I tell you "it just ain't natural"
It's the 4th of July and no matter where you are in the world it's a day for Americans, and others, to celebrate freedom. It's also a day to think back over 4th of July's past.
Growing up in NE, it was a tradition for Dad to pick up a couple grocery bags of fireworks. There were black snakes, the black pills you light and they grow out into "snakes" and helicopters, a tube with an aluminum blade attached that, when lit, became a jet powered helicopter and went whizzing up in the air, or if malfunctioning, they became a horizontal weapon of James Bond potential scattering young and old alike in diverse directions - because, of course, it exploded at the end of it's burn.
Roman candles which shot balls of fire (and we held them in our hands no less) were fun, sparkles which produced a molten hot iron rod guaranteed to burn something or someone when dropped, firecrackers of all sizes were great, all the way from "lady fingers" we foolishly held while they exploded (don't ask, I don't know why we did such a dumb thing?) to M80's which approached serious explosive potential and can be used for "fishing" at the local pond. Sometimes we'd light an entire package of firecrackers to scare everyone. Poking a hole in the bottom of an empty can and filling the hole with a moderate sized firecracker while sitting the open end either on the ground or in a pan of shallow water demonstrated the true contained explosive potential by launching the can 50-100' in the air.
When I was maybe 10 I was old enough to light the big sky rockets out at my Uncle Myron's farm. We'd make a launching ramp from a bent piece of tin propped up at an angle, the exploding rockets were beautiful in the night time sky after a sweltering day and all the good farm food from potato salad to hot dogs and chicken - you had to have fried chicken (I think it was, maybe still is, written into the NE code of conduct for local folk).
I can remember driving to CO to visit and we had an old Plymouth with the funky fuzzy cloth seats and headliner that always smelled of dust. We would take a burlap water bag you filled and hung off the front bumper, they ooze water and the passing air and evaporation cooled the water. Of course the bag also collected a variety of bugs while tooling along, so you had to scrape off the cap area a bit before drinking, but in those hot summer days it was great to have a cool drink.
later in life in Colorado the fireworks were much more limited, so we'd go to public displays, sometimes at Lakeside amusement park after a hot day at the swimming pool, or maybe a drive up into the mountains to cool off from a sizzling July day.
Years later in California we'd go to public displays after a day by the apt pool to take the edge off the July heat. In 1965 my daughter was born on St. Patrick's day so on the 4th we drove to Phoenix to meet her parents who drove from Colorado to see the new baby. We had a new '65 GTO convertible which didn't have AC, when you're young and in CA who needs it? (actually that turned out to be a huge mistake when in Dec of that year we transferred to Louisiana) We drove at night so it would be cooler - we thought. We hit Barstow at about Midnight, it was still 100 and there was a line to get into any place air conditioned, restaurant, store, restroom, you name it. It was actually cooler to have the windows up and the vents closed, otherwise you were sitting in front of a hot air vent fed by the Mojave desert. I think it was 115 that 4th in Phoenix. On the way back we stopped by the side of the road to watch fireworks at Kingman, AZ.
In Texas we spent many years on the lake with friends when we had out boat. The 4th there is guaranteed to be hot and dry, this year it's forecast to be 102. Generally we didn't go out on the lake that day due to the influx of amateur boaters on holidays. We'd have a big dock party and dip as necessary to keep cool. Although one year the lake was flooded and closed due to high water and it was eerie out on the docks which were deserted, much like mid November, but much warmer. They usually had a fireworks display at the harbor and as many as 200 boats would be anchored out in the cove watching. A couple of years we dragged lawn chairs up on the roof at the house where we could see displays from 3 different places.
One year I spent the 4th coating the roof with aluminum reflective paint, you can imagine the sun burn I got from that reflection and in '06 I was up there again coating it with a white membrane. Even after we sold our boat we'd go out at times with friends on their boats to view the fireworks.
So, memories of the past 60+ years flood back on this day, but you may have noticed the one common thing across all those years and places; it was HOT, MUY CALIENTE, HOT- so, "it just ain't natural" for it to be cool on the 4th of July - but here it sure is! I keep trying to remind myself that we used to drive up in the mountains to cool off, and I AM in the mountains here, but it's just not right for it to be cloudy, rainy and 62 degrees on the 4th of July? And when you live in thin air (which retains heat about as well as I retain money?) in a big concrete, brick and steel pizza oven with cold tile floors, it is almost chilly - really, trust me. Our hot months are April and May, once it begins to rain in June, summer's over - we cool significantly and when the sun isn't out it's darn cool. Now it's late afternoon and the sun has finally come out, so we made it to - - - 71? - 71 degrees? - shoot, in TX this time of the year is doesn't even drop below 75 at night for months, "this just isn't natural" and now the sun has slid behind a dark cloud, so it looks like more rain.
Something else that "ain't natural" is paying $7 for a can of baked beans which were good, but hardly "baked" by Mom's standard. I decided to make it a traditional (as possible) 4th so I bought some Johnsonville dogs and a can of Bush's Honey Baked beans and even got Wonder buns and while they would have tasted better on a grill I wasn't about to go to that much trouble, so, add some good old Lays (Sabritos) potato chips and a Coke Zero and you have July 4, 2009. As it was raining earlier the US and TX flags were hung inside the deck windows. I don't have any cohetes (aerial bombs) so guess I'll have to take the AK-47 out after dark and shoot in the air (it's ok, roofs are concrete, so no harm, no foul).
Growing up in NE, it was a tradition for Dad to pick up a couple grocery bags of fireworks. There were black snakes, the black pills you light and they grow out into "snakes" and helicopters, a tube with an aluminum blade attached that, when lit, became a jet powered helicopter and went whizzing up in the air, or if malfunctioning, they became a horizontal weapon of James Bond potential scattering young and old alike in diverse directions - because, of course, it exploded at the end of it's burn.
Roman candles which shot balls of fire (and we held them in our hands no less) were fun, sparkles which produced a molten hot iron rod guaranteed to burn something or someone when dropped, firecrackers of all sizes were great, all the way from "lady fingers" we foolishly held while they exploded (don't ask, I don't know why we did such a dumb thing?) to M80's which approached serious explosive potential and can be used for "fishing" at the local pond. Sometimes we'd light an entire package of firecrackers to scare everyone. Poking a hole in the bottom of an empty can and filling the hole with a moderate sized firecracker while sitting the open end either on the ground or in a pan of shallow water demonstrated the true contained explosive potential by launching the can 50-100' in the air.
When I was maybe 10 I was old enough to light the big sky rockets out at my Uncle Myron's farm. We'd make a launching ramp from a bent piece of tin propped up at an angle, the exploding rockets were beautiful in the night time sky after a sweltering day and all the good farm food from potato salad to hot dogs and chicken - you had to have fried chicken (I think it was, maybe still is, written into the NE code of conduct for local folk).
I can remember driving to CO to visit and we had an old Plymouth with the funky fuzzy cloth seats and headliner that always smelled of dust. We would take a burlap water bag you filled and hung off the front bumper, they ooze water and the passing air and evaporation cooled the water. Of course the bag also collected a variety of bugs while tooling along, so you had to scrape off the cap area a bit before drinking, but in those hot summer days it was great to have a cool drink.
later in life in Colorado the fireworks were much more limited, so we'd go to public displays, sometimes at Lakeside amusement park after a hot day at the swimming pool, or maybe a drive up into the mountains to cool off from a sizzling July day.
Years later in California we'd go to public displays after a day by the apt pool to take the edge off the July heat. In 1965 my daughter was born on St. Patrick's day so on the 4th we drove to Phoenix to meet her parents who drove from Colorado to see the new baby. We had a new '65 GTO convertible which didn't have AC, when you're young and in CA who needs it? (actually that turned out to be a huge mistake when in Dec of that year we transferred to Louisiana) We drove at night so it would be cooler - we thought. We hit Barstow at about Midnight, it was still 100 and there was a line to get into any place air conditioned, restaurant, store, restroom, you name it. It was actually cooler to have the windows up and the vents closed, otherwise you were sitting in front of a hot air vent fed by the Mojave desert. I think it was 115 that 4th in Phoenix. On the way back we stopped by the side of the road to watch fireworks at Kingman, AZ.
In Texas we spent many years on the lake with friends when we had out boat. The 4th there is guaranteed to be hot and dry, this year it's forecast to be 102. Generally we didn't go out on the lake that day due to the influx of amateur boaters on holidays. We'd have a big dock party and dip as necessary to keep cool. Although one year the lake was flooded and closed due to high water and it was eerie out on the docks which were deserted, much like mid November, but much warmer. They usually had a fireworks display at the harbor and as many as 200 boats would be anchored out in the cove watching. A couple of years we dragged lawn chairs up on the roof at the house where we could see displays from 3 different places.
One year I spent the 4th coating the roof with aluminum reflective paint, you can imagine the sun burn I got from that reflection and in '06 I was up there again coating it with a white membrane. Even after we sold our boat we'd go out at times with friends on their boats to view the fireworks.
So, memories of the past 60+ years flood back on this day, but you may have noticed the one common thing across all those years and places; it was HOT, MUY CALIENTE, HOT- so, "it just ain't natural" for it to be cool on the 4th of July - but here it sure is! I keep trying to remind myself that we used to drive up in the mountains to cool off, and I AM in the mountains here, but it's just not right for it to be cloudy, rainy and 62 degrees on the 4th of July? And when you live in thin air (which retains heat about as well as I retain money?) in a big concrete, brick and steel pizza oven with cold tile floors, it is almost chilly - really, trust me. Our hot months are April and May, once it begins to rain in June, summer's over - we cool significantly and when the sun isn't out it's darn cool. Now it's late afternoon and the sun has finally come out, so we made it to - - - 71? - 71 degrees? - shoot, in TX this time of the year is doesn't even drop below 75 at night for months, "this just isn't natural" and now the sun has slid behind a dark cloud, so it looks like more rain.
Something else that "ain't natural" is paying $7 for a can of baked beans which were good, but hardly "baked" by Mom's standard. I decided to make it a traditional (as possible) 4th so I bought some Johnsonville dogs and a can of Bush's Honey Baked beans and even got Wonder buns and while they would have tasted better on a grill I wasn't about to go to that much trouble, so, add some good old Lays (Sabritos) potato chips and a Coke Zero and you have July 4, 2009. As it was raining earlier the US and TX flags were hung inside the deck windows. I don't have any cohetes (aerial bombs) so guess I'll have to take the AK-47 out after dark and shoot in the air (it's ok, roofs are concrete, so no harm, no foul).
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