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Before I knew them, my current crop of friends tell of a day when they made bows and arrows and poison and would shoot at the "nerds" in the neighborhood.

I guess a couple of my friends were watching some nature documentary on TV (this would have been in the early 80s) and it was about how the Native Americans used this particular plant as a poison. One friend said to another, "Hey, that looks like the plant you have in your backyard." So they investigated, and sure enough it was...so the made a concoction of the sap from the plant, and then one said to the other, "I wonder if it really works." So, of course they had to test it. One spread the mixture on one of his home made arrows and then stabbed himself in the leg with it. Immediately his leg began twitching and convulsing...and then he said it felt like it just went to sleep, and he couldn't move it for about 15 minutes.

They decided it was pretty cool and wouldn't get them into too much trouble, so they loaded up their bows, arrows, and poison and went nerd hunting.

Today these guys are actually some of the most repsonible and nicest people i know.

I guess a couple of my friends were watching some nature documentary on TV (this would have been in the early 80s) and it was about how the Native Americans used this particular plant as a poison. One friend said to another, "Hey, that looks like the plant you have in your backyard."

LOL, I did this too! Made arrows out of twigs and rose thorns, the bow out of a branch and a cut rubber band tacked to each end, and I dipped the tips of the thorns in a concoction I made out of the neighbors nightshade berries. Fortunately it wasn't a real effective weapon (thorns would break off when the arrow hit something).

Then my grandfather made the mistake of buying me a plunger-tipped bow and arrow set. I promptly took the plungers off, taped nails to the end of the arrow, and booby-trapped the door of my room with it.