Admit it: when you're out there with hedge clippers, whipping them around, up and down, side to side, slaying branches and weeds left and right, you can't help but feel like a Jedi. A bit like a geek, sure. But isn't that part of being a Jedi?
Until your light-saber cuts through the extension cord.
Leaving you defenseless before the Sith-weeds and Sith-branches of Doom! Where is your Force now, not-so-young Jedi?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
.....happy 4th of July. If you're reading this, and you're American, go do some yard work or watch a parade or take your kids swimming or eat lousy hot dogs and Budweiser at an oddly lifeless Embassy party or something.
Oddly lifeless Embassy party?
Not if your Embassy has a new batch of eager summer interns that have yet to learn that the US diplo service are a bunch of boring functionaries , without the delightfully corrupt tendancies of the EU services.
However, otherwise, point taken.
I am off to my Churchill club to mix with me fellow Anglo Saxons over liquids of various sorts - and because it's not American, delightful Cuban products will be available.
Posted by: collounsbury | July 04, 2005 at 03:15 PM
We did it all, almost: 4th of July parade watching, complete with cowboys of color and antique cars (also new boxy Honda things with funny horns); small town fair with pony ride, dunk tank, jumper, ugly pet competition, watermelon competition, and Aikido and African dance demonstrations (it's a small town next to Berkeley). Fire trucks of course, giving free inside tours to little kids. Sno-cones. Polish hot dogs, pizza, chips, and bottled water. If we weren't driving, I'd have brought a nice bottle of California zinfandel and some gourmet snacks, but as it was I was happy enough with the hot dogs and water.
However I do consider it my patriotic duty as a blue stater to consume local wines, organic delicacies, and maybe some French-style goat cheese on artisan sourdough baguette, just to affirm exactly what sort of America I love.
We won't bother with going to see fireworks, because the kids can't handle the crowds and noise, and here in the Bay area it's always too foggy and bitterly cold anyway.
No yard work, but if you really did some yourself, ya ustaz, I'm impressed with you. I thought parents of toddlers and infants were exempt from home repairs and yard work - didn't you get the memo?
Posted by: Leila | July 04, 2005 at 08:09 PM
Not only might one cut the extension cord, but if one is working on a tall hedge, it is possible to cut low-hanging cable and phone lines as well. Then one really feels like an Amurikan Sith.
Posted by: ExBay Area | July 04, 2005 at 10:41 PM
Been there, done that.
It's pretty easy to put a new end on it, though. I wonder what percentage of 100 ft. extension cords in American households are actually 97 ft. (or thereabouts)...
We took Lyra to her first major league baseball game. That's pretty durn all-American for the 4th of July. Next year, maybe, she'll be able to stay up late enough for fireworks.
Posted by: Mrs. Coulter | July 05, 2005 at 09:15 AM