This morning, we drove down to Rosh Pinna to see "Up" "למעלה", a Disney/Pixar animated movie, at Cinemateque. We bought a subscription for an entire year so that we'll be able to go down there and see movies anytime that we want to and have time.
Since "Up" is, of course, an American movie, I had assumed that it would be in the original English, probably with Hebrew subtitles, which is the usual procedure here. This one, however, was dubbed instead, with no subtitles, probably because it is considered a "kids' movie". But the dubbing was excellent, and I was even able to get some of the Hebrew.
Nevertheless, we were able to follow the story quite well. As mentioned, I picked up some of the Hebrew, but the visuals told the story well enough that I would have gotten most of it even if it had been in Chinese (of which I know not a single word).
If you haven't seen this movie, I would highly recommend it. It's the story of an old man, Mr. Frederickson, going for his dream and of the little Boy Scout, Russell, who becomes his sidekick in spite of the old man's resistance. Together, they have quite an adventure!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Update on "Stars and Stripes and Pipes"
I've finally got the kinks worked out with CD Baby and am ready to publish my latest album, "Stars and Stripes and Pipes". Today, I burned the actual CDs, printed the album cover and the track list (for the back side of the jewel case), and put them all together. Tomorrow, I'll try to get 5 copies in the mail to CD Baby. They'll receive them in about 2 weeks, and then it will take them another week or 2 to get them into their system. After that, they'll be available for sale on CD Baby, where you'll be able to order the physical CD, to download the entire album, or to download only the tracks you want. I'll let you know when that actually happens.
Katom is back to himself
I'm happy to report that Katom (our beloved cat that we brought here with us from the States!) is feeling much better and is back to himself!
When we took him in to the vet Sunday evening, he still wasn't feeling very well. They tried to get blood from both of his front paws and managed to get some. However, they asked us to bring him in again Monday morning for Roi, the senior vet, to get fresh blood from the jugular vein. On Monday morning, Katom seemed to be feeling better, but we still took him in, of course. Amazingly, he didn't even flinch when the vet literally went for his jugular! They got a good sample and sent it off to the lab for analysis.
Already by Monday evening, it was evident that Katom was feeling better. We noticed that he used the litter box, and he even ate a little. Even before we got the lab results (on Wednesday, I think), we knew that he was going to be OK. Indeed, the lab results showed nothing very far from normal. It's possible that he had kidney stones and that they passed through in the end. In any case, we are so VERY thankful for his recovery! Throughout the rest of the week, his strength has only been improving.
When we took him in to the vet Sunday evening, he still wasn't feeling very well. They tried to get blood from both of his front paws and managed to get some. However, they asked us to bring him in again Monday morning for Roi, the senior vet, to get fresh blood from the jugular vein. On Monday morning, Katom seemed to be feeling better, but we still took him in, of course. Amazingly, he didn't even flinch when the vet literally went for his jugular! They got a good sample and sent it off to the lab for analysis.
Already by Monday evening, it was evident that Katom was feeling better. We noticed that he used the litter box, and he even ate a little. Even before we got the lab results (on Wednesday, I think), we knew that he was going to be OK. Indeed, the lab results showed nothing very far from normal. It's possible that he had kidney stones and that they passed through in the end. In any case, we are so VERY thankful for his recovery! Throughout the rest of the week, his strength has only been improving.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The snake era is over
Today marked the end of an era for us.
In 2000, shortly before we bought our house in San Bernardino, we got our first snake, Alef. A few months later we acquired another snake, and then another, and then... Well, you get the picture. Before long, we got quite deeply into breeding corn snakes and enjoyed this hobby a lot.
When we moved to Israel (at the end of 2005), we got all the necessary permits and brought more than 30 snakes with us, including about 13 or 14 siblings from a breeding project that we had started a couple of years before that when we bred a male Emory rat snake (another subspecies of corn snakes) to a female lavender corn snake. The project came to fruition in the summer of 2007, when we produced our first "fire opal" snakes. These are both lavender and amelanistic (with Emory amelanism, NOT corn snake amelanism, which is a different gene). They are pinkish white with only faint saddles. We produced 3 or 4 that year, but only 1 (a beautiful female!) survived eventually. In 2008, we produced some more, but again only 1 (this time a male) survived. We also produced a number of amelanistic and lavender babies, of course. This year, we only had two clutches of eggs, and not a single egg was good.
One of our main problems here is that it's really too cold. Despite the fact that each cage has a heating pad on the bottom of it at one end, we really have not been keeping it warm enough for the snakes. As a result, they tend to quit eating too early in the Fall, and we can't bring them up from their brumation early enough in the Spring. Although they are SUPPOSED to go without food for two or three months, ours have sometimes essentially not eaten for 4, 5, and even 6 months a year, resulting in a number of deaths. Until this past Spring, we had a rack system with drawers and heating strips at the back. Because they were more enclosed in it, they could keep warm enough there even in the winter. But there was only enough space for the babies. The heating system failed in the rack this year, and we could not afford to have it checked and replaced (the rack was built by a guy in the San Diego area, from whom we had bought it years ago).
So, we had already been cutting down the number of snakes in our collection, selling most of them. Finally, we realized that we simply could not afford to continue this hobby at all anymore. So I called our friend, Golan, who keeps and breeds snakes (and a number of other animals) at his facility on Kibbutz Matzuba, nearly Shlomi and not far from Nahariya. I told Golan that we would give him the 12 remaining snakes that we had, and we arranged to take them over there today. I also gave him the rest of the frozen mice that we had.
Our final inventory was: 2 males and 2 females from the project (hybrids, all heterzygous for both Emory amelanism and corn snake lavender), 1 normal male corn snake (het for snow, i.e. both amelanism and anerythrism, and a good proven breeder but impossible to sell because he has lots of bumps on him!), 1 female "fire opal", 2 male amelanistic hybrids (one of which is so skinny that he probably won't make it), a female amelansitic hybrid, a pair of lavender hybrids, and a male "fire opal".
Although snake breeding has been a fun hobby for us, it's now time for us to move on. The reduced expense (by not having to buy mice and not heating the snakes) will help our budget a bit. I'll miss seeing them every week when I feed them and clean their cages, but I'll also have one less thing to do each week. And, of course, when we really want to see some snakes, we can always visit Golan's! :-)
In 2000, shortly before we bought our house in San Bernardino, we got our first snake, Alef. A few months later we acquired another snake, and then another, and then... Well, you get the picture. Before long, we got quite deeply into breeding corn snakes and enjoyed this hobby a lot.
When we moved to Israel (at the end of 2005), we got all the necessary permits and brought more than 30 snakes with us, including about 13 or 14 siblings from a breeding project that we had started a couple of years before that when we bred a male Emory rat snake (another subspecies of corn snakes) to a female lavender corn snake. The project came to fruition in the summer of 2007, when we produced our first "fire opal" snakes. These are both lavender and amelanistic (with Emory amelanism, NOT corn snake amelanism, which is a different gene). They are pinkish white with only faint saddles. We produced 3 or 4 that year, but only 1 (a beautiful female!) survived eventually. In 2008, we produced some more, but again only 1 (this time a male) survived. We also produced a number of amelanistic and lavender babies, of course. This year, we only had two clutches of eggs, and not a single egg was good.
One of our main problems here is that it's really too cold. Despite the fact that each cage has a heating pad on the bottom of it at one end, we really have not been keeping it warm enough for the snakes. As a result, they tend to quit eating too early in the Fall, and we can't bring them up from their brumation early enough in the Spring. Although they are SUPPOSED to go without food for two or three months, ours have sometimes essentially not eaten for 4, 5, and even 6 months a year, resulting in a number of deaths. Until this past Spring, we had a rack system with drawers and heating strips at the back. Because they were more enclosed in it, they could keep warm enough there even in the winter. But there was only enough space for the babies. The heating system failed in the rack this year, and we could not afford to have it checked and replaced (the rack was built by a guy in the San Diego area, from whom we had bought it years ago).
So, we had already been cutting down the number of snakes in our collection, selling most of them. Finally, we realized that we simply could not afford to continue this hobby at all anymore. So I called our friend, Golan, who keeps and breeds snakes (and a number of other animals) at his facility on Kibbutz Matzuba, nearly Shlomi and not far from Nahariya. I told Golan that we would give him the 12 remaining snakes that we had, and we arranged to take them over there today. I also gave him the rest of the frozen mice that we had.
Our final inventory was: 2 males and 2 females from the project (hybrids, all heterzygous for both Emory amelanism and corn snake lavender), 1 normal male corn snake (het for snow, i.e. both amelanism and anerythrism, and a good proven breeder but impossible to sell because he has lots of bumps on him!), 1 female "fire opal", 2 male amelanistic hybrids (one of which is so skinny that he probably won't make it), a female amelansitic hybrid, a pair of lavender hybrids, and a male "fire opal".
Although snake breeding has been a fun hobby for us, it's now time for us to move on. The reduced expense (by not having to buy mice and not heating the snakes) will help our budget a bit. I'll miss seeing them every week when I feed them and clean their cages, but I'll also have one less thing to do each week. And, of course, when we really want to see some snakes, we can always visit Golan's! :-)
Katom is sick
For several days, we had noticed that Katom (the cat we bought in 2001, when he was only 2 months old, and brought here to Israel with us) was not eating, and he had been throwing up every day. He had also begun to look like he really didn't feel well, so we took him to the vet Thursday evening.
When we arrived there, we found that Roi, the English-speaking vet, was not there. Instead, the other vet, Amar, treated him. Although I didn't understand everything that he said (he spoke only Hebrew), I picked up most of it and was able to talk to him in Hebrew, as well. I tried to translate the most important things for David so that he wouldn't be left out, and he picked up some of the Hebrew himself.
Amar gave Katom some antibiotics and also injected some normal saline under his skin since he was slightly dehydrated. He gave us the rest of the course of antibiotics to give to him for the next week (we have NOT succeeded in this, unfortunately, due to extreme resistance on the part of the cat!). He told us to bring Katom back on Sunday if he's still not feeling well.
As of today (Saturday afternoon), Katom is still definitely NOT ok. He's still very lethargic, is not eating or drinking much at all, has thrown up several times (just liquid, since he's not eating), and I don't think he has pee'd at all, either. This means that there is probably a problem with his kidneys, as Amar had feared. So, we'll be taking him in tomorrow evening, and they'll take some blood for tests. Sadly, the prospects are NOT good, since there is really nothing they can do if his kidneys are shot. We're bracing for th worst. :-(
When we arrived there, we found that Roi, the English-speaking vet, was not there. Instead, the other vet, Amar, treated him. Although I didn't understand everything that he said (he spoke only Hebrew), I picked up most of it and was able to talk to him in Hebrew, as well. I tried to translate the most important things for David so that he wouldn't be left out, and he picked up some of the Hebrew himself.
Amar gave Katom some antibiotics and also injected some normal saline under his skin since he was slightly dehydrated. He gave us the rest of the course of antibiotics to give to him for the next week (we have NOT succeeded in this, unfortunately, due to extreme resistance on the part of the cat!). He told us to bring Katom back on Sunday if he's still not feeling well.
As of today (Saturday afternoon), Katom is still definitely NOT ok. He's still very lethargic, is not eating or drinking much at all, has thrown up several times (just liquid, since he's not eating), and I don't think he has pee'd at all, either. This means that there is probably a problem with his kidneys, as Amar had feared. So, we'll be taking him in tomorrow evening, and they'll take some blood for tests. Sadly, the prospects are NOT good, since there is really nothing they can do if his kidneys are shot. We're bracing for th worst. :-(
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Review of the movie עניים פקוחות "Eyes Wide Open"
What happens when two men in the haredi community of Jerusalem fall in love? This topic is explored in all its disturbing depth in the film עניים פקוחות "Eyes Wide Open". Ezri, a young man of about 20 comes into the butcher shop of Aaron, a married father of four children. From the way that Ezri looks at Aaron, we can see immediately that he is attracted to him, but all he says is that he's looking for work and asks if Aaron needs a worker. Aaron hires him and begins to teach him the trade (which he obviously knows NOTHING about initially!). Eventually, Ezri manages to seduce Aaron, and their passion, though tastefully shown, is intense. Although they are very discrete, making love only in the upstairs room over the butcher shop, Aaron's wife and his broader community begin to withdraw from him and then threaten him and Ezri. I won't give away the ending except to say that it does not end well.
Cold rain and a dark atmosphere pervade the movie. There are many moody shots with no speaking at all. When people do speak, it is generally very fast, making it difficult for me to understand the Hebrew (and there were no subtitles!). As a result, I'm sure that I missed some of the finer points of the plot and subplots, but the overall impact was clear. Both the love between the two principal characters and the life of their community were sensitively and accurately portrayed. Despite the sad ending, I can highly recommend this movie.
Our neighbors, Shimon and Hava Har-Even, had invited us to see this film with them at the סינמטק "Cinemateque" just down the hill in Rosh Pinna. They had been to this theater once before, but this was our first time. It's part of a chain of art-house theaters here in Israel showing a wide variety of movies from around the world. We will definitely go back and will probably buy a year's subscription, which is priced very reasonably (with a special couple rate).
Cold rain and a dark atmosphere pervade the movie. There are many moody shots with no speaking at all. When people do speak, it is generally very fast, making it difficult for me to understand the Hebrew (and there were no subtitles!). As a result, I'm sure that I missed some of the finer points of the plot and subplots, but the overall impact was clear. Both the love between the two principal characters and the life of their community were sensitively and accurately portrayed. Despite the sad ending, I can highly recommend this movie.
Our neighbors, Shimon and Hava Har-Even, had invited us to see this film with them at the סינמטק "Cinemateque" just down the hill in Rosh Pinna. They had been to this theater once before, but this was our first time. It's part of a chain of art-house theaters here in Israel showing a wide variety of movies from around the world. We will definitely go back and will probably buy a year's subscription, which is priced very reasonably (with a special couple rate).
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