Day 3845 - Independence Day

I guess I'm sort of a lazy patriot. I never served in the military. I seldom fly a flag, although we did have one on our house for a while right after 9/11. I'm proud to be an American though. I like it here. I've visited and worked in other countries and none of them even comes close to this one. I really hate to see people tearing this country down for things we either did or didn't do in the past. You've got to put historical events in context. Everything happens for a reason. The journey from the Stone Age to the Rolling Stones has taken us three million years. Humanity has only been keeping track of this journey for around five thousand years, but still that is a lot of time. When the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence they had already learned from the Mesopotamians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Italian Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, The Protestant Reformation, the establishment of parliamentary democracy in England and much more.

It's not really fair to condemn the founding fathers for owning slaves. The practice was commonplace at the time and in fact has been commonplace throughout human history. You can throw a dart at any civilization and you will find slaves. The Romans had them. The Aztecs had them. Many countries still have them today. It was commendable that John Quincy Adams rejected slavery, but he was the exception rather than the rule.

I think we should remember Washington, Jefferson and the others who signed the Declaration of Independence for their brilliance in creating a system of self governance that has lasted far longer than most. The history of the world is mostly a history of war and revolution. Generally the citizens haven't ruled. When you look at the United States through the lens of history, we come out looking pretty good. The founding fathers designed a system that was durable and flexible enough to adapt to a world that none of them would have recognized. Hey, we only had one civil war. The French had at least four.

While I'm sitting here musing about history, everyone else seems to be outside shooting off fireworks. It sounds like a war zone in our neighborhood. I don't know what it proved to eliminate public fireworks displays this year. Everyone seems determined to have their own. I think fireworks became cheap and abundant this year when so many municipalities decided to cancel their public displays because of the coronavirus. Apparently people have been shooting off fireworks every night in major cities for weeks now. I think this is happening in Dallas too, but I live far enough away from the city center that I don't hear what goes on downtown. I'm sure Dawn hears the fireworks, but she certainly isn't bothered by them. She's just sleeping calmly on the bed now.

It was a little cooler today and the park wasn't as crowded as I expected. There were the usual Saturday morning runners and cyclists, but there weren't many picnics and barbecues. Actually Fourth of July celebrations have been declining for several years. Cinco de Mayo is the big day for picnics in the park these days. Sign of the times I guess. Independence Day doesn't get as much respect anymore.

I removed the remaining water from the roof today. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. My gym has been open for several weeks now, but I think I'll wait a while before returning. Gyms still seem to wind up on the list of most dangerous list of things to do while walking in the park appears to be the safest.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 566 - Independence Day

I've taken so many pictures of flags that I could probably show you something patriotic on the Fourth of July for the rest of my life. One year, one of my clients based their entire advertising campaign around the idea of flags and I went all over Dallas, taking pictures of every flag I could find. Some of the pictures turned out pretty nice. I took this one on a highway overpass, looking back at the city just after sunset. Every time a large truck went by, the entire bridge shook. I remember thinking at the time that it was a lot easier taking pictures in an air conditioned studio.

The dogs got to enjoy yet another new dog park today. We thought this one would be real fancy, since it was located in the Park Cities, but it was basically just a large vacant lot with a fence around it. Dot and Dash didn't seem to care that the park was missing a few amenities. There were new things to smell and new places to pee. Dash chased birds for a while and Dot sunned herself. You can tell they enjoy these outings. It's just too bad that Dash doesn't travel better in the car. He's usually OK on the way home, but the outbound trip to someplace new is always stressful. Dash makes such a commotion that he's going to cause a wreck one of these days.

I keep hearing on TV that there is unprecedented interest in the Casey Anthony murder trial. I think I know why. There's absolutely nothing else on TV these days. When I turned on the television at breakfast this morning, every single channel was broadcasting the closing statements live. You couldn't avoid this trial if you wanted to.

I'm ready to box up some more things to take down to the storage warehouse, but I'm having trouble finding the boxes. I know that I saved the boxes, but they're way at the back of the warehouse, covered up by years of other things that were relegated to storage. I did such a good job of utilizing ever available inch of space in the storage unit that the place looks like a Rubic's Cube now. To rearrange things I have to remove boxes in just the right order or nothing will budge. I'm envious of those guys who have huge storage units that they turn into man caves. A man cave would be nice. It would have to be air conditioned though. My storage space is just a narrow, very hot little room filled with dusty boxes.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day