32 thoughts on “HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

  1. Jeff Meyerson

    Same to you, George. Any big plans? Barbecue?

    We’re going to the Big Ballpark in The Bronx this afternoon to see the Yankees host the Braves, then will stop at a favorite barbecue place in Times Square on the way home. Then we’ll come back and watch 1776 as we do every year.

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    1. george Post author

      Jeff, we’re headed back into the 90s today so it would be hard to pry me away from the A/C. Diane is planning a menu hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, pasta salad, watermelon, and ice cream for dessert.

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    1. george Post author

      Dan, 50% of the people who show up at the Emergency Rooms today will be there for fireworks related injuries. Be careful!

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  2. Rick Robinson

    Happy Independence Day, George and Diane. You’re having hot dogs and sausages. Hot dogs ARE sausages. I guess you mean brats, which of course you’ll be grilling along with those hamburger patties. We’re having burgers, deviled eggs, potato salad, corn on the cob (plenty of starches, anyone? I’ll be taking meal insulin) and for dessert, brownies and ice cream.

    Barbara will watch the fireworks shows on TV – A Capitol Fourth, etc. plus a local one is broadcast, while I will be in an interior room with a pillow over my head. I don’t like loud noises. I just hope idiot neighbors don’t blow anything up or start any fires. We already have several wildfires in the state and it’s very dry.

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    1. george Post author

      Rick, the sausages are actually Italian sausages. They come in two varieties: mild and hot & spicy. Diane prefers the mild and I opt for hot & spicy. I’m not a fan of brauts which I find too bland. Your brownies and ice cream sound yummy!

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      1. Deb

        Actually, this is the first 4th in years that we’ve gone out to eat. The band John plays with had an afternoon gig and—with one daughter in Houston and the other two out with their respective boyfriends—when he got home, we ended up having fajitas at a local Mexican restaurant. And there’s an unexpected bonus: an Elvis impersonator is performing here tonight!

      2. george Post author

        Deb, sounds like fun especially the Elvis impersonator. Bet you he sings “Just a Hunk, a Hunk of Burning Love” on the Fourth!

      3. Deb

        It was interesting. The Elvis impersonator did a lot of later Elvis—songs that he did in concert in the 1970s but never recorded in the studio (that I’m aware of) such as “Bridge over Troubled Water,” “Let Me Be There,” and “You Gave Me A Mountain” (written by Marty Robbins, perhaps best known as a song by Frankie Laine). I wouldn’t advise the guy to quit his day job, but it was a fun background for fajitas and fixin’s.

      4. george Post author

        Deb, I know it sounds funny but Elvis was an underrated performer. When I listen to his albums now, I’m continually surprised at how good they sound! Everything goes better with fajitas!

  3. wolf

    Happy Fourth of July everybody!

    Hope you enjoy your food (don’t eat too much though …) and the fireworks!
    Times Square today must be something special …

    I still remember fondly when at the end of June in 2006 everybody in Germany went soccer-crazy (right now they weren’t so lucky …) so I was sitting on the terrace outside my favourite bar while everybody was inside watching a game …
    In frustration I went to the travel agency and bingo!
    They had a special offer: flight to RSW and an apartment in Ft Myers Beach (I was alone at the time after my first wife’s death) for an unbelievable price so I just had to go – and I saw the fireworks at the beach of Ft Myers, really great!

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      1. Rick Robinson

        Yet here less and less people buy fireworks, both because only the really little stuff is legal: “Unless you have a permit, Oregon law prohibits the possession, sale or use of any firework that explodes, flies into the air or travels over 12 feet horizontally on the ground.”

        That’s pretty limiting. Of course many people ignore the law, which is why there are many fires and injuries every year. You can’t buy ANY fireworks in Portland, but surrounding cities do have those fireworks stands.

      2. george Post author

        Rick, for years New York banned the sale of fireworks (that didn’t stop New Yorkers from going over the border to Pennsylvania to buy fireworks). Then, a couple years ago, legislation was passed to make fireworks legal in New York. Now we have a lot more noise on the Fourth…and more injuries due to fireworks.

  4. Cap'n Bob

    It has been surprisingly quiet here this year, probably because they ran all of the Russkies out! My dogs are upset by fireworks so I don’t appreciate them, and I shen no tears if some knucklehead blows off a finger or two! Happy 4th.

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    1. wolf

      Bob, I feel with you!
      Our dog had the same problem – in the end it got so bad that we even had to take her inside when Thunder was in the air …
      When she (and I …) were younger I would drive to Hungary immediately after Xmas – because Hungarians didn’t have as money to spend as the Germans. That’s how I met my wife btw, hanging around because there was nothing to do, no tourists here …

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  5. Jeff Meyerson

    I remember when we were kids, my brother would set off packs of firecrackers and throw them near old ladies to scare them. He always was a little SOB in those days. One winter when it snowed, he was throwing snowballs at passing buses, when he missed and hit a taxi. The cabbie chased him down and beat the crap out of him, deservedly.

    I’m pretty sure those days are behind him.

    When we lived downtown in Carroll Gardens in the ’70s (before the average resident changed from an older Italian American to a Midwest transplant under 30), they would go nuts on the Fourth. I remember one year coming home, only to see a wire street garbage pail pulled into the middle of the street, filled with all kinds of fireworks, and set alight. We had to wait for it all to run down before they cleared the street and let us pass, Fortunately, Bay Ridge is nothing like that, only the occasional jerk shooting off stuff. This year has been very quiet so far.

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    1. george Post author

      Jeff, since they legalized fireworks in this area, sales have gone through the roof! I can hear explosions a couple blocks away!

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      1. wolf

        The danger of fireworks is real. Just remembered:
        A few years ago my German hometown Tübingen like many others forbade fireworks in the center of town- why?
        One of the beautiful old “Fachwerkhäuser” i e half-timbered houses (had to look that up) almost burned fown completel< after some fireworks got stuck under the roof -alowly, slowly the wooden supports burned down. Since the house was empty (people were on holiday – it was New Year's Eve, our fireworks day) the fire was found late …
        We didn't want that to happen again!

      2. george Post author

        Wolf, I’m convinced the people who buy fireworks want to create a lot of noise. Plenty of explosions last night!

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