"So prepare for the coup of the century"

"Be Prepared"
Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim R Remember the movie Lion King, where Scar is planning to take over?  This is the song they sing ...
Emergency preparations, preppers, preparedness, survivialism, or whatever you want to call it, people are going to make fun of you for doing it.  How do I know?  Cuz I've been trying to make sure I am "prepared for the coup of the century".  Honestly, I am not doing as good of a job as I would like to be.  This past weekend, it got put to the test.
I was in New York for a few days immediately following a 3 day holiday (Shabbos & 2 days of Shavuous).  So basically, I was out of commission for almost a full week.  Laundry was done before Shabbos, food cooked, etc.  We lost power for literally a minute Shabbos morning, which knocked my oven out.  OK, I can deal.  For the two days of the holiday, I used my cook top rather than my oven.  I managed. We had jello for dessert instead of a baked goodie.  I made rice instead of roast potatoes.  We survived.  Then at 6am I left.  I came back at 8:30pm Thursday night.  We lost power at 9:20pm.  Who knew?  I certainly didn't pay any attention to the little warnings my weather app was giving me all day.  I thought that they were for the areas up north.  
So now here we are with a killer storm blasting through our state with lightening like you would not believe. Flashes one on top of the other on top of another.  Thunder that shook the house.  Do I freak out?  No. First thing Friday morning I run to Robert's Oxygen to get some dry ice.  I'm going to save my freezer at all costs.  I run the grocery store like it's nothing to buy my Shabbos food.  I have to plan carefully, because I know for sure we are not going to have power on Shabbos, and I have my kids & grandbaby coming.  I have to plan it to have exactly enough food, nothing left over.  I have no way to store it. And of course, I need ice.  
My new best friend is Amazon Prime, which has a cool feature of getting stuff the same day.  I ordered some lanterns and batteries.  I did have enough yartzeit candles to put into every bathroom.  Thank G-d it was just a weather related emergency and not the zombie apocalypse that I've been preparing for.  And in hindsight, I see that I am NOT TOTALLY prepared!  
So why am I telling you all this ... YOU MUST PREPARE!  Stop laughing and listen.  You have no idea what can happen.  A freak storm can knock power out.  A lay off, rioting, whatever.  Something can happen.
We did have enough water bottles.  I had been stocking up.  We almost finished up two cases of water bottles in 3 days.  I want to find some type of ice that I can store and break open to use rather than have to run around looking for it.  I need more dry goods.  I need a way to cool ourselves if need be, and yes, the baby wipes they suggest for cleaning are a must.  No showers for 3 days is disgusting!
So here is a quick list of everything you should have, not in any order, that we needed or used this weekend: bottled water (had / used) baby wipes (needed) flashlights or lanterns (got) batteries (got) candles (had / used) matches (had / used) tissues (had / used) extra phone batteries (had /used) gas for cars (might have needed) snacks (people get bored with no WiFi)
That's all I can think of for right now.  Please feel free to add to my list in comments, or just google preppers.  
Now I got to go google ice that can be stored for long periods of time ...

Zero Tolerance ... Depends on what you don't tolerate when you're liberal

I would venture to say almost every school in America has a zero tolerance policy against bullying.  If a child is bullying another one, they jump on it right away to try and nip it in the bud.  This is a good thing.  No one should suffer from being bullied.  Let's look at the definition of a bully (emphasi is mine):

use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants

.

"a local man was bullied into helping them"

synonyms:

persecute, oppress, tyrannize, browbeat, harass, torment, intimidate, strong-arm,dominate;  informalpush around, bullyrag "the others bully him" coerce, pressure, pressurize, press, push; force, compel; badger, goad, prod, browbeat, intimidate, dragoon, strong-arm; informalbulldoze, railroad, lean on "she was bullied into helping"

Notice what it says there.  Using force to get someone to do what they want.  Now, let's look at the so called Israel-Palestine conflict (there is no such place as Palestine, they are Arabs from here on forth).  The Arabs cry that mean old Israel has confiscated their land, and they want it back.  How do they go about this. They have tried to negotiate (Arabs: Give us everything we want; we'll give you nothing/ Israel: We'll give you 96% of what you want ... Arabs: Nope, not good enough! Negotiate means you give us every single thing we want and we don't have to give you anything.  That is how we compromise.)  When that doesn't work, they just start killing people.  They go and shoot or stab innocent people.  Classic form  of bullying. The sad thing is that this mentality is working.  Last week there was a horrific attack in Tel Aviv.  One of the fathers of a terror victim didn't blame the murderers.  Oh no, he blamed the right-wing government for not giving into their demands!  

Why won't the world wake up and call the Arabs what they are.  They are the worlds biggest bullies.  They murder and terrorize people when they don't get their way.  Is every Arab a terrorist?  No.  But is most every terrorist a Arab ... I'll leave you to think that over.  Meanwhile, I'll sit back and watch this liberals in this country once again blame GUNS for killing people in Florida rather than a terrorist, who, by the way, passed a background check and 2 investigations from the FBI.  So much for their idea of gun control.  

It's seriously time for America to work on gun control.  You really need to know how to aim for center mass and fire off at least two rounds in less than 3 seconds. THAT my friends is good gun control.

Misc thoughts and observations

THIS POST WAS STARTED IN ISRAEL --
I made notes to myself on things I wanted to speak about.  However, once I left, I felt weird posting about Israel now.  However, I am working on my Israel scrapbook (more like a novel), and I feel it is a good time to write.  Most of this is being written tonight.

I know I already did an update to my trip today, but there are a few things I keep forgetting to mention.

One of the really cool things I have seen here is that most places I have been to have a washing sink and cup outside of it.  Maybe not most.  Today at the Davidson Center was the first time I did not see one. I have a picture on my camera, but I didn't transfer it to my tablet yet.  Why am I mentioning this?  A long time ago I took upon myself to wash my hands with a cup after using the bathroom.  A few weeks before my trip, I read that it was a segula for protection to do it.  So I am so happy to see this little convenience here.  (Maybe it was only in charaidi places?)

Next is the whole bubby thing.  I rarely get to play bubby except long distance.  So it is so nice to spend some time with Rikki.  She is so sweet!  The first night I got here I was sure she wouldn't come to me.  She hasn't seen me in months.  For the first 10 seconds she was a little hesitant.  But then I pulled out a book, and she was happy to climb into my lap and hear one.  We've been sharing a room, which is not the best for either one of us.  She wakes from time to time, and then goes back to sleep. But the Mommy in me can't hear her cry and do nothing.  Yesterday she was up before 7am.  We laid in my bed and watched 8th Day, Ari Goldwag, and some other nice videos.  It kept her entertained long enough.  Today it was no go; she didn't want to stay with me.  It's hard sharing a room!

Organic food.  GRR!  I brought a ton of stuff, but I've run out of fruits and vegetables and I need some! *Post script ... I didn't find any organic fruits and vegetables.  Right now I can't even look at those Kind Bars I ate every day.  The thought of them makes me want to puke!

Smoking - It seems that everyone here does it.  People, get with the program. Smoking is so 70s!

Beggars - I know I am going to sound like a freak, but I liked some of the beggars.  I thought that they were so interesting.  Like the woman who sits outside the steps by the Kotel going up to the Menorah ... She gives brachos when you give her money. The first time I saw her, I gave her a big coin.  You know, like here, quarters are worth more than nickles or pennies, right?  Well, she hands it back to me and says, ech, this is nothing. Give me something else!  ROTFL!  Yes, I did give her more.  I found out later that what I gave her was like a penny.  OOPS.  Another time I had this guy say that he needs fish for shabbos, can I please buy him some.  (I was waiting for Leah Bowman to come back so we could continue our tour.)  Shauly & Zahava had told me to tell the snorrahs that I don't have any money.  (I probably didn't, not small change.)  So I tell him, I have no money.  He is like, "That's OK, there is an ATM over there".  Knock me over with a feather!! Dude, I am SOOO not paying ATM fees for the privilege of giving you my money! So then he tells me he is hungry, and needs food.  I figured, why not.  I had just eaten a nice lunch in Burger Bar, so I said, OK.  I took him into Burger Bar, and bought him the same thing I had just had.  (I just paid for it; it's a lunch special.)  He couldn't stop thanking me.  He pulls out these little strings with a blue eye ball bead on it, and gives it to me.  He asks me how many kids I have, and I am lost for a second.  I don't want him to give me one for Yossi a'h.  So I said I have 4 girls.  He gave me 6 strings and kept blessing me.  Maybe he was a scam artist, but I don't know and I don't care.  I was happy with what I did.  However, that ATM line was a deal killer for me.  The next time a guy told me to go to the ATM, I walked away from him.

High ceilings & cold stones- It seems that every where I went, they have high ceilings.  I have no idea why, and I don't think I asked anyone.  It was just something I noticed.  Now let me tell you about the cold.  My dear friend Yael warned me before I went that it is very, very, very cold in the winter and to pack my warmest clothes.  Leah Bowman also warned me.  Hey, I'm the queen of always being cold, right? I know how to handle this. I bought thick fleece lined tights, sweaters, and stuff to layer.  Let me tell you, IT IS ABSOLUTELY FREEZING!!!  It gets into your bones.  My poor little toes were always freezing cold.  I guess it is the high ceilings and Jerusalem stone.  I was so happy the last week when the weather hit in the 70s.

Garbage in the streets- I am not chas v'shalom speaking bad about Israel.  I am going to complain about the the lack of respect for the kedusha of Israel.  When we went for a walk the second shabbos night, I saw a lot of trash in the streets.  It upset me so much. THIS IS YERUSHALAYIM!!  How could anyone litter here?  Shauly told me if I was that upset to pick it up.  Problem is, I didn't have rubber gloves.  I felt like because of the extra kedusha, people need to take extra care and make sure nothing slips away.

Plastic bags and fancy bags- OK, I am a total nut.  (If you didn't figure that out yet, I'm telling you now.)  I love plastic bags.  Not the cheap thin ones from Wal-Mart. I love the thicker ones that you can use again and again.  Now Israel is plastic bag heaven.  Seriously.  Everywhere I went, I got a plastic bag.  (I saved them all!)  When I bought a little magnet, the guy put it in the prettiest little white bag with roses.  See, they all have these cute bags. I love it!

Iced coffee- I've written about it before. And yes, months later I am still chalishing for an iced coffee, preferably from Greens.

Credit cards -  At almost every place I went, I paid with credit card.  Now here is the thing ... when you go shopping here, if you have a small total, like under ten bucks, the stores don't like taking a credit card.  I've seen notes that they won't allow a transaction for under $10.  In Israel, no one blinked an eye. No matter how small the amount, just whip out your card and swipe!

I know it sounds nuts .. But I miss Israel so much.  I yearn so deeply to go back.  From deep within my kishkas.  *sigh*

Oh yeah, one more thing ... I found a lot of typos and grammatical errors in some of my old posts.  I was working from my phone and tablet, and didn't have as much control as when I use my laptop.  Autocorrect changed some things, but I am guessing that people figured out what I meant.  (Except for the one that changed Shauly to Shaun.)