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. It is really cold, I’m saving my walk/run for the afternoon. Now, I’m getting ready for work. It’s my Friday and I’m off work till next Thursday.
Why, another are you taking vacation time?
Why, another, are you taking vacation time?
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! We’re having a very late start to the day. I had a bad night, so that’s why I woke up late this morning. Never mind, the sun is shining on all the pools of water in the woods, the wind is blowing, and it’s 46 F. in Ash-no-longer-burned. We received nearly an inch of rain yesterday.
The party planners have planned a coffee morning to begin at 10 a.m., and here am I, still not washed or brushed. I do have a busy day ahead: consulting LegalZoom for a notary’s affidavit form, redoing the statement of intent form (my lawyer friend said the one I created was like, upside down, and it would be better to provide something the WaPo Obit people are used to seeing), and working on other stuff here and there.
The desktop publishing and camera subcommittee of our Writers’ group has decided to go with premium color for the anthology. OK. Now we have to figure out how we’re going to pay the publication costs.
Yesterday evening I attended the Casting Call meeting. Our director, whose husband refuses to move here, is such a dear! It’s going to be a pleasure working with her and learning from her. She said we’re going to have fun doing “Oklahoma!” and that, as this is a junior version of the play, Jud is not going to die—he’s just going to fall down, hit his head on a rock, and be hauled off to a hospital. We have to learn to speak with accents. I would sacrifice ten white ringlets off my head if I still had a voice and could play the part of Ado Annie. Alas, it is not to be.
I’m also going to take the food I’m contributing and a check to the donation box at the clubhouse. This is my 11th day without chocolate. I have been treadmilling and weightlifting. If you think I have lost a single ounce, your thought would be wrong.
Look at the time! Got to get moving. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
You have such a busy and vibrant life there at your community! It seems odd that the director’s husband refuses to move there – isn’t the reason many people give up their homes to move to a community like that is to avoid the burden of managing and maintaining a home as well has having the meals and a close-in group of people to interact with? It sounds like she wants the community but he wants the burden.
K. said yesterday that he just doesn’t want to give up his lovely house. Meanwhile, the cost of moving into this community keeps rising. She spoke about this last night. She’s not in the greatest of health (knees giving out), so it would certainly help for her to move here. In this place you don’t have to climb stairs or go outside unless you want to.
It’s 26 heading for 53 and sunny. We’ve got today and tomorrow before real winter – below freezing highs and lows in the single digits on both sides of zero – moves in. Yesterday we generated .86 and the m-t-d at 37.39 is definitely not on track.
Today is an expensive day. Tree work. Finally getting those scary branches down. Using my insurance & taxes stash for it. I’ll replace that when I get my tax refund next month. The insurances mostly don’t hit until June and the taxes aren’t due until September. (Chainsaws are noisy.) Once the tree guys leave and the temps get a bit higher I’m also doing a grocery store run but that’s normal expenses.
Hands are cold, of course. So I’m slow. (Did manage to get Charlie Cat’s 1st dose of thyroid meds rubbed into his ear. We’ll see at what point he decides to hide when he sees me coming.) Anyway, off to start my boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 44 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 52. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
No time to read news or chat, I have an places to go today.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 36 and raining outside my window. If I can keep my focus today the house will be clean and the laundry will be under control and then I can decide what to do next. Time to get busy! As always, my best wishes to all.
I’m hosting Book Chat tonight at Daily Kos: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/10/2216240/-Bookchat-just-a-book-chat
Thursday Meese. Terrible looking at all the ugly weather events across the nation. :(
Weather here is normal for the season.
Puerto Rico
“Hospitals in Puerto Rico crowded after increase in respiratory diseases The president of the College of Surgeons explained that multiple cases of dengue, mycoplasma, influenza, COVID-19 and syncytial virus have been reported.”
It looks like there will be a round of even uglier weather in a few days. I am glad you got your roof fixed!
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 39 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 45. I can see the stars over the mountains but it will quickly cloud up and we are expecting high winds and rain. It sounds like a good day to stay home! I have one errand but it is close by. Tomorrow will be our last freezing cold day with steadily rising temperatures into the weekend and next week. We might see 70s by Thursday!
Republicans in disarray AGAIN are threatening to shut down the government. With tax season starting this is really a bad idea. Apparently the bloom is off the Mike Johnson rose because he once again cut a deal that does not hurt women and the poors enough. He is left with telling his members to quit being mean to him on social media! The deal does cut money from IRS enforcement because a gift to the wealthy is required in any deal. It cancels some COVID relief funds. It could have been much much worse. I hope they can get this thing done.
Chris Christie has dropped out of the primary race. He is a terrible Republican but more on the terribleness meter at 6 or 7. I hope he keeps blasting away at tRump – he was the only candidate who correctly identified him as dangerous and unfit. The others refuse to say so but biting their tongues will not help them, they will still lose to him by double digits.
Yesterday I got two projects off my list and I finally have what I consider a pretty good to-do list. Now I need to actually do some of the things on the list. :)
See all y’all later!
Posted
Good morning. Slept in, sorta. Ran in to the office to drop off my done applications so they will get their welcome packets mailed before I go back to work next Thursday. Watching astronomy, eating my overnight oats – I put an extra spoon of cocoa nibs in. And for lunch, my favorite sandwich place is giving me a free one.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} Happy Birthday! ????????????????????????????????????????????
Happy Belated Birthday, anotherdemocrat!
It’s 32 heading for 59 and the last of the “warm” days in the forecast. Nothing above freezing for a solid week and a few of the overnights below zero. Yesterday we generated 7 KWHs for the first time in over a month and the m-t-d at 44.4 isn’t on track but it gained some.
Charlie got his 2nd dose of thyroid medicine and is still jumping on my lap for skritches. So far he’s not holding it against me that I’m rubbing goo in his ear. My newly-cut-back trees look weird right now. I’ll be glad when Spring comes and they leaf out again. First they’ll have to grow some twigs to leaf out from. But even guided some of the “brush” grazed my roof coming down. Definitely the situation was roof damage waiting for the right storm to manifest. Expensive day yesterday.
Anyway, time & past to get to my boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 34, cloudy with a cold wind so I’ll be indoors today. One more bed to change and a bit more of Christmas to put away and then the house will be ready for what ever comes next. I’ve been lazy this morning listening to music and catching up with my solitaire games but now it’s time to get busy. Best wishes to all.
Good Friday morning Meese. 32 here in Kingston, going up to 43 and cloudy.
Puerto Rico
Good morning. Yesterday was nice, I got in a walk and talked to a couple of old friends. Today we have crazy high winds, I might do my walk/run at the gym. It’s supposed to nearly freeze tonight and then the bottom drops out & we have not just freezing but next week lows in the teens. In Texas, that’s crazy. So today I’ll bring my plants in.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 32 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 48. Sunny skies this morning, possible clouds midday then clearing again. This morning it was clear and cold on my patio and the stars were twinkling over the mountains. The moon is a very tiny 1.8% illumination waxing crescent (she was new yesterday) but will not rise until 8:46am MST which means clearing the mountains at about 9:15am when it will be too bright to see such a tiny moon. It looks like I am not going to see the moon much until the 21st unless I happen to be up at midnight. I hope I am not! That would not be a very good sign!!
I have been watching the weather systems unfold and hope everyone stays warm and safe. It is a good thing these storms did not hit during the holiday weeks when 20 million people were on the roads and several million were flying. It is never good but at least most people will be in their own homes and – we hope – near help if they lose power. Yesterday we had clouds most of the day and rain with about a one minute hail “storm” and 10 seconds of snow flakes. The sun came out later in the afternoon and I got my walk in.
The news is filled with tRump’s blusterings and other soon-to-fail primary candidates shouting at each other because they refuse to call out the elephant in the room. Meh. It won’t matter. I read a promising piece in the Bulwark that it is likely that tRumps high-water mark for polling will be after he wins the primaries and then Republicans who kept hoping that one of the other candidates would emerge will realize that they can either have Biden or chaos. Digby wrote about it here (Daily Hit of Hopium) a couple of days ago. I hope the author she is quoting is right!
It has become Friday and I got a couple of really big things off my to-do list this past week and now I need to prep for two big projects over the weekend.
See all y’all later!
Good Friday morning, Moosekind. Yesterday was busy: went to the Pharmacy on campus to get an RSV shot (they argued with me but finally administered it), prepared for my Writers’ Group meeting in the afternoon, and went to the second Casting Call in the evening.
The Writers’ Group meeting was lively. We accomplished a lot of things. I told them about next month’s contest, which is to write a sickeningly sweet couplet in either iambic pentameter or hexameter. The subject should be something to do with love or leap year. I have collected some small, useless prizes to award to the winner, first runner-up, and second runner-up. I also threatened to serve them Rosewater Fairy Cakes for refreshments. Two of the men thought I said Rosewater Ferret Cakes. We all need to turn up our hearing aids!
Well, I feel distinctly unwell, so must cancel my appointments for a pedi and with the insurance lady. I’m fed up with United Healthcare and Kaiser keeps begging me to come back. Perhaps I will.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s cloudy and 39 f. High today will be in the 40s. Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day!
I hope you feel better soon!
Thank you, BlogGoddess!
Stayed in bed all morning, arose and ate something, hope I can keep it down. I hate being ill. Hubby tested me and it’s not Covid.
It’s 21 heading for 29 and overcast. At least it’s stopped snowing. Too cold for the big fluffy flakes so not much accumulation, just a light dusting. Including on my solar panels of course. But that’s kind of moot at the moment as it’s too dark for the system to be on anyway. I hope the clouds will clear off in time to sublime the panels clear. Yesterday we generated 8.6 KWHs (which we’ve been capable of since mid December but haven’t done since mid October) and the m-t-d at 53 gained almost enough to be on track. Which of course it will lose again today. sigh.
Not much, if anything, different with anybody. Except the weather of course. Off to do my boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 7 degrees, icy windows and a cold wind blowing in Bellingham. Our house is warmer than it used to be so we’ll keep the pipes from freezing and stay indoors until warmer temps return. I have baskets of ironing waiting so that’s my plan for today. Best wishes to all.
Beware, princesspat! Ironing used to make me introspective, as in:
Why did I get married? Shouldn’t I be a Foreign Service Officer, serving in Switzerland?
Why aren’t I a famous novelist, summering in Cannes and wintering in an apartment in San Francisco?
How come I can speak only one language instead of French, Arabic, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese?
I gave up ironing YEARS ago! It was much better for my mental health.
Saturday Meese.Looks like we are in for some windy weather here in Kingston, with snow turning into rain.
Puerto Rico
One of the reasons that food prices are high on the island is the Jones Act, officially known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, which requires that only U.S. ships carry goods between U.S. ports and raises costs in Puerto Rico.
Around 1940, agriculture employed nearly 45% of Puerto Rico’s workforce. In 2019, the sector employed less than 2%. And the territory imports roughly 90% of its food, a reliance that is only deepened by multiple natural disasters and economic crises.
The issue of fresh and affordable food access is one that Crystal Diaz is trying to tackle. Along with three other co-founders, she came up with the idea for an app called PRoduce!, where clients can buy local produce from around the island and get it delivered to them.
“We have bought from over 400 local producers. We are 90% local and then 10% imported goods that are needed to cook those local stuff,” she said.
Customers download the app, then choose whatever they want, Diaz explained.
“We sell fruit and vegetables obviously, but also meat, cheese, eggs — all that you can think of, like in a supermarket.”
The app delivers island-wide and depending on where customers live, they can either receive their order within the hour, next day or two days at most.
Whether it’s growing the food or buying it from a market or app, Puerto Ricans are determined to become more self-reliant.
A PR right-winger bites the dust:
The U.S. Department of Justice accused her of running a scheme from 2017 to 2020 in which she inflated her assistant’s bi-weekly salary from $800 to $2,900 and kept some of the money. Prosecutors estimated that Charbonier took a total of $100,000 during that period.
Her attorney, Francisco Rebollo, said the jury erred in its verdict, and that he would appeal. Sentencing is scheduled for April. Also indicted was Charbonier’s assistant, Frances Acevedo Ceballos, who pleaded guilty last year.
Two others were charged: Charbonier’s son and husband. The son was enrolled in a pre-trial diversion program while the husband, Orlando Montes Rivera, was found guilty on Friday on nearly all the same charges as his wife.
Charbonier is an attorney who served in Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives from 2013 to 2020. She also was secretary general of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.
Because of this cartoon, because of this Tata Charbonier pressured the newspaper
@primerahora to fire @PepitoTweets. And the newspaper gave in to Tata’s pressure and fired him! Guess what? Today it was shown how trash Tata is. We just hope PH apologizes publicly!
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 37 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 54. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
The Phoenix paper says that Kari Lake is in Des Moines campaigning for tRump. Would it be wrong of me to hope that she disappears into a snow drift, never to be seen again?
Why on earth is the Biden Justice Department seeking the death penalty? Yes, white supremacists are terrible, yes the guy in Buffalo who murdered 10 Black people in a grocery store is terrible but JHC! We are no better than Donald Freaking Trump and William Freaking Barr if we use the death penalty for federal crimes. It is never okay – stop killing in my name.
I have many things to do today so I need to get back to it.
See all y’all later!