How do you recall the Fourth of July celebrations when we were kids?
I remember that it was the family reunion every year at the same old
place with all the oldsters telling all the kids that the kids have
grown a lot since last year. Most of the oldsters could not remember
our names but referred to you as what's his names kid. We always had
the reunion at Orr Park in Orrville.

Then we sat down and consumed vast quantities of food and drink
retrieved from wooden picnic baskets filled with all kinds of goodies.
We used the plastic plates with dividers so the food wouldn't get
mixed together. We always had this odd tasting red mystery punch
drink which was sickeningly sweet. A tradition. Whatever.

After we finally scarfed down the endless servings of desserts and
watermelon and muskmelons, we kids had to wait the eternal one hour
time before we could go swimming. Talk about time standing still.
But we had to adhere to the one hour rule to wait to go swimming. If
you dared go swimming before the one hour timeframe, you risked the
peril of deadly cramps. By the way, I never heard of a kid drowning
from cramps. But we had to follow the rule.

After the swimming episode, we then waited around for the fireworks
show at Orr Park. I think we got to wave sparklers around before the
show. Also we shot cap guns and those missile things which you put a
cap into and threw them at the cement. I liked the disk cap guns
where you put a round shaped cap into the lifelike Hopalong Cassidy
gun and could fire it 6 times. I never had access to firecrackers so
the sparklers were a cheap thrill.

Finally the fireworks show began and they were great. I always liked
the putrid smell in the air of the fireworks. And the grand finale
was always special. Those were the days!

Let's remember how lucky we are to still live in this great country
which our forefathers founded and had the foresight to enact the
Declaration of Independence which we still honor every July 4th.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

The Weaselmeister

---
Chuck:

You are correct. My mother never cared for the name "Weasel".
I tried to explain it to her many times but she never understood.
To her, I was always "Johnny". Little Johnny Douglas. Call me John,
Jack, or Weasel but don't call me Johnny. I don't know why, but that
name Johnny always sounded weird to me. I really can't explain why I
liked Johnny Carson though; his name just sounded better being called
Johnny than being called John. Speaking of Johnny Carson, does
anyone remember seeing Johnny Carson live on "Who Do You Trust" when
we went on our senior trip to New York? That was the highlight of
the New York portion of the NY/DC trip. I think the Rockettes at
Radio City Music Hall ranked a close second. The Statue of Liberty
ranked third and the Statue of Liberty was in fourth place (the
Johnny Douglas rating system). You know what? That actually sounds
pretty good...the Johnny Douglas rating system has a certain ring to
it. Maybe I've mellowed a tad and my mother was right after all to
call me Johnny. The older I get, the better I used to be.

Just rambling,

The Weaselmeister

In dalton59@yahoogroup s.com, "Chuck Meier" wrote:
>
> John/Weaselmeister -
>
> I'm very impressed with your writing. Your essays are fascinating;
Mr. Jogan would be proud of you.
>
> I think we probably celebrated the Fourth of July by baling hay or
some such job. Usually, we would go to Wooster for the fireworks in
the evening. I guess if it was on a weekend, we probably got
together with relatives for a picnic.
>
> I do remember going to Dalton one time for the ceremonies and
hearing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address read. There was also a band
and, with Keith's Dad on the trombone, they played "76 Trombones".
>
> One way to honor the Declaration of Independence is to read some of
the biographies of the Founders that have been published in the last
few years. I have read at least two about Washington and Jefferson,
the David McCullough biography of John Adams is excellent, and there
are others about Franklin, Madison, Monroe and others who were
involved. These give a great sense of how this all came about.
There are other histories of the founding as well and provide reading
just as good as most novels.
>
> Chuck
>
> P.S. Even though I'm sure that we all used the nickname, I can
remember your mother objecting to it, saying "My son is not a weasel."
>