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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It’s 60 heading for 78 and sunny. At least at the moment. We generated right at 15 KWHs yesterday, so neither gained nor lost ground. The m-t-d at 400.99 is on track for 450. We’ll see if we make it. But with the A/C off since Monday, we’ll be OK even if we don’t.
Aashirs nani/Suzanne has a Walmart delivery account so she sent me some Covid tests – I did reimburse her, the convenience of delivery is nice but I’m not stiffing a friend – and I’m negative. Natalia and I will both test again in a few days. Probably Friday.
Cloud (my elder cat) is still losing fur. Nothing tried so far has stopped it. In fact it seems to be getting worse. We’re waiting on the results of the last fungal test. I’m taking him back in tomorrow so we can try something else. He’s probably not eating as much as he should, but he is eating, so that part’s good.
Chimney cleaner/inspector will be here in half an hour so I’d best get started on my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, meeses!! Wednesday …
It is 73 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 90. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The rain forecast is gone for the rest of the week but temperatures are predicted to stay below 100. Last night there was the prettiest waxing crescent in the western sky over the rooftops. It is always a joy to see her.
I am going to try to ignore that a failed businessman who fancies himself a brilliant money manager is going to take over the Federal Reserve and likely crash the economy. Goddess help us all if the Republican Party continues to refuse to put an end to this madness. Do they really think that their wealth will protect them from what will happen?
My WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, won last night but it took all 40 minutes. There are only about 7 games left to decide the playoff picture. Sadly, the Racist Enabling Indiana Fever won and are unlikely to be left out of the playoffs.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 65 and light clouds outside my windows today. Bri will be here this afternoon so the garden will get some needed attention. I need to tend to my desk and catch up with the laundry so one more solitaire game and then I’d best get busy.
I made a hydrangea and dahlia bouquet for Ava yesterday so we had a nice but brief visit. She is not feeling well and her doc does not agree with the ER
doc so I hope it all sorts out for her soon.
I’m starting to feel better but stamina is still low so it seems like I’m not doing much. Oh well, I’ll do the basics today and nap when I need to. Best wishes to all.
Only 47 degrees here in Kingston this morning. This is not August weather!
Puerto Rico
The unusually lenient plea deal was backed by a top Trump Justice Department official and grudgingly accepted by a federal judge, who likened it to a slap on the wrist.
Ms. Vázquez, 65, pleaded guilty to accepting a promise of a donation greater than $2,000 but less than $25,000 from a foreign national in the Federal District Court in San Juan. That is a far less serious offense than the charges of felony conspiracy, federal programs bribery and honest services wire fraud brought against her in 2022, which carried up to 20 years in prison.
She will be sentenced on Oct. 15 to between six months and a year of probation, under an agreement between prosecutors and her defense lawyers.
“In memory of Pablo José Rivera Miranda (1948-2025): Patriot, fighter for independence, and bastion of CLARIDAD”
47 degrees? Holy moley – too soon!!
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 77 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 95. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. The crescent moon was in the western sky yesterday evening but a bit gauzier looking – the air here has been damp this week.
Thank the goddess that there were still adults in charge of the health care of Americans in 2020 or we would never have survived the pandemic. I feel sorry for folks who have young children and now can’t get immunized from childhood diseases and for the rest of us if there are any new diseases. Heck, we won’t even know if there are new diseases because all the people who track that have been fired and all the people who actually care about human life are long gone! I get nervous when tRump makes a point about preserving Social Security and Medicare like he did a couple of days ago. You wonder what triggered that? We already know that his Treasury Secretary, who is a cryptocurrency fan, wants to privatize Social Security and there is certainly some concern that his plan to take over the Federal Reserve is tied to his plans to elevate crypto’s status. I do not want to get my Social Security check in crypto, thank you very much.
I have some accounting work I need to get done as the end of the month snuck up on me. Tomorrow is that last working day of August and then we have an extremely early Labor Day. Where did the summer go!
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Another restless night with weird dreams about shopping in a mall (do those even still exist?) and continually leaving my purse behind. Hey, at least I slept deeply enough to dream. In the office, we are having “administrative days” with everyone required to be onsite and the other divisions are doing g records management and housekeeping stuff instead of regular work. We’re doing that in addition to keeping our phones open like usual. Where’s that eye roll emoji?
It’s 63 heading for 69, almost dark as night (PV system is in night mode), and raining like billy-o (3″ and counting). Yesterday we got 8.5 KWHs and while we lost ground the m-t-d at 409 is a heck of a lot better than last year and getting close to what I hope will be the previous working-system low of 414 we got in 2022.
Presupposing I don’t get a call from the vet saying they’re closed due to flooding I’m taking Cloud in again in a few hours. Goddess, I hope they can figure out something about his fur falling out. He doesn’t seem to be in pain but something is definitely not right. He is eating the Sensitive Systems food I got yesterday. We’ll see if that helps.
Natalia was planning to go in today – just for a few hours and of course masked – to deal with some end of month things she can’t do remotely. But she woke up lethargic and that combined with the rain changed her mind. There’s still tomorrow before the month’s over and it’s not supposed to rain tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I have boosting to do before the vet visit. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Thursday moaning, Meese! I’m in! Thanks to the BlogGoddess and bfitz, I can once more bathe in the cool waters of the Pond.
This morning, when I walked down to the Community Garden, it was 57 F.! People shivered as they jogged around Turtle Pond, getting their exercise in early so they can do what they like the rest of the day. My little garden looked sad. I picked the few tomatoes, gave all the plants some water, and decided that perhaps I won’t have a garden next year, Mexican tariffs or no tariffs.
Had a terrible night, so I was still asleep when the butler arrived with early morning tea. My condition is bad again: I’m referring to the horrible swelling, redness, and itching. Last night I had to cram the old bod into a ShaperMint just to get my jeans on for Rehearsal. Dreamed that people were making fun of me for being swelled up like a toad, and that made me sad.
Oh, well, had some good news today: my friend who was to have the surgery yesterday didn’t have it after all! The surgeon took another look and decided it would be more risky to operate than to simply monitor the condition.
The headset training session that was scheduled for Saturday morning seems to have been moved to Tuesday afternoon, so that’s good. I want to go through piles and piles of paper to get ready for the Shred Truck that’s supposed to come here on the 13th.
Daughter, up in the Icebox State, went for a hike in some beautiful woods with her hubby and the two chihuahuas. All were wearing coats already! This does not seem like August.
No sight of Herself, who is supposed to be a quarter-moon tomorrow night, but I’ll keep trying. Oh, must tell y’all that I sent in my article, “Per Scientiam Ad Astra—Through Knowledge to the Stars” to the managing editors yesterday and they liked it! The quarterly will probably come out about September 15th.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond, especially to those who are feeling ill. Blessed be.
I am investigating why your login is on again off again. I will need to do some research to see what is going on with your saved credentials – I have some ideas but I won’t have time to look into it in more deeply until the weekend.
Continue to use the “workaround” I sent to you and I will let you know when I have something you can try.
Thanks bigly, BlogGoddess!
Good morning, 65 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I know what I should do today but what I will do is yet to be determined. I’m discouraged re the realities of life…..my knees are getting increasingly more difficult, the garden needs more work than I can do, and my aging in place list remains not done. Oh well, I usually find a way to do what’s most important so I’ll do some laundry and let the rest sort out. Best wishes to all.
Cold again here in Kingston – 54 degrees.
Puerto Rico
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 77 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 93. Sunny skies are in the forecast. This morning it was cloudy and it sounded like it was raining. I did hear the rain in the chimney chase at about 3am so I am pretty sure it was rain and not the sprinklers for the green space. No stars visible but there was a somewhat cool breeze passing by when I poked my head out over the railing.
The white nationalists running the federal government have put another hurdle in the way of immigrants applying for citizenship – they reinstated the “ask the applicant’s neighbors if there is anything fishy about them” rule. What could possibly go wrong in an America that has been infused with MAGAt Hatred of the Other and where there are literally no rules against being complete aholes and lying about and promoting conspiracy theories “just because”? Goddess help those who are at the mercy of the Republicans and their cult leader.
Last business day of August plus holiday weekend so I need to try to get some emails into people’s Inboxes before they disappear. I stayed up too late to watch the end of the tense Chicago Sky v Phoenix Mercury game. It was nice to see Angel Reese of the Sky playing again and at a very high level – her double double included 20 rebounds! The Mercury survived and now are part of the logjam of 4 teams fighting for the last two home court slots in the playoffs. The Lynx and Aces have one and two locked down and the Dream will likely lock the the three spot down this weekend. Down to the wire and very exciting basketball.
See all y’all later!
Congrats to your Mercury Jan!
Good morning. 81 degrees at 5:30 am. Just so wrong. Easy walk because my foot hurts. Stopped for wall push ups. Next week, I’ll bring a towel and try crunches. Did I mention 81 degrees?
Good Friday morning, Moosekind! It’s 61 F. now in Ashburger, 79 F. later. Right now the sky is cloudy but it’s supposed to be sunny later.
The newspooper has officially declared that fall has arrived early. Suits me—temperatures in the low 80s? I’ll take it.
Understand that Orange Sheetstain wants another parade later this year. Fer gawd’s sake! He’s not a king!
Promised Dearly I would make scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon for breakfast, so will put on clothes and do that. (I hate cooking in my dressing gown.)|
Cardiac Rehab this morning—will be SO happy when it’s over at the end of September. Exercised yesterday and took the usual boatload of meds, but no matter what I do, my blood pressure is always in the low 130s over something. This is probably bad.
Meanwhile I continue to fume silently (or not so silently) at the mysterious, undiagnosed condition that no doctor seems able to name. Itch, itch, itch. Swell, swell, swell. I look awful.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s 62 heading for 80, overcast but at least the PV system is on. Wd did get some benefit of all that dark yesterday morning – 4″ of rain. Yesterday we generated 4.22 KWHs and the m-t-d at 413.7 is losing ground but close enough to 2022’s 414.58 to get out of last place (for the working 4K system), pass 2017’s 415, and make progress towards 2018’s 428.
The vet said that cats chewing on themselves when there’s no indication of an obvious skin problem is a sign of pain. And considering that most of it is around joints she’s guessing he’s got arthritis pain. He definitely has arthritis – he can’t jump higher than the seat of a chair and sometimes has to take 2 or 3 tries to make it – so although we did do blood work this time (I’m supposed to get the results today) we started treatment for arthritis pain. That’s a monthly injection of Solensia (frunevetmab) and 2x daily doses of Gabapentin. Fortunately that’s a liquid and I use a syringe to squirt it in his mouth. I can do that. He’ll let me do that. I think he’s showing improvement already. He definitely ate better last night and this morning. Which is good because he’d lost another half a pound since last week and he’s already underweight. So. Barring anything nasty from the bloodwork, Cloud in his elder years will be an expensive cat (~$2500 more per year for his medical treatment) but he won’t be crossing the Rainbow Bridge any time soon. Which is good for many reasons. Including that it’s the 1-year anniversary of Rennie’s crossing The Bridge on Sunday.
We tested for Covid this morning. I don’t have it. Natalia very much does. She’s masked up and gone to work because it’s the last working day of the month and there’s Payroll stuff to do. But as soon as she’s done what absolute has to get done today, she’ll be coming back. Then she’ll load up what she needs to carry her a week or 10 days (and a couple more Covid tests) and head to the farm. There’ll be just herself and her cat and she won’t have to mask all the time. Neither will I but I’d do it if she needed to stay here. Part of the problem is that she’s not really that sick. The respiratory symptoms aren’t any worse than her “normal” sinus issues. She’s mostly just tired/exhausted. And she’s so used to working tired that when she’d had enough rest to not be exhausted, she gets up and does stuff. Even when it’s just making phone calls and dealing w/ emails (mostly regarding the divorce), it’s still work. And bloody stressful when she keeps not getting answers until after she’s hit a deadline and has had to make a decision with insufficient data. And then deal with the crap/fallout when the decision isn’t the one she’d have made if somebody had just gotten back to her with an answer before she had to make it.
Anyway, I’d best be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Call from the vet. We don’t have all the test results back yet but Cloud’s definitely got hyperthyroid. Fortunately the meds for that are ~$30 per month and another liquid I can squirt in his mouth with a syringe. If this is all, arthritis and thyroid, more expensive than I’m happy about but doable. If the pancreas comes up bad, well. . . Hold the Good Thought.
Hi from 69 and cloudy Bellingham. I’m icing my damn leg hoping I can use it sometime today and that means I’m a certified grouch! Oh well, I’m comfortable if I don’t do much so that’s what I’ll do. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 75 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 97. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Yesterday’s “sunny skies” were mostly overcast. Last night we saw the waxing crescent in the SW sky just after sunset. She is at 42% illumination coming up on first quarter.
Gosh! Sen. Bill Cassidy, who purports to be a medical doctor, is shocked SHOCKED to find out that the vaccine deniers he voted to put in charge of HHS and the CDC are going to cancel all vaccinations! He voted for RatFKjr because he had “assurances” that wouldn’t happen. Hey, doodiehead, there are no assurances when you support a literal dictator who governs on whim, grievances and whatever spills out of his addled brain. The Republican Party is filled with ostriches. When they finally pull their heads out of the sand, they should not be surprised to find that they have turned America into a hellhole.
It is Saturday and I survived a week trying to stay one step ahead of clients who needed things done. I think I can catch up over the long weekend and “right track” my schedule. I want to hit the 4th quarter running with a plan to finish the calendar year strong and that will require having a productive September.
See all y’all later!
Posted
Good morning. Yesterday was….just not good. We were told that no one could have the day off that we were to have time to do training and record keeping stuff. Well, there was almost no one there. And no one told our patrons that we needed to do training and they shouldn’t call. So I’m way behind on learning our new player which, hooking it up to wifi is quite challenging. I’m just gonna watch the bike race and eat my almond butter sandwich.
It’s 63 heading for 83 and sunny at the moment although clouds are expected to move in soon. Yesterday we generated 10.98 KWHs and the m-t-d’s at 424.69 with 2 production days left in August. We might just make that 450+ goal.
Natalia’s out at the farm. Unless it just flat won’t go away, she’ll stay out there until she gets a negative Covid test. Meanwhile her husband signed the divorce papers and sent them on to the judge. So possibly as early as Tuesday they’ll be signed and filed with the Court and she’ll be divorced. He’s sent her equity in the house in the worst way – it will definitely cause tax issues and may blow up her bankruptcy – but he’s only partly to blame for that. The bankruptcy attorney is one of the people she’s been waiting for answers from. But the legalities look to being wrapped up next week and hopefully she’ll be clear of Covid and can deal with getting her stuff the week after. She’s thinking of a pod instead of a storage unit if it’s not more expensive. The rental on a pod – and the time limits on how long the city allows you to have one in your front yard – will be even more “encouragement” to deal with all the stuff she’s been meaning to deal with for years. And having it in the front yard means she can work on it daily after dinner.
Anyway, I’ve dosed Cloud – he’s not happy but so far he’s not running away or hiding from me – and had best be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good Saturday morning, Meese! It’s 61 F. here in Ashburned at 10 a.m., going up to 71 F., and it’s yet another beautiful, bone-dry day. In a minute I must throw on some clothes and go down to water the garden. Then Dearly and I have errands to do.
Sorry to hear that princesspat is ailing and that Cloud is arthritic. Let’s hope rest will do princesspat some good, and that Cloud will respond to the meds.
The rumor on Twitter is that Thing is in hospice care and unlikely to survive the night. He hasn’t been seen in public since Wednesday and there are no events planned. Have already composed a little song to sing if this turns out to be true:
One guy on Twitter wrote that if it’s true he will open a window, toss down a coin to the first boy he sees, and yell, “Boy, buy the biggest goose in town!”
As for me, I’ve been feeling a “bit wobbly on my pins,” to put it in BritSpeak. My head swims (a little vertigo), and I keep tripping myself up. Dearly has diagnosed fatigue and prescribed rest.
Other friends have recommended going gluten-free for a week and to see whether that helps. I’ve bought tinned kippers and a packet of tuna for lunches, along with olives and gluten-free crackers. Well, I don’t want to bore anyone, but I love bread so much that the thought of a gluten-free life fills me with horror. What will happen to baking bran muffins with fruit in them?
Enough of that! Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
{{{Diana}}} Lots of Healing Energy. Try going without gluten and see if it helps. If you have to go gluten free, well, there are gluten-free flours out there so you can continue to make muffins, just not wheat bran muffins. Gluten-free baked goods don’t taste the same and the texture is a little different, but they still can be very good. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
I saw a teaser about massive bruising on the Felon that the cowardly press refused to report on but couldn’t read it – it was behind a paywall. I do think he was on some kind of drug that led to bruising. JD Vance is terrible also – and in some ways worse becaue of his techbro connection – but he will not command the cultlike obedience from the Republican electeds, especially those who want to be president like Rubio. It might break the fever.