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One Leg
08-01-2010, 11:05
If anyone is still around who remembers me, I apologize for my slothfulness in not participating on the WB forums in such a very long time.

As a means of updating y'all on the happenings in my life, I'll start with my indisputable better-half, Leisa. Some of you may recall her as being a tad on the "large" side. Well, in August of 2008, she underwent Gastric Bypass surgery, and now that we're at the 2-year mark post-op, she's consistently maintained her weight loss. She now weighs in the neighborhood of 140-150. (She now weighs exactly HALF of what she used to weigh prior to the surgery.) I am so very proud of her. We recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary.

Tyler (M & M on the trail) recently returned from his first Iraq deployment, and is enjoying his time back home. He will soon embark on his collegiate journey, hoping to earn a degree in Criminal Justice. His heart's desire is to become a federal law enforcement officer. I'm really PROUD of him.

As for myself, I haven't walked since May of 2009. I was involved in an accident that came within a cat hair of claiming my life. I was operating my '72 H-D Sportster, minding my own business, when a local lady drifted over the center line, hitting me head-on. That event landed me in ICU at U.T Hospital in Knoxville for 11 days. The result was 32 broken bones - the majority of which were in my pelvis. (When she hit me, I was launched over the handle bars, my head struck her wind shield, which knocked me out. My body flew over her minivan, landing in a standing position behind her van - my prosthetic leg hit the ground first, driving the prosthetic socket up and into my pelvis, shattering every solid bone in its way.) I cannot complain, though. God's been good to this old country boy.

I am looking for someone who has above-average writing ability, and would like to co-author a book with me about my life and my hike. For so long now, people have been relentlessly asking me about my book and when it will be out.... I feel that enough time has passed now where I can now devote the necessary time in getting this book from the planning stages to bringing it into reality. But I cannot do it alone - I need help. If there are any interested individuals out there who are interested, please email me....

I trust and hope that all of my old friends on here are well, and it would thrill my soul beyond measure to hear from you.

Y'all take care, and do please let me hear from you sometime.

Yours,
Scotty Rogers aka "One Leg"

SGT Rock
08-01-2010, 14:17
Good to hear from you again Scott, last time I saw you Leisa was still in the hospital. Good to hear she is doing much better. Wild to hear about your accident, you seem to find bad luck all the time. You should have called me when you were at UT brother.

Glad to hear about Tyler, tell him thanks for serving and welcome home for me. I've wondered what he was going to decide to do.

How is Hannah doing in school?

grayfox
08-01-2010, 14:36
Scott, I have not met you yet but I am happy to hear an optimistic note in your post.

I think that God only sends trials of great import to those he knows will appreciate the experience and put it to good use.

After my own 'trial by fire', nothing close to yours by the way, I wrote a small book because I thought I would like to leave something for my friends and family when I died--still here happy to say. I would like to send you a copy-maybe you could PM me an address.

The best lesson for me was to know the importance of today.

Grayfox

One Leg
08-01-2010, 16:49
Rock:

Hannah's doing very remarkably well in school. She's taking the route less traveled as far as obtaining her RN degree: She is first going to become an EMT - following in her old man's footstep. (I was an Atlanta Medic for 12 years.)

She's more than likely taking a semester off in order to travel down to Ga with Leisa - Leisa's sister in law has terminal cancer, and they've worn out I-75 between here an Warner Robins. It's a very sad time, as Judy has been the family matriarch for a very long time. I'm hoping that if a miracle isn't in the works, then mercy will take its place, and she'll pass easily and as painlessly as possible.

There's an upside to the motorcycle wreck: I traded my trashed Sportster for a mint-condition 1959 Allstate Scooter (made by Vespa) - a "safer" form of 2-wheeling. You gotta see it - it's schweet, AND, I ain't gotta have both legs to ride it, LOL.

You've got my number(s) - let me hear from you sometime.

Scotty

P.S. Grayfox: Shoot me a PM regarding your short book - I'd love to read it!!

Mother Nature
08-01-2010, 18:22
Scott! What a treat to see you online here. I don't stop by WB very often these days myself and was glad I spotted your family update.

Smokestack and I are still plugging along on the trail. We have Franconia Notch, NH to the Big K left to do.

So proud of everyone in your family but in particular Leisa and Tyler.

Very glad you are addressing that book! The section you have already written is very good!

Take care!

MN

Anumber1
08-01-2010, 19:16
I'm sure you do not remember, but just wanted to say thanks for the lift last year from Fontana Lake to the general store. It's rare to be able to go back and thank the random people who gave me lifts around the trail.
You were and continue to be an inspiration, really looking forward to the book.

One Leg
08-01-2010, 19:59
Sue (Mother Nature): What an awesome treat to see you on here!!! When you and Pete get back to God's Country, give me a call, as I would love to trek down to North Ga and visit you guys (overnight? It'd just be me and one of the boys.)

Anumber1: It was an honor to be able to shuttle you and your friends... I'm actually surprised that you remember me (sheepish grin)..

It feels so awesome to be back "home" here at White Blaze.

Rock, are there any WB tee's still available?? (The ones with "Leave No Trace" on the back) I've worn mine completely out.... Can you help me?

Also, I am going to try to get a photo on here of the tattoo that I finally caved in and got.... When I post the photo, I'll also post a thorough description of it, and the story behind it.... It's worth the wait, I promise you that!

Scotty

One Leg
08-01-2010, 21:35
Tattoo pic is now posted. Please let me know what you think.....

Shadowmoss
08-01-2010, 23:03
Cool tat. Was it painful to get one that large? Obviously I have yet to take the plunge and get mine.

One Leg
08-01-2010, 23:58
Cool tat. Was it painful to get one that large? Obviously I have yet to take the plunge and get mine.

It hurt like a mother!!!!! I had to have it done in 2 sessions. The lower he went on my stump, the more painful it became. If you look at the anniversary dates, you'll note that the year "1990" is drastically lighter in shade than the rest of it. This was due to the artist hitting some nerves, and I could not tolerate it at all.

I didn't get one just for the sake of being able to say that I have a tattoo... I had one designed that had very strong meaning behind it - one that tells a story.

Of particular interest, the writing that you see underneath the tree stump is my own handwriting. The artist was so good that he took one look at what I'd written down on the paper, and he made it appear as though I did it myself.

I am to go back to him, and when I do, I am going to discuss the possibility of having the year darkened in some, and possibly the addition of some colors. However, and this is being very biased, I think it looks good enough as it is.

-Scotty

Mother Nature
08-02-2010, 06:15
Sue (Mother Nature): What an awesome treat to see you on here!!! When you and Pete get back to God's Country, give me a call, as I would love to trek down to North Ga and visit you guys (overnight? It'd just be me and one of the boys.)


Scotty

Scott,

You are more than welcome to come for the night. SOON! It would be great. We have a small problem at the moment with our guest bedroom. It is in the basement and last Friday night the hot water heater ruptured flooding the entire basement. THANK GOD we were back from hiking in NH. If we had decided to press on and do more trail we would have had a swimming pool down there. The carpet has been ripped out and Pete is going to tile it this time.

How are you getting around these days? You mentioned you haven't walked; crutches or wheelchair? As you know our cabin has many floors not to mention that seven step drop to the front door.

If I have to I'll carry you on my back inside. LOL

Big Dawg
08-02-2010, 09:49
Welcome back brother!!

Shadowmoss
08-02-2010, 23:56
Still waiting on the story of the tat.

One Leg
08-03-2010, 01:29
Still waiting on the story of the tat.

The original story behind the tattoo stems from the asinine "Beavis & Butthead" cartoon about their getting a tattoo of a "butt on my butt".

That spawned the inside joke of my getting a tattoo of a tree stump on my stump.

My oldest (Tyler) returned from basic training and AIT with "tattoos out the wazoo", which didn't exactly set too well with his mother and I. (I'm not one for getting a tat just for the sake of having one.... I'd always said that if I were to get one, that I'd have one designed with deep meaning behind it.)

Fast fwd to Mid-April. Tyler comes home from Iraq on a 2 week leave, surprising his baby brother for his birthday. (He turned 5 - he and Tyler are more like father/son than they are brothers)

As I was saying goodbye to Tyler at the airport, he yelled back at me "Hey Dad, you need to go to "TATTOO ADDICTION" in Morristown for your early father's day gift. You're all the time losing stuff, so I decided to get you something that you can't possibly lose no matter how hard you try."

Initially, I said "Not only no, but heyell no!" -- But then, I started seriously thinking about it.... A tattoo with meaning, hmm... What should I get?

Well, the 'stump on stump' was a given... But, I wanted it to 'say' so much more than 'here's a one legged dude with a sense of humor.'

I sat down with pencil & paper, sketched out the tree stump, and the next natural thing, seemed to me anyway, was to sketch the White Blaze on there somewhere. Then, I figured that since the stump was hollowed out, the most natural thing to emerge from a hollowed out stump was a venomous snake - and, since that was the reason why I had that shotgun back in '98 that claimed my leg, then I decided that the snake was gonna look perfect..... And, what good is a snake without a gun - so I sketched out the .12 gauge double barrel "coach gun" that I had with me in '98 and drew it where it was propped up against the tree stump....

So, the tattoo really does have some deep meaning for me. In a small way, it tells so many stories - stories that I've lived/survived through.

Now, here's the one thing about all of this that I still fail to understand - when Tyler got home and saw what it looked like, then he had to have one just like it, so he went and had Dan ink one nearly identical to it on his thigh. Just plain weird if you ask me, but then again, this IS Tyler we're talking about too.

When he got home and compared his tat with mine, he was pissed.... His didn't come out looking half as good as mine did. He couldn't figure out why that was, until I explained it to him:

I am a complete and total wuss when it comes to pain... You'd think that someone who'd been shot by a .12 gauge shotgun (loaded with buckshot, no less) wouldn't have a problem with a tattoo needle - but I did!!! You see, when they amputated, they took all of the raw nerves, pulled them out as though they were a rubber band, snipped them with the surgical scissors and let them go back up into the stump. The result is that I have some mega-excruciating "phantom pain" (it's really nerve pain to the highest degree). When Dan started inking the tree stump, I had him stop really fast and told him that I would have to reschedule for another day, as I could not tolerate the pain.

As a means of overcoming that major obstacle, I obtained some of those "special hiker cigarettes that help you go up hills faster", which GREATLY aided me in coping with the needle at the second appointment. As a result of my 'great tolerance', Dan opted to free-hand instead of inking the outer border and coloring within the lines. The finished result resembles an airbrushed painting, because that is what it is - he airbrushed everything on, save the names and dates at the bottom. (The special hiker cigarettes wore off as he was inking in the "1990", which explains why those numbers are markedly lighter than the rest of the numbers/letters.)

So that, in a large nutshell, is the story behind the one and only tat that I'll ever have.

(Did you see the photo of the tat? If so, what did you think?)

Scotty

SGT Rock
08-03-2010, 10:42
That is a cool story Scott. Thanks for sharing. It will be something to treasure between you and Tyler.

Rain Man
08-03-2010, 14:23
Hey Scott! Welcome back. Just ran across this thread. Good to hear what's going on, well, some of it anyway. Your family always seems so upbeat, grateful, loving, and happy to be together and alive.

Best to everyone and good luck with the book. I'll be looking forward to reading it and adding it to my AT library!

Rain:sunMan

.

Lilred
08-03-2010, 16:52
Well I'll be damned!! Hi Scott. It is so great to hear from you again. Tell Leisa congrats for me on the weight loss. That is so Fantastic!!!! And Tyler back and going to college. Where does the time go??? If you're ever in the Nashville area, your room is still available, anytime!

Michael got his criminal justice degree from UT Martin, but can't find a job anywhere. If openings come up in some city, 100 people are applying, it's crazy. He's going back to Vol State to get his RN degree.

My Tyler is in a flux right now, not sure what he wants to do, so he's working full time till he figures it out. Both still at home. They still remember how you freaked them out with your leg, lol.

Mick is doing great, still playing for John Conlee. Remember what a Beatle fan he is? He met and got Paul McCartney's autograph the other week when he played in Nashville.

I'm still teaching, 5th grade now. Not hiking as much though. We got into vintage travel trailers and are having a ball with that.

Tell Leisa and the kids hi for us. We miss you guys!!! You're welcome out here anytime, our casa is you casa, or something like that.

One Leg
08-03-2010, 20:34
Mary!!! Man, this is like a family reunion (or something like that, haha)...

Vintage travel trailers, eh? I currently have a 1951 10 FOOT LONG trailer, and a 1963 SCOTTY 13 footer. I absolutely love 'em.

So Mick finally got to meet Sir Paul?? Man, I'm jealous!

I am gonna have to just make the time to come out that way and see y'all... I ain't even seen your new house yet.

Rain Man - good to see you as well. I hope that all's well there with you and yours.

Mother Nature: You asked me how I was getting around - I wasn't intentionally side-stepping that question, I just didn't see it until I'd already covered your other question/comment.... I am presently using my wheelchair, but only because my arm crutches are so worn out that they literally fell apart while I was at someone's yard sale. They thought that they'd done something, and felt so bad that they tried to give me everything they were selling. It wasn't until I had to forcefully tell them that the crutches were already on their last leg long before I stopped at their yard sale did they finally back off. I am gonna have to get me another pair, and fast.... Living life "at fart level" is for the birds.... I'd not mind it too terrible bad if I didn't have other options available, but I do, and I ain't got to sit in a chair full time..... So, I'll be getting me a pair of replacements very soon.

Dang, it's good to see all of y'all again!!!

Love,
Scotty