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Honey is Sweet

Rambling update - 2007-05-19

I'm grateful for: stakes to attach the goats leads to; the air conditioner being on in the salon (no flies!); Talking to Jessica, writing to Hans.

I really hate ranting like it did in the last entry, but I guess sometimes I have to do it - or at least I have to do it on whatever topic until I figure out what action I can/have to take. In this case, I needed to listen to myself enough to finally stop torturing myself with the news. Like I said yesterday, it's not like I don't know that it's like that. But knowing what I would find, I still went and looked -- and then got angry about it. Well, that's just stupid. I know what is out there, it's not suddenly going to change, and the best thing I can do is just to stay away from things that are poison to me. Like the New York Times. ;-)

Today's fun tidbit from Israel is that our beloved Prime Minister told a Russian millionaire (whose name is well known, but I'm not going to put it here) that he shouldn't be helping people to get out of Sderot. The millionaire responded that the Prime Minister is stupid. I couldn't agree more. Apparently a bunch of families with pregnant women, or with small children, requested the help of the millionaire. The gub'ment stopped evacuating people from the city some time ago (because the soldier's rest homes were full. Go figure). One would think (one who didn't know our current Prime Minister) that the gub'ment would be Grateful that a man of means was stepping up and contributing to such a necessary cause. But no. I have to tell you, I've rarely heard such beautiful words as when he called the PM 'stupid.' I think it was tame, really, compared to what one should say.

The mayor of Sderot is telling people not to leave the city. If you lived in a city that was being bombed, wouldn't you leave? There are people who are choosing to stay, who are saying - we won't let the terrorists win, they won't chase us away from our homes. I say, more power to them. But for the people who can't do that, aren't strong enough, have significant reasons to leave (parents of disabled children) telling them to stay is more than stupid. Some gub'ment official tried to tell a man in the act of getting into one of the busses provided by the Russian millionaire not to leave, and the man responded - "Do YOU live here?" Of course not.

The booms continue where we are. One or two close enough to make you sit up and take notice, but so far nothing hurt or harmed. The biggest worry right now (where I live) is that a Kassam could set off a fire. No small thing when the ground is covered with the dry remains of the growth from the winter rains. John borrowed the neighbour's mower and cut down as much of the stuff in our yard as he could. He said he would try to get over to BatZion's to do it there, because she will pay for it.

BatZion is a conundrum all by herself. She asked for help cutting her yard. The only person who said he could was an arab who goes around to different places, and she won't hire arabs. I'd like to say it's her problem, but if anyone's yard catches fire during the dry season (meaning now) then it could affect the entire moshav.

I'm willing to agree sort of generally to the principle of not hiring arabs to do jobs if you could give the same job to a neighbour, but when there is no one else you aren't taking work away from your neighbour, you are only hurting yourself. She is also unwilling to hire Thai workers, who do day labour in the neighbourhood. So it's not just about arabs. It's about BatZion.

We heard a sort of sideways rumour that they may have been accepted at another moshav down by Egypt. I feel sorry for her boys, but I would be so glad to see the last of her.

Ahh, sorry to be going on about people and things I don't like. Sometimes I guess that is what a diary is for, but I don't have to like it.

Since I wrote this morning, I got out to the goats, and was part of getting them hooked onto lead so that the could graze. I sat about in my room quite a bit, and did battle with the laundry.

My washing machine's pump isn't working right. It does work a bit at least. For the life of me I can't see what is wrong, but the main thing is that after much fighting and cursing and reading the manual and more fighting and cursing, we have it set up so that I can drain it manually. And that's what I did and will have to do until we can get a repairman out here. It's under warranty, we only bought it in November. But then, this is Israel and who knows what they will or will not do. Customer service is just not the same here, I'll tell you that. 'Service with a grunt,' as our old friend Booce used to say.

We got stakes in the ground that the goats leads can be hooked on, so now they can graze over by the neighbour's hedge, and have some shade. But, of course they are ornery and contrary creatures, and they munched on the dried stuff that John had mowed down and hid behind the chicken coop. I'm not going to complain, though, the more dry stuff they eat, the less there is to burn.

I'm not really expecting fire, but you just never know. A kibbutz not far from here had a Kassam hit by the main gate, and the fire it started was so fierce that no one could get in or out. That was as of earlier on Friday. I truly, truly hope they got it put out before shabbos. What a nightmare for everyone.

Jessica called while we were herding the goats over to the hedge, so she got to hear some of the things one says when one is trying to herd goats. It must sound awfully silly on the other side of the phone. Jessica was upset because Chris (one of the two men she lives with, the 'boyfriend' not the 'husband'), has been accused of date rape by someone he hasn't gone out with for ten years.

I pat myself on the back for being a genius. I was able to soothe and reassure her without ever committing myself to whether or not I thought he did it or was capable of it, and without casting any doubts or aspersions on the female in question. AND I left her with an open mind (at least while we were on the phone) to the idea that he might have, without her being hysterical about the possibility.

I also suggested that since she had only heard about this thing third and fourth hand, that maybe she didn't need to be borrowing trouble. She knows none of the people involved (except of course Chris), and can't begin to judge their character, their honesty, or their reasons for talking about this thing...

Now me, I have my doubts. But that is not what she needed to hear. And if anything ever does come up with Chris she'll have this in the back of her mind.

Feeding the birds and getting the goats back to the shed went very well, but I managed to hurt my back while we were moving the first goat. I don't know what I did but it really hurts if I move wrong. I am hoping either the acupuncturist or the reflexologist can address this. It's the sort of thing I would normally go to a chiropracter for, but you may recall if you were reading then that the dr. said no to chiropractic for me. *sigh* And so it goes...

We watched Romancing the Stone tonight, the first time for the two younger ones, and Zechy only vaguely remembered it. They liked it a lot. And that's all besides coming in here, shutting the door, reading email and buddies, writing to Hans and here, and now hopefully crashing as it is a quarter to three. And listening to the booms. Whee, fun.

I'm listening to quiet at the moment, no booms right now.

0 bleats so far

:: Yesterdays : Tomorrows ::

~~~Last Five Entries~~~
Hi and goodbye - 2010-10-15
I'll be moving on - 2010-10-10
Gold membership and stuff - 2010-10-10
Decisions, decisions - 2010-10-07
Days to go - 2010-10-06