When Tim and I were kids, it seemed like ANYTHING we got our hands on was used to make noise and/or destruction. Take for example paper cups. We could do both with those! You may be thinking, what in the world could they do with paper cups to make noise and/or destruction?  Well… read on and see!  One of our favorite antics with paper cups was at Heckleman’s Sohio Station. They had an outside water faucet that was also used to get a drink of water. I still remember the iron taste of that cold water. It tasted like the water from our spring way back in our woods, and probably had the same amount of iron too. They had a gray-enameled cup dispenser just inside the door that dispensed conical paper cups. We would get “many” drinks when we were hanging out there. After one drink or so, we would spend the rest of the time either filling the conical cups about half full and throwing them way up in the air nose first to make “drinking cup rockets”.  In addition, we would take a cup, sit it upside down on the blacktop, and rapidly stomp on it, resulting in a neat explosion and ensuing loud noise! The best loud explosion noises were done using “Dixie” cups. In order to get the loudest and best explosion, we wetted the top rim, and then rapidly slapped it down to the ground in order to get the most air inside it. To get the best and loudest crack, the floor had to be smooth and you had to stomp it as fast and hard as you could. You’d be surprised how loud the noise is!  On “rare” occasions, I have been known to do this on my kitchen floor. The noise in my small house is deafening and all the cats scurry to take cover! Another good explosion source were the empty 1-quart milk cartons that were tall and looked like a small megaphone (remember those???). These had to be stomped right side up with a forceful square hit with the sole of the shoe. If done right, these could be loud as well! The other neat things we used at do with paper cups was at the “NOTE.” We would sit a paper cup upside down on the edge of a table with about an inch or so overhanging the table edge. We then took butane lighter and filled the cup with gas then lit the lighter and put the flame under the gap. The cup would go “PHOOOF” and hit the ceiling!  If it was dark enough, we could see “flame” coming out just like a rocket! We had to use great caution that the “bouncers” didn’t catch us, or they would kick you out! Fortunately, we always did this in the back corner where it was very dimly lit. We never considered doing things like this as mischief, just very creative use of every day objects! (If you buy this, how about me sending you information on some swamp ground I have for sale for a building site, or some brand new used flash bulbs???)