Dave;
I may very well be the victim of too many canon experiences.
I was present when a cannon ball was skipped off the top of a giant log being used as a backstop for the intended target. The ball went over the hill behind the log and ended up on the runway of an airforce base.
At the same event the year before the cannon were lined up to shoot a volley. One of the canons upon firing it considerable charge from its barrel made from laminated pipe, of dubious parentage, shed one of its manure spreader iron wheels, and spun around, leaving it pointed at the spectators.
The icing on the cake came when my son was about five. We attended a rendezvous and were having a great time. He got tire in the afternoon, so we retired to our wall tent for an afternoon rest. Not long after retiring we heard a big kaboom, and a Smack, Crack, Thud. I stepped out of the tent to find a still smoking beer can full of concrete under the tree next to our tent. It seems someone on the cannon range thought it would be perfectly safe to let a guy that had a mortar, wedge it up to shoot it like a cannon. Upon ignition the barrel snapped back, causing the mortar to fall sideways, launching it projectile into the camp area. We were packed and gone in an hour, and never went back.
After reading this I think I might be a slower learner that I previously thought.
Hungry Horse
