Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: February 6th

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 to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.

30 Comments

  1. Good morning, 45 and mostly cloudy outside my window today. I finally got back to the garage project we were working on last fall and my floral supplies, vases, baskets, etc are nearly in order on the new shelving units. Today I’ll start getting the terracotta pots back on the shelves. The work we did last year has made the garage cleaner and easier to heat so it’s more comfortable to work in there now. We have one more corner full of old wood and tools to clean out and then the interior is done for now. And when we can fix the exterior walls, foundation and doors it should be easier to move things out of the way. I’ve got ice on my knees this morning but it feels good to be working on that project again regardless. Best wishes to all.

    • Bastid. The disrespect is expected but even more disturbing is his touching her. White men think they can touch any woman whenever they want to – she should have turned around and kicked him in the family jewels.

  2. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 34 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. Mixed precipitation is in the forecast for this afternoon.

    #RepublicansInDisarray! FINALLY, the media has something to focus on besides Joe Biden’s approval ratings. A commentator on MSNBC last night suggested that Mitch McConnell would not have come out with such a forceful statement denouncing the RNC’s ridiculous claim about the January 6th insurrection unless he was worried about something. I hope he is worried that we will flip some Senate seats and make his majority leadership comeback bid even less likely.

    Not satisfied that they have wrecked democracy in America, MAGAts are crossing the border into Canada – waving Confederate flags!! – to sow discourse there. I hope Canadians realize that the demonstrations are astroturfed and funded by right-wing American organizations and will reject their call to arms. Deplorable.

    The St. Louis lawyers who waved guns at BLM protesters and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor are SHOCKED that the misdemeanor on their records mean that they will have their law licenses suspended (at least temporarily). Good lord, what a great advertisement for their legal practice – “we are completely ignorant of the law, hire us.” I hope they have to sell their McMansion to pay their bills.

    Busy morning! It is Microsoft Patch Tuesday Plus 1 which means that Microsoft released new updates for Windows computers which will show up today. I decommissioned my server in anticipation of going completely into the cloud so now all my computers get day-after updates. I need to get them done early so that they don’t disrupt my workflow.

    See all y’all later!

  3. Wednesday Meese. 21 here in Kingston, going up to 45.

    Puerto Rico

  4. Good Wednesday morning, Moose Peeps! It’s 27 F. in Ashburn at the moment, going up to 55 F. later. Wall-to-wall sunshine is predicted for today. Indeed, when I look outside, it is quite a promising beginning.

    A few days ago I bought daffodils from “the fertile green fields of England” at Wegman’s. They have bloomed beautifully. Their delicate scent speaks of chilly mornings and cold earth, their bright yellow reminds me that spring is not far away. I love them!

    Had four good hours’ sleep (drugless) and four sketchy hours, using the word in its original sense, after that. I expect to crash.

    The rowing machine in the gym is still out of order, so I trod on the treadmill instead. I woke up this morning fatter than ever. I’ve binged on sweets the last couple of days, don’t know why. Oh yes I do, it’s because of the door-hanger someone left on all our front doors Sunday morning. It was full of advice I didn’t want to hear, such as “Skip dessert.” Huh? I’m older than the gods of Olympus and I most certainly will not skip dessert! I might be deader than a post tomorrow morning.

    A good many of the essays my writers turned in were in the form of poetry. The subject for February was love. We are holding our monthly meeting tomorrow.

    Jan, I love your hashtag, #RepublicansInDisarry and plan to borrow it.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

    • I think this is caused by “winter” – I have been doing this for about a week:

      I’ve binged on sweets the last couple of days, don’t know why.

  5. Boil water notice is finally lifted. They say we need to let the water run for 2 minutes before using it. So I’ll water my plants very thoroughly. Wfh today, I ran into the office and grabbed more applications because I got so many done yesterday. Gorgeous weather — no freezes and highs getting up to 70s. I’m hosting Bookchat at DK tonight – 7pm central. It’s about a cool online auction benefiting Fair Fight, to help with the 2022 elections.

  6. It’s 28 heading for 62 and sunny. Finally the PV panels got clear of snow yesterday – and early enough to generate 9 KWHs for the day. The m-t-d is 17 so it’s possible to get over 200 by the end of the month. Not likely but possible.

    I wish I knew what triggers these close-to-non-stop sinusitis flares. The weather widget says we haven’t had any measurable pollen for over a month and the air quality is usually rated as “good” – and the occasional “moderate” doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’ve had (the rare) good sleep on days rated “moderate” and bad sleep on those rated “good”. Of course if it’s indoor air I’m sunk as 1) I have no way of measuring that & 2) there’s not much I can do about it anyway as I’m not able to do the kind of cleaning that sort of thing requires and can’t afford to hire that kind of help.

    Jill’s LLC was approved so that’s good news. It’s a long way from here to actually having a chapel/business that gets her off SSI but now she can get serious with the planning. She’s working with SBA on it. Lisa’s still fighting the COVID cough – and fatigue. Aji’s leventy-jillion intersecting and exacerbating health issues are really slowing her down. She had packing & shipping yesterday and hadn’t gotten her regular twitter stuff out when I went offline last night. She’ll have done them but heaven knows when she posted them. I’ll boost them this morning.

    I finally got the TIAA 1099 in yesterday’s mail. So. First twitter, then taxes – that’s my plan for the day. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Thursday Meese. Snow and ice here in Kingston NY continues to melt, thankfully, temp is now 30 going up to 47. Can’t clean up the mess of fallen limbs in my backyard till it does – they are frozen to the ground.

    Puerto Rico

  8. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 25 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. We are supposed to get mixed precipitation this evening and overnight, making driving treacherous on Friday. I have a number of errands to run today and hope to avoid needing to go anywhere tomorrow.

    Republicans are still in disarray! I am enjoying the moment because at some point the media’s attention will shift away and they will focus again on what they love to do best – trashing Democrats. Although it is difficult to find something more newsworthy than discovering wadded up documents clogging tRump’s toilets. Good lord, he was a blight on the presidency – I am not sure how Joe and Jill can live in a house he inhabited. There is not enough sage in the world to smudge it.

    I need to get some computer projects done before my driving-around projects begin later this morning.

    See all y’all later!

  9. Good morning. Bookchat was okay, not huge but I let people know about the online auction and that was the point. Wfh today, and next week we’re back to 3 days in the office but at least I get to keep the 2 wfh days. Got laundry on & watching home reno show.

  10. It’s 36 heading for 61 and turning sunny. Yesterday we generated 9.9 KWHs and the m-t-d is 27.4 so we’re catching up. Slowly, but we’re doing it. As long as the sun holds out/clouds stay away we’ve still got a chance to reach 200 for the month. It’s not likely but there’s a chance.

    I wish #RepublicansInDisarray meant as much as when our team actually is in disarray and it’s not just RW-propaganda. When our team is really in disarray (thanks, bernie) the LW votes 3rd party and the center-left doesn’t vote at all. Their team will goosestep to the polls as usual and vote for whatever has an R after their name on the ballot. sigh.

    I got my taxes done, submitted, and accepted by both feds and state. My refund should hit my bank by the end of the month. Then I can schedule the cats’ annual vet visit and the brake job on the Camry. Holding the Good Thought there won’t be further vet visits or car repairs. We’ll see what I have left to donate to anybody for anything once those are dealt with. Barring complete catastrophe I’ll get myself another non-electric treadmill. My last one was good for almost 10 years and that was without me knowing it needed to be lubed every 40 hours of use so the bearings finally froze up on me. I really need the exercise but, even aside from the mask issue, the ground and even the sidewalks aren’t level enough for me to do my “old” circuit around the neighborhood. And I’m sure as heck not going into one of those “mask required – nudge-nudge, wink-wink” health clubs around here.

    There was construction going on over Amelia’s head so she couldn’t rest and didn’t get the rest of the rent in yesterday. She hopes to do it today. One of Jill’s disabling conditions is tremors. She dropped her tablet (or whatever it is – it does have a keyboard). Cracked the screen, the touch screen feature doesn’t work. She’s not sure the warranty will cover it. Aji’s still moving slow. She didn’t get her stuff posted until after I logged off again last night. I haven’t heard from anybody else so Holding the Good Thought they’re OK.

    My hands are still stiff and achy. Really slows down my typing to have to concentrate on getting the characters – including the spacebar – to actually hit. Slows down my concentration and ability to compose whatever it is I want to type in the first place. sigh. Oh well. I got over 6 hours of sleep so that’s better anyway.

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

    • Wow, I’m impressed – and envious:

      I got my taxes done, submitted, and accepted by both feds and state.

      I need to get mine done by March 1st because of some other deadlines coming up in March. I think I owe money as I did last year so I am not in a big rush but I should file. My daughter is owed money so I will get hers done sooner rather than later.

      • Mine are so simple and I’m always owed a refund so I do them as soon as I get all the 1099s in. LOL. Of the few times I’ve owed them money, back pre-electronic filing, I waited until the end of March.

  11. Good morning, 44 and foggy outside my window. February is both RonK’s and my birthday month so we have low key plans to celebrate. His brother is coming for lunch today, we’ll have lunch with our son’s tomorrow, next weekend the family will all be here for an official birthday lunch, and of course, there will be cake. And flowers :) I made a bouquet of red roses, white hellebores, and garden greens. I like the simple look of flowers supported by winter branches.

    I had an early dentist appointment yesterday so my morning routine interrupted but today is as usual with coffee, music, solitaire, and sending my best wishes to all.

    • What fun. My younger son’s birthday is on the 22nd. Happy Birthday to both you and RonK on your respective dates. 🎶✨🎊🎉🎂🍨🎁❤❤🎶 {{{HUGS}}}

  12. Friday Meese. 26 here in Kingston going up to 52! Yay!
    Was elated to see much more Puerto Rico news/coverage on Twitter today (long list)

    Puerto Rico


    Puerto Rico exceeds 4,000 deaths from COVID-19: experts reiterate that the emergency continues

  13. Good morning. In the office today. Next week, we go back to 3 days in, 2 wfh, which I hope is the new normal. Today is supposed to be gorgeous – sunny and high in the mid 70s. Tomorrow, back to the 50s. Texas weather.

  14. Good Friday morning, Moosekind! We’re having another sunny, blue-skied day, with a current temp. of 43, going up to 64 F.

    Yesterday was hell day, to wit: We were up at 5 to get ready to drive to Kaiser 20 miles away. Dearly was supposed to be there at 7:15. He had two Mohs surgeries scheduled. You should see him now! He looks as if he’s been in a cage match. His forehead is bloody and he has a big white surgical ear muff over one ear. I will spare you further details.

    Then I took a wrong turn driving home. One wrong turn and it’s 90 minutes trying to compensate.

    After lunch I had 2 hours and 20 minutes of leading my Writers’ Group, then had to pick up dinner. In between I was trying to work on a blog, but when I added one element, another disappeared! I had a nice picture of a starry night sky showing the souls of people who’d been driven mad by stupid songs escaping to heaven.

    So after we did all that we blearily watched our recording of Nathan Chen and then decided to call it a night. Dearly couldn’t sleep in a bed because of the ear muff so we made him comfortable on the sofa. Nathan Chen is poetry in motion. So proud of him!

    I need an easy day today. I do have to get some medicine for Dearly and I’d like to stop by TJ’s to pick up a Valentine’s Day bouquet of roses. It’ll be a madhouse tomorrow.

    We had WAY too much fun in Writers’ Group yesterday. They want me to teach them about sonnets, the Petrarchan vs. the Shakespearean, so in April we’ll do that. I told them about the mean old social worker, Olga-from-the-Volga, who wouldn’t let me have a Shakespeare’s birthday party. They immediately started clamoring for a Shakeseare’s birthday party in April. Our theme for February was love, and it was quite interesting to hear about the different kinds of love.

    Well, I must apply some hoof cream and get washed and dressed for the day. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

    • Yikes! “One wrong turn and it’s 90 minutes trying to compensate.”

      We have spots like that in Madison. For whatever reason, they chose to have very few Madison area exits off the interstate. So if you miss an exit you have to go quite a distance to be able to turn around. I remember when I first moved here I had that problem a lot because I assumed that there would be another exit in a few miles where I could turn around. Wrong!

      We were looking for the Nathan Chen video replaying and never found it. These tape delayed Olympics are very confusing. :(

  15. It’s 51 going to low 60s but overcast. sigh. We reached just over 10 KWHs yesterday – m-t-d 37.5 – and were slowly gaining. I doubt we’ll get the 6 we need to not lose ground. I hope I’m wrong but. . .

    Jill found out the computer company will replace the screen – but all the labor and materials needed to do it are a different matter. Estimate is over $200. So, she’ll continue to use the broken computer until she can afford a new one. It’s harder for her without the touch screen ability but she can use the keyboard and mousepad. Lisa’s fatigue is still keeping her from getting anything done. Nothing else new as of last night when I last had contact with folks.

    I got 6 hours of sleep in 2 chunks. My hands are cold, stiff, and achy. At least I seem to be able to use the mouse OK. For now. Warmer today so wearing a ratty cotton sweater instead of a ratty wool sweater. LOL. Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  16. Good morningish, meeses! Friday …

    It is 39 degrees in Madison and since it is almost afternoon that is the expected daytime high as well. The weather widget says we will get some flurries and then tomorrow it will be bitterly cold again.

    I opened my newsreading browser this morning and got sidetracked multiple times until finally it is almost 11am. I will save my open tabs into Pocket and read them when I have time. I want to read more about the disgraced Deputy Attorney General in Virginia who had to quit because she is either Q or Q-adjacent. Literally NO ONE is shocked that the Republican administration in Virginia is filled with deplorable people. I was shocked, though, to see that the AG actually seems to care.

    See all y’all later!

  17. Good morning, 42 and sunny outside my window today. We enjoyed our time with Ron’s brother yesterday, but we stayed away from the “what do we do next” conversations. My memories of how difficult this brother was during transition times with Ron’s mom is still fresh with me so it’s best to keep some distance from certain topics. I’m looking forward to lunch with our sons today, and Ron is easing into being 80 yrs old so our low key birthday plan is the right plan. Best wishes to all.

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