Every time a new year rolls around I always begin to think about the New Year's Eves of yore. By yore I am not talking about centuries ago. I'm just thinking back a few decades when our great country was enjoying a more innocent time.

Back in the 40's and 50's there was absolutely no concern about terrorists, foreign or domestic. We all felt safe within the confines of the lower forty eight. There were practically no restrictions on firearms during those decades. Dynamite was a rather common commodity. An adult could purchase some at a local hardware store.

Farmers often kept a few sticks on hand for practical purposes. It was pretty handy stuff to have around if you needed to remove a problem stump, or perhaps get rid of a stubborn rock that had slipped into the road. I remember one time when my dad dropped half a stick down a drilled well in an attempt to loosen the soil so that water would move more freely. As I recall, it did not work.

There were lots of young men around who knew how to set the stuff off so it became a highly dangerous plaything. These young men also knew that many of the small coal mining operations, which at that time were called "wildcat mines," kept dynamite around in fairly unsecured places. It was an easy task to steal a few sticks. I speak here from personal experience.

It was great sport to find a big old hollow beech tree in some isolated holler, dig out from under the roots a little, lay in a stick or two of dynamite, and blow it to smithereens.

Some people even dropped a stick in the river and killed some fish for supper. Among my peer group we considered that very unsportsmanlike.

But the most popular use of all when it came to using dynamite for recreation was to celebrate the beginning of the New Year. Down in the Elk River Valley where I grew up it was a common practice. If you lived between Clendenin and Clay you knew that you had better hold on to your fragile dishes when the clock struck midnight on December 31.

The valley would rock with a multitude of explosions, some of them pretty powerful.

That was the fun of living in Rural Free Delivery areas back in those innocent days!

Mack Samples is a regional writer who lives on 55 acres in Clay County. He is also a musician who tours with the Samples Brothers Band. Visit his website at www.macksamples.com.