Big drops of cold rain were coming down. The big ones came first, and then smaller ones helped fill in the blanks. Eventually the sidewalks were covered with wetness. I was so excited, I called my brother (who lives five blocks away and probably was noticing the same thing). And I found out my phone wasn't working.

Eventually I got the thing going again, and by that time, the rains were almost over. They probably didn't register much on the precipitation scale. But there's hope that we'll get more. Soon.

It's been devastatingly and record-breakingly dry this year. Six months in, and we're at 0.19 inches. Point one nine. I use more water doing the dishes.

And the state is on fire. There are fires in almost every nook and cranny of our state. Our worst "air quality" days (as they are somewhat euphemistically called) in Albuquerque came from a huge fire that started in Arizona. We had fog-like white afternoons and red sun sunsets. Like the sun was red.

Then it was our turn to get our own fires. One in the Raton pass between NM and Colorado. A huge one north of Santa Fe. And then the biggest of them all (it is our record breaker) almost took out Los Alamos (of nuclear secrets and all). It mostly spared that small mountain town (and national nuclear laboratory), but is only eleven percent contained. It's burning away from us, to the Northwest.

Firework sales start in town around the beginning of the summer. Tents pop up on vacant lots and grocery store parking areas. Big displays are in groceries with signs that say "No smoking," even though smoking is prohibited in all non-residential buildings.

The state or cities cannot, apparently, ban fireworks. Fireworks are protected under some previously unknown constitutional amendment. Something about stupid is as stupid does.

And how stupid are we? A small fire in the bosque was started by a teen. And he did it because he wasn't supposed to.

At the same time, most of the major grocery stores and Wal-Marts have taken fireworks off the shelves and kicked the tents off the parking lots. It doesn't eliminate the ability of people to get fireworks, but I think, in general, the word is out: don't burn up the city.

I heard fireworks last night, but not as many usual. This is a town that fires guns into the air on New Year's Eve, after all. And sirens from cops and fire trucks. So we're not on total lockdown. Or maybe people were enthusiastic about the bit of cloud spit we received in the afternoon.

But it's still dry and hot.

So I'll stick to virtual fireworks this year, thank you very much.

Happy 4th of July!

Matt Worley used to play bottle rocket wars with friends in high school. You light the bottle rocket and then throw it at your friend. Smart, smart, smartie smart.