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 28 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 43. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 42 going up to 45 here in Kingston NY.
Puerto Rico
Good morning. It got close to freezing here overnight. I’m in the middle of town, so I didn’t cover my plants, counting on the “urban heat island” to protect them. Today: church, where we have Lessons & Carols — alternating songs & the Christmas story; and I need to make next week’s breakfast. Yesterday, I made next week’s lunch of vegetables in puff pastry & cooked up a batch of spinach & mushrooms to add as extra vegetables to my meals.
Black Music Sunday
It’s 28 going to 55 and sunny. We got 6.4 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 60 – not on track for 180 but we gained a little bit. Not quite 2/3 the month left to go but clouds in the forecast. We shall see what we shall see.
Raynaud’s flare (plus whatever else that makes my index finger unproductive), sinusitis flare (3 plus 1 hours sleep with 4 not-sleep in between), and I had a fall last night when I took some trash out. I rolled with it and the ground is (relatively) soft so I’m fine – except my back informed me this morning that I will not be sweeping the entire house today. I’ll be lucky to keep up with the litterbox areas. sigh.
Everybody’s exhausted. The reasons vary with the person. The resulting restrictions on what they can do varies with the person. But everybody. sigh. But there is work to do. And we try to do it as best we can. Whether we can get it done is another we shall see what we shall see. But we’re trying.
Finally getting around to making stock with the turkey bones from Thanksgiving (not a lot of bones since my DIL brought about 1/8 the turkey for me but the back by itself is enough for stock) and the house smells nicely of that. Off to Dee’s diary and twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 38 and partly cloudy with rain showers later today. Ava is having fun with her Christmas dance performances so I hope today’s party here following the last performance will be fun too. It’s just for family so I expect 13-15 people and I hope the rain will allow some outdoor time. I’ve got the patio’s looking like Christmas and with the fires it will be warm enough. I’ve kept the food and drinks inside though as the rain is just too unpredictable.
Time to bake cookies, and as always, send my best wishes to all.
Went to Dem club holiday party tonight:
M’Daughter Carol always really liked Lloyd Doggett and talked about him a lot when she lived in Austin and in Dripping Springs. Now she lives in “The Hills” or “Lakewood,” so he probably isn’t in her district any more. The name of the place where she lives appears to change according to what mood people are in. I’ve heard “Bee Cave” mentiioned as well.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 39 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 46. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The last vestiges of the weekend snow should melt away. They are looking at a high of 63 for Wednesday! The famous xmas thaw is a week early.
This is the start of Build Back Better fortnight in Congress with legislative work wrapping up for target passage before December 25th. I guess we will see if all the sausage-making has resulted in a delicious meal or not. I wish it were the John Lewis Voting Rights Act repair bill passing – the things being put in place to destroy free and fair elections in 2022 (our last chance to fix anything) is terrifying. I have no idea where one could move to live in a democracy again if Republicans succeed in destroying this one.
This is the last full week of December, next week’s Friday will be the holiday of “Christmas, Observed.” I shall not. Our holiday is next Tuesday (“Winter Solstice, Actual”) and we will not have an official day off. My daughter will be home, though, and that will make it a very special day. I think she will stay through the first week in January, depending on her travel plans. She wants to take a warm weather vacation – she is looking at Puerto Rico – but is worried about COVID in airports. I can be flexible – I have no vacation plans other than maybe a trip to Phoenix for Spring Training if Major League Baseball and the players union decide not to kill their sport. If they are still in lockout, or COVID Year Three turns out to be terrible, I will just sit tight until it is safe to travel again.
See all y’all later!
Monday Meese. 36 going up to a toasty 53 here in Kingston NY.
Puerto Rico
You can help
Less cold than yesterday, 40s this morning. Another roller coaster week, with highs in the 80s Thursday and Friday.
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! These clear frosty mornings with frozen pools in the woods have a certain charm, as long as one doesn’t have to be out in it. At this hour the sun is lighting up the landscape and the day looks lovely. The current temp. in Ashburn is 34 f., going up to 55 F.
Yesterday Dearly drove me to the address where I’m supposed to go today at 2:30. Luckily it’s not as far away as I’d thought, although the streets are so badly designed I’ll be lucky not to have an accident. Anyway, I have to see this gang of rheumatologists. Why can’t they do the Reclast today, for Goddess’ sake? Why do I have to come back in January?
Arose at 5, much too early, so no doubt I’ll crash after I come back from this place. This morning I want to attend a presentation by our state senator and our delegate. I’ll have to hustle to be there on time.
Yesterday afternoon I made Cornish pasties for dinner. To reduce the tedium of cutting pastry circles, I made the circles bigger than usual. BAD mistake! Yes, it took less time, but the pasties are too big for me to eat. It didn’t seem to bother Dearly, though.
I did a quick book review and posted it on the Amazon website—I received a pre-release copy from the author—so that’s done. Today I have to do my Christmas newsletter. Hope I can stay awake long enough to do it!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond. Bfitz, sorry about the Raynaud’s flare, and princesspat, how about sending some rain our way? We’re 7 inches under for the year in our area.
It’s 44 heading for 65 and sunny. According to the widget the last sunny day for a week or more. sigh. Yesterday we generated just over 6 KWHs & the m-t-d at 66.3 is holding steady if not on track.
I made turkey pot pie filling with the stock and meat from the turkey back. I’m not good with GF pastry so didn’t do that. I thought about a biscuit or cheese biscuit “crust” or maybe mashed potatoes for “shepherd’s” pie. But since I really prefer my biscuits separately and my potatoes baked in wedges I decided to not. Just cover the individual casserole dishes with aluminum foil to bake/heat up and do whichever on the side.
Better sleep last night. Not unbroken but more and deeper. The molar is still crumbling. At the moment there are some sharp/rough places that hurt my tongue. Which makes it hard to talk. So I guess it’s just as well I don’t have anyone around I need to talk to. But I definitely will go get the orthogum this time. Which means another trip “out”. sigh.
Things still seem to be, well, not stable – stable would be good – but haven’t changed for several days now. Which is only good in that things haven’t gotten worse. Holding the Good Thoughts for the energy and money to come in so that things can get better. (And intent and votes as far as political stuff goes.)
Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
There are some gluten-free crusts made with a cauliflower base that you might find will work for your pot pies. The recipes on the Internets (with a quick search) are mostly for pizza crust but I saw someone suggest that if you omit the italian spices and cheeses, you can make a pretty serviceable crust for pot pies. Trader Joe’s has a GF pizza using the cauliflower crust and my daughter loves it.
That’s a thought. I’ve tried the cauliflower-crust pizza and it’s not bad.Thanks. & {{{HUGS}}}
Bfitz, my Mum always made her chicken pot pie with biscuits. I prefer pastry, but I know you can’t eat that.
What’s up with the molar? Can you get an appointment with the dentist?
{{{Diana}}} I’ve done that with biscuits and it’s quite good. I like like biscuits by themselves better. LOL
I don’t have a dentist and wouldn’t trust one right now even if I did. You can’t be masked for a dental appointment. You have to trust that they will be – and will be properly and for the entire visit. But the tooth is crumbling. A dentist might cap it or pull it but that’s not going to solve the issue of why it’s crumbling. And until that’s solved and resolved wasting several thousand dollars with a dentist isn’t in my game plan. sigh. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Does the University of Arkansas have dental students? It’s often cheaper to go to them. If you’re double-vaxxed and boostered, and they are too, it should be safe. I wear a mask throughout the dentist’s office until I’m actually in the chair: the dental assistant remains masked, and the dentist herself wears a mask and one of those plastic visor things. I don’t feel unsafe at all.
Perhaps a dental school would be some help to you.
Not that I know of. But nothing is going to help until we find the cause of the leeching and stop it. I’ll worry about finding a dentist or dental school once that’s dealt with.
Good morning, 40 and partly cloudy. Yesterday’s party was very fun but my knees are still complaining so I’ll rest this morning and be careful this afternoon. I see a bit of blue sky outside my window now but it was to wet to be outdoors yesterday. Best wishes to all.
Tuesday Meese. 36 going up to 49 here in Kingston NY.
Trying to keep my spirits up while watching Democracy trashed.
Puerto Rico
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 27 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 46. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. The warm weather tomorrow – 60s! – will be accompanied by rain. My 5-day forecast now includes the weekend and it looks dry. I will be taking a road trip so I have been watching the weather closely. Bad weather would not alter my plans other than maybe leaving earlier to avoid travel woes.
I watched the January 6th Select Committee’s meeting live where they voted on criminal contempt for Mark Meadows. Holy mackeral, have they got the goods on these guys! My guess is that Meadows will be the guy (a la H.R. Haldeman) who does the jail time for felony couping because tRump doesn’t text or email and an ex-president who plans to run in 2024 will never be indicted (Nixon was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” by the Watergate grand jury.) The only question is if having the coup exposed will bother anyone who would be inclined to vote for Republicans in 2022. I am really anxious to find out which members of Congress were part of the conspiracy (they weren’t named last night) and if the House has the courage to expel them for their role in promoting an attack on their own legislative body. Liz Cheney said “shit” – twice! – on live TV while reading texts from Fox News personalities and tRump Jr. It was bleeped for rebroadcast. Ha! What the committee already has seems damning, I am not sure how the Justice Department can ignore it.
I got quite a bit done on work projects yesterday (mostly clearing stacks left over from my office downsizing) and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have two accounting projects to do today that will get me ready for year-end and then I can set that aside for a while.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Had a really infuriating day at work yesterday. A lot of people are scheduled to leave at 4:30, which seeing that we’re open till 5 seems a little unfair. Everyone else had some reason to leave early (except one, I’ll get to that) leaving me as the only person answering the phones for the last half hour. There was one other person, I could hear him tapping away at his computer — and he could hear me taking calls, but for some reason he didn’t dial in. I logged in to work e-mail last night and e-mailed the supervisory team that I’m not logging in to work this morning. I’m too angry to talk to people. Going to watch Marvel movies, or something else where the good guys win in the end.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese! Here it is, 10:30 a. m. and I’m just pottering about. I did make the bed. The current temp. is 47 F. in Ashburn, going up to 57 F. Gloriously sunny as usual, and last night in the clear dark sky I saw a big old half-moon.She’ll be full on the 18th.
Just learned that little Ethan will be coming at tea-time Sunday and will be picked up at tea-time on Monday. The Arlington Public Schools are closed for the hols., so the frantic parents have to scramble for day care. The RWNJs want all these babies, and Joe Manchin wants everyone to work so he can watch them while sitting on his yacht, but the Christofascists are not willing to provide day care for the beleaguered parents.
I might go over one other day next week, depending on my schedule. The thing is, we need to look after Younger Son’s dog in the mornings, so that kind of cramps our style.
Saw the bone doctor yesterday. She’ll talk to the insurance company about my having Reclast. It seems one is never “cured” of osteoporosis. Medical intervention can prevent it from becoming worse, but that’s all. Apparently I’m in a very bad way. And I’m not even thin!
Well, I must finish dressing and walk to the foot doctor. Doctors, doctors, doctors! At least this one is only interested in my foot.
Wishing a good day with no rain to princesspat, and a good day to everyone else at the Pond.
Sorry to hear this: “Medical intervention can prevent it from becoming worse, but that’s all. Apparently I’m in a very bad way.”
Do you think that the bone issues could be causing some of your sleepless nights? I know that has been plaguing you for a while.
It’s 60 heading for 65 and cloudy. Yesterday we generated 6 KWHs and the m-t-d at 72.4 was holding steady. Gonna lose more ground today. sigh. But we’re getting close to the 2.5K system’s December ’14 generation of 76 KWHs – might reach that today even (maybe) – so there is that.
Hands are still a problem. But I’m managing so far – as long as I don’t play any FreeCell and go light on the emojis. Sinuses also still a problem – sleep was 5 hours (3-1/2 hours sleep, 3-1/2 hours awake, 1-1/2 sleep). The crumbling tooth hurting my tongue is still a problem. The dental gum is helpful, once I manage to get it in the right place and to stick, but it comes off when I eat. And while I don’t eat a lot I do eat frequently. (It’s how I’ve managed my “pre-diabetic” condition for 50 years now.) Got my lab information just a few minutes ago. My cholesterol is up slightly (as it’s been for years). The pre-diabetic condition of course. Everything else “normal” – including the test for auto-immune diseases. Good to know I don’t have any. The NP wants me back in 6 months to test again on the cholesterol and pre-diabetes. None of this tells me what else I might be malabsorbing and where it might be leeching from. Nor why. sigh.
Amelia managed a grocery order and a shower yesterday. For her, with her currently-unmedicated ME-CFS, that’s very good. Way short of what needs to be done, but better than she can do on a daily basis. Everybody else is stable. Not good, but not getting worse. At the moment.
When we elected Jimmy Carter I rejoiced. Somebody who had science background, had training in analyzing a problem then finding a solution and implementing it. When we elected Bill Clinton, I was happy. We had another chance at “fixing” things – people rights (including healthcare), voting rights, international relations, environment. By the time we got to Barack Obama I didn’t have much hope. I was glad because it was about effing time we elected a Black person as president and what he represented was/is so very good. (On top of course of him being a caring and competent person.) But hope? For our nation or our planet? Nope. And I have even less now. But I – we – keep doing what we can. No hope is no excuse for not trying.
Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 38, cloudy, but not raining at the moment. I’ve got laundry going so my son can take the sheets to his place to dry while he has lunch. Fortunately he is working close by so it’s easy for him to stop by. My basement cloths lines are fine for everything else, but I will be glad to have a dryer again.
I’ve been avoiding the news as best I can but awareness and concern about our struggling democracy is always in my thoughts. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 64. Not surprisingly, it is foggy right now as the ground is definitely colder than the air. The forecast is for “cloudy and rainy” all day. I do not have to go out in it but if there is a break, I may run a couple of errands.
I think that Mark Meadows must be the dumbest person alive. We already knew that being a member of the Tea Party and a leader of the Freedom Caca do not require intelligence – in fact, intelligence is antithetical to that world view. He apparently got himself an attorney just as dumb as he is. He has hitched his wagon permanently to tRUMP – wait until he discovers that loyalty only goes one way in trumpworld.
The debt limit has been raised so that weapon has been sheathed. Now that filibuster carveouts are a thing, I saw some hopeful “talk” about finding a carveout for voting rights. I will not hold my breath waiting for it but a lot of people are becoming increasingly anxious about what Republicans are doing, not just around access to voting but around counting the votes. One wonders if Manchin actually cares about fair elections or if his cohort (rich white males) retaining power is the only thing important to him. Maybe he should look more closely at the Q faction in the Republican Party and decide if that is who he wants in charge of the world? He must have grandchildren he cares about.
One of the respected doctors that is often interviewed on MSNBC (the pulmonologist from Washington state, can’t remember his name) said that we should stop looking at the number of new COVID cases because it plays into the narrative that the vaccines don’t work: “look at all the people getting infected!” He thinks we should look at the number of people who get really sick and need hospitalizations instead. Good point. The COVID vaccine is like the flu vaccine – it will probably keep you from dying but it may not stop you from getting sick. Masking and staying away from mass spreader events is how we stop getting infected. I am so angry at the anti-vaxxers for ruining it for the rest of us. It is the same deadenders who make it impossible for us to protect the environment and halt global warming – when we share space with people who are ignorant, it makes survival difficult.
I have a number of early morning tasks “simmering” and I need to get to them.
See all y’all later!