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.
…
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! It’s sunny and 12 F. in Ashburn. “They” say when all this snow melts it will make a dent in our drought. I can see it beginning to melt.
Have had a pretty terrible two days. Nutshell: I didn’t fly to London yesterday because I couldn’t get the electronic visa in time to board. Only found out about the electronic visa on Sunday. After Mango Mussolini imposed tariffs on UK goods, the UK retaliated by requiring all Yanks to get visas before going over there. Trevor will go instead to scatter Dearly’s ashes on the family plot in Putney Vale Cemetery. I feel extremely sad about this, but I may go with Trevor’s family in August to the UK and see my nieces and nephews.
Also, I was scammed on Monday, so I spent a good deal of the day on the phone with the VISA credit card people. All of this caused a lot of stress, sleepless nights, and so forth. I have to start exercising more, have been away too long. Anyway…I’m back, can have a leisurely rest of the week, and Do Something to this apartment. Haven’t left the building since Friday, so I’m out of milk, frozen bread, et cetera. Thank Goddess for my nice neighbors, from whom I’ve borrowed milk and newspapers!
The managing editors of our quarterly said I only need to do the diabetes article for the spring issue, so I’m trying to round up some more interviews with diabetic residents. Have done two, lined up No. 3 for next week, now need two more.
Lawks, look at the date! Imbolc has sneaked up on us! Can’t believe the month has gone by so quickly. Last night I rubbed pain cream on my feet before I went to sleep and as a result, enjoyed the first decent sleep I’ve had in ages. Makes a nice change, since my usual waking-up time has been 3 or 4 a.m.
Time to have a miserly breakfast (chopped apple with yogurt and granola) and get on with my day. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
{{{Diana}}} sux about not being able to go to England to scatter Dearly’s ashes. & also being scammed. But good you had a good and pain-free night. Exercise is good, leisurely is good, and caring neighbors is very good. Healing Energy. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
I hope the Rotted Pumpkin recieves the hottest spot in the christianists hell when he leaves this earthly plane. Right next to his pal Epstein.
Good morning, 48 and cloudy outside my windows today. If I can stay focused Christmas will finally be put away and my desk work will be done for this month. I want to plant primroses but I need to stay on task. Best wishes to all.
I can’t imagine anything more soothing to the soul than planting primroses. Hope you have the chance to do it!
Good afternoon, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 64 degrees and mostly cloudy. I hope clear skies are in the forecast because in a few days the nearly full moon will be visible to me from my vantage point and sleep/wake times.
I guess we are headed to a government shutdown because few Democrats seem interested in enabling a government agency that murders its citizens just to please Gruppenführer Steven Miller.
See all y’all tomorrow!
Good morning Meese. Minus 1 here in Kingston. Still hacked on Twitter, sigh.
I saw one of the hacker’s posts yesterday – extolling the virtue of cryto and the thought occurred to me that it’s one of EM’s pet hackers that did it. Sigh.
Good morning. Most of the ice is gone, but 28 is too cold for me to walk for 30 minutes. In the office, getting ready for the onslaught of noise. I get used to only sound of my own choosing with these extended times away from the office. Anyway, hi.
Haitians
Puerto Rico
Hurricane Melissa
FBI Probes Georgia Election Office. GOP Cuts HBCU Voting. Judge Blocks Va. Map. AOC Takes on CVS.
Black Media
It’s 27 heading for 49 and clear at the moment. Widget says clouds will move in around midday but I hope it’s a lot later than that. The very edges of the PV system were cleared yesterday. We got 140 watts, not enough to move the m-t-d from 155.5, but with a warmer day we should get a little more. Especially if the sun will stay out.
My son didn’t tell me until yesterday but the Subaru started overheating – enough to kill the engine – as of Saturday night. Lang just let it cool and it fired right up again. He got people to and from work although it took longer. It could just be the thermostat. It could be the water pump. Or something else. Between us we managed to get it to the shop (a chain – Grease Pig) and they’ll be running diagnostics today. If I can afford to fix it, I will. Because replacing it is out of my budget for sure. But I do have a “mandatory withdrawal” from my TIAA to do and I can just withdraw more than planned to cover fixing it.
All the businesses and schools are back on normal schedules even though there’s still snow on roofs and yards – and ice on the roads where the snow thawed and refroze. Life goes on and all that. So. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Sucks to have unexpected car repairs. I expect my 23 year-old car to need about $1,000 a year to keep running well so I budget for that. I have no Plan B if my car stops being repairable.
I have a 2006 Subie – thankfully still chugging along. Thank you for all the boosting you do!
Mine’s a 1999 but yeah, mostly still chugging along. & you’re very welcome.
Good morning, 49 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I’m trying to change my morning routine so I don’t linger upstairs. It’s easy to sink into reading and listening to music and then half the day is gone. So I’m in the kitchen and will elevate my legs between laundry loads. Best wishes to all.
I think reading and listening to music is just fine. The chores can wait!
Good evening, meeses! Thursday …
It is 68 but feels chillier because there is no sun. We expect it to return tomorrow. The week has felt odd, like a week of Fridays and I think it is finally the real Friday tomorrow! In any event, I am slowly emerging from my too busy month of January and ready to Carpe February!
See all y’all tomorrow!
Friday Meese. It’s currently minus 6 degrees here in Kingston going up to a high of 16. Guess who’s staying indoors :)
Good morning. Trying to appreciate the cold while it’s here, I know in our 6 months of summer this would feel awesome. So, happy Friday y’all.
It is 22 wind chill 12 heading for 32 wind chill 23 and sunny at the moment. I may or may not stay that way. It didn’t yesterday. By end of day there was one complete solar panel clear of snow and a 2nd almost clear. The rest all had bits showing here and there but were mostly still snowed over. We did generate 672 watts and the m-t-d inched up to 156.3 so depending how fast the rest of the panels get clear as well as how much sun we get today & tomorrow we might, maybe, hopefully will finish January with between 160 and 170. Even if I had a way to clear the entire array this morning it’s not possible to get to 180 at this point.
The grand total of work to be done on the Subaru is $4300. Yeah. That’s a gulp chunk. The full diagnostic showed a bunch of stuff needing to be dealt with that I just hadn’t done because I’d been told the engine was going to go down at any time – over 6 years ago. The overheating part alone was a little over $1K – replace water pump, thermostat, and radiator hose. My fault. I hadn’t made sure there was enough antifreeze in it before the cold hit – so it froze and damaged those parts. But the timing belt needs to be replaced (& it’s in the same housing as the water pump), as do the brakes, stabilizer bar, and tires. I suppose the engine could still “go” at any time but it hasn’t so far so I’m biting the bullet and authorized all the work to be done. I have to do a mandatory withdrawal from my TIAA annually anyway so I called them as soon as I got the estimate and withdrew a bigger chunk than I’d originally intended to. That should hit my bank about the same time as the stabilizer bar gets here. LOL.
Diana emailed me last night. Asked if I needed help with the car. I promised I’d let her know if anything happened & I did. Her son was even then at the airport waiting for a flight to London to open up (the family still flies on standby). She also said she was beset by first-world problems and in a bad mood but was planning to bake carrot bran muffins as soon as she got some carrots.
A very nice thing happened yesterday. With all the messing around with the Subaru & finally starting to walk home from the last place it died on Monday, Lang lost my keys. He has duplicates for both car and house so it was OK if not convenient. Well, yesterday around 4 the library called. Someone had found my keys and since my library card was on the keyring, they turned them in at the library. So my keys – and library card – are waiting at the front desk until whenever I can get by there to get them.
I’ll be without a car until sometime next week but the only thing I’ll need before then is milk Sunday and either Natalia or Lang will get that for me. Meanwhile I’d best be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
Well, finally! On my fourth login attempt I have a reply form.
Good Friday morning, Moosekind! Once again I’m having a very slow start to the day. It’s sort of sunny and 13 degrees F. in Ashburn. Like Jim Morrison and his girlfriend, it’s not going to get much higher.
Had a weary, stale, and unprofitable day yesterday, beset by first-world problems. I emailed a person at New York Life eight days ago, left her a voicemail today, and she never responded to either. It’s about poor Dearly’s United Airlines life insurance. I’ll email again and call again tomorrow, but if she doesn’t respond there’s a consolation line I can call.
They sent the snail mail letter to the WRONG address (I don’t live in Fairfax County), and put an incorrect date for Dearly’s death. I pointed this out in the email.
On the plus side, I did (1) clean the bottom shelf of the fridge door, and (2) took the plastic wraps to the Recycling in the next building. On the theory that cleaning one shelf a day is less tedious than spending a whole day cleaning the fridge, I’m doing it gradually.
Younger Son did get a seat on the London plane but at 1:30 a.m. the flight was cancelled. They couldn’t get the air conditioning going. Weird. He’s probably still asleep, so I texted DIL, and that’s what she told me.
Meanwhile, after another night of waking up periodically and thinking, “Is that all the time it is?”—I’m always hoping it’s dawn so I can get up—I still feel tired. In a slightly better mood, though, so I may bundle up and go to Trader Joe’s.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
{{{Diana}}} Hope things go more smoothly & productively today. Healing Energy. Moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 52 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 66. Sunny skies are in the forecast. I saw the nearly full moon last night high over the mountains in the eastern sky and this morning in the west as she was setting. Hooray!
The end of the calendar month is tomorrow so I have one more day to get promised January work done but I need to contact users to make sure I have everything I need to finish.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, 56 and raining in Bellingham. I woke up earlier but then a morning nap happened so now I need to find some coffee and face the day. Best wishes to all.
Saturday Meese. It’s currently zero degrees here in Kingston.
Puerto Rico
Hurricane Melissa
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 45 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected high of 72. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The nearly full moon is shining into my office window, she will be full at 3:09 MST tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon. With our recent cloud and rainy weather, it has been a special treat to see her again these past few days; she is a comforting constant.
Good lord, what is wrong with people? Is should come as no shock that bored rich men with power would be drawn to a pimp who is also a bored rich man. The oligarchs are gross old men who want to pillage the earth to pad their obscene bank accounts and draw more power to themselves. The next president, when the rotted pumpkin finally collapses, is a bought and paid for puppet of those ghouls and goddess help us when they will have their point man in the White House quietly doing their bidding. :(
I have a quiet morning to finish up my January work and I need to get back to it.
See all y’all later!
Good morning. Getting ready to go to kickboxing, I need some exercise. It’s freezing and the wind is howling so indoor exercise is definitely the thing.
It’s 5 with a wind chill of -5 heading for 25 wind chill 15 and looks to be sunny once the sun’s above the hill to the east of me. Which is good because we had a light dusting of snow overnight. The PV panels are covered again and only bright sunshine gives us any chance of production today. We did get. 2.42 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is at 158.75 – definitely not one of our better Januarys for production. Only 2023 with 149 has been worse for the 4K system.
Woke up just before 3 am to see a window-wide streak of moonlight across the foot of my bed. Got up and took a look at her loveliness in the night sky. Woke again at 5 and the patch of moonlight had moved to the bedroom wall and door. I didn’t get up that time. But when I woke again just over an hour later to no moonlight in the room, I knew it was time to get up. LOL. And now it’s time to be about my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}
posted