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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It’s 48 heading for 64 and off and on sunny. I hope it will stay sunnier than not. Yesterday we generated 11 KWHs and the m-t-d at 44.8 is gaining.
If there’s any good news out there, I missed it. Maybe if I stayed in my TL long enough at any of the 3 other sites I do something hopeful would show up. Maybe. But my son thinks he’s going to be able to get his wiring done & Joker visited Fineena yesterday, with Harriet, and took her to the pharmacy & the bank & handled a few other errands/issues. So that’s good. Meanwhile, time to get started on my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Glad to hear your good news, bfitz! Let’s hope the sun keeps shining.
It sounds like they finally opened up BlueSky to everyone, no invitations needed. I look at it occasionally if I want some “hot takes” on the news but I am not comfortable using it from a web site, it seems disorganized. I am hoping someone builds an app that I can tailor a little bit more to how I read. I was surprised at how easy it was to wean myself from Twitter and that with the news aggregation web sites I follow – and breaking news emails – I can keep up with what I need to know. I am pretty much done with Mastodon other than to toot the Welcoming as a placeholder. They seem to have no interest in making it user friendly and it will never have enough useful volume as a news site. BlueSky will be the Twitter replacement unless opening it up brings the nazis and their blocking does not work. We shall see!
We shall indeed see. Bluesky is the most like Twitter in many ways. It’s a little harder to navigate & no DMs but otherwise it’s Twitter. And may or may not go the way. But it took Twitter years to turn to trash and it’s still useful for some stuff. So yeah, we shall see.
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind, and welcome to another beautiful day in Ashburn. We have 39 F. currently, going up to 50 F.
Today is Younger Son’s birthday. He’s my miracle baby, born a month early by emergency C-section, the baby they didn’t think would live through the night, so they put me in a room by myself. They didn’t want me to have hysterics and upset my roommate when they broke the bad news.
But today he’s 49 years old, the proud father of two wonderful children, and living the good life. I’m so proud of him!
In my usual scatterbrained fashion, I can’t find anything. I can’t leave the flat just now because Dearly is at the doctor’s office, and General Services is supposed to take away the chair I broke and the floor fan that doesn’t work. Also, I’m trying to track down a missing check. If I deposited it in my sleep to the wrong account I’m going to be Seriously Annoyed.
Pleased about Nevada, of course, wondering what will happen in Michigan. The writers in my group were supposed to submit a couplet in either iambic pentameter or hexameter for tomorrow’s meeting. I don’t think anyone but yours truly managed iambic pentameter and a couplet. The rest submitted quatrains in who-knows-what meter and some were devoid of scansion. Well, we’ll just have to discuss it.
That’s all from me today, folks. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Happy Birthday to your son! Definitely a miracle baby! {{{Diana}}}
Thanks, bfitz!
Good morning, 44and light clouds outside my windows today. Between my old glasses and the new iPad I’m fumbling around but oh well. The new glasses will be here soon, and if I persist I will learn to be iPad proficient……eventually!
Not much new from me, a bit of garden and house work, reading the second book in the fantasy series, solitaire, rest, and then I wonder why I’m bored. Best wishes to all.
Good luck with your glasses! I have two pairs – one for driving and close work that I can take to the grocery store to read labels and one for computer and close work that I use at my desk. I do not need the driving glasses to see to drive, especially if it is sunny, but they do sharpen things up and because they have the readers built in it is easier to just have them on my face instead of reaching for them.
Thursday Meese. Cold (27) and sunny here – going up to 48.
Puerto Rico
“Puerto Rico Comptroller’s Office issues a special report with recommendations to the United States Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and the Department of Justice”
School conditions
Students denounce the conditions of the high school, Luis F. Crespo in Camuy. In November of last year, students from the Elsa D. Martínez Torres de Cidra Second Unit School drew attention to the terrible conditions in which their school was found through a video published in
@facebook
PR—more power to you! Solar will be better than fossil fueld.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 39 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 48. It is clear now, I can see the stars over my mountains, but we are expecting clouds and more rain. I hope it is less rain and more sun as there are some college softball tournaments taking place in Arizona (Tucson and Tempe) today through Saturday that it would be nice for them to be able to play. The cold would not be fun but you can’t play in the rain. Mount Lemmon officially got a foot of snow yesterday and we can see snow on the mountains down to 4500′ elevation. It looks pretty there, it would not be pretty if it landed on the roads – Tucsonians are bad enough drivers in the rain, the snow would be a nightmare.
Gosh, who could have imagined that Republicans would jettison a bipartisan border agreement they wrote just because their puppetmaster demanded it and hopes to keep chaos at the border as a campaign issue? It will be hard to explain what happened to people who will tune in later to politics – there is no explanation other than “we don’t really care about the border, we just want to scare the hell out of you.” The only silver lining is that Sinema was just left holding the “bags” of her Senate Republican BFFs and now looks like the chump that she is. She planned on running for re-election in Arizona as an Independent on her bipartisan chops and ability to get things done working across the aisle. Ooops! It sounds like the Senate is going to try to get a standalone military aid package for Ukraine and Israel passed today. It is very likely that right-wing Senate Republicans will want to use that to bludgeon Mitch McChinless again and weaken him so that they can install one of their own as Senate leader in 2025 – goddess help us if they retake the majority. This makes keeping the Senate even more important.
I am working on a project that I hope to finish before the sun comes up so I best get back to it.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. I made it to 6 rounds of 3 minutes running, 2 walking. So hard, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. Yay me! Oh – and it’s warm enough that I didn’t really need long sleeves. which is worrisome, as it is February, right? In the office, might feel like dying by this afternoon because I woke up at 4am. Wide awake. Dunno if there’s enough caffeine on the planet to keep me awake all day.
Caribbean Matters posted
Good Thursday morning, Meese! It’s 36 F. in Ashburn on a partly sunny morning, on its way up to 56 F. by 4 p.m.
Am deeply unhappy that Defeated Former Guy team is going to appeal the decision by the Court of Appeals to SCOTUS. You KNOW the six flaming anal apertures on the SC are going to rule in DFG’s favor. That will mean the end of the rule of law in this country.
Yesterday I did more than 9,000 steps, given all my walks and the treadmill and weights. I need to strengthen my arms because I have to help our director to her car after rehearsal. She has a problem with walking, the poor darling. Talking about “blocking”—that’s what we practiced last night at rehearsal. I have to write it all down, too, in pencil in case it changes. Had I But Known what the Assistant Directorship involved, I would have learned to say “No.”
Yesterday Jan said:
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Basically, I can’t get much sense out of Blue Sky. The news comes from The Independent in the U.K. I don’t like Melon Husk’s site with all the trolls, but it does have Imani Gandy, BrooklynDad_Defiant, and Victor Chi, all of whom I cherish.
For breakfast I cooked Ham and Scram plus biscuits so Dearly won’t object to the namby-pamby lunch I’m going to make. THREE of my writers will be missing from our meeting today: one because she couldn’t help it (she’s now in Skilled Nursing after breaking her wrist), one who couldn’t resist going on a cruise, and one whose old friend is coming to lunch. That’s 25% of the group. I warned them that I was going to wear heart-shaped black patches on my wrinkled visage today, in the hope of looking like Forever Amber, in honor of Valentine’s Day next week.
This morning I have to get my nails painted, so must get on with things. Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day, and I hope you aren’t in the path of the 1,500-lb Loose Moose who’s terrorizing the skiers at a resort!
{{{Diana}}} I don’t know about the other two but Imani Gandy is on Bluesky. @angryblacklady.bsky.social if you want to follow her over there.
Thank you for that! I am following her now.
It’s 57 heading for 70 – in early February – and becoming sunny. Yesterday we generated 11.18 KWHs and the m-t-d at 56.13 is on track for 200. Yay!
Fineena had a reasonably good day yesterday. She didn’t fall or otherwise hurt herself and she now has internet (slow but internet) and TV again. Other than that I don’t know nuffin new about nobody. Only that climate collapse we knew was coming back when we still had a chance to stop it is here. Unlike the Y2K much smaller disaster we knew about in time & put a whole lot of energy & money into hiring programmers to prevent (the basis of the Clinton “boom” – the following “bust” was when they were fired again after they’d “saved” us), for climate collapse we’re not only not put a whole lot of energy & money into preventing we’ve gone, are still pretty much going, full throttle into it. And that there will be more genocide of indigenous peoples – like Palestinians – as colonizer culture scrambles for more oil & other resources. Sigh.
Anyway, off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 39 and cloudy in Bellingham today. My housekeeper will be here soon so I’ll be busy working with her today. RonK has a birthday this weekend so I have flowers to arrange and the traditional chocolate fudge pecan cake to bake. Dinner will be at our son’s house but Lisa and her family will stay here. We have the same iPad so it will be nice to have a tutorial. Best wishes to all.
Good morning. Today’s exercise was just a walk. I started to run again, but I thought that maybe the plan alternates walk & run days for a reason and I should stick to the plan. Anyway, I’m in the office. Slept like a baby last night — awake every hour or two. Need more caffeine. Loved Biden’s press conference last night, and the MSNBC panel last night noted that in October, POTUS might have had some important security concerns on his mind so yeah he wasn’t paying attention to the guy’s stupid and insulting questions.
Friday Meese. 37 and raining here in Kingston, going up to 45.
Puerto Rico
Good Friday morning, Moosekind! The only bad thing about Friday is that we have rehearsal tonight. Right now we have namby-pamby sunlight hovering over misty grey woods, and clouds hiding the pale blue of the sky. It’s 46 F. in Ashburn, going up to 60 F. today. After our rain tomorrow it will turn cold again. They’re talking about “wintry mix” on Tuesday. The sun will set at 5:38 today. Oh, I DO wish we could enjoy natural daylight from here on out instead of changing over on March 10! Day-yum!
Well, I must tell you all that I lead the BEST WRITERS’ GROUP ever! Yesterday that lunatic lot surprised me with a beautiful card that contained a picture of a ferret, and they had made me a large, multipage “valentine” with a poem by each writer. They said it was “Diana Appreciation Day.” No one has ever done that for me before! It was the most riotous meeting we’ve ever had. They also gave me a lovely “F–K it” calendar in which to write the dates and times of our meetings.
I may have told you that when I said last month that I might make Rosewater Fairy Cakes for February’s meeting, three of them thought I said “ferret cakes” and were aghast. Good thing ferret isn’t available at this time of year. I brought petit fours that spelled out, “Be My Valentine,” which they greatly enjoyed.
At 11 I plan to go to the Environmental Fair down the hall, so I’d better get ready. Wishing a good Friday to all at the Pond!
It’s 54 heading for 70 but overcast. The last of the “warm” days for a bit as we’ll be back in the 50s starting tomorrow. Yesterday we generated right at 11 KWHs and the m-t-d at 67 is on track for over 200. Whether it still will be by end of day is something else again. sigh.
I heard from my friend with interesting news. Her husband’s eye is doing better and the vertigo is almost gone. The surgery seems to be a success. After his check up next month they’ll see if glasses can take care of the rest and maybe he can actually work again. At least part time. And take the strain off her being the sole income for the household. But at work the department is in chaos. The Dept Chair has been summarily dismissed from that position without warning much less discussion with the faculty. So they’re all pissed off and the department currently has no head.
Fineena’s TV & internet stopped working again yesterday. She didn’t have a whole day with them. Hopefully Joker can straighten it out for her. Earicicle had injections in her knees yesterday but something weird happened & they had to do a whole different (and painful) protocol this time. I haven’t heard from anybody else I personally know.
Two of the families on my Xitter needs list are going to be off it soon! In one the husband who’s been unemployed since his company closed before Xmas just got a union job. In the other the single mom was just hired by the motel they’ve been living in/crowdfunding to stay in for a part-time front desk position that will cover a bit more than their motel bill. Not much more, she’ll probably be back for car insurance and phone bill, but they won’t be living in the van any longer. So. There IS hope and good things not just can but DO happen. And I’d best get started on my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 32 and partly sunny in my garden today. RonK cleaned up the back entrance yesterday so I’ll plant a few primroses and finish the faux porch flower arrangements. Nice when the house is clean and the back entrance is starting to look like early spring. We’ll look like we have our act together when the kids arrive tomorrow :) Hard to believe Ron is 82 yrs old now! Best wishes to all.
{{{princesspat}}} Happy Birthday to RonK ????????????????????????????????????????????
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 44 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 48. Sunny skies until about noon then clouding up again. I will take my walk now. Tomorrow we are expecting a crazy day – morning low of 34, daytime high of 41 and rain/snow all day. I need to get my walk in now and run some errands – the plan is to stay inside all day tomorrow.
See all y’all later!
Saturday Meese. 30 going up to a rainy 58 here in Kingston. Yesterday was spent not being able to write because furnace/heating system repair guys were here with a huge noisy machine blowing out the ducts in the hot air system and repairing several that were broken.
Home ownership can often be a pain. Old houses always have something going wrong.
Puerto Rico
“The construction of the new Vieques hospital is in full swing. Each advance in this project brings greater well-being and health for all Viequenses. They will soon have the excellent medical services they deserve.”
Hmmm.
Why does the Puerto Rican island of Vieques not have a hospital 6 years after Hurricane María?
Kudos to the kids who videoed the horrid conditions in their school and posted to social media.
“The president of the class that went viral by publishing a video with the poor state of her school in Camuy confirmed today that, contrary to the version of the secretary Yanira Raíces, the class was subject to retaliation for denouncing the state of the school”
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 41 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 43. Cloudy and rainy all day. This is probably winter’s swan song as we head into our Spring – I can see 70s at the end of the week. Or maybe it is the New Weather: California gets an atmospheric river and we end up with the aftermath. We shall see! In any event, it does not appear to be raining right now but the clouds are thick over the mountains.
I got my taxes 99% done and just have to research a form that I have never filed before and never seen to make sure I understand what I am reporting. I owe money because it was a particularly busy year for client work and I did not plan on it. Arizona was nice to me but the feds want to tax part of my social security – the amount they tax goes up based on how much other income I earn. I had not realized just how much that would take in taxes and I will need to send in estimated tax payments to avoid owing a lot at the end. Live and learn! The good news is that I was only in one state last year which simplifies life enormously.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Left work early yesterday with a stomach ache. Still in pain, thinking about going to urgent care. Waiting till I pick up my groceries since I don’t know how long it will take.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} Healing Energy to you. moar {{{HUGS}}}
It’s 47 heading for 54 and considerably cloudier than yesterday as well as cooler. It never completely cleared off yesterday but it cleared enough that we got 10 KWHs and the m-t-d at 77 is still on track for over 200.
Nothing new that I know of. I’d best get started with my boosting. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}