Take a few minutes Wednesday to reflect on the nation you call home

This coming Wednesday is Independence Day, that is, the Fourth of July, which will mark the 236th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Many of us will celebrate this national holiday with fireworks and backyard barbecues, and it’s hoped that all of you have a safe holiday.

When you get a few minutes on Wednesday, take time to reflect on the nation that you call home. You’re smart enough to read the newspapers and watch the evening news for yourself, so you know that our nation has many problems. You know that it’s a long way from being perfect.

However, if you’ve ever traveled the world, you’ll know how lucky you are to be an American. If you’ve never traveled the world, then ask somebody who has. They’re likely to tell you that the United States of America is the greatest nation in the world and that you should count your blessings that you’re an American citizen.

Again, if you do read the paper and watch the TV news, you’ll also see that despite our country’s many problems, that there is a nonstop struggle to find solutions to these problems. This struggle, which is often ugly and looks like selfish politics, takes place in the halls of our legislatures, in boardrooms, in places of business and in thousands of other places. This struggle, carried out by free men and women enjoying hard-won personal rights and freedoms, is what makes our country great and a true land of opportunity.

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Speaking of holidays, this coming Monday is World UFO Day, a day in which individuals and groups are encouraged to gather together to watch the skies for unidentified flying objects. This year’s World UFO Day comes almost 65 years after the most famous UFO incident of all time, the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico UFO incident, which sparked enormous public interest in UFOs.

I don’t know about you, but I probably won’t be organizing any “watch the skies” parties. Even though I write about them often, I’m extremely skeptical when it comes to UFOs. Plus, I figure that if I ever saw a real flying saucer, I probably wouldn’t tell anyone for fear that they’d think I’d gone off the deep end. I’d probably just keep it to myself unless there were a few other witnesses around.

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Earlier this week, someone asked about the start date for the Dog Days of Summer.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Dog Days traditionally run from July 3 to August 11. These are usually the hottest days of the summer and the time in which we receive the least amount of rain.

If the driest days of the summer are still ahead of us, then we might be headed for a severe dry spell. I don’t know about your neighborhood, but there hasn’t been any measurable rainfall at my house since June 15. If that sort of weather is what we’ve got to look forward to, then you’d better get ready to water the lawn. If there’s any upshot to this, you might not have to cut grass as often as you otherwise would.