Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: February 14th

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 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.

40 Comments

  1. It’s 16 heading for 25 and cloudy. We got more snow but not a lot. Doesn’t matter as far as electricity generation is concerned – my system will be off until the snow is. Which is not the fault of the system but of the set up. But that of course takes thought, planning, and usually a little more money than most companies in America (even small businesses) wish to spend. For my own system (which isn’t at a steep enough angle for optimum production anyway), a 10′ ladder, a squeegee on a 15′ pole, and the physical ability to use them would take care of it. If I had the last I’d acquire the first two.

    The evil ones suck money and resources from any place they colonize in any manner they colonize it – and laugh when whatever “benefits” they were supposed to be providing in return aren’t strong enough to handle any strain at all, dumping the people they’ve sucked money and resources from at the worst possible moment. That TX mayor was just saying the quiet part out loud. And if the only areas effected had been those of poor BIPOC, he’d have gotten away with it. Overt Deplorables really are stupid. They think that just because twitler got away with showing how they think and feel about others that they can too. Unfortunately, while that one man got called on it and resigned, there are legions of others who think the same but keep their mouths shut. And keep getting reelected.

    I need to call the bank and see if my Social Security came in. I’ve some things I need to do and need to be sure the money’s there first. My internet went out for an hour yesterday. I can’t bank on anybody else’s being up. We’ve got power so things aren’t as bad as TX. At least not on my side of town. But not only did the city trash collection not happen yesterday, neither did the mail service.

    Cats are still being relatively calm. I haven’t let the new one out to actually meet the others but I have let them sniff noses through a slightly opened door. New cat is recovering from having spent so long in the cold and is now getting a little antsy about being in the one room. But still mostly calm. And the rest of the cats mostly not paying any attention, just watching birds and napping.

    Meanwhile I need to get to my twitter chores. After more coffee. Everybody stay in if you can, stay warm if you can, and stay safe as you can. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Well, I started the morning happy, my water heater didn’t freeze. But I spoke too soon. A pipe burst between my upstairs neighbor & me. Lucky it’s on the back porches. We got the water turned off to the building, she called the property manager. Plumber is coming Friday. I filled 3 big buckets for flushing. Waiting to hear from insurance company.

    • So sorry you have broken pipes anotherdem. Winter cold and no water is no fun! Hope the repair is not to complicated.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} Sending 🙏🙏🙏, Good Thoughts, & Healing Energy. moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • Oh dear – thankful to hear it was on the porch – but still horrid.
      Keep us posted!

    • The news had tips on how to get by when your water is shut off. And there’s supposed to be a water distribution center somewhere in town today. I hope it’s not too far, though I have what feels like enough drinking water. I got some snow last night to replenish one of my buckets, and I’ll get more today. The weather this morning said we’ll freeze again tonight, sigh. Got to log in to work today, at least for a while. And I know even with the water off, I have it so much better than many.

      • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} Holding the Good Thought. Wish there was something I could actually do to help. I’ve had a couple of winters going w/o water for over a week. It wasn’t fun. Healing Energy of whatever nature. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  3. Good morning, 37 and cloudy in Bellingham. The snow is lingering and I can’t seem to settle into just waiting for it to melt. My bad attitude is even boring me! RonK has been going on daily walks but the cold air on my face triggers TMJ so I’ve stayed indoors. Might be time for some fresh air regardless.

    Best wishes to all.

  4. Thursday Meese. 20 degrees here in NYS and light snow in the forecast.

    Puerto Rico

  5. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 12 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 23. It is snowing now but is not likely to accumulate. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast for the rest of the day. Tonight will be the last night of sub-zero weather for a while – maybe until next winter?

    Hahahaha! The right-wing candidate running for Superintendent of Schools in Wisconsin had to delete her Twitter account because she is an idiot. No, white woman who is pals with Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republican Death Cult, you can’t “discuss” how bad you felt for being called the N-word in high school because you have large lips.

    And also hahahahaha! Robin Vos, the Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly wants Governor Tony Evers to put the flags at half-staff to honor the pile of racist garbage once known as Rush Limbaugh. I am sure that Tony and his Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes – a Black man – had a laugh over that. Good lord, these people are clueless.

    I am very late to check in because I had an early morning to-do list which I have been trying to get done before people started working. Now I have run out of time and I am left with the task of sending emails putting projects off until tomorrow. I better get that done.

    See all y’all later!

  6. Good moaning, Moosekind, and moan I shall! After a week of anticipation, our alleged “three to six inches” or “four to eight inches” remains just that: alleged. Yes, you may consider yrs truly to be curmudgeonly, even childish, about this (and you’d be right), but we have so little snow here I become quite upset when it fails to materialize. We’re getting something, don’t quite know what, but it’s noisy. Perhaps freezing rain? The weather widget insists that in this part of NoVa it’s 26 F. and snowing. It’s wrong. Snow, as far as I am aware, doesn’t fall in straight lines and doesn’t make a noise.

    It used to snow in the winters when the children were growing up. Not Snowmageddons, nor even Snowzillas necessarily, but enough to close the schools so the boys could sled down the hill, ice skate on the frozen creek, and make snowpersons. One memorable February 17th in 1979, the eve of the Monday holiday of Washington’s Birthday, snow began to fall late in the evening. By the next morning there were two feet of the stuff lying around, so no one could go to work. Another not-quite-as-large snowfall happened on Washington’s birthday, 2004. Now Washington’s Birthday is a very special holiday in DC, a time when those so inclined can get splendid bargains, so everyone at my office felt rather affronted the company wasn’t giving us a the day off. Not to worry—eight inches of the white stuff were too much for even that company to ignore, as no could park in the snow-covered spaces. I sneered all day long as I happily baked cookies and sat near the fire, luxuriating in the heat.

    Anyway the temperature won’t get much higher today. I have a Zoom meeting at 3. The Moose Pond certainly looks different! It didn’t recognize me and I didn’t recognize it, at first, but we finally got together.

    Feel deeply sorry for my fellow Texans that their incompetent state government can’t keep them safe and warm. This disaster, like Katrina and Maria, should never have happened.

    Enjoying not having to rush out, as I have the last two mornings. That gets old. I’m looking forward to at least two mornings of not having to rush. The maids came yesterday, messed up my desk by tidying it, and stayed a very long time. We left here at 8:30 to get Monty out of their way and drove to our old neighborhood. I hoped that with the woods not clotted by either greenery or snow, I’d be able to catch a glimpse of what the new owners of our former house have done to the backyard. Alas, even though we we hacked our way through the thicket with sticks, we couldn’t see anything. They’ve added another six inches to the fence that encircles the backyard. One can only suppose they like to dance nekkid in the moonlight outside because they don’t have a dog, a cat, or even a pet goat, as far as we can make out.

    Gods, here I am rattling on about nothing. The maids’ supervisor is due to visit, so I ought to at least whiten my teeth before she arrives. She’ll want to know how much we liked the way that the top tissues in every box were pleated into fancy fans and snowflakes yesterday. I shall say, “Less pleating and less moving stuff around so I can’t find it.” Goddess knows what they did to the bathroom scales—when I got on them they informed me that I weighed 914 pounds! Sniff.

    Well, that’s quite enough whining from me today. Hope everyone will have a decent day. I cannot believe the weather in Austin!

    Blessed be all the Meese at the Pond.

    • Hahaha!! “She’ll want to know how much we liked the way that the top tissues in every box were pleated into fancy fans and snowflakes yesterday. I shall say, ‘Less pleating and less moving stuff around so I can’t find it.’ ”

      I had house cleaning services once when I thought they would do a more thorough job of cleaning than I would and felt that would be good. To my horror, I found out that they moved all the furniture to clean UNDER it every time they came. That may have been more than I needed. I eventually fired them because all of their extra activity caused a wall hanging to fall to the floor in the kitchen and break into 5 pieces. It had been a crafty gift from one of my siblings and it made me sad to lose it. I don’t need people mucking around in my house disrupting my carefully constructed mess. ;)

    • {{{Diana}}} – I need housecleaning help but the main thing I need it for is floors. The sweep-vacuum-mop sequence is one I simply cannot do. I’m lucky if I manage to sweep the entire house at one go. Some/most days I manage to sweep up the litterbox detritus multiple times and the den/dining/kitchen area at least once. But no, I wouldn’t want anybody messing with the papers I’ve got strewn on every flat surface. LOL. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  7. It’s 15 heading for 27 and supposed to be sunny which it’s not. We’re heading out of this deep freeze but we’ve another night/early morning of single digits first. Tomorrow is supposed to be above freezing. We shall see. I really will be lucky to get 100 KWHs this month. It’s going to take more than a day of above freezing weather to get rid of the snow on the panels. sigh.

    I meant to do this in a more “controlled” way but new kitty changed that by slipping out of the bedroom when I opened the door to take in food. The good news is that 4 out of 5 cats sniffed and while careful, keeping distance and all that, seem to be fine with the new addition to the household. The bad news is Murf sniffed and started to attack. The combination of the broom and a squirt bottle kept that from happening but that means I’ve got a problem here. Murf’s always grumpy and will growl at and even swat any cat who comes too close. If that were the issue here I wouldn’t worry about it. But it’s not. Murf was following, almost charging, the new cat and only the broom stopped that. And now that the new cat is back in the bedroom, Murf’s gone down a couple of times to sit at the door like he’s waiting for another chance. I don’t know what to do next. If worst comes to worst, Murf will start living in that bedroom while the new cat joins the rest. But I really don’t want to do that because Murf will just get worse about being around other cats if I do. sigh.

    Meanwhile the starlings are swiping most of the birdseed and especially the suet I’m putting out for woodpeckers and cardinals and wrens and such. They don’t really like sunflower seed but there’s half a foot of snow on top of what they normally eat and so here they are. I have to suit up and go around the house to fill the feeder. No way am I opening that back door to this cold. Enough of it is seeping in around the frame at floor level as it is.

    I have shelter and power and water and heat and food (and internet plus back up wood heat). I am truly blessed and Holding the Good Thought that everyone who doesn’t gets them soon. Off to do my online chores. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Bfitz, is the new cat the little gray-and-white one that came by the other day? With unforeseen circs keeping me from getting here on time, I’m afraid I’ve lost touch with the news. I’m sorry about the floor situation. It’s always something, isn’t it? Why don’t you get a nasty, smelly, stained carpet like the ones we have? Then you could just ignore it, as we do, and take to Drinking in the evenings. Only in my case, it’s Chocolate overdosing in the evenings.

      • Yes, the new cat is the gray and white one. I’ve been feeding it daily for the last several weeks. And determinedly resisting its pleas to be allowed in. But when it was at my door asking to be let in after 7 pm with snow all over the place and the windchill around 6 below…I brought it in.

        Carpets hold dust and other things that make my sinusitis worse. At least I can see it on the wood floors and sweep it away from where I’m sitting or lying. I’m not all that fond of alcohol – I’ll have a single small drink nightly for a week or two about every 3rd month and that’s it. As close to excess that I’m coming to at the moment is popcorn in the evenings while I sit in the rocker and read or do word puzzles. LOL. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, 36 and cloudy in Bellingham. Today’s rain showers should melt the last of the snow and warmer temps are in the forecast so my garden is starting to perk up. Needless to say it’s past time for me to do the same!

    Best wishes to all.

  9. Friday Meese. 23 going up to 31 and snowing lightly here in Kingston NY.
    Sending up more prayers for anotherdemocrat!

    Puerto Rico

  10. It’s supposed to get above freezing this afternoon, and tonight’s supposed to be the last freeze. New official record for Austin of consecutive hours below freezing: 144 hours. Hoping there really is a plumber coming today, looking forward to things like flushing the toilet & washing dishes. Today: get in some work while keeping an ear out for repair people. Keeping the heater set at 65 to conserve, I’m wearing 3 layers plus my sleep cap so I’m comfortable.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} I’m so glad you’re able to keep warm. Holding the Good Thought, sending Healing/Healing Energy that you get water back today. And maintain power. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 9 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 18. Sunny this morning, isolated flurries this afternoon. It will be bitterly cold again overnight but then the “warming” starts.

    I was watching the political mess in Texas – which is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis – and found it sad that this is unlikely to change politics in the state; they will still lionize the #RepublicanDeathCult leaders like Rick Perry and still keep electing people who will put profits over people. The story from El Paso is amazing – they heeded the advice from the 2012 post-mortem of the 2011 “surprise” winter storm, upgraded their electrical systems and got themselves on the national grid. I am sure the blowback from “Real Texans” over that was fierce – now they can sit back and feel vindicated.

    I have a short day today so I will have to skip the news and hope that there is nothing that I need to know in order to survive. I suspect that there is not, one of the benefits of having Democrats back in charge of our government.

    See all y’all later!

  12. It’s 9 at the moment but heading for 34 – with the sunshine that’ll almost feel balmy. 😁 My PV panels are now 16 separate flat stretches of snow instead of a single field of it on my roof. Between the bright sunshine and the (barely) above freezing temps there may be enough melt around the edges today that it will at least come on tomorrow. The forecast says 40s and possible rain Sunday which might clear them entirely.

    I can’t let the new cat out to socialize until Murf goes somewhere I can close the door. I don’t want to put him some where for this. That could increase the already too much animosity towards the youngster. Kiskik suggested this and also that I try cosequin with Murf to see if addressing the arthritis would make him less grumpy. I’m good to try that. Nothing I tried 2 years ago worked for more than a couple of days but it has been 2 years. I haven’t heard back from the vet’s office yet. I truly hope they are still in business. Having them come here is so much better (and less expensive because they charge a single “office” visit no matter how many cats they see – although of course each cat’s exam and whatever treatment is individual) than trying to haul them all to somebody’s office. And wait in with all the other animal smells while my cats freak the whole time. Definitely they all need exams. Charlie and Cloud are both having GI issues, Murf of course definitely has problems with his joints and may be diabetic as well. As far as I can tell the twins and the new youngster are all OK but they need their shots brought up to date if (please-please-please) nothing else.

    The nice thing about having Dems/Decent people in charge is the rest. We’ve been running on adrenaline for almost 5 years (including the nastiness of the ’16 campaigns) and most of us were nearing, if not already there, adrenal exhaustion. And that causes a boatload of physical issues nobody has time for in the middle of a pandemic. (AR’s COVID19 numbers are coming down and I’d be happy if I didn’t know it’s data suppression. We haven’t tested even half the state although we’ve given enough tests to the same people over and over to make it look like we’ve tested the whole state. And we’re nowhere near the vaccination rate we’d need to be to have those numbers coming down legitimately.)

    So off to do what I can do on twitter. And with the temps being high enough to not put strain on the grid – which I’m drawing from since the PV panels are covered with snow – I may do my laundry this afternoon. We shall see what we shall see. Meanwhile, everybody stay in, stay warm, stay safe. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Good Friday morning, Moosekind. The Pond and I are having Issues again, so the Pond makes three. The Internet has been as spotty as a teenager with acne, the printer refuses to work until it gets a raise, so with the Pond not letting me sign in, that means I’ve got to reveal all my secrets when I sign in.

    However, that is very, very First World. You can unplug your ears now so I can rant about Texas. Gods, how incompetent can you get? I thought Florida constituted the absolute nadir of gubernatorial stupidity, but no. Sorry, Ron DePantsis, Abbott and his veep have you beat.

    The maids are here AGAIN because the supervisor thought they didn’t do a good enough job pleating the tissues yesterday. I pleated with her not to send them back just because of that, but apparently they didn’t sweep the ceilings, either (the ceilings are 11 feet high). There’s no charge for the unfortunate ladies’ services today. And they’re doing it ALL again, bathrooms and everything!

    One of them just informed me that she needs to clean my office AGAIN so I gotta split. Wishing all at the Pond a good day!

    • {{{Diana}}} Holding the Good Thought that all your irritations resolve themselves shortly. As to TX – they went from Ann Richards to W to Perry to Abbott. That’s going on 26 years of steadily increasing Deplorability. Which includes the vulture capitalism that sucks every cent out of the populace and laughs when they die because no services were provided. The only thing they’re good at is making sure BIPOC can’t vote so they can stay in power. Healing Energy to you & moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • I wonder what is going on with you and the Pond – you said a couple of days ago that it “looked different.” Nothing has changed so any difference is from your browser. I will try clearing cache as that sometimes helps.

      • Thanks, Jan. This morning when attempting to log in I was told that the site had been attacked or something and the ban on logging in wouldn’t be lifted until the situation resolved.

        All these problems are so tiresome.

        • That is the message that requires cache clearing at your end. I still have a PHP version to update which may help – maybe I will have time this weekend to get to it.

  14. Good morning, 43 and cloudy outside my window now but sun is in the forecast. I woke up to heavy rain in the night so I hope the snow is finally melted away. Just a few more days and we’ll get our second vaccine shot. We’ve settled into a reclusive life so it’s going to be an adjustment to start being in the community again.

    Best wishes to all.

    • It was welcome news that some of the post-vaccine studies have shown a high efficacy after the first shot, something like 85%. I hope they don’t change the protocol – I will feel better getting the 2nd shot and then doing the two week wait to “certify” the vaccination. I hope to make a short trip in May to visit some relatives; I am not sure that I will ever feel “safe” again, though, it is going to be difficult to undo what will be a year of isolation and caution.

  15. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is -2 in Madison with an expected daytime high of 19. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    So Neera Tanden is “unacceptable” for OMB and there is pushback against Vaneeta Gupta for a key DOJ post. Hmmmm. What do these two women have in common? That Neera Tanden is too partisan is the greatest HAHAHAHA moment – Mick Mulvaney, one of the leaders of the House TeaParty Caucus was confirmed as OMB for “the former guy” and I am sure that Manchin was fine with him. Yes, Neera wrote snarky tweets, she ran policy for CAP and was a Hillary 2016 advisor. I hope that Joe Biden does a recess appointment to bypass Manchin and (it sounds like) Bernie Sanders – she can serve for 2 years and then get confirmed in 2023 when we have a 4 Senator padding.

    It sounds like Joe Biden spoke to the governor of Texas about their state’s man-made disaster. I know that Joe said he would be the president of all the states but I think he should ask every red state governor if they think he is the legitimately elected president of the United States – and get a Yes before he sends them help. He plans a comfort trip there when things settle down.

    So the NCAA is going to hold their March Madness superspreader event – a 64 team basketball tournament in Indianapolis. This on the heels of spikes in COVID over the past week on campuses. UW-Madison, after bragging that their infection rate was 1%, announced that they had a huge spike almost 300 new cases – a day after Dane County reported that the UK variant had been found here. The contact tracing showed that the UW spike was from unmasked gatherings and warned students that classes will be shut down if they did not “do better.” Sigh. They are 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds – hanging out is what they do. Our biggest enemy right now is COVID weariness and complacency. I love the good news coming out about vaccinations and normalcy projections but it can’t be used to give permission to people to lower their guards; we got this far, let’s finish it without losing more people to this deadly disease.

    I have a full slate of weekend work ahead of me. I had a lot of distractions this past week and things stacked up again – time to get to it!

    See all y’all later!

  16. Saturday Meese. 21 degrees and snowing lightly here in Kingston NY, going up to 32

    Puerto Rico

  17. Good Saturday moaning, Meese! Currently it’s 26 F., sunny and windy today in Ashburn, going up to 31 F. later. Ugh.

    Still can’t get into the Moose Pond to log in, so consider yourselves fierced. Wonder whether I should try clearing my cache.

    Yesterday I received a box of 25 paperback copies of my book! I’ve got to get on to the marketing, in addition to all my other projects. Also bought a new printer online, which will be delivered Tuesday (I hope). I “couldn’t get no satisfaction” from my preferred printer provider, so I went to CDW. There, after I waited for some time, a young man named Sean looked at my requirements, did some research, and came back with a Lexmark C3224dw printer. Good.

    I have a nail appointment at 10:30 so I’d better eat breakfast and get going.

    Wishing a nice, quiet Saturday to all at the Pond.

    • {{{Diana}}} – definitely try clearing you cache & have fun marketing your book. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  18. So, last night is supposed to be the last freeze for the foreseeable future. And the plumber got started yesterday — 3 buildings in my complex have broken pipes, so even getting started is pretty great. Maybe by this afternoon or evening I’ll be able to flush the toilet. Assuming my part of town has water — that’s the other thing, some areas don’t have water, and those that do are told to boil the water before drinking or brushing your teeth with it. The whole city is under a boil water notice. Sigh. Anyway, today’s agenda: watch the news this morning & wait for the plumber to arrive. They just went over my wall yesterday, didn’t need to come in to get to the porch, so if they do that again today, I’ll venture out to my little co-op grocery store and see what they have. And look up where they’re distributing drinking water, since who knows how long the boil water thing will last.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} – Holding the Good Thought for safe water and dependable power. Healing Energy however needed. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  19. It’s 28 heading for 45 and sunny. It looks like maybe one cell on one PV panel got clear yesterday afternoon. The system did come on and generated about 13 watts – enough to run one compact fluorescent bulb for an hour. LOL. But we’re starting warmer (hard to think of 28 as warmer) and going about 10 degrees higher along with the sunshine. We’ll see how many manage to get clear today.

    Murf is like me in that nothing you give him to treat his creaky joints (& whatever else makes him uncomfortable enough to be grumpy all the time) works for more than 3 days. I gave him the CBD again this morning and shortly thereafter he threw up his breakfast. So much for that. I’ll try getting cosequin into him and see what happens. But I’ve got to find some way of letting the little guy be a part of the household. The mobile vet called yesterday evening. The soonest he can come out is on the 1st so that’s what we scheduled. That’s just over a week away so it’s not so long I need to find another solution for the interim. Relatively speaking it’s not bad but altogether – for 1 house call, 6 exams, 4 rabies shots, 4 upper respiratory shots, and 1 feline leukemia shot – it’s gonna be $500. I can do that with my tax refund. Which might even be here by then. At that point we’ll see if the new one needs to be fixed and if any of the rest have things they need treatment for. (I’ll be checking rescues about fixing the new one if that’s necessary. Aji & another online friend both suggested online fundraisers. And if I can’t find another way to do I’ve promised them I will. After all these years I’m probably good for one fundraiser for myself.)

    From experience I know the difference between Rs and Dems in charge when it comes to disaster relief. And while I do of course worry and send Good Thoughts to folks in those areas I’m not the sick-to-my-stomach worried I’d be if the Rs were still in charge. And that is such a relief in itself.

    I’ve got lots of boosting to do on twitter so I guess more coffee and get to it. It’s still a good idea to “stay in, stay warm, stay safe.” Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  20. Good morning, 39 and partly sunny. The air is slightly warmer now so I can be outside without triggering TMJ, yay! So I hope to spend some time in the garden today. Now that the snow is gone it looks winter worn and dusty so washing the chairs and tables will be a good start.

    Best wishes to all.

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