Guess what? We got to listen to fireworks last night, on July 2nd. Wasn't that fun and memorable? At 9:45 (I had just gone to bed) dh gets a text from Mr. Neighbor that after much consideration they decided making memories is more important, so they will be doing fireworks.
So, it's July, it's high fire danger, blah blah. Wouldn't you think normal smart people would do their little fireworks display in their driveway on the asphalt, or out in the wider street part at the entrance to their driveway? No, they did it out in the grassy (like wild grass) field area kind of to the left of the front of their house. If that is not the stupidest, it ranks up there. I also thought, (you know, since it was "for the kids") that it would be the type of home fireworks that are more colorful and pretty than loud. The kind that kind of make the little screaming noise as they shoot up and then pop open and then you hear the little snapping noises. And then you ooh and ahhh over the display.
But, no, of course not. They had to let off bombs that repeatedly went off. The first round I was like Geez! And I've mentioned we kind of live in a canyon, so it echo'd like crazy. After the second round, I was like well this is rude. Our dog was getting nervous. DH said I'm going to take him out for a drive while they are doing this shit. I said well, I'm certainly am not going to be able to sleep (it was 10:15) so I got up and got dressed and we left. I was just going to go in my pajamas but I thought with our luck something will happen - we'll break down or something and here I am in my pj's. Then I'm like great - we're out driving around at night, we're probably going to hit a deer or elk. Like I told dh, I expect to have to listen to that on the 4th of July. Not on the 2nd. But, Mr and Mrs son can't be here on the 4th so they made the 2nd their 4th. And just how people are, I'm sure many for a couple miles could hear it and some are thinking to themselves "oh, well that person was doing their fireworks early, I'm going to do some of mine tonight" and I'll bet money we'll be hearing some tonight from off in the distance now.
We drove around for almost an hour. We did have one deer cross the road in front of us, but we were going slow and saw her before we got to her. That whole time our dog is just panting, like he couldn't relax and he's usually a really good car rider. We get home, he jumps out of the car and pukes right on the rug in front of the door from the garage into the house. Ya, thanks for the memories of having to clean up puke at 11:30 pm and not get to sleep until midnight.
How wonderful it would be to have the memory of your house burning! I would ask him to warn me before he shoots off fireworks again so you can get your hoses hooked up in case the field catches on fire. We have burn bans and fireworks bans around here during dry spells. But, I live in the city. I wonder about these people.
ReplyDeleteexactly, and after we all (including Mr Neighbor) just went to that fire dept meeting because there isn't a fire station out here to get to us all sooner.
DeleteI meant to relay a long and sad story to show your husband can be part of the volunteer fire department and make a real difference.
DeleteMy friend and I were watching Who Wants to be a Millionnare, each in our own homes. He kept saying that pup was looking at something. I said maybe he likes tv. Then, maybe someone is coming to your door or is at your door or window. You see, the dog kept looking between the door and tv. John also said the dog was lying curled up with his tail over his nose. John was puzzled because pup had never done that before.
Finally, John said, "Linda, I have a fire in the house." When he did not come back to the phone, I rushed the 11 miles to his house in the country.
It was ablaze with friends and neighbors watching the fire dept. I watched John being dragged to the middle of his acres large front yard. He was naked with little tight red curls where he had had silver hair.
Later, his cousin, my friend, said the volunteer fire dept guy came from his house a mile down the road and stood in the yard trying to figure out if anyone was in the house. His neighbors assured the guy was because his car was home.
Only then did the guy call others who finally arrived. They got on their equipment and went into the house and came out shortly. You see, their oxygen tanks were empty! They got oxygen and went back in. When they finally rescued John, they only dragged him halfway out of the house and let his head flop onto the steps of brick!
The other cousin begged them to help get him out of the house. That is when I saw him being dragged into the yard.
I called my friend who was a graduate of the fire college. He said my friend was in such poor shape because of negligence of the volunteer fire dept who should have handled every step differently.
They were too concerned with it being a false alarm. They should have had the oxygen tanks filled before they even got a call. I cannot remember what else.
Your husband could be sure all was done in an expedient manner, maybe even filling the oxygen tanks himself.
My friend died 6 months later after he had been in a coma for most of six months. He suffered and survived. He said he wished he had died, even after he was well enough people thought he would live.
That is such a sad sad story. We have no illusions that this volunteer fire dept is any better.....remember that POS neighbor we had next door when we had the little house in town before we built? He was a "lieutenant" with the volunteer fire dept. What a joke. Most of the time, while he worked in his driveway, if he heard a call over the radio he just ignored it and didn't even go.
DeleteWow, that is unfortunate. Why couldn't they drive out of the area and find an open field???
ReplyDeletethey shouldn't be doing it in any open field around here that has grasses that can catch on fire. It's just too dry and too easy for a fire to take off.
DeleteI'm not surprised at all. I hope tonight is not a replay. The whole situation is totally disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteI hope your pup has recuperated.
BTW: today is July 3rd!
I put the 2nd in my title because that's when they celebrated July 4th. They are supposed to be going home today and pup is doing fine today. I think he just got stressed out by it before we could leave in time.
DeleteQuite apart from disturbing the neighbours, that idiot was a fire risk to everyone. Hell if your grass is as dry as you say, he could have burned the whole neighbourhood down!
ReplyDeletehe sure could have. Why anyone would think that is worth the risk just to blow off some fireworks is beyond me.
DeleteI share your frustration with people and their addiction to fireworks. They just love blowing things up. There was a FB posting regarding the fireworks celebration that normally takes place in a small town near us. They cancelled the fireworks due to the dry conditions and for the safety of everyone concerned. They've always had a huge display and back in the day, everyone in the outlying towns would go to this little town for the fireworks. That was it. No need for everyone else to feel the need to set off their own except maybe a few firecrackers. Now everyone buys them. They go over the border for the real stuff and on long weekends, it's the 4th of July for 3 or 4 days in a row. Despite their good common sense, the town I live in has decided to have the fireworks and set them off at the fairgrounds (small town fairgrounds) despite not having enough rain and very dry conditions. As I told a friend recently, I hope the winds from the East, at least the whole town won't burn then. We have 4 cats - only 1 of which is not bothered by the noise. The two (brother and sister) go down in the basement to hide, the oldest goes under the bed and the one that isn't bothered by the noise, runs from window to window trying to figure out what the heck is going on. I'm glad we don't have dogs, although I do love dogs and there are dogs on either side of us, behind us and across the street from us. I feel bad for them. We won't even discuss how my husband reacts to fireworks. I'm glad your dog is feeling better and I hope that is the end it for you. Ranee (MN)
ReplyDeleteOver the years I have grown to despise 4th of July. Like you said it used to be a few people might do some here and there but now everyone does. Where we lived before it was days before and even after and the 24 hours of the 4th was like living in the middle of a war zone. Not to mention half the stuff people blow off are illegal kind (our neighbors sure were)
DeleteIn our county in the PNW, since the population boon, there is constantly a push to ban fireworks. Since 2016 the GOP commissioners wrote the code which allows fireworks from 7/3 - 7/5. The only way to get them banned is if the city or town fire departments issue a Level II burn ban, which they can only do under EXACT conditions. Usually, (as you recall) this region hits a level I burn ban by late June, which is why there was a petition to ban private fireworks. But, our commissioner didn't want to "disappoint the tourists." The tourists aren't the ones, however, who will have to deal with the consequences. The big thing is to set them off over the ocean, with those who do claiming it minimizes the fire risk. True, but you should see the crap which washes up on the beach in the days following. It's not like the tourists stick around to clean that up. I get individual rights, blah, blah, blah, but, seriously, you can COUNT on people to abuse those and do stupid things. I'd love to see a county ban, but I don't foresee that happening.
ReplyDeleteThat's one thing we can count on - people to abuse and do stupid things, that's for sure.
DeleteOur state allows fireworks from June 29-July 4! We've been listening to them being set off all day and night for a week now. Still don't understand the reasoning of setting the m off during the day. We live in town, kinda in a valley also, so it echoes too. We even have a neighbor that's been setting off 1/4 sticks of dynamite 5-6 times a day the last 3 days. Don't know if he's trying to blow a hole in his yard or what, but it's getting quite old. At least our dog isn't bothered by the noise.
ReplyDeleteoh that sounds miserable, especially for all the pets that it does bother. One day of it is enough.
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