Mom

 I have not been around here in a bit. On 29 December 2021, my mother passed away. It has hit me a lot harder than expected. Because of my own health issues, I really don't have much to occupy my mind so I just focus on it, and of course that makes it worse. 

My mom Bobbie in 1988

She had been in ill health for the better part of a decade. She had been in the hospital because she had just had surgery done on her elbow. She started doing physical therapy and her heart simply stopped beating they revived her and she spent two weeks in ICU then she regained consciousness. For a week I talked to her on the phone, unfortunately, I could not go see her because I had pneumonia and did not want to give it to her. She called me on the evening of the 28th and we talked for a bit. She was in pain and I did my best to calm her. The next morning I got a call from my aunt and she said that her heart quit again, once again they revived her. My aunt then informed the hospital of the DNR that my mom had so they agreed that it would be the last time that they revive her. A few minutes later she went to Heaven. I got to talk to her and about 8 hours later I was asked to write her obituary and was elected to make her urn. Here is her obituary:

Bobbie Ruth Dewitt-Riley was born on 17 December 1952 in Seminole Oklahoma. She is survived by her children Rick Scott, Kim Riley-Klever, April Dewitt, Betty Scott, Ralph Riley and Aaron Scott, Desiree Stidd-Scott, her sisters Lou Dewitt-Smith, Judy Dewitt- Robison, Iona Scott- Bell, her grandchildren Robby Dewitt, Holly Scott, Paul Scott, Haley Scott, Derick Wright Chris Scott, Troy Scott, Dakota Scott, Faith Scott, Brittany Klever-Enyeart, Jessica Riley, Cody Riley, Emma Riley, Hannah Riley, and great-grandchildren Autumn Mullinex, Bradon Davis, Luke Linsey, Jacob, Layla Wright, Drake Wright, Zoey Riley, Mackenzie Riley, Cami Riley, Kayden Scott, and numerous nieces and nephews.

She is proceeded in death by mother Birtha Butler- Scott, father Theodore Dewitt, sister Lavada Dewitt-Rose, brother James Scott, Granddaughter Lula Pearl Scott, Husband J.D. Riley and son Jay Riley.

Bobbie enjoyed spending time with her family and she also loved to go camping and fishing. She lived her life in her hometown of Clayton Ok, and then in Midwest City, OK

She passed away on 29 December 2021 in Oklahoma City, OK

How do you put into a few words the life of someone that meant so much to so many people? 

I will soon get back to my life and this blog but for now I need to take a break to reflect. 

Oklahoma Sunset 13 Oct 2021

 We had a bunch of tornado-producing storms last night and I guess that they influenced the sunset. So I had to get a few pics. 

Both pics were taken with the same camera from the same spot and were about 5-10 seconds in between. The sunset was changing really fast. 

Kilo Five Aaron The Great

     Hello everyone and welcome to the greatest blog ever put together in the history of humanity. Not buying that uh? Ok then welcome to my blog which is the greatest blog ever put together on this side of Turner Dr in Midwest City. I'm assuming that since it is probably the only blog done by anyone on this side of my street. Now let me introduce myself. My name is Ed but I go by Aaron for short. 

    I have been doing one blog or another since I got my amateur radio license in 2013 and I decided to start a new one with a clean slate, and with a custom domain, www.k5atg.com! I'm official now. 

    To be honest I was never really interested in ham radio. My love had always been astronomy. I saved up for over a decade, I got the telescope of my dreams and life was good. Then along came 2010 and I found out that I had damaged my back (bone spurs in my spinal cord, spinal stenosis, bulging disk, herniated disk) So hauling around my 150 lb telescope was out of the question. Eventually, I had surgery done on my lower back, and the surgeon discovered the damage to my spinal cord and sciatica nerve was a lot more than had been expected. Worse of all, it could not be repaired. So I fought it like hell until 2016 and I was forced to stop working and go on disability. 

    In 2013 my mother-in-law asked me if I would take a ham radio class with her. She had tried several times in the past but life had always gotten in the way and she had to stop the classes. She was hoping that I would keep her motivated and she would complete the class and get her ham radio license. We both completed the class and she became KF5VBU and I became KF5VBV. 

    In 2014 I upgraded to the General Class. I took a gamble on my call sign when I upgraded by requesting a new call sign. I got one that sucked KG5EYK. Enough said about that call sign. A new vanity call sign was a must-have now. My wife and kids agreed that my new call sign shall be K5ATG. My initials are EAS so how did we come up with ATG? Good story. 

    Back in the late 1990s my wife and I were walking around in a mall when one of those survey people came up and wanted me to take a survey. I didn't want to but the wife said I would when she heard that we could win something. I don't even remember what I could have won. My argument was that they would sell my information and we would be hammered by junk mail and credit card approvals. Mr. Survey dude said that they never sell information or the people that do the surveys. It would never ever happen. Yeah freaking right. 

    I did the damn survey but I added my own twist. Instead of using my actual name, I use one of my own creation. For the first name I put in Aaron and for the last name, I used The Great. I became Aaron The Great. I showed my wife what I had done and for some reason, she was not as amused. 

    We forgot all about it and about a month later my wife was checking the mail and all of a sudden she started yelling at me and started throwing envelopes at me. Yup Aaron The Great got approved for a Visa and American Express. Within a month, there were approvals for new car loans (I wasn't even working at the time 😁) coupons, and about a hundred charities wanting money. The icing on the cake was I started getting hundreds and hundreds of free address labels for Aaron the Great. I never got any of those using my real name. I used the name, Aaron the Great just that one time for that survey that would never sell my information. A decade and a half later I was still getting mail addressed to Aaron the Great. When I was applying for a new vanity call sign my initials were already taken so it was decided that since Aaron the Great got more mail at my house than I did, my call sign should be K5ATG for Kilo Five Aaron The Great. 

    At this time I have been hamming it up since 2013. When I was able to get an HF radio I decided to get an Elecraft K2. I picked the K2 because others who had one simply loved it and if they ever sold it, they regretted selling it from day one. Also, I was new into HF and did not want to buy a radio that came fully loaded with all of the bells and whistles when I did not know how to use all of those bells and whistles. Why buy options that I would never use. 

    I started out my adventures into the HF bands doing only QRP. They say don't do that, but that is what I did and I do not regret it one bit. 

    Well, that is my story and I'm sticking to it. If you would like updates as I stumble along, then please subscribe. Feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below. You can contact me via email at Aaron@K5ATG.com

'72

Aaron K5ATG