Chester Chatter: Fireworks at the Douglas farm

By Ruthie Douglas
©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC

As a little girl, I loved fireworks. In the years of my growing up, anyone could shoot off fireworks in their backyard, their driveway or the street.

You didn’t have to wait to use fireworks for any particular time because you could celebrate birthdays, a new baby, an anniversary or really no reason at all.

Come 4th of July, fireworks always had a place in our celebrations, mainly because my father and mother were married on July 4. Many times we gathered up at our camp and shot fireworks across the lake. At one point, we  could view fireworks shot off from Stratton Mountain.

However, once I got myself into a bit trouble. Joe, who later would become my son-in-law, brought to the farmhouse a bag of fireworks. He said, “I thought we could shoot these off. What do you think? Wouldn’t that be great?”

We all took our places on the front porch to watch Joe igniting the fireworks by the railroad tracks. What a noise. The fireworks were only the beginning of the show however.

Our cows were not happy, even nestled in their barn. They broke open the gate. Some 300 to 400 of them stampeded down Green Mountain Turnpike. The worst was that some went into the cornfield, trampling the young plants.

It took several hours, many flashlights and a bunch of neighbors and friends to get those cows rounded and back into the barn. It took several days before they were ready to give milk again.

Once again, Ruthie was in trouble.

Scene and heard

Did you remember you dad on Father’s Day? I always take time to remember my father, who was very special to me because I was his favorite child. I only disappointed him once, because I didn’t become governor of Vermont as he would have liked.

Summer is here and with it a heat wave.  How great that the graduates of Green Mountain High got a chance to parade through town and be heard! As they headed past my house on Friday, escorted by police and fire  departments with sirens blaring, I wondered what was happening. But then I saw the decorated cars and the kids passing by.

Happy birthday to Linda Stowell.

Our town is beginning to come to life and the rules that everyone has used to fight the Covid-19 virus are working.