Reunion Trip Day 9

Tuesday, July 4

At breakfast, Uncle Gary and Will were discussing the malfunctioning hot water heater in the 5th wheel. Our RV hot water heater had recently quit working also, and Will had figured out it had a re-set switch that needed to be flipped. He looked this one over – same thing. A flip of the switch and it fired up. The shower is nice and big so we are living very well. Will really wants a 5th wheel!

We really enjoy sitting at the table watching the birds at all their birdfeeders. We saw many beautiful ones, including Baltimore orioles, red-winged blackbirds, meadowlarks, and cardinals. I think Will will be getting our birdfeeders out when we get home.

The boys made several trips down the street to a fireworks stand and were on the front driveway making a lot of noise all afternoon. For some reason the boys enjoyed tossing them in the culvert. Very annoying, and they have lots of the noisy ones left. I think they’re probably both broke now. Eric couldn’t believe his good fortune that he could buy Roman candles.

The boys and Will went out to my cousin Jim’s place where my brothers Dave and Doug were staying. They have a dog business, breeding and selling pugs, Yorkshire terriers, toy poodles and standard poodles. Right now they have 35 dogs, including 11 puppies. One was born just before they got there. They spent a good bit of time there holding puppies. When they came back, I heard Nick was looking for me. He gave me a big hug, patting my arms and rubbing my head, a little more enthusiastic than a normal hug. Then Eric came along and said, Nick did you give mom a hug yet? Then I understood. I have an odd little quirk about animal germs and I always want them to wash their hands after they’ve been holding dogs or pet rats, etc. The little brat was spreading dog germs all over me. Then he had the nerve to tell me that Jim had a retarded Pomeranian and he would give it to us for free. It would make a perfect birthday present. Ha.

Aunt Lela hosted a big barbecue potluck in the evening and many cousins and the one aunt and uncle who were in town came. We took a group picture of the cousins and their spouses. That was quite an experience. I hope someone else’s turned out better than mine but here it is. Will tried to stand in the front row and I was perfectly willing to stand behind him but it didn’t seem to work out for everyone else. Can my brothers identify all these people?


Then there was quite a fireworks show on the front driveway. We learned there is a good reason some of these are illegal when one that shoots high in the sky tipped over and was still spinning, shooting fire at the spectators. One cousin was burned on her foot, another one’s shirt caught on fire and her side was burned. Yikes!

That evening, Will asked Eric for his impression of the past two day. Eric said they’ve gone really fast. Why is that? “Maybe because I didn’t get up til 11:00 both days!”