Yard work on the 4th

My last few posts have been a bit sentimental. Do you think? Too flowery. Today it's pretty mundane. It's 4th of July and wife and I don't really have any plans. Couple of friends are coming over tonight and we're going to cook out and maybe hang around the pool. My big projects for today are getting the flag up and putting in a new window unit air conditioner. It took me 40 minutes to get all the tools and ladder and find the flags and fix the flags and clear off the porch. And 5 minutes to put up the flag. The porch was overgrown with poke weed, poison ivy, and Virginia creeper. I stopped everything and started clearing out that god awful mess. I hope I'm not itchin tonight. While I was doing that, this guy Pat flew over in his Scout and started circling. I knew who it was right away. It looks and sounds like a Citabria on steroids. He didn't land though. Probably has 4th plans and needs to get back to Annapolis. That Scout is on the short list of best planes ever. My neighbor is the guy who tills my place and my farm is one of the many little farms and businesses that he manages. Over the years we've always used a rule of thumb about when the winter wheat gets harvested. "July 4th". Of course it's just a target. Could be rainy (which is in the forecast), or another farm to do, etc. But here's the 4th and he's out there cutting. I've got this silly idea. He's basically mowing the wheat which is essentially the front yard. I'm thinking of taking my bush hog and mowing the wheat stubble in a prominent spot and moving the Cherokee 140 into that spot as a "gate guard" just for the fun of it. And I'll mow the front lawn and I've put up the flags. My friends will probably show up after dark and not even notice my lawn ornament. But it is one of the longest days of the year.