July 4th, 2006
We celebrated July 4th this year at Betz Manor. Michael, Wanda, Brent, Gary, Kishan (later) and myself showed up. The party takes place across the river in a lawless land called South Carolina.
Pre-launch dinner.
The munitions.
When a launch goes right, it looks something like this.
But when it goes wrong, it looks like this (if you’re lucky). This one blew up too close to the ground, showering “the audience” with flaming ash and toilet paper rolls (slight exaggeration).
Another example of a launch gone bad. Here the explosive has detonated in the launcher, destroying everything in its path (slight exaggeration).
A successful launch bursts into a colorful bouquet just at tree level, raining glowing ash into the tops of dried pine trees or onto the roof of a neighboring house. Hopefully the ashes all burn out.
After the finale, roman candles were launched by hand although the instructions explicitly state that they not be held in the hand when lit. Despite this blatant disregard for safety, everybody went home with all their fingers.
