ok - I felt really stupid...

[solowookie]

alright - I"m cleaning out some stuff from our shed tonight, and I come across this aluminum tube that says 'signal flair'...

yea, those of you who know what this is are probably starting to chuckle here. well, I had absolutely no clue what this thing was so I determine to fire it off in my back yard. now - over 1 of my fences is a field that is about a half of a mile across, and on the other 3 sides are neighbors. (good thing the field is my fathers)

anyway I see this tube, and it has a cap on it maybe 3" long, and the tube is maybe 14" long. it has a primer in the bottom that looks like it shoots a bullet. I'm thinking this thing is like some kind of industrial road flair, and I've never lit a road flair before. I'm thinking ok I'll try this thing out.

so I point the thing at maybe a 70 degree angle, through a tree, and hit the cap on the bottom. nothing happens, I push it on a little harder, nothing happens (this is at arms length away from my face). well - I pull the cap so it's just hanging on, and slap it against the bottom.

needless to say what happened next we far beyond what I was expecting. this thing makes a big 'whoosh' sound, and I see smoke up in my tree. as I'm looking at the tree for several seconds, and investigating this 'smoke' I see 4 fireballs land in the field about a 1/4 of a mile away.

well - about this time I hear my father yelling who was over at his house, behind it, in the hot tub with the jets running, and still heard this stupid thing go off. they thought it landed just over a hay stack which was about 100 yards away. so here is my father rounding his house in his swim suit (VERY out of character for him) yelling asking what happening, here I am with a laugh on my face, white knuckled still in shock, searching for a fire extinguisher to go investigate these fire balls that fell into the field!

so I'm trying to explain to him, in his agitated state, that there was no danger to the stack yard because the stupid thing cleared it by at LEAST 300 yards!

no harm was done, and after good investigations nothing was on fire (thankfully it rained this morning).

anyway - moral to this story is if your ever find an aluminum tube that says 'signal flair' it is not a road side flair!

[Marco]

Hey Solo,
So if the tube said "dynamite" , you would have tested that TOO????

Mark

[solowookie]

Hey Solo,
So if the tube said "dynamite" , you would have tested that TOO????

Mark

oh yea, but I would of known what it was & how to handle it lol

[Steve Molcsan]

This all cracks me up, a cartoon classic event for sure

[solowookie]

This all cracks me up, a cartoon classic event for sure

Steve you have NO idea - I felt very sheepish, but a guy can't keep a story like this to themselves no matter how humiliating it was.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Having had considerable experience with those type flares (both colored varieties and white parachute) I could have told you what it was had I been there. As I wasn't there, I'm glad you had the good sense to share that story with all of us. You know you'll never live it down.

REE

[Kaboom1]

Hey Solo,
So if the tube said "dynamite" , you would have tested that TOO????

Mark

I can't speak for solowookie, but you can bet that I would.

Brad

[DaveP63]

The last one (parachute type) I fired "in the field" went up in the air about 20 feet, made a 90 right turn and flew a couple of hundred yards at 20 feet altitude before the chute deployed...They can do some pretty wierd stuff.

[solowookie]

I can't speak for solowookie, but you can bet that I would.

Brad

considering your username is 'Kaboom1' I can imagine you would lol

[Plunker]

those famous last words...

"Hey Yall!!!!! Watch This!"