Still partially deaf from last night. Curt and his neighbors sprung for a 16,000 roll of Black Cats, which they ignited at midnight. The thing about long strings is that occasionally you get “cluster bursts” of anywhere between fifty and two hundred individual firecrackers exploding simultaneously. It is quite loud. Also, when loading mortar shells, ensure that you load the charges right-side up. One of my nephews failed to do this and the results were near-distasterous.

Especially liked the fireworks that went off as the cork popped.