Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.
Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).
The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.
So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?
…
NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.
…
– Page One of Comments is HERE!
– Page Two of Comments is HERE!
It’s 36, feels like 28, and not as sunny as yesterday but we will hope the “60% chance wintry mix” doesn’t happen until after dark. Being above freezing the twins wanted out. The homebody twin came back in. The adventurous one took off. I made sure “his” box was habitable before I left this morning just in case the weather changes before I get back. Meanwhile the outdoor cat enjoyed breakfast then went back to his box cave. I’m assuming he actually leaves the yard periodically but he’s much less inclined to do so than the younger ones. For which I’m very glad. Dogs and coyotes can’t get into the back yard. Other cats, possums, and raccoons leave him alone when he’s in his cave. He’s got food, water, and “kitty TV” in the form of birds to watch. Other than not coming inside in the really bad weather, he’s a smart cat. LOL. Yesterday we got 17.6 KWHs and our m-t-d is 55 so I’m still banking and will be continue to do so as long as I get at least 6 per day. I expect to today, not sure about tomorrow. We shall see what we shall see.
Politically I know what I hope, I know what I fear – and I know what I know which is if we run Biden against Trump, Trump will win. Like back in 2014 – running Mark Pryor against Tom Cotton. R-Lite never wins against a real R and that’s just a fact no matter how many times alt-left & alt-right try to pretend otherwise. Aji’s still got no word from the surgeon’s office which is adding to her stress and exacerbating her pain and anxiety. Well, doctors blew off “do no harm” decades back – especially if the harm they’re doing is by delay and ignoring the patient. Invocation/prayers still very much needed – and for all that I’m trying to not put any shape on mine, just send the Energy for Aji’s shaping, getting the appointment and then the operation itself are real high on the list of what to see/invoke/ask for…
We’ve got a faculty candidate coming in today – I may or may not get lunch depending on whether anything gluten free shows up. LOL. Staff position interview tomorrow but lunch won’t be provided for that. also LOL. I need more coffee and to get back to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
You’re a good human, bfitz. Hope the ferals appreciate your efforts. Love that bit about “kitty TV”! :)
Good morning, Meesefolk; 10 when I got up this morning and headed to a balmy 27. My widget has a pretty picture of a full sun showing, but I think it’s aspirational because a quick peek outside reveals clouds, clouds, and more clouds.
I’ve somehow managed to disrupt my sleep pattern so thoroughly that even the dogs are mad at me. I could barely keep my eyes open last night, so I climbed into bed at 9:30. I knew that was too early, so I read for an hour before switching off the light. And then was up at 12 and 2 and 3 and 5 and 6:30. I let the dogs out at 6:30, and when they came in, they made a beeline back to bed…whereupon I had the most restful sleep of the “night” until my final alarm went off at 7:30. I have no idea what’s going on, since I got the heat adjusted and I’m not sick or aching in any way. I don’t even think I’m particularly anxious (any more than usual since 2016), but it’s highly unusual for me not to sleep through the night…and the lack of uninterrupted sleep IS making me anxious.
And now back to the piles on my desk; good day to and for all!
My morning clouds gave way to unexpected sunshine; the weather widget had said clouds all day. I am not complaining, I prefer the sunlight.
There is a Mercury retrograde right now (going direct on March 28) and the energy from that can create all sorts of disturbances, usually in communication. Maybe that is causing your sleep disturbances. I was chuckling though, about “9:30” being so early – I am generally in bed by 8pm in the winter because it is dark and I am done being awake! When I can’t sleep, it is usually from anxiety, sometimes anxiety over something I am aware of but often just generalized anxiety. I hope you find an answer soon and get your good night’s sleep!
DoReMI, that is very worrisome about the sleep! Hope it can work itself out. I’m longing to read your posts and the rest of the posts here, but until I get the wretched taxes done, I won’t have much free time. Hope you’ll feel better soon!
One thing I do – I have such bad insomnia that I have to rotate my remedies – is make a big pot of herbal tea with several of the sleepy-making ones (I know of 4 different ones). Keep it in the fridge & drink a glass with dinner. Not too big a glass, we’re aiming for non-interrupted sleep. They taste fine together, and don’t need sweetening.
Do you drink valerian tea? I just bought some, haven’t tried it yet.
There may be some in the teas I have, I like Sleepy Time & Nighty-Night, and whatever it is Yogi calls their sleepy-making tea.
Good morning, 37 and raining in Bellingham. Thanks to more snow yesterday afternoon the world outside my window is white, slushy, and melting. More snow is forecast for this evening :(
My slow moving cold is still keeping me close to a tissue box so I’m grouchy this morning. Time to find some coffee and cheer up!
Best wishes to all.
International Women’s Day Friday
9 degrees here in Saugerties NY going up to 39
Manafort
Puerto Rico
Dee, it’s outrageous about Manafort’s white penis privilege! And as for the antiabortion legislation, why do men always have to persecute and punish women when they can’t think of anything else to do? I excoriate patriarchs.
This country is in such a mess because of Rethug-caused destruction, will it ever recover?
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 12 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 34 – above freezing!! Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. The weekend will bring snow/sleet/rain depending on whether or not the temperature stays in the mid-30s or drops below freezing.
The stunning not stunning tap on the wrist given to Paul Manafort for a lifetime of fraud in the service of foreign dictators was discouraging. But the judge in this case had been inclined to dismiss the charges in the first place – he has the reputation as a crank and a crackpot. So 47 months is more than 0 months PLUS on March 31st he faces sentencing in the DC case that could give him up to 10 more years in prison. Maybe justice is just delayed.
I was glad to see that Sherrod Brown decided not to run for president. Apparently he surveyed the field and realized that his theme “Democrats can’t speak to butthurt white males” would be covered fine by both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders and that there was no need for another one. As Lemieux said:
If he had won (and I still think Democrats can’t win on “who will think about the poor suffering rural whites?”), we would have lost a Senate seat forever. The power of incumbency is huge – I am sure a generic Democrat in Wisconsin would have had a difficult time in 2018 but Tammy Baldwin won re-election handily – and there are no safe seats outside of California and New York.
The House has put the anti-hate resolution behind them (and Republicans showed their asses by not being willing to vote against hate speech if it included the kind of hate speech they like to engage in) and can focus on HR 1 the For the People Act. It will go nowhere, Mitch McConnell would not even allow a vote on the bipartisan Voting Rights Act update, but it is an important statement about Democratic Party values.
See all y’all later!
This reaction to Sherrod Brown getting out of the race is simply gross:
Fk this attitude and fk Delaware for being unable to find a better Democrat than this guy.
Started off the week wearing wool socks, hat & gloves. This morning, I’m wearing sandals. Crazy weather. Still shocked at the Manafort sentence. And this is a tough week for me — anniversary of my mom’s passing & of my best friend’s. I don’t know why this song is comfort music for me — it isn’t an oldie, I don’t have any particular memories associated with it, but I can feel that knot in my guts ease a bit when I play it, so I’m sharing Ordinary Love.
{{{ad}}} – anniversaries are hard. Healing Energy & {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Moosekind! Gray and gloomy are the weather watchwords for this morning, with snow and rain expected later. Currently it’s 29 F. in Ashburn, going up to 37 F. at some point.
Yesterday was quite busy, what with a two-hour lunch with a neighbor and then a meeting of the Communications Committee in the afternoon. I have four writing assignments now. Luckily only one of them is high-pri, and that’s the two or three items for the April Fool’s issue. I’ve already written one of them.
Jennifer Boysko, our newly minted state senator will be here this morning to speak to us about what went on in the general assembly (as if we didn’t know!). Our district delegate will be here too. I’ll be going along to hear them at 10 a.m.
Still have to wrestle with the taxes (sigh). Didn’t get to it at all yesterday, nor did I get to write the final chapter of my book. I did take a break long enough to watch the Oscar-winning, 23-minute documentary “Period. End of Sentence” on Netflix. It thoroughly deserves the award! The people it depicted seemed to be right out of the 14th century. The women didn’t even know what menstruation was called or what causes it? We need to work toward a government that will consist of at least 50 percent women in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Then perhaps we could help women overseas.
I can smell coffee, so it’s time for breakfast! Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
Good morning, 33 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’m trying to ignore the snow/rain advisory as well as the “will this be Mueller” day chatter on twitter. If either one happens I’ll be in my sewing room regardless instead of on the road to my daughter’s house. We made the right decision but I wish we could be there for Sophie’s recital tomorrow.
I have a day of simple sewing ready to go. Everything is cut, banded, pressed, and ready to assemble and finish. My hands will be busy and my mind can wander when it wants to do so!
Best wishes to all.
Good morning, Meesefolk; 10 when I got up and headed for a bright, sunny 36. It’s going to be in the 40s this weekend, but clouds and rain are moving in too. I’d rather have the sun, but unfortunately, weather doesn’t come with a take-out, a la carte menu.
Another restless night, and I managed to disturb the pups and the Hubby enough that I finally gave up and moved to the living room. I settled onto the couch, read from 2-3ish, and finally dropped off until 6. I’m sure this is probably free-floating anxiety at work, as Jan suggested, but my analytical side is wondering, “Why now? What’s different?” I’ve even taken a break from non-fiction and am back to reading Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries in case it was my reading contributing to this, so we’ll see if that helps. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a big deal, but it’s unusual for me…usually I’m like Hillary and can sleep anywhere, anytime.
The Manafort sentencing wasn’t a total surprise; that judge is a known crank. I was surprised at just how much he diverged from the sentencing guidelines and the absolute disrespect he was communicating to the Mueller team. Sarah Kendzior is extremely pessimistic about our future as a country, but I’m not going to repeat any of her observations here. They’re just too painful, and I come to this community because of the mix of pragmatism and hope. It feels like repeating her takes away the hope.
Speaking of hope, I really, really hope to get my taxes done this weekend. I’ve said this about several weekends now, but this time I really mean it. I think. Maybe. Possibly. It would be the smart thing to do, because if I need to increase my withholding again, I should be doing that sooner rather than later. But I really hate spending weekend time doing boring stuff, and tax preparation is the definition of boring. It also apparently makes me whiney…!
Good day to and for all!
Sarah Kendzior has a lot of valuable insights but you are right, she is definitely a pessimist. Maybe we need people on both ends of the “woe is us spectrum” so that we know the best and worst case scenarios. Personally, I think our democracy will be permanently damaged in some ways but stronger in others. I don’t believe that people in general will get smarter (the Russian influence needed the fertile ground of stupidity to flourish in) but I do think that people who thought that politics and voting were not important learned otherwise. We can dilute the stupid people vote with more votes.
I got my personal taxes done in February because I wanted to get them in during the window of time the government was re-opened in case the Republicans shut it down again. Refund already received and mostly spent!
It’s 47 and cloudy – which of course is why it’s 47. We’re supposed to get rain today. Of course we were supposed to get rain yesterday and didn’t, just some mist heavy enough to damp the streets. I think we might actually get the rain though. Adventurous twin decided inside was good today. We got 4 KWHs yesterday – maybe do the same today – and the m-t-d is 59. Not banking but still within what we’ve generated this month already.
At this moment the Chair and my friend are interviewing the person who may be taking this desk. She has a good “feel” for the office & the job as far as I’m concerned. Drama major way back when has experience staffing a public high school office and spent some years as the “community director” of one of those upscale apartment complex/communities. So this really may be my last month working. We shall certainly see what we shall see.
Aji’s still waiting for contact from the surgeon and/or cancer center. Wish we could do things like reduce their fees by 5% for every single day’s delay. They’d owe her a lot more money than she owes them at this point. Other folks on my “worry about list” aren’t doing so good. Invocations/prayers in all directions. Making-Things-Better Energy freely given for your/their shaping. Meanwhile I need to get back to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Saturday Meese. 19 degrees here in NYS.
I wish someone would convince Ilhan Omar to get off twitter – and stop doing interviews.
Puerto Rico.
Ilhan Omar has a Twitter problem and her staff needs to try to convince her to stop tweeting. Her retweets are what is getting her in trouble the most; it is tempting to retweet someone who is sticking up for you but if you are an elected official – or want to be one some day! – you should never retweet someone unless you know their entire history. Turn your account over to staff to tweet your votes, legislative accomplishments, and town hall schedule. Get boring on social media, make your points elsewhere – speeches, town halls, editorials! She may feel confident that she is not doing herself any damage but she is damaging her colleagues and the presidential candidates who want to offer their support but are opening themselves up to attacks. She is isolating herself and making it easy for people to disrespect her entire point of view simply because of her impulsiveness.
Good morning, Moosekind! The sky is gray again today, a bright whitish-gray. So: the snow that was supposed “not to stick” and to “change to rain” insisted on sticking and coming down as snow until after darkness fell. It’s still here—the ground is white, although one can see the grass poking through. Tonight we’re supposed to get more rain, lasting into tomorrow morning. Currently the temperature is 33 F., going up to 45 F.
Got the taxes done yesterday and both returns were accepted! Yay! I had help from a lovely TurboTax man in the form of a video chat. We were on the phone for two mortal hours but the yearly chore is almost over. Now all I have to do is print out the returns, put them and the backup materials into folders, label them, and store them.
Dearly Beloved is getting spring fever and wants to go somewhere, so we’ve been discussing that. I’ve started receiving presents for my upcoming birthday. My sweet cousin in Texas sent me the most beautiful notecards I’ve ever seen, along with some herb tea sachets in an organza bag, and a brocade sunglass case in pastel colors. She sent a letter with pictures of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren too. It gave me such a lift on a gloomy, snowy day!
Other weekend tasks involve setting up an interview next week with the woman who started the art gallery here, outlining the last chapter of my book, which has to wrap everything up, and outlining a couple of articles I want to write. I’ll be quite busy.
Wishing a nice, quiet Saturday to all at the Pond and beyond.
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 27 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. The forecast calls for rain and then mixed precipitation overnight.
I did not set an alarm clock this morning to see how long I could sleep and was able to stay in bed until 5am. I am going to try to ease into DST this year instead of taking the entire one hour loss of sleep in a big gulp. I need the block of early morning time before clients start using their computers in order to work on reported problems so I may not be able to do that. Maybe a week will be enough.
Getting lost in the corruption and daily scandals surrounding the Trump administration is the humanitarian crisis on the border. DHS has admitted to separating children from their parents – and keeping them in cages – and it has not stopped. The federal judge in San Diego has issued a new ruling ordering the administration to re-unite more families. When history looks back at this time, the scandal du jour that titillated Twitter will be long forgotten but what is happening to migrant families – and undocumented long time residents of the United States – will be remembered with the same horror as the Japanese internment camps. I won’t say “we are better than this” because, really, we aren’t. We should be better than this.
The Democratic Party Weekly Address is by Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey talking about H.R. 1, the For The People Act, the omnibus bill passed by the House seeking to heal our democracy after the assaults on it from voter suppression and the power of special interests and dark money. It should post later this morning.
See all y’all later!
Slept in, watching the news. Warm day — 70 degrees already, though tomorrow should be cooler. I’ve been looking at HIIT workouts — where you do short, high intensity bursts. Might give that a whirl. Anyway, today is just groceries, moving my plants and some form of exercise.
It’s in the mid 50s at the moment and might even get to mid 60s before the day is over. It’s also so dark the PV system is still in night mode and raining fit to bust itself. (Got 7 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 66 so I’m still using what’s been generated this month.) I’ve started a fire and am waiting for the rain to pass before I head out for the co-op (groceries and supplements) then Tractor Supply (kibble and the horse bedding I use for cat litter – 5 cats go through kibble fast, 4 cats go through litter almost as fast). I notice the wind “adjusted” top layer of protection on the outside cat’s box/cave so when it lightens up I’ll adjust it back and put out the little guy’s food. I can see from the window his kibble dish is full of water right now. The Twins are apparently wrestling with a box in the other room while the big boys are lounging around in here by the fire.
Aji still hasn’t heard from the surgeon or cancer center. More than ever I wish we could deduct 5% for each day they delay. (Of course I’d love to also deduct 5% for each unneeded test and another 5% for each test they should have done but didn’t. I think such a program would significantly change the way the medical industry operates. Nevermind suing the uncaring bastids – just deduct 5% for every uncaring eff up.)
I need to go do a few things. Including see what a crash just meant. Cats. LOL. I’ll be back to read the Fight Back post and other stuff. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning. Meesefolk; 32 now and allegedly going up to 39. The rain is arriving later, but there’s enough damp in the air that it feels chillier than it actually is.
I have gumbo started in the crockpot, so that will be a warming dinner tonight. I use a store-bought roux as the base, but otherwise, I follow the same “recipe” that Dee has mentioned using…the clear-the-fridge-of-leftovers method. Today’s gumbo has the meat from last night’s spicy chicken wings, pork chunks, rice, and chorizo. Always chorizo; that’s my one constant.
I’ve also done several loads of laundry, taken the dogs out for short walks because their energy level had hit spring fever highs, and loaded the car with garbage for the trip to the dump (no village garbage pickup here, and I’m too cheap to pay $85/month for a private contractor for what is basically my 4 bags per month). If anyone is thinking that this resembles productive procrastination when I said I would be doing taxes, please keep those [accurate] thoughts to yourself. ????
Good day to and for all!
Good morning, 31 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. It’s good to see some blue sky. I’m feeling better so I’ll try to catch up with the laundry and desk mess. It’s hard to ignore my grubby garden but it’s still freezing at night so we can’t do much more.
Best wishes to all on what finally feels like a chilly spring day.