Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Life growing up in Ohio

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little badass compound bow
beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking
arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow. Did you know that a
1955 40 horse Farmall tractor tire will take 6 rounds before it goes down?
Tough sumbich.



That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazard fan that I
was, I quickly advanced to taking strips of cut up T-shirt doused in
chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the
place. One summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large
rotten oak stump in our backyard. I looked over under the carport and saw a
shiny brand new can of starting fluid (Ether). The light bulb went off in my
head. I grabbed the can and set it on the stump. I thought that it would
probably just spray out in a disappointing manner. Lets face it, to a 10
yr. old mouth-breather like myself, (Ether), really doesn't "sound"
flammable.

So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of pyrodex
(black powder for muzzle loader rifles). At this point, I set the can of
ether on the stump and opened up the can of black powder. My intentions
were to sprinkle a little bit around the (Ether) can but it all sorta dumped
out on me. No biggie, a 1 lb. can of pyrodex and 16 oz. of Ether should
make a loud pop, kinda like a firecracker you know? You know what? Screw
that I'm going back in the house for the other can.

Yes, I got a second can of pyrodex and dumped it too. Now we ' re
cookin'. I stepped back about 15 ft and lit the 2 stroke arrow. I drew the
nock to my cheek and took aim. As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow
launched from my bow. In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my dad
getting out of the truck... OH SHOOT! He just got home from work. So help
me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can. My
dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a WTF look in his eyes. I
turned back towards my target just in time to see the arrow pierce the
starting fluid can right at the bottom. Right through the main pile of
pyrodex and into the can. Oh shoot.



When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet. I don't know if
it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk
back from 235 fricking decibels of sound. I caught a half a millisecond
glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you
there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1 foot above the ground as far
as I could see. It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog
full of grasshoppers, spiders, and a worm or two.



The daylight turned purple. Let me repeat this... THE FRICKING
DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE. There was a big sweetgum tree out by the gate going
into the pasture. Notice I said "was". That sumbich got up and ran off. So
here I am, on the ground, blown completely out of my shoes with my
thundercats T-Shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport
having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback: ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOU
' RE BRINGIN ' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE. DAMN IT CEASE FIRE!!!!!



His hat has blown off and is 30 ft behind him in the driveway. All
windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there is a slow
rolling mushroom cloud about 2000 ft. over our backyard. There is a Honda
185 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and the fenders are
drooped down and are now touching the tires. I wish I knew what I said to
my dad at this moment. I don't know - I know I said something. I couldn't
hear. I couldn't hear inside my own head. I don't think he heard me
either... not that it would really matter. I don't remember much from this
point on.



I said something, felt a sharp pain, and then woke up later. I felt
a sharp pain, blacked out, woke later....repeat this process for an hour or
so and you get the idea. I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR.
and Dad screaming "Bring him back to life so I can kill him again". Thanks
Mom.



One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around that stump again.
Mom had been bitching about that thing for years and dad never did anything
about it. I stepped up to the plate and handled business.



Dad sold his muzzle loader a week or so later. I still have some
sort of bone growth abnormality, either from the blast or the beating, or
both. I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids into archery. It's
good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.


Author Unknown rotflmao
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
O that was great.:smiley_clap:
I spent a summer playing w/ gun powder but nothing like that!
Sure brings back memories though.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,741
274
North Carolina
I was laughing like a crazy man in my office..... Lucky for me I was the only one in at the time rotflmao
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Hahahaha

That was great. Some of the stupid things we have done as kids and lived to tell about it lmao. Ah....good times hahaha.

Thanks for the laugh J
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Nice! Brings back some memories. Girls may have drama. But boys blow stuff up, catch things on fire, and smash things..
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Remember back in the day when Ammonium Nitrate was laying around like a bag of turf builder? Oh the stumps, beaver dams, and miscellaneous items that met their demise at the hands of a kid.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
When deisel was $.69 a gallon, we used to light all kinds of shit on fire! We lit close to 1/4 mile worth of creek on fire one night at 2AM. Talk about a fun show!!!
 

tuffshot

The Crew
I grew up In NC where we had m-80's and Silver Salutes
We had fun with them blowing things up, even tying rock to them and blowing fish up. They made a neat flash under water.
One day we go ahold of some blank shotgun shells.(that's another story)
Anyway we started by putting a firecracker in a pipe joint (looked like a grenade) capped one end and it made a muffled pop. We found another cap end with a hole in it. Figured with powder from the shotgun shells and the firecracker it would launch off of a ramp. First few attempts went well but no much distance.
The last attemp (and what I thought was our last day on earth) we used a lot more shotgun shell powder. When it went off the sound was heard all over the trailer park and we weren't even near it. But at my buddy's house, the iron fell off the ironing board, the TV blurred, a few pictures fell off the wall and our little pipe rocket dissapeared. We never did find it.