jsharr Posted July 2, 2018 Share #1 Posted July 2, 2018 Growing up in Oklahoma back in the 70s, we could ride our bikes to the end of the street and get to a fireworks stand in minutes. Neighbors did not complain much, as everyone on the block had kids our age. We had these giant red ants that had a big opening to their mound. We would stick a black cat in there and light it off. Bottle rockets were still the kind that exploded after the rocket part burnt out. We would have bottle rocket wars. I mounted a piece of pipe on the cross bar part of the handle bars on my BMX bike and would ride around shooting bottle rockets out of the pipe. You could pop a wheelie (manuals had not been invented in Oklahoma then, we just had wheelies) and make them go up in the air, or you could stop the bike and use the handle bars to aim the bottle rocket at another kid, which was much more fun. When we moved back to Texas, there was a guy that liked to pull pranks. One night, he went to the country club and stole a bunch of tennis balls. Then he and some guys came to my house and rang the doorbell. My dad answered and they threw tennis balls at him and then sped off. So a friend of mine and I went to his house with a brick of black cats, rang his doorbell and then lit them and set them on his front walk and then sped off. Really not that weid, but fun none the less 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted July 2, 2018 Share #2 Posted July 2, 2018 I have never, ever, not even once, bought them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted July 2, 2018 Share #3 Posted July 2, 2018 Back when my mom & pop in law were younger..... we always had a big 4th party at auntie El's house. Tons of the little fireworks, bottle rockets, those spinny things that throw sparks and fly like a flying saucer, firecrackers. We had bottle rocket wars with cousin Joey, across the street...... had to pay for a new a boat cover for Joe's neighbor... Us youngins would be out on the concrete driveway, the older folks sitting in garage watching and chatting. So I was hooking up spinny things to multiple bottle rockets, dropping hellfire on Joey. Electric tape fireworks & beer may be a bad combination. Well I'm not a rocket scientist and one of these IEDs ended up in the garage..... Nobody got hurt but there were a lot of old lady bloomers on display..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx Posted July 2, 2018 Share #4 Posted July 2, 2018 Well, there was this one time at band camp............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Far Posted July 2, 2018 Share #5 Posted July 2, 2018 A small group of us blew up a rather large toad. I'm not proud of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tybeegb Posted July 3, 2018 Share #6 Posted July 3, 2018 We bought one of those larger rockets, probably 18 inches tall with the fins that made it look like a real rocket ship. We took it to a friend's floating dock, late at night, and set it on the end of the dock across from a bunch of shrimp boats. We lit it and ran to the other end of the dock. Us running caused the dock to bounce around and the rocket tilted over and started to fall, Luckily for us it fell pointing the other way. Unlucky for us it fell pointing at the side of a shrimp boat that was only about 100 feet across the creek. As it got parallel to the dock it lit off and was screaming across the water at the shrimp boat, luckily only about three feet off the water. It nosed dived into the water about halfway to the shrimp boat and all we could see was the glow from the rocket until it blew up, short of the shrimp boat, and a lot of bubbles came up. We quit with the fire works for the rest of the night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn Posted July 3, 2018 Share #7 Posted July 3, 2018 I was out fishing with my dad in our fiberglass ski boat. I was somewhat bored so I opened up my tackle box and was messing around. In the bottom of the box was a tangle of odds and ends of stuff I had picked out of trees or off stumps when the water was low. I figured a time like this was a good time to separate the hooks, sinkers, bobbers and lures from the line. Also in the bottom of the tackle box were some cherry bombs (the good ones similar to an m-80). I’m not sure why the were in there? I asked my dad if he thought the fuse on the cherry bomb was waterproof at depth? He said he didn’t think they would be, that it was just meant to still work if it’s raining or there is dew on the grass. I took an old rusty hook that was still attached to a sinker and hooked the cherry bomb. I lit it and dropped it over the side. We waited, and waited, we finally decided that the fuse must not be waterproof at............Kaaaboom! The whole bottom of our boat buldged up and we thought we were going down. Fiberglass must be an amazing material because it didn’t damage the boat. My dad suggested I not try that again. There were some fish came floating to the surface but nothing worth keeping. After a few minutes the fish seemed to recover a bit and swam away. I never tried fishing with fireworks again. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Far Posted July 3, 2018 Share #8 Posted July 3, 2018 24 minutes ago, Longjohn said: I was out fishing with my dad in our fiberglass ski boat. I was somewhat bored so I opened up my tackle box and was messing around. In the bottom of the box was a tangle of odds and ends of stuff I had picked out of trees or off stumps when the water was low. I figured a time like this was a good time to separate the hooks, sinkers, bobbers and lures from the line. Also in the bottom of the tackle box were some cherry bombs (the good ones similar to an m-80). I’m not sure why the were in there? I asked my dad if he thought the fuse on the cherry bomb was waterproof at depth? He said he didn’t think they would be, that it was just meant to still work if it’s raining or there is dew on the grass. I took an old rusty hook that was still attached to a sinker and hooked the cherry bomb. I lit it and dropped it over the side. We waited, and waited, we finally decided that the fuse must not be waterproof at............Kaaaboom! The whole bottom of our boat buldged up and we thought we were going down. Fiberglass must be an amazing material because it didn’t damage the boat. My dad suggested I not try that again. There were some fish came floating to the surface but nothing worth keeping. After a few minutes the fish seemed to recover a bit and swam away. I never tried fishing with fireworks again. Clearly, you are a northern redneck. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted July 3, 2018 Share #9 Posted July 3, 2018 20 hours ago, 2Far said: A small group of us blew up a rather large toad. I'm not proud of that. The only "fireworks" I ever had were sparklers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffJim Posted July 3, 2018 Share #10 Posted July 3, 2018 15 minutes ago, Kirby said: The only "fireworks" I ever had were sparklers. Toads and frogs are two totally different animals, Kirby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share #11 Posted July 3, 2018 21 minutes ago, Kirby said: The only "fireworks" I ever had were sparklers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share #12 Posted July 3, 2018 5 minutes ago, BuffJim said: Toads and frogs are two totally different animals, Kirby. Perhaps they are closer than you think 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerrySTL Posted July 3, 2018 Share #13 Posted July 3, 2018 Light an unfiltered cigarette and stick the unlit end on an M-80 fuse. Place in garbage can, mailbox, etc. Walk a distance away and wait for it to explode. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share #14 Posted July 3, 2018 Just now, JerrySTL said: Light an unfiltered cigarette and stick the unlit end on an M-80 fuse. Place in garbage can, mailbox, etc. Walk a distance away and wait for it to explode. Cigarettes are bad for you in more ways than one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted July 3, 2018 Share #15 Posted July 3, 2018 We have a particular firework called a Piccolo Pete that basically just screams for 30 seconds. We would peel the cartridge out of them and tape it to a bamboo shishkabob skewer and make home made bottle rockets or just lite them and let it go all over the place. The manufacturers got wise and you can't peel the cartridge out of them now. The whole thing will fall apart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
az_cyclist Posted July 3, 2018 Share #16 Posted July 3, 2018 in high school... blew up a 5 gal gas can with an M 80 ( my uncle helped with that). We would drop M 80s or cherry bombs in a creek or river. We had bottle rocket fights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted July 3, 2018 Share #17 Posted July 3, 2018 Who among has not blown up a mailbox ?? A guy I know...Wanted to be a chemist but he's a bit of a horndog & knocked up his girlfriend. Dropped out of college to support the family. Still mixes chemicals, supplements his income around the 4th with fireworks sales. Was trying out a new mix, lit it off on his picnic table, expected a burnt spot on the table. Had to fetch the pieces of table back from 4 neighbors yards.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Far Posted July 4, 2018 Share #18 Posted July 4, 2018 6 hours ago, Kirby said: The only "fireworks" I ever had were sparklers. Yeah. I hesitated post it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kzoo Posted July 4, 2018 Share #19 Posted July 4, 2018 4 minutes ago, 2Far said: Yeah. I hesitated post it. That, by itself, doesn’t make you a better person. Just say’n. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted July 4, 2018 Share #20 Posted July 4, 2018 13 minutes ago, 2Far said: Yeah. I hesitated post it. You know how we amphibians stick together. But I'm sure most of us have done things we wouldn't repeat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtyhip Posted July 4, 2018 Share #21 Posted July 4, 2018 Tape them together and make bigger fireworks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Wheels Posted July 4, 2018 Share #22 Posted July 4, 2018 For someone, somewhere in America, today is the last day they'll wake up with all 10 fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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