37 Things About Myself

My friend and fellow blogger just did a post with this title. (Retired in Delaware). Well, I'm kind of in between posts, so I copied his list and then filled in those 37 items as they applied to myself. I am sometimes lazy (something not on the list) and this made for a quick and easy Post.

THE 37 THINGS:

I descend from Welsh, Scot stock.  My paternal line has been in North America over 9 generations (1683) and my maternal line 8 generations (1705.)  I am thoroughly WASP (Quaker and Methodist.) 

I have no siblings, nor does my wife.  I am 6.0 feet in height and in weight 190.

Both parents are living.  I never saw them argue, but then my dad was seldom home and when he was I was usually sent to my grandparents.

I collect a lot of things.  In fact I'm a borderline hoarder.  

I love paintings by Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper and Salvador Dali.

I hate seafood.  I like some fish, but find most other seafood repugnant on the tongue.

Coffee, iced tea, orange juice, V-8, chocolate milk and coke are my drinks. I usually keep each on hand. Turkey Hill Orange tea is my favorite store bought iced tea because it is closest to what my grandmother used to make.  I have traveled out of my way to restock.

I try to walk every day.  I love to walk.  Walking is my TM.  Plus, it keeps me trim and fit. I walk woodland trails, city streets, along waterways or anywhere in nature. I don’t do malls.

I like so many different singers I really don’t know who is my favorite all time.

I don’t have a favorite actor or actress. As far as most beautiful woman ever to grace the surface of the silver screen I’m inclined toward Ingrid Bergman.  She and I don’t have the same birthday. I do share that date with Helen Keller and Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan).

I was never in the armed forces (because of my psoriasis I was rejected), but my daughters were in the Army and the Air Force.

I was the first in my family to go to college, and I attended three.  I was a Sociology Major at one, a Computer Systems Major at the second and an Accounting Major at the third. My dad never finished high school; my mom did.

My work career was varied: oil refiner, chewing gum maker, publisher, food processor, steel fabricator, medical (hospital), banking, printing, non-profit disease research and retail. My longest consecutive term was in bank operations, finance and marketing.

I work now part-time as a stock manager. In is a physically demanding job as opposed to sitting in an office. It is very low stress, which is what I want in this time of life.

I lived most of my life in and around southeastern Pennsylvania. I lived a half dozen years in New Jersey. I now live in northern Delaware where I moved to be close to a job 28 years ago. I love living in this state.

I take medicine for thyroid and hypertension.  Occasionally I take an arthritis pill when the pain is too great.

I smoked cigarettes, cigars and a pipe for several years in the ‘sixties. (I smoked Sherman Long cigarettes in brown paper [you had to send away for them].)  I quit sometime in the late ‘sixties because I just didn’t see the point of smoking. I just said the heck with this one day and never smoked again.

I never smoked marijuana (except as second-hand smoke) and never tried any other drugs. I do drink a couple cocktails when we eat out for dinner (Whiskey Sour or Bloody Mary or Margarita). I’ve never drunk to the point of drunkenness.

When I make a mistake I try not to repeat it but instead learn from my mistakes.

I love to read.  Biographies, histories, books about business, novels and short stories. Actually, I will read just about anything with writing on it.

I hate politics.  I have been a registered Democrat, Republican and Independent. I would call myself a Conservative who used to be a very far left Liberal. The government has several times attacked me for exercising free speech.

I am in a long-term marriage to my wife of 49 years. I originally met her in early 1960. She is Irish-German. I will probably never live with another person, but one should never say never.

I love animals. We have several cats and have had several who died. We take in homeless cats, especially older cats with little hope of adoption.

I love animals. I have owned several dogs in my life, a Toy Fox Terrier, A German Shepherd-Collie Mix, a Chihuahua, a Border Collie and a Yellow Lab. The Yellow Lab died last March; he was 18.

I am not mechanically inclined, but am electronically so.

I can cook, but don’t like to. My wife does most of the cooking, but anymore we eat out a lot because although she likes to cook, she is tired of doing it all the time.

I don’t like to garden or yard work, my wife does.

We share running the household. My wife likes doing home improvement projects, but I don’t. She likes to tile and build things.

My favorite dish of all time, I am so bad at naming favorites, probably pot roast or dried beef gravy over bread.  

I have a salty tooth but I eat some candy.  I seldom eat desert. I prefer cheese and crackers as a snack. I really like olives and dill pickles, too.

Since childhood I have been shy.  I've grown much better as I matured, but it is still difficult for me to meet new people. I am not good with small talk or big talk for that matter if I don’t know you well.

I love to write.  When I was a teenager I wrote every day (and pretty much have all my life) and am a published writer. I had a website in the late nineties and have been blogging since early 2008. Writing is a major part of my life.  I would be lost without it.

Some of my favorite things – here we go with picking favorites again. I’m very streaky. I will get interested in something and go at it intensely for a while, so my favorite things change. I like to walk, write, and take pictures. I prefer fall as a favorite season. I like snow, especially when I don’t have to travel anywhere in it. I collect certain authors.

I'm usually easy going and seldom lose my temper.  When I do, I tend to throw things. Fortunately, this seldom happens. One thing, though, never threaten my kids. I may throw you.

I would like to visit every state and perhaps Ireland, Wales and the Holy Land. I doubt I will. The only time I was out of the country was a couple days in Canada in the early Sixties (on our honeymoon).

I have no patience for rude people; inconsiderate drivers, who don't use turn signals, keep their high beams up, ride my bumper, use cell phones (while driving, walking or eating in restaurants), and people who are dishonest with me.  

I am not naïve. I am a skeptic, yet probably too trusting of people.