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4TH of July plans

2K views 28 replies 22 participants last post by  DeathOfScythes 
#1 ·
Hard to believe its next week,always been my favorite holiday.

Just ain't feeling it this year.:(
 
#4 ·
My street goes all out. The dude 3 houses down has a better show than the baseball stadium a mile away. (none there this year). He takes the intersection and the rest of us take turns at the edge of our drives. Everyone BBQs, last year a mariachi band from a few streets over strolled around the block. We always make homemade ice cream too.
One thing the virus hasn't changed. We can all do what we normally do and never get closer than 10ft.
 
#8 ·
THERE was a time a while ago when my friends and I used to do "fireworks " shows of a different kind. We were an early warm up for a real fireworks display, We did it with dynamite and other explosives.
we used to flip cars and blow propane tanks. We would use half sticks and det around the inside of a van and literally make it into a convertible.
One of our better tricks was to launch 100lb propane tanks from holes in the ground and make them look like rockets coming out of a silo. The dynamite would boost the tank from the hole(2 sticks only, not one, not three, the holy number shall be two) and then it would ignite from a flare attached to it with about 10 feet of paracord dragging behind it. If all went well we could get up to a couple hundred feet of flight out of them.
THEN
just when it got dark and before the BIG show, we had a shot we did that blinded everyone.

We had a string of holes dug big enough to take a gallon milk just half filled with gasoline. They were daisy chained on det cord and each one had a mixed "boost" ignition charge made up of flash powder, and magnesium flakes to be sure the gas fumes ignited.
So, it was really dark, the PA would kick in telling folks to watch close. then about 20 jugs would go off... imagine a solid wall of fire about 100 feet wide from the ground to about 100ft in the air in about one second. .. then GONE, not even a glow.
WOrlds largest flashbulb going off. Screwed up night vision for quite a while.:D::D::D:
 
#10 ·
NOW in my life..
the local township has a fireworks show that fires off over a lake... not 500yds through the trees from my back door.
I can sit on my back deck and see the fireworks breaking through the trees
or
if I care to I can walk to my back pond and watch the fireworks breaking over the trees coming right at me.
Having worked fireworks for several years, it is not as "interesting" as they used to be. Besides, until you are only about 30 feet from a 16" tube as it is launching... and the ground actually vibrates from the violence of the launch... looking at a distance is just not the same.
 
#14 ·
16" is BIG.

Back in a previous life I worked for the fire department. We were charged with setting off fireworks when the local college football team made a touchdown.

The mortar tube was only about 5" in diameter or thereabouts, shoved into a washtub full of sand which was then set in the bed of an old pickup truck.

The shot was just a single loud boom with nothing sparkly. Well, one time there was a failure to launch. The thing went off inside the mortar tube.

It blew all the sand out of the washtub, blew a hole in the bottom of it and a hole in the bed of the truck.

Luckily we were well away from it when she blew.

====

I'm not feeling it this July 4th either. No parades, no fireworks - zip. I WILL drag out my 6' x 10' flag though and probably burn a burger.
 
#11 · (Edited)
#12 ·
#15 ·
When I was 15, me and another friend sold fireworks for a neighbor. We took our pay in fireworks and we wound up with a lot. We delivered using our bikes and wore back packs. The cops even stopped us twice, but we never had anything as we just sold it.

We lived near a hospital that had a large field behind it and would set up there, it worked for a couple of years. We set up frames from scrap wood for the pinwheels, pipes in the ground for almost anything else. For 2 kids it was impressive.

We made a barricade from broken up concrete so the cops would hit it and give us ample warning to scram. I mean, they'd come up with no lights on and slam into it. I'm grabbing the cart with what we had left and my friend is setting off silver jets as the cops run up.

The last year (mom said to cut it out before we turned 18) was in the woods by an old wood mill that was gated on one side, our access was through the woods, over a creek that had 2 telephone poles across it, one way in, one way out. We set up in light, my parents lived close to the woods, right across the street from our house.

I'd like to go back to see if the creek can be crossed, I'm sure it is quite overgrown by now. But those were the days, we lived for the 4th even if we were deaf for 3 days after.
 
#20 ·
Have a buddy who "claims" the 4th as the summer holiday at HIS pool (we rotate around between pools).

We'll be doing a clay pigeon shoot in the am with the entry fees going to breast cancer, then do our best to eat up however much 2 grills, a smoker and a huge wok can produce. Afternoon in the pool with adult beverages till dark when we go light up the night with aerial projectiles. Poker game to follow. Around 50 or 60 folks.
 
#24 ·
My neighbor 1/2 assedly mentioned doing something on the 4th. We will see.

I have a 10-lane highway not far from my back yard. A few people on the other side always put on a huge display and I have a great seat for it. I have some fireworks too, will blast those off first.
 
#26 ·
Be setting outside watching the neighbors all over town setting them off like every year while I give 2 Benadryl to my dog and hope they calm him down enough he doesn't try climbing up in my lap like he does ever year. If that dosen't work this year next year he's getting a damn valium. 70 lb Black and tan Coonhound/Rottweiler mix can do some damage when he's scared. The other 3 just bark a lot when the booms start. Bud turns into a shaking pool of jello and wants to climb into my lap even though I don't want him too.
 
#27 ·
Be setting outside watching the neighbors all over town setting them off like every year
Fireworks are illegal in our city limits, but for several years people in the neighborhood next to ours put on quite a firework show. They sit on higher ground than we do, so the fireworks were pretty easy to see from here.

Unfortunately, last year there was no show but I'm hoping it will return this year.
 
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