I hate the 4th of July
 

Yeah yeah, our country's great, freedom isn't free, the American Revolution was awesome--that's all great.

But seriously, fireworks are dumb. They could hypothetically be fun, if the weather were cool and you had a good view and a comfortable place to sit and it weren't obscenely crowded--but in my lifetime this set of circumstances has never even come closer than 50% fulfilled.

To make up for this, people shoot off their own backyard fireworks after dark for a whole freaking week. They can't do it at twilight; no, 10:00 PM is apparently the perfect time for crappy little home-sized explosions that are more sound than light. Nothing like having the baby wake up and start crying at the same moment the 5-year-old runs out of his bedroom shouting "I think someone is shooting at our house!"

And you know what? Hot dogs are gross.

Bah humbug.

i think I'll go grill a couple hotdogs.

Kosher hotdogs are awesome. I would not eat a "regular" hotdog in a gulag.
Well, perhaps, once my toenails were gone.

nathan's

Nat's is not Kosher, at least I don't think so, but, if I am correct. They have theirs made by a Kosher factory. So the equipment is cleaned regularly to kosher standard and they state that they only use choice cuts. So, I would eat them if offered.
I prefer another brand.

fuck kosher. thumanns's are by far the ultimate hot dog. if you disagree, i will kick your ass.
http://www.thumanns.com/pages/images/hot_dog02.jpg

Thanks for the tip man.

good luck getting them down there, though....until very recently we had to wait for my step father in law to go up to north jersey and get them.....now they're making their way into the philly market.....


still a rare thing when i get them. maybe they'll fed ex them to you. trust me....they're worth the effort. they actually have the litle string in between the links. fucken awesome....and you dont start getting grossed out after 3 of them like ALL other hot dogs.

I have friends.

Hebrew National...good stuff.

We tried to watch fireworks from a local park from our back porch last night, but the fucking trees a couple of blocks away were too high. Time to cut those fuckers down.

cool...i was gonna offer to send you some.....looking on the site, i don;t see where they'll send them direct.

I always go up on the roof of my buddy's house to watch our town's fireworks show. The American Fireworks company is in our town so they put on quite a show.
Plus we throw Blackcats down onto the people in the grass below us, they shoot bottle rockets back, it's a fun time.

Yeah, every now and again I have a friend that goes to the Dean & Deluca store for me. I need some truffle oil and real bangers soon.
Thank you though.

The red hot dogs found in Maine are about the best.

You need to eat a Boars' Head all-beef franks with natural casings. Fuckin amazing - they *snap* when you bite into 'em.

:drool:

I like the fwish-boom-"Aaaahhhhh" more than the hotdogs. A dry evening air is also the way to have it. Fobble, I suspect you live in too humid a place. [Well, Texas, yeah. Steamy air and those clumsy-flying kamikaze June bugs still hanging around in early July.] Come to Nevada. Come to California -- we're having a drought, so humidity's well down. Come to the high plains states, come to the mountains.

There you will have a happy Fourth and minimum bugslapping owing to a minimum of bugs.

yup
http://www.mainelobstershop.com/hotdogs.jpg

lotta hot dog lovers here!

I almost never do anything for 4th. Too hot. Although I lived in Park City, Utah, for a while, and they had a consciously quaint celebration, including a flapjack breakfast, parade, activities, and then--yeah, fireworks over the golf course.

Fireworks at a distance are very cool. Fireworks up close, in kid's hands, in backyard, are NOT COOL! As I can personally attest to.

I have zero interest in fireworks, but I do like some white hots.

Whut dem?

I hate fireworks. Every November we have Guy Falkes Night and there're are big firework displays everywhere.....and little displays in peoples' gardens....and kids letting fireworks off at night for about a fortnight either side. Drives my dog demented.

I hate hotdogs.

I like hotdogs and fireworks :)

The beauty of most of Australia is that fireworks are illegal (except in the ACT) unless you have a special permit.....so its usually a special event and very well supervised....of course, you will get some yobbos letting them off willy nilly....but its never been bad where I have lived.

Saturday I am taking the boys to the Monster Truck Bonanza...they will have a HUGE fireworks display and I will enjoy it...I would enjoy it more from the distance of my house....but will enjoy it anyways :)

One of my cousins got some fireworks for new years 2000. Only two of the blokes managed to get burned that night. That was mostly thanks to the fact that they were pissed at the time.

Ah Dana you old misery - you don't even have a sleeping baby to back you up, unlike Clod. Although if they upset Pilau I spose it counts.

I'm not sure how I would feel about summer fireworks - it would probably be raining if we had a July display here. But winter fireworks are the dogs'.

Nothing like a village firework display, with a huge bonfire on the village green. All the pubs selling pints in plastic cups outside, and unidentifiable charred things in buns that you buy just because you can (and your Mum always made you bring your own when you were a kid). Face roasting and back freezing, everyone trying to work out which way the wind is blowing so you can stand out of the smoke, but it seems to come from every direction at once. Numb feet in boots, sparklers held in gloves, a freezing fog coming down, half the residents complaining that the other half probably didn't even contribute in the door-to-door collection for the event, and look - I know for a fact those people have come over from [insert next village]

And then the display - a couple dozen individual fireworks, that somehow, in that setting, seem to beat the professional displays hands down. All the adults saying OOOH and AAAAH in a tongue in cheek way, some poor little jessie of a boy crying and annoying his Dad. And the chance that at any point a firework could shoot off sideways into the crowd. Or under a car - which made me laugh both pairs of socks off - residents had all been asked to move their cars by the police, so it was ILLEGALLY parked. It wasn't damaged though.

I love it.

Happy 4th to you all anyway.

wiki
Red Hots and White Hots are the two most popular local variations. While Red Hots are "normal" hot dogs, White Hots are plumper. These unique dogs are similar to German bockwurst and were first made[citation needed] by Zweigle's of Rochester. These are often served in a natural casing similar to a sausage. These white hot dogs are sometimes known as coneys. They are also known in the Syracuse area where Heid's of Liverpool is one of the oldest hot dog restaurants in the nation, opened in 1886. Heid's allows only mustard as a topping for their flat-grilled sausages. Products from Syracuse manufacturer Hofmann's Sausage Company are the local favorites in Central New York, with enough customer loyalty to severely hurt Heid's business[13] when a dispute with Hofmann[14] prompted the Heid's franchise to switch to a Buffalo supplier for several years. Unlike Zweigle's white hots, Hoffman's white "snappys" use veal as well as pork. There is also a Red Hot variant served throughout the Adirondacks produced by Glazier Packing Company of Potsdam, that is cased in a red-dyed natural sheep casing. A "Glazier" is typically offered on a menu as an alternative to a regular hot dog, usually for a small additional charge. "Michigans" are hot dogs with a meaty sauce - more like "Sloppy Joe" than chili (no chili-oregano-cumin). The Michigan is served in a buttered-grilled Frankfurt loaf (bun with no crust on the sides). Michigan hot dog

Our grocery store, Wegmans, has a store brand white hot that is a good representive. There is a Coney Island Hots in Scranton that I used to frequent. hmmm... just around the corner from the Fencing Exchange, I'm thinking side trip.

btw on these lovelies no catsup. Stick with mustard, onions, and chile.

I was going to bbq today, but my mother-in-law is saving me the work...she's bbq'ing at her house.

Fireworks are illegal for you and me in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. So people just go to Jefferson County and St. Charles County to buy them, and as long as you don't cause any trouble, the City cops at least will look the other way.

I am at work but I am eating 2 brauts with kruat for lunch today. :D

Are those your little sausages, monster? They're adorable!

Nah, some innocents I found when I googled "two kids food". :lol:

Well I microwaved them. My brauts only cooked for 3 minutes. Those brats would require a larger oven and longer cooking time. And some really big buns. :D

Seems a good spot to wish the cousins a good day, and night of it, and all the 'dogs' you need and all the fireworks you want. Or not...

It's rather like midwinter here. The heating is back on and the waterproofs are dripping in the hall, and a town dependant on a good summer season is profoundly depressed. Cool wet and windy and certainly no barbeques this weekend!

Yikes, monster, where do you find this stuff? Hehe.

Letting other people do the barbecuing is my specialty. We are bringing fresh bread and cucumber salad.

Had a nice lunch earlier...hot dogs and burgers. Just got home from the store with a 6-pack of Woodchuck Amber and a 6-pack of Schlafly Oatmeal Stout. My brother will probably stop over later. Let the good times roll!

We are barbequeing as I type -- lamb kebabs. The guacamole has been made and eaten already. Shoulda didda bigga batch, I shoulda. We're out of guac and still got half the chips. Good, tho'.

Guacamole per the Trader Joe's Guacamole Kit, as fine a starting point on proper guacamole as may be had anywhere. The kit contents:
1 Tomato
2 Avocados, Haas variety (the dark and lumpy skin)
2 cloves Garlic, peel 'em yourself
1 plump Jalapeno pepper
1 Lime

Mince Jalapeno and Garlic together, quite fine.
Open Avocados, removing pit, and scooping out the flesh with a spoon.
Chop Tomato rather small.
Quarter lime for squeezing.

Mash up the avocado flesh in a mixing bowl with a fork or a potato masher. Add jalapeno-garlic mince and chopped tomato and continue mix and mash. Squeeze two or three quarters of the lime into mix to start, adding salt also, both lime and salt to taste. And do taste. I like at least three quarters of the lime, and salt to balance. If I let my wife make the guac, she'd probably skip the salt entirely, to which I say uh-uh.

Try putting in some fresh cilantro UG, it's vera'nice

good lord - how did you get my pic monster???

My mouth is watering as I read this. Wonderful UG, just wonderful.

I hate the 5th of July. It is the anniversary of my burning.

Don't let your children play with fireworks. Even if you are supervising. Even if you think it's "safe." Just don't. Please.

I'd second that. My mum was injured by a firework when she was little.

My kids had a great time with some kiddie fireworks yesterday. Kids need to be taught fire safety or they experiment on their own and end up getting burned.

I was allowed to have sparklers as a kid, and I learned very quickly to be careful with them. Fortunately, I have no permanent scars that I know of.

Paul Harris (who is a local radio host on KMOX-AM here in St. Louis) lamented recently that parents today are too over-protective of their kids, attempting to protect them from the smallest of hurts. I agreed with his thoughts...kids need to learn pain and consequences. Otherwise, they'll be fucked when they get older. Though I think I understand where Cloud is coming from on this.

I love the 4th and fireworks displays. I don't really care about doing them myself. I like the large displays put on by organizations with deep pockets. My son LOVES it.

I was a beautiful night here and the display was wonderful. Oh, and the fried chicken didn't hurt things at all.

I did get a pack of poppers and noise makers for him. Nothing with fire. While I do agree that we sometimes over-protect our children, I don't think that 3rd degree burns are the way to go to "teach them a lesson."

I have come to hate fireworks.
My neighborhood has been under siege every night since Memorial Day. Dogs going crazy. Not just firecrackers, and the jolting M80s, I can take that in moderation, man. This year we have the full on rocket launched, raining down of shrapnel. Into the wee hours, 2- 3 AM. And its way dry.

I've asked one house of lads to stop, at least after 10 PM on a Monday night. They waited until I went back inside, then resumed. Ive called the cops on a few really bad overnights, but they have bigger fish. We've found canisters and debris from them in our yard- hello mower! chunk!

I have a feeling its going to take a major accident for anything to change. Maybe I should hose down the garage?

Meanwhile, we did get a nice slab of salmon grilled up last night! yum!

I like Andy's reply to the question: Why is it important to celebrate Independence Day?

Sounds like those kids need some hobbies up there, Warch...what the hell is wrong with you Minnesotans?! ;)

Just for the record, I'm not advocating letting kids get seriously scarred or injured in order to introduce them to the dangers of the world. :) I'm just saying they need to burn themselves on a stove, fall and scrape a knee, etc.

I didn't think you advocating letting them play with knives and axes. I have heard from some that think kids are being coddled when parents put on band-aids and kiss the "ouchies." I just think that is sad.

Long live the pretty packaged gun powder! :)

I love the 'family gatherings' with 4-inch mortars.

Agreed...I just didn't want to come across as callous.

So, today is the 5th of July. It is the anniversary of my childhood burn injury. I always get a bit melancholy on this date.

For those of you who may not have heard this story (tho I tell it pretty often) -- I was 7 or 8 years old. For Indpendence Day, my parents had shot off fireworks in our backyard. The following morning (July 5) I went out while my parents were having breakfast and lit a sparkler. I think now that I must have dropped the match on my nylon negligee. This was waaaaay before the days of fire-retardant kids sleepwear, so --

WHOOSH! Up in flames I went.

Nowadays, they teach kids to "stop, drop, and roll." Me, like an idiot, ran around screaming, fanning the flames. My dad had to catch me and throw me in the swimming pool--the huge pool just feet away from me. I still remember being wrapped in a sheet and riding in my parents' car to the hospital. Don't know why they didn't call an ambulance--guess they thought this would be quicker.

So, yeah, I had 3d degree burns covering my entire right-side torso, from my armpit to my hip, including my breast. Months of hospitalization, skin grafts, surgeries all that. Grossness and pain, but I'm over it now. Mostly.

So, no, my personal opinion is--fireworks and kids do not mix.

And that'd sure as hell do it, Cloud. Jeez, is that awful.

And what I really came back to this thread for was to mention that the Guacamole Kit sometimes if not usually also includes 1 shallot to be minced along with the garlic -- this time it didn't.

Bullitt, cilantro, oh yes.

Lemon juice is quite okay for guac, but lime juice fresh squeezed seems to add a little something special to the mix. Fresh ingredients are paramount.

Of course, by now with tomato, shallot, pepper, and cilantro -- you've got pico de gallo.

No way...we've seen you in a wetsuit. You were nowhere near that buoyant.

Hey, Barefoot...remember the guy five or six years ago here in KC who lit the mortar that didn't go off, so he looked down the tube...

I wonder if these guys were related.

There's a private investigator in my town who only has hooks for arms, due to a childhood mishap with cherry bombs.

His name is J.J. Armes.

I am not shitting you, either.

Oh effing Christ! :D I usta think it was interesting that my band teacher one year was Mr. Horn, but that beats all!

Well, my doctor for all that plastic surgery?

Dr. Burner.

(hand to heart) True story.

Mr. Armes used to be a client at a firm I worked at. I've shaken those appendages.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/armes.html

'Were' being the key word here.

I used to love fireworks, when the dads would make all the kids stand far enough back and light the cones, and the bottle rockets--from actual bottles, pointed away from everyone. Then came the time when teenage boys started throwing lit bottle rockets. So, so stupid.

One recent 4th, an adult friend of ours, after a few cocktails, decided it would be fun to throw bottle rockets off his balcony. I officially hated fireworks after that. The personal-use kind, anyway.