Seeing eye dogs, eyes, and balloons

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It's not every day that you see a guide dog; but today I saw TWO.
This beautiful mature one stayed quietly at its master's feet in the Wilhelmina Auditorium from 9:00  to 2:30.

Beer Sheva's Soroka Hospital gave a study day about various eye problems and treatments.
How the dog sat through all those lectures I don't know.
Poor thing was too low to even see the slides on the screen.

One of the talks included videos of eye surgery, including sticking needles into the eye.
Oi, not for the faint of heart!  But amazing what the surgeons can do to save vision.

Comic relief came unintentionally, haha!
At the end of the day the Eye Department balloon decorations had somehow gravitated to the EXIT stairwell and the old folks were trying to climb through them.

Then at my bus stop a sweet younger dog was waiting for the bus.
Her jacket says she is a guide dog for the blind puppy in training.

The bus stop is right outside Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Many students there volunteer to take such puppies into their homes for a year and go everywhere with them in order to socialize them.

You can see how the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind works in my earlier post.
And this post shows some playful puppies at our President's open house.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday and Camera Critters.)
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For Dog Day, our growing dog training promenade

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In honor of National Dog Day (in America, at least) and for Camera Critters meme, here are some fresh photos of our town's dog training promenade.

It is a work in progress, made by volunteers, friends of our local veterinarian Dr. Doron Avishai,  who died before his time.

The builders left their names and messages in the concrete next to the water bowl.
To see how much has been added lately and to check out the various wooden training things, see my post from 2015.
And here you can enjoy pictures of the happy Dog Day that was held there in cooperation with the vet's widow.

The main rule listed here is to keep your dog on a leash.
This is in contrast to the official bare-bones Dog Park built by the Meitar Local Council right across the path; see the difference here.

Another welcome new addition is a patch of bare land where the sign invites you to scatter seeds of wildflowers from our own Negev desert region.
There's also a caveat: Please do not spray here.

Happy Dog Day!
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday.)

Free range organic farm

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Friday a neighbor-friend picked me up and we drove out to visit a big organic farm and to buy goat yogurt, white cheese, and labaneh.
This mega-dog was in a paddock with some bucks and rams.

Many of the cattle were basking in the warm sun.
It is not often that you see free-range cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens these days.
It made me happy.

Only the parrots were enclosed.

The view from the farm's dairy and shop has changed since I was there last summer.
The West Bank (which starts just across the road) is now behind a concrete separation wall.

The security fence and/or wall is not yet finished.
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(Linking to Camera Critters and SkyWatch Friday.)
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Dog day

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A dog trainer giving positive reinforcement!

Yesterday,  Shabbat, many Meitar dog-owners came to the new dog training and exercise place.
I showed how it was being built by volunteers a few months ago, in honor of their beloved veterinarian who died.

Long at the long hair!
The red Irish Setter's tail hair even needs to be braided! 

Dr. Doron Avishai's widow (on the right) was enjoying how the place was making everyone happy, both dogs and humans.

(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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Tribute to a vet, training promenade for dogs

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Camera-Critter folks, look what citizen volunteers of Meitar started building a few months ago!
A nice shiny drinking bowl too. 

Complete with rebar bracing up on top!

When finished (maybe it is already) this will be a dog-training and dog-exercise promenade in memory of a beloved local veterinarian, Dr. Doron Avishai (1953-2013).
Click 2x to enlarge and to better see his photo on the sign. 

I remember from my volunteer years at Heifer Ranch how much work goes into digging post holes, mixing concrete, and setting posts straight.
It has to be a labor of love.

All these are right across the path from Meitar's new fenced-in dog park I showed you last week.

Looks like the dogs are going to have fun.

Nice detail work on the balance beams-cum-benches.

Rest in peace, Dr. Doron Avishai, knowing your memory lives on.
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UPDATE:  The place was soon completed and a Dog Day was held, to the delight of Dr. Avishai's widow.
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Our new dog park

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It's seldom that I find an animal to contribute to the weekly Camera Critters group.
But here is something animal-related.
Guess what the concrete pipes are for. 

Yes! It is a brand new park for dogs!
Right here in my little town, Meitar.

These pictures are from October.  Maybe it looks a bit more finished by now.

"How Park" Park for Dogs  the sign says.
Hebrew-speaking dogs say how-how instead of English bow-wow or arf arf.
There are many rules, one being "No entry to bitches in heat."

Dogs on the streets are supposed to be on a leash, so here in the dog park  you can sit on a bench and enjoy watching  your dog(s) run free.
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Sky and his sky-blue eyes

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The young man was obviously very proud of his Siberian Husky.
He was happy to pose (the dog) for a picture on my blog.
He had given Sky a free run on the lawn near the fountain (the fountain in yesterday's post about Be'er Sheva becoming Israel's "Water City.")
(You will enjoy Sky's blue eyes more if you click a few times on the photos.)

Actually Sky and I had met ten minutes earlier when the three of us were "trapped" on the narrow traffic island in the middle of a busy boulevard.
My little camera was in the palm of my hand at my side  as we stood waiting for the second green light.
The Husky sniffed my hand and, to my surprise, gave it (my hand, not the camera!)  a lick.
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UPDATE:   I see on YouTube that some  Israelis are doing urban mushing with their huskies!
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(For Camera Critters meme.)
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A desperate call for urgent help -- Ps. 70

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All day yesterday I was mulling what to do with Psalm 70 (for Robert's weekly PsalmChallenge).
I was getting no inspiration; I couldn't find a fitting photo (and still can't).
What to do with yet another psalm of calls for help and revenge?
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The answer came to me in a dramatic way:
I left the house for my usual evening walk; the minute I stepped onto the street a small dog came yapping and running toward me, got behind me and bit me on the lower leg.

I spun around and yelled "Stop it!", hoping it would make the dog's owners, a young couple and their baby, pay attention and come to my rescue.
They took their sweet time coming over and calling their dog, thinking he was just barking at me.
I looked at the two red scratch marks from its fangs and at its saliva on my skin and felt the pain inside and shouted to the people that it was indeed a bite.

"Oh, slicha, slicha" they said.
I retorted, "I don't want 'Sorry, sorry,' I just want not to be bitten when I walk on my own street! Train your dog! Get a leash! Take some responsibility!"
And I added that my step-daughter recently spent months in a wheelchair after a dog bit her on two different days in the stairwell of her apartment.
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Back home, cleaning my wound (which fortunately was not deep or bleeding), I felt the anger more than the physical pain.
I had shouted, I had been attacked, help was slow in coming--all such rare things in my current life--and the adrenaline was pumping.
I heard myself planning: "Next time I'll go out walking with a strong walking stick and if that damn dog comes at me again I'll break its teeth, I'll smash its head, I'll . . . ."
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Then it occurred to me: I was sounding like the biblical psalmists!
I could so identify with them, suddenly.
I could feel their righteous indignation!
And my murmured threats were nothing worse than an example of the Hebrew hyperbole so common in the Bible, the exaggeration for effect often used in Semitic languages.
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Then I wondered just how many folks in the Western world have ever been physically and unjustly attacked by man or beast, how many know the constant fear of an existential threat to them and their whole country?

The people who feel a need to "clean up" and tone down many of the Psalms, taking the "violent" and "terrible" verses out of some Psalms before inclusion in their prayer books--are they not missing the point and power of the Psalms?

Well, I was taught a lot yesterday; but next weekend I might think twice before praying for some PsalmChallenge inspiration.
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PSALM 70

1. For the leader. Of David. Lehazkir.

2. Hasten, O God, to save me; O LORD, to aid me.

3. May those who seek my life be disgraced and abashed; may those who wish me harm fall back in shame.

4. May those who say “Aha! Aha!’’ over me retreat in disgrace.

5. May all who seek You be glad and rejoice in You; may those who are eager for Your deliverance always say, “God be exalted!”

6. As for me, I am lowly and needy; O God, hasten to me. You are my aid and my rescuer; O LORD, do not hold back.
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Translation by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
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For a modern and initially shocking reworking of Psalm 70 by Rabbi Justin David, do see the new American book Psalms in Ordinary Voices.
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A hermit at heart

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Impossible to get through. grrr . . .
For a whole week I felt like this puppy. I couldn't get through to the Internet.
And no telephone either.

Finally the Bezeq phone line repairman came yesterday, climbed a ladder to my neighbors' roof, and put my wires into a new DRY box.
The wonders of technology came to life. But by evening, they were dead again.
Then mid-morning today the phone and Internet began working. But for how long?
Tomorrow I will sit home again and wait for the technician to return.

It was so strange not being able to blog or to read your blogs.
I missed the Skype calls from the grandkids in Los Angeles and Australia.

On the other hand, no one could catch me on the phone; I didn't need to answer emails; I was spared the frantic hours of newscasts on Israeli Internet TV.
I got a lot of deep housecleaning and yard work done.
All my books got dusted and put in order on the bookcase; I even read some.
I could go to bed as early or as late as I wanted.

Days did not race by, they took their sweet time.

It was so quiet.
It was splendid isolation.
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Puppy love

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Congratulations and many thanks to Misty Dawn who every Saturday for the past three years has faithfully offered us Camera-Critters meme! Happy anniversary!
. Remember the neighbor's Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies we saw last October?
They have grown.
Here's mama kissing her daughter.
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Taking refuge in an olive tree

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Is this not the Cheshire Cat?

The two saucer-eyed kittens up the tree were escaping from the rambunctious Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

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For Camera-Critters Sunday.

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A dog operator and his dog

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I go fruit-and vegetable-shopping at Jerusalem's open air market once a week, but this was my first time to see a police dog patrolling the shuk.
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The Border Guard policeman saw a pile of bagged refuse on the ground inside a little side alley and took his dog there to sniff around.
The team was so intent on doing their job professionally and quickly that the man did not hear my request for photo permission the first time. I had to run after them and ask again in a louder voice.
He was nice to stop a second and agree to a photo, and even had the dog sit down so I could get the "Police dog" sign.
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I was shocked last week when the Al Qaida of Yemen mailed a concealed bomb to the Chicago synagogue in which I grew up.
Actually the package was addressed to the small congregation of gay Jews which now shares our building by the lake.
Just imagine if the box had arrived and exploded and killed and destroyed. Oi!
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Seeing the police dog sniffing for bombs in the Mahane Yehuda market makes me feel even safer these days.
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I share this dog with Camera-Critters Sunday.
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Rhodesian Ridgebacks

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Shalom Camera-Critters friends.

Have you ever seen a Rhodesian Ridgeback?

Strangely enough, the dog is characterized by a ridge of hair along its back running in the opposite direction to the rest of its coat.

I had never even heard of a Rhodesian Ridgeback until these three lively puppies were piled on my lap by the neighbors.

The breed began in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe).

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Wikipedia says

"The breed's history dates back to early in the 18th century, when the first European settlers found dogs domesticated by Khoi-khoi tribes with the hair on the spine turned forward. In the late 19th century, big game hunters needed a hunting dog that was tough, resistant to disease, and intelligent enough to avoid crocodiles and snakes, but brave and fast enough to face a lion. Also important was a tick-repellent smooth coat and tight paw pads to protect against thorns and rough terrain."
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Fortunately Israel no longer has lions roaming wild.

But we used to!

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You will enjoy looking at the BibleWalks.com page about the Dir Hijla/Gerassimos monastery near the Dead Sea.

There is a statue of a lion there and many icons and paintings of a lion and St. Gerassimos with the Mountains of Judea behind them.

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The legend says that the Abbot encountered a lion roaring with pain near the Jordan River. He removed a thorn from the lion's paw.

The lion was so thankful that he became tame and joined the community.

In the Greek Orthodox art he is often depicted with a donkey and a camel, his friends from the monastery.

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