This took place many years ago when i was just a wee lad, okay maybe 13 or so. My parents, trusting souls that they are, gave me a pretty good bb gun (Crossman 760 pump) when I was 12, it was the best christmas present ever! (No I didn't shoot my eye out, but it wasn't for lack of stupidity.)
Time and place, 1975 or so, my back yard in suburban/rural Maryland. Summertime, parents at work, I was bored. It must have been July, we had cheap-ass sparklers left over from the 4th. I lit a few of them, boooring... I wanted something spectacular! I wandered the house, looking for something that might do the trick...
AHA! Dad's workshop... Aerosol cans of various things, spray paint, WD-40, what is that back in the corner? Hmm, an ancient can of bug killer, very full, never used, kinda rusty, WARNING, Extremely Flammable! We have a winner! To the backyard we go!!!
We have a built-in-place bench under a maple tree, branches are about 10 feet up, seems like a good place to create a fiery explosion! Just in case, I get out the garden hose and have it ready.
Set the can on the bench
Stick the sparkler into a crack in the wood, right in front of the can,
Pump bb gun 20 times and have it ready to fire!
Light the sparkler!
withdraw 25 feet!
FIRE AT THE CAN!!!
The bb pierces the can straight thru, releasing high pressure flammable stuff straight into the sparkler!
fire shoots out 10/15 feet on both sides of the can!
HOLEEE SHIT!!!! SPECTACULAR INDEED!!!
and then...
the can falls over...
The bench is engulfed in flames!
The tree branches are being massively torched!
Red-orange angry-looking flames and black greasy smoke seems to be EVERYWHERE!
I freeze in place for a time, probably 5 seconds but it seems like forever.
The massive flames only last a short time and soon die down.
I grab the hose and wade in, put it all out pretty quickly, but the aftermath... bench flame-blackened, a couple of large branches were also scorched, leaves half-burnt, and there was a huge patch of the lawn that was black and withered.
It was a damn good thing I did this in the morning sometime, I spent the rest of the day pruning the tree, scrubbing the bench, and doing something I can't recall to disguise the lawn damage.
Normally, I got caught for doing everything. This time my crime was not discovered by my folks, I got away scot-free!
Me and my hoodlum friends did this same thing a bunch more times, out in the woods where we wouldn't be discovered, and it was always a decent show, but never as spectacular as that first time!
PS The maple tree is still there 30+ years later!
Time and place, 1975 or so, my back yard in suburban/rural Maryland. Summertime, parents at work, I was bored. It must have been July, we had cheap-ass sparklers left over from the 4th. I lit a few of them, boooring... I wanted something spectacular! I wandered the house, looking for something that might do the trick...
AHA! Dad's workshop... Aerosol cans of various things, spray paint, WD-40, what is that back in the corner? Hmm, an ancient can of bug killer, very full, never used, kinda rusty, WARNING, Extremely Flammable! We have a winner! To the backyard we go!!!
We have a built-in-place bench under a maple tree, branches are about 10 feet up, seems like a good place to create a fiery explosion! Just in case, I get out the garden hose and have it ready.
Set the can on the bench
Stick the sparkler into a crack in the wood, right in front of the can,
Pump bb gun 20 times and have it ready to fire!
Light the sparkler!
withdraw 25 feet!
FIRE AT THE CAN!!!
The bb pierces the can straight thru, releasing high pressure flammable stuff straight into the sparkler!
fire shoots out 10/15 feet on both sides of the can!
HOLEEE SHIT!!!! SPECTACULAR INDEED!!!
and then...
the can falls over...
The bench is engulfed in flames!
The tree branches are being massively torched!
Red-orange angry-looking flames and black greasy smoke seems to be EVERYWHERE!
I freeze in place for a time, probably 5 seconds but it seems like forever.
The massive flames only last a short time and soon die down.
I grab the hose and wade in, put it all out pretty quickly, but the aftermath... bench flame-blackened, a couple of large branches were also scorched, leaves half-burnt, and there was a huge patch of the lawn that was black and withered.
It was a damn good thing I did this in the morning sometime, I spent the rest of the day pruning the tree, scrubbing the bench, and doing something I can't recall to disguise the lawn damage.
Normally, I got caught for doing everything. This time my crime was not discovered by my folks, I got away scot-free!
Me and my hoodlum friends did this same thing a bunch more times, out in the woods where we wouldn't be discovered, and it was always a decent show, but never as spectacular as that first time!
PS The maple tree is still there 30+ years later!
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Maryland
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Re: sparkler, aerosol can, and bb gun
Mon, January 21, 2008 - 12:05 PMThat reminds me of my dad taking us out and showing us the old standard spray glue flamethrower action. However, we then used it to dig up and torch yellow jacket nests. VERY Safe! I had such a secure childhood. It was always comforting to know that it was going to be the authority figure burning down the trees, and us kids would have no trouble.. mom would just come for HIS hide. HOORAY! -
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Re: sparkler, aerosol can, and bb gun
Sun, January 27, 2008 - 6:07 AMIt is nice to know Corvus, that no trees were harmed in the making of this post.:) hehehe
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Re: sparkler, aerosol can, and bb gun
Mon, January 28, 2008 - 9:11 PM<< The maple tree is still there 30+ years later! >>
thank god!
woulda been heart breaking had it not survived. and there'd have been no redeeming value to this story. -
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Re: sparkler, aerosol can, and bb gun
Wed, January 30, 2008 - 4:34 AM<<no redeeming value to this story.>>
But the flames !!!! The flames would have saved it (the story. Obviously not the tree..) -
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Re: sparkler, aerosol can, and bb gun
Wed, January 30, 2008 - 7:47 AMThanks Bloke. C'mon, you must have some sort of stupid story from your youth, where only sheer luck kept you from losing an eye, a limb, or yer life... Give it up! -
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no redeeming value.
Wed, January 30, 2008 - 10:29 AMmy goodness gracious!
there is no redeeming value to this tribe! that's why i created it.
MORE STORIES!!!
~your menacing moderator has spoken; NOW GO!!!~ -
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Re: no redeeming value.
Wed, January 30, 2008 - 9:23 PMWhen I get up the courage,,LOL I will....Hush Bloke and Corvus,,LOL Unless you wanna tell of my inherent stupidity,,LOL -
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Re: no redeeming value.
Thu, January 31, 2008 - 3:16 AMCorvus <<Thanks Bloke. C'mon, you must have some sort of stupid story from your youth, where only sheer luck kept you from losing an eye, a limb, or yer life... Give it up! >>
Oh God... a few...
There was the time when the police came around to investigate gunshots when the aerosol cans we put in incinerator went up in close succession..
There was the time the plastic bottle of methylated spirits blew up in a mates hand when he was pouring it on a fire and engulfed both of us in flames... We both got a huge fright from the sound of the explosion and from being on fire... we had both been smart enough to roll around on the ground to put ourselves out and ended up beside each other - looked at each other - and burst out laughing...
There was the time we were trying to establish what flammable liquid would burn on water (like you see in the movies) and we could not get them to light. Our solution was to add more... Then it went up is a "whoosh" with unexpected HUGE flames - too close to the garage - and my solution was to try and remove some of the petrol - by sticking a shovel into the large puddle of water with petrol floating on it and scoop some of the petrol out - which created a gushing and flowing inferno... (Garage survived. Somehow)
Creating "bombs"....
but the funniest (but by no means the most dangerous) was when I was about seven or eight years old and I was "hot boxing" boxes of matches with my cousin and my grandmother appeared. My solution to conceal our crime to sit on the packets of matches. I burnt my arse Hahahaaa !
We tended to risk Third Degree Burns a lot more than eyes and limbs...
Lynn <<When I get up the courage,,LOL I will....Hush Bloke and Corvus,,LOL Unless you wanna tell of my inherent stupidity,,LOL >>
All I can say is - I am glad you are still with us :)
But I think I need to hear that story again Soldier ! -
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Re: no redeeming value.
Thu, January 31, 2008 - 8:58 AMI was on tower rotation at our site in the military and the towers lights were not working properly and we had an alert..LOL Well, being the wonderful fixer that I am,,I knelt down in front of the fuse box, laid my fully loaded and trusty M16 across my lap and threw caution into the wind by trying to fix the wires..LOL I lost my balance and with my left hand,,,grabbed the barrel of my rifle and with my right hand,,grabbed a handful of live 220 wires and woke up across the tower about an hour or so later. :) Chest and arm burned and took 2 months to heal..I never said a word about my venture into utter ignorance...LOL Thankfully I had my utility belt off which had extra clips in it and my gear off, which made me light enough, between my weight and the voltage,,to kick me back..LOL
yea,,I cut and pasted,,LOL I still thnk I would have been ok had I not lost my balance..LOL I did know better though,,LOL
We wont discuss the time I was a little girl and had a blanket over a lamp in my bedroom and I was reading and the blanket caught fire..LOL God,,I actually got away with that one..LOL I do not know how...:)
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Re: sparkler, aerosol can, and bb gun
Tue, February 5, 2008 - 9:24 AMThat blows my "we used Roman Candles as weapons in neighborhood kid battles" outta the cool zone. Nice work!
