so honestly. who's bright idea was it that on the Glorious Fourth, we, as Americans, should celebrate our leaving the MotherCountry with lots of booming, stinky, pretty explosions of gunpowder?
it's OK if you rat someone out. i'm pretty non-confrontational. i wouldn't stalk.
but on the other hand...
first, let me clarify. i really love fireworks. don't care for sparklers (they scare me for whatever stupid reason), but ground blossoms, fountains, heck, i even still miss snakes. (remember them?)
but...
where i live, here in humid-as-the-jungle So. Cal., is across the street from an amusement park called Knott's Berry Farm. Hubbs & i got married there. the couple who started it, actually started it as a real berry farm with a roadside stand. then, as people gathered to buy their produce, Mrs. Knott's started selling her fried chicken dinners on her wedding china. then as the lines grew even longer, Mr. Knott started a little "Ghost Town" with gunslingers, can-can girls, the whole enchiladas - to entertain the folks in line.
heck, he even built a replica of Independence Hall. it's currently right next door to the new water park Knott's recently opened. something not quite right about that, but that's another posting.
back to the fireworks.
now, about 5 miles or so from us, is Disneyland. yes, the Happiest Place on Earth, that does fireworks every night during the summer. sometimes, i can see them from our bedroom window. tiny, but there. we can also hear the booms...nice & quiet.
can't say that about Knott's.
Knott's only does fireworks on the 4th & on New Year's eve @ midnight. but, being only a 1/4-1/2 mile from them, it's like they're going off under my apartment. the place shakes. the air reeks. they seem to go on forever.
just like the hundreds of car alarms that go off as the fireworks do...and stay on way after the show is done.
don't get me wrong - it is a cool show. i love watching it, but haven't for the last few years. see, we have an epileptic cat. not full-blown, though. our vet doesn't want him on Phenobarbatol since he has them so infrequently.
when we lived downstairs, the other cats would sit outside our patio door, tormenting the little Furrball....then the kids would start. seizures were more frequent. but once moving upstairs, all those distractions disappeared. and, as he has grown older, the seizures are almost non-existent.
yippee!! i hate cleaning pee from the carpet.
but, as you know, fireworks scares animals. they don't understand. they get scared. they run. they get killed.
simple solution: keep your animals inside. tranqulize if need be.
i just make sure i'm at home when they go off. Elvis won't run (like he used to), but lays near one of us, ears pinned back & tail a-flappin'. he ain't happy about the whole boom-boom thing, but will tolerate as long as someone is near to talk to him in even soothing tones.
part two of WHY I HATE FIREWORKS
oh, first, i should say that last year when the fine City of Buena Park voted on keeping fireworks legal, i did vote for it. all the stands around here are non-profit groups. having been part of one years ago, i can tell you we cleaned up on that stand. honestly made enough to clear our budget for the year.
what i hate are people. (not again with the "i want to live as a hermit." please.) see, they shoot off their fireworks all around the driveways here.
then they don't clean their mess up.
let's talk about something that irritates me more...wait. can't think of any.
how hard can it be? bring a bucket of water, after the piccolo pete has shot its wad, put it in the bucket. then, after everything is nice & soggy, you toss it in the trash.
it's so simple why both Forrest Gump & Slingblade could do it.
but apparently they are both geniuses compared to the residents at our complex.
so. if you've read this far, i congratulate you, Gentle Reader. if you take nothing else with you (besides the fact that i rant occasionally) then take this:
1) take care of your animals on the Fourth, and other times during the year.
2) clean up your firework messes.
3) stay tuned to Random Thoughts.
you never know what i'll bitch about next.
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