Will They...Or Won't They?

 I spotted the tent at dusk...it sat unattended, not drawing attention to itself, solitary. Of course, we knew exactly what it was. It's a lair, a place that offers wonders of science and chemistry, and potential destruction.

Still, it's existence begs the question...

Will they?

Or won't they?

There's a debate in our little part of the world. The debate comes around--without fail--at this time of the year, every year. Sometimes, one side seems to have the better argument over the other...then, the tables turn. I'd say, however, this year one side definitely has the advantage.

Which side is that?

The "all fireworks need to be banned" side.

Usually, this side protests the selling and igniting of fireworks with the "the fireworks are too loud," and "fireworks scare my pets," and "fireworks keep me up all night because idiots keep lighting them off well after midnight" chants. I for one believe these are all valid points. However, I also believe the since we're supposedly an enlightened society, the pro-firework and con-fireworks peoples should be able to live in harmony, each side giving a little until a consensus is reached.

This year, though...

The anti's have a lot more firepower (pardon the pun...). This year, we're lacking rain and snow before that. It's a drought year, one of the worst. And since many fires have already been caused by humans in the state, banning fireworks seems more reasonable than ever.

Still...

I feel for those who earn a living selling the chemical joy at what seems like every corner in the state. My opinion. Since we lived next to the mountains for decades, we were always banned from setting off fireworks. To us, it's no big deal not to have them. I guess that makes it easier to say skipping them this year might be the best thing. All I know is, they don't pay me the big $$ to make that decision so my opinion is worth about as much as you've paid to hear it. Whatever happens, I hope there's no fires because of them and that we get some much-needed rain soon.

Will they...or won't they?

An Independence Day Without Fireworks...

Almost everything about this year has been different. And even when things haven't changed drastically, it feels like they have. Even going to the store or on a walk is different. I'm not smart enough to know if these changes will be permanent. The way I look at it, all bets are off the table.

This year, we made plans to visit friends over the Independence Day weekend. We hadn't seen these friends in a while and we needed to visit them ever since they moved a few years ago. We decided the holiday weekend was the time to go. To make things even sweeter, these particular friends love to set off fireworks. We thought we'd see if we could put on one of their famous neighborhood displays.

That turned out not to happen. Because of changed plans on our part, we were not able to stay long enough for it to get dark. We scrapped the fireworks idea.

Now, you may have looked at the title of this blog post and thought, "I don't know what he's talking about--we had so many fireworks in our neighborhood, maybe even more than last year."

And that's definitely true for some. I know many of you celebrated the 4th with fireworks. Where we live we're not allow to set off any because we live at the base of a mountain, and with two big fires in as many days leading up to July 4th, I can understand why the ban is in place. Because of that, we don't buy fireworks.

So, even though we heard bangs and explosions a few days before July 4th and a couple of days after, to me it felt different. Maybe it's because our city canceled their summer celebrations and normally, in about fifteen minutes we'd see a pretty good display of big fireworks. Who knows when we'll get to see those again?

I know some set off fireworks and others set off none. That would be us. I miss they way we all seemed to be happy to celebrate our country's birthday. I guess I miss the way we all felt when the fireworks were in the sky.