Blogs from Sebastopol, California, United States, North America - page 3

We received very sad news from Debbie, our friend in Alaska. Her wonderful Siberian husky, Sapphire, was romping in the parking lot at school where Debbie works. She sipped some tempting liquid on the ground and continued on. Unfortunately, the tasty liquid was antifreeze from a car that was parked there at some point. Sapphire immediately became very ill. Debbie suspected that her beloved dog was having a stroke due to her peculiar behavior and her age. She took her to the vet at once only to learn that Sapphire had ethylene glycol poisoning which attacks liver and kidneys. Sapphire did not survive. We are all very sad. Please, when you are with your dog outside, be aware of puddles. They could contain this tasty poison. The puddles don't just come from those who carelessly flush ... read more

(Mt Gilead Bible Camp and Conference Center) This is my last entry from this camp; we will be leaving tomorrow after lunch. Barney & Bea are headed home until fall, but Henry & Ann and Leroy & Arlene are going on to the next project with us, so that’s good. We have 1350 miles to travel (and diesel is $4.34 a gallon…we have a 100 gallon tank~~yikes!) We need to be there by May 2nd (hi, Megan!) but we’ll be spending the weekend in Seattle with a good friend of ours. We, women, have finished painting the bedrooms in the dorms (twelve bedrooms total~~primed and painted~~plus four hallways). We spent this week priming and painting a small cottage that some of the summer staff live in. I’m looking forward to a short break from painting, ... read more

(Mt. Gilead Bible Camp) Saturday Bob and I drove to Bodega Bay to attend the Fisherman’s Festival (Think: Old Timer’s Festival, or Heritage Days, or Cow Town Hoe Down…most towns have them, just different names!) The highlight of the festival is the boat race. At 10am each team of four gets these supplies: 2- 4x8’ sheets of plywood, 5 strips of 1x2”, 5 strips of 1x1”, a tube of caulk, 3 cups of deck screws, 1 roll of 3 mil plastic and a roll of duct tape. They have three hours to construct a boat that will float two people in a horseshoe shaped pattern in the bay. Fastest boat wins. (I don’t know what they won, but it didn’t seem to matter to anyone. I can tell you who won last year, because there ... read more

(Mt. Gilead Bible Camp & Conference Center) Mt Gilead is a year-round conference facility, set in 238 acres of Sequoia Redwoods. It can house over 300 people. We’re about 50 miles north of San Francisco, and 20 miles from the ocean. Because we’re in a canyon, things are spread out in different directions, almost like wings in a school building, with the hub being the dining hall. Direct sunlight is limited here, but so is wind. It very lush, and smells more like the mountains in Montana than it does like redwoods. And it feels like we’re high in the mountains~~I think because it’s cool and damp~~and yet I’ll bet we’re not 200’ elevation! There’s moss on everything~~be confident that you’ll see pictures of that! It’s very still and calm and quiet, and dark. Dark ... read more