Did you ever use black powder to get rid of red ant nests the fun way? On a ranch, you use a lot of ammo-especially in hunting season-the male family members loaded our ammo, and there was always a couple cans of black powder in the shed with the other loading equipment.
We would pour some into an empty can, go to an active ant nest, pour a good amount into the hole, then walk away while pouring a little trail from the nest till you get a good distance away-relatively speaking-light the trail with a match or lighter, then we’d take cover and wait-a muffled boom, the ground heaved and shook a bit, as dirt and ants exploded way up into the air-we howled with glee, then went off to find more ant nests to blow up. Gasoline works for that, too-but the black powder produces a more spectacular result...
Oh no-your grandfather would be arrested for that today! But that bit of beer, wine or whiskey was the way they calmed kids down when they were in pain, hysterical and fighting the treatment of injuries because the alcohol or other disinfectant burned, or the removal of a foreign object hurt. My aunt who lived on the ranch was a nurse, so there was no reason to drive the 30 miles to town for one of us kids to be stitched, as long as the injury was not life threatening-just give them some of the aforementioned adult beverage, inject some novocaine, and it was all done in no time...