25 Questions gotten from a Friend Who Took it From a Friend and...

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Now Ronald Tipton, pictured with me, posted these 25 questions that he borrowed from Jon in Tennessee, and I don't know if Jon in Tennessee grabbed them elsewhere or not, but I am going to take them from them both and answer them for myself, and if you wish to do the same, have at it. I am including some comments on Ron's comments, so if you wonder why I seem to sometimes appearing to talk to a third person, that is why. Like the map thing in the first question answered.

1. Have you ever had chicken pox?

Yes, when I was in kindergarten I bought the clucking pox. Are mumps and chicken pox the same thing, Ron? No they are not, but I did have mumps as well, but only on one side.

2. Have you ever shopped in Home Depot?

Yes, I have and have many times. Just recently n fact to buy trimmer replacement spools.
 
3. Have you ever spied on your neighbors?

Not usually, except when new ones move in and like everybody else, we want to see what they may be like. I've spied, I guess you could say, on the parade of contractors that showed up at their place over the last year.

Once upon a time, when I was young, there was a young woman who undressed all the time with the shade up. Her bedroom was directly across from my writing room, and yes, I would pause and with my little eye I would spy what ever she was displaying. 

4. Have you ever ridden in a limo?

Yes. It was when I was Project Manager at Wilmington Trust and we were considering buying new sorters from IBM. IBM flew me and a couple others on a private jet (only way to fly) to Charlotte to see their sorters in operation at a bank there. They picked up up on the tarmac in a limo to take us from plane to bank.

5. Have you ever had a pet fish?

Off and on over the years growing up. Mainly goldfish, but also some other kind we kept in a aquarium. Some of the goldfish I had won at carnivals tossing a ping pong ball into a bowl of them.

6. Have you ever lied about your age?

No. Never had a reason. I'm not ashamed of my age now and never did in the past.

 
7. Have you ever fired a gun?

I have fired rifles, shotgun and pistols, but not since I left my teen years behind. I was a pretty good shot, but never liked hunting, just shooting tin cans off of stumps type of thing. Like most farm boys where I lived, I owned my own rifle, a 16 shot bolt-action .22. Carried it is the back of my Ford sometimes. Some guys even took their weapons to the school; I don't think  ever did, just my knives.


 
8. Have you ever been ice skating?

Oh yes, many a boyhood winter my friend Richard and a couple others would go out on the frozen lakes near home and skate. Did moonlight skating on a pond off Rt. 100 with my girlfriends, too. Very romantic. The pond had a little island in the middle and we'd build a fire upon it. I could skate backward, do figure 8s all kinds of such tricks. As an adult my wife and friends and I would go to the ice rinks. In fact, my wife was once in an ice show as a dancing Christmas Tree.
 

9. Have you ever played golf?

Started with miniature golf, then chip 'n' putt courses by high school. I think Ronald must have been to the chip 'n' putt outside of West Chester. Seems I went there a lot with my friends and girlfriends as a teenager. Maybe he just forgot the place. 

I took up regular golf in the 1970s, playing a couple courses over in New Jersey, including the Golf Farm. I played a lot of rounds with my friend, Victor (left). A woman tried to pick me up at the Golf Far one time, "My husband's away on business..." I didn't take her up on it. I never cheated on my wife even when opportunities arose.

10. Have you ever hidden on Halloween because you had no candy for trick or treaters?

After our kids had grown, yes we did. We just couldn't afford it. People used to haul kids in from nearby apartment complexes. We would turn out all the lights and keep the TV low.

As a child in Downingtown I use to hide a lot from a gang of older kids on the next block who went about stealing we younger kids candy.

11. Have you ever made a prank call?

I and Ronald and Stuart engaged is some of this as boys, you know calling the tobacco shop and asking if they had Prince Albert in cans or calling people at random to ask if their refrigerator was running. Childish behavior. I hate prank calls today and like, Ron, those idiots on radio who think it is funny to make them.

12. Have you ever gotten a tattoo?

No, but once upon a time I wanted one. Only thing is, I hate needles. Almost all my current friends have tattoos, men and women, but a lot of them were Bikers.

13. Have you ever had a massage?

Yes. I was in physical therapy a couple years ago and the lady massaged my back and neck every time I went. It felt good when it was over, but boy it could hurt when she got those thumbs deep into my muscles.

14. Have you ever locked your keys in the car?

Several times. I actually started carrying a spare key in my wallet. I haven't done it in recent years. Worse was once when I went golfing with Victor. I dropped my keys in the trunk when I got my clubs out. This was in New Jersey and I had to call my dad over in Pennsylvania to come over with my spare.

15. Have you ever ridden a horse?

Yes.


16. Have you ever been to the circus?

Several times. I was to the Ringing Brothers show a couple of times in Philadelphia, to Clyde Beatty's Circus when it played Coatesville and Hunts Brothers at Downingtown. Stuart  Meisel and I visited the fair grounds when they were setting up the circus. We snuck into the ten-in-one test (sideshow, freak show) and we met the lady sword swallower, who showed us how it was done.

17. Have you ever been to Europe?

Nope. Only other country I've been to was Canada.

18. Have you ever built a fire?

Of course I did. I was a Boy Scout and you had to be able to build a fire. Did several. Also burned leaves in the yard, which back then was allowed. One of my chores was to burn the trash every night in a 55 gallon barrel we had. I use to play games with those fires.

19. Have you ever been skydiving?

No, don't make me laugh. I am afraid of heights. My daughter Noelle did when she

trained at the Army Special Service School at Fort Bragg. She was airborne.

20. Have you ever bought something at a garage sale?

Sometimes. Never been my thing, even though my mother was big on yard sales. She sneakily sold a lot of my stuff at them. I was not happy to discover she sold all my electric trains.

21. Have you ever walked in on someone having sex?

Yes, when I was around 11 I walked in on my parents. I was looking for my mother for some reason, calling her and getting no answer. I went about the house and upstairs I noticed her bedroom door was shut. I called, again no answer, so I just opened the door and walked in. Oh, my! My mother began screaming and my dad yelled at me to get out. Scared me to death. I didn't know what was going on. Back in those days no one told kids anything. I thought my dad was hurting my mother. Never got any explanation, was just told never to enter their room without knocking. I was very upset by it.  Many, many years later, my eldest, Laurel, about the same age, walked in on my wife and I. No yelling, no screaming, we just pulled a blanket over us and asked what she wanted. She left and don't think she was upset. Kind of killed the mood though.

In the mid-1980s we took the kids to Brandywine Creek State Park occasionally. One time coming back to our car there were some young people, college age, with the car parked next to ours. As we got there we saw a guy and gal having sex in the front seat. I don't know if the kids ever noticed, but as we got in our car a park ranger on a horse came riding up to these people. We left while he was talking to them.
22. Have you ever faked an injury to get out of something?

Not yet.

23. Have you ever been to a nude beach?

In the first half of my life I wanted to go visit a nudist colony. Never did, although

there was at least one in New Jersey. Never stumbled upon any nude beaches, but given some of the bathing suit worn today it almost is like one.

24. Have you ever received a speeding ticket?

No. In the mid-1960s my wife and I were coming home from my parents. We were going through Valley Forge Park in our 1966 VW Beetle about 2:30 AM. Only ones on the road. Suddenly a cop came up and pulled us over. He said we were speeding, like really speeding. I'm sure I wasn't. Not sure the VW would do the speed he claimed. He walked back to his patrol car as if to check my license, but then he got in his car, drove around me and took off down the road. A few weeks later we saw in the news that a rogue cop had been arrested for the murder of a rabbi and his wife late at night in Valley Forge Park. Turned out the rabbi had a beard and was driving a Beetle. Cop thought they were Hippies and he hated Hippies, so he shot them. I have always felt I was lucky because we were kind of Hippies in those days.

25. Have you ever run a marathon?

I'm a walker, not a runner. I've always hated to run. When I joined my high school track team, the coach

tries us out on all events. I was the fastest running a mile, so he wanted me to do the distant races. But I knew if I became a miler all I would be doing all the time was running. I choose the wight events, because those guys did the least running. I became a shot-putter and discus thrower.

If you want copy these questions and answer them.