[alaskayorkie]

Great reminder, thanks.

My city of 300,000, in all its wisdom, decided to make fireworks legal between 9:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. this year. And not just sparklers and snakes. We're talking firecrackers, bottle rockets, even huge exploding displays. It was horrible. Neighborhood after neighborhood, it sounded like a war zone from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. And I expect more tonight.

It's always been bad on New Year's because it's really our only opportunity of the year to shoot them off with any effect -- it's light at midnight on July 4th in Alaska. And they're legal for sale in a more rural community 40 minutes away, so people make the drive and load up.

Fortunately, only one of my three has issues with noise, and Eddie made it through it. He shook and hid, refused food and water, but when the last one popped around 2 a.m., he was fine after that.