Holiday Open Thread

| July 4, 2024

Happy Fourth of July! Here’s hoping to good weather for barbecues, visits to the beach, fireworks, and other holiday activities.

Category: Open thread

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KoB

FIRST!…to celebrate the Greatest Breakup Letter…EVAH!

Hack Stone

As First Commenter for This Ain’t Hell Independence Day Open Thread, it is your duty to deliver the Holiday Safety Brief. The troops are assembled and await your words of wisdom.

KoB

Show up ready for duty with all of your extremities still attached! And remember…The Judge AND The FIRST Sergeant will both be off until Monday. Plan accordingly and tread lightly. In the meantime…Bacon Wrapped grilled beast of beast tenderloin, tatered salad, ice cold watermelon and a full plethora of refreshing beverages for all hands to be served up at Fire Base Magnolia.

Fireworks? We make our own…”Fire Works”!
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A Proud Infidel®™

Ooh, OOH, and use extra caution if you bought your fireworks based on the advice of that guy with three fingers, an eyepatch and a hearing aid even though he DOES know which ones are the best!

Hack Stone

First?

Hack Stone

Denied!

KoB

Denied!

Hack Stone

We’ve got nothing better to do than hang out on a military blog at 08:00 on a holiday hoping to score first comment on a thread. Should we be envied or pitied?

KoB

Yes, yes, and…YES!

Hack Stone

Mr. T pities the fool who does not score the highly coveted and rarely awarded First Commenter award.

KoB

The fool that Mr. T needs to pity is the fool that has never made it out to visit “The Heads” @ Mt. Rushmore and met Ms Thang, The Park Ranger. The Gun Bunny had made that cross country trek back in ’09 to visit his retired wing wiping brother and was at the park for the Independence Day Celebration. Gun Bunny had spotted her long legged self (Brick Outhouses were pea green with envy that they are not as well constructed as she was!), approached her and offered to go steal a picnic basket for her. She immediately went into a swoon over the Southern Accent and stated “you’re not from around here, are you.” “No ma’am, but I’m willing to relocate for you.” Just before the Fireworks show was to begin, Ms Thang grabbed a mic and requested that all Veterans come down to the front stage. Sis-in-Law prodded us out of our seats to go down. As Ms Park Ranger Thang went down the line of us with the mic asking each to give their name, HoR, and Branch of Service, she hesitated at us after we gave our names and asked “Brothers?” Upon receiving an affirmative she bent down to give The Gun Bunny a hug. I’m telling you, it was a rush to have those mounts around my head. Almost had my own “fireworks”. Good Times!

TopGoz

Pics, or it didn’t happen.

KoB

Pics?

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Hack Stone

The plan of the day is to prep the ribs for the grill and whip up a batch of tater salad for the big meal today. Should Hack go with an Amish inspired potato salad recipe or try something new?

Odie

Amish potato salad gets my vote.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Never had nor heard of Amish ‘tater salad.
But I’m always on the lookout for a good German style (mustard/senf in the dressing) ‘tater salad.
Many claim, few deliver.

Last edited 5 months ago by President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande
Hack Stone

A good recipe for Amish tater Salad. The dressing works for coleslaw too.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/73875/amish-potato-salad/

Hack Stone

And for the Deplorables who never indulged in German Potato Salad,

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/83097/authentic-german-potato-salad/

Commissioner Wretched

That mention of German potato salad makes me want to share a story.

Many moons ago, I was in the quaint little town of Helen, Georgia, which is pretty much set up to be a German town in the Southeast. My dinner companion and I went to one of the most-recommended restaurants for dinner, and I ordered the wienerschnitzel with the German potato salad.

After taking the first bite, I pulled out my phone and called my mother, who was living in Wisconsin at the time (and who has since, sadly, passed on). I said, “Mom, I’ve found a restaurant that stole your potato salad recipe!” It was the most pleasurable German dinner I’d had in years, and I make it a point to visit that restaurant every time I go to Helen.

My mother, by the way, was the daughter of German and Russian immigrants who brought their family recipe books with them from the old countries.

KoB

CW, Blaster was inquiring the other day about where to go for the “Real Deal” in Helen. Been a good while since I was up there, so any recent recommendations would help him out. I’ve got some inquiries out, but nothing is as good as a professional opinion.

Commissioner Wretched

King, the event relayed above was at the Hofbrauhaus restaurant. I keep wanting to go back to Helen for a weekend but don’t have any weekends free. Sigh … such is life.

KoB

Thanks, CW. Weekend? You and Lois needs to buzz over there during the week and do an “over nighter” you know, a review for your many loyal readers. Legit business expense.

https://www.hofbrauhaushelenga.net/

Odie

Top 10ish. Happy 4th everybody.

Odie

Apparently I’m in the top 3. My brush with fame and greatness.

Hack Stone

Is it just Hack, or does anyone else think that “Creepy Nerdy Guy” is actual Rachel Levine?

https://youtu.be/7YtvsxB9xQY?si=HYQCkAz0ehSk6JAK

Odie

Nice trailer, done in an airplane movie style.

And creepy nerdy guy is Rachel Levine before he let himself go.

Hack Stone

Hack usually posts this video every Independence Day, and this year will be no different.

Major Tuddy

Meanwhile, in London…

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KoB

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Odie

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ChipNASA

Happy fuck all you all ….day.
I’m actually relaxing because I’m about to embark on five day travel.
And I’m gonna add something to KoB’s menu for those grumpy bitches across the pond who we love to hate and hate to love.

So what’s up with this? Jesus Christ UK. 🇬🇧 🙄🥹🤣🖕😘

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Anonymous

Not to mention:
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ChipNASA

Thank you for the meme

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Green Thumb

Best to all!

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Happy (and safe) Independence Day to all.

Eggs

Have a Great Fourth of July 😎

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Anonymous

Yeah, baby!

Sam

Sam

Be safe out there:

Top Ten Fireworks Tips from the Cult of Safety First!
https://www.wmbriggs.com/post/52299/

Sam

No. 2 is my favorite:

2. Hurl the bottle rocket at your victim just before the fuse hits the fuselage. If you merely aim it from a bottle, it won’t hit with sufficient force. Practice until you time the bang and impact perfectly.

Sapper3307

yup

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MarineDad61

Combining 4th of July
and the website topic of Stolen Valor and Military Phonies ……

Shartlesville, PA
along US22 and I-78 in Pennsylvania.
Named for “COLONEL” Peter Shartle,
who over 200 years later,
was verified he was NEVER a Colonel in the Revolutionary War years,
and zero military history whatsoever on Shartle can be found.

Shartlesville-Sign-Col-Peter-Shartle-1
Hack Stone

The Phil Monkress Memorial Highway takes you to the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Tallywhagger

I know exactly where that sign is. Good motorcycling areas nearby.

MarineDad61

Tallywhagger,
Absolutely.
All points north and northwest are the Applachian Mountains,
all hilly and twisty roads, most PA state highways that go over mountains that have switchback and hairpin turns, and very little that resembles the long straight stretch of I-78 that bypasses original US22 at Shartlesville / Hamburg.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shartlesville,+PA+19506/@40.5579219,-76.4902686,114857m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c5e0b6bde408f5:0xf95e77b1047c9558!8m2!3d40.5128706!4d-76.1043858!16s%2Fm%2F05h54yj?entry=ttu

Last edited 5 months ago by MarineDad61
Tallywhagger

Lamont, a very large Mastiff, does not like fireworks. He’s way too big to get under the bed but he will try.

Odie

We used to give our not quite as large lhasa a chill pill, AKA benadryl to calm him down on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of July. People around us celebrate early, on time and late.

Worked like a charm when he was younger. Now, he doesn’t hear as well and is not that big of a deal anymore.

Tallywhagger

Wish I had known about that earlier. I have a small amount of Lorazepam but a dog his size would need about 36 mgs, according ‘the internet’.

Hell, I only take 1/2 a mg, when needed, and that’s plenty for me.

Odie

The first time we gave it to him was half a pill. Not much change, as he still tried to get between our backs and the seat cushion to hide.

2nd time we gave him a whole pill and he sat on the floor, head down and stared at the floor. Poor dog, but the fireworks, or thunderstorms, never bothered him again as now we had a rough, non scientific baseline to go by.

A Proud Infidel®™

A HAPPY 4TH OF JULY to ALL of my Fellow “Ungrateful Colonists”!

Graybeard

Brief comm check from the field.
Happy 4th of July.
We’ll be feasting with a local Spanish church. I suspect green chili will be featured.
God bless you all, the USA, and break the bow of the Wicked.

Graybeard

AAR: it was hamburgers and hotdogs with homemade chili KoB’s way (with beans) but excellent nonetheless, followed by the most enthusiastic fireworks displays I have ever seen all around town.
The city’s Grand Finale was, by common concensus, the best any of our group has ever seen.

George V

Just finished a great dinner of steak from the grill, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and salad. I too, bless our fortune to have founding fathers who declared our free nation so we could, at least once a year, burn meat over fire and consume it, blow stuff up, and listen to rousing music just so we can shoot cannons, and ignore the fact that said music is commemorating the Russians stopping Napoleon’s army outside Moscow in 1812. Besides, everyone who’s maybe 65 or older knows the song was really written to commemorate breakfast cereals. (“This is the cereal that’s shot from guns!”)

Happy Independence Day to one and all!

SFC D

I could not find the proper puffed rice commercial, so I offer this instead. Please enjoy this… musical… interlude.

https://youtu.be/cp8DQHI3HL8?si=kw8AVTr-4hZmkb5i

RGR 4-78

May you all have a safe and happy Independence Day.

Skippy

🇺🇸

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SFC D

Check your calendars, boys and girls. 1968 is back. As a wise man once said: “It’s Deja Vu all over again”:
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2024/07/04/chicago-dem-socialists-plan-to-mess-up-dnc-n2397980

Anonymous
Last edited 5 months ago by Anonymous
Slow Joe

Another 4th July away from my family.
At least I am still in the US, in Fort Knox conducting CST24, Cadet Summer Training.

Very proud of being an American, and serving in the footprints of the Giants that founded our nation.

Long day today…

Last edited 5 months ago by Slow Joe
SFC D

Train those future lieutenants well, Joe. They’re in good hands.

Fyrfighter

An exciting shift for 4th of July as usual.. The neighborhood looked like Baghdad during shock and awe, can’t imagine how much was spent on the fireworks we watched. Ran a bunch of small fires, some wrecks, and similar stuff. Finally quieted down around 0230..

Skippy

😜

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