Fireworks aftermath
Well, we seemed to get through last nights farmers invasion okay. We closed all the curtains in the house. Put a cover over Ellas' crate to give her a sound cave. Turned on the radios loudly in the kitchen, master bedroom and spare bedroom until 1:00 AM. Also, because none of my immediate neighbors set off any fireworks it was better this year.
However, it was not for the stray dog, who found our house last night. I put Siggy out and he goes to the gate and this dog appears. Not a dog I recognize. Panting heavy and limping. Friendly. A collar with no tags. I give it some water and we check with couple of neighbors to see if they recognize the dog. No go. I bring it to the front yard and it settles down fine. I send an email out to the neighborhood email group. Since I had nothing better to do, I waited outside with the dog hoping to see someone driving around slowly looking for the dog. Unfortunately, Stan was having a party and as there were cars on both sides of the street, everyone was slowing down to pass and others were driving slow looking for a place to park for the party. Eventually I saw someone driving down 10th slowly and asked her.
It was her dog. She lived 4 blocks away. The dog was 12 years old and had hip displaysia. It was an indoor dog who was in the backyard. The owner had friends over and someone did not latch a gate properly. Because the Deliverance clan in the street behind them was shooting off fireworks, the dog freaked out and bolted. The owner's other dog was hiding under her house refusing to come out.
Earlier in the day, someone on the SESH email group had shared their New Year's missing dog story.
"My own adored little Daisy escaped two years ago TONIGHT, and her life was only saved (after being hit by a car on Osborne) because she was picked up by (Animal) Care and Control and taken to an emergency clinic just after midnight."
8 comments:
Fireworks should have been outlawed years ago. Leave it to Florida to allow for loop holes and make no effort to close them. Shame on all local politicians who continue to ignore this problem.
No, fireworks shouldn't be outlawed. Every July 5th I have to pick spent bottle rockets out of my yard, and I figure it's just a trivial price to pay for the freedom to set off fireworks on our nation's birthday.
We need to all pull together as a team if we want to truly suck all the fun out of life.
The fact remains that it is already illegal. People just consciously choose to break the law by fraudulently signing a waiver with full intent of misrepresenting how they plan to use them, and law enforcement chooses to look the other way.
One reason people break this law is that it's stupid, unnecessary, and intrusive. It's like Prohibition - you can outlaw things people really want, and all you'll do is create more outlaws.
The reason people break this law is because companies sell the fireworks. Growing up in Florida, it used to be the only way to get explosive fireworks was to drive to Georgia. That was the tradition most people in Florida grew up with. Most did not use fireworks, just sparklers.
Then some company figured it would let people lie and it would be off the hook and the tradition changed.
Stupid, unnecessary and intrusive..funny, those words certainly apply to the use of fireworks in a neighborhood and at a minimum the last word to those who use them. Whose rights are more important here? Your so-called right to break the law or my right to be within my own home, within my own walls and not have to listen to your noise? My tolerance stops at my front door and closed windows. You sir have no right to interfere with my sleep, or enjoyment of peace and quiet in my own home. If you are one of the very few that respect these boundaries and limit them to reasonable hours and pick up your litter, then you are in the minority in my area. Additionally, if you manage to lie on death's door one day in the future and still say, I never had an accident with them there fireworks or burned down a house, well then, your claim might have merit, but accidents occur even with professional displays, so why should we gamble with a bunch of amateurs who are often filled with liquid encouragement? We had idiots here that were firing them off at 3am Saturday morning and throughout the weekend.
Anon 8:38 - If it's just the noise, you'll have much better luck getting TPD to enforce the noise ordinance after 10pm. And if you're going to complain about interference with sleep, you'd better start piping up about barking dogs, "boom boom" car stereos, loud motorcycles, and other things that happen every day of the year instead of just one or two.
Otherwise, it just sounds like selective complaining.
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