Things You Never Knew Existed: Independence Day Things

Friday, June 5, 2009

Independence Day Things

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the cookouts and the trips to the beach or pool and of course, the extra day off. But the real reason I look forward to the holiday is it's the one day when I have an undeniable excuse to make lots of noise!

Last year, I picked up a field cannon to honor the holiday. Just like they did back at the first celebration,

we fired the cannon once for every state in the Union. Our 50-gun salute was the talk of the neighborhood for months. This year, I'm adding an air horn. (My sister said, "Great. Like you need to make more noise!") This air horn is a unique Thing because you can refill it with plain air from a compressor or at a gas station. But its best feature--as far as I'm concerned--is that it is LOUD!

When it's time to hit the water, you need a comfy place to sit. A pair of floating chairs is perfect for those who just want to lounge in the pool and catch some rays.

But for the more adventurous among us, a little game of bumper boat, complete with a water cannon shootout, is just the ticket. The boats are motorized, which alone makes them very cool, but you can also steer these left, right, forward or backward to put you at your best advantage. They can hit speeds up to two miles per hour, which may not seem like a lot--until you start heading full speed across the pool!

All that noise making and horsing around in the pool really works up an appetite. But before I can put any of my prime burgers and dogs on the grill, I have to clean it. I used to hate scrubbing the grates with the wire brush. It's hot and hard work to scrub that black goop that used to be food off, especially if it's been sitting for a while. But I saw the perfect grill cleaning Thing on TV one night and knew I had to have one. It's a steam cleaner that you can use on almost any grill. It's easy to use and it cleans better than any amount of "elbow grease" I could put into the job. Plus, you can put the cleaning heads in the dishwasher, so no more cleaning the grill brush after cleaning the grill.

And while you're planning to spend time outdoors, it never hurts to watch the weather, protect your eyes from the sun and make sure you have light once the sun goes down.

Desktop Weather Station, Eagle Eye Sunglasses, Solar Remote Control Lights

Finally, we should "Never Forget" what all the celebrating is really about. The United States wouldn't have won its freedom from Great Britain without the brave soldiers of the American Revolution. Which makes the 4th of July the perfect day to honor and celebrate our men and women in uniform, whether they're on active duty, veterans or were lost in action. But one of our founding fathers said it better than I ever could:

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
--Thomas Jefferson

See you next week,
Bobby

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