Eva referred once to the fireworks all last month as "Moonpie's aversion therapy"

[conuly]

and... well... she's not wrong. Moonie's definitely tolerating the explosions a lot better now than she did last year. I've had to carry her home on multiple walks, but I can get her out the door during the daytime, at least, and she's playful in the house instead of curled up into a miserable, shivering ball.

I still want to murder all my neighbors.

Comments

[librarygeek]

I have an anxious Pibble who is terrified this time of year and is too big for me to carry.

I want to murder my neighbors too. 💀😠😡👿🤬

[conuly]

*hugs*

Poor Pibble.

[pwcorgigirl]

Me too. Everyone in the house has been assigned an anxious dog tonight. Lily Dog is at least lying in her bed beside our bed (she usually sleeps in the home office with the other dogs) and I hope all this does not scare the pee out of her.

And I would like to sleep sometime soon.

[conuly]

*hugs*

At least with us it's only Moonpie. The cats don't seem to care, and Finn is deaf.

[shadowkat]

I really feel for the dog owners in my neighborhood tonight - dear god, they were loud and very close. Do cats react the same way? I can't remember.

I'm hoping tonight is the end of the illegal fireworks that people have been setting off for the last month.

[conuly]

1. Yes, cats do.

2. Wow, you're optimistic.

[shadowkat]

Sigh, poor kitties.

I was about to kill people last night - they were banging until midnight and sounded like they were next door. It has happened every year - but usually ends around July 5 or thereabouts in my area. So my hope is based on some precedent.

[bibliofile]

Popularity of fireworks varies so much around here, by neighborhood. I swear, in one place there were people setting off fireworks for Passover.

[conuly]

Fireworks for Passover? Which plague is that?

[bibliofile]

I didn't know the reasoning behind it; I stayed in my nice warm house those nights. Passover was the only event occurring at the time, near as I could figure: no sportsball, spring break for students (close enough to the college campus), fireworks on multiple nights during the week.

[shadowkat]

Passover? Oh wait, I've heard them around that time period too. Also Jewish New Year. And Columbus Day. And Election Day. Also..Chinese New Year. And New Year's Eve. They also do it on Memorial Day and Labor Day. Frigging Pennsylvania and New Jersey - they are legal to buy in PA, and I think NJ, just not legal to buy here (in NY) but the frigging other states allow it. It's why the Governor is sending the New State Troopers to the border to confiscate illegal fireworks from folks trying to smuggle them back (not quite sure how that will work).

[conuly]

Chinese New Year is at least a well-known fireworks holiday.

[shadowkat]

Very true. They are still setting them off - but less than last night. Last night was ridiculous - they set them off on every street in our neighborhood. I'm amazed the neighborhood didn't burn down.

[lilysea]

It's also hell on anyone with combat-related PTSD...

[conuly]

So I've been told.

[thewayne]

I saw a video last night that my wife found of a New Yorker firing a roman candle, and the first round goes right through the window into his bedroom.

Something like 19 engines had to respond.

I would so love to hear the conversation with his insurance adjuster.

Adjuster: So, you were shooting fireworks.

Idiot: Yes.

A: Next to your house.

I: Yes.

A: Next to an open window.

I: Yes.

A: And you weren't aware as to where you were pointing the end of the roman candle.

I: Apparently so.

A: And you want us to pay for rebuilding your house from the ground up.

I: *crickets*

[conuly]

Is this schadenfreude or karma?

[thewayne]

An insane amount of stupidity, that's for sure! When I was a kid and teen, when we set off fireworks in Phoenix, we made sure to (A) do it from an empty dirt field, and (B) AIM AT THE SKY.  From this video, there was a door with four or so steps coming down the the ground, then two bedroom windows.  Idiot was standing next to the door landing!

[conuly]

Idiot was standing next to the door landing!

Next to the stoop, you mean?

[thewayne]

Not really a stoop, I appreciate the difference.  The steps were alongside the house, so it was more of a landing.  It was like they were in a carport - there were three of them firing off fireworks.

[silveradept]

This turned out to be one of the unexpected benefits of having a basement in a relationship where I was the primary caretaker for the other person's dogs. The basement muted things reasonably well, to the point where a television could down out all but the loudest explosions.

Pyrotechnics are pretty when done with some amount of professionalism. Every six months or so, the amateurs remind us of why.