On the enduring joy of throwing rocks

I love throwing rocks.

There is something inherently satisfying about throwing things.

Though skipping stones is grand, I love throwing at targets best of all.

As a child I was an expert on the things that would float and what rocks could do to them.

Glass beer bottles were incredible targets.¹ A beer bottle would float for while before getting swamped. Close calls would speed up this process, shooting waves of water into the open mouth of the bottle.

Direct hits though? One would think that they would provide instant satisfaction? In reality, they would frequently clank off the mouth of the bottle. It took a good sized stone and a direct hit across the bulk of the bottle body to sink a brown beer bottle.

And the sound sadly wasn’t satisfying. Muffled by the water, the bottle didn’t shatter shrilly. Instead? They made a gurgling curthunk before taking home on the bottom awaiting summer feet.

Foam blocks were fun. They were usually destroyed one chunk at a time. Solid pieces of wood usuall…