Independence day! 2015

[jamespowers]

You California yahoos don't know what a proper pit is anyway. You throw hamburgers on the grill and call it a "BBQ".

A BBQ pit is something else entirely. However, you can BBQ in a hooded grill with minimal effort as long as you keep the temperature low and use the same thing you use for a pit. It is all about the smoke.

 

[jamespowers]

Chicken BBQ is very much a communal thing in Maine -- you lay out stacks of cinder blocks about four feet apart in a parking lot or on the dirt part of a baseball field, set big iron gratings on top of them and then build a fire on the ground underneath. Lay out split whole broiler-size chickens all over the grates once they're good and hot, season to taste, and serve to the assembled throng on paper plates with potato chips and lemonade at $3 a pop. No utensils are used or permitted, but splintery brown paper napkins are available for outa-staters and those who are so effete that they won't wipe their hands on their clothes.

[video=youtube;6GQ5bm6BEmw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GQ5bm6BEmw[/video]

That's some good eatin'. Schools, lodges, service clubs, and churches all sponsor such events as fundraisers during the summer -- it's the seasonal equivalent of a bean supper.

No such thing here. Thank goodness.

 

[HudsonHawk]

A BBQ pit is something else entirely. However, you can BBQ in a hooded grill with minimal effort as long as you keep the temperature low and use the same thing you use for a pit. It is all about the smoke.

The fact that you call your grill your "BBQ" gives you away.

 

[HudsonHawk]

No such thing here. Thank goodness.

No, you guys are too busy putting chicken on pizza and other culinary abominations.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Of course, there are downsides to legal fireworks. Especially when booze is involved.

Read the story, and my first thought was, "Yep. Lizzie is gonna have a few choice comments on THIS 'un."

 

[Edward]

Weird. My dog and cat took it in stride. It didn't bother them a bit. They just sit and watch just like we do.

Fireworks seem to vary in effect from one animal to another. Most dogs seem to be affected, though a very few aren't. Cats seem to vary much more... my girls aren't at all bothered when fireworks go off for Halloween / Guy Fawkes / Diwali / Eid / New Year / w.h.y. round my way, but the noise doesn't bother me, so I assume that as kittens they absorbed the message from my behaviour that it was nothing of which to be afraid. [huh]

I like the 4th July, though I also understand it has a lot of nuances. The clip from The Great Escape is superb.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I actually feel really bad about it -- I know a lot of kids that age, who like to have their fun, and every once in a while they do something really stupid. We don't allow fireworks in my town, but that doesn't stop people from getting hold of them, and nobody's required to take any kind of a safe-handling course to use them. Stuff like this is the inevitable result.

 

[tonyb]

Wholly anecdotal observation here, but I'm wondering if others have detected the same ...

In my nearly six full decades, having lived in Madison, Wisc.; Lawrence, Kans.; Seattle, Wash. and environs; and now greater Denver, Colo., I have noticed a steady increase in the use of illegal fireworks.

Used to be that if you wished to see "real" fireworks, you attended a sanctioned fireworks show, usually in a public park. The home variety of fireworks (aka the "safe and sane" type) were limited to sparklers and those "snake" things. In other words, nothing that went airborne and/or exploded. I must have been 5 or 6 years old when an uncle produced Roman candles at a Fourth of July gathering. The adult women found it terribly irresponsible and expressed the hope that we didn't burn down anything or that the cops didn't come by and throw us all in jail. ("And keep those things away from the kids!") The men and the juveniles of both genders thought they were just the coolest thing ever.

Firecrackers and bottle rockets (illegal everywhere I've ever lived) became ubiquitous in subsequent years. Over the past couple of decades, though, I've lived around people who have shot off the sorts of fireworks that were once limited to the professional pyrotechnics displays. I thought I would never experience anything to rival what is seen over Southeast Seattle on the night of July 4, until this past Saturday night, at a party in Denver, where I feared just a bit for my and everyone else's safety. Several neighbors were shooting off fireworks that may well have killed a person had they landed and exploded on him of her. They certainly could have left a person seriously injured. One such firework ricocheted off the side of a house before exploding on a lawn.

 

[Bamaboots]

tonyb, same here and they were still going strong last night. The street I live on is littered with the leftovers of some pretty substantial pyrotechnics.

 

[tonyb]

Have you noticed an increase in this sort of thing from when you were a kid?

 

[2jakes]

Wholly anecdotal observation here, but I'm wondering if others have detected the same ...
a steady increase in the use of illegal fireworks.

Having worked for television news for over 28 years, & the reports of illegal fireworks I have covered.
I also have noticed a severe increase in the use of illegal fireworks all over the city.

Sadly, it would appear that something tragic must occur before action is taken. I don’t know what that
action ​might be or if it’s possible to supervise an entire city.

Where I live, the sale of fireworks is possible outside the jurisdiction of the city. If one is caught bringing the
fireworks into the city, they will have to pay a fine.

I have not checked what type of fireworks are available today. But the last time which was several years ago,
every type of firework was available outside the city limits. :eusa_doh:

 

[tonyb]

Yup. Part of the problem, practically and politically, is that people like illegal fireworks. I sure did see plenty of evidence of that this past Saturday night.

It's sorta like motorcycling, especially without helmets. Chances are you will come through it unscathed and have a real good time, and lots of people resent anyone telling them they can't do it because the chances for serious injury are unacceptably high. (Not a perfect analogy, but similar sentiments are in play.)

 

[2jakes]

Yup. Part of the problem, practically and politically, is that people like illegal fireworks. I sure did see plenty of evidence of that this past Saturday night.

It's sorta like motorcycling, especially without helmets. Chances are you will come through it unscathed and have a real good time, and lots of people resent anyone telling them they can't do it because the chances for serious injury are unacceptably high. (Not a perfect analogy, but similar sentiments are in play.)

Pretty darn near perfect tonyb ! :arated:

 

[Bamaboots]

tonyb, I think it's fair to say they're more prevalent, though I'm not sure why. I remember as a kid you could buy firecrackers at just about any mom and pop store but to get the "big stuff" you would have to travel some distance. Around here, all one has to do is cross over the city limits in any direction and a fireworks stand is nearby.

In one of my earlier posts I told about them being illegal to even possess them in the city but within a hundred yards outside the limits is one of the largest fireworks stands in this area. Oh, and it's operated by the city's largest church, manned by people from their youth ministry.

2jakes I think you are right, it does take a tragedy but until there are state laws passed, effective enforcement is impossible. In my state we have a number of manufacturers of fireworks so I don't think we'll see a state law passed any time soon.

 

[2jakes]

​When I was a kid (50s) I would put on my dad’s ww2 helmet & my brother, his football helmet & would proceed to the
backyard or alley with roman candles & black-jack firecrackers ( at night when it was dark & you could see the streak
of lights)
We would have a war & shoot at each other from a distance. :eusa_doh:

All I can say is “someone” upstairs must’ve been watching over us or we were plain lucky we survived !

The thing is nobody bothered us or (probably) didn’t care !


Aaaaahhh youth !

 

[Bamaboots]

Aaaaahhh youth !

Too bad it's wasted on the young.

 

[tonyb]

In the Seattle area all you have to do is visit one of several nearby Indian reservations (one of which is essentially part of downtown Tacoma) and you can buy the stuff the pros use. My understanding is that it's not legal to take the fireworks off the reservation, but that law goes almost universally unobserved and unenforced. My admittedly limited experience with the illegal fireworks trade is that they cost enough for me to be content observing other peoples' displays.

 

[2jakes]

Aaaaahhh youth !

Too bad it's wasted on the young.

...so true ! :arated:

 

[Bamaboots]

tonyb, statewide, here about the only thing that's illegal are the HE fireworks, the M80's and cherrybombs. The mortar stuff being offered now is every bit as or more powerful than those are.

 

[Zombie_61]

Have you noticed an increase in this sort of thing from when you were a kid?

I sure have. When I was growing up here you could see the "safe and sane" firework displays on the neighbors' driveways up and down the street, but would only see the occasional "bottle rocket" as far as airborne fireworks were concerned. Now it seems they don't even bother with anything that doesn't require a mortar-type launcher, the "fun" goes on for hours, and more often than not the exploding fireworks set off car alarms as well.