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 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 (right before “Leave A Reply”) and use the Pages Tool, shown here with 3 pages of comments available.
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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 61 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 64. Rain is in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 63 here in Kingston NY – going up to 79.
This:
Rev Warnock
Puerto Rico
Joe Biden’s campaign is not forgetting Puerto Rico. I saw the paper towel throwing “hurricane response” in an ad on my TV yesterday! And he put together this ad:
Sunday music
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Another hot day here — 92 is the expected high. But there’s a cold front coming & it’s supposed to be 72 tomorrow. I need to do my cooking & I wish it was like last weekend and I could have the windows open. I like to cook mushrooms & onions but I don’t want to smell them all week. I will open windows tomorrow, though.Today: church & cooking.
Another, I have a recipe for Baked Barley that involves mushrooms and onions. I make it vegan, substituting oil for the butter. It sounds awful but is actually so delicious that Dearly, a meat-loving carnivore, eats it without complaint. In fact every carnivore I’ve served it to has asked for more.
That sounds good! Would you share it with me, too? I’m making risotto from a box, mixing in the mushrooms & onions. It’s a healthy, easy lunch.
Here you go:
Baked Barley and Mushrooms
Servings: 4 preparation time: 1 and 1/2 hours
1 onion diced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup barley (not the quick-cooking kind, the regular kind)
Salt and pepper to taste
5 tablespoons butter (nevah! I use one tablesp. of olive oil)
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth, boiling
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large deep frying pan, sauté onion, mushrooms, barley, and seasoning in butter (olive oil). Stir frequently until barley is lightly browned.
Place in a casserole and stir in broth.
Cover and bake for approximately 1 hour. If barley is too firm when all the liquid is absorbed, add more boiling water. However, avoid overcooking—barley is more delicious when firm and slightly crunchy.
NOTE
Be very careful when removing cover from casserole, as steam builds up within.
Diana’s Note:
When you first read through this recipe, your immediate reaction is very likely, “Oh, DREARY me!” However, this is surprisingly delicious. Even my carnivorous husband likes it. You can see how easily it’s converted to a vegan recipe by the simple substitution of olive oil for butter.
This dish is basically brown, so you could serve it with the Steamed Trio (carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli) and make sure there’s fresh pineapple (possibly topped with bits of candied ginger from Trader Joe’s) for afters.
(If I remember correctly, this recipe is from the Autobiography of a Yogi.)
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! It was rill ugly when I woke up at 7 in the green chair after another Night from Hell, but now we have a lovely blue sky and sunshine. There are a few wisps of white cloud off in the distance. It’s 68 F. in Ashburn now, going up to 78 F.
We plan to visit Goodwill in Herndon to donate some things. I bought new clothes recently from a catalogue, so Dearly says I have to get rid of some of the clothes I already own. I agree, as the closet is jammed. I haven’t worn anything pretty since Valentine’s Day, which was one of the last “special days” before Lockdown. I live in denim–jeans, pedal pushers, and shorts–and jerseys.
I had a really good evening yesterday, doing lots of work on Iron and Scarlet, my Roman Britain historical novel. The Mac expert sent back my story, nicely formatted, so I’m letting it cool again. I think I’m going to alter the time frame to make it more believable. If it doesn’t win anything, I’ll post it here as I know we have some cat aficionados swimming around the Pond.
On this day in 1976 we moved into our beloved house. We watched it being built. It was very basic to begin with, but over four decades we made lots of changes. We redid the kitchen twice, for one thing. I still miss our house and wish I hadn’t been so impulsive about moving here. I liked the idea of making friends with people of my own age with similar interests, but what the hey: after two and a half years, I haven’t made the kind of deep friendships I still maintain with my long-time friend at another Erickson place, my daughter, and my darling niece. I don’t play cards or dance or do ceramics and even if I did, with a second lockdown looming in the offing, I wouldn’t be able to indulge in those pastimes.
I’ll just continue to hope that Trevor will get a job, and the six of us can find a house that suits our needs, so Dearly and I can move in. Daughter-in-law wants a separate office. They had that in one of their houses. There must be a deck and a screened porch, two fireplaces, a fenced backyard for the two Monty and Mort, and the house must be well away from traffic. They should have moved into our house, as it fulfills those needs. Trevor felt that the neighborhood was going downhill, though. Anyway, by the time Halloween arrives they will have been in their current house for two years, which is some kind of record for them.
Well, I need to shut up now. I’m sure this was much more than you wanted to know!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and a lousy day to Cheeto-Face, all Rethug pols, and Awful Amy.
Is the Commonwealth of Virginia considering another shutdown or is that your community’s plan? I am shutting down – Wisconsin is now in a COVID-19 crisis and we have no chance of stopping it because the Republican legislature refuses to help the governor. #GerrymanderingKills. They mock and sue and encourage their followers to just carry on – literally! The Wisconsin Tavern League holds sway over most electeds, Republicans and Democrats alike, and keeping the bars open is all they care about. Cities with the power and the interest in enforcing ordinances, like Madison and Milwaukee, are keeping the curve down but Up Nort’ is a hot mess.
Jan, I’m not sure—Northam was among the first governor to shut down the schools in March, but otherwise a bit lackadaisical. If the outside world gets too bad, our community will have another lockdown, I’m sure. At any rate, I’m stocking up on stuff. One never knows!
It’s 69 heading for low 80s and sunny at the moment. Rain’s moving in late this afternoon and cooler temps with it so while no fire tonight, most if not all of next week will see evening fires. Yesterday we generated 13.9 KWHs and we’re at 315 for the month. With 4 more generating days in September we’ll see if we can get over 340 and out of “last place” for the 4K system.
My friends/family are hanging on. Metaphorically speaking, some in actual life boats, some on rafts, some just hanging onto floating spars and trying to keep up the energy to not let go. But they’re hanging on. So is the country. Also in varying levels of “safety” for want of a better word. But my ballot is in and accepted. I’ve done what I can there. I’m still sending driblets of money to various campaigns – not nearly as many as I’m asked to (or as much for that matter). I may or may not be able to do more postcards. My hands are already giving me trouble. Sometime so much trouble I curse the mouse, folks who know me probably would be shocked to hear me that’s how much I curse the mouse, but I know that it’s my fingers not being able to click the button hard enough to register. sigh. We keep on truckin’ no matter the condition of the truck we’re in.
Got most of my Sunday chores done and just took a pan of apple-walnut muffin bread out of the oven. ???? Heading over to DK for Dee’s Sunday Sermon/Music. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 51 and partly sunny in Bellingham. We should have a few sunny days ahead. I hope so because the garden is full of soggy leaves and I’m not inspired to rake them in the rain. The lawn service guys collect them now so we just move them to the grass so it’s easier for them. When the wet leaves collect too close to the house mold, fungus, and slugs grow. I’m feeling restless this morning, so raking leaves should fix that fast!
Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 52 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 59. Showers off and on all day.
I will wait to see if the “disclosure” that Donald Trump is a criminal and has been leveraging the presidency to keep his failed companies afloat has any impact. I thought it was comical that he kept saying that the issue is moot because he had been elected in 2016 after it had already been discussed. No it wasn’t, he refused to release his tax returns! Nice try, con man. His fans will not care but maybe there is a marginal tRump voter who could be persuaded to stay home rather than risk death to give him another term.
The story is important because it make make lukewarm Biden voters feel better about their votes but the most important thing right now is to remind people that HEALTHCARE IS ON THE BALLOT. When Justice Handmaiden is confirmed and votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, we need to be ready on January 2nd for the new Congress to craft and pass the ACA Repair bill and have it sitting on President Joe Biden’s desk on January 20, 2020.
See all y’all later!
“Justice Handmaiden”—brilliant! I am borrowing that, if you don’t mind.
I stole it from Twitter!!
Monday Meese – It rained here pretty hard last night in Kingston NYbut we are out of cold temp territory – its 67 going up to 78.
Puerto Rico
Cold front came through, it’s 66. I’ve got my windows open to get all the cooking smells from yesterday out. For my walk/run tomorrow, I’ll need sleeves. Today: trip into the office to drop off completed applications from late last week. Happy Monday, y’all!
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s nearly 10 but I didn’t wake up until almost 7, so am getting a late start today. My tooth hurts so much that the next thing I’m going to do after I drink my covfefe is call the dentist.
After morning chores I must take one final look at my story, check the format, and email it to the contest. Then I have to reread Chapter 7 of Iron and Scarlet so I can select a photo to accompany its for the website upload. Tomorrow I can finally get cracking on Bfitz’s corrections for Magical Encounters and contact the publisher on October 1. Would love for that book to be published in time for Christmas!
Forgot to mention the weather. It’s ugly-looking outside, but warm. Right now in Ashburn it’s 67 F., going up to 81 F. I MUST try to get a walk in today! Yesterday when out shopping I scored some malt vinegar. Now I can make mint sauce from the ton of fresh mint I’ve got in a pot on the porch.
One thing I really want future President Biden and future Vice President Harris to do is to pick a time and stick to it! Either keep it on summer time or on real time. I believe the changeover is coming up on November 1, which means we’ll all stumble around showing up at the wrong time for our Zoom classes and other occasions.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
I prefer that they stick with Standard Time if they are going to stop moving our damn clocks. If they decide to coalesce on the Daylight Saving Time they will surely get pushback from the states that do not change their clocks, like Arizona. Arizona decided that they do NOT need any more daylight, thank you very much! Go back to Standard and keep it there. I haz spoken!!
I second your motion!!!!!
It’s 53 and I’m wearing a sweater. A cotton sweater, not a wool one, but still wearing a sweater. Heading for 68 today and trying to clear off. Maybe we’ll get a good production day after all. Yesterday didn’t quite make it to 10 KWHs and the m-t-d is 324.9 – very possible to get out of “last place” and even possible to move up to 4th place in September production. But not higher.
The apple-walnut muffin bread came out nicely. Lovely cinnamon smell in the house still from yesterday’s baking. I’ll be baking chicken breasts this evening. A very different but also good smell from the kitchen. Simple pleasures. Good to have when the world’s in such a mess and folks dear to me are having so many troubles. Hoping those very dear people are also finding simple pleasures to help them slog through. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 51 and partly sunny in Bellingham. My plans to work in the garden changed yesterday but RonK raked the leaves away from the house so that’s done for now. The leaves are just starting to fall so I’ll have plenty of days to do the same!
Another quiet Monday morning with a few desk chores, then some time in my sewing room and outdoors. We’re staying careful re boring covid confinement, but remain grateful we are basically well and comfortable. Best wishes to all.
This is a political earthquake in the county just to our north. Like an 8 or 9 on the Richter scale…. Williamson county is Austin’s uptight fundy neighbor (like a less fun version of that guy on the Simpsons) — well, old WillCo is. In the ‘90s they almost lost the Apple HQ because they had some law or ordinance against corporations treating LGBTQ people equally — and when Apple called them on it, the still almost didn’t rescind it. It’s always been known as a “throw the book at” any lawbreaking place. Chody is a folk hero to that part of WillCo. He won the lottery & kept his job, donates his salary back to the county — actually does do the donating.
This is one of the problems with suburban/exurban/rural law enforcement – sheriffs are elected and there is no requirement that they be honest, decent or even law abiding. In places outside cities, they are the law and people vote them into office because they match their ideology instead of going through a hiring process and vetting as would happen for a city’s police chief, for example. A lot of sheriffs run unopposed because no one dares to challenge for fear of retaliation and the attacks by rabid fans of the incumbent. In Wisconsin, more than one sheriff has declared that they will not enforce any executive order or even statute that they disagree with because they are the ultimate “deciderer” of the constitutionality of the laws. If we had a functioning federal justice department, they might not be as out-and-proud about their lawlessness – I am looking forward to seeing how Attorney General Sally Yates’ Justice Department responds to state sanctioned crimes in red states.
Great Goddess! What a story!
My 1st 29 years of life spent in TX means this doesn’t surprise me. TX law “enforcement” should pretty much be wearing white sheets. No matter how nice they manage to be – to white people of their cult/clique/community. Only reason this is a political tsunami is he has actually been indicted. sigh.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 45 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 59. Cloudy with a chance of showers this afternoon.
I am glad to see the news filled with stories about court wins intended to protect the vote. I hope they can clear the Supreme Court hurdle quickly so that people know what the rules are for voting early and for absentee ballots. My ballot was sent in and is safely stored away, waiting to be run through the machine on November 3rd but some people who intend to wait until the last minute and hope that the Post Office gets their ballot delivered might not get their vote counted. In Georgia, a judge is ordering that polling places have paper voter rolls in the event that their systems go down on election night – gosh, who would think THAT could happen? – I’m sure that the Republicans will appeal that ruling. In Houston, a place with many Democrats, there is a lawsuit to block early voting plans. Goddess, we need to regain control so we can fix our voting laws.
I will not watch the debate tonight for two reasons: 1) I really can’t look at tRump’s face or listen to his whiny blatherings; 2) it will be on past my bedtime! I will look for reporting tomorrow morning where I can read what was said and people who helpfully put together clips of Joe Biden’s takedowns with only a pained-looking tRump in the cutaway shot. My prediction is that tRump looks every bit the #DroolingDotard that he is and seals the deal for Biden-Harris 2020. I also predict that there will not be another debate – it will be one and done as his campaign cuts its losses. I do hope that the Harris v Pence debate takes place – I have all this popcorn I need to use up!!
It is the penultimate day of September and I need to get some accounting work done. September 30th is the end of the quarter and that means being ready to close the month quickly to get reporting deadlines behind me. The second quarter closings, because my June was so crazy busy, was stressful and went right down to the wire – reports delivered on July 30th!
See all y’all later!
Great morning – it’s chilly, 54 degrees while I was walk/running. I got in 8 running segments. That was the 3rd one, so now on to the next part of the plan. Today: just work. The science channel has astronomy shows on all day, so that’ll be nice.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese! It’s El Gloom-oh outside, with a current temperature of 69 F., going up to 71 F. Showers are predicted for the morning with steady rain through the afternoon. Harrumph! When I stepped on to the screened porch at 5:15 a.m., I could smell that Mr. Skunk had visited, but not that it had started raining.
Four hours’ sleep last night, so already thinking about naps. My privacy screen arrived from Amazon yesterday. I’m not worried about privacy as no one ever sees my screen except me, but I am very concerned about blue light. I’m going to start putting the screen on at 6 p.m. After dinner is the only time I have to write since I’m subject to constant interruptions before then.
The food here isn’t always bad.For once, dinner last night was pretty good—rack of lamb. I chopped all the mint in our porch pot, boiled some malt vinegar, added caster sugar, and let the whole thing steep for a couple of hours in a jar. It was very nice with the chops. They had chocolate eclairs, too, which Dearly loves.
Wore my Kamala t-shirt and Kamala cap to pick up dinner from the clubhouse. Many people stared: some gave me a thumbs up or a raised fist. One of the servers said she liked my shirt, as did the shuttle bus driver. One of the cafeteria workers didn’t know who Kamala was! Gawd. He asked me what “Kamala” means. I told him it means “lotus.”
I never had time to give my story that “last look” yesterday. I spent an hour writing three “get well soon” notes, two to the members of the Writers’ Group who are in hospital, and one to a Birch Point neighbor who is there too. Also visited the garden to pick tomatoes.
There’s supposed to be a drinks party for Birch Point residents today, outdoors. It probably won’t happen if we really do get rain.
Breakfast is waiting so I’ll wish everyone a good day. I will watch the debate in fascinated horror on C-SPAN as I don’t like listening to pandits.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 47 heading for 70 and sunny today. I still haven’t gotten out my wool sweater, but I’m thinking about it. Yesterday we generated 11 KWHs and the m-t-d is 335.8 – we’ll at least move out of last place for September generation today and have a decent chance of moving into 4th place by end of tomorrow. We shall see.
My eyes are fried and my hands aren’t doing real well either this morning. sigh. Some of “my folks” are doing better. Some aren’t. Some are maintaining with the blessed help of caring friends. And with the Market closed I can’t even get to my local candle person to get more beeswax votives. I guess the smoke from my evening fires will have to do double duty and carry my prayers into the Spirit realm. But it’s kinda hard to “purpose” an evening fire. At least that kind of purpose. I’ll do what I can in this as with everything else.
Not watching the debate – which it isn’t and never was anyway. I’ll see what video clips show up tomorrow. In a sense it doesn’t matter. I’ve already voted. Better to figure out what I’m gonna do with the half bushel of Jonathan apples my friend got me at one of the roadside stands. I don’t do “grocery-store apples” – of whatever variety – because they’re all picked green and artificially ripened. But I love Jonathans, the local Jonathans. They were picked at least ripe enough to look ripe without gassing them. And they certainly taste ripe – I had one last night for dessert. ???? Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Bake apple pies and let your son sell them at the Pizza Shop?
Apple cake, which has only half a cup of flour—could be gluten-free flour.
Apple muffins?
Apples bottled in Mason jars? Mother used to do that.
Apple cookies—Apple Yorkshire—Apple Meringues. We had the latter for dessert the other night.
{{{Diana}}} My son can’t add anything to “corporate’s” menu. And while half a bushel is a lot for one person it’s not much for a business anyway. I’m mostly gonna eat them raw as long as they’re still crisp. (Although I did make apple-walnut muffin bread already – that’s breakfast and coffee “break” into next week.) Then it will be apple cake, apple muffin bread, apple oatmeal crumble, and plain ol’ stewed apples with a bit of cinnamon and brown sugar. ????
Sounds like a good plan, bfitz! We sometimes have stewed apples with custard for dessert in the winter. We often have what is known as “nursery food” by the British. Simple, homemade meals that remind us of home and Mother and tasty cooking, like chicken pot pie, beef stew, and things like that.
Good morning, 56 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. RonK just left for a walk in the woods and to check on his land trust project. I’m going outside to make a serious pruning plan for our overgrown garden. We’re going to need to hire some help but I want to work with them so the plants will still have a natural shape. I can see what needs to be done, but I can’t do the work now……so frustrating!
I’m going to avoid the so called debate tonight and hope for the best…..a presidential Biden and a miserable tRump. I just can’t stand to hear his voice or see his orange face. Time for TDS (Trump derangement syndrome) to end!
Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 52 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 59. Isolated showers are in the forecast.
I am very glad I did not watch the debate – bullies trigger my PTSD and it sounds like the debate was a hot mess. I was pleased to see that the Paper of Record did not mince words this time: “With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden” was the headline.
I am going to let the hot takes simmer and check the news later. It appears that tRump’s base was pleased but that people who hadn’t taken a good look recently at the man they “elected” 4 years ago were horrified. I hope they are inspired to vote for Joe Biden.
See all y’all later!