A very unusual 4th of July [View all]

[HuskiesHowls]

Its been extremely quiet here in my small, red town in Iowa. Fireworks have been legal for several years, and last year, some people here were setting off some type of fireworks all day long. There were bottle rockets, firecracker strings, aerial displays, a little of everything. Even the farmers got into the displays, for about 3 nights running.

I'm very aware of this, as I've had dogs for years, and they've always been sensitive to this. Right now I have one dog that last year was absolutely panicked all day long, even with a prescription for doggie downers. This year, I got a stronger prescription, preparing for another weekend of a panicked dog.

This year, there are even fewer fireworks going off than when they were not legal, and had to be smuggled in. No farmers have had displays, no bottle rockets all over the place, no strings of firecrackers set off, not even small ones. I think I've heard 5 firecrackers going off all day.

I wonder, is it because people don't have the extra funds this year to buy fireworks, or are they subdued because they have realized that the passage of the Big Ugly Billionaire Bail-Out happened and we're all getting screwed.