Hearing Aids Report #3 Be Prepared & Not Cheap

 

Hearing Aids case & batteries

You may find it helpful to read my previous articles about life with hearing aids, updates #1 and #2, plus mask-tying advice for avoiding COVID and loss of expensive hearing aids.

This post will have three topics, which I hope you'll find helpful. The first topic concerns us hearing aid-wearers all.

Be Prepared

As per Murphey's Law, one of the first times I left the house wearing my hearing aids, figuring I wouldn't be gone long, and since I wasn't far from home, I didn't take the kit with spare batteries. Yes, I got the battery model and not the rechargeable. That's what was recommended for Sabbath observers, since a new battery is supposed to last longer than a newly charged hearing aid. 

Obviously you guessed it. Almost half the time I was out, I was forced to listen to low-battery-warning rings in stereo. Since I didn't have my case with me, I couldn't take them out, either. But the good news is that even as they kept nudging that it's time to change the batteries, they still magnified the sounds. I should have at least checked the battery percentage which can be done pretty simply on my phone. Yes, they're connected via Bluetooth. Volume can also be adjusted very easily on my phone.

Hearing Aid Expenses

After purchase of course, which I'll talk about later, I have to buy batteries. They can certainly add up in terms of expense, and as I noted above, they rarely last as long as you were counting on. I asked around and was told that it's cheapest to buy them in large quantities online. Just as I was about to bite the bullet and put in my first order, one of my sons told me that he found a whole bunch of packs in a home he was renovating. The former owner has no need any more... Once we ascertained that they're the same size I need, he passed them on to me. I checked them out with the audiologist, who said that even though their date had passed, they seemed OK. He also told me what to look out for as a sign to throw them out. So now I'm set for the next few months.

Facebook Hearing Aids Support Groups

When I had my third meeting with the professional who tested and fitted my hearing aids he mentioned that I'd probably enjoy being part of hearing aids support groups on Facebook. Some are even specific to the brand Oticon, which I have. I quickly whipped out my phone and opened Facebook. Then I searched "Oticon hearing aids support," and suddenly there were a slew of groups to join. There aren't too many notices per day. Usually I ignore them after a quick read, and sometimes I even chime in with some advice. Hah! Me the expert! But to be totally honest I'm shocked at what American have to pay for hearing aids, thousands of dollars in many cases. People even get second hand hearing aids, which I find pretty sad, frightening and pathetic. 

Here in Israel we're all members of a "sick fund," and once we're recognized as needing hearing aids, they highly subsidize one pair every three and a half years. I paid just a few hundred dollars for the pair. And I have friends who got theirs for nothing from special "funds." They were new, not second hand.

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I hope this has been helpful and am looking forward to your responses in the comments. Hoping to hear from you....

Ruti Eastman's "Haikuchains..." A Book Review

 Haikuchains That Kept Me Sane Through The Pandemic by Ruti Eastman

For Ruti Eastman
Haikuchain as book review

obvious of course

Ruti wrote a book

diary in haiku form

suits just perfectly

We both say so much

in seventeen syllables

everyone, try it

Haikus can be news

family or good cooking

certainly coffee

When writing haikus

we must count all syllables

each one packs a punch

Book's dedicated

to me so surprisingly

though we're haiku groupmates*

*Morningcoffeehaiku Group on facebook

read what's posted here

a selection of haikus

written by Ruti

to order the book

[email protected]

yes, recommended

Surviving Without WhatsApp and Facebook

This evening Israel time, Facebook and WhatsApp, which are siblings of sorts, have ceased to work.

Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp apps crash throughout the world

Nobody knows what happened. Luckily I was able make arrangements with a friend by SMS. 

So much of our everyday communication is by WhatsApp and Facebook. 

I hope by the time I wake up in the morning, life will be back to norma.

What do you think?

STORY TIME Continues on My Facebook Live

Months ago, at the beginning of these corona/COVID restrictions I began reading a children's book on my facebook live every weekday afternoon. 

https://www.facebook.com/shilohmuse/videos/10224577905097884

Sometimes I'm amazed at the people tuning in to watch. Some are total strangers, and some are close family. Generally I read at 4pm Israeli time which is 9am New York time. I must admit that I'm rereading books, a suggestion of my sister.

If you're on facebook, you're welcome to join.

Corona COVID-19, Lock-down, Stories Continue

More of my life in the corona lock-down.

Sunday-Thursday most weeks

Now it's post-Pesach, so we're back to a "new normal." Whatever that means. I've resumed my daily story reading on Facebook Live, 4pm Israel time, which is 9am New York time. If you're in a different time zone, I trust you can calculate it. Also, I save the readings on facebook, so just scroll down on my page. 

Everyone seems to be coping differently. it's not all a matter of better or worse. It's more that our needs are all different, and we're making great efforts to stay cheerful, healthy and productive. That's really the best we can do.

I still get out with one of my regular walking partners, but now we're masked and stay 2 meters or 6 and a half feet apart.

My favorite special lock-down activity is reading children's books on Facebook live. But I'm running out of books. That's a problem. I'll have to start borrowing books. You can click the link on the bottom if you have a facebook account and watch one of my readings.

Nobody has a clue as to when life will really go back to normal. Am I repeating myself? Sorry.

https://www.facebook.com/shilohmuse/videos/10222552385141151/?__tn__=%2CdlC-R&eid=ARBtOMVDnEjhZ9C9UGzCstxr2P-iPha9Kvh3ch3HassVs4WC0tyvFfxbOIVCdc_UMCxnc6UcYviulgfW&hc_ref=ARRhVhaYti4QsleeSbA8kHHQ9zPVIrnIjTes8xU30t3tZSujDRYgMnv0KKLicLgrw6g

Baile Rochel Locked In? Nah! Can't Keep a Good Girl Down

Baile Rochel tell you how it really is:

Life in The Corona Lock-down

The other day I got an emergency call from my childhood playmate:

"Baile Rochel, the world is waiting for your words of wisdom."
"Nu, me?"

What wisdom?

I'm just a sloppy overweight middle-aged senior citizen who keeps getting chastised by my children for taking walks outside the house. I dress like a bandit with a mask and all. OK, I admit that the "mask" is just a folded shmatta, cut from a ripped flannel sheet. For goggles, I have my trusty multifocals.

When people ask why I still go outside I answer:

"Doctors orders!"

When corona virus, COVID-19, the plague, or whatever you want to call it, is no more than an awful memory, high blood pressure, diabetes, serious aches and pains, etc ad nauseum will still be live threats. In addition, I live in the "sticks," in a private home, so I don't need scuba gear in an elevator or public stairwell.

I rarely see anyone when outside, and if I do, I cross the street. And if that's not possible, proper corona manners demand that the younger wanderer must climb the nearest tree. A close call was averted when a clueless little kid started approaching encroaching on my personal space, about the distance/height of a star basketball player, so I growled. He got the hint and ran away.


Like many, I'm hoping that I still have clothes that fit when this corona has crooned away. In a "normal year," I would have given fattening chametz, the food forbidden on Passover, away before the holiday begins. And in case you haven't been following the Jewish calendar, Passover's next week. Corona prevention regulations forbid giving away food, so my husband and I are enjoying suffering by eating pancakes-made in large family quantity and other forbidden for dieters foods. Yes, I'm finishing the beer, too. It's chametz!

I haven't seen my grandchildren in person since Purim. But now on the advice of one of my kids I am "living my old dream" to be an international "entertainer" by reading children's stories daily on facebook. Anyone can tune in, as long as you have a facebook account. Join to watch my daily shows.


One corona related regulation I'm following very strictly is staying away from the supermarket. My husband can't do his beloved shuq, open market, shopping either; it's in Jerusalem and shuttered. We must be saving a lot of money. Every few days I call the manager of the local grocer and order a few things. They arrive straight to our doorstep.

And I can't remember the last time I ate out with friends, another frugality of the corona lock-down. We now meet frequently on Zoom, Skype, Whatsapp, email and, of course, my blogs written under my other name. But:

 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND!

Mrs. Sullivan's Dancing School, Bayside, NY, circa 1953

One of My Favorite Books, Madeline, Filmed

I loved the book Madeline when I was a child. Like many, since it's in rhyme I had it memorized. And then I read it to my children.

And now I've read it for the public on facebook. This is the only way I can read to my grandchildren, now that we're in corona virus lock-down, a quasi-quarantine.


My plan is to read more books on facebook live. Tune in. I hope you enjoy.

Haiku With Morning Coffee on Facebook

Many of you may know that I've been writing morning haikus as I drink my coffee every "weekday" on facebook for quite awhile. The facebook page I started never took off, so I opened a facebook group called Morningcoffeehaiku Group. It's growing. Anyone interested can request to join it, but I don't accept those recommended "second hand." That's because I hate being added to a group without my permission.

I illustrate my haikus with photographs.

Haikus are simple minimalistic poems of three lines 5, 7, 5 syllables. Theme wise you can take liberties. There are those who say that even the syllable count can be flexible. Following are a couple of haikus I've written.

woke to pouring rain
winter is still here with us
warmed by hot coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

won football last night
coffee, shabbat too much food
bright early sunrise
#morningcoffeehaiku

As you can see, it's a daily diary of sorts. Join us.

Facebook Photo-Editing Tips

Recently, I've been having great fun with a relatively new facebook feature, Photo-Editing. This feature compensates for the fact that they haven't offered me any new post backgrounds for much too long. Actually, that's why I decided to try clicking the cute little brush I had been noticing in the lower right hand corner of pictures when being up or is it downloaded to my page.

I hope these photos make it clear. If you have questions, don't be shy. Ask me. I read and reply to comments.

Yes, besides editing, you can tag people.

As you can see, there's a very complete menu to choose from.

Choose the color you want, by clicking in the right spot. It can be changed if you don't like it. You can also choose fonts by clicking where it says Arial.

In this mode, you can move, shrink or enlarge the box that has your text..

Don't be afraid to experiment.

PS The photos illustrating this aren't very clear/sharp, because I used my old camera. The phone was charging too far away.

A Visit f2f to Beersheva

photo by Yocheved Golani,
https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

Over the past few years, I've blogged about a group of friends I have who communicate on Facebook, secret group, and get together f2f periodically in all sorts of locations. This time we decided to visit Beersheva, since quite a few of our members live there or nearby.

At this Beersheva f2f, besides a couple of locals, we came from Netivot, Netanya, Maale Adumim and Shiloh. Yes, that shows you how spread out we are over the country. I traveled from Jerusalem by bus with my friend from Maale Adumim after spending the previous night in Jerusalem to enjoy some of my progeny.

photo by Yocheved Golani,
https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

BTW, about the public toilets in the Beersheva Central Bus Station, the "pay a shekel" entrance didn't work well, and many, including yours truly, squeezed through with a friend, not to cheat, but because it only opened every two sh'kallim. 

The 470 express, which had a bare minimum of stops, was a great way to travel from Jerusalem to Beersheva and back. As a "senior" it only cost me a total of ns20 for a day's trip including buses in Beersheva.

We met in the older part of Beersheva in the Allenby Park, near the old "mosque," municipality building and British Commonwealth ANZAC Cemetery. One of our friends gave us a fascinating overview of the history of Beersheva and the two old buildings we faced. Then we entered the nearby British ANZAC Cemetery and placed stones on the one Jewish grave there.

Then we squeezed into a car and drove to the "Grand Kenyon" Shopping Mall and had a very pleasant late lunch together. A few of us then shared a cab to the bus and train stations, which are conveniently side by side. Following are a few photos taken in Beersheva.

photo by Yocheved Golani,
https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

Thankful that there has been rain so far this winter, but we were also very happy that it was dry during our visit to Beersheva. Except for the fact that some of us looked like crazy old bag-ladies, schlepping our coats, pocketbooks and additional bags, it really was perfect weather for a walking tour.

On the bus back to Jerusalem, my friend and I succeeded in charging our phones via the overhead outlets. It's one of those modern conveniences one needs nowadays. We are so dependent on electrical communication devices. The outlets didn't work on the bus going to Beersheva, so we were very relieved to discover that these did work. She had an extra long cord, but mine was just minimally the right length. It wasn't all that comfortable to use it and keep my phone safe. If I find myself traveling a lot on such buses, I'll have to buy a longer cord.

Photos included here were taken by me, except for those identified as by https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/.

B"H, I'm Back

Some of you, especially those who follow me on Instagram, 365 Project, Facebook and my blogs may have noticed that I have/had been pretty silent the few days. The blog posts that went up here and on Shiloh Musings Wednesday morning had been written and programmed to post on Tuesday before I left home. Yesterday I returned to Facebook, and last night I looked at Instagram and liked some photos, but that's it.

I'm human. I was sick.

The realization that something was wrong hit me while I was with my kids, and I ended up spending two nights with one of them, getting lots of loving care. So I didn't make it to Matan on Wednesday or any of my other plans. And now, even though now I'm safely home and much improved, I reduced various social commitments until I'm completely better.

Baruch Hashem, Thank Gd, I didn't have anything serious and I was in a place and with people who could help. All I needed was rest, liquids and some time.

In a few hours it's Shabbat and then after Shabbat a new week begins. May it be a good one for all.

Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach

May You Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat

Walking in Jerusalem, "Live Feed"

Recently, I find myself doing the new "live feed" via Facebook. Facebook friends get a little box/notice, and if they want, they can click and follow it. Sometimes I do it when sitting on the bus, front seat, and I have some FB friends who really enjoy joining me. When I photograph the trip, I add all sorts of decorations to make it more interesting.

Yesterday I set it up to photograph my walk, which you should be able to see by clicking  Walking in Jerusalem.

I don't know if people realized that I was photographing as I walked. But some friends did join me, virtually that is. Here are a couple of stills from the walk.

Did any of you see this?

Yes, We Israelis Get a Bissel Wacky Over Rain

I guess pretty much anyone with lots of Israeli friends on social media, Facebook, Instagram etc thought that some narcotic was raining down here in Israel. I'm not the only one who stood in the rain so my phone could "live feed" and show the world the black clouds, rain hail and thunder.

In Israel we barely get 5-6 months of rain per year, and we've been suffering from drought for years already. Rain starts around October, and in a "good year" we don't see sunshine for days on end. The last rain is usually early April, right before Passover. Some people swear that it always rains as soon as they wash their windows. Every few years it rains after Passover, and sometimes there are even storms. I remember one year when buckets of rain seemed to be violently poured on us from the sky.

Quite often those late rains are more like mud dripping. That's a pretty good description, because the rain sometimes ends those awful sandstorms. I learned the hard way that when the sky looks awfully yellow, it's not a good time to hang out the laundry, unless you are willing to wash it all over again. The weather is nothing like that in New York. How were we to know?

Yesterday's forecasts has said it would rain  around 10am in Jerusalem, so I didn't take my usual walk. Eventually I took a short walk, carrying my umbrella as backup. When I got home to Shiloh after three, it was still dry. But then I began to see rain posts on Facebook, as my friends sent out pictures and "live feed."

this is the color, I didn't make it black and white

The sky here began to get darker, and the clouds raced around. Usually I ignore the rain, once I'm safely at home, but I just had to send out my rain to the world. Isn't that what social media is all about? You can see more of my rain on Facebook and Instagram.

I guess all this "rain excitement" does seem crazy...

Social Media War: MeWe versus Facebook

MeWe has taken on the humongous Facebook social media star. A few of my fb friends and I have joined it. Some of us joined just out of curiosity and to make sure we hadn't been left out of a new adventure. While others posted very dramatic announcements on Facebook that MeWe was the place to be and they were finished with Facebook. We got reports of the better graphics when posting messages. 

MeWe vs Facebook

Those who really want to leave Facebook in principle are legitimately angry about being put in "Facebook jail" for voicing their opinions. The hypersensitive algorithms which "police" what's written on Facebook and also "direct traffic" to and from what members write. They also keep trying to make us spend money. That is legitimate, since Facebook is free. But it's the political policing which is dangerous. There is a very definite Leftist and anti-Israel slant.

Some of my friends have a few Facebook identities so when one is jailed they can post on another name.

When I use Facebook, which is multiple times each day, except for Shabbat of course, I am just thankful that it is a free service. I use Facebook for two very different reasons, both of equal importance.

First, I joined Facebook to promote my blogs. And I must admit that fb exposure has certainly helped some of the posts, not just political ones. My Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem series and some restaurant reviews would never have gotten such exposure and "hits" without Facebook. My political posts on Shiloh Musings are harder to promote, because the algorithms on google search are skewed just as Leftwards or worse.

Second, I joined Facebook to keep in contact with family and friends. I'm 1000% grateful for this aspect of Facebook, because I'm now in touch with a slew of relatives I wouldn't know at all without it. Besides all the distant cousins, I've made a lot of friends, some whom I even get to see f2f, meaning in person.

Now it seems that most are tired of MeWe, apparently, because the latest from them on Facebook is that they are back. It's like setting up for a big party, inviting lots of friends and then sitting all alone. Yes, that's the big problem with MeWe; it's small. It doesn't matter how attractive the graphics, it doesn't have the reach, the massive numbers of Facebook or Twitter, of which I'm a member but hardly use it. I also have an Instagram account, which is for pictures which simultaneously can be posted on Facebook and Twitter.

My guess is that MeWe will fade out like some other social media sites have. There was one a few years ago, forgot the name, in which I was "friends" with Kirk Douglas and we chatted.

What do you think?

French Roast, #morningcoffeehaiku

Another coffee post for your drinking pleasure.

First the review of the French Roast which I bought at "You Need Coffee." It cost a bit more than the Colombian I had gotten there, but it does have a bit more flavor and aroma. Considering that I haven't liked any of the Columbian coffee bought ground in Israel, I hope I remember not to buy it any more in any coffee place. The French Roast was worth the extra money.

And now for a few more of my recent #morningcoffeehaiku collection/writings. They are posted most weekdays (non-Jewish Sabbath) on facebook.

winter rain returns
hot coffee to warm me up
thank Gd for the gifts
#morningcoffeehaiku

white winter morning
no snow, just very pale sky
choose to be happy
#morningcoffeehaiku

early, dark outside
French Roast, nice strong aroma
busy day today
#morningcoffeehaiku

Hot morning coffee
Now in cold Jerusalem
Family warms me
#morningcoffeehaiku

perked the new coffee
sadly too subtle for me
sun burst into sky
#morningcoffeehaiku

keeping coffee hot
on a cold winter morning
lots of plans today
#morningcoffeehaiku

Chodesh Tov, Dear Friends
May Adar bring joy to all
l'Chaim, coffee
#morningcoffeehaiku

hot instant coffee
busy day leaving early
blessed rain falling
#morningcoffeehaiku

cinnamon coffee
trying to add spice to life
when sky is dull grey
#morningcoffeehaiku

perked coffee fills air
let the caffein fill my brain
substitute for sleep
#morningcoffeehaiku

vanilla coffee
hot, strong perked to perfection
cool winter morning
#morningcoffeehaiku

coffee stock dwindling
soon back to perking daily
at least there's sunrise
#morningcoffeehaiku

steaming perked coffee
spectacular winter sky
must unfog my brain
#morningcoffeehaiku


I hope you like them even if you don't drink coffee or you read them at times other than dawn.