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 39 degrees in the Desert Southwest ???? with an expected daytime high of 57. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 29 here in Kingston NY, going up to 36 and sunny.
Puerto Rico
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) gave Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez’s federal campaign committee until mid-February to clarify potential deficiencies identified in FEC´s preliminary review of her committee´s last quarterly report, which involves more than $250,000 in donations and includes warnings about disbursements that may have been incorrectly reported.
González must prove that she returned more than $160,000 in contributions her committee would have received to help fund her election as Resident Commissioner in Washington after she decided to run against Pedro Pierluisi for the New Progressive Party’s gubernatorial nomination.
(note from me – “The New Progressive Party – is not progressive)
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday $51.4 million in grants to help Puerto Rico install ten electric vehicle (EV) charging ports along major corridors as part of a project to build out an electric vehicle (EV) charging network.
The Biden administration awards $51.4 millions to the island for Highway Bridge Improvements, Electric Vehicle Program. The Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority will manage the funds. The Puerto Rico Corridors Project is one of the 47 projects in 22 states to strategically deploy publicly accessible electric vehicle charging and alternative fueling infrastructure that will receive $623 million in grant funding.
According to the Department of Transportation, EV sales have more than quadrupled under the Biden administration, and the number of publicly available charging ports has grown by nearly 70 percent. More than 4 million EVs are now on the road in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican Democratic Congressman Darren Soto does not expect a decision until the summer.
Washington D.C. – As the federal government could face a partial shutdown in just over a week, Puerto Rico officials and their allies may have to wait until summer to see what Congress will do with the proposal to include the island’s residents in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
[…]
Bills filed in the Senate and the House propose Congress to leave it up to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to approve a five-year transition plan to SNAP that would increase allocations to the island -probably over a decade- from the $2.9 billion annual NAP to nearly $4.5 billion.
The proposal, however, has met resistance from Republican senators, according to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (Michigan) and Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), who pushes in the Senate for the approval of a transition process to SNAP for Puerto Rico.
Good morning. It is freezing, and might get above freezing this afternoon but then 3 days of below freezing are coming. Nothing on the news about power outages. I have beans cooking, made my tea yesterday. Going to check my church’s website later to be sure church is still on this morning. I bet the MLK Day stuff tomorrow is canceled, there’s a very small chance of freezing drizzle; but it will be in the 20s when it would be going on and that’s just too cold for us.
BMS posted
We’d gotten up to 1 when I logged on. The windchill had gotten up to -10. Might make it to 7 today. Windchill isn’t going to get above zro. Overcast and expecting snow later. Yesterday we generated 9.6 KWHs for the first time since last September. The m-t-d at 66 is actually on track for 150. It won’t be by end of day. Cloudy days are depressing for many reasons.
Got my Sunday cleaning chores done and my first 10 minutes on the treadmill. Eating oatmeal with a cat on my lap and about to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for Everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good afternoon, Moosekind! It started off sunny and blue-skied this morning. After the Proper Breakfast I had to scurry off to Whole Foods to return an Amazon misfit—ordered Petite Short size 14 slacks, they came all the way to my toes. By the time I arrived at Trader Joe’s, every child therein was smiling because it was snowing. Of course, it was imaginary snow—it didn’t stick—but snow is snow. Saw the delightful father of the three girls I used to babysit. They’re too old to need me now, but M. promised to bring his family to see “Oklahoma!” when it’s on. He took a selfie of the two of us in the store.
Had to go out to buy baby pizzas, blueberries, mini-cheese crackers, and yogurt drink for Ethan, who is visiting today. He’s watching soccer on the telly with Grandpa.
Grandma, who should know better, has scarfed down some chocolate and is about to drink a nice cup of tea. BTW it’s 36 outside and sunny again.
Wishing a good day to all Pond dwellers!
Good afternoon, 26 and partly sunny outside my windows today. The cold wind has stopped blowing, the house is warm, the pipes still flowing, so now we can just enjoy a quiet winter day. Ron is cooking a nice dinner and I think I’ll bake a chocolate cake. Best wishes to all.
MLKJr Monday Meese. 18 degrees here in Kingston going up to 31.
Puerto Rico
“Eugenio María de Hostos y Bonilla was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, sociologist and writer. He was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, on January 11, 1839. In Spain he fought for the freedom of Cuba and Puerto Rico. He died in Santo Domingo, on August 11, 1903.”
Sis, that’s tremendous news about the U. of P.R. students developing a sunscreen out of an earthly substance. Good for them!
Good morning, meeses! Monday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day …
It is 46 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 69. Sunny skies with a few clouds in the late afternoon. I am going to declare Winter over as we prepare for a week of highs near 70 and overnight lows in the mid 40s. I saw the stars of the mountains this morning and the thin waxing crescent was gorgeous in the WSW sky yesterday evening. I wish I had a camera that could take moon photos – the ones from my cell phone (usually pretty good) can’t do light properly and everything looks like smudges.
I shall ignore the news today which will be filled with misquotes of Dr. King and claims to be the Party of Lincoln from the garbage people assembled in Iowa. Every sentient human is hoping that Vivek Ramaswamy, the nasty tech dudebro who wants everyone to know that he is NOT Muslim and hates Blacks and women just as much as every other Republican, does poorly enough in the Cacas to drop out. It seems pretty disrespectful, by the way, to hold a Klan rally on MLKJr Day.
I have decided to take all bank holidays off this year and will spend another day working on the things I want to work on instead of client projects.
See all y’all later!
Heh, heh, thanks for the laugh, Jan!
Good morning. Record low of 16 degrees, with light precipitation of all the freezing kinds, even lake effect snow. The news is all “please stay inside, we really mean it”. Energy grid is encouraging conservation, but no emergency yet. I have my heat set at 66. When I’m more awake, I’ll light a fire in the fireplace. For now, I’m watching astronomy and eating my overnight oats.
We’re up to 1 right now. Widget says we’ll get to 14 today. But we never made over 3 yesterday so we shall see. The sun’s trying to come out so maybe we will. We got 1.25 KWHs yesterday before the snow covered the panels. That brought the m-t-d to 67. Where it will stay until the snow is off the panels. If we get strong enough sun today that could be tomorrow. If not, the above freezing temps Wednesday & Thursday will hopefully do it.
I’m cold. But not as cold as a whole lot of other folks. And I’m not dangerously cold, just uncomfortably cold. So. I will do my best with my stiff hands and be grateful. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Girlfriend, you need a muff. Or at least those gloves that only leave your fingers exposed from the knuckles up.
Good Monday morning, Moosekind, and blessed anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. I can still recall his voice saying, re the mountaintop, “I may not get there with you…” He must have been prescient, poor murdered man.
We woke up to snow this morning. Of course, it was just a dusting, but it’s sticking and we may have more overnight. There’s not enough to make a snowman or even snowballs.
I wanted to get my hair done but am dubious about driving over the roads. However, tomorrow it will be worse.
Yesterday afternoon, as I came back into the living room, 8-year-old Ethan said, “The Cowboys are being destroyed.” He loves soccer, NFL football, lacrosse, and is getting into basketball. He doesn’t like baseball at all, so it’s fortunate that Karl, our nine-year-old, does. We all had dinner together at the restaurant down the hall and it was quite nice. Ethan had pasta and French fries—UGH!
This morning I may as well write. Our current temperature is 27 F. in Ashburn, the sky is gray and pregnant with snow flurries, and I don’t think the temperature is going to rise much higher. Lucky Jan, to see the new moon! January’s full moon is called the Wolf Moon.
Did I brag to y’all about my frail, 93-year-old husband putting two dining chairs together despite missing instructions and bolts? He is totally amazing!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond. Oh, I have something to share with you, it’s really good!
I’ve started doing this. It costs nothing but seconds.
This is from an article on resilience in the January issue of Costco Connection, by Dr. Amit Sood.
Five micro-practices:
Wake up thinking about what or who you’re grateful for and send silent gratitude to that person.
Send a silent, good wish to someone you’re connecting with. “I do this all day, which makes me feel uplifted,” says Sood.
Be present instead of being physically here and mentally elsewhere.
Try to notice one new thing every day,
Greet at least one person every day as if you haven’t seen them for a month–with enthusiasm and energy.–WH
Thanks for sharing this Diana. Sending thoughts of gratitude :)
Thanks, dear lady!
Good morning, 17 and a classic PNW pinky blue sky outside my window today. I was going to bake yesterday afternoon but I rummaged around in my sewing room instead. So now I have all I need to sew some new pillow covers and to finish another needlepoint pillow. Today’s challenge is to stay motivated and if I can I’ll have a creative day. Best wishes to all.
Tuesday Meese. Snowing lightly here in Kingston, 23 degrees going up to 27 – we’ll only get about 3 or 4 inches.
Puerto Rico
Another freezing morning. It might get above 32 this afternoon. I might take a 30 minute easy walk outside. Yesterday I went to the gym and did 8 rounds of run 1.5 minutes, walk 2. I think the treadmill helped, but I’m still proud.
Good Tuesday moaning, Meese! How very agreeable it is to sit here drinking coffee and looking out at the snowy woods. Herndon, where I lived until March 2018, had four inches of snow! I think we must have received the same, amount because it’s piled up against the screens on the porch and there are no blades of grass sticking through on the ground.
We’re supposed to receive precip. on and off, but I haven’t seen any yet. It’s 27 F. in Ashburn. Dearly is having his after-breakfast nap.
Have thought of collecting all my letters to S. and hers to me and putting them into a single volume. But who would read them? It would be a pointless exercise, very time-consuming, and Goddess knows I have plenty else to do.
The good news is that auditions for “Oklahoma!” are canceled for tonight, so aside from going to the gym this afternoon and picking up dinner—luckily, I do not have to go outside to do this—I need not go out.
I ate chocolate yesterday. Have vowed not to do that today. What else? Oh, the pundits and MAGAs appear not to understand that Iowa is a small, White state and totally unimportant in the overall scheme of things. Ditto New Hampshire.
In other news, I’ve always believed in Hubble’s theory of galactic red shift, but I didn’t stop to think that it is STILL GOING ON! Truly. The moon is receding from us. Six hundred years from now we won’t be able to view eclipses because our view of the moon will not be able to cover the sun. Perhaps the day will come when Omar Khayyam’s quatrain is no longer true:
Time to get on with my day. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond. I sent a silent good wish to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom I believe to be much undervalued.
Well, it’s -3 and might make it to 20. I guess an edge of one of my panels is not covered. We generated .29 KWHs yesterday. It’s sunny and if a bit more edge gets uncovered we might make it to 1. Maybe. I’m not betting on it. Just hoping enough snow evaporates so tomorrow & Thursday being above freezing can melt the rest.
Talked to Fineena last night. Her sister died Sunday. Her sister was not a nice person so Fineena is in an emotional turmoil, as one might suppose. She spent most of Sunday and part of yesterday “being there” for her niece. Today she plans to talk to her doctor then figure out what all she has to pay and how to pay it. As in a normal day for her.
There are things to like about winter. Cold isn’t one of them. (Well, in the scheme of things I guess it is. It kills the bugs & reduces the bug population. And bugs are the main/only thing I don’t like about summer.) Anyway, off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Poor Fineena! Will see if I can call her tonight after dinner.
{{{Diana}}}
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 55 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 59. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
The news headlines are depressing – I am really not ready for the 2024 election cycle to begin and a rematch of tRump vs Biden. I despise every Republican – every freaking one – for not taking out the trash in 2021 and disqualifying him from a run after the insurrection he led. In any event, I am not going to open any articles and will just read about sports.
See all y’all later!