Well, I just got back from the fireworks, excellent as usual. Tried to instill guilt in the family for breaking tradition to no avail. So I went alone, which was kinda weird. I parked way up at grandma's to avoid the crowd and walked. There was a false grand finale about 15 minutes into it which was quite impressive. Then on my way back I came upon a massive group of teens on Oak Street, kinda like blocking two crosswalks at once. I searched their faces for some intention or purpose and found none. Then the realization hit me. These people weren't waiting for cars to pass to cross either way. They were just hanging out; they were the cool kids. Suddenly the "In My Opinion" of the last Beatmyter made perfect sense.

Earlier in the day we had a barbeque/picnic at Laurance Lake. I found a colony of golden mantled ground squirrels living in underground burrows beneath some logs near the frog bog. No adult frogs there now..but hundreds of tadpoles. I tried to take a few photos but they didn't turn out very well. I did get a few decent ones of a swallowtail butterfly though.

Before that I fed the alpacas for the last time and swept the barn thoroughly.