A precious baby rhino was born at Ramat Gan Safari zoo in Israel three weeks ago and is already walking. This little one is rhino #32 born at the zoo and her arrival is being celebrated around the world. Both mama and baby are doing fine, but I found it amusing that Daddy Rhino is being kept away because he’s too aggressive. 

No name yet and I’m curious what it will be. We do know that it will start with the letter “K” in the Swahili language (not sure why). 

I would love to see these adorable creatures in person on my next trip to Israel! Rhinos are one of my favorites wild animals.

It’s amazing how weather can throw everything into chaos. Luckily, we are safe and sound here, but a lot of plans were disrupted due to the big storm and I feel completely sidetracked.

It was predicted to start on Saturday at 7:00pm, with 18 inches of heavy snow on the way. I was still in Walmart, picking up some extra water bottles and dry snacks at 8:15 and there was no activity at all. By 9:30, however, it was coming down fast and furious.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain were constant during the day on Sunday. It was also bitterly cold. Everyone was advised to stay off the roads, which I had no problem doing. The visibility was low, and just walking on my own driveway, I slipped. Not safe!

On Sunday night, we were supposed to attend a Seder at the temple for Tu B’Shevat. Unfortunately, it was cancelled. We ended up staying home by our lonesome and eating frozen pizza. I was very thankful to be warm and have electricity, but it definitely didn’t feel special. We did make a holiday centerpiece (the one I posted a few days ago) that came out great and was a nice distraction. 

This morning, I woke up while it was still dark to check my flight status. I was supposed to fly to Chicago for a blogging event. The flight was cancelled, which ended up being a blessing in disguise, because our snow plow guy was in an accident, disabled his truck, and we are still not plowed out now, even though it’s a full day later.

Mind you, this is also the coldest one of the year—-the high was 5 degrees—so all the snow has frozen into a mountain of ice. It’s near impossible to break up and shovel, leaving us stuck, possibly until it warms up on Wednesday. 

While this is inconvenient, I realize it could be a lot worse. I am so glad to have a huge stockpile of food, hygiene items, puzzles/games for the kids, pet supplies, and medicine, just in case we need them. 

For fun, I binged the entire series of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it. Excellent storyline and cast, especially Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace. 

That’s what’s happening around here. How were you affected by the storm?