You'll blow your eye out.

Saying for the day: If your not careful with those fireworks you'll lose an eye.

Because we are so close to the fourth of July and because my son patrick managed to get hit in the face with a projectile on this fourth I thought I would share this family story. ) Patrick's fine, except for the circle on his face.)

When Betty’s Father, Alton Mallmann , ( pictured here) was a young boy, about eleven or twelve years old, he lived in a world with far fewer restrictions than ours.
Fireworks were more powerful and easier to obtain.
One did not have to have a fireworks license,
The fire crackers had more powder and more punch , not like today’s which only sting your hand if they go off while you hold them, as opposed to blowing off a finger.

.One of the favorite things that boys did was to put the firecrackers under a can and see how high they could make it go.
They aimed at going as high as the roof or even over the roof.
But the crackers were so powerful they often blew the bottom out of the can.
.Parents of course worried and laid down some rules-get as far away from the can as possible in case of metal pieces-don’t go near a firecracker and can if it doesn’t go off, let your father do it. (fathers were expendable)

But the day came when after many successful launches Alton’s firecracker didn’t fire.
Alton waited what seemed to him like hours and then picked up the can just as the firecracker went off .

His eyes were sprayed with powder and metal fragments and he had a large bump on his head. Worst of all he went blind and was sure he would be blind forever.
During the next week they kept him in a dark room and washed his eyes out , over and over again.
By the end of the week he had most of his sight back. That was the end of firecrackers that year.( And for some years to come)

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News from Pigeon Falls– the little town in my backyard.– There are still no pigeons in Pigeon Falls. Some people are beginning to take Willie seriously (he’s still sober) and believe they were removed by angels. Some people think that the pigeons left because of all the pigeons that were killed. Whatever the reason people are worried. The big Pigeon Days celebration wouldn’t be the same with no pigeons to celebrate. It would be like holding a bass festival with no bass or a jazz festival with no jazz bands. It just wouldn’t be right.
Frank Henipen may be the only person who is happy that there are no pigeons since he is now doing the town clean up. He got the job by making a deal with Eino to keep himself out of jail for stealing the city documents and trying to frame the Bishop ( not to mention pigeon killing). Eino still feels pretty good about how he bluffed him into confessing.
Nancy says there were a lot of people that came back for the 4th of July holiday. Robert even had some taxi business. Wilson (leaping frog) Nelson’s daughter came home and he got to see his new grandson for the first time. Family reunions came be great. But by the time she left on the 6th Nancy heard they weren’t speaking . They didn’t get along when she lived at home. But old Leaping Frog loved the grandson. Nancy thinks he’ll mellow out and tell his daughter he’s sorry ( even if he’s not) . Sometimes its hard to get along with the people we love.
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Link for today-Tired Tunia & the Library- Remember to put the words Dr. John in your comment to get JC points. JC points list updated through July 5th with the Marathon points can be seen by clicking here. I am almost caught up. I have a few things to rebuild on the blog. I have lost one link which need to be restored. But the marathon is counted and posted. I have mailed out the angels. Now the blog cards need to be made for those who earned them.The blog cards are done and tomorrow I will try to get snail mail addresses so I can send them out. This afterrnoon Betty and I built and end table that has been sitting in the hall way since before Christmas. We are still speaking. I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA