About me...

I was born a "poor white kid" in Pennington Gap, Va. on July 4th, 1960. My mother was married, but not to my father. Obviously, I wasn't a very welcome addition to that family and was promptly put up for adoption. My soon-to-be adopted Paternal Grandmother and one of her daughters heard about me and told my soon-to-be adopted Mom and Dad about me, and presto whammo! At the ripe old age of 9 months, I got me a brand new family with good health care, food, medicine, clothes and lots of love! =)

I was raised as an only child and never understood that I was adopted until the age of 7 when one of my friends (Podo) told me about it on the playground. That was a shock, to say the least. Of course, I immediately went to my mother and asked her if this were true, and she told me that it was indeed so. Oh well... Live and learn. I went back to playing.

My father was a 'Hellfire and Brimstone' Baptist Preacher and my mother a family counselor. She mostly counseled un-wed mothers, women who had miscarrages, and women who had problems with their fidelity to their husbands. Needless to say, I learned a lot about family values at a very young age. (Which is probably why I've been married to my wife since 1985 and we're still going strong!(Knock on wood...))

I remember on several occasions my father helping people out with their drug abuse. He even would take the drugs from the addict and turn the drugs in to the police so that the addict didn't get in trouble. Sometimes it actually worked, and the addict or drug abuser became a clean person again. I can't tell you how many marriages I saw saved by my parents. They were real miracle workers. I stood in awe of their power. On the reverse side, I was lured into believing that my parents were flawless and could do no wrong. I was actually a teenager before I ever caught my father being incorrect about something. It crushed me. I think I was around 14 when this happened, and suddenly my eyes were opened to reality. It was a strange and frightening sensation. This is too emotional for me still to this day. Let's move on to something else...

Schooling... Oh yes... If only I had gone on to college...

For the first 5 years of my schooling, I attended public schools, then my parents decided that I was to go to parochial school (religion school). Man, was that a mistake. I missed out on a lot of lifes important lessons in parochial school not to mention some really good classes. So much time was spent on studying the bible and christianity, that I suffered badly on the things that really mattered, like algebra, physics, and biology. I never had a clue that I was missing out on these things until I met my wife in a physics class when I came home on HARP duty (Hometown Area Recruiter assistance Program) with the US Navy. But alas, that's another story...

In May of 1976 my father and mother decided that the time had come for my father to leave the ministry and Denver, Colorado all together. There was some drama going on in the church - I never knew (or wanted to know) what it was. So, we packed up most of our stuff and moved to Kingsport, Tennessee where my aunts and uncles lived.

Holy crap. Talk about culture shock! If anyone ever tells you that you can move from one side of the country to the other and there will be no problems for you with culture shock, just slap them. It has taken me years to learn to understand the southern way of life and culture. I'm still learning it! You see, out west, if a man tells you he is going to kick your ass, you WILL be in a fight within moments. In the south, it's just not the same. It's more of a bluff than anything, and a lot of (not all) southern people love to get diahrrea of the mouth and start talking trash at the drop of a hat. You just don't do that out west. It's liable to get you hurt or worse. But I digress. Different strokes and all that.

Anyway, after we moved to Kingsport, I continued my "lack of education" in parochial school at Tri-Cities Christian Schools. That was the first and only time I ever got a 'paddling'. That miserable little weasle of a man hit me so hard that he actually broke blood vessles in my butt cheeks and hurt one of my testicles. He only hit me once. I promptly turned around and advised him that this was not a paddling, but rather child abuse and if he hit me again, I was going to report him to the police. That put a stop to the paddling. I didn't even get suspended. They just dropped the whole thing like nothing ever happened. Cowards. Don't worry, they were about to get their revenge on me (in spades) in the next paragraph...

Next thing I remember is when we went on our Senior Trip to New Mexico. We stopped at a small shop where they had lots of indian jewelry. My "buddy", Dejuan Solomon dared me to steal some of the rings. So, like a complete idiot, I did. I made it out to the bus and we drove away. After we got down the road, I started passing out the stolen rings. (Heck I didn't want the stuff!) Naturally, I got ratted out and kicked out of school and stripped of my credits for that (my senior) year. Go figure. That's their little revenge on me. Why they didn't just turn me into the police and let it go at that, I'll never know. They just had to do as much damage as they could. I learned to hate hypocritical christians that day...

But, I was determined to graduate high school, so I enrolled at Central High School in Blountville. I breezed through the year, learning more in that ONE YEAR than all I had learned in my 4 years at Tri-Cities Christian. My wife noticed me in that year, but I never even saw her. She said I was a stack of books looking like he was going someplace that he didn't want to be. She was probably right. The following year was when I actually met her in her physics class and invited her out for the first time.

After graduating High School (with a 3.7 gpa, I might add) I decided (wait for it - here comes another bad decision!) to go into the Navy on the buddy system with my buddy Dejuan Solomon. Remember that name? Yeah. That boy is a bad influence. (Last I heard, he was on the run from the mob - God only knows why...) Anyway, we ended up getting split up in boot camp (the absolute best thing that could have happened!).

After graduating boot camp in Orlando Florida, I went to BEEP school (Basic Electricity and Electronics (I don't know why there is a P in it)) and then on to Great Lakes (Waukeegan, Ill.) for my A school in electronics. Well, guess what? I goofed off, got into drinking real hard and lost my perspective, and got myself dropped from A school and sent on to the fleet. I was stationed on the USS Fairfax County LST-1193 out of Little Creek, Va. near Norfolk. I know, the picture is of the 1191, but the 1193 looked identical to the ship below.

I mostly had a great time on the Fairfax. I got to see England, Germany, Scottland, Denmark and a few "other places", that as far as I know I still can't (and won't) talk about. That was also possibly one of the most traumatic times of my life. I saw a chinook helecopter throw a blade as it was preparing to land on the ship in front of ours in the middle of the North Atlantic. It hit the deck of that ship and slung people and people parts off into the ocean like they were little toy soldiers. It took a couple of minutes, but I eventually realized that I was screaming. I still have nightmares about that sight. Then there was the fight in the scullery. This stupid black kid with the typical black chip on his shoulder kicked my feet out from under me and I landed on my head on a piece of angle iron. I got amnesia for several hours, and a trip to the hospital ship. The VA thinks that this caused a TBI, and wants me to get disability for it.

So here's the scoop: The VA says I've got PTSD, plus a few other problems and they don't think I need to work any more. (Believe me, this isn't the kind of thing you want to hear...) So, I'm trying to get disability. I've been turned down 4 times now, and am soon to go again for another hearing. I guess we'll see what happens. Anyway, as of this writing, I am now officially a service connected disabled vereran. The first steps have been taken, thank God!

Of course, Navy life was another culture shock, and I was still in the process of adjusting to the southern way of life, and then the Navy all at the same time. It was a bad time for me, and I handled things poorly, to say the least. I ended up serving just over 2 years and got out of the Navy with a General under Honorable Discharge. Good enough so that I got my VA benefits! Yes, I served my country. Maybe not for 20 years, but for two years of my life, I belonged to the U.S. Government, and if my life had been required to serve this great country, then I would have offered it up in an instant! You see, I love the U.S.A. and am proud of her. She isn't perfect, but neither am I.

I'm also a Pistol-Packing staunch Republican. So, if you happen to have a liberal bone in your body, just stay the hell away from me (us)!

My wife (Robin - KJ4NAW above (Also a staunch Republican)) and I got married (by my dad, no less) on June 14th, 1985 and had our daughter Christy (below) on November 1st, 1988. She is the absolute light of our lives. Where she got those gorgeous looks from, I'll never know... =)

Christy has put herself through college, is married to a good man (Hunter Williams) and has a wonderful life. I'm proud of her and happy for her. She is doing the same thing my mother did, incidentally - Family Counseling.

I've had a few jobs over the years. Everything from working as a clerk at a convenience store to an Assistant Manager at RadioShack 4935 for 7 years, to working on computers at Business Information Systems for 4 years (where I got my A+ certification) to being a Contract Computer Tech and then working at Advance Auto Parts for a couple of years. Now, I'm something resembling a stay-at-home house husband. My wife Robin is a RN (with Chemo certification) at Holston Valley Hospital and Medical Center. I'm very proud of my wife. She struggled for 7 years with working at Arbys, taking care of the house (and me) and going to college to get her Bachelors degree. Now, she is set for life. I'm so proud of her! Did I mention that before?

I hope this little trip down memory lane with me has enlightened you about me, somewhat. I know it is good for me to get things out and write them down. I just hope and pray that you never send your kids to parochial school or allow them to hang around with others that are a bad influence on them. I admit it. I made my mistakes and it was all my fault, but my biggest mistake was trying to please my friend(s). Don't ever break the law just to impress someone. It isn't worth it and you will get caught and the punishment is never worth it.

By the way, I just have to post a picture of my little dog Bear. Bear passed away on Feburary 3, 2012. We took him to the vet because he had blood in his stool, and after blood tests we found out that his blood sugar was over 700 and he should have been in a coma. There were other things that the vet said were wrong and recommended that we put him to sleep. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to endure. But I know that sweet little pup will be waiting for me at the Pearly Gates when God calls me home someday. But until then, I weep for him. He always knew when I was about to have a panic attack and would jump up in my lap and say 'It's OKAY daddy! I'm here for you, and everything is alright!'... I'd always calm down and everything would be alright... He was just about the best friend I ever had and I will never forget him or stop missing him. I love you, Bear Bear! You are in my heart forever!

I can't show you my favorite puppy without showing you my favorite kitty. His name is Bo-Bo. He is thouroughly convinced of his personal leadership in my life and I don't dare make a decision without first seeking his council. He is sweet and loving and comes to be petted when I whistle for him. He doesn't mind the dogs too much, but he does keep them in their places when things get out of hand. Dear Lord, how I do love the American Tabby. They are just Awesome! (And they know it!) Bo is just one of 4 cats that share their home with us.

Bo-Bo

You can also read more about me on my QRZ bio for information about how I got my licenses and some other stuff if you are interested. I put a link at the top of this page on the left for your convenience.

As a side note, just before Christmas 2011, I got caught by the local newspaper at being a volunteer... I was helping load all the boxes for the Santa Train which runs from Kentucky back down here to Kingsport, Tn. Anyways, here's the picture:

73's and God Bless,

Earl de N4ZFA

Did I mention HRD before? It's the shiznit!

Below are the last 2 images I received on Digital Slow-Scan...