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?
…
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 to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.
…
Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 68 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 75. Rain is in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Good Sunday Meese. 70 degrees here in NY going up to 90 today. I’ll be staying indoors.
I’m very tired of the so-called “Justice Dems”
They really shouldn’t have messed with Brother Hakeem
Puerto Rico
Sunday music
Good morning. Flipping back & forth between the news & Le Tour. Interesting story on the variants of Covid & how experts say everyone should still be wearing masks — looking at the crowds at the race, maybe 40% are wearing masks. I hope it doesn’t turn into a superspreader event. Got some cooking done yesterday, need to do more today.
I was watching baseball on TV over the weekend and the Milwaukee Brewers are now at full capacity in their stadium. The masking “policy” is to request that unvaccinated people wear masks and socially distance but no one has to show a card, it is the honor system. When the TV cameras scanned the crowd of 30,000+, no one was wearing masks except for a few children who were clearly under the age of 12 (and can’t get the vaccine). I was trying to care about the unvaccinated blowing COVIDs all over each other and, frankly, I could not muster any sympathy. I hope the service workers are vaccinated, they are innocent bystanders, but there is no one in that crowd that has not been exposed to the information that the disease is still deadly, still circulating and that there is a vaccination to protect them from serious illness and death.
It’s 74 and sunny at the moment. House open and fans going. I shouldn’t have to close up until almost noon. We’re heading for low 80s with the heat index in the upper 80s. I hope. We got 1/2 inch of rain this morning. More’s expected around dark. Yesterday we generated 14.44 KWHs – not enough to cover A/C being on much less get us to 500 by end of month. sigh. We’ll see what today brings. The clouds are moving in again.
Jill’s online stalker/harasser is back. & of course Twitter support says the harasser isn’t breaking Twitter rules. Aji’s health has deteriorated to the point she’s not going to do daily Patreons any longer starting in July. She doesn’t have the energy. Which scares the hell out of me but there’s nothing I can do but continue supporting as best I can in all the ways I can. Fineena had to use her grocery money getting her car tags renewed. Yes, late fees. No, neither COVID nor surgery is any excuse according to the NC DMV. (CA DMV didn’t accept COVID as an excuse for Amelia so NC certainly wouldn’t.) Amelia’s fighting the fatigue monster too/as usual. I haven’t heard from my friend. Either things are going as they were or they’ve gotten so much worse she doesn’t have time to connect. I’ll hope for the former.
Got as much of my Sunday chores done as my hands will let me. Gonna go to twitter stuff after I read/listen to Dee’s diary. Finish what I can later. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 75, sunny, and headed to a high of 98. Our house can handle hot temps when the evening breeze brings cool air fom Bellingham Bay, but that isn’t happening now so it’s really hot! I may move to the basement tonight.
Our son has finally solved all the plumbing problems involved with replacing the bathroom sink so today he can hook up the water and the drain and then we’ll clean up the mess and it will look like 3 days of frustrating work never happened. I appreciate his careful perseverance.
Best wishes to all on this far too hot Sunday morning.
Crazy highs in Washington state and Oregon! Canada set a new high of 116 (or as they say north of the border, 46 degrees). Yikes!
Try to stay cool!
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 68 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Rain and thunderstorms in the forecast all day. It looks like we might get a break in the rain starting on Wednesday.
Well, all good things come to an end. I will have to give up my simple pleasure of checking in on MSNBC afternoon hosts now that the tRump sHit sHow is back. :::sigh::: I am not going to give my eyeballs and clicks to media that INSISTS on giving him a breathless 24×7 forum to bring our country to the brink of destruction again. I have no doubt that the next time he will succeed.
Goshers, what could Senator Ron Freaking Johnson have meant by this? “Republicans need to run for local office to ‘take back our culture.’ ” It almost sounds :::GASP::: racist! I despise living in a state that is filled with people who see nothing wrong with putting someone like that in public office.
I wonder how much of what happened to cause the building collapse in Miami had to do with the anti-regulation anti-government business climate of Florida? Could the pursuit of the cheapest possible solution (in this case kicking it down the road 3 years) have led to an avoidable failure? When you lure people to a region by touting no taxes and no oversight – and you encourage ignoring climate change by electing Republican Senators and House members to represent you – you should not be surprised when buildings collapse and streets are underwater. The stories are heartbreaking but like when 20 6 year olds were murdered by gun violence, it will just be another blip, soon forgotten, nothing fixed. We are a stupid people.
The last week of June is here – next up is the holiday weekend. I think that Monday, July 5th, will be a day off making it likely that people add July 2nd and make it a four-day weekend. I need to get my errands run early in the week since it may be difficult to find the right people to talk to later in the week. The long weekend will be nice, though. I have a major project cranking up in July that has a hard deadline. I want to make sure I am ahead of the curve.
See all y’all later!
Ha! I love how Twitter is going after Toyota for their support of the Sedition Caucus. #ShunToyota
Context:
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! Hope none of you have been toasted by the temperatures, which are unprecedented. Here it’s a gorgeous if humid morning, 79 F., going up to 94 F. Ugh!
We had a busy day yesterday. We had to rush over to Younger Son’s house to take care of their poor od dog, whose health has deteriorated to the point that he has to wear doggy diapers. He was very depressed. He wouldn’t get up, so finally I had to tip him out of bed. When his family is away he loses interest in life,
After that we went for breakfast at Virginia Kitchen, which establishment we have not visited since January 2020. The owner was glad to see us and said that business was getting back to normal. I told him that soon we could bring our 12-year-old granddaughter but not her 7-year-old brother, as he has not been vaccinated. Nora’s getting her second jab tomorrow. Anyway, it felt so normal to be eating breakfast there! He told us that he and all the staff had been vacc’d but they still wore masks since some of their unmasked customers may not have been vaccinated. I still can’t get used to not wearing one except for the barber sthop and the grocery store.
Was too exhausted by all the rushing around to get online yesterday. Today we’re going to look at kitchen appliances, visit Goodwill to drop off some excess clothes, mail some some items at the Post Office, and get rid of the old HP printer at Green Drop, a place that, according to Yunger Son, will accept anything.
Still feeling very sad about those unfortunate people in the Florida apartment building. Imagine the horror! On second thought, don’t. Just be thankful you don’t live in Florida or Missouri.
Must get started on our day—wishing a nice, quiet Monday to all at the Pond.
It’s 74 heading for 84 and humid enough that 74 feels chilly on my skin. Got the house open and the fans going while it’s cool. I’ll need to close up in a few hours. Yesterday’s multiple rain spates kept dropping the temps back down so while I did have to close up for a bit I didn’t have to turn on the A/C. Just as well since we only generated 10.8 KWHs. The m-t-d is 455 which means it’s still possible to reach 500 for June. But considering it’s so dark right now the PV system isn’t even on, it’s not likely. sigh.
I don’t know if nothing’s really changed or if I’m depressed and it seems like nothing’s changed even though it has. I saw photos of folks celebrating Pride here in Fayetteville. Wonderful, joyous, rainbow world – with not a mask in sight. The pandemic is just a mayfly-life-cycle time span of the elephant-life-cycle time span of environmental “disease” and damage. Including the same Deplorable propaganda about “freedom” and the same strawman choices between jobs and doing what’s needed. & the same dismissing of facts regarding getting more and better jobs for doing what’s right. So people die of disease and injury because the medical industry is overwhelmed by pandemic. So people die of buildings collapsing – buildings erected on land made unstable by climate change. (And even before white culture destabilized the climate, BIPOC died of white culture/colonizers/christianity killing them for fun and profit. Nothing’s changed there either. Just some of the methods and the excuses for why it’s “right”.)
Holding on to hope. That the situations my friends are in will somehow get better. That their health will get better. That they somehow get brought to shore – or at least shallow enough water to stand up in – before exhaustion makes them lose their grip on the floating spar that keeps their heads above water. Hope is like butterflies – incredibly fragile but having even more incredible endurance. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Home from a trip into the office, watching Le Tour. Two awful crashes on the 1st day — they’re actually hunting the person who caused the 1st one, to bring charges; and another one today, one of my favorites is riding with a dislocated shoulder. He’s riding his bike with a dislocated shoulder. He’s a Welshman, the commentators like to interview him. And there’s a rider who is named Tidj (I think that’s the spelling), after local singer/songwriter Tish Hinojosa who really has an amazing voice. His parents are big fans, obviously.
All I’m doing is calling people who want to use our library.
They said that the woman who held up the sign that caused the crash has left the country. When I saw the crash on TV, I remarked that she was probably calling Southwest Airlines to “get away.” :)
Good morning, 75,sunny and headed to 100 this afternoon, yikes! I grew up in this kind of heat but after so many years of living in the PNW I’ve lost my tolerance. I’m doing a better job with managing the fans and keeping windows covered but it’s still very hot.
The saving grace is a 5×7 blow up pool RonK bought at the grocery store yesterday…best impulse buy ever! Floating in the cold water with shade from the trees and the patio umbrella saved the day and I’ll be there again soon.
Best wishes to all.
Heat wave Meese – can’t believe how hot it is here – 95 is not normal for this time of year upstate NY
Puerto Rico
Stay safe – whether that’s inside with A/C or outside in the shade and neck deep in cool water or any other cooling things you know of – just. stay. safe.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese. Up on another hot, beautiful day after the night from hell. Four hours’ sleep ain’t gonna hack it. It’s 77 F. now in Ashburn, going up to 96 F.
Jan, the other day you mentioned backup plans. Sigh. Younger Son came over last night after work. He and DIL are all too clearly having second thoughts about Maw and Paw moving in downstairs. He kept saying, “You’re still welcome to move in,” but the impression I received was that he’d rather we didn’t. I had thought they were looking forward to having our rent money as they’re scraping every cent to buy the place, but apparently not.
He kept asking what our backup plan is. We don’t have one. He said, with some justification, that our move here was supposed to be the last word in moves, that at the time we said we’d be happy ever after in the old people’s home, so what if we decide in three years that we don’t like living in his basement? What then?
He also kept suggesting that we rent one of his properties, but I don’t like that idea either. One is a rather flawed house in our old neighborhood, the other is a 10th-floor condo in Alexandria. No way! He suggested we could buy a house. I don’t want to tie up whatever money we’d get from the sale of our current place by doing that.
The whole idea of moving was that we’d wind up better off financially, but if we unless we move in with him, we won’t be. I was looking forward to having nice hardwood floors instead of smelly godawful carpet. Moving to an apartment with a dawg ranks in the top 5 of “Stupidest Ideas I have ever had.”
We’re still going to look at the house on Thursday evening at 6:30, but in the meantime, I feel very depressed.
I realize this is a very first-world problem. I just hope we joss it before we run out of money. I do NOT want to use the Benevolent Fund. I don’t mind giving to it, but I don’t want to use it.
I’m about to get ready to take off on a little bus to go see Hillwood in downtown DC. It’s where Marjorie Merriwether Post lived. Will report on it tomorrow.
Sending good thoughts, sorry the living situation is so complicated & depressing.
Thank you, another. I’ll get over it in time. Living here has its advantages—for example, I was able to walk from our flat to the doctor’s office in Cardinal Club House in 8 minutes. It’s just that it’s so expensive. They increase the monthly fee we have to pay every year.
Oh no! That is not a first world problem, my friend. Having a comfortable and safe place to live (and one that doesn’t deplete all your financial resources) is fundamental. One look at Maslow’s pyramid is all you need.
I hope you can sort it out. I do not plan on living with my daughter as I age unless she needs me around to walk her dogs (she plans to have several dozen since she can’t resist a sad face in rescue shelters). Seriously, though, I am looking at the downsizing options and Next Steps and it is very daunting.
Indeed it is! Good luck!
{{{Diana}}} That sux – & not a 1st world problem. Holding Good Thoughts for “best outcome for all concerned”. Healing Energy & more {{{HUGS}}}
Thanks, sweetie!
Eating breakfast, watching Le Tour. After 3 really scary crashes yesterday, only 1 rider dropped — he has 3 breaks in his collarbone & had to have surgery. One rider has so much bandaging he looks like a mummy, and one is riding after dislocating his shoulder. Anyway, that’s my entertainment for the day. I really should go to the gym.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 72 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Chance of showers and thunderstorms.
I have a full morning of deadlines and appointments so I can’t even take time to read the news! One more day left in June and I am NOT ready for July.
See all y’all later!
Tuesday Meese. Going up to 94 with rain here in Kingston NY.
Worries
Puerto Rico
FYI – in case you missed this conversation with Sec. Cardona
It’s 76 heading for 89 with heat index in the low 90s. Supposedly. Sunny at the moment. I like sunny. Yesterday we generated 14.2 KWHs and the m-t-d is 469.77 with 2 generating days left in June. With strong sun today and moderate sun tomorrow we’ll make the 500 for the month. We shall see.
We’re headed back into pandemic – and Biden’s gonna get the blame. Which in a sense he should. We opened too soon. We pretended like we were through it and we were just seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Which has changed from sunshine to the headlights of an oncoming train because we opened too soon. Not that my state was following the law much anyway. But at least store employees and people in stores were required to mask. So it was relatively safe to shop during the quieter times every couple of weeks. sigh.
Jill’s got the special rate wifi/hot spot and phone rate back. Because her son’s name was on the original account he (or someone who knew enough about him to impersonate him) could & did “withdraw from the program” leaving her with no ability to communicate for 10 days. But the small local company that offers the program weren’t happy about it. So they were very happy to set her back up in her own name. Fineena’s looking into getting a puppy. She’d prefer an older rescue but the puppy is what may possibly be available. In the last 5 years she’s lost Sam and Julia. Henry, while much younger than they were also has health issues. Nothing new for Amelia or Aji. That I know of anyway. My friend was able to take some of her vacation time while Hospice took her dad for a “respite” week and get a bit of a break on multiple fronts. But of course Medicare doesn’t pay for residential care so that’s not a more permanent solution. Holding Good Thoughts and sending Healing Energy all around.
I’ll need to close up the house shortly. More coffee first. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 68 and a blessed breeze is blowing across the bay and into our hot house! The accumulated heat has made the upstairs too hot for comfort so the relief is welcome. I need to do a better job of keeping my leg up today so finding the breeze and resting with it is the plan. Best wishes to all.