241. That's a LOT of candles to blow out!

Happy Fourth! I know, I try to say "Happy Independence Day" myself because I feel "Happy Fourth" is lazy and "Happy Fourth of July" trivializes the day -- I mean, we could celebrate ANY day that way! -- and Independence Day is actually what July 4 in the United States is, commemorating the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. And for those who will cite "what about July 2", THAT'S the day a resolution for independence from Great Britain was passed; the Declaration wasn't passed (and passed around to be signed, a process that more or less took five years) until today, two hundred forty-one years ago.

Thomas Jefferson wrote it great, but it still needed editing.

Today as I write this I'm off from work at Trinity Health, on one of six holidays my new employer is closed for. And speaking of that, yesterday was my orientation class learning (correction, beginning to learn) all about how we're working as a team to provide better service to everyone! There were eight others besides me in this new hire class and it's a lot to take in in one day. And with Continuing Education there's going to be a lot more ... I guess for right now the big bother with me is not so much what I'm going to be doing, but that in the words of one presenter, I'm the "new guy". I'm not EXPECTED to know everything but I think I can be well on my way.

Sunday was Jeffrey's tenth birthday.

And after church Sunday morning and lunch with games at Planet Pizza (I have to keep looking to make sure I have the order right and don't say "Pizza Planet", the name of the restaurant in Toy Story) we went to Minot State University Summer Theatre's outdoor production of "The Wizard of Oz" and mentioned to the person we know in charge this year that it's Jeffrey's birthday. HE just before the show started and down front -- and though we were three rows from the front in a packed house of just over five hundred people, which we didn't plan either -- mentioned that it was somebody's birthday in the audience!

And that this was a great birthday present.

In this show that tied together the 1900 book and the 1939 movie better than most adaptations I've seen (you get to hear how the Tin Man came to be tin, and you see the Jitterbug number filmed for the movie but dropped because producers felt it would date the movie, even though the Wicked Witch refers to sending something ahead that would "take the fight out of them", among many other things), it was hard to keep my eyes on the stage due to a little boy about to turn two who kept getting up and marching with characters when they were on stage and expressing awe so ... awesomely with them. It was almost like one of the Munchkins followed Dorothy out of Munchkinland!

I won't be seeing fireworks tonight unless I watch them on television or tablet.

But the burn ban here in Minot and most of North Dakota due to it being so dry I don't find so bad. Sarah and Jeffrey left this afternoon and are out camping for the week with their grandparents and several other cousins so Martha and I with our work schedules are staying home. One benefit of our both working for Trinity is that our work schedules are the same (7 am - 4 pm CST Monday through Friday) so we'll see each other coming home, we can meet each other for lunch, and overall coordinate our schedules to see the kids more too. Or at least I won't get to something in the evening just before it's over!

David


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