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, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 64 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 86. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. It got hotter than I expected yesterday and we had to turn the air conditioning back on to cool things down to sleep – we had been able to draw in and trap the cool morning air and have it stay nice all day. We might have to cool down again this afternoon. After a few days of upper 80s we will head into a cooling period with the highs over the weekend at 72! People here tell us that they will be digging out their winter coats. I hope we have not become wimps this soon!
Things I am paying attention to: how the press is reporting how democracy is literally on the line in this next election and what a Republican House majority will do to trash the country in order to pave the way for the rise of authoritarianism. Plus the schadenfreude of watching Ben Sasse reap what he has sown – you can’t be member of a group of haters and destroyers and then pivot to being a university president who will have the people his party loudly hates and wants to destroy in his student body. There is no way you can avoid being splattered by the anti-semitism, anti-LGBT, misogyny and racism that IS the Republican Party. I hope he feels a twinge of remorse but I believe that the remorse gene is missing from every Republican elected. Things I am not paying attention to: Hershel Walker and the hypocrisy of Georgia Republicans and celebrities acting badly.
Today is Microsoft Patch Tuesday Plus One so I have some computers to restart. I hope to get a walk in this morning. We have an IBA (Important Bird Area) in a state park just up the road and we want to see what birds are there right now. There is a guided bird walk but it says it takes "several hours". That is a little too ambiguous for me and I also think I am not in the kind of shape (yet!) that would let me walk for even one hour. We will go there and check it out and see if it makes sense to do that or to just wander on our own. In any event, I need to get a few things done before we head out so that when we get back, I have nothing to do other than watch the January 6th Hearing.
See all y’all later!
Jan, I rather think the Jan. 6 hearings will be tomorrow, not today. I seem to think that because I’ll miss it, blast it. My writers will be meeting then. I’ve asked Dearly to take them on C-SPAN so I won’t have to listen to journos talking over the testimony. If the recording fails, I’ll have to watch it on PBS at 8 p.m. tomorrow.
You are right! I sat down in front of my TV at 10am MST and there were talking heads telling me that the Democrats would lose the midterms and proudly showing clips of the awful ableist NBC reporter badgering John Fetterman for using devices to help him manage his post-stroke recovery and interviewing people who hate Democrats. Not only "no January 6th panel" but MSNBC run amok!
I think I had “Wednesday” burned in my head from the original date that got postponed by Hurricane Ian a couple of weeks ago. TODAY I hope to be able to sit and watch. Representative Zoe Lofgren promised "new information."
Ooh, it should be really hot news! My Writers’ Group will be meeting then but Dearly has promised to tape it for me. I’ll watch while taking tea.
Wednesday Meese. 46 here in Kingston going up to 71.
Have been following the Los Angeles City Council story – no surprise re the antiBlack racism – am glad to see that some stories are also covering the antiIndigenous comments too.
Lalo had a cartoon
Puerto Rico
I just read an “explainer” about what is going on in Los Angeles. Holy Sheet! I have never been deluded that Democrats can’t be racist bigots but they are usually better at hiding it. One positive to come out of it – the deplorable berner Kevin de León’s Senate ambitions should be forever extinguished.
Thanks for the reminder re: Kevin de León. heh – Bye Felicia
Today I’ll find out the cost & plan for replacing the a/c. I held out for as long as I could but it stopped working again yesterday. I have the windows open, it’s still 79 inside. I hinted to brother yesterday, will send him the info from my mortgage company on re-financing as maybe a stronger hint. For now I’m watching astronomy, drinking tea that I had in the freezer for 4 hours last night so it’s still icy now, and waiting for the repair guy.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} Holding the Good Thought on your a/c – and getting help fixing/replacing it. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! It’s 48 F. going up to whatever—68 F.? This PC doesn’t give me the weather info I want—but clouds will move in at noon. Right now pale sunshine is lighting up the woods and wisps of white veiling are spreading across the pale blue sky. Yesterday we watched in amazement as a young doe strolled along our side of the fence. She made her way up to the woods beyond the dog park, where there is no fence to stop her. First time we’ve seen wildlife in years.
Yesterday’s long overdue visit to the doctor was painful and unpleasant. However, the doctor herself was very jolly and nice, so I liked her in spite of the pain. Her nurse was nice too and moreover, laughed at all my jokes.
This morning I have to go to that “healthplex” AGAIN for another very unpleasant procedure. For this I am required to drink 32 oz. of water starting at 10:45. Ugh. This all has to do with The Female System, so the less said, the better.
Because I spent such an agonizingly long time at the doctor’s office, I wasn’t much affected by the electricity outage yesterday. Went for a walk outdoors as it was a lovely day, then picked up our lunches. The Powers That Be did their best to make the outage bearable: in addition to free meals, there were “beadwalks,” outdoor bingo, music, a pumpkin giveaway, and soft ice cream from a truck that showed up at Great Oak Common at 2 p.m. By that time, I was so exhausted all I wanted was a cup of tea and a prolonged rest, so I read a book and drank tea.
Last night I wrote to Shayda, one of the partners from Healthy Hound Playground (Monty’s day care and boarding place since its Grand Opening in 2012), in a panic, asking her if the ladies at Southern Maryland Beagle Rescue would think we were too old to adopt. (The couple down the hall were told that when they tried to find another Labrador.) She wrote back that, to the contrary, the ladies were very excited at the idea of the little dog finding a good, loving home. She added that they were all grandmothers themselves, so all we have to do is wait for their call. She also told the ladies that Monty was a very beagley beagle, so we have had plenty of experience!
Need to get ready, I want another walk before I go to that extremely ugly medical “healthplex.” Lucky for me that the people in it are nice.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
{{{Diana}}} Healing Energy in all directions, as it were. & Holding Good Thoughts about the little beagle. moar {{{HUGS}}}
This is critically important: "Her nurse was nice too and moreover, laughed at all my jokes."
Yes, indeed! I get a lot of mileage out of, “Well, I’ve had to give up sex and drugs and rock’n’roll,” when medical personnel question me about my habits.
The nurse said she was going to tell the doctor I’m a riot and also that I look young for my age.
It was 70 when I got up, heading for 78, and raining. It started about an hour ago and while off and on it did give us 2 good spates. It’s supposed to stop soon and hopefully the sun will actually come out. Yesterday we generated barely 6 KWHs and the m-t-d is just under 92 – definitely not on track and losing ground. And I found out yesterday afternoon that SolarEdge hasn’t even shipped the optimizer yet. Just “approved” it. Over a week ago.
So far so good with the computer. It’s running warmer than it should but it’s not running hot. I’m afraid the fan needs to be replaced. My son is afraid the computer needs to be replaced. He thinks between all the cat dander and dust bunnies plus it running too hot for so long may have damaged beyond what a simple cleaning can help. I devoutly hope not. He’s going to take another look at it the next time he’s got time.
I went grocery shopping this morning. That’s why I’m so late checking in. Prices have seriously gone up. And some stuff is flat out not available. Maybe next week when I need to go to the credit union to get cash I’ll swing by the Co-op and see if they have what I’m missing.
Need to get over to twitter. Healing Energy to everybody, whatever the situation (including financial). Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Grocery prices (and shortages of things I used to buy) are really tough to deal with. Gas prices don’t bother me as much because I don’t go many places that require a car. The tRump pandemic did more than kill a million people, it seriously damaged parts of the economy that will take years to repair – you can’t just shut down a multi-trillion dollar economy and then crank it up again and not expect glitches. Lots of businesses couldn’t be saved and the remaining businesses are having a difficult time ramping up because of their own shortages. The silver lining, at least for seniors, is that it looks like our Social Security cost of living increase this year will be almost 10%. I know that I can use the extra money.
Moi aussi!
Officially "8.7%"! I hope it is not all consumed by the inevitable rent increase.
Good morning, 48 and light clouds. Our furnace isn’t fixed yet so I’m hoping the sun will shine in the windows soon. And I will call Barry for an update re the furnace, but I suspect he is still waiting for the parts to arrive. I did hear back from the gardener I talked to several weeks ago and she will be here on the 25th, yay! It’s a huge relief to know she will help with the fall pruning and weeding. Now I can focus on doing other things.
Sue will be here soon to clean the house so I need to get the beds changed and the laundry going. Best wishes to all.
Thursday Meese. 54 here in Kingston with thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon, going up to 67.
Puerto Rico
Caribbean Matters – posted
New a/c gets installed today. It hasn’t gotten below 82 in my apartment since…. maybe when the a/c worked. I have 90 days before the 1st payment, asking people if they know of real work-from-home jobs. Because I can’t do stuff where I’d be standing, my feet swell, so no grocery store job. Meanwhile, eating breakfast & watching astronomy.
Good luck with the a/c install! If nothing else, having that project in your rear view mirror will be a huge relief.
Anotherdemocrat, have you tried Task Rabbit? Whatever your skill, someone can use it. You can write or edit at home. Darling Niece has a particular skill for organizing closets. She also sells my excess clothing and shoes. Just boxes it, sends it off to some organization or other, and every once in a while, money trickles into her bank account.
I think Task Rabbit is national. You want to go with a big company that’s registered with the Better Business Bureau.
Or there’s always visiting people’s cats, or goldfish, or potted plants while they’re away.
I’m reading up on it. Seems like a good thing, if there’s tasks I’m suited for.
also looking at Mechanical Turk: “human intelligence tasks,” known as HITs, that workers can complete for pay. That includes tagging images, describing content that appears in videos and participating in studies.
That sounds promising. Probably won’t get all you need to make, but anything helps.
I’m starting with the Turk thing. It seems easy to start & if it doesn’t work, I can just quit.
I’m glad you’re getting the A/C replaced. Holding the Good Thought for what you need to pay for it – whatever the source. Healing Energy & {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 68 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 88. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The weather guy joked that Mother Nature did not get the memo about it being Fall! Indeed. I was glad to see that this is unusual and that the highs around 82 were more common this time of year. The morning air can cool the apartment enough to avoid air conditioning if it never gets over 82 but when it is 88 outside it gets too hot inside to keep the a/c off.
My ballot should arrive soon and, thank the goddess, the election season will soon end. I am getting triggered by the attack ads with their racist images, misogyny and hateful lies. If I were in charge of the world, I would require that political ads be truthful and block the running of ads that are lies or deceit. Run on your policies and take your chances with the voters. And yes, I know that even when the election is over, the aftermath is likely to be ugly as well. But at least the political ads will be done and I can watch sporting events in peace.
I have a few accounting projects to wrap up before I can break to watch the hearings at 10am. I have vowed to stay ahead of my deadlines this month and accounting is always the thing that lags – simply because I can ignore it longer than projects needed by insistent clients. I have some of those projects as well but with weekday interruptions, those are better saved for weekends so that I can find larger blocks of time. Well, I best get to it.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Meese, ’tis a gray and gloomy Thursday morning, 61 F. and not getting much higher. Actually, the 13th is a lucky day in my religion. We woke up to delightful rain and wonder of wonders, it will rain on and off all day. We are currently 2 and 1/2 inches under normal for annual rainfall. This is not good news for creeks, lakes, and reservoirs.
Well, yesterday morning was devoted to an UNSPEAKABLE medical procedure, the like of which I hope never to undergo again. Painful, embarrassing, and just creepy. The tech was nice enough, but I couldn’t understand much of what she said because English was not her first language. I emerged from the building wanting to kill all male Rethug legislators, or better still, have THEM undergo the procedure in a neighboring part of their body. They suggested the procedure is no big deal. HUH! Gawd, I ached afterwards.
It was very fatiguing, so I could hardly do anything the rest of the day. Went to bed early but unfortunately only managed 7 hours’ sleep. I’ll have to drink coffee like mad because the Writers’ Group meets right during my usual naptime hours.
Because of texts from Daughter and a phone call from Dear Friend, I did not get to reread the essays last night. Will do that now that I’ve had coffee. I frosted the tiny cakes and will see whether I can use the pentagram cookie cutter to score the orange frosting deeply enough to fill the lines with chocolate frosting. This should be interesting. Hope it works. The sparkling nonalky cider is chillin’ in the fridge.
Wishing all at the Pond a good day. Bfitz, can you watch the hearings on your computer? See you later!
I hope you’re feeling better. I hope your cupcakes and meeting both come out the way you wish them to. I probably could watch the hearings on my computer but I’m not going to. I don’t need another headache. The one I have is bad enough. Healing Energy & {{{Diana}}}
It’s 48 heading for 72 and trying to be sunny. Yesterday we generated just over 9 KWHs so gained a hair on the not-on-track 100.89 m-t-d. I’ve just put the laundry on. Thank heavens for yesterday’s rain. We got an inch and it definitely settled the dust. My clean clothes will stay clean while they’re drying outside.
My computer fan was revved up for about the first 15 minutes after I logged on. Then it settled down and is being normal. Hold the Good Thoughts.
Lisa’s doing so much better than when she was in the motel. She’ll never be what society calls normal again, but she’s handling things she used to melt down over. Ronald’s still harassing Jill but he’s going to have to get in line for her attention right now. Her puppy (well, not a puppy any longer but still a very young dog) ate something he shouldn’t have and is sick. And yesterday was the 29th anniversary of when Aji’s beloved older sister was murdered. Folks are hanging on as best they can under the circumstances. Sometimes the circumstances are better than others. Healing Energy all around.
Off to twitter and Dee’s diary. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 49 and light clouds. I’m going to watch the hearings today so I hope I can keep tRump angst managed. Middle of the night worry sessions are starting to ease so I’m feeling more rested and I would like to stay that way! Sue and I both ran out of steam yesterday so she is back today finish cleaning and I have laundry going. Sometimes just doing domestic chores is a welcome relief from the news of the day. Best wishes to all.
Hi! I got an “error 406 not acceptable” when I tried to check in from my work computer. Glad I have the kindle. Anyway, just checking in. Air conditioning is great. In-office days are not.
The 406 means that something you entered looks like malicious code to the hosting software. Most often it is caused by using quotes around something but it often depends on what is inside the quotes. For example, the proper way to enclose a quote at the end of the sentence is to include the period but that will usually 406 because of the period. I found out a few days ago that it is sensitive to the percentage sign but only when it has a period in the percent. I have not found a perfect pattern and have not had time to get on livechat with the hosting firm. I use the html quote command to put quotes in to get around it.
The 406 does not mean locked out, that is a different code. Fortunately, you can often get around it.
Ok, logged in, and let’s see if I can reply.
And that worked. Yay!
Sorry about the glitches; it is frustrating, I know. The way to do html quotes is to use the ampersand the characters quot and then the semicolon all run together to surround the quoted passage. Then you can "put things in quotes to your heart’s content."
It didn’t have quotes… maybe referring to the a/c? I don’t know. Just glad it’s working now.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 64 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 86. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast with a small chance for rain this afternoon.
I watched the January 6th Hearing except for a small bit where I had to do something for a client and the PAUSE did not restart properly. Excellent summary – the parts where House and Senate leadership were discussing clearing the Capitol so they could finish the certification was amazing. Calling governors to get National Guard help because the tRump DOD Secretary wouldn’t. He was was clearly in on the plot and had pre-blocked any National Guard help when he knew the Capitol would attacked. I hope the enablers are charged and imprisoned, especially those who swore an oath to the Constitution. After Watergate, Nixon’s henchmen did time – if after a violent insurrection where people died and dozens were wounded no one in the tRump orbit is punished, it will be a gross miscarriage of justice. I hope we hold the House because if we don’t, the depositions and gathered evidence will be destroyed by Kevin McCarthy and his band of Confederates and no one will be held accountable. In any event, thank you January 6th Committee – job well done.
I started back in on a project that needs to be done by noon and discovered that I had not gotten as far on it yesterday as I thought I had. So I need to get to it.
See all y’all later!
It’s 49 heading for 82 and sunny at the moment. We generated just over 9 KWHs again yesterday and the m-t-d at 109.9 gained a smidge. Even though I had a fire last night the house was 60 degrees when I got up so I figured it was a good time to see if the furnace works. It does. Since it’s going to be warm today I turned it back off again after one cycle.
The computer’s running a little warm and audible right now. I hope it settles down to normal like it did yesterday. I wonder if wood smoke causes issues with computers? I’ve never thought of that before but it started doing this again the day after my first fire of the season. Oh well.
As best I know everybody’s pretty much as usual – not great but hanging on and doing whatever they can figure out to do in order to keep doing so. Healing Energy to everyone, whatever the issue. And thank you for the Healing Energy by whatever name folks sent back.
Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Lawks, Meese, thought I’d never get here! Have had beaucoup interruptions this morning. Anyway, ’tis Friday and I’m rather tired, although I did get a good sleep last night. This morning I have to fight with Vanguard, and this afternoon I need to make an applesauce cake for the cakewalk tomorrow. It’s a gorgeous blue-and-gold day in Ashbuggy, with a current temp. of 60 F., going up to 69 F. I just changed the sheets and put the winter bedspread on. Isn’t that exciting news?
I didn’t get to watch the hearing until last night, on PBS. I’ll finish off the last 90 minutes this afternoon, perhaps.
I’m sorry that was the last hearing. I wished I hadn’t missed it, but I could hardly skip the meeting yesterday. I asked for two volunteers to help me carry the Pentacle Cakes and the chilled sparkling cider to the meeting room. At one o’clock, Albus Dumbledore showed up, complete with pointy hat inscribed with magickal symbols, ankle-length gown and fuzzy white hair down to his shoulders. “Darling!” I greeted him. “You’re, ah, Dum…”
“No, Mumblemore,” he corrected. “And here’s Mungo.” He then displayed something that looked like a hairy ferret toy. Then Roger showed up, wearing a black t-shirt with a fiery red-and-orange dragon face on it, the body which trailed all the way round to the back of the shirt, ending in a tail.
I was wearing black leggings, an orange sweater, and a little black pointy hat with a black satin rose, one of those “fascinators” so beloved by the princesses Eugenie and Beatrix. We three attracted quite a lot of attention as we strolled across the campus to the meeting room.
At the meeting, after we toasted Halloween and Samhain, we ate the cakes (couldn’t make the pentacle shapes, blast it), and enjoyed an animated discussion. The topic was creepy or inexplicable experiences or a Samhain short story (moi, of course). For our next project, the group flatly refused to collaborate on a one-act play but did agree to try their hand at writing dialogue.
Well…sigh…on to fight with Vanguard. I would like to have access to my very own IRA. Dearly thinks if they ever restore my access, I should transfer everything to a different organization.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
Sounds like you had a good meeting/party yesterday. Good luck w/ Vanguard. & Dearly’s probably right. {{{Diana}}}
If I had financial accounts of any sort that I could not easily get into and which I could not do transactions, I would move them. I’ve done it before – sometimes it works well, sometimes it made things more complicated in the end but it always felt good. No one is entitled to my business – it has to be earned. The only exception would be if the financial instrument is a CD, I would wait for the maturity date and then move it. Otherwise the bank gets a bonus (my foregone interest) for being terrible. Good luck!
Good morning, 52 and some sun but the air is smoky. I’ve finally closed the windows and brought out the portable oil filled heaters. They won’t heat the house but do take the chill away. RonK and I can cope but I hope the furnace is fixed soon.
I did watch the hearings yesterday, and am feeling a mix of angst and sadness today. Hard to see the images and to know that millions of people voted for that horrible man and that people were/are working for him, thus enabling his power. I need to get my grumpy self downstairs and to my desk so as always, my best wishes to all.
Saturday Meese. 39 degrees here in Kingston, going up to 69. Brrrr.
Watched the so-called Warnock Walker debate last night. I shudder when I think that so many people are willing to vote for Walker.
Puerto Rico
The 4 Stages of Pipo
THIS!! "I shudder when I think that so many people are willing to vote for Walker."
The MAGAt cult is deranged.
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 70 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 75. Rain expected most of the day but I am not seeing it on the radar yet. And just as I type that, I can hear rain outside from my open office window!
I am going to skip the news – it is very depressing to see the quality of the people debating our candidates and knowing that as long as they don’t drool and defecate on the debate stage, it will not change the needle one bit (actually the defecating might make them more popular with MAGAts since it is anti-establishment). Perhaps it will scare our voters into getting to the polls but there is a very real danger that it will instead result in the "No one will vote for totally unfit [fill in the blank] for Senate/State Office!" That is how we lost 2016 – the "stay home polls say we can’t lose" people – and how we could easily lose 2022.
I am going to scan the news once but only to put stories into Pocket. I have a lot I want to get done this morning so that I can sit and watch sporting events later this afternoon.
See all y’all later!