who is walking in our garden ?

Hi all

We are alive !

Have not posted soooooooooo looonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg !!!!!!!!!!!!!

This time I will share with you suspicious holes in the ground, which I found next to our fruit trees.....there are many of them...20 - 30 ...it could be the famous skunk again....I checked most trees and have not found any damage.

All trees look fine..pomegranate..we ate 2 already this month, small but very very sweet..

The lemon and orange trees has some fruit ( green for now..)














During this long weekend we walked in the neighbourhood every day..weather is perfect today .

worked in the garden, ate Ima's cookings , watched 2 or 3 movies on TV..and more.

holiday Arrivals -

Yael will be home next weekend.....and on Dec 25 again

Danielle on Dec 21..

and Mattan in march...

we miss you all.

Weekend update

Solar lights are back ! They showed up last weekend.

I went to the office every weekend since I came back from Boston - there are a lot of challanges ( not supposed to say 'problems'..) at work, and the fact that IMA is not here makes it easier for me to convinve myself to go.

Yesterday, and also today, it is windy. (It did rain only one day last week) . This morning I added support to 5 trees which needed it - it will be the first winter that they will go thru. (We planted them in March.) There is one RIMON on the tree - few figs - and most citrus trees have small fruit. Our gardening book says it is better to remove the small fruit from young small trees - so that the tree will not waste energy and food on fruit-and rather grow.

Last weekend I mowed the lawn - and the same night the skunk came again for a visit. Last time it also came after I mowed . It makes it easier for them to search for food.

Yom Kipper fasting was very easy - I stayed at home - was reading most of the day.
Sophie Breen invited me for the ' ARUCHA MAVDELET ' .

Looks like Savta is getting better and IMA is also having fun - 10 more days ....



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Orange alert !

On my way back from work, made an attempt to shop at costco...after seeing the long lines of cars trying to park decided to go to safeway instead. Got home around 4:00pm, and felt like making Tachina. All went well until I reached the basket where Ima keeps the precious lemons.
I saw one, and then two, and then more. NEMALIM inside the basket.
Quick action and the lemons were in the sink, the basket thrown to the mirpeset, had a good inspection of the area..and it looks like it was an isolated incident.
All looks safe for now.

SHANA TOVA TO ALL -

ABA

Lunch with S

Lilly - no need to worry.....
Since S's baby developed food allergies, she suggested that each brings his own lunch - and we just go eat and talk somewhere outside the plant - so we did go to the park and talked about lots of things, family, work, etc.

tomorrow I will go to the plant since there are too many unsolved problems - looks like the coming month will be busy.

btw, the neighbour who borrowed the solar lights last weekend for the party - did call me 2 days ago and said she will bring it back - have not seen it back yet.

Becoming K

Well, as Yael keeps talking about K, I think I am becoming K.
Woke up late today, so I ate 2 bananas for breakfast while driving.
Lunchtime - I did not want to join the guys to a chineese buffet - so I ate my other 2 bananas .
( bought a whole bunch of them in costco this weekend).
And now at home...not that hungry, so I ate another one.( and a yogurt )
One has to eat this fruit as much as one can before it is gone, due to a disease.( per Lilly )

btw, no bananas tomorrow. Tomorrow I am eating lunch with S, who came back to work after having a baby.

good night

Danielle- Thanks for the beer -

Had very busy last 2 days at work.
Last night- spent a few hours in the evening in the EMI lab here on warm springs blvd. It started as a short visit - to help - and took more than I expected. We still cannot pass all tests.

Woke up early today - 5 am - called Katy - and woke her up too. Lilly was asleep then - but called back later . Looks like Katy's house in getting organized by Lilly - a lot of stuff is set aside for donations.
Today also had a busy day at work - came back around 6:30pm -watered the lawn - watered the trees- and made dinner - salmon burgers, salad and hummus. Also decided finally to open the big beer can that Danielle left here - 0.65 liters of Sapporo - thanks Danielle. It will help me go sleep early.

Also - I am still on track - 100 sit-ups a daily .

Trees news - noticed the new Fuji apple tree- had the first flower.
3-4 Citrus trees have a lot of flowers. Reminds me of the smell when we drove near tel aviv when I was a kid. Then Israel was full of Citrus trees.
Avocado getting better - new leafs are ok - old ones have brown edge - and if you read the book it can be due to -
not enough water
too much water
too much fertilizer
Go figure.......

Yael - you asked what repels skunks - well, I think this powder that I used includes Urine....
and btw, how is Moshe ??

Good night

Skunk Dance

Went out this morning to bring the paper - and suddenly saw the lawn - 2 majot areas - full with small round holes - the grass is thrown away - a mess. First thought was gopher - but that's not a gophers job. Ann ( neighbour ) did not know what it is .

Went to work - and talked to AAron - he told me right away - this is a skunk work.
They dig cone shaped holes . These holes are several inches deep at most but the turf has been destroyed where they dig.

I bought a powder that is supposed to help repel them - let's see if it helps.

Came back from work - ate dinner - and went to Sophie - for cofee and cake - and actually to meet her brother - Shlomo - who is returning tomorrow back to Israel. He is a very nice guy -
a jewler in profession - and he is really worried how his business will go if gold prices stay that high.

YAEL - HAPPY BIRTHDAY

neighbour's party

it is 9:20pm, just came back from the party. This was 60th birthday party for Joe - Linda's husband. As I said yesterday - i found out that he runs ' quality transformers' - ( we at ETM are their customers ) which is a family owned business - and all the family was at the party as well.
I know the son of the owner - who is their sales guy - and I also know another engineer - which was sick and did not show up.

There was a very good band - played mostly 60's songs - lot' s of beach boys songs -
Food was great -especially the Salmon - which was BBQed with special sauce and made using special wood for the fire. There were lot' s of drinks - beer , margaritas and more.

A few neighbours were there - Florence and john, Marge (?) - the ' toferet ' , and Gale and ?? . who live next to her. They all asked about Lilly - and I had to repeat the story over and over again.
I talked a lot with Gale - she is from Hawaii - studied science at Stanford ( under graduated in 1979) and later change carrer to a lawyer. I told her all about our children, we changed info about fruit trees, and more. She said that Mattan's trip - is so exciting and that it will be a great experience. ( she added - I probably would not be so excited if I was his mother )

Good party.

Lilly - Florence says hi - she was so sorry you are not there.
john left early -had too much to drink.

Elected ! -

Yesterday was our ' kick off ' meeting for the new IEEE power electronics chapter of the SF bay.
http://ieeesvpels-emailinvite.eventbrite.com/?invite=NzcwNjUvYXNocmFnZXJAZXRtLWluYy5jb20vMQ%3D%3D%0A
I am the elected Chairman - and I have a very good team working with me.( Vice -chair, secratary and treasurer ) . I worked really hard to convince people to volunteer - We also have
events commitee which is in charge of the monthly meetings planning - and more.

Meeting went very well - we also had a guest speaker - the ceo of a company that developed and starts selling flow batteries - which are used to store energy. This is part of the new wave of alternative energy resources - which generate energy - like solar energy or wind energy - but the issue is - how to store th eenergy - so it can be used when you want it - not only when the sun is out or when the wind is strong.

Our website is up and running - needs more work - https://owad001.intermedia.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/scv/pels/

One guy in the audience - looked kind of different - had a beard, a small head cover , etc..eventually - he asked me if I speak hebrew - he is from Israel - graduated from the Technion in 1969. I could not convince him to volunteer - his excuse was that he does not speak a very good english...

and other issues...

Kirk will be here tomorrow to pick up Yael's stuff.

Lilly - Our neighbour came today - Linda - the lady with the white BMW - who lives next to John and . She invited us to a party tomorrow for her husband's birthday. She was so sorry to hear that Lilly is not here - since she ' thinks Lilly is a very friendly and nice person " .
That is not all. It is a very very small world - I found out that her husband works for Quality transformers- the company that I work with, in Milpitas.
So, all the people I know will be there tomorrow as well. Will be fun.

Tomorrow I have alot of work to do - clean up the trees...

Good night

We are soldiers

as you all know, all of us shragers, are well trained -

when we come home -

check for mail in mailbox

open windows for fresh air

check for nemalim.
i did all of the above without even thinking....like a robot.

Went to Mehta, picked all the mail they collected for us - hard to believe how much mail acuumulated in only 10 days.
while going over the mail found out that mattan's package arrived today - but i was not home - so i will pick it up from the post office - friday.

This morning I went to check how the trees were doing - all fine - but I will have to spend a few hours this weekend to clean all the grass that grew next to each tree due to the daily watering
( I did set our dripping system to water everyday while we were out ).

I am going to sleep early - i did not sleep much last night.
***********************
Family status as of today -
Lilly in transit from NewYork to Tel Aviv
Yael Boston
Ari Fremont
Danielle Singapore
Mattan Peru

Back Home from Boston

Finally got home after a long Southwest flight deal - Manchester NH to Phoenix OK - ( after landing we were notified that next flight phoenix to Vegas cancelled ) - we ran to another gate while southwest kept another flight waiting 20 min for us ( 2 san jose passengers..) which took us thru san diego to SJC. Our luggage made it somehow - I think it is a miracle.
Southwest earned 10 points .

Lilly - The good news is that there are no nemalim at home whatsoever. Nowhere. Just dead ants from the bombs we left before we left home.

Family status as of today -

Lilly, Yael Boston
Ari Fremont
Danielle Singapore
Mattan Peru