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 66 degrees in the Desert Southwest with an expected daytime high of 96. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 53 and raining here in Kingston, going up to 60. Glad my furnace is fixed – it’s very damp here.
Puerto Rico/USVI
Yesterday was exhausting. I put my plants back where they belong, trimmed off dead branches, etc. Didn’t rebuild my shelves that the thief returned — I’m going to have to move stuff around when they paint, so I’ll really settle stuff after that. Right now, I’m watching the news and enjoying the smell of my steeping tea.
This is the right side, there’s a smaller cluster by the door on the left:
Glad you have them back, another!
posted
Its 61 going to 81 and sunny right now. Yesterday we generated 8.7 KWHs and the m-t-d at 232.8 is on track, barely, for 300. We’ll see what the day brings.
The overnight brought 2.4″ rain, a lightning bolt so close it sounded like the crack of doom, a power outage I didn’t know about until it was fixed, a ruptured water pipe under the street in front of my house. I reported it to the police non-emergency number because that’s the only emergency number the city has. Supposedly somebody will be here or at least call me in another half hour or so. I do have water so I’m not as concerned as I might otherwise be.
Anyway, I’ve finished my Sunday housecleaning chores, am eating breakfast, and am about to start by boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! It’s 63 F. in Ashburnikins and the rain is still coming down in an entirely satisfactory manner. Yemaya heard my prayer, evidently:
Rain, rain, stay all day
And at night don’t go away
At intervals I open the door to the screened porch to stare at the rain and listen to the music of its falling. Y’all probably think I’m crazy (and you’re not far wrong), but it’s so rare to see rain in this area at all, let alone an entire weekend of it! Dearly Beloved, whose many illnesses oblige him to sleep half-sitting up on the sofa, attached to an oxygen concentrator, says it rained all night too. He has long intervals of wakefulness during the night.
I slept straight through, thank Goddess (no thanks to the rain, which I can’t hear because I remove my hearing aids at night), and was awakened by the butler, still in his dressing-gown and slippers, bringing me a large mug of early morning tea. It was delicious.
Yesterday, while Ophelia wept and swept outside, four of us inside Farmwell Hall were reading the second play I wrote, “DNA Dilemma,” as part of the Drama Club meeting. Connie, our team leader (who plays Jill), had composed and written a very nice introduction. Wow! One day I may be famous! Just kidding.
Anyway, the four of us threw quite a lot of intensity into it and the other members of the Drama Club, sitting in the audience, seemed quite receptive.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’ve thought of an excellent reason why the Girl Scout mother can’t be an emergency contact: she works for a very small company of 20 people, in which everyone wears more than one hat, so an absence of any kind is keenly noticed. Also, the president of the company mentally lives in 1923, in which all employees are male with full-time, stay-at-home wives who are completely responsible for all domestic chores. That means the company males never have to take a child to the dentist, never have to stay home with a sick child, never have to shop for groceries, mail packages, and bla bla bla. She has to take her own child to the dentist during her lunch hour and dares not take any sick days when she herself is ill.
I have done nothing this morning except cook breakfast and scroll through Facebook. I need to make Sour Cream Gingerbread and get it into the oven. I expect Dearly will want lemon frosting with it. With the rain falling and the fake flames flickering yellowly in the fake woodstove, the afternoon should be very pleasant.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Monday Meese. 54 and raining here in Kingston NY going up to 60.
Puerto Rico
Crumbs! At one Witch Camp I met a woman who lived in the Dominican Republic. She said the habitual greeting there was, “Ay, calor,” accompanied by a fanning motion with one hand.
She also uttered a phrase that I found riveting: “Those of us who are called on to carry more weight…”
At the time I wasn’t particularly poundish but I am now, so now I am thinking of that phrase quite often.
Good morning. We had quite a hail storm last night, yet it is still hot as blazes this morning — 80 degrees. Did my walk, did a couple of run sections before my body said “are you kidding me?” Anyway, Monday. At the office. Had an upset stomach yesterday, ate the last of my ginger chews. Just got to make it to 4:45.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 68 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 100. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The weather guys promised “no more triple digits” but weather guys are not to be trusted. At least this heat dissipates quickly and the morning lows will still be in the 60s. When I can go on to my porch in the early morning and breathe in cool air while looking at my stars and my mountains, that makes a big difference.
It sounds like Hollywood writers may have a deal with the studios. That is good news for people who like movies and TV shows. I hope the writers got a good deal and that they solved the thorny issue of AI generated scripts. I sense that most of the people watching TV could care less about the quality of the dialog or the plots of the shows they watch as long as the characters they like are in them but it is important to draw the line at what AI can do. Let it answer a question online about a technical issue but generating “original” writing is a bridge too far.
It is Monday of the last week in September and the last week of the quarter so I cannot linger online. I do have one non-work thing I need to deal with. The Mastodon server instance that the MotleyMoose joined, newsie.social, is apparently losing its funding and will be shut down at the end of the year unless the participants donate. I wondered how crowd-funded social media would work and I guess the answer is “not very well”! In any event, other servers have more long-term funding sources and I need to research the alternatives and move the account. I have no idea who funds the server my personal account is on but I have had it for years. I should probably review that as well.
See all y’all later.
It’s 66 heading for 86 and foggy but supposed to clear off and get sunny. I hope so. Yesterday we generated 7.3 KWHs and at 239.9 the m-t-d is not quite on track for 300.
I’ll be baking a pork roast this afternoon. The first since early June. (When I baked 2 at the same time. When those ran out my son cut the pork loin into chops/steaks and I cooked them on the electric grill in July and August.) Welcome Autumn. With the rain we’ve gotten lately we might actually get fall color this year. Maybe. The maples will turn on schedule because they go by day length. The rest may or may not depending on when we start getting overnights below 50.
Not much going on with anybody. Enough good stuff happening to keep folks truckin’ along. Not enough to get anybody out of the mushpot and comfortable while they do it. Aashirs nani keeps saying she wishes she’d win the lottery and could take care of all that. I sort of agree. Mostly though I wish those other folks’d win the lottery and take care of it for themselves. Even more I wish we lived in a society that didn’t create these problems – hunger, homelessness, domestic violence (including but not limited to sexual assault) . . . – in the first place. But we don’t. So. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! We have tentative sunshine and 63 F. in Ashburn this morning. The weather wonk said clouds would be moving in, but all we’re really going to have is gloom, not rain. Whereas the wonk reported yesterday that Dulles Airport had received 2.87 inches of rain, the newspooper reported a whole inch less than that, so I don’t know whom to believe. Anyway, whatever: we’re better off than we were.
Dearly and I are off to Herndon this morning, me for a dental cleaning, himself for a signature needed from a bank officer. We’ll stop by the Oak Hill post office near where we used to live to mail our packages. It’s very much nicer than the ghastly P. O. here, staffed by ill-tempered clerks.
More computer trouble: now, Pages will not open on my Mac. Why? I am freaked out. Facebook is still a problem. It’s all right on my iPhone and my Kindle, but the two laptops have the fake account on it. And this morning I received a grimgram from daily kos. I have “No Recs” for a week because apparently I rec’d a statement that should have been flagged. Well, duh. I just won’t look at it at all until next Sunday.
Rehearsal tonight and we’re going “off book,” so this afternoon will be spent studying and catching up on other chores. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Good morning, 64 and light rain on Bellingham today. Sorry I’ve been so hit and miss lately but Ron’s surgery and ready or not home recovery has been a bit challenging for us. I knew recovery would be harder for him this time because he’s 8 yrs older than he was when the first hip surgery happened, but this is more that either of us anticipated. So grateful our daughter is here and can stay for a few more days while the home health care team gets organized. I’m ok, just really weary but resting when I can. As always, my best wishes to all,
{{{princesspat}}} I’m so glad your daughter is there to help. Healing Energy to everybody. moar {{{HUGS}}}
{{{princesspat!}}} Sending healing vibes to dear Ron and “restfulness” vibes to you. Blessed be.
Tuesday Meese. 55 going up to 65 here in Kingston. We have a ceiling leak in Nad’s office- seems to be coming from next to one of the chimneys – the shingles need tar. Can’t have it fixed till it stops raining – hopefully today or tomorrow.
Puerto Rico
{{{Dee}}} Well, rats! That’s not good about the leak. I hope it’s not too expensive to fix. & doesn’t do too much damage inside before you can get it fixed. Healing Energy. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Men hate women, especially transgender women.
But it’s wonderful news about the solar power and the hydroponic farm! I actually prefer hydroponic lettuce, it’s so much cleaner. Good luck to them!
Sorry about the leak, Sis. Hope you can get it repaired quickly!
Good morning. Stomach interfered with walking plan this morning, I’ll either go to the gym this afternoon or take today as a rest day and set my alarm early Saturday and walk. Anyway, just watching astronomy & getting ready for work.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} Healing Energy. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 73 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 99. Sunny skies are in the forecast. It looks like our more-or-less permanent temperature drop won’t occur until Sunday, October 1st, when our daytime highs get into the high 80s and overnight lows in the mid 60s. When they tell the weather complainers to “wait until October” they must mean it literally!
I am not sure what the breathless concern about Bob Menendez is all about. He is not a problem for Senate Democrats or for Democrats at all – he is coming up for reelection and there will be a primary in a reliably blue state. He would be a problem if he had just gotten re-elected and they had to deal with him for 5 years, he will be a problem if he decides to caucus with the Republicans out of spite (it is unlikely that they would embrace him). We can only hope that his latest grift turns into the final straw for New Jersey voters. If he is counting on the Supreme Court to let him off the hook for bribery like they did the Virginia governor a few years ago, he needs to remember that bribery is only okay for Republican politicians, not for Democratic ones. He will likely not find as nice of a reception there as Bob McDonnell did.
I am ignoring horse race polls especially nationwide polls which are meaningless – we don’t elect presidents via a popular vote.
This morning, I have two errands to run so I need to get a small project finished and out the door because I will likely not want to work when I get back.
See all y’all later!
It’s 58 heading for 88 and sunny. At least at the moment. I won’t need to close up for at least another hour. Yesterday we generated 10.4 KWHs – just enough to bring the m-t-d to 250 and get us (barely) back on track for 300.
I don’t know why but I’m a bit groggy this morning. Oh well. It’s a beautiful day and that’s always a good thing. I think the hummingbirds have finished migrating through. The nectar level in the feeder hasn’t dropped in 2 days. But I’ll keep it out a bit longer, just in case there are some late travelers needing to fuel up. Best I know folks are trucking along. Not well, but managing.
Anyway, I’m off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Tuesday morning, Moosekind! Well, guess what: last night, when I walked to rehearsal next door, I felt a few tentative drops of rain. When I came out an hour later, it was “mizzling.” This morning when I woke up it was raining heavily and continued to do so until about half an hour ago (9:30). We were told there might be “showers.” Huh! That wasn’t a shower, that was big-time rain.
Despite the fact the WaPo chooses not to report how much rain we really received, I feel very happy and quite moist. The outside temp. is 57 F. and it’s cloudy. Sometimes I go out to the porch and breathe in the rain-washed air. It’s so autumnal!
Alas, yesterday evening although I did my lines perfectly during the first run-through of the play, during the second one I blanked on one of my lines. Bloody hail! Just shows you that you have to read the play over and over again until you can do it in your sleep.
Today is a “pause” day. They’re giving away free box lunches at the Acorn Deli, and tonight in the four main restaurants you’re supposed to show up in your sleepwear (but what if you sleep starkers?) and eat pancakes. This is supposed to be amusing. As far as we Brits and half-Brits are concerned, Shrove Tuesday (known as Mardi Gras elsewhere) is when you eat pancakes for dinner.
What else? Had a lovely awakening this morning, with Dearly bringing me a large mug of tea. I sat up in bed drinking it and scrolling through Facebark. It was nice to be lazy instead of springing out of bed to do something Important.
After I get my hair done, I would like to work on my play and format my story for inclusion in a friend’s anthology. I’ve taken a lot of her workshops, although I haven’t done that lately.
We’ve had more rain in September than during the entire summer. Also, today in this area the sun rose at 6:59 a.m. and will set at 6:59 p.m. (How can they tell when it’s so gray outside?) What if all this rain had been SNOW? I must lay in supplies—porridge, of course, cereal, soup, crackers, that processed cheese in a jar (bad for you but I like the taste), fruit, bla bla bla. Recently we enjoyed beans on toast for lunch but, uh, considering everything, it will be six months before we do it again.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Wednesday Meese. 44 going up to 69 and no rain. Ceiling leak is fixed – yay – and didn’t cost much.
Puerto Rico
These are the young people who are going to change the Health System of #PuertoRico
This is the subject of tomorrows Caribbean Matters:
Good morning. Did my walk, 1.2 mi. Stomach is still somewhat unhappy, but I have more ginger ale and ginger soother. Watching astronomy and getting ready for work.
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind. ‘Tis 57 F. on a cloudy day in Ashburn, the high won’t be very high (60s). This morning I have to go to Costco to get my hearing aids cleaned. This afternoon I want to visit an exhibition in Farmwell Hall next door. One of the writers in my group is a photographer, so I want to see his exhibit, “Unseen Worlds.” We may use a couple of his photographs in the anthology.
I have begun rowing again. I want to work up to half an hour of that followed by half an hour on the treadmill. Somehow, I have to get fit.
It was 47 years ago this very day that we moved into our beloved house. Wonder whether I will EVER get over leaving that house? I must have been meant to leave, because I didn’t have “house dreams” before we left: you know, you dream that you’ve left the house, moved away, only to discover that you hate the new place and want to move back to your real house. But you can’t, because someone else is living there now and you can never go back.
Goddess knows I’m having way too much fun here, what with the Drama Club, the Writing Group, the Biography Book Club, the Progressives, and the UU’s. I don’t want to move back. But still, that house has so many memories, of children growing up, of dogs we have loved and lost, of friends and relatives and even boarders who stayed with us over the years. It just makes me feel weepy to remember it.
Oh, well, enough of that nonsense. I’ve got to finish this coffee and take a shower before the fixit guy shows up to fix a certain indispensable fixture.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.