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.