Rick's 2020 Fireworks Show

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Okay guys, here it is. What a freakin day. Thought I was gonna die. For real this time. Heat index was 109F during 9 hours of setup. Most of my helpers bailed on me. My one buddy hung in there thank God. I was dry heaving and almost passed out a few times. He went to get us something to eat. My wife came down to see if I was okay. I told her someone went to get food. My buddy of 25 years and I couldn't remember his name. Terrible day. Then it rained for an hour right before showtime. One board got wet. The tarp wasn't secure enough and I didn't catch it. So most of those 16 cakes didn't fire. This was the first year using slats and quickplug initiators and RJ-45 cables. Lots of stuff on the slats didn't fire. Not sure why. So I need to do some troubleshooting to try and isolate the problem. Fortunately, this year the music started right on cue, the finale went well, and the crowd loved it. The tannerite was a huge hit.

So that's the back-story. Here's the video!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGpTB4nNXiA

[Berserker23]

Awesome show like always. the Florida heat was bad this year I live in space coast Florida and a strong storm took 5 cakes from me this year.

[rfgonzo]

I actually was scrolling through youtube videos before I seen your post and recognized your shoot site HAHA. I don't know if that sad or a good thing? Apparently I have an addiction.... You are correct the tannerite at the end was awesome. Sucks you had such a high failure rate. Please let us know what the causes was when you find out. That was me last year with failure. I had redemption this year, knock on wood only 4 single shot comets didn't fire and 1 can that I must have put in upside down in a mortar tube. You'll see when I post the vid.
Your not alone, I'm still recovering from the heat and setup...
Good job Rick

[AxeElf]

My thought at 16:15...

"Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?" (Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid)

Amazing fireworks... but -1 on Creativity for using "Thunderstruck." ;)

I relate on the physical drain. I think this year's show almost killed me too. I know I was near the point of physical exhaustion just about every day for a week, and I was still throwing up today. Starting to feel a little better, though. 362 more days to recuperate...

[Jay_]

Despite everything it turned out great Rick! Rock and roll band was awesome and that finale.....awesome!!

After suffering through those setup days just like you have, I can certainly relate. I thought that I was going to die from a heat stroke 3 years ago, last year I thought I was going to just flat out have a stress related stroke.

Hate that you had all of that stuff that got wet. Unfortunately I can relate to that as well from last year.

Anyway, you persevered and still pulled off a kickass show. Great job Rick!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words. Seriously have to reevaluate whether or not I want to do this to myself again next year. I've said that before, but this time might be it. I'm glad the people in attendance liked it. If I go out at least it will be on a good note I guess.

[215less]

Another Great show Rick!!!!!! You put on some legendary shows but seriously be careful and stay hydrated my dude.... Rock on !!!!!!!

[Salutecake]

Great Show Rick!!!
I think everyone near the East Coast went through almost the same heat situation. My son and I had started on Wednesday, 4 positions on land, 4 positions on water, Had to build 3, 8x8 docks. If my sons friends didn't show up on Friday, it would have been well not complete or cut back, weather was brutal.

Hey, at 15:43 - to 15:45 big red flash -- one cake or part of another?

[BeerGuyEd]

Great show Rick. Awesome music choices and a great variety of effects. You pulled off another great show. I don't envy your setup though. I have a much much much smaller show and setup was rough on me. Maybe next year reallocate some of the pyro budget to getting paid help.

[chetubet]

Absolutely fantastic! Rick, you are an inspiration to us all! Keep up the great work!

[joewad]

Friggin awesome Rick

5161

[chetubet]

kind of a noob question here... I see a lot of you more experienced guys start off with a bunch of fountains... The way I see it and correct me if I'm wrong (and not that I think you had this problem), doesn't a bunch of fountains throw up a huge wall of smoke that lingers in the air which can sometimes get in the way of the aerial show? Anyway that's what my observations after seeing a lot of folks shows here and it kind of makes me not want to incorporate any fountains into my shows. But yea... really great show Rick, as I mentioned before, you truly are an inspiration to us backyard pyros.

[Birdman]

Another great show! I can't imagine what it would have looked like if everything fired. Not that I would have noticed if you hadn't said anything. Looks like you had a lot of quality product. When I was setting up my small show I had to keep taking breaks and it was only in the mid 80's where I was. At one point I said to my wife that I can't imagine setting up a show the size of yours in the FL heat.

You probably don't need or want my advice but I'm going to put it out there anyway. I always try to remind myself of one rule I've learned.....KISS (Keep it simple stupid!) When your driven and passionate about something it's too easy to push yourself to the point where you suck the enjoyment out of it and make mistakes. I had that happen to me with a few hobbies and I'm going to do my best not to have it happen with my pryo hobby.

I'll give you just one example. As a much younger man my friends and I would go to a campground for the weekend. We had a blast cooking over the fire and walking the short trails etc. Weekend camping trips turned into weekend backpacking trips covering a few miles. Then it was backpacking 10....20 miles in a weekend. At that point my friends bailed out because it was just not fun for them anymore. I started doing longer trips, by myself, eating freeze dried meals and nursing blisters. Every trip had to be longer and more difficult than the last. Next thing I know I'm spending a week alone on a trail exhausted, in complete denial that the only enjoyable part of the last several trips was getting home. When people ask me if I still go backpacking I blame kids, work etc but the truth is I lost sight of what made it fun. I sucked all of the enjoyment out of it and refused to take a step back out of pride. In my parents basement sits all of the best backpacking gear money could buy at that time, mildewed, mouse chewed and dry rotted.

A couple of years ago some friends talked my wife and I into going on a weekend camping trip. We had a really enjoyable time. At one point I caught myself trying to talk my wife into going on a short weekend backpacking trip. Then I reminded myself....KISS. We still go camping several weekends a year and have a really good time. However, part of what makes it so enjoyable is all of the lessons I learned. I know exactly what to pack and how to pack it, what gear to buy and not to buy. I can set up our entire site before our friends even get the canopy on their RV down. I can find the perfect spot for our tent so that rain runoff won't flood it if an unexpected storm passes through. I can pick a site that has sun in the morning and shade in the heat of the day. I also learned you'll see a lot more taking an afternoon to hike a one mile trail than you will hiking 20 miles in a day.

Take from that what you will and I hope to see another great show from you next year!

[Mattp]

awesome show!!!! timing was spot on!! sick effects and great soundtrack...a few times ive tried to come up with a show to the souza type of patriotic music... but theres so much going on in those songs it quickly became unmanageable for me to even think about wiring it all up... you sir pulled it off wonderfully!!! .. i laughed at your wife saying. "i wired that one".. LOL.. it sure is alot of ridiculous work... but that show was really great!!!.. and i would strongly consider about birdmans advice... definitely dont want to over do it to yourself!!.. unless you can truly count on crew to help out.. what were the effects @15:32 ?? just before the tannerite cakes??? and yeah... how bout those tannerite cakes.. holy crap!!!lol

[BMoore]

Awesome Show! I feel your pain. We had a 105 heat index and I was physically sick and dehydrated. I'm not used to manual labor or being outdoors in the heat so I run on pure adrenaline every year. A successful show makes it worth it but I'm pretty sure that the heat is far more likely to put me in the hospital one of these days than the explosives.

[Mattp]

kind of a noob question here... I see a lot of you more experienced guys start off with a bunch of fountains... The way I see it and correct me if I'm wrong (and not that I think you had this problem), doesn't a bunch of fountains throw up a huge wall of smoke that lingers in the air which can sometimes get in the way of the aerial show? Anyway that's what my observations after seeing a lot of folks shows here and it kind of makes me not want to incorporate any fountains into my shows.

that is a good point.. and can happen... but if theres a fair breeze the smoke really should dissipate before it hinders anything... last year i had my first time ever with that issue.. seems down in florida with the high humidity its more common as rick can tell ya.. but starting with smaller items is a good way to help build up to the eventual finale... i mean you could go right into hard hitting and keep up that pace too... but i personally feel it helps to differentiate or break up the segments

[morrison2951]

Sweet show!

96 degrees here in NC was brutal.

I literally had leg cramps until yesterday.... but know that I'll want to do another show next year. ;)

[esgrillo]

Rick I watched it all WELL DONE!! sounds like a huge PIA setup day, I feel for you. I LOVE THE USE OF THUNDERSTRUCK!!! lol. Lots of good product selection as usual. Were you using series slats? Did you shunt unused cues?

My show went off pretty damn good even by my critical standards. Even my ring around the lake worked... looked pretty bad ass with that huge circle of strobes from the drone view. Had 2 drone guys that were both good and 3 other cameras all good so editing now. Gonna take a couple of days as I?m traveling too.

Well done Rick!

[PyroDre]

good show rick!

[PyroDre]

rick i did 4 professional shows this year....

i quit every year on July 5th LOL!!

[PyroGyro]

Great job Rick. Love the long barrage at the end. Good to see you made it out alive as well. I have no idea how anyone could setup in that heat, and like you've said before, it rains every 4th for you. I honestly would probably say screw that if I lived in FL. I'm on the other side of 50 and had perfect weather but after setup I was spent and was wondering if all the time money and effort I put into it was worth it. It was but it took me a few days of rest to realize it.

[Stormcrow]

Rick I don’t know how you manage to shoot down there every year with the extreme heat and rain. Well done as usual. I felt like I almost had a heat stroke one year on setup sounds like you were closer to one than me.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Take from that what you will and I hope to see another great show from you next year!

Your points are well taken my friend. The truth of the matter is, I'm just too old and broke down to be doing what I'm trying to do. I'm going to be 57 in a few weeks. I'm 320 with high blood pressure, diabetes, a thyroid gland that doesn't work, nerve damage on both legs from a fused back operation. Etc. and so on... It doesn't take much to get me winded, and working in 109F lifting heavy boards just isn't what I should be doing. The problem is, between my ears I'm still 25 and I can do whatever I want! So that's what I'm fighting now. This year it damn near killed me. So I'm going to have to reevaluate for next year. You're absolutely right. Sometimes more is less.

That's probably all TMI, but.... Just keeping it real.....

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Awesome Show! I feel your pain. We had a 105 heat index and I was physically sick and dehydrated. I'm not used to manual labor or being outdoors in the heat so I run on pure adrenaline every year. A successful show makes it worth it but I'm pretty sure that the heat is far more likely to put me in the hospital one of these days than the explosives.

Amen to that buddy!! Amen to that.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

kind of a noob question here... I see a lot of you more experienced guys start off with a bunch of fountains... The way I see it and correct me if I'm wrong (and not that I think you had this problem), doesn't a bunch of fountains throw up a huge wall of smoke that lingers in the air which can sometimes get in the way of the aerial show? Anyway that's what my observations after seeing a lot of folks shows here and it kind of makes me not want to incorporate any fountains into my shows. But yea... really great show Rick, as I mentioned before, you truly are an inspiration to us backyard pyros.

Thanks for the kind words my friend. I try to stat off with low, slow effects to kind of get the crowd settled down and focused on the show. Then it's off to the races. This year I used a bunch of new stuff from Dominator that the crowd really loved. I purposely tried to slow down the show during the end of song 2 and song 3 to prep for the finale. What I didn't count on were the wet cakes and/or the slats failing to light a bunch of cakes. The lull was meant to be a lead-in to the tannerite finale. The rainbow fan at the end was supposed to be 2 fans and a punctuation mark at the end of the show. Obviously, 1 fan didn't light and one tannerite cake ran way over. Oh well. The crowd loved it so...

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick I watched it all WELL DONE!! sounds like a huge PIA setup day, I feel for you. I LOVE THE USE OF THUNDERSTRUCK!!! lol. Lots of good product selection as usual. Were you using series slats? Did you shunt unused cues?

My show went off pretty damn good even by my critical standards. Even my ring around the lake worked... looked pretty bad ass with that huge circle of strobes from the drone view. Had 2 drone guys that were both good and 3 other cameras all good so editing now. Gonna take a couple of days as I?m traveling too.

Well done Rick!

Thanks Ed! I used parallel slats. Continuity tested fine before the show. Not sure why all the misfires. It was a HUGE PITA!! Lol... Very much looking forward to your video buddy! I'm sure you knocked it out of the park as always. Safe travels!!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

i laughed at your wife saying. "i wired that one".. LOL.. what were the effects @15:32 ?? just before the tannerite cakes??? and yeah... how bout those tannerite cakes.. holy crap!!!lol

Thanks Matt! Yeah, time to scale things back I think. that was actually my buddy Keith that said that. This is the second year he's helped me now and I think he's hooked. He's a retired AF guy like me. Probably 10 years younger than me, but that setup still kicked his butt too. If I'm looking at the same thing you're looking at, those effects are called "Backyard King" from SO76. https://www.76fireworks.com/product/GM116-Backyard-King Their Sky Bacon line is really nice.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Friggin awesome Rick

5161

Thank you Sir!!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Awesome Show! I feel your pain. We had a 105 heat index and I was physically sick and dehydrated. I'm not used to manual labor or being outdoors in the heat so I run on pure adrenaline every year. A successful show makes it worth it but I'm pretty sure that the heat is far more likely to put me in the hospital one of these days than the explosives.

Unfortunately, I know the feeling! lol... I was a real dumba-- though. I didn't eat anything. Didn't take my blood pressure or diabetes pills, and I wasn't wearing a hat. I was drinking water like crazy and I had one of those cooling scarf things around my neck so I figured that would be sufficient for the 4 hours I expected to be out there. 9 hours later..... Yeah.... Big mistake. Hopefully lesson learned.


Sweet show!

96 degrees here in NC was brutal.

I literally had leg cramps until yesterday.... but know that I'll want to do another show next year. ;)

OMG... My legs were cramping during setup, and they were both locked tight all night on the 4th. I've got muscle relaxers for yet another ailment, but they didn't help one bit. I'm still walking like I got gang raped by the prison chain gang.


good show rick!

Thank you Sir!


rick i did 4 professional shows this year....

i quit every year on July 5th LOL!!

God love ya. If I did more manual labor I probably wouldn't feel so bad after one July 4th show. This cushy IT life is killing me!!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Awesome Show! I feel your pain. We had a 105 heat index and I was physically sick and dehydrated. I'm not used to manual labor or being outdoors in the heat so I run on pure adrenaline every year. A successful show makes it worth it but I'm pretty sure that the heat is far more likely to put me in the hospital one of these days than the explosives.


Sweet show!

96 degrees here in NC was brutal.

I literally had leg cramps until yesterday.... but know that I'll want to do another show next year. ;)


good show rick!


rick i did 4 professional shows this year....

i quit every year on July 5th LOL!!


Great job Rick. Love the long barrage at the end. Good to see you made it out alive as well. I have no idea how anyone could setup in that heat, and like you've said before, it rains every 4th for you. I honestly would probably say screw that if I lived in FL. I'm on the other side of 50 and had perfect weather but after setup I was spent and was wondering if all the time money and effort I put into it was worth it. It was but it took me a few days of rest to realize it.

Thank you Sir! I'm glad I made it out alive too! Lol... As for saying it was all worth it... Probably going to take a few more days for me. :)

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick I don’t know how you manage to shoot down there every year with the extreme heat and rain. Well done as usual. I felt like I almost had a heat stroke one year on setup sounds like you were closer to one than me.

Buddy, I wish I had a good answer for that one! Truth is, I don't manage very well. I definitely need to find a better way of doing this. You take it easy up there too! I'm from Ohio. I know how brutal the heat can be up there too. I think it's probably worse in some respects because you don't have the humidity up there like we have here. So the heat can sneak up on you and put you down if you're not careful.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Great Show Rick!!!
I think everyone near the East Coast went through almost the same heat situation. My son and I had started on Wednesday, 4 positions on land, 4 positions on water, Had to build 3, 8x8 docks. If my sons friends didn't show up on Friday, it would have been well not complete or cut back, weather was brutal.

Hey, at 15:43 - to 15:45 big red flash -- one cake or part of another?

Thank you Sir! I hope your son is doing okay. That's a ton of work for one guy! Holy crap... Sounds like he's trying to make sure his name stays in the will! lol...

At 15:43 I believe what you're talking about is a "PFX13FR-3: Silver Tiger Comet with Red Strobe Mine" from Dominator. Huge hit with the crowd! Here's a link to the place I bought it. It's one of Dave's sponsors. It's the third effect in the video. https://americanwholesalefireworks.com/slice-cake-13-shot-various-effects-standard-click-for-types/

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Here's the script with the effects in case any is interested:

#Event Time #Channel #Cue #Firework Name
00:05.00s 1 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 2 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 3 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 4 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 7 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 8 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 9 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:05.00s 10 1 Assorted Flames (30sec)
00:34.15s 1 2 25s Crackling Finale
00:34.19s 7 2 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:34.66s 7 3 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:37.85s 7 4 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:38.23s 7 5 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:41.44s 7 6 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:41.82s 7 7 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:45.02s 7 8 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:45.46s 7 9 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:48.63s 7 10 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:49.07s 7 11 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:51.00s 1 3 25s Crackling Finale
00:52.19s 7 12 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:52.66s 7 13 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:55.82s 7 14 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:56.27s 7 15 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:59.40s 7 16 Mine - 50mm Brocade
00:59.88s 7 17 Mine - 50mm Brocade
01:03.00s 7 18 Mine - 50mm Brocade
01:03.45s 8 2 Mine - 50mm Brocade
01:06.60s 8 3 Mine - 50mm Brocade
01:07.00s 8 4 Mine - 50mm Brocade
01:09.52s 1 4 Walkin-N-Bacon
01:53.52s 1 5 Walkin-N-Bacon
01:56.94s 11 1 13s Three Changing Color Brocade
02:33.00s 8 5 Mine - 50mm White
02:33.43s 8 6 Mine - 50mm White
02:33.89s 8 7 Mine - 50mm White
02:36.12s 8 8 Mine - 50mm White
02:36.58s 8 9 Mine - 50mm White
02:37.00s 8 10 Mine - 50mm White
02:37.45s 8 11 Mine - 50mm White
02:39.78s 8 12 Mine - 50mm White
02:40.18s 8 13 Mine - 50mm White
02:40.65s 8 14 Mine - 50mm White
02:41.10s 8 15 Mine - 50mm White
02:43.25s 8 16 Mine - 50mm White
02:43.70s 8 17 Mine - 50mm White
02:44.25s 8 18 Mine - 50mm White
02:44.70s 9 2 Mine - 50mm White
02:47.30s 9 3 Slice - 19s Rainbow
02:50.30s 1 6 Hog Smash
03:24.30s 1 7 Hog Smash
03:58.30s 1 8 The Hog Father
04:18.30s 1 9 The Hog Father
04:49.17s 9 4 Slice - 19s Rainbow
04:54.10s 9 5 Mine - 50mm White
04:54.10s 9 6 Mine - 50mm White
04:55.51s 1 10 13s Brocade Chrysanthemum 10/1 8.00
05:15.51s 1 11 13s Brocade Chrysanthemum 10/1 8.00
05:17.48s 11 2 13s Three Changing Color Brocade
05:35.51s 1 12 13s Brocade Chrysanthemum 10/1 8.00
05:55.28s 1 13 13s Brocade Chrysanthemum 10/1 8.00
06:15.28s 1 14 13s Brocade Chrysanthemum 10/1 8.00
06:35.28s 1 15 25s All Crackle Crossettes
06:55.28s 1 16 25s All Crackle Crossettes
07:15.28s 1 17 25s Color Tipped Serpants
07:30.28s 1 18 25s Color Tipped Serpants
07:45.28s 2 2 Boom
08:19.28s 2 3 Boom
09:04.28s 2 4 Cosmic Light Show
09:16.28s 2 5 Cosmic Light Show
09:39.49s 9 7 Mine - 50mm Red
09:39.92s 9 8 Mine - 50mm Red
09:43.55s 9 9 Mine - 50mm Red
09:47.00s 9 10 Mine - 50mm Red
09:50.30s 9 11 Slice - 13s Red Tiger Tail with Crackling Mine
09:50.30s 2 6 Ruby Mine
10:11.30s 2 7 Ruby Mine
10:18.45s 9 12 Slice - 19s Rainbow
10:32.30s 2 8 Nuclear Fallout
10:34.25s 9 13 Slice - 13s Red Tiger Tail with Crackling Mine
10:58.30s 2 9 Nuclear Fallout
11:24.30s 2 10 Hamlet & Pigtricia
11:56.30s 2 11 Hamlet & Pigtricia
12:00.58s 9 14 Slice - 13s Red Tiger Tail with Crackling Mine
12:28.26s 9 15 Mine - 50mm Red
12:29.36s 9 16 Mine - 50mm Red
12:30.28s 9 17 Mine - 50mm Red
12:33.66s 9 18 Slice - 13s Red Tiger Tail with Crackling Mine
12:36.75s 2 12 36s R/W/B Peony (25sec)
12:36.75s 2 13 36s R/W/B Peony (25sec)
13:01.75s 2 14 12s Red Dahlia (30sec)
13:01.75s 2 15 12s Red Dahlia (30sec)
13:16.75s 2 16 25s Red Peony
13:16.75s 2 17 25s Red Peony
13:29.75s 2 18 12s Silver Dahlia (30sec)
13:29.75s 3 2 12s Silver Dahlia (30sec)
13:44.75s 3 3 25s White Peony
13:44.75s 3 4 25s White Peony
13:57.75s 3 5 12s Blue Dahlia (30sec)
13:57.75s 3 6 12s Blue Dahlia (30sec)
13:57.75s 3 7 Bacon Blaster
13:57.75s 3 8 Bacon Blaster
14:25.75s 3 9 Rainbow
14:25.75s 3 10 Rainbow
14:40.75s 3 11 Rainbow
14:40.75s 3 12 Rainbow
14:55.28s 3 13 Artistic Pyro
14:55.28s 3 14 Artistic Pyro
14:55.75s 3 15 War of Willows
15:05.75s 3 16 War of Willows
15:28.75s 3 17 Backyard King
15:35.75s 3 18 Backyard King
15:35.75s 4 2 36s Crimson Lace (25 sec)
15:40.73s 10 2 Slice - 13s Red Tiger Tail with Crackling Mine
15:47.75s 4 3 36s Crimson Lace (25 sec)
16:00.00s 4 4 Supernova Can R/W/B Glitter
16:00.00s 4 5 Tannerite (100 shot)
16:00.00s 4 6 Tannerite
16:00.00s 4 7 Tannerite
16:00.00s 4 8 Tannerite
16:00.00s 10 3 Tannerite (100 shot)
16:00.00s 10 4 Tannerite
16:00.00s 10 5 Tannerite
16:00.00s 10 17 Supernova Can R/W/B Glitter
16:14.00s 4 9 Slice - 19s Rainbow
16:14.00s 10 18 Slice - 19s Rainbow

[PyroDre]

Unfortunately, I know the feeling! lol... I was a real dumba-- though. I didn't eat anything. Didn't take my blood pressure or diabetes pills, and I wasn't wearing a hat. I was drinking water like crazy and I had one of those cooling scarf things around my neck so I figured that would be sufficient for the 4 hours I expected to be out there. 9 hours later..... Yeah.... Big mistake. Hopefully lesson learned.



OMG... My legs were cramping during setup, and they were both locked tight all night on the 4th. I've got muscle relaxers for yet another ailment, but they didn't help one bit. I'm still walking like I got gang raped by the prison chain gang.



Thank you Sir!



God love ya. If I did more manual labor I probably wouldn't feel so bad after one July 4th show. This cushy IT life is killing me!!

you know what I work in IT too..and that's part of the reason i do it. I get outside and WORK! LOL. gets me away from my desk.

[Birdman]

Thanks Ed! I used parallel slats. Continuity tested fine before the show. Not sure why all the misfires. It was a HUGE PITA!! Lol... Very much looking forward to your video buddy! I'm sure you knocked it out of the park as always. Safe travels!!

How many slats and did you use MJG's? There was thread on here not long ago that I thought said using more the than 2 MJG's in parallel is pushing it. The cobra specs are for ematch. I switched anything with more than 2 in parallel to series wiring the day of the show after reading that. You may also want to check your cables and make sure you weren't using a crossover cable anywhere instead of a patch cable. I suspect that could mess with the circuit.

[Kooooou]

Beautiful show as always, and no one will notice those 16 cakes that didn't fire. That finale was intensely explosive! I had my worst failure rate this year too, with 10 500g not firing and 16 200g not firing, mostly due to moisture that made its way under my secured tarp.

[AxeElf]

The truth of the matter is, I'm just too old and broke down to be doing what I'm trying to do. I'm going to be 57 in a few weeks. I'm 320 with high blood pressure, diabetes, a thyroid gland that doesn't work, nerve damage on both legs from a fused back operation. Etc. and so on... It doesn't take much to get me winded, and working in 109F lifting heavy boards just isn't what I should be doing. The problem is, between my ears I'm still 25 and I can do whatever I want! So that's what I'm fighting now. This year it damn near killed me. So I'm going to have to reevaluate for next year.

I was 57 at the end of March, so we couldn't have been separated at birth, but I was closer to 340 and then got down to 325 just from the past 10 days of working in the hot garage. I also have high blood pressure and diabetes, and heart damage that has left me with about 48% capacity. My thyroid is ok as far as I know, and the nerve damage in my legs is from my diabetes, rather than a spinal operation--but I grew up working on a farm and like you, I still FEEL like I should be able to do everything, when in fact I can barely do anything. I don't think we got much over 90 degrees here, so I can't imagine 109 degrees and Florida humidity--but I have been sick for three days and just finally starting to feel like I might survive today.

I'm sure not doing anything like this by myself again.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

you know what I work in IT too..and that's part of the reason i do it. I get outside and WORK! LOL. gets me away from my desk.

I've been on 3rd shift for 5 months now. Not used to seeing the sun anyway. Probably had something to do with my condition. This IT life is making me way too soft!!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Get well!! Relax. Enjoy the summer. Pyro is fun, but it's not worth a heart attack.

[Mattp]

perfect. thanks for posting the script... yes the one i asked you about is backyard king.. that is an awesome cake.. i think it may have been placed sideways .. which gave it a totally different more straight up look and less spread out... which was a really cool way to do it

[Birdman]

You may also want to check your cables and make sure you weren't using a crossover cable anywhere instead of a patch cable. I suspect that could mess with the circuit.

I just realized you said continuity tested fine so nevermind on the crossover cable.

[Big Worm]

Great show Rick! I feel for you man, you can just never get a break with that swamp weather. All the Dominator products looked really nice, very vivid colors. Thanks for gutting it out, you always put on a great show.