Ask Not For Whom The Cow Poops

Because, unfortunately, it poops for no one. Cow Pie Bingo was unexpectedly canceled yesterday, perhaps due to Bovine Constipation. (For the non-Midwesterners: a pen is marked off in squares, those squares are sold for $5 a pop, and then a cow is put in the pen, and whatever square the cow poops in, the square holder wins, up to $500, to the delight-or disappointment- of the cheering crowd). But even without that diversion, yesterday held everything a small-town 4th of July Celebration should, and more.

You had your parade, with families wearing patriotic hats. And your pretty girls in convertibles. And you had your soldiers and flags (our Guards have already done a stint in Iraq and may have to go back), and your huge agricultural machines, and fire trucks with sirens blaring. And your politicians running for office. And businesses throwing out candy by the bucket load to the children lining the street (who come to parades armed with grocery bags for loot). You had your cool old cars. You had your class reunions sitting on flatbed trucks, already celebrating. You had your Boy Scouts on little racers. You had your large fiberglass town mascots, and coffin tractors.
And you had your horsies, one of which decided to dump its rider right in front of us, and bolt toward the startled crowd.

After the parade, you had your activities at the Fair Grounds- face painting (one lone painter, toiling in the sun, with lines of little girls who waited over an hour for their turn), balloon launching, horse and buggy rides, grilled bratwursts, and a beer garden (possibly for those who stood in line for over an hour with little girls who wanted to get their faces painted).

Firecrackers, etc are legal in South Dakota, so the air was peppered with cracks and pops and the scent of gunpowder all day. At home, we grilled steaks and had watermelon, and swam all afternoon, while the girls lit smoke bombs. And when it finally got dark enough, the city put on a grand fireworks display (which my camera refused to record).

The weather could not have been more perfect- I don't think I ever remember a 4th so mild and beautiful (in the mid 80's, low humidity). Today, there is a car show in the park, mud volleyball (which I may go watch), and tonight there is a street dance (which I won't attend, but I will probably be able to hear, even out in the country where I live).

I love my town.