For such a low-key Independence Day, I must say that I really enjoyed myself. Nothing really over-the-top exciting happened, but it was simply a good day.  Here are a few highlights:

• Due to continued recovery from surgery, my wife was stuck in the house with no plans to attend the parade.  I’m still regaining my mobility, so the idea of taking my little ones to the Mandan Parade and lugging along supplies wasn’t really an attractive prospect.  Nevertheless, for the kids’ sake I loaded up the truck.  As we left for Mandan, the skies looked fishy to me.  A check of the radar led me to want to call it off.  Once we got to our secret spot, which provides a great view with very little pre-planning, the rain and wind stepped up and even the kiddos decided to do something else.  Then my wife called with news of the cancellation.  The nice thing is that my boys weren’t disappointed or let down.  Whew.
• I looked up a few remote geocaches that were right beside the road, took my boys out to find a couple, and had a nice afternoon without pushing my body too far. Then we stopped at a friend’s fireworks stand and got ’em some of those little snappers you throw on the ground.  They’ve wanted them for a while, so now we’ve got a bunch.
• I got a NAP.  A serious one.  Oh, rest does the body good.  Apparently that and medications do as well, because my sweetie was able to come with us to view the capitol fireworks! Thankfully our usual spot doesn’t involve much walking.
• We went to the best place to watch the capitol fireworks, the lawn across from Job Service and the Gold Seal Building on the north side.  The fireworks look like they’re almost right overhead, and they’re very close.  The weird thing about last night was the wind from the south; we got a little bit of debris, to my kids’ enjoyment. How often do you get a strong southerly breeze on a July evening in North Dakota?
• As we waited for the show to begin, there was a nice sunset (pictured above).  One big cloud looked like it was trying to achieve enough lift to storm, but it ran out of energy and the top sheared off.  Made for a nice photo.  I did not bring a camera with me, but thankfully phones do pretty well these days.  This is actually part of a panorama.
• Just before the show began, a car drove by with the worst timing ever.  A passenger was holding a Roman Candle out the window, shooting multicolored balls into the air.  People were cheering, but the cheers turned to jeers at the end of the next block.  A Bismarck Police car was waiting to turn onto Divide, and the officer hit the lights and pulled over the offender.  Fireworks bring a Class C Misdemeanor in this town, which can be up to $500 and some jail time.  The funny thing was, as they pulled over, the colored balls were still shooting into the air.  It’s not like they could just switch it off!
• The din of Mandan was breathtaking last night.  I don’t think I have ever heard such a ruckus, even on a nice Mandan night on July 4th.  It was non-stop, loud, steady, and big.  The sustained intensity of obviously large explosions was impressive.  A friend said it took him 25 minutes to traverse The Strip, and that visibility in places could be measured in mere feet.  Party on.
• I didn’t miss my 20-pound camera bag…I’ve photographed the heck out of July 4th in Bismarck-Mandan, have been on a lifting restriction from my docs, and wanted to watch it with my family instead of through my viewfinder.  It was great.

As far as the cancellation of the parade goes, this wasn’t a couple of people in a booth making the call based on some pusillanimous fear of passing thunderstorms.  There were multiple people from various backgrounds making informed, professional decisions based on the information at hand.  As I’ve posted in a few Facebook comments: This storm, while short-lived, had a LOT of lightning.  ONE lightning strike in that crowd turns into a mass casualty situation immediately. And with the congestion and resulting chaos, responding to it would be nearly impossible. The various people and organizations that came together in agreement to cancel made the right call.  If they’d simply postponed it, people would have hunkered down in place…exactly what safety crews didn’t want them to do.

Our party happens tonight.  Some friends run a fireworks business, and they host an hour-long show at their home, far from Bismarck.  It should be a real treat.

Straight from Wisconsin, this beautiful specimen was lit tonight at a ceremony featuring local musicians, some Bible readings, and even some audience participation as we sung a couple of songs as well.  It’ll be up through December 31st and is adorned with ornaments made by ordinary folks and submitted through the North Dakota Council on the Arts.

It was a relief to see that there’s still a real tree in the Memorial Hall of the capitol this year; due to the potential fire hazard of an actual tree there’s mounting concern that may put an end to this tradition in favor of an artificial, non-flammable tree.  That’ll be a sad day when it happens, but I understand that North Dakota doesn’t want to be known for burning down two capitol buildings.