What is the Stupidest Thing You Have Done with Firecrackers?

[Kissel bixby]

EDIT: FIxed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

I got a firecracker catalog in the mail when I was 12 (1980's). I asked my dad if it was OK to order some. I did little jobs and had 350$ to buy. Since my dad had to write a check ,he asked what the hell was I buying, I just said they were expensive. 350 back then was a lot of money. I ordered the largest and 2nd largest assorted packages they had. Each one had a spread on 2 pages a piece.
On spending that much you also got a boatload of free stuff. No joke the box was the size of a large refrigerator box. My dad was blown away but after a bit of belly aching we were ok. Dumb was me and my friends shooting stuff at one another. We cut the bottom nub handle off of wiffel bats so we could drop in bottle rockets to fire at each other. I had an uzi water gun that I tapped 10 Roman candles too. Fuses linked the thing was unloading a massive amount of high speed fire balls that rained down on them. It was awesome and some how no one got hurt to the point of having to end when someone was running home crying.

 

[pappymac]

I guess we were a little tame. We would put the firecrackers in pieces of watermelon rind, light them and throw like handgrenades at each other.

The fun thing was taping bottle rockets to the top of Hot Wheel or Matchbox cars and lighting them off.

 

[Kissel bixby]

Damn, never thought of that! Got to run to a store now. I also remember throwing regular firecrackers at each other. Couple times to slow and your fingers were throbbing

 

[bullet08]

M80 in glass bottles to see how much damage it would do. Of course, we threw it.

 

[Kissel bixby]

We had a period of lightning bullets on fire. When we found out that it actually projected, we made a 4 wall brick wall. The head would be deep into the brick. We at least always knew not to check it until u heard the bang.

 

[mso489]

Okay, now everyone count your fingers, toes, and eyes. If the numbers come up right, you were very lucky children. Even tame old sparklers burn at some incredible heat. How children reach adulthood is a profound mystery.

 

[Kissel bixby]

Googled it 1000-3000 degrees of heat when a sparkler burns. This is what we decide is safest out of the fireworks world, to give a 2 year old. We broke a bunch up and used green fuse to light, it was a massive white ball of hell.

 

[anotherbob]

never did anything stupid with fireworks. Now matches I did plenty of stupid with those and am amazed that I didn't burn anything important down. I think the yearly news story with a new hillbilly every fourth of july who had lost fingers to fireworks helped instill a healthy fear of the things.

 

[ksman75]

M80s taped to an arrow, improvised bottle rockets.

M80s under coffee cans, how high can they fly?

M80s our the car window...one flew back into the back seat. Can you hear me?

Not me but my cousin...she threw a black cat, and let go a little too late. Now she is Curators' Distinguished Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and eminent scholar in Early English Studies. Virginia Blanton - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Blanton

 

[warren]

As a youngster, everything I did with fireworks was brilliant. Now, at my age, I realize everything I did with fireworks was dumb. Age creates perspective I suppose.

 

[Kissel bixby]

I work at a level 1 trauma center with a huge hillbilly population. Amazingly no firework injuries. Snowblowers and tables saws top the list.

 

[anotherbob]

I work at a level 1 trauma center with a huge hillbilly population. Amazingly no firework injuries. Snowblowers and tables saws top the list.

I used to have to sweep up the woodshop at work until someone cut their finger off. The weird thing is it was one of the woodworkers and not a custodian but only the woodworkers now are allowed in the woodshop.

 

[Kissel bixby]

There is a Christmas tree we keep in the recovery room. "The tree of shame." It looks inconspicuous but it is a replica of everything we removed from a body. Even the bargain Gillette gel shaving cream bottle with 30% more volume. The a$$ is a vacuum. When beginning its Rough but at 3/4 in u better have good grip! Sorry if this was too much

 

[ksman75]

I work at a level 1 trauma center with a huge hillbilly population. Amazingly no firework injuries. Snowblowers and tables saws top the list.

I too worked in an ER for a few years, and though you would think fireworks injuries would top the list, especially on the 4th, but there were rarely any if at all. Amazing...

 

[Kissel bixby]

Maybe they go to veterinarians

 

[dcon]

I used to blow up all kinds of stuff with fireworks when I was a kid. By the time that I was driving age one of my best childhood friends and I moved up to skyrockets and we would get pretty (stupidly) creative with our displays

As an adult, I moved out of this phase and did snakes, sparklers, and fountains with the kids. My friend did not. About 15 years ago, in June, he tragically lost 2 daughters and a niece in an automobile accident. I few weeks later, on July 4, he was ‘getting creative” with a skyrocket. Something went drastically wrong and the rocket blew up in his face. He remained hospitalized a couple of days before succumbing to the massive brain damage.

The allure of fireworks has never been quite the same for me.

Sorry, for the downer story…

 

[Chasing Embers]

No one else made sparkler bombs?

 

[peregrinus]

As a youngster, everything I did with fireworks was brilliant. Now, at my age, I realize everything I did with fireworks was dumb. Age creates perspective I suppose.

Age = Perspective = Wisdom

That is if we are paying attention.

 

[anotherbob]

There is a Christmas tree we keep in the recovery room. "The tree of shame." It looks inconspicuous but it is a replica of everything we removed from a body. Even the bargain Gillette gel shaving cream bottle with 30% more volume. The a$$ is a vacuum. When beginning its Rough but at 3/4 in u better have good grip! Sorry if this was too much

best part isn't what you find but the stories they make up for it. Kind of like how everyone tells their doctor they smoke like 4 or 5 cigs a day maybe 15 on weekends.

 

[jaytex1969]

I grew up in Baltimore and nothing beyond sparklers was legal. My parents always obey the law, so we had sparklers.

Later, in the army, I have a hazy, drunken memory of 5 or 6 of us in the back of a Ranger pickup with a cooler full of cold ones, Driving from Tybee Island, Georgia back to Fort Stewart, firing Roman candles into cow fields as we zipped along.

Or, maybe I dreamed it....