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 to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.
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Good morning, 62 and partly sunny in Bellingham. We were in Fairhaven yesterday and decided to stay for lunch, but alas Covid reality means lots of changes. To RonK’s dismay the cafe featuring his favorite clam chowder has a new owner and a different version of clam chowder. And all the gf info has disappeared from the menu so I had to ask more questions than I wanted to.
Many of the bars and cafes have added outdoor dining options, most of them built in what were parking spaces so that means less accessibility for me. I want the businesses to survive so I’ll adapt to the changes but seeing structures in what was the street is a surprise. Oh well, until I get a second shot and/or the number of covid cases drops I’ll mostly be at home anyway. Best wishes to all.
princesspat, sorry about the changes! When will you get your second shot?
It is very discouraging to appear to take large steps backwards. The problem is that we can’t convince enough people to get vaccinated and we will not achieve herd immunity until we can stop the spread of the virus. We get vaccinated and that protects us from the worst of the virus’ symptoms but it does not stop it from spreading. It is surging now because the only mask “requirement” is the honor system and there is shortage of honor in America right now. I wish only the anti-vaxxers would get sick but it doesn’t work that way.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 64 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 79. The forecast calls for … smoke! We are under an air advisory due to the wildfires in Canada and they are recommending that we don’t do outside things if we have trouble breathing. We had this a couple of years ago and it is definitely an odd thing – the sky is a very funny color.
The NBA basketball team that plays in Milwaukee won the championship last night. I am glad that the city had its moment in the limelight – they really got robbed when the Democratic National Convention could not be in person in the city last year. It will take years for the businesses who put up money in anticipation of revenue become whole again – if they are still in business. The players are mostly unselfish and have a strong community commitment so it is good to see them win. I am not an NBA fan (it doesn’t look a lot like basketball to me) but I watched the game in solidarity.
This is good news:
As long as the committee is not seen as partisan showboating – that it will help people understand what went on – that is important as they begin their work.
The funniest thing from yesterday’s news – Tom Brady disses tRump with his “40% still don’t think he won the Super Bowl” plus being called “Sleepy Tom.” I don’t care for Tom Brady because, if he really is not a tRump pal he certainly acted like one. You can’t get that stain off.
Another busy day here – I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday, it feels like Friday already.
See all y’all later!
Wednesday Meese. 64, going up to 79 here in Kingston NY and MORE RAIN!
Ugh. Wish I could ship it to the parts of the country that need it.
This was good news: Tiffany Cunningham
Puerto Rico
Good morning, all. We have a chance of rain today, also Saharan dust. So, yay. I just finished what I hope is the last edit of tonight’s Bookchat post. It goes up at 7pm central at the orange place if you want to stop by. I’m in the office all day, got my desk yoga book, though I have pretty much memorized the ones I do. Hope for a good day for everyone.
It’s 66 heading for 88, who knows with the heat index, and mostly sunny. Yesterday we generated 17.57 KWHs and the m-t-d is 328.58 – not exactly on track but 500 for July is still very possible.
So Bezos spent multiple Billions to recreate for rich guys the Alan Shepard flight back in the day, then handed out 2 Million to charity as a “make nice”- and chose Van Jones to administer it. Mighty white of him. Meanwhile on this continent alone the west is drying of drought where it isn’t burning and the east is flooding. And I have friends depending on the kindness of strangers for their healthcare – or food or remaining housed.
I’ve chicken breasts in the oven. Should be done in another hour. I hope I can blow the warm air out of the house before the outside air gets so warm I have to close up the house without doing so. We shall see what we shall see. Twitter stuff to do. So far, so good, on my hands. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 58, cloudy and windy in Bellingham. I’ve got a laundry and housekeeping day ahead but I’m lacking energy and motivation so maybe another cup of coffee will help me get started. Best wishes to all.
Well, ’tis noon already, Moosekind!
Just enjoyed some coffee. It’s so inconvenient to have only one vehicle! I gave Dearly a cooked breakfast this morning—that’s one of the ways in which I spoil him—but then had to rush right out to get my hair done because the Democrats here in the Home are having a meet-‘n-greet this afternoon. Now Dearly is on his way to the doctor.
It’s 87 F. here in Ashburn, the skies of which are hazy from Western wildfires. The air quality is Code Orange, it’s so bad. If there really are thunderstorms this afternoon, they’ll clean the air and lower the temperature.
Just received a text from Dearly. He has to pay a $210 traffic fine for speeding. Sheet! And I thought he’d left in good time for his appointment! OMG.
Well, Moosekind, it’s lunchtime for the dawg, for moi, and there are other chores waiting. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
{{{Diana}}} Yikes! on the speeding fine. I hope the day gets better. For both of you. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Holey moley! That’s a very expensive speeding ticket.
Thursday Meese, 58 and cloudy going up to 80 here in Kingston NY.
Puerto Rico
Good morning. Very busy day at work yesterday, but I took care of my back & I’m only a little stiff this morning, not in pain. Bookchat went well last night, lots of comments. Today’s plan: work, and clean up my kitchen. My neighbor has been having plumbing problems, and they think the problem in the pipe is down here, so tomorrow the plumber is coming into my kitchen. I haven’t had any problems, so she’s paying. Which is good, because I couldn’t pay for a plumber visit, especially when I’m not having any problems. Anyway, I need to clear out room for them to work, so that’s what I’ll be doing with my “get up and move around” times.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} I’m so glad “not in pain” – also glad the neighbor is paying for the plumber. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is “a temperature” and will be “another temperature” but I can’t tell because my weather app crashed. All I know for sure is that I am glad I got my central air repaired yesterday because I remember that it will be hot and the outside air will be unpleasant.
Yay, Nancy Pelosi for fixing the conflict of interest problem on the January 6th Commission. You can’t have people who are living in tRump’s colon on the panel and especially people who have vowed to turn the investigation into a clown show by insisting that the panel look at the George Floyd murder protests. McCarthy only picked those people in an effort to “win” the 24 hour news cycle.
The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal is on life support and I recommend that they pull the plug. It was only intended to slow down the process, to drag it out so long that another 20 bridges collapse and Joe Biden gets blamed. It is how Republicans “govern” – screw everything up, blame Democrats and run for election on the suffering of the American people.
I ate in a restaurant for the first time in about about 18 months and I think I experienced first hand the problems that the hospitality industry is facing. I did eat outside but I wonder how useful it is to mask as I move from the front door to outside – COVID would be in the air from people moving between the two areas. Anyway, my meal was botched and the manager had no interest in fixing it and was hostile that I even asked. I am sure the kitchen is understaffed but then they should cut back on menu options so they can do a few things right. Sadly, his attitude is going to lead to his wait staff getting lower tips (not from me but others who don’t realize it was not her fault) and those people will quit. I will go back to curbside pickup and delivery (and skip that particular restaurant entirely.)
See all y’all later!
What an unpleasant experience, Jan! Dear Goddess. By all means avoid ever eating in that place again.
It’s 70 heading for mid 80s, heat index low 90s, and sunny at the moment. We’re still cloudier than “normal” so I’m thankful for whatever we get. Yesterday we generated 16.9 KWHs and the m-t-d of 345.58 while still not “on track” means it’s still very possible to get over 500 for July.
It is infuriating, all the “Biden should tell Congress, Biden should make Congress” crap the MSM is pushing. Biden can and has asked Congress, Congress will do whatever it does, and Biden will do what he can around whatever Congress does. That’s the way it works. But that’s not the way a “unitary executive” – a despotism – works and the MSM has been manipulating the general public into believing that we are a despotism for decades. So that if/when they do make that violent overthrow stick, America will accept it as being “constitutional”. And that will be that for the Great Experiment.
Aji and her doctor are pretty sure it’s Lupus. (SLE specifically.) More (expensive) tests to confirm, of course, but they’re starting to treat it based on that “pretty sure” Dx. Since it will take a couple of months before Aji gets any relief from the treatment, sooner started is better. Jill’s stalker/harasser is back. We thought she’d gone for good when she deleted her tweets/comments and platforms but no such luck. Dependable transportation is still up in the air but she’s got a temporary dependable person for this week at least. Karen’s puppy is being a puppy and Henry is getting used to her – both of which are being good distractors from her health issues. Like pain, breathing, and needing rides because she passes out in the heat if she has to park too far from the building she needs to into. Lisa’s hanging on. Managing the little “around the house” things like cooking and dealing with cat barf. But nothing more. Getting anxiety about calling her doctor’s office to find out what she needs to do to get an appointment. And July’s coming to an end with no more donations towards her August rent. I haven’t heard from my friend. Which is making me nervous.
Meanwhile, I’m mostly OK. Sinusitis being a problem which is messing with my sleep. Not fun but nothing new. Hands are OK as long as I take breaks from keyboarding. So. Coffee. Then over to twitter to do more keyboarding for a bit. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Thursday morning, Moosekind! I walked down to the community garden early, noticing to my surprise and delight that the air is so cool that the day is more reminiscent of late September than mid-July. To be sure, there is some haze from the wildfires, and there are a few wisps of white cloud scattered across the blue, but the low humidity makes the day a delight. Even now at 10 a.m. the temp. is just 74 F., going up to 83 F. later. The humidity is very low for the time of year.
Oh, dear, the traffic ticket was the least of Dearly’s problems. When the optometrist at Kaiser in Reston started examining his eyes, she screamed. “You’re bleeding in one eye! I am sending you to a specialist TODAY!” So poor old Dearly had to drive over to Kaiser in Tysons Corner. Although his appointment was for 2:30, he had to wait an hour. Just as he was so disgusted he was on the verge of leaving, a doctor came out and said, “We’ve been awfully busy. Come on back and let’s have a look.”
After the “look,” the doctor said, “Luckily, today happens to be the day the specialist is here.” The specialist accordingly agreed to do the necessary, so poor old Dearly ended up having a shot in the eye. It sounds horrible. He has to have it monthly from now on. They did give him something to numb the area, but doesn’t it sound unpleasant? By the time he staggered home it was 5:30. He was very tired, and slept so long this morning that I brought his early morning tea into the bedroom. Both Monty and I are determined that he will take it easy today.
I went to the Progressives’ get-together yesterday. When I arrived the place was jam-packed! There were 10 or more tables seating 10 persons each and they were ALL occupied! A friend made sure I had a chair. He’s such a sweetheart. Of course we had to mask up because there were more than 50 attendees. Our district delegate spoke to us. It was the first time I’ve ever liked him. Might contribute to his campaign. He pointed out that since the Virginia lege is now in the control of Democrats, they’ve been able to get a few things done, to wit: no-excuse absentee voting; ballot boxes, and expanded early voting. I intend to vote early from now on so I can hand out sample ballots to voters on election day.
Sigh. I finally felt well enough to do some of the work I’m supposed to be doing. I sent the rough draft of the “Guess the Author” flyer to a woman on our committee who is supposed to be our art designer but she informed me that, as a retired diplomat, she is too busy doing diplomatic things to have time to fine-tune the rough draft. Duh. I am a writer, not a desktop publisher, so I don’t know what in the hail to do. Ask around, I suppose.
Another thing I have on my plate for the Authors’ Festival is how to decorate my table without using balloons, which I’m told are environmentally unsound. I already have a black webby tablecloth decorated with silver spider webs, which will look wonderful, but I need to make the table look mysterious, enticing, and worthy of a visit. A copy of my latest book, Magical Encounters, will be displayed. If y’all can think of anything besides an open bowl of wrapped chocolates (people love anything free), please let me know.
Time to get on with my day, Moosekind. Hope your day will go well!
{{{Diana}}} moar Yikes! – & also Healing Energy – for your husband. (The very thought of a shot in the eye makes me nauseous.)
Other than spider webs – & spiders of course – and maybe bats the only thing I can think of that “mundanes” would recognize as being esoteric is the Tarot. So maybe a few cards (carefully blessed/protected from public “vibes”) strategically placed on your table? I’m glad you’re feeling better. Moar Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Thank you, sweetie! I no longer own a Tarot deck, but I’ll see what I can find on line. Hope you’re having a good day!
Good morning, 56 and sunny in Bellingham. I finished reading The Parasol Protectorate books yesterday. The books are fun to read with lots of word play humor and interesting characters. RonK is ready for some real life activity in our outdoor bistro, but I’ve enjoyed reading outside in the company of werewolves, vampires, and adventurous Victorian ladies! My family is all doing better now so August will be busier. Best wishes to all
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 72 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 84. Chance of thunderstorms. It looks like we will have highs in the upper 80s for the next week, cooling down a little by Lamas.
COVID infections rising – and young people and children getting infected and dying – may finally be getting through the dense skulls of the #RepublicanDeathCult. Science got it right – we need to vaccinate ourselves out of this – but the doodieheads didn’t understand that it is not enough to just vaccinate those who prefer not to die attached to a ventilator gasping for breath, EVERYONE has to get vaccinated to stop the spread and stop new deadly variants from morphing. The big question in the news lately is what caused Republicans to do a U-Turn on their anti-vax platform. The stock market tanking? People saying “fk it, I’m staying home again”? Fear of some kind of lawsuit? Anyway, I hope everyone gets vaccinated – I want my life back.
Mississippi wants to overturn Roe v Wade. Thanks again, Susan Freaking Collins, you own this.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is not 100% sure that he is running for re-election. My guess is that he sees the polling and realizes that he is a polarizing figure who will be lashed to tRump’s every utternance. Even a man of little brain can probably see that the big lie is not sustainable for another 13 months; it is already starting to fray. And no Republican is going to come away from the 2020 pandemic response looking good when we hit a million dead – the video clips are sitting in the can waiting for election season. I am not sure who would run on the Republican side – the bloom is off Scott Walker – but I am sure that there are plenty of guys waiting to jump in. In 2012, a brutal Republican primary that left their nominee battered helped Tammy Baldwin win her Senate seat in an open election. We can hope for a repeat.
See all y’all later!
We’ve had below average temps for most of the month, now we’re going to get normal July temps, it’s going to feel extreme. I did a lot of housecleaning yesterday, getting the counters by the sink cleared so the plumbers can do their thing. Today’s plan: work, and more cleaning.
Good Friday morning, Moosekind! The sky was rill ugly when I woke up at a quarter to seven, but now mackerel clouds covering the blue are letting some weak sunshine through. Currently in Ashburn it’s 68 F., going up to 85 F. with rising humidity.
Nothing much to say except that at 10:30 I’m having a-waxin’ and a-dyein. I’m tired of looking like a ghost with these invisible eyebrows.
Tonight a neighbor will provide music in the courtyard, so we’ll go with our glass of real wine and our glass of false wine, and take the boy with us. Honestly, living with Monty is like living with a hoarse-voiced toddler who doesn’t speak English. He suffers from severe separation anxiety, which is why we don’t eat in the restaurants here more than once in a blue moon. He loves to tear up things while we’re gone. We never had this problem with Missy and Molly, our previous beagles. They were mother and daughter doggies, so when they were bored, Missy could always wash Molly’s face or clean her ears.
Jan, in answer to your question, I think even the dull-witted Rethugs finally figured out that it’s THEIR voters who are dying. Well, duh… Just look at the unvaxxed states—Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Missouri. I’m sure our bfitz knows more than she cares to about the unvaxxed in Arkansas, even though one might hope that in a university town there’d be fewer of them.
Time to get going. Wishing a nice, peaceful Friday to all at the Pond.
{{{Diana}}} AR is in the bottom 5 of vaxxed states. We’re just over 40% last time I checked. Even in Fayetteville most folks didn’t mask except when and where required (like when the stores wouldn’t let you in without one). And any desire we in this blue spot had to get fully vaxxed – or even early vaxxed – was blocked by the simple expedient of the state not sending us any vaccine. Until it opened up for everybody, you had to drive up to Benton County (only 25 miles it’s true) into Walmart HQ territory to get one.
I hope your day goes well and your evening better. (You’re Monty’s “pack” – dogs just naturally get freaked when they’re alone, they’re pack animals.) Healing Energy to your household. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Alabama Republican Governor Kay Ivey has discovered that encouraging ignorance among her constituents works to get votes but doesn’t work well to keep her hospital system from getting crushed:
It’s 73 heading for low 90s which probably means heat index close to if not over 100. Sunny at the moment – supposed to be “mostly” sunny all day. Yesterday we got 17.8 KWHs. Possible for July is 25, “normal” is 20 and above. We’ve had 4 days above 20 and haven’t reached 22 so far this month. M-t-d is 363.37 – yes, 500 is still possible. But not the 562 that’s the currently top production.
Getting rid of Roe so they could start working on making birth control illegal again has been a RW dream. Along with revoking voting rights for women and BIPOC. When the fascists say they’re originalists, they mean it. They want the original social situation where all the money, power, and rights belonged to white males. Christian or not noticeably otherwise white landed “gentry” males. Which of course is not the best interest of the “white working class” males – but they somehow seem to think that if we went back to the “good old days” they’ somehow magically become landed gentry. Instead of the scuts taking the place of women and BIPOC. Of course these are the same people who seem to think not getting vaxxed has something to do with freedom and not a genocidal death cult.
I’m groggy today. Sinusitis and returning summer. I think. I may or may not, hopefully not, have to turn on the A/C this coming 10 days or more stretch. I haven’t checked in with anybody yet. Holding the Good Thoughts that nothing’s gotten worse.
The cat who wants my oatmeal is staring at me. I guess I’d better finish it before he does more than stare. And get coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Making birth control illegal again is indeed their end game. I wish women would “get” this and vote out the fundies who are running state governments and packing our “Supreme” Court with people who ignore the law to promote their right-wing agenda.
Friday Meese. 67 here in Kingston, going up to 78 and no rain!
Puerto Rico
Sounds like a lovely day to do some gardening. Not too hot and no rain! YAY!
Good morning, 60 and cloudy in Bellingham. The air smells damp but no rain is in the forecast. I’m trying to remember if I did anything worth mentioning yesterday but I can’t, so it must have been just another day. I did talk to Erica and Lee, my bil. Erica’s family is home now and they are recovering from an exhausting month and grieving Wil’s mom’s death. Lee is finally feeling less pain but has a long recovery ahead. The good news is the word “recovery.”
I did do some garden clean up yesterday along with some laundry and desk work so today I think I’ll be in my sewing room. I want to fill another donation box and sew some pot holders. RonK is becoming a very good cook but he’s hard on pot holders. I get annoyed when he burns them so maybe a replacement stack will solve the irritation.
Best wishes to all.