Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Mar. 29th through Apr. 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!
 
Page Three of Comments is HERE!
 

 

33 Comments

  1. Good morning, Meese!

    What day is this? What planet is this?

    Going to check in quickly because it’s Recyclables Pickup Day and I need to hustle. It’s cloudy in Ashburn this morning and 49 F. “They” say it’ll go up to 54 F. with showers late, but “they” are seldom right.

    Well, the decree came down from the Powers That Be yesterday: we are to stay in apartments at all times. No congregating in the hallways, the living room, or outside. (People have been doing that.) I was freaking out because Monty is an old dog who needs to conduct business outside 10 times a day. It’s no use asking a concierge to take him for a walk: he doesn’t save up his unconducted business for one half-hour walk a day! Dearly Beloved intends to defy the order.

    We do have a screened porch on which we can soak up some rays, and I could do exercises with the free weights and elastic bands, but not going outside for an afternoon walk would be terrible. I more a mask on my walk yesterday, and when I entered the tiny CVS store in the main clubhouse I also wore gloves. Sanitized the shopping basket handle and did everything I was supposed to. It’s a good thing I went because I scored a quart of 2% milk and a loaf of actual white bread. Now, if we want something, we have to ask a concierge to bring it to us.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond.

    • {{{Diana}}} – stand just inside your door ways with the doors open and do your community singalong that way. They’re just gonna have to lump it about folks taking their dogs out. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Didn’t get the laptop yesterday, will try again today. Also didn’t get in a walk. By the time I was done at the office, I needed to eat lunch & it was raining. Not complaining about rain, still remember the terrible drought here of a couple of years ago. Anyway, I may start tele-working later today.

  3. Good morning, 40 and raining in Bellingham. Yesterday became one nap after another day. And in between naps I wandered around wondering what to do next so I have nothing new to report. Oh well, I managed to win all the solitaire games I play so there’s that.

    Today I’m going to try to successfully place an online grocery order. The site is annoying and the last step prior to paying is scheduling a pick up or delivery time, and so far no times are available. Then I lose the whole order so I quit. RonK is being very careful when shopping but our kids are worried about our exposure so I’ll keep trying.

    Best wishes to all on what I think is a Tuesday morning.

    • This: “I managed to win all the solitaire games I play so there’s that.” Many of mine are set up to only deal winning hands so I have a better chance of winning. :) Most of the ones I play (I think there are 8) have a Daily Challenge and I consider my day complete when I win the little crown on each of them. I did stop obsessing about not winning the Daily Challenge on 2-suit Spider and am more matter of fact about abandoning a losing deal in that game and going to another one because it is really difficult to win – some of them take 45 minutes to work through and then if I get to the end and can’t win it makes me sad; can’t have that!

      Someone I know has an online shopping cart “filled with stuff” with a delivery date each week for the foreseeable future (you just need $50 to hold a date). She then rearranges the contents the day before the delivery and gets only the things she needs. She has to be careful because she has a lung condition and COVID-19 would probably kill her. :(

  4. It’s 48 heading for 64 and the rain has stopped. The sky is trying to lightening up and maybe even clear off. Which would really be nice. Yesterday’s 5.4 KWHs brought us to 311 – today’s the last day of the month so even if we get the most possible we’ll end up under 330. But we could get close. 🌞🌞🌞

    My stomach’s in knots. Nothing about me. I’m as fine as I ever am and that’s a heck of a lot better off than many if not most of my friends, family, and acquaintances. But Aji’s having those “episodes” again. & goddess only knows about Amelia. If she hadn’t been evicted some 6 months ago and was still in Section 8 housing the stuff Nancy & the Dems got into the various COVID-19 packages would help her. As it is… so my stomach’s in knots. I’ve done what I can and am down to prayers/invocations/Channeling (& as a bit of “sympathetic magic”).

    I need some coffee and to get back to household stuff – work’s the great distracter. It’s how we’ve always gotten through every rough time. “We don’t know if we’re going tomorrow, so do the dishes tonight.” heh. sorta. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  5. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 36 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 50. The forecast calls for “variable cloudiness” and I hope that means afternoon sunshine. The sun feels wonderful this time of year – it is time to come out of hibernation!

    There you have it – 100,000 to 240,000 will die if we can contain the virus, up to 2.2 million if we don’t. Considering that the pandemic response is still in the hands of a vulgar talking yam and his anti-science administration – and that tRump’s red state pals are ignoring the stay-at-home recommendations – my prediction is that it will be closer to a million. And all because Republicans in positions of power wanted to protect the fragile ego of a malignant narcissist and possibly the stupidest man to ever sit in the Oval Office. What needs to happen now is that someone has to get on top of the stories that the “administration” is ratfking blue states by outbidding them for critical medical equipment and supplies and diverting the materials to those who go on Fox News and fluff up the Republican Party’s failed president. I have no idea if we even have a news media left who is unafraid to “lose access” in order to get that story out – not in dribs and drabs and rumors but with facts and figures and the power to get everyone’s attention. tRump has turned the federal government into his own personal slush fund to reward his friends and destroy his enemies and we need to call it out and shut it down. It is the Ukraine “perfect phone call” but this one will kill a million Americans.

    I am trying to muster sympathy for Chris “Birther” Cuomo for testing positive to COVID-19 but I will just leave it at “I hope he doesn’t die because his family would be sad.”

    A new month means that the missed March deadlines can’t be fixed and I move on to try to do better in April. By the way, if anyone does April Fools jokes today on Twitter, I will block them – there is really nothing funny about the mess we are in right now caused by people wanting to “shake things up.” Fk them all.

    See all y’all later!

  6. Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind. It looks clear in Ashburn so far, with a temperature of 39 F. The forecast calls for cloudy skies with a high of 57 F. Last night it rained quite heavily and our bedroom window was open just a smidgen: could that be why I slept quite well?

    Woke up too early of course, but will make up for it later. The news gets worse every day. Here at The Home they now don’t even want us to go down the hall to pick up our mail. They want to bring it to us. I find that idea horrifying. Also, I thought it was illegal to go into someone’s mailbox.

    Don took Monty out for a walk yesterday and I went for a walk outside after tea. Apparently it’s OK as long as you don’t get into conversation with anyone, which I didn’t.

    Still have a lot to do around here and still have had no success trying to get a delivery slot from Whole Paycheck. After today I will run out of carrots to feed Monty. He has to be bribed to go for a walk so we’ve been using carrots instead of dog biscuits. We’ve just succeeded in getting his weight down, too. Perhaps I’ll try to get a delivery from Costco. (Very first-world problem, I know.)

    Wishing everyone here a good day and hoping that the quarantine measures work for us all.

  7. Wednesday Meese
    42 going up to 53 here in the Catskills

    Puerto Rico

  8. It got chilly again, 50 outside 70 in my apartment — which doesn’t sound cold but trust me, it certainly feels that way. Anyway, I have my work laptop, able to log in & all that, and I answered 3 whole e-mails yesterday. Hey, getting it attached to my wifi & getting used to 1 tiny screen instead of the 2 large monitors on my work computer took some time. For now, eating breakfast, watching Stargate.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} – 50 is chilly for me, too. But then I grew up in TX. LOL. Congratulations on getting operational. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}

  9. It’s 49 heading for 71. The day started with sunshine but clouds are already moving in. I so would prefer it the other way around. Afternoon sun is what gives my system the greatest production. Yesterday we got 14 KWHs and wrapped up March at 325.23 – not great but definitely could have been worse. Starting a new month. The target for April is 477 but anything over 400 gets us out of last place. Being we have a whole month ahead of us, I’ll hope for the 477. 🌞🌞🌞

    I slept in this morning – til almost 8 – which is surprising considering we have sunshine. I can’t do that tomorrow if I want to eat breakfast much less check in before I head out. My son will be here around 8:30, he has to be at work before 9, so I can take him to work and have the car. I think that’s a good thing though. Turns out Aldi’s is doing a “senior/disabled 1/2 hour” from 8:30 to 9 and the store’s only a block down from my son’s pizza store. I can go straight there and hope for chicken. (Their chicken is almost half the price of my other stores.) Also popcorn but that’s a treat and I can do without it if they don’t have any.

    Amelia was finally able to concentrate enough to post a request for help on her Yale alum FB page last night. & there’s a possibility (I don’t know how good) that since the motel overcharged the person who paid last month’s “rent” (charged the weekly rate instead of the 30-day prepay rate) that they might extend her out the equivalent of the difference. That would give folks a chance to actually see the FB post and respond. I’m not going to let go of that breath I’m holding until folks do. Aji’s only had 3 sales this year and 2 of her patrons had to drop out. Other folks are hanging on a little better but that’s not saying much. Prayers & invocations of whatever Tradition are helpful/needed/welcome. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  10. Good morning, 38 and raining in Bellingham. Our son got his test results yesterday and he does test positive for COVID-19. I am so relieved to finally have an official diagnosis and to know he may now have some immunity. When the health dept person called him yesterday he finally got some guidelines re how much longer to stay quarantined, what to watch for re the lingering congestion in his lungs, if he is still contagious, etc. He will stay out of public contact for his own protection and away from us for a few more days and then he can start to resume a more normal life. And he can safely go to the grocery store, yay!

    Our experience with getting him tested makes me distrust all the stats I read about this virus. He tried for over 2 weeks to get medical attention and a test, but was told he wasn’t “sick enough.” His friend was finally tested after being in hospital. None of his friends have been contacted re community spread of the virus. There has been little to no contact between his doc’s office and the health dept. It’s been a frustrating, lonely and confusing month of intense worry, and now deep gratitude and relief that he is recovering.

    On a more positive note, voting by mail is a proven success in Wa State……

    End of the republic? We’re No. 1 in voter turnout — for a reason the president thinks is ‘crazy.’

    It turns out our state’s recently concluded presidential primary had the highest voter turnout among all the states that have voted in the 2020 election so far — 49.6%.

    Ranked by percent of registered voters casting ballots, Washington is first among states that have voted through March 17, followed by Colorado, California and New Hampshire.

    “Washington deserves the platinum medal on this,” says Phil Keisling, a former elections official in Oregon. “You were the epicenter of the outbreak at the time, and you still turned out to vote higher than any other.”

    Best wishes to all on this first day of April.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/end-of-the-republic-were-no-1-in-voter-turnout-for-a-reason-the-president-thinks-is-crazy/

    • {{{princesspat}}} we’ll take our good news where we can find it. & your son is getting better is the best of news. Getting guidelines and possibly some immunity is pretty darned good too. Healing Energy to you and your family. moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • Thank goodness that your son’s situation has improved, princesspat! You must have b een beside yourself with worry. Let’s hope that from here on out he will improve every single day.

  11. Morning, meeses. Thursday …

    It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 57. Sunny skies this morning with clouds mixing in during the afternoon hours. Yesterday our “variably cloudiness” came with no wind and I was able to take the chair covers off the deck chairs and sit and bake in the sun for about 20 minutes. It was invigorating!

    In Wisconsin, they are still fighting over delaying the April 7th election and a federal judge will make a ruling soon (the video conference hearing was yesterday). There are not enough willing poll workers and the plan to use the National Guard to man the polls won’t cover the shortages. Democrats want the Republican legislature to empower city clerks to send absentee ballots to everyone currently registered to vote and to extend the mail-in date so that ballots postmarked by election day can be counted – right now they have to arrive on election day, relying on the already strapped postal service to deliver ballots on time. I had to re-request a ballot because mine never showed up 14 days after I had requested it (the new one came in 2 days). So I am going to take my filled-out ballot to the city clerk’s office and drop it off – that is not ideal but it will shorten my in-person time from about 15 minutes and touching things to about 2 minutes, handing over envelopes. What they should do is also have the legislature authorize ballot drop boxes like they do in the western states where you can safely deposit your ballot. We don’t need instant returns and if it takes a week to gather the ballots and count them, that’s fine with me.

    It sounds like the in-person Democratic National Convention will be called off. This is sad for Milwaukee which worked so hard to bring the DNC to their city and the people who counted on the influx of visitors to beef up the local economy – and showcase the city for future conventions. I hope that – should we survive as a nation – the DNC awards Milwaukee the 2024 convention which will be the pro-forma re-nomination of our sitting Democratic president.

    I finished all my must-do-in-March projects yesterday (late) and now I have the list of must-do-before-April-15th projects list to start in on. March is the end of the quarter and the government reporting requirements.

    See all y’all later!

  12. Good Thursday Meese

    44 going up to 54 here in the Catskills – feels colder because it’s windy.
    Filed the Census online in less than 10 minutes yesterday! Yay!

    Puerto Rico

    This:

  13. Yesterday was my first day teleworking. Got to get better at pacing myself & taking walking breaks. Supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon. Anyway, hoping for a better work/break balance today.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} – it takes practice. You may need to set an alarm or something to remind you. Once you get your routine going though you’ll be fine. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • Listen to bfitz! I have an alarm set for two times a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, to remind me to get up and walk. One time I was stuck at my computer working on a particularly gnarly and stressful problem and realized that I had not moved (or even shifted) in two hours – my body hated that! It is very easy when you are concentrating to forget to move. Standing up and stretching or walking can make a big difference.

  14. It’s 59 heading for 70 and sunny at the moment. It’s supposed to cloud up later. I hope it’s much later. Yesterday we got 13 KWHs which isn’t quite on track for 400 and definitely not for 477. We shall see what we shall see.

    One of Amelia’s FB Yale friends sent $200 so that’s a start. Amelia couldn’t negotiate a refund but the overage was applied to April leaving $1560 to go (so $1360 with the $200 already collected). What she did negotiate was time to get it paid. As long as it’s paid by Monday 4/6 we’re golden. And if that $1200 really does show up in her account by the end of the month that’s most of May. So. Crossed fingers etc. Aji’s still only had 3 sales this year and they need a bunch of smaller ($300 to $500 range) or a couple of larger (over $1K range) to carry them through at least the expected lock down. sigh.

    My son will be here very shortly and I need to deal with some cat stuff. sigh. But I’ll check back when I can. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  15. Good Thursday morning, Moosekind! It’s sunny in Ashburn at this hour with a cloudless blue sky. Currently it’s 48 F. on its way up to 60 F., with wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph—ugh! Instead of going for a walk today, I may do a workout with the free weights and elastic bands. I bookmarked the workout links on YouTube yesterday.

    Meese, I am doomed and cursed. Took a melatonin pill last night. At 10:30, turned off the nightstand light and tried to go to sleep. At 1 a.m. I was still awake. “This is stupid,” I thought, so I got up. At 2 a.m. I was still awake so I made a cup of tea and drank it. At 3 a.m. I fell asleep and at 5 a.m. Dearly woke up.

    We grabbed a cup of tea, dressed hastily, donned masks and in my case, gloves, and hastened to the store down the road to get there by 6 a.m. for Old People’s Hour. I had brought my own disinfectant wipe for the cart handle. The store had many oldsters in it, some wearing homemade masks and some wearing gloves.

    The shelves were DENUDED! No toilet paper or Kleenex at all. Hardly any bread. Bought milk, OJ, and half-and-half, and ice cream. Don’t know what I’m going to do for “bathroom tissue.” Tried to order some from Costco yesterday but they were out. Home Depot will let me know when they have some. We still have a week or 10 days’ worth of the good toilet paper, about a week of the inferior stuff. Just wish I knew where to get it.

    Well, with my two hours of sleep I’m “not feeling too clever,” as my husband puts it, so I’m shortly going to retire. He may have to make his own sandwich today. He and Monty have just returned from their walkies.

    The news is too horrible to comment on. Hope everyone has as good a day as possible, considering everything.

  16. Good morning, 38 and cloudy in Bellingham. I think my “worry fever” must have broken because I been basically asleep since 8:00 last night. Sure hope some focus and energy happens soon as well.

    The catch phrase “a stitch in time” was in my thoughts yesterday. I knew when I machine basted the pattern match for the top of the duvet cover fabric something was wrong, but my fuzzy brain couldn’t think it through so I just kept going and seamed the fabric together. But taking out the basting stitches took forever because I forgot to set my machine at the longest possible stitch length. Mystery solved! Oh well, it’s done and hopefully I’ll remember next time.

    Best wishes to all as we find our way through another day.

  17. Serious string of bad words – they wouldn’t take my blood. Iron’s too low. So I got beef liver – the highest source of digestible iron the grocery stores carry – and will have a couple of servings of that over the weekend (it’s frozen solid so not today). And if my son can spare the car, I’ll try again next week. The one bloody (yes, a pun) thing I can do to help out I can’t today.

  18. Friday Meese
    45 here in the Catskills going up to 51 with rain.

    Doing okay here – am headed out to stores (with mask and gloves) to stock up on what I can today, since predictions here say access to food supplies will get worse.

    Puerto Rico

    • This is my fear, also: “predictions here say access to food supplies will get worse”.

      It turns out that the fatal flaw in the CARES Act is that it relies on the incompetent Trump “administration” to administer it. Relief checks can’t be printed fast enough and some people won’t get theirs until September. The small business loan program was not set up properly and banks are refusing to loan any money without assurances they will be covered in case of default. The unemployment benefits systems – administered by the states – are swamped and are also not set up to pay the gig-economy workers so payments will be who-the-hell-knows. Rent was due on April 1st but unless the landlords offer help, millions of renters will be defaulting and will face eviction. The Republicans will of course point to this as an example that “government is not the solution” – with no mirrors reflecting that the problem is that Republicans are terrible at governing. There will be chaos resulting from the likelihood that everything that is working right now will simply break down. No wonder guns sales are skyrocketing. :(

  19. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 57. The forecast calls for clouds and then rain this afternoon into the evening. Yesterday it looked like we might have some mixed precipitation but that appears to have changed to all rain.

    The federal judge overseeing Wisconsin’s failed democracy since 2011 determined that he did not have the authority to move the election from April 7th but he did tweak the rules for absentee ballots. People have until today to request one (extended from 4/2) and they will be counted as long as they are received by 4/13 (the deadline had been 8pm on election day, 4/7) and they no longer have to have a witness – many couldn’t because they were sheltering in place. That is good news in that democracy doesn’t have to depend on the vagaries of the postal service for their vote to count or for people to have access to another human being. I hope people take advantage of the extension and vote. There will still be in-person voting where there are poll workers but no one knows where that will be! The City of Waukesha, population 70,000, will have one poll open. Thousands of people who don’t have transportation – and may not know of the polling place change – will be disenfranchised. Don’t believe the crap you see online, Wisconsin’s Democrats wanted the election delayed – the Republican legislature, which controls the state, did not.

    The DNC has moved the Milwaukee nominating convention from mid-July to August 17th, the last possible date it could be. (The Republican convention is August 24th and by law(?) the party in power gets last-ups for their convention.) August might work but if they do it, I hope they pare it down a bit and don’t have every Democratic elected in one place for a pandemic extinction event. It is simply not worth it.

    I am not going to look at any news this morning – I am sure it has reporting about the insanity I watched unfolding on Twitter last night from the Orange Orshole’s nightly televised campaign rally and I just can’t look at it.

    See all y’all later!

  20. Good Friday morning, Moosekind! Clear and sunny today with more annoying wind gusts today in NoVA. The current temp. is 47 F., going up to 62 F. I’ll go out on the porch and into the courtyard from time to time, but as I hate wind, I will not go for a walk.

    It is so very odd not to have planes flying overhead. I used to love watching them and looking at the logos painted on their tails. In the afternoon flights come in from Europe—United, Lufthansa, British Airways, and so on. It feels lonely without the planes.

    Took a Tylenol PM last night and was rewarded with an eight-hour sleep. Or it may have been more than eight, I’m not sure. I’m enjoying feeling better but taking a drug as powerful as that just to get some sleep is not a good thing to do. I wish I knew how much of my problem is caused by blue light (I try to keep that to a minimum by wearing yellow glasses), and how much by anxiety.

    We are continuing to get our meals delivered to us by the high school kids who used to serve at the restaurants. I keep forgetting to mention that the lively woman who serves as our building ambassador actually delivered a collection of unwanted goodies at the beginning of the week. People contributed unopened cookies, granola bars, M&Ms, and packets of potato chips, popcorn, and crackers. The Powers are doing their best for us, but they must think we oldsters like to sit around overdosing on sugar and salt. Luckily, Dearly and I have plenty of snacks of our own, fresh fruit, nuts, and whatnot, so we rarely resort to packaged stuff. Anyway, the lady who received the delivery at Cornerstones, a charitable organization in Reston, was very grateful to have them.

    The most exciting thing that will happen today is my reading a story to Youngest Grandchild, aged four, over FaceTime at 11. We’re supposed to open our doors and sing “Sweet Caroline” at 11:45 a.m., but only one neighbor joined us last time, so I’m not sure we’ll bother.

    Wishing a good day to all. Try to avoid the news, as Jan intends to do.

    • {{{Diana}}} I hope you give it a try for the hall singing. Even 2 voices raised…well, the Guy so many folks claim to follow while doing the totally opposite (& would join in killing him if he were around today) did say “where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, there I am also” – and you know anything He came up with, She’d already been doing for millennia. moar {{{HUGS}}}

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