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 52 degrees in the Desert Southwest 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 75. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Good morning! 9 degrees here!
Posted
Good morning. Got a lot of exercise yesterday, and a lot of cooking for next week. Enjoying the smell of my tea while it steeps. Watching local news because that keeps the kakistocracy stories to a minimum. It’ll be warm enough tomorrow that I’ll barely need long sleeves but the Santa shirt I’m planning to wear is long sleeved, so I will anyway.
It’s 39 heading for 52 and is sunny at the moment. Yesterday we generated 7.88 KWHs and if it stays sunny since the m-t-d is 125 we might get back on track for 180 by end of day. We’ll lose it again tomorrow, widget is showing cloudy the rest of the month, but it would be nice to on track at least starting the post-solstice week.
I’ve finished my Sunday morning chores and also my breakfast. I wish I could think of something happy and cheerful AKA “merry and bright” but I can’t. So I guess I’ll get to my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Sunday afternoon, Moosekind! It’s 31 F. on a gloriously clear day in Ashburn, but it’s very cold and windy. Haven’t been out all day and don’t want to go. It’s been a busy day, with cooking a proper breakfast and preparing the slow cooker beef stew. Now I’ve got to deliver Christmas cards to people’s hallway shelves and make an apple cake.
Have felt so poorly with this wretched cold that I’ve been completely overwhelmed. Everything’s late. Haven’t finished the newsletter or wrapped any presents. Had a blissful nap today but I’ll be so glad when the holidays are OVER, and perhaps I’ll feel normal, and I can go back to the gym. I’ll need to, because my friend on the West Coast sent me a two-pound box of See’s chocolates!
Hope everyone is having a good day.
Monday Meese. It’s 2 degrees here in Kingston NY. Brrrr. The dogs don’t want to go outside (I don’t blame them)
Puerto Rico
“The growth of the independence movement in Puerto Rico is making headlines around the world. Here the Basque newspaper @naiz_info reviews the historic election results, with comments and analysis from our president @AlbertoMedinaPR “
Good morning. Did my walk — I’m doing kickboxing this evening, then I have 3 days when I can sleep in & still have time to run. Listening to Hozier’s performance of Fairytale of New York on repeat. Because wow, he can sing.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 52 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 73. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. When I got up it was cloudy and I could not see any stars or moonlight. I did manage to see the moon yesterday at about 11am when I took my walk. She was visible in the clear blue skies almost due west.
I am glad that Joe Biden commuted the sentences of some of the federal death row inmates. It is too bad he would not commute them all – that suggests that his reason is not because the death penalty is wrong (which it is) but because he does not think that all crimes deserve it. Sorry, Joe, I call bullsh*t. It is morally wrong for the state to murder someone. Period.
I love that people are trolling tRump as the puppet of his overlord, Melon Husk. The quickest way to end the influence of the unelected oligarchs who put tRump back in power is to suggest that he is no longer in charge. His vanity and fragile ego will not permit it.
Some of my clients are off on the 23rd through 25th and some are off the 24th through the 27th so it is making it a little tricky to schedule projects. I can pretty much count on the 24th and 25th as days when I can work on customer projects that require access to computers but beyond that, who knows? We have settled on tomorrow, December 24th, for our delayed Winter Solstice celebration – the last gift arrived yesterday and is wrapped and under the tree and no one has to work tomorrow. This afternoon we will go to the store and pick up a few things for a holiday meal.
See all y’all later!
It’s 51 heading for 54 and cloudy already. So while the 7.68 KWHs we generated yesterday did bring the m-t-d, at 132, to on track for 180, it won’t be for long. And we’ve got mostly cloud cover the rest of the month. sigh.
My best friend is coming for a visit – and bringing lattes – in about 20 minutes so I’d best set up where I boost and do what I can before she gets here. She never stays as long as I’d like her to and doesn’t come as often as I wish she could. So I plan to enjoy her company while I have it. And catch up with everything else later. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 47 and partly cloudy in Bellingham today. Yesterday we cooked a pot roast, baked a loaf of gf bread, lit the fire and candles and enjoyed a winter solstice evening outdoors. It was windy, with rain showers but very nice regardless. I’ll rest this morning, then set up for our family Christmas Eve. Best wishes to all.
Good Monday afternoon, Moosekind! I do love freezing winter mornings, when the ground is white with frost and the sun rises slowly behind the gray winter woods. So beautiful! This morning we were all moaning because we woke up to 15 F., but my daughter texted a pic of the weather in Lenox, MA—it was 4 degrees F.!
Today I went for a deluxe pedicure. Dearly doesn’t know it, but that was his Christmas present to me. Mr. Tony giggles all the time he’s doing my feet, especiaLly when I yell: it’s not altogether pleasant, being pedicured. But it’s necessary.
A friend (who was the Leading Man in my little play last summer) sent me a link to a Zoom Winter Solstice Ritual after I told him how disappointed I was that we couldn’t have a Winter Solstice Ritual here. I was otherwise engaged when the Zoom was going on and so was he, but then he sent me a link to the archived ritual, conducted by the Reverend TwinkleMarie Manning through the auspices of the North American Unitarian Association. She’s a Witch, all right! Calling the quarters, casting the circle, invoking Goddess. I watched all 18 minutes and loved it.
I’m still behind on Christmas-related chores and so are all the other women I know. As soon as Dearly wakes from his postprandial nap, I’ll make tea. A 2-lb box of chocolates arrived yesterday from California. Today a 1-1b box of the same kind of chocolates arrived from California. I do have lovely friends! :)
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
Christmas Eve Tuesday Meese. It’s snowing lightly here in Kingston, and 24 degrees.
Silent Night
Puerto Rico
#OTD Maritza Correia (Dec 23, 1981): Former Olympic swimmer from Puerto Rico who swam representing the U.S. When she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, she became the 1st Puerto Rican of African descent to be a member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She was the first female Black swimmer for the U.S. to win an Olympic medal. She also became the 1st Black swimmer to set an American and world swimming record.
Protect your daughters (crossed out) Instead “Educate your sons”
THIS THIS THIS!!
I am not sure what made us think that voters would care about women’s reproductive freedom any more in 2024 than they had in previous elections. In 2016, the Supreme Court was on the line and people followed an angry old man off the cliff and stayed home and pouted that their preferred candidate was not on the ballot. We got the Dobbs decision. In 2024, it turns out that young men want to be part of a terrible misogynistic movement that is being fueled by right-wing influencers telling them that their rightful place is Being In Charge and that women are stealing their jobs. I saw a headline the other day that asked the question “why are young men failing” – I know I know, call on me! Because they finally have to work to prove their worth instead of it being a birthright because of their Male Prerogative. Women are getting degrees and jobs and promotions by working hard and the GenZ males are playing video games and watching hours of YouTubes telling them that uppity women are stealing their futures. It is no surprise that my daughter and others in her GenZ cohort want nothing to do with the males in their generation. Can they be educated? I hope so. It would suck to have to live in a world controlled by them.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday, the eve of Christmas Day …
It is 52 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 75. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. The sky is clear this morning and I saw the stars and the pretty waning crescent moon over my mountains. She is at 35% illumination and will be new on December 30th, just before the Gregorian calendar end of year. Tomorrow we dip into the 60s for a few days, jacket weather but not parka weather!
I am going to do my best to ignore politics for the rest of the week and focus today on family and then end of year client and accounting projects through the weekend. It was difficult the past couple of days because the mentally deranged leader of the Republican Party was just up the road in Phoenix and the newspapers were filled with his insanities. We can only hope that what’s left of the sane Senate Republicans, now that tRump is a lame duck, pivot to protecting the country from his dangerous ideations rather than giving in like they did in his first term. There are few left but we only need a few to block a lot of the worst of it. The big question is if the American people give a rats ass and put their feet to the fire. A country filled with brainless idiots who voted based on the price of eggs and not on whether or not their neighbors – and loved ones for crying out loud! – would be rounded up and put in concentration camps is not a dependable ally in the pushback.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Did my walk/run, it is way too warm for December. Short sleeves, capris & sandals. There’s a Dr. Who marathon on BBC America tomorrow, impatiently waiting for that to start. Might take a nap later, read or watch some Marvel movies. I’ve done the one thing I needed to do, so nice lazy day today.
It’s 46 going to 51, very overcast, and drizzling. At least the PV system is on. Yesterday we generated 2.6 KWHs and the m-t-d at 134.88 is not on track for 180. According to the widget we’ll be pretty much socked in for the next 3 or 4 days. At least we did get rain this morning. Almost .8″ of it.
I had a lovely visit with my best friend yesterday morning. I miss seeing her daily, as when we worked together and lived across the street from each other. But anytime I DO see her is good. She had hoped to be able to retire this year. This month in fact. But that ain’t happening. So now she/we are hoping she can retire in December of 2025. Before the insanity at work impacts her health any worse than it already has.
I’m OK, and will be as long as my Social Security keeps coming, but jee-BUS are there a lot – too many – people who aren’t. Off to boost the ones I know about. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday, Christmas Day …
It is 50 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 64. Sunny skies are in the forecast. I saw the waning crescent and the morning star over my mountains this morning so all is good with the world.
We had a pleasant delayed Winter Solstice celebration yesterday and today we will enjoy the day off given to us by the Judeo-Christian government of the United States. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate today as their winter holiday!
This morning, I will catch up on personal accounting that has a hard deadline of 12/31/2024. I have a pretty good client work to-do list for the long holiday “weekend” and should be able to hit the ground running on Monday the 30th.
See all y’all later!
Merry Christmas Meese. Ham is in the oven – next up to cook is mac & cheese.
Just 3 of us celebrating – no company so am not doing a massive meal.
Puerto Rico
“CEIBA – Vieques resident Elizabeth Rosario expressed her indignation after being unable to board the boat at the Ceiba terminal, despite having arrived before 1:00 p.m. Rosario criticized that HMS had sold all available tickets for the 8:00 p.m. trip, leaving many residents, like her, with no way to return home after leaving Vieques early in the morning. She also questioned the lack of guaranteed access to their homes and called the management of HMS Ferries a disaster.
For her part, Judith Conde, a member of the Alianza Mujeres Viequenses, lamented the situation, noting that maritime transportation is an essential service for the daily lives of Vieques residents. Conde said it is unacceptable that the mobility of the residents depends on the decisions of a private entity.
Kathy Gannett, also a Vieques resident and owner of a lodge, expressed her concern over the frequent practice of sending trips with numerous empty seats while people wait at the Ceiba dock. Gannett emphasized that residents should be the priority, and called the situation disrespectful both to them and to the tourists who remain stranded in Ceiba.”
Good morning. Trapped on the couch by the Doctor Who marathon. David Tennant is such a great actor, even the less good episodes are worth watching. And that’s my Christmas sorted. Church last night was really nice — lots of singing & bell ringing.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. It’s 48 heading for 55 and overcast. Still. Yesterday we generated 1.2 KWHs and the m-t-d at 136 is most certainly not on track.
So many memories of decades ago tell me today should be special. Filled with food and family, most of whom are no longer with us. Reality is a day like any other day – my family gathering was 10 days ago, and all the “holiday” food has been eaten. The most holiday that might happen today is a phone call from my younger son. (And possibly but less likely from one or more of my siblings.) Meanwhile there are still folks who need food, shelter, & medical care. So I’d best get to my boosting of whoever shows up online today. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meese}}}
This is so true, BFitz:
When my mother was alive, Christmas was a special day. A lot of it was because she wanted it to be special and so we wanted it to be special for her and with her. I don’t know if my siblings have carried on the tradition of making it special within their own families because I am not in their proximity. I hope so as I remember it mostly bringing joy and certainly lots of memories to share as we grow old.
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind, and a happy Yuletide to all from Miz TooBusy Jones. The sky is overcast, the temperature 42 F., and all that. No rain is predicted.
The roast beef is cooking in the oven, in a minute I’ve got to make the Yorkshire pudding. Oh, all this rich holiday food! I want this illness to depart so I can go back to the gym. This morning the scales still showed a “2” as the second number but we’re getting dangerously close to…well, the danger zone.
We had an excellent time at Elder Son’s house yesterday. DIL’s parents, whom we adore, were there, and then Younger Son came in with his family. Everyone was excited and talking about what they were going to do on their Christmas or spring vacations. I tried to get a word in, but realized that neither Mah Boyz nor my grandchildren take an interest in anything I do. To them I’m just a boring old woman. Good thing I have an active and very busy life here!
And so it goes. One day I’ll get the family newsletter finished. I once had a friend who sent out her holiday newsletter at the end of January. It doesn’t help that my printer died, so I have no way to judge how the printed version looks. Only two people get the printed version, anyway. It all goes out in .pdf format by email, which is a lot cheaper than mailing the stuff.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and I hope everyone gets a nap! Off to make the Yorkshire pudding and get the peas ready to put on. Oh, yikes, I forgot to soften the butter for the hard sauce! See you later!