Bottle Rocket Wars

Bottle Rocket Wars, a photo by TheLouisianaJackhammer on Flickr.

There was probably a more economical way to set fire to G.I. Joes and Barbie dolls, but we rather enjoyed our weapon of choice. It was a tier process—first you'd start with snakes and poppers. Once you got a little older you advanced to sparklers and smoke bombs, neither of which, I might add, are particularly safe. Smoke bombs spew fire before emitting smoke and sparklers are just pointed fire sticks. Both were vital in starting a good fire.

The next graduation was to bottle rockets and firecrackers.

We were told to lay on the ground anything we set off, to allow us tim to flee and to keep the explosion out of our hands and away from our faces. So smoke bombs and firecrackers should lay flat and bottle rockets in bottles. I don't know if these restrictions are naturally boring or if we simply got terrible ideas from the older kids. Rarely were firecrackers on the ground when lit or bottle rockets in their bottles.

8s at f/18 ISO 100