The 4rh is a far cry from what it was when I was a kid.  We all had firecrackers.  Most of us got a mild burn or two but none of my bunch ever got hurt bad.  The 4th was a lot of noise that started at daylight and continued all day.  At night we all had our own display of fireworks.  Sky rockets, Roman candles.  All kinds of junk.  The main thing I remember was plenty of watermelon..  Now they must have a safe and sane 4th.  No fun.   I grew up on an orange grove.  Only twenty miles from the center of LA but then it was country.  We always had relatives that came out on the 4th to the country.  One thing I remember was in the afternoon we had a rifle shoot.  All of the men relatives and us kids.  I think I was shooting a 22 when I was seven years old.  We were a great gun family.  That was good for me because when I got in the service firearms were no stranger to me.  As a SAR I suppose the 4th should mean a lot to me. It did.  It was fun.   I will watch the movie on the 4th at ten on "9". Looking forward to it.  Thanks for telling me about it.   Love,   Dave

For Homestead Page, go HERE.