shabbat shalom 21.01.10

Hi everyone, For many years Israel has suffered from a drought, but this week the weather went in the opposite direction and rained buckets: (see attached pdf file)  That's the Negev Highlands, near Nahal Paran, the descent into Maktesh Ramon.  50 mm per year is the average there.  They got it in one day.  The whole Negev and Arava got flooded; the roads along the Dead Sea were closed and people drowned in the Arava Road.  At this site, the truckers were rescued by helicopter. Although most of the water from flash floods like this is lost to the sea, it will help to recharge our badly depleted water supply a bit.  Many small rains are better than one big one, but we will have to see what the rest of the winter holds in store.  At least for our field work in Avdat next month, we know we will have some plants, unlike last year and several years before that.  This rain is an aberration (in fact the heaviest in Negev history) but is sure comes at a good time. The storms have torn into my mountain as well.  Power was down three times.  I was grateful to have a wood-stove and candles.  Most people were freezing, but the cats and dogs and I were all curled around a blazing fire in the stove.... I dreaded any attempt to drive in this, however.  With my car engine dying unpredictably, I didn't want to think about sorting it out in a storm at night.  So during this week I timed my travel to be going to work at dawn and on the way home well before dark.  It works well, by the way; no road traffic.  But sure enough the engine warning light went on again this week and I trudged back to the garage where at this point everyone knows me and even the security code to my car..... With any luck, we may have found the last problem: a badly damaged catalytic converter.  The ceramic inside was broken in bits, to the point that exhaust couldn't get through, and must have built back pressure on the engine......Well, that got replaced and I will have to see if the engine behaves for a week more before I am confident we fixed the recurring engine failure.  I hope so.  This was really getting to me, having the engne fail every week or two.  I was getting afraid to drive my own car, and tense every time I got into it.  Most unpleasant two months. Not helped by having a cold either.  I've been coughing and sneezing and taking cold tablets for two weeks.  Could be worse; I know some swine flu cases here and that is really misery.  But if I go down, who takes care of the critters?  Can't afford it.  So I've been working half days, using my vacation time to rest at home so a cold doesn't go to worse.  It's been hard to focus at work anyway with a virus-fuzzed brain.  January is typically miserable in Israel; this year is no exception.  But the almonds are in bloom and spring isn't far away now.  I'm ready for the sun and the spring flowers.... My Dutch student returns in a couple weeks for three months of field work in the Negev, and we begin preparations.  Work plan, accommodations, logistics.  It will be nice to get to the desert, especially in a good rain year.  I spent ten years as a desert ecologist down there and it feels a bit odd to be going back to my old stomping grounds....will I remember the plants?  I do remember when I moved to Jerusalem, I'd get a cold every time I was here, and get over it every time I went back for a few days in the Negev.  When these bones get too old and arthritic for Jersalem, maybe I'll move back to Arad or Beersheva in retirement....Even the summer heat doesn't seem as bad as it was when I was new to the desert..... That's about it for now; lying low until this virus passes and the sun comes out again, by the wood-stove or in bed with a heating pad at my back. shabbat shalom, Linda