’d eat basically anything.

Well I’m off to do a few errands this morning. I did sign up to do another dance formation at the Showcase in November and we’ve got our first practice tonight. Should be interesting.

My relative is in this portrait but isn’t one of the more famous guys.