fireworks | WEGGIEBOY'S BLOG by Doug Thomas

I can’t think of a better way to show respect for our American veterans with PTSD than to celebrate the 4th of July for eight days from 9 AM till 10 PM, then July 3rd and 4th from 9 AM till midnight.

Must be great to have a ten-day-long reminder of the combat “fun” you had fighting in America’s wars. Thanks for your service.

Ten gruelling days: That’s how long my hometown allows fireworks to be shot off in celebration of the July 4th holiday.

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I’m so worn out from the blanking ten days of fireworks, especially the ones to midnight the past two nights, I’m having difficulties focusing at the moment. Here’s a couple kitty photos my Seattle sister took of my boys when she was here recently on a family visit:

Dougy in his favorite salmon-colored tub, and Andy on his favorite perch on the box fort.

Dougy the tub cat!

Andy

The boys love their new toy!

Sallows Military Museum

The Fourth of July isn’t a favorite holiday. I like quiet, and this is a noisy holiday. Days of it, not just the 4th. It seems odd people celebrate the founding of a country based on the rule of law by disturbing the peace. I just don’t get it. I don’t like fireworks shows either because every once in a while they always toss in a bomb just to make a loud, unpleasant noise: “…the bombs bursting in air…” Ugh.

It is odd, then, that the quiet place I will spend the Fourth of July afternoon is the military museum where I volunteer every Thursday, nestled among the noisy artifacts of war, now rendered inoperable. Yet it is quiet there, library quiet, if you are old enough to remember when the spinster librarian shushed you every time you peeped. That quiet. I will take a book to read. I started it three weeks ago there, and I’m nearly done. It’s a history about how America ended up in WWII.

Don’t let me rain on your parade, though! If you like the noisy elements of the traditional celebration of this holiday, by all means blow up a few hundred bucks worth of fireworks! Just don’t do it in my neighborhood. Thanks!

p.s. Andy and Dougy aren’t afraid of loud random noises like thunder, sirens, or fireworks, which is a blessing. Some animals suffer needlessly in fear till the noise is done. My cats are tough!