Happy Independence Day, Dear Readers!

It’s that time of year where once again we find a good portion of the American citizenry involved in a game of roulette with blowing off body parts while setting off explosives, getting Listeria from potato salad that has sat out too long in the sun on a hot day and sun burns.

I’m not a huge fan of the day other than it’s a celebration of the day our founding fathers put their foot down and declared they were no longer going to be subjects of what turned out to be one of my major homelands, England.

We had horses growing up and my Grandpa would often buy illegal fireworks and invite himself over to shoot them off, scaring the crap out of the livestock.  Needless to say, I was more concerned for the livestock.  Once, Grandpa nearly set one of my cousins on fire by shooting off some spinny thing that took off rolling like a rat running from a bonfire.  I remember she ended up with holes in her shirt.  Thanks, Grandpa.

No, no Sir, I am not a fan of fireworks.  I like them from a distance.  They are pretty to look at, and those particular fireworks that bloom and have those little zippy guys – those are neat.  I do like sparklers and “snakes”, too.

The annual fireworks display in Green Bay was a favorite place for my Mom to haul us all off to.  It was Downtown, which was a big deal at that point, and we’d go down hours before the fireworks display to people watch.  I think I was 12 when my mom elbowed me to point out a dude dressed in all white linen… and free-balling it.  Yeah – linen doesn’t leave much to the imagination – but then again, maybe that was his whole deal.  We had a good laugh over that, and I was forever hooked on people watching from that point forward.

DH and I don’t buy fireworks, again, I’m not a fan of them up-close-and-personal, that and we have a fire ban right now as our area is in desperate need of rain.  So, no fireworks at all for us… oh, and I hope our neighbors know that I’ll be calling the police if they shoot any off.  Wisconsin doesn’t need to turn into Colorado.

Be safe out there!