I’m not sure if this is a nationwide trend, but the City of Minneapolis hasn’t done fireworks shows on July 4th for a number of years.
That doesn’t stop my neighbors, who buy illegal fireworks in Wisconsin and set them off for weeks preceding and following the official holiday.
The big day itself is the height of fireworks season, and my cats have gotten so used to the noise that they barely notice it even on the 4th. Even Mickey, our stray rescue and mother of the (now 9 year-old) “kittens” is totally cool with the noise. She just curls up next to me and sleeps, happy in the knowledge that if the bullets fly they will strike me instead of her.
My wife and I stepped out to watch the mayhem for a bit, although we went back inside after we heard actual gunshots a few times. Pretty sure it was just the usual silly noisemaking that happens every July 4 and New Year’s Eve rather than actual shots fired in anger, but no need to find out what it’s like to get hit by bullets that rediscover the importance of gravity.
Yes, we are expert enough to tell the difference between gunfire and fireworks. I believe that I can even tell the difference between the sounds of a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, although I have never sought out the people who fired the shots to test my theory. Seems a bit rash to do so.
We are probably about 18 months from moving away to a nice suburb of Detroit, to live near my wife’s dad. At 88 he is trucking along, and I keep telling him that he won’t die, just turn to leather. He is skeptical. Me, not so much. He is as likely as not to outlive me, partly because he is so vital, and partly because I need to take better care of myself.
One irony that strikes me about the upcoming move is that moving from inner-city Minneapolis to a suburb of Detroit will be a major step up in safety. Minneapolis has always had a reputation as a nice place, and we all know the rep. of Detroit. But Minneapolis is now one of the more dangerous cities in America, and once you get a bit out of Detroit itself the suburbs are extremely nice.
I have spent most of my life in Minnesota now (I have lived in many places, including Massachussets, New York, Arizona, and North Carolina), but I will leave feeling no nostalgia for the place. The weather sucks, the politics suck, and now the city sucks. Taxes are outrageous, and it is about as Blue a state as there is.
Ironically, the Minnesota liberals are trying to scare us all into a panic over global warming, but the weather right now is uncommonly pleasant and cool. It has been in the 70s during the day and even cooler at night this week, proving God has a good sense of humor. Usually the state is blazing hot in the Summer and ridiculously cold in the winter. The coming week offers more of the same:
89 degrees is too hot for my taste, but this isn’t normal weather for July, and I am just as happy that we will only run the A/C a couple of days this week.
I grew up in Tucson mostly, and the weather there is hardly so congenial this coming week:
Suddenly 89 looks rather nice, doesn’t it? Not a fan of triple digit temps.
For this and many other reasons I will indeed be smiling this Sunday. I hope you will be too!
This week’s headlines from the newspaper of record
Democrats Confused By Parades Where Everyone Wears Clothes And Doesn’t Swing Sex Toys Around https://t.co/Bgw84AjJFM pic.twitter.com/ySSmYeYk6K
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 8, 2023
Spooked By Fireworks, Biden Pees On Carpet, Disappears In The Woods Behind The White House https://t.co/gRLsSGdk38 pic.twitter.com/55FcB9oI9r
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 8, 2023
California Bans Spanish Over Nouns Having Only Two Gender Options https://t.co/gddtN1c1Uv
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 8, 2023
Macron Warns Rioters If They Don't Calm Down He'll Call Kyle Rittenhouse https://t.co/FOkENubAGy pic.twitter.com/jKMsuN7zOR
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 8, 2023
Chaos In France As Rival Protesters Keep Trying To Surrender To Each Other https://t.co/odjg7Ivu1f pic.twitter.com/tQ0yQurtNi
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 8, 2023
New 'Threads' App Successfully Combines Everything You Hate About Twitter With Everything You Hate About Instagram https://t.co/kByPoBQjWV pic.twitter.com/4f1KsImVmT
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 7, 2023
Talk About Crazy: This Fringe Conspiracy Theorist Believes Hollywood Isn't Run By A Bunch Of Pedos https://t.co/MnasDVQ2FP pic.twitter.com/qdXVzWJOPZ
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 7, 2023
Dog Graciously Allows Owners To Sleep In His Bed https://t.co/EKQ77XkgXG pic.twitter.com/sEerhWLLOl
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 7, 2023
Ben And Jerry Announce Native Americans May Exchange White Man’s Scalp For Free Pint Of Chunky Monkey https://t.co/6RK2d0SyFQ pic.twitter.com/wmURB42sOa
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 6, 2023
Gay Couple Shops For Designer Baby To Match Their Shoes https://t.co/mi2OFkMhzo pic.twitter.com/pZ0h8wjavc
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 6, 2023
New Study Shows An Alarming Link Between Being A Conspiracy Theorist And Not Having Myocarditis https://t.co/pzhhUWzfee pic.twitter.com/sIIbwF5NWA
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 6, 2023
Woman Starting To Think Company Offering To Kill Her Kid Doesn't Have Her Best Interests At Heart https://t.co/qFhQTkESX6 pic.twitter.com/xjBEpwC51f
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 3, 2023
Random stuff I liked from around the web
Again, again…😍 pic.twitter.com/5YBQBhQEyp
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) July 8, 2023
Football fanatic dog 💓pic.twitter.com/mACGGuKr64
— Best Moment (@BestMoment_Vids) July 7, 2023
Abort Mission..🐈🐾😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Zfx07boXTx
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) July 6, 2023
https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1677800695469326336?s=20
singing crow pic.twitter.com/6OsfQpZBOM
— Enezator (@Enezator) July 6, 2023
best bowling shot in history pic.twitter.com/Biopyrr5gJ
— Enezator (@Enezator) July 5, 2023
#AnimalsLover
#Adorable pic.twitter.com/X0Cb8dsWOX— Alma (@Alma_Isabeel) May 20, 2023
— Animals Being Jerk (@Animalbelngjerk) July 2, 2023
And finally…your cat, when you aren’t looking…
Took me a second.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/eLr0jnRoCT
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) July 2, 2023
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