I'm grateful for: a hope of ducks; peaches, pears & ginger, a frothy fruit drink; speaking Hebrew, even just a little.

Hot, hot, hot, it is unbearably hot. So, what else is new?

S1 went into Be'er Sheva to take his written (theoretical, it's called here) driving test. He failed again. We're hearing stories of people taking the test over thirty times. It is crazy. I odn't know what it's going to take for the gub'ment to step in a do something about it, clearly they don't have any problem with things as they are for the moment. *sigh*

Today's trip was particularly horrendous as S1 waited two hours to see the clerk, only to be told he had the wrong sort of stamp on his form - the same form he's used for taking the test four times before. So he went and got the correct stamp (at the optometrist's office, where someone was overheard muttering about it, apparently this was suddenly dumped on them, too), some lunch,a nd went back and took the test. Is anyone surprized that after that he didn't pass? I mean, if it was a test to accurately check his knowledge of driving rules and procedures, maybe, but since the test can only be passed by first failing it enough times to have collected enough right answers, and then lucking out to have all the right questions when you show up to test... He's now failed five times. He's still at the low end of the curve. I wish that helped. It does, a little. He doesn't get nearly so discouraged now that we know all the ground rules. *sigh*

Since we live in the Negev, if we wanted he could drive our car and probably never get caught, but it seems like such a very bad idea, fraught. You know, asking for trouble.

I don't know if I wrote about it yet, another American family on the moshav (there are only three - four if you don't count two households of the same family as one) had two dairy goats stolen from right out of their yard a couple of nights ago. Someone cut the fence and took the two adult girls, there was a girl kid, too, but apparently she hid.

The poor thing was left there all alone, so we moved her down here to stay with the buck we got from the same people (on loan), and our three girls. She is an escape artist, and has come up with at least three really creative ways to get out of the yard already, including knocking a hole in the fence by the sabra (really nasty cactus) plants.

S1 tried to mend the hole in the fence and got a nasty prick from a sabra for his pains. A sabra spine has hooks and is brittle, so it hooks you, then shatters into lots of little bits of spine that stick. They can remain and hurt for weeks at least. So, not good, that. And, the girl knocked a hole right back in the fence the same place right afterward. *sigh*

We may have to send the girl back home. Which means we may have to send the boy back home. I hope he's done his business, then, because we do need boys to keep our herd growing, amazingly enough.

We've also been offered some ducks. I want them! I don't know how we can make it work. The biggest problem is keeping the dogs from bothering them. We should be able to do that once we have a deck (mirpesset) built, but until then I have to be able to let the dogs out in the backyard. For that matter, I don't want to have to worry about chicks drowning themselves in the duck's pool. They manage to drown themselves just about everywhere else. *sigh* It's one of those things.

Phone call from RS tonight, I didn't talk to her, S1 says that she said Nefesh b'nefesh (people I have an incredibly nasty story to tell about, I won't do it here but anyone who wants to ask...) says they will get her on a plane in mid-September. So she should be here sometime in the middle of the high holidays. Timing, people. Who schedules an aliyah flight in the MIDDLE of the holidays? Enquiring minds are looking the other way 'cause it's probably too stoopid to take in.

In other news, I got a phone call today from S2, asking about the number on the car. I have no idea, I had to tell him to phone TH, but he'd been told he couldn't use his cell phone for three days. It was quite a pleasant surprize to hear from him, even if only briefly.

Then I got a phone call from someone on the base.

I don't know if it was an officer, maybe a jobnik in the office, but I am quite proud of myself for coping with the phone call. It was almost entirely in Hebrew, you see. The first person I spoke with I was able to get enough information to understand they were calling from the army and wanted to talk to the parents of S2. At that point I told her I didn't speak Hebrew, only the smallest amount, and she found someone who spoke about the same amount of English as I speak Hebrew. Still, communication occurred.

I am going to the teches on Thursday. We have to be there by 10:30am to meet with the commander (I assume of the base since they didn't say 'his' commander). Yes, we have the invitation and directions. Yes, I will be there. That was pretty much it, but as we spoke back and forth almost everything had to be repeated four times, in English and in Hebrew, to be sure the information was getting through correctly. It was rather a longer conversation than it is taking me to type about it. Cool! I need more practice like that. :-)

The body pretty much was useless today. I got some laundry in the washer, and some moved from the washer to the dryer. Other people folded and put away what was clean. I walked the length of the house once. I hope it's just the heat, although at this point what is there to hope for? Body crashed. I want to go swimming tomorrow. I also want to go to the shuk, and shopping in Netivot. I have to assume I won't manage any of it, but work towards accomplishing all of it. Hashem can always make a miracle.

D3 had an emergency visit to the dentist, where thank goodness she didn't have a cavity. What is it about dentists and doctors, though, that when they can't figure out what is going on, they always blame the patient? FB, who was enamel flaking off of his teeth (has had for years, no idea why) was told it's because he brushes too hard! I mean, really! They told D3 she was hurting because she wasn't cleaning her teeth well enough. Then they gave her tools to clean in and around the braces more thoroughly. Why didn't they give her those tools right at the beginning, and say she needed to use them? Why didn't they tell us we would need to schedule her for more frequent cleanings while she has braces? And, in any event, if there is no cavity, then how can her less than ideal dental hygiene be responsible for her being in really bad pain? Argh!

Anyway, she is now scheduled for a cleaning with the hygienist, and what I'm guessing is the cause of the pain, an irritated nerve, will hopefully settle down as the teeth re-settle into their new position after the latest visit with the orthodontist. I'm rolling my eyes here.

I'm not an expert. I've never had braces. D3 is the first of my kids to have braces. Not the first to need them, unfortunately, but by the time I knew what was needed, it was too late for S2 - until he gets out of the army. Still, I know less about this than any dentist, hygienist, orthodontist, or even TH, who had braces himself along with all of his siblings. So why am I relying on my own guess-work rather than an informed statement from any of the professionals? Because the things they are saying make absolutely no sense.

Again - *sigh*

I'm a bit stressed, still, again, yet, about RS coming. I need to try to put it aside, I've got enough I have to be doing preparing for the holidays and taking care of things here now. I have to figure out when I can go grocery shopping, since we'll be all day for S2's teches on Thursday, and I have an appointment in Tel Aviv on Friday. And Saturday is S2's birthday.

He's going to be nineteen. Isn't that amazing?

And it's just gone after 1am. Time to try and sleep. Or at least wind down.

I'm listening to Tex Williams: Careless Love

:: Yesterdays : Tomorrows ::

~~~Last Five Entries~~~
Hi and goodbye - 2010-10-15
I'll be moving on - 2010-10-10
Gold membership and stuff - 2010-10-10
Decisions, decisions - 2010-10-07
Days to go - 2010-10-06