Category: Life
We Had a Burn Ban for 4th of July – So Of Course, We Shot Off Fireworks Anyway
I know. We’re rebels. But before you click that right-hand corner X over there, let me elaborate – we shot fireworks off at my in-laws’ house, who live on the outskirts of town, and who live far enough away from their neighbors that it really wasn’t an issue of a stray spark hitting anything flammable, AND, they spent the day watering down their lawn, and surrounding areas, to ensure it would be safe to shoot them off.
But yes. Our city, and my in-laws’ city, had a burn ban on fireworks this year. And rightly so. It’s been bone dry here in these parts. (*said with a heavy southern drawl*).
When the burn ban went public, the officials knew it would be useless to tell people they couldn’t shoot off fireworks, so they simply cautioned people to keep water close by. I think, for the most part, people adhered to the ban inside the city limits, but as usual, it was a war zone outside the city limits.
We did something different this year – we met up with my in-laws at a fireworks tent, told the tattooed lady behind the counter how much we wanted to spend, and we left it up to her to fill a box full of her recommendations. Because you know how it goes when you go to a fireworks tent – you drive up, there are people milling around, so you feel excited about the prospect of shopping for some awesome fireworks, only to step under the tent and WOW, the sheer variety punches you in the stomach because the selection is overwhelming. The boxes are colorful, (and often times … wildly suggestive .. really??), and though there are descriptions of what the fireworks do, you don’t REALLY know what they will look like or if they will end up being wildly unpredictable and downright dangerous as they chase you across the yard and make you run for your life because a rogue explosive is right on your tail.
Been there, done that, thank you very much.
The boys filled up an arm basket full of their choices (it always amuses me how animated Dude gets around the 4th of July – it’s his second most favorite holiday, Christmas being his first, but honestly? It might even be better than Christmas in his opinion. But seriously, 99% of the time, Dude is quiet, retrospective and an introvert, but the first week of July? It’s like someone, er, lit a firecracker under his butt and he’s suddenly ALIVE … it’s fun to watch) and bought the box full of fireworks that we didn’t even pick out.
Awesome. My own personal fireworks shopper – I can get used to that.
I didn’t see that box again until we arrived at my in-laws’ house for hamburgers and hotdogs. Our family, my sister/brother-in-law and my in-laws were the only people there. All of the other kids in the family had their own plans. We had a good time visiting (his family is always so funny and we end up laughing a lot when we get together) and before long, night had fallen and the boys were itching to go outside and start the show.
*Note to you younger parents – it’s AWESOME having teenagers this time of year. They can do all of the running around and lighting the fireworks while you can sit back, sip a tea (or beverage of choice) and simply enjoy yourself. SWEET. Be patient – it will happen to you, too!
We tried to light some Sky Lanterns …
… but we didn’t have much luck. We didn’t pull the first one apart correctly and it burned. Then, when my MIL saw the size of the flame, she got nervous that it would land on someone’s house, so we didn’t light the remaining Sky Lanterns.
I have to admit, I think this year’s fireworks display was the best we’ve ever had. The tattooed-fireworks’ lady did a really good job picking out our fireworks this year. We are totally doing that again next year.
Our grand finale was this baby …
We weren’t sure how to shoot it off at first, but then Dude suggested we do what the boy on the box was doing and simply hold onto the firework … he was kidding of course! But don’t you know there has to be someone, somewhere, who thought that very thing??
This is why we have silly warning labels on everything nowadays – because people have lost their common sense.
You know it’s true.
We got home about midnight. Which meant I was a zombie at work the next day.
Holidays shouldn’t fall in the middle of the week – it’s hard on us working stiffs.
BTW: We Now Know that the 2009-2010 Swine Flu Pandemic was a Fake Pandemic
For documented details, see the Swine Flu Review
I’m sorry, I hate to say this, but I told you. I knew, I KNEW, in my gut, that that whole Swine Flu thing was blown WAY out of proportion and certainly wasn’t a Pandemic – did you ever see the number of people it “affected”?? It was a tiny, tiny fraction of the entire Earth’s population. By definition a Pandemic is:
A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν pan “all” + δῆμος demos “people”) is an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics generally exclude recurrences of seasonal flu. Throughout history there have been a number of pandemics, such as smallpox and tuberculosis.
I have to post some of this stuff because it’s uppermost on my mind right now. No. Nothing has been said by my employer about the flu vaccine … yet. But it’s only a matter of time. In fact, I think the first round of poison, erhm, excuse me, vaccines, are scheduled to start mid-September; I’m simply gathering ammo.
I don’t trust the government as far as … well, I just don’t trust the government AT ALL. They do NOT have our best interests in mind – regardless of the political party.
So my next question is: what other lies are being fed to us? Think about it.
Use your head, people – know your rights and for pete’s sake, don’t jump on a bandwagon before carefully weighing ALL facts. The media is spoon feeding us what they want us to digest and nothing more.
Always, always, ALWAYS, question authority.
Always.
Similarly, I found this article about mandatory flu vaccines during a Pandemic:
May an employer covered by the ADA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 compel all of its employees to take the influenza vaccine regardless of their medical conditions or their religious beliefs during a pandemic?
No, an employee may be entitled to an exemption from a mandatory vaccination requirement based on an ADA disability that prevents him from taking the influenza vaccine. This would be a reasonable accommodation barring undue hardship (significant difficulty or expense).
Similarly, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, once an employer receives notice that an employee’s sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance prevents him from taking the influenza vaccine, the employer must provide a reasonable accommodation unless it would pose an undue hardship as defined by Title VII (“more than de minimis cost” to the operation of the employer’s business, which is a lower standard than under the ADA).
Generally, ADA-covered employers should consider simply encouraging employees to get the influenza vaccine rather than requiring them to take it.
Okay. Question. If the government is not REQUIRING employers to make its employees take the flu vaccine during a pandemic, which you would think would be the absolute worst-case scenario and the time to TAKE THE FLU VACCINE, then why the hell would they “require” their employees to take the flu vaccine during a normal flu season?
It doesn’t make sense, does it? But then again, is anyone really surprised??
So the moral of this story? I’m [gently] fighting this “suggestion” with every fiber of my being. I truly don’t wish to cause trouble, but I will NOT kowtow to peer pressure and simply extend my arm to be stuck with God knows what, either.
And for your information, you can keep track of your state’s “outbreak” (and I use that term loosely, mind you), here.
And get a load of how they determine what viruses to mix in with the seasonal vaccines. Sounds pretty scientific to me. *snort* Also … we’re putting a WHOLE lot of trust into the WHO, don’t you think?
Knowledge, people, knowledge.
Someone Else Picked Out Our Fireworks, We Just Paid for Them
That’s assuming we can shoot off fireworks. It’s been so hot and dry here that Nixa has a burn ban. Which means, they are not allowing people to shoot off fireworks for fear a spark will start a city-wide fire.
We usually go to my in-laws’ house for 4th of July. They live on the outskirts of Nixa, so I’m hoping the burn ban does not apply to them. My MIL said she would water down her grass, but you know how fireworks are – you can’t exactly control where they’re going to go and HELLO NEIGHBORS! Meet our sparks.
We bought our fireworks this way, this year, because last year, when we were over at my in-laws, we noticed that we had a lot of the same fireworks and believe it or not, watching two boxes full of the same fireworks over and over again, gets boring. So. My MIL suggested we collaborate this year and we all met at a firework’s tent in Ozark and instead of debating over which ones we thought would be the best for our money, Kevin simply asked the heavily tattooed woman behind the boxes, “Which ones do you recommend?” Which sort of morphed into, “here’s how much we want to pay, just fill a box with your recommendations and we’ll be good to go.”
Excuse me??
Normally, the thought of someone else spending our money annoys me, but honestly? They’re fireworks. They all explode and go BOOM. I didn’t care. PLUS? If you haven’t heard, we are having one hell of a hot/dry summer and it was a “cool” (seriously, it FELT cool because we’ve been so used to temps over 100 this past week) 92 degrees and I was having a hot flash that only compounded my misery so I was ready to get the hell out of dodge.
(I’ve been saying hell a lot – my apologizes. I go through spurts).
So, the heavily tattooed (and sort of scary-looking woman) filled our box up with all sorts of large-ish containers and the boys filled an arm basket full of smaller stuff and we split the cost with my in-laws and I’m quite convinced this will likely be the best 4th of July fireworks display we’ve ever had.
Because who knows fireworks better than a heavily-tattooed woman who works/owns a fireworks tent?
Exactly.
I was going to take a picture of the fireworks box that was put together for us, but it was quickly loaded into the back of my in-laws’ car and I won’t see it again until the fourth.
If I remember, I’ll try and take pictures of whatever the scary heavily-tattooed woman chose for us and give you a brief critique … don’t even deny you’re not excited about this.
One thing I’M excited about? We bought some of those funky Sky Lantern things that float FOREVER and look like UFO’s in the sky.
Sweet. Nothing like freaking people out now and again.
What’s the Big Deal with Fast and Furious? Watch.
And the Youngest Son is an Official Driver
Jazz passed his test this past Friday!! Kevin took him to Republic and said they were the only ones out there – well, one gal was actually out taking her test when they arrived.
Jazz did a few things wrong and when they got back, the guy listed them. Jazz said he was pretty sure he had failed, given the list of things, but he passed!!
Honestly? I’m more relived than anything else. Sure. I’m nervous, but I think I’ve gotten over the initial terror of having one of my children driving since Dude has been driving for two years now. I’m relived because now Jazz can drive himself to school his senior year, freeing up Dude to hopefully get a part-time job while he also attends classes this Fall.
Jazz has four night band practices coming up this month, which he’ll drive himself to, and I think that will be a perfect opportunity to practice driving himself to school. Not that we haven’t practiced driving to school hundreds of times, but now, he’ll be on his own. And I’m sure it will be a pretty awesome feeling to be able to drive himself home afterward without having to wait on us to get him.
My relationship with my children has evolved – they are more like roommates now instead of my children. Dude comes and goes as he pleases and Jazz will soon be doing the same thing. They don’t have to rely on me anymore. In fact, I rarely even see much of them anymore now that I’m working full time. And when they get jobs, I really won’t see much of them.
Though on some level, I’m sad about this evolution, I know this is how it must be if I hope for them to grow up into independent men. Honestly? I think I have finally resigned myself to this moment in their lives and now, I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with their lives more than anything else.
We’ve really done all we can do at this point – now it’s up to them to practice what we preached.
The Upside to Chief Justice Roberts’ Ruling on Obamacare Today
Whoa Nelly.
There’s been a lot of anger stirred up by Chief Justice Roberts’ deciding vote on Obamacare today.
But before you get too worked up, consider this perspective from I.M. Citizen:
Chief Justice Roberts actually ruled the mandate, relative to the commerce clause, was unconstitutional. That’s how the Democrats got Obama-care going in the first place. This is critical. His ruling means Congress can’t compel American citizens to purchase anything. Ever. The notion is now officially and forever, unconstitutional. As it should be.
Next …
Roberts gave them a tax. It is now the official law of the land — beyond word-play and silly shenanigans. Obama-care is funded by tax dollars. Democrats now must defend a tax increase to justify the Obama-care law.
Finally …
Chief Justice Roberts struck down as unconstitutional, the Obama-care idea that the federal government can bully states into complying by yanking their existing medicaid funding. Liberals, through Obama-care, basically said to the states — ‘comply with Obama-care or we will stop existing funding.’ Roberts ruled that is a no-no. If a state takes the money, fine, the Feds can tell the state how to run a program, but if the state refuses money, the federal government can’t penalize the state by yanking other funding. Therefore, a state can decline to participate in Obama-care without penalty. This is obviously a serious problem. Are we going to have 10, 12, 25 states not participating in “national” health-care? Suddenly, it’s not national, is it?
Ultimately, Roberts supported states rights by limiting the federal government’s coercive abilities. He ruled that the government can not force the people to purchase products or services under the commerce clause and he forced liberals to have to come clean and admit that Obama-care is funded by tax increases.
Another benefit of this ruling?
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign said on Thursday it had raised $3.2 million following the Supreme Court’s decision upholding President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Go ahead, Mr. President – gloat. Enjoy your remaining time in office because November? Is fast approaching …
Write From Karen 