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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COUNTING DOWN THE TIME UNTIL DECENCY RETURNS …
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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 21 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 37. Mosstly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 29 degrees and sunny here in Kingston NY going up to 38.
Trying to find things to smile about :)
Puerto Rico
Good morning! Another chilly morning, so I’m doing my walk this afternoon. Yesterday I made next week’s dinner: crispy gnocci with vegetables, it’s pretty good. Going to make my overnight oats this morning & next week’s lunch (a sweet potato dish with black beans, mango & avocado) early in the day so I can walk this afternoon when it’s as warm as it’s gonna get. For right now: watching the news — Rachel Maddow is going to be on Ali Velshi’s show in a few minutes — and eating breakfast.
Sunday music
Happy St. Nicholas Day, if you’re that minded. It was under 30 at dawn but 42 now and heading for 50. Sunny at the moment, which is good. We got right at 7 KWHs yesterday (m-t-d 24.7) and look like we might do it again today. I hope.
Bobby just emailed me he’s got an apartment! HUD housing & his income is so low that the HUD voucher will pay part of his utilities, too. It’s been over a year since he was in his own place but he’s safe now. Well, as safe as any of us are right now. Hoping it’s a good omen for the new year.
I’m just taking a break in my Sunday chores. Grilled 5 weeks’ worth of breakfast sausages, most of which will go in the freezer as soon as they’ve cooled down. Most of the rest of what I need to do I can do listening to the music in Dee’s diary. Holding the Good Thought for the folks in my online/offline fam/friend/circle – good health and money are always what’s needed. And the lack of the latter sometimes puts the former out of reach. We could use some more good omens. I’ll start with the sunny day. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 51 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. We are going to find a Christmas tree today and I hope get the lights on it. Then the biggest task is done and the ornaments can be added when we feel like doing so. We put lights on a tall tree by the patio yesterday and seeing the effect after dark makes me want to redo them. It’s a two person job and requires a ladder so Ron will either humor me or not…..we’ll see!
Nice to see some blue in the winter sky this morning. Best wishes to all.
Happy Saint Nicholas Day, all! (I pretty much like all holidays.) The ugly gray clouds of early morning have given way to bright blue skies and sunlight. It would be a perfectly nice day if it weren’t for the cold wind. At almost 1 p.m. it’s 43 F. in Ashburn, edging up to today’s high of 45 F., and the winds are 10 to 20 mph.
Had the usual chaotic Sunday morning, trying to deal with a proper cooked Sunday breakfast, the clothes hook on the back of the bathroom door falling to the floor in a dead faint, my left hearing aid failing altogether, and piles of laundry to be folded and put away. Oh, and did I mention my primary email account is acting up? No? Well, it is.
The latest on the troublesome Chapter 9: last night I ran “View word count” and guess what? It’s 5,500 words, which can’t be allowed. The book is to consist of 15 chapters of 5,000 words each. There are four scenes to a chapter. This particular chapter bugged me so much that I stopped work on it in 2004. NOW I have an idea! Light began to break through (thank you, Lord Mithras, I know it was you since your Winter Solstice birthday is approaching), so I think I have the cure.
Save most of the boar hunt for Chapter 10. Increase Centurion Quentin’s spiritual suffering by 30 percent and up the UST by 15 percent. That should work. Also each officer should carry a boar spear instead of letting the bearers carry them. And Quentin should get an idea for trapping the boar. I’ve been told that netting a boar and then killing it doesn’t take any particular skill, but hey, this animal is dangerous and Quentin should get credit for the idea.
So that’s encouraging. I feel riddled with guilt for being so late posting the chapter to my website. I’ve owned the site for 5 years and I’ve never been this late with a post! It’s supposed to be the first day of the month.
Tomorrow I need to call the audiologist at Costco and make an appointment. New hearing aids are expensive, although less so at Costco than at any other place, so Dearly said to put it on the never-never. He gets really tired of shouting at me. I dread visiting the audiologist. The only word to describe having one’s hearing tested is boring. Repeat, BO-RING!
That’s my lot for the day. Wishing everyone at the Pond a nice, peaceful Sunday with no bad news.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I don’t know much about Xavier Becerra but it sounds like he would be a good pick for HHS. Replacing the deplorables that have been put in charge of our earned benefits programs and health care is a pretty low bar. I look forward to Seema Vermin out at CMS – it is terrible when people who hate human beings and enjoy watching them suffer are put in charge of our health and well being. The rumored CDC pick sounds like a good choice as well. I am not sure she will be able to rehabilitate the reputation of that agency – who will ever trust it again if it can be turned into a party propaganda tool so easily?
I have to get organized today – we are 24 days from the end of the year and I have to figure out what I will do in 2020 and what I will defer to 2021 and what impact that will have. I should be doing first passes on taxes, also. Frankly, a nap sounds better. :)
See all y’all later!
Here is the Biden-Harris announcement about the health care team:
More at the link.
Speaker Pelosi’s response:
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith is an important voice for her research into race and ethnicity related to COVID-19 outcomes and her background. She grew up in the US Virgin Islands and her mother was a nursing professor who taught community health.
Monday Meese. 29 degrees here in Kingston NY. Going up to 39.
I’ve been under attack from “far left” bots and trolls on twitter all weekend. Amazing how they are no diff from the far right.
Lots of sane folks came to my defense – so I’m okay.
I’m not on my TL much but I saw a few of those. They really are exactly like the RWNJs. Including trying to use the names and sometimes words of dead Black leaders to their own ends. sigh.
Puerto Rico
Good Monday morning, Moosekind. It’s 33 F. in Ashburn, with early morning grim-looking clouds giving way to pale blue skies. The sun is taking its time to wake up this morning. No snow flurries—well, what else is new? It never snows here. The high today will be 41 F. and it’ll be less windy.
Yesterday evening I became ambitious and made blueberry muffins for this morning. Today I’ll concentrate on getting the Christmas cards out. Today is bill-paying day as well. The first thing I must do as soon as Costco opens is to call about that hearing aid. I have terrible hearing in both ears, partly because of heredity (all the women in my family become deaf in the left ear as we age), and partly because of other reasons.
I’m a little hesitant to visit Costco, even double-masked and wearing a face visor, not to mention disposable gloves, but I just can’t go through life hearing in only one ear.
I’m glad our soon-to-be president is appointing such good people. How refreshing it will be to have competence, professional qualifications, and compassion in office again.
Not much to say today, except that Rudy’s in the hospital with Rona. Why is that? Did he present symptoms, or is this just the “rich people receive immediate attention even if not actually ill” syndrome?
Wishing a nice, quiet day to all at the Pond. Today is the 79th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. “A day that will live in infamy,” FDR called it. He should have lived now.
I wondered why Rudy was in the hospital after “testing positive for COVID-19”, as well. For observation? Now that we find out that tRump incompetence will be limiting our access to the vaccine, you can bet that “rich people get the vaccination first” will be added to “rich people receive immediate attention even if not actually ill.” Bastids.
I am not too keen on going anywhere, either. Dr. Fauci, apparently now willing to tell the truth because he knows he won’t be fired (coward), says that the worst time for the virus will be mid-January as the superspread from holiday visits will hit. I have a tooth that needs to be looked at and I think it can wait until February. I am really sad about my haircut though – I was due for one Thanksgiving week and I just can’t risk it. I have to get my self-haircut tools back out!
Feel for you, Jan! Cutting thine own hair sucketh mightily, as Dearly and I both know.
It was apparently 26 at dawn. It’s 34 now heading for 54 and sunny. At least at the moment. It was mostly sunny yesterday and we got just under 7 KWHs (m-t-d 31.65) so slowly trying to catch up. I doubt it will make it as so far it’s not averaging even as much as my daily use. But I will enjoy the sun and be grateful for the electricity generation whatever we get.
Seriously staying off my TL – like even more than normal – as the propaganda machine keeps throwing out “OMGHOF see I told you he’d cave” names for key positions and the twitterati leap for the chance to take the bait. But I am so very relieved at the team Joe is actually putting together. Decent, experienced, competent people. People hired to fix things, not make them worse. People hired to make government better, not burn it down.
I can’t say everything is in a holding pattern, because it can’t be. Time doesn’t stop so neither do deadlines and bills. Each of which requires meeting somehow or other. But we are in a waiting game as twitler tries to find more evil to do as he runs out his clock. Block as best we can until he’s gone and deal with life – and pandemic – also as best we can hoping it will get better in a timeframe that might be considered soon.
Fuzzy brain today. I need more coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Hi there. I went into the office this morning, dropped off some completed applications. Now I’m watching Star Trek & answering voice & e-mails. Got a sharp pain in my foot yesterday afternoon when I was about to go for my walk/run. I took the recycling out, foot still said “nope”; took the trash out — 2 blocks there & back — and foot still said “seriously, no”. So maybe this afternoon for the walk/run. Maybe.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} – Healing Energy & hope your foot is better soon. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 46 and cloudy in Bellingham. We did get a tree yesterday, but it was so muddy we hosed it off and left it in the garage so I hope it’s dry enough to come in the house today. It’s a smaller tree than we usually have but that fine with me. Weather permitting we are going to have a family Christmas lunch on the patio so that will need to be my focus. I hope to create an inviting setting where we will be as warm and dry as possible and can safely enjoy being together. So today’s task will be to cut and pin the hems into 5 fleece blankets. I have enough assorted blankets, but 5 green blankets on the lower patio chairs with the red umbrella and chair cushions will look more festive.
Best wishes to all on this foggy Monday morning.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 41. The skies will be cloudy all day.
So is anyone shocked that the tRump malAdministration botched the vaccine response, that they failed to contract for enough vaccinations and now we won’t get any until June or July? I have not read anything beyond the initial report last night but my guess is that the price was not pleasing to the Dealmaker in the White House and that when he couldn’t cut a deal, he walked away. I think that tRump voters should be last in line for the vaccinations – dying unnecessarily in service to their leader’s ignorance is the future they wanted.
Britain, showing that they are not craven assholes who hate the olds and think they should just all die to save the economy, gave their first vaccination to a 90 year old woman who is a retired flower shop worker. Good for them! In America the Republican Party mantra of “cull the herd” “old people have lived long enough” will put the olds in the back of the line in red states. Bastids.
I was glad to see that Pfizer and Moderna are declining to attend a White House “vaccine summit”. They see what is happening and want no part of it. Good – they should work with the adults in the Biden Administration and, Moderna at least, should work on repairing their reputations. #ETTD – Everything Trump Touches Dies and they know it.
See all y’all later!
Tuesday Meese. 26 degrees here in Kingston NY going up to 36.
I’m still dealing with the twitter fallout from having suggested #PoliceThePolice would have been a slogan Black Panther Fred Hampton would have used. It’s really amazing how many idjit “progressive” trolls came to attack. Very heartening to see the defense troops who had my back.
Puerto Rico
I didn’t see any of it – I am only lightly on Twitter to pick up news.
Is #PoliceThePolice the slogan “chosen” to replace #DefundThePolice? I was watching some of the back and forth regarding Barack Obama’s weighing in on the defund slogan and the earlier anger from swing district Democrats who felt that the defund slogan was what made them lose. I thought #DefundInjustice would work – pretty difficult to find anyone who believes that injustice should be sanctioned by governments.
Good morning. I didn’t get in a walk yesterday, my achilles tendon is still bugging me. Great weather — chilly mornings & afternoons in the 70s. This morning, I’ll watch Star Trek & answer voice mails.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} Ouch! I hate that. Moist heat is about the only thing that helps me. Healing Energy. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Below 30 around dawn, 34 now heading for 60, and sunny so far. We generated just over 7 KWHs yesterday (m-t-d 38.76) which covered yesterday’s usage. The 5 days this month we’ve generated over usage haven’t made up for the 2 when we really didn’t. I don’t know if we’ll manage to catch up but I’m grateful for every day we inch closer. These few weeks around the solstice a full sunny day just doesn’t get to double digits and that’s life.
LW twitterati are fascists in their own right. I haven’t been on my TL much but sheesh! (#PoliceThePolice is much better – which figures since it was thought up by someone on the front lines and not comfortably tweeting from his own or his parents’ home – it gets the point across in 3 words & doesn’t have to be explained.) Meanwhile Joe and Kamala are putting together a team that might, maybe, be able to turn our fortunes in both the war against COVID and the war against fascism. Patching the holes, pumping out, righting the Ship of State, repairing the machinery that might, maybe, take it to a safe harbor for a refit. (& Goddess knows this Ship of State needs one – it started out a genocidal rotten vessel only made “seaworthy” by shoving BIPOC bodies into the holes.)
So. End of an evil administration coming soon. End of a dreadful year coming soon. Hang on and keep on keepin’ on. We’ll get there. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}