OT: Home fireworks displays
gammanu95
My casual drinking is your alcohol poisoning.
I love fireworks. I grew up in IL where, every year, more and more restrictions were placed on fireworks. When I was young, we had witch's whistles and even in high school I could still by the ones that simply spun and shot up into the air. By the time I graduated college, you were lucky to find snakes and sparklers. The evening news would lead with local PD bragging about confiscating little bottle rockets or Chinese firecrackers. We would drive to IN and load up with illegal fireworks, and then try not to get caught. Never did.
When I moved to NOLA and later FL, I spent hundreds of dollars annually on fireworks - mortars, spinning fireballs, etc. However, the dog I rescued in 2011 hated fireworks. The second dog we adopted in 2015 hated them even more. They would cry and whine horrifically when I went out into the backyard to light them off. Now, even though we're spread out by a couple of acres, everyone around me has multiple dogs, most medium - large in size, who all lose their minds with fireworks. Add in the slight the drought, an area prone to brush fires with lots of FL pine scrub, and I decided to pass on buying fireworks this year. Then they cancelled all fireworks displays. I am still not going to be "that guy" setting off mortars, disturbing your calm, setting off your dogs, and risking a local brush fire; but this Independence Day will just have to be marked with some world class grilling.
Local news this morning, though, has reported record fireworks sales in response to the cancelled city shows AND the governor's order making fireworks legal only on a select couple of days. I think I'll get quite a show, regardless, and will just have to hope noone's dogs panic themselves to injury. Where's the rest of the board on home fireworks displays?
When I moved to NOLA and later FL, I spent hundreds of dollars annually on fireworks - mortars, spinning fireballs, etc. However, the dog I rescued in 2011 hated fireworks. The second dog we adopted in 2015 hated them even more. They would cry and whine horrifically when I went out into the backyard to light them off. Now, even though we're spread out by a couple of acres, everyone around me has multiple dogs, most medium - large in size, who all lose their minds with fireworks. Add in the slight the drought, an area prone to brush fires with lots of FL pine scrub, and I decided to pass on buying fireworks this year. Then they cancelled all fireworks displays. I am still not going to be "that guy" setting off mortars, disturbing your calm, setting off your dogs, and risking a local brush fire; but this Independence Day will just have to be marked with some world class grilling.
Local news this morning, though, has reported record fireworks sales in response to the cancelled city shows AND the governor's order making fireworks legal only on a select couple of days. I think I'll get quite a show, regardless, and will just have to hope noone's dogs panic themselves to injury. Where's the rest of the board on home fireworks displays?
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8 comments
You live and you learn I suppose. That's the beauty of living down here. Unlike the Nanny States, here the police are in no hurry to try to micromanage the behaviors of others, at least in the county I live in.
In the middle of my show, an ember landed on the cover of my neighbor's boat which I did not notice until the flames were fairly high. I got it out quickly, but just about then the local police showed up, We thought we were good friends with this neighbor, his wife was right in the policeman's face saying what a menace to society (and her dog) I was. Fortunately her husband was not quite as upset and it did not become a larger police incident. I did end up with a bill of about $2500 for a new boat cover and some carpeting and my fireworks were confiscated, but that was the end of fireworks shows. I now just enjoy all the other private shows which go on around the lake for about 2 weeks around the 4th of July.
You could total flatten out a tin can with one.
One game we used to play as a test of "manhood" was to pinch a "lady finger" between thumb and forefinger and light the fuse; if you held it very tight, it would flare out the end. If you didn't, owww. Somehow, I still have all of my fingers intact, lol, smh.
Most exiting thing I saw was at the local marina in Dunkirk, NY. They had a great fireworks display every July 4th, and had a team of pros come in to put them on. One particular rocket must have had a crack in the casing, because it only rose 15 feet before it detonated with a huge boom, sending the personnel scrambling for cover.💣💥