I do love a parade!

“Since 1987, I've been preparing Thanksgiving dinner while watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade....it's a great way to begin the day, IMHO..and a cool parade even with the dorky commentaries....

Do you like parades?”

“M-Hiker! It's a fantastic parade. I'd probably go, but have too much cooking to do and Maple's got to work for 5 hours this afternoon. I hope the weather behaves and the wind stays down. The local news channels were saying that they may have to ground the balloons if the wind gets to be too much. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!”

“They decided they could fly the balloons!”

“That's great! I got that from last night's report and didn't check it out today. Good news. The balloons are a big part of the fun. One year, we went up to Central Park, where they blow them up and keep them overnight. It was pretty cool, too!”

“Me, too! Got the big parade tuned in while baking one last cake.

Gobble, gobble!”

“Have a great day, folks! I gots woik to do around heah!”

“Thanks for the reminder, mataharihiker. I was looking for an excues to avoid doing the dishes. About two weeks of dishes have piled-up while I was sick with a cold. TV, here I come.

---

Dinner is not until 1. My two youngest daughters and a granddaughter will be here to eat with me at this trailer park's community dinner. Their Holiday meals are always good. I hope this one is good, too. It was $7 for me and $9 for each of my daughters. The 3-year old eats free. Happy Thanksgiving Day, folks.
last edited: 11/24/05 10:03:37 AM”

“I turned off the TV. Macy's has three announcers yacking away. It's impossible to enjoy the parade bands and other parade sounds. And most of the scenery is the announcers. But I guess they're like everyone else: They love themselves.

Also, everyone is in heavy clothing! I have the door open and fresh air blowing through my place this morning. It was 72°F. at 10:53 am EST. Going to 80 today. And the sun is shining brightly. Florida at its' best.”

“I just saw spongebob woohhoo. whats with katies stupid hat.”

“She specializes in looking dorky whenever she hits fresh air...or, at least what passes for fresh air in NY...LOL

Nowslimmer, when the actual parade started the presenters weren't on so much...the script writers must love seeing who gets them saying the most completely brainless twaddle...

Extreme climbing the rhino was new....
last edited: 11/24/05 11:11:31 AM”

“Yes, I saw the rhino. But, during the part I was watching, they kept switching back to the announcers. So I only saw the climbers bouncing back and forth a little. Oh, well, I' m getting some dishes washed. Had to come to the computer to change the music. Just finished listening to a rebroadcast of the NY philharmonic and went back to the Swiss Classic station. I bet WUOT has a good program going today, too. Oops, not at the moment. They're picking up "Fresh Air," another program of talkers.

---

Back to Swiss Classic and to the dishes. It is almost time for my daughters to arrive and to walk parade over to dinner. Enjoy the rest of your day.
last edited: 11/24/05 11:35:08 AM”

“FYI, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is the 2nd largest user of Helium in the world. The #1 user is the US Government.”

“Now I'm watching the Parade of Dogs otherwise known as the National Dog Show...then they are showing Miracle on 34th street for the millionth time..I may just give that a rest...I need to regain my strength so I can EAT what I've been preparing for hours...Mata's Parade of Food! LOL....”

“all in ziplock baggies?”

“of course...do you know how long it takes to cook a turkey over a Pepsi stove? LOL...”

“We have gotten into the Rose Parade over the years. My university and our sister university build a float together. My son was construction chair two years and drove the float in the parade one year. It is fun to go and decorate and then watch the parade.

One night every year I go and fix a Dutch oven dinner for the crew working on the float. They love it and it is fun doing it.

Network TV coverage of parades usually sucks. It is mostly commercials and too many talking heads. Some of the local stations do OK.”

“I will admit the parade was more exciting than the Atlanta Falcons blow out of the Detroit Lions football game. The television cameras caught the Detroit home crowd reading books during the game, and leaving in droves istarting in the third quarter.”

“When thinking of Detroit football my mind wanders back to the days of Alex Karras, and even further to Bobby Layne, the Quarterback who played in the days of no face masks.”

“As if the Lions could win.”

“So, there was an accident in the Macy's parade. One of the balloons hit a lamp post and the top came crashing down. Luckily, the injuries to the two people who got hurt weren't more severe. One person got six stitches. Not sure about the other. Both, I believe, are expected to be fine. Hate to see that happen. It's such a fun parade...
last edited: 11/25/05 8:30:07 AM”

“It's on all the news broadcasts today...I don't remember even hearing about it while I was watching the parade but, as I was preparing dinner at the time, could easily have missed it...shame, now the city or Macy's will be sued and they'll probably cut out the balloon floats...”

“crazy. I can't believe how much coverage this is getting on national news. Why did they have an Iminem balloon in the Macy's parade anyway?”

“Naw, they should nail the designer of the pole.”

“M-Hiker. It didn't get a lot of play during the parade. Lots of folks didn't even kn ow anything happened. Now, there was a similar accident a few years back. It didn't dampen the parade for the years to come. It did, however, help to update the guidelines for safety concerning the balloons. Hopefully, the effect of this won't be greater than that...”

“The accident was on CBS. Big and Rich performed on the Intrepid, then they came back to the announcers at Times Square. Both looked grim and told us what had just happened with the M & M balloon and the lamp post. I don't think the other networks caught it on camera. I never saw CBS actually play it on-air though.”

“We watched "America's Thanksgiving Parade"--(aka the Detroit Parade.)

Sadly, the winds wer too high and they didn 't have the balloons due to really high winds (It was -3 wind chill, with an actual temp around 12 degrees!)

I didn't see the whole parade, but in 2002, I worked at the Parade Company (who sets that parade up). If it's still being used, I painted all of the purple jelly beans on the "Hansel And Gretel" in the Caribbean float! :-)
last edited: 11/25/05 1:59:30 PM”

“PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (AP) -- A 9-year-old boy has died after being hit by a float in the city's annual holiday parade.

The boy was hit around 6:15 p.m. Saturday, shortly after the parade started. The float, a trailer being pulled by a pickup truck, was carrying about 20 Cub Scouts ranging in age from 8 to 11, police said.

Authorities did not say if the boy who was struck was one of the scouts on the float. The boy's name was not released.

It wasn't clear how the boy was struck. Investigators are trying to sort out many different accounts provided by witnesses, said Lt. Rod McQuate.

Authorities are also asking anyone with photographs or videotape of the accident to come forward.

"It goes without saying this is a terrible tragedy," Chief Michael Magnant said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press


How many people die each year in the US by parade float? A few years back wasn't somebody killed or injured by at Macy's Parade in NY when a lamp pole was knocked over by a balloon. It's just not safe anymore. Ban parades.
last edited: 12/03/06 12:16:40 PM”

“Yes. Someone was hurt by the light as it was knocked off the pole. Incidentally, the woman who was hurt in that incident was also the owner/occupant of the apartment that the plane crashed into this past fall in New York.”

“That's bizarre if that's true.”

“Kathleen Caronna


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Caronna”

“she'll know who her true friends are in 2015.”

“ANDERSON -- Police say an Anderson man was drunk and driving -- a parade float.

Twelve children and seven adults on the float and the driver's son, who was in the cab of the truck with his father during the Anderson Christmas parade, feared for their lives during a wild three-mile ride, according to warrants and a police spokeswoman.

David Allen Rodgers, 42, of 410 Devon Way was charged with 18 counts of assault high and aggravated nature, 18 counts of kidnapping, and one count each of unlawful conduct toward a child, assaulting an officer and DUI, according to warrants and citations.

The people riding on the float were from a local dance studio, according to a police report.

Police are asking anyone who videotaped the Sunday parade from the Anderson courthouse to the end of the parade route to call Sgt. Mike Walters at 864-231-2265, said Linda Dudley Graham, spokeswoman for the Anderson Police Department.

The truck pulling a flatbed trailer carrying the children and adults was in the parade traveling down Main Street when it pulled out into the oncoming lane and passed a tractor pulling a float, according to warrants and a police report.

The truck continued on Main Street at a high rate of speed through two red lights and a stop sign and over some railroad tracks, according to warrants.

A parent on the float called 911, and officers caught up with the vehicle on Southwood Street, the warrants and a police report said.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061205/NEWS01/612050370”

“Nevermind.
last edited: 12/05/06 12:35:38 PM”

“Funny (strange not ha ha) that you mention that SS, because a cub scout was killed when he fell off a float and was run over by it in New Hampshire over the weekend.”

“OKAY THATS IT....I demand a mandatory Parade Registry. Thats right....(LOL) sorry couldn't keep going.

You only have to watch Animal House to know how bad a Parade can get.

About the Anderson thing....so which one of the Kennedy family was on his way to vote on this one?
last edited: 12/05/06 1:10:57 PM”

“Ban everything that isn't safe.


How many people die from hiking each year vs. parades?
last edited: 12/05/06 2:45:55 PM”

“How many Hikers die in Parade wrecks....HOW MANY PEOPLE DIE everyyear...and where pray tell are the Dems on protecting us from DEATH????HMMMMM??? Death kills more people than all Diseases, Accidents and Violence put togther but you don't see anyone addressing that?????”

“It's funny. They're against accidental deaths, but they're ok with killing unborn babies. Imagine that!”

“I hope that isn’t directed at me. I was just stating an unusual coincidence. Accidents happen all the time and most of the time there really isn’t anything anyone can do to prevent them.”

“Um...you obviously never had to sit on a crash investigation panel (LOL)”

“Nope and hopefully never will, but I can imagine.”