Some bozos always start shooting off fireworks in Burnsville a few days before the Fourth of July. It’s illegal, but that doesn’t stop them. Fireworks aren’t good for dogs, especially nervous ones. A few years ago, a neighbor’s small fuzzy dog was so freaked out that she left the safety of her home, bolting out through the screen door, and ran away.

Back then, I still had dogs who liked to go for walks, and I happened to be up on Green Mountain Drive when she raced past. When her owner called around to ask if anyone had seen her, I could tell her at least that much. Four days later, the guys who had the doughnut wagon near the creek on East Main Street found her. She was lucky. (In past years, some stray dogs have ended up being picked up and used as bait for dog-fighting operations; I hope and pray our sheriff’s department has shut those down for good.)

As you probably know, I board dogs for friends. This weekend, in addition to my own Sadie and Fang, I have Otter, a frequent visitor; practically family. And I’ve had Winter for a week - a big white sweet Husky - who will be here for another week. And today I took in Memphis and Moon, who live just up the street and who will go home on Monday.

When the bozos started shooting off fireworks in the neighborhood tonight, I closed all the doors and windows to minimize the sound. For a couple of hours prior (as I was watching MidSomer Murders), I’d left the doors propped open so everybody could come and go as they liked. The only dog too big to use the dog door is Winter, who weighs in at about 80 pounds. I’ve never before had a dog who couldn’t get through the size Medium dog door, so I’ve had to remember he needs to be let out, or left out if he’d prefer.

Fortunately, tonight’s bozo fireworks (mostly cherry bombs or firecrackers, I’m guessing) seem to have abated around midnight. Tomorrow is going to be a whole other story: the Town’s official fireworks display before the bozos start up.

Jim and I plan to be on the square for the music that starts at 7pm, and had been thinking we may as well stay to watch the fireworks from there, but with all the dogs here freaking out for a couple of hours, I think I’ll stay home, keep the windows and doors shut, crank up some mellow music to drown out the fireworks for the dogs, then step out onto the street, where we get a fairly good view of the fireworks.

When I was growing up in Wisconsin, we’d drive to Milwaukee to watch the Fourth of July circus parade, sponsored by Schlitz Brewing Company. (“Schlitz, the Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous!”) It traversed Wisconsin Avenue, the main thoroughfare between the industrial valley and the lakefront (Lake Michigan, “my” ocean). They brought in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus wagons and animals, whose summer home was in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Their winter home was in Sarasota, Florida.

To pass the time until the head of the parade reached wherever we were sitting, we’d amuse ourselves by looking up and pointing toward the top of some tall building. Other people around us would start looking up, wondering what we were enthralled by. Of course, this was sixty years ago when nobody had their eyes focused on a cell phone instead of what was right in front of them. (This reminds me of one Mothers’ Day some years ago when we were at a family restaurant. (I don’t remember where this was, nor who “we” were then, as regards this story.) Next to our table was a group that had to have been the Mom being treated to brunch, her two offspring and their spouses, and 3 or 4 grandchildren. The littlest of the grandkids, bored, were tangling around on the floor. The other kids and their parents were all absorbed with their cellphones. And Mom, whose day it was to be honored, sat in her chair just watching. I felt so bad for her, I wanted to invite her to our table, so at least she might enjoy a conversation with a couple of humans.)

Back to Milwaukee in the good old days when Schlitz, Miller High Life (“The Champagne of Bottled Beers”), Pabst Blue Ribbon, and more ruled. When it was time for fireworks, we headed for the lakefront, where a fabulous firework display (also sponsored by Schlitz) was shot off from a tethered barge at the end of the jetty. One of the coolest things was the fireworks’ light reflected on the water; double the spectacle, really.

Ah, the good old days, right?

Happy 4th!

Lucy