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 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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– Page One of Comments is HERE!
– Page Two of Comments is HERE!
Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 5 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 12. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese
Only got about 3 inches of snow last night – which is a mere dusting here in the Catskills.
All hell has broken loose over the Puerto Rico warehouse story – which of course is pushing other PR earthquake news to the side.
Sunday sermon
Going to right over and read it, Dee!
Dee—I’m not allowed to comment at dk, but here’s what I would have written:
Insightful, profound, and altogether a dazzling read, Sister Denise!
With every day that dawns I’m finding out that the so-called “history” I was taught in public school was a lie. It’s up to all of us to examine what really happened when this nation came into being, and to acknowledge the horror of the white supremacist mindset that did, and does, prevail to this day.
It may take a while, but if we educate ourselves and our children and grandchildren, we’ll be a better, more equitable society. Thank you for leading the way, Sis!
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind, and indeed we are receiving sunshine, which is very welcome. Yesterday was so gray and gloomy I thought I was in the Shetland Islands. This morning it’s 40 F., with a high of 39 F. It’ll have to drop a degree, but that will be no problem once the wind starts gusting. Yecch.
Our Communications Committee photographer took my photo yesterday and sent a proof copy out last night. “Lawks,” I thought as I contemplated it, “am I really that ancient?” After hunting up my birth certificate and realizing that I am indeed officially “elderly,” I became reconciled to the wrinkles. I simply don’t feel old, especially not when I’m striding down the corridors in my boots, wearing jeans, a tweed jacket, and my husband’s British-looking tweed cap. I do that every once in a while in the hope of freaking people out.
Yesterday at the Progressives’ luncheon I sat with a very nice group of people. We all filled out a “straw poll” sheet re the candidate we plan to vote for on SuperTuesday. Our table mostly picked Biden. We also signed the petition to get our current Congresswoman, the wonderful Jennifer Wexton, on the ballot for November. Virginia has the weirdest rules!
Have y’all been hearing on Twitter about a possible Biden-Harris ticket? If that came to pass my own personal Enthusiasm Meter, currently at 25%, would shoot up to 75%.
Got to get on with the chores. Breakfast has been consumed, and the pot roast is going into the slow cooker at 10, ready for a 6 p.m. evening meal.
Wishing a nice, peaceful Sunday to all at the Pond.
P. S. I’m Timed Out from dk, so I can’t comment or rec until some time tomorrow, Dee. However, anything you write is excellent so I’m sure the Sunday sermon I’m about to read will uphold that tradition!
{{{Diana}}} How the heck did you get TO’d on DK? Say something mean about bernie & the bros? sigh. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
No, bfitz. Merely suggested that some tiresome white male would benefit from a visit from St. Lorena of Manassas during the night.
Well, we’ve known for some time what that site was really supporting – the left side of WASP male supremacy. sigh
Watching the news, drinking tea. The Meghan & Harry story is getting more time than the Puerto Rico earthquakes. I am happy for Meghan & Harry — and it’s a good thing that the grotesque racism of the tabloids is getting at least a mention, calling out racism is good. But Puerto Rico is having earthquakes. Lots of earthquakes. We really should be talking about that and helping them.
I got a lot done yesterday: laundry, dishes, groceries, tea for the week, & the gym. Today I’m making stirfry ahead of time, because next weekend is my Democratic club’s endorsement meeting. That will take all of Sunday afternoon. So, on this 3-day weekend, I’ll cook now & stick it in the freezer.
It’s 28 heading for 43 in Fay., AR and the sun is trying to come out again maybe. I can see patches of blue to the west. Yesterday the sun did come out – to the tune of 7.3 KWHs (bringing the m-t-d to 91) – and lifting my mood enough that I’ve set up the treadmill in the den and actually managed to do half an hour on it, in several batches. I can’t really tell if we had clear earlier and it’s clouding up again or we had cloudy and it’s trying to clear off. I’m just hoping for the latter.
Done my Sunday chores (except the floors) and am settling down to read and boost for a bit. Except now the cat just got off my lap so I’m gonna go get coffee (ease the headache the artificial colors in the throat drops I need gives me) and enjoy that whether or not I can actually enjoy what I’m reading. (Content, not quality. The folks I read are excellent writers. What they’re writing about is usually awful. sigh.) Holding everybody in my heart. Channeling/invoking Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 12 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 21. Clear skies.
I just had time for a quick scan of the news (nothing much new) as I have to hit the road again. I am trying to get my pending on-site work done while the weather is stable – hoping that I won’t have to travel again until Spring! Only 13 days until Imbolc – the circle is spinning.
See all y’all later!
Getting ready to go to the MLK march. It should be cool (by Texas standards) but sunny & nice. This afternoon: laundry & the second part of making the stirfry. Then back to work tomorrow.
Good Moon Day morning, Moosekind, and a lovely one it is, too. The sky is a clear blue, the sun is gilding the woods across the way, and the temperature is 22 F. My husband reports that wind is rushing up the slope into the courtyard, which is not good news. It’s going to be 36 F. by the time the day’s over.
Hoping the gun extremists showing up in Richmond today won’t unleash violence on the hapless population there. Prospective counter-demonstrators have decided to stay at home. I wish the gun nuts would realize the rest of us have rights too. They behave as if only they do.
Today I’m meeting Beloved Nephew, Darling Niece, and Funny Great-Nephew in Reston so we can drive to Arlington. There we will visit my late mother’s 95-year-old neighbor.
Tonight I’m tending the three little girls down the road while their parents have a date night. The male parent did some desktop publishing free for me last year, so I told him he and his wife are going to get a free night of child-tending.
The girls are willing to play Writers’ Workshop, so each will write a paragraph or two during the allotted 10-minute period, then read her paragraph aloud. Prizes will be awarded for the most humorous, most imaginative, most adventurous, and so on. Considering these children have just returned from a three-week visit to India, they should have plenty to write about!
I seem to be a bit under the weather this morning. Oh, well, I’ll just have to get through the day and take it easy tomorrow. Still have one article to finish up for the quarterly, then I want to settle down to writing a one-act play.
Wishing a good, peaceful day to all at the Pond and beyond.
It’s 20 and sunny in Fay., AR – supposed to be heading for 40 and might even make it if the sun stays out. It stayed out yesterday – we got the best for the year so far at 8.575 KWHs. Which is a W00t! for this time of year. Not enough to catch up (m-t-d is 99 & should reach 100 by mid morning) but a definite gift. And the sunshine is a definite mood lifter. I’ve managed to get some (not a lot but some) treadmill time the last 2 days and hope to do it again today.
Aji keeps saying “white people come get your racist…” and I try but they don’t listen to me any more than they listen to her. Not gonna insult sea lions here, broken record fits it better. Gaslighting. Moving goalposts. There isn’t a deserted island big enough to drop all these Deplorables on even if we could. But it sure would be nice. Isolate them. Render them harmless. Because right now they are doing harm. They’re part of the reason my various friends have the issues they do. They’re the folks who block for one reason or other the universal healthcare that would have kept everybody from not only the unresolved and some untreated health issues in the first place but would have kept them from getting into the financial straits from trying to deal with them on their own. They’re also the ones who “all lives matter” and “blue lives matter” – and “don’t see the problem” with sexual and racial assaults that aren’t physical (and some that are physical) – because they don’t have the problem. Their problem is money and they’re the only ones who are important so everything except money isn’t a problem. Wish I could to more than sigh. And block the bastids.
The Pine Brothers Throat Drop people seem to be going back out of business. They were popular in the 1960s (as in I could always find them and used them regularly) then dropped out. They revived about 10 years ago and I was able to get them online always and sometimes even in the local pharmacy. But the pharmacy doesn’t have them, can’t get them. And the online “store” has been out of stock for months. Once I ran out of my stash I’ve had to use what I can find. The great thing about them is they were glycerin based (thins the mucus) and had no artificial colors or flavors in the original 2 flavors (honey and cherry). I can’t find any glycerin-based drops and the only other mucus thinner is pectin based. That’s Luden’s and brother! do they have artificial colors and flavors. So it’s breathe and get headaches or spend my nights sitting up. sigh. So I need coffee which I will get when Murf gets off my lap. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
I couldn’t get on earlier, so I tweeted you about checking into Buckley’s. But in the meantime, I’m back up and running, and I discovered that both Pine Brothers and Ludens are still available through Amazon. Cheaper than Buckley’s too; I prefer anything by Buckley’s but generally pick some up when I’m in Canada because it’s so much cheaper that way.
{{{DoReMI}}} I’ll check Amazon. The Pine Brothers website is still up – and has the licorice flavor available. But only the licorice flavor (which has dyes) – so I’m hoping this is temporary. But if so, it’s kinda long-term temporary because it’s been months since they’ve had them in stock. And of course if the supplier doesn’t have them in stock, the retailers run out… more {{{HUGS}}}
OK – checked Amazon. The price on the Cherry is skyrocketing ($64 for a 3 pack) which isn’t promising. But they did have a 3-pack of the original Honey, which I can also use, for $14 + tax (free shipping even) so I ordered that. Thanks for the reminder. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Dee tweeted at me that she got a 404. The site must have been doing some sort of maintenance – I had to log back in so something happened.
Good morning, 45 and cloudy in Bellingham. I woke up early yesterday, took my coffee to my sewing room, got busy with the day, and forgot to check in at the moose pond! Oh well, you all were spared another lament re trying to get my creaky legs/knees functioning again. I seem to be improving so now the challenge is to find a level of activity I can sustain.
While waiting for a computer update yesterday I watched a slide show from the family picture file and seeing my grand babies made me feel very nostalgic. Ten years has brought so many changes in our lives. It was also apparent I need to update my wardrobe. So I made a good start cleaning out my closet and bagging clothes for donation. My daughters have encouraged me to use the online styling service, Stitch Fix so I’m trying. They have found it an way easy to update their work wardrobes but I’m slow to adjust to more contemporary styles. I’ve fine tuned my fit profile and found a stylist I can communicate with, so the next challenge is to just wear the clothes :) Five items arrive every two months and I hope removing the older clothes I’m no longer wearing will open my mind to accepting them.
Time for another cup of coffee and then to attend to my desk. Best wishes to all on this no more snow day.
My Kiddo loves Stitch Fix, particularly since she’d rather have a root canal than go clothes shopping. I’m surveying my wardrobe, and the pickings for my new job are slim. That’s mostly because of the weight I’ve gained in the past year, some of which is because of unemployed-eating. I’m going to head to the thrift shops this week just to pick up some work clothes for Me Now, and as I become more active again with work and then Spring, I’ll see if I fit into my old clothes or need more. If I need more, I’m thinking of giving Stitch Fix a try too.
Good morning, Meesefolk; 19 clear and cold degrees. It’s so sunny out (YAY!!!) that my front, southern-exposure room is toasty; unfortunately, that’s where my thermostat is so it’s reading so warm that the heat isn’t coming on. I just had to set the heat to 70, because the rest of the house is freezing…even with the blinds closed in front.
As some of you may have heard by now…I GOT A JOB!!! It’s at the nursing home/memory care unit, and I will be their new Payroll/Benefits Coordinator. I’m not sure when I start yet; tomorrow I have to go get fingerprinted for my background check, and I have to go for a physical (TB test). It’s possible I will be starting a week from today, but two weeks is although within in the realm of possibility. I’m now absolutely terrified and suffering from a full-blown case of Impostor Syndrome, but I assume that will pass once I start settling in. If it doesn’t, I will resort to the tried-and-true Fake It ‘Til You Make It strategy.
I spent most of yesterday cancelling interviews and contacting folks I had recently interviewed with, asking to withdraw my name. I was a little sad withdrawing my name from the Secretary of State position; it was a really good interview, and the job and pay were outstanding. BUT, the distance was once again less-than-optimal, and even though the PBC position pays much less, the 7 minute drive more than makes up for that. What I save on gas will easily make up for the lesser pay. After I got all of those emails out of the way, I had to attack the paperwork for the new position, which included signing off on reading the employee handbook. About halfway through the 60 pages, I began to wonder if I had made a mistake…not because of anything I was reading, but because it was so damn boring, and my job will involve knowing the handbook backwards and forwards. Fortunately, reading the whole thing in one sitting is unlikely to ever have to happen again.
The new job will likely end my Tuesday posts here; I just can’t see any way I will be able to keep up my reading/writing with this new job. My old job had enough down time and an absentee boss, so I could hop on my work computer and get a lot done when it was slow at work. I won’t have that option anymore, nor will I have the ability to read when it’s slow…down/slow time at the new job is the optimal time to visit with the Elders. Oh, and “no expectation of privacy on work computers” is another huge consideration… I’ll do my best to visit (although it seems likely that I’ll be dropping by in the evenings when I won’t be having to watch the clock); I may even be able to pull together an occasional post, but that is TBD.
In the meantime, good day to and for all!
It’s totally wonderful that you got the job. You’ll do fine. And they’ll bless the day they hired you. You’ll see. As to the Tuesday posts, I’ll miss them, but things happen and times change. Please do keep checking in. Even if we don’t read them until the next morning, we still want to hear from you & how you’re doing. {{{HUGS}}}
Congratulations!! Their gain is sadly our loss. I hope you can find a way to check in and tell us how the new job is going.
Congratulations on the job! And it’s great that it is so close.
Dee couldn’t get in this morning. Here is her post!!
Thanks Jan!
Finally got back in! Don’t know what you fixed – but it is fixed :)
Back to work. I’m going to request next Monday off, because my Democratic club’s endorsement meeting will last all Sunday afternoon, and I’ll need a break from people after that. Got my gym stuff, will try for a repeat of Saturday’s 15 walk/run rounds.
Good Tiu’s Day morning, Meese! Clear and sunny but very cold in Ashburn this moaning (and I use “moaning” advisedly), with a current temp. of 22 F. It’s going up to 36 F. today. Well, it is winter, after all. Just wish I could send some of this sunshine to bfitz!
Very happy to hear that DoReMI has a new job, but sad to hear she won’t be checking in as often. I’ll miss hearing about the Kiddo, the weather, and Michigan politics. Oh, well, at least I can go back and catch up with those of her posts that I’ve missed!
Yesterday’s visit to our old friend went very well. She’ll be 98 on Friday! I was mistaken about her age. At one point I said I hoped we weren’t interfering with her plans to go to lunch at noon, but she shrugged and said she still cooks for herself. Her daughter and son-in-law live in her former house, which was right next to my mother’s house. Mother and the Signora became fast friends.
The Signora sews—she has an actual, old-fashioned sewing machine in her front room—and crochets soft little caps for babies at the Washington Hospital Center. We took photos of ourselves with her and everyone had a good time.
Yesterday evening brought the child-tending gig. During the Writers’ Workshop, only the eldest, who wants to be a writer and an actress when she grows up, wrote about her family’s recent visit to India. The other two wrote about the family dog. As I had promised, I awarded small prizes to the trio. They seemed quite happy with them. When I put them to bed (each child has her own bedroom), the eldest requested lullabies in French, which I duly sang in my old, quavery voice. LOL, life is strange!
So now I’m sitting here enjoying Dearly Beloved’s covfefe with not a thing to do until 7 p.m., when I intend to go to a meeting of the Drama Club. At some time today I’m also going to start reading my writer’s manuals about writing a play.
It was nice that the gun worshippers didn’t murder anyone in our state capital yesterday. The antics of McTurtle are too disheartening to talk about. To retain my sanity, I’m just going to have to rely on dispatches from that world.
Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day despite all that’s happening.
It’s 20 and sunny in Fay., AR – at least at the moment. Heading for 44 and I hope it makes it – AND stays sunny. I’ve got a bit of outside work to do and we’re supposed to get rain and wintry mix again starting tomorrow. It’s not much. Just rake up enough oak leaves to fill the two trash/yard waste cans again once solid waste empties them sometime this morning. There are some crocuses (I planted years ago) and some wild violets on that side of the house I’m hoping have survived being buried by oak leaves for a couple of years. I’d like to see them again and since nobody who’s said they will take care of them – for love or money – has actually done so, I’m clearing them off at two trash-cans’ worth a week. We got 8.2 KWHs yesterday making it 107.7 for the month so far. Of course even if we got 8/day for the rest of the month we still wouldn’t reach 200. Close, but not there. And we’re not. But I am happy that we have gotten two 8+ days in a row and am hoping for a third before the weather shuts in again.
The Pine Brothers drops should be here by the end of the week. They only do a slightly better job of helping me breath/sleep than the more accessible (Luden’s, Good Sense Hall’s knockoffs…) but they don’t have the dyes or artificial flavors that give me headaches. I’m looking forward to not waking up with headaches. We’ll see what happens next but at least I’ve gotten a few suggestions to try if Pine Brothers really is going belly up.
Besides the (minor amount of) outside work I need to vacuum and do the laundry today. And tomorrow see if my hands will work (& my hands and eyes will coordinate) enough for me to thread a needle. I’ve a number of pairs of undies that have the elastic waistband separating from the material. If I had the right thread I might even try to darn a pair of wool socks and my boiled wool sweater. I’ve never darned anything but – internet to the rescue – I watched a video on how to do it and if my hands cooperate I could do it. But I don’t have any wool thread/fine yarn to do it with. Somehow I don’t think embroidery floss I used to use sewing the recipient’s name in the quilts I haven’t made for 35 years would work. Minor problems. Nothing compared to my friends’ health and financial situations. Just irritating. Meanwhile I do need coffee. Sending Healing/Helping Energy to everybody who accepts it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
There are no degrees here in Madison right now – I assume some will be added later! The sun is shining.
I will not watch the “trial” or waste any energy being outraged over the behaviour of tRump and Senate Republicans – life is too short. This will simplify my life because I am sure that the sham trial will be covered 24×7 by the breathless media.
I have a bunch of projects humming right now and can’t stay. I may be traveling at the end of the week so I have to get ahead of the curve.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 50 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. Ron and Ava planted native plants along Whatcom Creek as with a city Parks work crew yesterday, and I went to the MLK children’s book reading event at Village Books. Did my heart good to see Rep Rick Larsen sitting at a table coloring and talking with the kids. I did feel nostalgic for the old days when the girls were there with me though. Time passes!
Best wishes to all as we begin another day.
Good Wednesday morning Meese.
8 degrees here in Saugerties NY, going up to 39.
Puerto Rico
Vieques – Bravo Nydia
I left work early yesterday because my voice just up & left. I felt fine, no sore throat or anything. But if you work in a call center, and you can’t speak above a whisper, you can’t work. I tried my voice this morning & I can talk, so I’m here. I didn’t watch any of the hearings yesterday afternoon (El Rey Network had Stargate on — and seriously, which do you think I’d watch?) I watched some of the prime time, but when the Rs would speak, I flipped over to watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier — which is a commentary on fascism, so I was still watching politics. But the movie had explosions, so that was way better. Anyway, happy Wednesday.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} – Healing Energy & more {{{HUGS}}}
Happened again today. I tested my voice, talking back to the morning news, sounded fine. Sang along with the music in the car on the way in. Then around 9 – an hour after the phones opened, voice started going. By 11:30 I knew I had to go. Heavy sigh.