Our Fourth of July - Farce, Fiasco, and Fireworks

I was very depressed when I arose yesterday, and I stayed that way through all my morning activities.  I decided to lie down again and read, and probably nap, to escape those nasty feelings.  I had just drifted off when my room mate yelled my name, and asked me to come into the main bathroom.  Water was leaking from the ceiling, and it was a holiday. I looked and noted that the water was coming from the edge of what I've always called "the metal door in the ceiling" - it's flush with the ceiling, made of metal, is the size of our regular bathtub, and is held in place by multiple screws.  I have to admit I'd never wondered what was above it; I would have guessed the water system pipes for the apartment and bathroom above us...  Over the next fifteen minutes, we could see the panel seemed to be slowly dropping until it was no longer flush with the ceiling, and we had many more drips. I called the Maintenance Shop  for our apartment building at 10:12 in the morning and left a detailed message. I made five more calls over the next 5 hours, as well as calling the main office number and leaving a message, and filling out an on-line form.
   While I was calling the maintenance shop, my main phone (an old-fashioned land line) kept beeping that I had in-coming calls.  The first one  was a client, asking if I could go over in the evening, and walk and feed her dogs - even though it was late notice.  I agreed to do it, wrote it on my calendar, and then tried to answer other calls.  There were six hang-ups in a row.  My poor room mate asked me a simple question and I yelled at her because I was in such a bad mood.  I made her cry.  Then I apologized and I cried.  Then we cried together....
    Beatrice, my room mate, then called and texted the Maintenance Shop and Thistle several times.  Mid-afternoon, I started looking at the lists of people who work at Thistle Communities.  I started looking up telephone numbers and trying to call people at home.  -  Gee, guess what? - All of their old, public phone numbers no longer work. ....  I moved on to the people listed on the Board of Directors and started calling them - all of their listed numbers were no longer in service, too.  Until I reached Jill Grano, who is a Re-Max Realtor.  There was a listing for her cell phone.  I called and spoke with her, apologizing at the beginning for interrupting her Fourth of July holiday - especially as I could hear children playing and having a good time in the background.  That wonderful lady spent over 2 1/2 hours trying to contact anyone at Thistle - and even trying to get a private plumbing company to come take care of the problem.  She is amazing!
    About 6:45, Beatrice made a single, last, frustrated call to the Maintenance Shop number - and was surprised by having a live person speak to her.  The situation was explained.  The maintenance tech on duty was called, and he called us.  He was in Westminster, but would be with us as soon as he could.  Jill Grano called back to see if the leak was better or worse at that time, and I told her help was on the way. I also thanked her profusely for all the work she had put in for us on a holiday.
   Stevie, the maintenance tech, arrived about 7:30.  The leak was caused by a broken piece in the HVAC system, causing the condensation from the air conditioning units in both our apartment, and the one above us, to settle onto the panel and then leak out.  He didn't have the replacement part, but he stated that he and Chris (our usual maintenance man) would be back this morning.   -  And they just arrived!!!   Yippeee!!
     I just realized, too, that I completely forgot to walk and feed the client's dogs last night.  -  Had to pause to call and e-mail to apologize to them.
     So, we finally calmed down and I cooked some hamburgers and we had hamburgers, chips and baked for our Fourth and an apple pie....
     At 9:35 the fireworks for the Fourth started at Folsom Field - the annual, free Boulder fireworks - they lasted for 20 minutes and had a tremendous finale.  We were watching the blossoms of light from Bea's bedroom window, with the inside lights off.  Then we started giggling and laughing at the number of planes that were flying above the explosive light display...  We counted at least eight of them, heading both west and back eat toward DIA.
   I had a very frustrating, angry, upset day - and a great night.
   Today I'm pretty slap-happy....

July Fourth - America's Independence Day

More than 90 different Declarations of Independence were made by by cities and organizations in Great Britain's Thirteen Colonies in North America between April and July first in the year 1776.  However, on 4 July 1776, the Second Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies voted approval of what we Americans now call "the Declaration of Independence" at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia.  This document declared that the colonies regarded themselves as newly independent sovereign states, which were forming a new nation - the United States of America.
   A committee of five people had already drafted the formal declaration, so it would be ready when Congress voted on the issue of independence.  John Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress would edit to produce the final version.  The Declaration was, ultimately, a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on 2 July 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
   The Revolutionary War in America continued until the 19th of October 1781, when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown.  By that time, over 217,000 Americans had participated in the war, with 4,435 war fatalities, and 6,188 wounded.  (And more than 8,000 African-Americans had participated as American soldiers.)  The numbers quoted above do not include those who died from disease or starvation.
   America's Revolutionary War formally ended on 3 September 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.  The preliminary articles of peace were signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens for the United States, and by Richard Oswald for Great Britain on 30 November 1782.  The United States Continental Congress ratified the Treaty early in 1784.