The gas I mentioned in the last entry was for this ATV which belongs to Sailor V's brother's fiancee. We gassed it up and Sailor V proceeded to haul me all over the countriside in the thing. It's a John Deere something-or-other--four-wheel drive, both high and low gear ranges, and it's damn cool.
We spent a couple hours on that before it started to get dark enough to warrant the fireworks; and we didn't even use the entire three gallons of gas I'd bought (three and change) for $10 at the local gas station.
Before, I thought, "It would be cool to have an ATV." Now I really want one.
So I took the Jeep out to the high spot on Egyptian Trail where we always go, and he followed on the ATV, and then we lit the fuses for two hours.
I finally started feeling woozy, though, and he was having his usual gut troubles, so we decided to call it a night around 11-ish. I had been drinking Pepsi and Gatorade but I should have brought more Gatorade; and some salty snacks would have helped, too--five hours in July heat at age 43 with no food makes for lightheadedness and such, at least when you're me. So, we policed the site to ensure we were not leaving gobs of fireworks litter all over the place, then lit the last cake and called it a night.
What's left of the arsenal of freedom? Mostly bottle rockets and firecrackers. Very few fountains or large bottle rockets. We set off a lot of fireworks; and we even got to watch the show in Beecher, though it was a long way off.
Some people spend a hell of a lot of money on fireworks every year, and set them off all night long--and they get lots of mortars and rockets and cakes. I can't see blowing $500 on fireworks, but Sailor V and I combined bought about $100 worth, and had great fun.
Especially compared to one year ago, when my ex and I had been planning to go see the show in Beecher. I hadn't bought any fireworks because we planned to attend the show--only she decided she didn't feel well and wanted to stay home, so instead of watching or lighting fireworks I spent my 4th of July playing World of Warcraft while she slept on my bed. (And I was the one who "never wanted to do anything". 9_9) Look, I love WoW but I can play that any damn time; I can't say the same for watching/lighting fireworks. (Particularly watching.)
That's right: I had a better 4th this year without a girlfriend than I did last year. How sad is that?
Sailor V's brother went to Fry's and bought a new laptop for him--$300-ish, and it seems like a pretty solid performer. The machine looks pretty cool but I didn't take much time to look it over as I had a headache and wanted nothing more than to get home, take a cool shower, and get something to eat before going face-down in bed.
I'd like to take a closer look at it and see how I like Windows 7. You never know; I might decide to upgrade this machine to it.
Now it's early on the 5th, and I'm glad to say I had a happy time celebrating the birth of the greatest country in the world. It's the most fun I've had in ages, and I was more than overdue for that.
Awesome.