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Dec 17, 2021

My hairless dog died

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Losing a pet just sucks.

Over 13 years ago, I decided I was buying a hairless dog. I’ve never really went into why, if people asked, and usually just let the question go away with “I have allergies.” (Which I do)

A B&W for a photo course. Ying was an excellent model.

The reason I had a hairless dog is my ex-husband didn’t want a dog loose in the house. Dogs shed. He kept his golden retriever in a small gated off area downstairs. It was roomy for a dog pen, but lonely. So, I fixed that problem easy, and this hairless pup I found in TX, was born on my birthday. It was fate. I needed him by my side. Ying arrived in December 2008.

I left the no-roaming-dog house 2 months later.

Ying was the one constant in my life. He went everywhere with me. If I didn’t have him, people asked where he was. I felt like Ying and I attended college together. As long as the weather was acceptable for him to hang out, he would lay around in the car, waiting for my class to end, and we would walk campus.

He was spry and one day, got away from me off the leash. There was no catching Ying. After about 5 minutes he returned with a dinner roll in his mouth. He was fast as fuck, as they say.

For a photography course project, I asked a local tattoo artist, Tom Keller, who has since passed away, if he would pretend to tattoo Ying. He was completely down for the photo shoot. It started a STORM on the internet!! Like I would have even have tried tattooing him, or that Ying would just sit and get tattooed at all.

I’m so glad I have these photos I took of him while I was taking all the photography courses. I will have to go through all the ones I printed to see how many final ones I have. I only have one out that was a final part of my grade.

Found this of Ying and Tom Keller hiding in a box.

He was my protector. In his younger days he would go into a frenzy when someone got near me. He bit a lot of people, no joke there. But, after our last move, he wasn’t nearly as over-protective. He was old. Now and then, he would chase the kitten a little bit. Or even walk fast when we were out for a stroll, headed back home, of course. But, I knew the end was getting near.

He had been up in the garden two days ago. I thought he might have gotten in compost or even cat turds. He was throwing up and had the poops. Even after he licked at the water bowl and ate a little rice, he didn’t look good last night. He couldn’t walk. He enjoyed laying outside earlier in the sun. It was a beautiful day. He didn’t seem to be in pain. I carried him into his heated bed and petted his head. I told him he was a good dog. He looked back at me and I know he could hear me, letting him know it was ok to go.

He was a great dog. I will miss him. What a history we have.

~P. RIP YING. YOU WERE A BAD ASS!!

Filed Under: Just Life, My Photography, Pets · Tagged: ,
Dec 17, 2021

Tidbits I’ve recently learned

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I talk to a crazy number of people. I’m a people person. I love them, they love me. I hear stories.

A friend recently had knee surgery. Her healing process was going well, and she was up and about in her home, getting stronger each day. Until the spider happened. A spider that made her say, “no fucking way are you gonna continue to live.” Since she was in her slippers, she wisely chose to fetch a sneaker, a sturdier killing weapon, by far.

She snuck up on that spider, giving it a hard look, with an additional, “Jesus, you are ugly” to be clear of her disapproval of the intruder. Just as she raised her rubber mallet footwear, the spider jumped at her. It wasn’t going down without a fight. She jump backwards, forgetting her crippled state, and shooting pain took the forefront. And the spider, was still alive.

She called for her son, and he arrived at her home just in time to beat the shit out of the offending spider, and to call an ambulance for his mom.

Lesson learned: Let the spider live. It’s a big house.

Another friend told me how he was chasing a suspect across a field. He could feel his pants begin to slip down the back as he ran, caused his heavy tool belt. He reached back to snatch up his pants, but wasn’t quite fast enough. His tool belt panted him mid-dash and anyone watching would have seen his cheeks snuggled in neon green boxer briefs for a flash, before he yanked them back up, without missing a step. Now that’s a pro.

Lesson learned: Take that belt in a notch.

Lastly, a friend recently failed a drug test. Not that the urine was dirty, it was clean. Heck, it wasn’t even real. But, what is wasn’t, was warm enough. Not to temp is an auto fail.

Second lesson learned: Use the prison wallet to ensure temp.

That’s enough tidbits for the day. I’ll always have more.

~P.

Filed Under: Just Life, Nonfiction · Tagged:
Jun 18, 2017

Looner Study: What I learned from liking balloons

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I did an interview with Practitioner’s TV about balloons. This YouTube channel is out of Philadelphia and came to visit me to learn about what looners are and balloon & latex fetishism, based on a paper I wrote while in York College of PA in May of 2012. I agreed to the interview because I was promised the show was to promote acceptance rather then ostracize those who love balloons. The interview will be release this Thursday, June 22, 2017.

I have never shared the results of my questionnaires with anyone other than my professor and people who submitted responses and wanted to see the final thesis paper. I decided to share the paper now that the episode was coming out so people could see the full study along with the interview and the awesome song written by Dave DeHart of They & Them. Here is the link to the song he wrote based on the interview.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2qNkOfwVLU&t=179s <—–Looner theme song written by Dave about my love for balloons.

Below are the links to my thesis paper for my professional writing class. I received a perfect score though she teased me I did miss some commas. 🙂

Complete Looner study   <—–PDF version

Complete Looner study <—–Word Doc version

Here is the link to my YouTube channel where I enjoy making videos for other people. They’re just me being silly, and blowing up balloons, and popping them. Either you’re into watching (or hearing) them or you’re not. It’s all good. I rarely make a video anymore, but I still think balloons are awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/user/girlboxer1970

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Thanks for stopping by! If you like what you read and want others to read it too, show you care and share this post. 🙂 🙂

Please write me a note in the comments about your thoughts on the results of my paper.

Here’s the episode!!

~P.

There may be other links through the balloon tags on my blog site that don’t work. I had to delete tons of photos of balloons I had because I didn’t have space. 😦

Filed Under: Balloons, College, Professional Writing Class · Tagged: , , , ,
Nov 29, 2015

A Day of Awesomeness

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Today was just awesome. My husband was baptized AND my daughter Tesla. That’s right, a twofer today, in Heaven. You know there’s a celebration going on as two more believers shared their stories of accepting Jesus as their personal savior. This year our church has had 109 come forward to be baptized. That is God working there.

The day wasn’t without drama. Tesla mentioned to her father the night before that she was getting baptized today. So this morning John called and asked Tesla if she wanted him to come along. She said yes. I know this isn’t very Christian of me, but I didn’t want to have to deal with him. Hey, I’m still working on controlling my anger towards her father. Especially now that he’s divorcing yet again and already has made a dating ad online.

His soon-to-be ex talks to me. He knows it. What’s he going to say? We can’t talk? I guess I’m her listening ear through the process. I get that.

The situation just has me sick. I tell her she will get through it and come out for the better. If I can survive and have to continue to interact with him because of Tesla, she can get through it. She has her grandson and a good job and car that she can afford. I didn’t have any of that and I came through. God, family and friends and readers who read my story, followed my life through the tough times and now the good.

I got through those toughest times by leaning on God. I prayed SO much. Sometimes I wondered if I was just wasting sleeping time. The struggle was REAL. Realizing my bad choices, my lack of ability to stand up for myself, giving into demands I shouldn’t have. It’s easy to get down on yourself. Beat yourself up over the past. Don’t fall for that. Focus on the now.

Being an example to Tesla is important to me. I try so hard to not let the issues I have become Tesla’s. She looks up to me. She knows God, Jesus and church are important to me and so, they are important to her.

I am so thankful Tesla has realized her faith so young and proud of her to come forward and tell everyone. And, I’m so thankful for my wonderful husband sharing his story. This has been a fantastic day in the name of God. We had a little celebration at home after the baptism with our family and friends and our neighbors came over and shared lunch with us. We told them about the baptism and it was awesome. Invited them to church in the future…see how that works…

Now my thoughts are focused on decorating for Christmas. I can only tackle one event/holiday at a time.

Tesla was happy her dad came to see her get baptized. I was happy there was no drama.

God is Always Good,

~P.

Filed Under: Divorce, Dreams, Family, Just Life, Religion · Tagged: , , ,
Oct 3, 2015

A MisText: Texting the Wrong Number

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I was reading my Facebook feed, catching up on my friend’s day. I came across this status update by my friend from high school, Ben Snelbaker:

My daughter got this text last night by mistake, it is so heartfelt that I had to pass it along. Im doing this in hopes that people will put her in there prayers or want to reach out and say some kind words to her. My daughter text her back and I text her for awhile, she was so overjoyed that two strangers would reach out and give her words of encouragement. I know everyone on Facebook knows someone or maybe even struggled with there own addiction. After texting her, she is depressed because she has lost everything and believes there is nobody left in this world that wont judge her for what she has done. This girl is in her early 20’s.
This is her text sent to my daughter by mistake:
” Thank you for getting me out, thank you for being the only one to ever help me like everytime before this time. I wish I could say this to you in person, but I really want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for how I screwed up I am and the horrible things ive done to you and grandpa… I was extremely selfish and ungrateful. . You guys have always given me everything, the car,the trailer, the money, clothes, shoes, school, everything. .. im very sorry that I let you down but I was always the good kid before I started doing drugs and it just completely changed me as a person and I didn’t even know who I was… I still kind of dont but im trying to figure it out and get back on the right path. I never wanna end up in jail again and I just to start proving to you guys and everyone else that I can be a decent human being. It really hurts me that I did what ive done to you guys and it bugs me more than anything else. Besides the money and everything it can buy, I want you to know that I really do love and appreciate you and everything you do for me.. I just want to show you that I can be different and worth it this time”

Everybody deserves a second chance in life, I would hate to see her going back to being an addict or even worse, dead from an overdose.
Thank you all if you read this and at least said a small prayer.

(Ben)

I’m praying for this young girl, that she stays strong and lives a better life, fixing her wrongs and hopefully finds Jesus as her savior if she hasn’t already.

If you pray, I hope you’ll join us.

~P.

Filed Under: Just Life, Religion · Tagged: , ,
Jun 4, 2015

What was Esther Schmucker doing on Mother’s Day?

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EST

Every now and then I check-in on my buddy Esther’s Facebook Page. See what she’s up to and all. It’s been pretty dry lately, no mention of what she’s been sewing or baking. I scrolled down to see if she made any type of particularly moving post on Mother’s Day because while mothers were celebrating, Esther was busy becoming a third time mom.

On Mother’s Day, Esther became mom to “Baby C” a girl, but she hasn’t mentioned her and Mirkat’s arrival yet. I’m not sure what’s she’s waiting for. I’ve known she’s pregnant, but I guess this is even more top secret than Levi having an English girlfriend and a baby girl named Lyndon. I’ve seen a picture of Lyndon. ADORABLE!!!!! But I don’t think I’ll be seeing a photo of Baby C.

So what about Esther’s other two children? Teenager “J” is in ND living with his dad who DID NOT rape Esther (I mean, would send your son to live with your former rapist?) and her daughter “A” is living with her paternal grandma.

EST2

Wow, the cameras really ought to still be on Esther. She’s living on a crazy coaster.

Will she actually raise this baby? What’s up with her and Mirkat? They together? Going to do the family thing until he decides to beat the crap out of her again? It’s a true life soap opera.

I bet she still owes people cookbooks and aprons.

LOL,

~P.

Filed Under: Amish Mafia · Tagged: , , , , ,
Jun 2, 2015

Mentoring for Jesus

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Follow Him and you can't go wrong

Follow Him and you can’t go wrong

Last night Brian and I met with the youth pastor at our church. We want to volunteer Wednesday nights with the youth group and be mentors to high school students. We both feel strongly about this, especially me, because I want to make myself available to youth who are vulnerable at this tender age.

We’re not volunteering for this position because we think we are perfect people and want youth to “follow our lead” in life. We recognize we are sinners, no different than anyone else on this planet, made in God’s image yet forever imperfect. But, I know I’ve changed. I’m not the same person I was a year ago and I know it’s because I finally found a church that helps me in my Godly walk in life. Every day is a fresh start to get things right, even though we fail daily, God’s grace saves.

Brian and I are blessed. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I’ve always had a strong faith in God but in the past year, this faith has brought changes to my life, not just the blessing of getting out of a bad marriage that I was rushed into, but the feeling of genuine love from a man who supports me for being the person I am. When I said I wanted to find a church to attend, Brian didn’t bulk, didn’t roll his eyes, and didn’t protest. He was supportive and joined me in hunting for the church that would help us grow in our faith together.

That has been the key to our success and the amazing strength in our love. God is with us every step of the way. We know the path we are meant to take, the choices we need to make. “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” Each night I pray, thanking God for the blessed life I am living and for the amazing man in my life and the church that has allowed our faith to grow. We can’t achieve purity but we can strive to be as pure as possible and pass that desire to be pleasing to God on to the youth we mentor.

Mentoring teens is tricky. They are old enough to be free thinkers so just saying “do this or do that” isn’t going to cut it. But we can share the scripture with them in hopes of making a difference. “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

It is easy to be led astray, especially as a teenager or young adult. God knows I’ve strayed in my walk, but I recognize my sins and ask for forgiveness. I don’t want to be the person I was before. I was angry on so many levels and acted out both verbally and in my writing. I lived in a relationship not once, but twice, that wasn’t pleasing to God. Those days are behind me.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” I try not to speak or write in anger, but instead refuse to be pulled into drama that will bring the old, sarcastic Pattie out of the woodwork. I want to show I can be a better, Godly person with my daily actions and not just showing up on Sundays or Wednesdays with “words” to regurgitate to the youth. The youth need role models, not mouth pieces.

I have been given the gift of everlasting life because I have faith in God and asked Jesus to be in my heart. Faith is the key because I can’t PROVE God exists, but I believe he does and is with me every step of my day. Because I believe this, I want to do the best I can to show my love and appreciation for all he has done. I came into the world with nothing, but I now have the greatest gift possible because God gave his son to release us from our sins and unworthiness.

“The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” I am so thankful for the spirit within Brian and I because not only has it brought us closer to God, it has brought us closer to each other in marriage. I have never been in such awe of how I feel. Surely God has done great things for me and now it is my turn (and Brian’s) to share how great God can be in other’s lives.

The Biblical quotes from this post are from 1 John chapter 3, a wonderful passage to read in full.

Please feel free to comment on my post or Facebook page in the ways God has touched your life.

God Bless!
~P.

Filed Under: Religion · Tagged: , ,
Apr 10, 2015

Sea Life of the Chesapeake Bay

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While taking Marine Biology with Dr. Nolan at York College of Pennsylvania, I went on the required laboratory trip to Wallops Island and Assateague Island in Virginia. We fished the Chesapeake Bay for any sea life we could catch and were lucky enough to find a variety of creatures. This was my last course at York College and a great way to wrap up my college career.

To view these photos best, click the first thumbnail and open to full size!  Thanks for stopping by!  ~P.

Filed Under: College · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 10, 2015

Beautiful Defunct Quarry~Photos

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Nestled in the woods. Not a soul around.

Empty buildings. Vandalized.

Huge concrete structures. Former ??

Enormous limestone cliffs. Danger!

Deep water. Hidden things.

Beautiful. Creepy.

~P.

I’ve heard there is a little bit of everything in this quarry. Jimmy Hoffa??

Click on the first thumbnail to open the gallery. Thanks for stopping by!

Sharing and liking is caring!

Lastly, if you know where this quarry is, please do NOT share it. Thank you.

Filed Under: Abandoned, My Photography, York PA · Tagged: , , ,
Apr 4, 2015

When Amish Mafia Ended…Heads Exploded

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It's a wrap folks.

It’s a wrap folks.

My 3 year, digging around the Amish Mafia drama, spilling it on my blog, and watching the comments flow has been wrapped up by actually being on the series last episode. Yeah, that was cool. If you didn’t see it, I will post it sometime next week. I hear it’s cut out of the episode On Demand. I haven’t confirmed that, but luckily I DVR’d the episode so Brian could watch it on Easter.

I’m only going to touch on a few things as far as the last episode.

  1. Everything I have written in my blog about Esther is true, short of me being at the foot of the bed to swear by. Information confirmed and reconfirmed, and just for the heck of it, confirmed again.
  2. Unless the actual news was involved about a character, what happened on the show was scripted.
  3. That was not Levi’s girlfriend on the final episode, or his baby. It bothered me the way she was portrayed, though it probably thrilled Julie.

So, the show was fake. Duh, I told everyone that my first post in 2013. It is re-enacted events, ie: scripted. It is said to have happened in the past and has been staged to show you on cable television.

http://girlboxer1970.com/2013/01/06/amish-mafia/ This first post got one comment, but that was just the beginning. My last got 41 comments.

And, Levi has an ENGLISH girlfriend and a baby. Hmmmm. I wrote about that too.

And, if this is the first post you’re reading that I wrote . . . you’re way behind.

See a lady named Julie told me about the baby and a ton of other stuff. I couldn’t confirm the other stuff and she wouldn’t show proof so I take it all with a grain of salt. The other thing, the girlfriend and baby, I could confirm. Then Aimee herself confirmed it by calling me, probably a year ago. Maybe more, I’m not even sure anymore.

I laid off the posts about the baby when she pretty much confirmed it by begging me not to blog about Levi’s possibly having a baby. Being the nice person I am, I dropped it. Aimee and I began talking on a regular basis. I talked to Levi also, who happened to agree to come to my hometown’s volunteer fireman’s carnival in September.  So my hometown friends that follow my blog and the show, you can meet the man at our local carnival. You’re welcome.

Levi and Aimee knew I was going blog my last post with the voice mail. Crazy how that shit blew up huh? As for both sides of it, I like Julie. She’s never done anything bad to me. I don’t think she’s crazy, I think she believes the emails were from Levi. Does she have emails? Yes. Are they REALLY from Levi? I have no idea.

What was up with the portrayal of Aimee in the show? Honestly, that blew my mind. I had a feeling they were going to really dump on Levi because I seemed to know more of what was coming up on the show then Levi. The actors see how it’s cut when you and I do. I didn’t ask Levi this, but I highly doubt he knew they hired someone to portray Aimee. I think he knew they were going to reveal Aimee and the baby existed, but not the portrayal of Aimee. If I didn’t know and like Aimee, I probably would have been flipping out on Twitter with everyone else, but instead, I was texting Aimee asking her if she was watching.

I texted her at 9:57 “No way, they put your house on tv?” (After thinking about it, I doubt that is the actual house)

She texted back “What”

Now maybe she wasn’t watching the show. Maybe, she was. I kind of got the impression she wasn’t watching until I texted her, but I really don’t know.

So now I figure for sure she was watching because I texted “wth? You’re on the show?”

She wrote back, “No that’s not me” (which I knew because I already had seen photos of her)

I wrote “Holy cow they are saying all kind of stuff about you” ( I wasn’t sure if she was really watching or just knew no one taped her for the show) “My head just exploded”

Aimee wrote back “Urs. WTH”

Me “They make you sound like a money hungry ho”

A: “This is not right”

Me: “And ‘you’ said horses are hung like Levi. LMAO”

A: “I would never talk like that”

Me: “I nearly peed my pants”

A: I never felt so disgusted

And I let it at that. Clearly, Aimee at least, didn’t see that coming. I didn’t know what was going to go down, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Though, the publicity for his new book, Amish Confidential, certainly won’t hurt. Could be that Levi kinda knew how the show would end and it was a built up to his book. I don’t know, just a guess. I’ll buy his book and get him to sign it. I’ve already heard really good things about it.

Will there be another Amish Mafia. I can only hope. My personal impression is there will be another Amish show and Mary and Merlin will be in it. Oh, and Levi too.

It’s been real. Well, what I wrote was real. As far as the show…

Haha,

~P.

Want to read every post I ever wrote about The Amish Mafia? Click this link and start on the last page. There are THREE, count them, THREE, pages of Amish Mafia drama.

http://girlboxer1970.com/category/college/professional-writing-class/amish-mafia/

Filed Under: Amish Mafia · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
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