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 41, feels like 34, heading for 57 and sunny today. Yesterday we generated 7.29 KWHs and the m-t-d at 116.9 is on track and gaining. May actually get frost overnight. Got my gas bill in. Last year I used 20 CCF for this billing period. This year I used 8. Signs of things to come. Not an exceptionally hot year although a lot of highs were broken. I didn’t use more than 290 KWHs while running A/C last summer. In really hot years I’ve used over 500. But heat started early and is obviously lasting long.
I saw the moon this morning. She’s at the point where She shines in my bedroom window when I get up right now. But She’s still a blessing and I send my love to everyone via her light. Right especially to my Aunt Ellen and my cousins/her children. I got a call from my cousin yesterday. Aunt Ellen’s been unconscious and on her way out for days. They think she’s waiting for something or somebody. So they’re contacting all the family. They put the phone on speaker and set it on her pillow then left the room so I could say my goodbyes to her. Which I did. Told her how much I loved her, how many cherished memories I have going back to when she used to protect us from the neighborhood bully when I was a little kid, told her that if it’s her time to go with my love, and that her mother and sisters were waiting for her. Which they are. I hope that was what she needed and she’s been able to let go/go on. Somebody will remember to call me and let me know. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Time to get to my boosting. (By yesterday afternoon I forgot it was Tuesday and missed Black Kos – I need to get over there sometime today.) Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Bfitz, your Aunt Ellen sounds lovely. I’m glad she was there for you when you were a child. Hope her passing will be peaceful and pain-free.
Blessed be.
Thank you. According to my sister who called last night, it was. Blessed Be.
Good morning, 42 quiet and cloudy outside my windows today. Thankfully the high winds missed us but seeing the photos of trees down on houses in Sudden Valley are alarming. I love my tall trees but when the wind blows them down houses are crushed and streets are closed.
Bri will be here today to help clean up the last of the leaves and spread compost on the beds, and I have a few winter pansies to plant. Thanks to a parking/walker snafu I had to reschedule my lab appointment so that will happen today too. And I’ll have to allow more time to find parking closer to where I need to be. A large parking building next to the lab building isn’t helpful when it’s to far to walk! Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 63 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 73. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I sent off some emails to push off some projects until tomorrow and will now sit and put my feet up. I was too busy yesterday for a semi-retired person and it is time to take a break.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. It’s actually cold! I wore a sweatshirt and gloves for my walk/run, 43 degrees is really truly cold. Didn’t really make it easier, still had to push for the 1.2 running. Anyway, I assume tfg did something awful yesterday, I never turned on the news after the local news was over. And the same people screaming accusations of pedophilia are scrambling to protect Gaetz & tfg. Sigh.
Good cold Thursday morning, Meese! Last night I was sitting here at the computer when Dearly told me it was raining. We had the predicted heavy rain, late, with ferocious winds—it was great to listen to! Of course, all this ushered in a cold front.
It’s now a fairish morning with layers of white cloud over the blue, with silvery light.
M’Daughter texted to say she’s back in Texas. Her mother-in-law is dying, poor lady. The breast cancer came back. She’s now unconscious and on morphine. I hope there is no pain and that she’ll drift off to happier times.
Too much death around, both in our personal lives and abroad. Y’all, I just don’t know how to cope; Part of the old brain is saying, it’s 2 months to January 20, a lot can happen in that time; the other part is so filled with dread I can’t bear to think about it. What can we possibly do? And what happened to all the votes for KDH? Two-thirds of people in this Home for the Aged voted for her. Don’t know what to do except carry on, vote Democratic when possible, and somehow endure the next four years.
Dearly had his usual awful night. I’ll make his favorite breakfast when he wakes up. Meanwhile I must start my day. Have an interview at 11 if the lady feels up to it, then I need to start drafting the article, due December 2nd. Have a play to evaluate for the Play Selection Committee, and a Winter Solstice ritual to plan. All of this will keep me off the streets and out of the pool halls!
Wishing all at the Pond a nice, peaceful day with no aggro.
It’s 42, windchill 35, and sunny. Yesterday we generated 7.9 KWHS and the m-t-d at 124.89 is on track and gaining.
My sister called last night. Aunt Ellen passed late afternoon. She gave me a bit more detail about what had been happening and who all was contacted than my cousin had been up to. In a sense it’s very sad and in a sense it’s not. She hasn’t been her for something like 10 years. One of her meds all of the sudden caused her kidneys to collapse and while they brought her back, the meds they changed her to messed with her mind. She went from being an Independent who usually held her nose and voted Dem because of reproductive rights to full on MAGAt. Not that she became mean. She became malleable and lived in a nursing home w/ Faux Noise 24/7. When she was herself she was a wonderful caring woman. Yes, racist. But the kind of racism that wants BIPOC to be well-housed, well-fed, healthy, & happy – just not in her neighborhood. That’s not good. But it’s not evil. It doesn’t begrudge others’ good fortune. Would have been appalled by the Tulsa Massacre if she’d known about it. Would have said about that thriving Black community “more power to them”. I have been missing my aunt for 10 years. Now her spirit’s gone to join Momma, Grandmother, and Aunt Barbara.
Time to get to my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 57 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 79. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
I am still having sleep disruptions from the election results. Yesterday’s announcement from the Melon and Vivak DOUCHE group that they are planning to zero out Social Security and Medicare did not help! I hope some enterprising journalist comes up with a list of the Republicans who ran on protecting Social Security so we can focus a bright light on their lies. tRump doesn’t care about re-election but House Members and Senators coming up for re-election in 2026 might. Of course that assumes that the world will not have been reduced to rubble by the multiple nuclear attacks launched in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Goddess what a mess! I lay part of the blame at Merrick Garland’s feet for believing that the institutions would hold and moving so slowly on the January 6th case against tRump. But the laziness of the voting public, urban voters unwilling to stand in line or vote by mail or drop box, is the main reason. Not enough people cared to stop tRump and so here we are.
I got all I want to get done this morning and I am going to make a few notes then get off my computer.
See all y’all later!
A late Thurs Meese – got caught up in a zoom meeting. Not much to report on PR
Good morning. Had to leave work early because my voice disappeared. No pain, just no voice. I brought Throat Coat tea and cough drops today, we’ll see how it goes. Anyway, walked a mile, just walking — tomorrow is a long run and kickboxing. Actively avoiding the news because the Hegseth story brings back memories of something similar that happened to a friend. So instead I’m listening to music and reading.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} Healing Energy. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good overcast Friday morning, Moosekind. It’s 36 F. in Ashburn, fancy that. We may get four-letter word today, starting at 11 a.m. Meanwhile, it’s gray, we’ve had breakfast, and soon I must get ready to go to the gym. We’re dickering for a beagle puppy who is two hours from here—are we nuts? Don’t answer that.
Had a most successful and enjoyable interview yesterday. Tomorrow I must actually start writing the article. Also need to start looking up Winter Solstice festivals and see whether my new Winter Solstice dress fits.
Dearly, after his usual horrible night, is sacked out on the sofa. One thing a puppy would do is give him a new interest in life and get him outside more. He’s as pale as a ghost.
Was terribly pleased that the Barbarian of the Gaetz withdrew his nomination yesterday. Please don’t tell me that Gubernator DeathSantis will appoint him to Rubio Water Bottle’s Senate seat!
Nail appointment this afternoon—will I have to dash through the snow to get there? Then, I hope, a quiet evening. Why do I want to fall asleep in a chair after dinner? Is it because I’m old? Don’t answer that!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and nuthin’ but chaos to the MAGAts beyond.
It is difficult to not have a dog around if you are used to having a dog around, I have been adamant several times that we would not replace our dogs who have passed but I have always relented in the end. May your search find a perfect companion or closure on your wish for a dog in your life.
Gubernator DeathSantis has been told by the MAGAt King that he has to appoint Lara Trump to Rubio’s seat. It will not matter who he appoints, any Republican will be a garbage person replacing another self-loathing person of color. I am less worried about one more POS Senator than the fact that there is not enough pushback against putting RFKjr into HHS. He can do real damage that will last generations. A lot of the other nominees will do transitory damage that will be awful but can probably be repaired by the next Democratic administration.
Thanks for the reassurance, Jan. We have asked Younger Son to drive us to Richmond next Saturday and back to see if the puppy is real. I’m not buying a thing until we actually have her. If she’s real (she’s 14 weeks old), I plan to cage-train her, which sounds mean, but it’s the only thing to do, given the constraints on our lives. We’ll outfit her after we arrive back in our stomping grounds.
Friday Meese. Weather says it is going to snow here (ugh) and then turn to rain (yay)
I’m going to spend the weekend detoxing from US politics as much as possible – will be watching women’s college basketball
It was 28 at dawn, 35 now, heading for 56 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 7.6 KWHs and the m-t-d at 132.5 is still on track and gaining.
Frost on the roof but the water I put out for birds and cats isn’t frozen. Probably protected/in a “microclimate” created by the house – I put it on the bottom step of the steps out the back door. Cats sleeping. I wish I was. Oh well. Time to be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 43 and cloudy outside my windows today. I made good progress with a long list yesterday so I went to bed feeling very weary, but it’s nice to wake up to a easier day. I’ve found that reading only my local papers is a good way to avoid the destressing national news, so I’ll soon be part of the partially aware voting group/ Oh well, it’s a relief to feel less stress. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 73 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 81. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I can’t watch the disaster unfolding except in tiny bits and pieces. I am glad that Senate Democrats found a way to confirm more judges before the end of the current Congress but part of me wonders if it matters? The haters will judge shop and pick a judge in Texas whose hatred will be affirmed by the 5th Circuit and then rubberstamped by the Supreme Court filled with hacks thanks to Bernie Sanders and his purists. Ain’t no appeal from that!
I need to get off my computer and go take my walk. I have a volleyball match from yesterday (AZ versus CO) that I want to watch and then my women’s college hockey team (Wisconsin Badgers) is playing later this afternoon.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 55 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 79. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. This morning I saw the waning quarter moon’s light on my deck and when I went to the railing and craned my neck, I could see her high in the sky. I will be glad for the dark moon next Saturday – the energy that was gathered into the waxing moon this past cycle was not healing energy but anger and resentment. I need a fresh start to draw new light for strength to survive what is next.
Today will be a day filled with televised and recorded sporting events. I like living in a college town, this was a good landing spot after living in Madison.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Another cold one, I slept in and will go to the gym this afternoon. Laryngitis continues, no pain but no voice. Yesterday the state school board approved a Christianist curriculum because of course they did. Things get worse before they get better, right?
Isn’t that horrifying! No joy for the Muslims, atheists, Jews, Hindus, Jains, and Wiccans! It reminds me of my girlhood in Arkansas, where we were obliged to listen to someone read a page the “Bah-ble,” as they called it, every morning.
Things were better in the Oklahoma of 1960-61, at least in my school. We were required to have morning devotions in Home Room, but we could do pretty much what we wanted within reason. Once I got up and recited James Thompson’s “Once in a Saintly Passion” from memory, which greatly impressed the class, and once I read a stanza or two of Victor Hugo’s poem about children:
Can’t remember the rest of it. I could only read Les Miserables once, it hurt too much. Once was enough.
Saturday Meese. 40 degrees here in Kingston. Posted:
Good Saturday morning, Meese! It’s a cold, bright morning here in Ash-no-longer-quite-so-burned, with the temp climbing up to 60-something later. We have more silvery sunlight and a light wind. I’ll go to the gym, but I may walk inside. Don’t like wind. Yesterday was full of lovely rain and wind and lowering skies. We may have more rain next week.
Have made a to-do list for today and Sunday. Must get stuff done, I have deadlines! Have to work on my Yule budget too. I put a photo of myself wearing the blonde wig (as in, “Weird Cousin Ingrid from Stockholm”), so a lot of Boyz on Blue Sky are signing up to be friends with me. I mostly ignore them unless they have Democratic and activist credentials. The young guy in the Pub has bleached his dreadlocks, I saw as I passed one evening. I’m going to put on Ingrid and screech, “DeLonte, my man, if you can do it, I can do it too!”
Time to get washed and brushed, ready for a day of writing. I decided to do my step-on-and-off the box exercises in the morning, and do the hot and heavy treadmill 12-3-30 this afternoon. At 4 I’ll need a break from writing.
Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day, and that a magick spell (or brainworms) will turn all the Rethugs in the New Administration into Democrats.
It’s 39 heading for 66 and sunny at the moment. But I can see haze and some clouds to the north and west. Yesterday we generated 7.5 KWHs. The m-t-d at 140 is on track and gaining. Just as well. Thanksgiving Day is supposed to be cloudy, drizzly, and in the 40s. But we’ve 8 days, including today, to reach 180 and so far it looks like we’ll do it.
I saw the moon this morning, high in the sky, when I took out catfood, birdseed, and litterbox detritus. Always as comfort to see Her. She brings me back to center. Reminds me of all the things I have to take comfort in, no matter how awful the “outside world” gets. Anyway, off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}