How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I spent part of my vacation literally getting blown up. How often can one say that literally?

This is a six inch mortar used to shoot fireworks. Well, actually this is the remanent of the mortar. As you can see, something went horribly wrong this year. For the first time in 44 years, we had an accident.

No worries, as we are all fine *now*. Unfortunately my brother was on the receiving end of the blast. He's nearly healed now but only after a week stay in a burn unit and a six-inch plate and six screws in his arm.
See news story here: http://www.komotv.com/news/8318837.html

The rest of us suffered mere flesh wounds, to go all Monty Python on you. Except for being shaken, most of the crew walked away with flash burns to the eyes and small cuts & bruises due to shrapnel flying through the air. To say that we are all lucky doesn't even come close. As odd as it sounds, we were blessed that we walked away.

And after mercilessly razzing him about losing his cell phone two years in a row, we are happy to report that my brother was able to keep ahold of it this year. Go figure. His glasses also survived the blast. It took some engineering work to get them to fit again but let's hear it for titanium frames!

So, dear friends, that is the way I sent my summer vacation. Thus the lull in posts. Only this time I had a really good excuse! Trust me, this is the only time I will use this excuse!

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. My telephone rang off of the hook the next few days and it was great to hear from everyone. Too bad it wasn't under happier circumstances.