I am an idiot. What is the use of carrying a pack of sunscreen packets, if I don't USE them? (You guys did note the foreshadowing of disaster in yesterday's entry?) The worst burned are my inner thighs, but my shins are also hurting, one spot on my neck, and my hairline, where the wind blew my visor down.

Besides that, I was stiff from all the bending to get my tiny little pebbles.

However, Rich wanted to go to the Carmichael parade, which we haven't been to in some years. He'd heard there were 8 bands and he was hopeful that they wouldn't all be "When the Saints Go Marching In" quality. (When the big girls were in the Catholic Youth Band, that was the song, and the band was pretty awful.) We could hope that there was a military band (not that there's much military left here) and/or a high school one. (I know the Mira Loma band parents are really active, but of course, school is out.) I didn't really feel like going, but I knew he probably wouldn't go without me, and I didn't want to deprive him, so I went. I was wearing, surprise, long pants so I wouldn't get any MORE sun, but I had to walk V-E-R-Y slowly and V-E-R-Y stiffly. We parked on the other side of Carmichael Park and walked across to the parade route, and then sat on mats. Rich had asked if I wanted the chairs, and I'd pictured sitting on the curb and said no, but if I'd realized we would be sitting so far back in the route I'd definitely have said yes. Getting down was hard, getting up harder. I stood for the whole 2 hour parade.

This was the 41st annual parade. Other good local parades have come and gone, but the Carmichael Elks keep it up. We were lucky in the temperature. After the 109-degrees of earlier in the week, it was down to livable 70s and 80s. Nevertheless, the firetrucks were hosing down the kids, who loved it. The SAR was marching. Rich wouldn't be eligible, but our sons are. Some of the men in this bunch looked old enough to have been in the Revolution! There were a number of historic flags, including one with 15 stars and 15 stripes.

One group of military jeeps had along a couple of preschoolers in baby jeeps. The little girl would remind one of Bernadette, looking like she'd rather be home with a book, not at all interested in driving. The little boy, on the other hand, deliberately drove over all the cat's-eye bumps.

The Army Signal Corps had a float going from flags through balloons to cellphones and satellites. There was a soapbox jeep propelled by grandpa power.

The Sacramento Youth Ensemble was driven by and produced the worst National Anthem I've ever heard. Later, we were indeed treated to the Catholic Elementary School band, with a slew of twirlers (?I thought twirling was passe?), who did, you guessed it, "When the Saints go Marching In." Rich was practically speechless with laughter. Their director must have reached the end of the 2-mile parade route and gone back to the beginning, because when the Catholic Scholarship Band was driven by, it was the same director. Other bands included a couple of rock bands, on floats, actually not too bad, and some Korean Drummers. It was fairly disappointing for Rich, though the Korean Drummers (there's a nice traditional hometown 4th of July thing for you) were great.

The horse unit (after the miles and miles of politicians, yet our Congresscritter didn't show up: Vic would never have missed one of these) was followed by "the Sheriff's Clean-up Crew." Rich thinks these are actual deputies, I think they're community service and let that be a lesson to YOU for not paying the LiteRail ticket or for driving drunk!

Lots of people were throwing candy. I've done my share of trying to make sure all the kids got at least a piece, so I was revelling in ignoring them this time. Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar were around. Mark&Monica had a float. (It's a pizza restaurant, but we like the name!) They had a slice of pepperoni walking along with them.

I eversoslowly walked back to the car, then I had a short visit with Sam to catch up with a little business. Home for a much-needed nap and then in the evening we drove out to Fair Oaks for "Once Upon a Mattress" with Wowbagger. This is my 5th FO production and they're always fun. Rich enjoyed it too. The local talent is quite good and we were, again, lucky in the temperature.

Kitten Update: Fitch crawled under the stove. Crombie soon did it too. Fitch is prone to have a crust of food on his nose. We're still introducing the dog to the idea, and I had both cats on my lap. Sailor, wanting to see more closely, lunged up and managed to rub against my entire sunburn. We spend a lot of time with doors between them. Fitch, in particular, wants UP and will climb your legs. (Ow.)

There's a huge wildfire in Northern California, lots of property loss, started by the Bureau of Land Management. (That name is often an oxymoron!) I foresee lawsuits.

I'm up 2.5 pounds. I'd like to think that's water weight due to the sunburn, but still. Or maybe, yeah, that's it, it's because we had to move the scale to make room for the litterbox and the scale is really a finicky piece of cra.. uh, equipment. 15 pounds, 6 weeks. Blech. I have a book ready to mail to the recovering kidlet, and Bernadette's degree, her ticket information, and all, and they aren't going till Tuesday, obviously. Just an allround useless week. Well, I'm told Nostradamus predicted the world would end this month, so maybe it won't matter.