Just a few hours and I’m on the road for a long trip. The wife has work tomorrow, the kid has school tomorrow, and I really need a haircut. My plan was to start editing tomorrow, but it might be delayed a day. Need to get a bit more sleep and my son is so off his schedule that things may be rough for a while.
The new plan is to design characters for the ‘road trip/altered USA’ idea. Got something for the female lead, which leaves me with 6-7 characters that will have unique outfits. Maybe. Modern clothes will probably be around tough some characters will take the opportunity to be unique. Just have to remind myself that the post-apocalyptic character in a top hat has been done to death. I have a new idea too, but I think I’ll put it where it originally was. Puts a future series up to 10 books, but it’s a comedy/Windemere history/adventure, so it all works out. Need to double check since those notes aren’t here.
People have asked about the trip and if I’ll share stories. Several people on this side of the computer have told me not to talk about it. All I should say is ‘things happened and it was a fun experience’. Yes, but I will tell one story because it may be the highlight for my son and I feel like making a warning. If you didn’t know, like I did, 100% polyester clothing should not be worn around fireworks. People can already see where this is going.
My son has a Captain America shirt that is 100% polyester and he loves it. So he wore it for July 4th. He was given sparklers for the first time and was using one under the very close supervision of mommy. He wanted to do tricks like her and his aunt, but she was making sure he kept his arm out. The kid has a habit of bending his arm when twirling the sparkler and we didn’t want his face to get hit by a spark. We didn’t expect a spark to hit his shoulder and melt the shirt. He freaked out (for good reason) and we got the shirt off him before taking him inside. It didn’t catch fire, but three holes were melted and the ‘hot plastic’ left a red mark on his shoulder. It’s still there too. To the little guy’s credit, he still wanted to watch the sparklers and fireworks show. We think he was more scared than hurt, which makes sense.
I sent an email to the place I bought the shirt from since I couldn’t find a manufacturer contact. Just wanted to mention that there is no warning on the shirt and I don’t remember one on the tags. Even if there was one on the tags, you take those off and can forget over the years. Not looking for anything other than letting them know about this possibility, which cold have been a freak accident.
Anyway, that’s a story. Rest was driving, zoo, car show, family, food, and a Boston Terrier that my son doesn’t want to say good-bye too. I’ll be back on schedule tomorrow. The Internet has been good, but doesn’t always open pages that I click on. See everyone later or tomorrow.
Legends of Windemere 
Glad the little guy is ok Charles – there have been lots of occurrences like this in UK – resulting in a tightening of the rules on fire resistant materials for clothes and kid’s toys.
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Same here. That’s why I was surprised about the shirt.
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Glad that your son is fine, Charles. Artificial fibres can do lots of harm. As you stated, it’s better to be scared than hurt.
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Yeah. Worst case scenario, he has another scar with a story. This one is better than the one on his eyelid from bonking his head on edge of the bathtub. Though we don’t remember where the nose one came from.
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Blimey, a close shave that one. I’m filled with scars of that sort, so I guess it’s all part of growing up as a boy, mind you 🙂
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True. I don’t have any childhood scars. The few I have on my arms now are from cooking.
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Whew! That was a close call. Glad he’s okay. Sometimes, when kids aren’t hurt bad enough to be wounded, the trauma is actually a good thing helping them learn valuable lessons. My grandson got a shock by a night light he was playing with that was plugged in. He learned the word “hot” and doesn’t play with it anymore…or any other socket.
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(Really wish the WP app was working.). He’s over the event, which is good. The thing was just a bad combination. Beyond our control unless we removed either the shirt or the sparkler.
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Glad everything turned out okay. Still sounds like the rest of the trip was fun.
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It was. Though we now have a kid totally off his schedule and he has school in the morning. Nobody has the patience for this.
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What a frightening experience. I’m glad you got that shirt off him, and later warned the manufacturer. I thought they were supposed to put warnings on them.
Glad you had a fun time despite that incident.
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I thought so too. All I can think is that they had a tag that warned about it, but nobody keeps those clothing. So if the shirt sticks around for a while, you might forget about that tag.
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Whew. Glad it was not worse.
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Me too. 🙂
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I’m so relieved your son is okay. That is really scary. I remember on Bonfire night being terrified of the fireworks, because you hear of so many freak accidents. I’m glad you had a nice trip too, and completely understand that your loved ones want to keep things separate and are wary about what’s shared on the internet 🙂
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I was at a July 4th celebration long ago where the mortar being used to fire stuff wasn’t set up correctly. It either exploded or fell over, but everyone in the backyard had to dive for cover. Nobody was hurt since one of the adults saw something wrong immediately and yelled for everyone to get away.
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That is terrifying, and I can relate. My ex husband didn’t fix a firework into the ground properly and it fell over as it ‘fired’ and instead of going into the sky it came into the conservatory. We were incredibly lucky because, as it hit and ricocheted off several surfaces it stopped it from exploding outwards (don’t know how) and it eventually died out. Phew!
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That is lucky. This is why I don’t really play with them. I’ll watch from a distance though. Yet, I realized this year that they look the same as when I was a kid. No advancements in fireworks technology?
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Lol! Maybe the manufacturers are more interested in making the biggest bang for their buck!
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Hope it’s not the case. Lawsuits aren’t pretty and this type of thing could cause one if it results in an actual injury. As it stands, my son might have a little scar on his shoulder.
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Oh no. I hope it heals 🙂
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Ohh! Thank goodness your little one is okay! Very scary…hopefully, like you say, it will just be a scar and a good story.
Welcome back, Charles. You’re probably still catching up on your sleep!
Ellespeth
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Sleep hasn’t been easy to come by. Really hot and muggy, which causes the room to get dry. So I only get restless nights.
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