Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Jan. 26th through Feb. 1st

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!
 

 

29 Comments

  1. It’s 39 heading for 49 and overcast in Fay., AR – spozed to rain later in the day, too. I’m late online cuz of a bunch of stuff. Made muffins, mixed the sausage meat (in the fridge for the flavors to meld) which I’ll bake Thursday, changed a light bulb, picked up the glass from a jar I dropped in the sink…not counting cat stuff.

    I listened to the real impeachment stuff with Nixon. I didn’t listen to the Clinton witch hunt/kangaroo court. I’m not listening to our good Dems trying to do real law in a racist/bigoted WASP supremacist/KKK court that’s already said they’ll find the accused not guilty no matter what evidence the Dems manage to get on the record. Whatever happens, we’ll keep on keepin’ on as long as we’re breathing. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. I’m heading for coffee since the cat just got off my lap. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Good morning, 42 and raining in Bellingham. Another slow and sleepy morning, and another day of deferring deferred lists. I really am hibernating! Oh well, life goes on regardless. Impeachment tv has my peripheral attention, laundry is my distraction, and my desk is my nemesis. I need to do some long term financial planning and I just don’t have the concentration needed. So I’ll pay the rest of the bills, write another list, and hope I re engage with life soon.

    Best wishes to all on this rainy day in the PNW.

  3. Good evening, Meesefolk. It’s dark outside but not that cold. Last night I woke up sweating; between the dogs spooning me and the temperature being relatively warm, I had to open the window a crack so I could get back to sleep.

    I survived Day Two, although I made a boneheaded move that I will have to correct/have corrected in the morning. Right after I logged out of the system and was preparing to go home, an employee dropped by wanting to know how much vacation time they had on the books. I was so excited, because I actually knew where to look to find the answer. I went to log back in, and no joy. Even though I had set the password less than 8 hours before, I couldn’t get in. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Kiddo suggested I might have accidentally had caps lock on when I set up the password, so I’ll try that in the morning. But if that doesn’t work I have to find out who to call for a password reset (for some reason it won’t let me do that) and then admit that on Day Two of the job, I flubbed one of the simpler tasks related to my work. I’d be mortified, except I’m reasonably confident that I’m not the first, nor will I be the last. It irritates me though, because of all the things that are new with this job, setting a password is not one of them…and I messed it up!

    Good day to and for all!

    • Perhaps you were meant to delve into the nuances of “requesting a password reset” early on in order to provide support for other employees! If you are using Windows, it should tell you when you have the CAPS LOCK on in a password field so it may not be that. I find myself using the copy/paste method when I am setting a new (important) password because muscle memory is dangerous. I type in the new password then open Notepad and type it there so I can see it, copy it and paste it into the “enter password again” field. If the two don’t match, I know I made a mistake and try again. Some password fields also have the “hairy eyeball” button that you can click to look at the password briefly and make sure it is what you thought you typed in.

      Good luck!

    • I feel your pain on the work/password issue. Passwords are maddening. So are my fingers. Whatever my hands decide to transpose at a given time, they will transpose the same way on an immediate repeat. Which means when I set and confirm my new password they match – but they aren’t what I thought I typed. I hope your issue was easily settled this morning and you are blithely working away with the added knowledge of how to deal with a password reset. It wouldn’t be a new job without one error/issue you know better than and feel really stupid about. Hopefully now you’ve had that you won’t again. {{{HUGS}}}

  4. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 23 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. Cloudy skies are in the forecast. We saw no sun yesterday and we are not expecting to see it again until Sunday when the temperature is also expected to be in the 40s. Just in time for Imbolc!!

    I was laughing at the breathless Breaking News emails filling my inbox telling me that Mitch McConnell does not have the votes to stop witnesses from being called. Good lord, people, he will have the votes after he horsewhips his lackeys! But they will pay a price for staying in tRump’s good graces. There is a group called the Lincoln Project (Republicans ticked off at Stepford Senators) that has been running some ads against those who have compromised their integrity to suck up to tRump – I saw one with McSally, unelected Senator from Arizona, who is on the endangered list this election cycle, especially since we have a great candidate in that race. Yikes! Anyway, they will toe the line when push comes to shove and there will be no witnesses. Republicans know that John Bolton’s live testimony will be compelling and there will be no way Fox News can hide it from their idiot viewers.

    See all y’all later!

  5. Wednesday Meese
    28 here in Saugerties NY, going up to 39.

    Taking hubby to PT and OT today, then have to hit keyboards writing for Sunday. Will be doing Black History month features throughout the whole month – as I usually do.

    Puerto Rico

    • I grieve for PR. It’s one disastrous happening after another, with no help forthcoming. Wish there were some way to shake loose the aid they need from Congress.

      Pinning my hopes on a Democratic sweep in November. Perhaps then we’ll see some action.

  6. Cold this morning — with the wind chill, it feels like the 30s. But we are going to have a January with no freezes. That’s happened 10 times since there’s been records. Five of them in recent years. Hmmm.

    So last night was good. They filmed what may end up being 2 commercials. I’m in the background, smiling & nodding. I’ll let y’all know then they are up. Brought my gym stuff, charging up my iPod & headphones. Happy Wednesday.

  7. Good Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! It’s gray as usual, with a temp. of 39 F., on its way up to 43 here in Ashburn. It’s a good day to stay in yet again with the Mother of All Colds and its disgusting manifestations. Last night my delightful drugged sleep was constantly interrupted by coughing. Got a very late start by waking up just before eight.

    Never made it here at all yesterday because Monday evening Younger Son texted to say that Miss Pink Cheeks wanted a “sleepover” with us. I warned them about my cold but said I could wear a face mask, which I did. I hadn’t seen these grandchildren since Christmas, so I was aching to see them again. Turned out that Miss PC had a cold too.

    Yesterday I felt so much better that after I cooked breakfast for Miss PC and helped her take a shower, we went to the Hair Cuttery and got our hair done at the same time. Her mother had wanted her to have her hair washed as well as the shower, but I felt too weak to stand there wielding the hair dryer for an hour. (Miss PC has long hair)

    Miss PC told me they’d had a “birds and bees” session at school, which left her in stark despair. She does not want to have Sacred Moon Time every month and hates her “widening hips.” (She’s still pretty much like an arrow at this point.) Discussing where babies come from with her friends, Miss PC said she thought they just randomly appeared from time to time, while one of her friends thought they arrived from Amazon. I almost choked with laughter when I heard that!

    Her whole family was Beijing-bound during spring break in April, but they’ve canceled their plans. It’s a shame, because DIL hasn’t been home to China for many years. This awful Corona virus would happen during Spring Festival! Even our Home for the Aged is getting in on the act. There will be a Spring Festival Buffet in all the restaurants on Friday.

    On the political front, I don’t know where to look, so I think I’ll just concentrate on finishing that article for the quarterly and take it easily for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is Biography Book Club so I’ve got to hurry up and finish reading Goodbye to All That.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond, sunlight to bfitz, improved health to princesspat, and happy writing and work to Dee and Jan, as well as password reset success to DoReMI!

    • Hahaha! “Discussing where babies come from with her friends, Miss PC said she thought they just randomly appeared from time to time” – I am glad they got into a little more detail on that. :)

  8. It’s 37 going up to 41 and still drizzling in Fay., AR. Overcast and forecast to be so through Friday morning although the rain is supposed to stop today – should have already in fact. After those 3 lovely 8+KWH- days in a row yesterday we got just under 3. sigh. Monthly’s at 148 which is at least better than the 2.5K system but doesn’t look like it’s gonna get above 169 to beat last year. sigh. Global warming. double sigh.

    Anybody got a spare miracle in their back pocket or hiding under the sofa cushions please send it to Amelia. She needs one – actually a couple – desperately. My prayers/invocations/Channeling don’t seem to be helping this month. If they ever did/do. But I’ll keep doing them – for her and everybody else. They can’t hurt and they might help.

    I’m waiting on a 1099 before I can file my taxes. I’m expecting a refund big enough to get me back on my feet even if not enough to help other folks. sigh. That’s the worst of not working. I can’t help folks like I used to. But even then I could only help in smallish but regular gifts. The worst of the changes at DK (& me being banned of course) is I can’t help with big problems like I used to. But things were already going sour for communities even then. My fundraisers maxed out at $5K – if that – no matter what was needed. Back in the day, when community was strong and the drive to help stronger, big fundraisers averaged $10K and the smaller ones were almost a snap. Community is how we survive. Without community we ain’t gonna. Last man standing may have all the toys but he’s also dead man walking. (Something we’ll never convince fascists or Libertarians. sigh.)

    Anyway, Murf just jumped off my lap so I’m for coffee. Virtually sharing it and my GF muffins – this batch was an experiment in that I used the “glaze” packet (dry spices etc not one of the liquid “ready-mades”) from the Xmas ham for the spicing (and apparently some of the sugar since they’re sweeter than my usual) plus molasses for the planned sweetening. They turned out quite well. Moose Pond may only be a virtual community, but it’s still a caring community. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Good morning, 48 and raining in Bellingham. I’m at an interesting/frustrating recovery point. I’m restless and feel like doing more at home, but when I leave here for an errand I’m easily exhausted and feel very vulnerable. I was at the new hair salon yesterday, had a great conversation with Grace, got my hair colored and styled, and couldn’t stay awake after coming home. She is preparing for a 2 week trip to London where she will be part of a hair styling team for Fashion Week so it was fun to learn about how all of that works.

    Reading about this guys work and seeing his studio makes me nostalgic! I loved the creative challenges of ballet costuming and still have a few floral head pieces and mouse masks hanging on the bulletin boards in my sewing room.

    Time for coffee, and then to try to do something creative today. Best wishes to all.

  10. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 25 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. Cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    This headline sums up the Republican defense of Trump: Alan Dershowitz for the Defense: L’État, C’est Trump. I hope the Senators who vote to acquit based on “if the president extorts foreign countries to assist his re-election campaign, it is good for the country because his re-election is good for the country!” realize what they have done. We hope first, that it sinks their own re-election bids, and second, that they end up with this legacy: Lessons for Life: The Obituaries of Republicans Who Opposed Nixon’s Impeachment: ” ‘Obituaries reflect what the present thinks of the past,’ wrote journalism professor Kathleen McElroy.” And the future, if written by historians and not pundits, will have nothing but unkind words for these sycophants.

    The headlines from Caca Land suggest that Joe Biden, for all his bluster and braggadocio, does not know how to go right at Donald Trump. He is going to need to learn – and quick. He can appeal to the butthurt white vote with his Scranton PA roots and blindingly white male privilege but he better show the base that he won’t hesitate to shred tRump and his Republican lackeys in the Senate. C’mon, Joe, these guys are not “good people” – they are craven assholes and they are destroying the country you love.

    I discovered that I did not need to panic about getting a rough draft of my taxes done by the 1/31 deadline – I had left a chunk of money in my tax account last year to pay forward for 2019 taxes. Whew! I still need to get the first pass done soon, though, so that it is not an onerous task when it is due. Plus if the government owes me money, I want it! They would probably waste it on a “big beautiful” border wall that will tip over if it is windy. :)

    See all y’all later!

  11. Good morning Meese. 19 degrees – very nippy here in Saugerties NY.

    Pounding keyboards this AM so am tardy.

  12. Cold morning, but still no freezing weather until maybe next week. Went to the gym yesterday, it was really hard (10 rounds of walk 90 seconds, run 60). I packed my gym bag for today but have now decided I’m going to the AIDS Ride kick off party instead. This weekend, I’m going to try the running routine out in the world, instead of on the elliptical. I bet it’s much, much harder.

  13. Good Thor’s Day morning, Meese! It’s partly cloudy here in Ashburn and 29 F., on its way up to 41 F. Next week we’ll have temps in the 60s! It seems as if we’ve decided to skip winter this year.

    Apparently I had a coughing fit at 5 a.m. that even woke up the dog! It certainly woke up Dearly Beloved, the poor thing. To add to his troubles, he read the WaPo this morning. It has a front-page story about how well Saint Bernard of No Accomplishments is doing. I refuse to believe that he’ll be the nominee for our side: he’s not a Democrat, he’s 77, and he’s already had a heart attack.

    As for Uncle Joe, if he picks a certain person as his veep, I could get up considerably more enthusiasm than I have at the moment for his candidacy. I’ve already decided not to send Joe any money—he has plenty of rich friends. I’ll donate to down ballot candidates.

    I don’t know whether it was the cold meds or what, but yesterday I experienced considerable lassitude, to the point that I didn’t do any work. There are two meetings that I’ll skip today. I really do need to get my act together.

    Wishing a good, quiet day to all at the Pond.

  14. It’s 35 heading for 41 and still drizzly overcast in Fay., AR. We did get 3 KWHs yesterday – I was afraid it was gonna be even less – and the month is at 151. Even if today and tomorrow were sunny as all get out, we still can’t get to 170 so I’ll be thankful for what we do get and resign myself to last place in generation for the 4K system this year. May it always be the last place for the 4K system.

    I just finished baking my breakfast sausages for the next few weeks. This lot of ground pork must have been fatter than usual because I’ve got more grease in the broiler pan to clean up. The sausages came out tasty. 👍😁 As soon as they cool down enough most of them will go in the freezer

    Amelia can’t catch a break. She’s apparently got pneumonia and her doctor’s office told her to go to ER to get an Xray and possibly be admitted. The doctor never showed up. The X-ray didn’t get done. ER people kept saying they were going to admit her and not doing it. Admissions told her they couldn’t do anything until ER admitted her and looked at her like she was nuts when she asked for the hospital’s patient advocate. So she sat, coughing and in pain, in an apparently filthy ER waiting room, without water, food, or treatment for 7 hours. She finally left and went back to the motel when roaches started scurrying across the floor as the sun went down. That’s not even counting that without a rather major miracle she’s going to be on the streets as of 11 am Pacific time today. So seriously prayers, invocations, or whatever your Tradition does to bring miracles would really be appreciated. Other folks got issues – health or money or both – but nobody’s is as urgent as Amelia’s. I wish to heaven she was able to drive long distances. If she could just get here I’d put her in my spare bedroom until we could find her a place and get her situated. I’ve never been a health advocate but I’ve got the time and I’m willing to do it. But she can’t unless said miracle takes that particular form. sigh.

    Gray days and dark situations need coffee. At least for me. And for me it’s just the gray day and my caring for other people in dark situations. My own situation is fine. But I still need the coffee. Which I’ll get when Murf gets off my lap. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Welp, a miracle has come through. Someone just contacted me about paying for the next 30 days for Amelia. Once that’s processed and everybody can breathe again, she needs to call her doctor and deal with yesterday’ cluster**** – maybe go to a different hospital and get the X-ray. Or at least some meds to stop the coughing and bring down the fever. OTCs aren’t doing it. But one miracle at a time. Thank you everybody.

  15. Good morning, 36 and cloudy in Bellingham. We’re meeting some friends for lunch today and I hope we can commiserate re the shared experiences of aging ready or not and the difficulties of family life in t/Rump America without having only doom and gloom conversations. Impeachment tv was discouraging yesterday so it’s time to change the channel.

    If energy allows I hope to visit a nursery on the way home from lunch. The deer are eating ivy in the garden, but not the hellebore, so I think I can plant some primroses in the same pots. They don’t eat daffodils either so I should be able to enjoy some early spring flowers.

    Best wishes to all on this quiet cloudy day. May we all have a moment of sunshine!

  16. Good evening, Meesefolk; a late night for me, but I had a zillion errands to run after work. I’ve had my shower but still need to pack my lunch for tomorrow.

    Work is going well. Got my password reset the other day; our IT folks are so darn responsive, it astonishes me. Of course, for far too many years, I was effectively IT…which is both scary to consider and a clear statement as to how cheap my old boss was. Anyway, I’m starting to see glimpses of what the contours of my days will be like, and I think it’s going to be a nice mix of data entry grunt work; problem solving and preemptive intervention; hiring, hiring, hiring; and visiting with our elders. Right now I’m heavily in the throes of data entry grunt work, because this position was empty from the 2nd week of December until now. Not everything sat undone (it couldn’t since payroll had to go out), but I still have a 12-inch high stack of paperwork on the desk in my office to go through. The entry intensive work is proving to be an eyestrain nightmare, but I’m hoping that it will lessen as I whittle away at the pile. But it has convinced me to get vision coverage (assuming I pass my 90-day probation period); Basket suggested that if I get glasses (it seems unavoidable), I should get some with glare protection.

    The upshot of this job is that I’m turning into one of those people that doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on in the world…politics or pop culture; it doesn’t matter which. I used to quietly, and with embarrassing self-righteousness, scoff about being so out of touch with the goings on of the world, but now I’m seeing just how easy it would be to slip into that habit. I’m going to cut myself some slack at the moment, because I’m dealing with information overload at work and need a bit of obliviousness. But once my job starts becoming a bit more routine, I’ll need to work at staying in the loop.

    Time to pack tomorrow’s lunch; I’ve decided that M-Th, I’m going to eat healthful lunches, but on Fridays, I’m going to allow myself guilty pleasures. Tomorrow’s will be potato chips and a few Nilla Wafers. I’m turning into a wild woman…

    Good day to and for all!

    • {{{DoReMI}}} the good thing about all that data entry you’re catching up on is that you’ll have the process solidly under your fingers by the time you have caught up. Some of the worst stuff at my old job was stuff that only got done once a year – I was still having to call somebody for a walk-through on some of it when I left. lol/sigh. basket is right. You need glare protection. In fact, if you end up with contacts rather than glasses – or even if somehow you don’t need correction at all, still get glare glasses for work. Staring at computers all day really messes with your eyes. (& yes, very easy to get out of touch with things when you’re head down at work.) Enjoy your potato chips and Nilla Wafers. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  17. Friday Meese. 19 degrees here in Saugerties Ny, going up to 42.

    Puerto Rico – Vieques

    Jaideliz

  18. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 28 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 36. Isolated flurries are in the forecast.

    The impeachment “trial” is nearing the end after questions from Senators. There will be no witnesses and no evidence provided by the Trump White House. The American people will have to decide if Republican Senators are craven assholes or mindless sycophants – there is no in-between – and choose to vote out the cowards who have now chosen to elevate their president to monarch. Goddess help us over the next few months to survive what they have unleashed. I think Nancy Pelosi has left the impeachment inquiry open and they may yet call John Bolton to testify. Good. Democrats need to keep the reminder in the news that Republican electeds voted against any Article II accountability.

    Iowa is worried that they may lose their ability to play kingmaker in the nominating process. They should – undemocratic caucuses aside, it is gross that a state that voted for tRump and embraces his hate has such a powerful position. Their caucuses should get as much attention as the Wyoming caucuses. I hope our next president fixes this and appoints a DNC chair who gets it.

    See all y’all later!

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