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, 54, cloudy and windy, with real rain earlier this morning. Another slow and sleepy morning for me, and my computer glasses are breaking so the screen is blurry. I feel old! Time for some tea and a fresh start for today. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 81. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
As much as I would like to avert my gaze from the sh*tshow in Washington DC, it is difficult. The Democrats may need to use reconciliation to pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the government open and raise the debt limit. If they do that, they should raise the debt limit to a nice round quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) and be done with it. It is a stupid construct that says that the debts already incurred by Congress can be defaulted on unless another vote is taken and that paying those bills can be used as a cudgel by a deadend party that wants to destroy democracy, kill people – and now – wipe out the credit of the United States. If the money is gone on October 18th, I don’t get my October social security check – time to plan for contingencies and hunker down for the #ManchinRecession. I am glad that I converted part of my retirement account to FDIC backed cash after the last recession.
I am trying to figure out how I feel about the House progressives holding the bipartisan infrastructure bill hostage. I normally don’t agree with anything that Bernie “Both Parties Are the Same” Sanders says but in this case, I think that if “moderate” Democrats renege on the deal they cut that the bipartisan bill and the human infrastructure bill would advance together, I think that the House should refuse to pass the roads and bridges bill. A deal is a deal – if Joe Manchin is getting cold feet and Kyrsten Sinema has decided that blocking the Democratic Party’s agenda is a fundraising money-maker for her, they have every right to call the deal off. The sausage making is particularly disgusting to behold this week.
I added two errands to my schedule today because things I need to get out of the house are piling up quicker than I thought they would. We are down to books and household goods – and books keep showing up in different drawers and closets! I sorted through a box left over from the last move (that I thought was pictures and frames) and found something I thought was lost forever; it had merely been still packed after all these years! I have vowed to never let that my “stuff” pile up like that again – downsizing will help some of that but it will also require inventorying closets and storage areas more frequently.
See all y’all later!
Wednesday Meese. Overslept today – for the first time in years I didn’t wake up till 7:30 instead of my normal 4 -4:30 time.
Feel okay tho.
Puerto Rico
We had thunderstorms overnight, and it’s still raining. My back is still stiff from Monday — good reminder to stretch & move today. Happy Wednesday, everyone!
It’s 63 heading for 83 mostly cloudy and maybe rain this afternoon. Yesterday we generated 11.9 KWHs again. M-t-d is 331.42 – probably, maybe, reach 340 and move into 6th place but even 350 is unlikely and the 364 to move into 4th isn’t possible. sigh.
Freddie had an adventure overnight. I was kneeling and reaching out the back door to put out food for a neighborhood cat and Freddie jumped over me to chase off the cat. And didn’t come back. He’s a cat so of course he didn’t come when I called him and he didn’t come to the door before I went to bed. He was right there at the back door as soon as I turned on the kitchen light this morning. Hungry. The rest of the clowder was so interested in sniffing him they didn’t eat their own breakfasts for a good half hour. Cats.
Somebody running a backhoe close to where Jill is scared her dogs who managed to destroy her laptop power cord while running around barking. A minor irritant but not helpful when one’s income is less than $800 a month. Amelia’s doing a lot of sleeping but seems to be better. Everybody else seems to be holding on. Even me with this cold or allergy flare I’m in the middle of. (No fever, temp’s actually low at 96.8, so it’s probably either the ragweed or the changing barometer as the front moves in. Whatever it is, it’s not comfortable.)
The Rs are quite literally – and treasonously – trying to destroy our form of government and have been fairly overt about it since Reagan. That’s what they’re doing. They are doing it deliberately. No appeals to patriotism, better natures, or even their own long-term good will ever override their short-term goal of complete power. And until our team accepts that totally-foreign-to-us reality, they’re gonna keep making progress to that end.
I have phone calls to make and then I may or may not be going out today, depending on the answers I get. I definitely need to go out tomorrow – co-op, I thought I had another box of something and I don’t. sigh. Meanwhile, twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind, and happy National Coffee Day! I just went to the nearest clubhouse and bagged a cup. It’s so strong that I had to put in a ton of half-and-half and vanilla extract to make it palatable. Still, it was free!
It was cloudy when we got up this morning but now it’s a sparkling September day. It was 49 F. for the low, going up to 72 F. for the high. It’s a little cool, even. Nice!
I need to walk down to the garden to pick Whatever, then come back and watch a video online. Today I’m going to a public library with a friend to register voters. Anything I can do to help Terry win, after the debacle last night! Glenn (Doughface) Youngkin is a huge liar and, like all Rethugs, a hypocrite. I’m not wild about Terry but ANY Democrat is better than ANY Rethug, so I’ll do my best to help get out the vote.
I’d better get on with my schedule, Moosekind, so wishing you all a good September day too!
I can’t believe that the gubernatorial race is as close as it is – do Virginians really want a trumper for a governor? JHC!
Jan, in 2013, when Terry first ran for governor, all the pollsters and pundits predicted a huge win for Ed Gillespie, a 9-point win over McAuliffe.
Well, duh. Guess what. McAuliffe won. He’s not charismatic in the least, but he IS a Democrat and he knows what Democrats want. And my guess is that he knew a whole bunch of Northern Virginia women wanted their damn rights.
Good morning, 54 and raining in Bellingham. I can see the top of my messy desk so I did accomplish something yesterday. I need to change the beds and do laundry this morning so the house will be ready for Sue to clean this afternoon.
I’ve tried to read the news this morning, but just can’t cope so I’m glad it’s a laundry day. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 81. Mostly sunny but with some clouds here and there.
It sounds like the government will stay open but they may not have any money! I am not sure how that works. It will be interesting to see how they address the debt ceiling. In a fair world, Democrats would be rewarded for flipping the two Georgia Senate seats and gaining a majority. In #ManchinSinemaWorld, majorities should only be allowed to govern if they are Republican majorities.
Last day of September and I have a half dozen errands to run. My day was not very productive yesterday – I hit a wall (physically) and couldn’t tote another barge or lift another bale. I am hoping that a fresh perspective (after a pretty decent night’s sleep) will get me through.
See all y’all later!
Thursday Meese. Nippy here in Kingston at 49 degrees – going up to only 62.
“CRT” Bill Wisconsin
Great Goddess!
May all those heteronormative cisgender slobs be infested with the fleas of a thousand pariah dogs and may the fearsome djinn haunt their horrid dreams at night.
If Tony Evers loses next year and there is no veto on this sort of thing, Wisconsin will be uninhabitable. I hope the MAGAts left when the smart people leave are happy with what they will become.
Puerto Rico
Slept really badly, but of course I had fallen asleep when the alarm went off. Did my walk/run: 1.25 miles, 5 90-second running segments. That last one was so hard, I had to skip forward to a favorite song to make myself do it. Might take some sick leave today & take a nap.
Much sympathy, another. After suffering several bad nights in a row I plan to take a pill tonight. I can’t keep running on empty like this.
Hope you will have a good night.
It’s 65 heading for 83 and sunny at the moment. We’re supposed to cloud up definitely and get rain maybe this afternoon. Of course we were supposed to get rain yesterday too and all we got was the clouds. (Cool down has been pushed out to Sunday.) Yesterday we generated 7.47 KWHs and the m-t-d is 338.9 going into the last day of September. So we should get enough today to be over 340 and put 2021 in 6th place for September production. But not much over.
The place Jill is isn’t going to be the home she’d hoped but it’s still a safe place to be until something opens up in a better place. (Before the 15th would be nice.) Suzanne/Aashir’s nani is in the hospital. She had liver biopsy yesterday morning, seemed OK at first, but the doctor who did it – ahem – liver bleed, pain in the agony category, out-of-network ER b/c in-network is full of COVID patients, Dx’d-stabilized-transferred to KU. Pretty much the same ol’ same ol’ for everybody else. Which isn’t good but it is surviving. Holding the Good Thoughts all around.
Tractor Supply did have another pallet of woodbricks left so I got them. Managed to do it in 2 trips which I’m not entirely sure was good for the car – 48 packages of woodbricks is 960 lbs – unloaded the first lot myself so I could go get the second lot. My son’s coming over on his lunch break today to unload the rest for me. I’m feeling better anyway. Must have been either the ragweed or the changing barometric pressure.
I’ve got some phone calls to make again today but time zone difference so they’ll have to wait a bit. So. Coffee and twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Glad you’re feeling better, bfitz!
Good Thursday, Meese. It’s another glorious morning. We are having a spell of perfect weather, which is good, because next week it’s going to be cloudy. After a morning low of 48 F., Ashburn is now enjoying 66 F. The high will be 72 F.
Yesterday I bribed Dearly with the promise of a spaghetti dinner if he’d drive me to this library branch. It’s in Olde Ashbyrne, so the streets are awful. We finally found the place and saw my friend sitting right in the entryway. The whole afternoon we registered only one new voter. The dear fellow had just become a citizen a few weeks ago. We made eye contact with lots of library visitors and urged patriotic coloring sheets on their children. As my friend said, we were really there to remind people that there’s an election in about four weeks.
Yikes, it’s time to start my walk to the doctor’s office. Wonder what she’ll have to say about my foot.
Have a good day, Meese!
Good morning, 59 and raining in Bellingham. It was really windy last night so I was on alert but no branches are down and so far the basement is dry. Our outdoor spaces are very wet though and my planters are looking very forlorn. I’ll have a big outdoor clean up to do on the next sunny day.
A quick glance at the news tells me to stay news lite for another day. Seeing Nancy Pelosi struggle to pass the legislation we all need, and thinking about President Biden’s words re “the soul of our nation” just makes me sad and the reality of minority rule makes me mad. So on that note I’ll wish you all well and get on with my day.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 84. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
The roads-and-bridges infrastructure bill (BIF) will not pass in the House until the ManchinSinema Coalition of the Unpleasant agree to a framework for the Build Back Better human infrastructure bill (BBB). The bad news is that they had already agreed to a framework and reneged on it so what the hell kind of agreement with those two – especially John Cornyn’s BFF Sinema – that could be trusted? The only way forward is to pass Build Back Better via reconciliation, get the Senate to pass the reconciliation while the BIF is held hostage. And no, not “later this year”, now.
Busy day – I will be off the grid for big chunks of time.
See all y’all later!
Heavy rain & thunderstorms overnight, still raining now, though no lightning. They’re worried about ACL Fest and practice runs for Moto GP races, the race is Sunday. I ended up not working much yesterday, just felt too bad from not sleeping. Slept ok last night, at least I feel better right now.
Friday Meese. 43 here in Kingston NY going up to 68.
I don’t normally follow beauty contests – however the choice of Miss Loiza (Loiza is the poorest and blackest municipality in Puerto Rico) to represent Puerto Rico was good to see
Puerto Rico selects a Black Miss Puerto Rico – Michelle Colon, who represents the Black Puerto Rican municipality of Loiza
I present “Por Puerto Rico”, a visual tribute that I made to Loíza, Puerto Rico and my people.
It’s 65 heading for 81 and sunny at the moment, with clouds and maybe rain supposed to move in this afternoon. We wrapped up September with 345.68 KWHs (6th place) and are starting a new month. The meet or beat goal for October is 309 but anything over 245 is OK.
Suzanne/Aashir’s nani was released from KU late afternoon. She got home safely, said the cats were fine and she was going to bed. Everybody else’s situations are pretty much the same. Slogging through. Except my son’s back to 15-hour days, 7 days a week until the company hires some people who will actually show up to work. Yes, I know $11/hour isn’t living high on the hog – but it can be lived on. And if people claim to be desperate for the jobs they could prove it by showing up. Holding the Good Thoughts all around.
I’ve been out 3x this week already, definitely need to go again next Tuesday, and hoping I can hold out until next Tuesday. Meanwhile, coffee and twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Is your son getting paid overtime for those hours? It is not humanly possible to work those hours for a long time.
Is there no other job he can get?
No, he’s a manager. On salary, no overtime. He’s been with the company for over 20 years now. It’s a local pizza chain. He’s kind of boxed in. At least his “corporate” is in town. No guarantees he could get better salary or benefits from any of the other chains or more dependable employees and those “corporate” offices aren’t even in the region.
You’re right though. He can’t work those kinds of hours for long stretches. And he’s angry. Multitude of reasons of course. Neither of us can understand people begging for jobs and then after a couple of paychecks just not showing up any more. And the expectation that he’s supposed to “be understanding”, cover their hours, keep paying them, and not even write them up. . . He’s 50, I’ll be 70 in 3 weeks – we both started working to help the household at 15. Worked as many hours as we could/the law allowed. (Sometimes more than the law allowed.) If we didn’t show up it was because we couldn’t. Physically. Then, after that kind of work history, to be dealing with this. Maddening.
Good morning, 47 and cloudy in Bellingham. My sister returns home to New Mexico tomorrow so the family will be here for dinner tonight. RonK is making twice baked potatoes with fresh basil and a pork roast seasoned with garlic and rosemary. I’m making a salad with pears and grated gruyere cheese and an apple torte for dessert. So dinner should be tasty and ready on time. I made flowers and set the table yesterday, with the hope my knees will not revolt today.
Best wishes to all.
What time is this all happening, princesspat? Lemme just tell the driver to fire up the chopper and we’ll be two extra for dinner! It sounds delightful!
Good glorious Friday morning, Moosekind! A day like this reminds me why October is my favorite month of the year, with its cool nights and warm, clear days. Right now in Ashburn we have a pleasant 63 F., up from our low of 48 F. Sunny all day (wish I could send it to you, bfitz dear), going up to 71 F. or a bit more. Have been taking advantage of this weather to wash dog beds and dry them on the screened porch. I gather you’re supposed to wash said beds once a week but hail, I just wash them when they look awful.
Monty barfs green vomit every other morning at 4:30, but we ran out of cleaning fluid. Dearly has gone off to buy some. As soon as the stain has been treated, I’ll throw that rug in the washer too.
Let’s see, what are the news…what a difference a day makes! I took a sleeping pill last night and as a result slept 8 hours! What a great thing it is to have enough energy to wash clothes, take the recalcitrant beagle for a walk, and finally get around to doing some desk work! Yesterday afternoon we were supposed to go to a celebration the Home was giving to mark its 13th anniversary” Bring your own chair,” the flyer urged,”and enjoy champagne, charcuterie, and music.”
Well, after going to the doctor, walking the dog, and making lunch, I was dead on my feet, so I took a nap. Dear Goddess, I could barely get up, I was so TIRED! Not getting enough sleep is a killer, as anotherdemocrat knows. The .5 mg Ativan I take is the only thing that lets me sleep through the entire night. I try to take it only once in a great while.
Well, that’s too boring for words, forget it. Tomorrow a Democratic friend on the second floor and I are going to Democratic headquarters in Sterling (10 minutes away over some rather tricky roads) to assemble walk packets for a team of canvassers going out at 1 p.m. I can’t do canvassing any more. With my Foot and other physical limitations, not to mention Delta, I just can’t do it.
Speaking of The Foot, I saw the doctor yesterday. She griped that I was to let no one but herself touch the soles of said feet (gladly, she uses anesthetic before she scrapes away at them), and affirmed the right foot looked considerably better. She wasn’t pleased with the Left Foot, but she sorted that out too. She prescribed watching a Netflix movie, “The Last Letter to Your Love,” which we will stream and watch once we finish “Cold Mountain.”
So, we old bats do what we can, right? Looking forward to a nice day exercising at the gym, picking up dinner from the Deli, and possibly doing something else. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!