The war zone
My neighborhood sounds like a war zone right now. I'm trying to balance the understanding of celebrating our nation's birthday against the realization that it's extremely dry out there and one errant spark could send the whole neighborhood up in flames.
This year, that's not much of an exaggeration. If that mountainside catches fire and we get an east wind, bye-bye house. Homeless folks have been known to camp up on the hillsides. I'm just sayin' I'm a little concerned about fires this year. Not worried, just concerned.
Bucket, however, is less enthused about the fireworks. He's hiding under the bed right now. Granted, it's probably the coolest spot in the house, but when I let him out to pee just a few minutes ago, for the first time since winter, he wanted to come back in. Buck normally lives for outside. Yesterday I took him and the beagle for a walk. On the way back home from the park, I noticed Ogden's finest firefighters putting out a grass fire at the mouth of the canyon and Rocky Mountain Power working on a power pole in the midst of the charred field.
I was looking for fireworks restrictions for Ogden City today. In years past, when it's been not as dry as it is right now, fireworks have been banned in my neighborhood. Typically the ban starts at Harrison Blvd. and runs east, which includes me. Heck, that never stopped us or anybody else in my neighborhood, but it would have this year. What I found was that the city said they'd have outright banned them but they couldn't find a legal way to do it under state law, so they banned them where they could, which wasn't in my neighborhood. I'm curious to see about the fire totals in the morning.
And concerned.
The war zone has quieted down some, but not completely stopped. Some folks have some pretty good artillery still going off. It's so loud, I can hear the sound waves bouncing off the buildings at the college. That's no small feat.
I'm impressed. And I don't impress easy.
You know, when I was a kid, we had caps, snakes, and sparklers. That was it. It was cool when someone in the neighborhood snuck up to Wyoming to buy fireworks. Then we got them here. When there are more people. Maybe, looking back, those restrictive laws, in the second driest state in the country weren't such a bad idea. I think fireworks can be launched safely when handled properly. It's the, "Hold my beer and watch this!" crowd that concerns me. Or the folks that don't give a care about the surroundings they're in.
I guess that's one thing about Americans though... we're born with this need to blow things up!
And from the loudest explosions of the evening just a few minutes ago, I'd say that someone was just quite successful at doing just that.
Hope you had a good 4th!
This year, that's not much of an exaggeration. If that mountainside catches fire and we get an east wind, bye-bye house. Homeless folks have been known to camp up on the hillsides. I'm just sayin' I'm a little concerned about fires this year. Not worried, just concerned.
Bucket, however, is less enthused about the fireworks. He's hiding under the bed right now. Granted, it's probably the coolest spot in the house, but when I let him out to pee just a few minutes ago, for the first time since winter, he wanted to come back in. Buck normally lives for outside. Yesterday I took him and the beagle for a walk. On the way back home from the park, I noticed Ogden's finest firefighters putting out a grass fire at the mouth of the canyon and Rocky Mountain Power working on a power pole in the midst of the charred field.
I was looking for fireworks restrictions for Ogden City today. In years past, when it's been not as dry as it is right now, fireworks have been banned in my neighborhood. Typically the ban starts at Harrison Blvd. and runs east, which includes me. Heck, that never stopped us or anybody else in my neighborhood, but it would have this year. What I found was that the city said they'd have outright banned them but they couldn't find a legal way to do it under state law, so they banned them where they could, which wasn't in my neighborhood. I'm curious to see about the fire totals in the morning.
And concerned.
The war zone has quieted down some, but not completely stopped. Some folks have some pretty good artillery still going off. It's so loud, I can hear the sound waves bouncing off the buildings at the college. That's no small feat.
I'm impressed. And I don't impress easy.
You know, when I was a kid, we had caps, snakes, and sparklers. That was it. It was cool when someone in the neighborhood snuck up to Wyoming to buy fireworks. Then we got them here. When there are more people. Maybe, looking back, those restrictive laws, in the second driest state in the country weren't such a bad idea. I think fireworks can be launched safely when handled properly. It's the, "Hold my beer and watch this!" crowd that concerns me. Or the folks that don't give a care about the surroundings they're in.
I guess that's one thing about Americans though... we're born with this need to blow things up!
And from the loudest explosions of the evening just a few minutes ago, I'd say that someone was just quite successful at doing just that.
Hope you had a good 4th!
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