Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: December 13th

December 12, 2020 JanF Community 74

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, shown here with 3 pages of comments available.

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COUNTING DOWN THE TIME UNTIL DECENCY RETURNS …

January 20, 2021 Noon ESTCountdown

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36 Comments

  1. It’s 29 – danged cold – and might get up to 38 today but no sunshine. Yesterday I’d hoped the sunshine and above freezing would clear the solar panels but they didn’t. The panels are still about 2/3 covered and frozen on at the moment. Without sun nothing’s gonna start moving until the temps get above freezing so I don’t know how long it will take to clear them. That’s 2 days this week of 1/4 KWH production. At this rate not only will we not make the never likely but possible 200 we won’t make 100 – in fact we might not make the 75 of my original 2.5K system. sigh (Part of that’s just weather and nothing any human can or could do about it. But part of that is 1) I am not physically able to get up on the roof and clear the panels even when it was safe to do so, like yesterday afternoon & 2) the guy I got the system from knew all the sales jargon but didn’t really know optimal PV system installation. My system is flat against my roof but my roof is nowhere near the optimal angle for best production and that optimal angle for production is also a much better angle for snow sliding off under conditions like we had yesterday. So much for trusting so-called experts.)

    It’s not over yet. Twitler can still do so very much evil before he’s actually out the door. Everybody STFU about kids in cages and any other really vulnerable population his gestapo have in their power. I don’t want twitler to remember/notice them until Biden’s team gets in and can get them away. But the end of this particular dark tunnel is well in sight and the light is getting stronger by the day. But I’ll wait to exhale (metaphorically speaking) until after 1/20/2021. Meanwhile YAY! for the EC vote. & #MVP (Madam Vice President) is going to be a hashtag that brings pride and joy to a lot of folks.

    Gonna have the first stranger in the house in about year today. My water filtration system needs maintenance that I just can’t put off any longer. We’re at the point where it’s not really filtering any longer and if I don’t get it done now we will soon be at the point where it’s putting back into my water what it’s been filtering out over the last 18 months (as in this should have been done last April but no way was I letting anybody in then). I’ve gone over the safety protocols and he’s not only going to be masked & gloved, he’ll be wearing disposable overgarments (including shoes), and after he knocks on the door he’s not touching anything except the equipment – I’ll open and close doors for him to get in and out. I can’t think of anything else we could do to be safer. But hold the Good Thought anyway, please.

    I need to get some stuff done before he gets here so I’d best get to it. But even though it’s a dark day and to a certain extent a scary day, my heart is lighter with our new team coming in. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

      • {{{Diana}}} the visit went quite smoothly. I did have to get within 2 feet of him to get him into the house but after that the only other time I was closer than 6 feet was when I handed him the check. He put my receipt down on the kitty-rest table (formerly known as a coffee table) and I’ll file it in couple of hours. The thing with the solar panels is irritating mostly because it reminds me of the mansplaining so-and-so I got the system from. (He no longer owns the business, thankfully. The new owner is the one who did the reconfiguration when my roof was redone.) Back then I could have afforded the extra cost of variable angle mounts and have done it right. But it’s still a good system. In a “good” sunshine year it produces almost 4.5 megawatt hours. Up until this year it’s still reached 4 MWHs in a year. We’re at 3.955 right now and I’m not sure we’ll quite make the 4 but obviously we’ll be close. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 32. Mostly cloudy skies with isolated flurries in the forecast for later in the afternoon.

    I quickly scanned the news but probably won’t have time for any deep reading today. I hope this “Republicans in Disarray” continues and encourages petulant Georgian deadenders to boycott the Senate election. If we could win even one of those seats (the Perdue seat would be best because it is a 6 year seat) it would help a lot – we would only need to peel off one Republican Senator to get confirmations through and at least three have indicated that they feel that a president should be able to have the cabinet he wants. It still sucks that so many of what we thought were good pickup opportunities fell apart. The Collins seat is particularly troubling but the Tillis seat was a self-inflicted wound. No one likes Tillis but they had a difficult time getting enthused about supporting the adulterous sexter. Why is it so difficult to find candidates who can keep their johnsons in their pants??!!? Anyway, we have what we have – on January 3rd, the Senate will be 48 Democrats and 50 Republicans. All eyes will be on Georgia as those two empty seats are set to be filled.

    It sounds like they may have a COVID relief deal by dropping both state and local aid and the liability shield. The liability shield that Mitch McChinless is proposing should be a deal-breaker and I hope that Nancy Pelosi can keep that out of the bill. Losing direct state and local cash will be bad but if enough money for schools and vaccinations and testing can be put in the final bill, that will soften the blow. We just need to make it to January 20th when the incoming Biden Administration can start digging around under the couch cushions for spare change in the form of unused appropriations that can be directed to the states.

    I need to get back to it. Our Thanksgiving superspike did not materialize and there is a lull between the two holidays so I am going to venture out today and tomorrow for appointments. I desperately need to get organized – it is becoming a real problem as I discovered two promised fixes that were missed in my out-of-control Inbox.

    See all y’all later!

      • I am going to shut down again between 12/23 and probably 1/12 at least. The Christmas spike is likely to be worse than the Thanksgiving spike because not everyone in the country died!! Americans are so dumb, they will not connect that “let’s not travel” led to “the spike was flatter than expected.”

  3. Wednesday Meese. Sitting here biting my fingernails waiting to see how bad the coming storm will be. It’s 17 degrees going up to 28.

    Posted a quick diary – was elated to see this

  4. Puerto Rico

  5. Brrrr, 37 right now and high only in the 50s. Going to log out from work early and cover my plants this afternoon because it’s supposed to freeze tonight. I voted in the runoff yesterday afternoon, we had 2 city council races — neither was in my area; and one city wide school board race. Bummed that one good guy lost, to a Trumpist no less. Good thing is, she’s the only one & she’ll be annoying but lonely. Literally the only Republican elected official in the county (city council is a nonpartisan office, but people are political creatures)

  6. Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! We’re waiting around for the first 3 and 1/2 snowflakes. Mr. Monty did the minimum amount of business this morning, according to Dearly, then quickly scuttled back inside. He does not like rain, snow, or what he considers to be extreme cold. Not surprising as he’s a short-haired dog. Dearly took him to the vet yesterday for a routine checkup and:

    Found the hound
    Has lost half a pound

    He’s now 32.8. At the beginning of the year he weighed 42 pounds, too much for even an elderly beagle.

    Poor Dearly’s back is hurting bigly, so I’m going to take Monty for his morning walk. After that I have lots to do, sending correspondence to the four grandchildren, cleaning out the fridge, and so on.

    Some friends told me that the itchy red bumps on my neck and near my lips are either due to external factors or stress. As I haven’t made any changes in products, I assume it’s stress. However, I have completed my Yule email newsletter and left it to cool while I wrestle with the devil (placement of photos). Yesterday I baked a loaf of bread so Dearly will have white bread for his sandwich today.

    Thank Goddess I’d planned to cook at home today anyway—chicken pot pie followed by apple crumble. Dinner last night from the Robin’s Nest was bloody awful, and the night before dinner from the Acorn Deli—Chicken Parmesan—was as tough as old boots. Ugh.

    Feeling more cheerful today. There will be an interview with Kamala tonight on the ABC network—Deadline or Dateline or Nightline, can’t quite remember what. There was an excerpt from it this morning on “Good Morning Merrycar” so we endured a few minutes of Michael Strahan and Georgy-Porgy to watch that.

    Yikes, it’s 20 to 10 already. Got to get the dawg out! Hope everyone will have a nice, quiet day with lots of kilowatts!

  7. It’s 29, might get to 34, and no sunshine. Looks to be heading for our 4th 1/4 KWH day in a row. The m-t-d is still 63. We need 12 more just to reach what the 2.5K system did December ’14. Hold the Good Thought.

    I just finished off the cocoa-cherry muffins and have cheese-cornmeal muffins in the oven. My son suggested I try mixing up my batters except for the leavening, leaving them to absorb the liquid overnight in the fridge, then beat in the leavening just before I put them in the oven. He said the flours I’m using really need more time to be able to do that than wheat flour does. So I’m giving it a try. I shall see if that works in a bit.

    I hope folks will realize what handicaps our team is working under – more so that our team can’t do what we all want done if we don’t keep voting like we did in this election, if we don’t give the Administration a Congress who will pass the bills – and the budget – needed to do them it. I haven’t seen any evidence over the last 50 years that folks will – but the more urgent the problems, the more necessary it is. We shall see.

    Off to do read Dee’s diary and do twitter stuff. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, 47 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. I had to focus on wrapping and mailing a few more family gift boxes yesterday and got so busy I forgot to check in. I though we had plans for a simple December but it still seems like a lot to do. Oh well, nurturing family is the reason for the season for me so that’s what I’m trying to do.

    Best wishes to all as we make it through December.

  9. Good Thursday morning Meese. Reporting in from snowstorm central here in Kingston NY. It’s 22 degrees, still snowing hard, going up to 27. Snow is supposed to stop by around 10AM.

  10. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 27 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 30. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    I hope Jill Biden is tough since she is now the target of the right-wing. They need a strong, independent woman to attack because it makes them feel manly. I suspect that you don’t teach for 20+ years and not end up with a pretty tough shell.

    It sounds like the Attorney General search is not going well. It would certainly help if we knew we had the Senate or at least the votes from 3 Republicans. Sally Yates, the most qualified, may be unconfirmable – I don’t think Doug Jones is tough enough, there is too much kumbaya in him. The perfect person would be Amy Klobuchar – the governor of Minnesota would be able to fill the seat immediately – because she will know how to kick ass and take names. I know that there was a troubling case related to injustice from when she was a local District Attorney but unless it was a pattern, I am not sure how you don’t have one or two cases that make people angry, it goes with the territory. Kamala Harris had the knives out for her. Anyway, Attorney General is important – I am watching it closely.

    Yay, more doses of Pfizer vaccine being found in the vials sent out in the first batch! One estimate was that it will increase coverage 30-40%. I am not sure what my status will be because I have had an allergic reaction to a specific antibiotic in my past and it sounds like the Moderna is not very effective for people over 65. I may have to stay hunkered down until we reach vaccine herd immunity in, according to Dr. Fauci, late March or early April and the Moderna efficacy will be enough or other shots hit the market. I’m fine with that, I can avoid crowds – I don’t like them, anyway. I just hope that stores keep senior hours and require masks and social distancing for a good long while.

    Congress may be coming together on a pandemic relief bill. Watching the back and forth is infuriating, Republicans claiming that people getting unemployment benefits should NOT get the COVID relief check. First, fk you, rich members of Congress! And second, unemployment is managed by the state, the relief checks from the US Treasury – it is impossible to do this, it is simply vice signalling by the Republicans in the Senate. Goddess, please inspire the people of Georgia to turn our Senate blue.

    Stay safe, east coasters!

    See all y’all later!

  11. Puerto Rico/Puerto Rican

  12. Good morning from freezing Austin. It’s down to 31. Gotta uncover the plants this afternoon, it won’t freeze again for a while, and they need the sun. Today: running into the office, then logging in back home and work as usual.

  13. We haz sunshine!!! It’s 27 at the moment (overnight was 19) but it is going up to mid 40s. The combination of sun and (relative) warmth will get the last 1/3 of frozen snow off the panels and hopefully we’ll be generating as at full power as we get this time of year by midafternoon. We got a hair over 1/2 KWH yesterday – basically 2 KWHs over the last 4 days combined – and the m-t-d is 63.9 but I hope we’ll get to 70 by the end of today. I hope.

    My son was here half hour ago bringing milk – he got tied up at work yesterday and couldn’t get by before my bedtime – so breakfast is late this morning. When I was a kid oatmeal was actually a treat but way back then I’d never have believed how comforting a bowl of hot oatmeal could be. But then I never particularly thought about making it to 69 either. 😁

    I hope Joe and his team have workarounds for McConnell’s sabotage – and it is sabotage – of everything but starting with the cabinet appointments. He needs his team. And if he has to do a “shadow cabinet” well, it just doesn’t work as well. They can advise but have no authority to actually do the job. Joe can’t do the job by fiat any more than Ike Eisenhower could take Normandy beach by fiat. (& Jeebus! I wish the LW would STFU and get out of our way. They sabotage us just as much as McConnell does.)

    I wish I could sleep in the daytime (without giving myself a skullbanging headache). My eyes still feel grungy. But sleep is the only time I’m not using them. Oh well. This too shall pass. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

      • {{{Diana}}} no eyedrops – I have trouble getting them in at any time and I’ve never found any that didn’t burn/sting as badly as the condition I was trying to use them to treat. It’s partly too much computer at a stretch and it’s party the furnace being on. The blower stirs up the dust and cat fluff. Up to about 5 feet – where my eyes are when I’m standing up. (Which is why I was so happy not turning on the A/C last summer.) The sunshine is great though. Definitely lifts the spirits. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Good Friday morning, Moist Moose People! Well, we’ve got sunlight shining on the gleaming iced trees in the woods. Snow blew into our screened porch, so all the summer furniture cushions I carelessly left lying there are now crusted with it, and currently snow lingers on the grass. We received a whole inch here, how charming. Leesburg, down the road from us, received 4 inches.

    Right now it’s 29 F. in Ashburn, on its way up to 36 F. Dearly, who is feeling a great deal better, is going to take Monty for a very restrained walk. Apparently the Powers That Be have cleared some of the paths.

    Today I have to wrap presents and finish the newsletter. Not much to say about politics except that the Rethugs are as hateful as ever. Honestly, sometimes I think I hate Moscow Mitch even more than Outgoing. In the end, though, I think I hate them equally for slightly different reasons.

    The awful statistics on new infections and deaths make me glad that we’re staying home for Christmas. I already have Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner planned. I’m thinking of making Chicken Vegetable Soup and serving it with the Cheese, Celery, and Garlic bread I want to make tomorrow.

    I may be delusional but I could swear I saw a bald eagle flying past a little while ago! Are eagles the only ones with white heads visible from a considerable distance? He or she was flying over the woods.

    Wishing a nice, quiet Thursday to all at the Pond.

  15. Good morning, 44 and cloudy in Bellingham. Yesterday was a really busy day, but a lot got done. Our son was here finishing the basement ceiling repair, Sue was here helping me clean and catch up with the laundry, and I had a sewing fiasco making a faux fur blanket for a friend. Everything got done, my sewing machines are back in working order, and the blanket I should have said no to is in a bag!

    We have a quiet day ahead. RonK has a surgery to remove a bad spot on his temple this afternoon this afternoon. It does require anesthesia so he has all that hassle to deal with. We don’t think there’s anything to worry about re the outcome but we’ll be glad when it’s over.

    I’ve got two tablecloths to finish and then my Christmas sewing is done so that’s my afternoon project. I need to work at my desk this morning. Best wishes to all.

    • {{{princesspat}}} Healing Energy – to your household – & Holding the Good Thought for RonK.
      🕯🕯🕯

  16. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 12 degrees in Madison (feels like 0!) with an expected daytime high of 36. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    Well, Senate Republicans said the quiet part out loud. In case anyone thinks that they will be partners in governing, look no further than Man Who Is Senator for About 700,000 People John Thune who smirked and said that the state and local help being pulled from the relief bill will have no chance of passing under a Biden presidency because he will “need 60 votes”. So I hope that Joe Biden does not give bipartisanship too much time to work and has some ideas on how to fund his agenda.

    Rep. Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary! Excellent choice – single mother, tribal leader, person who cares deeply about the land and has opinions about the use of that land. I worry about Nancy Pelosi’s thin majority getting thinner – with the Haaland appointment, it will be down to one seat after the cabinet is confirmed and until the special elections can take place. One seat during a pandemic is too close for comfort.

    I have a number of projects to get organized today as the end of December is visible in the distance and we are running out of 2020 weekends for project work.

    See all y’all later!

  17. Friday Meese. 18 going up to 29 here in Kingston NY – so I guess the piles of snow here won’t be going away any time soon. Looks like we will be getting more on Sunday.

    Elated to see Deb Haaland get the nod.
    Puerto Rico

  18. Cold, but at least not freezing here. And the weather people are predicting rain. I’ll believe it if it happens. Today: work till 3:30 then….. maybe go for a walk if the rain hasn’t moved in yet.

  19. There is just no depth too deep for Trumpistas to sink to:

  20. Good Friday morning, Moosekind! It’s gray and ugly here in Ashburn, although They say the clouds will move off and we’ll get sun in the afternoon. Right now it’s 30 F., going up to 38 F. later.

    I have four piles of Christmas presents for Littles sitting on the loveseat in my office and three piles of tiny bags for the family dogs sitting on my counter. They’re going to get a little Ziploc bag of gingerbread-flavored dog biscuits.

    Today there is a Zoom meeting for the Writers’ Group. I have not written a presentation yet, but as I know what I want to say (Christmas is actually Pagan, honey), I can dash it off in half an hour. I must go shopping at Trader Joe’s this morning. Dearly has agreed to drive me.

    There are only two people for whom I must print out my Yule newsletter. They’re so old they don’t even do email. Argh! I’d like to print it out two-sided but the printer leaves horrible specks of black over everything when I do that, so that’s out. Extra postage will be required. Sniff.

    So this morning will be spent writing and the afternoon will be spent wrapping. I feel that I shortchanged the five-year-old, but reflected that I sent him a globe with a special viewing instrument through which he can see where the dinosaurs lived. His parents have carefully hidden it until Christmas morning. Also, his other Grandma has probably given or sent him many Hanukkah presents. Santa Claus will do his bit: DIL, who’s on the neighborhood app MONA (Mothers of North Arlington) is often able to get items that have been outgrown by other children.

    The latest edition of the community quarterly was distributed yesterday. Yrs truly has six of the 10 stories in it. I didn’t get front-page status this time, though. I suppose the Managing Editor thouht it was time for someone else to have a front-page story.

    Yikes, it’s nearly 10 a.m., so I must fly, fly, fly to carry on the good work elsewhere. Wishing everyone a lovely, peaceful Friday with no nasty surprises. Remember—only 33 days until sanity prevails!

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