Once again, for those of you who haven't heard this a million times, I am from the corn. And in the corn, we find ridiculous ways to spend our time. Throughout high school and college many of my peers made potato guns. Not for the faint of heart, this canon-like apparatus can chuck a tuber from one goal post to the other.
And, so my husband, brother-in-law and I were delighted when my father-in-law called and asked us to build one to share with the inner-city kids that were staying with the family as part of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program this Memorial Day weekend.
For those of you who are inexperienced, here's the basic recipe: PVC pipe + gas grill igniter + hair spray. I prefer Aqua Net myself, but feel free to use the aerosol of your choice.
By the end of the evening we even had Grandma shootin' spuds. Most exciting, for the first time, someone offered to try to catch the potatoes. Those inner-city baseball players have some guts. (As well as potato-shaped bruises on their forearms.)
I image their welcome home conversation will go something like this:
Mother of inner-city youth: Did you have something to keep you from getting too bored in Central Illinois?
Inner-city youth: Yeah. They shot potatoes at our heads.
What's your favorite home-town tradition?
3 comments:
Wow - anything I say will pale in comparison, but AZ folk, true to stereotype, do enjoy frying eggs on sidewalks on hot summer days.
But my personal fave is called "cardboard catting" - it's when you make a fake cat out of cardboard with foil eyes and stick it in the middle of the road. It's fun to watch how long people will honk until they get out of their cars and discover they've been duped.
Ohh goodness Annie....Poo Dollar will always be a favorite of mine : )
I am not sure I can quite explain the wonder of "Mistletoe Magic" in this small comment box. It's an annual Christmas dance held in my hometown. Let's just say that my sister and I don't call it "Mistletoe Madness" for nothing. A true and not-so-honorable tradition.
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