I hate the 4th of July

[Pegasus44]

I'm a patriot, love my country. But what I can't stand is...

The fireworks.

The big city-sponsored shows are fine. Fire Department on hand, ready to act, just in case. Colorful, bright. 99.9% of the time, safe. Every now and then you hear of an accident.

It's the fireworks that you can buy locally that I have a big problem with.
I just don't get why people find joy in colorful explosives. Grown men, getting their jollies lighting gunpowder in front of their children and watching them explode. Loud noises that scare my dogs. And doing it late into the night.

Not to mention that fireworks are ILLEGAL in most cities. Yet, people go through a lot of trouble to find, purchase and then set off these things, knowing it's against the law. Some of those M-80's are basically hand-grenades, and the ones that shoot off into the sky sometimes do NOT go straight up. They go askew and to the side, and the shooters do NOT have any control over them. I guess they chalk it up to, "oh well".

Our 4th of July ritual is to pile the dogs in the car at about 8:30pm, drive up the coast for about an hour, then drive back. By then, most of the firewoks are done.

Oh, and we do medicate the dogs with calming medicine that helps only slightly.

Anyone else feel the same about fireworks?

[Lurker]

Don't ever try driving the 126 through Filmore on July 3rd afternoon, JHC, they were double parked on the street in front of all the temporary shacks selling the stuff.

[Masterp]

My first 4th here in Louisville. I don't know if it's illegal here or not, but if it is, people do not care. I had tons of neighborhood fireworks going from about 9 until midnight and boy was it annoying. It's my own fault from coming home early from a BBQ I was at, but darn, I don't get it either. Waste of money and time IMO