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Memories of 4th of July's past


petitepedal

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The small town I grew up in had a patriotic parade at 9 AM...for years...and one of the towns a few miles away always did a  Calithumpian parade on the evening of the 4th...sometimes we would attend the evening parade...with "large" crowds..

 

We dressed up in costumes, people had decorated bicycles, and made floats.  Our parade until about 1970 or so was just the 9 AM parade'  I band..the high school band...One year about 8 AM my mom started on my costume..we even had to run to the store for "tin foil"..she covered a large box with the foil and made a clock face (numbers) for the front...trimmed the edge with colored paper and wrote "Tick Tock" on the back using the same paper....It was a bit slow going cos the box only allowed for short steps...But...I got First place...in the general category...$5   the next year we planned a little bit ahead..using chicken wire she made a frame...and using plaster (leftover from cast making at the hospital were she worked...) we covered the frame...and I became the big snowman...I wore boots and a life jacket...the dang thing was heavy...I got first place that year too...but money was tight only $4.....but we went to the Calithumpian parade in the next town and I got second place....$11.. :D   Much fun...  Then we spent more money on a costume...and my mom made me a butterfly costume...and my cousins daughter a flower outfit to wear..but the little girl was scared and cried..(she was visiting from out of town and although she like me...she was probably 6...the parade was just to scary. 

 

From there we moved on to floats..with the kids of another cousin..one year it snoopy, the dog house, Lucy & Charlie Brown...the next year...like maybe 1974...we turned this little trailer into a pretty big clipper ship...cardboard, paint and some aspen trees for masts...the morning of the parade my cousin had to climb up and saw about a foot off the mast...so we could get down the alley ..we were taller than the power lines.  The next year...was the same little trailer...but in 3 pieces....my mom sat inside...and it was a dinosaur...the tail would pivot and had wheels on the end...the backbone was a tree...there were 3 of us riding on it...and my mom IN it..she was moving the head from side to side..the break lights were attached to the eyes (2 3pound coffee cans) and inside was a big fire extinguisher...with a hose attached...it sent smoke out the dinosaurs mouth... I think that was our last parade...probably 1975 or 76...we were gonna go for a paddle wheeler...but it was too big for the garage and well...a storm in the early creation days kinda ended that.

Lots of fun memories...

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Nothing along those lines, Petite. Just some great memories of being a kid, hanging out with my brothers and watching the fireworks.

 

Small town celelbrations are the best tho. Everyone seem to be involved and it's amazing how creative some folks are. Sounds like your Mom was one of those creative type ladies who could make things so much fun.

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All I remember is blowing stuff up.  My most vivid memory is the way the windows shook when my uncle set off an M100.  My Grandmother was so pissed at him.  HAHA

 

I loved the fireworks when I was a kid.  The sparklers with metal handles were fantastic.  

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I played a gig at a nudist colony on 4th of July back in Texas one year

 

Then another year I remember we had this huge party down at the lake around dusk I was down at the lake with a couple dogs when they started shooting off the fireworks, and they were shooting them our way, so I was hunkered down in a depression in the ground with the dogs for about a half hour while we were basically getting shelled by all the fireworks and bottle rockets

 

then I remember when I was a kid we had this big rocket firework that was going to be our big finish to our little neighborhood kid's fireworks shooting, but the rocket somehow fell over while the fuse was burning and shot strait down the road, hit the yard at the end of the street and went right through their living room window, started the place on fire and everything. We all ran like Jesse Owens

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The last 10 years was usually spent trying to keep my two greyhounds shielded as best I could from the 'terror' of neighborhood fireworks. They literally were crazy with fear. I would often start days early by getting some sedative from the vet. Then about the time I figured the first fireworks would start, I'd find a really loud movie with explosions and other type noises and play it over and over really loud to help shield out the firework noises. Naturally pull the curtains tightly closed to they didn't see them. And the last few years I even discovered Thunder Shirts and started using those too. It still wasn't enough, but it was the best I'd found in the time I had them.

 

The real problem was when they had to go potty. Then there was no choice but to see/hear them when they went to the back yard. One year I'd apparently over sedated Solomon and he could barely stand. I picked him up and carried him outside with the intention of holding him upright if need be. A bit later my wife found some poop in the kitchen, where apparently he'd let it go while I was carrying him out and didn't notice.

 

Oy vey! Firework ridden holidays were a huge challenge.

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