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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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 1 degree in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 12. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. Am in shock – yesterday was really warm and woke up to snow this morning – it’s now 24 degrees. :(
Wishing I could be in Puerto Rico for the beach protests
It was 5 degrees when I got up and 0 when the dog went out. Now it is 6. We had a glimpse of spring and then we were tossed back in the deep freeze.
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! February’s weather has been a little schizophrenic. Yesterday we had a high of 55 F., although a cold wind blew fiercely all day, and now it’ s 32 F. It snowed a tiny bit during the night so the tree limbs and the grass are limned with white. We’re having a snow shower right now. Our high will be 37 F. ‘Twill be a VERY good day to stay home.
Poor Dearly Beloved still looks as if he’s been in a cage match. The wild-eyed dermatologists at Kaiser love nothing so much as carving him up like a turkey. His black eyes are gradually fading but his throat is sore where they removed skin to graft on his left ear. He’s wearing a surgical ear muff over it.
Life is far too busy right now, I hate it. Have tons of work waiting. It’s just as well that the icy roads will keep us from going out to Miss Pink Cheeks’ house today. We were going to deliver her birthday presents, but that will have to wait, perhaps until her actual birthday on Wednesday.
I am more and more infuriated with Racist Goobernator Dumbkin. Apparently he harbors aspirations of national office. Huh! He’ll soon find out that more qualifications than a vest and 6’4″ in height will be needed. He’s so stupid.
What else…need to cook breakfast and catch up on laundry. Tonight I will be in the same room as the Super Bore, eating. We aren’t having a proper dinner, just snacks like guac and chips, shrimp cocktail, pigs in blankets, and fruit salad.
Yesterday I rowed for 15 minutes at the gym and then did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I slept a great deal better than usual, although still not the 8 hours I crave.
I’m still undecided as to whether to give Nora my hard copy of Freewater for her birthday. I just read the Kindle version and enjoyed it enormously. It ought to win the Newbery prize. However, she likes to read about tribes of warring cats, so I fear the book would languish on her bookshelf. Perhaps I’ll just keep it over here in case she stays the night and starts looking for something to read. It’s about enslaved children escaping to the Great Dismal Swamp and the completely different, unbelievable life they find in Freewater.
I must cook breakfast for my poor husband. I’m not letting him out in public for fear people will think I knocked him about. Then after that I get to do tons of laundry in between working on my Peace Corps article.
Wishing a nice, quiet, Super Bore Sunday to all at the Pond!
We will watch the Super Bore – we will root against the anti-vax QB Stafford because that is how we are. We will also watch the Puppy Bowl.
Is he a Ram? All rght, then, I’m for the Bengals.
Sadly, the Bengals, having not been in a Super Bowl in about 100 years, were undisciplined and essentially gave the game to the Rams.
In Puppy Bowl news, Team Fluff beat Team Ruff. We were rooting for Team Fluff because they had the cutest doggies!
Were any of them beagles?
It’s a cold morning here — right at freezing, but no precipitation. We had a weird little bit yesterday — not sure if it was sleet, hail or freezing rain, but it was too warm for it to freeze. Anyway, today: going to in-person church, making next week’s tea and breakfast. For now, I’m watching the news & eating breakfast. This morning, Ali Velshi has the author of All Boys Aren’t Blue, for his Banned Book Club.
Black Music Sunday
Going right over!
Loved the saxophone!
It’s 29 heading for 47 and sunny. Definitely rollercoaster weather. Yesterday in the 30s, today 40s, next 3 are showing 60s, then back to 30s on Thursday. Can’t get used to anything because it changes so much/rapidly. The Light is coming back – yesterday we generated 11.4 KWHs and the m-t-d is 58.99 so not on track but still gaining.
My hands are cold, achy, stiff, and it’s a little painful to type. As well as hard to get all the letters and spaces to hit at all much less be where I want them to be. sigh. Oh well, since I’m using the keyboard shortcuts so much I haven’t had nearly the problem with the mouse that I had been. So that’s good. Almost 7 hours of sleep. Which is also good.
Gotta connect with Aji today – Chewy says her dogfood is on backorder so I need to know if there’s a substitute her dogs will eat or if I should send her the money instead this month. sigh. Amelia’s still battling fatigue from the most recent upset (a really bad Instacart experience about which I don’t know the particulars). Jill’s got dogfood issues that are really money issues. That extra $100 her husband managed to get charged to her phone account (no, she can’t get it back – they’re still married) took her dogfood, people non-SNAP groceries, and cab fare for Feb. It’s being worked on by multiple people.
I need to visit Dee’s diary and get started on my twitter stuff. And housework of course. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Healing vibes to your poor hands, bfitz! {{{Hugs}}}
Summer will be here sometime or another. Then I’ll complain about bugs and pollen – but not my hands. LOL. {{{Diana}}}
Good morning, 33 and sunny outside my window today. I was in the garden yesterday so some primroses are planted and the outdoor arrangements are now looking like spring with faux blooming flowers and real greens and pussy willow branches. It’s nice to see and was fun to do, just wish I didn’t get so tired. I’ll do a bit more outside today, deliver a valentine treat to my grand girls, have dinner with our son and Heidi and then call it a day. Best wishes to all.
Sounds like a lovely day tomorrow!
I also wish I didn’t get so tired. Could it have something to do with AGE? Rilly?
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 10 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 23. It says it is snowing lightly but I don’t see it. It will be sunny later. Tomorrow we will break 32, Wednesday we will have some mixed precipitation then back into the freezer for the rest of the week.
It looks like Canadian officials have cleared out the “Canadian” truckers protesting vaccine mandates. The “Canadians” waving Confederate flags is a dead giveaway that they are being propped up by the American right-wing. Lovely photos from over the weekend where the cowardly “truckers” created a human chain over the bridge using their children. Sheesh.
It looks like a pretty quiet news weekend other than the steady drumbeat of war. I think it is pretty obvious that Putin is playing the West, getting the attention he craves, generating the fear that he feasts on. I am not sure he knows how to back down now but I can’t imagine that he really wants a bloody war and to invade and take over Ukraine and occupy it for 20 years like the Soviet Union did in Afghanistan. I hope someone gives him a good excuse to back away – my guess is that he is not going to be deterred by threats. A little South Sun versus North Wind persuasion might be in order.
Here we are in the middle of February already! Time to put my nose back to the grindstone.
See all y’all later!
Good Monday morning Meese. Temps here in Kingston are winter normal – it’s 11 degrees going up to 23.
Puerto Rico
Ugh, those awful 19th-century Supreme Court pronouncements about P. R.! And we can’t call the speechifiers out on it because they’re all dead.
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s 23 F. in Ashburn right now—just imagine, that will be Jan’s high for the day—and partly cloudy. The temp. will rise all the way to 33 F. It’s a chilly-looking blue and white morning, with the sun dimmed.
After yawning my way through the SuperBore, which was extra boring this year, I could not get to sleep last night to save my life. This will ruin my day, which had lots of plans before the night happened.
Don’t know what to say about the nation or the world. Putie is really stupid to sink blood and treasure into a war. Some say we will never go back to our pre-Covid way of life. That’s really depressing.
Well, to breakfast, coffee, and Twitter before I collapse! Wishing all at the Pond a happy Valentine’s Day. Long live chocolate.
Here is a link to the Puppy Bowl stars. I think I remember seeing a beagle. Did you get Monty as a baby?
Puppy Bowl Photos
Thanks, Jan! No, Monty was 14 months old when we rescued him.
Two of those cute doggies were beagles. The first, a lemon beagle, appeared early on. The second was a conventionally colored beagle, the black, tan, and white kind, late in the lineup.
All of them were cute. If only I still had a house with a big, fenced backyard and lots of wildlife roaming through it!
Well, too late now.
Good morning. Cold by Texas standards, wore hat and gloves, but this afternoon, it’s supposed to get up to 70. Been promoting the Romancing the Vote auction all over. All kinds of awesome stuff for book lovers, writers and other creators. Benefits Fair Fight, which will be working in elections all over the country. I don’t know how to copy and paste on this tablet, but y’all can go to romancingthevote.org, it tells about the auction and has a link.
It’s 42 heading for 65 and sunny. Yay! Yesterday we generated 10.8 KWHs and the m-t-d is 69.8 – so if today is as good as yesterday, we’ll reach 80 by sundown. Still not on track, of course, but seriously gaining.
I got over 7 hours of sleep, which is nice. My hands aren’t any worse, which is also nice. But I’ve developed a rash – not the itchy kind – on my right leg as if I’d sat on something scratchy or something like that. And a deep muscle ache in my hip to go with it. I haven’t a clue. I haven’t been anywhere in well over a week, only sat in my car driving when I did go out. I certainly haven’t got anything new to sit on. It’s totally bizarre as well as uncomfortable.
At least Jill’s dogfood situation has been dealt with. Neither Lisa’s COVID cough nor her fatigue have changed. sigh. Aji’s dogfood situation also dealt with. I wish some of her others were at least eased. I haven’t connected with anyone else.
I haven’t a clue whether or not this international kettle will boil over or if somebody somehow will reduce the heat enough that it doesn’t. All of the ways non-Euro/white cultures manage to avoid all-out war are generally sneered at and definitely not used by Euro/white cultures. The main thing different about Hitler was he said the quiet part out loud – and did his best to take it to its logical conclusion as quickly and directly as possible. It’s mostly in Putin’s hands. And. . . former KGB – he may have more in common with Hitler than anyone wants to admit. Or deal with.
Meanwhile we’re losing a “9-11” to COVID every 3 days. Our total dead so far is greater than the entire populations of our 4 least populated states. Not added together, thank goddess. Yet.
I’m not focusing on my own little circle of people and activities because I don’t know or don’t care about what’s going on. But I can’t do anything more than I’m already doing. So. Off to do my little circle of twitter stuff. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 46 and raining outside my window today. RonK and I usually go somewhere for a Valentine lunch but after our birthday lunches last week neither of us wants to go out today so we’re just going to stay home and smile at each other :) Best wishes to all.
Tuesday Meese. 9 degrees here in Kingston NY going up to 32.
Got my package from POTUS on Valentine’s Day
I got mine on Saturday! I will use one when I return from a trip I will be taking in March that will include airports.
I got mine Friday. I’m not sure if I’ll use them myself or give them to my son since he has so much more contact with people than I do.
Does one have to order these or do they simply arrive?
You have to order it. https://www.covidtests.gov/
Puerto Rico
The best Valentine’s gift has been seeing how Pierluisi’s cousin is left without a pool.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 10 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 32. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
The overnight news alerts suggest that Putin, probably having realized that he had achieved his goal of reminding people that he could fk up the whole world if he wanted to, is pulling some troops away from the Ukrainian border. War would not be good for anyone and he knows that. His further goal was to damage the Ukrainian president which he might have done by thrusting him into the limelight where he did not exactly shine (apparently he made a sarcastic comment about the imminent invasion that was broadcast as fact). The United States did not do Zelensky any favors – at times it seemed like he was not in charge of his own country with our role as “ally” expanding into “the boss of him.”
I was reading my newsfeed this morning and I was sure that this was from The Onion: A pastor baptized people for decades using one wrong word. Now those are all considered invalid. Nope, not The Onion. Holy Mackeral, Catholic Church – one freaking word and people will have to get re-confirmed and re-married? What about people who had the Last Sacrament and then died – are they in purgatory, were they cast into HELL over semantics??
I have a question – what the af? I am glad that my spiritual tradition relies heavily on intent and less on precise wording.
The Republican gubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin are all promising to shut down the nonpartisan Wisconsin Election Commission and give the power to control elections, including certifying presidential electors, to elected officials. Bastids. I will not be here for the fall election so it will be up to those left to decide if they want to put the final nail into the coffin of democracy in Wisconsin. The trump effect is strong here – a state legislator who is still working to rescind the state’s electoral votes from 2020 just threw his hat in the gubernatorial ring and has rallied the base to attack Assembly Leader Robin “doodiehead” Vos as not sufficiently trumpian. Wisconsin #RepublicansInDisarray is going to make it an ugly election cycle.
I need to get a few things done before the sun comes up. The dark quiet of the mornings is perfect for projects that require braining.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Have had weird anxiety-laden dreams the past couple of nights. One was that I had applied for & gotten a job at my old agency, but not been going in; and I needed to catch up on all that work. I had to pretend that I’d been coming, so I should know my way around only it was a confusing maze…. No idea what that’s about. Today: wfh, maybe watch some Disney+ (Marvel or Star Wars).
Good Tuesday morning, Meese. It’s 25 bone-chilling degrees F., which is better than 18 bone-chilling degrees F. It’s sunny and blue-skied in Ashburn today. I’m hoping the skies will stay clear. Last night, walking outside as I was carrying dinner back to our flat, I saw the ghost of the full moon. It was lovely.
M’Daughter in Texas is going to work the polls for the election. I forget what the election is for—anotherdemocrat? Is it a state election? She texted, “If I get shot and die, remember that I love you!” I texted back, “Do NOT wear your Biden-Harris t-shirt or your Beto for Governor t-shirt to the polls! I love you too!”
In other news, Elder Son and six-year-old Ethan made heart-shaped pepperoni pizza for dinner at their house yesterday. Then they piled fresh strawberries onto something that looked like cream cheese on top of plain cookies. Sometimes it’s hard to make out the photos.
Yesterday I missed the Valentine’s Day party because I spent the entire day trying to catch up on sleep. Last night I took half a milligram of the sleeping pill (Ativan), enjoyed a pretty decent night’s sleep, and feel ready to tackle my many tasks.
If I EVER finish the Peace Corps story I’m working on, I’ll start doing the taxes. I like to do them early and file electronically.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
I have three sticky notes in different places reminding me to do taxes. I really need to get them done this week because next week will be incredibly busy.
It’s 45 going to 65 and sunny. Forecast has shoved all temps up a bit & Thursday’s up a lot. Meanwhile yesterday we generated 10.4 KWHs and the m-t-d is 80.2 – if today matches it we’ll end up with 90 by sundown. Still not on track but definitely gaining.
On top of my usual stuff (sinuses, hands) as of Sunday night and getting worse I’ve developed a muscle ache and uncomfortably but not quite painful rash in/on my right leg. The rash is on the back of my leg so I can’t see it, only feel it with my hands. No pustules but definitely getting worse. Online search brings up the possibility of shingles. I’ll check with my son. He’s had them. (See, I should have gotten the vaccine when it was suggested at the time I got my COVID booster.)
I haven’t connected with anyone yet this morning. As of last night there was nothing much different from yesterday morning. Holding the Good Thoughts for things getting better. For everybody.
I need to get gas so am trying to think of other errands I can run while I’m out. But that will be later today. Now it’s off to twitter. Bright the Day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 44 and cloudy outside my window. Our son will be here this afternoon to remove the moss growing on the garage roof so that will be a bit messy but good job to get done. My onerous task today will be emptying and cleaning the back porch. It looks like a very muddy mud room right now so a good scrubbing and some spring flowers will be an improvement. Best wishes to all.