Flee the 4th, Uncommon

So although we are a little less than a week away from the 4th of July I already have been planning on what I can do to make Elsa’s most hated holiday, better.  Elsa is absolutely terrified of loud noises.  Hell she is scared of noise, period.  She has always been this way but instead of getting better over time it’s gotten worse.  Even the sound of light rain on the roof is enough to send her scurrying to some corner to hide.  I wish there was something I could do to take her fear away.

4th of July and New Year’s are the pinnacle of terror for her.  The sound of nearby fireworks going off have her jumping in the tub, trembling in fear.  I actually have some hemp calming treats that seem to take a little bit of the edge off for her but it’s still really bad.  So what my hope this year is to totally remove her from the situation.

On Monday night right as it is getting dark I plan to load her up in the Tesla.  I then am going to drive out towards Ave Maria.  I am hoping the tightly packed houses would make backyard firework displays a non-issue, but I could be wrong.  If I am, Elsa and I will continue driving.  Hell I will park on Alligator Alley if I have to.  I then can fire up Netflix or YouTube on the Tesla and just chill out with her until the explosions subside.  Yes it’s a lot of effort to try to ease her fear but she’s worth it.

Yesterday I made plans to head down to Roatan where Gladys lives most of the time to visit.  It is a beautiful place.  I have only visited a handful of other countries as most of my travel has been the road trip variety.  I have been in Mexico and the Bahamas courtesy of a cruise, Canada, and Ireland during the big family trip with my dad.  I think that is the extent of my international travel.  Luckily my passport was renewed back in 2019 so I should be good to go.

Gladys and I talk a lot, which is an extremely uncommon thing for me. Just ask most anyone else that knows me.  Generally speaking I hate talking on the phone for long periods of time but with a very small handful of people it no longer feels like the chore it normally is.  Because it is so rare for me to find human beings that I actually don’t mind talking at length with, when I do, I take notice.

Anyway the next 5-6 weeks for me are going to be extremely jam packed with the trip to upstate NY with my family and then reversing direction into the Caribbean a few weeks later.  My path has become much less straight than it used to be.