Fairbanks Visit, March 2016

So last weekend we drove up to Fairbanks to visit Steph and Isaac.  One the way up there, we ran into blizzard weather through Denali Park.  Since we didn't really have a winter at our house this year, for me it was a welcome sight, even though it significantly slowed us down, which Chuck wasn't too happy about.  Why are men always in such a hurry to get to where they wanna go?

Why is it that men can never just enjoy the journey?

Hurry, hurry, hurry............!

When we arrived, I was glad to see Mica again.  She is such a nice cat.  I really wouldn't mind taking her home with me. We always laugh at her cuz every time she meows, she sounds like she's asking a question.

"Meoww??"

Of course Charlie was SO EXCITED to see us!

For his Easter present, we gave him this stuffed Easter bunny.  He carried it around with him all weekend and even slept with it at night.

Speaking of which, he INSISTED on sleeping with me and Chuck at night.  

Have you ever slept with a horse?

Me neither, but I think I know now what it would be like to sleep with a horse in your bed.

It doesn't work very well.

Since Steph was on spring break from her work, she decided to use this time to work on some home improvement projects, so we came prepared to help her with that.

Chuck's job was to help her install some windowsills on all of her windows.  It took a few trips to Lowe's and/or Home Depot, a lot of cutting, and a lot of priming.

While they were working on windows, I was given the task of painting one of her bathrooms:

It took me about a day and half to get it all done, including all the taping, and redoing some spots three times because textured walls are hard to cover evenly, even with a roller. I was supposed to do the ceiling too, but graciously bowed out of it because I didn't have confidence that I would do a decent job with that.

Chuck's job of doing all of her windows took pretty much the whole weekend, so when I was done with the bathroom, I helped him with that wherever I could or when Steph was too busy with other things.

So, it was a busy weekend.  We did have some down times though.  Chuck and Isaac sometimes found themselves both sitting at the table with their computers, discussing and comparing videos and information about their favorite subjects:  snowmachines, motorcycles, and for Isaac - Jeeps.

(yawn........!)

So that was pretty much it.

On Sunday we went to church, got a bite to eat a Chinese restaurant, and then drove home.

After a weekend with a hyper pup, it was so nice to get back home to Bossy!!

So now that I'm home, I got back into "gardening mode" and figured out which seeds I needed to start right away.  From what I found, the tomatoes needed to be started 8-10 weeks before the last frost.

It's pretty hard to tell when the last frost is gonna be since every year is different.  But the smart people usually consider June 1st to be a safe day to plan for planting outdoors.  I always hope to plant on Memorial Day, but just to be safe, I counted 10 weeks before June 1, which turned out to be today.

So here we go:

This time I ordered two different varieties of tomatoes.  The Stupice tomatoes are supposed to be strictly for growing in the greenhouse.  The Polar Beauty tomatoes, so it says on the package, can be grown in the greenhouse OR in a warm place in a garden bed.  So I started seeds for 6 Stupice tomatoes, and 12 Polar Beauty tomatoes.  That way I can try my luck with them in both places.

For the rest of the seeds, I counted the recommended weeks before the last frost, and wrote down the dates on the packages, so that way I know at a glance when I need to start them.  In a couple weeks I will need to start the zucchini and the pumpkins.

So here are my tomatoes so far.  Looks yummy, don't it?

Since I had some leftover pellets, I also went ahead and planted some other seeds, just cuz I didn't wanna waste the pellets. Maybe I should've just went ahead and made them all tomatoes, but I didn't know if that would be too many.  

I know, here I go with my boring gardening posts again..........

Before I close this out, you wanna see something really weird?

I was cutting apart this green pepper the other day, and I found a GREEN EAR inside of it!

That is weird.

Matthew 7:7 ASK!

As most of you know, I am a self-taught student of NT Greek, or I should say "self-teaching", since I am still learning, and always will be learning.

Anyhoo, I learned something today that I thought was very interesting and I wanted to share it.

This morning, my translation exercise was Matthew 7:7.  You are all quite familiar with the English translation of that verse:  "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you."

I was particularly interested in the word "ask" because I knew that there were several different Greek words for the word "ask", and I wanted to know if there were any significant differences in them, and how it would enlighten me in a new way whenever I came across this word in the future.

Indeed there is a significant difference!

As I said, there are several different Greek words for the word "ask", but I will only focus on two of them, since they are the ones that should be distinguished for deeper meaning.

1. The first one is the one you see here - the first word in the verse, pronounced "hye-TAY-te".

It is in the imperative mood (a command).  The lexical form is "hye-TE-oh".

It suggests a request or a petition that is made from a person of less equality or status than the person to whom the petition is made.  Like a child to a parent, or a subject to a king, or in this case - man to God.

Are you with me so far?

2. The other Greek word to compare it with is "air-o-TA-o", which also means to ask or request, but it suggests that the petitioner is on equal footing or familiarity with the person of whom he requests, like a king to another king, or sibling to sibling.

So, if I am going to request something from a friend, I would use #2.

If I'm going to ask something from any authority figure, I would use #1

Interestingly, in Luke 7:36, one of the Pharisees "asked" Jesus to eat with him. The word that Luke used in that narrative is #2, which suggests that the Pharisee considered himself to be equal with Christ.  Perhaps at that time, the Pharisee didn't understand who Jesus was? Or perhaps he thought Jesus was inferior to him? In vs 39, he refers to Jesus as a prophet, so maybe he was just arrogant?  What do you think? Certainly, by using this word, the Pharisee didn't consider Jesus to be above him in any way.

(The way I see it, #1 may suggest an attitude of respect and humility.)

Okay, here's the really interesting part that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around: Jesus never used #1 when making requests to the Father. The reason is obvious - He was EQUAL to God.  

It would very interesting to point this out to the Jehovah's Witnesses and see what they would have to say about that!

It's amazing how something so trivial can have so much meaning!

And this is just one teeny example of why I love learning Greek!

So there's your little Greek trivia for today.

In other news:

I got my veggie seeds already!

I will be planting pumpkins, winter squash, zucchini, tomatoes, snap beans, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, salad mix, peas, and sunflowers.

I would like to start planting some of them NOW, especially the squash and pumpkins, but we are leaving for Fairbanks in a couple days, so it will have to be my #1 priority when I get back home.

Other news:

Bossy took Kiska's place as far as helping me with my quilting.

It's kinda hard to sew it with a cat sitting on top of it.

She likes cushy things, I guess.

That's all for now.  Hopefully, I will have some news from Fairbanks when I get back.

Good Riddance, Kiska!

Today, I had to do something that was very hard.  I took Kiska to the pound.  :-(

Here are the last couple pictures that I took of her today:

She was napping in a sunny spot with her tongue sticking out.

It breaks my heart that I actually did it, and I feel like a wretch because she's been part of this family for 10-1/2 years, and now all of a sudden she's whisked away to sit confined in a small cage, surrounded by other kitties.  And she has no clue as to why, why, why?!  Poor Kiska.

I wish I could've made her understand before I had to take this measure.

But here's why:

She would not use the litterbox!

A very trivial thing for her, but a very big deal for me.

We got her when she was a kitten:

... and we enjoyed her fluffy cuteness for 10-1/2 years.  

Even when she was a kitten, I knew she wasn't very healthy and prepared myself to deal with problems that she would probably have.  For starters, she had runny eyes all the time.  The vet said she had some kind of virus, probably a herpes virus, and there wasn't anything I could do for her except maybe slip some Lysine in her food.

Then she was seriously constipated.  It was terrible listening to her crying so loud every time she tried to poop, which often came out with blood.  Poor thing.  And because of that, she started pooping outside the litterbox.  The vet said it was because she was associating the litterbox with pain.  I had sympathy on her, so I patiently waited it out.
And I suppose this was the beginning of her litterbox woes.

Then for awhile she was fine and we had no problems.

Then winter hit.  For some strange unknown reason, she would get diarrhea twice a year - once in the winter, and again in spring/summer.  Then I had to muster up more patience as I dealt with a VERY STINKY cat, who left poopy butt prints on everything that she sat on, so I had to resort to giving her baths in the kitchen sink which of course she hated.

Then she would be fine again.  Then she would get stressed about something and start peeing on someone's bed, and this would last a few weeks, while I tolerated it and again waited it out with an irritated kind of patience.  (I can name plenty of people who probably would've shot her in the head by then, but I apparently am a very patient person.) Then she would be fine again.  She would keep going back and forth like that all the years that we had her, and I began to entertain wicked thoughts of hoping she would get hit by a car, or maybe an eagle or a hawk would snatch her up.  (does that make me a bad person?)

Then last year she got sick with a urinary tract infection.  The antibiotics cured her, but the habit of peeing outside her litterbox got worse and did not go away.  This was now a fixed habit that was here to stay.  Ever since then, her favorite place to pee was ON MY COUCH!  And it was EVERY DAY, TWICE A DAY!!  (sometimes three!) We had to throw out one of our couches because we could not get the cat pee smell out of it.  I knew she would then choose to start peeing on our other couch, so I kept it protected with plastic underneath a blanket.  So every day, twice a day, I had to change the coverings and wash them.  Then she started pooping on it as well, and Chuck and I started throwing around the "P" word (P is for pound).

I deterred this habit and tested her for a couple days by placing the plastic on top of the blanket, knowing she wouldn't pee on a plastic sheet.  I was hoping it would work, but instead of going to her litterbox, her next choice was MY BED.  Okay, that was a mistake.  So it was back to the couch.

Twice a day, every day.

I thought my wash machine was gonna wear out.

At 10 years old, I knew she still had some years left in her yet, and Chuck and I both agreed that this is a habit that is here to stay, and I didn't wanna keep dealing with this twice a day, every day for the next 5-10 years.

No way.

Plus, we both agreed that it was only a matter of time before she moved on to another piece of furniture, or worse - the carpet.

So I had to do the inevitable and take her to the pound, knowing full well that no one is gonna want her with that habit, thus knowing full well what will happen to her.

I don't wanna think about it.

Anyway, here is how she has spent the last week here.

As I was preparing to sandwich my quilt, she was right there to hold it down for me.  Or maybe she was just there to be in my way.

Here I'm trying to lay out my batting while trying to work around her.

And here she is enjoying a nap on it after I got it all pinned together.

As you can see, she's good company.  I will miss her when I'm scrapbooking cuz she always follows me and keeps me company whenever I go upstairs to work on my scrapbooks.

It really breaks my heart that I had to betray her like this.

But, at the same time, it really does help to be mad at her.

Bossy, on the other hand:

She doesn't give a hoot, and as soon as she realizes that Kiska is gone for good, she will be doing cartwheels.  She hated Kiska with a passion and got really grouchy if Kiska was even in the same room as her.

And now, Bossy is the queen of the house.

For now.

Until we get another kitten, which we are already talking about.

For me, I will enjoy getting up in the morning and NOT having to start the morning routine by washing the couch covers, only to wash it again later in the afternoon.  AND, I will be able to sit down on the couch without first having to sniff it to make sure it hadn't been peed on since the last washing.  And when we have guests over, I won't have to embarrassingly warn them about sitting in cat pee.

So, yes, I did shed a few tears, but it really does help make this less painful when I am mad at her. All I have to do is think about cat pee on my couch, and the tears no longer flow.

Other news:

We had SNOW!

But alas!  It was all gone within an hour or two.

Other than that, there's nothing else to report, other than I have been working on a "secret project", which I will reveal to you in due time.  I have been pretty obsessed with it, and it is the reason why I've been writing letters and making phone calls and connecting with people that I hadn't been connected with in a long time.  I'm very excited, but I cannot spill the beans just yet.

  Next week we will be visiting Stephanie and Isaac in Fairbanks, so maybe I will have something to write about after that trip.

 I must keep myself busy so I don't think about Kiska too much.

I Survived My Civil Duty

Well, I finally got called in to do my civil duty.  There really isn't much to tell.  I could give you the short version, or the long drawn-out boring version.  Both versions will put you to sleep.  But if you are so bored that you feel you might be entertained by a boring read, then I'm happy that my boring life can add a little excitement to your day:

I had to arrive there by 8:30 on Wednesday morning.  There were a lot of people in there, so when I entered the room, I took a quick glance around to see if I recognized anyone I might know.  I didn't, so I chose a table to sit at where a harmless-looking older lady was already sitting.  Everyone had to fill out a form and put it in the basket.  Then we had to just sit and wait for further instructions.  I made it through two magazines and started to read a short story on my iPad when we finally got escorted into "Courtroom 2".  There were so many people that the room quickly got filled up by the time I went through the door.  The judge told the rest of us to go ahead and sit in the jury box, and "don't worry - if you sit there it won't increase your chances of getting selected".  That was supposed to be a joke, so this is the part where you're supposed to laugh.

So I had to sit in the jury box with a few other folks while they described the case to us.  It was a DUI case, and the judge said that it would only take a day or two, and that they only needed 6 jurors.  So that made me feel better cuz that would cut my chances down of getting picked.  So they started off by randomly picking 12 people, and those 12 people were supposed to sit in the jury box to get "interviewed".  So as they got picked, those of us who were in the box had to move out of the box. (that room was so full!)  They were going to pick only 6 out of those 12, but they also wanted backup jurors in case they all needed to be excused for one reason or another, so they randomly selected 12 more names to sit and wait in case they were needed.  My name got picked for one of the backup jurors.  So the 12 of us that were "on reserve" had to stay and they let everyone else go home.

So I sat there and listened to the 12 potentials get interviewed, and I was starting to feel nervous just listening to the questions because if I still ended up getting picked, I didn't know how I would've answered them.  They were asking a lot of questions about drinking, and whether or not they had any experience with drunk people, and if so, would you be able to make a fair and unbiased decision.  With every question that was asked, I listened for how each individual answered them, while at the same time wondering how I would've answered that question.  With my childhood background, I think I would've had a hard time answering them.  Three of out of those 12 people got excused, so they had to randomly pick three more names out of us "reserved" potentials, and I got nervous every time they picked a new name.  I am SO very thankful that my name did not get picked because I didn't wanna answer those questions!!!  After they selected their 6 jurors, they swore them in, and then they let the rest of us go home.  Whew!!!

I still have another week left to call that dreaded phone number every night, but I think it's unlikely that I will have to go in again.  But with my luck, I know it won't be long before I have to go through this all over again.

So, now that THAT's finally behind me, I can now relax and go back to my hum-drumminess.

I finally made it to JoAnn's and bought some batting for my quilt.  It was on sale (yay!)  Ma, I wish you were there with me to help me pick it out cuz I'm not sure if I picked something that I'm gonna be happy with.

Then today I went to my neighborhood quilt store and browsed for some fabric for my back panel and my binding.  It took me a long time to find something acceptable.  I was looking for something specific, but had to go with the best that I could find. Since this is a "scrap quilt" I guess it really doesn't have to match perfectly.  I think it'll be okay once I get it together.  So this weekend I will be sewing my panel together, and then I have to psyche myself up for that back-aching job of pinning it all together.

I will end this boring post with a boring picture of a bored cat.

"Got boredom?"

February 11, 2016

Since this post is really all about nothing, I didn't know what to title it, so I just put today's date in there.  So in the future, whenever you see a date instead of a title, you'll know not to read what's in there cuz it will be boring.  I am only posting today because it's been awhile, and some of you may be wondering what I've been up to.  So here is my boring life.  Well, not boring to me, but probably boring to you.

Here is Bossy sitting in my clean laundry:

Every time I get clothes fresh out of the dryer, I take them to my bed so I can fold them.  But if Bossy's around, she will climb into it and make herself comfortable because she knows they are warm.  I try to grab as many items as I can before she starts to growl and try to bite my hand off as I try to grab the smaller items out of it.

So possessive!

So I have to walk away until after she's had her nap in my clean laundry.

I know lots of people wouldn't put up with having a cat nestling in their clean laundry, but we spoil our cats; what more can I say?

This next part is for Ma.  If you are not interested in quilting,  you might wanna fast forward.

I finally finished my quilt top, so now I am waiting until I can get to the store to buy the batting and some fabric for the back panel.  Still not sure if I like it very much.  I think there's "too much going on" in it, ......almost boggles my eyes.  But that's okay.  It's a learning experience.  And as long as it keeps us warm at night, I guess I'll be happy with it.  So while I'm waiting for my next trip to JoAnn's and my neighborhood quilt store, I went ahead and got started on my next project:

I am making a crib sized quilt with Halloween fabrics.  It'll just be a throw quilt to have for decoration.  I am using this pattern that I found in one of my quilt books:

I know there's a big glare there, but I think you can see it good enough.  It's an "envelope" pattern.

I know it doesn't look like much right now, but I'll show it to ya when it's all done.

BTW, today is Ma's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Ma!

Okay, my next obsession was to finally do something with all those tomatoes in my freezer that we yanked out of our garden last fall.  I had three gallon-sized bags left full of whole frozen tomatoes. I had been using them in soups, but decided to test my culinary skills for something new.  I wanted to try making my own spaghetti sauce.  So after consulting with my Google friend, I tried simmering one whole bag of tomatoes on the stovetop.  It took several hours, but they finally simmered down to enough for one jar of spaghetti sauce.

For the other two bags, I tried an idea I saw on another website where you just throw them all into a crockpot.

Of course I skinned them first.  This is what a pile of tomatoes looks like after you take the insides out:

I had to show you because I thought you might be excited to see a pile of tomato skins.  But I gotta tell ya, if you get excited over a pile of tomato skins, you got worse problems than I do.

I didn't bother taking the seeds out cuz that would be way too much work.  And the seeds don't really bother me anyway.

Okay, back to the toms.  After they thawed a bit I smashed them up with my meat chopper thingy:

This was really easy to do after the toms were half thawed.  Then I set the crockpot on high and kept the lid off so the water would evaporate out.  Holy cow, there's a lot of water in tomatoes!!!

Last night when I went to bed, there was still more water than tomato pulp, and I was beginning to wonder if this method was a good idea.  But I didn't wanna give up just yet.  I set the crockpot on Low, went to bed, and hoped for the best.  This morning when I got up, a lot of the water was gone.  And by the time I was done eating lunch, it looked about ready.  Or ready enough.  It took about 24 hours to simmer it down to a thick sauce!!  So I don't know if I prefer the crockpot method or the stove top method. With the crockpot method, you don't have to babysit it. The stovetop method is a lot faster, but you have to be around to check on it every now and then. 

Can you smell it?  .....aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

I didn't add any spices to it cuz I figured I would add onions and other flavors to it when I actually use it on my spaghetti.  That way the flavors will be fresher anyway.  Can't wait to try it!

SO!  I took some of the stewed tomatoes out and pureed it in my Vitamix to make tomato sauce, which also took care of the seed problem. And then I made some pizza sauce out of it, using my own concoction of pizza spices.

Now my house smells like a pizza joint.

Mmmmmmmm.................

Then I took the rest of what was in the crockpot and stuffed it in a jar and then put my goodies out on the back porch to cool off, so I can put them in the freezer later.

So, out of two gallon-sized bags of tomatoes, I can get one jar of "spaghetti sauce", and two pizzas worth of pizza sauce.  You only see one jar of pizza sauce here cuz (of course) I'm going to make pizza for dinner tonight! 

Don't let the peanut butter lid throw you off. I know I should seal them in a water bath in sealing jars, but I didn't feel like going through all that work for just three jars.  If I put them in the freezer, they don't need to be sealed.

So now you know what I've been up to.

I still have this dark cloud hanging over my head:

During the first week, they did call in some groups, but they didn't reach my service # yet. Every night after supper I dutifully call that dreaded phone number to find out if they "need my services" the next day.  I know my turn is coming up.........

Here is what our winter looks like this year:

Chuck said something yesterday about mowing the lawn.

If you want snow for winter, don't bother coming to Alaska.

Our poor poor snowmachines are neglected.

(That's "snowmobiles" to you folks who don't live in Alaska.)

(or if you are an Eskimo, it's a "snow-go")

It feels to weird to say "snowmobiles" even though I grew up saying it.

Maybe in my next post I'll have something more interesting to report.

I know I'm going to lose my already small audience if I don't come up with something more worthy.