Monday July 5th

[IrishIroamed]

Mornin' ladies~~~
Personally I'm glad the 4th is over. At least CGs don't allow fireworks. People in homes shot them off, but never over their own homes. At least where Dad lives, the homes are spread apart with a large grassy area for high wires. Saw on the news two homes burned and are uninhabitable from fireworks. Wish the cops could do more since they are illegal. An old cop friend said the 4th is the worst holiday to work.

In other Itty bitty news, brakes are done in the camper. Yea! Will call in a few minutes to make sure the dealer in Grand Rapids is open today, then will go get it. The drive there shouldn't be to bad, but I hate 80/94 traffic. The only way around would add 2 hours and take me thru some bad neighborhoods. Maybe I'll stay somewhere for one night. Can't wait until I have the camper at dad's. At least then Punkin and I will have A/C.


Have a good day ladies.

[PeggyinCT]

Good morning Cheryl and Everybody who follows,
There were guys shooting off fireworks for hours last night all around the neighborhood. What a waste of money. I’m sure their wives and children could find more productive ways to spend the money. Men just love loud bangs, burned fingers and the excitement of it all.
Sometimes it becomes a real tragedy when houses burn or people get seriously hurt. sh** for brains. Brave the traffic and get your ac.... Enjoy today Peggy

[Colliemom]

Moring Cheryl, Peggy and all who follow. I agree with you in that I’m glad the 4th is over too. Neighbors next door shot off a bunch of aerial fireworks last night. Family is here from TX and the brought a mess of them. They were the only ones doing any. We have big yards here, They and I both have bit over 3 acres. Their place was my home I sold 5 years ago. Our yards are all woods behind us and between us on part of the one side. They were launching them from the drive, straight up, but they were exploding over my trees, garage and trailer . One unexploded one flew backwards off into my woods behind me, but fortunately just popped on the way down. Another did same In my front yard. I was worried about Fire as we are dry here. They should have launched them over their yard. Last year they did same thing and one landed in my yard. It had exploded but still sparked when it hit the ground. Neighbor across the road had grandkids playing with sparklers, but they stayed on the driveway, so the sparks were landing there. Piper was totally upset, but yet, certain ones didn’t bother her.

Did any of you see the Capital 4th in TV last night? It was a great show and spectacular fireworks. A sea of humanity as far as the eye could see too. People were so happy and having a great time. There were some wonderful celebrations all over the country. Our local fireworks were on Saturdsy night. Being this is a resort/tourist area, They always do them on the Saturday before the 4th regardless of when The 4th falls, so those who are up at their cottages or visiting the area for the weekend can seem them. Even if the 4th is during the week.

Hot and muggy here yesterday. Better this morning, no humidity, but still heading into 80’s.nice. Reeze out tbere. Was 91 yesterday, above normal for here. Going back into upper 60’s/low to mid 70’s this week.

Think I will head for town this morning. Need a new sander and new board for my deck steps. Will be too warm to work out there anyway and rain supposedly coming later.

So that’s my news for this morning. More of a rant perhaps. Oh well. Have a great day out there.

[Othersharon]

Good morning. We had some “boomers” last night but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Luckily Rascal isn’t to bothered by them! I’m going to have my son’s 2 little poodles for a few days starting tomorrow and it’ll prove to be interesting. The younger of the two is one nervous fellow and snaps and growls at Rascal all the time. I’m hoping without the kids he’ll settle a bit but I will have to watch him pretty closely. I think he’ll be tethered to me a good part of the time so I can control the situation. Luckily Rascal so far doesn’t really react to him. Oh, what we do for our kids! I’m just happy they can get away for a few days with each other. I’ve gone from watching human kids to watching dogs! I went to the store yesterday with a very short list and came out with a much bigger haul! Funny how that works! At least I won’t have to shop for awhile! Just the normal everyday stuff now! I think today will be pretty nice weather wise but the heat is supposed to return tomorrow so I need to do a couple things outside while I can handle the temps! Then mostly inside the rest of the week! Or else it’ll be early in the day to be out and I’m not much of an early bird! Sue, it sounds like you had a real possibility of a fire starting with the neighbors fireworks. I don’t get the whole need to set them off at home. I did watch the program from Washington D.C as I usually try to do every year and it was a great show. That’s a good way to enjoy it all without having to deal with the crowds and traffic! Well, I guess, speaking of getting something accomplished outside I should get moving and get to it! Have a great day all!

[Redetotry]

I am also glad the Fourth is over! Peggy I thought about the waste of money too, plus like Cheryl said they are illegal in Illinois, so why is it ignored! Fortunately my three dogs aren't bothered by them but they will bark at the really loud ones. Sue can you share your fire concerns with your neighbors? The family doing it in our neighborhood would not listen and besides they don't speak to anyone! This was such a nice neighborhood until they moved in with multiple cars, trucks, boats and numerous people coming and going. Like the fireworks police ignore them...

Cheryl so glad your brakes are fixed and I hope they did it right! AC is a big incentive for getting it back! Would tomorrow be less traffic for the drive?

Sharon I hope your doggy guests behave themselves! Little poodles as you probably know can be a challenge! good luck.

[Cudedog]

Enjoyed reading about all of your "fireworks" evenings.

Last night was probably the worst it has ever been here. The constant crashing-booming noise started at 8:00 p.m. and didn't completely stop until 1:30 a.m. Five and a half hours of Hell.

In the past, I have just put my Joe in his crate the kitchen with the lights off when the explosions started. . . they were so loud and so constant this year that I was afraid that he would injure himself - break a toenail or a tooth, or worse - thrashing around in his crate. After an hour or so, with the intensity of the cacophony increasing by the minute, I finally took him out of his crate, leashed him (this helps me to control him), and closed all of the doors in the hallway to the bedrooms, turned off the lights (couldn't see the flashes because the hallway takes a turn) and sat there stroking him and crooning to him, repeating the same "Joe is a good boy" phrase over and over.

This seemed to help some. He stopped trying to (literally) climb the walls to either side, and finally lay down beside me, still panting and shaking. After three hours of sitting on the floor with him in the dark I was totally exhausted. I started to get up, thought better of it, just rolled onto my side, lay down, and fell asleep right there on the hardwood floor. Thank goodness Joe was calm enough not to try to climb all over me as he had been doing earlier (he is a large-ish dog) but just lay there on the floor at my feet panting and shaking.

I, too, wonder where people find the money to pay for these things, with a LOT of people in my area really hurting. Donating to a local food kitchen would be a lot better than so much money literally "going up in smoke".

At about 1:15 a.m. I woke up knowing Joe desperately needed a potty run, got to my feet, didn't hear anything, got ten steps out the back door with him and the booms started in again (at freaking 1:15 a.m.!!). Joe did an about-turn and made a beeline for the back door - I barely restrained myself from screaming expletives at the top of my lungs. What the $$##%!! is the matter with people???

I'm done.

Next year I'm going to beat it out of town, no matter what, to the Medicine Lake Volcano in outer No-wheres-ville where fireworks are not allowed. Or maybe just rent a motel room somewhere out in the sticks.

Someone on here, I forget who - was it you, Velda? - suggested noise-cancelling headphones for him, as did my kids. Since I had planned to be gone on the 4th (before the heatwave hit) I had forgotten about them. If they are not too expensive, I might try them - but Joe is not a dog that likes to wear appliances.

Oh, Sue, thank you so much for posting your county. It was the bright spot of my day! I looked on Zillow, found a really beautiful "never-happen" house that I am sure I would love (1445 Mount Jack Rd, Elmira, MI 49730):

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1445-Mount-Jack-Rd-Elmira-MI-49730/106572106_zpid/? The $217,500 price would be at least three-quarter mil here. Probably more. Be still my heart!

Thank you, Sue, for allowing me to indulge my Zillow addiction. Browsing Zillow takes my mind off of my problems, and helps me to imagine better days.

Anne

[Shirlv]

Good morning All, just checking in, no special plans for the day. I heard fireworks off in the distance but nothing annoying. The top heavy tomato plant toppled over during the night but do not see major damage. Lol Family has tried convincing my brother to get a cell phone since his ancient phone lines do not work after a rain storm. Verizon will not replace in rural area so he
can’t connect with the outside world. He went grocery shopping, his truck broke down and his ice cream melted. Think he is now ready for a flip cell phone.l “Don’t Mess With His Ice Cream” lol Be safe

[Acadianmom]

Barbie, duh, I didn't even think about the weather radio that is in the motorhome. I was trying to get the radar on my phone and wanted to know what the tropical storm was doing. I doubt the weather radio would say much about that since it was still so far out.

The fireworks at the lake are shot out over the lake. The campground is on a peninsula and the fireworks are shot on the point. There are so few people left where I live that I never see anything here. A few years ago fireworks set the parish barn with road equipment on fire and some of the trucks burned. It killed me when my boys wanted to buy fireworks. I felt like we were burning money. They were too expensive 30 years ago so no telling what they are now. The people a few campers down from us had a cute Jack Russel puppy. The puppy started having a fit when the fireworks started and the owners were just ignoring him. Someone finally went and sat with him. I don't know why they didn't put him inside.

Anne, sorry you and your dog had such a hard time with the fireworks. I have a "Zillow Addiction" too. lol I love where I live but would like to have somewhere to evacuate to for storms besides my son's. It is such a pain to find somewhere to go when everyone gets on the road.

I was going to go to the post office and happened to think that maybe they are closed. I checked on the internet and they are closed. Saved myself a trip to town. My vacuum cleaner bags finally came in a bag that was open. I'm luck they got here. It looks like they tried to stuff them in a bag that was too small and it popped open. Guess I better start on the pile of laundry. I was too tired last night to mess with it.

Martha

[Redetotry]

Enjoyed reading about all of your "fireworks" evenings.

Last night was probably the worst it has ever been here. The constant crashing-booming noise started at 8:00 p.m. and didn't completely stop until 1:30 a.m. Five and a half hours of Hell.
Anne

Anne have you talked to your vet about tranquilizers for Joe? I've had dogs that needed them occasionally and they work well.

[chalet05]

Good morning -

No fireworks here - banned this year! However, we have a 2500 acre wildfire about 30 miles east of here in East Wenatchee - 10% contained last I read. It happens to be in an area where fireworks were not banned so everybody jumped on that bandwagon as the cause. Still no definite cause but farm equipment has been mentioned as well. Evacuations have happened.

I feel for all of you with dogs - I remember those days. We had a tranquillizer for ours, but one year my older daughter and I both dosed him. I usually watch the Washington, D.C. program and/or the Boston Pops but don't have access to PBS.

Trying to get motivated to put all my pottery in the cupboard since I've had it out admiring it for a bit. Guess I was hoping kids would get the kitchen queen here to put it in but that's not happening for awhile due to the heat.

Not sure if cherry season is over, but apricots and peaches are available now.

Enjoy your day!

[Cudedog]

Enjoyed reading about all of your "fireworks" evenings.

Last night was probably the worst it has ever been here. The constant crashing-booming noise started at 8:00 p.m. and didn't completely stop until 1:30 a.m. Five and a half hours of Hell.
Anne

Anne have you talked to your vet about tranquilizers for Joe? I've had dogs that needed them occasionally and they work well.

You know, that is a really excellent idea. Don't know why I hadn't thought of it - I had Joe for some vaccines to the vet last week, should have talked about it then. Next time I am there I will ask about it.

Thanks.

Anne

[JudyJB]

Anne, why can't you consider a move to someplace like Otsego county?? Gaylord is a very nice little town, and it is affordable. Joe would not have as many neighbors to worry about, and you could canoe some of the crystal clear streams around there and boat on some of the lakes. Plus, Traverse City with hundreds of wineries and chain stores would fulfill your shopping needs. And with three bedrooms, your kids could come to visit!!! Think about how you could spend all the money you would save.

I drove 50 miles yesterday to my son's condo in Sandusky, OHio. It is a weekend 2nd home which is on a wide canal that connects to Sandusky Bay, which is where they do most of their boating. So, my son has gone toy-crazy. First, he bought a small, used boat and several huge pull-behind rafts. Then he got one of those rubber boats like Jacques Cousteau used to use. Next was paddleboards for the three kids, who are now 11, 13, and almost-15, and then two inflatable kayaks. Latest purchase was the wave-runner that holds three people!!

We all went to the grocery store. I needed stuff also, so we really filled up his car. I cannot believe what families spend on groceries these days. They did get some non-grocery items at Meijers, but my bill was $65 and theirs was $360!!!! Of course, they are feeding three adult-sized kids these days. After putting groceries away, my son two of the kids and I went for a boat ride over to Cedar Pointe, which of course was packed. They have season tickets, so maybe I will go later in the summer when it is not so busy. These photos were taken from the bay, but Lake Erie is on the other side of the peninsula.



There were a lot of boats in the bay, which really riled up the water, so it was a very bumpy ride. When I got back to my campsite last night every muscle in my body was sore and aching, I think from hanging on during the bumpy ride. Had to take some Advil, but did not recover until this morning. I'll be moving to a campground closer to their place tomorrow for two days before moving to another state park closer to their home south of Cleveland.

[Colliemom]

This picture was taken by somebody headi g northon I-75, a little while ago, of the traffic heading south, past me on the freeway. I need not say there were a lot of people up here and the UP this weekend.

This picture was taken at noon today on the Mackinac Bridge, of traffic heading north into the UP. Note all the RV’s. The reason behind full and next to impossible to get into campgrounds in MI this summer.

[JudyJB]

Wow! Amazing number of RVs in that line, and you usually do not see so many in Michigan as you do in western states.

Lines like those are the reason we took the boat and went PAST Cedar Point yesterday and did not actually stop there, except to try to get take-out. The bay and harbor area was full enough with boats. We made one big mistake and ordered take-out for dinner from Famous Dave's which is part of the theme park, but in the Cedar Point harbor, just at the edge. We gave them 45 minutes notice, but when we got there by boat to pick our order up, they had not even started our food and said it would be an hour. Luckily, we had not paid over the phone so told them to forget it.

I suspect they had just hired a lot of new people who did not know what they were doing. My DIL says they have had a lot of problems at Cedar Point hiring employees because in the past, they hired a lot from outside of the U.S. such as Ukrainians, and they cannot get into the U.S. because of Covid-19. Anyway, good reasons to stay at home or someplace really isolated on weekends like this one!!!

[Acadianmom]

Sue, that's what the Mississippi bridge in Baton Rouge looked like when I went to the campout that was East of Baton Rouge. Except instead of RV's it was 18-Wheelers and the bridge is 6 lanes. My group's next campout is in a couple of weeks in Mississippi. There is no way I am going to fight that again.

Martha