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 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 (right before “Leave A Reply”) and use the Pages Tool, shown here with 3 pages of comments available.
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Good morning on a snowy Wednesday here in Kingston NY. We got quite a bit here – and are getting more today. 27 going up to 34.
Puerto Rico
I hope to Goddess that things will improve for Puerto Rico now.
Back from a dash into the office — had to wear a sweatshirt, but this afternoon it’ll be 70. I’ve got 10 new applications to work on, so plenty to keep me busy. But I swear I’ll take a walk, this weather is too nice to waste.
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! Still gray here but nothing is falling from the sky. We have about 3 to 3 and 1/2 inches on the ground. In an hour someone will arrive to escort us to the vaccine clinic, so I’d better hop to it and get dressed. I’m still en dishabille.
Was quite busy yesterday, baking bread, making cakes that kinda sank in the middle (must Google as to why), and feverishly trying to download the galley proofs to my iPad. However, when I woke up after a truly decent night’s sleep induced by the new pill prescribed by my doctor, I suddenly realized: all I have to do is check the metadata! I don’t have to sit in front of my laptop and read the entire book. I did that last time. After I finish that little chore, I can go back to work on Chapter 9 if I feel like it, or read a book if I don’t.
So that little problem is solved. Meanwhile, the roads here have been cleared, not that I intend to go anywhere today or tomorrow.
Today is Mr. Future Movie Maker’s 11th birthday. He was born right at the time of Snowmageddon, which kept us all home for almost a week. We had a huge blizzard in 1996 too, which also kept our whole family at home. Three of us had the kind of jobs that didn’t have paid leave for such things. This country is very politically backward, as we all know and deplore.
I am feeling very bad this morning about the Uighurs in China. No wonder DIL hates her native country. It’s even worse than this one. At least this one is back on the right track now. I’ve got to work my head off for Tim Ryan, not a terribly great candidate but Hillary approves of him, to be elected Dem. senator in 2022. This year I need to focus on reelecting my wonderful state senator and picking a Democratic candidate for governor. We have an election this November. Terry McAuliffe is running again, but he’s had his turn. I want someone new.
Oh, by the way, it’s 35 F. now in Ashburn, heading for a high of 39 F. Our gray skies are supposed to turn sunny. Okay, whatever.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and to Biden-Harris beyond!
Tim Ryan is a conservadem but that may be the only thing that will work in a state-wide race in R+8 Ohio. I am a firm believer in matching the candidate to the constituency. That is what I dislike so much about the berners – they want to apply the Medicare For All, Green New Deal, Abolish the Police, Free College litmus test to every candidate and demand purity rather than pragmatism. That led to at least a half-dozen House losses which has left us with a razor thin majority. I hope they can find a new conservadem to run in Ryan’s district.
It’s 35 heading for 55 and sunny again. (Clouds are supposed to move in late this afternoon. I hope it will be close to or after sundown this afternoon.) We got 9.7 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 19.8 – most certainly on track for a 275 goal. And that’s hopeful if not promising.
I finally got my 1099 from TIAA-Cref so I’ll probably try to do my taxes today. At least the fed. I’ve been doing them online via TurboTax for years. The state has online/efile for low income folks and I may qualify this year. But they don’t accept TurboTax so I’ve been doing those by hand when the AR tax booklet and forms get to me. They aren’t here yet. But the fed is the larger refund of course. (& once that chunk of change is here I’m probably going to contact the mobile vet. It’ll be 2 years next month since the boys have been seen and they all need rabies shots.)
I wish Amelia/earicicle had someone – actually a small team of maybe 4 to 6 someones – to help her there in LA. She says she’s “burned out” all her friends – they don’t answer the phone or respond to emails or texts from her any longer. And unfortunately that can happen when dealing with someone who has so many needs. But she doesn’t even have a phone any longer – is using the motel one when she has to call rather than message – and has an anxiety attack when she even starts thinking about calling Verizon. There are some things that sending money, being emotional support, just cannot do. Helping her with phone calls, forms, dental appts, doctor appts, laundry… those things require physical presence. She’s not the only one I know dealing with that kind of disability, just the one in the worst situation (as in she cannot get out of this without that kind of help and she doesn’t have it). But at least we’ve got her “rent” raised for February and March so she’s got safe housing for a little longer.
I hope boosting links for folks needing food, shelter, & medical is actually bringing them some help. The need is so great. And my help is so small. Boost and pray. As long as it might help, I’ll keep doing it. Keep on keepin’ on is all we can do. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 35 and sunshine in Bellingham. Yesterday was a deluge of rain so seeing some blue sky outside my window feels like a gift. Maybe I can do the errands I wanted to do yesterday. But thanks to the rain I stayed home and focused on a desk mess I had avoided doing, and now it’s done, yay!
Best wishes to all on this sunny day :)
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 28 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 34. The forecast calls for snow with an expected accumulation of 3-4 inches. There were rumors of freezing rain but that appears to have disappeared from the forecast (fingers crossed that it stays that way!) I am hoping that the snow is light and/or that it is easy to keep the roads clear as I have an errand to run this afternoon that came about unexpectedly.
Yay, Virginia, taking first step in repealing the death penalty!! The Senate approved it and it now goes to the House. Nothing underscored more emphatically how immoral the death penalty is than the tRump malAdministration’s rush to empty federal death rows by doing the first executions in 17 years. It was a bloodthirsty appeal to the worst of the worsts – tRump supporters – and a further embarrassment to America.
The Budget Reconciliation for the COVID rescue package has been passed by both houses of Congress and the amendment process will begin. It will be interesting to see what survives and doesn’t survive – Biden seems pretty determined that it should stay big and bold. Already the Republicans are trying to punish unions by saying that school districts where teachers unions are blocking going back for in-person school should not get federal funds – Chicago, always a useful punching bag for right-wing demonization. Chicago teachers who don’t want to go back in-person to work in 150 year old schools that have 150 year old ventilation should not be forced to put themselves and their families at risk. My hope is that the new administration’s emphasis on teachers can reverse the decade long trend of disrespect to our nations teachers. I remember the 2011 demonstrations at the Wisconsin Capitol after Scott Walker disbanded the teachers union and how awful it felt to witness what happened to K-12 education in the aftermath.
I was glad to see that someone made the connection between QAnon Crazy and the John Birch Society Crazy and how Republican traditionalists back in the early 60s banded together to force the “loonies” out of their party. The difference now is that there are no longer any “traditionalists” with power to purge their party after their own embrace of tRump and his white nationalists and four years of looking the other way to get tax cuts and deregulation. Now Q is the party and the Republican “traditionalists” will be the ones purged. Can we win elections against the Qs? Goddess, I hope so but nothing is certain – crazy runs on a different track.
I have had three projects that I kept putting off since November reach crisis mode. I have been distracted by the election, the post-election, the insurrection, the inauguration, year end, and the global pandemic and now the chickens are coming home to roost. I have to gather my notes and get to it!
See all y’all later!
Good morning from really warm Austin. The weather people say it’s compression ahead of a cold front. It’s already in the 60s & we’ll have a high of 82 or so before a cold front tonight. I absolutely, positively am logging off early this afternoon to take a walk.
We’re at 55 which is the high for the day – it’ll stay here for another couple of hours before starting a gentle decline (to 26 just before tomorrow’s dawn). Overcast. sigh. But our 3 days of sunshine, yesterday generated 9.6 KWHs, means today starts with 29.5 for the m-t-d. February being a short month, we only need to reach 170 to cover usage and we’re well on track to do that.
There’s always so much need. And it always escalates at the beginning of the month when rent & utilities are due. It’s maddening that it’s so and I wish I could make things better. But more, I wish things were better – it’s our culture and social structure than makes it like this. This country has enough resources to make sure every person here – adult, child, citizen or not – has decent shelter, potable water, needed utilities for the area/climate/whatever, & always, always, always sufficient nutritious food. That it is, that’s tragic. That it doesn’t have to be, that’s enraging. We do what we can but…
So I’m off to twitter to do what I can. Once my tax refund is here I’ll spread a little of it around. Or spread it around a little. But that’s a ways out. I submitted my efile’d fed returns – and then discovered they’ll sit in pending until the 12th when the IRS starts taking them. So I may get the refund this month or it may be early next month. sigh. But it will come and I will do what I can then – and now. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Almost Thursday afternoon Meese
Trying to prep for another snowstorm tomorrow- grrrr
Puerto Rico
A thread you should read
Good morning, 44 and raining in Bellingham. I had an early Dr. appointment today so I’m relieved to be back home and to have my morning coffee. I needed a blood pressure consult, a med change, and some lab work so I had to be there in person. The office has good covid protocols but I’ll so relieved when I get the second shot at the end of the month.
I didn’t score very well on the depression questionnaire but given the covid/tRump angst I’ve experienced this year that’s reality. I think they need a better questionnaire!
I finally connected with our tree guy so he’ll be here soon to remove the aspen tree by the front porch. I’ll miss seeing the trunk growing among the salal but the worry of it hitting the house when another high wind blows is more impt. And he’s here now so I need to consult. Best wishes to all.
I suspect that 70% of the population had or has some depression – or at least intense sadness – related to the tRump years. I am still not 100% clear of the 24×7 anxiety I had during that time but I wake up now not wondering what fresh hell may have happened. I still worry that a country that only avoided a complete descent into dictatorship because of a badly managed pandemic response is teetoring on the brink. I will feel less anxious when the Republican Party is burned to the ground (by Jewish lazer beams??!!?) and we retain and expand our majorities in 2022. For now I am enjoying reading about Biden’s plans and directives and following Jen Psaki’s press conferences and the COVID team’s presentations.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 9 degrees in Madison (feels like -9) with an expected daytime high of 9. We had quite a bit of snow yesterday but the plows stayed up with it and travel to my afternoon appointment was slow but steady.
I was watching the vote of the House that removed the Q Qook from committees. Steny Hoyer was masterful in his speech and his righteous anger that Greene wanted to kill “the Squad” – “they’re not ‘the Squad’. They’re Ilhan, they’re Alexandria, and they’re Rashida. They’re people, they’re our colleagues.” That is the disconnect between Republicans and decency – they do not see people of color, people who do not look like them or think like them as people. I am certain that if Republicans ever regain control of the House they will be vindictive aholes (it is who they are) – it is up to us to insure that they never do. The line that was crossed was calling for the death of members of the US House of Representatives – if a Democrat ever does that, I would fully support their removal from committees, as well. Advocating violence has no place in our political discourse.
I caught Joe Biden’s two speeches at the State Department and it is refreshing to have someone in charge who sets an adult tone and who has an actual plan. I am certain I will not agree with him on every foreign policy choice he makes but his steadiness is exactly what we need right now.
Today is Friday and I have to run to the post office to mail tax returns and an absentee ballot for the Spring Primary. We are electing a new superintendent for the Department of Public Instruction, the post that our current governor, Tony Evers, had held and that has a temporary leader since his election. Lots of candidates to choose from and only two who are in favor of sending taxpayer money to private schools, my litmus test. The field will be narrowed to two and then we will have the general election in April along with other “nonpartisan” elections. I am not sure that any of these people are nonpartisan, they simply don’t run with a party label. Anyway, I vote in every election even the ones that don’t seem important at the time – how our schools are run is definitely important. Scott Walker and his minions tried to turn the DPI into a cabinet agency where he picked who ran it and the people of Wisconsin, Democrats and Republicans, rejected that in a referendum. Turns out that no one want partisan hacks directing how our schools should be run.
See all y’all later!
Friday Meese. 29 degrees and snowing lightly here in Kingston NY, going up to 41. Will have slush later. Then it will turn to ice.
Puerto Rico
One of the major problems with David B.’s reportage on Puerto Rico is he tends to do press release journalism. There are and have been major problems with the privatization of Pr’s electric utility and the selection of LUMA energy
Wow, it’s cold. Yesterday at this time, it was shorts & t-shirt weather — this morning it’s 50. That feels cold after yesterday, it was in the mid-80s when I took my walk. Gonna go for another one this afternoon, it’ll be around 60. Got to work till 3:30, but then I’m going outside.
It’s 35 heading for 50 and sunny at the moment. Clouds are supposed to move in later – I will just hope/pray/Hold the Good Thought that it’s a lot later. As in close to dark. Yesterday we generated 4.9 KWHs (m-t-d is 34.5) and it would be nice to get back up to 9 before the cloudy weather settles in for the next week or so.
I know our conservadems have to play the almost-R game just to stay in office but I wish they’d stop doing the Rs work for them when we’re working so hard to get stuff done without the Rs. You want to do something about stimulus money going to the better off? Have it be counted as income if the base income is above a certain level next year on 2021 taxes and send it out to everyone now. I’m not going to be silly (& jeebus, I wish it weren’t silly of me to ask for something simply humane) enough to ask that it go to undocumented folks – that would cost us more political capital than we have – but I do hope it goes to documented folks who aren’t citizens. (And that somebody somewhere gets some help to anyone who doesn’t “qualify” for any reason.) I also hope somebody is starting an investigation on what USPS has done with the physical stimulus checks – nobody I know (or Aji knows or my son knows) who was expecting one got one. Just because there’s a form & way to claim it so it comes with your income tax refund – which the folks who need it the most won’t know and wouldn’t know how to do even if they know there’s a process for it – doesn’t mean we don’t need to investigate. And stop it from happening again. We’re talking mail fraud here, even if it weren’t so vital to the folks who should have gotten it weeks ago.
You know, I was a practicing Catholic for just under a decade but some things sure do stick. It’s First Friday. No, I’m not going to mass. But it feels like I ought to be doing something special. 😁😁 Maybe more prayers/Good Thoughts for the folks on the #HelpFolksLive2021 list will do. Anyway, off to boost stuff. As long as my hands hold out. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
The funny (haha) thing about the Vote-A-Rama is that for 14 hours everyone gets to make amendments, they get votes to “register” your disapproval or approval and then at the end of the 14 hours, Chuck Schumer offers an amendment to dump all the amendments and go back to the original budget. That passed at 5:30am this morning with Kamala breaking the tie. The original stimulus bill goes back to the House for their vote and then the bill writing can begin. All theater! Bob Casey gets to vote against abortion, Joe Manchin gets to vote against checks to “rich” people and all is well.
Oh, I love it. So our conservadems can play to their constituency – and get re-elected – but not hurt anything. Blessings upon experienced folks in Congress, both houses, who know the rules and how to use them.
Good Thursday morning, Moosekind! I can’t log in, nor can I fierce, because of the evil message I get when I attempt to do so. Yesterday I never made it here because I’d forgotten about the dentist appointment in the morning. So I did that and made my way home. In the afternoon I didn’t feel like working so I procrastinated.
I did feel perfectly well yesterday, second day after Jab No. 2, and I could even raise my left arm to a reasonable height. I’m right-handed, so I wanted the shot in the left arm. Then in the afternoon I had a Zoom meeting with the Communications Committee. I whined about my difficulties trying to get input for the library article—not much help there, the librarian is doing inventory. Then I pitched my idea for a new series: “My Brush with History—Residents Recall Significant Moments.” I think it’s a marvelous idea. I’ve certainly had a moment like that, and so has anyone who was in London on VE-Day, on the Mall for Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, or at Woodstock, or in New York or at the Pentagon on 9/11. I live in a place where the national news is my local news, which is one reason I could never move elsewhere.
This morning I have just finished wearing the teeth-whitening strips. I’m hoping to convince Mr. First Grader that the color of my teeth matches the color of my hair.
It’s quite a pretty day here and will remain like that, it seems. Right now it’s 44 F. on its way up to 51 F. Apparently we’re not going to get any Weather with a capital W. If this post doesn’t go through I’ll ask bfitz to post it for me.
I am sorry that the site is being mean again. I did clear the site’s cache but I did not get around to updating the PHP version which I think is the problem. I have just been slammed with work projects and since I can’t sit at my computer very long these days, I am falling further behind. Please keep persevering!
Good morning, 45 and cloudy in Bellingham. Yesterday was to wet and rainy for the tree guys to remove the aspen tree so they will come back on a drier day. It’s a tall tree so their safety is important. They did make progress on the laurel hedge and the rhododendrons that I’ve let grow to the more natural small tree height. I’ve been trying to prune the rhodies myself, but working on a ladder isn’t wise now and Marcus knows how to prune for both health of the plant and aesthetics for my mature garden. So it’s time to let go of a few things and pay for his expertise.
I’ve got plenty of low level easy pruning to do and it’s relatively dry today so I’m going to prune some salal and redo the winter arrangements it the pots on the patio. I’ll use cuttings from the red twig dogwood and leave space for pussy willow branches, forsythia, and daffodil bulbs. I need to get those from the garden shop but the battery in my car needs a jump. I haven’t been driving so the car has been sitting too long.
Best wishes to all on this slightly less wintery day.
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 1 degree (feels like -11) in Madison with an expected daytime high of 9. Sunny this morning and then a chance of flurries this afternoon. Our deep freeze will last until Thursday and then more normal February cold will settle in.
I laugh along with the Republican congresswoman from north Georgia who says that she is pleased to have no committee assignments because her conservative views would have simply been “cancelled” (yes, Gym Jordan never gets to speak in committee – insert eyeroll emoji here). She said that this way she can hold daily press conferences reminding people that the Republican Party is tRump’s party and sharing her opinions without filters. Please proceed, GQP, please proceed.
The vaccination news is getting better, that the people who are still getting sick after being vaccinated are not getting sick enough to be hospitalized and none are dying is very hopeful. I am glad to have reputable scientists to listen to again – science is reality and not propaganda.
Joe Biden got on Air Force One and flew to Delaware to spend the weekend with his family. Of course the news media said that was hypocrisy because he told people to not travel. Yes, traveling on your own private jet to spend time in your own home is exactly the same as going to OHare, sitting in a crowded waiting room with 1,000 other people and cramming yourself in an airliner cabin with 250 strangers for several hours and then going to a Super Bowl party in the hotel bar. The Psaki Pause – where Jen Psaki looks at the questioner as if they have two heads (neither of which has a brain) – is perfect. That she can then answer the question without screaming at them or laughing at their idiocy is remarkable.
Apparently there will be some kind of weekly “thing” that Joe Biden will do to connect to the American people (but not the Weekly Presidential Address) but it is not on their website now. If it doesn’t show up until later on Saturday, that will do me no good – I am generally done blogging by 7am and Sunday is my day off. Today I will put up Friday’s Economic statement and go with that for now.
See all y’all later!
Sample Psaki:
Saturday Meese. A balmy 26 here in Kingston NY, going up to 38. Snow tomorrow.
Puerto Rico
The governor of Puerto Rico argued that he should have “enough antibodies in the system to fight” COVID-19 after receiving the first dose of the vaccine.
The tRump years made everyone a “scientist” – the hacks and literal idiots promoted by his administration put propaganda over science and rotted the brains of everyone who heard it. It will take years to undo the damage done.
Good morning. I didn’t get outside yesterday but I’m re-arranging my usual Saturday to ensure that I will today. Don’t want to waste this gorgeous weather. Currently eating breakfast & watching Ali Velshi.
Good Saturday morning, Meese. The site is still not letting me in fully, so just consider yourselves fierced. I can still comment by filling out the three lines below.
Right now it’s 36 F., going up to 49 F. It’s mostly cloudy although some blue sky is flirtatiously peeking over and under the clouds. “They” say it will snow 5 or 6 inches during the night. Snow should fall during the day so that one can enjoy the sight of it while drinking hot chocolate and remembering the snows of yesteryear. I mean those days when one couldn’t wait to get out in it, make snowpersons, form snowballs and throw them, lie down to make snow angels, and all that. It’s wasted if it falls during the night when one can’t enjoy the sight.
Last night I made Honfleur Fish Stew, which I hadn’t made in years—certainly not in the three years we’ve been here. It was of a deliciousness impossible to describe, with the flavors of leek, fennel, white wine, and clam juice enveloping the fish, the carrots, and the potatoes.
The food here has become so bad that I welcome the chance to cook. Who’d a thunk it? One of the reasons I wanted to move here was because of the idea that someone else would do the menu planning, shopping, preparation, and cleanup. Not so! At least I don’t have to wash the dishes and clean up. Dearly understands that England expects every man to do his duty, and he does it.
I finished looking at the ebook galley proofs and will spend the morning looking at the physical book proofs. I’m afraid I won’t have much success with that, since Adobe Acrobat is very poor software and won’t do what it’s supposed to do. Then I found an email from the Managing Editor of the quarterly, finding fault with one of the articles. The series is about women pathbreakers—those who went into fields traditionally dominated by men. Sigh. I wanted to use this weekend to work on Chapter 9.
Meese, I want to warn you—after your second Pfizer vaccine jab, you may experience overwhelming fatigue for a couple of days. I did yesterday and to some extent feel it today. So don’t be surprised! Probably tomorrow I’ll be back to normal, just in time for the SuperBore.
Wishing a good day to everyone at the Pond, to the new president at home with his family in Delaware, and to Momala and Doug in their temporary quarters.