Fireworks and such (pics)

[Brigitte]

We Arubians love fireworks especially when it's New Year's eve. Everyone throws them and apart from the 20 or so each year who accidentally get burned or blow a finger off, we like it.
This is a mini "pagara", safe for kids and doesn't cause much of an explosion as you can see
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/Brigi26/Boom.jpg
Of course when u roll it up in a ball it does , behold :
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/Brigi26/BigBoom.jpg
Now this is how a real pagara looks like, causes one h*ll of noise and has things flying everywhere.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/Brigi26/Pagara.jpg
Pretty fireworks in the sky :
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/Brigi26/Pretty.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/Brigi26/Prettyfirework.jpg
I have some videos of it too, but putfile is having problems I think because I can't load them. Those I'll put on later :D

[baileyholc]

Great pictures. Wish we had done some crackers this year. I love the different colors and shapes they make.

[Terry Wallace]

Yikes.... I hate fireworks! I'll bet people in Oklahoma & Texas are hating them too! My neighbor shot some off toward my pasture over 4th of July... good thing it did not start a fire, I did not even know he had done this, until my 3 yr. old filly BROUGHT me a spent bottle rocket "stalk" in she was holding her teeth....

I hope they will be outlawed here in the USA one day...not because of the firework per say....but because of the incredibly STUPID people who use them! ;-)

No offense intended for this thread.....just giving my TRUE opinion!

I wish smokers would stop throwing cigarettes out of car windows too. At least now, if you see a smoker throw a cigarette out, you can press *CSP (Colorado state patrol)on your cell phone, and if the state patrol is nearby and can get the car from the license plate number you give them, it will not be less than $100.00 fine.... ;-)

[Terri]

I love watching fireworks. Especially big public displays of them. What worries me is the "backyard shows" I bought Rio 2yrs ago on April 30th, On Memorial day weekend my neighbors put on a fireworks show. Terrified the poor beast so badly he crashed through my fence and headed for the woods (lots of rocks and holes) at full speed. It was a dark night, black horse (3yr old!) near a busy road. And I had no idea if he was hurt from the fence or not or how badly. Because he was new here he didn't really know me or trust me. Oh, and he had no halter on. I never prayed so hard in my life. Mico was screaming for him, eventually he came up to me and I was able to slip a halter on him and lead him home. When I got him back I couldn't find a scratch on him. I know he had an angel with him that night.
Last summer the town didn't have money to do a fireworks display so every neighbor on the street must have driven to New Hampshire where they are legal and bought a bunch. The loud noises and fire in the sky had my guys climbing the walls of the barn.
So fireworks - absolutely, lots of fun if handled professionally in a place where people know they are going off and come for the purpose of seeing them. It is the backyard pyros that blow off their own arms while scaring all the aminals within a mile silly that worry me. Like Terry said - JMO

[DSDECKERT]

AMEN Terry - I feel exactly the same, about fireworks and cigarette butts - when I'm stopped at a light and someone flips one out their window, it's everything I can do to control myself to not get out of my car and put it back in their window. Someone once told me it takes 18 years for those filters to break down.

[Cindy]

Over the "holiday" break from school I caught some kids not once but twice in the woods around my house and barn setting off fire crakers. Once while I was riding a filly in the woods nearby. These were very young children. The youngest looked to be about five. The oldest maybe eight or nine. Needless to say, these kids run whenever they see me now.

But, I love fireworks. Not in the desert or used by morons however. When I first met my husband we used to go and work the fireworks show that was shot off the Union Plaza in Vegas for New Years eve. Since we were married on Christams eve, it was actually our honeymoon one year. :lol: It was a lot of fun. Even that one time when the lift charge didn't work and we almost got blown off the roof of the Union Plaza. Trust me when I tell you that you forget to get down when it actually happens.

[Brigitte]

Yeah my mom gets paranoid about fireworks now, we have a cabana built in the backyard...so thats lots of dry palm tree leaves, but it rained during new year's so it was wet

[motorgypsy]

Great pictures! I don't like to set them off but love the professional displays

Our neighborhood puts on a huge display for the fourth of July on the island in the lake that is in our backyard. We always have to be there because we're afraid they're going to burn the house down. But it is neat to have ringside seats because our deck is 12 feet above ground and overlooks the lake and the display is gorgeous. They even have a whole musical program that goes with it, a person to sing the national anthem and a big finale. The scariest part is after all the people who come to the display go home, the kids come back to the lake on the middle of the night to set off their own fireworks. One year they started a fire in our yard which luckily went out on it's own.

Luckily noone sets any off near the horses although they do shooting practice a small distance from their pasture using hunting rifles. The horses always move to the more distance part of the pasture because those rifles are LOUD.