respublica

Personal fireworks

This is the time of year when too many individuals head for those fireworks stands along interstates in places where it is legal to buy them and take them back to their neighborhoods where it is not legal to shoot them off.  But they do.

They were already going off in Collinsville last weekend.  In the St. Louis area, unincorporated St. Charles County, a family shooting off fireworks yesterday had their garage destroyed and the siding of the home next door melt after a smoldering firework dropped on the bag filled with other fireworks, igniting into a big blasting fire.

Everyone got out of the house, including the hamster and cat.  The thing is people who buy these things set them off at all times of the day and night, days before the 4th and days after.  Not only can terrible things happen to body and property, but it's truly annoying.  And, they scare dogs so badly they have been known to jump through windows, run off for miles, hang themselves by whatever rope type thing they've been hooked to, trying to escape the noise.

We often wake up the day after the 4th and see all kinds of spent firework stuff on roofs of garages and homes, in bushes, littering the lawn.  It's unsettling, especially in dry times to realize just how easy it is for fires to ignite.

We see crackdowns on speeding, drunk driving, seatbelt use and all manner of things over the 4th of July weekend, but it seems impossible to put a stop to these residential fireworks explosions. We stop buying tomatoes because they might make us sick, but we keep buying things that can blind us or burn our house down.

June Garden

Eating outside in the garden tonight?  Oh yeah.

Late afternoon sun.

Can you smell the dill?  To bad websites don't have smell.

The birds and...and...squirrels love the backyard.  They eat every last nugget.

All the rain has caused the worst flooding in the midwest in years, but around here it has made the flowers and foliage grow like they've been swallowing steriods.

Mother's Day gift suggestions...

...from Amazon. 

The Revolution Manifesto by Ron Paul?

Are they serious?

Call us blessed

Is there anything more beautiful than a warm, sunny, blooming spring day?  God's creation around every corner.  We are indeed blessed to live near such things.

The grass is getting green, the Redbud trees are in full throttle.

The Phlox is creeping up hill.

And Tulips! 

And Cherry trees

People out walking and biking and dogging.

Babies get out in the sunshine and so do their parents.

And puppies get some air and sun too.

But to everything there is a season, and summer will soon push spring out of the way.

Give thanks and enjoy.

Ah. Spring

It's popping out all over.

Anyone know what this next spring flower is?  Cal Skinner of McHenry County blog has these in his yard and cannot remember what they are.   I've tried to find something on the web, but so far nothing.  Updated:  It's a scilla or wood squill.

If it rains on Easter...

...will the next 7 Sundays see rain?  That's one of those old "saws" we've heard many times over the years.

Does the same apply to snow?  That's what we had this morning and throughout the day, snowflurries alternating with rain.

Sun.  Let's see some sun.

St Patrick's Day memory

With an Irish turn of phrase, I'd like to say on this St. Patrick's Day:

God Bless all here.

Last year I walked over to Forest Park and took pictures of all the people lining up for the annual Dogtown St. Patrick's Day, always on the 17th, Parade.  For the past two weeks, google has been sending anyone searching for the Dogtown parade to my site so I thought I'd link the two photo posts for old time's sake and because we can't be there in person this year.

A look at the entrants in the parade

The gussied up dogs in the parade

Sadie Hawkins Day

It's February 29th, the extra day we get every four years.  Why?  I don't know except that it has something to do with math or sychronising the astronomical calendar.  This is also Sadie Hawkins day, an event taken from the Li'l Abner comics of years ago and named after Sadie, the "homeliest gal in all them hills".  Each leap year all the single women in Dogpatch could pursue the single men. 

What are we supposed to do?

No holidays this week, probably no snow days, no state is voting, Hollywood is finished awarding themselves, the NCAA basketball tournament is still in the future.

What to do. 

Happy New Year

Photo credit:  The Baileys.  All 4 of them.