Nope, no explosives today, unless the buzzards encroach on the human jurisdictions of the farm. Maybe the Marine down the lane will blast some off later, as the dusk blends into the velvet darkness of this special summer day. I luxuriate in the memories of an epic trip bringing the Pepto-Bismol 1959 Rambler wagon to Indiana, where she is a crowd-pleaser to this day.

Against all odds, this holiday has been sucked into this strange new version of history that seems to claim all events and all persons before 1865 are somehow immoral, and everything after that date is somehow tainted.

Forgive me. I consider that to be nonsense- idiotic and corrosive nonsense.

In response to the news, I ordered a Betsy Ross flag to fly on my flagpole the rest of the year. I was considering how to property contextualize that- you know, these days history is whatever you think about after rising and having your grievance cornflakes.

The other purchase I considered was a series of Burma-Shave style signs for the gravel circular drive at the farm, starting right after the fake IDT Security sign.

Sign 1: “Revolutionary War Veteran Family. 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot”
Sign 2: “Civil War Veteran Family- both sides 72nd OVI and 10th Tennessee.”
Sign 3: “World War One Veteran family. USA/OVI.”
Sign 4: “World War Two Veteran family- USAAF, USN, USMC”
Sign 5: “Korean War Veteran Family. USN, USMC”
Sign 6: “Gold Star Vietnam-era Family. SAC.”
Sign 7: “Cold War: First Place Veteran Family. USN”
Sign 8: “Desert Storm Veteran family. USN, Joint Staff”
Sign 9: “Global War on Terror Veteran family. USN, IC, Joint Staff”

Sign 10: “Crown thy good with brotherhood. Tread on us at your peril. We are picky about our issues, but we always fight”

To all those who have sacrificed and died to preserve this quirky but endearing nation, and on this day of Independence, I salute the ones who went to the infantry, to those aloft and to those underway.

Happy Fourth. Have fun, BBQ and enjoy the fireworks. But remember why. Here at Refuge Arm, we do not forget.

– Vic
www.vicsocotra.com