Fireworks of Childhood Past

Tennessee Alabama Fireworks

During my walk this evening, I witnessed the aftermath of last night's
missile barrage that took place near our house. At least it sounded like
that. Of course it was Independence Day and I'm pretty sure fireworks
are much easier to come by than when I was a kid. In the late 70's,
growing up in Indiana, one could pretty much buy sparklers or snakes.
You know...those pieces of ash that curled up on the ground when you
lit them with a match. Oh...and caps, but those weren't restricted to
the 4th. We'd bang on them with a rock on the sidewalk all summer
long. But I digress...

I, on the other hand had a loophole. My brother and sister both lived
in Georgia and we would visit them at least once a year. Fireworks were
apparently big (and legal!) in the south and the small town of South
Pittsburg, Tennessee was on the way home. South Pittsburg was home
to Tennessee Alabama Fireworks. To a kid who loved fireworks, it was
the Valhalla of Fireworks! For some reason, they wouldn't let you smoke
in the store. I don't know why... I would always buy the same. A dozen
packages of Bottle Rockets, A brick of Black Cat Firecrackers and a bag of
M-80s. I would then shoot them off all summer, scaring the crap out of the
dog in the process and scaring my Aunt Sharon as well when I would hold a
small demonstration at the end of the driveway!

Now, it seems you can buy fireworks just about anywhere. Without
much problem in the west and certainly in Indiana. These days, I
don't buy them, but they definitely keep me awake every July. And
yes, I still have all of my fingers!


Bottle Rockets


Black Cats


M-80s

Driving Indiana

To help keep our minds off of things, Lynn and I volunteered
to drive our nephew Erik back to school at Ball State University
in Muncie Indiana. My brother, John also went to Ball State
but I hadn't been to Muncie since John graduated in 1980 so I
was curious what might have changed along the way. It was
always a long 3 1/2 hour drive and there was no way to get there.
That hadn't changed much since 1980. We drove through lots of
small towns including Frankfort, Tipton, Elwood and Alexandria.
We ooohed and ahhhed over Frankfort's Gym (Home of the Hot Dogs...
yes, that is their nickname...really) that seats 5509 and still
is only the 22nd largest high school gym in the state. Just a
bit of trivia...Indiana boasts 9 of the 10 largest high school
gyms in the world with Anderson's being the biggest, holding
9314 fans. Now isn't that interesting??? Anyway, on through
central Indiana we rolled and eventually made it to Muncie.
BSU is a nice university and has some pleasant architecture.
We dropped Erik off at his dorm, saw his room and took off.
It would have been nice to stay longer, but we needed to get
going. The two lane state highway system of central Indiana
was just a little too slow for us so we took off south on I-69
toward Indianapolis and then up I-65 to Lafayette. My cousin
Diane showed us her new house...really nice and very roomy.
She's a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel and she earns her living by
creating works of diffused glass art:

http://di-fusedglass.com

Diane has a small studio in her home where she creates her
art and even has her own kiln. We drove over to the Purdue
campus over in West Lafayette where Diane and I both went to
college and met my nephew Henry for dinner at an Indian restaurant.
Lynn, Diane and I all love Indian food and I think it was
probably Henry's first shot at it. I hope it's not the
last. A short drive home found us back in Hebron. A long
day...a lot of driving...and a nice getaway.

Yard Work

My Dad's favorite hobby was working in the yard. Since he
was sick for all of the summer, all of the family in the
area, including grandkids helped out. This kept it close
to Dad's high standards. Not an easy task when the yard is
about an acre in size and includes multiple flowerbeds, trees,
shrubs, etc. The past couple of days, Lynn and I, along with
my sister Nancy, her husband Greg, my brother John and his wife
Julie, have been helping Mom spruce up the yard and get it
ready for winter. During this process, the mosquitos from the
past few days have been swarming. Not pleasant when you're the
one who's operating the weed whipper and cleaning out shrubs
and bushes. I think I need a transfusion from all the blood
that has been taken from me! I've never seen so many mosquitos
at one time. Even in tropical places like Thailand! Thankfully,
there is supposed to be a cooling trend in the area soon and
hopefully that will zap the buggers. Until then, I'll walk
around looking like I have full-body mumps!