September 29, 2008

• DC(five11nation) and CzarnyEffingKruk "Tagged me" on these 15 or 16 things

   

   

       15 or 16 Things Most People Don't Know about Me

      

       Had to think about this one for a couple of days, finally decided to go ahead and do it. Thanks for the tag, Guys!!

       1. I was born in Dec,1947 in the little river town of Ironton,Oh. But, I have lived my entire life, with the exception of my 4 years in the Air Force, in the beautiful Bluegrass State of Kentucky.

        And I bleed Blue! That's no joke. I have followed the Wildcats since the early 50's. Some of the greatest high's in my life have been watching the Cats win another NCAAB National Championship, and have suffered the lowest of lows when they go out in the first round of March Madness, like last year.

       UK also has a football team worthy of being called "The Wildcats" now, too. And I am really lovin' watching them play!

       2. I had learned to read by age 4 and entered 1st grade at age 5. I quickly became an avid reader and was a straight A student until the end of my sophomore year in high school. In the following summer I got my drivers license, bought my first car(a 1952 Chevy Coupe), started dating Sue Robinette, and discovered the"Wild,Wacky,Wonderful world of Beer"!

  

       Combined, they easily put an end to that straight A nonsense! Took me 3 more years to graduate in 1966, but I was enjoying the highschool days (and nights)!

       3.I have been an avid hunter most of my life, also. I started around age 9, going rabbit hunting with my Dad. I think back now and realize I only enjoyed it when I was a child because that was the only time my father paid any positive attention to me. Nuff said about him. He changed as he grew old and was a wonderful grandfather to my children. He's gone now and I miss him.

        I continued to hunt as an adult because I loved being out there in the woods and fields with a good dog and a friend or two, and a few times with my son. I don't think Matt(my son)really liked it and I didn't push it. I understood.

        I stopped hunting in the winter of 88, I believe. I was bowhunting for deer near Blaine,Ky and the pre-dawn light found me at the top of a ridge, standing under a small oak near a fenceline. I could hear something working its way up the hill, and nocked an arrow. A large doe stepped out in the open near the fence not 30 feet away. I slowly pulled that broadhead to full draw and raised the bow. As the fingertips of my right hand touched that familiar spot at the corner of my mouth, the bowsight was pinpointed on her chest. She stood at the fence for a few seconds, but I was looking at the silvery coat of frost on her back and watching the breath stream out of her nostrils. It was a beautiful sight as those first rays of sunlight broke across the hills. I could not release that shaft. As I lowered the bow she bolted, and went back the way she had came. I walked back out to my truck, never to go hunting again.

       But, I still have a love of firearms, and have a nice little collection. I'm also licensed to carry concealed deadly weapons in 38 states, and pretty much anywhere I go, one of these two guys is with me.

       4.After finally graduating, I managed to get a job at one of the better places to work around here at that time, Armco Steel! I was a Union man! I intended to work there for a couple of years, save as much as I could, and eventually enroll at UK. I actually wanted to be a teacher at one time.

        But, Uncle Sam had other plans for me. Got my draft notice on Nov 20 1966. Ran, not walked, to the recruiter and joined the Air Force the next morning! Left for Basic Training at Lackland AFB the next day. *thumbs nose at draft board*

  

       5.After my 4 years in the Air Force I returned to Kentucky, and the job at Armco. And I absolutely hated it! I've regretted the decision not to re-enlist ever since!

       6. Then one night,(May 22, 1971 to be exact) while out barhopping with a friend, I met this beautiful, petite, green eyed, raven haired girl! We seemed to hit it off pretty well that night, so the next weekend I asked her out. She said yes, so I took her to Carter Caves State Park to a folk music festival. Ran in to my brother who was camped there with a friend. That meant they had a tent.Hmmmm. Made love to that girl for the first time in a borrowed tent! She called me the next weekend to see if I wanted to go to a hibachi party at a friends house. Sure, I said. Later that evening we snuck into their bedroom and "borrowed" their waterbed!

        Sometime during the next week, she asked if I could help her move some furniture into this little house she had rented, and not being totally retarded, I agreed to give her a hand. Spent that night with her in her new little house, and have been with her every night since. Made her my wife on July 20th 1971.

        Best decision I ever made!

  We recently celebrated our 37th anniversary!

   

        7.Talking about decisions though, it wasn't long after that I made the worst one of my life. We had been married for three weeks and wanted to have a party to celebrate our "anniversary". I laid off work that evening (called in sick),and we had a big party! Around 2:30 that night, the party was still going strong, and for some reason, Karen and I decided to go for a motorcycle ride.

  So, I fired up my 66 Triumph Bonneville TT and off we went. Don't remember where we were going or why. We had no idea it would be well over a year before I would come home again. Our whole life changed that night.

       As I came out of a long curve at around 50 mph, I saw the wrecker parked halfway out in the road with no lights on just a split second before we hit it. Since she was behind me, the impact threw Karen about 200 feet down the road, breaking her right leg and fracturing her skull. Did I mention she was pregnant? I, on the other hand, went nowhere. I had tried to lay the bike down, so I missed the boom sticking out the back, but hit the heavy bumper with the right side of my body. I absorbed the full force of that hit, and almost every bone on the right side of my body was broken. I, and the bike, wound up right in front of the wrecker. I remember landing on my back and the bike falling over away from me. I wasn't feeling anything, I was totaly numb, but something was laying on my face making it hard to breath. I managed to pick it up with my broken hands to see what is was. It was my right foot. My right leg was between the bike engine and bumper at impact and was crushed. My foot was still attached, but from mid thigh to ankle my leg was broken in so many places you could tie it in a knot.

        I was in intensive care for a month, another 3 months in the hospital in a pelvic sling(my pelvis was split by the gas tank, and the gas tank was split open by my pelvis), and then spent the next eight months in a body cast. My Mom and Dad had a hospital bed put in a small room downstairs at their house, so we spent the bodycast time there.

  

        8. Moving on. Karen healed in time, but my leg didn't. That was the start of over 13 surgeries in the next 18 years. Lost my job at Armco, they would only hold it for 5 years, and at that time I was still in casts and on crutches. Started my own business in 1976 to try and make a living. Stayed at it for the next 13 years, all the while going back to hospitals for some type of surgery trying to get the leg to heal. They tried rebreaking and resetting, steel screws and plates, taking them out again, bone grafts, vein grafts to improve circulation, but the bones wouldn't heal, and were starting to decay.

        9.Finally, in 1989, in desperation I checked myself into the VA hospital in Lexington. They decided on something a little radical. They removed all the dead bone and the front of my shin itself. The skin and muscle on the front of my shin was all scar tissue, and had very little blood flow thru it. They then grafted bone from my hips, both lat muscles from my back, veins from my left leg, and skin from both upper thighs to rebuild the whole thing.

        It worked. Finally I could walk normally with no pain. Have had no problems with it since. Thank you, VA!

       But, I have scars in places that most people don't even realize they have places.

        10.Following that, I had had enough of trying to make ends meet working for myself. Sold out to my partner, and went to work for my friend Jack Baldwin at the new tank wash they were getting ready to open. That was in Feb. 1990, and I'm still here. I'm currently in charge of production and maintenance and I'll be here til they run me off, or I retire, whichever comes first.

        Enough of my history, here's a few about me.

        11. I am a pretty pugnacious person. I don't back down from anything or anyone. Gotten me in trouble more than once.

        12. My personality has been described as "gruff" by many, and my sense of humor as "caustic" by many more!

        13. If I call you "friend" in real life, you would be hard put to find a better one. I will be on your side, right or wrong. We'll talk about the right or wrong later, but while the shit is going down, I've got your back!

        14. We're all human and make mistakes. If you make an honest mistake with me, I'm quick to forgive.

         If you wrong me with intent to do harm, you have an enemy for life! Don't ever turn your back on me, I never forget and I never forgive.

        15. Like my good friend Dan, I love Jack Daniels! Unlike Dan, I have Jack over every now and then to rehash old times!

        16. I have a fondness for beer. Who the Hell am I kiddin'? I love beer! It is my daily bread!!

   

         Now, everyone that reads this probably knows more about me than people that have known me personally for 30 years! If you took the time to read it all, thank you!

          Time to tag!

          First, I tag five11nation, cause he tagged me first!

          Next would be my daughter Carly.

          And my son Matt.

          The rest, in no particular order are, Gloria, Keith, Angel, Hazlea, Ruby, Bill, Beth, Kathi, Cindy, Sandra, Chris, and MrsHammett!

   

   

   

         

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