Morocco

I’m off in Morocco for a week long surf adventure. Anita took a trip home to Croatia for New Years and in turn I’m off in Morocco surfing my arms off. I watch the news anxiously every day for developments with Gaza. Of course all 3 kids got sick, phone stopped working, computer stopped work and then the fridge broke all while gone. But supper Momma has it all under control.

Loads of entertainment in Morocco (if you surf otherwise not much else for the family where I am) with big waves the first few days and watching guys surf the famous spots around here. I’ve come to grips that I am and will always be a surfer of limited capability. But that’s OK. I spent 5 hours in the water today. Want to take advantage and surf till my arms fall off.

I’ve had lots of delicious fresh grilled fish. I’ve met a few former surf champions. And now currently at the ‘surf camp’ there is 3 pros here with 2 camera men making a movie.

Photos are of the Atlas Mts flying in and a couple of the surf spots.

All is quite on the Southern Front

For a day and a half there is nothing to report. There is still significant air traffic from Israel but no more booming noises in the background. Most Israelis are optimistic that the two independent cease fires will hold. Historical patterns suggest these flair ups happen and both sides vent their anger and bring world media to their cause. After that there is tolerance with limited violence. As an example there have been no rockets fromr from Hezbollah since their last fighting in the fall of 2006. The exception to this was the handful of rockets fired from smaller more extreme organization (not Hezbollah) as protest to the war in Gaza. It was during the Hezbollah fighting that we made the decision to go on this adventure and move to Israel. Anita and I also talked about the possibility of this type of situation and then with our family and friends before we actually did take the assignment.

Today we are optimistic and hopeful that the cease fire will hold.

Last Hurrah

Yesterday Israel announced their cease fire. Then today Hamas shot another dozen or so rockets before announcing their cease fire about 4pm. At 2pm possibly the last rocket Hamas shot landed north of us about a half mile without a warning alarm. After the call from Anita I came home early from work and we walked over to take a look, along with lots of other people. No one was hurt and the building damage looked mostly superficial with the windows blown out of three apartments. Shrapnel also ripped through the sheet metal of a car parked on the street.

If today is the worst of it we survived. The unreported rocket from Nov was a closer hit than todays. The rocket hit combined with Israeli’s cease fire had us considering a stay in Tel Aviv. With the Hamas cease fire and Israel backing out of Gaza looks like we could be ok to stay.

Beit Gemal

Tonight I was coming home from the beach at sundown from a quick bit of surfing when I looked up in the sky and spotted a couple of jets launching a couple of missiles. Again the missiles and planes were pointed west but you can be sure the missiles took a couple of turns and wound up to the south. No alarms today so far. Yesterday there were 3 in an hour span. The first I was at the sand dune with the kids and we took cover. For the second we were all home. And for the third Everett and I were out walking. The majority of people avoid going out these days or if they do they go way out, like Tel Aviv or further to get out of rocket range. Being outside you can hear the rockets hit, in both I was outside for two loud thuds sounded a minute after the alarm. The impact noises don’t make it through the safe room walls.

There is talk of a cease-fire by Israel tonight and we are all hopeful this happens. I’m worried though. The cease-fire… I’m back from a trip to safe room for an Alarm, girls were sleeping, Anita had just gone to bed and grabbed Everett… will give Hamas room to retaliate. If Hamas doesn’t stop shooting rockets I don’t think Israel will stop the attack. Let’s see what the next few days bring. Now queue the sound of Apache Helicopters flying to Gaza. If rocket fire from Hamas increases we will take the hotel in Tel Aviv if needed.

Today we went to a monastery closer to Jerusalem than to us, Beit Gemal. Get out of the city for a few hours. We had fun and a picnic. The off photos are un-aimed arm extended pointing back at us. The nuns make pottery and we bought some. We also crawled around on the ruins near by.


I was turning over rocks and found a new friend.


Yesterday was Mt Bike race #3 of the corporate cup. I’m 3 for 3 in the win category. The second place guy from the first two races crashed out. The promoter also brought out the Israel National Mt bike champion to be a carrot for us today. I could out climb him but he put more time into me on the single track and finished before me. Since his was a guest appearance and not an official result I got the win.

Post #100

Nothing really to report here in Israel. Alarms in the Ashdod are decreasing in the last few days. Everyone is hopeful for a truce and the rockets to stop. Here the girls sleep in the safe room. In the background you can see the window with the steel doors rolled out on wheels and locked in place. Since the rockets started we've only had two alarms after the kids bed time but before mom and dad's bed time. Not sure why rockets only fired from Hamas during waking hours.

No training wheels for Ella

Yesterday Ella wanted the training wheels off her bike. Makes her daddy proud. We also went to the park later in the day. Again an alarm right when we arrived. We took cover on the north side of a wall. After waiting it out we played in the park.

Several times each day I check the news sites that I linked a few days ago. They give pretty quick updates and information on where rockets hit in Israel. Anyway I didn’t get to check much today till just now. A school was hit here in Ashdod. From the debris it looks like a school for young children. While it’s after 10pm my biggest desire is to go over to Ella’s school and see if it was hers (but I’ll wait for tomorrow). Just luck of the draw that it hit a school instead of a street or an open field. This is why schools and other gatherings are canceled if you are in rocket range. Very tight limits on how many people can gather and what safety must be provided for stores and other places to be open.

I rode my bike past Ella's school this morning and didn't find any damage.

After cooking up a pancake breakfast I went down to the beach for a surf session. Before leaving at 7:30 Anita said be ready for the rocket alarm, they shoot a rocket this way every day about 8. Down at the beach a few guys were fishing, waves were small but fun. At 8 the alarm went off and the fisherman turned to the city and watched the sky. I too did the same thing a few hundred yards out in the water. There was no hit in Ashdod, we are glad to get false alarms instead of the occasional no alarm.





We headed for the hills today, out of town. We went hiking in the forest in search of fairies. Anita made fairy flower crowns. We rode scooters and played in the park and after all of that had a picnic. Then we found another ruin site Tel Tsafit that was a gate way city between the Med and Jerusalem. The white clay cliffs and ruins and the ground is littered with pottery shards. Who knows how old these pottery pieces are, but it’s amazing to think about their possible age while picking them up.








The war goes on, this picture is today with Gaza burning in the background. From the tall apartments you can see similar views of Gaza in Ashdod. Yes we could leave Ashdod, work would pick up the tab for hotel and or flights if the family wanted to go to Croatia. But we don’t feel that threatened. The rockets in the north gave me a scare. Further escalation from the north is a definite concern but seems like formal leadership in Lebanon do not approve of starting that fight. Right now departure triggers are other countries join the fight against Israel or a significant increase in rocket hits to Ashdod from Gaza.

Reading the Israeli news links gives some extra perspective. I saw a horrific video of Hamas soldiers picking up kids from the side walk to use as shields as the run across the street. Also it’s reported that Hamas is intentionally putting children and civilians at risk to drive up the casualty rate and bad press for Israel including holding people at gun point to stay in high risk locations. Also who stores rockets in a religious place like a Mosque?

As Anita said today, “there will never be peace in this place.” The more we read about the history of this land the clearer it becomes that there is no compromise that could please all. For the US folks maybe the closest analogy is how America grew at the expense of the Native American. Nothing anyone is proud of but it happened and can’t be undone. Now think of a few of those Native American’s being so consumed with anger about it that they constantly wage a war against the US from within. And then they do it without any concern for retaliation to their own families. The best to hope for is people learn how to live in tolerance of others.

It is what it is.

We are still here, a bit on edge but OK. Anita stays close to the house. We are both hyper sensitive to whistling noises. The furnace kicking on sent me running for the safe room grabbing Ella and taking a few steps before I figured it out. Anita mistook the dryer whistle for an incoming rocket for a split second and was prepared to throw herself over Everett to protect him (he was the only one close by).

We get our war news at the Jerusalem Post and Arutz Sheva. They give a few more details on the number and location of rockets over international news. We also follow the other international sources like CNN and others.

A school was hit in Ashdod yesterday. But all school and other gatherings are canceled, to minimize the impact of exactly what happened yesterday. It was a non event other than damage to the building. Today a guy that works for me had a rocket hit the street in front of his neighbor’s house in Gedera. At night we hear big booms, we don't know how far away they originate. Is it Gaza or rockets that are hitting some surronding city?

Tell us what you think of this from the blog, internet and TV coverage? Send us an e-mail or leave a comment.

Momma is home!

Momma came home yesterday! I think if you could measure the feeling of missing she missed the kids far more than they missed her. She arrived by taxi at 4am while the kids and I were sleeping. Even with no sleep she flew out of bed at the first sounds of Everett waking. Usually neither of us gets up so eagerly to attend to his early morning complaints. The girls could hardly wait to see their mamma to get a few more presents. Throughout the day the kids showed their preference for momma over me as they went to her for attention and issues.

A new danger alarm speaker was installed for our neighborhood making the alarms louder and easier to hear. I took the kids to the park in the morning and momma took a nap. I had a plan of where we would go for shelter before we arrived in case of an alarm; you need protection from the shrapnel that Hamas loads into the rockets. When we arrived no-one was in the park, this is unusual as it’s a big park in the center of town. Over the next hour another 5-10 families came to play. However there was a lot of foot traffic past the park of those going to the nearby synagogue. Overall my observation is people are careful to stay close to cover and avoid being out and about. It was easier to stay in during the week with poor weather but Saturday was nice sunny weather and we went out.

The alarm did go off as we were leaving the park so we ran for shelter per the plan. Momma slept through it at home. We heard two rockets hit the second closer than the first. Then we saw two police cars speeding by to the north. Then there was an increase of car traffic to the north, it seems like people want to go find where the rocket hit and so did I. Since we had to be in the car to drive home from the park we decided to follow traffic. We found the area the rocket hit but did not get close enough to see the impact. Later the news reported an apartment building was hit with no injuries.

Maybe we are safer? It's one positive way to look at this.

Any whistling sounds make me jump, "is that the warning alarm?" Most often it is the split second when the furnace starts or the whine of the gears from the construction tractors in the neighborhood. Since the alarm sound level is low here at the house my background listening is getting very good. I am on the ready to move for the safe room when the alarm sounds.

Yesterday there were two alarms and one rocket hit in Ashdod, no injuries. The kids and I spent most of the day north of here as we had some errands and missed the first alarm. We went north and saw the neighbor’s baby girl, out to lunch and visited a surf shop. It’s been a good week of waves and I did get one session in with the help of the neighbor. That was my solitary reprieve from the kids. Overall its been a good week. Still I miss momma and will be glad when she gets home tomorrow! Three kids is a two parent job and it’s nice when we share the work.

Here is a thought this morning. Hamas supposedly was not using its long range Katyushas until after the war, “Operation Cast Lead” started. Clearly they have many of these long range rockets by the firing on Ashdod and Be’er Sheva in the last few days. The improved rockets were amassed during the cease fire when boarder security to Egypt was lax. There is a rumor that one of these long range rocket hit Ashdod in Nov while my parents were here. It supposedly hit between our house and the beach less than .5 mile away. We have only heard second hand rumors that it happened. But my parents, momma and neighbors can confirm that one day in Nov a very loud boom shook all the windows in the house.

The day that supposed rocket hit it was a surprise and there was no warning alarm. If it did happen it wasn’t published to prevent Hamas from getting the feedback on how their new improved rocket did. A few weeks after this event and a few weeks before the fighting broke IDF warned our city and others that Hamas had better weapons based on intelligence and analysis of rocket shot distance from the 2006 Hezbollah war in the north. I think he rumored Ashdod hit was part of the intelligence.

This brings me to my thought this morning. Israel’s preemptive strike has destroyed an unknown amount of the total Hamas weapons stock pile. IDF actions probably have prevented a larger attack on the more distant Israel cities. While there is currently 1-2 daily alarms/rocket fire who knows when and how many there would have been if Hamas still had all of their rockets and man power. Maybe Ashdod, Be'er Sheva and other cities are safer since the fighting started as Hamas would have used these rockets at their discretion. Thats if you have a point of view that things could always be worse.