100 things about me

I guess it's my turn to contribute to the family blog. I like reading everyone's blogs but I don't know how to comment or add to them. I'm lucky to figure out how to read most of them. Gail has helped me to get set up so I can share my 100 things. My composition is way too long winded compared to what others have written. Sorry in advance for my verbosity. It took me all night to write this and now I'll probably have to type it in installments. One thing about me before I even get started is that I'm very slow at everything I do especially when it comes to trying to put my thoughts down on paper. Oh well here goes...

1. I was born in Deadwood, South Dakota 57.5 years ago September 25, 1949 to Thomas Andrew Glover and Mariana May Schell.
2. My dad was not around when I was born because he was off somewhere drinking with his friends.
3. My mother was contemplating divorcing dad after I was born but then he contracted polio December 17, 1949, when I was a week shy of 3 months old and he was only 29.
4. My dad was in the Hot Springs Polio Center for a year and mom had to go to work teaching school to support the family. (Fortunately she had 2 years of college so was able to teach.) My uncle Don and aunt Alice Glover offered to adopt me and my sister Becky since they did not have any children, but mom would not have it. (Initially dad was totally paralyzed and had to spend time in an iron lung. Eventually he regained the use of his upper body and was only confined to a wheel chair. Polio struck mostly children and dad was the the second oldest patient in the polio center.He was like a big brother to all the children and they had a saying that only the best people got polio.)
5. When I was about 4 or 5 I said that I did not want to be a dad because I thought that daddies couldn't walk.
6. I was named after Worthington Washington Glover and was called Worthy the same as my grandpa. No one seems to know how his parents, Bethal Bates and Mary Ellen came up with the name. It's been a great name to live up to. I didn't get to meet my grandpa Worthy in this life because he died 9 years before I was born from the lack of adequate medical treatment for appendicitis.
7. I have fond memories of growing up in our home on 425 Mine Street in Lead S.D. Our house was always full of clutter and I was embarressed to have my friends over when I was a teenager. I spent alot of time at my friend Pat Ryan's home, which was always spotless. His dad was one of the Superintendents at the Homesake Gold Mine and so they were fairly well off. When Pat finally saw the inside of my house our Senior year, he was fascinated by all the stuff and actually seemed to be more comfortable in our home because it was lived in.
8. I loved to play with all the neighborhood kids, we had a great yard. We hiked to Blue Rocks; we played down at the Tracks; we played on the Swinging Bridge ( until someone got hurt and they cut the rope); we explored the old barn accross the street, which was full of hidden treasures; (What a disappointment when it was torn down and Terry Godfrey's parents built a new house on the lot); we played baseball in the gully and we explored the Sunken Gardens by the Open Cut, which were supposed to be out of bounds due to potential caveins; we also explored several old mine shafts. In the winter we had great fun sledding. We would pile ten to fifteen kids into an old car hood and toboggen down the steepest hill. It's a wonder no one was killed. (We used to hook rides on the back of cars when the roads were snowpacked and icey. One kid sliced his finger off once and I found it and put it in a jewelry box to show it off at school.
9. I caught chipmunks and tamed them as pets. I loved my dogs, Toggy (when I was younger) and Lassie, ( real original) when I was older. I had lots of cats that I trained as attack cats through constant teasing. I ended up with many scratched legs because they would hide around the corner and when I walked by they would attack with no warning. I had a beautiful red parrot named Pat. He was a funny bird most of the time and he learned to say my name but he also had a mean streak and would sometimes say swear words and tell people to get out. He would have lovey dovey conversations on the phone with his pretend girlfriend Barbara Ann and he could whistle and make like a fire engine. At times he would get loose and fly to the top of pine trees if his wings weren't clipped and I would have to climb several trees sometimes to coax him back down with peanuts. He had an obnoxious scream and we finally had to give him away to a widow lady. She loved him to death (literally) and would spoil him with whiskey and other treats. I think he died from too much liquor.
10. I enjoyed the smell of Grandma Percell's old sooty house next door to us. She babysat me for several years until I went to kindergarten. She was an old wrinkled lady who chewed tobacco and lived with old Johnnie Clingman. He had a coal miner cough and their house smelled of soot because they heated with coal and wood. I loved the smell of baking bread on the old wood burning stove and I loved the peanut butter and honey sandwiches on fresh baked bread with a glass of milk.

Well this is just my first installment. Gail says that since I say about ten things to every number I've reached my 100 things limit and better send it before we have a power bump and I lose it all.(Actually, I think I'm at about 5 things per number but I will send this out for now. anyway.)