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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Wednesday Meese. 66 and rain here in Kingston going up to 81.
Puerto Rico
PHOTOS | Having no homes, they live in abandoned structures without electricity or water. The government announced a plan to build homes
Good morning! Actually pleasant for my walk — 74 degrees. Wfh day 2, so I get to watch astronomy. I wrote a Bookchat for tonight at the orange place, about the Romance for Maui fundraiser. All kinds of great stuff, not just for readers, but for aspiring authors and there’s also jewelry and fabric crafts.Anyway, it’ll post at 7pm.
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! It’s a gorgeous blue-and-gold day here, current temp. 73 F., lower humidity, high 86 F. No rain today, not even imaginary. We had a really hard downpour at 7 p.m. yesterday for five minutes. It was impressive, but this morning the WaPo reported a “trace.”
So far the puppy has destroyed the stuffed toy beagle we had sitting around (we don’t really mind about that); the fringe of the “throw” I keep on the little brown sofa in my office; my rosemary and my parsley plants; the little yellow squeaky heart that came with the sofa protector from Fuzzy; and I can’t think what else at the moment. I will be so happy when he goes home. These two weeks have proved how unsuited we are to have a puppy or any kind of dog at all. We’re just too old and too poohed. Our son asked us what are vacation plans are for the year. What plans? We can’t go anywhere, given Dearly’s six illnesses and our numerous doctor appointments. In a little while I’ve got to start making new appointments with two of them.
I finished the second play and sent it off to the head of the Drama Society. It was 15 minutes long. Now I have to work on the good part of the short story for the Loudoun County Public Library. For the other short story contest, I plan to submit “The Drunken Ladies of the Garden Club.”
On Sunday I’d better start memorizing my part in the first play. We’ll probably have a rehearsal Monday night, even though the play won’t be produced until October.
I received my Social today so I’m very happy about that. Trying not to watch or listen to the “All Defeated Former Guy, All the Time” news on telly.
Talked to fineena briefly last night. She hasn’t seen the new floors yet. Another call came in so we had to get off the phone quickly.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 79 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 99. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. Chance of rain this afternoon. A tropical typhoon is forming south of Mexico that will impact how much rain we will get as we move into a more traditional monsoon cycle on Friday.
Good lord, the news media is all tRump all the time! I understand that the Georgia indictment is a big deal but get a grip. He is a career criminal whose chickens finally came to roost – it should not be breaking news. He will skate, he always skates, but the people who helped him crime are finally going to get their just rewards. He can’t do it himself so if that limits the number of people willing to help him with his next crime spree, that will be a win.
In Realworldia, I have a computer upgrade that I need to finish and I am sadly behind on scanning. I need to dig deep and find a way to work a few hours every afternoon to get caught up.
See all y’all later!
It’s 59 heading for 83 and sunny. Lovely breath of Autumn before we get Summer back. Yesterday we generated 16.3 KWHs and the m-t-d at 218.5 while not on track for 460 is at least back on track for 450.
Back to “normal” luck for Fineena yesterday. She wasted the whole of it waiting for someone to show up who didn’t. Didn’t manage to get Henry to the vet or to see her apartment. But at least the nice apartment agent sent her photos of what the new floor looks like. She sent them on to me and it looks nice. Vinyl planking made to look like wood. So that part’s good.
My Social Security hit today so I’ve errands to run. Cash, supplements & a few groceries I can only get at the Co-op, vacuum cleaner bags, catfood. Yes, that’s 4 different places. sigh. Anyway, I’d best get my needs list up and do what boosting I can before I need to get out of here. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Bookchat is up: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/16/2187495/-Bookchat-raising-money-for-Maui
Thursday Meese. 67 here in Kingston, and raining. Going up to 79 – and it is very muggy.
Keeping an eye on weather in the Caribbean:
Puerto Rico
Good morning. Goodbye cool mornings, that was a nice 2 days. Still did my 30 minutes. In the office. Last night’s diary didn’t get much attention. But the auction has raised over $57K, in just a couple of days.
Posted
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 77 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 100. Mainly sunny skies with a slight chance of rain in the evening. We got a significant downpour last night that got the wash running quite fiercely. This morning, there are a few wispy clouds but mostly clear. I noticed Orion’s Belt in the morning sky and it dawned on me that I had not seen it for a while – turns out I hadn’t seen it since spring:
There you have it!
In “news not shocking at all”, Georgia Republicans are thinking about changing the pardon rules so that if tRump or other members of his mob were convicted there, they would not need to wait 5 years to be pardoned. Addendum to “news not shocking at all”, Lindsey Graham, the man who screamed at people at Burp Keggernaugh’s confirmation hearing to stop being mean to a sexual assaulter whose house was paid off by dark money interests, is now screaming that Republicans are indicted for criming that no one else would be indicted for. That is because he and his Republican pals do not believe that crimes against voters and voting rights should ever be enforced. Fie on him.
I have some morning appointments so I need to get a few things done before my day gets chopped up. I hope to find some time to catch up on projects this afternoon.
See all y’all later!
Good Thursday morning, Meese, and if this isn’t the grandest Thursday ever! The minute I came into the main room and picked up my phone, there was a WhatsApp message from DIL: We got on! See you in 8 or 9 hours!
This means that DIL and Nora Got On the early flight from Paris and are over the Atlantic even as I write. (Grandpa is tracking the flight on his phone.) The fact that they’re coming home two days early is probably owing to Nora, who is very likely antsy because school starts on Monday and she has been deprived of her friends for 10 days now. Anyway, Dearly and I had just hatched a plot to board Puppy at Healthy Hound Playground (where we used to take Monty) until Sunday morning. The thing is, the puppy, a big strong Boxer boy, keeps jumping up and clawing Grandpa. Dearly’s skin is paper-thin owing to the awful rat poison he takes (Coumadin), so he’s a mass of wounds and bruises. I had to bandage him yesterday with Neosporin and gauze, and the puppy jumped on him and clawed his leg this morning, so that needed more Neosporin and more bandages.
Sorry to go into so much detail, but this is SUCH a relief, not to mention saving us the boarding fees. When I offered to look after him, I had a tiny puppy in mind, the way he looked when he first stayed overnight with us. He’s grown considerably since then, and is just too big and too strong already for us to handle.
In other news, I worked some more on my short story for the contest and now need to work on the final scene. After that I will touch it up. Have a nail appointment this morning. I hope I only have to wait a couple of hours this afternoon at Younger Son’s house. My Kindle doesn’t work there, and I have to read a huge biography of a famous American before August 25th, when the Biography Book Club meets.
It’s quite a lovely morning in Ashburn, 72 F. at this hour, going up to 90 F. An imaginary shower may occur. We are at parity for normal rainfall for August (1.84), but still 8 inches under for the year.
Glad the Lionesses won! With that thought, I will wish a good day to all at the Pond.
I think that puppy sitting must be the most stressful thing ever and that people with brand new dogs should not travel (or should delay getting the dog if they know that they must). To take a training puppy out of its habitat and to ask other people to continue the training sounds like a recipe for disaster. At least until the command “off” is properly instilled, the puppy should be working with only one set of masters. I am glad you are nearly finished and I hope that Dearly’s wounds heal quickly.
I must admit that I was rooting for the Matilda’s as the host team. It was a difficult World Cup to watch, the USA Women did so poorly after so much hype. They need to find a new coach – he clearly had no idea how to put together a winning roster. We had lost one of our best players, Mallory Pugh, to an injury and one of our other top players, Rose Lavelle, was hobbled a bit and had been carded and could not play in the opening game of the round of 16. It wasn’t until it was too late (we had tied too many games and had a very low seed and had to play one of the best teams in the opening round) that he changed things out a little. Sad as it is, the most difficult thing is to decide when not to play players who have been great but whose skills have waned enough to no longer be the best player to start a game. Can they regroup under a new coach in time for the Olympics? Only time will tell.
Jan, completely agree about puppy sitting. Never again. Younger Son’s family is notorious for making bad decisions. DIL was appalled at what had been going on in their absence.
I would have been happy with either the Matildas or Lionesses winning, given that our family has ties to both Australia and England.
Nora gave up playing soccer, which she liked, but said the other girls were too mean. What a pity! She has volleyball tryouts this weekend, which is why they came home early.
It’s 67 and going to 91. Sunny. We’re marching back into summer (supposed to top out Sunday at 101) but only for a bit. Autumn is coming. Yesterday we generated 17.2 KWHs and the m-t-d at 235.8 still isn’t on track for 460 but it’s gaining.
Yesterday’s errands were aggravating. Getting the cash part went well as usual but the Co-op was out of all my brands and most of my supplement. I got what substitutes I could, then ordered some online. I’ve still got one more I need to get/order but I won’t run out until next month so it’s not as urgent. Then the vacuum cleaner shop wasn’t open. I assume that means his mother is still ill but I wish he’d flat out change his shop hours officially if this is a chronic thing he’ll be dealing with. And PetSmart has jacked its prices. I got what I went there for but I’ll stick with Tractor Supply in the future.
Fineena’s having labor issues still. Either they don’t show up or they charge more than they said they would. Sometimes both. But her washer & dryer are in the new place and the other heavy/needing a dolly to move stuff is in the POD. There’s a lot more that needs to go in the POD so hopefully labor will show up today & tomorrow to load it. The POD has to be moved Saturday. More hoping – that it will be moved early enough it can be unloaded on Saturday as well and then hauled off by Monday before she has to pay another partial month rent on it. This is seriously cutting into what we’d hoped would be her September rent. sigh.
I’ve got laundry in the washer and need to get over to xitter & Spoutible to at least start my boosting day before it’s done and I need to hang it out. Hoping the mosquitos aren’t bad. Or at least don’t get into the house. Holding the Good Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Friday Meese. 66 and raining here in Kingston going up to 80.
Puerto Rico
A Black Puerto Rican woman heading El Centro is a major historical shift.
“Political diseases of the judiciary”
Defeated Former Guy is a completely vile so-called human being who deserves to be whitewashed from history. Vile, vile, vile. From Ronnie Ray-Gun to Thing, our democracy has fallen a long way. It remains to be seen whether “the dog who caught the car” theory works in our favor.
Good morning. Ten million degrees still. There’s a tiny hope for rain next week. But by the time Wednesday get here, it’ll be gone. Anyway, did my 30 minutes, in the office now, giving thanks for air conditioning. The Maui auction is up over $70K. There’s nothing within my price range. I keep boosting things that have few bids — there’s lots of stuff for authors, if you know any. Anyway, happy Friday.
Good Friday morning, Moosekind. We are exhausted, but so thankful that Puppy has been restored to the bosoms (I use the word advisedly) of his family that we celebrated this morning with cantaloupe, cinnamon rolls, and coffee. Yesterday was highly stressful, the more so as Dearly forgot his phone, so had to use mine. That in itself would not have been a big deal, but my phone rings in my hearing aids. I texted DIL through iMessage so she could read it the minute they landed at the airport, so everything worked out okay. They arrived back at their house, where I was waiting with Dog Boy, about 5 p.m. It took them an hour to get through Customs and Immigration at the airport.
It was very boring at their house, so between taking Chase out for business, I read a book on Irish Pub Cooking. It can be summarized in three words: Irish whisky, heav cream, and butter. Good thing there are a lot of green Irish hills the population has to walk over to get anywhere!
DIL and Nora were very glad to be back, although they enjoyed their European visit, and Nora immediately took Chase for a walk. Younger Son and Karl are returning to London today with our nephew Simon, and attending a barbecue tonight at our Niece Caroline’s house in Kent before flying home from Heathrow tomorrow.
It was strange not to have Chase in his dog bed beside my bed during the night; it was also strange not to have to put my bedroom slippers in my nightstand drawer to keep him from chewing them. It was a relief, however, not to have to take him outside, and yell at him not to eat the fringe on the afghans and not to bite Grandpa!
It’s a gorgeous day in Ashburn, 74 F. going up to 84 F. with falling humidity. The only problem is the wind, which is annoyingly strong.
We both had very bad nights, so when I come back at lunchtime from a Coffee Morning with my delightful British friend Brenda, I’m going to co-llapse! Brenda and I met 30 years ago when we were both temping at EDS. She’s so fascinating that when I left EDS I saw to it that she didn’t go out of my life again.
Thinking of princesspat today, with that storm moving up the Pacific Coast. Hope it doesn’t reach Washington State. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 75 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 100. It is a little cloudy right now and rain is expected after noon. Tomorrow we should see a cooldown for at least a few days. We will not likely see the heavy rains from Tropical Cyclone Hilary but parts of western Arizona might. Not a good time to be vacationing on Baja California!
The news has settled down a bit from all tRump all the time and there are finally some stories about Maui breaking through. I was glad to see the people want to rebuild their residences and that the governor is going to do everything legally possible to keep developers from swooping in, offering quick cash to distressed residents and buying up the land with plans to change the city of Lahaina from a place with modest residences to another place where only the wealthy can live. I hope they succeed.
Yesterday was more fractured than I expected it to be and so today I woke up without even a plan for getting organized! I think I will start by sorting my Inbox and deleting email newsletters – that should not require much brain power.
See all y’all later!
It’s 73 heading for 93 heat index 100 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 15.5 KWHs and the m-t-d at 251.5 gained a wee bit towards 460 for the month. Summer’s coming back. I just closed up the house and probably will have to turn the A/C back on this afternoon. Definitely by tomorrow as the overnight won’t get below 70. It’s been a nice respite.
I’m trying to decide whether or not to make a special trip out today for vacuum cleaner bags. I’ve got my last one in the machine and it’s getting full. I will need to go out tomorrow or Sunday to get milk – not doing that today as I barely manage to keep the milk from spoiling before I finish a gallon this time of year but the vacuum cleaner shop isn’t open on weekends. Oh well. As Diana says, first world problem.
IF the guy w/ the family who supposedly all want work keeps his word to Fineena, they’ll show up today (including his wife who’s “very good” at packing fragile stuff) and get what won’t fit into the POD plus her bed moved into the apartment today and she’ll be sleeping in a clean space with A/C and without mice tonight. IF.
Prayers up for all the folks dealing with wildfires, especially the Indigenous folks (that they don’t lose their lives or their land) and the wildlife who can’t be evacuated and are frequently blocked from evacuating.
For some reason the toolbar at the bottom of my screen is mostly blank today. None of the navigation icons are there. At least the startup/power etc button is there. Anyway. Off to xitter & Spoutible to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 63 and sunny outside my window today. The last few days have been warm but not to hot, so it’s a quiet summer morning and I’ll water the garden soon as I was to tired to do so last night. My housekeeper has a stress fracture in her foot, so between house and garden work I have been busy….. and very frustrated re getting so tired. Oh well, the garden is looking much better and with help will stay that way and the house will survive.
Good news, Sue (housekeeper) has a friend who will sub for her while her foot heals, yay! I’ve been questioning our decision to keep living here because we clearly need help but now I can set that worry aside until next time something happens. Best wishes to all.
Saturday Meese. 57 here in Kingston – no rain, going up to 76. My refrigerator stopped working yesterday – luckily I have a full sized freezer in the garage so I could save all the frozen food – but had to get ice and put the fridge stuff in a big picnic cooler – it didn’t all fit. Sigh. Got a repair man to come – the motor was shot (the fridge is only 2 and a half years old) He should be back today with a new motor (fingers crossed)
First world problems :)
Puerto Rico
Appliances are – quite literally – not made like they used to be. I had a dryer for 40 years that only needed one belt. My first washing machine lasted 30 years. My last refrigerator was 22 years old when I sold it with my house. The current apartment I live in has appliances that are only a year old and two of them have features that stopped working and two have had warranty work done on them.
I hope they get your fridge working!
That’s a shame about the fridge, Denise! Thank Goddess you have a freezer. Is the fridge still under warranty? Two and a half years seems excessive, even for “planned obsolescence.”
Can’t find the warranty papers – and the store has no record. :(
Interesting opinion piece about Puerto Rico status “The Party’s Over”. The author, though, needs to come to terms with the fact that many Puerto Ricans living in Florida embraced trumpism and desantism in the last two elections. Her take:
This only works if people there (and in Florida) realize that trumpists despise Hispanic people and don’t consider them to be their kind of white.
Puerto Ricans still on the island differ from those in FL – less support for Trump. NY Puerto Ricans are still Democrats
Hope your fridge is fixed soon. Modern appliances are made to break. sigh. {{{Dee}}}
Ty! Hope the repair guy can get the motor today
Good morning. I slept in, will have to exercise indoors this afternoon. Going to pick up groceries, hope there weren’t nails/tacks in the parking lot from the roofers when I drove in last night.
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 75 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 93. Mostly sunny skies with a chance of rain this afternoon. We had a nice rain last night with the noisier storms staying to the northeast and southwest of us.
I am going to take a weekend off from the news. I don’t see anything new and it is really too early for horserace obsessions about 2024. I think as long as the economy doesn’t go into the tank – despite the best efforts of the fossil fuel industry to ratfk things – we should be fine. The main thing I see Republicans doing is ticking off the independent voters who lean right. They are going so far right that they can’t possibly get back to the center in time for a general election. I hope we field good candidates, people who match well with their districts rather than some national Democratic Model Candidate. It is essential that we win back the House in order to restore the ability to govern. Rolling crises of debt limits and government shutdowns are not good for anyone. I am probably okay with a permanent source of income and short term savings but I worry about my daughter and her generation, who are trying to find jobs and establish careers. The student loan debt relief would have gone a long way to help young people get a fresh start post-pandemic – fie on the Supreme Court and their lives of privilege not giving a rats ass about Americans who are not part of their donor class.
I have some things I hope to get caught up on today. Or to take a nice long nap outside on my deck!
See all y’all later!