Old Fashioned 4th

Well, I drew Fire Department standby duty over much of the weekend and since I got the priviledge (and it really is a priviledge) of lighting the fire works for the celebration in our small community as a member of the Lions Club last weekend I didnt mind. My Fire Department brothers and sisters took the duties of lighting the fire works in a nearby community while a couple of us stood by here and we all had a good time. But Holly, Judy, Chris and I went to a small community about 24 miles from here where they were having the 134th annual 4th of July parade and it was so what I think the 4th should be. It celebrated our troops, the great country we live in, and our history. Its hard to describe how friendly everyone is here and this parade was the same way. It was well attended and circled a traditional town square lucked right out of the 1940s and we had floats, horses, fire trucks (yea!), antique cars and tactors, clowns (boo) and patriotism was the theme of the day. I dont think New York's parade had anything on ours.

They had lots and lots of really old Model Ts and Model As in the parade...and you could tell the owners were having a blast.

And what parade would be complete without the Shriners...they do so much for the treatment of kids and its just a bunch of old guys having fun and doing great things for their communities...kind of hard to find fault with that.

We have all seen these guys in just about every parade in the country....they were great.

I am not much of a clown fan thanks to Stephen King but this guy was a hoot..

I dont know who these guys were but they had a lot of fun and used soaker water guns to spray everyone

No matter what your political leanings are, it was nice to see young people get engaged, and it was pretty low key as far as politics go.

This car caught my eye

But therfe were probably 30 antique cars in the parade

Sons of the Confederate Veterans....we are in Missouri but south of the Missouri river they sided with the Confederacy. I know nothing of this group but there was kind of an uncomfortable silence when they passed and it seemed out of place in a parade that celebrated this great country. But you know it is part of our history and we shouldnt forget this important part of our history.

There were a lot of FarmAlls but this FarmAll Cub is on my wish list for Christmas

And Minneapolis Moline tractors were well represented, cant you just see this tractor doing its thing 50 or 60 years ago?

This is john Deere country and though they arent my favorite, if you have ever heard a John Deere B with the distinctive sound you know how heaven must sound.

We have two small NASCAR dirt tracks close-by and just about every Friday night we have tucks going by with a beat up race car on the back of a trailer whizzing by our farm. We all admit it...we love the races and they were well represented in the parade. Redneck? Yup...and proud of it.

I dont really know what these guys were doing but they were having a blast...look at their faces.

W had lots of animals in the parade as it should be. Around here, little girls have horses, kids participate in 4H and FFA is just as prestigious as HS sports except Football...cuz nothing is greater than football..seriously.

If you dont think that kid is cute your either already dead or you are a psychopathic killer

Everyone had a good time, everyone was friendly, and this may be fly over country according to the dimwits in Wash DC but this is the real America and we like it just fine.