one last word . . .

The Fourth of July in Montebello really does remind you of the War for Independence . . . because at times your life is at risk! There are literally more fireworks going off on my street alone than I can count - a lot of them illegal. Several of the ones that should have gone in the air took a horizontal flight instead. One passed to my left and exploded on my front lawn. Another passed a few feet to my right and exploded about five feet away from me on the sidewalk. Nice. But what am I supposed to do? Go over and ask the nice gang-banger to please stop shooting fireworks at me? At least it is only a firework and not a bullet! Oh yeah, and they are shooting a lot into the trees as well.

All in all I am glad that I am at home. At least this way I can hose off any fire when it starts and they won't set the fireworks off in my driveway like they did last year when Josh and I weren't home. If I recorded the noises right now it would be more explosive than the scene on the beach from Saving Private Ryan. I have never seen anything like this before in my life. This is Rhoyoshi, reporting in from the front lines, Peter, back to you!