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