More cures for insomnia, STAN The slingshot was our weapon of choice. It was used to harass the cows, horses, sheep, and most anything else that moved, especially stray cats. I obtained the forks of my “sidearm” from a dogwood tree. The dogwood is the only tree that I know of that has branches with symmetrical forks, a characteristic basic to building a good slingshot. I cut two strips of rubber approximately three-eights inch wide and ten inches long from an old inter tube and tied one end of each to one of the forks. The elastics supplied the energy to hurl the projectile that was held in a rectangular piece of leather attached to the rubber strips on the other end. The leather pocket came from an old boot. I had to be careful to not get my slingshot confiscated, especially after someone told Aunt Ruth that I shot old Kump in the butt with a persimmon, Old Kump was our dog that we named after the governor of West Virginia 1933-1937. Birds were not to be harassed, especially the barnyard fowl. It was perfectly acceptable to go after the snakes and rats that hung out around the barn, but the barn-dwelling cats were protected no matter how much I hated them. I found out early on that shooting one’s little brother with an acorn was frowned upon by all. Most boys, at one time or another tried their hand at making a bow from the limb of a pussy willow bush and using dead stickweeds for arrows. Stickweed arrows were straight and plentiful but always sailed off course during flight. Characteristically they were not very accurate. It was easy to find arrows in season but not so easy to carry a bow around all day. The bow and arrows were used sometimes for target practice, but for everyday use we eventually returned to the faithful slingshot, which, with a hand full of acorns, could be conveniently concealed in a hip pocket.