Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Dec. 29th through Jan. 4th

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?

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.

 

Page One of Comments is HERE!
 
Page Two of Comments is HERE!
 

 

33 Comments

  1. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday, January 1, 2020 …

    It is 18 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. Mostly sunny this morning with some clouds moving in later in the day. I will be working this morning – putting the 2019 folders in a bankers box and setting up new 2020 folders for the new year’s accounting. When I finish (or run out of steam which is more likely), I will watch college football. I will not make any personal new years resolutions because this is not my new year, it is the one put in place by the Catholic popes. I will vow to stay ahead of that calendar on work related projects.

    For the rest of the week, I will just scan the headlines on memeorandum and click or save must-read stories. I noticed that John Roberts’ mother died and that she was Polish (probably from an immigrant family!!) and worked outside the home. I wonder how she felt about her son turning into a craven asshole with no soul who is destroying democracy in order to fluff up his political party? I guess we will never know.

    See all y’all later!

  2. Wednesday – New Year’s Day Meese.

    Getting ready to cook my black eyed peas which is a must eat on New Year’s Day in many black and Southern households.

    Was glad to see some good news

  3. Puerto Rico

  4. Up & watching Dr. Who, they’re showing the Jodie Whittaker episodes today, leading to the new season premiere tonight. I have to get out & walk today, set a good tone for the new year. For now, almond butter sandwich, tea & Dr. Who.

  5. Happy new calendar year – the beginning of an artificial cycle but still one the society we live in lives by. Whether we like it or not. And I’m so glad the previous one is over. Which I’ve been saying annually for a while now. I don’t know if the changes we need to make will or even can be made in 2020 to have a year we can say “that was a good one, we did good” about. We shall see what we shall see. We closed out December with 176.7 KWHs, 2nd most generated by 8 KWHs and only behind the 200 generated the year I upgraded to 4K. (The goal for January 2020 is 237 but anything over 200 is good.) We’ve closed out 2019 with 4.23 MWHs – again in 2nd place behind 2016’s 4.4 MWHs. Anything above 4 is good so to that extent 2019 was a good year. And while nobody is thriving, almost everybody survived – and still alive means the potential to thrive is still there.

    We’ve had 3 “starts” for the new year – Yule, Xmas, today – Holding the Good Thought that we’ll do some finishing before the year is out. Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it, to their shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, 50, cloudy, and still dark in Bellingham. I enjoyed the first part of our New Years Eve last night and I was home and in bed by 7:00 pm. I had planed to read a book but I was so weary I just listened to music and drifted in and out of sleep, trying to stay awake until RonK came home. I didn’t make it so will have to wait for the rest of the party report when he wakes up.

    I should take the Christmas tree down today, but if the girls can meet me at the bookstore for lunch the tree can wait another day! Best wishes to all on this first day of a new year.

  7. Good morning, Moosekind, and my Goddess, it’s already 20 to 11! OK, this is a day of slow starts.

    We didn’t go to the New Year’s Eve party after all, we were so whacked out. Younger Son came to pick up Miss Pink Cheeks to take her to a party in Maryland, of all places. However, Elder Son and Mr. Preschooler came over to have lunch with us at the Acorn Deli. The deli manager was so taken with Mr. P’s fair hair, blue eyes, and deep dimples that she brought him a free pizza. “Well, he’s under five, so it’s free,” she said, explaining her actions. Mr. P. is indeed extremely cute, with a guileless expression that fools people who haven’t seen him having a tantrum. Luckily for the world at large, he reserves his meltdowns for his parents!

    RonK and I will muddle through, but the rest of my family needs a functioning government and a cleaner environment.

    Well said, princesspat! I feel the same way.

    Today began with clouds but they’ve now cleared away and the sun is shining. It’s windy and cool, with occasional gusts—42 F. now, going up to a whopping 46 F. Is this a metaphor for the coming year? We know there will be clouds of angst and execrable behavior on the part of the Rethugs, but will they then clear away to reveal blue skies and sunshine? Are the winds with occasional gusts metaphors for the winds of change with occasional gusts of pushback from the Rethugs?

    Gad, the preceding sounds like the Morning After the Night Before, although I haven’t touched alcohol for 38 years!

    Miss PC is coming back today, so I hope she’ll un-decorate the Christmas tree. We can then trundle it and the leg lamp down to the storage room. I didn’t sleep well last night. Tonight I’ll take sleeping pills. I have beaucoup writing to do before that dratted meeting tomorrow! Haven’t done a thing on my assignments because of the holiday season, which is, thankfully, about to end.

    Happy New Year to all!

    • {{{Diana}}} – it’s hardwired into the human brain to see signs, omens, and portents. Those who can sort through which ones to pay attention to and correctly interpret them were once honored. and listened to. Then that brand of power-seeking hucksterism known as patriarchal religion saw a way to grab the honor (and power and wealth) that comes from grandiose promises only to be delivered on after death so they couldn’t be verified. IF people would worship their made-up god and do what they said their made-up god told them to. I think you’ve got as good a shot at being an actual seer as anybody else. So…Holding the Good Thought. moar {{{HUGS}}}

      • {{{Hugging bfitz}}} Thanks for reassuring me about the human brain, dear one! I really would not like the denizens of the Moose Pond to think me completely mad.

  8. Oh, my Goddess, Meese, I forgot to mention—because of all the New Year’s Day comments—that I’m absolutely shattered by the death of one of my favorite authors on 30 December.

    Marion Chesney, a.k.a. M. C. Beaton, wrote Regency romances that cracked me up, they were so funny, and the Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth novels. She lived a good long life (although age 83 seems young to die, nowadays), but now we’ll never know whether Hamish married Priscilla or remained a bachelor, nor will we ever know what happened to Agatha, Toni, and other assorted characters. Why do I think my favorite writers will go on writing forever? They’re all mortal. One of my pet peeves about dying is the thought of all the funny books I’ll never read. Sniff.

    Her books gave me so many belly laughs over the years that I’m strongly tempted to buy them when Amazon puts the Kindle versions on sale, even though by now I’ve read everything she’s ever written. I do love a good laugh!

    Rest in peace, Marion Chesney, and if you’re in the Otherworld with your dear husband, rejoice eternally that you gave so many people so much reading pleasure.

    • Oh, dear – I’m sorry you lost an author you enjoyed, and I wonder if we’ll have a run on her books. That often happens when an author dies, people call and want all their books.

      • Get ready for it, another (grinning). People adore murder mysteries!

        There was a time when I read nothing else, because I wanted to read stories that actually had plots, stories in which the bad guy got his (or hers) and the good guys triumphed. A lot of modern novels consist of the f-word, punctuated here and there by a line of narrative (in the completely unbelievable present tense). I also despise novels in which the protagonist is half-mad on page 1 and completely mad on page 600.

    • I never got around to reading her Agatha Raisin series but I did read Hamish McBeth ones many years back. I’d say authors always leave work undone but that’s not always true. Charlotte McLeod wrapped up all 4 of her series before she left. Actually I think she did not die as soon as she thought she was going to. Her two last books were written in sort of a pissed off tone and she basically slaughtered all the characters she didn’t like. I hope that part gave her pleasure any way. Blessings on all the authors who give us places to go when we need them. Double blessings on the mystery writers who give us our “morality plays” – good triumphs, evil is punished (or at least run off) – without bringing religion into it. They are welcomed wherever good people go when they go.

      • Double blessings on the mystery writers who give us our “morality plays” – good triumphs, evil is punished (or at least run off) – without bringing religion into it. They are welcomed wherever good people go when they go.

        How beautifully you put that, bfitz! And I also liked this statement:

        Her two last books were written in sort of a pissed off tone and she basically slaughtered all the characters she didn’t like. I hope that part gave her pleasure any way.

        My most recent book was a romance in which the villain was a corporation, but there’s a character in my next project whom I and the protagonist thoroughly dislike. He’s gonna get his.

        • The joy of being an author. You really do create worlds and determine fates. {{{Diana}}}

  9. Thursday Meese

    31 going up to 48 here in the NY Catskills.

    Puerto Rico

  10. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    A headline today said that tRump “miscalculated” in his foreign policy “strategy” – his belief that North Korea and Iran would respond to economic sanctions. What he doesn’t understand about foreign policy – and almost everything, for that matter – would fill a million books but it really highlights his simplistic view of the world – that money trumps everything. In the United States, the stock market is surging and unemployment is low but he is finding out that that is not enough – Americans do want economic prosperity but they also want things he can never give them like safety and security and respect. The vast majority of people don’t feel safe and secure in tRump’s America – and certainly not respected by their government – and in November, if we can get them to the polls, they will let the Republican Party know how they feel.

    See all y’all later!

    • Jan, there was an article in the Metro section of the WaPo this morning about how Thing has caused turnout to surge in the last two elections. Turnout is especially high on the Democratic side.

      The leader of the Raging Grannies wants us to join her in the next Women’s March on the White House, but I can’t go. Knowing myself the way I do, I’d spend the entire march lining up to use the disgusting Porta Potty. I’m just too old for that sort of thing, although I did march when I was younger and enjoyed it.

      Hope we’ll see super turnout in November here in the so-called “Old Dominion.”

  11. Back to work today. More people are scheduled to be here, so if at least some of them show up, it will be less nightmarish than Friday & Monday were. Overnight oats & tea. Yesterday I did day 1 of a learn-to-run program. This one actually starts at a beginner level: 5 minute warm up then 10 rounds of 90 seconds walking, 30 seconds running. I did it on the elliptical machine, because it still gets dark early & I couldn’t tear myself away from the Dr. Who & Firefly marathons till late afternoon. I’m doing day 2 today & day 3 Saturday — same workout, then it ups the time next week.

    • This one actually starts at a beginner level: 5 minute warm up then 10 rounds of 90 seconds walking, 30 seconds running.

      That sounds like a good program, another! I think even I might manage that, if it were available here at The Home.

      And you definitely do not want to go out after dark!

  12. It’s 46-feels-like-42 and overcast in Fay., AR this morning. Fitting I guess. Castro just gave up and suspended his campaign. The Birchers have won this round. Started the election cycle a year early to burn up the funding of the best candidates, the ones who actually recognized the problems in the system, analyzed them, and had plans to fix them – or at least make things better. Birchers don’t want things to be better. They want the Fascist resurgence of the 1880s through 1920s (yeah, it really lasted longer but their greatest power was in that stretch). And the mostly old totally white lot left in the running haven’t clue number one of how to even analyze systemic problems much less address them. Hell, bernie & Joe don’t know what systemic problems look like and wouldn’t recognize one if it bit them. Which it won’t because they’re old white men.

    Yesterday started brightly and I was hoping for a good marker on the PV data but nope. Clouds moved in after lunch and we didn’t even get to 5 KWHs – not a good start and definitely not on track to even reach 200 for the month. We shall see what we shall see. Everybody in “my group” is surviving. Some better than others. A few are inching towards sustainably & comfortably. A few are standing on crumbling ground and unless a path opens up are going to go with it sooner rather than later. Holding the Good Thought. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it. To their shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Good Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind! It’s 11:20 here and we just finished what the British call “elevenses”—in our case, a cup of tea. It’s cloudy and rather cold here in Ashburn, and 40 F. Rain will move in tonight and stay until Saturday.

    Off to a very slow start today. Miss Pink Cheeks has a hearty appetite for a little girl and she enjoys a cooked breakfast. (She never puts on an ounce!) Dearly Beloved usually only has a cooked breakfast on Sunday, but, uh, if she gets one, he gets one. Then I had to help her take a shower and wash her hair, after which I rubbed her down with body butter blew her hair dry.What a tedious process! I do wish she’d get it cut, but whatever. I wish I didn’t have to give her back to her parents tomorrow: as far as I’m concerned, I’d be happy if she stayed until she’s 18.

    It’s fun having conversations with her about her friends at school and what she’s reading. She also earns her keep by setting the table and taking the dog out.

    We’re about to run out to Trader Joe’s, after which there will be lunch and returning the Christmas things to the storage unit. I’ll have to leave here at 2:45 to walk to the meeting at 3. I still haven’t finished typing up the notes! Yikes! I’ll do as much as I can before the meeting, though.

    So here we all are, alive and doing well at the Pond, and hoping that things will be better this year. Wishing a good day to all.

  14. Good morning, 43 and cloudy in Bellingham. I slept late this morning and still have a sleepy brain. Fortunately I don’t have anything important to do so I can just ease into what feels like Monday.

    My daughters just read The Ten Thousand Doors of January so bought a copy yesterday. The NPR review is interesting…..

    There is a lot to think about. The way Harrow explores privilege and race, class and power, control, imperialism, the desire for order, the desire for hope, community, home, what it is to be an exile, what it is to be afraid. Stories provide strength and escape in The Ten Thousand Doors of January, but Harrow doesn’t neglect to show us how the stories we’re told can trap us, too. For a novel so grand in scope, it manages to stay intimate. Its heart is in January’s relationships with her family, Mr. Locke, and — so importantly, so beautifully — herself.

    Best wishes to all as we find our way through whatever day this is.

  15. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 34 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of … 34! Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. They originally had snow in the forecast today but it will bypass us.

    It is sad that Julián Castro (or “Juan Castro” as Fox News calls him) had to drop out of the race, really sad that Mayo Pete and Bernie are raking in the most cash and the saddest of all that we have to put up with 6 more months of primary season. I am just an observer now, ready to use my vote to shore up whichever not-M4A not-ThirdWay/DLC/NoLabels candidate appears to be the front runner when the primary arrives here in April. I hope it is still hot because we have a Supreme Court seat that winning could help undo the damage done in the low-turnout 2019 election that gave a mouthbreathing right-wing puppet a 10 year seat on the court. Although we already know that berners don’t vote downticket – they ratfked another Supreme Court seat in 2016, a winnable seat with a terrible (is there anything else?) right-wing candidate poised to take a 10 year seat. The undervote was enormous – the type of people who came out to give Sanders the primary win have no interest in saving our institutions, they just want their god in place to bern everything down. I despise them.

    Anyway, we are now in a hot war with Iran – and possibly Iraq. This will excite the Republicans in the Senate and those who were fence-sitting about forcing a real impeachment trial will now be firmly embedded in tRump’s colon. Gosh, what interesting timing!

    I’m still easing slowly into the new calendar year. Yesterday was spent making sure that end of year government reporting requirements were met – one more set of forms to prepare and I can do my dry run on taxes to be sure I have nothing due before the January 15th deadline. Then I will be caught up until March and can concentrate on 2020 project work.

    See all y’all later!

  16. Friday Meese
    37 here in the Catskills going up to 46.

    Still trying to absorb the impact of Trump’s actions.

    Puerto Rico

  17. So…… Trump has started WWIII, that’s just great. I did the 2nd day of my learn-to-run program, will do day 3 tomorrow. Here is some soothing, gentle music: Song For Someone.

    • I didn’t know who she was until I opened the tweet 😁😁😁 but pictures of healthy cute babies are always a good thing. Especially when things otherwise are not. {{{anotherdem}}}

  18. High for the day is 47. Which it is now although it feels like 40. It’s overcast enough the PV system is still in night mode. After generating only 2.9 KWHs yesterday (m-t-d is 7.6). Not a good start to the year. But then after a very brief shining moment or two of hope there’ve been a bunch of not good stuff at the start of this year. Twitler’s at least attempting to drop the shoe we’ve known he would – start a war – since 2016. I hope the berners are happy because it’s entirely possible they’ll get their wish. It’ll all get burned down. They won’t get their bernie-led utopia once the smoke clears of course. Which they’ll probably blame on Hillary.

    So. We need to work on survival. All together. Only by forming supportive communities do we survive. That’s a whole lot of local level work and online group work. I haven’t a clue whether or not we will – even can – succeed but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be doing our best trying. Do what your hand and mind find to do is about it. And that starts with whatever work is at hand. Even if it’s just doing the dishes.

    & on a happier note – several happier notes – dealing with surviving and relatively comfortably at that with the help of our friends…Amelia is safe in the motel til the end of the month and is working on how to 1) get safe for February & 2) find a permanent solution. My friend is getting settled in her new house and all the major cash outlays have been outlaid, the rest is just time and energy. My credit card statement came in yesterday. The autopays didn’t hit on this cycle so I am fine, if tight for January, with the already received help from my friends. As long as they don’t double (this month’s & next month’s) hit on the February statement cycle my expected tax refund sometime in late February/early March will take care of everything. Including putting my tax money back in my savings account.

    The power of rite/ritual/invocation/prayer has been known to protect from absolute destruction long enough for more active workers to repair the breech and turn the situation around. So if that’s all we can do, it’s still very worthwhile to do it. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it. To each one’s shaping to fit each one’s needs. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  19. Good morning, 53, wind, rain and still dark in Bellingham. We took the Christmas trees down yesterday so the house seems less cluttered. I’ll put the stockings and the Christmas pillows away today and the rest can just be winter cheer for awhile.

    tRump angst is high this morning so I’m trying to keep my balance. Best wishes to all as we find a way to live our lives regardless of what life brings our way.

    • {{{princesspat}}} Winter cheer is a very good idea right now. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}

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