Update #5 - December 26, 2010 - East Coast Blizzard

The New York metropolitan area, along with a good portion of the Northeast, was socked with a major blizzard. In the Fair Lawn area, snow began falling on Sunday, the 26th, and lasted until Monday morning. It was hard to measure because of all the drifting, but the local paper listed our neighboring town of Paramus at 17 inches, so we will go with that as an estimate.

The esrog saplings made it through the storm in fine shape, kept warm in our family room. After the clouds broke, sun was streaming in through our south facing windows, so I set 4 of the saplings on the window ledge so that they could soak up the sun. The picture shows the saplings, with heavy drifted snow in the backyard.

Before last winter, I finally bought myself a really good snow blower, which I used three times last winter, and now to clean up after this storm. About ten years ago, the "experts" were predicting that with the advent of global warming, our winters would moderate. Now, they are saying that with the warmer atmosphere, increased moisture and the melting of the arctic ice into the oceans, we are going to have more and bigger snowstorms. In fact, 4 out of 6 of New York City's biggest storms have occurred in the past 10 years. So I think the snow blower will get some use.

.

I had a reader of the blog ask about what type of light I use. On sunny days, I set up the saplings on the window ledge, but during the cold nights, I take them off the ledge. When it is cloudy, I keep them under a 100 watt flourescent light, approximately 1 foot above the sapings.

.

The second picture shows what I saw when I first opened up my garage door immediately after the snow ended.

.

By the way.... if you did not know, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. I just found that out!

.

.

Have a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.

Update #4 Early winter - December 2010

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

It's not quite winter; we still have about a week to go to the winter solstice. But we have had wintry conditions since early December - very cold temperatures and the first snow flurries and snow showers have fallen. The leaves are all down. I spent three of four Sundays blowing them and raking them into the street and most of them have been taken away by the town. Chanukah ended a few days ago, so now we can start cleaning for Pesach.

The esrog saplings are doing well. I have eight at work, and six at home. I gave away five saplings at my family's annual Chanukah party. I gave them to the married couples - my parents, my two brothers and sister in laws, my niece and spouse, and my nephew and spouse. I also gave out "care and feeding" instructions along with the saplings. Attached are two pictures. One shows my esrog "grove" at home. You will notice that one of the saplings is about a foot tall. It was the only one that grew from a seed that germinated in water. Since I put it into soil, it has been growing very fast. The other picture shows a sapling that is about three inches tall. In the planter is a small stone that comes from Jerusalem. It was brought back by my daughter, who is spending the year in Israel. She came back to visit us over Thanksgiving, and gave me the stone. She thinks that having a very small piece of Eretz Yisrael near the esrog sapling will help it grow. I agree with her.

I have booked my flight to Israel in February, for a short visit to my daughter. I will bring back some more stones, for the other saplings.

Look for the next post in about a month.