It has been repeatedly brought to my attention that my life is a little, ahem....EXTRA. Usually I just smile and let that observation roll off my shoulders life a smattering of hay stems, but this morning I am feeling every ounce of the crazy, exuberant living that I do in my hobbit-esque form.
But as usual, I am getting ahead of myself.
This past week had already been hectic as we had to pack things into it like putting in this year's hay and harvesting the lavender early due to the unprecedented heat ( I am forever going to italicize the word unprecedented now, you can blame the media for permanently enunciating the darn word, now whenever I say it verbally or internally, I place emphasis on it. You're welcome).
Anyway, already pushed beyond max to-do capacity, I had to also get the farm (and food) ready for the 50 or so people (at a minimum) that I anticipated would show up at my homestead on the 4th. Somewhere in all that I had to get 6 tons of hay, run the library, march in the parade, craft all manner of party food, pick up teenagers from work, etc. ad nauseum.
Well, I made it to the fifth, but I think a part of my carcass and existential glitter sparkles was left sprawled on this weekend's energy altar, heck, it might be laying in the pool of the very country waterslide that my son and I constructed. Yesterday was a day!
To start with, I rolled out of bed at 4:53 and fed my very vociferous ducks. They are so judgmental. Like, I walk out there to bring them food and drink, and they act as entitled as many of the new imports we have flooding into our home area. Don't they know that I'm not a peasant and choose to serve them, not that I have too? Bah! Elitist interlopers they are!
After feeding and watering my critters I filled coolers with ice and drinks, set up tables and shade, moved chairs around the yard, and did all the last minute things one does before they have a party. I then went in the house, slapped on some makeup and topped my ponytailed hair with the uber-sequined flag hat my dad got me a few years ago.
Now, I am not one to don patriotic gear most of the time, in fact, I tend to be drawn more towards the polyester and semi-neo Victorian end of the fashion spectrum, but every fourth of July for years the children and I have marched in our town's Independence Day parade with the library's bookmobile. Thus, the sequined hat makes the most sense considering that with regards to many of the parade's participants attire, let's just say that my hat could be considered demure.
By the time we arrived at the library at 10:30 in the morning, there were many, many people lined up to march through our little town. It was a red, white, and blue zoo for sure. There were patriotically adorned UTV's, ATV's, and SUV"s galore. Some of the costumes made me have exhibitions of spontaneous mirth, especially sights such as humans in flag speedos and cowboy boots. I am not going lie, there were multiple sightings that made me bray like a red, white, and blue lei-bedecked donkey.
But I wasn't at the parade to solely enjoy myself. Nope, I had a job to do. My orders were to be a crowd control and candy dispensing technician. It's kinda a challenge to keep youths from running underneath a 60 foot bendy bus while also tossing candy and waving like a rodeo queen. We all managed it nicely, no one became library bus road pizza, which honestly made me even more happy.
With another parade in the books, I found myself squirming with party anticipation on the way home. You see, before the party my son and I crafted a waterslide of country bumpkin gloriousness. We hollowed out the sand where our old pool used to be, gave it a nice slope, and put down a tarp and about 30 feet of 6 mil plastic. After securing our future slide with boulders, we stepped back and admired our engineering greatness.
Almost 20 kids, mostly teenagers hit the slide hard for most of the day. One of my friends set up a mister and a kiddie pool on the side of the slide, so the littles got to be entertained by the big kid's antics. When I decided to give myself a hurl down the slide, I had no shortage of techniques demonstrated to me as options to partake in. Face first was pretty excellent, although I have to admit that I might have went farther sliding like I was hurtling into home plate in my old softball and Babe Ruth baseball days.
There were also inner tubes and a waxed saucer to try, and try it the kids did, for hours.
The food and drink flowed, so did the conversation. One nice thing about parties at my home is the vast assortment of people you will encounter. There are folks from all walks of life, from gamers, to engineers, to military folk and everything in between. The adults usually set up their camp chairs into what I like to refer to as Adulthenge and the bovine fecal matter flowed like the water on the redneck waterslide. Between amiable conversation and the metric ton of food in attendance, I could see nothing but smiles for miles.
Speaking of food, there was just so much of it, a smoked brisket, shredded, pulled beef, salads of every kind, dirt cake, death by chocolate, watermelon by the pound, at least thirty bags of chips, and more drinks that the beverage section at a mini mart gas station. So, even though I didn't get to eat a lot because I was flitting around like the hostess hummingbird that I am, I have to say that I felt just so pleased to live in the time and part of the world that I dwell in. Every day it seems as if we are assaulted with bad news, yet I have to say that life is full of good things too, and one especially good thing is the collective congenial magic that occurs when people group together to enjoy just being people in a celebratory way!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still shocked that it isn't damp from all that water fun action, especially because 
