Sunday smiles

David Strom 2:31 PM | July 09, 2023

I’m not sure if this is a nationwide trend, but the City of Minneapolis hasn’t done fireworks shows on July 4th for a number of years.

That doesn’t stop my neighbors, who buy illegal fireworks in Wisconsin and set them off for weeks preceding and following the official holiday.

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The big day itself is the height of fireworks season, and my cats have gotten so used to the noise that they barely notice it even on the 4th. Even Mickey, our stray rescue and mother of the (now 9 year-old) “kittens” is totally cool with the noise. She just curls up next to me and sleeps, happy in the knowledge that if the bullets fly they will strike me instead of her.

My wife and I stepped out to watch the mayhem for a bit, although we went back inside after we heard actual gunshots a few times. Pretty sure it was just the usual silly noisemaking that happens every July 4 and New Year’s Eve rather than actual shots fired in anger, but no need to find out what it’s like to get hit by bullets that rediscover the importance of gravity.

Yes, we are expert enough to tell the difference between gunfire and fireworks. I believe that I can even tell the difference between the sounds of a revolver and a semi-automatic pistol, although I have never sought out the people who fired the shots to test my theory. Seems a bit rash to do so.

We are probably about 18 months from moving away to a nice suburb of Detroit, to live near my wife’s dad. At 88 he is trucking along, and I keep telling him that he won’t die, just turn to leather. He is skeptical. Me, not so much. He is as likely as not to outlive me, partly because he is so vital, and partly because I need to take better care of myself.

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One irony that strikes me about the upcoming move is that moving from inner-city Minneapolis to a suburb of Detroit will be a major step up in safety. Minneapolis has always had a reputation as a nice place, and we all know the rep. of Detroit. But Minneapolis is now one of the more dangerous cities in America, and once you get a bit out of Detroit itself the suburbs are extremely nice.

I have spent most of my life in Minnesota now (I have lived in many places, including Massachussets, New York, Arizona, and North Carolina), but I will leave feeling no nostalgia for the place. The weather sucks, the politics suck, and now the city sucks. Taxes are outrageous, and it is about as Blue a state as there is.

Ironically, the Minnesota liberals are trying to scare us all into a panic over global warming, but the weather right now is uncommonly pleasant and cool. It has been in the 70s during the day and even cooler at night this week, proving God has a good sense of humor. Usually the state is blazing hot in the Summer and ridiculously cold in the winter. The coming week offers more of the same:

89 degrees is too hot for my taste, but this isn’t normal weather for July, and I am just as happy that we will only run the A/C a couple of days this week.

I grew up in Tucson mostly, and the weather there is hardly so congenial this coming week:

Suddenly 89 looks rather nice, doesn’t it? Not a fan of triple digit temps.

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For this and many other reasons I will indeed be smiling this Sunday. I hope you will be too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week’s headlines from the newspaper of record

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Random stuff I liked from around the web

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https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1677800695469326336?s=20

And finally…your cat, when you aren’t looking…

Tags: SUNDAY SMILES

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