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 28 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 43. Scattered showers are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 31 and raining here in Kingston NY, going up to 42.
Don’t know if any of you follow women’s basketball – I’ve been cheering about this:
The Atlanta Dream
The team members supported Rev. Warnock against their white supremacist supported owner
The team – especially one named the Atlanta Dream, evoking King – deserved an owner who was not a literal heap of human garbage. Good for them for standing up to her and standing up for themselves and decency.
Puerto Rico
Good rainy Sunday morning, Meese! We’ve achieved 46 of our allotment of 47 degrees Fahrenheit for the day, here in Ashburn.
Wrote a whole long comment, was distracted by the appearance of Dearly at 7 a.m., so forgot to post. When I came back the Intertubes had disappeared, so I had to long on again. Naturally, the comment was gone.
So I’ll just content myself with saying we had a wonderful time at Elder Son Eric’s house last night. He cooked a marvelous meal and DIL Mindy had made Hamantashen earlier, with little Ethan. It’s been years since she’s made those delicious Passover cookies. Last year was Covid, the year before that she was going gluten-free, so we’ve missed them. Her sister in Colorado and her Mum around the corner Arlington also made Hamantashen. It must be a sign.
Lady Moon sightings: Thursday night, She looked like a luminous white pearl against a black velvet backdrop; Friday night like an icy white ball, and last night, as we drove home from Elder Son’s house, She looked misty as She played peekaboo with the clouds.
Today is a gray day with rain, rain, rain. It’s OK. Must hurry up with breakfast because the Printer Guy will be arriving between 9 and 1.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Warm, cloudy morning and it’s supposed to rain this afternoon. I got my tea & lunch for the week made yesterday, so today I’m making my overnight oats and dinner. If I get done before the rain comes in, I’m taking a walk this afternoon.
Sunday Music
The weather widget says the high for the day is 64. It also says the current temp is 65. Very overcast although the PV is on. Apparently the temps will start dropping in a couple of hours when the rain actually gets here. Presupposing it does actually get here. Yesterday we generated 6.9 KWHs which is at least more than my daily average use. The m-t-d is 122.4 which most certainly does not cover my daily average use even for a short month.
Fineena’s MRI came back clean (as in no sign of cancer in the brain) & earicicle/Amelia’s rent is covered for March although it’s not paid yet. That’s the good news. Aji’s chest freezer died yesterday but she was able to save most of the food that was in it. Mostly because she’s given away at least half of it to local folks laid off due to COVID and needing food. I’m trying to think of a way to get her a new one. (Not by myself.) Lowes has them for under $300. Call it $350 max with taxes and delivery. This is where being banned from DK really sux. Not because I’d do a formal fundraiser for her but because I’d have access to the old “Home for Wings and Aji” team. I think between us we’d be able to send her that much in Lowes e-gift cards. Still working on it.
I am content to give Biden-Harris some time to get stuff done. I’ve seen no sign that they’ve forgotten any of the actual promises they ran on. Although I’ve seen a lot of flack heading their way for not keeping promises people wanted them to make that they didn’t. I want those kids back with their folks. I want those kids out of the cages while we look for their folks. (& blaming Biden, who hasn’t appointed any judges yet, for a federal court ruling that’s anti-Native, anti-Black, anti-everything good a decent… C’mon folks.) We, as in our team which includes but is not limited to the Biden-Harris administration, have until about this time next year to make things seriously, obviously, can’t be hidden, better. Or we’ll lose both houses of Congress. That is a fact. One folks who’ve been around a long time know very well. So I’m gonna give them their chance. And stay off twitter mostly except for my boosting stuff.
Sunday chores and all that. But Dee’s diary for the music to do them by. So. More coffee and getting to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 42 and raining in Bellingham. Between naps and reading yesterday was an easy day, and I’ll do more of the same today. The cold sores are healing and no surprise, I’m feeling better. I’m missing family today so I hope we have time for phone calls. Last night the house seemed big and empty for just the two of us.
Best wishes to all on this quiet Sunday morning.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I stayed away from Twitter yesterday because I made the conscious decision to not follow the insanity and inanity coming out of CPAC on Trump Day. Looking at the headlines this morning is very discouraging – the mainstream media is going to do it all over again, aren’t they? The shitshow is more entertaining than quiet steady leadership so tRump is going to be covered 24×7 just like he was in 2015 and 2016. Goddess help us. :(
The Sanders-Wyden Amendment to try to get the minimum wage increased is a waste of time – they should just strip the minimum wage provision from the American Rescue Plan, pass it NOW and quickly send it back to the House to be passed and signed. The companies they are targeting for tax penalties have few minimum wage employees and it looks stupid. They need to write and pass a separate minimum wage bill in the House, send it to the Senate and call the bluff of those Republican Senators who claim to want an increase, just not THAT ONE. We can run on that, we can’t run on the clusterfk that is happening now which makes it look like Democrats are the ones blocking the increase because they won’t kill the filibuster, something that is not going to happen.
Spring Training baseball games are back so I will have box scores to pore over again. I hope they can stay healthy and play a full season.
I rearranged my morning to-do list after sleeping on it and now I need to get back to it. It is March, a new month, and I am ready to carpe diem!
See all y’all later!
Monday Meese. Women’s history month!
A fitting end to Black History Month and segue into Women’s History Month
Madame Vice President and Madame Speaker of the House—two inspiring women!
May they live long and prosper.
Puerto Rico
OMG.
Just posted
Great tweets in that post, thanks for putting it here!
And perfect name for CPAC – “CPAQ”! I have always avoided using GOP because it stands for Grand Old Party and there is literally nothing Grand about it. But now what they are the Party of Q, I can use GQP and not break my rule.
Haven’t bought Goya since the news came out. That mofo.
Cool, rainy day — it’s supposed to stay in the 50s. I forgot to ask about going into the office this morning so I’ll wait till tomorrow. Otherwise, just work.
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s 46 F. and cloudy in Ashburn today, going up to 51 F. and hideously windy (40 mph) in the afternoon. Couldn’t get an appointment at the gym today so I’ll try to get a walk in before noon.
The printer guy arrived and solved all my problems! First of all, he diagnosed the chief problem right away—I wasn’t on the strong Internet, the hardwired one. I forget what he called it. I had been using the Wifi, which dropped every time I got up from my chair. Note that I wasn’t intentionally using the Wifi instead of the strong connection. My Internet does whatever the hell it wants, as does this Mac. For example, I never installed HighSierra as the OS, as I have an abiding horror of new versions (always worse). It just did it by itself in the middle of the night when no one was looking.
But enough about that. I have lots to do at my desk today, so I hope I can do it. I’ve made two appointments at the gym (afternoon, unluckily). You can only make three at a time. The last one is Thursday at 8 a.m. Quel horreur! I will be nauseated unless I drink some orange juice before I go. I normally don’t drink it. An empty stomach makes me nauseated and inclined to faint, as I found out when I used to be Episcopalian and fasted before Lenten services in the early morning.
Trying to hire Darling Niece to update my website as she’s a stay-at-home mom (has been for years). She’s good with IT but has worked outside the home very little since her son was born, and certainly not this year, when she’s been supervising his remote learning. The work would give her a credential to list on her resume. She’s so protective of her only child, as well as extremely shy, that I think she’ll wind up working for Task Rabbit once it’s safe for Mr. B. to go back to school. She needs to work from home.
Anyway, enough about that. I feel quite perky since Bfitz revealed that fineena does not have cancer in her brain. The poor woman has enough to deal with already.
Tomorrow will be sunny and it’s only a day away. Going to avoid Paulie Ticks today, he has cooties.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 36 heading for 55 and at least trying to be sunny. That would be nice. A sunny day to set the grid for the new month. We managed to get to 125 KWHs for February. Just over 2/3 what I average using and lower by 19 than the 2.5K system did. New month – the meet-or-beat target is 422 but anything over 300 covers usage and makes up for not covering usage the last 3 months. Hold the Good Thought.
More Holding of Good Thoughts – the vet should be here in about 2-1/2 hours. Around 11 I’ll put the new cat in the new carrier and hope to heaven I can then put Freddie in the old carrier. And close both bedroom doors & the kitchen cupboard doors so if Rennie freaks for a bit he can’t get somewhere I can’t get to. I’ve already decided I’m changing back to a (50%) more expensive catfood. One that not only has more protein, it has more meat protein. Rereading about cats & their digestive systems makes me think the G.I. problems might be eased that way. & (relatively) expensive food is still less expensive than multiple vet visits, tests, and meds. Which I probably couldn’t get down them anyway.
Seriously Holding Good Thoughts for Fineena. Oncologist visit today.
If I can find/remember the twitter handles of some of the “Home for Aji & Wings” team I’m gonna DM & see if my thought about a bunch of us sending $25 egift Lowes cards to Aji to replace her freeze is gonna fly. I’m going to as soon as my tax refund gets here and I know 2 other folks who plan to as well. It needs to be folks who’ve been trusted with Aji’s personal email which is why I thought of the team. At $25 each, that’s 14 people. We’ll see what we shall see.
Off to close things surreptitiously so as not to warn/disturb the cats then read Dee’s diary. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 42 and light clouds in Bellingham. I was on the front porch with my blanket and my book yesterday but it was chilly, the main characters story has taken a hard turn in the series I’m reading, and all the people walking past the house can actually walk….all of which sent grouchy me back indoors. Feeling sorry for myself accomplishes nothing, but it does happen so it’s best to be honest and then get on with life.
My sister has shared iris bulbs from her garden so I’m going to plant them today. We have a large pot on the front porch steps where the deer don’t climb so that’s the spot. The rose bush we planted there in honor of Ron’s mom has never bloomed so it will move behind the veggi garden where it’s protected from the deer and will get more sunshine. Sentimental me has a sentimental garden!
Best wishes to all as we begin a new month.
Princesspat, I love hearing about your garden.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 16 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Well, I started this comment, wandered through my news sites to see what was going on and then ran out of time! I was pleased to see Miguel Cardona confirmed as Secretary of Education – what a change from Cruella DeVos!! Thanks, O’Biden.
See all y’all later!
Good sunny Tuesday morning, Meese! It’s amazing how perky one feels with a blue sky shining over the still-leafless woods. The downside is that it is very cold in Ashburn today: 31 F. at the moment, going up to 46 F. later.
Got a lot done yesterday with marketing the book, and plan to do more today. If anyone is interested, here’s the link to the diary I wrote for GOS yesterday:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/1/2018826/-A-Book-to-Beguile-Your-Evening?utm_campaign=recent
I have to get much more serious about marketing. After this book there’s Iron and Scarlet to finish, and then I’m going to give up writing novels. Daughter wants me to write a book of memoirs, which she thinks would be wildly interesting, but I’m of the opinion that the memoirs would be of interest to her alone. In my family, few have time for reading. However, at a certain age women do become interested in family history, so I can certainly compile a book of essays for Daughter and the two granddaughters.
But enough of this literary chitchat. Dearly is off to the doctor and I must prepare to greet the day in something other than a dressing-gown and slippers.
The fireworks display was not held last night owing to the 40-mph winds that prevailed around here. We received a small bottle of bubbly—in fact we received two of them. Neither of us drinks the stuff, so by now we have quite a collection. I’ll have to start including it in birthday presents to the local family. Anyway, the bubbly was to celebrate the fact that 97 percent of the 1,600 residents here have been vaccinated! I must say they planned and executed the rollout with super efficiency.
That’s all from me today. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 32 heading for 58 and sunny. So I don’t know why the Raynaud’s & carpal tunnel decided to do a joint flare today mucking up my ability to click the mouse. I’ve already scared the cats a couple of times by screaming at the computer. (Six gee-dee tries to boost Aji’s patreon post. SIX!) Anyway we started the month with 14.9 KWHs which is quite nice.
Speaking of cats. . . the new guy is a guy and now named Bobby – was going to be Bibi if a girl. He’s been fixed so I don’t have that expense. About 7 months old and healthy. He got all the vaccines and dewormer. The rest are stable, mostly, compared to 2 years ago when they were last seen. They couldn’t really tell for sure with Freddie. Vet said dealing with him was more like a rodeo than an exam. They hung onto him long enough to update his shots – and weighed him in the carrier then subtracted the weight of the carrier. Charlie and Cloud are both listed as “obese” but that I take with a grain of salt (or more) since scrawny Murf was listed as “overweight” at 10.4 lbs (thankfully only down .2 lbs – so I have been managing to get enough food in him after all). But yes, at over 14 lbs each, they need to lose some weight. Especially Cloud who’s almost half a pound heavier than Charlie and most certainly shouldn’t be. Cloud’s also the only one who is going to need more money spent on him and relatively soon. He’s got multiple teeth that are rotting and will become painful soon and infected shortly thereafter. But I think that will hold until I can get my AR tax booklet and file for my state refund. The new food is a success as far as the cats eating it. It wouldn’t be that much more expensive – if I didn’t have so many cats. The other expense I didn’t do last year is monthly flea treatment. Vet recommends I do that even though I’m keeping them indoors. So basically I’m going to be spending as much on cats (not counting the vet) as I do my own groceries and supplements. I guess that’s fair. There are 6 of them. LOL
I’m glad our team is in charge at the federal level as far as COVID response is concerned because at the state level – at least here in AR & in NM where Aji is – the response has been one long stream of ignoring data, manipulating data, suppressing data, and not getting what vaccines are available to the populations who need it most. Including getting all the teachers & school staff vaccinated before opening the schools. Yes, our schools are open. & Guv A$$hole just reopened everything. The only precaution we’re still following is the not-always-enforced masking. sigh.
Beginning of the month is the hardest for the folks in need I’m boosting on twitter. (Carrying forward the hashtag Aji started last December.) This is not the time to have my hands not working. sigh. I can’t think of any reason why Ibuprofen would help but I’m gonna get some more coffee and try it anyway. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 40 and partly sunny in Bellingham. The lab tests show I have immunities from the first covid shot, but for reasons I don’t understand I still don’t feel safe altering my routine. But the covid walls are closing in so I know I need to make some changes, just don’t know what yet. Todays outing will be back to the lab for a coumadin check so maybe a stop at the garden shop in the way home will happen. It’s still to cold to plant anything but a look around will be a treat.
Best wishes to all.