Childhood Memories of Our First Home made Firecrackers

[RASelkirk]

The things we did as kids back in the day would gobsmack most nowadays. Saltpetre and sugar smoke bombs, match head rockets , stuffing a .22 through your handlebars as you pedaled through the city to get to your favorite gopher patch. Used to be able to buy firecrackers at the corner store. That disappeared 40 years +ago. You used to be able to go to the gas station, buy a case of oil filters and get a Martini henry thrown in as a bonus. Ef'fen social engineering.

Growing up in NY, fireworks were limited to sparklers and snakes. We made snake bombs by stuffing the pellets in a matchbox with a short fuse, they would make funky smoke for 3 or 4 minutes. Taping sparklers into a bundle was pretty exciting too. Occasionally, an upperclassman with a DL would make the trip to CA and come back with M-80s, ashcans and quarter-sticks!

Russ