science

as far back as I can remember, anything scientific, like electricity and electronics were my thing. As a pre high school-er, brackenridge did not have a library, but the adjoining town of Tarentum did on 6th avenue. By the way, i would suggest looking at Google Maps to see the areas I mention.  Below 6th avenue were the train tracks and then about 3 blocks of the business district, then 3 or  4 streets of home and finally the park on the Allegheny River. I would take my empty wagon, check out a dozen science related books for two weeks, and pull them home.  I vowed to read every science book in the library and I considered fiction a waste of time. Why would anyone want to read stuff made up? And then I read my first fiction book, 'The Time Machine."  I was hooked how fiction could expand my imagination.
Anytime I had some extra money, I would send away for science kits-which, in most cases were a waste of money, since I could find the materials, or most of them, for free. And that big old table in Grandma's basement was my labortory
  When I was just a tot, I was afraid to go to bed without the hall/bathroom light on, or at least the bedroom door cracked open a few inches. When my Dad thought I was asleep, he would close the door.  So I rigged a switch to the door which sounded a buzzer and turned on a battery powered light! Drove my dad nuts.
During our grade school years I or someone with me did some things that  is a wonder we are still alive.  For example, when Bill and I were around 8-9 years old, we decided to go fishing down at the river.  At about 3-4 A.M.  Without our parents knowledge.  At the side porch of the house(next and very close to the American Legion) I was on the sidewalk and Bill was handing me the fishing poles and a tackle box from the porch.  All of a sudden, a bright light shown on us. Then a voice boomed,"You boys almost got shot!"  It was the town cop making his rounds and he at first took us to be robbers of the Legion!  Well, since we were still alive and dad and mom asleep, we went ahead and went fishing! Crazy.  It's a wonder we didn't go to the bathroom right there at the time, if you catch my drift.
Friends. On the other side of the Legion was a small house with a chicken or pigeon coop in the back yard. it was raised up about 3' and had steps going to a door.  the coop was probably 10' x 12' and the inside was splattered with white, you figure it out.  An old man once lived there but his son, wife, two boys and a girl(I think there was a girl) moved in while they built an expensive home way out in the country.  He was an engineer for the glass co. Alan was the oldest and brainy and then Terry, who was my age(10?), we became best of friends and got into all kinds of mischief.  We totally cleaned out the coop, painted it and found used carpet for the floor, which had a trap door. We managed to find some light fixtures and tapped into the electricity of the house.  There were nights we just camped out there all night.  My brother Bill became friends withe the Korts-buddy(Edward) and Ray(mond)  Buddy was a great little league and minor's baseball pitcher, but just never made it big time. Ray had a glass eye-he was sneaking behind a bow and arrow target while his brother let fly an arrow.  Their dad could never forgive Buddy for putting his brother's eye out. He was hard core German stock and was a knife maker during the war-probably for the wrong "side." His wife was pure Polish and in the summer started to soak candied fruit in a jar of rum for Christmas fruitcake, which, we just had to have some! Dad was also a musician-Sax, Bow Fiddle, Clarinet, keyboard.  I would take my accordion over there house(about 4 down from grandma's) and Mr. Kort would start the metrotome swinging. I drove him nuts by always playing a piece to fast!
Just a little more then I got to rest: besides our BB guns which we would shoot at each other below the belt, we would also go into a large field and shoot arrows straight up with our bows, then run to hopefully miss the arrow's down flight. We would have been safer staying in the same spot as the arrow always took a curved flight back to the ground.  We would also play dodge ball-with a solid leather medicine ball. It was about 18" in diameter and was so heavy we could hardly throw it.  only rule: you had to aim at the legs; no matter, if you got hit, you went flying! The other fun thing was using heavy canvas hammock's, which my dad brought home from the Navy.  One end was screwed into the back of the house, the other end into the back wood garage where dad started his boat business.  The hammock was wide enough to completely wrap around someone and then fastened with belts and ropes. You guesses it: we kept swinging the victim until he went completely around in a circle.  And yes, it hurt if the swinging stopped while on top-you would go straight down, face down.  It's a miracle our backs were not broken.  And eventually, Terry and I went to "war" against Bill, Buddy, and Ray with water balloons and hard green apples which we flung from the pointed end of a 4' green branch.  Sometimes, those apples flew over houses into the next street. I wonder if we hit anyone or broke any windows? Don't know and who cares?  It was fun-just like launching model rockets and have them come down and stick in a neighbor's roof.  It did. Guy said he would go up and patch the roof.  Nice of him.  More next time.