In Juneau, because it doesn't get dark in July until almost midnight, Independence Day fire works happen at 12:00 a.m. July 4th*. It is our family tradition that Kathy and Richard come over for a late dinner of spareribs on the 3rd and then we talk and enjoy each other's company, and finally go up on the roof/patio and watch the display. We're up on the hillside about 10 blocks from the waterfront, and the fireworks are set off from a barge right down there. We sit on the roof and have the best view in town. The booms echo from Mount Roberts, behind us, to Mount Juneau and then back across the channel to Mount Jumbo.Because I have only one interior door, the one between the porch and the kitchen, when I am preparing or eating anything that the Hooligans would be interested in, I quietly toss three or four Fritos onto the porch, they run out, and I close them out there. Because the 3rd isn't a holiday, Richard and Kathy worked and then Richard had a nap before they came over, which got them to the door just as the ribs were done. I went to toss Fritos, and the Hooligans weren't interested. They hadn't seen the kids in a while and they needed to visit with them. For ten minutes. Amazing. And here I thought the furry little creatures were primarily motivated by their stomaches. Turns out that love trumps snacks.
In the past, we have closed the door when we went out and just assumed that Merry and Pippin were hiding from the noise. After all, we don't see many bears around from the 3rd to the 6th or so; if it scares bears, of course it scares cats. Well, this year it was raining and so I went inside and watched from the window next to my computer desk and what do you know? The Hooligans like fireworks! Pippin was standing on my desk and looking out the window, and Merry was watching through the skylight! What a hoot. Such brave boys. Not only are people more important than Fritos, curiosity beats fear.* Photo from Juneau Empire, July 5, 2007. Fireworks and Juneau as seen from Douglas.
6 comments:
Poor Genevieve is TERRIFIED of them. She runs around the house, panting like crazy, shaking like a leaf, peeing on the carpet. And we're not even THAT close to any (though I guess if we were on a hill we would see plenty).
We finally came up with a solution, which is that we watch TV kinda loud, and keep her in the room with us. With the windows closed, A/C on (it was 102 on the 4th, so no problem with having the A/C on), and the TV on, she never noticed the fireworks this year. WHEW. No pee stains to clean out of the carpet!
Maya and I watched 2 episodes of Cosmos while Ted tried to sleep, but was awoken by the fireworks. Luckily, they don't make HIM pee himself. ;)
We can't miss the booms at my place because I live in a condo complex where people just LOVE to set them off in the parking lots, the street, the park a block away, and along the wide gravel path that runs between the complex and the freeway.
This year, people were especially fond of cherry bombs.
My boys were under the bed most of the night.
What a great place to watch the fireworks. I used to love the ones that were dispatched from a barge in the Hudson River when I lived in NY.
Cats who eat Fritos! That alone is worth a blog post. And then to think that they like the fireworks. These two are something else.
Great story. I thought all animals were afraid of fireworks.
We only watched the fireworks on TV on PBS from the National Mall in DC..GREAT.
those are brave kittys
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