Took a nice ride around Como Lake last evening. It was enjoyable getting out again after the several days of high heat and humidity and sick dog. (It is still humid, but the temps are mid-80s, which is more tolerable.)The swans were in the part of the wetland nearest the street for the first time since the babies were born and I was so happy to see all six cygnets were still alive!! The cygnets have doubled in size, although there is one that is noticeably smaller than the others. I last had a closeup view of them on June 10...and I had thought they'd be taken into hiding for about a month after they were born. So I'm what? Proud of myself for noticing/recognizing this pattern of behavior after watching them over three summers?

Dog still has not pooped. I'm hoping to get him out for a walk at some point today to stimulate things. Hopefully this morning, but a storm may be moving in?? I couldn't even get him outside after 7pm last evening because of the fireworks going off, but fortunately he held it until I got up at 5am. This is such a stressful time of year for animals. The vet finally called with the fecal results and dog has high bacteria levels. She gave me the choice of treating conservatively or with antibiotics. I chose conservatively, but later in the day changed my mind because 1. I have little kids coming over, and the last thing I need is dog giving them some disease and 2. The vets office is closed until Monday. I picked up the antibiotics after work.

Still feeling a little melancholy about the 4th. I understand how many people feel right now that there isn't much to celebrate given the extremism and division in the country (and I think my daughter is one of those people). But I think it is exactly because there isn't much to celebrate right now that we have to make the effort to review what led to our founding fathers to make the decision to separate from the king and to review those basic principles set forth in the declaration of independence and the bill of rights. To really study and understand freedom and the liberal democracy they created. A country for the people not for a king or for a few.

For the people.

And that's what I think has been lost. Right now, it is a country for the few in which the few pit the people against each other. The few are scaring and threatening and throwing out words like socialism and communism whenever someone is elected who is working to improve conditions for the people. Let's not lose sight of that. This country was created for the people and the government's role is to serve the people, not serve themselves.

(I kind of like it when I can finally put together all the disjointed thoughts in my head into some coherent paragraphs that capture what I'm really feeling and thinking.)

I stumbled across this event, a nationwide reading of the Declaration of Independence. With a start time based on 6 pm (EDT), July 8, 2026 (commemorating the first public reading), people in communities across America will begin reading the Declaration of Independence. Here is a link to locations:

https://hawaiiamerica250.org/reading-locations

That's all I can muster this morning.