Yesterday’s Numbers

On the 4^th of July it was 103. You can try two good old solutions like baseball and hot dogs. I did both—watched the Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies from an air-conditioned club box, and enjoyed a Jumbo Hot Dog, in the legendary birthplace of the hot dog—St. Louis, Missouri (Legend has it that the term hot dog was first used at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair). In the end, there is only one successful solution for conditions like that—cold beer. This morning my head is reminding me that I may have lost count of precisely what medicinal dosage I had chosen to apply around the 5^th or 6^th inning.
Having stayed downtown for the pyrotechnics—yes, that was Merriam-Webster's word of the day for July 4^th—we waited an hour to let the crowd dwindle (that was one more beer in a hotel bar). We then watched train after train roll into the metro station, unable to pack any more passengers on before they even opened their doors. The river front festival that provided the afore-mentioned pyrotechnics is three stops earlier on the westbound line. We astutely observed that we were getting nowhere fast and lucked into a cab. When we were 2 blocks from our destination a water main break rerouted us ($5 additional fare circumnavigating the flooded street). We managed to land at our friends' condo eight hours after we left to head for the game. To review—here are those numbers:

• 4^th of July,
• 103 degrees,
• 2 good old solutions,
• 1 successful solution,
• 1 count lost by the 5^th inning
• 1 more beer while we waited,
• 3 stops ahead of us,
• 2 blocks, a flooded street,
• 5 dollars added to the taxi's meter, and one memorable 
• 8 hour adventure on the 4^th.
• Oh, and 2 uses of the word-of-the-day

Hope your 4^th numbered among your best, too.