Has the Shooting Stopped?

I've felt like I've been living in a war zone over the last few days. Since we live on the line between a "no fireworks" county and a "we love to blow stuff up" county, people in my neighborhood have been crossing the line and heading to one of 5,000 vendors set up to fuel their pyromania. Seriously, there are that many fireworks tents set up near my house. And the end result is that every night the evening calm is torn asunder.

Normally I love blowing stuff up. It's just that I have a dog who doesn't like that at all. Barney the not-so-brave Beagle refuses to go outside, which results in the occasional accident. Even when we drugged him with puppy prozac (ask for it by name!), he was coherent enough to realize that outside was not where he wanted to be. So clean up duty was a constant around my house.

It did rain for part of the evening of the Fourth, though, which proves the point made by the following chart:

The funny part was that people were apparently sitting inside holding their fireworks while standing on starter blocks. The moment the rain halted, or even slowed slightly, the explosions commenced. Sometimes it seemed as if people were holding umbrellas over the rockets, then jerking them away at the last minute!

We did manage to have a good time with some friends who came over for dinner and to watch the dog chaos. Strangely, the cuisine was all Mexican - enchiladas, Dos Equis beer, chips, salsa, the works. Oh, well. We're free to eat whatever we want, and after watching a clip of the hot dog eating championship on CNN, I'm not sure I EVER want to touch one of those again!

To sum up: the holiday was fun. Sleep was in short supply due to the dogs and fireworks, and I am exhausted. I am at work now, and still am tired.

More later.