{"id":1208,"date":"2010-07-22T07:44:09","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T14:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=1208"},"modified":"2010-10-20T03:40:16","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T10:40:16","slug":"happy-belated-fourth-of-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=1208","title":{"rendered":"Happy (Belated) Fourth of July"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Guess what else I found?\u00a0 My pictures from the Fourth of July!\u00a0 I love the Fourth of July.\u00a0 We go to the same small town parade every year.\u00a0 By small town, I mean we drive 20 miles out into the country from our rural community to theirs.\u00a0 That’s small.<\/p>\n

The parade starts at the center of town.\u00a0 Which consists of a gas station and a stop sign.\u00a0 Not a fancy gas station with a fast food chain inside.\u00a0 Not even one with automatic doors.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 This is the kind of gas station where the old folks stand next to their vehicle, smoking a cigarette, and chatting with their neighbor while filling up their tank.\u00a0 Old School.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The parking area for parade goers is clearly marked.\u00a0 With this barn.\u00a0 I don’t know who owns this field and barn.\u00a0 But every year, he mows the field right up by the road so people can park and walk to the gas station.\u00a0 He doesn’t charge for it.\u00a0 He doesn’t put up signs that say “Free Parking.”\u00a0 He just mows it nice and neat and lets people figure it out.\u00a0 Which we do.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

There’s no entry fee or registration for the parade either.\u00a0 If you want to be in the parade, you just line up at the volunteer fire department an hour before start time.\u00a0 That’s all.\u00a0 No liability release form needed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The parade starts with a color guard and a local woman who sings the national anthem.\u00a0 Every one stands for the flag.\u00a0 Everyone.\u00a0 No one talks to the person next to them or texts on their cell or jokes around during the anthem.\u00a0 We just stand, with hands over our hearts, and remember those who have enabled us to live free.\u00a0 People even remove their hats.<\/p>\n

And then the real fun starts.\u00a0\u00a0 Which, for my kids, involves the candy being thrown by the parade entrants.\u00a0 This is one of the only parades left in a 3 county area where the people on floats throw candy to the kids.\u00a0 I don’t know why it became against the rules of parade etiquette.\u00a0 Obesity epidemic?\u00a0 Lawsuits from people who got hit in the eye by a piece of candy?\u00a0 I can’t imagine.\u00a0 But country kids spend too much time climbing the hay bales in the barn and hauling buckets of water to the livestock to be worried about the calories in a few Jolly Ranchers and Tootsie Rolls.\u00a0 And we don’t sue each other over a piece of candy in the eye.\u00a0 We laugh and say, “Heads up next time, Junior!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But the kids aren’t just on the sidelines.\u00a0 The parade is filled with kids.\u00a0 Driving all sorts of vehicles.\u00a0 Without an adult on board.\u00a0 Without a license.\u00a0 Or a helmet.\u00a0 And we all smile and wave and take their picture while thinking,\u00a0 “Aren’t they cute?”\u00a0 instead of\u00a0 thinking, “Isn’t that dangerous?”\u00a0 That’s just the way we roll.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Besides, the adults are too busy showing off their own mechanisms of travel. Some of these tractors were owned by the driver’s great-great-grandfather.\u00a0 And have been in this parade since the very first one was held.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>These old cars have been worked on all through the winter months, when the farm chores are crammed into the short days and the farmers are free to bend under the hood during the long evenings of darkness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The professionals get a chance to strut their stuff, too.\u00a0 There’s a fire truck or emergency services vehicle in the parade from almost every small town within 30 miles.\u00a0 The kids don’t cry or cover their ears when the sirens start to wail as the trucks creep through the intersection.\u00a0 No, sirree.\u00a0 The kids clap and cheer and yell “Turn it up, Uncle Joe!”\u00a0 The adults nod their heads in approval.\u00a0 After all, it took 22 bake sales, 4 love offerings, a community yard sale, and a dunking booth to raise money for that pumper truck.\u00a0 Let ‘er rip!<\/p>\n

This year we even had the chief of police from a nearby city show up in the parade.\u00a0 Which was surprising, because the last time he was driving around his city in a marked police car, one of the residents shot at him, and a bullet went through the windshield.\u00a0 I’m not making that up.\u00a0 It really happened.\u00a0 That stuff happens in the city.\u00a0 But no one shot at him way out here.\u00a0 Which isn’t to say the country folks aren’t packing heat.\u00a0 Gun racks are not for decoration around here.\u00a0 They just aren’t used for drive-bys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the end, the horses come through.\u00a0 They always come last.\u00a0 I’m sure you know why.\u00a0 But they aren’t followed by a crew of pooper scoopers like they are in most parades.\u00a0 Country folks don’t get e coli just from looking at a pile of manure like city folks do.\u00a0 So the droppings are left where they are, well, dropped, and we all head over to the Grange Hall.<\/p>\n

There’s always a huge fish fry at the Grange Hall after the parade.\u00a0 Everyone from church will be there.\u00a0 We even pray before we eat.\u00a0 God Bless America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guess what else I found?\u00a0 My pictures from the Fourth of July!\u00a0 I love the Fourth of July.\u00a0 We go to the same small town parade every year.\u00a0 By small town, I mean we drive 20 miles out into the country from our rural community to theirs.\u00a0 That’s small. The parade starts at the center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[32,70],"class_list":["post-1208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sweet-spot","tag-kids","tag-parade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1208"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1540,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions\/1540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}