Afterwards...

Well, that was surely the noisiest Fourth around here that I've ever heard. From about an hour before sundown, the streets around the old outlaws' place erupted in the noise of other peoples' fireworks. Later there were rockets - hundreds of them - but for the first hour or so none it visible; just the noise. Very funny though - rather like crickets, all would go silent moments before we'd notice a prowler creeping along the street in the distance. There is sooo an underground communications network here that we are excluded from.

The trees that line our streets have all grown too far this year: we could see nothing of the municipal fireworks show in the distance but the afterglow, flashing like Glasgow during the blitz; but from there came the solid bass crumps of the heavy artillery, the big mortars, almost sufficiently pleasing in itself.

Somewhere to our northwest was an absolutely stunning private rocket show that ran for an hour and a half. How they evaded capture we'll never know - especially since, best we could tell, they were being launched from just-about where the police department sits. Maybe that's what they do with impounded fireworks - except I doubt it? They claim when they confiscate them that the Fire Department will be disposing of them safely. Huh.

Either way - Good Show, what?