Childhood Memories of Our First Home made Firecrackers

[painter777]

Back in our youth you'd never heard of a spud gun, like you see around today.
We would take Campbell soup cans and cut both the top and bottoms out of all except the one we'd use for the bottom which we'd only cut the top off, leaving the bottom in tact.
Stack and tape them securely together, basically making our own mortar tube/cannon. Then poke a small hole near the bottom cans side edge. A tennis ball fit perfectly. Use some lighter fluid poured in the top and twirl it around a bit to fill it with the fumes. Drop in the tennis ball, aim, and put a light to the poked hole. Boom off went that ball to (back then) felt like up to 50'+. After getting run out of the neighborhood because of our cannons, we fell back to our home base on the river bank. The river flowed around a big lazy bend. This is where we had dug our fort. There on that peninsula in that fort I'd had my first taste of beer.. a Carling Black Label. Had my first taste of Canadian Mist. Puffed on my first smoke there... a cigarette type cigar called a Winchester. Seen my first set of Hooters in a playboy book. Small radio so we could hear the Detroit Tigers ball games..... Ahhh Al Kaline ! Just never knew what one of your buddies would sneak away from their Dads stash. This was like a 5 star as ground forts would go. Good roof if raining, small fire box if cold but most important it gave us perfect concealment along with a excellent view looking down current, while sitting well up the bank in the tree line. When older punk types would canoe by we'd wait for them to get downriver from us......... pulled some camo brush back.... ready our cannon and fire... then quickly cover back with our camo brush. By this time we were ON TARGET most every time. We'd stay tucked hearing the punks toss their threats, but never knowing where we were. We grew out of the fort but passed it on to the up and comers.

Good times I'll never forget.

Thanks to all for sharing your memories, makes me feel like I was part of the fun.

Cheers All,
Charlie-Painter777

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