Modern Vespa

I've been offline for most of the past two days because of a huge winter storm here. Jerusalem and Bethlehem (I live next door to the latter) got about a meter of snow; a modern record for the region. I was able to get a few emails out using my cell phone, but then the cell towers went dark.

Nearly 40,000 households were without power for part or all of the last 36 hours (we lost power for most of Friday and it came back on mid morning today.

Did I mention we heat with electricity?

We had stocked up on plenty of food before the storm hit, and most of our town ended up hosting stranded motorists who were forced to abandon their vehicles on the main road and walked into whatever town or village was nearest. We had plenty of blankets, beds and couches to offer and we had plenty of good meals to share.

When I went out this evening to assess the condition of the trees in our front yard, I was shocked to find several of them had broken in half under the weight of the snow.

My scooter missed being crushed by a *this* much.

Sent from my iPad

Can you move the scooter to a safer place? Hang in there. Pretend it's summer and your camping. Can you get some cross country skiing in? I used to hate it when we got a lot of snow. Great downhill skiing but i could never get to the slopes. Be safe and am thinking of you.

Did Friday's shopping on x-country skis (took four trips to get it all home). I'm sore in places I didn't know existed!

Believe it or not, the scooter is probably safest where it is. It is parked next to a fence and the downed trees are protecting it from any other falling limbs that might come down overnight.

I am an ignorant American that never realized Israel ever got snow!! I hope you make the best of it and that it melts soon

Same here -- I didn't think it snowed in Israel either. Certainly not a meter at a time!

Glad the Vespa escaped injury.

I was in Israel several years ago during a snow storm, which ended up accumulating to about 4" or so. This was up near Lebanon, around Kfar Vradim, and it was interesting to see snow somewhere people considered it as 'rare'. Certainly unexpected for me, but other than concern about the vehicles on the road, was really quite pretty. And quiet, sort of surreal compared to the normal noises.

I like the quiet of snow best, personally.

Thanks for the pictures.

I was sure we'd hear from you first hand about the storm.

+2 I thought that was a joke!

Wow. That's impressive. Glad you're making it through all right. To echo an earlier comment, your scooter is probably in the best possible place...whatever is going to fall probably already has done so.

Sad to lose the trees. Takes forever to grow something back.

This will be one to reminisce about......

My 11 year old Son was jealous that Israel got snow and we haven't had any in the Pacific Northwest.

People, think about the upcoming holiday on the 25th of this month! Mom wasn't looking for lodgings in Bethlehem to get out of the sun!

I have to say I never thought it would snow in Israel either !!
Learning every day from MV.
Be careful in that snow...

Glad your scooter is ok, that was a close one! The valley floor in Portland recieved an inch of snow last week, Corvallis 7 to 9 inches, Eugene hit -10 for a low

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/corvallis-snow-surprise-heavier-than-expected-snowfall-snarls-traffic-closes/article_e93e6972-5f21-11e3-afa9-0019bb2963f4.html

Still about 15000 households without power and they haven't reopened the main roads yet.

My boss is not happy.

Do I hear a song coming about a little scooter in a manger?

Your pic does have that look

Ha ha ha

When deep snow and ice shut everything down around here and deprive us of power and the opportunity to go to work, we just turn it into a sort of "frontier holiday." The local schools were canceled for three days last week and my wife, a teacher, was about to climb the walls. It helps if one has a fireplace and plenty of food.

As a certified "tree hugger," so sorry about your trees!

Trep.

As one born and raised Yankee between you and the weather on the news up north here in the states I'm officially homesick. I also wouldn't mind giving up a few days riding for that either.

Wish I was there. This would be the time to take a trip to Israel IMHO.

Nothing is quite as dramatic as snow. It instantly transforms familiar landscapes. That's quite a sight Trepp!

I hope you have found some comfort without power.

By the way, are those passenger footrests on your crashbars? I'd be curious to hear more about them, with apologies if you've posted on them previously and I missed it.

I'd heard about the snow in Cairo but never thought you'd get that much in Israel. Sucks when electricity goes out and that's you only means of climate control. I guess one plus to the extra people is more body heat in the houses.

Stay warm until it melts.

It is an Indian sidesaddle step (designed for women wearing saris) that I got a couple of years ago. It isn't mounted to the crash bars (they'd never take the weight), but rather bolted rightnthroughnthe sheet metal,of the cowl.

Here's the thread so you can see it without all that distracting snow.

Mounted Faco bars and an Indian souvenir

Oof! Now that is some severe weather. Damn.

Hopefully your riding season will return soon

Sent from my iPad


My daughter is home on leave and now trapped until they reopen the roads.



Behind out neighbor's house

More local views



Not my pic, but couldn't resist

Thanks Trepp. Nice souvenir and custom touch.

Those pictures are amazing. It looks more like the snow belt around Buffalo, or maybe Banff Alberta than Israel.

Maybe the Gremlin bell works? Love the bunny pic. Sometimes i miss snow. I used to make the coolest things with it. We have snow on the volcanoes but it's to dry and fine to make anything with it.

Trepp,

Thanks for the pictures. We enjoyed them. Hope things are starting to settle down and get back to normal. You've given me a whole new perspective about the climactic conditions of Israel.

Your young lady looks well, too.

I saw pictures of the snow in the news and wondered why you didn't post any of yours. But of course power outages and severed phone lines explain that.

Let's hope the floods are not too severe when the snow melts. Gaza seems to be hit pretty hard.

There's a highway about an hour north of Los Angeles that gets shut down by snow a few times a year and every year the local news outfits send someone up there to interview befuddled tourists who had "no idea it snowed in Southern California!" And here I am looking at your pictures thinking, "I had no idea it snowed in Israel!"

I have been depressed since I winterized and stored my GTS on Saturday and now we are under our first Cold Weather Alert (-15C with wind chill factor). Winter seems even more pointless now that I have my scooter.

It looks like you too may need a storage shed in your future.

I hope the snow passes quickly for you, stay warm!!

Saw the perfect solution to your problem a while back on MV. Now you just have to dig your scoot out enough to attach the plow!

In all seriousness hope power gets restored soon and everyone stays safe. Reminds me of when I lived in Taos, NM and Juneau, Alaska. Ahh I miss the snow!! But not the plowing!!

We had 3" of unexpected snow overnight.

As I just retired 2 weeks ago I haven't gotten into a rhythm yet and so I went down to the local library and shoveled the walks there. Then I went across the street and shoveled out my doctor's parking lot.

Went home and got out my little snow blower and did my driveway, all my walks and the neighbors on either side and across the street from me.

One of the ladies sent over a tin of homemade peanut brittle this afternoon.

An added benefit.

So I got my exercise today.

Sounds like what I did 7 years ago last time I was home to visit my parents.

Good job and worthy of the reward.

Good on ya. Just don't try that sort of round when a foot of wet snow falls. We're not as young as we used to be.

Here's what I use when there's not enough to fire up the snow blower.

I got it a few years ago and it's really easy on your back. No lifting.

It's made by Suncast.