When It Rains It Pours

i have been sitting in front of my computer for about an hour and my hands are just about frozen. it's 8:00 p.m. on a monday night in the holy city of zefat. we have been blessed with four days of torrential rainfall. it finally let up today and we saw the sun. it has been freezing and storming and thundering and lightening for days. the streets were nearly flooded. who could possibly complain.

it really felt as if the world was finally coming to an end. it started raining on friday evening but it stopped a little while later. the kids went to gal's family for shabbat and i stayed home alone. i made a pot of turkey soup and defrosted some deli from the housewarming event. i didn't want to chance walking back in a storm.

the deluge started on saturday morning. it was quite erie to be alone. the dogs had no desire to brave it out. the house already got cold and i stayed under the blankets all shabbat with the dogs. i drank a vat of mint tea and read the newspaper all day long. i checked on the downstairs and saw that the water was already coming in through the windows in three bedrooms and the kitchen. my living room couch was also wet. that's zefat winters, folks.

sahar stayed in with me for the past three days. i tried my best to keep him warm and amused. poor kid had to wear tons of clothing. he looked like a chubby snowman. i bought solar on friday to heat the house. i was outside with sahar when i saw my neighbor getting a delivery. he told me that it was a good price so i ordered half a tank. i went inside to find my checkbook because unfortunately, they didn't take credit cards. i had the baby with me and it was a bit of a balagon. the guys kept screaming for me to come out.

the young delivery men were in a big rush and ended up flooding the outside with the solar( kerosine). i finally found the checks and had to run out into the street with sahar in one arm and the checks in the other. his mom got back shortly afterwards, and i did my best to hose down the area. after four days of monsoon rain it still reeks of kerosine, and it is somehow seeping into the house through the walls. i am at my wits end!

yesterday, some idiots delivering solar to the ethiopian absorption center, accidentally loaded the solar into the water hose. an entire community is without water for about a week. i got an s.o.s call from a friend warning me not to shower or drink the sink water. luckily, my neighborhood's water supply, wasn't poisoned.

gal's family wasn't so lucky. her mom came over last night with three of the kids to take showers. her water had been shut off since 3:00 p.m. she filled up some bottles with water, and i gave her a couple of bottles of mineral water. she sent over about 4 batches of laundry this morning. while sahar napped in the stroller outside in the sun, i did their laundry and then some of mine. i also took cuttings of lavender, rosemary, tea geranium and geraniums and planted them all around the front yard. the ground was so saturated, that i figured it was a good time to do it.

it was really nice outside so i hung a bunch of laundry outside on the lines. i took it all down at about 5:00 p.m. and it was all still damp. i threw a bunch of it into the dryer and it was more or less dried, in a very short time. at one point, the dryer suddenly stopped and i assumed it had died. i was about to sit shiva over it, when i realized that it couldn't have died without some sort of death rattle. for sure, the circuit had blown so i simply, and gratefully, reloaded the box.

gal had to go to the emergency room this morning . she was suffering with pain for two days. it turned out to be an infection in her womb. i was nervous the entire day that she might be hospitalized over night. i worried about who would be in charge of the baby. i know it's really, dumb. i was so relieved, thank goodness, when she came home. the poor girl was put on two different and very strong, anti- biotics. who understands that??

my little grandson is an absolute brat and house wrecker. he is into everything. he goes into all the closets and takes things out of all the drawers. he pulls things out of the garbage and puts things into the garbage. matches, bills, drinking glasses, clothing, shoes, pajamas. nothing is off limits to this little menace. i couldn't find his shoe the other day. i checked the oven and the fridge. i emptied the entire garbage can. i checked all the drawers of his dresser. i checked all the rooms and all of the closets. i was really freaking out.

just before my daughter- in- law returned from work, i found the blessed shoe in his toy box. his other grandma said that it should have been the first place to look. after all, she did have him the entire week of chanukah, and in my opinion, created a monster. don't get me wrong. i love him to pieces and the feeling is mutual. when he isn't clobbering me he's slobbering me. what can you do with an over active 15 month old boy?. i keep saying that his father wasn't like this. i don't think anyone believes me.

i have a 'paying' house guest coming on thursday. too bad it's so darn cold upstairs. she's lucky to have a heating system. i'll freeze downstairs, while she uses my electricity all day long. i can't seem to catch a break. what a pity she didn't come two weeks ago during the heat wave. zvi finally got a friend in this evening to re-affix my door. after a month, it finally closes. Yeh!! he'll have to carry up the small fridge and a bed tomorrow. i'll have to clean the place up, too.

i planted an assortment of cactus to place on the upstairs porch. i'll have to haul it upstairs tomorow. hopefully, it will be a warm and sunny day. i can no longer feel my extremities, so i'll call it a night.