[GH85Carrera]

As a kid in Hawaii in probably 1968 we lived in Waipahu, close to New Years eve mom bought us a box of fireworks that every boy would love. It was the full size "black cats" of the 1960s only made in China so even bigger. In Hawaii NYE was a big celebration, and folks set off fireworks like mad.

My brother and I spent three days blowing things up. We popped countless fireworks. From morning until bedtime. After three days, it got boring. And we did it right in our own front yard, in a residential neighborhood. No one cared, and it was 100% legal.

On NYE the folks across the street set off a string of fireworks that I kid you not, went from the ground to the top of a utility pole. It took over an hour to pop all of them. On New Years Day the red paper from the Chinese fireworks were in drifts like snow drifts. In fact I crashed my bike because the drifts were too big to ride through. I fell into a pile of red paper in the grass and was covered in red paper.

I guess that just got fireworks out of my system. I have not bought one firework of any sort since. I just can't see blowing up my hard earned money. I am too cheap.

Our dogs don't seem to mind fireworks. There is an amusement park about two miles from our house. They had a fireworks show the other night that had to be an hour long. We can hear the booms and if I go in the back yard I can see parts of the fireworks. The Christian University about a mile away has the occasional fireworks shows. We can see that from the front porch and hear them clearly. Our dogs got used to I guess.