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 Wednesday morning, Moosekind! Here in Ashburn we have 58 F. and hazy sunshine again—we’re still getting smoke from the Canadian wildfires. LOL, after weeks and days of no rain, the weather whomps are predicting a rainy Memorial Day weekend! We’re now 6 and 1/2 inches under normal rainfall for the year. As usual, I’ll believe it when I jolly well see it. It’s supposed to get up to 80 F. today, we’ll see whether that happens.
Made a batch of blueberry muffins this morning, distributed six among the neighbors who live alone in my hallway, kept the others for us. After I get ready for a very busy morning, I have lots to do while Dearly is at the doctor’s office. He should be leaving soon. There’s a Gallup poll to finish, a dotty old foot doctor to pay (I refuse to ever see him again, he’s useless), and various other matters to see to.
It appears that Miss Pink Cheeks will now arrive at Saturday lunchtime, sleep over, and depart at breakfast time on Sunday morning. I’ve asked her if she wants us to take her to Virginia Kitchen for Sunday breakfast, so hope to hear back soon.
Right now in my little world alles ist gut. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 69 going to 82, sunny at the moment, and both cloud and rain chances are much reduced from what the widget said yesterday. We shall see what we shall see. Yesterday we generated 16.7 KWHs and the m-t-d at 344.2 is still on track for 450 and gaining on 480 with 8 days of production left in May.
The furnace is back off, probably for the season. The woodstove’s cleaned for the season. No more laundry inside until Fall when we fire it up again. In the next day or two I’ll get my quilt from the folks at Squirrel, now neatly folded beside my bed but hasn’t been used for weeks, and hang it up in the den. My other quilts, also neatly folded and not in use, need to be put in bags and put in the linen closet for the summer. Changing of the season markers.
Off to do my boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 79 degrees in Tucson – it was 67 when I started this comment! The expected daytime high is 91 and sunny skies are expected.
I only have time to say “hi” and “bye” – got caught up in several eyes-forward projects and now I have to shut down my blogging browser.
See all y’all later!
Good afternoon, 63 and mostly cloudy. I was awake in the night, then a long morning nap happened, and now I’m sorting out the rest of the day. My “should do” list is long but I think I’m going to ignore it and shop for some bargain plants instead. Best wishes to all.
my bookchat is up: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/24/2168994/-Bookchat-Empathy
Thursday Meese. 46 going up to 68 here in Kingston. Sitting here playing some Tina Turner.
Puerto Rico
Good morning. Cut my walk short, I rubbed a blister the other day and today I just couldn’t deal with sneakers. Still got in a bit of a walk after I switched into my sandals. As our session winds down, things are getting interesting. Drunk Speaker, AG calls him out on it, House committee starts investigating him — for the couple days left in the session, anyway — and there was a dumpster fire outside the AG’s office yesterday. Looks like lots of paper. Which shouldn’t be in a dumpster, it’s either recycled or shredded. So that’s our excitement. Diary didn’t get much attention, but yesterday was a big news day.
Good Thursday morning, Meese. I’m exhausted after working so hard on housework yesterday. Did manage to get several things crossed off on my “To-Do” list, however.
It’s sad that Tina Turner died. She was and is a legend! I hope her last years with her husband in Switzerland were happy ones, although she was stricken by some serious illnesses. She inspired women who were in abusive domestic situations to leave. May she rest in peace.
It’s 51 F. in Ashburn because of the cold front that blew in last night. It also blew away the smoke haze, so we have a “full glorious morning.” With winds at 10 to 15 miles an hour, it’s going to be indoor exercise for me today. After all, I had my hair done yesterday!
I am very worried about the possible lack of SS payments owing to a potential default. If it’s nerve-wracking for me, think how nerve-wracking it must be for those who are living payment to payment! I hate the Rethugs! They’re all multimillionaires who have no conception of what life is like for ordinary Americans.
Anyway, we’ll have a high of 72 F. and it looks as if the chances of rain for the weekend are diminishing by the day! I knew they would. I’m still wanting only vegetarian food, so tonight we’ll have baked potatoes, green salad, and a fruit salad I’m going to make with blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and mango.
After I run to Trader Joe’s for Dearly’s orange juice, there’s a movie I want to see next door called “Me, the Other.” It’s about LGBTQIA kids who have been mistreated by their communities. I heard of a cute idea at the UU dinner the other night: going out to buy copies of Maus, Heather Has Two Mommies, and And Tango Makes Three, and leaving them in Little Libraries. I haven’t seen one in Ashburn, but I know there’s one in Arlington, near the park where the family walks Hudsie the Labrador.
Time for breakfast and coffee! Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
I was reading about the beginning of June payments and the fact that Social Security recipients over 88 will be hit first. It sounds like initially Social Security paid everyone on the 3rd of the month and then when it got larger, they switched new recipients to the Wednesday payments based on birthday to spread out the workload. The June 3rd payments can’t be made because there are also interest payments due on treasury bonds that have to be paid first. I read an article yesterday that purported to give advice on How to Survive the Debt Default. They said “if you depend on government payments, you should make sure you have enough in savings to ride out the default.” JHC ON A POPSICLE STICK! If you are living month to month off of government payments how the hell are you supposed to save money to live on!!??! I feel badly for those who will be harmed and I hope they know whose fault it is – and that we do a good job of telling them.
Agreed!
Caribbean Matters posted
It’s 63 heading for 84 and sunny at the moment. The widget shows mostly cloudy but says mostly sunny. Covering its bet I guess. Might as well. The supposedly rainy cloudy Wednesday turned out to be sunnier than the mostly sunny Tuesday. LOL. Yesterday we generated 17.7 KWHs and the m-t-d at 362 is on track for 450 and gaining on 480.
We’re on the last week of May. How’d that happen? LOL. This is the long stretch between Social Security paydays anyway. It’ll be on the 21st of June, the latest possible date for a 3rd Wednesday, so 5 weeks instead of the usual 4. Hopefully the “yes, we ran up those bills but we won’t let you pay them” crisis is averted/over. Bloody Rs invented the debt ceiling to try and get out of paying the WWI war bonds. And over 100 years later they’re still trying to stiff the American public – and getting lots of support as long as it hurts BIPOC. They would do it the month all my insurances come due. sigh. Oh well. I’ll manage. Somehow.
Time to start my daily boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 64 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 93. Sunny skies are in the forecast. This will be the weather for the next two weeks, lovely cool mornings, warm afternoons and abundant sunshine.
I will admit to laughing reading about the DeStupidiss 2024 campaign launch on the platform that was destroyed by Melon – what could possible go wrong? I thought it was precious that he claimed to not have banned any books in Florida THE DAY AFTER A YOUNG BLACK WOMAN’S BOOK OF POETRY WAS BANNED! I hope this time, fact checkers don’t roll over and bothsides to fluff up the latest fascist who wants to be president.
My plans were thwarted this morning – I woke up determined to get some accounting work done so that clients get invoiced before the economy collapses next week and discovered a problem with one of my banking accounts. I spent 30 minutes on the phone and am now waiting for a call back. I have a doctor’s appointment later this morning (routine check up) and, besides the fact that banking issues are unsettling, I am not sure I can get the invoicing done before the appointment. But I will at least try!
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 61 and sunny outside my window today. Yesterday turned into a total rest day so I hope today will be a bit more productive. But for the moment a cup of tea, music and solitaire are keeping me occupied. Best wishes to all.
Friday Meese. 41 here in Kingston going up to 74.
When I talk about erasure of Puerto Ricans from much of the national dialogue – here’s an example:
Tony Medina is a Black Puerto Rican poet and children’s book author.
These tweets relate to discussion of what I wrote about in yesterday’s Caribbean Matters about Puerto Rico media coverage
“an example” not “and” – missed the edit window time limit
Fixed. I have no time limit.
Fascists! Book banning is one of the first steps toward autocracy. Book burning is next. After that, Kristallnachts, and finally, Greenwood massacres.
I lived in benighted Tulsa for four years and no one ever told me about what happened to the Black Wall Street in the 1920s.
Good morning. Only a normal-pace walk this morning, my foot still didn’t want me to put on my sneakers. Since I still got here at my normal time, I still had to do something till the building would let me in, so I walked around the loading dock for 20 minutes. And wow so much drama in the last days of our session. I don’t believe our A.G. will actually be removed from office; there’s not really time since it ends next week and they haven’t even passed the budget. It’s sad that this is actually as much accountability as we can hope for. Although, it is his own party calling him corrupt and disgusting, so maybe. Also, today’s stage of the Tour d’Italia should be exciting. One of my favorite riders is in the lead, he has 30 seconds on the next guy so he really just has to not crash.
Good Friday morning, Moosekind! Dear Goddess, is it really Memorial Day weekend already?
It’s 49 F. in Ashburn, going up to 74 F. It’s gorgeous, with a clear blue sky and lots of sun and considerably less wind than yesterday. This morning we’ll go to Lowe’s, I hope, to get plants for the porch and perhaps a small indoor-outdoor rug. Tomorrow I’ll clean the furniture. It’s resin made to look like white wicker.
Today is 10 weeks since my voice disappeared. It’s about 3/4 of the way back. Now I sound as if I’m recovering from a cold or had a bad night’s sleep. Just call me “Hoarsey.” I’m still taking the hyaluronic acid every morning and will continue to do so until my voice is fully restored. Sigh. I have a Summer Solstice ritual to conduct on June 21.
Tomorrow Miss Pink Cheeks is supposed to come over and do housework. Oh, gods, I also have karate! I’m so tired of being the Worst in Class.
This morning Dearly brought me Early Morning Tea in bed. I did so enjoy it! In the afternoon I have a pedicure, which is not my favorite thing to do, but ag, there we are. I’m beginning to feel my age: on Wednesday I did a lot of cleaning and people, I ached in every limb afterwards!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
I have no idea how we are almost in June – May just evaporated.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 64 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 93 (feels like 88). Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I am tuning out the debt ceiling negotiations because until something is agreed on and passed, it is just click bait. I trust that Leader Jeffries will not throw seniors and the poors under the bus and to the extent that McCarthy will need Democratic votes to pass a debt ceiling increase without the poison pills that the Republicans added, he has a lot of leverage. I just hope that they push the new default date past the 2024 election – anything that has us do this all over again next summer is political malpractice.
I was up at 2am to try to get things done so that I can get “into” people’s Inboxes before noon. I did not intentionally wake up at 2am but when I woke up at 1:50am and tried to fall back asleep my brain was too busy to do anything but get up and work. I will nap this afternoon.
See all y’all later!
Hope you enjoyed your nap!
I did! I had bought a zero gravity lounge chair for the patio and yesterday I got a puffy cover that I ordered for it (it was a little too “solid”). I was able to nap until it got too hot.
It’s 65 heading for 82 and sunny at the moment. It’s supposed to “mostly” stay that way. We shall see. Yesterday we generated 18.5 KWHs and the m-t-d is 380. We’re still gaining, slowly, on 480 for the month. Heck, it’s possible – though not likely – to reach 400 by end of day.
Because I put aside insurance money every month AND I took money out of TIAA last January for a car repair that wasn’t as expensive as expected, I will be OK for June even if my Social Security doesn’t come. It’s not due until the 21st anyway, which gives the govt time to patch together a solution and get back into business. WWC have got to be the stupidest as well as the most Deplorable people on earth. By definition they are working people and so are paying into Social Security with every paycheck. The biggest chunk of U.S. debt they don’t want to pay is to Social Security. The Trust is invested in T-bills.
There is so much depressing stuff out there. Stuff I have done and am doing what I can about, which is diddly. Watching the train one is on go over the cliff is not pleasant. Sigh. But I wish I could figure out how to turn off the reader on my laptop – I turned it on accidentally and haven’t a clue how to turn it off – so I don’t have to hear what I’m avoiding reading.
Off to do my boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 65 and sunny outside y window today. Elsa has arrived for an overnight stay so she is chewing on her treat bone beside me. She’s a busy little dog so we’ll be busty too! Best wishes to all.
Good morning. The Texas House will meet today (yep, Saturday) to vote on impeaching the AG. It’s pretty crazy. I slept in (only woke up twice last night, yay!), watching the news, eating breakfast. With the 3 day weekend, I’m stretching out my chores. Will still get in a walk.The current race leader is one of my favorites, Geraint Thomas, he leads by 26 seconds…..the guy in 2nd still could do something.
Will be watching!
Wow, it turns out the House committee has been working on the impeachment since March: