Make a Joyful Noise

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

A lot of people have said we’re approaching the 250th anniversary in a very muted way. And they’re not wrong.

Though to an extent it’s not fair to compare it to the centennial, because it’s a half-centennial, it’s still a noteworthy occasion for the Republic and we definitely should celebrate it. And I won’t lie and say that it wasn’t part of the reason I voted for Trump — way down the list of reasons, guys — because I didn’t want the 250th to be “celebrated” by accusing us of racism, sexism, homophobia and pillorying the founding fathers in effigy.

But I’d also be lying if I said that I’m not somewhat disappointed that I haven’t see more official celebration noise from Washington DC. I suspect it’s because, let’s face it, the president is busier fixing more important things, and also that when the left fights you to the ground on things like cleaning goose shit and algae from the reflecting pool and adding a ballroom to the White House, they’re going to fight you for every play, every firework display, every flag waving.

Heck, we know they are since they already went after the performers for the concert and basically mau-maued them into dropping out. Something those performers are going to find/are finding is a very bad idea, because the left neither buys nor supports art. But they are noisy and artists are sensitive. (Unless they’re on the right. Skin like rhinoceros we had to grow, people. And even so some of us get discouraged at times. Those of you on whose shoulders I’ve cried (not very often) KNOW this.) And the left is willing to do this to SPOIL A CELEBRATION OF AMERICA. Because to them this is political. Loving America is political. Think on that. “I love my country” is political.

It is political because they imagine themselves as something other than belonging to a nation, as sort of like gods, floating around the petty sphere of national politics. Which they’re not. Instead they’re weaponized fools destroying that which gives them the ability to speak freely. Never mind…

People have said even at the private level, there’s less celebrating and decorating. They think this is because the economy is bad. I don’t THINK so.

Look, first of all, as hard as things are just now, I don’t think the economy is bad as such. Note this is an opinion, because our numbers are and have been completely monkeyed with. But my opinion comes from things like: I don’t feel like crying at the grocery store checkout anymore. I find a lot less dairy and meat on sale, which is a bummer, since we more or less live from that. OTOH the prices are lower, and obviously people are able to afford it more, since less or it goes into sale. Other stuff. Like our friends are complaining less of catastrophic need for money. Oh, it still happens, but far less. Like…. have you noticed I’ve run a lot fewer give send go requests for emergency help from my circle on instapundit?

Now am I saying it’s all bread and skittles? Well, no. Because you see things got very very bad. By election 24 we were seriously considering some retrenching that would materially hurt our lives. Because we couldn’t figure out where to find the money. BUT–

The feeling I get now, at least from my circles, is that EVERYONE is hustling as hard as they can. Like everyone has another job, on top of their job, another hobby-that-pays, another something. Everyone is working super-hard.

This is something that started under the autopen administration, because everyone was working more than one job JUST to keep their heads above water. (I guess I’m working two. Here and fiction. Oh, and instapundit. I guess …. well, the Little Pickle while on a trip with me, watching me keep up with things, pointed out I SHOULD sleep sometime. At least occasionally.) But now we’re still doing it, and sometimes doing it harder because we’re trying to recover. The looming mid-terms and the next presidential election are all too close. We remember how close we came to crashing. And we’re afraid of getting back there with no preparation. So we’re preparing. By working like crazy people.

We haven’t seen our local friends in forever, because they’ve been working like mad people. And so have we, except when I get sick (yes, yes, I should sleep sometime. Look, I hear you. Also if you need the info, I’m on a maintenance antibiotic which seems to be working and have a CT scan and a scope scheduled for July 15th. Yes, I have to wait that long because then I can have it done by a specialist and it’s one step less. I won’t lie and say it’s not nervous making. Now shut up.) Oh. Now I think about it, Dan has three jobs too, except one of them is strictly seasonal. But still. Then he wonders why he doesn’t have time for music and writing. Okay. Something will have to be done.

So, even I, who live and breathe the fourth — the High Holy Usaian Holidays! — have not done much yet, and we’re less than a month off.

In other words, I think every one of us, who are patriots and want to celebrate, starting at the White House and on down, are so d*mn busy we haven’t had time for the frivolous but fun celebration of our beloved Republic.

Another bit is that we’re all contrarian as cats. Remember when the covidiocy tried to forbid celebrating the fourth and even LA was a sea to shining sea of fireworks? Well, we feel less of a need to spite the left because they’re not in fact in power right now. HOWEVER–

Look, it still spites them. And those of you younger than I who will be alive if very old at the tri-centennial will want to tell your kids your remember the 250th and what you did to celebrate it.

So, let’s plot and plan. What can you do to celebrate our great nation’s 250th anniversary? What do you think will make the left squirm the worst?

Me? I’m going to try to write some tales. Now, I don’t know how many or when, but I’d like to start in about a week. Tales of the USAians, maybe. Or maybe something else. It’s not much, but it’s what I can do.

What can you do? Make a joyful noise. We’ve survived — warts, stumbles and all — for 250 years. Yes, the work to restore will be immense, but for now let’s celebrate the simple survival. Sit down. take a load off and make a joyful noise.

The work will wait. For now it’s time to celebrate.

75 thoughts on “Make a Joyful Noise”

  2. I think I might find copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist and Anti-federalist papers, and read them on stream.

    I need to gen up a nice patriotic background and hope it doesn’t clash with my overlays.

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  3. Hello, lovely lady! I’m so glad to see you addressing this matter of the Semiquincentennial. So much so that I’m hereby writing my first comment on your blog.

    Like you, I see a depressing contrast between current celebratory anticipation and what I recall of the Bicentennial in my childhood. On the downside… well, let’s face it: the holiday we’re discussing and anticipating isn’t merely the Fourth — it’s INDEPENDENCE DAY. The 250th anniversary of our nation going its own way in its own way, leaving tyrants in the dust far across the pond. Or so it was hoped.

    But how many people nowadays care to celebrate independence? How many care to live it? Or more to the point, how many actually strive to be and remain independent and to rejoice in that, vs. those whose daily existence is a snorting contest at the gubbamint hog trough?

    And how many of the young folks coming up now have even been decently introduced to the ideals and greatness of our Founders and the principles they brought into organized human society?

    On the upside — well, I think Trump is playing into this quite well with his strategically timed fountain and reflecting pool restoration and beautification. He’s got people noticing and talking… and getting excited. Well done, Mr. President!

    As to what I’m doing, well, you know a bit about that — you’ve been kind enough now to feature my recently published indie YA / middle-grades novel Some Guy Wants to Buy the Fourth of July on your book promos twice now, and I thank you ever so warmly! (Please do replace that Amazon affiliate link with your own if you wish, and/or delete my own link if it isn’t cool with you.) Because it’s a classic yet timely and fresh story for all ages, about why independence and liberty are crucial and priceless — plus joyful and unifying — and I deeply want to get that vibe out there in the coming weeks and months.

    I’m with you bigtime, Ms. Sarah — this is the conversation we should have been entertaining long ago, yet we have time remaining… especially when enough of us are determined to set up our country for another 250 years of true flourishing worthy of free human beings!

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    1. I missed the bicentennial, 1976. Watching a different type of fireworks. OTOH got my first helicopter ride to a small lightening caused fire put out by smoke jumpers when they were pulled. It had to be babysat overnight. Only overtime, but every dollar helped with school.

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  5. I remember the Bicentennial very fondly; I was just old enough to understand the significance and even take part in our small town festivities.

    I don’t have any skittles recipes, but I do have one or two forms of bread among my three-year-leadup to the Semiquincentennial by way of Bicentennial, Centennial, and Vicennial foods. clubpadgett.com/bicentennial

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  6. My next younger brother and my sister and I missed the summer of the Bicentennial celebrations. mostly because we spent that entire summer backpacking and youth-hosteling through Britain — but the Glorious 4th of July found us in a little country pub in a town called Street, and there we celebrated with two other wandering Yanks and Guy from Canada who felt that he had at least a half-interest in drinking healths to all the signers of the Declaration that we could remember … oh, and my brother and the guys had a challenge on to drink 10 pints of English ale …

    Yes, that was a memorable 4th for no less than returning just before curfew at the hostel to discover that just about everyone else in the place had given themselves food poisoning from their own foodstuffs which had gone bad in the heat … yes, very memorable.

    This year, my daughter and I and Wee Jamie are going down to the coast again, to stay for two (maybe three nights) at the Lighthouse Inn in Rockport and watch the fireworks over the bay from the hotel balcony. We are hoping for something really memorable in that way, this year.

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  7. Democrats oppose Trump fixing the Reflecting Pool.

    Democrats oppose Trump installing the Ballroom which has been needed for nearly 100 years.

    Democrats oppose Trump installing updated defense for the White House.

    Democrats oppose Trump installing a temporary arena and hosting a Wrestling event at his home in D.C. i.e. The White House.

    Democrats wouldn’t give a flying fig leaf, and in fact, would be promoting the hell out of all of those if it were Biden, Kamala, or even Platner in the Oval Office.

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    1. Democrats oppose Trump fixing the Reflecting Pool.

      And, besides the usual aggravated TDS, consider that the ‘old’ version of the Reflecting Pool said something, if only crypto-symbolically and subliminally, about how they view the country, and want everyone else to see it too.

      Above, you see the painstakingly-designed and -built accumulated monumental reverence for America as we see it — imperfect and real, but deeply well-loved.

      Below, you see it again, not merely blurred by wind and wave, but also soiled and marred by algae and bird droppings — America the apology-worthy, a Marxian ‘criticism’ of all you can see above. A “People’s History” as negative ‘art installation.’ A concrete, physical embodiment of “the swamp.”

      Best of all, not a word needed to be said to make the point, America the Neglectful and Neglected. Not a thing needed (overtly) to be done, only simply stand by and watch it happen, and enjoy.

      Now the Hated Orange One has done gone and ruined all that, for unknown long years to come.

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  8. Being a High School student in small town Iowa during the Bicentennial, the local activities were pretty much the same as every year, parade, fireworks, and a concert by the local National Guard Band in the city park downtown.

    The big difference over other years was the MSM, which is all we had then, was full of Bicentennial minutes on TV and radio, articles in the newspapers and magazines, and a patriotic theme on commercials. Also some TV specials and series dealing with Revolution era stories.

    I don’t see any of that this time around, they being

    1) largely irrelevant and I don’t see much of what they do, and

    2) I can create my own “specials” from either streaming or my DVD collection.

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    1. There was also bunch of fiction about the Revolution and bicentennial stuff; Kurland’s “The Whenabouts of Burr” still has a place on my shelf 50 years later; Asimov’s “The Bicentennial Man”, of course, and a bunch of “mainstream” fiction, like John Jakes’ “Kent Family Chronicles.” And a bunch of TV specials as well.

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  9. I recall L. Neil Smith in one of his books saying that the 200th seemed a little lackluster. That was FIFTY freaking years ago, in 1976. (Time flies, eh?)

    Here in Canaduh we had the Centenial in 1967, and it was a huge party. All year. But then we had the 150th in 2017, and it was -not- a party. A big nothing, honestly. Nobody gave a rip. All we heard about was “Truth and Reconciliation” and how we’re all racists, and Canada sucks.

    The dirtbags want to make everything political, and spoil your fun. Ignore them so hard their noses bleed, and have a party like it’s 1776. That’s my advice.

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    2. We were in Nova Scotia doing beloved’s genealogy thing (great-to-the-whatever Grandad Shubael founded the Baptist Church in Nova Scotia after being rescued from Connecticut). All I got out of the celebration was that Canadian patriotic songs are….dull.

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      2. Most of the English-language Canadian patriotic songs are indeed dull, especially after having lyrics made more politically correct. On the other hand, Vive La Canadienne is still great, especially some of the *cough* unofficial verses.

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        1. Makes sense. I’ve heard that the French national anthem is a bit… graphic. It makes sense that some of that attitude would exist among the ancestors of the Frenchmen who settled in Quebec way back when.

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    1. It’s interesting to note that “The Democratic Socialists of America” claim they are, “… a political and activist organization, not a party;” and yet Bernie Sanders is the hero of their party, and a member of the Democrat Party. They can, and will, call themselves anything they want if they think it will drive a wedge into the rest of America. Although frankly, I see nothing different between them, the Democrat Party, and The Communist Party USA. All different facades of the same group who want to enslave humanity in the U.S.

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  11. I am going to go find a copy of 1776 so I can watch it on my schedule, without commercials, not when ever they have it scheduled. (which is usually too early for me on sleep in day.)

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  12. On Memorial Day I decorated my deck with bunting and three small American flags, as well as a large red, white, and blue metal star and a bunting-wreath on the other side. Although many have full sized flags here, I alone sport the proper bunting with which to celebrate our great Republic.

    I have also just received word today that I will move 30 miles south, to a cheaper, nicer, top floor apartment, just minutes away from family. MIRACLE. My new deck will sport proper bunting, and I will encourage others as well.

    It makes sense to me that this is a more sober commemoration than was 1976. I was 16 and having a fine time. The difference between me at 16 and now 66 is enough reason for sober, joyous reflection. What a country.

    I’m working to write more, and to post more. People need encouragement more than anything else, and I want my work to reflect that.

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  13. It is political because they imagine themselves as something other than belonging to a nation, as sort of like gods, floating around the petty sphere of national politics. Which they’re not. Instead they’re weaponized fools destroying that which gives them the ability to speak freely. Never mind…

    I just figured it out. The Left…is Homelander.

    They clothe themselves in the Stars and Stripes and American patriotism at times but deep down they don’t care about it, they only care about power. Raw, unfiltered power. They’re vain. They’re narcissistic. They manipulate all around them and use other fellow followers to do their bidding and then cast them aside (think The Deep). They’re borderline psychotic, especially in how they react to “threats” to their power. And if you’re against them, they won’t just defeat you in an election. They’ll utterly destroy you. To use one of their recent catchphrases, “by any means necessary.”

    I think we’ve just seen in Los Angeles what the Left will do.

    War to the knife. Sound the deguello.

    As for the 250th…I don’t know where Shells and I will be on 7/4. I think we’ll be around Chicago in a VERY liberal place if I remember the trip planning, and I’m sure there will be skinsuited celebrating. Probably around the benefits diversity brings or something.

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    1. Homelander was very much a “product” of his upbringing, in both senses of the word. The Left of today didn’t grow up in a vacuum. They’re also a product of their upbringing, which is for many of us, our upbringing too. (Are we enlightened, or did we just get lucky?) Which therefore implies that we, as a whole, are partially to blame for either promoting it, or failing to effectively hinder it.

      I’m not particularly happy with the image in the mirror. But I question what I could have done differently and still stayed within the legal boundaries. I’m a builder and a destroyer, and I know how much easier it is to break stuff. It’s one reason why I avoid “mostly peaceful protests” like the plague.

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    2. It really bothers me to see the increase of flags flying in my town over the past year and a half or so…because I know who most of these people are. They’re the same idiots that were looking at everybody who dared to fly a flag as targets barely a year ago, the same people who are the reason why I can’t display anything even vaguely MAGA-ish unless I want to get vandalized or maybe have my house burned down, but an update got sent out, so now they’re all chanting “no kings” in unison and muttering about oligarchs and “the Epstein class,” having cloaked their poison in American colors. Worse, some family members, one of whom argued very cogently against me when I was still standard-issue center-left-ish and we talked political philosophy and economics, have fallen for the fake patriotism. [insert meme: “it’s all so tiresome”]

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      1. I think that’s part of why people are wary. Even in “safe” places like where I am, people are glancing over their shoulders to see if someone’s going to be stupid [violent] or raise a fuss.

        We’ve been beaten over the head for decades about how we need to acknowledge the “full history of the peoples of the United States” and how America isn’t exceptional and so on and so on. That wasn’t as true in 1976. H-ll, for the centennial of the Statue of Liberty it was a huge deal, with the parade of tall ships being broadcast and all sorts of stuff around the US. This year … I think people are looking back at the Mostly Peaceful™ Summer of 2020 and bracing. Which isn’t fair to the country, or to the year, and certainly not to the Founders and those who fought in the Revolution.

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      2. I guess I’m lucky, don’t hear too much from the loonie lefties in the little town I live in. Lots of people fly the stars & stripes all the time and there are quite a few Gadsen flags (or similar) to be seen around here (including my front porch). Have to go to one of the much bigger towns or the cities before the loonies feel emboldened enough to trash stuff put out by folks who don’t agree with their anti-American BS.

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  15. Celebrating the 300th…now that would be something. I’d only be 104, so I think I’ll plan on it. My little-kid memories of the Bicentennial were that it was a Big Deal — at least in my small Utah hometown, they pulled out all the stops. First time I ever had a corndog was one of the townsfolk deep-frying them right there in the town hall (deeelicious).

    I don’t generally do much for the Fourth. Not for any holidays, really. I’m just lame like that. We used to always take the kids to the local fireworks show and festival in the park, but they’re grown now. In a “progressive” college town, patriotism just isn’t done as a general rule, so there’s no indication of the anniversary in town.

    I do always fly the flag (on all flag days that I remember, actually), so maybe I’ll do that a bit bigger and better. Upgrade the setup to something that’ll handle two flags and get one of those America 250 flags that I saw flying at a big farm outside town. Hmmm…can’t find the specific design that I saw, but this one looks great: https://www.gettysburgflag.com/betsy-ross-250-flag.

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      2. Yeah, 123 years for me. Not going to happen.

        As best as I can recall, Silly Valley celebrations for the Bicentennial were muted, and the fireworks were dampened by heavy cloud cover.

        Not sure what we’ll do for this one. There used to be an unofficial fireworks party at the fire station (no aerial devices nor firecrackers allowed–illegal in Oregon). It’s close enough that it bugs any dogs around (Border collies in particular), though I don’t recall one last year. The damfools across the river were playing with M-80s a few weeks ago, but one of our neighbors is a retired LEO, and I think he made some phone calls. No repeats so far, though Independence day might be spicy regardless.

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        1. July 4, 2076, I’ll be 119, even with upcoming heart repair, not high chance of happening.

          Sigh.

          OTOH, pretty sure 50 years ago odds for mom that she’d see 2026, July 4, wasn’t a sure bet. A bet she’s won (so far, it is still 24 days away). She’s 91. SIL’s mom is similar, she’s 95. A friend of mom’s “significant other” rolls into this next July 4th at a healthy age 99 …

          Yes, I know a lot of old people.

          Though for you youngsters, who will be just barely over 100? Who knows? It could happen.

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          1. Maybe we’ll get lucky and — if the left doesn’t grab it again — medical science will progress to some sort of rejuv. heaven knows we need it, with the population dearth looming.
            IF SO you and I are so totally getting together for the tricentennial and shaking the roof of the world with fireworks, D.

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  16. I intend to have the most fun and make as much noise as I can on the glorious 4’th! I am a bit disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be much official festivities planned but here in small town America there are plenty of us ready to celebrate ourselves. Have fun, be loud and make all those America hating lefties cry about it!

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      2. Singing All Four Verses of The Star-Spangled Banner, pointedly. Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps pollution!

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        1. Yes, the very best lines are mostly in the later verses/stanzas that “never” get sung.

          And nothing could save

          The hireling and the slave

          From the terror of flight

          Or the gloom of the grave...

          And more and more, esp. “thus be it ever” etc.

          Also worth remembering that this particular poem/song dates from the Second War for American Independence, a.k.a. the War of 1812.

          Yes, we did it twice. Go away, wait till it’s the 1860s and our bumbling American (Union) President and administration almost get us into a Third War for American Independence, over the “Trent Affair” (q.v.). Interesting alternate history: what if Prince Albert hadn’t pretty much put a stop to all that rubbish, quite personally and (arguably) almost-singlehandedly..?

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          1. I’m still bemused by the fact that after a full course of public school and being taught the lyrics in choir class, I had to learn there was a fourth stanza from a Russian immigrant.

            Actually, we were only taught the first stanza, and to the best of my knowledge I never heard anyone sing or refer to a second or third until I learned about the fourth.

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  17. I have the materials I need for my big free standing flag pole–except the flag. I put a flag pole on the side of my house and the flag got shredded on the corners of the rain gutters.

    Getting that up will be my celebration. If I have a job by then I might actually do fireworks.

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  18. Fireworks are out here because of the drought, although two cities will have them. I will have two flags at RedQuarters, one in the yard and one on the house, weather permitting. Making a red-white-and-blue dessert is also part of the plan.

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    1. One of the cities Westside outlawed all fireworks, including those at the county fairgrounds. Seems they were having problems with hot debris, and none of the other cities in the county (and apparently not the county) were willing to help out.

      The Medford Metro area (including S Oregon Uni in the Peoples Republic of Ashland) is a bit (make that a lot) DemoSocialist. Ordinary people? screw’em, illegals and scum, must honor. I keep my head on a swivel when I’m over there for medical and/or Costco runs.

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      1. Named said city below. Luckily they can’t technically stop those of us within the urban growth area, but still not city. City is Eugene.

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  19. I think quite a bit of people not putting up decorations or openly celebrating is from fear of being targeted by the Democratic Party and its mobs of brownshirts. Anyone who is openly patriotic has been declared to be an “extremist” who is literally a Nazi (never mind that it is the Democrats lining up to support the Jew-hating senatorial candidate with the Totenkopf, symbol of the SS troops who operated the concentration camps and their gas chambers), and is to be violently attacked as a result. Just look at the incidents involving people whose houses have American flags being attacked Add in fear of employers whose HR departments are looking for any signs of thought crime, which to the HR leftists means not being a doctrinaire leftist, and it is easy to see why people are cautious.

    The one thing it is NOT is the economy. The economy of 1975-1976 was far worse than the current economy. The difference is that the open political violence that is openly supported by the Democrats simply was not prevalent the way it is now. I suspect many people will celebrate, but much more quietly than they would have otherwise, in an effort to stay below the radar of the leftist mobs.

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  20. In 1976, I celebrated the Bicentennial in Germany. I was on tour with a youth orchestra from Michigan, and we played a concert full of American composers, Gershwin, Copeland, called by Sousa. Dancing to the Stars and Stripes forever, drinking with our German hosts, with full appreciation from all of us. One of my best memories.

    This year I will be home in a red country in a blue state, and hopefully celebrating as loudly as possible. I’m decorating the house all over RED, WHITE AND BLUE!!

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  21. In 1976, I celebrated the Bicentennial in Germany. I was on tour with a youth orchestra from Michigan, and we played a concert full of American composers, Gershwin, Copeland, called by Sousa. Dancing to the Stars and Stripes forever, drinking with our German hosts, with full appreciation from all of us. One of my best memories.

    This year I will be home in a red country in a blue state, and hopefully celebrating as loudly as possible. I’m decorating the house all over RED, WHITE AND BLUE!!

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    1. I was 19 in 1976, and remember the celebrations in Cincinnati well. The fireworks (oh the fireworks!) On the River. My family with younger siblings stayed ashore, I walked out on the Roebling Suspension bridge, to watch from the middle of the River. It was Awesome.

      So, when I got tired of standing, I sat down on the sidewalk with my legs dangling over the river. And I was wearing flip flops. My right one fell off, never to be seen again. I had to walk, barefoot, back across the bridge, and off to the car in the far back of beyond.

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  22. I was around for 200. I and my kids are around for 250, and barring unforeseen circumstances, they’ll be around for 300. Be interesting to see what happens in fifty years, but….

    I usually have only indoor 4th decor, but I bought a couple of strings of red, white, and blue outdoor lights to run every night until I put up the fall decor.

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  23. I’m stuck on how to celebrate the 250th, because I’m in California.

    Let’s just say that most people’s opinion of the United States-especially under the Trumpfuherer-isn’t very high. Especially since the LA political machine looks like it is trying to blatantly steal the mayor’s election down there. Costs are insane, people are crazy, the trustees of modern chemistry are pushing out of their areas even harder these days, and this is not helping my hypertension any.

    (Latest conversation with my doctor-“What can you do to reduce your stress?” Me-“Can you write me a prescription for about $3000 a month? It won’t do everything, but it would be a nice start…”)

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  24. “Why doesn’t the 250th feel special?” is a self-fulfilling narrative. Once you hear it, you can convince yourself it’s true even if it would never occur to you otherwise. DC’s clean, crime’s down, the Left is on the run, Trump’s putting on a show, and I’m sure there will be a ton of fireworks. We’re winning. Anything else is a happy bonus.

    You can’t have fun when you’re stressing about having fun. The only thing to do is to relax and stop keeping score. If every tweet worrying about the 250th was a tweet celebrating the 250th, we’d be off to a great start.

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    1. Also, let’s please not forget, in less than a month our uppity upstart “United States of America” will be fully a quarter of a millennium old. Admittedly that wouldn’t be all that and a crate of corned beef just about anywhere in Europe; but, this (still) ain’t Yur’p here.

      Some of us are lucky enough to both remember the bicentennial (for diehard ’00 fans) and now to anticipate this one, incoming quite swiftly.

      Here comes history, in real time; try to remember to enjoy it while it’s here. (And Artemis 3 crew and schedule were announced very recently, for “Eagle has landed” fans. Interesting times these are, indeed, but not solely in any bad way, either.)

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      1. Not only the country; our government is 237 years old, making it one of the longest-lasting in the world. Most of those ‘venerable’ countries in Yoorup have been conquered and/or gone through revolutions multiple times during that interval.

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  25. Well, Mom will be at the Civil Air Patrol camp that just had to be scheduled from the 1st of July to the 11th. So I’m going to visit my sister up in northern Utah. I’ll probably watch Motab’s concert in celebration of America’s 250th although that’s airing on 5th not the 4th.

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    1. We spent about two days in Utah last week, on the return leg of a trip moving my mother-in-law out West. So beautiful. Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef are feasts for the eyes, and highways 12 is an awesome experience.

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  26. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » WE’RE LESS THAN A MONTH FROM OUR 250TH ANNIVERSARY:  Make a Joyful Noise.

  27. Part of the problem with July 4th celebrations locally is the firework stands are difficult to come by. Eugene has banned them city wide. Even the ground ones legal in Oregon. Problem is the South Hills developments, where fireworks need to be banned. Fireworks fire starters and South Hill neighborhoods is a bad, bad, bad, combination. Springfield has some hill neighborhoods that are the same. Difference is Springfield expects their residents to be cautious and smart. Eugene? Nanny city.

    We can have fireworks. While in the urban growth boundary, we are still county … So there Eugene. We are also near enough to watch the Rodeo aerial firework celebration. Usually we also get to see an extra aerial firework celebration. One of hubby’s golfer buddies is a legal pyrotechnic. Party doesn’t happen on the 4th, because he is busy working his shows at other venues. He is also the one who gets all the confiscated fireworks from around the state. Do not know what is happening this year due to his severe medical problems (worse than mine, prayers for him appreciated, it is that dire. Skin cancer, he was not lucky.)

    Oh, by the way. Hypothetically, none of the Washington tribal areas check identification to see if you are “allowed” to have, what is illegal in Oregon, fireworks or not.

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    1. He is also the one who gets all the confiscated fireworks from around the state.

      Does that mean they get a licensed pyrotechnicist to set it all off safely and in a fun manner?

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  28. Being 2 towns/cities separated by a state line, I get two sets of fireworks, but my side’s are down on the Bay, while Marinette’s are generally a week later and part of a Heritage festival, with the launching point a quarter mile from my house.

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  29. I’ve arranged an hour this coming Sunday (Flag Day, June 14) when our church congregation will sing patriotic songs, accompanied by our music director & choir. Everyone is encouraged to wear their patriotic clothing and accessories. I’ll also hand out small American flags, lapel pins & rolled up copies of the Declaration of Independence.

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  30. In terms of loud noises, that are nationally audible, I just do not have the budget or schedule or sense for something like New Glenn.

    Heavy lift rockets are hard, and I have a pretty small organizational budget.

    I might organize on one or a few private showings of 1776, but I am running out of time in June.

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