Happy Fourth

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

My neighbors started celebrating days ago and frankly sleep has been notional for the boom ratrat boom.

It does my heart good.

I don’t mean to write a long post today, just mention what a miracle and a wonder that this little experiment in self government turns 249 years old today.

So, go and watch the sacred musical which yes is wrong in parts but oh so right in many ways.

Now…. ahem….

According To Hoyt Annual Fundraiser

This will be going on for the next two weeks.

This is the reason for doing a fundraiser. THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY. Don’t hurt yourself.

If you read this blog a few times a week and feel like donating, I’m tremendously grateful.

If you read this blog and don’t feel like donating, that’s fine too.

If you wish you could donate but can’t, consider buying one of my books (hopefully a bunch coming out starting next month… Yeah, i am better) and if you like it leaving a review. If you’ve read my books and enjoyed them, consider leaving a review. If you can — and have something you know well — consider sending me a guest post to give me a “free day.” (No guarantees of acceptance, of course.)

I’d like to say I’m doing better and will be better at following through on rewards. But I still have them pending from other years, because the last four years have been a slow upward battle. I am better, but I’m not adding to that backlog. (Though I’ll continue trying to fulfill promises long overdue.)

For this year, I’ll (merely) give you ways to donate.

The Give Send Go is still active. Lately I’ve gotten more disenchanted with them, though. Not only have they hosted fundraisers for the kid who stabbed the track star through the heart, but there was some appearance of encouraging racialist bs. True or not? Don’t know. Haven’t looked that closely. Still, that and the fact they calculate how much of the raised money you actually get in some weird way makes them less than shiny.

So, what else is there? Well, there is paypal. Yes, I removed the button from the side (though I’ll return it) because they were threatening to fine people for badthink. Whether that was entirely organic or part of the Autopen administration it’s open to debate. They were being very enthusiastic about forcing everything from social media to everything else including debanking. At any rate, I think it is safe to use a paypal link for the next four years. Give or take. (Look none of these services are pure. We use what we can and seems safe at the time.)


So, here’s the paypal link.

While on that, yes, the address in Las Vegas is still available:

Sarah A. Hoyt

Goldport Press

304 S Jones Blvd #6771

Las Vegas, NV  89107

(Note this is a drop box. Please don’t send perishables that will be damaged by heat. If you want to send something out of the ordinary, contact me first. I’ll figure out antoher place to send it where things won’t be damaged and I can retrieve it. And it might be best to catch me at a con. (Younger DIL says I have do do more cons. Sigh.)

Please, please, please do not send Indy a multi-tool. I realize this is probably futile pleading, but he’s enough trouble as it is. No, seriously. If you want me to have time to write, don’t send Indy a multitool.

And that’s it for now. A heartfelt thank you to anyone who contributes, thinks about contributing or (“merely”) leaves a nice review on one of my books.

I have the best fans in the universe.

Now, go blow up some angry incense.

81 thoughts on “Happy Fourth”

  3. Old jokes are new the first time you hear them, and I am today days old when I first heard the term “angry incense”. I definitely like it.

    Happy Independence Day to my American compatriots, and to others throughout the world, may you (and your cultures) someday join in the celebration!

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    2. That one is new to me too but our family has called ground bloom flowers “angry babies” for many years.

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  4. Hey, I was the weird uncle! I rode through Missouri, fireworks capital of the USA on my way to a family reunion. Every few miles there were huge billboards:

    FACTORY FIREWORKS OUTLET

    So naturally I stopped at one and picked up as much stuff as I could fit in a saddlebag. Skyrockets, Roman candles, cherry bombs, etc. Michigan was what one might call a fireworks-unfriendly state; ‘angry incense’ was the only thing legal, and they might have banned that since then.

    Fortunately the reunion was at the family farm out in the boonies and The Law didn’t take any notice of what we did in the front yard that year. No fire hazard to speak of; Michigan in July is really green.

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    1. I was young when we lived in St. Claire Shores (left in ’60), but back in the ’50s, Michigan was apparently free for fireworks. The adults would give us small stuff–black cats and the like, while they’d set a washtub full of sand and use that as a base for bigger crackers.

      When we moved, that state banned even angry incense. Sigh.

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      1. Hubby grew up in a small town outside of San Diego. Way outside San Diego, back when dinosaurs roamed before there was dirt. These days not so much. He’s talked many a times about hand rocket fights (the fireworks that are tubes, that are handheld and fire off spurts of fireworks into the air).

        Neither Oregon nor Washington are aerial firework friendly. But the reservations do not check id for those who come to buy. One of the bonus features of hubby being isolated in nowhere mid Washington, was the ability to make an evening run to the reservation before heading home for the 4th. We even made a few runs ourselves after he was transferred back home. (Don’t know if the Oregon reservations do this or not.) We tended to stock up. Took forever to run through the last of the firecrackers (while not aerial, still illegal).

        We haven’t done fireworks for years. Downside to no littles around. Now days Eugene has 100% ban on all fireworks. Started with ban in South hills for safety. Of coarse it would “never extend to the flat lands”. The “B* S*” response morphed to “Told you!” Already been posts on “NextDoor” regarding people are going to “video any illegal fireworks” and turn them into authorities. One neighborhood poster limited it to “state illegal”. When they got push back on the “Eugene ban”, someone (guilty) pointed out that the neighborhood in question wasn’t Eugene proper (implied – “so there”). Not that I thought the original poster was being very smart. Whatever. Hasn’t stopped the few aerial rockets the usual suspects have been firing off all week (don’t know who).

        Did not point out that I know of one licensed professional fireworks tech has had his annual bash for his neighbors, friends, military vets, and first responders, with the resulting hour of professional fireworks (too busy this week with paying gigs). Always a good show and good potluck eats.

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        1. We were always lucky as kids: a rich uncle who would buy the good fireworks on the reservation, and a lake to shoot them off over.

          We still have the lake – not that I got there anymore – but there aren’t enough kids in the family to make setting off our own fireworks worthwhile.

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        2. Re: aerial fireworks. Had to work a morning-after fire several years ago. 5 AM. Fire actually started late on the 4th, but “we thought we could get it”. Somebody else’s land, and a good response from the locals (I drove the 6 x 6 that time) as well as ODF.

          Seems alcohol was involved, plus an aerial ‘work that sailed through their fence. Took a couple of hours, but we got it. And they got the fine. $5000, and they were lucky. Vacant lot, long distance ownership, so no private grief. When the lady complained, the local chief told her what it could have cost. (About 7 years later, a couple drunks were playing with fireworks on Bastille day. 2000 acres and 30 homes later, it was out. Rumor has it they got the 3S treatment. “They never will be missed.”

          Used to be a bunch of people would gather at the town fire station and use the apron for legal fireworks. Not my idea of fun, but I’m not going to a pro fireworks show. Way too attractive for certain people of the Trantifa/Aloha Snackbar/etc persuasion. ‘Sides, we had God’s Own Show last night. Lots ‘o thunder and lightning. whee.

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          1. The show put on by the professional hubby knows (they golf together) family and friends show is out in the middle of nowhere Oregon. North of Monroe, head west, a few turns left, then right, and left into the neighborhood, all the way to the back against the hills, and you are there (Google does not have the roads on the map). No one to complain to. All the neighbors (the few there are) are there. Rural fire department is there. The usual suspects you list won’t find the place.

            Been watching the weather reports. Did look like The Lord put his own display on in your area for the 4th.

            We can have lightening storms even now. But not near as often as we used to see in the ’60s through ’70s. Used to sit in our living room and watch the storms over the Cascades. Late ’80s noticed they were less frequent; have been since.

            Early ’80s we were on the Columbia, then we watched the same storm get pushed from the west, down south on the Columbia toward Portland, then afternoon/evening winds would push them back north, over us, and west again.

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        3. WordPress! Moderated again. (I think I offended the AI with @ndy Ng0’s (I think) term for sexually ambiguous activists of the non-capitalist variety. Those with black clothes and masks.)

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    3. Ah the good old days. When I was growing up, my uncle would take me on a “thunder run” 40 miles from MN to White Rock SD. There I would plunk my meager savings down and get a few packs of Black Cats, some Lady Fingers, and two or three skyrockets. Then there was the thrill of driving back a criminal with the contraband in the trunk, and me watching out the back window for the cops.

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  5. The ‘Citizens with guns’ meme doesn’t show any cannons. There should be cannons. That would give it more impact, and be more historically accurate. Plus give a big middle finger to the anti-gun zealots crying “The Second Amendment only means muskets!”

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  6. To put it in the style of Sun Tzu: “The acme of skill is not in discouraging Indy to take things apart. The acme of skill is in encouraging Indy to put things back together.”

    Of course, the next person to figure out how to make cats do something constructive will be the first.

    Anyway, Happy Explosives Day!

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    1. Arguably better than military – more accurate over longer range, but slower to load.

      The British Army had rejected rifles in favor of the smooth bore musket.

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      1. At that time, every European Army used smooth bore muskets and knew about rifles.

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      2. There were two reasons for that.

        1. Military tactics in Europe favored massed fire by massed troops. Rate of fire was more important than strict accuracy. Smoothbore muskets could be loaded faster than rifles. Hunters/snipers used rifles, because they were longer ranged, but to engage the rifling, they were literally pounding the bullets down the barrel.
        2. Some unknown genius in either Pennsylvania or Kentucky figured out that if you wrapped the bullet in either cloth or leather, you could have a slightly smaller bullet that you could push down the barrel with just the ramrod. Military inertia kept the smoothbore in common use until the ACW.

        There’s a scene in “Last of the Mohicans” where Hawkeye had silk patches from Cora’s petticoat and says “Silk — another 40 yards”.

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  15. While I hate to disagree with Ben Franklin, my experience with wild turkeys is they are not likely to stand up to troops. Mind you, my encounters in the woods were with hen turkeys with chicks (I’m mildly proud I could get fairly near hen turkeys with chicks). Hen turkeys with chick’s keep a low profile.

    Now, tom turkeys in full mating regalia is a sight to behold….but having three of them gobbling outside your trailer at 6 a.m. is just a pain.

    Come to think of it, Ben has the profile of a tom turkey.

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    1. The bald eagle is a lovely bird. But the first one I saw up close was … eating road kill on the shoulder of a state highway in Flatter-Than-Flat-State. So much for majestic symbol of liberty.

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      1. So much for majestic symbol of liberty.

        America: we take the most unlikely raw material and use it for something better.

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        1. Glory Road: “This is the chop of my house. The bird stands for courage, freedom, and ideals soaring high” followed by “I didn’t tell him the Eagle eats carrion, never tackles anything its own size, and will soon be extinct. A symbol has the meaning you give it.” (Paraphrased from memory but it should be pretty close.

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      1. Turkeys are flat out mean. I had to call in late to work one day. I was trapped in my car in the parking lot. Flocks had intermingled in the parking lot and the multiple tom’s were attacking cars and people. Made a run for it when the birds temporarily moved to a farther section of the parking lot.

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        1. I have twice met turkey families in my walk. Mom and Dad and their chicks strutting the other way down the street. The second time the relationship was presumed because the chicks were nearly grown.

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      1. “it was self defense!”

        “This is your citation and summons for poaching turkey.”

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  16. Going to be a bit later start today – son is picking up some time-and-a-half. So, happy Fourth once again.

    Now I need to go lock up the firearms where Artemis can’t get at them, and retrieve the multitool from the mailbox…

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      1. Miz Kitty likes to curl up on my 1911, if i leave it out. Sometimes she will sit on it like a hen on an egg.

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  17. I gave at PayPal just because they’re convenient, and yes, I’ve been worried about them too. County had it’s big fireworks show last night (wouldn’t want a government worker to have to work on a holiday). Went to see it with people from my church: we had a church picnic. It was fun! Wore myself out! May set off some of my own fireworks in the backyard tonight if the weather cooperates.

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    1. We’ll watch the higher (ones we can see over trees) fireworks curtsy of the July 4th Rodeo. We’ll also get to listen to the live country music. Don’t know who their headliners are this year (haven’t paid attention). We are just far enough away that the music isn’t “loud”.

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    2. Our church has its own fireworks show, which was on Wednesday this year. About a thousand people show up. We give out free hotdogs and popcorn to the visitors.

      The fireworks are purchased from the volunteer fire department. Is there anything more America than this?

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  18. Tip-jar hit.

    Someone tried to get an early start over at the school park last night with some swishy-boomies. The neighbors had a word – wrong place, wrong day.

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    1. Happy Birthday.

      Big party every year! Shared party.

      My sister and her oldest granddaughter birthdays are May 28th. Her complaint was her birthday was almost always Memorial Day weekend. Good news, always on a 3 day holiday. Bad news, problem was growing up that meant weekend camping and fishing, every year.

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  22. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » FOURTH MEMES AND ALSO FIRST DAY OF MY ANNUAL FUNDRAISER:  Happy Fourth.

  23. The Reader hates to post sad news here, but he realizes everyone worries when someone disappears for a while. The Reader’s son passed away last night (was expecting it but still) and he won’t be around for a while.

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    3. So sorry.

      May the Lord bless you, and keep you; may He make His countenance to shine upon you, and grant you His Peace.

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    6. *Long Distance Hugs* You and your family are on my prayer list. I hope you find strength and comfort, and that your son’s memory will be a blessing to you and to others.

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