Last night while driving down a residential street in my neighborhood I saw a flatbed truck parked in a driveway loaded with Halloween monsters and a banner on the side reading, “Halloween Fair.”  I didn’t stop to take in the details, already late getting home, but laughed at the idea of someone decorating their house for Halloween on the 4th of July.

I was up early this morning to take Mom to the clinic and driving home afterwards I saw a number of flatbed trucks lined up on Manchester, decorated in all sorts of odd homemade ways.  “The parade,” I said to myself, remembering the neighborhood 4th of July parade (generally a homemade affair) scheduled for today on Manchester and Loyola Boulevard.  The Halloween truck made more sense then.  Either someone has an odd sense of humor (which I can definitely appreciate) or they’re getting in some free early advertising for their Halloween Fair.  Never too late to flog the merchandise, I guess.

In other news, Min has been sick.  She has a benign growth on her thyroid which we’re treating with medication.  There have been some scary moments, but she’s doing much, much better—especially since I discovered Greenies Pill Pockets to bury the pills in.  She thinks she’s getting a delicious treat and gobbles them right down.  I am greatly relieved since giving her the pills twice a day was traumatizing both of us.  I hope she continues to like the Pill Pockets.  I’ve got three flavors I’m alternating: salmon, chicken, and duck.  She seems to like all three.

We’ve also taken to spoiling her even more outrageously.  We even set up a Kitty Cat Spoiling Station in the den: a TV tray (a nice little oaken table) that’s got her food and water, close to her preferred sleeping chair.  I added a carton of munching grass this morning.

The TV tray came about because Mom and I, when it’s just us, tend to eat dinner in the den on TV trays in front of the Tube. Min had a habit of coming in and trying to crawl on the trays to see what was for dinner, so we set up a third tray for her and would give her treats there.  (Naturally.  You wouldn’t expect us to discipline her, would you? She’d never stand for that.)  When Min got sick she started asking to be fed her cat food, et al., there.  Of course we obeyed—since, really, we just work here.

I can hear people moving down the street, kids laughing, heading towards the parade two blocks down.  Our street always gets parked up on parade days.  I can also hear my neighbor yelling, “You can’t park here!” He doesn’t like anyone parking in front of his house, even though it’s a public street.  People have such odd ideas.  But he’s been awfully good to us, so I am not going to judge.  Too much.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!  I hope you eat lots of tasty food and have lots of fun!

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