Fireworks on hapless mannequins (and the occasional hapless watermelon). HAPPY FOURTH Y'ALL!

Considering the near-ghetto that my neighborhood has all but become, we have had a super-quiet summer, even in terms of fireworks. People are going crazy right now, though.

My dad (w/ dementia) did not go to the city fireworks display with the rest of us. (It was a near-fiasco -- relocated from the flooded part of the downtown to a sports park abutting a road completely dug up for construction meant we sat for 30 minutes in the bottom of a traffic "bottle" with no way out.) We got back to find him breathlessly telling us of the one he thought hit the house. I'm annoyed by the loud ones, too, but as long as they taper off by midnight it's not a big deal. I'm more concerned by the roman candles and whatnot that could hit our vacant buildings and reduce them to embers.

Fortunately my kitty is not very disturbed by the noise. He's easily startled but will always go back to investigate, instead of hiding out for hours like some cats. He probably didn't like some of the loud ones either but he's grooming himself right now like nothing's happening, so I guess he's OK.

I ended up unexpectedly spending the evening with my neighbors, all of whom are fairly young and were almost as bombed as I was. They shot off around 500 bucks worth of fireworks, according to them... it was fun.