I plan to watch some local fireworks tonight… — 24 Comments
Local displays were Saturday or Sunday. So Boston Pops by cable here.
The mayor sent out a phone message last night to the effect that New Haven fireworks will be set off tomorrow night due to the weather. Right now we’re having a thunderstorm and the rain is coming down in buckets, with a coastal flood warning to go with it. I hope to see the rescheduled fireworks.
The fireworks have zero appeal to me.
And I live in a city where fireworks are illegal but last night the damn things were being set off somewhere in my neighborhood until like 2 AM and there was a loud boom at 5 frickin’ AM. Tonight will be much worse because the weather is absolutely perfect here.
I think I’m officially old now.
Right after I watch 1776 I’ll go out and watch some fireworks.
Illegal fireworks have become a common fixture in the city I live in. I call it KABOOM season. It starts in mid-June and ends about July 7th, or 8th. Tonight’s festivities won’t end until well past midnight. So, I just need to drag a chair out to the driveway and I will be treated to all fireworks I can handle and then some. Happy Independence Day!
July 4th and New Year’s Eve are the two worst days of the year for our poodles. It was worse for our Golden Retreiver, he also really didn’t like the bird cannons used by the orchards two miles away; low frequency sounds travel a lot farther?
In Austin for the 50th(!!) Willie’s 4th of July Picnic. Sure to be fireworks at the end of this one. Secondhand “smoke” is way less than I expected so far.
All fireworks are legal here in FL. In the suburban neighborhood where we currently live the neighbors provide all we need. As I watch, I just keep count on the $20-50 dollar bills I see going up in smoke. 🙂 It’s their money and they are having fun.
It does drive our dogs scared.
om, yes they do. You’d think after 2 years of day pm thunderstorms our dogs would adapt, but no.
om,
Yep, we used to have a Pomeranian that was the most chill dog ever nothing got to him except fireworks. He would bolt for a closet or under a bed somewhere for hours on the 4th.
But it was the first sign he was losing his hearing when one 4th he just sat there while the bombing was going on in the neighborhood.
My cats are bothered much more by thunderstorms than by fireworks– I think it has to do with the fact that they are both rescues (they were not ferals but tame housecats put out on the street by previous owners), and thunderstorms remind them of being soaked to the skin without food or shelter from the weather. It’s still raining here, and both kitties are curled up in their cat bed near my chair, just happy to be warm and dry.
I helped shoot the fireworks for our town a couple of years way back in the 80s. We lit them by hand with road flares. Dangerous but an adrenaline rush like you wouldn’t believe. A 45-minute show felt like 2 minutes. We worked all day setting things up for nothing in return but a potential brush with death to cap off the evening.
Then for years my DQ was across the street from the rec park where they shot them. Great vantage point. Somewhere along the line the appeal waned. Maybe I’m just an grouchy, boring, old guy now. The neighbors shot a bunch off a couple of nights ago. The sound was enough for me. I didn’t even go out to watch them.
I used to live in So Cal, now I live in Idaho, so fireworks are mostly a July 4 thing. The part of Orange County I used to live in saw fireworks – mostly illegal BTW – being set off for:
– New Year’s Eve
– New Year’s Day
– Valentines Day
– Chinese New Year
– Cinco de Mayo
– Memorial Day
– July 4
– Labor Day
– Halloween (!)
– Start of Thanksgiving break
– Start of winter break
– Christmas Eve
Mind you, I was living in an upper middle class ‘burb with a large Asian population, lots of overindulged Anglo teenagers, and Hispanics just a few miles away in Santa Ana. Good thing my Boston Terrier was hard of hearing.
Add Diwali to the list of excuses to set off fireworks. There’s a large Hindu population in a nearby suburb.
I made a fire in my fire pit, had a whiskey, a cigar and listened to VDH’s July 4 podcast.
No fireworks out at our Historic Site, but after our celebration lunch today we had a flag retirement ceremony.
We fly several US flags all summer long and replace them each year, as Wyoming apparently has only two seasons: hot and windy, and cold and windy.
They tend to get badly frayed.
At least we always know which way the wind is blowing!
I’ve never seen an official burning of retired banners, although I knew how it is supposed to be done (my Cub Scouts had to learn flag protocol, and even folded them at Day Camp — good experiences for them all).
AesopSpouse sang the National Anthem, and I got kind of misty-eyed.
Good movie to watch on the Fourth: “Drums Along the Mohawk.” Especially the final scene, when the defenders of their frontier fort raise the new American flag, signaling victory over attacking Brits and Indians.
Yeah, I know it stars Henry Fonda. But it’s a John Ford movie, with all the wonderful (and patriotic) flourishes that typify his films.
That final scene: Ward Bond (naturally) grabs the flag from a Continental Army soldier, shouting in that gruff voice of his: “Gimme that flag, soldier, we’ve been doing a little fighting of our own.” And then he climbs to the roof of the tallest structure in the fort and raises the flag. Shot of flag steaming in the breeze. A wholesomely radiant Claudette Colbert turning to her husband (Fonda) and saying, sweetly and earnestly: “It’s a pretty flag.”
Music swells, up and out.
Always get a lump in my throat when I watch that.
In my neighborhood we have been putting up with fireworks for the past week; and will have them for another week.
This was the first year that we also had them for Juneteenth, starting about a week before.
We also have them for Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, Labor Day, and a few other holidays. I think Easter and Christmas are the only holidays that we don’t have to put up with them.
And I say “put up with” not because I don’t like the fireworks; but they will go on until way past midnight despite the fact that a lot of us have to be up early to go to work in the morning. They also set them off starting about a week before the holiday and a week after.
The culprit? a guy a few doors up from me. It bothers the heck out of most of us in the neighborhood except we know it doesn’t do any good to say anything as he will just make sure he sets them off later then. Oh, it doesn’t do any good to call the police about a noise complaint because he is a cop and his “buddies” won’t do much about it anyway.
On another, unrelated, note the White House said that some white powder was found inside the White House – Maybe it was from Hunter staying the night and he left his “bag of goodies” there?
As I sit here there are a lot of fireworks going off. Seems to be more this year.
The city had theirs last night, which was fortunate since we had a thunderstorm about an hour ago, and supposedly more to come.
As a kid, my Brother and I would shoot off a lot of fireworks. This was in Hawaii. Always a good show there, and Chinese New Year is amazing (or was). My Brother would hold Roman Candles in his hand and shoot them off. We had Cherry Bombs, Black Cats, and others. A Very Good Childhood in the early 1950’s
I did my fireworks-watching last night while on vacation in a place far removed from the usual shenanigans. It was a nice show and the first one I’d been to in a very long time. People were streaming in from all over the area for hours to get to it.
As a commenter at Sarah Hoyt’s said, in bringing this story to the discussion:
“When Los Angeles, Commiefornia explosively tells people where to stick their fireworks bans? It gives one a small dose of hope.”
Fireworks…?
“IRS Whistleblowers Exposed DOJ’s Biden Family Cover-Up. Who Will Expose the Crimes?
“Or, how Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal triggered a bomb of epic proportions that may have blown the facade off the corrupt, national security-imperiling influence peddling scheme once and for all “— https://weingarten.substack.com/p/irs-whistleblowers-exposed-dojs-biden
H/T Powerline blog.
Watched the Seattle fireworks display at Lake Union on the telly.. The fireworks were wonderful. Twenty-five minutes of creative patterns, colors, and booms.
The accompanying music – Hip hop, grunge, and bits of Obama and other black leaders’ speeches. Ugh! And that’s the way patriotism goes in the People’s Republic of Puget Sound. The local TV broadcast personality acclaimed it as the best fireworks show EVER. 🙂
While looking for something else I ran into this clip of Fred Astaire, not in tux and tails, but the 1940s version of Dockers, improvising a tap dance for a 4th of July celebration, using firecrackers for props.
Local weather forecast warned of severe thunderstorms and hail and the fireworks scheduled for 9:30 pm were cancelled – storms didn’t show up until midnight.
Got mostly small hail with a few marble sized.
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Local displays were Saturday or Sunday. So Boston Pops by cable here.
The mayor sent out a phone message last night to the effect that New Haven fireworks will be set off tomorrow night due to the weather. Right now we’re having a thunderstorm and the rain is coming down in buckets, with a coastal flood warning to go with it. I hope to see the rescheduled fireworks.
The fireworks have zero appeal to me.
And I live in a city where fireworks are illegal but last night the damn things were being set off somewhere in my neighborhood until like 2 AM and there was a loud boom at 5 frickin’ AM. Tonight will be much worse because the weather is absolutely perfect here.
I think I’m officially old now.
Right after I watch 1776 I’ll go out and watch some fireworks.
Illegal fireworks have become a common fixture in the city I live in. I call it KABOOM season. It starts in mid-June and ends about July 7th, or 8th. Tonight’s festivities won’t end until well past midnight. So, I just need to drag a chair out to the driveway and I will be treated to all fireworks I can handle and then some. Happy Independence Day!
July 4th and New Year’s Eve are the two worst days of the year for our poodles. It was worse for our Golden Retreiver, he also really didn’t like the bird cannons used by the orchards two miles away; low frequency sounds travel a lot farther?
In Austin for the 50th(!!) Willie’s 4th of July Picnic. Sure to be fireworks at the end of this one. Secondhand “smoke” is way less than I expected so far.
All fireworks are legal here in FL. In the suburban neighborhood where we currently live the neighbors provide all we need. As I watch, I just keep count on the $20-50 dollar bills I see going up in smoke. 🙂 It’s their money and they are having fun.
It does drive our dogs scared.
om, yes they do. You’d think after 2 years of day pm thunderstorms our dogs would adapt, but no.
om,
Yep, we used to have a Pomeranian that was the most chill dog ever nothing got to him except fireworks. He would bolt for a closet or under a bed somewhere for hours on the 4th.
But it was the first sign he was losing his hearing when one 4th he just sat there while the bombing was going on in the neighborhood.
‘Fireworks From A Dog’s Point Of View’
https://www.startribune.com/fireworks-from-a-dogs-point-of-view/600287085//
My cats are bothered much more by thunderstorms than by fireworks– I think it has to do with the fact that they are both rescues (they were not ferals but tame housecats put out on the street by previous owners), and thunderstorms remind them of being soaked to the skin without food or shelter from the weather. It’s still raining here, and both kitties are curled up in their cat bed near my chair, just happy to be warm and dry.
I helped shoot the fireworks for our town a couple of years way back in the 80s. We lit them by hand with road flares. Dangerous but an adrenaline rush like you wouldn’t believe. A 45-minute show felt like 2 minutes. We worked all day setting things up for nothing in return but a potential brush with death to cap off the evening.
Then for years my DQ was across the street from the rec park where they shot them. Great vantage point. Somewhere along the line the appeal waned. Maybe I’m just an grouchy, boring, old guy now. The neighbors shot a bunch off a couple of nights ago. The sound was enough for me. I didn’t even go out to watch them.
I used to live in So Cal, now I live in Idaho, so fireworks are mostly a July 4 thing. The part of Orange County I used to live in saw fireworks – mostly illegal BTW – being set off for:
– New Year’s Eve
– New Year’s Day
– Valentines Day
– Chinese New Year
– Cinco de Mayo
– Memorial Day
– July 4
– Labor Day
– Halloween (!)
– Start of Thanksgiving break
– Start of winter break
– Christmas Eve
Mind you, I was living in an upper middle class ‘burb with a large Asian population, lots of overindulged Anglo teenagers, and Hispanics just a few miles away in Santa Ana. Good thing my Boston Terrier was hard of hearing.
Add Diwali to the list of excuses to set off fireworks. There’s a large Hindu population in a nearby suburb.
I made a fire in my fire pit, had a whiskey, a cigar and listened to VDH’s July 4 podcast.
No fireworks out at our Historic Site, but after our celebration lunch today we had a flag retirement ceremony.
We fly several US flags all summer long and replace them each year, as Wyoming apparently has only two seasons: hot and windy, and cold and windy.
They tend to get badly frayed.
At least we always know which way the wind is blowing!
I’ve never seen an official burning of retired banners, although I knew how it is supposed to be done (my Cub Scouts had to learn flag protocol, and even folded them at Day Camp — good experiences for them all).
AesopSpouse sang the National Anthem, and I got kind of misty-eyed.
Good movie to watch on the Fourth: “Drums Along the Mohawk.” Especially the final scene, when the defenders of their frontier fort raise the new American flag, signaling victory over attacking Brits and Indians.
Yeah, I know it stars Henry Fonda. But it’s a John Ford movie, with all the wonderful (and patriotic) flourishes that typify his films.
That final scene: Ward Bond (naturally) grabs the flag from a Continental Army soldier, shouting in that gruff voice of his: “Gimme that flag, soldier, we’ve been doing a little fighting of our own.” And then he climbs to the roof of the tallest structure in the fort and raises the flag. Shot of flag steaming in the breeze. A wholesomely radiant Claudette Colbert turning to her husband (Fonda) and saying, sweetly and earnestly: “It’s a pretty flag.”
Music swells, up and out.
Always get a lump in my throat when I watch that.
In my neighborhood we have been putting up with fireworks for the past week; and will have them for another week.
This was the first year that we also had them for Juneteenth, starting about a week before.
We also have them for Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, Labor Day, and a few other holidays. I think Easter and Christmas are the only holidays that we don’t have to put up with them.
And I say “put up with” not because I don’t like the fireworks; but they will go on until way past midnight despite the fact that a lot of us have to be up early to go to work in the morning. They also set them off starting about a week before the holiday and a week after.
The culprit? a guy a few doors up from me. It bothers the heck out of most of us in the neighborhood except we know it doesn’t do any good to say anything as he will just make sure he sets them off later then. Oh, it doesn’t do any good to call the police about a noise complaint because he is a cop and his “buddies” won’t do much about it anyway.
On another, unrelated, note the White House said that some white powder was found inside the White House – Maybe it was from Hunter staying the night and he left his “bag of goodies” there?
As I sit here there are a lot of fireworks going off. Seems to be more this year.
The city had theirs last night, which was fortunate since we had a thunderstorm about an hour ago, and supposedly more to come.
As a kid, my Brother and I would shoot off a lot of fireworks. This was in Hawaii. Always a good show there, and Chinese New Year is amazing (or was). My Brother would hold Roman Candles in his hand and shoot them off. We had Cherry Bombs, Black Cats, and others. A Very Good Childhood in the early 1950’s
I did my fireworks-watching last night while on vacation in a place far removed from the usual shenanigans. It was a nice show and the first one I’d been to in a very long time. People were streaming in from all over the area for hours to get to it.
Remembrance of Times Past.
LA 2020, with aerial footage and the National Anthem.
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/07/04/july-4-2020-la-residents-told-authorities-dont-tread-on-me-lit-up-sky-in-spectacular-defiant-celebration-n771201
As a commenter at Sarah Hoyt’s said, in bringing this story to the discussion:
“When Los Angeles, Commiefornia explosively tells people where to stick their fireworks bans? It gives one a small dose of hope.”
Fireworks…?
“IRS Whistleblowers Exposed DOJ’s Biden Family Cover-Up. Who Will Expose the Crimes?
“Or, how Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal triggered a bomb of epic proportions that may have blown the facade off the corrupt, national security-imperiling influence peddling scheme once and for all “—
https://weingarten.substack.com/p/irs-whistleblowers-exposed-dojs-biden
H/T Powerline blog.
Watched the Seattle fireworks display at Lake Union on the telly.. The fireworks were wonderful. Twenty-five minutes of creative patterns, colors, and booms.
The accompanying music – Hip hop, grunge, and bits of Obama and other black leaders’ speeches. Ugh! And that’s the way patriotism goes in the People’s Republic of Puget Sound. The local TV broadcast personality acclaimed it as the best fireworks show EVER. 🙂
While looking for something else I ran into this clip of Fred Astaire, not in tux and tails, but the 1940s version of Dockers, improvising a tap dance for a 4th of July celebration, using firecrackers for props.
–“Holiday Inn (1942) – Fred Astaire’s 4th of July Dance Scene”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DaFR3_2p90
Quite charming!
Local weather forecast warned of severe thunderstorms and hail and the fireworks scheduled for 9:30 pm were cancelled – storms didn’t show up until midnight.
Got mostly small hail with a few marble sized.