Waving Old Glory - the Red White and Blue

This is not going to be a political post, don't worry. But it's a patriotic one.

I always get choked up when I see the flag in the parade, usually carried by dignified old veterans as they march in honor. I feel the symbolic pride as they carefully carry the flag. It touches me inside.

We always display a flag on the front of our home on a bracket. We carry it out each morning and take it in each evening. The dogs love the routine, as well. All Steve has to say is "Should we put out the flag?" And they both rush to the door barking and jumping in in a complete frenzy to help. LOL

Our beloved Pops, Steve's father, Paul Pfundtner gifted us with a marvelous big box of a flagpole and a huge 5 foot by 3 foot flag to display in our yard.

We waited until the corner of the fence was in place around the tiger lily flowerbed where we wanted to display the pole. Once the fence was up, we measured carefully to locate the pole in the precise place.  We were not too worried about damaging the lily plants, they grow like crazy and will recover.

Steve dug the hole two feet down with the powered post hole digger.  We have to return it next week so now was the best time to get it done.

Then we measured the depth of the hole and carefully set in the PVC sleeve that comes with our pole. The sleeve will hold the pole into the cement, but you can slide the pole up and out of the hole if you need to.

Steve used this recently new product that comes in 50 pound bags. It's a special post cement that you just dump the powder into the hole and add water right into the hole to mix it while right in the ground!

We started with about about half of a bag at a time. I held the pole and pvc tube sleeve in place while Steve did the mixing.  He took a stick and mushed it all around, mixing thoroughly till it's like thick shiny mud.

Then he added the other half of the bag, more water, and mixed some more.  I held the pole straight up so it didn't tilt during the mixing. Now time for the next two halves of the other bag.  We used 2 full bags and 2 gallons of water, in an 8 inch diameter hole that was 2 feet deep.

Using a level, we made sure the pole was plumb and vertical while the cement dried. It dries very fast in about 20 minutes. We kept checking it to make sure the pole did not shift. We only put one portion on the pole while it was setting up and not the entire length.  The pole has five sections for a total of 20 feet tall, topped by a metal gold ball.

While the cement was setting up we assembled the solar light kit on the third pole section. It will shine light up on our flag from underneath. That way we do not need to take it down each night and put it up each morning, It can be left up 24 hours a day as long as a light is illuminating the flag.

My oh my, what a pretty flag that was included with the pole! Much nicer than our one for the front of the house. This one is actually made of individual stripes of fabric sewn together and has embroidered stars. (not just printed on the fabric. Very nice.

We hoisted the flag up into place

 while I recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

As a young child, before kindergarten, I knew the Pledge of Allegiance by heart from watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Whenever we would visit relatives or friends, my parents proudly displayed my ability of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I think I started from 2 years old upwards. It was my little command performance they would ask me to portray. What a silly little girl I was. But patriotic in my heart. I knew all of my patriotic songs too.... like The Star Spangled Banner, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Our flag is a Grand Old Flag, My Country Tis of Thee, and America the Beautiful to name a few. They were all in an old school music class textbook that we had at home. I think I learned how to read music from that book by watching the notes go up and down on the staff while I sang the familiar songs

I wonder if they even teach those songs in school now a days?

We sat back and our lawn chairs 

and watched the lovely flag 

floating in the breeze.

THANK YOU DAD P !!!

Here it is illuminated at night by the solar light.