These incidents happened when Bob Brown and I were14 and 15 years old back in 9^th grade at NJH and 10^th grade at NFA.  How did we all survive some of the crazy stunts we pulled back then?

(1) Bob and I went on a camping trip in the woods above our houses in Middlehope. Early the next morning I was barely awake when I heard a BANG and Bob screaming! I jumped up and there he was holding his eye. He was going to scare me by dropping a lit firecracker into a Coke bottle, but the fuse went out…he thought. When he looked into the bottle it exploded. We rushed down to my house and off to the hospital.  Fortunately he was ok, but my Dad was furious at me!  I tried to tell him it wasn’t my fault because I was asleep, but he wouldn’t listen.

(2) The infamous BB gun war was about as dumb a move as you can imagine!  There were maybe 4 of us who went to battle.  The agreement was you could only shoot a guy below the waist (we all had on jeans). Some guys did get hit above the waist and fortunately the war ended when a few BBs penetrated jeans and drew blood – which was before anybody got hit in the eye!

 (3) Bob has always been an avid hunter – even at age 14.  So he decided we were going to go on a safari there in the woods in Middlehope to shoot some squirrels with our dads’ 12 gage shotguns (licenses?? are you kidding).  So there we were quietly going along when a squirrel ran out ahead of us, up a tree and across a branch above us. Bob (in his best Elmer Fudd imitation) followed that little critter until he stopped directly above us.  Then BOOM – he fired straight up.  The shot missed the squirrel and in a couple of seconds all that buckshot came raining down on our heads.

 (4) TPing someone's house was, I suppose, a new thing back in the 50s?  We decided to do it late one night in Orchard Heights.  Sure enough someone saw us and called the cops.  They chewed us out and I was so scared (but they let us go!)

 (4) One winter Bob and I decided to run our sleds down my parents’ back yard.  It was steep, but narrow, with trees.  And there were two stone walls that looked nice for jumping. The problem with a sled is it has little steering capability and no stopping capability. After a few runs with crashing into snow banks my brother decided to take a different route.  As he careened at a big tree he raised his arm…that would be the arm that was in a cast for two months! 

(5) Dale Rockwell (NFA ’62) was our other buddy there in Middlehope.  Back in ’56 Dale’s Mom and Dad (who are still living – in Florida) had just started their business, Rockwell Vending.  They had a large basement that was loaded with vending machines and cases of candy to keep the business going.  Dale wanted a ping pong table so his Dad set one up in a space that had boxes of candy all around it that they drew from for the business. Bob, showing evidence of the good educator he would become, was quite adept at lurching to hit a shot and then falling backwards. He always came up from those falls with a Snickers, or Milky Way, or Oh Henry, etc!!! 

(6) My parents’ house was next to 9-W and elevated quite a bit. One winter day the snow was perfect for making snowballs. One of us (??) got the idea of throwing at semi trucks, trying to hit something on the trailer. Our aim wasn’t always perfect and one throw went through the open driver’s window and hit the driver.  He jammed on his brakes stopped the truck and came running after us. We took off up into the woods and stayed for a long time. Yep, I got a lickin’ for that foolish prank also!!