My concrete "patio", the ramp, the paths etc have been cleared of weeds and all the loose stones swept up and put at the back of the side yard [the side where The Silver Monster is kept in The Shack], and all the weeds in the front and side yards cleared and also in the dumping area, where neither I nor anyone else can get to. The drain from patio and the drainage ditch down the side of my bungalow to the back yard has been cleared/dug out, as when it rains heavily the patio can get rather flooded if the drain hole and ditch are blocked. Not that we are expecting any rain in the near future but better get it done sooner rather than later, and it is easier to clear weeds and dig out the ditch when the earth is so dry. Nir brought his worker Alex at 8am and it is now all nice and clear, and Nir has collected Alex and all his equipment, and brought me the cash he had gotten for me from the hole-in-the wall. Tikva was very good although she had to stay out of Alex's way and would not even go out for a pee unless I went with her. Funny little girl!
Sounds like a very productive day with good results. Enjoy. Your. Weed free, cleaned up garden. Tikva will be able to potter around without needing you to Go with her now it's finished. I've been clipping Louie which I did last night but this morning noticed I had missed one side of his face... How I wonder but I sorted that out this morning. I'm never really great at clipped his face and head, it never looks like I want it to.. Then off to the beach to roll around and have a run, not many other dogs there but we didn't go until late morning so, missed all the dog walkers. Back home and did a bit of knitting and nothing much else.
Very good results - but I did not envy Alex working outside in the heat - no shade except in the side yard where he dumped all the weeds and loose stones. It is not a garden but basically just dirty earth underneath loose stones and weeds, and Tikva was wary of Alex working with a trench hoe, a rake thing, a garden fork, a yard broom etc [and I did not want him tripping over her tether] so she would not go out unless I was with her. Alex is Russian and Nir calls on him to do outside work when needed and he is trustworthy to be left to get on with things. He did my yards last year but Tikki did not remember him although of course she knows Nir. She keeps going out to see if there is any pee mail for her [stray and loose dogs can get into the unfenced yard] but of course with no weeds for her to sniff there is no mail! Of course the advantage of no weeds means no snakes...
Tikva has not but I have - not in the yard of this bungalow but in each of the previous ones I rented on the Moshav. I did not have Lexi when the first one sprawled across my doorway and Kat, the small cat I had then, was luckily out. The second one tried to come in but Lexi was fast asleep on my bed at the time so she did not see it. Kat was out again as she was most of the day. I have been lucky in that the 17 years I have been in this place I have not seen one but neighbours have, and I had both Lexi and Pereg then. But I will never forget Avner, who was a neighbour of mine when he and Ayala were first married, rushing into the vets when I had taken Lexi there for a check-up, carrying his young Labrador who had been bitten by a snake, and there are big posters up in all vet surgeries and hospital emergency rooms with pictures of the various native snakes and what anti-venom to give. And I do not like snakes.
I don't think I would like to meet a snake on person either. Was the labrador OK? 17 years, is it home to you now? How do you keep cool. I lived in Portugal for only 3 1/2 years and summers were air-conditioning full on in July & August.
3 or 4 years ago we were playing golf at the local golf course and hubby's ball went into the long grass (not unusual for either of us). Just as he approached it, an very long adder slithered out. I'd never even thought about having snakes here, but believe me when I say that was a very big contributing factor in giving up the game. I don't go near long grass now. Yuck!
Ram managed to save Avner's dog but it was touch and go for a few days. Not just 17 years - well in this bungalow yes, but I have lived on the Moshav for 22 years and been in Israel for 32 years! Our summers are very l-o-n-g and very h-o-t and I had to rely on fans until just a few years ago. Then I had small wall a/c units fitted in the salon and in my bedroom, followed a couple of years ago by one fitted in my back/spare/balagan room, and last year one in my tiny galley kitchen. I do not have them on all the time and not full on as my electricity bills would eat up all my pension, so the one in the salon is put on during the morning and stays on until I go to bed, and the other three switched on mid/late afternoon as those rooms face west and are like ovens. My bedroom one stays on all night, the other two are switched off around 10pm although if I am doing something in the kitchen I put that one while I am working in there.
When Mum was alive and living in Scotland, we went to a local beauty spot where there were supposed to be otters - hiding from the visitors I presume. I was playing with the dogs while Charles was mooching by the river. I heard him yelp - luckily only in alarm - as he had almost stepped on a large female adder, sunning herself in the thyme. When we moved to the Stoke area, we often saw grass snakes swimming across the canal - I wonder if they are still there as that area has been heavily residentially developed now. One night, Charles called me to the garden as there was a lovely red corn snake against the wall. I popped it in a cloth bag for the night, but was unable to trace the owner next day. The RSPCA collected it for rehoming. I do miss living canal side, there was a section of flood plain opposite and the variety of bird and wildlife was amazing - there was always something to watch.
There is actually a double meaning in the title of this thread. The yard work was for the year 2017 because nothing will need to be done until 2018, but it also meant the end of the Hebrew year as today is the last day of 5777. At dusk we will welcome in Rosh Hashana "Head of the Year" - the New Year 5778 - so last minute preparations are now being done as it is a two-day celebration [tomorrow and Friday] immediately followed by Shabbat on Friday evening. So three days of no vehicles on the Moshav until Shabbat is out on Saturday evening - no kids on electric bicycles [poor things have to use pedal bikes if they still have them] and/or pedal go-carts. No horrible hoverboards, nothing that does not go by foot or pedal. Or wheels in the case of baby buggies. No music just the sound of children playing and families walking to visit families and friends. Peaceful.
Neither my mobility scooters nor Xanadu. The Silver Monster was just for taking Pereg gallopy trots round the Moshav but never on Shabbat of a Holy Day, and Tikva will still not walk beside him. Tonto III is only used if I go off the Moshav in a taxi as he folds to fit in the boot, or I sometimes use him to buzz across to the macolet, which closed nearly three hours ago and will not open again until Sunday morning. Xanadu? Not him either. The old boy next door-the-other-side uses a mobility scooter as he had a stroke, but when he goes to Synagogue on Shabbat or Chagim someone always pushes him in a manual chair. I should not be using my computer, same as on Shabbat, but I do because what else can I do? Television is, of course, not permitted and I cannot sit all day reading because my eyes cannot cope. But using my computer is my problem and I do my best not to offend anyone walking past so I half close the trissim so nobody can see me through the window, and unless Tikki is out I put the chain on the door so it is only open a fraction. I can see a wee bit outside out but nobody can see me, and of course I do not have the speakers switched on. Not everyone on the Moshav keeps strictly to everything and I reckon some people could have a television in a back room where nobody would know if they switch it on, but whatever people do they show respect those who do not. I hope this makes sense to you.
