Being refreshed from the pool, I went back inside to make cherry pie and potato salad. Lee and his crowd arrived at 3:30. Marilyn and Steve from the library arrived at 4:45. I sent them outside while I finished up the potato salad and then went in for my second dip in the pool. Amy and Todd got out of the water to finish up on dinner. She had a tortelini salad to make and Todd was grilling the brats. Thank you, guys.

Everyone opted for sitting in the house in the air conditioning while eating dinner, except for Bill. He had been the first one to pile food on his plate and went out to the gazebo thinking that was where most of us were going to congregate. Once, I got my plate fixed up, I called him back into the house. He waited till he was ready for another plateful to come back in.

Entertainment consisted mostly of Todd doing with his Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan impersonations. What makes them even funnier is that he doesn't do Neil and Bob singing their own songs but other people's songs. Then I prodded Bill to do his imitations. He usually starts off with Jean Chretien which made Marilyn laugh really silly. Then I asked him do his Newfie spiel, and from then he didn't need any prompting.

Before long, the youngster heard the call of fireworks and went outside to shoot some off. Amy came back in after awhile and said, "Mom, there's a mourning dove by the neighbor's house that isn't flying away when we come close to it and its feathers look ruffled." So, out I went. Wildlife Rehabber to the rescue. Sure enough, it didn't look quite right. It was strutting around but, yes, the feathers on its back were ruffled and it didn't fly up and away as we walk to it. It tried but didn't get any higher than my shoulders before dropping back on the ground. Lee helped me catch it. On its neck were dark dried up wounds and some half its tail feathers were missing plus one side of wing feathers. It must have had a tango with a cat. Other than missing feathers and a chewed up look it acted like a healthy bird. I brought it in and put it in a large plastic box. Amy poked holes in the lid for me. Later I transferred it out to the larger cage beside the raccoon cage.

I talked to Barb, the rehab lady I know, and she said it would take two to three weeks for its feathers to grow back in. Just feed it bird seed, which Todd very kindly got for me while they were out, and water and let it alone. Hey, I can do that. No feeding it bottles. No having to feed it every hour. Yeh, I can do that.

After that excitement, it was time for dip number three in the pool. Marilyn and Steve sat on the lawn swing, Bill sat on a chair and they all talked while the rest of us were splashing around. Then that's when it started getting really interesting. We hadn't been in the pool more than half an hour when we saw black clouds steadily coming down from the north. It was now 8:45. Marilyn and Steve decided to leave. The wind started picking up and Kim saw some lightning. Definitely time to get out of the pool. As I was in the bedroom getting some dry clothes on and just turning on the TV to see the weather channel, the electricity went out all over the neighborhood. The storm hadn't officially reached us yet.

All of us went out on the porch to watch the wild wind and lightning on both sides of us as we waited for the full force of the storm to reach us. The trees were bending at alarming angles. Little by little we felt some rain pelting us and the lightning got closer. The others decided to go back into the house but Lee and I stayed out. A lighting bolt hit a mile away and then three minutes later a brilliant bolt hit down at the corner and the thunder came immediately. Lee and I hightailed it back into the house.

The storm raged on till 10:15. My battery powered clock was ticking off the minutes. Twenty till 10, storm still going strong. Five till 10, still going strong. Five after 10, still going strong. There went Hamilton's hopes of shooting off fireworks that night. We sat in the living room with candles burning all around and talked while looking out the window at the fantastic lightning that was going on.

Then, finally, it started slowing down. Very slowly. Eventually, there was just that all-over-the-sky kind of lightning still flashing and loud, long, rumbling thunder to follow. People in the neighborhood and on the next street over were back out shooting off their fireworks. We decided to go back out and join in the cacophony with our bottle rockets.

This was the most awesome part. For the next 45 minutes we were treated to numerous private fireworks displays plus the amazing and spectacular lightning display in the sky. Brilliant day-bright flashes of horizontal, spidery lightning flickered on then off. Then long, lingering thunder punctuated your ears. Along with that was the solid popping and cracking of fireworks and firecrackers heard throughout the neighborhood. About every ten minutes we would also hear the wail of sirens as the fire trucks took off from their station half a mile away. And every now and then mixed in was a loud train whistle as it approached the railroad crossings a mile away. Talk about a memorable Fourth of July event!