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?
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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.
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– Page One of Comments is HERE!
– Page Two of Comments is HERE!
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Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
I am having a difficult time getting a grip on reality right now. People’s lives are being upended and plans cancelled and it feels like everything is being put on hold while we (literally) hold our collective breaths waiting for the crisis to pass. The biggest thing is the unknown – we don’t know when it will be over, when it will be safe to interact, to go to the mall, to go to crowded airports – to vote! I don’t have any context for this, I was not alive during World War II which was probably the last time we had an open-ended crisis that disrupted everyone’s lives. At least then we could identify the enemy and generally knew how to avoid them even when we did not know yet how to defeat them. The COVID-19 virus is literally droplets of moisture in the air delivered by people we interact with and the people who they have interacted with for the past 14 days in a chain going back to December. It is earnestly hoped that the mobilization at the state level – I have given up on the federal government being anything but a check-writer in this crisis – will wake up those lulled into complacency by the charlatan in the Oval Office and his propaganda. Even Fox News viewers have been alerted to the dangers now and, while they will continue to mock this as an “overreaction” (I have seen it in my right-wing relatives reactions :::sigh:::), they still have to deal with the reality of their kids being home from school and sporting events cancelled and maybe being laid off and having their retirement funds decimated.
When I went to bed, the House was working on passing a bill that had White House approval and which include paid sick time – I need to go check the news and see what survived then put some time in on organizing work projects. If I have time – and if it seems pertinent to current events – I will put up the Fighting Back post. It is the Senate’s turn to do the Weekly Democratic Party Address and they are not very reliable delivering the media and often out of sync with the rest of America.
See all y’all later!
The Weekly Democratic Party Address was delivered by Senator Patty Murray and it was on point. In my opinion, she should replace Chuck Schumer as Senate Leader for the next Congress. He is ineffective and out of touch.
Saturday Meese. 38 going up to 53 here in the NY Catskills.
Today marks the anniversary of the death of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer.
Puerto Rico
Good Saturn’s Day morning, Meese! Woke up early enough this morning to see the fading moon in the sky and rejoiced at the sight. It’s so seldom we get to see the moon here. This morning it seems to be partly cloudy, with a hazy blue sky covered by a veil of white cloud and weak sunshine. Currently it’s 43 F., going up to 58 F. later.
Went shopping yesterday—yes, one last visit to the store—to discover it was a madhouse, with many shelves stripped bare. My granddaughter, who works for Emily’s List in D.C., reported that everyone is required to work at home for the next month. She also said it took her two hours to get out of Trader Joe’s.
On the home front, we’ve been asked not to have outside visitors unless we’re on our deathbeds and not to leave the campus. Teen Tech Help, which was to have been held this morning, was cancelled, as is the Saturday Night movie. (Actually, we can watch “Harriet” on Netflix tonight, anyway.) The St. Patrick’s Day party, which was to have been hosted by the 5th floor of our building, has been cancelled. I don’t mind. I despise St. Patrick, the dismal old git, and always wear my snake earrings on “his” day. Sunday evening Bingo, which we never attend, has also been cancelled. British bingo has spoiled me forever, I can’t deal with the American kind now.
Elder Son had asked us to dinner on Sunday but we can’t go. He kindly promised to send us photos of his family and the neighbors scarfing down corned beef and cabbage we were to have enjoyed. One’s children are so thoughtful!
This situation is very hard on the sports-loving. Dearly Beloved adores watching Formula I races, as do I, and British football. All gone! The good part: as long as we have electricity and the Internet, we can catch up with all the movies we haven’t seen.
Someone on Twitter suggested we all start keeping diaries, preferably handwritten, about living through this time. I replied that my handwriting as as indecipherable as Minoan Linear Script A, and why shouldn’t I type my diary at 100 words a minute on my keyboard? Anyway, keeping a journal is a good idea. I forget whether it was Samuel Pepys or Daniel Defoe who wrote Journal of the Plague Year, my recall is no longer at “Jeopardy” level.
Wishing a good day to all at the Moose Pond, and here’s hoping we don’t get It.
P. S. Never, in my whole life, have I been so conscious of how often I touch my face! I’ve always got an eyelid that needs rubbing, or a nose, or something. Have been trying to interpose a tissue between my face and the itching area, but it’s uphill work.
Late check in because I tried to go to the grocery store yesterday after work and it was crazier than Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I couldn’t even get in. So I went at 7 this morning, and it was still crowded. I got stuff for 2 week’s worth of stir fry, and some extra pasta and sauce. But I’m going to have to go back later because there was almost no frozen fruit for my breakfast next week. I may end up with frozen mango & papaya chunks, because that was all that was left.
It’s 43, raining, and dark enough I need the lights on. The PV system is on but it’s generating at 9 (that’s NINE) kilowatts per hour. Unless things clear off later today we won’t even reach yesterday’s 3.5 – sigh. The m-t-d is 146 and seriously unlikely to get to 148 according to the forecast. double sigh.
My son took me shopping yesterday afternoon/evening. Because I get different stuff at different places we hit 3 grocery stores. I swear to you there wasn’t a grain of rice or a single bean – canned or dry – in any of the 3 stores. And on the one hand I’m just ROFLOL because most of these folks buying up “emergency” supplies for self-quarantining usually don’t eat beans and rice so don’t even know how to cook them properly but on the other hand I’m pissed off because folks who live paycheck to paycheck and do live on beans and rice won’t be able to get any. Even in their amusing panic-stricken hysteria wypipo harm others. Including other wypipo. Mostly other wypipo. (And there wasn’t a roll of toilet paper in any of them. Aldi’s at least has started rationing. Each customer can have 2 rolls of toilet paper and 2 bottles of hand sanitizer. They were out but told us there’s be a truck in early this morning. Fortunately I don’t need any toilet paper. I buy it by the case every 2 years and I’ve a year to go.) Meanwhile I’m stocked up. Except for milk and probably carrots I’m good on food for 3 weeks or more. Again other than milk I’m basically shifting the proportions of what I eat to cover – like fresh carrots from 60% to 75% of my daily veggies to 25% to 50% and increasing my intake of potatoes and frozen veggies. Where most folks head for rice, I head for potatoes. No they don’t keep as long but they’ve got a lot more nutrients for the calorie load.
People better settle down and get used to this. Once this one has passed through – and it’s gonna take longer than a few weeks to do that – we may get a year or so of respite but we’re gonna keep getting new viruses that nobody’s got immunity to. It’s part of global warming. As in WWII we are going to have to figure out ways to go about our businesses and live our lives under that threat. Including how a social species like humans can have relationships that keep us sane. Or at least saner. I’m not sure anybody’s sane – just some are evil and genocidal in their insanity and others are not. And we who are not are getting stretched thinner and thinner trying to take care of the victims of those who are. sigh. Of course another “funny” thing is that most of the sane precautions are things that should be SOP for everybody already anyway. Wash your hands -frequently. Definitely after going to the bathroom, handling things like cat litter or barf, handling food. Cough or sneeze into your elbow. (Or inside your shirt if you have a shirt you can do that with.) And keep your hands to yourself. Yeah, handshakes and hugs are part of our social what have you but those are restricted to greetings and leavings – after which one should wash one’s hands. These are things our mommas and grandmas have taught us all along. What’s with this population of people who don’t wash their hands and think magic hand sanitizer will save the world or something? (The twitter comments from BIPOC about wypipo’s cleanliness habits would be funny if they weren’t true.)
Anyway, lights on. Furnace is on. Winter hasn’t let go yet even though the trees are starting to leaf out. I need coffee before I face the rest of the internet & world – or rather world via the internet. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
I saw it suggested that one should not advertise that they have plenty of toilet paper lest they become a target for TP thieves!! I don’t get the toilet paper thing – we do not import it from China and we aren’t going to be at the point where stores shut down and we can’t buy more. This isn’t a natural disaster where the roads are blocked by fallen trees or high waters. People are odd.
Most of us don’t get the toilet paper thing. Or the hoarding of food we don’t eat. Only thing I can think of is that those are the things folks who watch “survival” game type shows insist on having or they get “put off the island” or something. But then these kind of people hoarding is why rationing has to be set up in every war and long-term emergency situation. Making it illegal – and enforcing the law – shuts down about 90% of that. But jeebus…sigh.
I saw a psychologist or similar person talking about the tp thing – he said it’s a way of people feeling some control. It’s not rational, but he said it’s a coping mechanism. If we’ve got pantries full of pasta & the cabinet in the bathroom is packed with tp, then that’s comforting.
I do understand the comfort thing. In my childhood there were times when we didn’t have food in the pantry/fridge or TP in the bathroom. I buy mine by the case which lasts me about 2 years & reorder when I’m down to 1 month’s worth. But I started that because ordering it via catalogs back in the day was the only way to get 100% recycled paper products and it worked so I’ve kept doing it. I also keep at least 2 weeks of food in the house – more actually although I wouldn’t care a lot for what I was eating if I had to run myself fully out. sigh. People used to “stocking up” just normally don’t go nuts and do “stockpiling” – which used to be known as hoarding and was illegal in WWII. I guess it’s more to do with this lot really not knowing how to handle emergency situations. The panic was palpable in Aldi’s yesterday.
Good morning, 32 partly sunny and very windy in Bellingham. Our power is on but wind gusts in the northern part of the county have left about 4,000 people without power this morning. Plants in the garden are beginning to bud and to show leaf growth but they should be fine with a few days of colder weather.
RonK has decided it’s not safe for him to go to the gym now so he has been working in the garden, but now his back is telling him to buy a new hoe with a proper handle and to be more careful. So like it or not we’ll continue to stay careful. We may order a takeout lunch from the bookstore cafe and go for drive today because we’ve both got cabin fever. I worry about some of our favorite business so a take out order will give him a break from cooking and will support the cafe as well.
Best wishes to all on this blustery Saturday.