Episode #63: July 4th 2026

 This year's July 4th was like many in the past in that it was hot at about 95 degrees, but unlike many others in the past when there has been a month or more of drought and very dry ground conditions, this year there had been several rainy days in the past couple of weeks so the fear of fire resulting from the barrage of fireworks for days and nights on end would be reduced.

Unlike most Independence Day firework celebrations which usually start around here the weekend before and run through the following weekend, this year was much more quiet. Some folks around here don't celebrate the day, it is more like Independence 2 Weeks including an unknown amount of money spent because the last time I bought any was many years ago and you could spend a couple of hundred dollars very quickly back then. This year the 4th fell on Saturday and there were fireworks a plenty that night and only one other night that lasted until about 1:30am.

Our kids came over about 4:00pm a little after the grand babies woke up from their afternoon naps. I had the little small plastic round wading pool which is about 4' in diameter and holds about 12" of water set up for Anthony and the bigger rectangular inflatable pool (which measures 10' x 4' and fills to  about 30" of water) for Theo and Elizabeth. They had fun just splashing and jumping around in the heat of the late afternoon. I also had a 10'x10' canopy set up to help shade the kids from the hot summer sun and to help keep the water from getting so hot and to help keep them from getting a sun burn. Also, this allowed some shade for us as we sat out there watching them play.

I fired up the grill a couple of hours later and cooked a bunch of hot dogs and brats for supper. After we ate supper and visited for a bit the kids packed up and left prior to the expected local fireworks shoot off that starts at dusk. Much to our surprise it was not as prolific as in years past and with the recent rain days, I had expected it to be a gang buster of an evening. Though it started as expected about 9:00, it began to wane around 10:15 a bit.

In hindsight, one of the reasons the fireworks celebration this year was a bit abbreviated compared to previous years was a storm had moved in just before midnight which is unusual this time of year and I was unaware of this possibility before going to bed. As is our practice every time fireworks are being shot (and during severe thunderstorms) we have to put the dogs in the garage because they absolutely freak out with the noise from the fireworks. I went to bed about 10:30 pm and woke up with a start about 12:20 am to a sound that was different than the normal sound of fireworks reports, this was a loud crack of thunder.

I got up and opened the back door and the wind was blowing a gale (I saw later that morning that there were windspeeds of over 40 mph) with lightening and thunder all around as this pop up storm moved through just a little east of us. I got Carol Ann up to help me get the dogs out so I could raise the garage door and bring the canopy inside. This little shade canopy is made of a very lightweight tin type of material with a collapsible frame with a fabric shade cover that attaches to this lightweight frame with Velcro style straps. By the time I got out there to bring it in, it was already blown over and had wrapped around the back yard fence.

Trying to unwrap this frame and fighting the wind was definitely a crazy exercise in futility in the middle of the night! 

Let this be a lesson for me, do not leave a shade canopy or large umbrella outside overnight.