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 (every Sunday morning). 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 now 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 and use the link.
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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 16 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 32. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese
33 here in Saugerties NY – temps will drop – we have snow on the way.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
Trump is the worst. That the Republican congressman from the district he was touring had no sense of shame being seen with a sociopath who blamed the dead for their own deaths is telling. I hope someone runs against him and his rump party in 2020.
Not Meese :)
Oh…no!
Ha! Smart deer!!
Oh deer indeed. 😁 But really, what’d the shop owner thing was gonna happen? (I’d have fed the deer bread or something with grain in it – outside the shop.)
Generations of deer have been taught to come to the buffet in my garden!
Didn’t the DeerSkydd work, princesspat?
Good frosty morning, Moosekind! Partly cloudy here in Ashburn, one of those dim mornings that takes a long time to break out into full sunlight. There’s a light frost on the grass and no wonder, it’s 32 F., going up to 49 F. today.
This afternoon Younger Son and family are coming to tea so the Littles can decorate our puny Christmas tree. After breakfast I’ll have to go to the grocery store to buy tiny candy canes to put on it.
Yesterday we oldsters trooped over to the Senior Center to vote in the firehouse primary. Jennifer Boysko won with 83 percent of the vote! The actual election will be in early January, because the Virginia lege meets for the entire month of February. Although the session usually lasts only a month, politicians do their thing all year long, speaking at events and so forth. It must be exhausting.
Work is proceeding on the novel—I’m up to 12,300 words now—and it’s just as well, because the news from the outside world is terrible. Floods in PR, fires in California, blizzards in the Northeast. Also, now that I know what “Thanksgiving” really involved, it’s tainted for me. It used to be my favorite holiday because it was just family and feasting, with no cards, presents, or hoopla. I still enjoy that aspect but now I think of the cruelty of the English pilgrims who killed the Indians who were already here. I wish we could make it up to the Indians somehow, but we won’t manage that with the current administration in charge.
Wishing all a nice, peaceful Sunday.
Sunday post up at Orange
Read it, Sis, it was excellent!
Had a bad night’s sleep, kept waking up hot. Threw off the quilt, changed sleep shirts, took a benadryl.…. finally fell asleep around 12:30-1. Ugh. Today’s agenda: defrost some lunch for the 3 day workweek, make a big pot of tea, and make the flavored sugar. I didn’t know how expensive vanilla beans are. Anyway, that’s my day.
Maybe you can fit a nap or two into your day. (Yeah, vanilla beans are expensive – but they’re strong so “a little goes a long way” with them.) Holding you in my heart & sending Healing Energy. {{{HUGS}}}
G’morning Meese. 38 windchill 32 here in Fayetteville, AR – cloudy enough the PV system is still asleep. We got 7.7 KWHs yesterday which put us over what’s needed to be on track for 180 – but I doubt we’ll get the 4 KWHs we need today to stay on track as it’s supposed to stay cloudy all day and maybe even rain this afternoon. I’m online a little early for me on Sunday – mostly because I wanted to get on Twitter and wish Aji & Wings a happy anniversary before she was likely to be up and online so it would be waiting for her. If of course it doesn’t get swamped in her timeline. 😁
In timing, Aji & Wings gave me a present – I commissioned a coil (only piece of jewelry I’ve ever bought for myself – & it’s “purposed” jewelry) and it was finished yesterday – I didn’t expect them to get to it until December. Aji sent me a photo and it’s gorgeous. And Powerful. And has some very special beads in it. She’s not sure I’ll get it next week because of the holiday but it’s coming soon. And I’ll just keep going back to look at the photo until it gets here.
It’s Thanksgiving week. Good to have a reminder sometimes to think on what’s good in our lives. I am so very grateful for the calm, sanity, and support of the Moose Pond. No matter what is going on in the outer world or the outer blogosphere, here there is safety. All the anger and outrage that rises here are directed toward the Evil Ones perpetrating it. Moose Pond and the Meeses are always part of what I am thankful for and I am so very grateful I was invited to join years back. Bright-intended, bright-purposed, Healing Energy to everyone, shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 34 and will be clear when daylight comes. The PNW is dark this time of year. Yesterday my son and I finally finished the leather chair seats we started several weeks ago. The front corners look fine on the chairs but our troubles show underneath the seats……a challenge for perfectionism! No more leather work for me :)
So today I’ll do some more T Day prep and tonight we’ll enjoy dinner at our son’s house, using the restored table and chairs from my childhood. So many memories to share.
Take care everyone.
I had precisely the same reaction to working with leather…be reassured that no one flips their chair over before sitting. 😉
Monday Meese
34 here in the Catskills and raining. At least it is not snow.
In times of trouble – we need some laughs. Thank you to all the Finns.
Ha! Brilliant: “our forest Roomba”. I would be funnier, of course, if he were not the man in charge of choosing a generation of judges and controlling the federal government. Goddess, we are in a mess.
What Digby Said: The Mind of a Child.
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 25 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 30. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. The week ahead shows temperatures in the 30s but no precipitation until the weekend. I hope everyone has safe travels for turkey day.
It is sad that Nelson lost his Senate seat in Florida and sadder that it appears to be the result of election incompetence (ballot design) rather than the will of Florida voters. Of course, Democratic losses are baked in – and have been for generations – by Florida’s vile practice of disenfranchising former felons. That was surely more than enough to give George W. Bush his 400+ vote win in 2000 that led us to the current place we are now – part of the voter suppression in Florida 2000 was law enforcement set up at polling places to monitor “felons trying to vote” and the purge from the voter rolls of people whose names looked like the names of felons. Someone did the math and if even 4% of the 1.4 million people now allowed to vote had voted in 2018 and the split was a conservative 60-40 for Nelson, he would have won. THAT is the cause that Florida Democrats should take up – a concerted effort to register new voters and educate them on the power of the vote, the power they have to change an election. The freshman class of Republican Senators is a septic tank full of deplorables and Rick Scott will fit right in with the rest of the criminals, white supremacists, misogynists and pig offal. They will be a constant reminder of what we are fighting against and why 2020 will be so critical. President Harris will need a Democratic Senate to clean up the mess.
I am going to declare this week a holiday and take time to clean up projects to get ahead of the end of the year. In two weeks, it will be December and I am not ready!
See all y’all later!
Actually slept last night, yay! 3 day workweek, wonder how our call volume will be. I made the flavored sugars, put the lavender & rose hips in little bags, today I brought up the site with the recipe so I could print it & put with them — looks like I was supposed to just mix them in. I like my way better. Ended up with extra lavender & rose hips. may use them to flavor my tea for a while.
Old school U2 today: In God’s Country.
Good Monday morning, Meese! It’s as foggy as Brigadoon outside, how peculiar. No one said a word about rain today. Currently the temperature in Ashburn is 33 F., going up to 53 F., which is not bad for this time of year.
Only wrote 300 words yesterday as I was so very busy. Hope to write more today. I need to start my Yule email, which is what I send nowadays instead of Christmas cards. Dear Goddess, it’s so much easier! And I’ve figured out how to include photos in it and then .pdf the whole thing, which makes it even better.
Well, the bran muffins (to which I added chopped apple and walnuts) are out of the oven, the coffee is ready, so I must be off! A visit to the dentist is in the offing this morning.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
29 with windchill of 21 at the moment in Fay., AR. Also cloudy but that’s supposed to clear off later. Good thing, we need the sun. We generated just under 1 KWH and are definitely not on track for 180. But if we can get 15 over the course of today and tomorrow (which is supposed to be sunny) we’ll be back again. Sanity requires an anchor to the real world and paying attention to the weather is a handy one. Goddess knows things are crazy enough politically – which is a lot more important than the non-voters think – to make that anchor more important than ever. I’m at work today so I need to put my focus on work stuff. Probably just as well. Being thankful for my online friends and family – as always – and for our respite at the Pond. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Meesefolk; 25 this morning with an expected high of 37. It looks like that’s going to be the story of the week, give or take a few degrees. We’re looking at a warmup this weekend accompanied by rain, because of course. It’s going to be a very long winter.
My weekend didn’t come close to what I planned. Friday afternoon, The Kiddo called to ask if it would be at all possible for me to bring their other dresser down this weekend; they decided that getting all of their clothes put away and the wardrobe boxes out of their house would go a long way to feeling a bit more settled. I agreed, loaded it bright and early Saturday morning, and hit the road. When I was south of the city, but not yet to the Ohio border, I got another call…”Please don’t come, SILs cold is a lot worse, and he’s not getting out of bed today.” Turned around,unloaded my car, and that was about all I got accomplished on Saturday.
Last night, Kiddo and I were talking, trying to figure out another date when I could bring more furniture down. Their urgency for the dresser has abated, because they figured out a temporary Plan B for their clothes, but I still want the stuff out of my dining room. We were going back and forth with little success in finding a mutually-acceptable date, until Hubby, who was hearing my end of the conversation, asked me to put my phone on speaker. He then said, “We’ll come down for the holidays in two cars.” The deafening silence that commenced from both of us was palpable. Then we both started laughing because neither one of us had thought of that obvious and simple solution. Just another reason why I keep The Hubby around!
Good day to and for all!
So you get to have a lovely Thanksgiving with Kiddo in the new house AND get rid of some of the furniture you’ve been storing. I’d call that a win-win. 😁😁😁 {{{HUGS}}}
Not until 14-16 December; we combine Thanksgiving, our anniversary, Hubby’s birthday, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s into one weekend. It also removes any conflicts with SIL’s family, who are a bit more traditional about when holidays are observed. Win-win!
Good morning, 35 and sunny in Bellingham. RonK just left for jury duty, my sister and her husband are in Las Vegas now and will be here this afternoon, and I should be at my desk, but I’m not. It’s going to be a busy week so I hope I can keep my focus. Much to be thankful for and a lot to do!
Take care everyone.
Howdy fellow Meeses! Thanksgiving is Thursday- the only prep I’ve done is get some of the food. Half the people working at the library are out this work. It’s pretty slow out in the public area. The students of course will come back roaring in next week when their papers are due. I’ll enjoy this moment of quiet while I can.
Getting the food is a very good 1st step. Half of our students will try to carry the Thanksgiving holiday from last Friday until the week before finals. And then line up outside their professors’ offices whining for “extra credit” to “make that A” – ahem. Definitely enjoy the quiet. {{{HUGS}}}
Hi, MVgal, what kind of food are you preparing? Main dishes or dessert?
Ham, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs and desert. Was going to have salad but the CDC just said we should romaine lettuce. Have to think of another vegetable.
not even gonna pretend I’m not crying:
I did too when I saw that yesterday. Actually, I am now when reading it again. {{{HUGS}}}
Lovely. And now I’m crying too.
So, I had a dream about a stray German shepherd. I looked up dream meanings.
but wait:
I’m confused.
Everything in a dream is you – it’s made up of what’s floating around in your subconscious. So you are that lost German Shepherd – and in that imagery your subconscious is either trying to tell your conscious mind something or trying to process some information. Or both. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meese! Tuesday …
It is 27 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 32. The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies.
There are still uncalled House races: CA-21 (R ahead), GA-07 (R ahead, going to recount), NY-27 (indicted R ahead, counting absentees), UT-04 (D ahead but back and forth). The current count is 38 new Democrats and if that holds we will have a 14 seat cushion, not quite enough to overcome any blocks from the #FiveWhiteGuys caucus which numbers 15. One white guy held a town hall yesterday – which you have to give him credit for – and said that he decided to push the fight against Nancy Pelosi because his newborn daughter would want it that way. :::insert are you freaking insane emoji here::: Yes, of course. Your daughter would prefer that Democrats look as though they are in disarray as our nation faces an existential crisis to our democracy in the form of Donald Trump and his Republican Party!! And she hates older women as much as her male parent does!! Doofus.
From the news wires, another incident where a man, angry that a woman dumped him, shot and killed her and a bunch of other people. Male rage + unrestricted access to weapons is a health crisis. The NRA was telling doctors to “stay in their lane” – this time the shooting was literally in their workplace. :(
I will ignore news of Ivanka’s email server because, really, who cares? You can simply add it to the towering stack of outrages perpetrated daily by the tRump administration that Republicans will own in 2020. We don’t need an investigation – I would rather we spend our investigatory powder on issues that need to be addressed to make our elections safer and more fair. I am trying to figure out who I can lobby to have H.R. 1, the omnibus eye poke bill, trimmed down to include just the Voting Rights Act fixes so that it has a chance to pass the Senate and maybe even get signed. It will go nowhere if they add the campaign financing reform and ethics requirements poison pills. There is time to do one of those later. The VRA needs to be fixed and may even draw bipartisan support.
I hunkered down yesterday and worked on accounting projects and will try to finish them today. I don’t want to be too far behind as the end of year approaches. I am also sorting through Medicare options with my sign-up date approaching. I am trying to balance premium costs with potential out-of-pocket costs to find the sweet spot. I feel I need a cap (which Medicare does not provide) because I don’t have a lot of savings but I don’t want to overpay to get it. I am just grateful that I will have Medicare – we certainly dodged a bullet aimed right at us by the Unified Republican Government in the 115th Congress. I am still holding my breath in anticipation of what the lame duck session will bring but I am fairly confident that they will not be able to pass a granny-killer bill.
See all y’all later!
Tuesday Meese
35 and cloudy here in the NY Catskills, going up to 40.
Have not gone to buy my turkey yet – will spend all day tomorrow cooking.
Thinking of all the folks who no longer have a home or a kitchen to cook in – and those mourning lost love ones.