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”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 59 degrees in the Desert Southwest 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 66. Mostly cloudy skies with a chance for rain.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese.
Hurricane Melissa
Good morning. I went to kickboxing yesterday, yay me! we’re having near-record warm days. Really depressing to be wearing sandals in November. Anyway, I am enjoying the smell of my steeping tea and watching the local news.
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It’s 58 heading for 73 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 7.2 KWHs and the m-t-d at 99.8 has some cushion against the spate of cloudy days that are starting tomorrow. We shall see if there’s enough cushion to keep us on track through that spate.
Did my vacuuming this morning. Also baked peanut butter and raisin bread. It’s just out of the oven and smells great but too warm to slice yet. I need to get milk today and bake a small pork roast this afternoon for protein while Natalia’s gone/visiting with family. Meanwhile I need to be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Sunday morning, Moosekind. Dearly died at Arlington Hospital early this morning (4:30 a.m.) and I wasn’t there! I am consumed with guilt and grief. The family were with him, however. They’re on their way over for a family conference. I’ll be in and out to let you know how things are going. There will be a LOT to do, starting tomorrow. Bye for now.
{{{Diana}}} Holding you in The Light. Dear heart, think on this. He may have gone while you were not there on purpose. Because he didn’t want that to e the last memory you had of him. I don’t this. I can’t. But consider it before you beat yourself up for not being there. The grief is enough to deal with. Love is Love is Love. He’ll be waiting at the wharf when your ship reaches the Western Isles. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
Dearest bfitz, you may be right! I remember that my mother died when we had left the hospital for a couple of hours and gone home. A social worker told me at the time that loved ones will often wait until their closest person is not there. I remember my mother’s second husband died at home when she had left the room to take a bath, and she was terribly upset over this. Thank you for reminding me of this.
{{{Diana}}}
{{{{Diana}}}} I’m so sorry for your loss, but he knew you loved him. Not being there when he departed isn’t something he’d be upset about. Like bfitz said, he’ll be waiting for you in the Western Isles. You & your family have all my thoughts.
Oh no! I am so sorry to hear that. Prayers for healing raised for you and your family.
🙏
Blinking tears Diana. May you and your family find comfort as you mourn Dearly’s passing and celebrate his life.
Good morning, 47 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham today. RonK is cooking a pot roast for dinner and I’m going to bake chocolate chip/pecan cookies for dessert. I got the patio lights in place yesterday and it looks cosy so if we can I want to light a fire and eat dinner outside tonight. Best wishes to all.
My daughter reminded me that no one waits until Thanksgiving to bring out the holiday lights and she is missing them. I will have to get over to the storage unit to get the tree and ornaments.
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 54 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 68. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. All day yesterday there were clouds over the mountains that occasionally showed up in the valley and dropped some rain. I am not sure how much rain we got but we did get some.
I was up too early, unable to sleep. I can take a morning nap but not an afternoon nap as I have a late afternoon appointment. My two Women’s Basketball teams both won yesterday! I watched the Wisconsin Badgers beat their in-state rival UW-Green Bay for the first time in 9 years. It was very satisfying! I will watch the Arizona Wildcats game off ESPN+. They had a very bad start then came back to win. Because of foul trouble, some players who had not yet seen action in a real game got some minutes. It will be interesting to see how they look.
Sad news about an iconic mural in Tucson, the “Goddess of Agave”, that will be removed because the new owner of the building is going to “reimagine” the structure. :( Here is a link to the article – I hope you can see the mural, the entire story is behind a paywall.
I am going news light again this week. I have to get some accounting work done plus work on my end of calendar year project list. I am waiting to hear from someone and I have to find a “friendly” way to rattle his cage so that I can get the quote I need.
See all y’all later!
Congrats on your teams wins Jan!
Monday, Moosekind. It’s 43 F. in Ashburn on a silvery sort of morning, dim light with white clouds moving slowly across a blue sky.
Would like to thank everyone for their condolences, it means a lot to me. This morning when I rose and walked down the short hallway to the living room, I asked the air above the empty sofa if it wanted a cup of tea. Receiving a reply in the affirmative, I then proceeded to make two cups of early morning tea. I’ve got to get out of the habit of doing that! I want only one cup of tea in the morning; after that I want coffee.
Have a doctor’s appointment that I can’t miss as it’s about my Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, so have to leave here at 10:30. The Boyz will be over at noon. Eric and Mindy are taking care of the death certificate. They have been so helpful! Daughter up in the Icebox state has texted the entire family. Younger Son has also been very helpful. Feel so blessed!
This morning I look like the Wrath of Goddess! Must do something about it. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
All good thoughts, Diana.
{{{Diana}}} It takes time to form new habits. But you can start tomorrow. The first everythings are always the hardest. Give yourself the grace as well as the time to deal with. Healing Energy. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
Had a good walk, but then the building wouldn’t let me in at 6. I called the Capitol police and they said there was no timeframe on fixing the locks…. Luckily they were fixed by 7. So, Monday is mondaying.
Good morning, 50 and raining in Bellingham today. It was too wet to be comfortable outside last evening so Sunday supper was enjoyed in the kitchen. And baking cookies has moved to today’s list. Best wishes to all.
Tuesday Meese. 38 here in Kingston
Puerto Rico
Melissa
In theory, setting up a military base in Puerto Rico would require that someone give a rats ass about electrical infrastructure on the island. In reality, I suspect that it means that resources needed by the islands people will be diverted to the military base. Bastids.
“Shameless” is exactly right about Tish James’ request for TPS status to help Jamaicans after Hurricane Melissa:
Maybe karma will visit tRump in the form of a breakdown of his personal hygiene with a bout of on-stage incontinence and bowel release while he is drooling and blubbering. Sadly, that will likely not convince anyone that he is unfit.
Good morning, Meeses! Tuesday …
It is 55 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 66. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. Yesterday morning we had the prettiest waning crescent rise over the mountains in the pre-dawn light with a little cloud puff rising at the same time. She will be new tomorrow at 11:47pm MST. There is a slight chance for rain today but a much larger chance tomorrow. The roof patch is holding and we have to hope that it will continue.
That Lawrence Summers has to “step back” from public commitments is disgusting – he should never have had any role in public based on his history even without the Epstein email dump. JHC on a hockey stick, what is wrong with people giving these guys second and third – really infinite – chances to rehabilitate what is clearly a burned-in personality flaw. That Harvard still employs him and lets him teach at their institution is a permanent blemish on them!
I have many things to do today as yesterday disappeared in blur. I think I caught a bug, it feels flu-like but could just be a chest cold. I feel better this morning but I am not sure if it will last; yesterday morning I felt better and that only lasted about 2 hours. I have all the shots but I have 0 confidence in the flu advisory board after HHS dismembered it. Are we even protected from the right flus? I did sleep better last night so that might help. Needless to say, nothing got done on my to-do list. I feel like this is the week to get organized for end of year including taxes and 2026 projects. No one will be around next week or at least won’t be wanting to work and December it gets worse.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. We’re having “second summer” — 60s to 80s, which would actually be cool for real summer but is way too warm for November. Getting ready for wfh.
It’s 69 heading for 78 and sunny at the moment although there are clouds to the northwest. Yesterday we generated 6.6 KWHs and the m-t-d at 113.3 is on track and gained another smidge.
It warmed up too much yesterday afternoon for a fire so I didn’t do laundry. If the widget is correct, Thursday will have both rain and cooler temps so I’ll do it then. Depending on what all her family does/did, and how much cleaning up after needs to be done, Natalia will be home either late this evening or tomorrow morning (just a stop to unload stuff and then head to work). Meanwhile I’d best be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Good morning, 44 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’ve got what should be an easy sewing project started but I need to sort out how to use the fabric I’ve got. Seems like I’ve been in. Cognitive cloud since Covid, but oh well, I’ll make it work today. Best wishes to all.
It might be the dark moon approaching. I have been feeling like my head is full of mush and I stare at things and don’t know what I want to do with them.
Good Wednesday afternoon, Moosekind! Oh, mah Goddess, things are happening at a tremendous rate! This afternoon it’s 48 F. and gloomy in Ashburn. This morning it was 40 F. Somehow this gloomy weather is appropriate, not only because it’s just two days since Dearly passed to the next world, but also because I attended a Day of Remembrance this afternoon. My BFF here at The Home sat next to me and held my hand throughout the hour. I knew several of the people who have died in the last six months.
Yesterday was grim. Trevor and I went to the Funeral Home and made the arrangements. To my utter amazement, this place notifies Social Security and issues the death certificates! The woman we spoke to was very nice. I’ll spare you the details of what will transpire. We had driven there in my car, so we went to Trevor’s house and he told me how to get home while avoiding the awful traffic we noticed on our journey to the Funeral Place.
I became hopelessly lost, finally finding myself in a place called Lenah, Virginia. I turned into a housing development and looked for people. I saw a man sitting in a car, so I jumped out and accosted him. He rolled down his window. “Can you help me?” I begged. He shrugged helplessly. “Espanol,” he said. However, he grabbed his phone and punched the translator button. “Perdita,” I said, hoping he’d gather I was lost. He programmed my address into his phone, consulted the maps, and showed me the translation. “Follow me,” it said. “Thirty minutes.”
So off we went, up and down the !@#$%^&* roller coaster hills, navigating the narrow country roads in the dark. GODS, I hate the country! Anyway, this angel disguised as a human finally drove up to the gates of Ashby and stopped. I jumped out of the car, ran up to him, and shouted, “Mucho gracias, senor! Vaya con Dios! Feliz Navidad,” I added, desperately pulling out all the Spanish words I knew.
He grinned, holding up both thumbs. “Feliz Navidad,” he said, and drove off. Blessings on all his camels and may his fig trees bear profusely forever.
Had dinner at the Pub with two friends, then lurched home. People are being so kind! I’ve had lots of cards and one neighbor left flowers. Tomorrow I have a meeting with Resident Life about the memorial service. After Thanksgiving is preferable.
It’s funny, Dearly was in and out of the hospital so much of the past month that I’ve become quite used to not having him about. It’s the dinner hour that brings on powerful emotions. I used to get takeaway from the restaurants or cook dinner for him at home, so it’s emotionally painful to be alone.
There’s just so much to do. I have to look up some numbers, so I will stop rambling on. Hope everyone at the Pond has had a good day1
{{{Diana}}} Blessings on that angel who got you home. Yes, mealtimes are the worst. Especially at first. Day by day. You create the future day by day. Healing Energy. Holding you in The Light. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
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Wednesday Meese. My least fav day of the week because I have to drag the trash bins to the curb – early and it’s cold here (28)
Hurricane Melissa
After Melissa, Recovery Through Solidarity
Hurricane Melissa devastated eastern Cuba, damaging 90,000 homes according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. But Cubans are mobilizing to support those affected. Besieged by U.S. sanctions, people are giving what little they have to help each other, complementing the state-led recovery effort. From Havana to Santiago, churches and cooperatives are making donations to help people get back on their feet. This video was made in collaboration with the production company Caminos at the Martin Luther King Memorial Center in Havana.
Mr. Weatherman