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”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 34 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 37. Isolated snow flurries are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 34 going up to 48 today here in Kingston. We had bad thunderstorms, pouring rain and threat of tornadoes yesterday.
Here’s hoping today is better.
Puerto Rico
Great Mother, Denise, certainly hope the weather is better today where you are!
Re Puerto Rico: Do you mean to say that even Mississippi, the most Goddess-forsaken state in the union, is better off than P.R.?
Good morning. Chilly again, but going to be a gorgeous afternoon. I got a lot done yesterday, only need to do my “overnight” oats & that’s it. So: in-person church, maybe go to the Rally for Kindness — I’ll wear a cap over the still healing spot on my forehead if I do, don’t want to freak people out if if starts bleeding yet again. Or maybe I won’t go. For now, just eating breakfast & watching the news.
Glad things are going well, another!
Black Music Sunday
I lost my password to dailykos when Big Surly crashed my computer, but perhaps I’ll look for it again.
{{{Diana}}} you should be able to get to Dee’s diary if you click on her tweet above. When I do that, it takes me to twitter and then I click on the picture of the diary itself and it takes me straight there. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind. It’s partly cloudy and quite cold this morning, 40 F. When I rolled out of bed at 6:30 a.m., it was darkish and 34 F. It’s going to be pretty much like this all week.
Had the night from HELL last night! I won’t go into the unsavory details but, take it from me, I do not want another one like that. To make things even more perfect, Monty barfed up green on a different part of the cream-colored rug. Here’s what we’re going to do about that: we’ll go to Lowe’s, buy a cheap but washable rug with plenty of orange and brown and mustard yellow colors, and put that in front of his bed. The barf green will add a pleasing contrast. I don’t mind washing the rug once in a while, but I do object to doing it every day. It takes a lot of energy to wash it, not to mention the soap and disinfectant, and it takes all day to dry on the porch. We’re coming to the time of year when the weather won’t be very good out there.
That said, I am determined to have a writing day or die in the attempt!
Also, contrary to a lifetime of training, I’m going to have to stop reading the news. Glenn Dunkin’, our new dough-faced gubernator-elect, has fulfilled my every expectation as to his performance, which is to say ZERO. No policy, not even a transition team. He’s just going around the state having rallies with people who simply luh-uve him. This country is experiencing an outbreak of stupidity so profound that by the time my darling girl grows up I expect we’ll be under Chinese rule. Good thing she’s already learning the language.
We couldn’t do the Zoom call last night. We tried. And we tried. And we TRIED, but we “couldn’t get no satis-faction,” as that awful boy said in 1966. We need to come up with something pretty fast, though. The Australian nephews had some luck with Facebook Video calls in the past, but I don’t know if FB (I’m not going to call it by its stupid new name) even has that capability any more.
Well, now that I’ve cheered you up, have a nice Sunday! I’m going to see if I can get into dk with a new password so I can look at Dee’s diary. Wishing a nice, quiet day to all at the Pond.
This is not surprising: “[Youngkin has] no policy, not even a transition team. He’s just going around the state having rallies with people who simply luh-uve him.”
It’s the new model – take a person with no experience, develop a cult of personality around them, do some ads to trash their opponent, throw in a few rallies, voila! political winner who will proceed to ruin whatever governmental unit he or she takes over. People decry “career politicians” but they know how to run things and how things run.
So damn true, Jan. Sigh.
It’s 42 going up to 59 (or higher) and overcast at the moment but is supposed to clear off soon. We generated 6.66 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d of 79 is on track for 180 if not 200.
I’ve already done enough cleaning to guarantee my online abilities will be limited today. I just hope I manage to get twitter boosts/RTs out without too much trouble and cussing. Well, I hope I get them all out at all. sigh. No, the “AllerCalm” isn’t going to be a long-term help with my sinusitis. Seems 2 days in a row is the limit on that. But I did manage almost 6 hours over the course of the night, including a 4-hour chunk.
Folks are hanging on, some better than others. Some with stronger rope than others. Some with some jolts to try and make them lose their grip. But hanging on. I guess all those “of good heart” in the nation and the world are too. The environment is and isn’t. Is in that things are mostly still recognizable. Isn’t in that the process of drastic warming is continuing – and for all the positive mouth noises coming out of our politicians & the corporations, I don’t think we’re going to stop it. When it gets over 2C, feedback loops are going to take over. And we’re not on track to stop it before it gets there.
But there is work to do and music in the world. So I’m off to Dee’s diary for the music then twitter for that part of the work before I get back to my cleaning. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 55 and more rain in Bellingham. The ground is so wet I’m becoming concerned water will find it’s way into the basement. I rested yesterday and avoided reality by watching videos about restoring old chateaus in France. Apparently it’s very popular on YouTube because there’s a lot to watch. Back to reality today with laundry, Tday prep, desk work, and allowing Christmas thoughts into my head. I think I’d rather rake leaves in the rain!
Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 28 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 36. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
The news is easy to scan as the frenzy over Infrastructure Week has subsided and we are down to articles trashing Kamala Harris (the fallback for slow news days) and the Sunday shows still giving an inordinate amount of air time to Republican electeds defending Donald Trump’s attack on democracy and calling the Biden Administration a failure after less than 10 months in office. Joe Biden was handed a crisis of epic proportions and has had to try to fix it with half of Congress refusing to help because they want him and America to fail. That the mainstream media promotes the Republicans who want to return us to the bad old days is despicable. Attacking Democrats as they focus on the horse race is their business model and they will not forego it for the good of the country. Grrr.
It is the last full week before the holidays start cranking up. The rest of the year it is going to be difficult to get anyone’s attention for planning projects so it will be important to have some things in the queue for billable work in December and January. I still have a few accounting things I need to get done so I better get back to it.
See all y’all later!
Trashing MVP Harris is a US media sport.
The trashers are getting ratioed on Twitter
Eff CNN!
I have been shunning them, refusing to even click on their articles, after they kept Chris Cuomo on the air after his Kamala related birtherism during the primary. That should be disqualifying forever.
Puerto Rico
Good morning, chilly one but up to the 80s this afternoon. I started sneezing yesterday afternoon and oh wow…. posted on FB asking if it is possible to actually sneeze your head off. Working in the office today, at least until I scare people with my sneezing. Which isn’t a covid symptom, I checked.
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s 44 F. and quite ugly outside in Ashburn. Our high today will be 49 F., possibly sunny, with very gusty winds.
After a fairly decent night’s sleep I have a less jaundiced view of the human race this morning. I made Apple Bran Muffins with walnuts for breakfast, so feel pleasantly replete.To celebrate the Washington team’s highly unlikely victory over Tampa yesterday, I drank a small glass of orange juice. Normally I avoid it, preferring to eat the fruit rather than drinking the juice.
I would like to boycott CNN but Dearly keeps homing in on it when nothing else is on. Madame Vice President has always been, and remains, nothing short of marvelous.
Today’s agenda: visit the dermatologist at 10:45 a.m. Luckily she’s an 8-minute walk through the buildings. I don’t mind bundling up for a walk outside when necessary but I hate wind, especially 40-mph winds. Also, more writing! I drafted my Staff Appreciation Fund article, and did some research on the writing assignment for December 9th. Also need to work on my submission to Master’s Review writing contest. I won’t know one way or the other until April, but what the hey.
Another, I go back and forth on this—some say it’s a good thing to do, others say it’s quite pointless—but I’ve started taking a 500-mg Vitamin C tablet every morning. Since then I have not had a cold whereas normally I get one a month, even after masking and social distancing. Perhaps it would help you too. Anyway, hope you can go home if the sneezing gets worse. That’s one nice thing about masks, it’s harder to spread or receive germs.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
It’s 41 heading for 67 and sunny. Not summer but definitely warmer weather for a couple of days. Yesterday we got 7.78 KWHs – the 2nd highest for the month so far. The 86.8 m-t-d is on track for 180 at least.
Jill’s had some good news sort of but mostly same ol’ same ol’ – things in train to get better but every single step is taking a month or more longer to get done than it should. Amelia’s exhausted. Well, everybody’s exhausted. Just most of them don’t have the severity of fatigue Amelia does. Aji’s is danged close, but Aji’s got backup from Wings. The closest to family help Amelia’s got is her mother covers her pet expenses. But it’s otherwise a toxic family & drain her rather than supporting her.
I’m still not managing to actually get to sleep until after midnight but I got about 5 hours of solid sleep plus another hour of dozing. My hands are better, I think. At least I didn’t have any trouble boosting Dee’s tweets above. My son doesn’t think it’s arthritis. He thinks it’s the Raynaud’s exacerbating the (otherwise mild) carpal tunnel issues I have and suggests I find some physical therapy type exercises to do for that. I’ll see what I can come up with. Anyway, off to twitter and we’ll see how better I am. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 54 and raining, with flood and wind warnings. We had close to 3″ of rain yesterday and it’s still coming down. The basement was dry when I went to bed last night so I hope it has stayed that way. RonK made a delicious pot roast for dinner last night and we also made about 6 quarts of chicken stock so the house smelled wonderful. I don’t know what will happen with Tday, but I’m ready to make gravy!
Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 48. The forecast calls for “variable cloudiness” which I think means clouds off and on.
I was watching the bill signing yesterday – muted – and I was glad I was not listening as it sounded like the Republicans who were invited to speak praised tRump for his role in the deal. Good lord, Joe, do NOT let these assholes share the lectern with you!!! tRump’s role was to turn infrastructure into a joke, to push it aside whenever his feelings were hurt because Congress was not sucking up enough and to delay it in favor of giving tax breaks to the donor class – and himself – rather than deal with an actual issue of importance. Anyone ANYONE who praises tRump for ANYTHING has to own the 700,000 and counting dead from his willful mishandling of the pandemic, putting his ego ahead of everything when it came to the response. Gawd, our party is stupid – you do NOT cozy up to those who are proud to have the leader of their party an anti-democratic malignant narcissist bent on becoming a tyrant. Give no quarter.
Senator Patrick Leahy is retiring but there is no guarantee that his seat will be filled by a Democrat. Vermont is notorious for electing Republicans and both-parties-are-the-same independents. I won’t be sad to see him leave – his pigheaded devotion to Senate Comity allowed the 7th Circuit Federal Appeals Court to go Republican, destroying forever the chance for free and fair elections in Wisconsin. His legacy will be as the poster child for Chump Democrats, playing by the rules while their political enemies plot the destruction of our democracy. Bye!
The headlines about the Rittenhouse trial suggest that the jury is faced with the question: “vigilante or civic minded teen.” The problem is that no one on that Wisconsin jury sees anything wrong with being a vigilante! The judge is an embarrassment – I was watching the trial muted and he was fiddling with papers, talking to his clerk and chewing gum like a cow while the prosecutor was making his closing arguments. He could not have more clearly said “this is all a ridiculous waste of time, just let the poor boy go home” by his actions yesterday and throughout the trial. I wonder if the family of the victims are planning a civil suit against Rittenhouse – there are surely jurors who think that what he did should not go unpunished. Make him turn over some of his right-wing donation money to those harmed by his cosplay.
I have a few errands to run which is a pattern lately – everything seems to have to be done in person. I am hoping to have a few days when I can just do nothing – maybe next week.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Warm enough here that I switched the a/c back on — 67 with a high of 83. Working at home today. Hoping I can do something today to help my back.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese! The early clouds have given way to a beautiful blue-and-gold November day. We can now see the squirrels’ nests. Three of them are in one tree—wonder whether they all belong to the same clan. It’s 40 F. right now in Ashburn, going up to 54 F.
Princesspat, hope you don’t get any more rain up there. I read this morning that Vancouver is cut off from the rest of Canada because of floods and rain. My Canadian friend and her mother have migrated from Kelowna, BC, to the Atlantic Coast (not because of the weather). Kelowna held too many sad memories for them so they hope to make a new life in Nova Scotia. They left just in time!
Went to see the dermatologist yesterday. “H’mm, I’m going to spray some spots that I don’t like the looks of,” she said. She then proceeded to squirt liquid nitrogen at them. YOWWWL! That hurt far more than vaccine jabs! Anyway, various unpleasant things will happen in 24-48 hours, then more unpleasant things will happen for the next 2-3 weeks. Still, I’m lucky to be allowed to see her twice a year. Getting an appointment with a dermatologist at Kaiser took six months and the offer of one’s first-born child.
Today I have an interview with the couple next door. They’ve been married 65 years and have a fascinating engagement story, so I think the readers of our quarterly would enjoy it.
A person is coming to give us an estimate for cleaning the stained, feelthy carpet. That should screw up our afternoon rest just fine. Speaking of rest, I managed to get about 7 hours’ sleep last night, with no drugs except sleep cream and lavender oil. I’m always happy when that happens.
Am reading the new novel by Ken Follett, Never, but it’s such a downer that I stopped about one-third of the way through. I’ll perhaps take it up again later. There are two characters I like and I want to see what happens to them. I’m also reading the last in the Amelia Peabody series. I have giggled my way through 19 of the 20, so far. They are perfect for getting me through the boredom of treadmilling, getting my nails done, and all that sort of thing.
Time to get moving. Have a great day, Meese!
It’s 60 already heading for mid 70s and sunny at the moment. Tomorrow a front moves in that will over the course of the day and night move us back into winter. But for now, maybe not summer, but definitely warm. Yesterday generated 6 KWHs which at least covers usage. Barely. The m-t-d of 92.89 is still on track for 180.
Something’s wrong at my Twitter. My Notifications/Mentions won’t load. Neither will the “recommended topics” or “who to follow” or the subject tweet of a Quote Tweet. & when I scroll over a user name, I don’t get the bio information, just a blank box where the bio information should be. I’ve tried reloading, rebooting my computer, and logging out and back in at Twitter. I’ve sent a couple of tweets to TwitterSupport but of course I can’t see any replies they might make – if they make any – until they fix this. It’s very frustrating. I probably have at least 50 notifications I haven’t seen. Of course, every time I reload/refresh the screen the little flag telling me how many unread notifications I haven’t read zeros out so I won’t know how many I have until they fix it. But at least I can get there, I can get to my TL, DMs, and other people’s Tweets & Replies page, & while the “like” disappears when I click on it, I can RT and quote tweet. So at least I know I’m not in TO or banned or anything. sigh.
Jill’s situation changed drastically yesterday. Her son called. He’s joined the Marines and is now in Basic. And away from his father so he can call. They spent hours on the phone over the course of the day, catching up. The bad news is that her husband is now on the loose. & they think he’s headed back to where Jill is. To the very neighborhood she was planning to be/should already be in. So that he could be where she would have to run into him periodically in stores or on the street – where the Order of Protection doesn’t count. So now she has to decide whether or not she’s going to move to that less expensive, more secure location if she’s going to have to worry about seeing him any time she leaves home.
Nothing new that I know of with anybody else. My hands are doing their “take 6 tries to get the mouse click to take” crap. My sleep wasn’t good. I’m debating trying some OTC “cold care” remedies or going back to the clinic. (I’m also debating – presupposing I can afford it & can find one I’d trust – getting a cleaning service in to get rid of the dust and cat dander/fur that’s been accumulating since my hands have forced me to curtail my cleaning activities.) We shall see.
Off to twitter to do what I can under the circumstances. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
I just got my notifications back! YAY!!! (& Jill’s son is in the Army, not the Marines.)
Good morning, 43 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. It’s so nice to see a quiet sunny sky outside my window. Bellingham has lots of streets closed and flooded areas, but we are ok. Two drains plugged so we did get some water in the basement, but that’s all fixed and cleaned up now and the pooled water on the patios has drained. Our son’s shop stayed dry but the area around it is flooded, and he has standing water in his back yard but his basement is dry, big relief! The Nooksack and Skagit rivers will crest this afternoon so more flooding will happen and then I hope the worst will be over. I’m grateful to be warm and dry, and feeling sympathy for those who are not so fortunate.
Best wishes to all.
Wednesday Meese. Brrr – 21 here in Kingston – yard is covered with frost. Going up to 51.
I have been totally pissed and let lose a rant against all the bullcrap attacks on MVP Harris in Black Kos yesterday – with excerpts posted to Twitter
Puerto Rico