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 21 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 34. Cloudy skies with a chance of isolated flurries.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
So, this is great:
the city just has 1 reply:
Which doesn’t actually tell us anything.
Yikes!
Yikes! That sux. I’d be a ruptured line from the cold – but it would have been nice if they’d said so. Hope it’s fixed soon.
Sounds like Texas is still ill-prepared for winter. States that deny climate science also deny that the new reality is “cold weather more common.” Dummies.
Sunday Meese. Thousands of my neighbors still have no power from the ice storm.
We are okay.
Thank Heavens you’re OK – hope your neighbors get power back soon.
Amir Locke
Cops busting into peoples houses and then shooting them if they resist having a home invasion. How often do they shoot first and then apologize if it is a white person?
Puerto Rico
Strike announced
Flooding
Boil water notice. Ugh. I went to the supposed water distribution center in my neighborhood last night and it was dark & empty. Luckily, I needed gas anyway so I bought some at the station. I should go back there this morning. So that’s my day. Oh, I’ve started reading All Boys Aren’t Blue, for Ali Velshi’s Banned Books Club. It’s good.
Black Music Sunday
It’s 30 going to 47 and sunny again. The PV system is still off, still covered in snow. Apparently one lonely little cell managed to get uncovered long enough to generate 17 watts yesterday – about enough to power my bedside lamp for an hour. So we’re starting the 6th day of February with 5.83 KWHs total. sigh. It’s going to take a lot of sunny days after the snow’s clear to get anywhere near on track.
The news is mostly sickening. I’d comfort myself with progress made – if we weren’t apparently erasing it as fast as possible. I’ll keep doing what I can, as we Decent folks all are, and bring my focus closer in. Not that I can do much for the closer-in folks either – pray, boost as appropriate, send a little money when I have it. But they’re hanging on and I’m hanging on and we shall see what the future brings when it brings it.
Off to Dee’s diary and twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Sunday afternoon, Moose Pond dwellers! It’s 37 F. here in Ashburn and that’s going to be our high for the day. Very sunny, but FREEZING.
Darling son-in-law, an Apple engineer, walked us through the process of ordering new-to-us but used Apple iPhones. We couldn’t get FaceTime to work so we did it the old-fashioned way over the phone. We’re still using old, old phones and the batteries are dying in them. These SEs should keep us going for a while. I have other technical problems that I won’t bore you with.
Last Tuesday I began using some new cream on my hooves twice a day.* Lawks, I hope I’m not imagining things, but I’m already seeing an improvement! In a month I’ll be able to tell one way or another.
My neighbor down the hall and I walked to the gym yesterday and she showed me how to use the new rowing machine. I’m going to start rowing for 20 minutes a day and treadmilling for 25 minutes a day, except Sundays. On Sundays I insist upon my right to do nothing except cook. I have a pandemic spare tire I’d like to be rid of.
We plan to leave here about 5 because Elder Son is going to cook dinner for us. He is such a dear boy. Of course, I actually have all kinds of work to do, but I’m going to ignore that today.
Wishing a nice, quiet Sunday to all at the Pond.
(Bracken once said that all female writers resemble either horses or birds—I definitely fall into the horse category.)
This:
I am realizing that the time when my daughter will be less “accessible” to me is rapidly approaching and have been choosing to do things with her – even just sitting and chatting or watching TV together – rather than working. I can work when she is sleeping. :)
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! Up far too early as usual, after 5 hours’ sleep from 10 p.m. to 3 p.m. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t, so up at 5:15. I’ll do as much as I can while awake.
Dinner was wonderful last night except for the tantrum on the part of little Ethan. Great Goddess, that child can scream. I gathered that he had somehow pricked his finger, thereby producing one tiny drop of blood, after which he became convinced that he would die then and there. Oh…my…Goddess.
On to a more pleasant subject, the weather. Meh. It’s 25 F. now, going up to 41 F. Clear and sunny at the moment.
Do you agree with me that we all have enough to worry about without worrying about the invasion of Ukraine? I hope the brave old general who spoke out in Russia yesterday doesn’t get defenestrated. It’s so apt to happen when Putie is around.
Going to see how much I can get done before I collapse after lunch. Wishing a productive day to all at the Pond!
Monday Meese. It’s 20 degrees here in Kingston NY and we have a winter weather advisory for snow and freezing rain. The “good” news is most people here finally have power restored – about 8,000 customers – not yet.
Puerto Rico
Monday back in the office. Boil water situation continues. I brought 2 bottles as well as my tea. Several branches? stems? of aloe vera broke off when I was moving them around last week. I brought office in veggies and put them on the give-away table. Hope people take them.
It’s 22 going to 50 and sunny. PV panels still mostly covered with snow. We got 1/3 KWH yesterday – makes it 6 for the month. sigh. If I were younger – and had the balance I did as a kid – I’d see what I could reach with a broom from the top of a 6′ ladder. But I’m not.
I wish I could say everybody’s OK but they’re not. (Including me – 3 hours of sleep, hands stiff and aching.) But everybody’s hanging on. It’s not good but I guess it has to be good enough because it’s what is.
Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 16 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 23. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Tomorrow and then for the rest of the week, we will be in the mid to upper 30s which is more normal. There is some snow expected Wednesday but it is supposed to be wet, the kind that lands and melts within hours. I am more concerned about the mixed precipitation with ice expected Friday. I am done with winter.
I am enjoying Dumbkin’s discomfort at being exposed as an asshole – his vests and swoosh haircut make me think he fancies himself very special. Turns out he is a garden variety trumpishly deplorable Republican. I hope that the intense heat from the hatred aimed at him gives him warts and makes him lose his hair!
Can’t stay – too many irons in the fire.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 49 and partly sunny outside my window today. Between family phone calls and some time outdoors I forgot to check in yesterday. But my days are so quite lately there isn’t much of interest happening anyway! As always, my best wishes to all.
{{{princesspat}}} your quiet days are interesting. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 19 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
The “Roberts” Court essentially gutted the rest of the Voting Rights Act but this time without Roberts voting in the majority. The Alabama legislature passed a redistricting plan that was clearly a racial gerrymander, reducing the power of Black citizens by giving them 14% representation while they are 27% of the voters. The tRump court said “this is great!” and let the map stand, scheduling a hearing for 2023 – after the Congressional elections that may flip the majority in the House. Bastids. Chief Justice John Roberts opened the door in 2013 by killing pre-clearance and he should have known that the next step was killing the rest of the bill. He probably did know and is pleased at this outcome and his vote (in what he knew was the minority) was a fig leaf. Thanks, Bernie, for fking up the Supreme Court for a generation. Bernie never cared about Black voters anyway, he sees the $15 minimum wage as the answer to all the “what do Black people need” questions. Bastid.
I am not sure what to think about lifting school mask mandates. I see why people are tired of them – I only wear a mask about an hour a week, only when I am in public, and I cannot imagine wearing one 8 hours a day. The problem with declaring Mission Accomplished and opening up the schools to the maskless is that it has no answer for the immunocompromised and those who have at-risk family members at home. The school child might survive but will they kill their grandparents? And if a child chooses to mask up, they will surely be bullied. I am not sure what the answer is but it seems wrong to choose “survival of the fittest” in the 21st century.
I had a pretty productive day yesterday; I think the effects of the Mercury Retrograde that ended last Thursday are finally dissipating. Many – myself included – believe that the retrograde is not completely finished messing with us until Mercury returns to where it started its retrograde, usually about 3 weeks after it starts going direct. The power to disrupt during what is called the “shadow zone” lessens over time but right after it goes direct one should still beware. Plus things started during the retrograde may still create issues. In any event, I feel like I am accomplishing things.
See all y’all later!
The Mercury Retrograde biz is above my head but I know others who are affected by it.
Here at the Home the Pastoral Ministries Committee has changed its name to the Interfaith Council. “As such, we would like to welcome new members from the Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, and/or other religions to our council,” the newsletter said.
Hoping to freak them out majorly, I wrote yesterday offering myself as the contact point for any Wiccans in the community. I cited my 16 years of leading circles as High Priestess and told them I was a graduate of five Witch Camps. Haven’t heard anything back yet.
Hahahahaha! Be sure to report back on whether the Pastoral Ministries Committee gets back to you or if their heads exploded. :)
Ha, ha, Jan, the reply was swift. She wrote:
If anyone in this community is a secret Wiccan I’ll be very surprised.The people here seem so Christian. I don’t mind that if they don’t make a big deal out of it and try to get me to join them. Some of them seem compelled to mention it constantly.
Tuesday Meese. 31 here in Kingston going up to a hot 40 – yay – that will melt some of this ice and snow.
Am dragging this am – need more coffee. Was up till midnight participating in my first Twitter “spaces” event and an after-discussion.
Puerto Rico
Teachers in protest sing: “lie, lie, lie increase.”
Cold but not freezing. I uncovered my plants yesterday, might even spread them back out, though it still could freeze again. Wfh today. Still under boil water notice but I got plenty of bottled water from the distribution site.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese. It’s 29 F. in Ashburn, going up to 44 F. later. We never received any rain here at the Home last night, although when I stuck my nose out I could smell it. Shame, really. The woods across the way are beginning to be lit by the sun and there are wispy veils of white moving across the pale blue. A nice day, in other words.
Had a decent night’s sleep because of taking Ativan. I picked up 90 pills last May from the Pharm here and still have 12 left. I use it only when I’ve had two nights in a row of bad sleep. When I begin to lose my voice, I know I’m in trouble.
Have obtained 6 out of 12 sigs for the petition, will soon obtain 2 more from Dearly and Self. They have to be turned in to our precinct captain on or before 17 Feb. This morning I must go to the gym and find out howinell to use the rower. There’s a “sign-on” screen if you please, and you can’t (or at least I can’t) get out of the damned thing to get to the rowing programs. Why does everything have to be so bloody complicated? With the C2 rower in my old gym, I just parked my bottom in the seat, my size 8 feet in the footplaces, and started rowing. It told me how hard I was rowing, how many calories I was using, and the amount of time I was spending. I loved it.
What else…must go to the barber, stop by the grocery store to pick up dinner, analyze a bunch of essays, and write up my Peace Corps people. Gotta get on it, so I’ll now wish a good day to all at the Pond.
P. S. Re the mask thing—I wear one because right now it’s required while we walk through public spaces. I exercise in one because my gym buddy down the hall has had a kidney transplant. She is highly immunocompromised. A former phys. ed. teacher, she goes to the gym at 4 because as a rule there’s hardly any one there. I walk with her and we chat on the way. It’s nice to have a gym buddy.
It’s 40 heading for 60 and sunny. The sunny is good. The warmth is weird. Global weirding. I hope it doesn’t stay warm enough to wake the trees. Or the bugs. By end of day yesterday the panels were 80% clear. Today should wrap that up and give us something close to normal generation for a sunny day in February. Yesterday we got just over 2 KWHs and the m-t-d is 8.36 – a lot of catching up to do.
I got almost 7 hours of sleep last night in 2 chunks. Definitely beats the night before. Hands are cold but at least mostly functional. Feet are cold but OK – they usually aren’t as badly impacted by the Raynaud’s and I stay steady on them most of the time. The bone scan is a month out and I just re-read the instructions. I hope it’s warm that day as the only pair of pants I have that doesn’t have a zipper is summer-weight linen. I’ll take my bra off once I’m there before the scan itself.
Same l’ same ol’ with everybody as of last night. Hoping for better. Not even good at this point, just better. & better means a bunch of less on the one hand – less pain, less fatigue, less stress – and more money – on the other. & Aji needs more snow. Something like 2x what the northeastern chunk of this country is getting and needs less of.
Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}