[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]
Aloha Everyone:
Hope you had a good 4th of July! Mine was pretty good. No fireworks of my own, but I got to see
That reminds me -- this fall our next big trip is going to start in Ohio, and the timing will allow me to see the Labor Day fireworks show that Cincinnati puts on each year along the Ohio River. This show is huge, and when we lived there we went almost every year, getting as close to the action as possible. It will last a solid 30 minutes and it's coordinated with music that's broadcast on a local TV/Radio station. Being the pyro-nut that I am, I'm really looking forward to it!
The dogs had a good year in our neighborhood because few people set off their own fireworks and it was very quiet. Each year there are tighter restrictions, particularly on the big bang aerial stuff, but it seems illegal fireworks are available if you really want them. This is especially attractive to high-testosterone types with an unfavorable hormones-to-brains ratio, as illustrated in a story published in our local paper, West Hawai'i Today:
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Police say a 20-year-old Kailua-Kona man died following a fireworks incident on Tuesday evening.
Police and fire responded at 10:27 p.m. to a report of a public accident, possibly illegal fireworks, in a retail parking lot in the 74-5400 block of Kamakaeha Avenue in Kailua-Kona.
Upon arrival, officers located a young man, later identified as 20-year-old Glen John Nakata, lying on the ground with a substantial head injury.
According to police, bystanders said they saw Nakata holding a fireworks launcher above his head when the firework went off, sending him to the ground.
Nakata was taken by ambulance to the Kona Community Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 11:55 p.m.
Holding a fireworks launcher above your head? Really? This tragic miscalculation makes this man a hands-down nominee for a Darwin Award, given each year to those who accidentally remove themselves from the gene pool. In this instance, doing so in a very spectacular way.
No golf this week, but we did manage to work out at PF on Thursday. Ouch. I did my full regime this time, and my body is still objecting. You'd think that all the gardening I do and the pool workouts would use the same muscles as the gym machines, but obviously not. Anyway, we followed the PF session with a nice beach picnic and a trip to Costco.
That's about it for now. Hope your summer is going well. Stay happy. It's hard, but the only way we can win against the woe-mongers.
4 comments:
I hope to see you when you are back in The Buckeye State.
I’m afraid I no longer enjoy fireworks as much as in the past. Poor Egg gets scared and spends the evening in the bathroom squeezed up against a corner. And for days before & after if she hears them (as there are always people out testing them) when we are out for a walk she immediately turns around and heads for home and the bathroom.
I do love watching them on TV with the sound turned off. For years Stan & I would celebrate the 4th at Chautauqua in NY stare and always enjoyed the pops concert of patriotic songs and ending with the 1812 overture with audience participation of popping brown paper bags to act as the cannon fire.
I just read in the Buffalo News about a “prank” on July 4th. A 17 year old and his friends drove to their buddy’s house and tossed a firework on the porch. This was at 12:30 am. The buddy wasn’t home, but his mother, 2 sisters, and girlfriend were home sleeping. The pranksters drove away. A fire started, the house burned to the ground, and the family lost everything. They were lucky to get out alive and uninjured, but their beloved dog was too scared to move, and perished in the fire.
Tragic. I wonder if those Buffalo guys would consider trying for a duo-Darwin Award?
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