4th of July

I like the parades in Centerville.  They're short and just up the street.  We can walk there, see the parade and get on with things.

Main Street is quaint, but certain modern necessities have gotten in the way.  Notice the electric service running across the front of the Historical Museum.  There must have been a better way.

I think just about every kid in town was in the parade. 

The fireworks in Hyannis take a little more effort.  You have to get a parking space early before they fill up.  While waiting for darkness I took this photo of the pre-firework sunset over Hyannis Port.

As we were waiting I couldn't help but think about all the things I should be doing at the house instead.

The cupola light is finally in.  It was low on the list of electrical tasks so it took a while.  It has a 5 watt long-life cold cathode bulb hooked up to a light sensor.  The electrician mistakenly put in a 13 watt compact fluorescent bulb and it looked like a landing light in comparison.

And the photovotaic panels are finally installed.  We've had our deposit in since January but a number or missteps on the installer's part delayed things until July.  The inverter is at the roof deck level because apparently the DC current from the PV panels cannot run within the house.  The inverter converts the DC to AC.  They wanted to run a conduit around the back of the house and down to the basement, but I want to avoid looking like the Historical Museum.

And the Kitchen is still not quite done.  The cabinets, doors and drawers seem to come in installments.  It's all looking good, though. 

The Ikea appliances look sharp, but the controls sure aren't intuitive.  You actually have to read the manuals to use them.

This is one of our many, many cardboard and trash runs.  Can you believe that the dump is closed on the on the 4th!

I can't count how many full wagon loads of cardboard we've hauled away.  The quantity has been incredible.  At least it all gets recycled.