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 50 degrees in the Desert Southwest with an expected daytime high of 76. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 30 degrees here in Kingston NY, going up to 63. Got my computer back yesterday. They wiped the whole thing so spent much of the day, into night and this morning reinstalling everything – which is a pita. Finding keycodes and passwords for programs that I’ve paid for, or use regularly …ugh.
On a different note – several of my rosebushes are bloooming their heads off – which is really weird this time of year. When it warms up, I’ll go outside and take pics.
Puerto Rico
Glad you have your computer back, but yes, what a pain to have to reinstall all that stuff.
Very weird about your rosebushes, Sis!
Glad you got your computer back. These up and down temperature spates confuse roses. When you get cold followed by warm for several days running, they think it’s spring.
Good morning. Chilly here — 52. Got next week’s tea steeping. Such terrible news from Korea and Somalia. Eager for tomorrow, to wear my Book Fairy outfit. Should be fun.
Black Music Sunday
I’ll have to pop over and check. My favorite of all is “The Monster Mash.”
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! It’s 41 F. on a glorious morning, going up to 64 F. later. Yesterday was so lovely it was like receiving an unexpected birthday present: green grass strewn with yellow and red leaves, blue sky, red maples…ohhh! Looked around for someone to thank, decided on Gaia.
Dearly’s condition has deteriorated so much that I have to do a lot of his work as well as my own. By 8 p.m. I was exhausted. I took Mandy for a morning walk and an afternoon walk of approximately 1/2 hour each. When I took her to the dog park in the afternoon, there was another dog there, a friendly gray one about her size, so they chased each other round and round. Mandy had such a good time! And last night I only had to remove her from our bed once. We worked out that so far from feeling safe and snug in her soft-sided crate, she feels imprisoned. So we took the dog bed out and last night she slept on that.
It’s rather sad and strange that although we got the dog for Dearly, so he’d have a dog to walk, he hasn’t taken to her as much as I have. She is a completely different personality from Monty. We knew what to expect from Monty. I will not lie, he did get on my nerves a lot. Mandy, on the other hand, is much quieter, eager to please, and very affectionate. Like all beagles, she is stubborn, however.
But enough of this canine chitchat. Tomorrow morning I’m driving to Greenspring to see my friend and meet up with my other friend, so we’ll have the remnants of our circle. M. wants a ritual but S. wants to spend the time chatting. As S’s attendant will be present, it would be damned awkward to do the kind of Samhain ritual we used to do. Instead, I’ll sing the circle into being, we’ll display pictures and speak a few words about those we have lost and wish to remember, then we’ll wish each other a happy new year and toast each other in sparkling cider. That’s the most I can do.
This afternoon I have a Tarot reading over Facebook Messenger. I feel Death coming, either for Dearly or for me. Of course, Death is coming for all of us, sooner or later, but the shadow has been hanging over me for months.
Tomorrow afternoon at 4:30, a delightful lady on the fifth floor is having a Girls Only party, at Witch we are all going to wear funny hats. I already have one. G. wants to take a photo of us.
That’s enough from me this morning. Wishing all at the Pond a good day. Going to pop over to see Dee’s diary now.
I include memories of fancy Samhain celebrations in my reflections on the day. I have not been the member of a circle for many years – we had a strong one when we lived in the Milwaukee area and never picked up the threads of a new one after we moved from there (also, many of the members dispersed to other cities and even countries). Our Halloween things stayed in storage this year – we kept meaning to go get them but life got too busy. We are determined to not let that happen for Solstice and are already planning where our tree will go.
I hope dearly feels better – I am glad that you have close-in family. You are all in my thoughts.
As Witches age, many of us become like the late Carol Christ, who discarded the outward trappings of the Craft and kept the philosophy and customs. I still have my old athame but I didn’t use it yesterday. I have a white sage stick that I haven’t burned because White people’s appropriation of Native customs is offensive to Natives.
It’s 54 heading for 60. And clouds. As with yesterday. We generated 2.48 KWHs yesterday and didn’t quite make it to 220 for the m-t-d. At least we’re over 200. We wouldn’t do that for the next 2 months even if the system were operating at par.
Clouds are why I’m so late online. I slept a good hour longer than I would have if the sun had been shining. Which I needed so I guess it’s just as well. Sunday housecleaning chores are now done. I’m going to bake gingerbread later this afternoon. Now it’s time for twitter and Dee’s diary. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good afternoon, 52 and raining but the wind has stopped blowing and the trees we pruned, re potted, and staked so they wouldn’t blow over are upright, yay! I pruned about 3 ft from the top of the yew tree because it had become so unstable so I’m very relieved that it still has a natural shape and is better protected from blowing over. It was some high ladder work for me with RonK standing guard and watching to see that the pruning cuts were made they needed to be. It’s hard for me to see the overall effect when I’m inside the tree! We finished the day with putting the clear white lights back on the trees so that job is done and I’ve nearly recovered. I’m grateful to still be able to work in the garden but I know we have to stay aware of the fact we’re getting older.
I’m going to sew the trim around the table cover I made last week and hope I just get used to it. I know it’s nice, just seems a bit much for the way we live now. Oh well, we’ll clutter it up in no time! Best wishes to all.
Monday Meese. 39 going up to 65 here in Kingston. We’re headed out this morning to get flu shots.
Posting these tweets because the MSM is not paying attention
We Won’t Black Down
Florida
Texas
Puerto Rico
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 52 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 75. Sunny skies are in the forecast. It will be a good evening for trick or treating – kids in bulky costumes shouldn’t be too uncomfortable. I assume that we will not have any trick or treaters in the apartment complex – even though the entries are all on the outside (unlike last year’s apartment where you needed a key fob to get into the building) we have no doorbells and no way to turn off the “porch” light to signify that we have no treats. If kids show up, we will ignore them. If they persist, we will put up a sign saying we ran out of candy!
I will scan the news later. After a weekend watching sporting events on TV filled with hate ads aimed at Democrats and lies about crime, immigration and the cause of inflation, I am shell shocked. My vote has been received,verified and assigned a batch for counting. I have to hope that enough people in Arizona don’t choose to vote for the election deniers. There are a lot of people who moved here from California because of the home prices and taxes but who still want a functioning democracy. Fingers crossed that they come out and vote.
Today is Samhain, the Wiccan new year! I made a decision years ago to not do posts for Samhain because it is a sacred holiday that should be respected (and online is a free for all) whereas the other holidays mark seasons and can be celebrated with joy and laughter. Tonight I will reflect on my ancestors, the recently passed and those who have been part of my Samhain reflections for many years. We will have some fun – we will watch the Disney movie Coco which is a cute movie about the Day of the Dead. Blessed Samhain to those who celebrate – Happy Halloween to all!
See all y’all later!
Happy Halloween! I’m a book fairy — t-shirt with a fairy decal on front & wing decals on back, and a fairy wand. I taped book stickers to the ribbons. Stopped short of a mile on my walk, my achilles tendon started yelling at me. And the work week begins…..
Good morning, Blessed Samhain, Happy Halloween. It’s 53 heading for 72 and the sun’s doing its best to break through the clouds. Yesterday we generated 1.6 KWHs and the m-t-d is 221.5 – IF we get a very sunny day, we might make it to 230 for the month.
I haven’t had trick-or-treaters for years but I might this year. A family with kid moved in across the street a few months ago. I hand out quarters rather than candy and I have about $5 worth stashed back just in case. Candles on my altar for the more sacred aspect of this place on The Great Wheel. Memories.
I’d best get over to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 52 and raining outside my window today. Between the falling leaves and the rain the garden is a soggy mess but I don’t have to water the plants. The night time temps are dropping so it will soon ne time to remove the summer annuals and make some winter arrangements from branches and various berries. I will plant some hellebores in a few pots because they are winter blooming and I can move then to garden beds in the spring.
We voted last night and Ron will take our ballots to the courthouse drop box today. Feeling very grateful we can eat Sunday supper together, vote at the kitchen table, deliver our ballots safely, and finally know that our vote will be safely counted. My hope is that voting rights will be restored and protected in this country, but apparently we have to wait for the R’s crazy driven fever to break. Hope I live long enough tp see it happen.
We’re going to cook dinner with our son at his house tonight, and will stop by to see our grand girls on the way. Barbequed ribs with one son or chili with another, so blessed to have choices. Best wishes to all.
Tuesday Meese. 55 and rain today here in Kingston, going up to 67. Happy to report that Democrats have been ringing my doorbell every day – getting out the vote. Drove over to my old neighborhood 20 minutes away to get flu shot yesterday – sadly all I saw were Republican yard signs – which was to be expected. Lots of people don’t realize how NYS is not blue in many areas
Puerto Rico
Is there really a chance that the awful trumper (is that redundant?) will win the governor’s race? I hope it is just people in polls taking a swipe at the current governor and not a real possibility. That would be ghastly!
Good morning. Happy November. We had a storm last night — after trick-or-treating hours, and unfortunately not enough to be a drought buster. At least today is wfh. When the astronomy shows are over, I have Bono’s memoir to listen to. Reviews have said it’s funny. And I’m hosting Bookchat on the 16th — I’m going to see if the 9th is available — with a review.
I have been watching the midwestern drought with alarm. The Mississippi River drying up and having salt water from the Gulf back up into it sounds like an existential crisis. The Desert Southwest’s drought is now in the Moderate range although we still have to deal with the problem upstream with the Colorado River. The entire country is going to get a lot of rain from a storm that is forming in Canada above where princesspat lives – that trough will dip all the way down to here and is expected to put some snow on the mountains to the north of us (the White Mountains, I think). I hope some of that soaks you!
The weather this morning didn’t say anything about rain, but maybe it’s too far off. We really need it.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday, Día de los Muertos …
It is 57 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 73. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. I could not see the stars when I went out on the deck for my morning greeting of the day.
I was getting 406ed on my comment about Justice Jackson’s brilliant comments in the Supreme Court affirmative action case so I pruned it down. I really need to get motivated to get on livechat with technical support.
News reports are suggesting that the tightening in the polls in the Senate races is from Republican voters planning to vote for the "basketful of deplorables" that the Republican Senatorial Campaign presented to them. As always "Democrats fall in love (and stay home if they are unhappy with the choices), Republicans fall in line (and vote early and often)." The Libertarian candidate in Arizona dropped out and endorsed creepy Blake Masters – I am not sure how many of his voters will care, Libertarians are difficult to pigeonhole. I think he was getting around 4 points in the latest polls so that is not an insignificant number. It may also be that his support was a protest vote and there is a good chance those people will just stay home now. Obviously his name is still on the ballot.
I hope that Justice Jacksons comments and questions in the NC affirmative action case might sway some of the younger tRump justices. Unlikely but one can hope.
It has become November! I need to get a few things done to wrap up October and then start in on the things that the new month brings. I will have a very tricky set of tax returns for 2022 and I think that TurboTax usually comes out with their next year software in early November. I want to get a head start on it. I still have not received my refund from 2021 – I guess I am not alone in that. I hope that some of the 87,000 IRS agents that this years right-wing political ads are screaming about (they are always depicted as very large Black men – SUBtle!) are being put in charge of clearing the backlog. It makes me a little nervous about the 2022 filing with the 2021 filing in limbo. Later today we will watch Coco in honor of the Day of the Dead – I forgot that it was a November 1st thing and instead watched Hocus Pocus 2.
See all y’all later!
Good Tuesday morning, Meese, and a blessed Samhain to you. In Celtic tradition the sabbats stretch from sunset to sunset, so we’re still in it.
This morning when it was still dark I took Mandy to the courtyard. The patio was wet with last night’s rain and littered with yellow leaves. I enjoyed the sight of it shining in the lamplight. Overhead the rain clouds were drifting away to reveal what is now blue sky with smears of white clouds. Fog was still covering the woods but it’s gone now. I had to bribe Mandy with a piece of pupperoni stick to do No. 1 on the grass. She doesn’t seem to know what grass is for. It’s 59 F. right now, going up to 75 F., so we could even sit on the porch if we wanted to!
Yesterday was a mess. I had a HORRIBLE sleepless night, with Mandy doing No. 1 on the carpet at 2:20 a.m. , so I had to deal with that. Then I staggered out of bed at 7, drank some tea, dressed to go to Greenspring, which was a 45-minute drive away. It would have been more than an hour except that yesterday was telecommuting Monday and the school kids had the day off.
I’m a rotten High Priestess. Even during our very simple, brief ritual I kept breaking into sobs when I mentioned Monty and displayed his picture. Don’t know whether I mentioned that the Tarot reader told me that I would be functioning in the role of High Priestess until New Year because I would lose someone very close to me.
However, the two women of my former Circle were very supportive so in the end we cheered up and started taking photos of the Witch hats I’d brought.
Managed the drive home OK, had a cup of tea, and then I simply had to take a nap after my awful night. Got dressed up, reapplied eye makeup since I’d cried it all off, and went to the party. There was no one there! Another woman showed up, dressed in regular clothes, and we commiserated with each other on the absence of the hostess. Turns out it was held in an entirely different location. I’m sorry I missed it, the photos look wonderful. I did look at my email before I went, but G. insists on sending everything to my old address, from which I cannot respond. I was too tired to think of that. Oh, well. This is a trivial compared to what people in Kyiv are going through with no water and no electricity.
Dearly seems better this morning. He’s now engaged in a three-hour conversation about signing off from mobile banking. He does EVERYTHING on his phone now except reading mysteries, which he does on his iPad.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond. I think I’ll go out now (gotta get my hair done) so I can focus on writing this afternoon. Sorry to be so verbose, but y’all are lucky—yesterday I was lachrymose!
Just back from getting my hair cut (he masked when I requested it), filling the gas tank, and restocking stuff like Ibuprofen, alcohol, & toothpaste. It’s 63 heading for 75. We wrapped up October with 228.6 KWHs. Not what you’d call great. I’ve never gotten higher than 199 for November and with the system crippled as it is, I’ll be delighted if we can make 165.
Healing Energy to everybody and Happy Whatever-you’re-celebrating. I’m really behind with my twitter stuff so I’d best get to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 40and mostly cloudy. I’m dozing this morning, but the house is warm and I’ve got nothing major to do so why not! Last night was fun, nice to visit with family, cuddle the dogs wearing their Halloween costumes, cooking with our son, and finally, eating far to much chocolate! Grateful for simple pleasures. Time for another cup of coffee and then to decide what to do with my day. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 54 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 75. Sunny skies are in the forecast. I was able to see the stars over my mountains which is a nice way to start the day. Tonight we cool down and we get to see what our first dip into the 30’s feels like – snow in the mountains but not the ones I can see close up, I am pretty sure they are not tall enough.
I am afraid to click on my news aggregator tab to see what fresh hell is occurring. I was laughing that Musk assigned some of his Tesla guys to work on Twitter – I am 100% certain that he has no idea what he has gotten himself into. His plan to charge blue check people is likely to fail once he realizes that no one on his site will want to use any payment methods tied to Twitter – it is a hackable mess. And like Stephen King said "they should pay me to post."
Barack Obama will be in Phoenix today campaigning for Katie Hobbs and Mark Kelly. The Republican Accountability Project is out with a new ad that goes right at the election denying Kari Lake with the mother of Officer Sicknick, the man who died from the insurrection. I was watching a segment on MSNBC yesterday with Officer Fanone, the Metropolitan Police officer who was brutally attacked and is on a mission to hold people accountable. The host asked him what he thought about the ad and he said "Kari Lake is a piece of sh*t." Well, there you have it! Republican law enforcement officers and trump voters like Fanone who realized that trump and his followers could and would turn on anyone who got in their way are some of the most indignant. I am reminded of the cartoon where the woman complains about having her face bitten off by a leopard after voting for the party that supports leopards biting people’s faces off. They never expected that voting for uncontrolled cruelty would come back and bite them. I am glad that Fanone is getting the word out but we need more people who can see that voting for haters will never end well and choose to not put them in power in the first place. Voting for someone because you like that they are beating up Black people is a permanent blemish on your soul.
I have a busy day of appointments and errands this morning. My car will be in the shop for planned maintenance and I am hoping that I can get it back today and that they don’t have to keep it overnight. Last time they needed to get a part to complete a repair and they had it for three days. I don’t drive a lot but I do like having my car available when I want to run an errand.
See all y’all later!