Fireworks on Holidays in residential areas SUCK. (1 Viewer)

[need2know]

When my brother and I were kids we used to harass the neighborhood with fireworks provided by our parents who, I assume, were glad we were just out of their hair for a while? Now that I'm older, I'm getting paid back, in full. The thing (to me) that's different now, is that we used some common sense. Hey "it's dark, we have between 9 and 10 to light off our fireworks b/c people have to work tomorrow so let's not abuse the privilege". Or, "wow, it hasn't rained in a month, the grass is brown, let's not light $hit off and burn down our neighbor's homes, let's wait until after it's rained a few days". . . okay that one definitely came from our parents but still, someone was paying attention.

Honestly none of that stuff even crossed our minds. Shooting a dozen whistlers off against a buddies house at 2am was standard.

We had strict, common sense driven parents. When we were old enough to light off fireworks unsupervised we were smart enough not to abuse the privilege because we knew they would take it away immediately if we were stupid with them.

We didn't have parents in the 80's. We were all Ferral.

This is true. I would leave the house in the morning and not come back until dark. No questions asked

 

[PIK95]

I’ve noticed a lot more pickup truck flag guys this season

Y'all Kheida made me lol.

 

[BobbyLayne]

don't let the quiet morning or birds chirping hold ya back, fellas

anybody else's neighbors getting an early start?

 

[WDIK2]

Forecast is calling for a thunderstorm to roll in my area at around 5:00 PM. I guess it's a good thing people spent the last week shooting them off.

 

[BassNBrew]

I am very much in the pro fireworks camp but if I had experiences like quite a few people in this thread I would probably be anti-fireworks.

Some crazy stories in this thread.

Yeah. Sure, what's the point...but what's the point of drinking beer or smoking weed. I do laugh at how much people spend on fireworks entertainment.

Personally if I had a sensitive pet I'd probably spend some time using the methods hunters use to introduce a dog to gun fire. Find a local skeet or sporting clay club and start the dog out very far away from the gun fire doing something fun and gradually move them closer.

 

[MTskibum]

I am very much in the pro fireworks camp but if I had experiences like quite a few people in this thread I would probably be anti-fireworks.

Some crazy stories in this thread.

Yeah. Sure, what's the point...but what's the point of drinking beer or smoking weed. I do laugh at how much people spend on fireworks entertainment.

Personally if I had a sensitive pet I'd probably spend some time using the methods hunters use to introduce a dog to gun fire. Find a local skeet or sporting clay club and start the dog out very far away from the gun fire doing something fun and gradually move them closer.

I had a trained brittany spaniel and was big into bird hunting. She was not scared on the 4th

 

[Todem]

OK, children of the 70's/80's:

Anyone else have Roman Candle fights? I never heard of anyone else doing it, but someone else must have.

Bottle rocket fights were common when I was a kid in NE Philly. That wasn’t smart.

Jeez we were terrible…. Miami Beach (little sleepy town called Surfside is where I grew up….2 blocks east of where that condo collapsed two years ago) circa 1980/1981/1982 we would catch lizards and tie them onto bottle rockets.

At the boardwalk on 85th street beach we would throw smoke bombs and firecrackers at homeless alcoholic bums living under the boardwalk.

Fun times.

 

[BobbyLayne]

When my brother and I were kids we used to harass the neighborhood with fireworks provided by our parents who, I assume, were glad we were just out of their hair for a while? Now that I'm older, I'm getting paid back, in full. The thing (to me) that's different now, is that we used some common sense. Hey "it's dark, we have between 9 and 10 to light off our fireworks b/c people have to work tomorrow so let's not abuse the privilege". Or, "wow, it hasn't rained in a month, the grass is brown, let's not light $hit off and burn down our neighbor's homes, let's wait until after it's rained a few days". . . okay that one definitely came from our parents but still, someone was paying attention.

Honestly none of that stuff even crossed our minds. Shooting a dozen whistlers off against a buddies house at 2am was standard.

We had strict, common sense driven parents. When we were old enough to light off fireworks unsupervised we were smart enough not to abuse the privilege because we knew they would take it away immediately if we were stupid with them.

We didn't have parents in the 80's. We were all Ferral.

This is true. I would leave the house in the morning and not come back until dark. No questions asked

that was us in the 60s & 70s - in the water or the woods from breakfast until dinner

summers we always had fireworks....I forget the different classes of FW now but it was super tame, mostly bc Michigan wasn't as wild west as Indiana (people with fancy multi-colored chrysanthemums had made a run for the border)....sparklers, snaps, firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman candles....M-80s were treated with great respect.

we always had to shoot them off on the lakeside of the house so the (usually wasted) adults could supervise us from the porch.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Got home from a family reunion last night around 11:30 or so. Working today. My ******* neighbors started their fireworks around 1:00 and didn't finish up until 2:30.

I am 100% fine with fireworks on the 4th of July. It's one day, it's a holiday, people enjoy them, and it's no big deal. But I do think the social compact calls for knocking it off by midnight. This 1:00 am business is *********, and somebody should get their mailbox taken out when they pull this stuff. Consideration runs both ways.

 

[Fat Nick]

I got some good laughs from this thread. I grew up as an only child in the country in the 80's with a lot of unsupervised time. My parents bought TONS of Fireworks that lasted well past July 4th. Experimentation ruled. I'd blow up ant hills and my old toys all summer long. As I got older, my friends and I would sometimes use them in "pranks," like shooting bottle rockets out of the car at friends, etc...but we knew where to draw the line, not do permanent damage, and not get ourselves hurt.

On the 4th, my kids (9 and 6) were running around with these little ghetto morning glory sparkler things and we told them two rules - don't both stand within arm's reach of each other, and don't hold them right above your head. Within 4 sparklers, my daughter burned my son's arm because he mindlessly walked into her while she was spinning around like a top with a sparkler in her hand, and then my daughter tried to run through a 6" gap between my mom and my wife with a lit sparker in her hand. I asked my Mom if my kids had no common sense because we were overprotective parents or if they just didn't get it....We had a lot of opinions on that question, and I still do. I'm convinced if I dropped my kids into my childhood life they'd be dead or maimed within a month - and that really bothers me. I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

 

[nirad3]

Got home from a family reunion last night around 11:30 or so. Working today. My ******* neighbors started their fireworks around 1:00 and didn't finish up until 2:30.

I am 100% fine with fireworks on the 4th of July. It's one day, it's a holiday, people enjoy them, and it's no big deal. But I do think the social compact calls for knocking it off by midnight. This 1:00 am business is *********, and somebody should get their mailbox taken out when they pull this stuff. Consideration runs both ways.

Yup. I heard some at about 10pm last night. The 5th. People are f'ing dumb.