Eleven years ago this weekend we were part of the Grove Street Tiki Gang. Our mission, usually on Fridays was to uncork a beer and then continue until Saturday arrived. The Gerde's, and Makeever's were the other full-time members of the Tiki Club. Tommy down the street would join us sometimes, but it was mostly just us three couples.
On the 4th we tried to do what we could but since we were living int he heart of town, it was a tough job to let some of them rip. This is John, a shoebox with pop-bottle rockets in hand and a requisite beer. Come to think, why those are my pop-bottle rockets and firecrackers he's got. Thanks, Marj, for the shoebox.
Here's John and I ready to start the show. And that's why we were the Tiki gang, since Those tiki torches seemed to prove all the ambiance we needed.
We didn't have a lot of big dazzling ones, oh wait, we did. More on that later.
John was fearless when it came to handling the rockets. He even would say the hell with the beer bottle and fling the rockets into the sky himself after he lit them.
Naturally, the Gerdes' fencing helped a lot in our insurrectionist activities.
Small, but fun. But then any fireworks is fun. Nowadays the biggest home works is around Neighbor Tim's on the 4th. Great show and one of these 4th's I'll be back to watch.
And then we'd all giggle like they were the most fun, legal or illegal we'd ever had.
The Grove Street Tiki Gang: Tarasa and John Gerdes, Lisa Makeever, me, Nancy and Dave Makeever.
It's funny, or not, what eleven years has brought the former pals. Tarasa and John are divorced and Tarasa lives in Chicago, while John lives in California. I have been exiled to Florida reluctantly while Nancy seems to thrive, and Lisa has endured a year of health problems, but thankfully recovering every day.
Now, about those fireworks. I used to have a connection to get city-sponsored fireworks from Polo Illinois. I'd always get 4 mortar rockets, at $25 apiece. These were huge loud things. One time we put one in Cedar Creek right behind Tommy's house. We used a timer to set it off so we all had time to run back to our houses. Somehow the indentation and concrete sides of Cedar Creek made this mortar sound twice as loud, if that was possible. Giggled for a week afterward. And yes, it woke up every dog for blocks and the cops cruised down Grove and Pearl streets shortly after.
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