Owls and fireworks…bet you’re wondering how I’m going to marry those two topics in one neat little essay. Wonder no longer – I’m not. I’m just stuffing two different things into one blog post. We’ll call it “efficient.”
This fierce looking owl has one purpose and one purpose only. It is an owl meant to spread fear and dread into the little rodent hearts of the squirrels that take one bite of our apples and throw them on the ground. And if it provokes some horror in the birds that eat our raspberries, all the better. Be honest: if you were a squirrel, would the sight of this clearly fake owl throw you into a dizzy tizzy? According to the hostess of our B&B lodgings in Idaho, these really work. She had 7 of them spread through her yard. We decided to start with one.
And completely unrelated to the owl issue, let’s talk about fireworks. When our children were younger, we used to go forth to the local park where they shot off the fireworks display in our fair city on Independence Day. It was a festive event to which hordes of mosquitos came to feast on our blood. Then came the fun of getting out of the crowded parking lot. Don’t get me wrong – I love fireworks! The best fireworks experience I ever had was when I was a child and we were in Duluth on the 4th of July. We were on the shore of Lake Superior and the sound of the fireworks echoed back and forth across the bay as they lit up the sky. I wished it could have gone on forever.
As soon as our kids caught on to the idea of buying their own fireworks to set off at home, we were freed from going down to the park. The mosquitos found us anyway, of course.
Eventually, we discovered that if we stood on the corner near our house, we could see the fireworks from there. That’s what we did last night while all of the rest of you were doing it up proper.
I took a few photos of the orange-lit clouds from the sunset and then tried unsuccessfully to capture the fireworks from far away.
When darkness fell and the mosquitos began to bite my ankles, we went back home.
In honor of Independence Day, I’ll leave you with a quote from John Adams about our Constitution:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
When the owls start setting off fireworks, I’ll delete this post.
Lynniebeemuseoday 
I watched the fireworks in Forest Lake from my window. I found myself wondering if I were odd for not shlepping the two blocks to the fireworks.
Thank you for the John Adams quote
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If that makes you odd, I’m part of the club! 😄
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The best fireworks experience I remember was here in Rochester while the Rochester Symphony Orchestra played music (I think it was before the fireworks started- it would have been better while the fireworks were going on). Handle’s Royal Fireworks Music, Key’s The Star-Spangled Banner and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture among others. Absolutely fabulous! This year, our oldest is visiting and she has been traumatized by fireworks (which is hard to avoid), so we find other activities to do when she is here. Thank you for sharing!
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The 1813 Overture would have been fantastic during the fireworks! Guess we’ll just have to imagine it.
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We were in Duluth for the 4th many years ago and loved the fireworks display. I’ve not seen anything quite like it since.
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So glad to know someone else had that experience!
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