Today’s walk was my longest one yet. Stef said she kept looking across the street, thinking, maybe, that I’d stopped in to visit with Joanie & Eldon, but I had not – I will go over and see them later on today.

So, I went up the hill, then, down the hill, hung a right and headed down Aunt Debby & Uncle Steve’s street (they sometimes babysit with Toby.) Then, I hung a left and went another block, took another left and then another left on the street beside our house. However, rather than just walking the 3 blocks home, I walked a couple of blocks and turned left onto Ethelyn’s street, down her street, then a right for a block and then, another right onto our street. All in all, this incorporated 12/20 second blasts and 9 sets of 20 side crunches at almost every street corner. Phew. Glad I had those corn chips earlier or I’d be out of steam right now.

So, in other news, Vladimir Putin still seems to be in charge of our government because Donald and the Republicans still think it’s more important for Oleg Deripaska to get his money than our own government workers who have already missed one paycheck and are now headed for another one. What a great group of folks! MAGA, YEAH, BUDDY! JS

The remains of my uncle, James Solomon, who died as a 19 yr. old sailor on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor, have finally been identified and returned home to Texas. He will be buried on Saturday with full military honors in Forestburg, Texas, so, I am flying to DFW tomorrow and will join my family in honoring him on that day.

Forestburg is a tiny farm and ranching town about 2 hrs. northwest of Dallas and I will get to see, not only my brother, his wife, my sister and several close family members, but also a number of cousins from near and far. I don’t think any of us really knew that James was not actually buried there in the cemetery by his mother – I sure didn’t – but I’m glad DNA technology was finally able to help resolve this and get him home. JS

Another 4th of July is upon us today, another day to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA! and be grateful that we live in a country where we even have the right to spout differences of opinion about anything. That’s not true in all countries. The trick to it all, then, is remembering that we are still one nation and one people, all of us wanting the best for each other, in the long run. Or, we should be. JS

According to right-wing blabbermouth Alex Jones, the left is planning a civil war today. I didn’t get the memo – just read it on Facebook which, I must say, is rather disappointing. I mean, if it’s a potluck, too, we could bring all of this artichoke dip and watermelon left over from yesterday, but we have guests here, so, I just don’t think we can make it. Still, we’d like to be supportive – can we send a check? JS

After reading a funny facebook post that started with, “In the Civil War today, we lost Commander Betty White…” by Joseph David Dacus, I came up with my own July 4th action post:
STEF (Major Neyhart) CAPTURED A FLAG! I begged her not to go, but it’s hard to call her down when she’s determined.

Through the haze of gun smoke, she raced alongside Lt. Toby to what she thought was the home of a Trump supporter, scaled the back fence and yanked that flag off the pole. Lt. Toby bravely kept their dog in check by peeing numerous times along the fence line and barking at nothing in particular. Although bombs and grenades were bursting all around, they made it back through the smokey, shrapnel-filled night, both of them with big grins on their faces like they’d just won the decathlon.

I could see them running through the smoke and watched in horror as Major Neyhart sustained a wound to the right shoulder. Luckily, her arm was already in a sling from recent shoulder surgery, and, true to form, she shrugged off her injury and asked me for a Band-Aid. Equally lucky, I had swiped some from Walgreen’s earlier in the day’s battle. Imagine our surprise when the flag she stole turned out to be a RAINBOW FLAG! Our street is way cooler than we even knew! Gen. Jodybob

Rather than spending so much money and time yanking that woman off the Statue of Liberty yesterday, I’d feel better if we had spent some time and money yanking those Republicans out of their meeting with the Russians in Moscow. Maybe that’s just me, though…JS