am i unamerican??? why fireworks...

tweets from horror writer clive barker

"The fireworks have begun. My seven dogs are going crazy.The parrots add to the chaos by instructing them,in my voice ,to calm down."

"The dogs fall for this over and over. Hearing "me" call their names they go to the cages only to [realize] it's not me at all.

hmm.. i think I understand the " poor pop more" statement

I live right smack in the middle of a 6 block compaction of some super poor, some normal poor, people and by golly, these people have spent a ton of money. Some of these fireworks would take two people to lift off the ground and put in the middle of the street and then light it and run like robber from the police.
huge fireworks.
thousands of small fireworks.
and tons of beer. Enough beer to fuel a small crowd.

The judgmental side of me stares and wonders why , living here, they choose to afford what is several hundred dollars in fireworks, and several hundred dollars a month on nightly 3 or 4 cases of beer. An why they dont use that money to get out of here, get a larger place that is safer for their kids.. etc..etc..

The normal side of me says shut the hell up and enjoy the free show..

I dont enjoy fireworks in my neighborhood.
While I do enjoy the professional displays, the ones that the people around here like to shoot of scare me.
They sound to much like the sounds of a firefight, like when I was in Iraq.
I dont like that noise.

My German Shepard dog hates them, and they terrify him.
He runs all around the house, looking for a place to hide (he hides in the bathroom).
He wont go outside, and he also refuses to leave my side.

Of course, we also have the added worry of fires in the neighborhood.
Yesterday, it rained most of the day, so the fire danger was minimal.

Does this mean you spent the night in the bathroom?

A good bit of it, yes.
He finally did come out, but he wouldnt leave my side.
Wherever I went, he was right there under my feet.

I like them. They are fun. But I guess like most dangerous things fireworks have to be respected and treated with care. My dogs hate them too. Spend their time under my feet while they are going off.

When the neighbors showed up at the lake last night - obviously drunk and pretty sloppy - we packed up the kids and headed home. Hanging around there was like asking someone to hurt us. THAT bothers me. And they leave all their trash..bottles spent fireworks...everything is laying around when they are done. Me and the kids spend the next day after any major fireworks holiday cleaning up around the lake. I guess that is just part of it though.

I LOVE fireworks. I love everything about them. I think they're beautiful.

I live in an upper-middle class neighborhood and the 4th is one big block party. It starts with a children's parade that goes down my street. The kids all decorate their scooters and wagons and bikes and dogs. A nearby restaurant shows up and gives away hot dogs and sodas. Everyone wanders around the street for a while yakking and having fun. In the early evening people congregate in smaller groups and light little fireworks for the little kids and at dark 30 everyone meets up at the school grounds for the BIG stuff. The next morning we all show up again and clean the place up so it turns into another party.

It's fun!

Sure they're expensive but so what. If your family has food in their bellies and a roof over their head why not splurge one night out of the year? Why not enjoy something beautiful?

I don't think it's unAmerican to dislike fireworks but dang, it's Independence Day and it deserves a special celebration.

We now return to your regularly scheduled grouch fest, ya damn commies.

Well - I was thinking it was sounding a bit crusty..wee bit old codgerish. But you know - to each his own

I am not a grouch, cranky maybe.

Just remember, Codger rhymes with Roger. That's what the Army calls a good memory peg.

I don't know what it's like in Honolulu, never having spent an Independnce Day there, but here, on the Big Island of Hawaii, fireworks are not a big deal at all. Here in the town of Volcano I didn't hear one single whiz-bang go off and we're too far from the big city of Hilo to see any of the official light shows. Of course, the proximity of the Kilauea volcano here provides the constant possibility of more spectacular fireworks than any mortal agency can provide.

But let's not forget that, as far Independence Day goes, many (most?) native Hawaiians don't consider themselves Americans at all. Neither do some haoles whose families have lived in the Islands since long before annexation by the USA. They fly the state flag upside down on their lawns as an expression of distress over being an occupied country.

my fave radio host says he doesn't accept Alaska or Hawaii as states, in his mind, you have to touch a state to be a state

Kinda like New Mexico I guess. We probably have as many ex-californians as Hawaii.

Yeah. That's the one thing that makes me a little edgy, living here.

today is pick up my neighbor's trash from my yard day...

14 spent bottle rockets, and a bag of misc. former parts of explosives.

they are inside quietly re-arming i am certain.

(still legal for a week)

it rained, so there should be no real damage on the home front.

cranky is not all bad...


(folks from Cali think Kansas is one step from purgatory)

July 4th is just around six months after the New Year. Possibly, many people need some sort of celebratory catharsis every six months? Back in pagan days was there only one big bash per year? Maybe over eons the need became sort of hard wired?

The fireworks by regular folks seem to be getting later and later, since at dusk the police would issue summonses. Last night I was awakened at either 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m. by a continuous series of something fairly large. In effect, it was already July 5th.

It would be interesting to see the stats on hospital treatment of fireworks injuries and fires.

fireworks are banned in OZ due to fires and burns, although some are still ...gettable.

I do however fondly recall the noise and destruction a penny bunger can wreak in a tin letterbox.
If people could be trusted to be responsible it would be good but unfortunatly a few idiots ruin it for the rest... as usual.

Nah...I would never put Roger and codger together

I'm not sure about hospital stats but daughter K was involved in a 5 car pile up last year after leaving the fireworks festivities at a nearby town. She was slightly injured, my car was totaled. She was hit from behind by someone who had enjoyed the festivities a bit too much. The police and insurance co both told me that vehicular accidents over the 4th of July holiday is the peak accident time of the year. Particularly after the public displays when folks have spent the entire day or evening in the park eating and drinking and then ALL get on the road at the same time after the fireworks.

There was a fatal accident not too far from us last weekend on the night of July 3rd. A young woman lost control of her vehicle on the highway, spun around and was hit head on by oncoming traffic. She and her young baby died. A two year old was thrown from the car in his car seat and is in critical condition. Open alcohol was found in the car. Autopsy reports are pending. Three others from the other car(s) were injured as well.

Tragic...

Then we can look up stats for bicycles, skateboards, cars, beer, scuba diving.... Hell I am pretty sure living is pretty dangerous, we should ban it!