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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Wednesday Meese. 63 going up to 91 here in Kingston, NY.
Puerto Rico
Sorry to hear about this latest situation. January 20, 2021, can’t come soon enough.
Slept poorly again, turned off my alarm so I didn’t get up in time to walk. I might work through lunch & go to the gym, do 30 minutes on the elliptical — if I stop thinking that’s insanely dangerous. Anyway, today’s plan: work, was going to watch Hamilton again, but I’m so sleepy I think music is a better idea.
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind. It feels very fresh and pleasant outside at 79 F. with 66% humidity. It’s sunny, clear, and we’re expecting 93 F. today with zero chance of rain.
It didn’t rain yesterday either, which is why I laugh at the weather forecasters.
Finally got around to writing a little piece for the Philanthropy Committee, which I need to send off today. It’s grittier than the “hearts and flowers” type of blurb the Committee has been using. The Benevolent Care Fund maintains residents who have outlived their money. They’ll never be turned out into the street. Currently there are four such residents.
All year long we’re exhorted to contribute to the Fund, which I do gladly when the annual fund drive is announced. The head of Philanthropy requested the help of the Writers’ Group to come up with blurbs she could use in the newsletter she’ll be sending around for the drive.
I’m betting the annual bazaar won’t be held in November because of COVID. All the proceeds of the bazaar goods go to the Benevolent Care Fund: the knitted goods, carved goods, ceramic objects, paintings, quilts, and so on. It’s so much fund to attend! Last November Nora and I sold my fiction booklets and she played the B-flat clarinet for the shoppers, who were charmed.
So, anyway, I finally got that done. When I finish my coffee this morning I have to don mask, gloves, glasses, and hat to run to the supermarket. We’re out of baby carrots. Taking Monty for a walk requires a bag of at least three quartered baby carrots, as he periodically refuses to move. Whoever heard of a dog that has to be bribed to go for a lovely walkies?
Wishing all at the Pond a good day!
It’s 77 and supposed to pretty much stay here all day. The variation will be in heat index but that’s not supposed to get above 85. I may or may not close up the house at all today. Of course it’s also supposed to rain all day – was supposed to have started a couple of hours ago – and the widget keeps pushing the rain later into the day. About an hour from whenever I look at the widget in fact. We’ll see whether or not we get any. Yesterday the clouds moved in early enough we only got 12.75 KWHs and the m-t-d is 484 so still 16 from reaching 500 for the month. A sunny day could take care of that and then some. Obviously it’s not going to do it today. But even 6 will pull it out of last place for the 4K system in July and it should – I hope – manage that. And we’ve still got 2 production days after today.
The reasons I like summer are basically more light and my joints don’t hurt. The main reason I don’t like summer is bugs. I don’t know what I walked through yesterday but I have a dozen bites of some kind on my back where I can’t see them or treat them. Not mosquitos – those itch but go away in a few hours – these are something you/I don’t notice at first but the itching gets stronger and stronger as time passes and take several days before they back off again. sigh.
My friend’s mom is home and her sisters are taking turns staying with their parents. The medical industry waited too late to do anything but “keep her comfortable” with drugs. Which is what they’re doing. She’s not very coherent but she knows the family’s there. Her father’s dementia isn’t far advanced but the Parkinson’s is so that adds another layer. My friend is going out on weekends to take her turn with the folks and give her sisters a break. Her brother is also trying to help but his MiL was just diagnosed with cancer that if not end-stage is still pretty far gone so he’s splitting his not-at-work time between his own mom and his wife’s.
Aji’s clear for July but of course needs sales for August. Basically to stop needing help/donations altogether they need the kind of sales pattern they were getting several years back – one of the silver pieces or several of the gemstone pieces per week plus a “good” holiday season of multiple sales daily. It’s been slowing down since ’16 and as of last October they’ve be lucky to average that per month rather than per week – and that includes the holiday season. Even folks just looking at the site has dropped to half of “normal”. So this is one more thing that the only thing to fix is getting through pandemic and economic “downturn”.
Karen’s doing better. Amelia’s not. Everyone else is just hanging on. Hoping for the best, fearing the worst, and not sure what to do right now but wait. Me too although my situation is better/safer than many/most of my friends. I was out – obviously – yesterday and will need to go out again as soon as my TIAA-Cref money hits my bank account. That’ll be car lot to pay off the car and get the title then DMV to get tags. And since I’m out I may do the Tractor Supply run. Or not. Definitely next week I have to do my stock up shopping. I’m on my last bag/bottle/can of just too many things to ask my son to pick them up. So I may wait and do the Tractor Supply then. But dang I wish I dared get my hair cut! LOL/sigh.
Holding everybody in my heart. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody everywhere, to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
I hear you, bfitz! You know how a dandelion looks after the yellow part falls off, leaving only a round fuzzy white ball? That’s what my hair looks like now.
And like you, I don’t dare get it cut.
Rapunzel, thou hast nothing on us!
{{{Diana}}} I’ve been wearing mine short – what in the ’50s and ’60s was called a “pixie” cut (at which time I’d have killed anybody who suggested I wear it) but grew up and became the “professional woman’s” cut as of about the ’90s – for close on to 40 years now. It’s getting shaggy now which I don’t like but mostly it’s getting long enough it’s prickling my neck and top of my shoulders. I keep checking to be sure I don’t have a bug crawling on me. LOL/sigh. But it’s not long enough to put up even if I had the pins to put it up with. Someday somebody will not only figure out how to make it safe again but will mandate – with enforcement – the safety measures are followed. Then we can get our hair cut!
I hope Don’s feeling better. Healing Energy to your household. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Thank you, he seems to be feeling fine now.
Good morning, 58 and sunny in Bellingham. I was late for a hair appointment yesterday and forgot to check in when I returned. So you all were spared a big whine! I’ve got an all to familiar autoimmune flare going on now, but I’m not worried because it’s happened before. Dealing with it is super annoying though, especially the cognitive fog. Oh well, taking naps and not remembering what I read may be the best way to survive this tRump/covid time in America.
RonK and I did have a nice moment in the garden yesterday though. One of the oldest plants in the garden grows next to our neighbor’s porch, and it’s hard to prune properly. When we moved here it looked like a refrigerator box, too tall and squared off. We have let it recover it’s natural shape but keeping it that way takes a sharper saw blade than we had yesterday. So we visited with our neighbor, clipped what we could reach, and will go back to the big branches with new saw blades today. Every year or so we cut out about 1/3 of the main branches and then select which branches will grow tall to replace them, and RonK is the muscle and I’m the spotter. The plant blooms early in the spring and is very pretty then so our neighbor enjoys it, but he’s painting his house and the long branches are in his way so a more radical pruning is needed.
Best wishes to all on this quiet morning in July.
{{{princesspat}}} I’m so glad you checked in. I was worried when you didn’t yesterday. Yuk & Healing Energy on the autoimmune flareup. Your garden is ever a blessing. To you of course but also to all of us as you bring it to us with your descriptions. Moar Healing Energy, moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 81 degrees in Madison with temperatures dropping to the mid-70s later this afternoon. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
In my mind, if Christopher Dodd doesn’t like Kamala, that is a point in her favor! That old white guys with compromised ethics were brought in to find a VP for Joe Biden is gross.
150,000 Americans are dead because ignorant people wanted to “shake things up” and elected a malignant narcissist criminal as president. They have one chance to remedy that mistake and if they fail to do so, I shall find it difficult to not wish ill upon them.
Only time to say “Hi and Bye.” I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for my schedule but this week is going to be a challenge.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, meeses! Thursday (just barely) …
It is 66 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 79. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Last check-in yesterday, first check-in today. My schedule has been upended by sleeplessness or perhaps a shift into only needing 6 hours of sleep and not being able to stay up past 8pm – and thus waking up at 2am ready to start my day! I plan a reset on Sunday when my too busy week ends and what I hope will be a more normal week begins. Gak – it’s almost Beltane! The wheel of the year seems to be on spinning faster than normal – perhaps because the signs that tell us of the changing seasons are a little confusing right now.
An American dies every minute now from tRump’s inaction on the coronavirus and the economy is in shambles. The only people who are whole are Senate Republicans who must not have any contact with actual humans trying to survive in Trump’s dystopian America – they see no reason to help those out of work and hungry and soon to be homeless because in their world all is well. May they receive what they deserve, sooner rather than later. Republican #NeverTrumper‘s are now saying that they can defeat tRump but re-elect those who have enabled him to destroy America. In a just world, they would be “rewarded” for their loyalty to their leader and suffer the same fate as he does. Will the newly awakened America vote to move towards a more just world? Goddess help us if they don’t.
I won’t say “Kamala or Bust” but if old white guys choose to sideline one of the most inspiring candidates of the 2020 presidential race, it will be very disheartening. The “oh look, let’s just plug in another Black woman and check that box” is so infuriating. They don’t like her because she is a strong woman who won’t back down. And old white guys hate women who they can’t control.
See all y’all later!
Good morning Meese. 68 here in Kingston NY – going up to 87.
#TooAmbitious
Puerto Rico
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p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Good morning Puerto Rico. Waking up to a tropical storm. Maria’s PTSD #Isaias #TropicalStormIsaias #Guaynabo <a
Good Thursday morning, Meese! It’s 71 F. at the moment in Ashburn, going up to 95 F. We may have a thunderstorm tonight. I don’t believe weather forecasts any more than I believe polls, so I’m going down to water the garden in a moment.
Today is Lammas Eve. I count Lammas as beginning at sunset July 31 and ending at sunset August 1. Today also happens to be the birthday of little Ethan, formerly known as Mr. Rising Kindergartener. He’ll be five today. “Monty Grandma,” as he calls me, is giving him a huge, handsome Merriam-Webster Children’s Dictionary for one of his presents. It’s such a nice book I might order one for myself. It has lots of color pictures, which would save reading.
Anyway, we may be going to a cookout at Ethan’s family home on Saturday if it doesn’t rain.
Had a horrid second half of the night, waking at 3 and not being able to go back to sleep. Got up at a quarter past 4 and spent the time watching day dawn between reading sections of the WaPo. The Wheel of the Year is turning: at 5:30 it was completely dark, at 6 it was lightening up, and now at 7:30 day has pretty much dawned.
Hot flash: It’s 2020, but people still hate and fear intelligent women who may become president one day. Biden is a decent enough guy, although a little too collegial in outlook for my taste, but part of the reason he’s the candidate is because he is old, white, and male. Gee, just like all but one of our previous presidents!
And with that, I will wish a good day to all at the Pond. The humidity is 86%, so I want to water that garden and get back upstairs El Soon-oh. Have a dentist appointment this morning.
A good morning — got in my walk, with 3 segments of 1 minute running, then 1 at 45 seconds & 3 at 30 seconds. And I got home in time to see the NASA launch. Today: going in to the office to drop off finished applications & pick up more, might watch Hamilton this afternoon.
Back to something closer to normal for end of July. While it’s 70 now it’s heading for 90 & the heat index will be skirting 100, one side or the other. (Which is still 5 to 10 degrees cooler than “normal” for the last week of July. But I’ll take it. LOL.) We got a little over 1/2″ of rain overnight to add to the 2″ we got Tuesday. It was cloudy most of the day. We generated 7.6 KWHs and the m-t-d is 491.9 – which puts 2020 in 4th place anyway. If we get much of any sun at all we’ll reach 500 today.
Everything’s pretty much keepin’ on keepin’ on with everybody. No changes but surviving. My friend, bless her, with all she’s got going on, brought me a few tomatoes from her garden yesterday when she was out running errands. (Which I had with dinner. First and possibly the only fresh tomatoes I get this year since my own tomato plant isn’t producing.)
I’ve just called the credit union and the TIAA-Cref money is in there so I’m about to call the car lot so they’ll have the title waiting when I get there and start my “out in the dangerous world” day but I wanted to check in first. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody everywhere to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 60 and sunny in Bellingham. Yesterday was a perfect day to sit in the shade and water the garden with a carefully aimed spray from the new garish but flexible hose, so that’s what I did. If I ruled the world hoses would all be dark green, and neon green would be banished! Oh well, the color is annoying but it is easy to use and doesn’t leak down my arm so I’ll get used to the glaring color.
I have a kidney ultra sound today, so crossing fingers and toes that nothing has changed since the last scan. I expect all’s well but will be glad to know. After that I hope to visit the book store. I don’t need a new book, but I miss being there and just looking around. The number of people allowed in the store at one time is carefully monitored and masks are required so it’s relatively safe and will give me a break from covid confinement and the crazy tRump news of the moment.
Best wishes to all as we make it through another day.
{{{princesspat}}} ???????? for the ultrasound and enjoy your trip to the bookstore. Healing Energy and moar {{{HUGS}}}
Friday Meese. A lovely 65 degrees right now here in Kingston NY, going up to 86. Hopefully I can mow the lawn today – it has been too damn hot for me to even try during the last week.
Once again – Puerto Rico is suffering
Good dark gray Friday morning, Moosekind! It’s raining heavily, so I’ve opened the French doors to the porch to listen to it. I love the sound of falling rain but, being deaf as the proverbial post, am never able to hear it as I’m going to sleep because of course I take my hearing aids out at night.
Anyway, it’s a warm 72 F., the rain will fall most of the day here in Ashburn, and the high will be 78 F. The rain actually began at 10 p.m. last night, although I never saw any thunder or lightning. According to the WaPo, we’re in for a few consecutive days of thunderstorms.
Today is also Lammas. By rights I should be baking a loaf of bread and encouraging people to eat berries. However, we have enough bread and we’ve eaten all the berries, so I ate one of our own tomatoes instead of fruit.
Remember I mentioned that I wrote a rather “gritty” blurb for the Benevolent Care Fund rather than the usual saccharine offering? Well, the head of the Philanthropy Committee LOVED it! She wrote:
LOL, she must be a Democrat. I made sure to get in a dig at the “inherent cruelty” of our “profit-driven health care system.”
Little Ethan had a great time at his birthday party yesterday, with parents and children keeping a correct social distance from each other. I texted his father to ask whether Ethan had received a lot of presents. The reply was yes, a few, but mainly Ethan was excited to see his friends from preschool. Ethan is an “only” and likely to remain that way, as his parents are about 20 years older than the recommended age. It’s hard not to have anyone his own age to play with.
Well, breakfast beckons, so I must get on with my day. Wishing a blessed Lammas to all who celebrate it, and a blessed end of the heat wave to those who do not!
Another poor night’s sleep — this was because my phone/alarm clock kept doing weird things, because of “high battery usage” even though it was plugged in like it is every night. Sigh. Anyway, today: work till 3:15, watch the rest of Man In The High Castle, maybe start Picard, cancel Disney+ (it was nice, but I can’t keep it up).
Totally hard to believe but the temp’s 70 and isn’t getting/supposed to get above 80 today on this last day of July. (“Normal” is highs around 105 with a “break” down to the 90s on August 1st.) I just baked muffins and it was pleasant having the oven on. Which is a blessing – but weird. It’s also overcast and supposed to rain most of the day. Although it hasn’t started yet. Yesterday we got a totally unforecast 1.2″ of rain in the morning – mostly while I was inside DMV waiting to deal with the legalities of getting the Toyota Camry – but then it cleared off and we got 17 KWHs for the day. We’re at 508.9 for the m-t-d which puts 2020 in 4th place for July production as today’s additional generation, however much or little, won’t be enough to get it to 3rd place (which would be 542 KWHs). It’s a blessing. I only drew 47 KWHs from SWEPCO in the last cycle and am banking for winter.
Aji got her puppies yesterday – a day early but the shelter’s coming today to pick up the litter so she and Wings got over there and got their 2 new babies. Cricket was scared at first and hid but as of Aji’s last post last night he’s come out of hiding and is now aloofly watching them. So that is a heart lifting and joyous happening – a very bright spot in a dark world. Everybody else is basically hanging in there. No changes which is OK for some and not for others. It’s a waiting game rather than a new normal, some hope but mostly fear. The evil ones are so very evil. And so powerful at the moment. Keepin’ on keepin’ on.
I was 4 places yesterday (5 if you count self-service gas – I took paper towels to hold the gas pump nozzle with): used car lot (no mask, no distancing), DMV (masks, some distancing), Aldis (some masks, some distancing), Dickey’s BBQ (no masks on dine-in customers, server pulled up her mask when she saw I was wearing one) which I only went into because I forgot their phone number and couldn’t call to say I was there for my “curbside delivery”. And blue dot in a red state Fayetteville has a ‘mask in public’ ordinance. We’re gonna be a long time getting out of this. A lot of folks will die – although most of them will be/have been Dx’d as having died of something else (pneumonia, respiratory failure, heart attack…) – and a lot of people are gonna be on the streets (unemployment situation, eviction/foreclosure situation, etc). Even if we manage to win in November by enough to keep them from stealing the election again, even if we manage to get them out of their offices without RW insurrection, there is so very much work to do to get out of this. And knowing America as I do, I doubt we’ll be given enough time to do anything but get the Stock Market stabilized so the rich can make a killing off all the cents-on-the-dollar panic sales they’ve been taking advantage of. (How’s that for pessimism?) But if some god or goddess decides we’re worth helping…We need 16 years of WH and Congress to really do the job but if we make the right changes first (restore voting rights, dismantle the RW propaganda machine) we might be able to put America on the path of true Social Justice in 8 – and lock the coordinates in.
Anyway. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody everywhere to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 68 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. The bay breeze from my open window is most welcome. I have some desk work to do this morning, then I’ll find my pruning shears and see what I can do before needing a nap.
Best wishes to all on this last day of July.
Quick check in! I had an early morning departure for a trip across the state – and I forget my phone!! So I was literally offline and had no way to check in. All is fine, I am back home dealing with the crisis that I had left but which I would not have been able to deal with on my phone in any event. It allowed me to concentrate on what I needed to do except for the odd feeling of being unable to communicate.
See all y’all tomorrow!
Saturday Meese. 61 going up to 89 here in Kingston NY.