Is the 4th like a war zone where you live?

My favorite part of 4th of July now is reading the angry posts on Nextdoor by the hordes of nutty middle-aged ladies that I apparently live near.

I mean, she has a point, but I’m not sure getting ‘fearful and furious’ is the appropriate response.

She has to save her cats, of course.

Saving your cats: a nobel cause.

She went about it the wrong way, but there really isn’t a right way. Even a polite “lay off” would be met with anger/vengeance of their rights.

I guess I feel there should be some middle ground. Fireworks are great, but they are a public nuisance and should be regulated. I don’t think my neighbor needs to be rattling my windows at midnight because he is thrilled about the anniversary of our country. I would love to see it go back 30 years where people could set off all sort of things, but they didn’t all create sonic booms.

So I was walking the dogs today. It was still daylight. Understand that I have two dogs. Max is called Dopey Dog. He is afraid of rain and thunder. Then there is Gizmo. He is an excitable yappy dog.

Halfway through our walk some moron started to set off fireworks. Two things immediately happened. Picture this happening instantly and together.

Max froze and then decided to head home. Behind me. Gizmo, with his catlike ears, instantly figured out exactly where the sound was coming from. And went to kill it. In front of me.

Luckily they are small dogs.

I had to bring Max home and then continue to walk Gizmo. More fireworks. Gizmo is out of his little head. He’s yapping and pulling on his leash. Out of his little mind. Screaming.

At this point I decide to bring him home as well. Dragging him along and then we see another dog. A big German Shepard. He really goes off. High strung doggie he is.

I pick him up and he makes a sound that I have never heard. A scream and a bark. I think he was surprised that I grabbed him. Man that sound was like a sound from hell.

Fun was had by all.

Is this serious? Is this for real? I mean it is Florida so can I really rule this out as a joke?

Absolutely true.

This is insane even by Florida Man standards.

You obviously haven’t lived in Florida.

Fireworks used to be illegal in Minnesota, but they’re not in Wisconsin and the biggest population center in all of the state (the Twin Cities) is so close to the Wisconsin border that I know plenty of people who live in Wisconsin and commute to work in St. Paul or eastern suburbs thereof. So yeah, just like the Illinois/Indiana thing, people would just drive over to the border where there were giant fireworks stores.

I personally got bored of official fireworks displays years ago and really don’t appreciate them being set off outside my window, especially late at night when I have to work the next morning. St. Paul didn’t do fireworks this year (for the first time ever, I think?) because our new mayor decided, IMO quite reasonably, that the city had better things to do with $100,000, but unfortunately I think that meant more unofficial fireworks than ever. :(

See you all could have gone to the Dice Tower Con like @arrendek and me and played games not hearing any fireworks except those in your gaming imagination!

Fair thread warning: I am mentioning I am at the Con on every thread I post while being here (it being late at night with me-hopped on all the caffeine from Coca Cola, the binging boardgamer’s friend).

The Indian family across the street from me detonated a lot of ordnance over my head. I would be annoyed, but after all they must have done to get here, I’m happy for them.

Complainers are laughed at loudly by the bogans who spent thousands of bucks, and told if they don’t like it to hit the nearest airport and fuck off down south (that’s the censored version of what is usually said).

That sounds so charming and romantic… as long as they’re 10,000km away. But I can imagine how annoying it is if they’re you’re neighbors.

I could seriously get behind that idea.

I grew up in Minnesota when fireworks were illegal. Luckily, my dad drove over-the-road, so he would smuggle some in from South Dakota. He loved fireworks, and so did I as a kid. We also lived out in the country, so there were few neighbors to bother.

It was a huge shock when I moved to Kansas. Wichita was a war zone—more than usual even. Now I’m North Dakota, it was loud the past couple days—although some of that was thunder—but not especially irksome.

This thread reminded me of this Activision “classic”:

I take partial responsibility for burning down a number of native shrubs at a park adjacent to Alice Springs Hospital in 2007. I did damage a good pair of shoes stomping out the flames before a friend came to the rescue with water in a bin from the hospital. I can justify now by saying I was helping nature. They were natives, they need fire to regenerate.

Oregon sued a kid for setting off a brush fire with fireworks last year, with damages over $36M. It was a very serious fire. Still burning in some places.

So my second job is in a very large concrete tilt up building, there is a large parking lot surrounding it with security fence and guards at the gates.

Last night around 9pm it sounded like a war zone outside with the fire works going off. Yea, last night, the 5th. You could clearly hear the booms from within the building.

I hate this holiday. Its not even 1 and someone is letting off huge shells in the neighborhood. My cats are already hiding. I turned on some fans, but neither those nor music really help.

Supposedly firework sales here in Western WA were very good this year. It’s going to be a long day.

Thunder now. The weather map shows rain on the way. I hope it pours all night. Funny that. As I kid I hated when it rained on the fourth.

Given most fireworks shows in my area, just down the I-5 from you, are cancelled I can’t say I am surprised.