Build it and they will come...

YShahar

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Whoever coined that phrase "build it and they will come" really meant business! The other night, I had a really unexpected visitor. No, sadly I don't have any photos of it, as this was way past midnight, and had I so much as moved to get my phone, it would have vanished! Probably too dark to see it anyway...

Oh, you want to know what it was? Well, why didn't you say so! OK, here's what happened:

This week marks one of my favorite holidays in Israel, called Sukkot. It's a weeklong festival with a celebration at its beginning and end. We move our households outdoors for the week, eating and sleeping in temporary huts called "sukkot" (singular "sukkah"). Here's a photo of our sukkah, just for the fun of it:

Sukkah_5783_web.jpg



So there I was sitting out in my reading chair in our sukkah, sipping a glass of arak over ice, and enjoying the play of moonlight on the pond. All the lights had long since been turned off by the automatic timers, and the candles had burned low. Because it was a holiday, when very few people drive anywhere, the night was all but silent--no distant rumble of traffic on the highway, no noise of planes taking off from the airport away to the south, just the sound of the waterfall and the burble of the stream.

Suddenly something caught my eye out by the stream. Maybe it was a hint of movement that my subconscious picked up on. I thought something was different, but couldn't quite put my finger on it. I looked more closely and realized that it was the vegetation itself that had changed; where there should be two large lavender bushes bordering the stream, there were now three!

My first incongruous thought was: "That bush just came and planted itself there! I didn't even know Ents came in that size!"

And then I realized what I was looking at: my moving "bush" was actually a large porcupine. It was drinking at the stream and its quills were all pointed skyward, giving it the appearance of a twiggy bush about the same size and shape as the nearby lavender. In a few moments, it turned and went back over the garden wall and into the wadi.

Moved pretty fast for a Bonsai Ent too!

Since I couldn't get a photo for you, I found a video of a similar critter (at 1:14 you can see the quills erect, giving it the appearance of a wandering bush):

 
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YShahar

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You have some neat holidays, very interesting!
Most of them are a lot of fun. And of course, every holiday requires festive meals (sometimes involving food puns -- I kid you not!). Even Yom Kippur -- a 25 hour fast with no food or water (or sex, or bathing) -- still has a festive meal before the fast.

All those big meals and socializing can be very tiring for those who have big families or host lots of guests. I've got friends who routinely host 20 guests for Shabbat meals, every week, and 30 or more for the festivals! I'm a recluse, so I order groceries online and His Honor the Cook prepares the gourmet meals. Life's good!
 
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Most of them are a lot of fun. And of course, every holiday requires festive meals (sometimes involving food puns -- I kid you not!). Even Yom Kippur -- a 25 hour fast with no food or water (or sex, or bathing) -- still has a festive meal before the fast.

All those big meals and socializing can be very tiring for those who have big families or host lots of guests. I've got friends who routinely host 20 guests for Shabbat meals, every week, and 30 or more for the festivals! I'm a recluse, so I order groceries online and His Honor the Cook prepares the gourmet meals. Life's good!
From one recluse to another, I don't know how some people do it! (entertaining large crowds) As far as porcupines go, they are very sweet...I have lived with them most of my life (Adirondacks) The only downside that I have ever noticed besides nibbling on our cabin was that the dogs were quilled a few times and that was a nightmare for me:( Some dogs learn on their first encounter and others never seem to:(
 

YShahar

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From one recluse to another, I don't know how some people do it! (entertaining large crowds) As far as porcupines go, they are very sweet...I have lived with them most of my life (Adirondacks) The only downside that I have ever noticed besides nibbling on our cabin was that the dogs were quilled a few times and that was a nightmare for me:( Some dogs learn on their first encounter and others never seem to:(

I've been wondering if maybe this porcupine (or another) is the critter that occasionally comes into the yard and digs large holes. It doesn't happen often, but every now and then I'll find these great big holes with no explanation of what made them or why. But if it was a porcupine, you'd think I would find quills or scat or something. I just assumed it was rock hyraxes, but who knows. I hope the cats know to stay away from porcupines!

And yes, I'm with you on the entertaining! The one friend who hosts every Shabbat is also a matchmaker, so I guess being a "people person" goes with the job. I'll stick to sitting by the pond with a book and a cat on my lap!
 
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All for that , I work out In the woods all day where I am more than at home. And when I go home I sit out in my ice of nature being my oasis
 

addy1

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Esp if the crowd is drinking, heavy, the stories are told over and over and get wilder and wilder and boring after awhile. Unless you too are drinking enough to handle it.

And too many propositions..................before married lol
 

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