Dear Ferret Folks-

My neighbours Ray and Elaine always have a great Fourth of July party.
Good food, good company followed by a fabulous fireworks display right
over the lake. We live near Rindge, NH, home of Atlas Fireworks, one
of the biggest names in the industry. When I say we *do* the Fourth of
July in our neighbourhood, I am not exaggerating. The neighbourhood
hobby is ordinance. Fireworks are illegal here in Massachusetts, but
you'd never know it. Ray and Elaine are going to blow off about
$1500.00 tonight. Once they start, everybody else around the lake will
start, (my neighbourhood is a ring of small private dirt roads centered
on the lake) and that's not even taking the cannons into consideration.
Several of my neighbours are welders, and they compete to make bigger
and louder cannons every year. My husband has rigged a huge propane
tank to a copper line that dives beneath the surface of the lake,
and vents through a pourous fish-tank pumice stone. It sends a huge
bubbling gout of flame *up* from the surface of the lake when lit. As
the song says, "Smoooke on the waaater, fire in the sky." As I write
this, it is a few minutes after 8:00 Pm, and I hear the occasional
modest "BOOM!"

The local police? Well, they don't *like* it, but they know my "hood"
sends the fireworks out over the lake. We are not going to start fires.
As long as there is an official cease-fire before 11:00 PM., they don't
bother with us. Who *really* doesn't like it? The Noble Allis Chompers.
The poor dog. This is the very worst day of the year for her. She is
terrified, absolutely terrified by loud bangs and booms of all kinds.
We live near the Rod and Gun Club. She is terrified when the wind is
just right, and the sound of the shooting is carried over the lake. But
that is just a passing irritation. She hears the guns and she hides
under the computer table. But *fireworks*? She cannot bear fireworks.
As I write this she is sitting on my foot beneath the computer table.
She is I think thirteen, and even though nobody has ever blown her to
hell with dynamite in all of those years, every Fourth of July she
worries that this might just be the year that Jihad is declared on
dogs.

Allis hides under the bed, but she can still hear the bangs and booms
and whistles and assorted percussions. She tries to escape by shoving
the yellow sofa away from the wall and hiding behind it. Sometimes she
simply loses it and cowers in the bathtub, shaking and panting. (Oh,
poor Allis! Someone just lit a string of firecrackers.) In years past
we tried sedating her with specially prescribed doggie dope, but it
didn't help. She just wound up high as a kite and terrified, instead
of simply terrified. It actually made things worse.

Now the ferrets? They could care less. I've never had any ferrets freak
out over the sound of fireworks. Sometimes there is so much smoke on
the wind that the smell puzzles them and they stand up against the
screen doors, sniffing, but I've never seen any fear or discomfort.
This is the time of the evening when I give the boys the run of the
house, (they get two runs a day on an average day, several hours each)
but not tonight. It's too much to expect Allis to try to deal with the
stress. The boys will not have "Independence" on Independence Day.
They will celebrate from their hammies.

My poor dog friend. Say a prayer for Allis! I hear the first of the
rockets streaking bright into the summer sky.

Alexandra in Ma

[Posted in FML 6384]