Going beyond our comfort zone

The symbolism was striking.

After all, Succot is all about leaving one’s comfortable home.

And, similarly, our chol hamo’ed trip to Neot Kedumim was - in so many ways - all about leaving our natural comfort zone…

Take, for instance, the destination itself. Not only isn’t Neot Kedumim a national park, but it figures prominently on the Shiputzim teens’ list of “Places We Should Never Go Ever Again, Because We’ve Gone Every. Single. Year. Without. Fail.”

(Except that a quick calculation revealed that we hadn’t actually been there as a family in about ten years, and so the aforementioned adolescents had no choice but to temporarily suspend their moratorium on visits to Neot Kedumim...)

And then there was the way the tiyul was, er, “arranged.” (Please note that I use the term VERY loosely…)

You see, as those of you who know the extended Shiputzim family in real life are well-aware, we’re not exactly the spur-of-the-moment, impulsive types.

Instead, we’re big believers in advance planning, detailed schedules, and early arrival times (especially during chol hamo’ed).

But oddly enough, our trip to Neot Kedumim involved none of these things.

We only decided to go at the last minute; we didn’t get there until several hours after the park opened; and our largish group kept getting separated.

And yet, nevertheless, a great time was had by all.

In particular, everyone enjoyed seeing the life-sized succahs representing each of the kosher and non-kosher cases discussed in the Mishnah (Masechet Succah). For example:

A succah on a boat (KOSHER)

A succah that is less than ten t’fachim high (NOT KOSHER)

A succah with no roof (NOT KOSHER)

A succah with only two walls (NOT KOSHER)

When was the last time you visited Neot Kedumim?

__________

P.S. The latest Haveil Havalim is available here. Special thanks to the Rebbetzin’s Husband for including my ArbaMinimMaintainers post and also my post about Netanyahu’s “V’Shavu Banim L’Gvulam” speech.

That’s Entertainment!

{checks calendar}

Hey, look at that! It’s the middle of June!

Which means, I suppose, that it’s time to start thinking about those summer plans…

In fact, now that this year’s summer vacation will NOT be shortened after all, parents across the country are desperately scrambling  to figure out how they’re going to occupy their delightful offspring for the duration.

Well, the city of Modiin Illit – a chareidi town just outside of Modiin – may have the answer.

You see, according to an article (hat tip: Reader M.) in the “Chadashodati” – a free weekly newspaper serving the Greater Modiin area – someone in Modiin Illit’s Brachfeld neighborhood came up with an original and free source of entertainment:

The article notes that a significant percentage of Modiin Illit’s 50,000 residents are children and that approximately 45 babies are born there each week.

About two weeks ago, some of those children were no doubt delighted to discover the following notice posted on the side of their building:

Translation:

“Wonderful news for the dear children of the building!

Due to the heavy demand and as a result of considerable effort, by the Grace of Heaven and with much Divine Providence, we have managed to arrange a once-in-a-lifetime, amazing spectacle:

A Cement Truck

Which will come to the building tomorrow for several hours only, in order to pour concrete on the roof!!!

Admission is free for the children of the building only (adults can participate as well), subsidized by the Dayan family…

The show will take place tomorrow between 13:30 and 16:00. Tickets are not necessary!

Hurry up, and don’t be late!”

--------

What free summertime activities are offered in your neighborhood?

!שבת שלום ומבורך

Turning back into a pumpkin

Unless you’ve been avoiding the J-Blogosphere over the past week and a half, you’re probably aware that I posted an incredible story about an IDF chaplain.

Why am I mentioning this now, you ask?

Good question.

You see, super-blogger Jameel generously placed a link to my post on his blog; a number of other bloggers soon picked up the story; and the rest, as they say, was history.

(Question – Who are “they”, and when have they ever said this? Inquiring minds want to know.)

But I digress.

My point is that my blog stats suddenly soared. Just to give you a basis for comparison, note that at the beginning of that week, I received a mere 28-37 hits a day. However, in the two hours following Jameel’s post, my SiteMeter recorded a total of 264 hits! The following day, I received 500 hits, and the momentum continued on into the next week.

Thus, for one brief shining moment - {cue: music from Camelot} - I could pretend that I was one of the big bloggers. Visions of ad revenue danced in my head.

But then came the blogging equivalent of the clock striking midnight: I went back to my standard blogging fare, and all those new readers started returning to wherever it was that they came from.

Commenter “Be All You Can Be” – who, in his capacity of official Our Shiputzim military advisor, knows a thing or two about strategy and tactics – told me that I should be working on retaining these readers. According to him, the idea is to stick with what works. In my case, he claims, that would of course be… roof views.

And so, new readers, before you move on to other venues, please take a moment to check out the “Roof” label on the right. You may find something there that interests you.

Or, maybe not…

“I think you’re bluffing.” “It’s possible… I might be bluffing”

So, as predicted, blogging has become more and more infrequent, due to lack of-

Rrrring. Rrrring.

Oh, sorry. That’s my phone. It looks like it’s the Executive Editor of the blog. I’m going to have to take that, but I’ll put it on speaker phone, so you can listen in.

Me: Hello?

EEOTB: Hi, ALG? Listen. We received your memo about having nothing to write about, and we just don’t understand why you’re having this problem.

Me: Well, the renovations are winding down, and not much is really happening this week.

EEOTB: So? What does that have to do with anything? We expect you to keep blogging. We don’t want our advertising revenue to decrease, you know.

Me: Um, we don’t have any advertisers.

EEOTB: Yeah, whatever. The point is – why don’t you do what you usually do: Get some pictures from the Photography Department and add some words?

Me: But that’s just it! The Photography Department says that they have no new pictures!

EEOTB: Who said anything about new pictures?

Me: [aware that the readers are listening in] You’re not suggesting…?!!!

EEOTB: Look. We all know that roof views are very popular. So, give the readers some song and dance about how the roof was not at the right angle and how it needs to be replaced… yadda, yadda… and then you can rerun the old roof views while claiming that we’re “rebuilding” the roof. You can call it “Our Roof: The Sequel” just like you did with the st-

Me: [interrupts] Oh! [tries to contain the damage] You mean, the stop sign?

EEOTB: [clueless] Huh?! The stop sign?! What are you talking about? Are you feeling okay? No, I mean, I want you to pretend that we’re rebuilding the roof, just like you pretended with the st-

Me: [realizes it’s time to end this conversation] Like I did with the stereo? Okay, then. Thanks for calling. Goodbye. [Quickly slams the phone down]

Memo to self: DELETE this post ASAP!!!

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.

Mystery solved: Lag BaOmer edition

Happy Lag BaOmer.

By a show of hands, how many of you spent the night tossing and turning, because you just could not figure out what they did with yesterday's leftover red cement?

I thought as much, and trust me, I feel your pain. And so without further ado, here's the answer to your question:

Meanwhile, the kablan began painting the wall over the porch, as you can see here:

He also put the first coat of paint on the railing. Unfortunately, however, there seems to have been some sort of misunderstanding with respect to the color. He used "silver", which is not at all what I wanted. Hopefully, we'll be able to work something out. In any event, here's what it looks like now:

Finally, we bring you the following late breaking newsflash:

This morning, YZG (together with his able assistants ASG and ESG) put up the new light fixture in the kitchen:

We at the Our Shiputzim writing department would like to take this opportunity to thank YZG and his talented team and also to commend them for their nice work.

That's all for now.

Shabbat Shalom to all.

...And cauldron bubble

Hello to all.

Today, we were fortunate enough to have our very own personal waterfall. They poured water over the roof in order to wash off all the dust and sediment. It's hard to see in the following picture, but the water that ran off was red:

In related news, the attic's front wall is finished (although they still have to paint the side facing the porch). Here are two views from the porch:

And:

And one view from inside the attic:

Meanwhile, the roofer mixed up a nice batch of red cement.

A little bit of this:

And a little bit of that:

It's almost ready:

Now, that's what we call cement:

Let's check up on the roofer's assistant (aka the raafim guy) as he finishes up:

Finally, the kablan rounded the brackets for the stairs:

As always, watch this space for further updates as they become available.

After all, Our Shiputzim is your exclusive source for our renovations.....

Hey, down there....

Today's major development concerns the roof: the roofer put down the tiles on top where the two slopes meet.

It's too dark to get some good roof views from outside, but here's an interior view:

Meanwhile, the front wall of the attic is really coming along:

And:

And also:

This means that there's now only one way to get in and out of the attic - namely, via the hole:

That's all for now.

Have a good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

You have three guesses and the first two don't count

Good afternoon.

The kablan spent some more time on the hole this morning:

And:

On the roof front, the argaz ruach is basically finished:

And:

Meanwhile, they started closing off the attic wall overlooking the porch:

And:

And also:

Finally, we conclude with a guessing game. Three points to the first commenter who correctly identifies this interesting-looking contraption:

More to come...

Post #44 - In which we give a lame excuse for not posting earlier

Goooooddddd eeeevennnninggggg, Our Shiputzim fans!

As our most devoted readers are well-aware, we didn't post all day today. However, it really wasn't our fault. The dog ate our homework. The roof guy didn't come until late this afternoon and then didn't stay for too long.

Here are several roof views - are you paying attention, YAT? - which, hopefully, will make you all feel somewhat better:

View #1:

Since the above picture was taken, the scaffolding was removed, as evidenced here in View #2:

And View #3:

And, while we're at it, an attic view as well:

Meanwhile, the kablan worked on the hole:

Finally, since yesterday's post included a picture of the shower hook, we figured we might as well show you the hook in action:

Wasn't that just FAAAAAscinating?! :-)

And on that note, we wish y'all a good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.