![\"\"](\"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/HOME-SWEET-HOME.jpg\" "\\"HOME-SWEET-HOME\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nSo, embarking on a new theme for us in what we call \u201cgetting out of the house more,\u201d Dan and I decided it would be fun to drive to the beach to see the display at the Pompano Pier (Fort Lauderdale area) and take some pictures.\u00a0 We knew we would have to leave around 6:00pm to get some dinner and find parking, but due to an ironic joke on me, we were running late because of one of the cats\u2026<\/p>\n
Like many of us, I had done a blog post about the 4th, telling everyone to keep their pets safe inside, as the holiday can easily spook them with all the loud noises and strong smells from the fireworks. I was doing my part \u2013 shutting the doors to any room other than the ones with litter boxes, removing any breakables that might get knocked down from a shelf, turning the television\u00a0 on to drown out noises and so on. This, of course, was probably spooking the cats out more than the impending fireworks. I\u2019m sure they were wondering what the heck I was doing and they were following me around like I was from Mars and I could tell I was making them nervous!<\/p>\n
Finally feeling confident that we could leave safely, I quickly proceeded to do a \u201ckitty head count\u201d so that I could make sure I did not accidentally lock a cat into a room with a shut door. One, two, three, four, five, six\u2026. Six\u2026 Six\u2026 Okay, one of them is missing and it appears to be Rolz, which is no surprise. Despite his deceiving powerful body and hunting skills, this is one scaredy cat who takes after his Papa Zee in that regard. Trying to pretend all is well, Dan and I turn a casual look into a frantic search as we try to find this elusive cat who has suddenly forgot his name when called.<\/p>\n
We did what any rationale couple would do, we looked in places he could not possibly be in, such as the refrigerator and caused so much emotional concern with the tone in our voices, that the cats probably got even more agitated. Now, of course, it was getting late and we were jeopardizing any possibility whatsoever of finding a parking spot. Rolz is prone to this type of behavior and common sense would tell anyone that he was hiding, quite safely, and just did not want to be found.<\/p>\n
Realizing that we had to go, I left with my feet feeling like bowling balls and could barely eat my salad I ordered at Wendy\u2019s. Dan looked at me and said, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to be able to enjoy the fireworks, are you\u201d? To which I replied in perfect dishonesty, \u201cI\u2019ll be fine\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
So, naturally, after dinner, Dan began to drive\u2026 back home\u2026 to check on the cat that deep down we knew was okay, but we still had to check to find out. We open the door and there he is, lounging atop his favorite shelf on his kitty condo, washing his paws without a care in the world. Yawn\u2026. Would you mind keeping it down, his bored look implied, I\u2019m trying to groom myself in peace\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/a>As you can see, I took no writer’s liberty whatsoever describing Rolz and his completely uncaring demeanor… Sigh, score another victory for the cat…<\/p><\/div>\n
Feeling a combination of relief and foolishness, we head to the beach with as much dignity as possible to find a parking spot before the mass chaos ensues. Wow\u2026 right off the bat, we see a parking area and quickly decide we are willing to pay for parking rather than driving around endlessly looking for a spot that already does not exist. Naturally, the parking attendant could care less about etiquette and fails to put up a sign that the lot is full. We drive around in circles for a really long time and don\u2019t say out loud what we are thinking\u2026 damn cat\u2026 if we had left earlier, we would have a spot already.<\/p>\n
After some bizarre miracle where God does not want cats to be the scapegoat for parking evils, we find a spot quite close to the beach and cheer our good fate! We get to the beach and also immediately find an amazing spot to sit were Dan can set up his camera tripod and we have an excellent view of the fireworks! Whoo Hoo!! As we fast forward in time, the fireworks begin and they are spectacular!! All half hour of them!!!<\/p>\n
<\/a>The fireworks begin!<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The display really starts to pick up!<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>The Grand Finale!!<\/p><\/div>\n
We quickly pack up to leave and I think to myself,\u00a0 this isn’t so bad. We\u2019ll be home soon enough and I can get a decent amount of sleep before I have to get up for work in the morning.\u00a0 Fast-forward again, this is the part where I decide I really don\u2019t care that much about fireworks at all and that memories from years gone by are good enough for me.\u00a0 Beach cities that are used to a steady flow of traffic that centers around bridge causeways and two lanes of traffic, are NOT equipped for masses of people to exit at one time. I will spare you the gory details, but let\u2019s just say that under normal circumstances, we probably would have gotten home sometime around 10:00 pm. We got home a little before MIDNIGHT. Almost a 6 hour ordeal to see a half hour display!!<\/p>\n
I am still proud that Dan and\u00a0 I ventured out of the house, but next time, dinner and a local movie will suit me just fine. Dan did get some incredible shots \u2013 they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, in the case of this picture, it is worth 1003 words\u2026 I know\u2026 I just counted them for this post.<\/p>\n
Please take a moment to vote for Zee & Zoey in the DogTime Pettie Awards – we are nominated for “Best Designed Blog” and “Best Blog Post” for our interview with Steve Dale on pedigree cat breeding. You can vote once a day up to July 31st, and winning blogs will get $1000 donated to the rescue or shelter of their choice! We have picked a local organization called Abandoned Pet Rescue where we got several of our dogs throughout the years. Click here to vote.<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fireworks are awesome\u2026 in theory\u2026 Dan and I are homebodies by nature and I can\u2019t remember the last time I got in a car to drive and see a professional display for the 4th of July. Sure, when the kids were living with me, we made the trek to wherever the nearest event was, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1098,365,1099],"tags":[383,1265,390],"class_list":["post-6284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-behavior","category-cat-humor","category-the-zee-zoey-cats-and-family","tag-4th-of-july","tag-cats","tag-fireworks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/GrandFinale.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6284"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16296,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6284\/revisions\/16296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}