{"id":14968,"date":"2021-10-29T05:53:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T12:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=14968"},"modified":"2021-10-29T10:39:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T17:39:09","slug":"firecrackers-and-fall-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/10\/29\/firecrackers-and-fall-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Firecrackers and Fall Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey (a very rural New Jersey in those days), it was a local challenge to take off your shoes and socks and walk across the dam at the Old Mill.\u00a0 The Old Mill is one of those cool places that attracts kids (even old ones, like me).\u00a0 Remote, interesting, a hint of times past, and plenty of ways to get in trouble.\u00a0 There had been a water-powered mill there decades ago (a common approach to factory power in our early history); now, only the dam and the lake it formed remains.\u00a0 We called the area the Old Mill.<\/p>\n

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The upper arrow points to the Old Mill dam. The lower arrow points to an island (the scene of the goose attack, as will be explained below).\u00a0 The lake formed by the dam stretches upstream for a good distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Old Mill dam. We used to wade across the top when we were kids. I wouldn’t attempt it today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those were fun times. The Old Mill was a little over a mile from my house and the big adventure when we were kids was to ride our Schwinns there (I wish I still had that bike). Walking across the top in your bare feet was the double dare. The water was about 4 inches deep as it rushed over the top, the dam was coated with algae, and it was slick. And 4 inches of rushing water carried a lot of power.\u00a0 Taking that challenge marked you as a kid of substance (it was sort of a kid’s Combat Infantryman’s Badge).\u00a0 Pauly, Zeb, Verny, my cousin Bobby, me\u2026those were grand times, riding our bikes and pretending they were motorcycles, coasting down Riva Avenue to the Old Mill, and looking for new ways to get into trouble. My Schwinn had chrome fenders and I used to imagine it was a BSA 650 Lightning. Fun times. It’s hard to believe it was 60 years ago.<\/p>\n

So, I need to go tangential for a second to give some context to this Old Mill story.\u00a0 When we were kids, my Dad had one cardinal rule I probably heard the day I was born and at least weekly thereafter.\u00a0\u00a0 It was simple:\u00a0 Never mess with firecrackers<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Dad lost two fingers when he was a kid fooling around with firecrackers cutting them up to pour the contents into a pipe to make a bigger firecracker.\u00a0 \u00a0You know the nutty things kids do.\u00a0 If kids did that today they would be called terrorists.\u00a0 In those days it was just kids doing what kids do.\u00a0 But the results were not good…there was a spontaneous ignition and when it was over, my Dad had two fewer fingers.\u00a0\u00a0 Hence, the constant Dad drumbeat:\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t mess with firecrackers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Well, you might guess where this story is going.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t wait to mess with firecrackers.\u00a0\u00a0 My cousin Bobby was 6 years younger than me back then (he still is) and we were thick as thieves when we were kids.\u00a0\u00a0One day Bobby, my friend Verny, and I rode our bikes to the Old Mill.\u00a0 Verny had a bunch of firecrackers in his saddlebag.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 The forbidden fruit.\u00a0 He even bought matches.\u00a0 Boy oh boy, we were having fun\u2026lighting the things and throwing them out over the water.\u00a0\u00a0 Bam!\u00a0 Bang!\u00a0 Pow!\u00a0<\/strong> It was like being in a Batman TV show.\u00a0 Awesome fun.\u00a0 I was playing with firecrackers.\u00a0 It was better than running with scissors.<\/p>\n

Boys will be boys, and Bobby was the youngest.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t too long before Verny and I were lighting the things and throwing them at Bobby.\u00a0 We were all laughing and having a good time.\u00a0 Even Bobby.\u00a0 He thought it was fun, too.\u00a0 Right up until the time one of the firecrackers landed in his collar behind his neck.\u00a0 To this day, I can still see it in slow motion\u2026the little inch-and-a-half Black Cat tumbling through the air, its fuse sparkling, and then lodging in Bobby\u2019s collar.\u00a0 And then\u2026BOOM!<\/strong><\/p>\n

All laughter stopped at that point.\u00a0 Bobby froze, not making a sound after the detonation.\u00a0 The firecracker literally blew all the hair off the back of his head, which suddenly looked like an orangutan\u2019s butt\u2026bright red and bald.\u00a0\u00a0Bobby came through it okay.\u00a0 Me, not so much. I knew what would happen when my Dad saw this. It was a death sentence.\u00a0 Verny knew, too.\u00a0 Everybody knew about my Dad and firecrackers.\u00a0 Wow, were we ever in trouble.<\/p>\n

Being Jersey boys, we came up with a plan.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe if we gave Bobby a haircut, it wouldn\u2019t look so bad.\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s the ticket.\u00a0\u00a0 A quick trim and no one would notice.\u00a0\u00a0 Ah, if only stupidity were money\u2026I\u2019d be the richest man in the world.\u00a0\u00a0We rode our bikes over to Verny\u2019s house, found a couple of scissors, and went to work.\u00a0\u00a0 After a few minutes, we realized what a sorry state we were in.\u00a0 Instead of just looking like a kid who had all the hair blown off the back of his head, Bobby now looked like\u2026well, a kid who had all the hair blown off the back of his head and<\/span> a really bad haircut.\u00a0 We were cooked.<\/p>\n

All three of us rode to Bobby\u2019s house, where my Uncle Herman (my Dad\u2019s brother) took everything in with a single look.\u00a0 Herman had been there when Dad lost his fingers (which, when I think about it, would have been about 90 years ago now).\u00a0 Uncle Herman knew what the outcome would be if my father ever found out what we had done\u2026I wouldn\u2019t have made it to adulthood, and you wouldn\u2019t be reading this blog.\u00a0 So he did me a whale of a favor\u2026he and Bobby stayed away from our house until Bobby\u2019s hair grew back.\u00a0 Uncle Herman, you\u2019ve been gone for more than half a century now, but trust me on this\u2026I\u2019m still grateful!<\/p>\n

Susie and I were in New Jersey a couple of weeks ago and we did what we always do when we’re back there:\u00a0 We visited the Old Mill.\u00a0 The leaves were turning colors and it was spectacular.\u00a0 Visiting the place always brings back memories…especially the ones above.<\/p>\n

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The Old Mill lake, as recently captured by my Nikon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Old Mill was built by the Davidson family (a nearby road is called Davidson’s Mill Road).\u00a0 I have no idea what they milled and I couldn’t find anything about it on the Internet.\u00a0 There was a another mill a few miles downstream that processed snuff (a major industry in this area a hundred years ago), so maybe it was a snuff.\u00a0 Whatever.\u00a0 The mill is long gone, but the dam remains and the area is a county park today.<\/p>\n

As I was snapping photos, I noticed a blue-gray speck in front of the little island near the dam (there’s an Uncle Herman story about that island, too, and I’ll get to it in a second).\u00a0 I zoomed in, and it was a blue heron.\u00a0 I’d seen them here before.\u00a0 I wished I could have gotten closer, but my 120mm lens and Nikon’s vibration reduction technology did the trick for me.<\/p>\n

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A blue heron looking for lunch at the Old Mill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once when I was a kid, I rowed my little aluminum boat here all the way from my house.\u00a0 The creek behind my place (Lawrence Brook) flowed to the Old Mill and beyond.\u00a0 \u00a0Uncle Herman, Bobby, my cousin Marsha, and I were having a good time as I rowed toward that island when we suddenly heard a god-awful hissing.\u00a0 A goose was flying straight at us, low over the water, with what appeared to be a 10-foot wingspan (it probably wasn’t that big, but the overall effect was one of sheer terror and if that goose was trying to intimidate us, it succeeded).\u00a0 \u00a0The goose had a nest on that island, and we were where the goose didn’t want us.<\/p>\n

When I visited the Old Mill earlier this year, the water snakes were out in full force and I photographed a large one below the dam.\u00a0 You can read more about that in the blog<\/a> I did a few months ago.\u00a0 There are a lot of cool critters in these waters, including frogs, several species of turtles, pickerel, sunfish, and snakes.\u00a0 Good times for kids.\u00a0 It was a good place to grow up.<\/p>\n

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A very large water snake sunning itself in New Jersey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On this most recent visit, we were in New Jersey just as the leaves were turning colors.\u00a0 \u00a0 This last photo is one I stitched together in PhotoShop.\u00a0 A click will enlarge it, and then click on it again to see it full size.<\/p>\n

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When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey (a very rural New Jersey in those days), it was a local challenge to take off your shoes and socks and walk across the dam at the Old Mill.\u00a0 The Old Mill is one of those cool places that attracts kids (even old ones, like … Continue reading “Firecrackers and Fall Colors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[392,89],"tags":[2378,2382,2380,2379,2381,2376,2377],"class_list":["post-14968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-back-in-the-day","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","tag-blue-heron","tag-davidsons-mill-road","tag-fall-colors","tag-firecrackers","tag-leaves-turning-colors","tag-the-old-mill","tag-water-snake"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/20211019_0011-900-Old-Mill.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14968"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15044,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14968\/revisions\/15044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}