66-100 Things

66. After I got my first pair of eyeglasses at age 12 or 13, I was amazed to see leaves on trees instead of just big green blobs.
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67. The way to cook good oatmeal (Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats): Bring water to boil, dump in the oats and some salt, return to boil, stir, return to boil, put a lid on the pot and turn off the heat. Wait 5 to 10 minutes and serve. Or eat. There is no way to cook the ground-up oatmeal so that I'll eat it.
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68. Things I'd like to learn to do: (1) Swim (2) Dance (3) Whistle through my teeth
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69. Things I'd like to own: (1) A green thumb (2) A Jaguar X-something sedan (3) A baby grand piano
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70. My zodiac sign is Capricorn, along with Rudyard Kipling, Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon.
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71. My favorite snack is white wine, cheddar cheese and Ritz crackers.
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72. I have seen 2 UFOs.
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73. I have witnessed one event that I'm sure was supernatural. Others suspected.
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74. My mother and her parents and brothers lived in a real haunted house. They had a cat but no dogs. After she married, Mama had a dog named Ginger who wouldn't go near that house.
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75. My cat Mo can make ear-splitting noises like those Mama described from the haunted house. But they had other manifestations, not just noises.
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76. My grandfather Will S., and one of his brothers, were once on a long-distance walking trip. One stormy night they slept in an abandoned church building, which they later found out was not there. It had burned to the ground years before.
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77. Granddaddy Will's parents had a set of dining room chairs that moved in the night. No matter how the family arranged them, around the table or against the wall, next morning they'd be scattered around the room.
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78. A lady named Mattie lived in the hollow at the foot of Oak Mountain. She had a goat that would call her name--"Ma-ma-mat-tie!" She finally killed the goat. But this isn't about me. Except that I resent the killing of a smart goat.
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79. I once had a pretty calico cat named Carly. When she wanted to come into the house, she'd stand at the door and call, "Joanne! Joanne!" Well, it sounded like it.
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80. I'm a charter member of the Smithsonian Institution's Native American Museum council or whatever they call it. "We" have around 80,000 Indian artifacts in the museum. Next time I get a chance to go to DC, I'm going to check it out (haven't seen the Museum yet).
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81. I don't really collect anything now, but I have several piles of stuff I collected in the past: Yellow ware pottery; dolls; paperweights; bookmarks. I have about 20 quilts, so I guess I can call that a collection. They say that if you have more than 2 of anything, it's a collection.
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82. The most recent book I've read is People of the Whale, about an Indian tribe in the northwest U.S.
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83. I love all animals and feel close to them--although there are some I won't get close to if I can help it. It pains my conscience to put out roach discs or to slap a mosquito, but some things you about have to do if you're going to survive.
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84. Bumblebees nest, or congregate, or whatever they do, in holes around my house. When I go out on my deck, one or more will hover in front of the door or buzz around my head for a while. I call them my guard bees.
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85. I was stung once by a honeybee. And one time I stepped on a red wasp and it stung my foot. Ouch! Otherwise, I've never been stung.
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86. I drive a 16-year-old car that has been passed down through the Cage family. I've had it since 1999. It has almost 48,000 miles on the odometer (is that the right -ometer?).
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87. I once bought my daughter a used 1970s-something Camaro. I loved that car--she let me drive it occasionally.
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88. I've never had a broken bone (knock on wood!). Well, once in a fit of rage, I kicked a metal office chair and thought I had broken my big toe--it turned black. But I'm not sure it was broken.
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89. I don't read as much as I used to, because I get eyestrain so easily now. "Old age ain't for sissies." Someday I'll probably have to switch to audiobooks.
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90. I'm glad this is getting close to 100.
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91. I've got a boxful of 5 hydrangea bushes to plant. Tomorrow I've got to dig 5 holes.
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92. My favorite TV show is Jeopardy.
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93. The game I'm best at is Scrabble, but I haven't played it since my mother passed away.
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94. Games I can't stand are chess, bridge and Monopoly.
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95. The movie I've gone to sleep in the middle of the most times is "Star Wars."
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96. Back in the 60s, I was the first female to wear pants suits to work at General Electric in Huntsville. That sounds funny now, when nearly all women wear pants, even to church, if they want to.
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97. I'm not on Facebook, I don't Twitter, and I don't own an iPod. I don't even know for sure what an iPod is.
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98. I like computers, and am mostly in favor of technology, but there's no use going to extremes.
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99. When I first learned to recite the alphabet, I nearly always left out the N.
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100. When I get bored, I go to sleep.