994th Friday Blog Roundup
According to Forbes, 49.53% of US households have dogs (65.1 million out of 131.43 total US households). So, almost half of US households. Every dog I know (and apparently about 50% of dogs, total) is terrified of fireworks. So why do towns and individuals insist on setting off multiple nights of fireworks, terrorizing animals and humans with the noise? It is a bizarre equation: We have X + we know Y terrifies X = we do Y. And we don’t do Y once. We do Y every night for four or five nights in a row.
I do not have a dog, but I have a Facebook feed full of people writing posts about how their dog had to live in a thundershirt all week. Do dog owners set off fireworks? Or are all firework setter-offers part of that 50.47% of non-dog owners who seemingly have no clue how the noise impacts the animals and humans around them? This is a mystery I’d like to solve.
Beorn was fine early on. He was awake but laying down beside me. But at the end when they set off the grand finale a few blocks away? He jumped up and started shaking so I gave him his hiding house. He turned it so he could watch me while inside it. And he stayed in there for about two hours.
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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- None… sniff.
Okay, now my choices this week.
Middle Girl has a tiny, quote-y post. In a world that seems keen to distract you both from sitting and thinking, this Lorraine Hansberry quote and her accompanying beautiful image will make you… sit and think.
Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a good reminder that when the world gives you a break, take it. Don’t fill it as if you’re not on a break. Instead, use the time to recharge and order an awesome photo cover planner.
The roundup to the Roundup: Who sets off fireworks? Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 28 – July 5) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.
6 comments
Thanks for including me! There’s of course work-y things I have to do on my list, but the things I laid out are my absolute PRIORITY. 🙂 It’s hard to accept a break and not fill it!
Oh, fireworks. We live further out from any city now, so it’s more of a rumble for us, but oof — still loud! What do you think about the drone shows as an alternative? Another group that is traumatized by fireworks is veterans… the very people who have actual experience with “the rocket’s red glare.” A little weird that we get together to watch a colorful, sanitized approximation of war when there’s so much war and death and destruction. Womp womp.
Oh jeez! Forget my roundup… I absolutely loved Mali’s “Parenting Ourselves” post, because to me this is one of the biggest losses of being childless not by choice. She offers some great thoughts on learning to parent yourself the way maybe you would have parented your progeny.
https://nokiddinginnz.blogspot.com/2024/07/parenting-ourselves.html
This year so many of my neighbors set off big fireworks and my cats were terrified. We went outside for a few minutes to watch and came back in to find one hiding under a bed, looking frightened, and one in the basement, shaking. They both came and laid with my husband, daughter and I once we were indoors but were agitated until the popping stopped. It’s such a terrible night to be an animal. 😞
A lot of the dog owners in my neighborhood are terrible dog owners (seems to be correlated with Trump flags) who leave their dogs out barking constantly even in terrible weather. I’m sure they could not care less, and possibly think it’s hilarious, that their dogs are spooked by fireworks.
It was worse and louder for us this year than in previous years. I’m guessing that’s related to the new people moving into houses formerly owned by senior citizens this past year.
I like fireworks — but ON the proper traditional day(s). It feels like over the past few years, they go on ALL WEEKEND LONG — and there have been a few summers recently where it’s felt like I’ve heard them going off every single weekend. It gets kind of ridiculous. :p
I did a search through my blog and found not just one but two (similar!) posts about fireworks! (Not for Second Helpings, just FYI!)
https://theroadlesstravelledlb.blogspot.com/2015/09/microblogmondays-fired-up.html
https://theroadlesstravelledlb.blogspot.com/2021/07/fireworks-jerks.html
My boys were very worked up this year. I lock them in the crate when it gets to be too much. They don’t get soothed by me, but being in the crate together either calms them down or redirects their anger at me (can’t quite figure that out yet, but as long as they’re quiet.) I don’t worry too much about it, since literally everything can set them off – the fox outside (reasonable-ish), dogs walking by (sure), people walking by (come on, that’s getting to be a bit much – they’re 20 yards away), cars coming up the street (stop it), my daughter approaching the door from outside (you know who that is! Can’t you smell her?), me approaching the door from inside (you can clearly see me), me getting up off the couch (Seriously, you idiots? I need a drink of water!). I used to enjoy fireworks but find I like them best the way they were when I was growing up…on a barge in a lake, controlled by computer.