July 5th

Did everybody enjoy their July 4th festivities? In our neighborhood, the earth around Anguilla decided to get into the act and shimmy a little around 5:30pm. Michael didn't feel it because he was driving, but the cats and I were ready to bail if it kept on going (it lasted about 3 seconds). The 5.1 magnitude earthquake was pretty deep, which is why we probably felt it so much even though it was over 100 miles away (to the north). A friend in Half Moon came home to a broken window, which was most likely caused by the tremor (as opposed to typical vandalism). While we didn't experience any aftershocks, Puerto Rico had a couple of tiny, shallow shakes later.

Earthquake Track

If that wasn't enough for Mr. X to worry about before his big July 4th shebang, it wouldn't stop raining all day. He got very lucky when things started to clear up just in time for him and the entertainers to start setting up. Here's Bob getting the fireworks ready.



Things were running a little late, but what's new? Some pan music got going - kids enjoyed themselves.



The buffet was up and running with Sati there to pile it on your plate.

The Shack went from this...

to this... in no time.



I started to feel a bit boxed in, so we headed toward the beach just in time for the best part!



During the finale, there was kind of a stifled dud sound and we and the people around us got a little muted wondering if all was well. I went over to the dock to see if it was still there and all seemed ok, so guess it was supposed to do that. Now here's a first - an ambulance and a firetruck. Luckily, they weren't needed.

The next band came on and I don't know if they were having a bad night or what, but they were simply terrible.

We decided to head back to our place (we had a few fireworks to set off of our own).



I really meant fireworks, what did you think I meant?...and were amazed that we could hear every single word sung from the Shack from our balcony (which was really weird, it wasn't that loud at the Shack, so there was a strange amplification affect going on to send it over a mile our way). It was just as terrible from there. It started to pour about an hour later, so the festivities got dampened a bit (like the pun?). Tonight the Shack gets to do it all over again with the normal Thursday craziness (different band). I think I can safely say that I will not be there. Here comes another weekend!