The Aftermath

Michigan just passed a $54.9 BILLION budget.  According to the local paper, they take in $4 million in taxes and fees from fireworks.  Really?  The four million makes a big difference?  Give me a break.

I've gone on and on about this issue and nothing seems to happen to change the situation.  Four houses burned in Highland Park.  A fireworks store on the west side of the state goes up in flames - and sparks I assume.  There is no reporting system statewide for injuries so who knows how many of those occur.  Most folks I know have given up calling the police to complain.

Anyway, I sat up watching the commons area behind me hoping that sparks did not set it on fire.  My son was not so lucky in his neighborhood as young kids, who shouldn't have been using fireworks in the first place, set their commons area on fire and destroyed 5000 square feet of property.

 This is just part of the damage as seen from the car.  Thank the local firefighters for containing the damage to grass and shrubs.  Oh, and there is a gas main under that burned out area so thank goodness there was no leak.

I'll spare you the rest of my rant.

The People We Meet in a Small World

When I show up for yoga class, there is not a lot of time usually to chit-chat with my fellow yogis.   On a rare occasion I may have coffee with someone afterwards, but it is usually a quick 'hello, how are you' in the locker room.

Last Saturday it was 'Happy New Year' and 'what did you do?', etc.  I mentioned that it is not my favorite holiday and the conversation went from there to childhood memories, to Windsor, Ontario, to the old Elmwood Casino, to the Detroit riots in 1967, to my working at the old Detroit General Hospital at that time.  Took about two minutes of our time, if that.

My yoga friend said that perhaps I knew her uncle who was the administrator at Detroit General.  I said I remembered him and she asked me about  the 1971 shooting.  She said she was only twelve at the time and did not know much about it and had never met anyone who was there at the time.

It brought back a flood of memories.  I recall the whole episode as if it were yesterday.  I truly believe that my dislike of random fireworks going off is a result of that day in July.

The old hospital occupied an entire city block.  I worked on the fourth floor of the smaller of two buildings that were connected by a hallway. We received a call that there was a shooter in the building and that we were to lock down our labs and let no one in.  Our four chemistry labs were connected with three hallway doors.  I still remember some guy yelling that he was a doctor and to let him in but we were all too scared to believe him.  None of us opened the door.

Looking out of my windows which faced the Detroit River I could see policemen all over the streets. The shooting was happening on the first floor directly below our labs.  One administrator was killed by the gunman who was himself shot by police though I have no recollection of whether or not he recovered.  All I know is that it was a very harrowing experience.

The gunman had entered through the clinic building behind our building.  He went looking for the personnel director who was away from his office.  He then proceeded to come into our building and went to administration where he killed the man responsible for firing him.  Another disgruntled employee who settles his score with a gun.

My yoga friend seemed very happy to have learned something that no one ever told her about with any detail.  Her uncle was not harmed in the incident, though the administrator was killed in her uncle's office where he ran for cover.  I relived what was a very painful day.

After that incident we had security guards at the doors, badges we had to show, and a general feeling of unease that seemed to stay with us until I left in 1977.  I still remember my friends and I getting off the elevator one day when an unsavory character got on, who wouldn't have been there without proper ID, but then you never know, do you?

Is that shooting what scares the  crap out of me when I hear fireworks?  Who knows?  I just know I don't like them.

Random Thoughts ...

So much to blog about I can't decide, so here are some random thoughts for a Friday...

Fireworks.  I was interviewed on Wednesday by a radio station in Port Huron, Michigan regarding my petition to ban fireworks in Michigan and return to the previous law.  Supposedly this great idea has generated $6 million in yearly revenue.  They can't find that much to cut from their budgets? Again last night someone was setting them off.  No sense in calling the police because by the time they get there the folks have run inside.  They stand in the garage throwing them out which means all they have to do is close the garage door and it looks like no one is even there.  While my petition has only a paltry amount of signatures, the petition I originally signed has over 20,000 and the Detroit News has called for the 2011 law to be repealed in its editorial today.  I think I'll leave the state next year so I do not have to listen to this constant noise.  Texas allows no fireworks within city limits or within a mile of the limits.  Might be hot, but at least it's quiet.

Talking "to-the-point".  I received an email this week from a former finance colleague who said she missed my 'to-the-point' comments in meetings.  I must say that there are many who did not appreciate them.  I thought of those folks yesterday when I read the obituary of an attorney who I had very negative feelings about and made several disparaging comments about.  This all started back in the mid-90's when I was a pension plan administrator and I first met him.  I thought he was sleazy, dishonest, arrogant...  I was told he was very important and not to criticize him.  We crossed paths again shortly before I retired and literally sat on opposite sides of a large conference table arguing proposed revisions to pension law which I supported (mandatory training for trustees) and he opposed.  Well, the man was indicted as part of the Kilpatrick scandal in Detroit and was facing 20 years in prison.  So, maybe more folks should have listened to my instincts and my talking 'to-the-point'.

Global Warming.  Another article today in the paper about the Pope and a letter about who gives him advice about global warming.  Well, let me just say that I had to restrain myself from clicking on the furnace yesterday morning.  It was quite cool in my home.  The rain all morning didn't help either.  Furthermore, I strongly believe in separation of church and state and do not think he should address Congress, but that is just my not so humble opinion.

Daylilies.  I have lots of daylilies.  Too many.  Plants need to be divided as they are jam-packed in the beds.  My charts from the 80's are hopeless since I have moved and shuffled plants over the years. I try hard to make sure when I show a picture that it has the right name.  And I am tying to figure out how pictures from two years ago in my yard show daylilies in different locations from where they are now.  I am pretty sure with baby-sitting last summer I never moved them.  And then I ask myself, does anyone really care unless they are looking for a certain daylily and I am eager to sell it?  That's in my future though and the bunnies may have eaten everything by then.  One was sitting on the front porch this morning.

Here is a pic of a daylily that has been growing in the same spot for 30 years and was labelled 'Red Cherry', but I am not so sure.  I could have mislabeled it in 1986 when I bought it.  Then again, I have nothing else fitting the description for 'Red Cherry'.  Lots more to come next Monday.

Where I Would Love to Shove a Firecracker!

Can we start with the Governor of Michigan?  This complete moron who signs asinine legislation?  Like allowing fireworks to be handled by complete morons on not just the 4th of July but on every fricking holiday there is, PLUS the day before and the day after????

I am so angry right now that I could just shoot someone myself.  I don't own a gun so that is a problem which is why I would like to just shove a firecracker up someone's butt.

One idiot neighbor on my street is shooting them into the street.  I watched a car drive down and they were lucky they didn't get hit with a firework.  Honesty, the windows in my front bedroom are shaking.  The noise outside is incredible.

Two nights ago, when they were not even allowed, I called the Police at 11:10 pm to complain.  The person answering for dispatch told me there were professional shows that night.  I informed here that those shows are usually from dusk to 10:30.  DUH!

Last night I called around 12:15 AM.  Got the same 'well, if we have someone available we'll send them out'.  Are officers driving in their cars deaf?  My neighbor said they were still going off at 2:00 AM.

We have a noise ordinance, but somehow it is not enforceable because the really important a--holes in Lansing decided they need to collect tax revenue on the sale.  If they are making so much money from selling fireworks, why don't they use it to pave the roads?

Sometimes I think this wouldn't bother me so much if I had not previously been in a situation where I was trapped in my hospital lab while a gunman roamed the hospital, eventually killing someone and then barricading himself in the building.  I feel just as trapped in my home as I did then.

Good for the Mayor of Warren for being out on patrol to make sure nothing is being done illegally in his City.  God forbid our local elected leader would do anything constructive in the community.  She is too focused playing her stupid political games pitting folks against one another.  Drama Queen extraordinaire.

Anyway, I am a wreck and I feel sorry for those with PTSD, children, dogs, and anyone with any kind of nervous disorder.  I'd ask what those idiots in Lansing are thinking, but I think they have as many brain cells as the guy who blew his head off last week with a firecracker.

OK.  I've ranted.  There is still more than an hour to go before I can call the Police again, which I am sure I will have to do.  Meanwhile, I will put on my noise-cancelling earphones and try to get some sleep.  And slow my heart rate down.  And wonder if the idiots setting off the fireworks even know what the 4th of July is all about, since some folks I've heard seem to be confusing it with the Civil War.

Idiocy. Complete Idiocy.

You all know how I feel about fireworks in the hands of anyone but professionals.  So, rather than go on a rant about how the law needs to be changed because it disturbs my sleep every night, because the State shouldn't make burning down homes and blowing oneself up so easy, you can read this story here.

Yesterday I helped my son with some landscaping chores at his house.  Middle of the afternoon and someone is setting off fireworks.  Illegal but who cares.

If you live in this state and haven't signed a petition to ban fireworks, now is your chance.

The Non-Event

I guess folks around here have run out of money to burn - literally, to burn.  I only heard a few 'pops' of fireworks on Sunday night.  Is it possible I slept through it?  Or have folks realized that spending hundreds of dollars to make noise makes no 'cents' or sense.

A relative told me years ago to remember that it 'takes money to make money' and nobody ever got rich by wasting precious dollars.  Last year a couple was interviewed about buying fireworks and they said they had spent 'several hundreds' of dollars on explosives to take 'up North'.  Someone I talked to who lives 'up North', next to a State camp ground, complained that folks were traipsing onto private land to set off their haul of fireworks, since using them on State land is illegal.

Gee, if the State thought this was such a great idea, why not let them use it on State land.  Oh, you are worried about fires?  Better to burn down a house?  As has actually happened at least twice in my community that I know of.

Anyway, the worst offender in my neighborhood has moved out and the house is for sale.  Maybe all the other yahoos are also gone having spent their mortgage money on fireworks?

I guess the 4th of July will be the real test of the great desire to just 'make a lot of noise'.  We are not talking the 'bombs bursting in air' variety of fireworks, but rather the 'bombs blowing up stuff' variety.  Nice going Legislators.

Since the talk in passing this bill was that it would bring in $600 million a year in revenue, why not use that money to fix the roads?  BTW, how much revenue is it bringing in?  Just a thought...

Fireworks in Victoria, BC celebrating Canada Day

It's That Freakin' Fireworks Time Again

Last year I started on online petition to ban fireworks in Michigan.  This legislative session has seen two bills introduced to allow local units to regulate fireworks.  SB 0300 and HB 4367 both allow slight oversight by local units without completely banning them.  Don't hold your breath waiting for action on these.

I've already heard fireworks on Easter Sunday because I am sure that the early Christians were all setting them off when Christ arose from the dead.  Well, maybe it was the intense noise that did it.  The last two Sundays have also witnessed a few being set off.  I guess folks want to make sure they work before they start this week-end.

Legally, they can only set them off Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, though why you need to celebrate the day after a holiday totally escapes me.

I feel sorry for all the animals, children and the veterans suffering from PTSD who have to live through this nightmare.  I am actually dreading the entire week-end.

If you signed the petition last year, I thank you.  If you would like to sign now, the petition is in the right hand column of this blog.  No one in Lansing listens to us peons, but your signing it makes me feel better.

Have a safe Memorial Day week-end.

And About Those Fireworks...

By now ya all know how I feel about fireworks.  The day after Christmas some bozo in my area decided to set some off.  And don't even mention New Year's Eve to me.  If I could, I would leave the state this year during the entire month of July.

But now comes this bit of news:  a pile up yesterday morning on I-94 in west Michigan involving 193  cars and semis.  The was one dead and many injured.  I can't imagine what the total dollar cost will be.  The road was supposed to be reopened around five this evening.

What really caught my eye and makes my blood boil is the fact that a semi carrying 'explosive devices', AKA fireworks, was part of the crash.  Check out the video and photos at the link above.

Who thinks it is a good idea to have trucks filled with fireworks travelling the freeways and right into our neighborhoods?  Yeah, I know, we have tankers on the road, but I think those trucks are probably better prepared for emergencies.

With sub-zero wind chills I have a good idea of what stranded motorists were going through.  I know because I was once stranded on I-94 on a trip home from Lansing.  I was just a half-mile behind the accident and had no way to get off.  It was winter.  It was cold.  And my usual one hour drive home turned into four.

It seems that I am the only one thinking that this truck only made matters much worse.  Maybe I am just an old fuddy-duddy.  But we sure don't need any more accidents involving injury and loss of life with fireworks involved.

The Freep on Fireworks

Here is a link to the Detroit Free Press article on fireworks: link

Not one night this month has gone by without them going off.  Last night it was at 10:30 pm which was better than the 3:38 am on Sunday morning.

24 Hours

Yesterday was the day from hell.  It all started slightly before midnight on Friday. 

We had some big storms coming through the area on Friday evening.  Since I never cut my lawn during the 90 degree heat wave last week, I decided to go out and 'beat the clouds' and get it mowed.  I then waited for the rain.

Actually, it was a lot of wind and noise, and with everything so dry the rain did little to sate the appetite of my plants for water.  I went to bed shortly before 11.  The wind and rain were doing their thing.  I have security lights on the back of my home and they came on thanks to the trees blowing in the wind.

I ignored the lights, figuring they would eventually turn off, but the storm woke me up shortly after midnight and the lights were still on.  I clicked them off and went back to sleep.

When I woke up Saturday morning and turned on the radio, the local classical music station came on instead of the local news station.  That could only mean that the power had gone out.  Sure enough, I walked to the other side of my ranch home and heard my generator running.  No problem.  I can still continue on with my day.

Since I had the fortune to have cut my lawn, I decided to go outside and apply the fertilizer for July.  The bag seemed abnormally heavy.   When I opened it up, it was full of fertilizer clumps.  I thought I could break it up and still use it, but no matter what setting I used on the spreader, it just didn't work.  So, I had to head off to the garden center to exchange the bag. 

Back home I fertilized the lawn, picked some weeds in the flower beds, dead-headed flowers and decided it had just gotten too hot outside to continue.  I came in the house and thought it seemed rather warm so I clicked on the air-conditioner.

I took my shower and then decided to check my email.  Oops.  No Internet.  No cable TV.  No phone.  Everything was out.  I called the cable company on my 'emergency only' cell phone and found out that the entire area was affected.  The recorded phone message tells me that I can get updates at their website.  DUH!  I have NO Internet!

While I sat here I thought that the house wasn't getting any cooler so I checked the thermostat.  Hmmm.  No change in temp.  I looked outside at the compressor unit and it was not working.  Since the generator was running, that must mean I have a problem with the A/C unit - again.

Well, actually, it turns out I don't.  As soon as the power came on around 10:30 A.M. the A/C started working.  So, that means it is not hooked up to the generator and I will have to called the installers tomorrow to get it fixed.

The mail arrives in the afternoon and I discover that my cable bill, the same cable service that is completely out, has gone up in price by $30 a month.  I check emails from them but can find no explanation.  That means a call to their billing department tomorrow.  Maybe it is now time to ditch the home phone.

My cable services were still out when I went to bed at 11.  I hit the sack just in time to hear the AWFs start up.  As best I can figure they were coming from some area well north of where I am.  They actually sounded just like the gunfire I heard last year when one of our police officers was shot and killed in a stand-off situation.  This continued on and off until 1:00 A.M. when they either stopped or I fell asleep from complete exhaustion. 

I honestly do not know how anyone with PTSD can stand this.  I actually am finding myself sitting up in a state of nervousness.  From what I read in the papers, I am not the only one who is thoroughly disgusted.

This morning the Internet and phone are back.  TV I can take or leave, though I did spend a good part of yesterday watching 'House of Cards'.  (Here is a show with not one character I would even want to say I know if they were real folks.)

I watered my flowers this morning.  It is cool and absolutely beautiful outside.  I have a wonderful video of my morning walk around the north garden.  If I can figure out how to change its .mts format in HD to something Google accepts, I may upload it in the future.  Such is my week-end.

For now, you must content yourself with this picture of the daylily Spanish Beauty.  It is one of the most prolific I have.  I even planted it many years ago at our Town Hall.  I wonder if it is still there?

Canada Day versus the Fourth of July

I've just returned from British Columbia, Canada.  I'll be writing more about my trip, but for now I want to focus on their holiday which occured yesterday - Canada Day.

I was in Victoria down at the Inner Harbor.  There were lots of people, lots of entertainers and plenty of food.  What there wasn't any of was fireworks being shot off by every yahoo with a few bucks to burn.

Yes, at 10:22 pm (I have no idea why it was that particular time), there was a fireworks display in the Harbor.  It lasted about eight minutes.  And then everyone quietly dispersed and went elsewhere.

I watched the show from my hotel room terrace.  I closed the door when it was over and went to sleep since I had to be up at 3:00 am to catch a flight home.

On my flight into Victoria I spoke with a woman who had been mayor for eight years of a small town north of Victoria.  She said they did not allow any fireworks.  They were 'too dangerous'.  (They also make motorcyclists wear full helmets.  Go figure.)

When I told her what the legislature has done in Michigan she looked at me like I was nuts.  No.  I just live here.

But what amazed me is that there were no scofflaws to be heard setting off fireworks in Victoria.  What does Canada do that we don't?   Our residents don't seem to think laws apply to them.  They do what they please. 

Frankly, the only reason I came home is because I was worried that with the dry weather, something here may catch fire.  And the booms go on and on.