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”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 39 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 54. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Happy Mother’s Day Meese
Here’s hoping people will continue to support the mom’s and women of Puerto Rico
I got up early & did a walk/run. This phase of the plan has 60-second running segments, I made it to 6. 90 seconds between most — though the last 2 had way more than that. It’s 75 degrees already, so kinda muggy. Supposed to be thunderstorms this afternoon, though I’ll believe it when I hear them.
Happy Mother’s Day, Moosekind! One would think that today of all days, Mother Nature would conspire to give us a warm, sunny Sunday, but one would be wrong. It’s cloudy and cool, 50 F. at the moment in Ashburn, with drizzle about to begin. Ugh.
Anyway, my Dearly gave me a lovely little silver chain with a diamond heart pendant. I can wear it to Elder Son’s house to brunch this morning. I’m afraid to wear the earrings because with dogs and children there is too much danger of one of the earrings coming off.
We never made it to the garden place yesterday because it was too cold, too windy, too overcast, and just altogether unpleasant. We even turned on the fake woodstove at one point, it was so chilly. We can go another day. One of my tomato plants was half-dead, so I hurriedly brought it in and revived it with water and sunlight. It looks a lot better this morning.
M’Daughter in Texas sent me a beautiful novel, A Thousand Ships, about the Trojan war and the women warriors who fought in it. Looking forward to reading it.
Not much other news except that I don’t know how we’re going to overcome the massive disenfranchisement mandated by the Rethugs. The Rethugs are in disarray here in Virginia, where they haven’t won statewide in 10 years. No, make that 11 years. All the Rethug candidates for the top three offices are promising to cut unemployment benefits, disenfranchise Black voters, and roll back abortion rights. And that’s precisely why they’ll lose again.They are incapable of learning: they keep doing the same thing over and over again, thinking this time it’ll work.
Nupe! Arlington and Fairfax counties are full of liberal suburban women who like having rights. Moreover, we turn out in droves. Years ago we elected the nation’s first Black governor, Doug Wilder, because he was a pro-choice Democrat.
It’s high time I was getting ready. Wishing all a happy Mother’s Day, including our Meese who have brain-children rather than the physical kind. Blessed be!
We’re at our high for the day – 75 – but the temps are supposed to start dropping shortly. To 60 for most of the day, then down into the 40s overnight. It’s cloudy enough I need the lights on. sigh. We did get 19.5 KWHs yesterday bringing the m-t-d to 111 – gaining a very little of the lost ground from the day before. Or today. Take your pick.
It’s warm enough my hands didn’t even go into Raynaud’s flare when I’ve washed them this morning. I hate the bugs but I really do look forward to summer’s warmth. Karen, Amelia, and Jill seem to be holding on. Not much better but no worse. Aji hasn’t said what her new issue is, just that it could be horribly expensive and she’s scared. I heard from mufftootuff – she’s lost her cat Max (I wish the old PWB Peeps still existed – we/they were so supportive about losing furfamily) and her Census job finally ended last month. So far she & her son are hanging on but they certainly could use some Good Thoughts along with everybody else.
I got a card from my younger son yesterday. Very sweet. Even nicer is he wrote it himself. Usually his wife sends out all the cards for the various occasions. Tradition and all that. It’s what I did when I was married to his father. (& his father has much better handwriting than I ever did.)
Sending Good Energy to everyone who’s ever done the mothering, nurturing, role – whoever they did it for and however long they did it. Off to get more coffee and do my online stuff. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 49 and cloudy in Bellingham. We’ll enjoy a full family day so I’m feeling very grateful. I’ll talk with my daughters via phone this morning, then visit with Erich and his family on their porch, and then cook dinner with Hans and Heidi this evening. And my neighbors lilac is in full bloom so I can make a few bouquets. So nice of him to share!
Best wishes to all on this reflective day.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 52. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
I mostly stayed away from the news over the weekend. I find myself with the same wishful thinking I had during the Obama Administration after we lost the House and the Senate – that the president would find some way to make our lives not suck even though our party had no real legislative power. The problem is that now we have legislative power but it is so thin that it requires changes in thinking about what a majority means. Nancy Pelosi gets it and she has convinced her members that the perfect is the enemy of the good but the Senate is really a heap of human garbage – the Republicans are promoted House members who would rather blow things up than govern and the fly in the ointment is a white supremacist adjacent Democrat from a state created when they broke away from a Confederate state but whose electorate has likely since regretted that. On infrastructure, Manchin probably realizes that he will need to vote for reconciliation if his state is to get any help but on saving the democracy, he will take a pass because white males will always be part of the power structure even when they are in the minority. Apparently being the unneeded 52nd vote for something didn’t bother him during the tRump years and he is perfectly happy with tax cuts and bad judges as his legacy.
Gosh, a cyberattack took out a vital piece of infrastructure! Who could have predicted that? :::insert eyeroll emoji::: Our “cyber economy”, which propped us up for the past year, is in danger of crashing to the ground because Republicans have no interest in governing and let our safeguarding agencies go unfunded and unmanned. Just like “closing the offices that monitor for pandemics” turned out to be a great idea “defunding cyber security because Putin is our pal” is going to be another Republican legacy. Destroyers.
I made substantial progress on accounting work and it is now time to dive into some long delayed customer projects. I have been distracted by news and I need to dive back into productive efforts.
See all y’all later!
Monday Meese. Raining here in Kingston NY – 45 going up to 60
Just posted a mini rant of sorts
Puerto Rico
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s yet another ugly, cold, horribly windy morning. It’s too tiresome not to be able to go out and plant what I’ve already got. I rescued one tomato plant from certain death. I keep forgetting that as long as they’re in shallow containers, they have to be watered bigly.
So it’s an annoying 52 F., going up to 66 F., as if anyone here at The Home cares. I’ve had to turn on the little fake woodstove, it’s so chilly. Monty spent the night barfing, pooping, and eating grass, which poor old Dearly had to deal with. I was sleeping the sleep of the drugged, so I never knew any of this until I arose, pale and ruffled, this morning. Dearly has been trying to catch up on his sleep.
It was lovely seeing both Elder Son and Younger Son and their families yesterday. The children were in fine fettle. Miss Pink Cheeks even smiled and asked for a sleepover soon! No problemo. Mr. First Grader has lost two teeth in the upper reaches. Mr. Kindergartener wanted to show me how his house has five TVs, but we only counted four before being summoned to brunch.
I have to leave for a mani and pedi pretty soon, but after that we’re in for a dull day of taking each other’s blood pressure and staring at the clouds.
Wishing a good day to all at the Moose Pond and hoping the weather’s a sight better where you are. Blessed be!
Ran into the office to drop off completed work & pick up new. Stayed to make some calls from the office line, some of my people just never pick up & I think it’s because of the “blocked number” notification. Today’s plan: work, and take breaks to dance or do standing core exercises in the odd hours. I figure that will help with the running plan.
It’s 50 going up to 65 and the lights are on. sigh. We got 5.3 KWHs yesterday – m-t-d is 116.9 – and we’re losing more ground today. double sigh. & my hands ache. They’re functional but they ache. So we’re probably gonna get some rain before the clouds go away again.
I had a pleasant Mother’s Day. At least as far as being a mother is concerned. My younger son called and we visited almost two hours until just before lunch. He and the boys wanted to take my DiL out to brunch but decided kayaking would be a better idea. Really good news is they’re both fully vaccinated as of last week. Then around 4 my older son showed up (with milk & carrots as usual but with 88% dark chocolate for Mother’s Day 😁) and we visited for over two hours. Even though we’re both fully vaccinated and more than 2 weeks out from our second shots we still visit through the front room window.
Older son is taking the Camry in for the brake job today. Hold the Good Thoughts that it doesn’t go over the $500 I have stashed back for that. As far as I know at this point, Jill’s gotten a few more donations on her GFM, Lisa still recovering physically and mentally but doing fine emotionally, and Fineena’s got a doctor’s appointment today. Last night/early this morning Aji said today starts “one of the longest 4-day stretches” of her life asked for “Good Vibes” – I think that means she’s got a doctor visit and tests for something that could be very scary. And expensive. So. Hold the Good Thoughts in whatever way by whatever Tradition.
Moving slowly today. A little brain fog – cloudy days do that – but managing. Need more coffee then get over to Dee’s diary then back to my twitter chores. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 52 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. Yesterday was fun and today we’re both tired…..hmmmmmm, perhaps we do need to pay attention to being older now :)
Thanks to Erich and his family I now have one fully planted and blooming begonia pot so today I hope to find the plants the hummingbirds love and plant a few more. It’s supposed to be sunny all week so it’s time to plant.
Best wishes to all.
Good Tuesday morning, Meese, and a lovely morniing it is, too. Yesterday was windy but today looks calm. The current temp. in Ashburn is 49 F., going up to 67 F. later. This whole week will be much cooler than normal, with highs in the mid- to high 60s. Not very springlike! Sniff.
Anyway, today is Farmer’s Market day, so I’m scooping up my neighbor down the hall and we’re going the minute it opens. The strawberries last week were so good, I want some more. I hope to Goddess I can actually get out to plant my tomatoes this week! It’s high time.
Received a beautiful Mother’s Day card from Daughter in Texas, with such a sweet message inside I nearly cried. I feel blessed to have such great children.
Woke up too early this morning but at least I didn’t use a sleeping pill last night. I’m beginning to feel completely overwhelmed by the writing backlog and the exercise backlog. I’m also impatient to get this second cataract surgery over with, and the 5,000 drops I have to put into my eyes before and after it. The next thing I need to focus on is getting exercise every single day.
I’m so gobsmacked by the Rethugs’ continual and progressively worse subversion of democracy I don’t know what to say. A friend in New York state is already sending Terry McAuliffe money. I plan to donate to other Democratic candidates (Terry is bound to be the Dem. gubernatorial candidate), as I’m sure Terry’s rich friends will support him adequately. I’ll do what I can in terms of getting out the vote to help him, though.
Wishing a nice, peaceful day to all at the Pond with no bad news. Blessed be.
Got up early & did my walk/run. Didn’t make it to 8 minute-long segments, but 6 plus 2 at 45 seconds isn’t bad. Today: just work. Maybe do a 15 minute dance break this afternoon.
Thought of you when I saw Bono trending yesterday
Tuesday Meese. 44 going up to 61 here in Kingston NY.
Puerto Rico
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 55. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Tomorrow we will see the 60s again – hurray!
I have not had time to check the news yet; I was working on a “little” project that turned into a 2 hour rats nest. I think I have it sorted out but now I am behind.
My wishes for our democracy is that Kevin McCarthy’s embrace of tRump treats his plans the same way that it has treated everything else that touches the malignant narcissist – ETTD. And that Joe Manchin has the epiphany that Joe Biden thought the Republicans would have – that you can’t find common cause with destroyers.
See all y’all later!
It’s 52 heading for 59 and cloudy enough the lights are on. sigh. We’re supposed to get rain later today. I hope the city recycling truck comes through before it starts. I’ve got cardboard out there to recycle. The sun did come out for a bit yesterday. We got 14 KWHs which is still losing ground as far as the May goal is concerned (m-t-d is 131) but it’s 2x my average daily use so as far as that goes, it’s good.
I don’t know the outcome of Fineena’s doctor visit yet. Jill got a couple of nice donations so progress there. Amelia and Aji are about the same. The fact that it’s so very good Amelia hasn’t crashed emotionally doesn’t change the other fact that she truly has crashed physically and mentally. She signs off each night planning to get up and do stuff (like drive her car enough to be able to get the smog inspection) and thus far has been getting up each day still not able to do it. Aji, once she asked for the “Good Vibes” hasn’t said anything else about whatever’s going on that caused her to ask for them. So basically it’s still Hold the Good Thoughts by whatever name and in whatever Tradition for them still.
The “old lawn guy” finally – after over 4 weeks – got the 20 packages of wood bricks to me yesterday. So while I didn’t get my 25-minute walk in, I did get well over 1000 steps schlepping the 20-lb packages into the house. They’re stored in the guest bedroom closet. Hopefully that will be enough protection – definitely from sun, wind, and rain of course but I’m not sure about humidity – as the wrappings aren’t in the greatest of shape. His “helpers” have been rougher on them than is really a good idea. But I do have woodbricks for what few fires I do this month (like tonight – I’m doing laundry this afternoon) and a start on next winter. So that’s good.
In this cloudy weather the cats sleep more. I wish I could join them. Need to get coffee and get over to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 55 and mostly sunny. One thing led to another yesterday and my legs are telling me so this morning. Oh well, the patio set up is now in summer mode and the big table is ready for a sit down family meal as soon as Ava has her vaccines. Having the patios be a year around gathering space is a nice result of covid confinement so we’ll keep that going even though it is a bit of work to do so.
I didn’t plant any flowers yesterday and prolly won’t today but I’m closer to being ready! Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 39 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 63. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I hope the Republicans planning to “leave the party” realize that you can’t create a third-party and win anything. They would be better off staying in their party and taking out the trash. The good news is that if it is the Cheney wing of the party that leaves, their third party won’t be taking votes away from Democrats – those cowardly #NeverTrumpers are like George W. Bush who wrote in Condoleeza Rice rather than vote for Joe Biden. You have to vote for the fixers or the destroyers will win by default.
I have a busy day with a few household projects pending and a gnarly app setup to finish.
See all y’all later!
Wednesday Meese. 46 going up to 65 here in Kingston NY
I’m furious that the war against Critical Race Theory has now erupted in my family home county of Loudoun VA