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 41 degrees in the Desert Southwest 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 46. Cloudy skies with a chance for rain.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. We’ve got snow!
Snow is nice to see in the distance on the top of Mount Lemmon (elevation 9,159 ft) and when you don’t have to drive or shovel. We are expecting some snow here which will likely not accumulate. Mt Lemmon forecast calls for 4-5 inches – they would like more, it is a skiing destination.
Mount Lemmon in alpenglow with a pink cloud underscore:
Gorgeous!
Good morning. Cold but no precipitation until tonight. Made it to my meeting yesterday, lots of people, lots of candidates — I met Roland Gutierrez, one of the Senate candidates. Weirdly, we didn’t endorse in that race, the votes were virtually tied. Anyway, today: church, make next week’s breakfast, take a walk.
Posted
(Editor’s Note: Submitted on: Jan 7, 2024 at 09:03, moved from last week’s Welcomings)
It’s 35 heading for 53 and sunny at the moment. We generated 1.17 KWHs yesterday & the m-t-d at 29.3 is not on track. We shall see what today brings. Before the rain & snow hit tomorrow & Tuesday.
Finished my housekeeping chores and sat down at the computer to check email before getting on the treadmill then fixing my breakfast. Ahem. There’s now a sleeping black kitty on my lap. So I guess I’ll start my boosting day and do treadmill & breakfast when he wakes up. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! Whaddaya know, I’m actually doing things! Am washed, brushed, and dressed, thinking about what to give Dearly for lunch. A proper Sunday breakfast has been cooked and eaten.
I have been making labels for file folders: income tax prep, Writers’ Group, “Oklahoma!”-related paperwork, and so forth. I need to do some other chores as well, like folding laundry when the dryer stops.
Today I MUST read the script and the audition materials because auditions for “O” begin next week. I also have to write a letter of record for my obituary. I want it to be in the first person. I adored the chatty tone of the obit a distant acquaintance of mine adopted in her obituary. She ended with, “Don’t smoke, it’s a lousy way to die.”
Nowadays, of course, one doesn’t rate an obituary unless one is famous. It’s a very expensive death notice in the WaPo. However, it’s okay on Legacy.com.
Came across some photos Dearly took of me in 1990, which is to say, 20 pounds ago. I was 46 and had long red hair. OMG, did I really look like that? And you should see me now! I look like a toadstool more than anything. Well, another cup of tea and I won’t care that much.
Oh, weather! It’s sunny and 41 F. in Ashburn. Yesterday was the coldest, rainiest day imaginable. It made a noise when it first started falling at noon, which made me thing it was freezing rain. Then it was just heavy rain for four 4 to 6 hours. We received .69 of an inch. This coming week will be 50s and rain. And to think “they” got the kids all excited about snow! The dirtbags.
Well, the kettle’s going on for a cup of tea and it’s time to actually stick the labels on the foldrs and insert the contents.
Wishing a delightful, quiet Sunday to all at the Pond. I’m making scalloped potatoes with ham for dinner and crusty baked apples for dessert. Today will be my 8th day without chocolate. They say if you don’t have any for two weeks you’ll lose the craving. Rilly?
Monday Meese. Lots of snow here in Kingston!
Puerto Rico
In this video, I discuss some possible short-term solutions to address the health crisis we are experiencing. Therefore, I invite you to listen, analyze and, if you think this information is important, share it, because in the end, only the people save the people.
(Editors Note: Submitted on: Jan 8, 2024 at 07:08, reposted at 7:28am)
Good morning. Got my 30 minutes in: 1.17 mi, 7 rounds of run 1, walk 2. Not what I hoped for but not bad. I wrote a diary at the orange place about the AIDS Ride, posting it at 7:30.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 28 degrees in Tucson 🌵 from my weather widget, 31 on my Edge Browser but 40 on the thermometer on my deck. When I went out to look at my mountains and stars, it was cold but I can’t tell the difference between 40 and 30. It is going to be sunny all day and is not supposed to get above 37. The close-in mountains got a dusting of snow but from what I could see, it did not make it into the valley. It is pretty on the mountains!
It was depressing to read that tRump was in Iowa mocking Joe Biden for his stuttering. It reminded me all over again that he is a disgusting pile of human garbage and that none of the people who will vote for him care – they actually love it. They want a bully and a pig because they are also garbage people. You could almost forgive people who voted for him in 2016 and maybe even 2020 but after January 6th, anyone who votes for him is complicit in the destruction of our country and the world. They will get no quarter from me.
I have a lot of things to do today as I got my list reorganized and triaged over the weekend and the things that popped to the top can’t wait any longer. I am going to start taking an official day off, I really enjoyed the 3 day weekends from Christmas and New Years! I think it will be Fridays because Mondays are often too busy. I will test it out and see how it works.
See all y’all later!
Jan, it was either X or Blue Sky that showed a pic of His Orangeness at age 5. It was reported that at that tender age he was caught throwing rocks at a baby in a crib. He’s a psychopath.
You know, the problem is not Donald Trump per se, there are lots of terrible (yes, psychopathic) people in this world. The problem is that there are tens of millions of Americans who are drawn to terrible people and want to give them the power to be terrible to others. Maybe they were always there and they are more visible now that they have permission to be as terrible as they want to be – it is frightening to think of them being further emboldened by a second tRump presidency.
Here’s my diary: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/8/2215932/-For-my-birthday-I-d-love-60-donations-to-the-Hill-Country-Ride-For-AIDS
Can’t r,r,c on DK, but I can & did boost it on Xitter, Spoutible, & Bsky. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Monday morning, Moosekind! This will be a really busy week, what with the writers’ group meeting on Thursday and auditions for “Oklahoma!” tomorrow and Thursday evening. Today I plan to resign from the fourth of my activities, the “Friends of Bill” group. With caring for Dearly and these other two things I won’t have the time or energy to do much else.
Gained a lot of weight from all the rich food I prepared this weekend. Duh. That’s why we had porridge for breakfast. Right now it’s 41 F. in Ashburn with the sun tentatively lighting up the woods. Tomorrow is bringing temps in the high 50s, howling winds at 50 mph, and rain—or so they say.
Not looking forward to this year, I must say. Might have to turn off the TV. Political ads are so awful! This morning someone said people don’t want Biden for POTUS because if he dies in office we’ll get Kamala. Kamala is supposedly very unpopular. RILLY? Is that why there’s standing room only when she gives a speech and they have to put videotrons outside for all the people who want to see and hear her?
The only people who don’t want her for Prez are MEN—great big ol’ hairy MEN.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 40 going to 47 and raining. Not hard, not much more than a heavy mist. But it’s dark. Lights on PV system off type dark. Yesterday we generated 6.6 KWHs and got (barely) back on track to do better than last year. Today we’ll lose it again. sigh.
Apple-cinnamon-walnut muffin bread in the oven. I’ll be baking a pork roast this afternoon. Hoping that will warm things up so I don’t need a fire tonight. The red oak I got last Wednesday is too wet to burn unless I “cook” it on top of the woodstove for several hours. Problem is, I have to have wood that will burn to have the fire in the woodstove to dry the red oak. I’m almost out of that. And the high tomorrow is 35. With snow. The wood guy who is also the tree work guy is going to bring me some dry wood (at no charge, bless him) when he comes to do the tree work. But. . . rain today, snow tomorrow.
Anyway, I’d best be about my boosting chores. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 36 and winter in Bellingham with wind, rain and snow predicted. I’m trying to change some patterns of how I go about my days, and one of the changes has also meant a computer change. And that has disrupted my Moose posts…..old habits, and changing them, is hard! I’m already out of sync with time zones, and now fumbling around trying to use an iPad instead of a computer has disrupted what little memory I have these days. When (if) I get all the passwords stored in my old computer compatible with the new ios system it will be better. But for now I’m in an annoying learning curve and I don’t like it. Oh well, persist and try to remember to be grateful I have the opportunity to do so :)
Not much new…..still putting Christmas away, nearly caught up with laundry, have the usual January desk mess etc. Moving my familiar computer to the desk and getting rid of the old no longer secure one makes the desk work easier to accomplish so that’s a bit of progress. But now I’m at the desk and not working because it’s easier to post here and to read around the internets. Hmmmmm, perhaps some discipline is needed. As always, my best wishes to all.
I bet that apple-cinnamon-walnut muffin bread smelled good (licking lips).
Can you fax some of it up here to Virginia?
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 28 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 44. Sunny skies are in the forecast. I can see the stars over the mountains from my deck. The spot on my deck where the thermometer is must be sheltered from the cold – it shows 37. It is also possible that I am in a microclimate where the official temperatures never match the real ones. In any event, the temperatures are still dropping and will not stop dropping until the sun comes out. It will be warmer tomorrow but not much. The good news is that winter here is short and not brutal – next week we will see 70s again.
I have errands to run today so I need to skip the news and concentrate on getting a project finished. I have been getting distracted by things that just “show up” and need to be done; I need to be more focused. Today is Microsoft Patch Tuesday so I have to tend updates on my own computers and my clients.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Cold and crazy windy — we’ve had gusts of 60mph. Glad I can put off my walk till later, and today is just a walk. I got a few donations yesterday, up to 1/3 of my overall goal for the Ride, not bad at all. Getting ready for work, it’s my Thursday before a very long weekend.
Tuesday Meese – we are looking at ugly weather today in the Hudson Valley:
Will be leaving for doc appointment at 9:15 AM so I hope we miss most of the mess.
Puerto Rico
“romanticizing living in Puerto Rico” (FYI: That’s a huge pothole)
Good Tuesday morning, Meese! It’s 39 F. on both the porch thermometer and the weather widget in Ashburn this morning. The high will be 59 F., which is ridiculous. In fact it will be in the mid-50s all week. This is winter?
At least we’re getting some rain. It’s raining heavily at the moment.
Heard something at dinner last night that is very disturbing. The couple we had dinner with, staunch Democrats and election officers, said they weren’t looking forward to voting for Biden in November because of his Vice-President. Dear Goddess! I was shocked. I asked why. L., the wife, said that Kamala was supposed to handle the immigrants-at-the-border situation and hasn’t done a thing. Her husband, J., is Mexican by birth but a U.S. citizen now, and presumably agrees with her. If educated, politically active people like them feel this way, what are we to do?
The lamestream media have performed an excellent dereliction of duty in making out Biden to be a failure (they want a non-Thing Rethuglican in the White House to give them tax cuts), and Kamala to be a do-nothing whom everyone dislikes (because they’re so afraid of a brilliant, powerful, Black WOMAN that they’re all peeing their Depends).
I just hope that enough women who are “incandescent with fury,” to borrow Michelle Goldberg’s phrase, at having their rights taken away will turn out by the millions to vote Democratic.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, must compose a letter with room for witness signatures and a notarization stamp. The WaPo obituary department said yes, they would print a death notice or obituary written in the first person as long as a letter of intent accompanied it, stating that this is what the decedent wanted.
Also have to finish reading the script for “Oklahoma!” and attend the casting call tonight. I’m not very fond of the characters. Speaking of characters, two new ones showed up in my head yesterday, claiming they had every right to appear in my play and would I kindly do something about it? All these ideas for a one-act play could hardly be more inconveniently timed as I am going to be super-busy until June. After Labor Day, of course, we all know what’s going to be taking up our time.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 30 heading for 35 and snowing. Small hard flakes, not big fluffy ones, but still snow. It’s supposed to turn back to rain before the precipitation stops so hopefully that will wash the snow off my solar panels. Yesterday we generated .7 KWHs (at a time of year when 7 is possible) and of course the m-t-d at 36.5 is not on track.
My hands and feet are cold and I can feel air coming in around my doors. And it’s not even really cold yet (that comes next week). The tree & wood guy is coming over this evening to check the ground & see if we can do tree work tomorrow when it’s supposed to be 53 and sunny and he’s bringing me some dry not-red-oak wood. For which I am truly grateful. I don’t have enough wood that will burn to get through a single night if the power went out, much less days. It probably won’t come up, but I’d really rather be prepared in case it did.
Anyway, slow this morning. I’d best get to my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 43 and raining outside my window today. The wind and rain in the night was very noisy and I was out in it collecting cushions that usually stay dry under cover. I don’t seen very many branches down, but the tall trees all around us make me worry when the sound of the wind is so loud. I’m sleepy this morning, but more day and Christmas will be put away. The winter cozy look was nice, but now it’s time to see less clutter and a more spare look. When (if) I finally get a few more essential tasks done I want to resume sewing the old needlepoint pillows. I also want to make a stack of pot holders so there will always be a clean one. RonK is a good but messy cook! Best wishes to all.
Wednesday Meese. Warmer (41) but raining here in Kingston.
Puerto Rico
Since the 1960s, Puerto Rican politics has been dominated by the New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party. Despite their names, both have governed from the center and failed to live up to their supposed ideals. Over the last 15 years, their neoliberal policies have triggered a severe economic crisis that they’ve used to justify harsh austerity measures such as the privatization of crucial services like healthcare, education, transportation, highways and electricity. After Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, their response prioritized profits over the well-being of the people, accelerating the staggering loss of a quarter of the island’s population in the last decade due to outmigration.
Understandably, this has led to a profound disillusionment among the Puerto Rican populace towards the two traditional parties. This is reflected in significantly decreased voter turnout over the past decade.
Amid these dire circumstances, the left in Puerto Rico has slowly been gaining traction. A significant turning point arrived in 2020, when the progressive Puerto Rican Independence Party and the emergent Citizen’s Victory Movement garnered approximately one-third of the total vote — just shy of the 33% of the popular vote that reelected Puerto Rico’s sitting-governor, Pedro Pierluisi. This surge in support for the two left parties sparked a question among party leaders: Why not join forces to implement progressive policies and pursue decolonization?
Vieques