Lighting a cannon on the 4th of July

It's really hard to keep your hand on the cannon after the sizzling starts.  It's the anticipation of the BOOM that gets ya.

Alfonze is ready to take pictures, and Ehrin is about to pack the cannon.

No, we didn't shoot cannon balls. Everybody asks me that. I don't think the neighbors would have appreciated holes in their houses. The cannon was packed with a wad of foil containing gun powder.  The dog ran into the house after the second BOOM.

Who needs fireworks when you have a cannon?  We answered the neighorhood fireworks with BOOMs from the cannon.  Baking soda was added to the gun powder mixture after dark to make sparks.