Flight to vet is free…

Which is nice. But we do have to pay for the return flight.

Stripey got booked onto this morning’s Petersburg to Juneau flight as live animal cargo. Elise borrowed a small kennel (and a very nice one at that) from a co-worker.

Thinking about the whole thing, it is never good that something like this happens, but it was good that it did when it did. The vet just came into town, and this was before the airport closure. If it had happened later this month or next month, Stripey would have had to ferry over to Wrangell, and then fly to Juneau.

And in weather news, we are getting lots of snow again. Temperature is in the high teens.

Kitty Saga continues

The blood work results came back and the vet here suspects an obstruction. That means Stripey needs to go to Juneau for surgery. This is going to be one expensive, mongrel kitty.

It was too late to send him out on today’s flight, so he will be going out on tomorrow’s flight.

In other news, winter is back with temps this morning in the single digits again. We’ve had quite a number of sunny, clear, and cold days over the last month. Lots of people are waiting for spring to arrive.

Kitty Blood Tests

There was no callback from the message I left at the vet, so after I took Shelley to her piano lesson, I drove over to the vet’s office and stopped in to make an appointment.

Elise took Stripey in for tests. The good news is that the tests for some of the worst kinds of feline viral diseases came back negative. The bad news is that Stripey is still sick and the blood had to be sent out to a lab in Everett, WA. Total cost: about $260. The lab results won’t come back until next week.

There’s not much else to do but wait and hope that things don’t suddenly take a turn for the worse.

Our cat, Stripey, is sick

Yes, a sad bit of news. For probably about a week (maybe more, it’s hard to tell) Stripey has been coughing up greenish stuff. Since he’s always been one to chew on odd things and throw stuff up, we didn’t think much of it. But tonight we all noticed how much weight he has lost. Apparently whatever is his illness, he hasn’t been eating.

I did a quick web search of some feline diseases that could have these symptoms, and it ranges from fairly benign to “your cat won’t make it” severity. I hope it’s the former and not the latter…

I called up the veterinarian’s number tonight and discovered that they just arrived in town and will be here for 4-6 weeks. So even thought the news is bad, at least things are not all bad. Our only other choice would have been to send Stripey off to Juneau.

Recipe: Black Beans and White Cauliflower

… Or Black & White.

This is one from a couple weeks ago when I had some cauliflower and wanted to do something other than Cauliflower & Kidney Beans Curry, or Cauliflower Macaroni & Cheese, or Balti-Style Cauliflower – my usual dishes involving cauliflower.

I wanted something relatively simple. Black beans and rice came to mind, and I figured why not add the cauliflower to it and see what happens?

I tried this both in a large sauté pan as well as a slow cooker. The slow cooker version didn’t turn out quite as good due to the cauliflower overcooking a bit. I haven’t had much success yet with cauliflower in the slow cooker. What I provide here is the regular, stovetop version.

Serves: 6-8
Cook and prep time (does not include time for beans to cook): 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry black beans, sorted and rinsed
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 3 dried, red hot chili peppers
• 1 large onion, diced medium
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 Serrano pepper, optionally seeded and sliced
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced medium
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tbsp. red chili powder
• 1 large head cauliflower, cut into 1-inch florets
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. Soak and cook beans as directed by package. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, drop in dried chili, stir and fry for a few seconds. Add onion and garlic and continue to stir and fry until onions are soft. Add Serrano and bell peppers and fry another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the ground cumin and chili powder, stir and fry 30 seconds. Add cauliflower, water, and about 1 tsp salt. Stir, then bring to a rapid simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes until cauliflower becomes tender but not too soft.
4. Add the tomatoes with juice and the cooked beans. Add another teaspoon of salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir to mix well and blend flavors. Bring back to a simmer, cover and continue to cook another 5-10 minutes until cauliflower is soft. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Mix in fresh cilantro and serve.

Sermon: Do You Know Who You Are?

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This continues the discussion on the power of God-given dreams and how we can live God’s dreams for us.

The series is based on a set of sermon notes, provided by Thomas Nelson, which goes along with the book Wide Awake by Erwin R. McManus.

The Biblical materials for this sermon are found in Luke 2:41-52; Exodus 3:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2.

Plug: Comment on Sabbath Keeping

On Adventist Perspective, Andy Hanson writes in part, responding to the current issue of Adventist World,

Why is it then that Adventist students are made to feel that they are in some way desecrating the Sabbath if they attend a class and take an examination? When I read about a student who has to give up a career because he or she has been taught that to take a final examination on Sabbath is an unpardonable sin, I want to scream…

For the rest of the blog post, go here.

Recipe: Butternut Squash and Yellow Split Peas Curry

Originally this was something I threw together because I had a butternut squash sitting around that needed to be used. I wanted to do something that wasn’t too complicated, though you might think otherwise when you glance at the list of ingredients. I also had a bottle of red curry powder that I purchased about a year ago when we were done in California.

The first time I prepared the whole thing in a large saucepan. Yesterday, I sautéed part of it, and then threw everything else into a Crockpot and left it to cook while we were at church.

Serve with rice.

---

Serves: 4 – 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes (or 10 minutes plus 4-8 hours in a Crockpot)

Ingredients

• 1 small (about 2 lbs.) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and large diced
• 1 cup dried yellow split peas, sorted and rinsed
• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 1/2 t. black or yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 t. whole cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chili peppers, crushed (about 1 tsp. pre-crushed)
• 1/2 cup ground meat or vege-burger (optional)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1 serrano chile, seeded (optional) and sliced
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 1 t. ground coriander
• 1/4 t. ground cardamom
• 1/4 t. ground turmeric
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 to 2 t. salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup loosely packed chopped, fresh cilantro (optional)

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, cook split peas according to package directions, about 20-30 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan or covered sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, drop in mustard and cumin seeds and fry until mustard seeds start to pop, about 1 minute. Add crushed red peppers. If using ground meat or vege-burger, add and and brown. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and serrano and fry until onion begins to soften.
3. Add ground cumin, coriander, cardamom, and turmeric. Fry another minute, stirring frequently.
4. Add broth and butternut squash. Add more water if needed, to nearly cover the squash. Add salt and pepper. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to fast simmer. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until squash begins to get tender.
5. Drain cooked split peas, then add to squash. Continue to simmer and cook for another 10-15 minutes until peas break down and squash also begins to break down into a thick sauce.
6. Remove from heat and mix in fresh cilantro, if desired.

Changes for Crockpot

• Skip step 1.
• Perform step 2 as given above.
• Place results of step 2 into Crockpot.
• Add split peas and ingredients in steps 3 through 5 into Crockpot. Cook at high for 4-5 hours, or low for 7-8 hours until peas and squash are soft.
• Add cilantro before serving, if desired.

Sermon: The Necessity of Focus

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This continues the discussion on the power of God-given dreams and how we can live God’s dreams for us.

The series is based on a set of sermon notes, provided by Thomas Nelson, which goes along with the book Wide Awake by Erwin R. McManus.

The Biblical materials for this sermon are found in Matthew 14:24-31 and Philippians 3:13-14.

Messy Weather

I haven’t posted much in the way of updates, because frankly, there isn’t a whole lot going on that is noteworthy.

The temperature has been bobbing above and below the freezing point, meaning we’ve been getting both lots of snow and lots of rain. With the snow and ice damming up the street drainage, the water has nowhere to go. That means when the temps are above freezing with heavy rains, the basement floods. When the temps go below freezing, all that water freezes and there’s snow on top of ice. And then when the temps go above freezing again, all the stuff starts to melt and everything gets really, really messy and ugly.

I think the temps stayed below freezing today and we got a little sun. The landscape was pretty nice.

Last Tuesday evening we started a new weekly event at church: a supper get-together where we, well, get together, cook, and have supper. We want to host discussions on topics such as health, finances, cooking, and so on that can be of help to the community. We still have some kinks to work out, but our hope is that people from the community will begin to join us.

Tomorrow and Wednesday the mental health services in Petersburg is providing suicide intervention training. Elise and I are attending the training.

Sermon: Who Will You Become?

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This continues the discussion on the power of God-given dreams and how we can live God’s dreams for us.

The series is based on a set of sermon notes, provided by Thomas Nelson, which goes along with the book Wide Awake by Erwin R. McManus.

The Biblical materials for this sermon are found in Genesis 37-46; Acts 10; and Ezekiel 37.

Sermon: Our Best Dreams

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

For the next few weeks I will be discussing the power of God-given dreams and how we can live God’s dreams for us.

The series is based on a set of sermon notes, provided by Thomas Nelson, which goes along with the book Wide Awake by Erwin R. McManus.

The Biblical material for this sermon is found in Mark 10:35-52.

All I Didn’t Want for Christmas Was My Two Back Teeth…

That’s not quite how the song goes…

The reason is that I got two upper wisdom teeth removed yesterday. In December one of them began to crumble away and so with a quick appointment to the dentist, I scheduled a time to get that one and the other one removed. And that happened to be yesterday. Fortunately there was no pain associated with the tooth during the intervening time.

I was rather tense during the whole extraction process. First came four injections of local anesthesia. Then the dentist used all sorts of different tools to cut and grab, twist, pull, and break. Both teeth seemed somewhat stubborn in coming out, but they both came out, and other than the stress of watching and feeling it being done, there was no pain involved.

Twenty-four hours later, the extraction sites seemed to have stopped bleeding, so that is good news. It means I shouldn’t need antibiotics.

This last Sabbath was Religious Liberty emphasis Sabbath. This year, rather than crafting my own sermon or adapting the supplied one, I used the supplied one on video.

Our kitchen hot water pot appliance broke last week. It was many years old, and the seal on the air bladder finally tore. It didn’t look repairable and trying to get a replacement for something that old was probably not very productive, not to mention time-consuming. I looked in Amazon.com and saw a number of water pots. I ordered one of the smaller (i.e., less expensive) ones and was happy to get it shipped free.

It arrived much more quickly than I had expected. It has more buttons and settings than the old one. Actually, the old one didn’t have any buttons… just a big thing to push on the top of the lid. The new one is electronically controlled, different temperature settings, and uses an electric pump to dispense the water. What I like best is the ability to reboil the water to bring it up to boiling temperature. I couldn’t use the water from our old one for coffee because the temp was too low.

The weather here has been wacky. Last week there were a couple spring-like and almost summer-like days. Then it got quite cold again. Yesterday and today things warmed up so that we had both rain and snow, and even a little bit of sun.

The AeroGarden is doing pretty well. I harvested a bit of dill tonight and sprinkled some on the soup that we had. I also had to trim the chives a bit because they were getting too tall in relation to the other plants.

Also over the weekend I received a replacement SIM card for my BlackBerry. I didn’t get around to activating and installing it today. But now I did and the BlackBerry is working again.

Yesterday I filed for this year’s Permanent Fund Dividend. There’s incentive to file early and online – the PFD is received earlier.

That’s the excitement going on around our place.

Sermon: Daniel, Darius, Lions, and Prayer

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This past Sabbath’s sermon discusses Daniel 6 in the context of prayer.

The first few minutes of the sermon is not present, as I forgot to turn on the recorder.

A respite from winter

And what a respite that was. It was almost summer-y.  Temperatures approached 60 degrees, the skies were clear, and the sunshine was warm. We rarely get those kinds of days, even during actual summertime. It was like that from about Saturday through yesterday.

The temps have dropped today though, and clouds have rolled in. The forecast says winter will be back.

It was funny to have such warm weather and see roads covered in ice. On Sunday I bicycled up (with studded tires) up to the grocery store to restock, after our week away, our refrigerator and pantry. It was the warmth, lack of exercise the last several weeks, or a combination, but I was winded and light-headed after I got there. It took a few minutes to recover before I was ready to start shopping. One of the staff from the hospital saw me there and wondered if I was okay…

Yesterday, once more, I bicycled to the other grocery store to pick up a few items I had forgotten the previous day. This time I was fine. It’s almost as if my body suddenly realized it needed to readjust to physical activity.

Tropical Storm

Or it sure seemed like it. One of the weather stations in Anchorage reported a high of 49F today. The wind gusts were strong, blowing trees around and down. By this evening most of the main roads were pretty much clear of all ice and down to bare, wet pavement. Side streets and parking lots were another matter though. They were still very slick with water over ice.

We went out one more time this evening. Elise wanted to get some fabric for her little project. We also needed to get another container to put stuff in for our flight back. Within the state of Alaska, we can still check in 3 pieces of luggage per person without incurring additional fees. We got a small plastic tote and a luggage strap.

Tomorrow morning we are headed home. I’m more than ready to end living out of suitcases.

Freezing Rain

We didn’t think we’d actually make it to the Conference office this morning. Overnight the temperatures rose and the snow turned into rain. But in the morning, it was still cold enough so that the rain turned into ice upon hitting the ground. We scraped the ice off of the van and attempted to make our way to the office. The traction on the van is horrible and the windshield wiper doesn’t work. We made our way onto the roads and discovered how slick things were. I tried the freeway, but above 30 mph the windshield turned opaque from the rain, so I immediately went onto the next exit. That’s where even more troubles hit.

There were numerous power outages around the city and we were right in the middle of one. Traffic control was not working, so in the busy morning rush there were 4-way stops all over the place. Combine that with slick roads and cars having difficulties getting started, it made for very slow progress. If that wasn’t bad enough, the offices are located among some hills. That means the roads there are up and down. At some intersections, the slowdowns were caused by vehicles unable to get up the hill, stuck in the middle of the intersection, and sliding off the road. There were many moments when we thought we would be one of those stuck and unable to continue. But with very slow driving, and easy throttle, and lots of help from the van’s traction control, we inched our way through the intersections, uphill starts, etc. and finally, to our great relief, made it to the offices without any incident.

A couple evenings back we went to Office Depot to purchase some office supplies. Just about a week before our trip to Anchorage, I received a “please come back to Office Depot” mailing with a $25 off of $25 coupon. That was very convenient timing and so I got to use that coupon.

Last night we stopped at Fred Meyer for a few things including a fleece sweatshirt for me. I thought I packed one, but could not find it when I arrived. I suppose there’s a possibility it was swiped from the luggage, but it’s more likely that I had pulled it out at home and forgot to put it back in.

Tonight, a room freed up at the Conference office so we drove out to the Korean church (driving another van with studded tires – much better traction – and working wipers) to transfer our belongings. We stopped at Costco and purchased a few more things including a couple Blu-Ray videos and Sonicare electric toothbrush.

In Anchorage

This past Friday Elise and I flew up north to Anchorage. Our flight was delayed a couple of hours because the snow was coming down thick and heavy in Petersburg. It was held in Ketchikan as well as Wrangell for the weather to clear up a bit in our city. But we finally took off, and as we were taking off, it looked like the snow had changed over to rain. (Today – Monday – the forecast for Petersburg was “torrential rain.”)

The flight up was uneventful and we arrived in Anchorage, a couple hours late. We were picked up and Elise went to the Shpherdess retreat in Palmer while I went to one of the Conference officer’s house for a quick bite to eat and travel up to Palmer for a seminar.

We didn’t make it though, because (from the looks of it) not too long before us, about 20 minutes from Palmer, there was a big accident. Officials closed the entire highway for investigation. We sat there and waited for about 40 minutes before deciding to take the off-ramp right in front of us and turn around. We returned to Anchorage. I loaded up my luggage into the Conference van and drove it to the guest rooms at the Korean SDA Church which will be home for a week.

In the morning, I discovered that the SIM card on my BlackBerry was once again disabled. The phone in the room didn’t seem to work, so I ended up using Skype to call support to see if there was anything that could be done. It looks like Anchorage AT&T cell service and my phone do not get along. (It probably needs a new SIM card.) Once it was determined that nothing could be done, I quickly had a bit of breakfast and started off to Palmer to attend church there.

Both Friday and Saturday were very, very cold – bitter cold… So cold that people who live up here were complaining and looking for warmer weather. I didn’t realize how cold –20 to –25F could be. The drive to Palmer takes about an hour. The inside of the van was finally starting to feel a little bit above freezing cold by the time I parked it at the Palmer church.

It was a change to be in a church of a couple hundred, and where I had no responsibilities. Overall it was nice to just sit and relax. The potluck afterwards was nice also.

The van I’m driving has very poor traction. It does have traction control and it comes on rather frequently. I have to make starts gingerly and leave a mile (okay, maybe not quite that much) of stopping distance… A few times I missed a turn or something and hit the brakes and… it wouldn’t stop. It kept going and going… Not exactly a pleasant experience.

Later Saturday evening I headed to a nearby mall to the ACS mobile phone store to purchase a new phone. I was hoping for something fairly cheap, but they didn’t have any of the cheapest (refurbished) phones in stock. I ended up paying out a total of $140 for a prepaid phone + service. The transaction took a while because I wanted to get a Petersburg local number. And then I found out that an old prepaid number we had about a year ago was available. The salesperson tried to sell that number but couldn’t get it to work. She sold me the next higher number, and then discovered she was able to change it to the old number. So I got my old number back!

While getting the transaction done, we chatted – or shall I say, she asked about what I was doing in Anchorage and in Petersburg. I told her I was here for some church meetings and that I pastored a church back home. She asked about some of the differences between Seventh-day Adventists and other Christians. Since she asked, I mentioned that we worship on Saturday rather than Sunday, and I also talked about how our view of death and what happens afterwards is different. It turns out she is a Catholic. Would I have approached things differently if I had known that to begin with? I don’t know. I don’t think I said things in a particularly offensive, judgmental, or “we’re right and everyone else is wrong” kind of tone, and she didn’t appear to be turned off. That all got me to thinking that maybe the SIM card dying turned out good, at least in a way. However, I am not going to be bringing the BlackBerry to Anchorage again, or at least not with the SIM card installed. I don’t need any more SIM cards destroyed and $140 “divine encounters!”

On Sunday Elise returned from her retreat. After picking her up we went to Wal-Mart (not in any way my favorite store, but not much choice here) and picked up a few items of clothing, a small automatic coffee maker, cups, stirrers, hot chocolate mix, and 4 gallons of drinking water. The reason? Because the tap water is awful! And I wanted something to make hot water. We searched the shelves of Wal-Mart for a hotpot or something that could boil water, but couldn’t find anything other than a coffee maker. So that’s what we have. I have no idea what we’re going to do with it when we go home. Leave it or take it back with us?

Sunday evening there was a banquet for the pastors and administrators. It was hosted by the Samoan church and held at the Anchorage Junior Academy. The youth of the Samoan church provided the evening entertainment. It consisted of cultural rituals, ceremonies, and dances. The final event consisted of many of us being “dragged” out to participate in the dance. So now you can say that Adventists in Alaska dance!

The food was quite good. Some of it resembled Chinese, others resembled something closer to Indonesian. For the records, Samoans are NOT vegetarians. Many of the dishes featured or contained chicken and there was one good curried baked salmon dish.

The pastors’ meetings started in earnest today. Our guest speakers are the Central California Conference President and his wife. The topic is prayer. Coming into the meeting I had some questions, reservations, and trepidations about what exactly would be presented. Seminars on prayer can go in so many different ways, and I didn’t now how it was going to go. Going through the meetings today, however, I am feeling a lot better about it.

The temperatures have warmed up and one of the weather station says we hit 31F today. It’s now just cold. But no longer the kind of cold that makes you want to stay inside.

So this is how things have been going the last few days.

Sermon: Do Not Lead Us Into Temptation

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

The seventh and final in a series on the Lord’s Prayer, this sermon discusses Matthew 6:13, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

New Year’s and Snow

Our New Year’s was quiet. Elise worked New Year’s Eve. The rest of us went to a party hosted by the drama/speech class instructor. Amidst the food and games, each of the class members gave a speech they had worked on. Some were serious, a few humorous, and others light-hearted. Shelley gave a speech on the employment of stealth in order to accomplish good or evil. For food, we brought some chocolate chip cookies and a little bit of mochi in a soy-sauce/sugar glaze. Most people who tried it though that it was interesting, but good.

Yesterday evening I grabbed some pre-packaged seasonings and mixes that had come from parents and relatives and put together a Japanese-themed supper of omelet, chirashi-sushi, miso soup, and oshiruko with mochi.

Last night was the coldest night we’ve had so far this winter. The temperatures were down into the lower single digits. It’s come up to about 10 degrees now. It was clear last night, but heavy clouds and fog have rolled in and we’re in the middle of a snow storm.

I haven’t been out much the last few weeks. Part of it has to do with the cold. I went out a couple days ago to the Post Office on the bicycle. It was okay for the most part, but it was cold. The loose snow in some parts made for a bit of sliding and dexterous riding. But I think I’d rather have this than the wet, mushy slush. I’m sure that we’ll have that kind of surface soon enough after this cold weather passes.

The little sprouts in my new AeroGarden have been coming up. The thyme, purple basil, Italian basil, chives, and dill are up. The parsley and mint still have to show their faces.

I’ve been practicing flying the R/C helicopter about, and have gotten fairly good at controlling it. It’s still a challenge though.

That’s more or less life in these parts. Elise and I will be in Anchorage starting in about a week, and staying for a week. There are some church meetings, and the Conference decided they wanted us there so they purchased our flights. We get to go from cold to colder.