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 48 degrees in the Desert Southwest 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 73. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
I am going to be tweaking some web site changes today. Fingers crossed that it does not cause any issues! I need to turn off the old hosting and that means unwinding and forwarding some email accounts attached to it.
Remember that I no longer check Xtwitter so if you need to DM me, use BlueSky.
Change number 1: There is now a BlueSky share button on all the posts.
Yay!
Great!
Change number 2: I had decided to shut down the Facebook pages for the Motley Moose after the automatic connections and sharing from the MotleyMoose web site were not longer being processed due to technical changes at Meta and Twitter. I did that in August of 2023 with the plan to shut down the MotleyMoose Facebook account at the end of 2023.
Here it is the end of 2024 and, because I have been really busy, the Facebook account is still active! After thinking about it long and hard, I decided that the Motley Moose Facebook account and its hundreds of friends is not really mine to choose to shut down completely. So I added a “Friends of the Old Moose” Facebook Group and once I am sure I have all the MM email addresses and forwards in place, I will invite all the Moose’s Friends to the group. If anyone (hopefully anyseverals) volunteers to be an admin, I will feel better about closing the MotleyMoose Facebook account knowing that I did my best to regather those who were friends at one time. In any event, I will keep the FB account open until April 30, 2025 and then I will remove it.
Raining here and 35 degrees.
Puerto Rico
Morales is a beloved filmmaker, actor, director, and poet from Lajas, Puerto Rico. One of his biggest milestones is receiving an Oscar nomination for Lo que le pasó a Santiago (Best International Film), which he directed in 1989. To this day, it is still the only Puerto Rican film ever nominated for an Academy Award in history, cementing Morales as one of Puerto Rico’s most influential filmmakers.
Good morning. Did my double workout yesterday, up to 1.4 mi running — my coach says that’s on target for hitting 1.6 on the 11th. I registered for a 5K in February, so I have officially lost my mind. Tea is steeping, I put extra cocoa flakes in my tea bags because….well, because chocolate. All I need to do this afternoon is finish making next week’s lunch, so maybe I’ll go to the gym. Maybe.
Posted
Black Music Sunday: Honoring musicians who joined the ancestors in 2024
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! It’s already 58 F. in Ashburn, going up to 65 F. or higher. Although we awakened to the welcome sound of rain, blue sky is trying to break through the clouds. To no avail, however—it’s supposed to rain heavily when the Washington Commies play against the Atlanta Falcons tonight.
Although I did not get to the gym yesterday, I DID finish the newsletter and wrestled all the graphics into it. I then .pdf’d the file. Today I’ll send it out after I return from the gym. In addition to all my other chores I have two plays to read for the Play Selection Committee: one written by two of the Drama Club members and one written by some cat I never heard of. This is a valuable exercise for me because it reminds me not to write long speeches next time I write a play. Basically, our plays are attuned to old folks’ bladders: some can’t even make it 90 minutes, so we have to keep it to an hour or less. Thus does physiology govern our lives.
Jan, thanks for doing all you do to maintain the site. If I weren’t so clueless I’d try to be an admin, but I can’t even hook up my new printer! Have to wait for the tech guy to do it. When I read the brochure, I gather it can print, make copies, send faxes, scan, and even make coffee if asked politely. Wow, can’t wait!
Dearly is sleeping off his Proper Sunday Breakfast. I’m going to take a shower, grab my book and my water bottle, and take off for the gym! I’ll send out the newsletter after I return.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 49 heading for 57 and overcast. Supposedly the sun will come out this afternoon. Yesterday it didn’t. We generated 1.9 KWHs and the m-t-d at 144 is barely on track for 150 unless we get more sunshine than we have lately.
Thank you very much, Jan, for taking care of the technical things that allow us to meet at the Moose Pond.
Got my Sunday chores done. Used up the last of my milk with breakfast so I’ll have to go get some later. Since my older son won’t be coming over today – he’s in TX visiting his brother & family – maybe I’ll swing by IHOP and pick up a GF breakfast for dinner. LOL. Meanwhile I’d best be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 42 and cloudy in Bellingham today. My main plan for the day is to wear real clothes and to give my robe a rest and a wash. The days after Christmas have been a series of naps so I’ve just stayed comfortable.
I need to start looking for new computers as our new to us machines are not compatible with W11 and Microsoft is ending support for W10. So do I move to a Mac now, or stay with Windows? And what about Ron? I know the transition needs to be as simple as possible because keeping up with tech changes is increasingly confusing and expensive. Oh well, we’ve got a year to watch for decide and to shop for sales. Best wishes to all.
Princesspat, I feel impelled to tell you that my 10-and-1/2-year old MacBook Air fires up faster than my 2 and 1/2-year-old Lenovo laptop. If I hadn’t been that I wanted “control-c” and “control-v” I wouldn’t have bought the Lenovo. I also mistakenly thought the Windows Explorer filing system would dry my tears of rage and frustration. Nope. It’s just as lousy as “Finder” on the Mac. Thus does one pay for the bad deeds committed in one’s previous incarnation.
BTW, I keep ALL my financial information on the Mac. Figure if it’s hard for ME to get into it, it would be hard for hijackers. The Lenovo has already been hijacked once by people in Pakistan who even showed me what my office looks like, right down to the pictures on the wall! I have Malwarebytes on it, but Windows Defender certainly didn’t do its job. Next time I get a ransomware message on the Lenovo PC, I’ll just unplug everything.
Good luck deciding!
Monday Meese. Another weather shift here in Kingston. It is 53 (yay) We’ll be back to cold and snow by mid week however.
Puerto Rico
Power outages in Puerto Rico to increase by 18% in 2024
Another embarrassment for the electoral system. Dominion confirms error in counting of plebiscite votes –
Economy cry party
2024 – year of the pretty lie
2025 – year of the sad reality
Good morning. Ran 1.4 of the 1.8 miles I did this morning. Adding down & back up the ramp to each lap to do some minor “hill” training. Sad about Jimmy Carter, even though is was long-expected. Good to hear people speaking well of him; and the story about him helping prevent a meltdown is going around — people should know how heroic he was. And yes, being reminded of the things he did wrong. One of my co-workers is making a list of the books we have by/about him so we’re prepared for an uptick in requests.
Good glorious morning, Moosekind! Will be back later. It’s already 52 F. here with flawless blue skies and sunlight. Gotta split, we’re supposed to leave here at 10!
It’s 57 heading for 61 and sunny today. At least at the moment. The clouds cleared off early enough yesterday that we generated 7.2 KWHs and the m-t-d is at 153! The next “goal” is 156 and it probably will make that. The “goal” after that is 163 which it certainly won’t make today but might tomorrow. Maybe.
I did go by IHOP yesterday for the GF pancake breakfast for dinner when I went to get milk. I treat myself to that once every year or so. Heard/read about Jimmy Carter when I checked Spoutible yesterday afternoon. His was a “life well lived” – not perfect by any means but a good man. Considering the condition he was in, I wouldn’t have wanted him to hang on any longer. After a brief rest and catching up with friends & family, he’ll be doing good work wherever he is. Bless him. And I have my own work to get to. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 48 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 72. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The new moon is today at 3:26pm MST so there was not even a wisp to see rising this morning.
I was glad that Jimmy Carter’s spirit chose to leave now and that his state funeral will not be controlled by the orange seeping pustule. Joe Biden will do the eulogy and he will be buried in Georgia alongside his wife.
I have an online meeting so I can’t stay.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 42 and cloudy in Bellingham today. RonK is on his way to the gym and I’ve settled into solitaire with a fresh cup of tea. I’ll soon be busy with laundry but for now it’s a nice quiet moment.
I think we have a plan for what to do with our W10 computers so now I can take my time. Ron’s writing is all in Word and that’s the system he knows best so we’ll replace his laptop soon and buy a years additional support for W10 from Microsoft for
his desktop. That computer is newer so getting another years use from it should be ok. I’ll replace the laptop on my desk with a Mac and move the W11 Dell I’m using there to my sewing room. This will spread out the cost and should keep us safely computing for now. Thanks for your imput Diana. And as always, my best wishes to all.
Good afternoon, Moosekind! We rushed off this morning, Dearly to the doctor’s office and the bank, and moi-meme to the barbershop. Kathy cut my hair, washed and styled it, so now I’m fit for the evening with the Silvertones Band tomorrow—if I can get a ticket.
Played telephone tag with the computer guy all day, but we just connected. Yay! He’s supposed to be here between 11 and 1, Goddess willin’ and the creek don’t git up. I can’t believe the state of My Awful. My Awful used to be My Office. Perhaps my new year’s resolution will be to throw things out.
The sky is still blue, the temperature still 57 F., but there’s wind. As Jan said, the moon will be new tonight. We’re going to end the year 9 inches under for rainfall. December has been the wettest month of the year, oddly enough.
Princesspat, glad you have a plan for your computers! I hear there’s a way to get Microsoft Office 365 without CoPilot, and that’s what I’ll opt for next year. I want nothing to do with AI.
Wishing all at the Pond a good evening. Please pray for those of us who are scatterbrained.
Today’s Black Moon (second new moon of the month) is supposed to either be a good time for important rituals or a bad time for important rituals. I shall do no rituals, not wanting to trigger any bad things and hoping enough good things will happen on their own.
Wise woman!
New Years Eve Meese. Soaking my Black-eyed peas to eat for tomorrow. Snow predicted for here in Kingston today.
Puerto Rico
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
More than 630,000 customers in Puerto Rico wake up without electricity on New Year’s Eve
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Power outages have been ongoing across Puerto Rico since early Dec. 31. The failure of a transmission and distribution facility on the southern coast caused an islandwide chain reaction and outage in multiple areas, affecting approximately 400,000 customers. The Bayamon, Caguas, and Arecibo areas are worst affected. It is not clear when normal service will resume.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Sorry, your comment was held for “moderation” – I am not sure why! Maybe the Twitter servers are crashing as Melon Husk continues to flounder.
Thanks Jan
The moderation link limit was set to 6 which is usually enough but I think that an embedded Tweet contains 3 actual links when it is not expanded into a link. I am going to set the limit to 30. Only logged in users can post so the limit is not really necessary except that it wants one to be put on the Discussion settings page.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday, the final day of the Pope Gregory’s calendar year …
It is 48 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 72. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. The moon is new and we can start with a blank slate.
I am watching the MAGAt v DOGE Bros “battle” with interest. I wonder if the MAGAts realize that tRump is completely transactional and has no interest in policy. As Josh Marshall pointed out in a post over the weekend: “MAGA never really had core policies. It had impulses. With Trump now tired and on the way out, there’s an increasing free-for-all over who gets the keys. Musk? Bannon? Ramaswamy? The Project 2025 Heritage Crowd? JD Vance and Josh Hawley and anti-cat ladyism?” It will be interesting to see who wins and who loses but essentially our number one goal has to be to take back the House in special elections and (we hope) Republican defections over their party’s plan to end Social Security and Medicare and provide a barrier to the worst that they can do.
I have a few little projects to finish this morning, mainly to make sure my end-of-year-2024 to-do list got done. The only hard deadlines are accounting deadlines.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Getting ready for my half-day of work. We have high fire danger today, so I hope people leave fireworks to the professionals.
I hope they forego fireworks completely! At least on Fourth of July, you can pretty much assume fireworks will be done by 10pm. New Years, by definition, will be celebrated at midnight which is NOT when I want to be awakened by a barrage of fireworks. :(
Good morning, Meese! ‘Tis only 9:01 a.m. but already two things have happened to annoy me considerably (that’s politesse for p.o.’d.) It’s 40 F. outside on a beautiful morning, with the sun rising behind the grey woods against a blue sky.
The first problem was that I did not receive my money. Today is the last day of the year, tomorrow is the first, BUT tomorrow is a holiday, so wouldn’t you think the financial fiends would deposit the money in my accounts today? Nupe.
The second annoyance was that M’Daughter, having read my newsletter, took me to task for mentioning her offspring without asking permission, and for sending it to a couple of our Trumpy relatives. I have been so overwhelmed this season and stressed out that I didn’t do a lot of things I normally do. I’ve always asked permission before and it’s always been granted. This year, while slapping cortisone cream on my stress-induced eczema, I simply didn’t do it.
Oddly, I’ve already been contemplating not sending out a newsletter at all next year. It’s a lot of work, I don’t think people are really all that interested, and if they do want to know how we’re doing, they can jolly well write.
First-world problems, I know. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. It’s going to rain tonight so there’s no chance of seeing the Dark Moon. I must scurry to get ready to stand in line at 10 a.m. in the hope of getting a ticket to the Swing Band tonight.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond, and a Happy New Year celebration!
I have to admit that I liked seeing the year end summaries of my various siblings over the years. I personally never sent any except to include a note in selected holiday cards. This year we received very few holiday cards and we have to decide if we will send any out next year. Probably. It is the last bit of connection to my mother who faithfully sent scores of cards out each year and made sure that every new incoming card was noted and that person or family added to her list. It is such an old fashioned thing to do and my daughter rolls her eyes at it. :)
Jan, I guess it is old-fashioned. Your mother sounds like mine. My mother sent out 300 cards every year and began writing them at Thanksgiving! I did that for a while, then tired of spending money on postage.
Will carefully note who sent cards this year and send cards at Christmas 2025, if Kim Wrong Un hasn’t nuked us all to death before then. I am thoroughly cross this morning, as you can see! :)
It’s 41 going to 45 and overcast today. Yesterday we generated a very good for Dec 7.76 KWHs bringing the m-t-d to 160. I don’t know if we’ll make the 163 goal today. That’s how cloudy it is on this last day of 2024.
This year, among other things, I lost 2 cats, a friend, and an aunt. And watched a lot of my online friend small businesses get as close to going bust as one can without actually going bust. So personally as well as politically I am not sorry to see 2024 go. Goddess knows 2025 could be worse, easily, and in many ways probably will be. We’ve survived so far. I guess/hope we’ll survive it too. Not exactly a cheery thought to end one year and start the next. But really, today is just a day. Tomorrow is another. One day at a time is how we live. Meanwhile, I haven’t even had breakfast so I’m going to go do that before I start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Bfitz, yes, it’s been a hard year for you. I am sorry for your losses.
The good news is you made your solar goal for December!
{{{Diana}}}
Good morning, 42 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. We’re going to go for a walk this afternoon and then eat an early dinner at a waterfront restaurant if we can. If not we’ll barbeque a steak here and go to bed early. 2024 has been a challenging year for me health wise but thanks to PT I am doing much better. So my only hope for 2025 is continued improvement on the personal front, the rest will be fraught. Thank you all for your friendship and support.
Thank you for taking part in our gatherings, dear friend!