First of all, שנה טובה Shanah Tovah to everyone, and חג שמח Hag Sameach!
Last night (Monday, ערב ראש השנה), we attended services at אמת ושלום Emet V'Shalom, our Reform congregation in נהריה Nahariya. The prayers were very nice. Although they had set up many more chairs than usual, the attendance was only about the same as a regular Friday night (although that's still a pretty good number of people). Before we began, the rabbi came over to me and asked me if I would sing אחת שאלתי Achat Sha'alti one more time (I had already sung it both the the previous 2 Friday nights). Of course I agreed, and I think it went very nicely.
After services, we went to Avi's house (Esther's father) for a nice celebratory meal. Besides us, there were Esther and Eyal and their 2 children, Avi, Eyal's parents and brother and brother's roommate, and another couple of Americans who made aliyah more recently than we did. It was also very enjoyable. I even managed to communicate with Eyal's parents in Hebrew and to understand some of the Hebrew conversation. His father speaks some English, but his mother quite a bit less, I think.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Watching "Jet Man"
Yesterday, we watched an interesting live broadcast. A Swiss jet pilot, named Yves Rossy, flew across the English Channel using a jet-powered wing strapped to his back. Here's how he did it. He flew in an airplane up to about 8000 feet, strapped the wing onto his back, ignited the 4 tiny jet engines, jumped out of the plane, unfolded the wing (which he had designed himself), and flew all the way across the Channel (in only about 10 or 11 minutes!). When he got over land near Dover, he parachuted to a landing in a field a short distance from the famous white cliffs. He controlled the wing by movements of his head, back and arms, and there was a real chance that he could lose control and have to parachute down into the water. However, everything went well, and he made a perfect parachute landing. It was quite amazing to watch!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Family memorabilia
Monday morning, before I even got up, I decided that I had better get busy with the boxes that suffered water damage in the latest leak. Up until this point, I had just moved them to another place, and, perhaps more importantly, I had noticed from the writing on them that several contained family pictures and family documents. For this reason, I had rather dreaded what I might find and what irreplaceable, precious treasures might have been ruined. But, I only had one class Monday, and it was in the evening, so I decided that it would be a good time to get to work on that task.
So, Monday, yesterday, and today, I spent nearly every moment that I didn't have to be doing something else (like teaching) working on going through not only the water-damaged boxes (there were really only 2 or 3 of them, and only one got really soaked), but also the other boxes in the basement, most of which also contained various family memorabilia. It was a big task, but it's mostly done now.
First of all, I found that, luckily, very few really important things had been damaged. The box that got it the worst did have some very old family things, but I think that many of them were so old that no one alive would even be able to know what they were, exactly. They did have to be dumped in the trash, though.
My main goal in going through the remainder of the materials was to sort out family pictures that we might hang on the walls, something that we have been intending to do ever since our shipment arrived (in February or March of 2006!). So, I went through everything, setting aside pictures that were already framed (most of which had hung on the wall in the mobile home we lived in before we bought our house in San Bernardino in 2000) and other pictures that were both important for family reasons and also nice pictures. I found plenty of really great pictures of me and my family, both immediate and very extended: grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and aunts, my brother, cousins, children, and even relatives of relatives.
After I set all of these aside, I sorted them further into categories and tried to eliminate duplicates, for the most part. The next task will be to decide which of the pictures that are not framed should be. Then we will have to see if we can get some cheap frames for them. Some of the pictures are nicely encased in portrait jackets, and I don't think we'll want to remove them. Perhaps we'll put them all together in some convenient place where they can be easily brought out and enjoyed. Finally, we'll have to plan where to hang the ones that we do want displayed. Most will probably find places on the walls of our wonderful triangular staircase, where they will look very nice! Others will probably be hung in the living room or the upstairs hallway.
Of course, I found many things besides pictures in going through all this material. These included family letters that my mom used to send out every year in about December or January telling about what the family had been up to during the previous year. My mom was a good writer if I do say so myself (besides, she had been an English major in college!), so these were never boring. However, I really didn't read them this time because I have read all of them many times before.
I also found quite a few letters from family members to other family members. For example, I found a handwritten letter from my grandfather to his mother, written nearly a hundred years ago. I also found the collection of letters between my mom and dad when they were courting (and she was in the hospital still recovering from serious car accident injuries, including 2 broken femurs!). I didn't read those yet, but I certainly set them aside! I also found the letters that my mom wrote to her mother when I was a baby. My mom had told me about these and about how she had told grandma to save them because they contained so much information about me as a baby. I haven't read these yet, either, but I do intend to!
I found many official documents from my family's past: my great great grandparents HUGE marriage certificate (rolled up), various other marriage certificates (including both of my mother's marriages), official birth certificates, and other legal documents. These are not of any real importance anymore, but they have great sentimental value, and it's quite amazing how many of them I have, all thanks to my mom, of course.
One of the most interesting things I found was a type-written story written by my grandfather, Claude Eldridge. He wrote it only a month of two (it's actually not dated, but I can estimate based on the contents) after my mom's terrible car accident. Of course, I had always known about this infamous tragedy because of the pivotal role it played in my family history. But I had never known that grandpa had even written about it. In reading it, I learned new details that I had not previously been aware of. My grandfather, too, was a good writer, and he not only told the story, but he also poured out his aching heart. You see, my mother's sister, Florence, and my dad's first wife, Mary, were killed in this same accident. So grandpa had lost his elder daughter and had very nearly lost his younger one (my mom), as well. Perhaps I'll type in most of grandpa's account of the accident at a later date, together with some of the rest of the story that happened afterwards.
So, Monday, yesterday, and today, I spent nearly every moment that I didn't have to be doing something else (like teaching) working on going through not only the water-damaged boxes (there were really only 2 or 3 of them, and only one got really soaked), but also the other boxes in the basement, most of which also contained various family memorabilia. It was a big task, but it's mostly done now.
First of all, I found that, luckily, very few really important things had been damaged. The box that got it the worst did have some very old family things, but I think that many of them were so old that no one alive would even be able to know what they were, exactly. They did have to be dumped in the trash, though.
My main goal in going through the remainder of the materials was to sort out family pictures that we might hang on the walls, something that we have been intending to do ever since our shipment arrived (in February or March of 2006!). So, I went through everything, setting aside pictures that were already framed (most of which had hung on the wall in the mobile home we lived in before we bought our house in San Bernardino in 2000) and other pictures that were both important for family reasons and also nice pictures. I found plenty of really great pictures of me and my family, both immediate and very extended: grandparents, great grandparents, uncles and aunts, my brother, cousins, children, and even relatives of relatives.
After I set all of these aside, I sorted them further into categories and tried to eliminate duplicates, for the most part. The next task will be to decide which of the pictures that are not framed should be. Then we will have to see if we can get some cheap frames for them. Some of the pictures are nicely encased in portrait jackets, and I don't think we'll want to remove them. Perhaps we'll put them all together in some convenient place where they can be easily brought out and enjoyed. Finally, we'll have to plan where to hang the ones that we do want displayed. Most will probably find places on the walls of our wonderful triangular staircase, where they will look very nice! Others will probably be hung in the living room or the upstairs hallway.
Of course, I found many things besides pictures in going through all this material. These included family letters that my mom used to send out every year in about December or January telling about what the family had been up to during the previous year. My mom was a good writer if I do say so myself (besides, she had been an English major in college!), so these were never boring. However, I really didn't read them this time because I have read all of them many times before.
I also found quite a few letters from family members to other family members. For example, I found a handwritten letter from my grandfather to his mother, written nearly a hundred years ago. I also found the collection of letters between my mom and dad when they were courting (and she was in the hospital still recovering from serious car accident injuries, including 2 broken femurs!). I didn't read those yet, but I certainly set them aside! I also found the letters that my mom wrote to her mother when I was a baby. My mom had told me about these and about how she had told grandma to save them because they contained so much information about me as a baby. I haven't read these yet, either, but I do intend to!
I found many official documents from my family's past: my great great grandparents HUGE marriage certificate (rolled up), various other marriage certificates (including both of my mother's marriages), official birth certificates, and other legal documents. These are not of any real importance anymore, but they have great sentimental value, and it's quite amazing how many of them I have, all thanks to my mom, of course.
One of the most interesting things I found was a type-written story written by my grandfather, Claude Eldridge. He wrote it only a month of two (it's actually not dated, but I can estimate based on the contents) after my mom's terrible car accident. Of course, I had always known about this infamous tragedy because of the pivotal role it played in my family history. But I had never known that grandpa had even written about it. In reading it, I learned new details that I had not previously been aware of. My grandfather, too, was a good writer, and he not only told the story, but he also poured out his aching heart. You see, my mother's sister, Florence, and my dad's first wife, Mary, were killed in this same accident. So grandpa had lost his elder daughter and had very nearly lost his younger one (my mom), as well. Perhaps I'll type in most of grandpa's account of the accident at a later date, together with some of the rest of the story that happened afterwards.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Baby snake eating update
Today, I fed all the baby snakes from this year. I won't go into too many details, but this was an important feeding, since it was the 3rd opportunity for babies from the last 2 clutches to eat. If a baby snake eats 3 times, we can usually assume that it will be a consistently good eater, although there have been exceptions on occasion. The results at this time are encouraging: of the 57 babies that we currently have, 43 have eaten at least 3 times, 6 have eaten twice (having skipped last week), 2 have eaten only once, and 6 have consistently refused to eat. This does not count the 8 from earlier clutches that refused to eat that we had already taken to Golan to see if he can get them to eat. I was particularly pleased about the 6 that ate this week who hadn't eaten last week, since they are from Y'hudit's clutch, meaning that they are all heterozygous for both caramel and anerythrism (and the ones that are not hypomelanistic are also het for hypo).
Singing "Achat Sha'alti" for services
Friday evening, we arrived early because the rabbi had asked us to. The week before, we had asked him about the tradition of reciting Psalm 27, and in particular "Achat Sha'alti", during the month of Elul (right before the High Holy Days). Surprisingly, he hadn't seemed to be aware of this tradition, but when we told him about the tune we know, he wanted us to sing it. So, before services this Friday, I ran through the tune a few times with him, and he harmonized it on his keyboard even though I think that he'd never even heard it before!
Early in the service, he invited me up to sing it, and he accompanied me on his keyboard, of course. He must have been really pleased with it, because he invited me up to sing it again near the end of the service! I, too, think that it went well and was well received.
Early in the service, he invited me up to sing it, and he accompanied me on his keyboard, of course. He must have been really pleased with it, because he invited me up to sing it again near the end of the service! I, too, think that it went well and was well received.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Going to the gym
My class that was originally scheduled to go from 7:45 to 10:00 this morning was canceled a couple of days ago, so I was able to go to the gym this morning. Although I was sorry not to get the income (3 units equals about 90 shekels), I was glad for the opportunity to exercise. This made my 4th time at the gym this week (Mo, Tu, We, and Fr).
Here's my usual gym routine. I start with a 20-minute workout (plus another minute or so of cool-down at the end) on the cross-trainer (sometimes also called the elliptical trainer because one's feet move on elliptical paths). Then I generally do about 3 sets on one of the weight-lifting machines (today, it was the biceps machine). After that, I do balance exercises (standing on one foot while holding the other in one hand) and various leg-lifts, crunches, and stretches. Then I go put on my swimming suit. If there's room in the pool, I swim a couple of lengths (on my back -- I don't want to put my face under water because I wear my contact lenses). The last thing I do before I shower is to spend a few minutes in the steam room, during which time I do an additional stretch.
Here's my usual gym routine. I start with a 20-minute workout (plus another minute or so of cool-down at the end) on the cross-trainer (sometimes also called the elliptical trainer because one's feet move on elliptical paths). Then I generally do about 3 sets on one of the weight-lifting machines (today, it was the biceps machine). After that, I do balance exercises (standing on one foot while holding the other in one hand) and various leg-lifts, crunches, and stretches. Then I go put on my swimming suit. If there's room in the pool, I swim a couple of lengths (on my back -- I don't want to put my face under water because I wear my contact lenses). The last thing I do before I shower is to spend a few minutes in the steam room, during which time I do an additional stretch.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Leak fixed
As I figured, the plumber did NOT come on Sunday. However, Zion did call me and then called the plumber for me. The plumber came on Monday and determined that the leak was definitely in the main pipe supplying water to the house. He didn't have what he needed to fix it that day, though, so he returned today. It turned out that the leak was actually near the main valve at the end of the driveway and was quite easily fixed. He charged me 466 shekel (incl. tax) to fix it, but I didn't have that much cash (and I also have no Israeli checks), so I gave him 200 and told him I'd have the rest for him tomorrow. So, I'll have to go into town and get some cash from the ATM this evening. Anyway, I'm just glad that the problem is fixed and that it wasn't more complicated!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Short walk in lower Nakhal Dishon
This afternoon (Shabbat), we took a short walk in lower נחל דישון (Nakhal Dishon). From the main road that crosses the nakhal there is a paved road that goes down the nakhal to a spring (well, actually more like wells with a pumping station now) called עין אביב (Ein Aviv, which means "Spring (the season) Spring"), and that's where we walked.
Along the way, we saw an interesting lizard that was quite unlike any that I've ever seen before. He had a narrow, fairly long body with some green splotches on the nearly vertical sides and a rigid tail that was just an extension of the body. His head seemed rather too large for his body. When he saw us, he just stood still there in the road. I got quite close and he still didn't move. I backed off, and we went around him so as not to scare him any more than we already had. Just another example of the very different creatures that we find here compared to those in the Western Hemisphere, to which we are accustomed.
We also saw a couple of other creatures running along the hillside quite some distance from us. We believe that they were wild pigs, but we're not completely sure. They were probably rather afraid, because at the same time we could hear the howls of either jackals or hyenas!
Along the way, we saw an interesting lizard that was quite unlike any that I've ever seen before. He had a narrow, fairly long body with some green splotches on the nearly vertical sides and a rigid tail that was just an extension of the body. His head seemed rather too large for his body. When he saw us, he just stood still there in the road. I got quite close and he still didn't move. I backed off, and we went around him so as not to scare him any more than we already had. Just another example of the very different creatures that we find here compared to those in the Western Hemisphere, to which we are accustomed.
We also saw a couple of other creatures running along the hillside quite some distance from us. We believe that they were wild pigs, but we're not completely sure. They were probably rather afraid, because at the same time we could hear the howls of either jackals or hyenas!
Another water leak!
Last Thursday morning, I happened to go down to the basement to check on the snakes and discovered that water was again leaking from where the main line to the house comes in. Although I had left the bucket there from the previous leak (nearly 2 months ago), it had filled up and overflowed, and there was already enough water on the floor to get several boxes wet. One stack had tipped over, putting its top box right under the leak! I still haven't had the courage to look into the boxes (some of them contain family pictures and other memorabilia!) and see what damage may have been done, but I think it's somewhat less than last time for 2 reasons: I found this one sooner, and there were simply less boxes nearby since I had moved most of them out last time.
I tried to find the plumber's number but discovered that I didn't have it. Thursday was a busy teaching day for me, so I wasn't even able to make any progress on the problem until late afternoon. I called our builder, Zion, to get the plumber's number and then called the plumber. He doesn't speak English, so I did my best to communicate in Hebrew. He said that he couldn't come because he was fasting (I assume that this means he's a Muslim, since we're now in the Islamic month of Ramadan when Muslims don't eat between sunrise and sunset). So I asked him if he could tell me of anyone else. The only suggestion he had was to call Zion, which I did. Zion said that he would call the plumber, but nothing came of that, so I called Zion back again, and he came over himself. We figured out how to turn off the water to the house, and we investigated enough to convince both of us that there was some kind of leak in the main line this time. Anyway, since them I've mostly been leaving the water entirely off, except for short periods so that we can occasionally flush toilets or do other things that require water.
According to Zion, the plumber will come on Sunday, but, frankly, I'll believe it when I see it.
I tried to find the plumber's number but discovered that I didn't have it. Thursday was a busy teaching day for me, so I wasn't even able to make any progress on the problem until late afternoon. I called our builder, Zion, to get the plumber's number and then called the plumber. He doesn't speak English, so I did my best to communicate in Hebrew. He said that he couldn't come because he was fasting (I assume that this means he's a Muslim, since we're now in the Islamic month of Ramadan when Muslims don't eat between sunrise and sunset). So I asked him if he could tell me of anyone else. The only suggestion he had was to call Zion, which I did. Zion said that he would call the plumber, but nothing came of that, so I called Zion back again, and he came over himself. We figured out how to turn off the water to the house, and we investigated enough to convince both of us that there was some kind of leak in the main line this time. Anyway, since them I've mostly been leaving the water entirely off, except for short periods so that we can occasionally flush toilets or do other things that require water.
According to Zion, the plumber will come on Sunday, but, frankly, I'll believe it when I see it.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
First feeding for the last 2 regular clutches
Last Sunday, I fed all this year's babies. For the 4th and 5th clutches, this was their first time to be offered food. Here are the results:
In the 4th clutch (from D'vorah), 7 ate and 5 did not, which isn't so good. However, in the 5th clutch (from Y'hudit), 18 ate and only 1 did not, which is very good.
This last clutch is also one of the most interesting this year. We bred Yeled, our male amber (hypomelanistic caramel) corn snake, to Y'hudit, a female anerythristic corn snake. And we got very lucky! It turns out that Y'hudit is heterozygous (a recessive gene carrier) for hypomelanism, something that was not known before. Getting even one hypomelanistic baby would be enough to prove this. Once one knows this, one would expect about half the clutch to be hypomelanistic (reduced melanin, which makes brighter colors). However, we got 14 hypos and only 5 normals! Another interesting fact: the 5 normals all just happen to be males in this case. However, in another stroke of luck, only 4 of the hypos are male, whereas the other 10 are female. This also is good for future breeding plans with these babies (more females means a higher number of eggs in the project). When breeding a pair of these hypos (3 years from now), one would expect to get about 3/16 ambers, 3/16 ghosts (hypomelanistic anerythristics), and 9/16 hypos. The other 1/16 will be both amber and ghost, but will probably look either like ambers or ghosts (I not sure whether anerythrism overrides caramel or the other way around.).
Part of the deal we made when we got Y'hudit, however, is that we will give her previous owner (another friend of Golan's) part of the clutch. Exactly how many we're not sure, but we will certainly be able to keep some for ourselves.
In the 4th clutch (from D'vorah), 7 ate and 5 did not, which isn't so good. However, in the 5th clutch (from Y'hudit), 18 ate and only 1 did not, which is very good.
This last clutch is also one of the most interesting this year. We bred Yeled, our male amber (hypomelanistic caramel) corn snake, to Y'hudit, a female anerythristic corn snake. And we got very lucky! It turns out that Y'hudit is heterozygous (a recessive gene carrier) for hypomelanism, something that was not known before. Getting even one hypomelanistic baby would be enough to prove this. Once one knows this, one would expect about half the clutch to be hypomelanistic (reduced melanin, which makes brighter colors). However, we got 14 hypos and only 5 normals! Another interesting fact: the 5 normals all just happen to be males in this case. However, in another stroke of luck, only 4 of the hypos are male, whereas the other 10 are female. This also is good for future breeding plans with these babies (more females means a higher number of eggs in the project). When breeding a pair of these hypos (3 years from now), one would expect to get about 3/16 ambers, 3/16 ghosts (hypomelanistic anerythristics), and 9/16 hypos. The other 1/16 will be both amber and ghost, but will probably look either like ambers or ghosts (I not sure whether anerythrism overrides caramel or the other way around.).
Part of the deal we made when we got Y'hudit, however, is that we will give her previous owner (another friend of Golan's) part of the clutch. Exactly how many we're not sure, but we will certainly be able to keep some for ourselves.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Visit with our new neighbors
This afternoon (Shabbat), our newest neighbors, the Har-Evens, had invited us over for snacks and a chat. So, when I had finished feeding the snakes (all except this year's babies, who will be fed tomorrow), we went over next door. We had a delightful chat with them for about 3 hours, enjoying some nice snacks and refreshments. They are from England.
Snake sales
On Wednesday, we took some snakes to our snake breeder friend, Golan. We took the remaining 5 yearlings that we never intended to keep and 4 of this year's babies that have each eaten at least 3 times. All of these he will attempt to sell for us. In addition, we took 2 snakes that are both 2 years old but have recently been refusing to eat. Finally, we also took him the 8 babies from this year that have been steadfastly refusing to eat. Quite often, Golan and the guys who work for him have been able to get snakes to eat, so we hope that they will be able to save some or all of these. We also sat and talked for quite a while with Golan, comparing notes and just generally discussing snakes and snake breeding.
Update on David
On Wednesday (the day after he was released from the hospital), David felt pretty good, and we even took a trip to Matzuva to visit Golan (our snake breeder friend). But on Thursday, David was very tired and slept most of the day. On Friday, he felt a little better. We went to Kabbalat Shabbat services, eating at ספגטים ("Spaghetim", which, of course, means "spaghettis"), an Italian restaurant in Nahariya, before. We even had desserts, and perhaps that was part of the problem. At any rate, when David tested his blood sugar after we got back home (around 9:40), the meter just said "HI", which is NOT a greeting (moan!) but means it's somewhere over 600! He immediately gave himself 14 more units of insulin (he had already taken 16 units to cover the carbohydrates in the meal). Then we needed to stay up to make sure that his blood sugar didn't go too low. It took an hour or 2 before it even got below 600 so that we could see what it was. Then we needed to wait get at least 3 readings, separated by a half hour, in order to gauge how fast it was coming down. By the time we finished all this, it was after 1:00 a.m., which is WAY past our usual bedtime (around 9:30). Anyway, this morning (Shabbat morning), his blood sugar was normal, and he also felt better. Of course, neither of us got up very early! He has been tired and has slept quite a bit today, but he also has been feeling better.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Hatching season is virtually over
The last 2 clutched hatched last week. Now, there is only one egg left, which is the only good one from the only snake to lay a 2nd clutch, N'omi. This only should hatch near the end of September or in early October.
The last 2 clutches were from our 2 new girls, D'vorah and Y'hudit. D'vorah's clutch was about half normals and half amelanistics, since she is amelanistic and her mate, Gavnoni, is heterozygous for amelanism. He is also het for anerythrism (we know this only because we know his parents), but apparently she is not, since we got no anerythristics or snows (amelanistic AND anerythristic) from her. We got 12 babies from D'vorah, out of 15 eggs that she laid.
Y'hudit's clutch is about half normals and half hypomelanistics. This proves that she is het for hypomelanism, something which we did not previously know. Her mate was Yeled, who is an amber corn snake (both caramel and hypomelanistic). We got 19 babies from Y'hudit, out of 23 eggs that she laid.
All of these new babies will be fed for the 1st time next Sunday. Only then will we have some idea of how many will eat and how many will steadfastly refuse to eat.
The last 2 clutches were from our 2 new girls, D'vorah and Y'hudit. D'vorah's clutch was about half normals and half amelanistics, since she is amelanistic and her mate, Gavnoni, is heterozygous for amelanism. He is also het for anerythrism (we know this only because we know his parents), but apparently she is not, since we got no anerythristics or snows (amelanistic AND anerythristic) from her. We got 12 babies from D'vorah, out of 15 eggs that she laid.
Y'hudit's clutch is about half normals and half hypomelanistics. This proves that she is het for hypomelanism, something which we did not previously know. Her mate was Yeled, who is an amber corn snake (both caramel and hypomelanistic). We got 19 babies from Y'hudit, out of 23 eggs that she laid.
All of these new babies will be fed for the 1st time next Sunday. Only then will we have some idea of how many will eat and how many will steadfastly refuse to eat.
David released from the hospital!
I just brought David home from the hospital! They released him today after finding no more evidence of stones in the CT scan that he had this morning. He is SO glad to be home, and he's also feeling much better!
He had begun to feel not so good late Saturday, and he really didn't feel very well Sunday at all. But Monday he felt better by mid-morning, and today he feels even better.
So, he spent a total of more than 12 and a half days in the hospital this time. The doctors and nurses really did a good job of taking care of him, and they were actually able to identify and fix the problem that brought him in. This is very encouraging!
He had begun to feel not so good late Saturday, and he really didn't feel very well Sunday at all. But Monday he felt better by mid-morning, and today he feels even better.
So, he spent a total of more than 12 and a half days in the hospital this time. The doctors and nurses really did a good job of taking care of him, and they were actually able to identify and fix the problem that brought him in. This is very encouraging!
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