By Joe Bullick

We can thank Julius Caesar for giving July its name. He named it after himself.  Although earth is at its farthest distance from the sun during this month, the sunshine comes with enough power to make July the warmest month in most of the country. 

There is an old saying that if the corn is knee high by the Fourth of July, it will be a great growing season. As a young boy living in an old farm house with no air conditioning, my bedrooms were wide open and I slept naked. 

For many of us July means vacation. My fun days when I was a kid included going to Pittsburgh, shopping with mom, going to a ballgame or swimming at North Park.  Many of my friends went to Lake Erie for a week, staying in cottages. I was never that lucky.

Every year Washington puts on a Fourth of July spectacular with fireworks called a “Capitol Fourth.”  The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, acted like a shot in Uncle Sam’s arm. Suddenly, we were all one nation, proud to be Americans. 

The Fourth of July is always a family celebration.  As a boy, we had quite a time at home. We put out some flags, and mom made some hamburgers and hot dogs. Today, everyone seems to have a deck or patio with a grill on it. 

Many people shoot off fireworks. Some states have banned all fireworks for public use. I guess if you put it all together, the Fourth of July is a time for food, picnics, parades and fireworks. 

I had a friend who had a metal detector. We would go to North Park the day after the Fourth, and he would find all kinds of things. 

If you have a birthday on the Fourth, your sign of the zodiac is cancer. The birthstone is ruby, the flower, larkspur. Many historical events happened in July. On July 2 aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act on July, 2, 1964. On July 6, 1976, the first woman was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Enjoy all the festivities on the Fourth.

I leave you with a gardening quote:  “Gardening requires lots of water—most of it in the form of perspiration.”

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Joe welcomes any ideas, suggestions or interesting stories.
Email him at northcon@nauticom.net. Please put "Town Crier" in the subject line of your email.

To contact Joe to schedule an appointment to tour his museum at McKnight Elementary School, call the Northern Connection office at (724) 940-2444 or email northcon@nauticom.net. Please put "Museum Tour" in the subject line.

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