# What Are You Yanks Doing Over the 4th? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024 "2000-06-29T15:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/21 "2000-06-29T17:52:11Z")
I am cleaning my apartment. When the floor is visible, I am buying a big girl bed. I am then cleaning my car. Our kaboomies are on the 3rd, I’ve already got a posse of chicks (4 of them. We’ll move in gang formation) to go to the fireworks with. At some point, I’m going to see A Perfect Storm. I also have Tuesday and Wednesday off, due to a site shutdown, so I think I’ll just do rotations of lying in the sun, reading and napping. Hell, I could do all three at the same time. Damn, I need a vacation! ---
**Author:** ![Tally-Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@Tally-Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tally-Ho)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/22 "2000-06-29T17:57:58Z")
Big family barbacue at my mom’s Sunday. (attendence by yours truly is mandatory, not like I’ll turn down free food that someone else cooks. 😃 ) Tuesday is a party at my friend’s place, which should migrate over to the park for the fireworks show that evening. I’m glad we got enough rain in time so we can have fireworks this year. 🙂 chrisbar ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/23 "2000-06-29T17:58:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Democritus, I’m taking 2 gallons of my homemade **mead** on my camping trip. > [@](#): > > And by god, there will be **BEER**! > [@](#): > > Sun, the Lake, pretty girls in summer attire, **Beer** , Music, **Beer** , etc. > [@](#): > > Sat. night trek to the Tarpon Springs sponge docks and to a local bar for all you can eat peel n’ eat shrimp (with **BEER** ); home Monday afternoon, barbecue with friends (yes, there will be **BEER** drinking) I just _love_ you people!😃 > [@](#): > > Demo…Beer and Fireworks?! Great mixture…Hope you are just WATCHING them…not setting them off. You might like to keep all your appendages! Hey, what’s a party without a few third degree burns? And, I didn’t need those toes anyway! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flypsyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Flypsyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flypsyde)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/24 "2000-06-29T18:08:39Z")
Friday night-poker and drinking Saturday-drinking and drinking Sunday-fireworks under the Gateway Arch (Veiled Prophet festival) and drinking Monday-cookout and drinking Tuesday-swearing about how I have to go back to work the next day and can’t drink ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/25 "2000-06-29T18:10:03Z")
Not much. Ever since it became almost impossible to buy and/or use fireworks, Independence Day has become just another insanely hot summer day. The only difference is, I don’t have to go to work. I miss those childhood times when I celebrated the birth of our nation by trying to blow up a small part of it. Say, was anybody else dumb enough to tie firecrackers onto bottle rockets, so the f’cracker fuze was in the exhaust stream? Boy, that made for a short flight–sssBANG! I remember “accidentally” setting fire to a friend’s paper bag full of fireworks. He had to quickly throw into the storm drain to avoid his own detonation. Wow, what a noise! The steel storm drain cover magnified the firecracker explosion, so that it sounded like continuous mortar blasts. It also set fire to the trash in the sewer, so we had to put it out with the water hose. Ah, to be young and stupid again… ---
**Author:** ![Spolvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spolvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spolvy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/26 "2000-06-29T18:17:25Z")
I think the question is not what are we doing, but who is not drinking? Anybody? anybody? Oh yeah, I forgot…Friday I have to help someone move (me and my big mouth “oh sure, I don’t have anything planned for that afternoon…” stupid, stupid) but there will be BEER! Yay! Has anybody else ever had a “duel” with Roman Candles? Or am I the only one with friends dumb enough to play…Hmmm ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/27 "2000-06-29T18:28:23Z")
Spolvy, put me down as a teetotaler—I’m allergic to booze and can’t even have cough syrup. I was so het-up about painting my apt., I forgot all about fireworks! My town has an adorable small-town fireworks display in the park, I’ll stroll out to see that between painting bouts. Guess they’ll hold it Sat. night. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/28 "2000-06-29T18:32:20Z")
I appear to be in on a serious trend. Friday Night: Drink Beer Saturday Day: Drink Beer and do laundry Sunday: Drink Beer and grill something Monday: Drink Beer and pack for my business trip Tuesday: Drink Beer, grill some Beef and get all teary eyed about my homeland and the freedom I have to drink beer. ---
**Author:** ![Spolvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spolvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spolvy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/29 "2000-06-29T18:36:21Z")
Eve - good for you. I have a similar (perhaps) allergy but I drink anyway. Not the brightest thing, I know, but whaddaya want? I’m a guy. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/30 "2000-06-29T18:55:15Z")
I won’t have Son this weekend, so I’ll probably go hang out at the gun shop on Saturday. The gunsmith there is a good friend and he’s being treated for colon cancer. I hope he wins – he’s been like a brother to me. I’ll probably bring him a six-pack of Rolling Rock (his favorite) for consumption after closing. Sunday, I might go see a movie, if Chicken Run is still showing. Otherwise, I’ll probably lounge around the house in my underwear (when you live alone, it’s a good way to stay cool). Monday, I have to work, but there won’t be any planes (the Active Duty portion of the AF gets Monday as a “family day” – Contractors get to work). Maybe we’ll have a barbeque? I should bring the subject up at work tonight. On the Fourth, I’ll have Son for 3 hours in the morning. I think I’ll try to have a mini-barbeque with him and introduce him to the family tradition of ringing a bell at 11:00 a.m. That’s supposed to be either:[ul][li]When the Declaration of Independence was signed, or[/li][li]when it was announced. (I don’t remember which it was supposed to be.)[/ul]They shoot off fireworks at a nearby park on the fourth, so I suppose that’s where I’ll be during the evening. If they lift the fireworks ban (it’s a drought year, but its been raining all week) maybe I’ll buy some of my own pyrotechnics and have fun in my front yard. I’ll keep a hose handy, J.I.C.[/li] ~~Baloo ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/31 "2000-06-29T19:07:18Z")
Put big piece of dead animal on fire. Eat. Drink. Maybe belch and scratch. Cookout time. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/32 "2000-06-29T19:27:25Z")
Spolvy—Don’t credit me with any great moral strength; when I drink any alcohol, I get food poisoning and will—how can I put this?—unswallow violently. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Vega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Lord\_Vega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Vega)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/33 "2000-06-29T19:28:59Z")
Working both Monday and Tuesday. I love this job! I get to spend time here at work, with absolutly nothing going on, surfing the net, playing on the message boards, and getting paid time and a half on Monday, and double time and a half for tuesday. Someones gotta make sure the satellites don’t fall out of the sky! V. ---
**Author:** ![KimKatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@KimKatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimKatt)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/34 "2000-06-29T19:35:25Z")
Fireworks - we had ours yesterday. I have always found that so silly. July 1 is Canada Day, July 4 is “America Day” :), yet the [fireworks](http://www.detnews.com/metro/index.htm) are always the Wednesday before. Silly. But they are very, very cool fireworks, a huge display for about 30 minutes. If I am not mistaken, it is the biggest annual display going. ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/35 "2000-06-29T19:48:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Has anybody else ever had a “duel” with Roman Candles? Or am I the only one with friends dumb enough to play…Hmmm No, you’re not the only one **Spolvy** … Duck! ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/36 "2000-06-29T19:50:29Z")
I will be firing my cheap 9mm semi-automatic handgun in to the air just outside my apartment building. I will probably not be arrested. (Just kidding. Somebody did this last year. I know it was a nine since I found the brass on the 5th. Being more socially responsible, I will probably just sit around on the fourth.) ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/37 "2000-06-29T20:02:14Z")
I do not drink. As a rule. When I am in a situation where drinking would be an option, I am also in a place where having a nervous breakdown or an anxiety attack is probable. My solution to this for now is to take some medicine (zoloft) that essentially means I do not drink. I have (had) a friend who took her prozac (very similar to zoloft) with beer or something. She hadto go to the hospital to get her stomach pumped. A few minutes more, from what I hear, and she would be six feet under. So I’d rather not toy with death any more than I already have. Cheers and happy thoughts, and remember kids, the beer doesn’t drink itself. You are responsible for your actions if you choose to drink and drive. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/38 "2000-06-29T20:06:15Z")
Now I’m _really_ scared. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/39 "2000-06-29T20:17:59Z")
As a Marylander, I ain’t no goddamned Yank. As it is, I’m prolly going to go to the University of Maryland fireworks show; GF has to be in Salisbury for orientation at 8 the next morning, so any celebrations too far away or too long-lasting just won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024/40 "2000-06-29T20:28:58Z")
After I fill my pants with bottle rockets, I’m planning a spectacular self-immolation as a protest against fuel prices at the local refinery. Look for it in the news. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-yanks-doing-over-the-4th/24024.md?page=3)