I managed to get the camera cord and the camera and the computer in the same area and am reaching back to show you the lights of the Fourth on the Fence:

And a sepia-ized brother and sister:

Not to mention an antique Summer in a Grandma hat:

Of course, there was the mowing time:

Grandma Sarah on the Toro,

Summer on a Wheel Horse,

And, once more, a classy 82:

NOW – we come to today and Summer and I decide to do tiki torches:

Then one of us got the idea to fool around with a homemade firepit and flipped down a pizza pan and some sticks and logs. We added a little tiki torch fuel and got our little spontaneous, back-to-nature, pioneering spirit fire going. Sort of. Just as we decided to take fun to a new level and roast hot dogs, the fire kind of unfired and went more to smoldering. At this point, Der Bingle came out and said something alone the lines of “Oh my God” or “What are you morons doing?” Then he pitched in to help us get out fire going, although I don’t think he had the same enthusiasm as the two of us.

So we roasted and ate our hot dogs, although at one point it was discovered that I had sat on the buns and they were really flat. We had ketchup; we had drinks; we made wishes on the fire. We thought it was cool. Then after about three hours, we grabbed the sprinkler and made it safe to go back in.

Oh, oh, oh. I forgot to mention that we turned on a CD player and aimed the speakers out on the little deck . . . and listened to a crazy playlist. Let’s see: The Irish Tenors, Randy Travis, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee, an American Indian singer. One of the songs was “Buckle Down Winsocki” but I don’t remember who sang that. There were 21 songs – we went through the list twice.

Just now I have eaten four Ghirardelli squares and have the hiccups. Going to go off and hold my breath.