Fireworks and Earthquakes

I've been so busy planning for my grandpa's 80th birthday party (and being obsessed with the soul-sucking internet) that I haven't had time to write a decent post. I had a fun, memorable 4th of July, in which my sister describes in more detail than I have the patience to give at the moment. The highlights for me were the beautiful fireworks at Lake Arrowhead, great conversations with blogging friend Damien, the terrible "B"-type volcano disaster flick we watched that night, the delicious breakfast that greeted us the next morning, and the end-of-the-world plan my sister and I sat and concocted on her patio while our hubbies exchanged meaningful glances conveying messages such as "How'd we wind up marrying these lunatics?"

One other memorable incident from the 4th ocurred as a result of bringing Moses with us to Shannon's house. He was *supposed* to be in the yard with Shan's dog and pig (yes, my sister has a pig. In the mountains. Her name is Charlotte. As in "Charlotte's Web," even though Charlotte was actually the spider. They keep calling their pig a dog though. Not sure what else to say about that...). Anyhow, I woke up quite suddenly that morning to Moses sniffing all around me. I couldn't wrap my mind around this fact so early in the morning, but Moses was mysteriously in the house. We learned later that he had pushed his way through two unsecured doors, busted into the house, woke me...who in turn prodded Clint awake with an exclamation of "What the hell is Moses doing in my sister's house?!" That was right before Shannon's two year-old came and collapsed on me with her cup of crackers because she thought I was her mom. So between a 140 lb dog and a toddler suffering from mommy-twin-confusion, I had my hands full that morning. I think Independence Day is slowly evolving into one of my favorite holidays.

The only other thing worth mentioning (and if you live in California, I apologize, because this is getting really old) is we had an earthquake today. It was a very pleasant 5.4. Just big enough to get the chandeliers swinging, but not big enough to cause alarm. I had called my grandma to ask her a few questions concerning my grandpa's upcoming birthday, and I was just leaving her a message when the quake rolled in. I interrupted my message to her with "Uh...Grandma, we're having an earthquake right now..." and, without realizing it, sort of "narrated" the quake for her over her machine as it was happening. She called me back later this evening, laughing at the fact that, even though they couldn't feel the earthquake in Camarillo, she was still able to experience it through my message. Hey, I'm here to serve...and apparently to leave weird messages on people's machines when nature strikes.