I appreciate your sacrifices.
I am not big on celebrating the 4th - have seen the fireworks on the National Mall and survived the crush of humanity there, saw them through the fog in Maine, saw easily a dozen different cities' displays from atop my apartment building in Sunnyvale, saw the displays every year as a child in the small town I grew up in. Back in '61 or so one enterprising friend climbed the fireworks tower on the 5th and found an unexploded report. Of course we took it home, lit it and tossed it over the hedge at the back of the yard - it truly was an earth shattering explosion - it blew a crater a foot deep in our neighbor's yard. Oops. We scattered. He did it, not me!
But now I stay home, try to comfort my 16 year old dog who does not like explosions, and also try not to test fire any weapons. Hey, I'm not that kind of guy - I have a rudimentary understanding of gravity - what goes up will probably come down, somewhere.
But I have decided that I will have a shot of single malt. It's time. Summer is moving along, work is getting done and I am grateful for all that I have including the ability to work. I'll drink to that.
(Click to enlarge picture)
Tonight's fireworks will be provided by nature.
6 comments:
For the first time ever, I decided to close on Independence Day. Still had to go in twice to check on refrigeration, so I don't have any surprises in the morning. Just tired of it. It's frequently the busiest day of the year, but it's a Wednesday this year, so...I have enough. Plus, assuming everything goes through, I'm selling out in August. Somebody wants my land for another business and offered me an insane amount, so I'm out. A few more dollars won't matter, and the crew is happy not to work another holiday.
We helped shoot the fireworks in town long ago (over 25 years) for a couple of years. What a shot of adrenaline. One time a shell exploded about 50 feet out of the tube. Miraculously, nobody got hurt. We ducked, checked ourselves for injuries, called out to everyone to be sure nobody was hit, then carried on. A 45 minute show feels like two minutes when you're shooting them. We lit them manually. No electronics. Old school redneck.
Happy Independence Day.
I always wondered what it was like being the one shooting them off, windbag. Do you have to choreograph them, or do you just save the best one for last?
One of my best 4ths I was cruising around on country roads and noticed all the fireflies so I stopped and turned off the lights. It was pitch dark and those fireflies were like hundreds of little flying lanterns all around me. About that time I could hear some small explosions and looked towards town and the fireworks display had begun. From that distance the fireworks looked pitifully small compared to the bugs.
I'll raise a glass to that, SG. It's a great country if we don't let it slip away.
We were rank amateurs, but they guy who actually contracted to shoot them was certified with everything he needed to purchase and shoot them. We used cardboard tubes and a few metal tubes dug into the ground and pointed at an angle over the intended viewing area. We had someone loading the shells down into the tube. He left the fuse hanging out the end. Someone else used a road flare (I told you this was redneck) to light the fuse. Then my job was to use a stick with a wire attached to the end to sweep the (hopefully) empty tube of any debris that would ignite the next shell prematurely. We used the same tubes over and over until we ran out of shells.
Not much organization. Just a lot of shouting and cussing at each other. Along with the firemen, shitting themselves and standing by...just in case. Those guys must have watched some scary training videos, because they were wound up about as tight as a monkey's ass. I don't blame them. It's crazy dangerous.
The closest thing to choreographing was the finale, when we just yelled louder and loaded them as fast as we could. We did have two rows set aside that we had pre-loaded and one guy went down the line and shot them off as fast as he could.
If I recall correctly, we mostly did 3", 4", and 5" shells. No concussion shells--the fun ones that just have a little white flash, then a thunderous boom. As crazy as the guy was who was responsible for all that, he wouldn't have anything to do with them. Even he thought they were too dangerous. That meant a lot coming from him.
Whew! Thanks for running it down, windbag. That's even scarier than I thought it was. I sat through mortar attacks that were less stressful, which is to say I was lucky.
We had a box that we kept the shells in and fed them from there. We turned the hinges toward the shooting area, so nothing could fly in. Well, toward the end of the show, a spark flew in. I think the firemen shot the box full of water before the coal even hit bottom. Fortunately, it was almost empty, so we didn't lose a huge amount. Those guys were on that like a hobo on a ham sandwich. In all honesty, that could have gotten ugly fast.
Goodness, that was over 25 years ago. I've slowed down since then. Now, we hunt bear...with tasers. First one back to the truck wins.
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