July 4, 2014
04/07/14 05:34
As we always do, we brought home a case of apples from Washington on our recent trip. It is too early for this year’s apples, so the apples we brought home are very similar to those available in the supermarkets here, but we get a good price on fruit when we are out west and it is a bit of a treat to have a few things in stock. The apples we bought are for eating, so they aren’t the best apples for pies. I could, however, make an apple pie to celebrate July 4th. I’ve gotten pretty good at baking pies in my Dutch Oven and a little practice might do me good. The truth is that we don’t eat many pies in our house. Health dictates fresh fruit for dessert as an alternative to the sweet and rich recipes that we of the think of for that part of the meal. As a person who continues to struggle with being overweight, I do have to make careful choices about what I put into my mouth.
Still, it would be nice to have something genuinely American to celebrate Independence Day. Remember the old advertisement: “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet”? It was intended to be a celebration of things American and an encouragement for Americans to consider purchasing automobiles that were assembled in the United States. These days such a decision is a bit more difficult. Foreign companies such as Toyota, Fiat, Daimier, Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche and Volkswagen manufacture int he United States. And American companies like Chevrolet assemble cars in Canada and Mexico for sale in the United States.
Baseball is pretty much and American Sport. The World Series features only USA teams. And one only has to pay marginal attention to sports coverage from other countries to recognize that the World Cup is the world’s most popular sport. It’s called football everywhere except in the USA. Here in Rapid City, the Post 22 firecracker tournament is probably the best way to catch a little July 4 baseball unless one wants to participate in one of the pickup games at family reunions and parks around the town. The Firecracker Tournament fireworks were held last night, but there are games at 1 and 4 today with the championship at 7 pm for those who want to catch a little baseball.
I’m not super big on hot dogs, but I did pick up a few bratwurst from our local butcher. Those may not be the most authentic German sausage, but they came from meat produced in South Dakota. I also picked up a bit of burger which we had last night for supper and some pork loin to make skewers for the barbecue.That’s fairly American all in all.
There’s team roping all day today at the Central States Fairgrounds.
You could run off some of the extra calories by participating in the Cornerstone Rescue Mission Firecrackeer 5K race at Sioux Park tomorrow morning.
Of course, the big deal for July 4th celebrations is fireworks. In addition to the Post 22 fireworks last night, there will be fireworks at Arrowhead Country Club this evening and at the Elks Golf Course tomorrow. The Main Street Square celebration won’t feature live fireworks, but they’ll be projecting video recorded in the days when there were giant fireworks displays at Mount Rushmore on the big screen downtown.
Fireworks are fun, especially if someone else takes care of the safety. Last year wasn’t a good year in that department. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission 11,400 people were injured by fireworks last year, a staggering 31 percent climb compared to 8,700 injuries the year before. Michigan, Maine and Arizona made fireworks more accessible to consumers last year, which might account for some of the increase in injuries, but I’ve seen plenty of dangerous behavior right here in South Dakota where we’ve had access to fireworks for decades. 8 people died from head or chest trauma as the result of fireworks last year. And that isn’t counting the house fires resulting from mishandled fireworks. Of course we can find other ways to start fires. Barbecues and propane-fired deep fat fryers are leaders in home fire starters.
I just wish that fireworks were a bit more American since we use them to celebrate this American holiday. Fireworks were invented in China and made their way into Europe around the mid 17the century. They are almost universally accepted worldwide as demonstrations of celebration and national pride. The fireworks display at the winter Olympics in Russia this year were an example and you can expect fireworks as a part of the crowning of the champion at the World Cup in Brazil later this month.
Speaking of football, I hope you have been following Costa Rica - WOW! Even the Pope is excited about Costa Rica’s team.
Back to my topic for today:
The bottom line on fireworks in the United States is that most of the fireworks we use to celebrate our national holiday are imported. Last year the US imported $213 million worth of fireworks, 95% of them from China. It isn’t that we don’t make fireworks in the USA. We do, but not enough for our own use, though we did manage to export $10.2 million in 2013, with Israel being our biggest customer, consuming 26% of USA exports.
It isn’t just fireworks that we import. We celebrate the holiday by wearing lots of t-shirts. In fact the USA imported a whopping $5.3 billion worth of t-shirts last year, 12.8% from Honduras and 12.8% from China. We make a few and exported $633 million worth of t-shirts, mostly to Canada (32%).
A lot of the other things we buy to indicate our patriotism, from paper products to hats and other items are imported. Those American flags you see poked into people’s lawns and being waved by children - chances are they came from China. We import $4 million worth of flags each year, 97% from China.
In fact the US Congress had to pass a bill to insure that the flags flown above the Capitol are made in the USA.
Enjoy the celebrations, but keep an eye out for safety. As for me, I’ll be checking to see what I can do to keep the celebrations home grown.
Baseball is pretty much and American Sport. The World Series features only USA teams. And one only has to pay marginal attention to sports coverage from other countries to recognize that the World Cup is the world’s most popular sport. It’s called football everywhere except in the USA. Here in Rapid City, the Post 22 firecracker tournament is probably the best way to catch a little July 4 baseball unless one wants to participate in one of the pickup games at family reunions and parks around the town. The Firecracker Tournament fireworks were held last night, but there are games at 1 and 4 today with the championship at 7 pm for those who want to catch a little baseball.
I’m not super big on hot dogs, but I did pick up a few bratwurst from our local butcher. Those may not be the most authentic German sausage, but they came from meat produced in South Dakota. I also picked up a bit of burger which we had last night for supper and some pork loin to make skewers for the barbecue.That’s fairly American all in all.
There’s team roping all day today at the Central States Fairgrounds.
You could run off some of the extra calories by participating in the Cornerstone Rescue Mission Firecrackeer 5K race at Sioux Park tomorrow morning.
Of course, the big deal for July 4th celebrations is fireworks. In addition to the Post 22 fireworks last night, there will be fireworks at Arrowhead Country Club this evening and at the Elks Golf Course tomorrow. The Main Street Square celebration won’t feature live fireworks, but they’ll be projecting video recorded in the days when there were giant fireworks displays at Mount Rushmore on the big screen downtown.
Fireworks are fun, especially if someone else takes care of the safety. Last year wasn’t a good year in that department. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission 11,400 people were injured by fireworks last year, a staggering 31 percent climb compared to 8,700 injuries the year before. Michigan, Maine and Arizona made fireworks more accessible to consumers last year, which might account for some of the increase in injuries, but I’ve seen plenty of dangerous behavior right here in South Dakota where we’ve had access to fireworks for decades. 8 people died from head or chest trauma as the result of fireworks last year. And that isn’t counting the house fires resulting from mishandled fireworks. Of course we can find other ways to start fires. Barbecues and propane-fired deep fat fryers are leaders in home fire starters.
I just wish that fireworks were a bit more American since we use them to celebrate this American holiday. Fireworks were invented in China and made their way into Europe around the mid 17the century. They are almost universally accepted worldwide as demonstrations of celebration and national pride. The fireworks display at the winter Olympics in Russia this year were an example and you can expect fireworks as a part of the crowning of the champion at the World Cup in Brazil later this month.
Back to my topic for today:
The bottom line on fireworks in the United States is that most of the fireworks we use to celebrate our national holiday are imported. Last year the US imported $213 million worth of fireworks, 95% of them from China. It isn’t that we don’t make fireworks in the USA. We do, but not enough for our own use, though we did manage to export $10.2 million in 2013, with Israel being our biggest customer, consuming 26% of USA exports.
It isn’t just fireworks that we import. We celebrate the holiday by wearing lots of t-shirts. In fact the USA imported a whopping $5.3 billion worth of t-shirts last year, 12.8% from Honduras and 12.8% from China. We make a few and exported $633 million worth of t-shirts, mostly to Canada (32%).
A lot of the other things we buy to indicate our patriotism, from paper products to hats and other items are imported. Those American flags you see poked into people’s lawns and being waved by children - chances are they came from China. We import $4 million worth of flags each year, 97% from China.
In fact the US Congress had to pass a bill to insure that the flags flown above the Capitol are made in the USA.
Enjoy the celebrations, but keep an eye out for safety. As for me, I’ll be checking to see what I can do to keep the celebrations home grown.