Buy One Get Six Free

Happy Summer! I was just reading this story about celebrating the soltice at Stonehenge, and it shows a picture of a girl up against one of the stones. I thought no one was allowed up there, but then I see that they began allowing full access again in 2000, which is the year I was there, so it must've been after my visit :-( Then I started thinking, hmm, I would like to go sometime, funny, haven't I ever been in England on June 21st before? Then I remembered, yes I have, in fact the year I went to Stonehenge I was there on that date, but I paid my visit in May. D'oh! It was a school organized thing, and it didn't even dawn on me about the whole solstice thing. Oh well.

Fourth of July is quickly approaching, so firework shops are turning up everywhere. Where my parents live, which is right at the state line, they are popping up like weeds. Large signs with bright colors and many banners offering deals like buy one get six free. I've never seen an offer like that offered in other context. See, it's illegal to buy fireworks in the neighboring state, so people flock over the state line and get the goods. In fact, even though it was legal to sell and buy fireworks in our state, until this year, it was illegal to light them. A local paper referred to it as the wink, wink, nudge, nudge arrangement. Earlier this year, though, the governor passed legislation which now makes it legal to set off fireworks and (of course) put a tax on the sale of it. This tax will go towards training for firefighters on how to do with firework incidents. Interesting, eh?

Jonathan is coming to visit this weekend. He'll be in town helping a friend move. Haven't seen him in "a dog's age", as he says, so it should be interesting.

It is hotter than heck here. It should be illegal to go outside in this weather, you can't even breathe. I just hold my breath til I get to the air conditioning of my car. Ridiculous. Since this is a prairie state, and this is extreme weather, a tornado watch is now in effect for the area. I mean, can we just have the heat and maybe pretend like we're in a tropical state? Well, in that case, maybe we'd be looking out for hurricanes. Oh well.

Til next time.