The morning after . . .

The animals made it through the night, and we didn't even need to help them. Dogs, cats and horses seemed to take the sights and sounds of Fourth of July 2009 in their stride.

Kea leaped into the air and barked a couple of times yesterday afternoon when some precursor bottle rockets whistled through the air next door. I told her there was nothing to worry about. Surprisingly, she seemed to believe me. We heard no protests out of her for the rest of the day.

Annie Dog, who usually goes into a state of nervous agitation with every thunder storm always glueing herself to the nearest human, apparently felt secure that the small barbecue crowd would protect her. So, she was pretty laid-back compared to usual yesterday.

The biggest threat any animal seemed to perceive was that of the American flag last night as I brought it back from its post at the end of the driveway. Lily stood wide-eyed and let out a couple of snorts on the other side of the barnyard fence as I rolled it up to be put away until the next national holiday. Once she figured it wasn't going to fly over there and grab her, the snorts stopped and she eyed it with more curiosity than fear.

It was a wonderful day yesterday, staying home, calmly getting things ready for the barbecue. After mowing that last patch of lawn and picking enough fresh strawberries for five giant sundaes, I biked over to Meserves to do a little friendly heckling. People were coming and going over there----some had headed off to the parade while others were grabbing a few extra Z's and still others were out in the woods looking for some logs for construction purposes.

We all agreed that we are indeed lucky to live in a very peaceful setting where only the Fourth of July craziness drowns out the sounds of many summer birds happily singing and flitting from place to place throughout each day.

After announcing I was leaving about ten times, I finally made good on my promise and headed back home. Bill spent the morning doing some wood cutting out in his forest. I organized a few more items for the late afternoon barbecue.

Then, Bill, dressed in shorts and holding a towel, said, "See ya later." He headed to the pool for its official holiday christening. I joined him later and filled up the kiddie/doggie pool so that Mother could dangle her tootsies when she came for the party.

Mary, my sister-in-law, stopped by for a quick visit, stuck her toe in the big pool and announced approval. Later, the crowd, "Mother, Barbara and Laurie" arrived, and we began our official Fourth of July "pool party." It was a "no cameras allowed" program. We decided that our respective patches of white flab and unconventional swimming garb need to remain exclusive to the Lovestead.

The scene was definitely a full-fledged barnyard recreation center. Bill had announced that the tack room in the horse trailer could serve as a changing room.

Laurie, assuming the role of pool maintenance director, lugged the blue mounting block she uses to climb on Lily, over to the pool. At first, it floated on top, but after filling with water, it sank to the bottom.

Laurie used it as a perch to sit on while keeping the bugs out of the pool with her high-tech net. Mother and Peta refreshed themselves in the doggie/kiddie pool. Peta threatened to splash Mother a few times. Mother protested. Pita quit splashing. All the time, Barbara sat back and simply enjoyed watching the pool action.

The scene did include a little X-rated stuff. It seems that love was in the air in the pasture next to the pool. A male cow and a female cow were consummating their passion in Merserve's field. We decided that we'll have to include on that "Danger" sign that the pool area also includes visual material not always appropriate for children.

We eventually moved to back to the house where Bill grilled up sausage, chicken and hamburgers. Later, we took a walk in the woods and checked out Bill's transplanted trees while Mother stayed at the house and watched the Capitol Fourth Celebration. Then, we ate those fresh strawberries and French vanilla ice cream while the U.S. Capitol Fourth Celebration ran a second time.

Bombs were bursting into air as we said good bye to Mother, Barbara and Laurie around 10 p.m., but horses were dealing with it just fine. So, we watched the Boston Pops celebration and soon turned in, quite satisfied with our stress-free Lovestead celebration of a great and cherished American holiday.