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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jim Dale, post: 7469976, member: 100459&quot;]I just remember something in my past when I was eleven.&nbsp; My father had recently been transferred to Ft Bliss, Texas.&nbsp; We were moving from Ft Ord, California.&nbsp; My father loved to take us on site seeing tours on our treks through the lower 48.&nbsp; On our way, we stopped at the &quot;Painted Desert&quot;.&nbsp; As we entered the park, there was a sign to &quot;Look, But Don&#039;t Touch.&quot;&nbsp; I was eleven and didn&#039;t believe that signs were for me, so I picked up a &quot;fossil rock&quot; which was actually a million years old tree that had petrified.&nbsp; It was small enough that I put it in my pocket, never thinking a thing about it.&nbsp; I think I was 15, when I finally told my father that I had the &quot;petrified&quot; rock/tree.&quot;&nbsp; My father had been in the military and fought in WW II and Korea and had a firm belief that anything the government told us to do, we were supposed to do.&nbsp; I was a &quot;flower child&quot; then and I didn&#039;t think anything the government told us.&nbsp; Anyway, I was told I had to write a letter to the Government Park Service over the &quot;Painted Desert&quot; and apologize to them and put the &quot;rock&quot; in a box with my letter and mail it back to them.&nbsp; I wrote the letter (which my father corrected and I had to write it over, with the corrections) and found a box for the &quot;rock&quot; and letter and mailed it.&nbsp; I couple of months later, I got a letter from the Park Services and a box with the &quot;rock&quot;, telling me that they weren&#039;t missing any rocks and that I could keep it.&nbsp; I was afraid to show the letter to my father.&nbsp; Anyway, he took the rock and disposed of it somehow.&nbsp; I&#039;ve kept a journal since I was about 14.&nbsp; I had put the letter in it.&nbsp; I spent a week trying to find out where the rock was.&nbsp; In the mean time, my father was transferred to South Korea.&nbsp; We were moving to Indiana, so we had to pack all of our stuff to get ready for the movers... and guess what I found in my father&#039;s sock drawer... the &quot;rock&quot; (and a condom, which I threw away).&nbsp; The moral of all of this is to keep a &quot;lid on it&quot; and don&#039;t go through your father&#039;s sock drawer.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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