Quotable Quotes

     Some of the funniest memories growing up were those that surrounded what came out of Dad's mouth.  Decades later, a quote of Dad's would be mused about at any given family gathering.  "He's dead today" we'd hear repeatedly over the years suffering through an old movie starring Gary Cooper or Humphrey Bogart or Tony Curtis.  "You're grounded...INDEFINITELY!" made our eyes roll.  When my always-antagonistic sisters received phone calls from their fanclub of boys, even I couldn't see much practical sense in my father's command that the call last "Two minutes!"
   But without a doubt, Joann was the #1 target of the funniest quotable quote: "Chicken-hopper! Chicken-hopper! There goes the Chicken-hopper!"  Now, I never quite understood what exactly was meant by being a "chicken-hopper", but I do know the scenario that elicited its characterization: a mini-tantrum accompanied by stomping about uncontrollably in seizure-like fashion, half-crying and half-yelling from room to room.  All my sisters were infamous for their own chicken-hopping antics, but Joann was by far Queen of the Chicken Hoppers.