Jake and the 4th, some progress

One thing I had forgotten is that Jake is a full time job. Over the last four days I think Mama has been glad for the help. Today it will be just the two of them. I am sure she will manage.

I think it is safe to say that this is going to be one of the more memorable Fourth of July’s for Jake. This is the first time he was able to purchase fireworks. In New Jersey a license is required for their purchase and display. It is not legal to set them off in most areas of the state. He only spent about twenty dollars on all the different types he got but he was pretty thrilled that not even his brother could top those bragging rights.

We did see a pretty impressive display put on by a large Baptist church in Decatur late Wednesday night. We ended up getting home after 11 pm because they did not start the fireworks until after dark which was well after 9:30 pm. It was worth the wait. We had over an hour to visit with a family from the church while we waited.

On the evening of the  4^th I built a little fire so we could make s ’mores and we used that fire through the evening for setting off the small arsenal of firecrackers, sparklers and other gunpowder driven devices Jake had gotten. That too lasted well into the evening. One particular item was noteworthy. It was a ball that spun while sparkling fire shot out. While we were watching, it quite unexpectedly shot up about fifteen feet into the air – still spewing out its sparkles.

Jake kept trying to get firecrackers into the fire in as sneaky a manner as is possible for someone like him in an attempt to scare Mama. She did a good job of pretending once or twice but the hilarity of the game wore off long before he had given it up.

On Saturday at Trade Days he and Mama wanted to buy a potbellied pig in the worst way. I overruled that notion as gently as I could, but with Jake, “no” just means he has to beg a little longer; which he did. Their plan was to take the pig to Florida for the grandkids to play with and then sell it to someone down there. But the thought of four persons, two dogs and a pig all stuffed into the car for the trip to Florida did not excite me.

Over the very long weekend I used two more boxes of mud. I exhausted the last of the third box while finishing the ceiling in the living room. I have only a couple joints left to tape in the laundry room and the first coat will be complete. When my shoulder was too tired to apply any more mud and tape I would take a break and put in outlets and switches. That too, is almost complete. Very late one evening I took time to hang the bedroom door, just so I could see something getting done.

I listen to the iPod all day long as I work in the apartment and on Saturday I stumbled across a song I am sure I have never heard before. It is titled, “Longing to go” by the Kingsmen. I played it over and over through the day.

It has been a long time since a song has blessed me that much.