I'm looking forward to the 4th of July, it has always been one of my favorite holidays.
When I was a little boy I had a small record player and loved to play the song It's a Grand Old Flag. I still remember marching around my room singing along with that song. I was a weird kid. I know a couple of Yankee Doodle Dandies who were lucky enough to be born on the 4th of July. Happy birthday Gary in Montana and Kathy in Minnesota.
"Fourth of July" by Zhen-Huan Lu
Like most boys, and some girls, I used to love firecrackers. When we were little, my cousin and I once used some genuine silver dollars (this was after they had quit minting them) to buy firecrackers. I imagine the fireworks man was happy to see us. I couldn't wait for the stands to open up so I could peer in and see all that great stuff in the Fireworks Stand.
When I was a wee lad of about 4 we liked to play with cracker balls (they were a little more powerful then the little white ones you get in the store now). You are supposed to throw them at the sidewalk and they pop. I'm not sure now exactly why, but I put a cracker ball in by mouth and popped it with my front teeth. I think I did that either on a dare, to show-off to someone, or just as an experiment. Probably all three. It turned one of my front teeth a nice shade of grey. Luckily it wasn't a permanent tooth.
We used to love to see what we could blow up with firecrackers. They weren't big ones; just the inch and a quarter; Black Cat type. You could have one go off in your hand and it would burn you a little but not do any serious damage. Not like some of the big dangerous ones available nowadays. I had some silver salutes or something years back and was having a few cocktails and made a few divots in my lawn with some of those bigger firecrackers. Another year a friend of mine and I stuck bottle rockets in our hats and were lighting them....shot some over the neighbors house because I thought they (the neighbors) were making too much noise....shot some into my own garage. Glad I'm off the sauce sometimes...most times.
In the city where I live, they used to have a heck of a lot of firecrackers going off in the neighborhood. I remember my father in law came to visit from Minnesota and was amazed at the firecrackers, bottle rockets and whiz bang things being lit off all over the neighborhood. You could literally have bottle rockets, fire crackers popping around your car for blocks as you drove up into my neighborhood. It's a working town and people like to celebrate the fourth.
"""Best Seat In The House"" by William S. Phillips"
One year the fireworks committee made a huge production about setting off a big fire work rocket that was called "Big Bertha". They set off the public fireworks on a little deserted, brushy island, just out in the bay, called Jetty Island. Unfortunately Big Betha misfired; got a little ways off the ground, came down, blew up and set Jetty Island on fire. Brush and grass on the island continued to smolder for a week or so leaving a smokey haze over most of the city. That plus a number of house/garage fires and any number of fireworks related injuries eventually led to the complete outlawing of fireworks in our fair city.
You can however, drive up to "Boom City" on the Tulalip Indian Reservation about 10 miles north and get, and set off any number of fire crackers and fireworks. They have, I believe, over a hundred stands up there. Probably worth looking at if you are a fireworks afficianado.
I gave up fireworks when one of my daughters got burned with a stupid 10 cent rocket that misfired and hit her and then blew up. It burned her and she ended up going to the hospital. Luckily she was fine after a few days. It hurt and could of hit her in the eye....so I decided that fireworks were best left in the hands of the professionals. I enjoy the fireworks shows if I can stay up late enough.
Have a a safe and sane or insane if you prefer, 4th.
In any event have fun and be good to yourself and each other.
A bit of the Declaration of Independence from Indiana University School of Law -
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Here's a couple of pictures from a trip to Montana about 14 years ago for the 4th of July. We set up a stand in the city park and sold sno cones, hot dogs, pop corn and pop for a festival/parade. It was fun. The girls had a ball, they got to march in the parade, make and eat sno cones, and enjoy a bit of small town life.
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Home of Champions Rodeo | Red Lodge, MT
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