Fauna Friday: Gecko edition

“Another lizard post?! Seriously?? Are you trying to drive away all your readers??” you’re probably thinking.

And even if you aren’t, I certainly am.

Because between the chameleon, the agama, and especially the skink (YZG’s literary masterpiece, notwithstanding), I’m pretty sure that I’ve more than exceeded my allotment of lizard posts.

Yet, nevertheless, in the interest of good blogging, I feel that I have no choice but to share a picture* of a gecko (i.e. a sh’mamit - שממית - for the Hebraically-oriented among you).

As always, click on the picture* for a closer view.

Why a gecko, you ask?

Well, admittedly, geckos aren’t cute (in a reptilian sort of way) and don’t live in national parks and aren’t even compellingly creepy.

But if you happen to be visiting TRLEOOB** and you hear a Shiputzim daughter screech hysterically, “Abba! There’s a lizard in the playroom!” – chances are, the lizard in question will turn out to be a gecko…

!שבת שלום ומבורך

_____________

*I apologize for the grainy shot, but that’s what comes from having a blog with an AWOL Chief of Photography… ;-)

**TRLEOOB=the real life equivalent of our blog

A people house has things like… stairs

Helloooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

As our long time readers will no doubt recall, I ruined the dramatic impact of the kablan’s exit in this post by noting that he was going to come back at some point:

“To touch up the paint in the downstairs bathroom.”

Well, yesterday turned out to be the big day.

The kablan scraped off the paint where it had cracked, spackled, and then put on two coats of paint. Instead of posting a picture, I refer you to this post. The walls now look exactly as they did then. (Hopefully, this time they’ll continue to look like they do now…)

Meanwhile, while he was here, the kablan put the leftover steps up on the wall as shelves:

As you can see in the above picture, there’s actually one more step sitting on top of the bookshelf below. That fourth step – or shelf, if you will – was meant to be the top step and is therefore not as deep as the other steps. So, if we want to put it up on the wall, we need to get different brackets.

And that’s about it for now.

Have a good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

P.S. In case you were wondering - no, the carpenter did not come today, but there’s always “tomorrow”…

Judging our books by their covers (or, rather, their spines)

Helloooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

I hope you all had an easy fast and are now enjoying your music/fleishigs/haircuts… and, of course, your laundry! (For the record: we just started Post-Tisha B’Av Load #3, aka “BA”H - A Drop in the Bucket”.)

Some of you have inquired as to the state of the playroom. I’m pleased to report that although we’re not yet finished, we’ve certainly come a long way.

For instance, the library committee* managed to finish sorting and shelving the playroom books, as you can see here:

And here:

And also here:

To our pleasant surprise, we found all sorts of books which we had forgotten about. Also, now that everything is classified according to official OSS rules (that is, the Our Shiputzim System, of course!), it’s now much easier to find a specific book.

The Our Shiputzim editorial board would like to take this opportunity to thank the library committee for their fine work. In particular, the board is highly appreciative of AMG’s bookbinding and repair efforts. Go, AMG!!!

That’s about it for now, but don’t forget to watch this space for future updates.

Have a good afternoon from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

P.S. To those of our readers who are traveling abroad this week: Have a good and safe trip, and please feel free to check in while you’re away.

________

* Library Committee: Chair – Our Head Librarian; Members - AMG and TSG

A post you can sink your teeth into

Helloooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

Yes, we’re still here. I realize that blogging has been rather sparse of late, but let me once again remind our readers that the best way to revitalize this blog is by commenting….

Meanwhile, while we were away concentrating on TRLEOTB (the real life equivalent of this blog), we missed a very significant milestone. Yes, that’s right. We passed 1,000 hits. Way to go us!

The big moment occurred at precisely 2:40 PM on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. And who was our 1000th reader, you ask? He or she is a 012 (Kavei Zahav) subscriber, who uses Firefox, Windows 2000, and a monitor with a resolution of 1024 x 768. If this was you, please feel free to drop us line. We may consider having you write a guest post for this illustrious blog! (How cool would that be?!)

Not much to report on the renovations front. We’ve been making considerable progress on unearthing the playroom and taking out all the stuff that needs to go to the attic, but we’re not there yet…

Speaking of extracting (how was that for a segue?), ESG had a baby tooth pulled at a recent dentist visit.

Here’s a picture of his tooth:

I just know that you all want to thank me for sharing that!

That’s about it for now.

Watch this space for future updates and don’t forget to leave a comment.

Let's shelve that plan for now

There's nothing more boring than a blogger who, after not posting for a few days, briefly returns with a lame excuse and an insincere apology for neglecting the blog - only to once again abandon the poor, lonely blog and the faithful, long-suffering readers.

Alas, such appears to be the case here. However, in our defense, we should note that we did post a request for future topics here. Yet, the response was limited to a single comment (to be found here).

So, unless - or until - several other readers chime in with suggestions for future topics, posting is likely to become even more infrequent and the entries are likely to become even less interesting, as our renovations slowly begin to wind down.

In the meantime, let me bring you up-to-date:

On Friday, the carpenter arrived to re-measure the attic-stairwell-formerly-known-as-our-hole. Hopefully, he'll be returning some time this week.

Also, on Friday, ASG washed the playroom floor, and everyone managed to remove all the toys and books from the living room before Shabbat. Unfortunately, the pictures of the playroom have not been cleared for publication. (We haven't yet decided how we want to organize all the playroom furnishings.)

In other news, the kablan is off to Europe on vacation for a few days, which gives us about a week to empty ASG and AMG's rooms in advance of the painting. To that end, YZG and AMG once again hosed down the attic, which had become dusty again due to the installation of "Our Stairs: The Sequel", in general, and the carving out of the top stair, in particular. Afterwards, they used bleach to wash the floor and then started bringing the shelves up from AMG's room.

This is what the attic looks like now:

And:

And that's where we're holding for now.

As always, watch this space for future updates, and feel free to leave a comment*. We love hearing from you.

===============

* In response to a reader's query about comments to old posts, let me explain ("no, there is too much, let me sum up") that all comments - even those left on the older posts - come directly to us.

The one that didn't have a title

Good evening.

Okay, so I've received some feedback to the effect that the end of the previous posting was perhaps a touch overly dramatic. But, as our dedicated readers should be aware by now, this entire blog is written tongue completely in cheek.....

.....Anyway, the kablan spent the afternoon painting.

He worked on the wall over the porch, as you can see here:

And here:

He also worked on the hole, as shown here:

And here:

And finally, he did a bunch in the playroom, as evidenced here:

That's it for now.

See y'all back here tomorrow.... [all together now] .... same Our Shiputzim time, same Our Shiputzim channel.

Roof views: They're baaaaack....

Yes, that's right! Call your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers. After a relatively long hiatus, we are very pleased to announce that we have more roof views for you.

But before we get to them, let's tend to some other matters of business.

First, the kablan painted, varnished or stained (pick your favorite word!) the steps:

He also plastered around the hole:

And:

He also filled in the cracks in the playroom:

And, finally, the moment you've all been waiting for..... roof views!!!!!

[Cue: roof view theme music]

View #1

View #2

View #3:

And, lastly, View #4:

And in conclusion, I've just been informed by one of our intrepid reporters that further developments are unfolding at this very moment. Our team of photographers has been dispatched to the scene, and we'll be sure to get you the details of the story as soon as they become available.

One small step for man us

The A/C guys finished and left. Here's what it all looks like now:

This is the playroom vent:

This is the vent in AMG's room:

And this is the vent in ASG's room:

Here's where the unit itself is:

And here's another view of the unit itself:

In other news, the steps have arrived. Here's one:

And here it is temporarily in place:

Now, before one of our so-called anonymous commenters suggests that one step is insufficient and that we consider getting more, here are the other steps:

The wooden steps will be shellacked with two coats, and the metal supports are going to be painted. (Color TBA.)

Our own private beach

After the plumber left today, the kablan cleaned out the bathroom:

And:

Then, this evening, he came back and poured sand into the bathroom:

Meanwhile, there's still some wood in the front yard, but everything else is either on the roof, the mirpesset or in the playroom.

For example, here are the bathroom tiles and the toilet sitting in the playroom:

Good night to all.

P.S. Although we really do appreciate the offers of building sandcastles in our bathroom, we're pretty much set right now. But thanks anyway. :-)

Up to the wild blue yonder

The kablan came at around 10 am and sealed off the two bedrooms.

Here's AMG's room:

And here's ASG's room:

He also put plastic down on the playroom floor:

He then proceeded to drill several small holes in the ceiling so they'll know where to cut tomorrow morning:

In fact, if you look closely, you can see up to the sky:

The workers are supposed to I"YH arrive at around 7:15 am tomorrow and hope to start cutting by 8:00. (The kablan - who lives two doors away from us - will be davening with YZG at the 6:30 am minyan. :-) )

In other news, the toilet is going to be right under the window in the bathroom - i.e. in the middle of that wall (unlike where it is in the downstairs bathroom). Meanwhile, the kablan asked if we wanted to go with him today to look at tiles, but since the kids were going to be coming home soon, we couldn't leave then. So, he said he'll bring some samples for us to look at.

All clear

Everyone spent the day working hard emptying out the upstairs.

Here's what it looks like now:

This is the playroom. The stairs will be along the left wall.

Here's the bathroom:

And, last but not least, the bathtub (and no, we don't know what we'll be doing with the hamsters.... :-) )