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 …
Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 25 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 34. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 26 here in Kingston NY with light snow in the forecast. Going up to 36.
Puerto Rico
Yesterday’s rain was nice, but now it’s clear & compared to most of y’all, warm. 46 this morning & 60s this afternoon. The rain wasn’t enough to bust the drought, and the driest places got the least but rain is still good. Got to make next week’s tea & overnight oats this morning, then the gnocci & vegetables this afternoon — that will be in my freshly re-seasoned cast iron skillet. For now, watching the news & eating my almond butter sandwich.
Sunday music
It was 25 at dawn, 36 now, and heading for 52. And sunny which is nice. Yesterday was “partly cloudy” but we still got 6.2 KWHs and are at 82.5 for the m-t-d. The next week is supposed to be more sunny than not. I can deal with that. ????????????????
Politically (and otherwise actually) speaking not a lot new. Those folks trying to actually get stuff done are being attacked from both sides. The Rs attack us because they don’t want it to get done and the LWs attack us for not magically and instantly doing not just good work, but the exact form of what they think that good work should be. (Whether or not the folks they supposedly want it done for want it done that way. Because they know best, of course.) How much good we’ll manage to get done under these circumstances – with our majority in the House slim enough to be sabotaged by LWers & the Senate probably still in McConnell’s hands – only the Heavens know. But we’ll try anyway. (We need to walk away from the Rs’ current “deal” – trading away our ability to ever help again for a one-time less than adequate bit of help nobody will get before next year anyway…very, very, very bad trade.)
Got most of my Sunday household chores done. I need my son’s help to turn the mattress so making the bed will have to wait. The rest I can do while listening to the music in Dee’s diary. So I’ll go RT some stuff then get over to DK for that. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 49 and light clouds, but no rain. It’s soggy outside so a day of no rain is most welcome. I finished sewing the last gift yesterday so I think I can finally do something with the holly, ivy and branches I’ve been gathering. I’m glad I didn’t buy flowers this year as I’m trying to just stop when I get too tired and fresh flowers won’t wait.
I found a series of professional costume sewing videos so I’ve been carried away into the theatre world this morning. Now it’s get dressed and make some winter arrangements. Best wishes to all on this nearly sunny Sunday.
Monday Meese. 31 degrees and cloudy here in Kingston NY, going up to 38.
I’ve really had it with the faux left these days. At a time when we need all of our energy focused on open seditionists with Rs in front of their names, and the people who voted them into office – I have to watch the DSA stans go after the Congressional Black Caucus, and see asshats from my home state of NY fantasizing about taking out Hakeem Jeffries.
I seriously am having a hard time responding coherently to people who call themselves progressives but mean “give me what I want right now or else everybody can just die”. But at least I can boost your very coherent responses to them. ????????
Puerto Rico
From CPI – which doesn’t have all of its articles in English –
https://periodismoinvestigativo.com/category/english/
They could really use some support
You can choose the combo of a CPI mug and a package of Café Gustos, already packed. We also have the poster “Transparencia”, by the artist Garvin Sierra, a limited edition of 150 collectible copies, numbered and signed by the artist, designed exclusively for the CPI.
Good morning, meeses! Monday, welcoming the light …
It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37 degrees. Cloudy with a chance of mixed precipitation in the afternoon. I don’t have to go anywhere, for which I am grateful!
When I went to bed last night, Congress had agreed upon a deal to get life sustaining relief to the people damaged by this maladministration’s ignorance and incompetence. That Mitch McChinless had the temerity to go on the Senate floor and proclaim that “what the American people have long needed will finally be delivered” is amazing. HE IS THE ONE WHO HELD IT UP!! They apparently found language that allowed Pat Toomey to back away from what he probably realized was going to lay the blame for millions of deaths at his feet – the Fed will keep its lending powers to address emergencies as long as it is not worded the same was as the last round. Fine, whatever. Pass the bill and get it signed before people are literally tossed onto the street. At least we have preserved the right to sue for negligence and the Fed can loan to state and local governments to cover their spending until Joe can find help for them by shuffling some dollars around. Yes, it is okay when we do it because when we do it, it is to save lives not destroy lives.
I was not as productive over the weekend as I needed to be and now I have about 2 hours before clients start work. I will triage my list and see if I can deliver one or two promised projects.
See all y’all later!
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! We’ve have Brigadoon outside. The current temp. in Ashburn is 36 F., climbing to 45 F. later. The fog is supposed to move off sometime this morning, leaving us with a cloudy day.
This weekend was far too busy and exhausting, with the result that when we finished our errands, I just collapsed into bed or to the green chair. I’m in a rather pissy mood this morning. Some situations in my private life have combined to make me out of sorts with my little world.
Younger Son and family are planning to travel to Cary, NC for Christmas. I think it’s too risky but once DIL gets an idea into her head, that’s it, no arguments. They are going to visit one of her friends. Since DIL only likes people she went to high school with in Beijing, her friends are perforce limited. There are two in NYC and the one in NC. I’m going to ask them not to visit until two weeks after they return.
My email newsletter has gone out to everyone it’s going out to, most hard copies have been mailed, and so on. I’m really looking forward to cleaning up around here. I do have to get a haircut today,but am hoping to put off going to the grocery store until tomorrow or Wednesday.
This morning I plan to listen to MotherTongue’s Winter Solstice Album and to the King’s College Choir singing “The Holly and the Ivy.” Also, one of my favorite Christmas movies, “Love, Actually” is coming on the TV. I’ll ask Dearly to record it so we can watch it at a time convenient to us.
There’ll be a whole lot of bakin’ goin’ on this week. I made Banana Bran Muffins with walnuts for breakfast this morning. I want to make the Cheese and Celery Bread from my English cookbook, and then Cornish Pasties for Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Day we’ll do the traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
That’s enough about food. In fact, that’s enough from me this morning! Wishing everyone at the Pond a nice, quiet day with minimal aggro.
Stick to your guns on this!!
I saw that the next phase of vaccine distribution will be for those over 75. I hope you get yours soon!!
Thanks, Jan! Both my husband and I qualify for that phase. I’ll be glad to take it!
Happy Yule/Winter Solstice to those who celebrate it. We’ve made it through another circle/cycle. More or less healthy. More or less intact. And we can see the end of the tunnel, not just the light of it, from here. Bright Blessings in very deed. ????????????
It didn’t even get below freezing last night, it’s in the 50s now and heading for mid 60s. Also sunny at the moment which is good. We got 6.9 KWHs yesterday and 90.5 is the m-t-d – we’ve still got 11 production days left in the month. We shall see what we shall see.
Yesterday AT&T internet went down for 5-1/2 hours. It felt truly weird to not be online for that stretch. The things we get used to. I didn’t get internet at home until September of 2014. Of course I was working and had it 8-4:30 on weekdays at the time. Anyway, it came up 7:30 pm and I got caught up with all my tweetings and greetings by 9:30 – which sort of says I don’t need it to be up all the time, doesn’t it. ???? Still, it’s a connection to people I care for even if I’ve never met face to face (& even a few I have met face to face). So it’s a blessing I am very thankful for. Speaking of which, I’m gonna go check in at twitter. After I get more coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Watched one of the great anti-fascist movies last night: Sound of Music, it was fun seeing Salzburg again. Went into the office this morning to drop off completed work. It’s not freezing, but cold for here. Now, back home watching the news — PanAm 103???? — and working. I have a Christmas movie lined up on my tablet; but I’m gonna watch the news for a few more minutes, make sure I haven’t entered some kind of timewarp.
You know, another, I kinda wish we could enter a time warp. I’d go for 2015 through 2017.
Good morning, 42 and raining in Bellingham. I enjoyed being outdoors yesterday but I got carried away making arrangements so my legs were very unhappy last night. Oh well, I can stay dry and rest them today.
Our grand girls delivered cookies to RonK yesterday smiling behind their masks. It was so good to see them. We have been together every Christmas Eve of their lives so that’s the main reason I’m planning an outdoor rain or shine time together this year. I’ve got seating, umbrellas, blankets and fire pits spaced out for safe distance visiting and the food will be spread around as well. So if we stay in our own “germ groups” we can still be together and I hope we’ll be safe. Our Oregon grand daughter’s 14th birthday is on Christmas Eve so we’ll sing to her via a group facetime call. The wireless signal isn’t strong enough outside for a zoom connection and with individual phones we can stay further apart. Being able to connect via text and phone has certainly helped us cope with covid seclusion.
Best wishes to all as we move towards the light.
You’ve created a really ingenious and workable plan, princesspat! Please let us know how it goes.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 28 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 34. Sunny this morning and then clouding up. We did get some of the precipitation yesterday but it didn’t last long. Sadly, the clouds kept us from seeing the Jupiter Saturn conjunction!
The Omnibus with the attached COVID relief was passed by both houses of Congress and was sent to the soon-to-be-former president*. It is unknown whether or not he will sign it – it sounds like he is angry with Mitch McConnell and may want to take it out on the American people; that would not be surprising. Besides McChinless recognizing Joe Biden as president-elect, he is actively discouraging Senators from signing onto the doomed Electoral College challenge on January 6th. tRump may choose to exact his revenge using the Defense Authorization Bill instead, setting up a veto vote which was inserted into the Senate schedule for 12/29 if needed. Yikes! House Republicans have already said they won’t override their party’s leader so I am not sure if a veto override will pass there. It will be the outgoing Congress’ job but we don’t have enough votes on our own, even before we lose our 11 seats, for 2/3rds. If the first legislative act of Joe Biden’s presidency is to loudly sign a new Defense Authorization bill rejected by Republican deadenders in the House, that won’t look very good on their resumes in their blood-red districts. It would be nice if it made a difference but right-wing memories are short.
I just got notified by my health care provider about the protocols for the vaccine distribution. I am not on any of the short lists but that is the first confirmation I received that the vaccination will be delivered by my HMO. They must believe it is real. :) I despise that “COVID is a hoax” and “masks are tyranny” Republican electeds are getting vaccinated before decent people – there never seems to be a price to pay for being murderous assholes.
I have a busy morning trying to get projects organized. Most of my clients will be off on Thursday and Friday and since Christmas is not my holiday, I will use the long weekend to catch up on projects. I think we will celebrate Solstice with our meal and gift opening on the 24th – we are busy with errands today and tomorrow and I want a day of calm and quiet for our celebration. It won’t be the first Solstice we didn’t celebrate On The Day – our holiday does not get the respect it deserves in Judeo-Christian America.
See all y’all later!
Hope I hear from mine Jan!
Tuesday Meese. 29 degrees here in Kingston NY – going up to 42 with snow flurries today.
Puerto Rico
Excellent piece
Excellent choice for Education!
Another seasonal day here — 40s to 60s. I think there’s a cold front on Christmas Eve, but not a freeze. I’m thinking of driving downtown this evening, to see Jupiter & Saturn from the top of a parking garage, so I can see the horizon. I am going far south at lunchtime, to get my Trail of Lights t-shirt. Pick up instructions include to wear a mask. Good for them.
Good Tuesday morning, Moosekind! It’s already past 10 a.m. and here I am, still in my dressing-gown. Lawks. Still, I made a cooked breakfast (ham and scram) for Dearly, so it is only to be expected that I’m running late.
Today is one of those dimly lit winter days, with pale light and white wisps of cloud drifting across a pale blue sky. We had a surprise rain before bedtime last night. It’s currently 44 F. in Ashburn, three degrees away from the day’s high. Winds will gust up to 30 mph, which makes the prospect of a walk less than pleasant. We’ll see.
Bfitz was talking about how something in her backyard is affecting her skin badly. Here’s a suggestion: Grab a rake, scrape your backyard surface into pretty little bags, and sell it as potpourri on Etsy! It’ll be a success, you betsy. Some lady in Arkansas did that years ago. The newspaper article amused me so much that I cut it out and sent it to my sister, then living with her soldier husband in Germany. She wrote back that she laughed her head off.
Didn’t get around to going to the barbershop yesterday, but think I need to do that today. It really is past a joke now.
It’s time to think of marketing my book. It should come out in 3-4 weeks. I’m terrible at marketing. I’d much rather write!
Wishing all at the Moose Pond a good day with minimal aggravation.
It’s heading for mid 60s and sunny. That’s the good thing. (Yesterday we generated 6.9 KWHs & m-t-d is 97.3) But I was greeted this morning with being in Twitter timeout – except I can’t start the countdown for the 12 hours because my phone number is “unsupported”. I reported it to Twitter support and hope I hear back from them soon. Here’s the tweet I’m being penalized for:
Seems the blue check I was responding to reported me for inciting violence. White fragility as well as white privilege.
So I’m not sure what I’m doing today. Obviously not boosting anybody’s tweets. I guess I’ll think of something. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
& twitter support decided for me in my appeal – so I’m back on twitter. ????
Glad you got out of Twitmo Sis!
Thank you. I was surprised it was so fast considering how long I’ve seen others treated.
Saying that Robert E. Lee, a man dead for over a century, should be shot for treason is an incitement to violence? Sheesh! They must just see “should have been shot” and their algorithm stops processing any further. He should have been shot! Maybe if we had treated the Confederacy as an illegal insurrection and punished the men who started it instead of just a “state’s rights” disagreement about whether or not it is okay to own human beings, we would not be in this mess. Certainly, we would have been able to start on the path to racial healing sooner instead of waiting until 1965. Who knows where we would be today?
Yeah. It’s a cute little algorithm they got there. I was lucky that there was a human being available to actually read the tweet as soon as there was. The auto-emails said it could take up to 3 days. & yes, if he had been tried for treason – along with the rest of the C.S.A officers since most if not all of them were also West Point grads & former U.S. Army officers and had most certainly taken oaths to defend the Constitution – and shot, we certainly would have started the path to Justice sooner. Not sure about healing because I don’t think that kind of racism actually can be healed. Just made anathema by law and society so they keep it to themselves.
Good morning, 29 and foggy in Bellingham. We were surprised with snow yesterday afternoon so I made a plan B for our Christmas gathering, but decided it was too much work, so I wrapped up in a blanket and sat on the porch for awhile just to be in the moment. The snow is nearly gone this morning and temps in the low 40’s are predicted for the rest of the week so I’ll just keep the patio plan moving along.
I do need to order sunscreen for RonK though. The bruises are fading and his stitches come out on Thursday so like it or not he’ll have to do better with avoiding uv rays, even on cloudy PNW days.
I’m going to write a few Christmas cards today and do a bit more party prep. Counting the days until Dec is over! Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday that will feel like a Friday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 45. Cloudy skies are in the forecast. We will plunge into the deep freeze overnight with tomorrow’s high being 11 and dangerous wind chills. That pattern will last through Christmas day.
I am going to have to find a way to compartmentalize the news if I am going to make it to January 20th! The fire hose of tRump’s disgraceful actions is starting to impact me – I want stories about wonderful new nominees and happy vaccinated health care workers, not war criminals and former Republican grifting Congressmen getting pardons. And now the pile of literal garbage sitting in the Oval Office is threatening to shut down the government because he does not realize that the COVID relief bill was folded into the government funding Omnibus and that the “extra things” he sees in it are called “running the government for another year.” The Republicans deserve to be banished from government for putting this ignoramus in any position of power, much less the presidency. If they had any sense, they would invoke the 25th Amendment, make Pence acting president and save America from seeing the throes of their leader suffering through the worst narcissistic injury of his lifetime. He realizes that his Teflon is worn off and nothing will save him from the avalanche of lawsuits and criminal complaints heading his way. No one is going to fear what’s left of his legal team.
Today will be busy with wrapping up a few accounting projects and then hunting and gathering for our holiday meal, set for tomorrow.
See all y’all later!