Is today a holiday too? I get all confused as to which extra day folks get when national holidays are on the weekend. I thought Friday was the day but we had USPS service so…🤷🏼♀️
So. New month. New week. New day. But it’s Monday. Meh.
Our 4th was fairly boring until we got into the night hours. Mostly. Some idiot decided to start early and at 12:01 am on July 4th, they set off a string of fireworks. Jake freaked. This went on intermittantly through out the early morning hours and then it got quiet during the day. The boys–all four of them (Jake, Toby, Loki, AND LG) all slept in. I let them. Daylight came and went quietly. I had some left-over BBQ brisket and brats as dinner choices then LG and I decided we wanted ice cream. He headed to Braums for cheeseburgers, fries, and Braums Mixes. We’d just finished when two things happened: fireworks and weather.
Let me backtrack. Fireworks. In OKC and several of the ‘burbs, it is illegal for individuals to sell, own, or shoot off fireworks within city limits. The various municiplaities have always had big displays for people to come out and watch. One ‘burb allows fireworks. They prefer that folks come to their massive municiple park and shoot them off there under the watchful eyes of the local EMS and Fire Departments. And yes, we can hear those at my house. We can hear almost ALL of the municiple hooplas. They last about an hour and then it’s done and everyone can go to sleep peacefully. But for the alpha hotels who have decided that they are above the law.
So. Back story on Jake, my service dog. He was a rescue. A deputy on his way to investigate a “shots fired” call enountered Jake running for his life down a country road. The deputy stopped, stepped out of his SUV and Jake dove into the front seat panting and shaking. The deputy found the farmer who’d been shooting AT Jake, told the man to go home, and he took Jake to a nearby resuce. Jake was adopted and returned FOUR times. One of the reasons cited was his aversion to loud banging noises. Well…D’UH! When LG saw him on the rescue’s website and called, Jake had just been adotps for the 4th time. Just over a week later, the rescue emailed to see if we were still interested as he’d been returned. We immediately drove up, met him, did the paperwork but had to wait a couple of days before we could bring him home. That was 7 years ago. Yes, he had some “issues.” We worked with him, trained him, and he is the best damn dog I’ve ever owned. July 4th and New Year’s Eve are excrutiating for him. We’ve tried all the “fixes.” Nothing works completely.
I get wanting to shoot off fireworks. I did them as a kid. It was fun and exciting (and it’s a wonder I still have all my fingers, hands, and eyes!). I can live with the idiots breaking the law if they would shoot them off for an hour after dark, like the big displays. Jake could live with that. I’d sit in the closet or the bathtub (he climbed into both at various times Saturday night) with him for the duration and we’d be okay. But noooo. I was out on my front porch at 11:30 pm yelling at the alpha hotels down the street and yes, I called them the civilian version. Out loud. LG was out there at 3:00 am doing the same to a different set. This is a free country, yes, but your rights don’t get to trample my rights. Have some damn courtesy!
Now, the second thing that happened–the weather. A big front moved through right about the time all the municipal displays were set to fire off. By big front, I mean severe thunderstorm with winds to 90 mph, vicious lightning, and torrential rain. As a result, all those displays that were canceled (at least 6) will now be going off tonight. At least 3 of those are easily heard inside my house. Also, the idiots were out there before, during and right after the storm lighting. Off. Their . EFFing. FIREWORKS! Now I’m worried that Jake will freak every time there’s a big storm with thunder which he hasn’t done before.
Anyway. There it is. I’m tired. I’m cranky. There’s not enough coffee in the world. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, the play was okay. My Cardinals played well against the Cubbies. The OKC Spark (AUSL Pro Softball), also played well and it’s fun to watch them on TV. I listened to several books–Kristen Ashley and Jayne Castle. I’m still behind my Goodreads Challenge by 10 books but I’m slowly catching up.
Thanks for letting me rant. How was your weekend?
Silver James 
I said the same thing about the USPS on Friday….THEN I realized that the 4th was Saturday a day we do get mail typically and THAT was the day our mailman had off!
Some governmental places were closed on Friday even though they normally don’t work on Saturdays. LOL Any excuse for a long weekend, right? 😉
Thats because it is in our contracts. As a teacher, it is in my contract to have certain federal days odd or observed even when they are on a weekend.
Should have said days off, not odd. And my job is government funded so this applies to me. I dont work on Saturdays, but got Friday off because it is always a paid holiday per my contract. Although, I would have gladly worked Friday and got paid for an extra day. Sadly, that isnt an option.
I think of you every time I see a nasty storm blowing what I think is your way. I always breathe a sigh of relief when I see you post. I live under The Dome, which means all severe storms go all around us and we just get the really mild stuff, if any at all. It looks like you have the same Dome.
Thank you for sharing Jake’s story. I’m so glad you adopted him and that he was your perfect fit. I wonder why he was returned so many times. Some people just don’t think things through when adopting a pet.
As a die-hard Cubs fan, it was really hard to watch them get spanked by the Red Birds. But I think they redeemed themselves a bit after that. It’s always a friendly rivalry between the two team’s fans. Always exciting to watch them.
I was a Cubs fan. LG was a White Sox. When we married, we agreed on the Cards. 🤣 And yes, y’all got us back last night! 😉
Jake had severe seperation anxiety among other issues like getting into the trash. One couple brought him back because he ate through the crate they put him in during the day while they were both at work. This was after being specifically told NOT TO CRATE HIM! At the time, I was mostly home all day and if I left, I put up the trash and did other things to help ease my absence. I quickly noticed how Jake reacted to both LG and me with various medical issues. At that point, it just made sense to train him as a service dog. Since then, he’s gone everywhere with us.
Being born and bred an Okie, weather is just something we have. 🤷🏼♀️ We have a storm shelter but we’ve actually only used it for a storm 4 times in the 20+ years we’ve owned this house. It does seem like there’s a little bubble over where our house sits when it comes to the really bad stuff. And the metro area is HUGE! I’ll admit that I worry about all y’all too, at least the ones I *know* and I’m familiar with where they live. All I can say is this has been a truly crazy weather year for everyone! Hang in there and, like us, try to stay both cool AND safe! ❤
Poor Jake and the rest of you too. C is having a tough time with his dogs too with all the idiots blasting them off at all hours. They’re legal here so it gets bad.
I was watching Trey Gowdy last night and he no longer enjoys fireworks because his dogs are terrified. Instead, he plays classical music really loud. His wife and dogs approve🥰.
We had bad storms come through too. I had to move part of a tree off the driveway. It was straight across the drive. I couldn’t get the entire branch off the drive, so C came over and moved it. He’ll cut it up when he gets time.
Yesterday a tornado touched down not far from here. Crazy. We got much needed rain. That was good.
I hope your week goes well.
Mother Nature is totally off her meds! And it’s not just here. Europe is getting whammed too. And no, I do NOT believe in climate change. Not exactly. Climate changes but it is due to the natural order of things not anything man is doing. Except plastics. That’s a discussion for another time. LOL
Ugh on the tree branch AND the close-by touchdown.
I really would let people shoot off fireworks IF they’d do it on the 4th of July and within a specific–and SHORT–window of time, like 2 hours. We’d put Jake in the car, go get ice cream and drive around until all was quiet on the western front.
Jake is a lucky puppy to have you for a mommy.
I consider myself lucky to have Jake as my furbaby.