Fireworks do's n don'ts

[Hosakawa Tito]

It's been a family tradition for us to have our own display instead of attending a July 4th fireworks celebration that some local towns put on. I set up a big sheet of plywood on saw-horses in the backyard and screw the mortar launch tubes and tubes for the roman candles & bottle rockets etc... into that so nothing tips over at an inconvenient moment. We invite friends, neighbors, family over for a barbeque and when it gets dark it's showtime. We've never had any thing more serious than a few alcohol related boo boo's, because I never allow things to devolve into the 'stupid stunts' category like one can find all over youtube. Here's wishing everyone who celebrates this weekend with fireworks a safe and enjoyable good time.

Don't be this guy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I wonder what came first, the injury or the brain damage.

[rajpoot]

Oh my God! I so wish I hadn't opened that spoiler tag......

The worst I ever got from a firecracker was when I was 10, and was trying to scrape out some of the powder from inside one of the defective crackers, using a spoon, to burn it over a candle .....yup I was pretty stupid back then.......I scraped a bit too hard and got a lot of it in my eye......it burned like hell and was all red for days.....

[Whacker]

Our family tradition of playing with high explosives kinda dwindled away when I left for college. Boy were those some good times. Dad's only real rule was "Don't lean over the damn thing when you're lighting it!" I can't count the number of times we almost set the following on fire:

1. Ourselves
2. The big pine tree next to our house.
3. Our own house.
4. Every single adjoining neighbor's house.
5. The neighbor's house 1 street away.
6. The car.
7. The shrubs in front of the house.
8. Several neighbor's planters.

One of my fondest memories was when I was fairly young, in grade school. I had one of those 'butterfly' type fireworks that spins up in the air when you light it. I made the mistake of putting on it's side, at the very last second as I was lighting it dad noticed and yells "WAIT!" Too late, it proceeded to rocket straight for him. He runs screaming. He dodges at the last fraction of a second and starts running another direction. Without fail, the firework zips unerringly toward him again. Continuing to scream, he dodges and runs yet ANOTHER direction. THIS time, the firework zips straight at him and THWACK nails him right in the rear. I never saw my dad jump so high or run so fast in my life, I swear he could have given Olympic athletes a run for the money. Everyone who was there was moved to tears by the whole event, even dad couldn't stop laughing for a good long while.

There are some other stories, including a bit of law enforcement involvement, but that's another time.

A happy and safe 4th to all my fellow Americans.

[Hooahguy]

i think fireworks are outlawed in GA, except if you have a permit, which costs a ton of money.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I was normally a very good little boy, but not so when it came to fireworks. One night at one of my friend's houses, we managed to smash a (distant, thankfully) neighbours conservatory, hit a van, very nearly set a tree on fire, put a mine down a drain (that was really not smart), and strapped glowsticks and various other things to some rockets.

When we were doing a relay with some of them, one took off almost horizontally and landed about a foot away from the guy who was lighting them, and another one hit off the gutter on the roof and sprayed ashes on my head, but it didn't cause any harm.

The scary thing is that there wasn't even any alcohol involved...