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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Wednesday, New Year’s Day. Last night the neighbors set off fireworks that sounded like bombs that shook our house. Ugh. Then got the news about the pickup truck driver killing so many folks in NOLA – called my family and friends there – they are okay, sadly too many people killed.
Lot of news out of Puerto Rico re the Blackout.
Dee, on “Good Morning Merrycar” the news averred that the lights were being turned back on in Puerto Rico. Don’t know it that’s true or not.
Yes – things are being “restored” however folks who lost appliances and food don’t get reimbursed
Shocking, isn’t it, that an island whose electrical infrastructure was destroyed by storms, incompetence and greedy bastids would fail! It should embarrass everyone involved.
I’m so sick of this – repeating over and over again
Good January first morning, Moosekind! Rabbit! Or something. It’s a fairish day, 44 F. in Ashburn, and very windy. Ugh! Four-letter word is in the forecast for Monday, but it may well be imaginary.
Last night I went to the Silver Tones concert. I was drummed at, trumpeted at, and definitely over-saxed. However, it was great fun, even though no one asked me to dance. (Very few people danced, just the usual suspects.) I had the company of a charming gentleman (the star of our “Oklahoma!” production last April), so that was nice. Lots of people I hadn’t seen lately were there, and that was good too. By the time I returned home at 8:15 p.m., my ears were exhausted.
Today on the agenda are going to the gym, doing my homework for the writing class, and reading plays. I wish I could get up the mojo to lift weights, it’s supposed to be good for you. It’s so BORING, though! At least on the treadmill I can read spy thrillers.
Don’t want to go out in this wind, so I’m glad I can walk inside the buildings to pick up brunch and bring it home. Guess what, the sun will set two minutes later today. Yay!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It is the Year of the Snake 🐍 and is supposed to be a very good year. I am a Horse and the year is expected to be favorable for me.
https://calgaryherald.com/life/what-will-year-of-the-snake-mean-for-you-chinese-zodiac-predictions-for-2025
Good, glad it will be a good year for Horses!
Monkeys will not have a good year. Pooh!
Good morning. Going to do my walking later, eating breakfast and watching the London New Year parade, don’t know why my PBS station has it but I’m grateful they do. Local news was signed over to the special report about New Orleans. BBC had advertised a Dr. Who thing for today, but nope — does simplify my day plan, I can go out whenever without missing a favorite episode. Anyway, happy new year to all, and blessings for what is coming.
It’s 32 heading for 45 and sunny at the moment. A nice start for the new year. I hope. We closed out Dec at 162.50, slightly under 2021’s 162.59, KWHs and in 5th place for life of the system generation. We closed out 2024 at 3.434 MWHs, lowest ever but considering my system was down for 8 solid weeks during peak production time, it’s actually better than I feared. The 4th quarter at 682 was the 2nd highest since I upgraded from a 2.5 to a 4.0 system. January’s best was 236.7 KWHs in 2016 so 237 is our “it’d take a miracle” goal. Our lowest with the 4.0 system was 149 in 2023. Last years was 160. My realistic goal is 175 but I’m always happy to beat the previous year. LOL.
So. Today we start with hope and fear. Both will be right. We’ll find out which one is the most right over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, we keep on doing the best we can. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday, calendar change day …
It is 45 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 72. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
A quick look at the news aggregation site has this headline: “Trump is a little guy, Musk is a big guy”, a story by a historian which is sure to infuriate #LameDuckDonald. Tomorrow the House sh*tshow starts with the Republicans trying to elect a speaker. Does anyone know if Nancy Pelosi will be in the House or if she is still home recuperating from her broken hip?
I am getting some document scanning done this morning to wrap up a few loose ends from 2024 and also starting in on 2025 projects that needs some quiet time before clients begin work tomorrow. My new calendar is on the wall and the important dates (“pay” day Wednesdays and Microsoft Patch Tuesdays) are marked. I have not formally made a resolution list but I have some in mind. I will decide later if they should be memorialized on paper.
See all y’all later!
Good afternoon, 37 and cloudy in Bellingham today. We enjoyed a stroll on the waterfront walkway last night, then an early dinner at a favorite restaurant, then home to an early bedtime. We’re old, and in good company as the restaurant was full of people using walkers. I fit right in!
So far I haven’t done one thing I planned to do today but it’s still daylight so I have time to go for a short stroll if I can just get myself out the door. The sidewalk behind our house is relatively flat so that will be an easy place to start going for what I hope will be a daily walk. Best wishes to all.
Thursday Meese. Checked in with all the family and friends in NOLA. They are okay.
Puerto Rico
“Update Possible causes of yesterday’s blackout and why Luma is silent and “investigating” Luma’s lack of capacity and zero maintenance leaves it in the dark as to not know what it was hired for The 230 auto transformer has a problem with one of the underground phases, which took the two Costa Sur units, and Luma is responsible for those phases. That is why Costa Sur cannot put it into service because it has no way to remove the load, but at least they were able to put Ecoelectric online. This does not remove part of the responsibility from Genera, which on the other hand had a number of units out of service before the blackout. Here are the effects of privatization Now they should make another video “explaining” in simple words Luma’s lies.”
“By Wednesday afternoon, power was back up for 98% of Puerto Rico’s 1.47 million utility customers, said Luma Energy, the private company overseeing transmission and distribution of power in the archipelago. Lights returned to households as well as to Puerto Rico’s hospitals, water plants and sewage facilities after the massive outage that exposed the persistent electricity problems plaguing the island.
Still, the company warned that customers could still see temporary outages in the coming days. It said full restoration across the island could take up to two days.
“Given the fragile nature of the grid, we will need to manage available generation to customer demand, which will likely require rotating temporary outages,” Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, said in a statement.”
Good morning. Back to work, and the walk/run routine. Today I did 1.74 mi, and 1.5 of that was running. We have a lot of people out today, I hope people take it easy on us.
It’s 39 heading for 51 and sunny again. So far. Yesterday we generated 8.3 KWHs – a very good start to January.
Sinusitis flare last night. So I slept late and I’m still groggy. Sigh. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Thursday afternoon, Meese! This day has raced past. I ran to the gym, then ran off to Trader Joe’s to get eggs. They did not have a carton of six. The two of us cannot eat a dozen eggs, particularly as one of us HATES eggs! Harrumph. They checked “in the back,” that mysterious treasure trove, and reported it didn’t contain any six-packs either. I’ll try again first thing tomorrow and if they don’t have them, why, I’ll just have to give up or drive all the way to Harris Teeter before the snow starts.
Right now it’s very cold, 39 F. and windy, with a blue sky that comes and goes. Snow mixed with rain tomorrow at 3 p.m., so they say.
My salesman is sending a new printer so perhaps by next week I’ll have it. The company is sending A Person to pick up the damaged printer. Gotta say, my salesman has been extremely helpful and gracious.
What else…need to throw away a whole heap of stuff for the next time the Shred Truck shows up.
Saw the Fair Kate (the director) in the gym this morning and she said not to worry that I can’t sing, but to audition for “Crazy for You” anyway. There are two non-singing parts. She said for weeks she’s been fending off inquiries from people who ask, “We don’t really have to tap dance on top of tables, do we?” Say whut? Can you imagine 80-year-olds doing that?
That’s enough of my nonsense for now. I’m off to see whether Amazon has a pair of satin knickers in bright red to wear under my red dance dress.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
I am glad you were late posting as it made me look less late!!
I hope the new printer works as expected.
Thanks, Jan!
Good late afternoon, meeses! Thursday that felt like a Monday and was way too busy …
It is 75 degrees and sunny in Tucson 🌵. It was a lovely day and I got my walk in around noon then ran some errands. Tomorrow I have nothing urgent on my platter as many clients are still taking time off. I have a nice list of projects for the weekend and will wait until Saturday to do them.
See all y’all tomorrow morning!
Friday Meese. 30 degrees here in Kingston going up to 36. Snow predicted for tomorrow.
Puerto Rico
Good morning. 15 degrees warmer than yesterday, I barely needed long sleeves for my walk/run. Yesterday was busy but not terrible, hope for the same today.
It’s 31 heading for 48 and overcast at the moment but it’s supposed to clear off soon. I hope so. Yesterday we generated 6.5 KWHs and the m-t-d at 15.16 is on track.
Groggy and stiff. Nothing new there. My older son and his wife should be on the road from my younger son’s in the Greater Austin Metropolitan Area today. Unless they decided to do the ride tomorrow. Since he has to be at work on Monday, I hope they are doing it today. 13 hours on the road, 9.5 of it riding a motorcycle, is tiring. To say the least. Anyway, off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses! Friday that feels like a Friday …
It is 52 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 79. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. Next week, reality, aka “winter” arrives and we will be mostly in the 50 and 60s, with clouds and rain. We need the rain – December was the warmest and driest December on record – so I am okay with it. I have been enjoying the mid to upper 70s, though.
The new Congress convenes today. Goddess protect and keep safe the Democrats in the House and the Senate and the Obama and Biden appointed Justices on the Supreme Court. I would like to see Pastor Mike Johnson blowing in the wind for a while but it is unlikely that when push comes to shove that the Republican House won’t reelect him. They won’t be able to replace him as easily as in the past, the new rules require 8 Republican members to call to vacate the Speakership, so maybe that will add some stability. They will still have to convince individual members to vote for the sh*t sandwich of Project 2025 bills coming up so we can hope that a few sensible/endangered Republicans don’t toe the party line on everything.
I have a lot of irons in the fire right now and a hope to be done working by noon so I can take a walk then put my feet up.
See all y’all later!
Good late Friday morning, Moosekind! Lawks! Will those people EVER get here? Waiting for UPS to pick up the damaged printer and deliver the new printer, which is out for delivery even as I write.
It’s a grayish-blue day in Ashburger, 36 degrees F. I raced out at 9:30 to get a half-dozen eggs from TJ’s, along with some blackberries, so a Proper Sunday Breakfast is assured. The snow, or perhaps the rain, is supposed to start this afternoon.
Have a UU dinner at 5 p.m., so Dearly will have to eat something frozen for dinner. If I had a working printer, I could have printed out my writers’ submissions so far and begun reading them. As matters stand right now, I’d have to read them sitting in front of the laptop, which I’d rather not do. Had a rotten night so my back hurts. First world groans!
I’m going to sign up for a drum circle in February and an afternoon tea in January. Why do Yanks think afternoon tea is at 1 p.m.? Screech!
Wouldn’t it be LOVELY if Mike Johnson isn’t named Speaker? Do y’all remember that the Speaker is third in line to the presidency? Dear Goddess, if he were president, we’d all have to undergo virginity tests. I’d fail.
Wishing everyone at the Pond a wonderful day!