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 Wednesday morning, Moosekind! Today is going to be exhausting, as I have an interview at 1 o’clock, another at 7 p.m., and in between we’re going to drop off Nora’s birthday presents. We can’t do it tomorrow, her actual birthday, because I have a meeting at 3 p.m.
This morning, must finish laundry, finish draft of article and send it off. At some point must write my sister-in-law in Australia. She arranged a celebration of Don’s brother’s life for last Saturday. When asked, Don could not think of anything to say. Oh, dear.
Managed to take a little walk although the weather wasn’t nearly as warm and sunny as the weather wenches pretended. They also forecasted predawn showers today, which of course have not materialized. Right now it’s gray and gloomy, 50 degrees F., supposedly going up to 57 F. This weather is unnatural.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
You do not sound retired! :)
And guess what! Ran into two members of the Drama Club when I went to the Deli next door to get lunch, and they want me to write a play!
I slept in this morning because I want to walk this afternoon, it’s going to be 80 degrees! Tomorrow’s high will be in the 50s. Watching astronomy & getting ready for work.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 32 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 45. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Earlier this morning, this happened:
We had some snow on the grass in the picnic area for the dog’s first morning “walk” but the pavement was not slick. However it was 37 at the time (wind chill 27!) and now that the temperature is at freezing, it might get slick. I will wait until the sun has a chance to dry things out before I take my walk. Thankfully, no place I need to go today.
So Dianne Feinstein announced her retirement and then forgot she did that? Yikes! Perhaps she should retire now, then help choose her successor. The next Senator from California should be a Black women, end of discussion. I think Adam Schiff is a fine person and would make an excellent Senator but we have plenty of smart white guys in the Senate – he adds nothing special. We need the perspective of a Black woman. I haz spoken.
Ron DeSantis is going to opt Florida high school students from College Board AP and replace it with something only used in Florida – guaranteeing that they will only be able to use Advanced Placement credits in Florida universities and guaranteeing that Florida young people will be trapped in ignorance for the rest of their lives. The good news is that he is term limited, the bad news is that Florida voters have approved turning their state into Texas and are unlikely to replace him with anyone smarter. Sad to see after they voted for Obama in 2008 and gave a glimmer of hope that we could make Florida blue. Door closed now.
I have quite a bit of news reading to catch up on – some I will tuck away in my Pocket and some I will try to read when I get back to my computer for my after breakfast work session. Last night was Microsoft Patch Tuesday so I had to check on automatic restarts this morning to make sure everything came up properly. Now I have to deal with the things I recalendared for today knowing that I was unlikely to work over the weekend.
See all y’all later!
For this you moved to Arizona, Jan? Never mind, ‘t’will last but a day.
We have had exactly .40 of an inch of snow so far.
Indeed – it lasted about an hour after sunrise then the sun melted everything in the valley and on the close-in mountains. The local weather guys say that this is not typical but that we are quickly reaching the time of year when the temperatures will steadily rise. Saturday will be 73. February averages are high 70 low 43 so this is definitely not normal. Snow is okay as long as I don’t have to shovel it and don’t have to drive in it.
Good morning, 33 and mostly sunny. I woke up with more garden thoughts than I can possibly do, but if the ice on my knees does it’s job maybe I can do something easy. Time for coffee now and a brief look at the news. Best wishes to all.
It’s 56 heading for 70 and sunny – at least until this afternoon. The cold, cloudy, and maybe wet front starts moving in then. Yesterday we generated 6.1 KWHs which brought the m-t-d to 85.3 – a little but not a lot of lost ground.
Social Security payday for me today so I’ve been out running errands & spending money. Although not as much as I would have if they hadn’t been out of rubbed sage in the bulk section and CA citrate in supplements. I got a very lovely gift this morning, part of which I’m going to spend on BBQ takeout for lunch/dinner. 😁💕 Got tremors again, which is messing with my typing. sigh. Meanwhile I’m way behind on my twitter chores so I’d best get to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Ooh, that’s not good about the tremors! Is there a dr appt in your near future?-
{{{Diana}}} As with everything else I deal with, it’s not severe enough for medical intervention. They’re mostly not noticeable – except for really sensitive things like mouse clicks. The Raynaud’s is worse – it can cause my fingers to be numb/weak enough I drop things/need both hands to hold things and really messes with my typing. And it’s also not treatable. Nothing serious, though. Just irritating. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Thursday Meese. 47 here in Kingston going up to 57 – really bizarre weather
I am speaking today at CUNY Queens college
Retweeted!
Lucky, blessed audience that gets to hear you speak!
Wish I could be there.
Puerto Rico
Good morning. Back in the office, so I walked in the parking garage. Did a few running segments. Warm enough for just 2 shirts (I don’t have a light jacket that’s reflective so I just use the long sleeve shirt I have that is). Tomorrow morning it’s supposed to be in the 30s. So there was another shooting in El Paso. Didn’t even make the news. And an earthquake up near Fort Worth. Whoever’s simulation game this is really should hit the reset button.
Rilly! Glad you were able to walk despite the weather. I noticed that the weather in Austin is rather chilly by Austin standards. My cousin from Texas wrote yesterday: is it true that y’all still don’t have electricity?
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 32 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 48. Sunny skies are in the forecast. While I don’t care for freezing weather, the difference between “overnight hard freeze” and “never gets above freezing all day” is huge. I am learning the cycles of the seasons here and I know that March will be the start of what should be 3 months of pleasant weather. We are grateful for the rain and the especially the snow on the mountaintops which replenish our reservoirs.
Jack Smith’s subpoenas are being served and the people who refused to speak to the January 6th Committee (because only Republican House committees should have subpoena power, I guess) will have to appear in front of his Grand Jury or convince a judge that they are somehow exempt from the rule of law. Mike Pence claiming executive privilege to get out of testifying before Congress and then congressional privilege to get out of testifying before the grand jury is hilarious. I suspect the DC judge won’t find it so funny.
The 2024 Republican primary is shaping up to be like the 2016 primary – lots of candidates likely ending with tRump getting 33% in each primary and winning the nomination again. Josh at TPM pointed out that “there is no candidate in the race whose campaign isn’t entirely about Donald Trump” and suggests that means that there is no way tRump wont’ be the nominee. It is sad to see Nikki Haley prostrate herself at the altar of MAGAt, infuriating to see her claiming that her uphill battle will be because she is a woman, not because of her discarding her principles – and denying her life story as a woman and the child of immigrants. #BrokenMirrorRepublicans get on my last nerve.
Yesterday I had great intentions of “getting things done” and lasted until about 10am then collapsed in my easy chair. I think I am getting a cold, probably from being worn down by a lack of good sleep in “not my bed” for 3 nights. The hotel was nice but noisy and I found it chilly. Last night I treated my sore throat and I think I got a decent night’s sleep – at least enough to get back to my deferred projects.
See all y’all later!
Hope you can get some rest and treat your incipient cold, Jan!
Dammit (howling to the heavens like a wolf), Thing is supposed to be in JAIL! Why isn’t he in JAIL? He is guilty of numerous crimes! Why are he and Rapey McForehead (Matt Gaetz) immune from the law?
It matters not to me who gets the Rethug nom, as long as he’s easy to beat.
Posted:
Good Thursday morning, Meese! We have 52 F. right now in Ashboring, on its way up to 67 F. Grey and gloomy here.
However, today is my darling’s 14th birthday! I remember seeing the pediatric nurse give Miss Pink Cheeks her first bath in the newborn nursery. Miss Baby did not like that at all! Then, when she was 10 weeks old, she came to me in the during the work week. She was such a delight. (My worship of her borders on idolatry.) What a journey it’s been!
We took her presents to her yesterday afternoon and Younger Son gave us tea. We gave her a toy white Boxer, also named Mort, after the white Boxer who died. All the family were sad when he died, but Nora took it harder than anyone else. She and Karl have set up a little shrine to the departed Mort in what would be the garden room if there were any plants there. We also gave her a Starbucks gift card and edible crystals. She seemed quite happy, even consenting to come out of her room to be photographed.
Had my two interviews yesterday, and they were good. The second one, upstairs on the fourth floor, turned into a real argy-bargy! She’s a delightful woman, one of the UUs, so I bump into her all the time. She gave me a couple of killer quotes for the article, one of which was, “When you’re in a wheelchair, you become a non-person. People address their remarks to the person pushing the wheelchair, not to you.”
So I have tons of writing to do before the meeting today. I received a letter from my cousin in Austin yesterday, rather to my surprise. I’d thought he was too ill to write back. Although he lives with his daughter, who is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrat (she has a master’s degree in education), he needs a little reeducation with respect to Biden’s performance as President. I will do that in a tactful manner—yes, yes, I can be capable of tact when I try. I rather think my dear cousin lived in Dallas too long before his daughter rescued him five years ago.
Cooked a proper American breakfast for Dearly and even did some laundry. Need to finish getting dressed for the day and then start on my many writing chores.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 32 and may or may not get any higher today and overcast. A total jolt after yesterday’s totally unseasonable 75 and sunny. We generated 11 KWHs – best single day since 9/23/22 – and the m-t-d at 96.9 is gaining.
It’s going to be in the 20s for the next two overnights. The crocuses were blooming yesterday. I hope the cold doesn’t kill them. The daffs are poking their noses above ground, but just the leaves. The flowers have more sense. I’m not raking the dead leaves off the wild violets yet. That’s for sure. However pleasant 75 and sunny may be, it shouldn’t be happening in February. At least not in NW AR.
I’m moving slowly today. But at least I got better sleep and am not as groggy. I hate groggy.
I talked to Karen/Fineena yesterday. Her health issues aren’t any better but at least she’s got a good doctor who keeps looking. The worst news isn’t health. She seems to be stuck where she is living, as much as she needs to move. Charlotte has been undergoing serious gentrification and she hasn’t found even a studio in a neighbor not safe to drive in at night – which she couldn’t live in anyway with 2 Airedales – for less than what she’s paying. If the landlord wasn’t such a jerkwad, she’d think she was lucky (even with rent more than her entire Social Security check) where she is. Which she can’t afford.
Heading off to twitter and Dee’s diary. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Oh, dear. She needs an advocate who can negotiate with the social welfare departments of her city. There has to be a place where she can live at an affordable rent. I wish there were something I could do.
A friend helped her get SNAP and that was a blessing. I keep thinking there has to be a place. But gentrification does get rid of everything affordable in a given area. She doesn’t want to leave Charlotte, even if she could afford to, because her doctor is really good. And you know how hard it is to find good doctors!
Good morning, 37 and cloudy outside my window today. I’ve got a bit of energy this morning but I can’t decide where to direct it :) Oh well, Guy Clark is singing his songs and I’ve got a cup of coffee so for the moment I know just what to do! Best wishes to all.
Brrrr! 34 degrees for my walk this morning. 1.3 mi, with 8 30-second running segments. I think over the weekend it warms up to the 70s. Texas weather is a roller coaster this time of year.
Friday Meese – still weirdly warm here in Kingston, 47 going up to 58. This is bad news for all the buds on my trees and rosebushes since the temps are due to drop next week and will kill them off.
Puerto Rico
{{{Dee}}} – that warming followed by hard freezes routine is why I haven’t had cherries in 3 years. We shall see about this year. The tree hasn’t budded out yet. Healing Energy as needed for people, pets, & plants. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Hope you get cherries this year!
Good Friday moaning, Moosekind! It’s 58 F. and the rain is tapering off. We had .44 of an inch yesterday—hurrah!—and we woke up to rain today. Meanwhile, outside, the forsythia is blooming and the willows are turning lime green. Global warming is real.
It’s time to start sending used pads and tampons to Goobernator Dumbkin’s office. (It worked with Pence, dinnit?) He has vetoed a bill to forbid the po-lice from accessing menstruation apps on people’s phones. (In my day we used those little flip-over desk calendars, and I simply wrote “RB” on the appropriate date.)
You know what he wants, don’tcha? He knows he has ZERO charisma and not a hyena’s chance in hell of getting the presidential nom, so he’s angling to be DeathSantis’ running mate.
Bfitz, on Facebark yesterday a fellow Witch posted a picture of her hand with Meniere’s disease. Her hand was BLUE, literally blue, except for a white patch on one fingertip. It was so scary I nearly fainted. Is that what you’re going through?
Dearly is off to the doctor in an hour. An Uber supplied by Kaiser is coming for him because there’s no telling when he’ll arrive back here. One appointment is at 11 a.m., and the other is at 3 p.m. Oncology told him to come in after his first appointment and they’ll try to fit him in before 3 p.m.
I’m going to try AGAIN (this will be the third time) to contact a doctor’s office. She’s one I haven’t seen yet. You can’t talk to these people, everything is done by voicemail. I hate modern medicine! No bedside manner at all.
Well, off to get ready for the day. I have a day of writing and possibly Turbotax to look forward to.
Wishing all at the Pond a good day.
{{{Diana}}} I’m not sure what Meniere’s disease would have to do with it. That’s a disease of the inner ear. (Like a permanent inner ear infection, complete with balance issues.) Raynaud’s can do that. I don’t have it that bad (of course – I don’t have anything “that bad”) but my fingers and much more rarely my hands do get white with a tinge of blue.
Holding the Good Thoughts for doctors things – including actually getting the appointment – for you and your household. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Oh, sorry, I must have been having a senior moment. Raynaud’s, yes.
And I DID get to speak to a live human being and scheduled an appointment! So that’s four doctor appointments plus one hospitalization in March. It’s going to be a grim month.
Ah. I do that myself more than I’m happy about. Well, I’m glad you got the appointments & hope they do some good. moar {{{HUGS}}}
It’s 26 heading for 46 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 3.44 KWHs (brought the m-t-d to 100.44) and today we might get over 10. Holding the Good Thoughts and all that.
The pork loin roast I baked yesterday was lovely. And will make another 9 dinners for me. Sam’s Club has whole pork loins at $2/lb so my son got one for me, then cut it into 4 2-lb roasts, 3 of which are in the freezer. Beautiful lean meat and so very versatile.
I’ve laundry to put up – and the racks they’re on of course – but I’m being weighted down by a cat on my lap right now. LOL. So I guess I’ll start my twitter chores instead. And see if I can spout yet on Spoutible. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 44 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 55. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Tomorrow’s high won’t be as high as predicted but after seeing that Flagstaff was -9, I am good!
Going news lite today. My cold is giving me a fat head and I am going to do a lot of sitting in my easy chair.
See all y’all later!
Hope you feel better soon Jan. Head colds are no fun!
Rest is the best – and lots of warm liquids – for dealing with a cold. Healing Energy & {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 37 and cloudy and looking like rain. I started clearing the winter clutter from the back porch yesterday, but got distracted by cleaning the refrigerator. Yikes, that was overdue! So today I’ll finish cleaning the porches and see what I can do with the faux flowers stashed in the basement. If arthritis allows I’ll combine real branches and greens from the garden with the flowers, but if I can’t do that just flowers and ferns from my stash will do. I’m feeling very frustrated with the physical constraints of arthritis, but still grateful for the choices I’m fortunate to enjoy regardless. Best wishes to all.
Saturday Meese. 22 here in Kingston, but going up to 44. Spending the day doing piles of laundry. Sigh.
Puerto Rico