Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: March 24th

March 23, 2024 JanF Community 63

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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31 Comments

  1. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 42 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 70. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The nice thing about rainy weather and gloomy skies in this part of the country is that it does not last for long. I did manage to see the fullish moon late on Monday night, first filtered through clouds and then higher in a clear sky.

    I was horrified to watch the video of the Baltimore bridge collapsing and my first thought was “who would design a bridge that would collapse like a child’s toy if one of the supports was hit?” The bridge is 1.6 miles long and is essentially stopped from collapsing by one support? Sheesh. I found this in one of the stories: “Though modern bridges are typically designed so a small failure in one area doesn’t extend to the entire bridge, steel-truss structures are particularly at risk. One study found that more than 500 steel-truss bridges in the United States collapsed between 1989 and 2000.” One story suggested that the supports were supposed to have some sort of fenders on them to push away boats that bumped up against them. I am sure the blame will be laid somewhere and fixes will be made to other steel-truss bridges – small comfort for the families who lost loved ones and the workers who will be devastated by their port closure.

    Apparently NBC was trying to suck up to Republicans, highlighting their both-sidesism and denying that they are a left-wing network. They probably thought that Ronna McChangeYourName would be just like Michael Steele, the former RNC chairman who is a regular contributor on MSNBC. Most people barely tolerate him and he at least conceded that the MAGAt Republican Party is awful. Ronna McMAGAt helped create the tRump Republican Party and facilitated the literal rise of fascism in America over the past 8 years. This is not a “rehabilitated Republican”, this is a woman at the center of a criminal conspiracy that is still being prosecuted! That Chris Cuomo, disgraced birther bastid from CNN, would leap to her defense is all you need to see. I hope she sues NBC for the humiliation – it won’t make them not do the same damn thing in a few years but they should be punished for their cluelessness by more than one news cycle of embarrassment.

    The week is winding down and I am trying to get ahead of end of month accounting projects. I am going to take a few days off from client work and I want to make sure bills are paid and transactions are documented.

    See all y’all later!

  2. It’s 36 going to 57 and sunny. At least at the moment. Yesterday we generated 9.9 KWHs and the m-t-d at 343.8 is still, barely, on track for 400 with 5 production days left in March.

    Got my grocery shopping & laundry done yesterday. Also got my first load of currently green firewood for next season. I’m asking for specific kinds of wood this time around – maple, elm, or ash – so I’ll be buying whenever that’s what he’s cutting. At least until I get the 4 to 5 loads that are all I use in a winter season.

    Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  3. Thursday Meese. 45 and cloudy here in Kingston going up to a rainy 49.

    Puerto Rico

  4. Good morning. We had a cold front come through, I had to wear 2 shirts for my walk/run. Managed 2 rounds of 7 minutes running — the treadmill really does help. Stopped watching the news last night when they were talking about yet another break tfg got that no one else would have. Anyway, I’m in the office. Sigh. I wish the in-office/wfh was 2/3 rather than the other way.

    • They’d better not touch the community cats, blast it! If they do, I’ll put a curse on them.

      I like cats, although I haven’t had one in my dwelling for many years.

  6. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 46 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 77. Mostly sunny skies. Last night the still-pretty-full moon came up over the mountains to clear skies.

    Joe LIEberman. The demise of a man who spent his last 16 years doing everything he could to ratfk the Democratic Party evokes no tears from me. He was actively involved in the latest ratfk with his No Labels third party. Thanks to him and his ratfking of the ACA, thousands of people died needlessly, unable to afford health care because there was no public option available to them. He will always be remembered for his literal kiss of George W. Bush. I hope that Bipartisan Joe Biden doesn’t lower the flags – that would be gross.

    My favorite basketball team, the Wisconsin Badgers, made it into the WNIT (Women’s National Invitation Tournament) and won their first game on the road earlier this week. The second game, in the round of 16 (called the Super 16), will be in Madison tonight. I will be able to watch it because I still subscribe to the BigTen+ in order to follow the Badgers sports I have rooted for over the past 30 years. Marisa Moseley, in her third year as head coach, has raised this moribund program from the depths, getting her team into the WNIT for the first time since 2011. Her team is fun to watch with a 6’6 center and a 5’3 point guard doing most of the scoring.

    I am just puttering around and will tie up some loose ends to ease into the long weekend. Most of my clients are off tomorrow, many were gone all week so I will enjoy the sunshine and warmth for a couple of days before I put my nose back to the grindstone to complete some projects due on the 31st. I don’t mind working on weekends, it is quiet and I control the pace.

    See all y’all later!

  7. Good Thursday morning, Meese. It’s a damp, grey morning here in Ashburn, although we apparently only have a slight chance of showers. It’s 49 F. at the moment, and Girl, it ain’t gonna get much higher. I’ll be so glad to see the 71 F. and sunlight They have promised for Easter!

    Oh, dear Goddess, starting in April we’re going to rehearse EVERY DAY! Well, perhaps not the first weekend in April. The last musical they did was “Fiddler on the Roof,” and apparently it was much more intense than this one. The guy who plays Jud is very loud and intense, though, so he makes up for it.

    This morning Dearly is going to drop me off at the nail place, then get his Coumadin checked and do a little shopping at the grocery store.

    We’ll have rehearsal tonight, as tomorrow is Good Friday. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  8. It’s 41 heading for 66 and sunny so far. Yesterday we generated 16.4 KWHs and the m-t-d at 360.3 is right at what we generated in 2017 with 4 days left in March. We’re now at 5th place and have time to make it up to 2nd, if not 1st (421 is the highest & that was 2016).

    I’m running behind because my friend called to tell me she’d just seen on the college newswire that more of the old stalwarts in the College of Arts & Sciences (admin staff) were retiring this year. More and more of those folks, the folks who used to have the answers and were happy to help other folks get them, are leaving as soon as they hit full retirement. They – & I for that matter – used to say, back in the days U of A was doing its best to be a top-notch research and educational facility, that they’d have to carry us out feet first before we’d leave. But the school hasn’t been that in over 15 years now and the workplace has gotten more & more toxic. State school. State run by Rs. ’nuff said.

    Need to get to my boosting. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  9. Good morning, 44 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I’m going to try to arrange a few flowers today, but walking and standing are still very difficult so my plan is to buy some tulips and ready made bouquets and then just re-arrange them while seated in the kitchen. I don’t know what my new normal will be but I do know I need to do a few things I enjoy because I’m getting grumpier every day. I see the pt this afternoon so I’ll ask for some guidance re how to manage. Best wishes to all.

  10. Good morning. Just walked today, will try running tomorrow. Cool enough for long sleeves. Leaving work early, got a dermatologist appointment. I really wish sun screen/block had been invented earlier.

  11. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 51 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 79. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    I was glad to see that the poor woman Crystal Mason who voted in Texas, not knowing she was ineligible, was exonerated. To sentence her to 5 years in prison was deplorable, for her to have this hanging over her for 6 years is terrible – I am glad there were smart lawyers willing and able to help her. Our country is racist, period. Our country has a real problem with those in power picking and choosing who can vote and when. The Arizona legislature, with Republican majorities but with a Democratic governor ready to veto them, is bypassing the governor by queuing up a bunch of anti-voter referendums to kill early voting and make it more difficult for Maricopa County (Phoenix) and Pima County (Tucson) voters to cast votes. I hope that people read the referendums carefully and vote to make it easier and not more difficult to vote in Arizona.

    I am taking a day off from client work and just catching up on replying to a few emails. My basketball team won last night and are waiting to hear who their opponent will be and when/where it will be played. The WNIT is odd in that the host team bids on hosting and no one knows who will be hosting the next round of games until the current round is complete. Another game in Madison would be great for the program but watching them play, I think they would be glad to be anywhere. It is a great time of year to be a women’s basketball fan!

    See all y’all later!

  12. Good Friday morning, Moosekind, literally! Couldn’t find any hot cross buns at the supermarket yesterday. The stupid grocers’ habit of putting out said buns for sale six weeks beforehand results in no buns for the actual day. (First-world problem, I know.)

    Yesterday at the nail salon Mr. Tony was so pleased that I’d waited for him to return from vacation that he put a bracelet on my wrist for me to keep. Wasn’t that nice of him? I used to have a necklace that would have looked very well with it, but it disappeared during the Great Downsizing.

    No rehearsal for three nights—YAY! Last night we rehearsed Act 2, which features the famous “Oklahoma!” song. They sing:

    We know we belong to the land
    And the land we belong to is grand!

    I’m ill-bred enough to sit there mentally revising the words:

    We know that we stole all this land
    And the people we stole from are grand!

    When you think about it, it is dumbfounding, not to mention devastating, that white people think they have a right to elbow their way into land that has been cared for by other peoples and simply take over. But I can’t start on that, or I’d be here all day.

    Oh, by the way, we have SUNSHINE today! And lots of wind, alas. Right now it’s 47 F., going for a high of 60 F. Natasha will therefore walk through the buildings to avoid wearing a coat and disarranging her wig. She’s attending the UU dinner tonight, wearing her new blue beret, so I’ll have to spend a good bit of my day practicing my Russian.

    Haven’t yet decided if she’s going to wear the Cripplers (exciting-looking black shoes with a modest heel) or not. Her backstory is that she escaped from Putin on the Trans-Siberian Railway, which, however, turned out to be full of wolves.

    Well, enough of my nonsense! The window washers are coming today. Hubby is off to the doctor’s office. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  13. It’s 60 going to 74 today and sunny at the moment but the widget says clouds will move in soon. I hope if they do they stay in the northern half of the sky. Yesterday we generated 19.46 KWHs and the m-t-d at 379.7 is within a stone’s throw of 400. But we still have to have sunshine to get there.

    It’s just damp and chilly enough this morning for my hands to be stiff and cold so I’m moving just as slowly as usual. Or more so. But I’m getting there. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  14. Friday Meese.

    Puerto Rico

  15. Saturday Meese. 38 here in Kingston. going up to 56. Spent yesterday evening happily watching women’s college basketball. My team, the South Carolina Gamecocks won – but not easily and remain the only undefeated all season team in the nation.

    Puerto Rico

    Let’s complain every day wherever you see him
    @GovPierluisiWhy are you selling to Puerto Rico?

    Puerto Rico faces an unprecedented and troubling demographic shift that will profoundly impact its society if unaddressed. Over the last decade, the percentage of older adults has significantly increased. To understand the scope, in 1950, approximately only 3.9 percent of Puerto Rico’s population was over 65 years old. By the year 2000, this proportion had risen rapidly to 10.8 percent of the population. But most alarming are the 2020 estimates, which place the share of Puerto Ricans over 65 as the 10th highest in the world—an astounding statistic for the territory. While the overall population has declined due to economic factors driving young people to migrate, the number of people over 65 paradoxically continues rising steeply due to long-term declines in fertility rates coupled with residents’ increasing life expectancy. This means deaths outpace births, while seniors live longer and lack familial support networks.
    The departure of 700,000 working-age adults in the past two decades has left an isolated, aging population lacking family caregivers. This mass migration accelerated after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening already high unemployment. Nearly half of the elders had at least one child living outside Puerto Rico even before the current wave. This diaspora fragments families, reduces familial support systems, and leaves many sick and elderly people without adequate care. Among Puerto Ricans aged 65 and older, there exists a significant disparity in health outcomes. A substantial portion, approximately 43.3 percent, live below the poverty line. Furthermore, this demographic often experiences isolation, both geographically and emotionally, primarily due to managing chronic illnesses.

    • Elders “aging with dignity” is going to be a big issue everywhere in the coming years. I live in a “retirement” area where there are a lot of oldsters straining the health care system and where affordable rental housing, driven by the high prices around the country making this a magnet for telecommuters, is starting to price people on fixed incomes out of the market. Nursing homes all over the country are closing because of staff shortages and because the Medicaid payment system does not pay enough to house those who have no savings and little income. In Wisconsin, an assisted living community abruptly closed to Medicaid patients and put them in ambulances and sent them off to other facilities, without any warning to their families. In many cases the private pay was too much for those families and were poised to deplete the savings of the elderly patients quickly. We need better laws governing greedy nursing home owners and more money set aside to care for the elderly.

  16. Good morning. Dermatologist took samples of 2 areas yesterday, will get results next week.  Today: groceries, cooking, another attempt at 3 repeats of 7 minutes running. How is the thing tfg is showing of Biden any different than Kathy Griffin’s thing that sparked such outrage? I’ve barely seen any mention. 

  17. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 51 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 77. Partly cloudy now but sunny later in the day. Tomorrow they are expecting record lows. We are on a bit of a rollercoaster, weatherwise, a few days of average then below average. Yesterday we basked in the sun on our morning walk at a state park – temperatures were in the lower 80s.

    Republican judges sounding the alarm over the complete disregard for the rule of law by tRump and his followers. Sheesh! Meanwhile, their freaking party has teed up another tRump run and set the stage for millions to be disenfranchised by roving bands of vigilantes. The Georgia law where any citizen can question someone’s right to vote and cause that persons vote to be held? What could possibly go wrong allowing that in a state that longs to return to Jim Crow? Arizona planning to return to the precinct system of voting where people have to go back to voting at their precinct instead of at established county wide voting centers – a system set up when they literally could not find enough election workers to staff hundreds of voting places? Add that to the end of early voting and it will simply become too difficult for people to vote. Bastids. The pre-Trump Republican SCOTUS ratfked elections and that group of “honorable” Republican judges likely laughed and high-fived each other. You can’t undo the damage that has already been done to the rule of law and our ability to repair it via elections. :(

    I am working on my to-do stack and then will watch the basketball tournament on TV. I was glad to see that there were no on-court dustups in this round. There were some upsets, some close calls and one blowout. Today has some interesting match-ups.

    See all y’all later!

  18. It’s 62 heading for 77 and sunny at the moment. Clouds are supposed to be moving in soon. If it’s yesterday kind of cloudy, not a problem as we generated 17.3 KWHs. The m-t-d is 397 with 2 production days to go. We actually could reach 422 and make this the best production month in the life of the system thus far.

    March isn’t exactly going out like a lamb but it’s definitely not going out like a lion either. At least not as far as the weather is concerned. There isn’t an animal in existence outside white men’s fantasies & propaganda that does the kinds of carnage we’re doing with our tax dollars to humans, animals, and ecosystems all around the world. All in the name of goodness & democracy. Sigh. So we do our best from within – and pray something comes along to “render us harmless”. And my best is boosting so I’d best get to it. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  19. Good morning, 44 and light clouds outside my windows today. Thanks to RonK, Marcus and Bri a lot of garden cleanup got done this week. Caring for the freeze damaged plants is the first priority, then we’ll see what recovers before deciding what to do next. I know what ever I do has to be a simple as possible this year but that’s ok. Best wishes to all.

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