Zoot Katz said:
Reid Welch said:
. . .
As a kid....well, another story for some other time.
Fun with home-made hot air balloons, kid style, 1930's style,
of hand cut gores of tissue paper, seams glued with home-made paste made
from cooked flour and water...and LIVE FLAME in the form of alcohol-soaked lamp wicking;
I remember Stanley Augustus Owsley launching dry cleaner bags powered by tea-light candles (?) from the Berkley Hills to announce a new batch of acid.
Oh, yeah, I did that too in the middle sixties as a ten year old. We got those clear, thin plastic bags from the laundry,
made a lightweight hoop to hold the bottom open, fired them gently from the charcoal grille, and up they'd go some dozens of feet,
always, always, right into the nearest tree.
_____
We too being of the same era, remember comic book ads for x-ray glasses and fake groucho noses and
TOY HOT AIR BALLOON KITS, 2.95 for a four foot round, post paid, or 5.95 for a GIANT, like 12 foot oval red-white tissue balloon.
Those larger ones were ever so much better flyers. Went through several of them, as cutting gores by hand from the patterns given
in my dad's childhood book, was a lot of work and trouble. Still, we'd buy the ready-cut gore tissue kit, and make the flour paste,
and spend hours neatly gluing the gores together. The BIG balloon would carry quite a payload, but we did not much dare to send
those up with flaming wads of lamp wick. No, they were fired by the charcoal grill or makeshift burner, and retained enough heated air
to go hundreds of feet, and miles at a time. Launch in still air. Get on bike, CHASE balloon. Sometimes two miles! Half the time,
the balloon was retrievable.
My nasty brother had a trick all kids would do: the infamous Cigarette Fused Fire Cracker. Put that to a toy hot air balloon, even the
suit cover bag could and did serve, and have a candle to give it some extra "oomph", and up it would go in the still night,
and you'd see the glow of the mere candle,
and wait......................................five minutes.................FLASH...............
report! Fun!
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Must relate the story someday, like right now
of how my dad, at his age of ten or so, nearly got busted for firing his and his brothers Bangsite Canon at
Miami's Goodyear Blimp. The pilots were sure somebody was SHOOTING a firearm at them! The cops were called. Inquiries made.
The Miami Herald was aghast! BIG STORY: Murderers may be trying to KILL our Blimp! Result:
P.B., the doctor, fixed things quietly. Without a bang, but with a whimper from the downcast boys,
INTO BISCAYNE BAY, was heaved that Bangsite Canon, where, today, it must muster now nothing more than cast iron rust.
Oh, boys and balloons and fires and...
...it was a time, back before home entertainment got so easy as to turn on a Playstation
and practice imitation murder on strangers across the internet. :lol: I don't like death-playing adrenaline games;
I predict early deaths for kids who are addicted to violent action video games: constant excitement hardens the arteries,
even in children. The process is natural and inevitable. Calm people live longest and best.