Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Sept. 13th through Sept. 19th

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?

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, shown here with 3 pages of comments available.

28 Comments

  1. Good Tuesday morning, Meese. It was so chilly this morning when I took Monty out to the courtyard I couldn’t believe it—52 F.! It’s still overcast, and “they” say it’s the smoke from the fires in the West. Climate change is here with a vengeance. Still grieving for the people there, there are 22 missing in Oregon alone. Our high in Ashburn will be 71 F., or so they say.

    Feeling better today, although the medicine makes me nauseated. I’ll take some daytime stuff and hope that’ll keep me going until bedtime. Always, there is a point in recovering from a cold where I feel so much better (like this morning) that I feel tempted to stop taking meds, but that invariably turns out to be a lousy idea.

    Will keep this short this morning, as there are chores to be done. Wishing all at the Pond a good day and let us try to focus on our own stuff, at least for now. Bonne journée, all!

  2. It’s 66 heading for 83 and sunny at the moment. Widget says we’ll have mostly sunshine for the rest of the week. That will be nice. Helpful on electricity generation too. Yesterday we got another 13.3 KWHs and the m-t-d is 167 – not on track but still banking against the winter darkness.

    Nothing new under the sun. MSM’s just airing stuff some of us already knew was going on. Evil of course. But we knew they were evil years ago. We just weren’t able to keep them out of power. As with the tipping point on Arctic ice. It was 20 years ago. Did I pretty much figure at the time? Yes. Was I able to do anything about it? No. The issue now is surviving – surviving the Nazis, surviving global climate catastrophe. And we can only do that together. So I keep working – on as many levels as I can.

    Meanwhile the washer just shut off and I need to hang my clothes. It takes them much longer to dry without a fire. But that will come soon enough. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  3. Good morning, 62 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. Some welcome rain happened in the night, but the air is still smokey and unhealthy to breathe this morning. I’m slow and sleepy so I’ll just leave my best wishes to all, find some coffee, and try to sort out my day.

  4. Good morning, meeeses! Wednesday …

    It is 64 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Yesterday it got to 80 but careful use of ceiling fans and keeping the sun out let me keep the air conditioning off. The next few days we will drop into highs in the low 60s, much more to my liking.

    I had been bragging about how the University of Wisconsin System was science-based and had a carefully thought out re-opening plan. I was embarrassed to see that 90% of the UW schools are causing infection spikes in their host cities. Of the top 20 metropolitan areas in the country with huge spikes, 7 of them are where UW universities are: La Crosse (#2!!), Whitewater (#8), Platteville (#9), Madison (#10), Green Bay (#15), Eau Claire (#16), Oshkosh (#19). I have to agree with the editorial writer in the UW-Madison student paper: “If the plan, as it seems to have been, was dependent on the collective restraint of the entire student body, then it wasn’t a plan – it was wishful thinking.” The UW-Madison chancellor was stuck between a rock and a hard place – if she said “no in-person classes, stay home” like the California system did, she would have been ripped apart and probably sued or punished with defunding by the #RepublicanDeathCult in our state legislature. Now she is being ripped apart for putting in place a plan, as misguided as it was. The editorial is right, all it takes is a few dozen students who put “having fun” over “staying safe” and you have an outbreak (over 2,000 students were infected as of Monday). Youth are youth and you can’t change their nature. Now they are planning to play football because they are getting pushed to “be like the SEC.” Yes, like the coach of LSU who was bragging that his entire team was infected and that that is “good” because now they can play out the season without having to quarantine anyone. Of course that completely ignores the science which is pointing to an increase in heart related problems and death when people recovering from COVID-19 exert themselves – as one would expect a football player to do. tRump said the quiet part out loud when he said “science doesn’t know anything.” Goddess, we need to get these people out of power.

    See all y’all later!

  5. I actually slept last night, so much better. Had issues with the work laptop yesterday, hope IT got it fixed overnight. I’m eating breakfast — added chocolate yogurt to my overnight oats this week, yum — and watching Le Tour. Fires to the west, flooding to the east and there are people who say climate change is a hoax. Sad.

  6. Good morning Meese. 47 here in Kingston NY, going up to 74
    Right wing idiots on twitter are trashing Biden for playing Despacito – which is only the most streamed song of all times. I really like the plan for Puerto Rico that was announced.

  7. It’s 64 heading for 84 and while overcast at the moment, the sun’s supposed to come out later today. Yesterday we got 13.6 KWHs and the m-t-d is 180 so nope on the 459 goal, still maybe on the over 400 goal. The new yard guys were here yesterday afternoon. They cost half again what my old yard guy did/does – when he actually finished the job which he mostly didn’t – and they did a tip-top job in just under 45 minutes. Including double-checking before mowing the spring-flower foliage down (yes) and asking if they’d missed anything (no). And they ran the mower perpendicular to the house instead of parallel to it (as the old guy always did, no matter how many times I asked him not to) so the dust I needed to sweep after they left was minimal. I still feel a little guilty about the change but I’m glad I did it.

    Aji needs sales (getting to the desperately point), Amelia needs a permanent home or a permanent solution to funding her current living situation, and Fineena needs emotional support on top of more revenue (her sister has terminal cancer – even a head-game-playing, guilt-tripping sister is still a sister). But at least my son’s schedule is sane again. So many people, good people, with needs they wouldn’t have if this country cared more – or even as much – for its people than making its wealthy .1% wealthier.

    As the weather gets cooler, more kitties want lap time. LOL. Rennie’s turn right now. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! One thing about the night-time cold pills is that I wake up so much later my morning gets away from me. When I got up this morning the temperature was 48 F. This is the earliest cool weather I can remember. As a rule September is annoyingly warm. We must have had a surprise rain shower in the early morning because we could hear the leftover rain gurgling through the gutters, and our screened porch was spattered with raindrops.

    Today’s high in Ashburn will be 76 F. The smoke from the West Coast fires, carried here by the jet stream, are keeping our skies cloudy but that’s minor compared with what the poor souls out there are suffering. Poor old Portland, Oregon, can’t catch a break.

    Hurricane Sally is proving fearsome on the Gulf Coast too. Sorry to keep chatting about the weather but I hate talking about Cheeto-Face, who apparently failed his town hall last night.

    Realized yesterday evening that “The Blossoms of Seville” is at least a 5,000-word story, so it won’t be eligible for the contest. I’ll stop working on it for the time being and start on one of my half-hatched stories. I think “Catwalk” will be the most suitable, if not terribly exciting. There can only be one entry per contest. Duh, I coulda been a contendah if the contest allowed 5,000-word stories!

    Well, that’s a very first-world problem. I wish I were a billionaire so I could help the people who need it. Alas, all I can do is give the occasional bit here and there.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

  9. Good morning, 58, foggy and smokey in Bellingham. The air quality is still very bad, the houses across the street are lost in the fog, but thanks to rain in the night the air is moist so it’s more comfortable.

    Thanks to a med mishap (I forgot to take them) yesterday was a lost day, but so far today seems more normal. Between blood pressure, joint pain, and blood thinner meds it’s impt to remember! And rather humbling to feel the impact forgetting.

    Best wishes to all on this foggy September morning.

    • {{{princesspat}}} while it’s a jolt to be reminded what not taking your meds means, it also shows the blessing of having meds that actually work to keep you “more normal”. And that is such a very good thing. I’m glad you remembered today. Healing Energy and moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • Dear princesspat, hope you are now feeling better. It’s too much to deal with—the fires, the smoke, the awful news everywhere, COVID, and your own health. Take care of yourself and remember that better times will come.

  10. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 63. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    I admit to liking sports – I find it a good use of the parts of my brain that memorizes statistics and can recall in detail a play from 20 years ago. I am glad that baseball came back although it is going to be difficult to reconcile this years stats into the career stats for players and teams. Yesterday I saw an idiot manager (from a team that had to be quarantined for 5 days earlier in the season!) rush the other team’s dugout MASKLESS to scream at their manager for several minutes. He was suspended one game but he should have been suspended for the rest of the season for endangering the health of the other teams players and coaches. I watched NFL games on Sunday and was not impressed by the league’s protocols where they let coaches shout MASKLESS at their players and refs and just gave them a reminder to “do better.” Now, college football, played with student-athletes from campuses that are now seeing huge spikes in COVID-19, is going all in on their seasons. I understand that college sports is a multi-billion dollar business but for professional athletes – who are getting paid – to choose to play is one thing; student-athletes who get no choice but to have to play and who in large numbers are in at-risk categories and whose families are in at-risk categories, is another thing completely. I am sad that the red state Big Ten coaches pushed the science-based universities into this decision in order to please the #RepublicanDeathCult. I will not celebrate their return to the field.

    I got up early to get a head start on projects that have languished as I spent the week trying to fight through a lack of motivation. I did get some personal errands run but not much done on anything else. After finally being able to shed a project last month that was taking too much time and adding an enormous amount of stress, I am having a difficult time adjusting to what to do with that time! I certainly don’t want to fill it up and stress out again – I need to find the proper balance between new activities and rest. Maybe it is too soon and being a bit of a lazy bum is what I need. I am not good at that though, my guilt gene is too prominent! :)

    See all y’all later!

    • I’m watching the Tour de France, and 98% of the spectators are wearing masks. But there’ve been a couple of the mountain stages that have had crowds as big as in B.C. days. And they’ve been right up in the riders’ faces just like before – riders have even had to yell at them to move. Worse, I saw a couple of maskless people doing that. None of the riders & only a very few of the support staff have had positive tests. I’m stunned that they’re going to make it to Paris with no riders having fallen ill, given that at least 1 day was in a red zone.

    • You probably do need to do some R&R – & tell yourself that’s what it is, not being a “lazy bum” – remind that guilt gene you’ve earned the rest. Balance is always good. Healing Energy & {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Thursday Meese. 50 degrees here in Kingston NY going up to 77.

    • Jeez, Denise. And now they’re forcibly sterilizing detainees. I thought the Rethugs were so “pro-life”! Some of those forced sterilizations may have resulted in abortions.

      • Rs are pro WASP Supremacist life. That’s why the “quiver full” crap pushed on white women and forced sterilization of women who are not.

  12. Another muggy morning, got my walk/run in. So glad the smoke from the western fires isn’t coming here; it is in other parts of Texas. And it’s supposed to cool off this weekend. Went into the office yesterday so I could get some work done. I think I got 10 new library users set up — didn’t really keep track, just put my head down & did the work. I hope the issue with my laptop is cleared up, I don’t want to go in again. The guy in the cubicle next to me is mostly working there. and I’d forgotten how annoying the humming/singing “to himself” is. Also I miss U2 radio when I’m there.

  13. Good Thursday morning, Moosekind. It’s gray again, with a current temperature in Ashburn of 59 F., going up to 73 F. Showers are predicted for the afternoon—harrumph! We’ll see.

    Had the night from Hell, so I’m off to bed in a few minutes. This will be a completely lost day, like the one our princesspat had the other day. The only thing I achieved yesterday was washing our winter bedspread. I put it on the porch furniture to dry and it mostly did dry. It would have been far too expensive to put in the dryer, even if I thought the thing would fit. We don’t pay individual electricity bills. Those are covered by the monthly service fee.

    Feeling horribly tired, so will wish a good day to all at the Pond.

  14. It’s 62 heading for 82 and sunny. We’ll see if it stays that way. We generated 12.9 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 193.8 – we should at least get over 200 today. But with over half the month gone, well, we’ll be doing good to make 400 for the month. Meanwhile it’s cool enough to have 5 lbs of chicken breasts in the oven and be pleasant.

    Evil ones being evil. It’s what they do. The privileged folks who can be oblivious to that are why evil ones can continue doing evil as well as being evil. But so many of them don’t/won’t believe in the evil until their noses are rubbed in it…I wish I had an answer. Nothing I’ve done or tried in the last 50+ years even made a dent, not a scratch or lasting mark. So I keep working on getting decent people elected – change policy, change allocation of resources – and hope. Which is pretty much what I’m doing regarding my online and offline family/friends – give what I can and hope.

    Gonna go tour the internet and check on folks. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  15. Yesterday was…..ugh. Was e-mailing with IT till 7pm. Haven’t opened the work laptop yet, I hope it works. Today’s plan is to work till 3:30. I hope I don’t end up having to go back downtown to work.

  16. Good Friday morning, Meese! Yesterday was such a worthless day that I took cold pills last night. The only good thing about yesterday was that I read most of Ken Follett’s The Evening and the Morning. My Goddess, that man can tell a rattling good tale!

    We never received Sally’s leftovers because we’re too far north. It was ugly again when we woke up but now weak sunlight is making itself seen. Currently it’s 62 F. in Ashburn, on its way up to 73 F. Yesterday the weatherperson said it’s been a good 60 years since we’ve had such unseasonably cool weather in September. It’s going to be unseasonably cool next week too. That’s fine with me! I’m already thinking of apple pies, slow cooker beef stew, Peg’s molasses cookies, and cranberry muffins.

    Have a mani in 45 minutes—yes, everyone is carefully masked and sanitized there—need to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things, then rush home to make lunch for The Man and The Dog and write a paragraph or two on “Music” for the writers’ group this afternoon. I’d better get on with things.

    So Thing is so worried about November 3rd he wants to help PR? Wake me up when that actually happens, I’ll be rill interested. He knows he’s going to lose his re-erection bid.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and all DEMOCRATS beyond!

  17. It’s 59 heading for 80 and supposed to be sunny although it’s not quite there yet. Never got quite there yesterday either. We generated 11.1 KWHs and the m-t-d is 205 so not even on track for 400 for the month. Although over 300 is still probable. Back in the space of “if you’re not gonna give me sun, would you give me some rain out of those clouds”. There’s dust everywhere and the ground is rock hard. At least stuff is still alive. I’m looking outside at green and yellow – not the yellow and brown Aji’s looking at. We won’t get any nice color this year. Not enough water. The maples will/are because they always do – they start turning with shortening daylength so they started with more water in them. Those that turn color with cooling temps won’t have enough water to do it with. sigh.

    Evil being evil. My friends having health issues and/or being short of money, mostly both. Nothing new under the sun. And so many of my friends and family having to go into unsafe working situations – food service being just about the worst next to healthcare – just to keep making a living. Evil being evil. Work and pray. It’s what folks have always done in bad times. Sooner or later we’ll get through this one, too. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  18. Friday Meese.
    Trump is now playing games – announcing “billions” for Puerto Rico

  19. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 46 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 50. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    tRump is apparently planning to be in Wisconsin every day for the next month and a half. Fine, take Wisconsin – I really don’t care. Democrats will pick up Arizona and a Senate seat and have a good chance of making Arizona blue, a much better chance than here where 10 years of dumbing down has led to – dumb people! Not unexpected.

    Only time for a quick “hi” and “bye”. I foolishly promised someone something this morning and so I need to get it done before my morning naptime kicks in.

    See all y’all later!

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