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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Puerto Rico
Had some thunderstorms last night, but nothing too extreme. A cool day — high only 68 when normal would be 86. Setting out a long sleeve shirt for tomorrow morning’s walk/run. Should get out and enjoy the day this afternoon.
That makes me smile, another! In Celsius, 68 F. is 20 C., and 86 F. is 30 C. That’s how I keep track of Celsius temperatures, also bearing in mind that 10 C. is roughly 50 F.
Why can’t these people stick to the proper measurements? (Old lady sniff.)
Good Wednesday moaning, Moosekind! Today let’s moan about the Dog getting Dearly up in the wee hours of the morning, plus the fact that it’s partly cloudy, partly windy, and only 51 F. Bummer. Today the high will be all the sixes, 66 F. Ridiculous, considering it’s nearly mid-May.
Made blueberry bran muffins for breakfast this morning. Unfortunately I became distracted and nearly forgot to put the baking powder in. I couldn’t quite remember whether I had or not, on the theory that half a teaspoon was better than none but not overmuch if I had put it in. The dry ingredients already had a teaspoon of baking soda.
The muffins took longer to bake than usual but tasted fine. There were enough for breakfast and some for the neighbors.
Dearly has just taken Monty for a walk and I’d better get on with my day. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 53 heading for 65. It was supposed to be mostly sunny but thus far has decided to be cloudy instead. At least it’s not so dark I need the lights on. Yesterday we got 6.7 KWHs bringing the m-t-d to 138 – definitely not on track. I’m not sure it’s even possible to make the goal for May considering we’re just over a third of the way through the month and my brain is too foggy to do the math. Electricity isn’t the only energy that doesn’t get generated on cloudy days.
If anybody’s situation has changed I haven’t heard about it. So candles and Good Thoughts by whatever name in whoever’s Tradition are certainly still needed. Maybe for me as well considering I haven’t heard from either my son or the shop about the Camry. Probably they’re just backed up. But it would be nice to hear something.
I need to bake but I’ll probably put that off until tomorrow. I found some tasty if expensive and not particularly nutrition-packed raisin bread at the Co-op last week. I’ll have toast instead of a muffin square for midmorning – or later considering I just finished breakfast. I still have the laundry to fold and put up. If the sun comes out I’ll take a walk and see if I can regenerate myself. Otherwise I’ll make the laundry my “one extra thing” for the day. The chillier weather means stretching out the baking is a good thing. Presupposing Summer does get here this year, I’ll have to reorganize myself.
More coffee, then off to read Dee’s diary and do my twitter stuff. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 43 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 68. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I admit to having a Schadenfreudal overdose from reading about the Republican Party’s purge of Liz “Dick” Cheney. I don’t admire her for wanting to preserve the blustering neocon wing of the Republican Party but the words she uses to defend the Constitution are welcome. To the extent that more Republicans choose to not vote for the white supremacist QAnon-embracing McCarthy wing of the party, it is good but as we have seen, long-time Republicans don’t vote for Democrats – many of the #NeverTrumpers wrote in Ronald Reagan rather than pull the lever for Joe Biden. So until those people understand that unless they actually vote for the Democrats running against the GQP candidates, they are not principled at all – they are lying to everyone including themselves. I heard Barbara Comstock, the former Virginia Republican congresscritter, proudly saying that she did not vote for tRump but also did not vote for Biden, she wrote someone in. Profiles in Cowardice. Vote for Democrats and give them a mandate for change – anything else is theatre.
I cleared a bunch of things off my household to-do list yesterday so today I can work on a project that became more urgent after communicating with a client. So I will take a quick pass through the news and then get to it.
See all y’all later!
Thursday Meese. 41 going up to 68 here in Kingston NY.
Puerto Rico
People never stop hitting on PR, do they? What’s it going to take to get the mainland to pay attention?
Did my walk/run this morning — made it to 8 1-minute segments! Was glad I had long sleeves, it was in the 50s. Now I just need to do that twice more and on to step 3. Today’s plan: just work.
Good Thursday morning, Meese! It’s a full glorious Shapespearen sonnet-type morning here in Ashburn, although still too cool for the time of year. It’s sunny, 62 F., and on its way up to a whopping 70 F. Goody.
I’ve got to go spade the earth in my garden tub, then Dearly will come down to help me work the top soil and fertilizer into the hungry earth. Today I want to plant all the plants. Unfortunately I missed the Garden Club meeting yesterday becaue the stupid carryout place gave me a pickup time of 3:15 and I had to pick up my fresh new set of eye drops from the pharmacy. It’s all right here on campus, so I didn’t need the car.
Have begun the three sets of eye drops spaced five minutes apart four times a day. After the surgery tomorrow I’ll have to sleep on my back, with an eye shield, for a week. Bummer. At least the surgery is in the afternoon, thank Goddess! They just haven’t told me the exact hour yet.
Not much other news except I’m still mentally playing the “Whom do I despise the most” game whenever I have a spare 90 seconds—McTurtle, McCarthy, or Manchin? It’s so hard to decide! They’re all sewer rats.
We don’t need another Middle East war right now. I believe this one started (correct me if I’m wrong) when would-be Israeli settlers began pushing Palestinians out of their homes. I used to be 100% pro-Israel until I went to Jordan in 2001 and met some displaced Palestinians. Now I’m 100% pro-Palestinian. As Elder Son says to me, not infrequently, “Mom, you’re uh extremist.” (He knows it drives me to the edge of madness when he uses incorrect grammar.)
Not much news on the home front. On the news front, dear Goddess. I just want to bury myself in fiction, which takes me to English villages trying to cope with rationing and bombing in WWII. At least I know that came out all right.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It seems like the latest Israeli-Palestine conflict is the result of the Israelis, who were gifted their piece of land by the UN, pushing the Palestinians out of the one little part of Jerusalem that they were allowed to live in. None of this would have happened if The Former Guy had not moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem and let the Israeli government declare it to be the capitol. They had a perfectly fine three religion space sharing agreement there until then. I hope we stay out of it – we can’t be friends to people who elect Netanyahu, he is deplorable.
It’s 58 going to 70 and sunny so far. We’ve already generated 1 KWH today, it’s that sunny. Yesterday we got 16 KWHs. The m-t-d is at 155 as I type. Not on track of course but if the sunshine holds we’ll not only be on track for the day but make up a little lost ground from earlier this week.
Lisa’s holding steady emotionally but not gaining physically or mentally. So she hasn’t managed the things still needing to be done about car, driver’s license, or doctor’s appointment that were left after her visitor/helper/friend did. Jill’s in ABQ with the stage-4 cancer patient getting more tests and a 2nd opinion. Fineena’s a little better. Unfortunately the kennel bill was $300 more than she’d planned on and of course her Social Security isn’t going to stretch. Aji’s got the actual doctor’s appointment today. Where she finds out about the condition she’s afraid she’s developed – and probably gets or at least sets up the first of the tests and plans for treatments. IF it’s what she’s afraid of it’s both scary as hell and expensive as hell to treat. (Good news is as of last night she’s only $200 short of the $1200 she needed by today. Hopefully another sale will come in today and get her there.) Other folks I’m worried about seem to be hanging on. Including me. I’m having problems with fatigue – more than “normal” – and I’m not sure what to do about it. Also I still haven’t heard back about the Camry. So. Hold the Good Thoughts.
Baking this morning. Lemon-walnut muffin bread. With the besan I have to mix everything together except the leavening and let it “rest” a few hours to absorb the liquids. So in another hour I’ll preheat the oven, oil the baking dishes then beat in an additional half cup or so of water and the 1/4 tsp of baking soda. Into the oven and by 11 the house will be smelling “most sentimental”. Meanwhile, off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 53 and cloudy in Bellingham. This week has gotten away from me, not even sure what day it is or if it matters. Oh well, doing laundry is grounding and that’s my task for the day so I’ll just keep on and the days will sort out.
So relieved Ava and Sophie can now be vaccinated and I’m more at peace with my one shot status. Our summer will be careful but now we can all be together again and I’m grateful.
Best wishes to all.
This happens to me often: “not even sure what day it is or if it matters.”
It only matters for me in that Monday thru Friday is when my clients are working and I need to stay connected to email. But the only days I seem completely aware of are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday become TheRestOfTheWeek, lumped together. I am always shocked to find out that Thursday is NOT Friday. Someday it will matter less – when I am fully retired, I won’t need so know the days of the week.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 39 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 68. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Same weather as yesterday and I was able to “bake” on the deck for about 30 minutes – it felt great! I hope I can do that again today.
I am intrigued by the specter of a former president being indicted in one state and having the governor of his current state block extradition. He would be trapped in his sweltering Mar-A-Lago resort, which closes for the summer, unable to travel to any state that respects other state’s extradition agreements (he had been planning to summer at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey). One of the MSNBC hosts last night suggested that his MAGA devotees would surround Mar-A-Lago and battle any law enforcement that tried to arrest him. Grab popcorn!! I am fine with him stuck in Florida for the rest of his life, screaming at his TV and writing blog posts that no one is reading. It would save trying to figure out how to put him in prison and have to provide Secret Service protection to him behind bars.
I will stay masked when I go out in public because the vaccine may save me from serious illness, hospitalization and death but I really don’t want to get sick at all. I will reconsider once we get 75% of the population vaccinated. People unmasking in states where the vaccination rate is less than 30% are idiots; they can blow COVIDs on each other – I simply don’t care. Health care providers, public facing workers, and teachers are getting vaccinated so the unmasked/unvaccinated are less likely to harm innocents. If their stubbornness leads to their own deaths or those of their families, well, we probably did not need their stupidity in the gene pool. All hail Darwin!
My weather widget stopped working yesterday and I spent time researching options. It turns out that the next version of Windows 10 will have optional weather on the Taskbar which will solve that problem. However, because I get obsessed with these things, I installed the weather widget I had been using on another computer and it worked fine which meant it wasn’t the widget but the installation environment. So I uninstalled and reinstalled and voila!, it is working again. Sadly that was all I got done yesterday except for paying a few bills so today I am going to have to scramble to get some things done that I promised to clients.
See all y’all later!
I’m continuing to wear my mask.
We don’t have a state-wide mask mandate because the #RepublicanDeathCult that runs the state legislature sued our governor and our state “Supreme” court struck the mandate down. But Dane County has a mask mandate and social distancing rules that are still in force until they can review the guidance. They promised something next week.
Friday Meese. 43 going up to 72 here in Kingston NY. A beautiful day to work in my garden.
Dr. Wen op-ed on masks
Bazan has it exactly right. Besides not wanting to get sick, there is this:
What about children under 12 who can’t be vaccinated, shouldn’t they continue to be masked?
Some people seem to be missing the point – those vaccinated don’t rely on being with only other vaccinated people, they rely on their own immunity: unvaccinated people lying about their status is irrelevant. In many ways, removing your mask when you are in a crowded place filled with strangers is the most selfish thing you can do – “I got mine, screw you.”
Bingo. I’ll be wearing a mask – or at least some kind of face covering (I’m starting to have problems with masks again as the weather warms up) – around people and whenever I leave my property. Period. I don’t know if there will come a time when I stop. I certainly don’t see one now.
Puerto Rico
Short work day today, and I may get a veggie burger for dinner. Wish I’d never found out that a local burger chain has actually veggie veggie burgers. Lovely weather today — 60 heading to a high of only 82, and low humidity for once.
It’s 61 heading for mid 70s and off-and-on sunny thus far today. We had enough sunshine yesterday to generate 18.9 KWHs and bring the m-t-d to a hair under 174. It is definitely possible to generate over 125 KWHs in a week because we did in ’17, ’18, & ’19 – but we certainly aren’t doing it this year. At the rate we’re going, we won’t get 400 for the month, much less 500. So. We shall see what we shall see.
Moving slowly and through a lot of brain fog today. Sinusitis flare just after midnight. Finally dropped off sometime around 5:30 and slept until 7:30. Healing Energy to all of us who have sleep issues, whatever the cause. Meanwhile, hoping the coffee helps. It has not so far.
Lisa seems to have traded tummy troubles for the more usual anxiety attacks when she starts thinking about trying to do something. Other than that, things are still in a holding pattern. I haven’t seen Jill so she’s probably either still in ABQ or on the way home (with we’ll hope a better diagnosis for her son’s father, whatever better means). No movement for a couple of days on the GFM. Karen’s a little better. Aji saw her doctor yesterday and calmed down a bit. Being actually listened to and believed always does lower the stress. The doctor said there was cause for concern and has written the referrals for the tests/scans. Those will take at least a week to set up – Aji didn’t say where but obviously not in Taos, so maybe Santa Fe or even ABQ – and then more time to get the results back and go on from there. So that’s sorta good news for her. Other truly good news is the professional accountant found some things Aji’d missed to lower what they owed on taxes, apparently enough to come in under the sales they made on Wednesday. Also the vet and farrier visit was able to deal with both horses – expensive but a relief.
I got a call from my son yesterday. The Camry can’t go in until next Tuesday, the garage is that booked up. Meanwhile my DiL – who doesn’t have insurance – has been ill and last Tuesday they finally took her to urgent care. Urgent care doctor practically had a fit they hadn’t taken her straight to ER but did a blood test – 2 points below needing a transfusion. He gave them a letter stating “severe anemia, needs immediate transfusion” to take to ER. The ER doctor read “anemia”, kept asking if she was pregnant, and told my son to take her home and give her iron pills. Fortunately my son isn’t that stupid. They didn’t leave. Just waited – without her getting any blood – for about 8 hours until the shift changed and they could present the note to a different ER doctor. Who got her blood 8 hours after “immediately” and also admitted her. The CT shows lesions and cysts all over her ovaries and uterus. While she was in the hospital they gave her morphine. They told her to take Tylenol when they sent her home. She needs a total hysterectomy. And all the aid they qualify for because of their income, they don’t qualify for because of their savings (money they’ve been saving for 4 years to pay off a ‘balloon note’ just before it balloons). Nobody knows yet what’s going to happen here either. (U.S. doesn’t have health care – it has rich white privilege, genocide for BIPOC, and “oopsies” for the poor whites caught in the genocidal system.)
So. When I say brain fog. . . It’s over an hour since I started writing this. sigh. Need lots of Good Thoughts by whatever name and from whatever Tradition. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 56 and sunny in Bellingham. I’m finally really ready to plant some flowers, but still short on energy to shop for the plants. I think our son will be here today to rebuild my old potting bench and perhaps we can take a plant buying break. He needs plants the deer won’t eat and I need shade plants so our options are limited and that makes shopping easier.
Best wishes to all on this sunny day in May.
Saturday Meese. 47 going up to 71 here in Kingston NY. A great day ahead to get some gardening done.
Thank you @NydiaVelazquez and @RepRaulGrijalva
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 59. Showers throughout the day will keep things cool. Yesterday, during a dog walk, we were showered with crabapple blossoms blowing off the trees! It was a good crab year and I will miss the white, pink, and red blossoms that have been dressing up the neighborhood.
I have to say that of all the things that the January 6th insurrection exposed, the most alarming was the recent arrest of the active duty Marine Corp major. Not surprised that there are violent white supremacists in the armed forces but that they believed that they were above the law. That, coupled with the rantings of 100 retired military commanders who have thrown in their lot with the GQP conspiracy theorists, make me wonder if a military coup is possible here. We certainly have a large segment of elected Republicans willing to ignore the Constitution and the rule of law and who have signaled that should they gain power, they will not hesitate to overturn any election whose outcome they dislike. Goddess help us that we can get this righted before the 2022 election when the die will be cast.
See all y’all later!
Slept in this morning, so I guess tomorrow will be my walk/run. There is rain in the forecast every day over the next week, I just hope it isn’t in the 6am hour. I am really envious of those of you with cool weather, it’ll be in the 70s tomorrow when I walk. At 6am. Watching the news, eating breakfast. Today: housework.
It’s 58 heading for mid 70 and overcast. For the foreseeable future. Yesterday we generated 16 KWHs, today we’ll be doing good to get 6. The m-t-d is 189 and we’ll be lucky – & I guess blessed – if we make it over 400 for the month. Other than today’s 60% chance, the rain chances are under 50% to go with that 100% overcast. sigh. I hate global warming.
Some a**hole jerkwad from a site whose name I won’t mention reported Aji’s blog as a phishing scam last night. It’s been fixed but jeebus! can’t those evil em effers over there go TF away and leave people alone? Just like I’m not technically capable of the “denial of service” attack Admins insinuated was the reason for me being banned, Aji wouldn’t know how to do it in the first place. Even if she wanted to. Which of course she doesn’t. It’s just so effen berner for people with that kind of power, that kind of platform, to attack & keep attacking those smaller, weaker, & “less important” than they are. Projection has always been their thing & they’ve abused power from the moment they got enough power to be able to abuse it. Other than the site itself I don’t know names and wouldn’t mention them if I did – but I sure wish Karma worked faster!
Other than that, Aji’s hanging on. She’ll set up the tests/scans as soon as she can. Once the results are back she (we if she tells us) will know what she’s up against – and what can be done about it. Fineena’s a little better. Amelia managed to do a pharmacy/grocery store run last night. Jill’s not back online yet. & I haven’t heard any more from my son about my DiL either. Holding/pls Hold the Good Thoughts.
I got better sleep so that part’s good. It’s dark which never helps my brain function so that part isn’t. But like the rest of us, I’ll keep on truckin’. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}