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 to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.
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Princesspat, take no notice of “Biden failing” and “Dems in disarray.” Only the minds of the white male Rethug-loving, Democrat-hating media is Biden failing. They have one dumb cluck in a diner that they interview ad nauseam.
It’s nicer to think about the autumn equinox tomorrow and the kind of festive flower arrangements your talented self can make!
Don’t miss RonK’s splendid photo essay from his family hike: Late Summer in the Mt. Baker Wilderness Area – Who Shrunk the Glaciers?
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday … Happy Equinox to all!!!
It is 50 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 64. Mainly sunny with cloudy periods. Time to break out the sweatshirts and jackets!
So Senate Republicans essentially are refusing to borrow the money to pay for the tRump tax cuts they passed and are planning to shut down the government, throw the financial markets into chaos, and ruin the faith and credit of the United States. This, Joe Manchin, is who you want to make common cause with. Let’s call this recession the Manchin Recession in honor of the guy who won’t kill the filibuster to save America because “bipartisanship.”
Meanwhile, the House Democrat deadenders – both the “moderates” and the left-of-the-left – are intent on destroying the Biden agenda (which is our agenda, you freaking idiots!!). We knew a razor thin majority would be hard to manage and the failures of the 2020 House election cycle are coming back to bite us. If Nancy Pelosi can fix this, she will deserve a statue in her honor.
This week is the culmination of the Great Clearing plan put in place back in the beginning of July, the large furniture items being donated/trashed will be picked up. I will bid farewell to things that served their purpose and are now waiting for a good home. I would have liked to have been able to sell some of the still-in-very-good-shape items but there is no way to do that without having people traipse through the house looking at everything I have and then depending on them to remove the items without damaging woodwork and floors and hurting themselves. So I will pay to have the furniture donations removed, hauled away to a central warehouse where they will be sorted and then distributed to local charities – or recycled if possible. I try not to think about the items ending up in a landfill although some of it is inevitable. I should have done more clearing over the years but my save-every-box fetish will actually pay off as I have a half-dozen wardrobe boxes that can be re-used – they had been flattened and spent the last decade and a half in my very dry basement.
See all y’all later!
Wednesday Meese. 63 going up to 80 here in Kingston.
Found out yesterday morning when it was nippy that my furnace didn’t turn on when I turned up the thermostat – have heating repair guy coming today…not going to wait till it gets cold.
I hope it is something simple! I was glad I replaced my furnace back in August when I could get a good pre-season deal and supplies were plentiful. I have been reading about shortages of furnace parts and furnaces. Our supply chain is messed up pretty badly from the fits and starts of the economy. Blast the anti-vaxxers for wrecking the recovery. :::insert pissed-off-face emoji here:::
Puerto Rico
Rep. Nydia Velazquez responds to Republican non-voting Rep. from Puerto Rico who conveniently “forgets” to mention who got the additional Medicaid benefits for Puerto Rico
Lovely cool morning here. It was 72 degrees when I did my walk/run. 1.25 miles, 4 running segments of 90 seconds. I’m thinking about getting a long sleeve shirt out of storage for Friday, it’s supposed to be 55 when I do my walk.
Happy Mabon! It’s 51 heading for 75 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 10.3 KWHs. The m-t-d is 252.94 which at least beats the 2.5K system’s September generation. We’ll see what the last 8 production days get us to.
I did the 1st fire of the season last night. I’d forgotten how much heat that stove can put out! If the A/C thermostat were in the den, it would have kicked on for a bit. LOL. But that meant the house “living area” was comfortable when I came out of my bedroom. I’ve got cocoa-walnut muffin bread in the oven and the house smells good, too.
The vet did blood work on Murf – using up all I didn’t pay for the discounted woodbricks – but other than a couple but not all of the chronic kidney indicators, nothing out of the normal range. He was slightly dehydrated, but again nothing really telling. He is showing signs of kitty-aging, mostly in and around his eyes, that puts his estimated age up a lot – vet now things maybe 18 rather than 10 – and the behavior changes could just be age-related and not health-related. Even with as little as he’s eating, he’s maintaining his weight. So maybe that’s all he needs at his age.
Holding Good Thoughts for all. The 2 in the “urgent” category are getting my focus, but everybody is getting them. Off to twitter, then I’ll relax with the “special” posts here at the Moose Pond and my 2nd cup of coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 55 and cloudy in Bellingham. Like it or not I’ve got to replace my “new” cooktop, vent hood and dishwasher so our son will help me measure the existing cut outs, vent pipes etc and this afternoon we’ll see what we can find. The existing appliances are at least 30 yrs old but I was hoping they could be repaired. Silly me!
I’m meeting my sister for lunch and after that going appliance shopping so it’s a relatively busy day. Best wishes to all.
I was going over old receipts and realized that my clothes dryer is 42 years old! It had a belt replaced once and that was it.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 66. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Holey moley, what is going on in Blue Virginia? I know Terry McAuliffe has a lot of baggage but are Virginians really going to elect a tRumper who will undo the progress of the past 8 years? You know what is stupid – one and done term limits for a governor. Make it two and done and let the voters decide if the current governor deserves to continue his agenda. A new governor every 4 years is ridiculous. I haz spoken.
The Democrats need to try to figure out a way to kill the debt limit or to allow it to be raised via a reconciliation bill rather than needing 60 Senators to agree to it. The idea of playing chicken with economic disaster whenever Mitch McConnell gets constipated is dangerous. It is too bad that the American people are mostly too stupid to understand what the debt limit is (the ability to borrow money for bills already passed) – if they did, they would realize how awful Republicans are. It sounds like Social Security benefits might be delayed – while that would be personally devastating, one can’t help but wonder if an army of angry grannies protesting at Republican Senate offices might not be the optics they want going into the midterm.
I survived the “Great Decluttering: Old Furniture Removal Phase” but just barely. It took two trips, more money than I wanted to spend, and a lot of anxiety. Today I have some donation deliveries to make and then a trip to the dump tomorrow and then I think I can take a day off without freaking out. This phase has given me space to start stacking boxes so that packing can begin in earnest.
See all y’all later!
Another lovely cool morning here. Got the windows open to let in the 50-something degree air. Voice is still gone — throat isn’t sore, just no voice. I brought home a big stack of the kind of applications that we set up without calling, so I have plenty of work to do. And that’s the plan for today: just work.
It’s 44 heading for 80 and sunny. Or will be once the sun gets above the house and tree line on my block. Yesterday we generated 12 KWHs and are starting the day with 264.96 m-t-d.
Jill is no longer in Taos County. More trouble, lies, and undependable “helpers” she paying more money than she can afford. Not comfortable yet because some of those lies included he was going to do complete set-up including hooking up to the water & sewage systems & he didn’t – she’ll deal with that today. More of those lies & undependable helper stuff included not leaving until 3 hours after originally planned. And one of the dogs got loose on the way, was hit, broke her leg, and is now at a vet. So not unscathed getting out either. But safe now.
Murf’s looking more alert (when he’s not napping) and acting better. He’s eating some of the special food. Unfortunately, the other cats who are getting to finish off what Murf doesn’t eat are starting to skimp their own food hoping for Murf’s. sigh. Cats.
Holding Good Thoughts for everybody. And wishing I could do more than just hold Good Thoughts. Coffee and twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Thursday Meese. 72 going up to 78 here in Kingston.
Puerto Rico -Today is the anniversary of El Grito de Lares
Good Thursday morning, Meese! It was so dark and rainy when I woke up that I cooked a Dark English Morning Breakfast for Dearly: a soft-boiled egg in an egg cup covered by an egg cosy, along with a tiny egg spoon, toast “soldiers,” and thick-cut bacon. This was accompanied by orange juice from happy California oranges and COFFEE.
Enjoyed an eight-and-a-half hour drugged sleep last night, which I badly needed. After the Authors’ Festival I came home and collapsed. Not from the work I did at the festival, which consisted of smiling hard and pretending to be 10 times nicer than I really am, but because I didn’t get much sleep the night before: Ms. Bladder was very excited by the thought of the festival and wanted me to be sure to get up early (groan), so I woke up at 4:30 and finally got up at 5-dark-thirty.
When I arrived with my little cart at the Hall (luckily, a not-too-long walk around the corner and through an indoor passage), my table mate, a tall, genial-looking fellow, opened his arms wide and proclaimed, “What happy conjunction of the stars was responsible for my being paired with YOU at this table?” Well, that got the day started off right. I had dreaded sharing a table with a Christian writer, but he had such an interesting take on the four James Bond paperbacks he displayed on his table, that I revised (to a small extent) my very low of opinion of Ian Fleming. He also had a copy of Ian Fleming’s Bible, open at the relevant page and highlighted.
Anyway, a couple of hundred residents trooped through the hall, enjoying the music and talking to the authors. I took orders for five copies of my latest book! That was nice. It was a rainy morning so I think people liked having a substitute for their usual morning walks and bocce-playing. Of course, I took care to have wrapped Ghirardelli chocolates on my half of the table as an incentive to visit. After it was over, I gave the rest of them to Ben. He likes dark chocolate, Dearly and I do not. Ben even wrote me a special note afterwards to say he had enjoyed sharing a table and hoped our paths would cross again! LOL!
The rain has stopped so the sun and some rather messy-looking white clouds have come out. The current temp. is 62 F., so cool I’m having to wear a jacket indoors; the low this morning was 48 F. and the high will be 74 F. today. I’m going to do a few simple things today, like making a chicken pot pie for dinner, followed by stewed apples and custard.
Happy Mabon, Meese—a bit late, but never mind. I’ll be back later to read the essays by Jan and RonK. In the meantime, wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
{{{Diana}}} I’m glad your event went so well. Chicken pot pie sounds lovely. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 52 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Isolated showers are in the forecast. I had to find my slippers this morning because my feet were cold – they had been “tucked away” instead of just sitting in the corner of my office regardless of the season. Tidiness is not very efficient!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Arizona!! The election audit that wasted millions in taxpayer money and suckered in the basketful of dupables to line the pockets of the grifters running it, turns out to have validated the Biden win in Maricopa County (they found 99 more votes for Biden and 261 fewer for tRump). I am certain that the bullcrap audit that Wisconsin is doing will result in the same thing. It is beyond sad that no one involved in these tongue baths to Donald J. Trump’s ego will suffer any political consequences. In a just world, the state legislators who spent this time and money would be booted. And HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Texas, why the hell are you auditing an election that your guys won handily??!!?
The news yesterday was depressing – the Haitian refugees mess, the debt ceiling debacle, the “moderate” Democrats determined to subvehiculate their party and return to the minority, the terrible health care crisis brought about by the MAGAts (psst – this is why herd immunity that will sicken 3 million people won’t work, you idiots!), and the pending Manchin Recession caused by the senior Senator from West Virginia refusing to allow Democrats to govern as the majority. I am NOT buoyed by news of the Jan. 6 commission subpoenaing people who won’t show up and demonstrating once again that Congressional subpoenas are useless. We need a Sergeant at Arms with handcuffs to perp walk the bad guys to a jail cell.
It is Friday! I have some errands to run this morning and into the early afternoon and then I can take take the rest of the day off. I have gotten my stack under control after a week of disruptions – it was spread out and I had no idea what was in it. I updated my end of month and end of quarter to-do list to make sure I don’t miss anything for what will be a very chaotic first two weeks of October. :::deep breath:::
See all y’all later!
Good Friday morning, Moosekind, and a jolly good morning it is too. Yikes, people, autumn is really here! Right now it’s 48 F. under a cool, perfectly blue sky. I took Monty out a little after six and saw my friend the Moon! She looked silvery. Our high today will be 60 F.
The bran is soaking in the milk in a bowl. When the timer goes off I’ll have to sift the dry ingredients, add the egg and applesauce and mix up the whole shebang. I like hot muffins for breakfast.
Haven’t been to the gym since Monday, drat it, but I walked so much yesterday delivering copies of my book and picking up things I left behind in my hurry to vacate the hall on Wednesday that my legs ached all night. More bad news—the husband of one of my friends has been in the hospital but is coming back today to the Rehab Place. The good news is that a woman I admire greatly is coming home as well. Last I heard she was in the hospital with Covid AND pneumonia.
Jan, it sounds as if you’ve made a great deal of progress on your downsizing. I found it heartbreaking. Well, I’ve always had a problem letting go of things and relationships and even houses.
Today I must go to the gym, watch Madame Vice President on “The View” at 11, visit Trader Joe’s, and keep an appointment for a pedicure at 4.
The bran is soaked, timer just went off, gotta go! Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Friday Meese. Dragging this morning because pouring rain and house shaking thunder kept the dogs (and me) up half the night. 56 going up to 74 here in Kingston today.
My poor doggie has anxiety when the barometer changes at all – she is starting to lose her hearing so the thunder sound is less of an issue, the feeling is hard for her. I actually wonder if the anxiety about not hearing is making it worse – she is much more difficult to calm down now. Thunder chews did not work for her so we started to give her Rescue Remedy and that seems to have helped somewhat. Since it is homeopathic, we can give it to her more frequently.
Thanks for that tip – will check out Rescue Remedy Jan
Good morning! I wore long sleeves for my walk/run this morning — 1.12 miles and 5 running segments, yay me! Plan for the rest of the day: work till 3:30 then pick up groceries.
It’s 54 heading for 83, no heat index. Widget says partly cloudy and it appears to be correct. Yesterday we generated 11.5 KWHs and the m-t-d is 276.5 to start the day. We’ll probably make it to 350, may or may not make it to 365 (to get to 4th place in September production).
Murf always perks up for a day or two after the vet’s been here and he did this time as well. I tried a can of the special food. Same ol’ same ol’ – scarf, scarf, meh. Over the course of 2 days Murf ate about half the can, most of that when I first opened it, with the other 5 cats sharing the rest after Murf declined to eat it. I’m not even sure I’m going to open a 2nd can. sigh. But he’s eating some oatmeal (a TBSP of mostly goo from my breakfast) and some kibble (from Freddie’s or Cloud’s bowls which is why I don’t know how much). We shall see what we shall see.
Jill’s safe but not what you might call comfortable yet. Bastid she hired to drive the truck down not only stole some of her stuff (hand pump, portable solar panel, & the dog toys FHS) but turned in the truck late so she was stuck with $100 extra fees. Her dog came through the amputation operation fine and will come home Monday. And there’s a water leak in there somewhere she discovered late last night. But. . . she’s 1000x safer and better off than she was.
As of last night Lisa’s still sick. Afraid it’s a COVID breakthrough but not sure. Symptoms are pretty much bad cold. Aji’s helping with a fundraiser for a young Native family who’ve gotten the opportunity to buy their house on the Rez, remembering all too well what she and Wings went through. Somebody – not me – should mention Natives can’t get mortgages for houses on Rez land. That’s a major reason why housing is so difficult for Natives. Everybody else is hanging on. Including me with my latest sinusitis flare which started yesterday afternoon (2 hours of sleep) and is sort of thinking about passing off now. Sort of.
Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 54 and foggy in Bellingham. Yesterday we found appliances that fit the existing spaces, are in stock, and stayed very close to the amount we wanted to spend. The store will deliver the new ones and take away the old, and our son will do the installation. Whew….made me weary! But we shouldn’t have to do this again, another advantage of being old :)
I’ve got a quiet day ahead, adding more fabric to donation boxes and visiting with my sister. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 50 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 64. Mostly sunny skies. The front that is moving through appears to be bringing 80 degree temperatures with it! Tomorrow and all of next week will be in the 80s/upper 70s. This past week we had frost advisories – now a heat wave. It feels too early for Second Summer, we just started autumn!
I am going to try to go “news light” this weekend, I will put a few stories into Pocket and read them if I get around to it. I am definitely ignoring the hair-on-fire over the “failed Biden presidency” narrative. Presidential historian Michael Beschloss reminds us that FDR and LBJ – and Obama – did not get everything they wanted from their own party and that it is very very early in his presidency. Americans have a short attention span and can’t see the long game. That is why electing the right people is essential; we need people who think beyond the 10 minute news cycle and lay the foundation for real progress. The “rough patch” in the Biden presidency is blown out of proportion by a media that needs a “crisis” to report on in order to justify their existence. We need fewer media outlets, less punditry and more facts.
I have a few projects to work on in the quiet of my downsized office, some accounting work that has been neglected but needs to be caught up for the end of the quarter and a few remaining boxes of saved documents that need to be sorted, scanned and shredded.
See all y’all later!