Parker's Pad

[Parker]

I dont know why it shocks me so much to see people openly wish violence or harm onto people with whom they disagree, but it shocks me every time.

I dont want to align myself with any person or organization who does, condones, or thinks this behavior is ok - I would rather spend my energy on positive things, people, and organizations.

I've seen this behavior across the board, from all walks of life, from Conservatives to Liberals, from LGBT to anti-LGBT, from pro-choice to pro-life, and everything in between.

Most recently, I saw a post on my FB from a rescue I work with talking about a dog who broke her leg when she fell out of a truck. She recently had puppies and while the owners wanted to keep the puppies, the took the dog with the broken leg to the vet to be euthanized. The rescue I work with was looking for a foster home so they could work on getting the dog transported up here (WA) from CA.

Almost immediately, the comments went to a violent place with people making threats against the owners and wishing violence and horrible things upon these people.

Now, of course I disagree vehemently with euthanizing a dog just for a broken leg and I think the owners are idiots for (a) having their dog in such a position that she could fall out of a truck like that and (b) for wanting to euthanize a dog with something that can be fixed; but we know nothing about these people, their money situation, or how they came to the conclusion to euthanize the dog.

One would think that maybe instead of threatening these people, wishing harm upon them, or even committing violence against them, we would educate them and others on how to best handle a situation such as that.

I am pretty poor and if something catastrophic happened to one of my dogs, it would be very very difficult for me to afford a vet bill and I would do everything in my power to make sure my dogs got the care that they needed; but in the mean time, I do my best to keep them out of harm's way so that the possibility of their getting injured like that is lower.

But again ... to wish violence on someone just because they dont know what else to do? Get angry with them, make a passionate plea to them, maybe even help them financially if you can, and above all, educate them; but violence?

What kind of world is this where our first instinct is to wish harm on those with whom we disagree?

[Parker]

My Formosan Mountain Dog, Jack has started freaking out in the back yard on the sunnier, warmer days - he runs around in circles around this pile of dirt and rocks the handyman left behind when it started raining again - he also tries to get the other dogs to run with him &/or chase him (Zeke is the red dog, Harley is the tan one), and he barks and smiles like a mad dog.

He didnt do it for very long yesterday, but I was outside when he did it so I was able to catch him on camera - even on a day like today when I am feeling a little melancholy, that boy can still make my heart smile .....

[gaea]

Originally Posted by Parker

My Formosan Mountain Dog, Jack has started freaking out in the back yard on the sunnier, warmer days - he runs around in circles around this pile of dirt and rocks the handyman left behind when it started raining again - he also tries to get the other dogs to run with him &/or chase him (Zeke is the red dog, Harley is the tan one), and he barks and smiles like a mad dog.

He didnt do it for very long yesterday, but I was outside when he did it so I was able to catch him on camera - even on a day like today when I am feeling a little melancholy, that boy can still make my heart smile .....

that video was adorable.

[Parker]

Unfortunately, he will not be that adorable when you and Bear meet him - most likely, he will fear-poop and run away.

It will probably only be funny to me. lol

Just remember, the trick to getting him to come to you is to call Zeke over - where ever Zeke goes, Jack will surely follow.

[gaea]

Originally Posted by Parker

Unfortunately, he will not be that adorable when you and Bear meet him - most likely, he will fear-poop and run away.

It will probably only be funny to me. lol

Just remember, the trick to getting him to come to you is to call Zeke over - where ever Zeke goes, Jack will surely follow.

ok then I will remember that. , i haven't met a dog yet that wasn't comfortable with me.

My friend Lori has a female pit that she claimed the pit wouldn't let anyone near her, posh that girl was rubbing up on me and laid at my feet within ten minutes of meeting her...Lori said "I don't know how you do that".

[Parker]

Hopefully, it will be that way here - Zeke likes everyone so he wont be a problem - Harley is an old, cranky, protective bitch, so when you first meet her, she will have on her muzzle, just to be safe - but once you two have met and she sees you're ok, she will be a-ok for the rest of your visit.

But I fully expect my Taiwan boys to run away and try to hide; poor babies may have been with me for almost 2 years but before that, they were in hell and are still leery of humans.

Max is better with people than other dogs, but I am hoping he finds a friend in Bear because they can be small together in this house of crazy.



(from left: Zeke, Max, Jack, and Harley)

[gaea]

I think they will be ok here is a couple of pics with Bear and her best friend who is a great pyranese

this cracks me up every time




my friend was checking my breaks which yay they didn't need changed

[Parker]

A story ....

Feeding my Taiwan puppy, Jack in the morning is easy because I went back to feeding him the refrigerated food roll once a day since he refused to eat the crunchy food twice a day - some days, he wouldnt eat at all, so I had no choice because he is a skinny little puppy.

Anyway, now he eats his morning meal with his doggie prozac and he gobbles it down in a couple minutes - but in the evening, when I put out the crunchy food, it is on. lol

Sometimes, he needs me to be in the room with him, sometimes he needs me to be away from the room, sometimes he needs it quiet in the house, sometimes not - the night before last, he sat in here for a couple of hours, refusing to eat until finally it was time for bed and I put the food away - and when I came in here, he was shaking so uncontrollably, it was pathetic. Last night, he laid down on the floor for over an hour - I called out to him from the living room to put that food in his belly and a few minutes later, he got up and started eating it.

This boy, I swear. He reminds me of me when I was a kid and my mom served us cooked beets for dinner. I hated beets (I think I was the only one though - everyone else loved them) and refused to eat them - she and dad said I would sit there until I ate the beets.

Well, I ate everything off of my plate except the beets, I just left them there and sat there with them on the plate in front of me. mom, dad, Julie, and Bill all finished their dinner - Julie and Bill were excused from the table and they went with dad into the living room to watch TV.

Still, I sat there with those beets on my otherwise empty plate while my mom cleared the table and did the dishes. She finished the dishes, wiped down the table around me, put the runner and centerpiece back on the table, turned off the lights and went into the living room, leaving me sitting there in the dark with my plate of beets.

Eventually - and I have no idea how long this was but in my memory and to my child's mind, it felt like hours went by - mom and dad sent me to bed as the plate of beets still sat there on the table.

What a frustratingly stubborn kid I was - I cant imagine having to deal with me as a parent, lol - but dealing with this picky, stubborn, anxious puppy at least gives me a hint. ;o)

[Parker]

Pride was so much fun this year. My friend, Michele missed it last year and she decided that come hell or high water, she was making the drive in her trike up from SE Washington to ride in the parade with me. She isnt gay, she's an ally, but no one seems to care if you are woman, man, gay, straight, or bi when it comes to riding with the Dykes on Bikes - if you have a bike and love Gay Pride, come on and ride with us. lol

Since it rained pretty hard on Friday, Michele drove up on Saturday, but it rained even harder on her drive up - she said there was rain, high winds, and some hail - and at one point, she had to pull over!

She also had some bike issues - her heater went out, her gear shift didnt want to work, and eventually, when she was in Seattle, her trike overheated to the point that I had to bring her some water - even though she had no clue where she was ... that was an adventure.

Her husband was worried that he hadnt heard from her since her road trouble, so he called and when she told him she overheated and her radiator was tapped out, he was concerned enough to make the 4hr trip out here to look at and fix her bike. Turned out, it was a blown fuse that just needed replacing. He spent the night and left Sunday morning.

So with Michele's trike in running order, all that was left was the weather - and just like last year, the Seattle skies decided that instead of opening up and pouring rain on all of us, it would instead push the clouds aside and let the sun peek through for a few hours.

We got there early enough to talk to a few people, wipe our bikes down, chill out before the start of the parade, etc. At one point, this woman (she is right behind me in the first pic below) walked up to me and asked me how long I'd been doing this. I told her 3yrs and she then asked what color my bike was ..... um, blue. She told me I was supposed to say something like cobalt blue, so I told her it was cobalt blue; and when she asked me my bike's name, I told her "for sale."

The DOB ride was wonderful - I knew it very well could be my last, so I rode slowly while all the crotch rockets zoomed on by and lapped me a few times lol. I gave high-fives to the crowd and found my friend Alan so I could toss him my Pride necklace again this year - and he took a couple of good pics of me. Towards the end of the ride, I kept seeing this woman - a tall butch with salt-n-pepper hair who was so excited to see us all. So when I lapped around for the 2nd to last time (I snuck in one more circle before going off to park), I grabbed my other Pride necklace, pointed to her as I drove towards her and tossed her the "beads" - she was so happy and it was so freaking awesome.

After the ride, we watched part of the parade and then left to go get a couple of Jimmy John's subs since she had never had one (they are SO much better than Subway, seriously). Then we went back to my house and took naps bc we are old and that evening, we went to a restaurant that we both thought might be interesting - the Celtic Bayou - which serves both Cajun and Irish cuisine. It was good.

The coolest thing is that I not only remembered my helmet cam this year - as well as the batteries and memory card to go with it (I forgot the card last year lol) - I was able to set it to record while it was strapped onto my headlight, so it caught the whole Dykes on Bikes ride from the rider's POV - save for the last 30 seconds or so when we all pulled around the corner and parked near the festival entrance.

Below are a couple of pics of me, a couple of Michele in her trike, and the whole 45 minute video of my ride - but feel free to skip the first 3 minutes because we are all just sitting there, honking our horns and revving our engines as we wait to get started during that time.

Oh - I try to look a little different each year - 2 years ago, I wore a fedora type hat, last year was my ball cap (CUBS!) and this year was my ball cap backwards. I am also wearing a shirt Michele got for me at Portland Pride last weekend (she took some LGBT youth from her area) - it says Veterans for Human Rights (VfHR.org).

[deb0670]

i understand about the name.. Deborah is mine too.. except when i was a kid i hated it. Anyone outside of my family call me that they wanted a fight on their hands. Now that i am older, i do not mind it, however, unlike You, when i introduce myself to anyone it is always, "Hiya i'm Debbie".
I have thought about changing my name many times... not cause of me being Butch( far from lol), but just cause every mom's aunt's cousin's neighbor is named Deborah, Debra or Debbie... ugh..
I applaud You for choosing a name(s) that fit You and help You be more "You".

Maybe one day i will have that courage.

[Parker]

So for Christmas, I got 4 of my nieces and nephews Kiva cards so they could create an account and find a person to whom they wanted to give a microloan. I thought that would be a nice gift for them so they could feel good about helping someone else to fulfill their dreams of taking care of themselves and their families.

I also went back to Wolf Haven Int'l to adopt wolves for my other 6 nieces and nephews. Wolves hold a special place in my heart and they are endangered so the kids get to know that they are helping to care for and protect an endangered species - an animal for which I care very much.

I got the Kiva cards last month and was set to get the wolf adoptions this month (I couldnt afford to do it all in one month); and I cant believe how fast Wolf Haven Int'l sent me the wolf adoption photos and bios - I went online and did all of the wolf adoptions on Tuesday night and yesterday, a large envelope with all of the wolf pics, bios, and adoption info was dropped on my porch - so fast!

Now all I have to do is write out the cards to go with the wolf stuff, then I can drop it all in the mail to my parents in PA - I asked mom if they would be cool with handing my gifts out to the kids on Christmas or Christmas Eve or whenever their tradition is now. I feel badly that I cant be there - everyone is headed to PA for the holidays and I am the only family member who wont be there - but at least my gifts will be there on time and given to them by their grandparents.