Happy Fourth; Please Fly Your Freak Flag Today; Bloggus Interruptus

First, may I wish one and all a glorious fourth of July! I hope everyone spends the day celebrating all of your hard-won freedoms and eating hotdogs and apple pie and picnicking and ball-playing and all that jazz! Let your freak flag fly - be exactly who you are and say exactly what you think - honor the warriors and mourn the wars - pray (or chant or dance or drum) for peace. Say ooooooh and aaaaaaaaah at the fireworks display and stand close to those you love. If you can't stand close because they are someplace else, then hold them close in your thoughts. Ain't it all so very grand?!
This poor bug is not so lucky as we. He is forever encased in the aft section of our vessel. Perhaps he intended this fate - a kamikaze determined to live forever, or at least as long as the boat. I don't know but I thought you would all appreciate the opportunity to mull it over. As for the lack of bloggetry these past two weeks - I can only offer my sincere apologies and promise to be a more frequent blogger. It's the carpal tunnel, I tell you! My right hand, in particular, seems to be suffering from a stabbing pain right in the center of my palm whenever I try to grip anything or perform any task that requires fine motor skills. aaaarrrrggghhhh..... but I am not nearly so bad off as Mike - the hole in his thumb (I refer you to the earlier entry that features a closeup photo of the re-enactment) is semi-healed but looks awful!
Anyway - we have progressed a lot since I last posted so let me try to catch it up.