That was the summer I worked at the Chemical plant and I did

That was the summer I worked at the Chemical plant and I did not pick up my trumpet the entire time. We had music to ‘play off’ at the end of the summer and I failed utterly!!!! By not being able to play off my pieces I was eliminated from being a band officer, which I surely would have been had I met the requirements. A very good lesson in following the rules.

During our 10th grade year, Patrick, James, Brad and I got ‘into’ amateur rocketry. We read a book from the library about making a rocket. Part of the rocket we could make right away was rocket fuel. Solid rocket fuel. It was made from saltpeter and sugar – both in powdered form. When heated they melted together into a caramel colored, caramel consistency glop.

Heating it is a challenge and, ever wise, none of our mothers would allow us to melt it in the house on the stove. So we used an open flame. wood fire, outdoors to melt the stuff. Needless say, the open flame tended to fire off the rocket candy prematurely at the cost of arm hair and eyebrows. We were darn lucky. If you google (now, not then) rocket candy, the Wikipedia article specifically cautions against open flame heating.