An electrifying kiss

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Suddenly crazy dazzling streaks across my laptop and TV screens, then a huge flash of light outside my window and a loud PATZ!!  And then my place and the whole neighborhood were plunged into darkness. 
I grabbed a big flashlight and walked down to the corner to check the big electric pole, the one that says "HIGH VOLTAGE,  DANGER OF DEATH!"

Our town's security team was already there, calling the Electric Company's emergency repair line.
Curious neighbors were milling about and pointed out to me what had fallen from above to the hard pavement below.

One pigeon sitting on one high tension wire had touched a second pigeon sitting on a parallel wire, forming a short circuit and causing the big bang and their own electrocution!
Totally charred wings, so sad.

The poor pair of pigeons had only wanted to kiss each other good night.
Even in death they were locked together. 
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday, signs signs, and Camera Critters .)

High tension

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The Electric Corporation had to send us this special crane, and we waited several hours without electricity as it drove over from Ashdod, the port city of the Mediterranean coast. 

Then they had to adjust the feet of the truck, to make it level and solid. 

Remember this post about the burning palm tree from last March? 

And this post on how the black dead tree was cut down? 

So the fire was the culprit!  Three months later the apparently frayed cable tore and ended up on the sidewalk. 

I know the technicians turn off the electric current for blocks around, but still, I always worry that the brave man on top might get zapped, God forbid!

Here he tried to "splice" the two ends of the cable.

But his helper on the ground later had to lift the cable up to him on a stick.

Oi, look how high he is, working hard to take up the slack and make it taut.

Leaning so far out of that cherry picker bucket. 

We all watched in awe.  

You can enlarge these pictures and see how the man is smiling through it all, as if to calm me, the Worrying Jewish Mother.

Thanks electric company. You guys are always here when we need you.

Stay safe and may you never ever get zapped. 

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(Linking to ABC Wednesday Z-day.)

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Electrifying color

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Passing in my bus, I always enjoy  seeing this bonus splash of color in the Negev.
I always wonder who made it.  And why? 
Maybe just for decoration? 
Or to mark the side entrance to the small town Omer?

(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Kibbutz Kramim PV solar farm!

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What a big photovoltaic facility, when you finally see it up close like I did yesterday!

The two parallel perimeter fences stretch on forever . . . 

 . . . and make it hard to get a clear photo.

 It was a long hike from Meitar, seen in the distance, including a quick dash across busy Highway 60.
It's funny, on one side is a farm field of Kibbutz Kramim . . .

. . . and on the other side a solar farm!

The land is leased from the kibbutz by SOLON Elco Renewables Ltd.
It is a joint venture of Berlin-based Solon Energy GmbH, a producer of solar power modules and systems, and Israel's Elco company.
Israel Electric Corporation will buy all the MW this photovoltaic project produces.

I understand that it just became operational about a year ago (at least that was the plan).
Israel's notorious bureaucracy makes getting permits problematic and time consuming. 
And with PV projects you need to obtain a building permit, a grid connection permit, and a permit stating you can receive the feed-in tariff. 

This is the view from the center of Meitar.  (Enlarge the photo to see better.)
The solar field shimmering way way down there was always tantalizing for me.
Yesterday's beautiful weather with the temperature shooting up to 25C finally gave me the get-up-and-go to get up and go there.

See six bigger versions of  impressive aerial photos of Kibbutz Kramim (aka Cramim) at the website of Enlighten Eurocom Group.

See an orthophoto showing both Meitar and Kramim in my earlier post.

UPDATE Jan. 26: This just published about how all this renewable energy can be stored. 
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UPDATE Feb. 3: A paragraph was published about Kibbutz Kramim.
UPDATE July 23:  New in the Negev:  http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-inks-deal-for-1b-solar-power-plant/
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Power trip

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Let's see, where were we before Theme Day and holy days?
Oh right, we were touring the kishkes, the innards, of Shaare Zedek Medical Center  as part of  Jerusalem Houses from Within weekend.

Our guide, the director of engineering and logistics, led us down to the big hospital's electrical plant.

There was a whole row of these powerful-looking ... uh ... machines. (?)
UPDATE:  VP says they are generators.     Thanks, VP!

Everywhere is written DANGER.

Always ready for any emergency, the hospital makes a practice run once a week by switching over to generators for a short time.
The generators run on diesel fuel, not electricity.

Israel Electric Corporation made a line solely for Shaare Zedek.
The hospital plant's electricity comes in at a much higher voltage than regular customers receive.

In these "cages" are the transformers that convert the electricity to normal 220 volts.
Our guide warned us not to touch anything!
This plus the chart on the door showing how to resuscitate a person (presumably after   electrocution)  must have made my camera hands a bit shaky.
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UPDATE: On their Facebook page, Shaare Zedek Medical Center Jerusalem just posted a sweet baby picture and said "Mazel tov to the families of the over 80 babies born at Shaare Zedek Medical Center during Yom Kippur."
Wow!
Indeed, with 21,000 births per year Shaare Zedek's maternity facility is the most active in the Western world!
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Ceasefire starts, electric power stops

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Finally, after 50 days of fighting, an open-ended ceasefire begins!
I celebrated by walking to the center of town leisurely and calmly, not worrying anymore  where I would run or drop for shelter if the siren sounded for in-coming rockets.
After being cooped up close to my unit's bomb shelter for most of the summer, it was great to get out and about.

However, some of the errands I needed to do could not be done today.
Why?  Because the Electric Corporation was doing some big project with trucks and cranes and bulldozers.
They had turned off the power in some parts of Meitar from 8:00 to 16:00.

I came to get a book at the library and found it locked,  with a sign "No electricity. Come back this afternoon."
I went to Kupat Holim and found the pharmacy locked,  for the same reason.
Guess they can't function without computers . . . .
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It takes balls to do this!

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These are favorite photos from last winter  when I still lived in the Jerusalem Hills, the Hills of Judea. 
You will want to click a few times and enlarge them--you won't believe what you see!

The helicopter was hovering right next to the high tension wire high above the road in Soreq Valley!

And what's more--a man was sitting on a platform under the helicopter!

Can you see his legs dangling?
I watched the team work for hours, for several days in December and January.
I was amazed, impressed, scared, and always thinking "Glad I am not that man's mother."

Here you can see the man and the big orange balls that he was about to attach to the miles of  live high tension wires.

Today's City Daily Photo Theme Day is about heights,  so today is a fitting day to pay tribute to these brave men in the sky.

An Australian government website says that

Queensland-based Aeropower, which uses helicopters to provide airborne

electrical services to power companies, provides the Israel Electric Corporation with a range

of services including support for cable stringing (pulling out draw wires from structure to

structure), airborne line  maintenance services and live-line insulator washing on their overhead power lines.

Watch a video of these guys in action, if you have the guts.
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Shine on

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A hat tip (or hardhat tip) to the brave linemen who keep our street lamps working. 

Note the yellow sign (they are on all the lamp posts in my village) which warns "HIGH TENSION. DANGER OF DEATH!"
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A post for City Daily Photo Theme Day--Street Lamps.
And also for SkyWatch Friday. 
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The play of sun on the wires

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At 3:30 pm last Saturday the last rays of sun made the power lines shine for a brief moment. 
Even a row of insulator posts ( ? -- just guessing) seemed to be suddenly glowing.
It was kind of creepy.
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This is the view from the west side of my village's hill.
The Electric Company station sits in the valley.
Sometimes I like to pretend the cables are a ski lift in the Swiss Jura instead of high tension wires.
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P.S. A previous post explains how modern Hebrew got a word for modern electricity.
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(This post links to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Unused for 30 years

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Shalom again!

I walked along some Jerusalem streets today in the German Colony and Bak'a.
Streets with names like Bethlehem Road, Hebron Road, and Emek Refa'im.

Whenever I see a normally-closed gate open, I duck in to have a look.
So it was today.  The vehicle entrance of the big Electric Company substation was open!  Yay!
What a beautiful old building!

Read the lovely story of how the first power station in Jerusalem (built in 1928) was brought back to life!

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(This "Unused for 30 years" post is for ABC Wednesday U Day.)

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Heroes of the day

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Meet my Hero of the Day, and of the Sabbath day at that.

 It's a long way up.
The Israel Electric Company linemen are so brave.

The man on the ground and the man in the air worked quickly, carefully, and with a smile.
It was just half an hour before sunset and I and the neighboring house were mighty glad to get power back after 16 hours without any.

Enlarge this photo, it's fun!
It's like the worker and the wires are having a duel.
Or is he saying "Hocus pocus!" to the sleeping giant?
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Just after midnight last night I was shutting down the computer when I heard a loud PATZ!  outside and out went my lights.
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Today  the Electric Company worker explained to me that it was a combination of a little rain, a lot of wind, and the first contractions of the cables as we go from summer heat to winter cold that caused the explosion.

It's good, today they changed the burnt wires and put in stronger connecting thingies.
Better today, a mostly sunny day, than on a cold and rainy day later, when winter really sets in (IF it ever does). 
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One night and one day of no Internet and no light.
It was a tiny price for the neighbors and me to pay compared to the on-going suffering of the  poor victims of Hurricane Sandy.
And may the American linemen have strength to carry on in the endless repair work ahead.
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Thanks to all those who take care of us.
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Danger overhead

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With great fanfare the Bridge of Strings, built for Jerusalem's new light rail, was dedicated in June 2008.
But so far only pedestrians cross the bridge because the tram completion is way behind schedule.
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Just recently the overhead wires on the catenary masts were electrified.
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Perhaps to remind the workers of this new situation, several orange cones were strung up, with a cable dangling below and the sign "DANGER -- HIGH VOLTAGE."

So . . . new wires, full of power, have joined the sky view in front of the strong cables of the Bridge of Strings.
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UPDATE: I should have explained better that pedestrians can walk safely on either side of the bridge, well apart from the tram rails, as seen in my bridge walk here and here.
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For Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges.
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The tram, the tram!

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I really got a charge out of this scene today!
The electric company had two trucks on the Herzl Street tram rails, and in each cherrypicker were two workers.
They were connecting the overhead wires that will power the new tram. Yay!
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It was so exciting that I got off the bus midway to the shuk in order to take pictures.
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A few hours later I was on the bus coming back from the market.
Suddenly I looked out the window and saw empty light rail cars sitting on the tracks!
My first time to see them in person!!


Are they not sleek and beautiful?!

They were parked just beyond the Bridge of Strings.

I suspect they will be tested on the bridge tonight, maybe, I hope . . .

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Two weeks ago, starting at midnight, a tram went on the bridge for the first time, but not on its own power.
The Jerusalem Post reported that "A specially-designed truck pushed the first train over the span, allowing exact measurements to be taken. They were 'static tests,' allowing the engineers to measure weight and stress on the structure.

It took a full two hours for the first train to cross, as engineers stopped every meter to take readings and make sure all was running smoothly."
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With the electric lines that were hooked up today, the next trial run can be dynamic tests instead of static tests.

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That's today's progress for That's My World Tuesday.
P.S. On the truck in the first photo is written chashmal.

I posted once about how modern Hebrew adopted this word from the prophet Ezekiel's mystical vision.

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Electricity emergency

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We had an exciting electricity emergency, just in time for ABC Wednesday.
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I had my hands in water doing some hand laundry in the sink when suddenly a strange noise outside made me turn. Through the window I was shocked (so to speak) to see a heavy metal cable breaking free from its electric pole and falling in what I first thought was the general direction of my roof!
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I ran out of the house.
The cable was swinging back and forth in the air.

(All photos enlarge with a click.)

We called the electric company.

In three hours they were in our village, re-attaching the cable.

I always think linemen are very brave.

See that sign on this (and every other) pole?

It says in Hebrew, Arabic, and English "DANGER OF DEATH."

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A plain old rope attached to the bumper of the car helped pull the heavy cable back into position.

Thanks, guys!
Things are back to normal again.

But it still looks to me like that long stretch of cable is hanging by a proverbial thread.

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