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!
– Page Three of Comments is HERE!
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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 64 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 81. Mainly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Wow, Elie Mystal pulls no punches:
The US Needs to Be Treated Like the Racist Pariah State It Is
The American economy is too big and too critical to world markets for the international community to “divest” from America like it once did from South Africa. But that doesn’t mean the United States is immune from global economic retribution. Trump has already postponed the G-7 summit (the one he initially intended to have at his golf course), but it wasn’t clear that everybody would come, seeing how poorly this country has handled the coronavirus pandemic. If world leaders start getting pressure from their own people to stop dealing with the Trump regime, that could lead to an economic cooling the markets would notice, especially now that we are officially in a recession.
Sunday Meese.
67 going up to 91 here in the Hudson Valley of NY.
Stayed up late laughing at the antics of teenage K-pop and Tik Tok fans who helped Torpedo Trump in Tulsa,
Well-played!
Puerto Rico
I was going to walk this morning, but I woke up feeling dizzy. I’ve checked several websites & that isn’t one of the Covid 19 symptoms. I don’t know what’s up (could be allergies), but I’m just gonna chill on the couch for a while. If it persists or if something else happens, my insurance has a nurse line I can call. For now, I’m watching the news & chatting about it with people on Twitter. Had some nice chats with Kpop fans yesterday. Joy Reid said that one of the reasons for the unexpectedly low show at the Trump rally was that they — and there are a lot of them — ordered tickets they never intended to use. I replied in the thread that I don’t get the music, but love the fans. I’ve seen them hijack racist & sexist threads, posting clips from songs about love & equality. Got quite a few replies inviting me to listen to the music & had nice discussions.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} could be allergies pushing gunk up against your inner ear. I get that a lot. It messes with your balance so, yeah, good decision not to go out and walk. Healing Energy and moar {{{HUGS}}}
Sunday sermon
{{{Dee}}} Always appreciate your Sunday diaries. And of course always learn stuff. The music ones are joy as well. And memories. Radio being radio, I listened to stuff and didn’t particularly know much about who was singing or playing it. But I was totally wowed when I first saw Black musicians performing. I was used to white singers standing in front of a mic or sitting on a bar stool playing a guitar in front of said mic. Black musicians danced as they sang/played. It was so joyous as well as energetic. A blessing. Ever a blessing.
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! It’s another overcast day struggling to be partly cloudy—blue is trying to break through the layer of white and gray clouds. Currently the temperature in NoVa is 70 F., on its way up to 84 F. There is the chance of a stray thunderstorm this afternoon and every afternoon for the coming week.
Yesterday Elder Son, DIL, and Mr. Rising Kindergartener visited, which definitely made our week! Pictures were taken of family members en masque; of Monty Grandpa, Daddy, and the soon-to-be five-years-old younger generation; and of Mr. Kindergartener, from his table and chair on the screened porch, expounding on the techniques of drawing to Monty, who sat listening, apparently enthralled.
Actually, Monty had the time of his life playing with our little grandson. Normally Monty only sees old people. DIL said it had rained very hard for an hour in Arlington, earlier in the day, but here we had sunshine, which was nice for our afternoon tea visit.
We’re chortling over the way the Youngs trolled Thing. However, there are those who warn that when he feels humiliated, he lashes out and becomes more fascist than ever. November can’t come soon enough!
In a little while we’re going to drive to Fairfax, where we can wave at Younger Son’s family from the driveway or something. I just really want to get out! We’ve been sequestered since mid-March and I need to see something besides this campus and other Olds.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
It’s in the 60s heading for 90 today and while it’s sunny now (beautifully so) clouds and rain are moving in later today. Not as much as the widget said last night – that’s been shifted to tomorrow – but still during peak production time. Ironies of clouds on the solstice – I only got 8.6 KWHs on a daylength that’s capable of producing over 25. The m-t-d reached 400 yesterday, barely, which is still on track. And the widget is now saying “partly cloudy” instead of “cloudy” for 6 of the next 10 days so we may make it. Maybe.
Yesterday Aji & Wings were told of a dog sighting Friday afternoon. The person who saw them saw the flyer in the hardware store Saturday morning, recognized the dogs, and called. The dogs were running down Hwy 64 (traffic stopped and they made it across the road) heading towards home but a lot of miles out still. So lots more prayers/invocations/incantation/whatever to get Chinook and KitFox back to Aji. As much as they need sales/large chunks of money – and they most certainly do need sales/large chunks of money – as far as Aji’s concerned they need the dogs back more.
Basket, bless him, had a wonderful idea for Amelia – Instacart. It does service her area and she was able to get her groceries last night. So that’s less worry for the future as well as more energy she can use elsewhere for now. I can’t say she’s back from the edge now, but she’s not hanging over it at the moment. Other folks I’m hoping are not hanging over it but haven’t actually connected with – just seen them on twitter. So I know they’re alive and online (have internet access and are coherent enough to read & RT tweets) at least.
I’m not finished with the Sunday chores. The energy I had allotted to doing the floors was used up dealing with multiple cat barfs and hairballs. (With 5 cats…) So I’m hoping breakfast and an internet break will build up enough so I can get back to them. LOL. Hope everybody at the Pond has a lovely – or at least calm and pleasant – day. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody, to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 58 and cloudy in Bellingham. RonK has a quiet dad’s day planned with a visit to the land trust property he and Ava tend to and a barbecue dinner he wants to cook this afternoon. We both need an easy day, so I may bake something, or poke around in the garden, or simply do nothing :)
Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 64 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 72. It is raining now and more rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast. Looks like a stretch of wet weather for the next week with a possible break on Thursday then starting up again.
The #DroolingDotard‘s hate rally did not meet his expectations! It must have really impacted him for him to let down his defenses and treat us to his dejected tieless crushed-hat-in-hand walk of shame. The pundits are saying that his brand of hate doesn’t have an audience any longer. That is clearly bulldung – what stopped people from going to the rally was pure self-preservation. Polls show that 80% of people believe that we should be masking and social distancing including 68% of Republicans. You can’t build a good optic with only the deadenders, people who say “if I get sick, God decided that it was just my time” or who say “if I get the virus, I will just use hydroxychloroquine like President Trump said to and I will get better.”
It is too early to know what impact John Bolton’s book will have on the election – probably none. We knew most of this stuff and it really falls into the “Trump can shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it” category. I think the Mary Trump tell-all, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man“, will land more of a blow. People will react to his treatment of his family because almost everyone has a family – they don’t “get” foreign relations and trade deals and the norms that govern them. They do know assholery when they see it. I hope Ms. Trump is not scared into pulling publication because of the NDA – go for it, Mary, test that Michael Cohen contract, my guess is that it is full of holes!
I have a busy week as I try to get promised June projects done in June. This is the last full week and I need to focus on the hottest projects. A few projects did get finalized last week so that helps.
See all y’all later!
Monday Meese. 85 going up to – gasp 94 here in the Hudson Valley. Yikes.
Puerto Rico
A dust cloud in PR? That’s all it needs to make everything perfect, right? I wish there could be a concerted effort after the next election (if our people win) to revoke the Jones Act and fix Puerto Rico. Sounds as if the unelected gubernator is a real jerk.
Good morning. Hot & sticky already — 80 degrees at 6am, so I kept my walk easy & short, just 20 minutes & no pushing. I’ll get back to the learn-to-run thing tomorrow. Today: work, and the a/c guy comes for my very late spring tune-up.
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It is so very agreeable to wake up to a fair morning for a change. We have glorious sunlight, a little breeze, cloudless skies, and 75 F. “They” say there will be savage thunderstorms in the late afternoon, but if the thunderstorms are anything like the ones predicted for yesterday, we’ll be basking in afternoon sunlight on the porch with all our pretty plants.
Yesterday we did visit Younger Son and his family. All came to the door wearing masks. I suggested we sit outside on the deck, which is what we did. During the last three months Miss Pink Cheeks has grown as tall as her mother, is prettier than ever, and is developing a curvy figure. I asked her father whether he had a heavy umbrella with which to beat off all the boys in the future. He replied that every time anything to do with love or kissing comes on the telly, Miss PC utters exclamations of disgust and sometimes leaves the room.
The rest of the family are just fine as well. DIL cuts everyone’s hair except her own and Younger Son cuts her hair. For the first half-hour of the visit Monty Beagle and Mort Boxer didn’t even fight. After that things became a little dicey, so we left.
The children are eager for a sleepover at our place. Poor little things, they visualize life at The Home as being the same as always. They haven’t yet seen the seating areas all taped up to prevent “congregating,” the restaurants denuded of chairs, the notices posted everywhere to stay six feet away from others and wear a mask. I told them they were welcome to stay for one night, but that they would be bored to the point of madness. We can take the dog for walks, but that’s about it.
The repair person is coming this afternoon to repair the washing machine. I hate all the appliances here! That’s one of the reasons I wish we could win the lottery, so we could buy our old house back through an anonymous third party. We actually went by to see it yesterday. OMG, they have TOTALLY changed the front yard! They un-landscaped everything we put in. I was freaked out for the rest of the journey back to our place and also depressed.
First-world problem! I know. I’m hoping the spiralizer I ordered will arrive today so I can create zoodles with the zucchini I plan to pick this morning. However, if it doesn’t arrive, I’ll just use cauliflower rice in the dish I’m planning.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
It’s 75 heading for 85 and dark. As in the light’s on next to the computer and the PV system is generating in low 2-digit watts. But we did get almost 20 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is a hair under 420 right now. We’re still on track with even a little wiggle room for cloudier days. Not a lot of cloudier days, but some.
I’m tired. I don’t know why considering how little I do but I am. I never did manage to vacuum the floors yesterday. But I got everything else on my list done. Today is dark which doesn’t help. The rain’s been decreased to less than 25% chance but we got the clouds anyway. We need the rain – ground’s hard – but I wish I could send what we get to Aji. They need it so much more. I couldn’t grow my own food if my life depended on it (so thankfully it doesn’t) but they can – as long as they get enough water. (That’s why they’re trying to raise the $15K for a well/irrigation system in their north field. With that they can grow not only most of their own food but also all the horses’ food with enough over their own needs to help elderly/disabled neighbors. Math in my head isn’t good – especially when I’m guestimating the data in the first place – but I’m thinking the payback on that well/irrigation system is less than 5 years. (Still no dogs so “prayers” still, please.)
I can’t get anybody to show up and give me an estimate on the repair work I need done. My son hasn’t had time to do the same on the car. I’ve been holding back money for those but I’m gonna let go of at least a little of it. The roof’s done, the insurance has paid everything over the deductible. Insurances except the chimney inspection/cleaning are paid. Taxes aren’t due until end of September so I’m fine there. I can at least afford to send a little dogfood money to folks I know could use it. But I’m too tired to give blood right now. As in I’m not going to bother to make the appointment and arrange for the car to get there because I know they won’t take it. (I’m not in any “danger zone” just in the “barely under the minimum” for giving blood zone.) Coffee and a muffin won’t raise my hemoglobin (actually the caffeine’ll probably drop it a little) but they’ll give me some energy so I think I’ll go have some. LOL. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody, to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 60 and sunny in Bellingham. I rested in the garden yesterday, but apparently made mental notes because I’ve got a to do list for today. What were background plants have had amazing growth this spring so before I bring in any more plants to care for I need to reclaim some space!
Heidi is with us today so she’ll sleep on the porch and keep track of my comings and goings. She used to go to work with our son but that’s hard for her now, and given her age it’s best she’s not alone all day. Her old joints are as creaky as mine.
Best wishes to all as we ease into a summer day.
Tuesday Meese . ^8 degrees in the Hudson Valley on primary election day. Really annoyed that I have to go to the polls to cast a vote for Joe Biden and his convention delegates – why in hell does our state ballot make me pick between Joe and a whole slew of names including Deval Patrick, Michael Bennet, Bloomberg, Steyer , Gabbard ……
The suit that forced this is really pissing me off
Worrying about Puerto Rico
many people are not aware that PR has really high asthma rates
posted
Just posted
Why do the inhabitants of PR have the highest asthma rates? Is it because of the general lack of access to health care?
The island is beleaguered enough to have its own three-act Shakespearean play.
My bet would be it’s from generations of inhaling toxic crud from the Navy having used Vieques (island off the east coast of the main island) as a testing ground and training ground for decades. They’ve never cleaned it up properly and there are still UXBs (supposedly marked) over half that island. All it takes is a strong east wind and everybody in Puerto Rico is breathing it.
Dear Goddess! Thanks for the info, bfitz.
Scientists have been trying to figure it out for years – there are a whole lot of theories but none of them have adequately answered it (imho)
The positive feedback loop of adding together all the things they’ve studied separately would be my layperson’s guess. Same on the Reservations with Natives – and especially but not limited to Black folks in the “Cancer Alley” Mississippi delta.
I got up early & was all dressed to get in my walk, when I heard the rain outside. When I stepped out to “really?!” and put some of my plants out for water, it was so gross & sticky — 80 degrees along with the humidity & rain. Ugh. So, ok — not walking. Today: work. That’s all, just work. Listen to music in between calls, maybe do the standing abs routine on my stand-up breaks.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese! It’s partly cloudy this morning with weak sunlight and El Grosso humidity—89 percent. Right now in Ashburn it’s 70 F., threatening to go up to 88 F. There’s a distinct possibility of thunderstorms in the late afternoon.
We were treated to spectacular downpours, thunder, and lightning right before dinner yesterday. The sky was so dark during the six o’clock news it looked like a winter sky. However, my porch plants are all grateful this morning, even Frondsy the Boston Fern. The mint has perked up and even the lavender seems determined to grow rather than just sitting there.
The spiralizer did arrive but after reading the instructions I was too intimidated to use it. I made Scampi instead, served on a bed of cauliflower “rice” because of the “Eat all your carbs before 5 p.m. if you’re trying to lose weight” theory. I cooked our “home-grown” zucchini with a couple of Roma tomatoes along with the usual garlic, olive oil, and black pepper, and it was very tasty.
Younger Son and family are planning to come to tea this afternoon so the children can have a sleepover. Grandma, who does not like housework, will have to do some of it before they arrive, so she will be cross until lunchtime. Will also need to run to Trader Joe’s (appropriately appareled) to get kid-type food, including baby pizzas. The six-year-old has a one-track mind where food is concerned: baby pancakes for breakfast, baby pizzas for lunch, and chicken nuggets for dinner.
I do hope the Democrats have a plan to overcome voter suppression in November. I understand that there is exactly one polling station in each of two heavily black precincts in Kentucky. Today is Rethug primary day here at The Home.
I’ve got to get my walk in before the day gets too hot, so I will wish a good day to all at the Pond.
It’s 73 and muggy. Also cloudy and dark. But of course no rain. Heading for mid to upper 80s. Fortunately the humidity is supposed to drop. Got just under 18 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is a hair under 438 – so not quite on track for the day but still on track for the month. Did the floors this morning because I’m doing laundry. I need the cat fluff off the floor in case I drop something or one of the Twins pulls something off the racks. Both of which are very likely. Washing machine will finish shortly.
Aji & Wings got a call last night KitFox was seen. They drove over to the area but no luck. They’re offering a reward for the return, no questions asked. But it sort of looks like one or both of the dogs have escaped their abductors and are trying to get home. Yesterday’s sighting was about half way between the previous sighting several days ago and Aji’s place. My bet is the dognappers are out there trying to catch them again and that’s why they’re taking so long. They’re taking off and hiding whenever someone calls/tries to catch them. It takes a lot of metaphysical Energy to impact the physical plane – I think/hope everybody’s prayers & incantations combined will do the job. I decided “home” is spreading my Energy – since home is something different to each individual – and am now phrasing it as “Go to Aji. Find Aji.” That sends them heading for their home – but also allows a connection if she’s out hunting for them. More Energy. That’s pretty much everybody’s focus for the folks in “my group” – whatever their own issues, they’re pouring Energy into Aji getting her dogs back.
OK – washing machine just blared that it’s finished. I’ll be back to do twitter stuff and visit Dee’s diary in a bit. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody, to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 64 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 66. Chance of thunderstorms but right it is sunny skies.
Network updates kept me offline this morning and now the day has begun. I hope it is pleasant for everyone!
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 64 and hazy in Bellingham. I clipped and pruned in the garden yesterday and can barely move this morning. But I’ve cleared space for flowers so I’ll rest this morning and go to the garden shop this afternoon. I have some mask sewing to do if I get restless while “resting.”
Best wishes to all on this quiet day.