Anybody who was planning an outdoor celebration around here for the 4th got fucked mightily. About 1pm all the rain that SoCal hasn’t seen in the last year decided to make an appearance. All at once. I haven’t seen a gully-washer like this one since the last time I was in Texas. All those picnickers are now soaked to the bone or drifting with the flood off towards LA. Luckily, our grill in under cover on the patio, so I can still whomp up grilled corn, potato salad and marinated flank steaks.
Yay! The stump is gone! And I didn’t even need to resort to explosives! 
I went to the store today and bought some charcoal for the rib eyes tonight. Went and got whole milk and heavy whipping cream and rum for the ice cream. Got apple fritters for breakfast. I made the batter for the ice cream, and it should be ready to freeze in about 45 minutes. And I mowed the lawns. Finally.
There was a stump in the front yard, next to the driveway and behind a bush. Several years ago I tried to dig it out. Nothing doing. It was too solid. It finally rotted enough that I could knock it down by running into it with the lawn mower. When I finished mowing the lawn, it took about two whacks with a sledge hammer to make it crumble to bits. It was easy to pull the rotten roots out of the ground.
Independence, man! Freedom from high grass and dandelions! Freedom from the Stump of Oppression! Freedom to make fire and eat meat! And zabaglione gelato!
Cleaning, shopping, a long walk, & watching episodes of American Dad on dvd.
Happy Birthday USA! Hard to believe America is 2014 years old!
We’re sort of broke at the moment, so we celebrated by having a lunch of hot dogs and popcorn (the popcorn was home-grown from last year’s garden and, alas, the last of it) and watching a Superman movie.
More movie watching planned for tonight.
This evening from my front porch, my view is of an open soybean field. Along the semicircle of the horizon were no less than ten fireworks displays going off simultaneously. Even the finales lined up so that at least two could be seen at the same time. They all appear rather distant, to be sure, but it was still an amazing sight to me.
Watch out for flying saucers bearing aliens with evil on their mind!