WOOF!

Bopped in to chat about A Boy & his Dog with Chelsey Ortega via her fabulous blog.

On the Fourth of July, my dogs are always optimistic about scoring some dropped holiday food though, like Mojo, they hate the sound of fireworks, even from a distance.

My earliest memories of the holiday were from back in the day of Unsupervised Kids Gone Wild, and my older brother shot bottle rockets toward the chickens roosting in a tree 50 meters away, which caused outraged squawking from both the chickens as well as me and my sister, animal lovers that we were. He ignored us, and luckily never got close, though I wonder if the poor birds had ringing in their ears later. Despite his mischievous start, my brother grew up to be a decent human.

I still like the smell of powder and the colorful displays, and I loved the sparklers. I’m not sure parents now would let their kids run around holding a sharp metal stake that could set something on fire, but that was normal behavior then. My favorites, though, were the black snakes: a small dark pellet that looked like a thick button. When ignited, they morphed into twisting black ash that resembled snakes. Turns out that they’re mostly powdered sugar and baking soda–who knew? The sodium bicarbonate creates carbon dioxide gas, so the bubbles make the snake “grow”, kind of like bread rising on fast forward, and the sugar creates the black ash that encapsulates the C02.

No fireworks for me this holiday, though I might see a real snake in the garden. Here’s wishing a safe and happy holiday to all those who celebrate it!