Fireworks.... Love Them or Hate Them?

I was out and about yesterday and was starting to see the fireworks shops opening up for business. I love summer but hate the KABOOMS of someone's private artillery show. I heard a few go off the other night and thought, "Great. Redneck season is officially underway." Plus they terrify my dog.

I think they are ok for the 4th of July. Any other day is annoying. But I think people should be allowed to use them for the holiday.

I guess I can understand it for July 4th although my dog and I still hate them. If it's July 3rd - 5th (city ordinance) there's nothing I can do about it but when they're kaboomin' from mid-June - mid-July then it gets old.

I like the lightshow of professionally done fireworks. I hate redneck season. By the way, love that phrase. Around here the maniacs start days ahead of the holiday and go for days after. They don't limit themselves to the 4th either... the 4th, Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving... any reason they can find to get beered up and blast away.

I live in a rural part of the country & surrounded by horse farms. Dogs, horses (& even some cats) get so spooked by fireworks I have gotten so I don't like to be anywhere close to them. Like watching the pretty colors in the air from miles away without the loud booms. My poor babies always hated even thunder or gun shots. Seriously I like my peace & quiet in the country. Never really liked the loud fireworks even as a kid

I’m with Liz. Like the professional shows but hate the rednecks and their shooting them off for no reason. I have a cat and noises that happen outside of his home he ignores. But dogs, oo it’s bad for them. When I volunteered at the shelter in Texas on the fourth we gathered in mass to comfort the dogs in residence and upped our numbers for the days around the fourth to deal with all the poor souls that took off and got lost because of the noise. On top of their fear, the poor souls got rounded up and put into shelter. Very traumatic for them.

"beered up"

Yep. That's what they do then rush to the ER when they're missing a limb.

I was in the Navy and I have heard my share of KABOOMS. I always feel if you want to play with explosives, the armed forces will actually pay you to do it.

Agreed. One thing I will say, I have a neighbor (literally next door) move in a few years ago around June. In July he was kaboomin'. A day or two later he asked my wife if the fireworks bothered us. She told him they scare our dog. He hasn't shot off any since. I like and respect him for that.

Revenge Tour, what a great neighbor!

I love the ones made in America. The ones made in China fall over, shoot at your neighbor's house, and start fires (
Or so I hear.... ). I am startled by loud noises, but like, unexpected loud noises. We just had bike week here. That was a lot of loud noise. It was annoying as fk and way worse than fireworks.

Revenge Tour.....what an awesome neighbor.

I have to admit on our rural farms we do our share of target practice & that can be loud & scary to animals too. Maybe not quite as loud but some are scared by gun shots too.

Lol....the cows seem more layed back than the horses even in the thunder & lightning storms. Neighbor cows were standing around a tree that was burning after being hit by lightning trying to stay warm I guess. That crack when lightning hits something is louder than fireworks & sometimes it can last almost as long as a fireworks show

This brought up a memory from years ago when my daughter was young. We were vacationing in the Calif mountains in Calavaras County. We went to their fair grounds to watch the 4th of July fireworks. One got away & started a brush fire behind the fair grounds. We seriously enjoyed watching the skills of the firefighters more than the fireworks. They did a wonderful job controlling it in the dry brush & getting it put out quickly

Two sayings that go along with "beered up" - "hold my beer" and "hey y'all, watch this!" Both usually followed by a trip to the ER.

That's actually pretty funny since nobody got hurt. Just the visual of firefighters being more entertaining than the fireworks themselves makes me laugh.

Yep. The sounds of summer.... Fireworks and loud look-at-me motorcycles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revenge Tour Yep. The sounds of summer.... Fireworks and loud look-at-me motorcycles.

Oh those loud look at me motorcycles was racing on the winding road down to my farm 2 weeks ago. I was chain sawing a huge bush on my farm & actually stopped & thought what a jerk. They (I think there were 2 of them) never made it down to my farm. I Thought they just stopped until I saw all the emergency vehicles just up the hill. The guy went off the road, down the embankment & through the fencing & the motorcycle landed on top of his leg. He was air lifted to the university hospital in the city & the other guy who was with him was no where to be found. The towing people drug the
motorcycle up the embankment & said it didn't matter about being careful with it cause it was totaled anyway....I am betting he never does that again

I think fireworks are cool and pretty and cool when done around the right settings. Like I like seeing them at Disneyland. But I really hate it when they can be shot off around residential neighborhoods and places where they can frighten animals and people who are sensitive to those noises. I hate them because there are dumb *** people who shoot them off not just on 4th of July but also on New Year`s Eve and Christmas and they scare the crap out of our dogs. We have to get medication from the vet so our dogs don`t freak out on those days. I also have heard that they disturb veterans with PTSD. I guess I`m just not a big fan.

I heard this too and am not a fan, not anymore. I can't stand the noise now, and they start earlier each year. I heard a "kaboom" last night as I was about to drift off. And it's not even July....YET. I already dread it and June is half over now, and I know I'll be anticipating it. I'm an early bird; I like to go to bed early and be up early. I'm no nightowl.

Now I'll be forced to stay up past my time, as trying to to sleep is pointless. I won't know when they are stopping. I can only guess.

To me it's people just going through the motions. This is what we're supposed to do. NYE is worse. It's true it scares animals and can sound like gunshots to anyone who has been around gunfire. And I'm in no celebratory mood at all, about this country or anything else.

I'm not much a fan myself. I know it's a celebration of this nation but I'm not feeling in a celebratory mood (like what nonightowl said) because of how I feel my life is going now and the condition of this country. I'm a certified introvert, by all means, and the noises from the fireworks and crowds gathering is too much for me.

i enjoy the professional shows. i feel there is too much of a safety concern risk for them to be allowed in the hands of a partying yahoos. i feel bad for my dog and all the animals that freak out when they go off & my heart goes out to military veterans & other people who are negatively affected by them.

They’re ok but trigger panic for me. They remind me too much of gunshots

I hate to be a bore but I’m afraid I can’t ignore the pollution they cause, they release toxic particles into the atmosphere. I don’t feel like the planet needs this on top of all the other pollutants we’re churning out.

Laser light shows are becoming quite the thing here for organised events, they seem a safer option and no bangs either, normally a choreographed music soundtrack.

I get it. I never thought about the environmental impact but you're right.

As others have stated, the professional / community displays are okay. It's the "beered up" hick shows that I can't stand.

Which is all too common in the US too.


This is a good point. It's not good for our climate either, which has been going down the tubes for decades yet they keep saying how urgent it is that we do something. Too little, too late. And it impacts ALL life forms. We're all connected in one way or another.