Lake Orion, Michigan
July 9, 2011
KUA
Showing posts with label fireworks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fireworks. Show all posts
7/10/11
7/3/11
Fourth of July Fireworks ...
Okay, so I'm not sleeping and it's 4:30 AM. Not entirely my fault. I have a five week old kitten here, playing hell on any attempt I make to lay down. Yes, I'm babysitting Married Son's kitten while he's gone. Since he's due to leave shortly for North Carolina the kitten is here with me. Typing is hell with Kitty Purry attempting to walk all over my keyboard.
Anyway ... I had decided not to go to the annual Lake Orion fireworks last night. The heat and humidity yesterday gave me an unbearable headache. I figured that sitting in the heat wasn't the smartest thing I could do.
I'm sort of glad I was awake when Single Son came home from working his cop job not twenty minutes ago, 11 hours after he started his shift. He looked tired but wanted his mommy to talk to. I knew it had been a long night by the speed in which he talked (tired or not, when he's adrenalin filled he talks very quickly).
Let me start by explaining that the fireworks are placed on barges and are set off on the lake. It's a beautiful effect, the reflection of the fireworks off the water.
Sooooo ... We had storm warnings up for most of the area all night. We barely got hit here ...but in Lake Orion they had large hail, heavy winds, and heavy downpours. It cleared just before the fireworks were scheduled to start, so the show went on ... only the weather had damaged some of the fireworks. Five minutes into the display, one of the barges caught fire.
Needless to say the rest of the show was cancelled. They'll have another fireworks display next weekend. Good, maybe Cap won't be busy (like he was today) and can go with me to "Part Two" ... lol.
Single Son said the storm that blew through knocked out electricity to half of Lake Orion. So, no traffic lights in town. Traffic was a mess. The good news was, he said, that there were barely 15,000 people there, down from the usual 90,000 + that usually show up. I'd hate to think what time he would get home had turnout not been so low!
Just to add insult to injury there was an apartment fire ... and as Single Son put it, "lots of shit just started burning ... two or three houses, a car ... even a field. Lots of downed power lines, trees fallen over. Mom, it was just crazy."
Good thing I didn't. Or ... maybe I should have ... I missed quite a show.
What's odd is that Alien was there, along with the boys and her hubby. She said nothing about anything on facebook. go figure!
Oh, goody ... five o'clock in the morning and the kitten has finally conked out. I'm outta here to get some precious sleep while I can!
Niters!
Anyway ... I had decided not to go to the annual Lake Orion fireworks last night. The heat and humidity yesterday gave me an unbearable headache. I figured that sitting in the heat wasn't the smartest thing I could do.
I'm sort of glad I was awake when Single Son came home from working his cop job not twenty minutes ago, 11 hours after he started his shift. He looked tired but wanted his mommy to talk to. I knew it had been a long night by the speed in which he talked (tired or not, when he's adrenalin filled he talks very quickly).
Let me start by explaining that the fireworks are placed on barges and are set off on the lake. It's a beautiful effect, the reflection of the fireworks off the water.
Sooooo ... We had storm warnings up for most of the area all night. We barely got hit here ...but in Lake Orion they had large hail, heavy winds, and heavy downpours. It cleared just before the fireworks were scheduled to start, so the show went on ... only the weather had damaged some of the fireworks. Five minutes into the display, one of the barges caught fire.
Needless to say the rest of the show was cancelled. They'll have another fireworks display next weekend. Good, maybe Cap won't be busy (like he was today) and can go with me to "Part Two" ... lol.
Single Son said the storm that blew through knocked out electricity to half of Lake Orion. So, no traffic lights in town. Traffic was a mess. The good news was, he said, that there were barely 15,000 people there, down from the usual 90,000 + that usually show up. I'd hate to think what time he would get home had turnout not been so low!
Just to add insult to injury there was an apartment fire ... and as Single Son put it, "lots of shit just started burning ... two or three houses, a car ... even a field. Lots of downed power lines, trees fallen over. Mom, it was just crazy."
Good thing I didn't. Or ... maybe I should have ... I missed quite a show.
What's odd is that Alien was there, along with the boys and her hubby. She said nothing about anything on facebook. go figure!
Oh, goody ... five o'clock in the morning and the kitten has finally conked out. I'm outta here to get some precious sleep while I can!
Niters!
7/5/10
7/4/10
Fourth of July
Yesterday was the big annual Lake Orion (pronounced OR-ee-un) fireworks. No street fair as in past years, but we had fun all the same.
The evening started with the Chief's picnic. Lots of good food, great conversation with cops and their family and plenty of activities for the kiddies.
Single Son had to work the event. Married Son and Grandson and I got to hang out for the day. DIL met up with us later.
I had to laugh at Grandson. The little flirt. He made friends with a little girl about his age. They were pretty much inseparable - well that is until her Daddy (cop) left with her. Poor Grandson. Nothing left for him to do except flirt with the older girls (ages eight to about thirteen). Oy, poor Married Son is gonna have his hands full with this one once school starts in September. And .... mean ol' grandma here is thinking "better him than me" ... or "paybacks are a bitch". Take your pick.
And of course, her daddy took her away before I could get a picture of them together. Oh, I have plenty of individual pictures of them. Grandson asked me if he could borrow my camera. He then wandered off to the other side of the Chiefs huge yard and between him and his little sweetie, the both snapped off a lot of pics of each other.
Finally it was off to the park for fireworks. I hear from different sources that it's the second biggest fireworks in Michigan outside of the Detroit/Windsor Freedom Festival fireworks. I believe it, too!! And they were great!! I was able to film the finale, with the fireworks reflecting off the lake, it's just beautiful. Not to toot my own horn, lol, but searching youtube for others who had filmed the fireworks, I have to say mine are about the best I've seen. Something about the fireworks being reflected off the water. Ya know?
Great show. And the traffic was surprisingly manageable afterwards. In years past three hours drive time wasn't unusual (normally it only takes us half an hour to make the same drive). This year, with Married Son driving we were home in about 45 minutes.
The Fourth is also my dad's 79th birthday. When I called to wish Dad a happy birthday and find out the day's plans, Mom had answered the phone. She fills me in that she's not talking to Dad today. I'm not sure what he said to tick her off, but I bet it was a doozey of a cut-down. He's a little too good at those these days. My reaction is to counter his comments, but Mom's not as gutsy as I am. She needs to learn how, or lose her sanity for sure. Anyway ... she's pissed off and says that she's cancelled his birthday plans. Good grief. I'm sure I'll get a call tomorrow to meet them at their favorite restaurant for a birthday dinner.
She gives the phone to Dad. I wish him a happy birthday and we talk about stuff in general. He never once indicated he's in the dog house.
Old farts. God bless 'em both. But at the same time it makes me glad that I'm single. I don't think I could handle what Mom does on a daily basis.
In other news, I just tonight found out I'm going to be a gramma yet again. Care to fathom a guess as to who is pregnant? If you guessed Alien you would be right. And after only having a baby seven months ago. Her story is that the birth control pill failed her. Don't know ... could be. Could be she quit taking it. Seems the Idiot has her convinced they want a large family. The number eight keeps coming up in conversation. Eight kids? Good grief. Be real. This day and age ... unless you're Kate Gosselin or Octomom ... or some other publicity hungry momma, you DO NOT NEED to bring eight kids into this world. Especially when the sperm donor can't hold a job because of his criminal past.
So ... back to the 4th. Here's the link for my Lake Orion Fireworks Finale video. It's only seven minutes in length. The finale starts at about the minute and a half marker. It's the highlighted video, can't miss it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/LCM1219
7/14/08
7/6/08
Fourth of July Weekend ...
What a great time we had Friday night!! Got to the Chief's picnic early in the hopes of helping Chief's wife set up. As usual anyone asking if they could help Mrs. Chief were told to "go sit and relax. This is your day to enjoy the party." She's a tiny gal, but very persuasive! LOL!
Chief burnt the hot dogs to perfection!! They had enough food brought in by guests to feed a small army. Taco salad, pasta salad, rigatoni, fresh veggies and fruits, brownies, cookies, and soda galore. But not a donut to be found! LMAO ...
We hung out most of the day at the party, deciding to pass up the Carnival in town. Grandson was tired and cranky for a bit (when we would have been at the Carnival), and it just wasn't worth having him get more overwhelmed by it all.
After a picnic dinner we - Single Son's GF, Married Son, DIL, Grandson and I (Alien had left a while ago with a friend of hers) - we all walked the six blocks to the police station to get our family pass for the VIP park.
Thankfully I'd brought my rolling bookbag to put our snacks, drinks, park blanket and other crap in. It'd have been a long stroll with that stuff on my back! LOL! I was slowed down considerably with Grandson "helping" me pull the backpack on the sidewalks of town.
The park would be closed at 8 PM and VIP guests be allowed to enter at 8:30, so we had some time to kill. We hung out at the back of the station. Grandson needed the relaxation time. He was recharged and ready for the park by the time we got there.
Finding our spot in the park we got all settled in. Chief happened to walk by at one point and said we had the perfect spot. Wrong!! There was a massive sign in our way that once the fireworks started we had to scramble to find better seats and all while trying to record the fireworks. Grrrrrrrrr ... what a mess that turned out to be! Recording the fireworks. I had NO idea my memory card was full, found out a few seconds into the display! I never knew I could change cards so quickly!! What I didn't know was I grabbed the 1 gig card from my bag, the smallest one I had. Anyway ... I recorded about twenty minutes of fireworks when the camera once again displayed "memory card full". CRAP!!
Figures that it was the best Grand Finale they've ever had!
The fireworks really scared Grandson. "I want to go home Mommy" or "I don't like that". No ohhs or ahhs like we finally got out of him with our little fireworks earlier this week. Nope. He wanted nothing to do with these fireworks and he let everyone know about it, too!
Other than that, the evening went great!! The walk back to Chief's house was rather slow because of the crowds leaving for their cars, too. I decided this year to just hang out for a while after before even attempting traffic. Glad I did. Married Son left before I did. He took the back roads. He texted me when he got to the half way point. Having waited and taken the main road out of town, I managed to actually end up in front of him on the road (by about two miles - go figure).
I'll have the movies posted once I finally figure out how to get them off my camera and onto my computer. I don't know why I'm having so much difficulty getting longer footage off the camera, and am determined to figure it out. Seems the only video I can upload is anything that is under two minutes. Of course, the video from the fireworks are in two nine minute segments. Grrrrrrrr.
Chief burnt the hot dogs to perfection!! They had enough food brought in by guests to feed a small army. Taco salad, pasta salad, rigatoni, fresh veggies and fruits, brownies, cookies, and soda galore. But not a donut to be found! LMAO ...
We hung out most of the day at the party, deciding to pass up the Carnival in town. Grandson was tired and cranky for a bit (when we would have been at the Carnival), and it just wasn't worth having him get more overwhelmed by it all.
After a picnic dinner we - Single Son's GF, Married Son, DIL, Grandson and I (Alien had left a while ago with a friend of hers) - we all walked the six blocks to the police station to get our family pass for the VIP park.
Thankfully I'd brought my rolling bookbag to put our snacks, drinks, park blanket and other crap in. It'd have been a long stroll with that stuff on my back! LOL! I was slowed down considerably with Grandson "helping" me pull the backpack on the sidewalks of town.
The park would be closed at 8 PM and VIP guests be allowed to enter at 8:30, so we had some time to kill. We hung out at the back of the station. Grandson needed the relaxation time. He was recharged and ready for the park by the time we got there.
Finding our spot in the park we got all settled in. Chief happened to walk by at one point and said we had the perfect spot. Wrong!! There was a massive sign in our way that once the fireworks started we had to scramble to find better seats and all while trying to record the fireworks. Grrrrrrrrr ... what a mess that turned out to be! Recording the fireworks. I had NO idea my memory card was full, found out a few seconds into the display! I never knew I could change cards so quickly!! What I didn't know was I grabbed the 1 gig card from my bag, the smallest one I had. Anyway ... I recorded about twenty minutes of fireworks when the camera once again displayed "memory card full". CRAP!!
Figures that it was the best Grand Finale they've ever had!
The fireworks really scared Grandson. "I want to go home Mommy" or "I don't like that". No ohhs or ahhs like we finally got out of him with our little fireworks earlier this week. Nope. He wanted nothing to do with these fireworks and he let everyone know about it, too!
Other than that, the evening went great!! The walk back to Chief's house was rather slow because of the crowds leaving for their cars, too. I decided this year to just hang out for a while after before even attempting traffic. Glad I did. Married Son left before I did. He took the back roads. He texted me when he got to the half way point. Having waited and taken the main road out of town, I managed to actually end up in front of him on the road (by about two miles - go figure).
I'll have the movies posted once I finally figure out how to get them off my camera and onto my computer. I don't know why I'm having so much difficulty getting longer footage off the camera, and am determined to figure it out. Seems the only video I can upload is anything that is under two minutes. Of course, the video from the fireworks are in two nine minute segments. Grrrrrrrr.
Today there's nothing going on. Got an email from my friend, Tiger. Seems he's fed up with crap here in Michigan and has decided to move away. North Carolina. Funny how when we reconnected with each other and I was the one who wanted to move south he was saying "great, we find each other only to have you move away". Ends up I decide to stay in Michigan (not because of him) ... and now he's the one that's fed up and leaving. Oh well. I just hope the move brings him the changes he's looking for.
Hope everyone's weekends went well. Gonna spend time trying to catch up with ya'll before Alien kicks me off the computer. LOL.
6/28/08
Friday Nite Fireworks Fun ...
Married Son and Grandson came over yesterday to mow the lawn. Afterwards we had a nice barbecue and lit off fireworks. Grandson was a hoot ... "Oh oh, there goes the driveway" or "Oh oh there goes Uncle's van". He loved the poppers and the sparklers. Wasn't too thrilled with anything that had a boom, whistle or lots of snap crackle and pop to them. He was better once I turned my camera over to him and let him record the fireworks. Funny how fearless he is when he gets to take pictures or record with Grandma's camera!
I took a bunch of photos ... enjoy. I know we enjoyed the evening!!
Grandson stomping on "poppers". He found it worked better than throwing them to the ground. He had quite a little dance going there.
Married Son running when Single Son threw a firecracker-like thing at him. Boys, they *never* grow up!
One of the smaller fireworks in the package Single Son bought. Of course they couldn't wait until dark so they lit off a half dozen or so of the smaller things.
For some reason I couldn't get the whole video to upload. But at least you can hear Grandson in the background saying "There goes the drive-waaaaaay". It was just too cute!
I took a bunch of photos ... enjoy. I know we enjoyed the evening!!
Grandson stomping on "poppers". He found it worked better than throwing them to the ground. He had quite a little dance going there.
Married Son running when Single Son threw a firecracker-like thing at him. Boys, they *never* grow up!
One of the smaller fireworks in the package Single Son bought. Of course they couldn't wait until dark so they lit off a half dozen or so of the smaller things.
For some reason I couldn't get the whole video to upload. But at least you can hear Grandson in the background saying "There goes the drive-waaaaaay". It was just too cute!
6/24/08
Fireworks
Lake front seats. Fireworks were set off from a small barge mid-lake. The perfect seats for the show!
Village Fireworks 2006
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