And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that Iowa has experienced its first Fourth of July with legal fireworks sales in a long time, and the results seem mixed. There were a few fires, and a few city councils received enough complaints to maybe reconsider previous actions.

I don’t even know if fireworks were legal in Waukon. There was something in a news story, but since I was not involved, it did not register. I do know I heard fewer fireworks this year than in many past years, when they were not allowed to be sold. It was as if those inclined to purchase them decided that if it was legal, it wasn’t fun anymore!

Were fireworks legal in Iowa in the days of my youth? I don’t know. I know the kids in the neighborhood in which we lived in those days, just west of the Waukon Greenhouse, had firecrackers. That would have been in about 1943 or 1944.

It is a long shot for my memory, but I seem to recall two sizes. One was about an inch long, and called Lady Fingers. So called apparently because the brave would hold them between thumb and forefinger as they exploded, causing a tingle but no damage.

The second size was about two inches long. They had some power. There was a huge rotting stump on the lot where the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting place is now located. It was considered great sport to find a weak place or push a hole in the stump and stick a firecracker in there, then light it and back away, and watch a chip of wood fly off with the blast. We worked on that stump at least two years.

Once in a while, one of those two-inchers failed to go off. After waiting a suitable time, we would pull it out and find it wickless. It was then possible to bend it until it broke about in half, then light the broken area and have a hand-held sparkler of sorts. That probably wasn’t very bright, and maybe I misremember, but whatever, don’t try that at home!

I had the pleasure of spending the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. Fireworks at your feet almost anyplace, and that Chinese invention of wrapping gunpowder in a piece of foil, making a little ball that exploded whenever it hit anything solid. Scary!

Speaking of Americans abroad, I wonder if the Trump administration is aware it might have a secret weapon of a sort in the First Lady. When she was in Italy on the Papal visit, she spoke Italian to some dignitaries. And when in Hamburg for the G20 event, she spoke German to appropriate persons.

Americans are often criticized for knowing no language other than their own. Jackie Kennedy could speak French. At least one of the Bush presidents was fluent in Spanish. But the First Lady’s gift is quite rare for someone in her position.

The national press apparently did not notice. They were more concerned over the rumor that the Trump family likes Russian dressing on salads from time to time!