CruxGNZ Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Well, this whole weekend was fun right up to last night. The family got together for the 4th, like usual and we all had a good time, right up to the point that my Dad blew half his ear off. It started off right with fireworks and some rather large explosives to make everyone happy. As the day progressed more alcohol was ingested and things got a little crazier. My Dad spent close to $600 worth of fireworks and we were having a blast blowing these mortars off which were about 3 inches in diameter. The tubes for these mortars were plastic and pretty heavy duty. As we did last year we would take these mortars drop them in the tube, light it, hold them up with our two hands and let them launch. It felt pretty cool with that power shooting off in your hands BAM! A little bit later in the night while shooting off a mortar on the ground, something went wrong. It blew the plastic tube to pieces. Nobody was hurt, but we sure weren’t going to be launching these things with our hands anymore after seeing that. My aunt has a dog that is a mut, but it’s like maybe 90 pounds or so. I’m not sure what it was thinking but it would run after the fire works and try to bite them as they were going off. We tied the dog up and out of they way, but somehow it got loose when we were shooting off a 25 shot of Saturn Missiles. While they were going off, the dog ran over to the Saturn Missiles and put his mouth over it! One shot off inside his mouth and went off in his throat. Almost instantly, he started puking up chunks off tissue and blood. After talking to my aunt today, she said the dog running around and is fine. Lucky dog. The night was coming to an end and most all the $600 worth of fireworks was blown off except for 2 boxes of mortars, which my Dad was saving for special occasions. We were all just sitting around having a good time, drinking some alcohol and just relaxing. Now, I still don’t know why, but my Dad went to my truck and grabbed one last mortar for the night and a new launching tube to launch it. He stood right in front of all of us, which was at that time a couple dozen people, he then put the mortar in the tube, lit it and held it up with his hands (remember what I was saying earlier about why we weren’t going to do this anymore?). We were watching this and waiting for the boom that launches the mortar out of the tube. I heard something, kind of like a small pop. Nothing came out. Just as I was about to yell “Throw it!â€, the mortar exploded in his hands with a very large display of bright, white and purple light. This sent shards of plastic everywhere. Amazingly, my Dad was the only one that ended up going to the hospital. His hands and face were black, his hair was blown back and singed like what you would see in a cartoon, and there was blood dripping from quite a few places. After we put out the flames on his chest, we saw the extent of the damage (parts were peeled back and dangling). I don’t want to get into to much detail, but the damage was repaired by a plastic surgeon. For the most part it looks pretty good. Since there wasn’t much help at the hospital in the emergency room, the surgeon asked me to be his assistant. So, here I am helping this doctor repair my Dads ear at 1am this morning. The Doc was cool about everything, cracking jokes left and right. My dad had not seen what happened to him yet and there weren’t any mirrors, so the Doc let me use his digital camera to take a few pictures and show my Dad. His first words? “So, how long is it going to be before I can ride my Harley?â€. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 ok not to be a dick but i laughed at a few parts of this story.. also you helped the docter perform surgery on your dads ear while still having alcohol in you! thats crazy! mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 ok not to be a dick but i laughed at a few parts of this story..also you helped the docter perform surgery on your dads ear while still having alcohol in you! thats crazy! mike Ah' date=' we're laughing about it now too. Nobody got killed, so it's okay. Just picture some middle class alcoholics blowing things up to paint the mental picture. We are [b']not[/b] red necks, even though it may appear so in the story. I wasn't performing any surgery, I was just getting the Doc supplies and helping with the bleeding and stuff. I learned quite a bit, pretty neat stuff. It's like watching a Dicovery channel special, but you're actually there! Watching the Doc take the skin graft from my Dad's head was pretty neat. You see, I have had a lot of work done to me, but never got to see it, so it was great to see this. The Doc said my Dad was the first person to have a fireworks related injury at that hospital this year before the 4th of July. As we worked on my Dad, it past midnight and there were no others, so he went down as the only person to hurt himself that was admitted to that hospital. The Doc said they usualy get about 15-20 or so a year. My Dad is still pissed, because he cant ride his Harley for 3 months, by that time, it's going to be to cold to ride anyhow. He just got his motorcycle liscense last Thursday too. Go figure. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Hey Mat....somehow it is not surprising that your family gathering involved copious quanitites of alcohol!! I guess your Pops is officially one of the 4th of July stats.... Hope he heals up ok.... Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 post the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 post the pics! I'll see if I can get them. The plastic surgeon that worked on my Dad is going to Vegas tommorow and won't be back untill Friday, and they were taken on his camera. I'll see if he can e-mail them to me when he gets back from vacation. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 How do I be nice? Nothing personal. That's just so stupid. There, was I nice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 I knew somebody would say that. All I can say is alcohol was involved. How many people actually heed the disclaimer on fireworks? I know I've had many Bottle Rocket wars and Jumping Jack wars. I'm not the only one out there.. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 How do I be nice? Nothing personal. That's just so stupid. There' date=' was I nice? [/quote'] I have to agree. Darwin was right, so go here and enter. http://www.darwinawards.com/ Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 I have to agree. Darwin was right' date=' so go here and enter. http://www.darwinawards.com/ Dale[/quote'] I'm not the one that blew my ear off . If you re-read my post, you will see I stopped holding the mortars after that first one blew up. I learned, my Dad didn't. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 I ment it when I said nothing personal. I've got my own story about my Dad, some illegal fireworks, and a trip to the hospital. Absolutely you're not the only one! It just had to be said. (shug) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 6, 2004 Author Share Posted July 6, 2004 I ment it when I said nothing personal. I've got my own story about my Dad' date=' some illegal fireworks, and a trip to the hospital. Absolutely you're not the only one! It just had to be said. (shug)[/quote'] That's alright Dan, that's why I put smilies at the end of my sentence . Hey, I posted this on a public forum, I knew I would get a few "what the heck were you thinking"'s out of it. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Zone Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Just one of the reasons I pretty much gave up drinking. I do appreciate the story though, not funny what happened but you way of telling it made it entertaining. The "put his chest out" line about knocked me on the floor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleMX Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 I have to agree. Darwin was right' date=' so go here and enter. http://www.darwinawards.com/ Dale[/quote'] I'm not the one that blew my ear off . If you re-read my post, you will see I stopped holding the mortars after that first one blew up. I learned, my Dad didn't. !M! If this happened to my family, I would never repeat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gramercyjam Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 [ We are not red necks' date=' even though it may appear so in the story. !M![/quote'] Perception is reality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 6, 2004 Author Share Posted July 6, 2004 Perception is reality. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaparral2f Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Are you really from Wisconson?? Sounds like Texas to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted July 8, 2004 Author Share Posted July 8, 2004 Yea der hey! !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsumner Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 You may be a redneck if, you go to the hospital after saying "hey watch this" . I'm glad to hear every thing worked out ok. Later, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 I gave up on "holding mortars" when one exploded in my brothers hands. No real damage, but he is still mad at me years later because I made him hold it. Never do that again! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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