What is the dumbest no-brainer you committed as a kid?

[Flystripper]

One example of my childhood stupidity:

In the 4th grade I discovered some cans of blue spray paint in our garage. Like any 4th grade boy I thought it would be fun to paint stuff. I started by giving my dad's workbench blue stripes. I then moved to the walls of our garage. In addition to the stripes on the walls, I wrote cool words like Hi and Gregg (my name). I then decided that some blue paint would look good on the front of our light tan brick house. At this point I was feeling kind of artsy so I painted a smily face on the front of our house near the garage. kind of like this . I then looked across the street at our neighbors house. Our neighbors had nice smooth wood siding which was painted white, a much better canvas than tan bricks. I painted lots of designs on the side of their house including such amazing shapes like triangles, squares, and cricles. I then tossed the cans back in the garage.

Unbeknownst to me, my sister came outside, saw my work, found the paint, and added blue words to my parents car. She wrote I Love Dad in big letters on the side of my dad's white Chevy Blazer.

Everything was fine until my dad came home. My dad was furious. I tried to tell my dad that I did not paint the car but he didn't really care. My sister finally fessed up and received no punishment. In fact, I think my dad liked driving the blazer with "I love dad" spray painted in blue across the side. As you might guess, my entire summer was spent earning money to pay for my neighbor's house to be repainted. When I was not earning money to put toward that effort, I was sent outside to attempt to remove the paint from the front of our house. Paint does not come off of porous bricks all too well.

[MikeWaters]

When I was seven, I had crossed the fence that boarded our apartment complex and led to the woods (I was told to NEVER, EVER do this, sort of like the M. Night Shalalyamalam movie).

so me and a buddy were at the creek throwing rocks. Except he was sort of on the other side, in the vicinity of where I was throwing rocks. Like magic, and not on purpose, one of the rocks I threw hit him in the forehead. Blood gushed everywhere.

When I told my parents that I had not crossed the fence, because there was no fence where I had entered the woods, well, that explanation did not work well.

This is the only time in my life that I remember being grounded.

This happened several times to me later, that baseballs and other objects magically hit a person I was purposefully trying to avoid hitting. It was like a curse.

[cougjunkie]

At Spanish Fork highschool they have a huge spirit rock that is painted for all events. The rumor is that it has about 10 inches of paint on it. We decided for one of our senior pranks we were going to steal it. My friends grandpa owned HE Davis construction. So late one night we took a back hoe from the yard, drove the backway to the highschool so we werent detected and starting carrying out our plan. The backhoe was really loud, so we decided to use it as a last resort.

First we put a chain around the rock, tied it to the bumper of a truck and tried to pull it out. Very quickly the bumper ripped off the truck. So we brought in the big gun. We put the chain around the back of the back hoe, put it around the rock and started to pull.

Now SFHS has 3 roads that all lead to the school, we had cars parked at every road, and walkie talkies for lookout. Right when the rock was about to move, a car came flying around the corner with no lights on, then he flipped on his lights and it was a cop. There were about 10 of us and we all took of running when about 10 other sherriffs came flying around the corner. I was running along this wall and the cop was telling me to stop over his PA, and he was shining his light on me, I could not outrun it, so I hit the deck and went back the other way.

They were remodeling the seminary building at the time so it was boarded up, I busted through one of the boards, and I stayed in there for about 3 hours as cops circled the school. 7 of the 10 guys were caught, issued trespassing and curfew tickets (depending on age). The back-hoe was confiscated and I ended up walking about 7 miles to my house at 4am to get home.

That was a fun night.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by cougjunkie

At Spanish Fork highschool they have a huge spirit rock that is painted for all events. The rumor is that it has about 10 inches of paint on it. We decided for one of our senior pranks we were going to steal it. My friends grandpa owned HE Davis construction. So late one night we took a back hoe from the yard, drove the backway to the highschool so we werent detected and starting carrying out our plan. The backhoe was really loud, so we decided to use it as a last resort.

First we put a chain around the rock, tied it to the bumper of a truck and tried to pull it out. Very quickly the bumper ripped off the truck. So we brought in the big gun. We put the chain around the back of the back hoe, put it around the rock and started to pull.

Now SFHS has 3 roads that all lead to the school, we had cars parked at every road, and walkie talkies for lookout. Right when the rock was about to move, a car came flying around the corner with no lights on, then he flipped on his lights and it was a cop. There were about 10 of us and we all took of running when about 10 other sherriffs came flying around the corner. I was running along this wall and the cop was telling me to stop over his PA, and he was shining his light on me, I could not outrun it, so I hit the deck and went back the other way.

They were remodeling the seminary building at the time so it was boarded up, I busted through one of the boards, and I stayed in there for about 3 hours as cops circled the school. 7 of the 10 guys were caught, issued trespassing and curfew tickets (depending on age). The back-hoe was confiscated and I ended up walking about 7 miles to my house at 4am to get home.

That was a fun night.

You start wildfires, resist arrest, vandalize public property, but manage to keep your cool and figure out a way to escape.

But when your brother throws a twinkie at you (that misses and lands behind the couch), you go into a rage and wind up smashing his head into a glass table.

That is classic.

And it is reason 1,001, brother.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

When I was seven, I had crossed the fence that boarded our apartment complex and led to the woods (I was told to NEVER, EVER do this, sort of like the M. Night Shalalyamalam movie).

so me and a buddy were at the creek throwing rocks. Except he was sort of on the other side, in the vicinity of where I was throwing rocks. Like magic, and not on purpose, one of the rocks I threw hit him in the forehead. Blood gushed everywhere.

When I told my parents that I had not crossed the fence, because there was no fence where I had entered the woods, well, that explanation did not work well.

This is the only time in my life that I remember being grounded.

This happened several times to me later, that baseballs and other objects magically hit a person I was purposefully trying to avoid hitting. It was like a curse.

I had a good friend (the same one who made me quit the Church for 3 weeks) who was cursed with the same affliction that haunts you.

He and I were at this thing for Order of the Arrow called "tap out," which is a ridiculous campout where you have to dress up like indians and walk around without talking to anyone. You basically perform free labor around the campsite and eat very little food.

So we arrived on a Friday night, checked in, and were hanging around in front of the main mess hall area with other scouts. My friend found a rake and decided that it was time to balance the rake handle on his hand. I found it fascinating for a few minutes, then decided that it was time to turn away and talk to other people, but stay within the radius of the rake.

A few seconds later, someone yells to look out and I feel a massive thud on my dome. It hurt like crap. But the pain was soothed quickly by the freeflow of this warm liquid all over my head, then down my face.

Some of other other scouters yelled for help and I was tended to quickly by the camp doctor. Fortunately, didnt even need stitches.

In retrospect, I was lucky because he was giving me some meds for the pain and the next day, the camp doc didnt want me doing the "no eat or drink thing."

PS Another friend hit me in the face/head with a baseball bat. Perhaps all this massive head trauma explains a few things about me today.

[MikeWaters]

I remember before one of my little league baseball games....I was there early. There were just a couple of us boys, and one of the asst. coaches. I got out a bat, and started taking practice swings. THen BAM, I hit my coach full on, in the elbow.

I don't recall that he swore at me. He just got real grumpy and told me to watch what I was doing. Good man. If I were hit now, I'd be mad as hell.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I remember before one of my little league baseball games....I was there early. There were just a couple of us boys, and one of the asst. coaches. I got out a bat, and started taking practice swings. THen BAM, I hit my coach full on, in the elbow.

I don't recall that he swore at me. He just got real grumpy and told me to watch what I was doing. Good man. If I were hit now, I'd be mad as hell.

A neighborhood kid and i were playing home run derby in my back yard, trying to hit the balls up the hillside and over the back fence.

I took my swings, then handed him the bat. Again, for whatever reason, I decided it was not important to pay attention. the next thing I know, he hit my jaw on his follow through.

Result: no whipping; headache

[MikeWaters]

Me and three of my friends liked to play football in the street in front of my house.

Steve lived next door to me. He was a cool guy in high school and had this yellow 4x4 Toyota pickup. This is in the 80s so you know what kind of pickup I am talking about. He parked on the street.

One day he asks me if any of the dents in his pickup are due to the football hittin his truck. I played it cool, but I think he saw through me.

Randy, Joey, and Eric. Those were my football buddies.

Steve is now a cop. Eric is a high school football asst. coach and school teacher. I never found out what happened to Randy Mauldin. Joey too.

[BigFatMeanie]

I lived in San Diego when I was about 9 years old. The humidity and fog made for great mushrooms and snails. One day I found this humongous toadstool in our front yard - it had to be at least 6 inches in diameter. It was all slimy/greasy. I picked it and was considering what to do with it when our next door neighbor teenager dude fortuitously came driving up the street. Naturally, I hucked the toadstool at the car. The toadstool went in through the open driver's side window, hit the teenage dude in the head, and exploded into a slimy mass all over the inside of his car. He promptly pulled into our driveway and I took off and hid in the back yard.

When my Dad finally found me, he gave me two options: go over to the neighbors, apologize, and clean out the car or take a whipping with a belt. I chose the belt. I never regretted the choice. To this day I chuckle at the picture of that toadstool exploding on that dude's head. One of the greatest moments of my youth.

[il Padrino Ute]

My senior year of high school, my friend and I were asked by his father to get rid of a huge hornet's nest that was on their side of a beautiful cedar fence.

We thought about it for about 30 seconds and decided the best method would be to use gasoline, hairspray and a welding torch.

The good news was that the nest was incinerated within seconds.

Upon reflection, it probably wasn't a good idea to soak the entire fence with gas, but cedar really crackles when it burns and it actually smells good too.

And yes, this is the same friend with whom I did the science experiment.