Erin The Great

Happy Independence Day! The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays! Who needs presents when you have fireworks and things that explode??

There are three major holidays in my family: Christmas, Super Bowl Sunday and 4th of the July. The kids in my family learn how to use lighters (and proper safety precautions) at very young ages because the older people in my family are too busy lighting every illegal firework known to man.

It is quite a display! The ‘Jarvis Family Fireworks display’ definitely holds it’s own to fireworks displays around the United States. Sometimes if you have lame fireworks that make their way into your stash, you have to save them by doctoring them up and making them cool. This was also a crucial part of my education growing up.One of the most depressing days of my life is when they stopped selling M80’s in Washington State. Living in Oregon, we just hop the border and in Vancouver we stockpile fireworks like mad. When there is something we can’t find, living only 5 minutes from the borders of the Indian Reservation (where every firework known to man can be sold) is definitely a plus.

One of the best stories I have is when I was lighting a ‘Roman Candle’ and at the last moment it tipped over, shooting balls of fire underneath my Uncle Jeff and his van and almost blowing him and the car up in the process… That was a great show!

A couple of years later I happened to procure a couple of propeller looking things that ended up being a ¼ stick of dynamite with propellers. When lit, they would fly up in the air and explode… very cool. Unfortunately we learned this after a few tries and almost blew up a couple of neighbor’s cars… They weren’t too happy with us.

A couple of years ago we were over at the home of one of my parents’ friends; they happen to be massive pyros too. One of their sons and I were ‘fixing’ ground blooms and turning them into UFOs and in the process accidentally lit the field on fire… needless to say, my daddy was proud.

Sadly this 4th of July I am neither in Oregon with my family nor with copious amounts of fireworks… this was an unfortunate oversight and hopefully it won’t be held against me… sorry Dad.

To my father and my father’s best friend, Thonus G Signog, I owe most of my knowledge in terms of getting the best and the most explosive… I have many stories of my family and our pyro-ness but I promised my mom that I wouldn’t tell you the story of my Uncle Earl lighting Highway 99E on fire using Calcium Carbide and Water…. .