jaunthie | Ka-BOOM!

Yes, you read that subject line right. Kaboom. Except maybe in all caps and really large font, if I were trying to represent the magnitude of the sound that shook the house around midnight last night.

Y'see, someone threw a sparkler bomb into a neighbor's yard.

Did you know you could make a fairly powerful explosive device with sparklers?

No, neither did I, not until last night.

The crater it left behind was quite impressive. So was the cloud of smoke. The concussion wave shook windows and walls and brought people out to investigate from as far as a block away, myself and

fisherbear included. (I live in the kind of neighborhood where people come running to help when they hear alarming noises.)

Fortunately no one was hurt, and damage was surprisingly minimal. Even more fortunately, some other neighbors actually saw the three young men (driving a late-model four-door expensive-looking sedan, a dark color with chrome trim) park the car, get out, egg the house and set the bomb before driving away. They made a full report to the police, and the police pulled over suspects about ten blocks away from the incident.

Maybe they caught the people who did this, maybe not. I don't know right now. And I really don't know why the holy hades ANYONE would EVER do this kind of thing. I really, REALLY don't understand it.

Maybe Bill Hicks was right. Maybe people really do suck, and it's so easy to prove it can be done on an Etch-a-Sketch.

Anyway, needless to say I didn't get to bed for quite a while. And I am very cranky today.