Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: May 14th thru May 16th (continued)

May 14, 2015 JanF Community 56

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 (every Sunday morning) and sometimes later in the week (like now!) when they get too long. 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?

….

48 Comments

  1. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is 40 degrees in Madison on its way up to 66 degrees. Cloudy skies in the forecast.

    Well, the new theme was terrible and I just spent 45 minutes putting our pieces back in place. So if there was news overnight, it will have to wait.

    See all y’alls later!!

  2. Good Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind! I’m having a terrible time navigating the new Moose. For one thing, when I get in with the odd-looking password, there’s no friendly-looking pond. There’s a dull gray and white scene that offers “Dashboard, Posts, Comments,” on one side and simply a list of posts on the other side. In the middle are the comments. I clicked on something and finally saw the familiar Moose drinking at the water’s edge.

    Would like to know how to immediately go to a friendlier-looking page and bypass what looks like the WordPress admin page and also how to change my password. Gorgeous morning here but cold, so will have to switch back to jeans. Brr! Hope Meese everywhere will have a good day!

    • I feel your pain!

      The reason you are put on the Dashboard (the dull grey place) is because you are starting out at the Login screen, not the Home page.

      You will want to go here: Home Page. I stay logged in so that I don’t have to enter my password each time.

      Once you are on the Home Page, you can get back into your Dashboard by clicking on My Moose. That is where you change your password. From there, hover over the friendly greeting “Howdy, Diana in NoVa” and you will see Edit Profile in the list (if you can’t hover, just click the Howdy). If you scroll down, you will see where you can change your password.

      If you do find yourself in the dull grey place, you can quickly get to the site by clicking the Motley Moose house near the upper left hand corner of the screen.

  3. Good morning, Meese. I made it to our friendly Pond and see there is now a new comments section on the left!!!! Excellent. Thanks for all this work. It must have taken days and days to do. with stress building up each day.Brava!
    Will check in later. In the meantime, hope everyone has a good day, here in the Pond and throughout the larger world.

    • Ha! Actually, we always had the Recent Comments. When I had to rebuild the widgets after my fiasco of a site theme change, I thought it would be useful to see *more* comments so I increased the number.

      Does that help?

      Thank you for being patient with the changes. As you can see, the header image is being changed around. To make it less tall, we end up with the same problem we had before: lots of white space. The page width is 1200, period. But I did salvage our Moose and Bear which seemed to be a site favorite. :)

  4. Eating breakfast on my couch, watching the news. Actually not raining – not that I would ever complain about rain, rain is good & we never want it to go away. Even with all this rain, Lake Travis is still 40 feet low, and the news people are saying that maybe, _maybe_ we’ve had enough rain for 1 — that’s one boat ramp to open.

    Going out to lunch later with my friend. She texted me a few days ago that she’s depressed & feels like a burden. In college, she always had 3 or 4 jobs, while her daughter was young, she was always starting businesses…. she’s just used to being really busy, I think being unable to work or even drive is getting to her. So, we’ll hang.

  5. Thanks, Jan, followed your advice and things are looking up. Thanks for doing all this work for the new Moose! Are you in need of donations? I get paid Woden’s Day next, so could contribute then.

    • Good morning Diana. I’m getting used to the changes and it helps to know you are as well. I join in the thank you to Jan and everyone else for creating the new Moose and will be very happy to contribute to a fund to keep it all going.

    • I’m paid monthly, but I could probably manage a moderate amount (really moderate – like $10) the first of every month via PayPal or something like that if you need it.

    • So far the work has been covered under “labor of love” and has not cost any out of pocket except the new hosting. The moose ran a fund raising drive back in early 2013 when many new moose migrated and the business manager tells me that there is money there to do the things we need to do. The site hosting is paid up for a year and our only possible new cost will be buying a theme upgrade to do things that *I think* we need to do (outlined on the front page sticky post).

      Thank you for persevering! Getting here required negotiating some rapids in a small canoe with a bear steering!!! I know it was asking a lot and I appreciate the moose who made the journey.

  6. Good morning, 49 and cloudy in Bellingham today.

    Between changing beds, doing loads of laundry, and failing to do anything fun I was a total grouch yesterday…a waste of a day! I finally just went to sleep to get away from myself.

    So today has potential and I hope I can do something with it :)

  7. OK – busy day but got a minute to visit – 72 heading for 78 today in Fay., AR, rain stopped at 7 am so I walked in – following Jan’s instructions to Diana, I managed to find and change my password (it says my 8-character with a capital letter password is weak and suggests I should make it at least 7 characters with at least one special character such as a capitalized letter – ahem) but still can’t figure out how to get straight to the home page rather than the log in page. Heigh-ho and here we go – Life is a learning experience, right? :)

    • Ha! I noticed that on the passwords. I used the random password generator (stuff that came out of my head at the time) and some that looked pretty strong to me showed weak and others showed strong. Who knows what they are looking at?? A good password should have uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters. But it appeared to me that some characters were more special than others!

      I have a bookmark on my Firefox toolbar that goes right to the home page, https://www.motleymoose.com. If you aren’t logged in, it doesn’t matter. But if you want to post, you have to login … the easiest way is to click My Moose on the menu bar. It won’t let you Be A Moose without logging in. Just check the box that says “Stay Logged In” unless you share your computer at work, then you will want to log in each time you post.

      Let me know if the link works to get you directly to the front page. I want to make sure it is at least as easy as it used to be.

  8. Morning Meese

    What happened to the lovely header? – it shrunk!

    We had a freeze here – so glad I didn’t plant anything – last class day for me today (final exam), then nose back to the grindstone grading papers

    • We are experimenting with the header. It got tiny, didn’t it? I moved our canoeing friends over to head up the posts box (do you think I should reverse their image so that they are paddling to the left???). I am not sure where we are with the final design as there were some discouraging words heard in the herd. The banner is kind of a statement and we may need a few designs and votes and stuff like that.

      Our cold snap is over … for now. I am still not going to plant anything for a while. Maybe August. :)

      • I should have posted that comment in the other diary – sorry

        Well – it takes time to get a herd of anything to agree on stuff – but Jan – you are bearing the brunt of this …I will vote for whatever you wind up choosing.

        I hear you about August – it’s 45 here right now and I have the heat turned back on.

        • We turned the heat back on a couple of nights ago. I hated doing it but it was in the 30s overnight. Wisconsin in spring!

          We can chatter here about anything related to the site changes. I had to sort of tune out some of the stuff in the sticky post because many of those things had already been discussed in the design collaboration document set up to review the different options (yes, very official!).

          One criticism was that the header took up too much vertical space and that was already on my list so it led to the smaller header. I do like more space to see the posts and the logo will simply blend into the screen after a while so, really, who cares? But I will mightily resist losing our new coalition, though, the moose and bear rowing together … Forward!! :)

  9. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 55 degrees in Madison on its way up to 75. Morning clouds and afternoon sun are in the forecast.

    New Jersey had denied a woman the purchase of a vanity plate “8THIEST” saying it was “objectionable”. She was allowed to order one saying “BAPTIST”. She will be allowed to sue:

    Morgan’s lawyers say the issue is bigger than one license plate, and pointed out that the commission’s rules — specifically a policy that allows the MVC to decline plates they deem “offensive to good taste and decency” — are still in place, which they say grants the government “unbridled discretion to prohibit speech based on the speaker’s viewpoint.”

    It is indecent in New Jersey to not be of the majority religion? Yikes.

    And in environmental news, Duke Energy agreed to fines of $102 million for dumping coal ash into the Dan River in North Carolina and Enbridge agreed to pay a $75 million settlement to clean up the aftermath of allowing tar sands crude to flow into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan following a pipeline rupture. So billion dollar oil companies will get their wrists slapped and destroying our waterways will just mean they will have .006% less in profits this year. The Kalamazoo River is particular sad; 5 years later there is still oil residue and nearby residents no longer use it for recreation.

    John Bolton will not run for president now that Jeb(!) has locked down the “Iraq was a good war” vote. And Scott Walker is being summoned by the religious right to Washington DC to convince them that he is not just religious but really really religious. Just as our country is moving more towards secularism, the Republicans are moving more towards a Christian state. That should work out very well for them.

    See all y’alls later!

  10. Here is a photo of the kayak protests in Seattle harbor:

    Activists vowed to block the rig after Monday’s approval, and demonstrators paddled in Elliot Bay on Thursday in protest of the arrival of the rig named the Polar Pioneer.

    Towering 300 feet above the water, the rig dwarfed the kayaks as the massive vessel was towed into the city’s port.

    Seattle police officers on rescue boats enforced a 500-meter “safety zone” around the rig, local media reported. But protesters continued to paddle — saying that the rig was unwelcome in Seattle.

    “Unless people get out there and put themselves on the front lines and say enough is enough, then nothing will ever change,” Jordan Van Voast, 55, who was going out on the water, told the Associated Press.

    http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/14/shell-arctic-drilling-rig-arrives-in-seattle-port.html

    • From The Seattle Times…..

      The players, the stakes

      Port of Seattle: Expects $13.17 million over two years for 50-acre lease at Terminal 5 to Foss

      Foss: Says 417 people have been employed to date servicing Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet

      Shell: Spending $593,000 a day to lease Polar Pioneer as part of $6 billion-plus search for offshore Alaska oil

      City officials: Oppose Arctic drilling and say Foss and Shell need a new permit

      Protesters: Want to hinder Shell’s Arctic exploration by rescinding Terminal 5 lease

      More info re the Ports decision, the protest plans, and a timeline here http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/protesters-launching-kayaks-to-unwelcome-oil-rig-to-seattle/

      • I have some friends who are packing up their kayaks and heading there for a big protest today (Saturday). I hope they don’t end up in jail! :)

        • The kayactivitas will be busy today, and they are an important part of a growing awareness of climate change and public policy. This article in the Seattle Times is interesting…..

          But the sharpest separation between Washington’s top politicians, nearly all Democrats, and their peers in strongly Republican Alaska, is whether offshore exploration should be pursued as scientists warn of escalating climate-change risks generated by fossil-fuel use.

          “To a large extent, these are not local or regional differences, but national divisions between the two parties,” said former Washington Sen. Slade Gorton, a Republican.

          Many of Alaska’s political leaders question how much humans contribute to climate change.

          Earlier this year Murkowski voted yes on a Senate resolution that stated that human activity contributes to climate change. But she voted no on an amendment that would have added the word “significantly.”

          http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/oil-drilling-controversy-here-stirs-old-bitterness-in-alaska/

  • Good morning, this Ides of May. It will reach 75 today. And that is my poem for the Pond.
    Just reading about the flight of Myanmar’s Rohingya and their drifting on the seas for days with no nation to take them in. We are so lucky to have a home. So many don’t.
    More news and coffee. Will check in to see how people are. Hope it’s a good day for all..

    • We have not evolved much as a species if we still have “ethnic cleansing” based on religion. I have been following this story:

      An estimated 1.3 million Rohingya scratch out an existence in Rakhine, one of Myanmar’s poorest states — tens of thousands are trapped in displacement camps, with conditions outside often worse.

      “The (Myanmar) government has created conditions of life designed to be destructive to the Rohingya, leading people to take the seas in huge numbers,” Matthew Smith, from the human rights group Fortify Rights, told AFP.

      Even though many Rohingya have generations-long ancestry in Myanmar, they are stateless and have long been viewed as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

      Denied citizenship, they face daily discrimination and a raft of restrictions including controls on their movement, family size, religious freedom and access to jobs.

      The tyranny of the majority religion is a problem everywhere. In this case it is the Buddhists … in America it is the christianists.

  • Good Freya’s Day, Meese! Cloudy this morning–ugh–54 F. now, going up to 80 F. today. Yesterday our baby started walking! Yes, he actually took a few steps without holding on to anything before he sat down abruptly. He repeated this process several times but never in time for us to catch it on video. Yesterday I finally managed to get a few more herbs and the watermelon planted. Today must plant the Roma and Early Girl tomatoes, along with their guardian marigolds.

    I understand that Mary Lee, the 16-foot Great White shark that’s been swimming up and down the East Coast, has her own Twitter account. I must get on it. Just about died laughing years ago at the Bronx Zoo Cobra’s tweets: she talked about wanting to see “Bridesmaids,” and her hope of becoming Mrs. Justin Bieber one day. Her funniest tweet was: “Donald Trump is running for president? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Where is Trump Tower exactly?”

    Lunch with the CIrcle Sisters today–we’ll talk for hours–then home to tea. Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have a good day!

    • Woo hoo!!! “Yesterday our baby started walking!”

      Your life has just gotten much more complicated …

  • It’s raining — and over the lakes, so yay. I put a couple of my plants out to get some free water. Going to need to move one of my mint plants to a bigger pot – again, yay. I set the pot I’m going to move it to out. also, so the soil will be nice & damp.

    My FB & Twitter are full of last night’s kickoff of the U2 tour. Deeply jealous of people who live in or near a place they’re going. (they’re not coming to Texas at all). So, I have their whole catalog playing in my head. Yes, it’s very loud in there.

  • Good morning. 49 and cloudy in Bellingham

    I knew getting back in the pool routine would be tiring, and it is. I love the exercise and I know my stamina will improve if I keep going, but today I want to pull the covers over my head! Fortunately it is Friday and I can nap the afternoon away if I have to…..just like I did yesterday.

  • Another busy day but I managed to find my way here. Still can’t find the “stay logged in” button but what the heck, I’m here, right? :) 75 going to 77 and maybe/maybe not rain for the next several days. Got a few sprinkles as I walked in but I’m pig-headed and kept going – then they stopped. Don’t know what that says for pig-headedness :)

    I like the bear and moose paddling the canoe together – and the direction is just fine. Our society being what it is, to go forward is to go right since that’s the way our written language is read. Sure that’s an artificial designation, but much more solidly entrenched than the left is progressive right is regressive of our current politics. {{{HUGS}}} to all.

  • tweet of the day:

    Neil deGrasse Tyson
    ‏@neiltyson
    Curious fact that any time we lose a person who sings the Blues, as we just did in #BBKing, the World becomes a sadder place.

  • Good morning, meese! Saturday …

    It is 62 degrees in Madison on its way up to 78. Afternoon thunderstorms are in the forecast.

    So Massachusetts jurors decided to kill the Boston Marathon bomber. For the record, they are not doing it in my name.

    I saw this in a Tweet from Bill McKibben last night: Massive Antarctic Ice Shelf Will Disappear Completely In A Few Years, According To NASA:


    An Antarctic ice shelf roughly half the size of Rhode Island will disintegrate completely within the next few years, according to a NASA study released Thursday.

    In 2002, two-thirds of the Larsen B Ice Shelf — which had been intact for more than 10,000 years — broke up in less than six weeks. The remaining portion of the ice shelf covers about 625 square miles along the Antarctic Peninsula, extending toward the southern tip of South America.

    :(

    There is more news and I will put some of it in the president’s weekly address later this morning. I want to post a quick “How To” about logging into the moose.

    See all y’alls later!

    • And what that will do for rising sea levels and coastal areas in general is mind boggling and scarey.

      • Portlaw, have you ever read about the predictions of Edgar Cayce, the “Sleeping Prophet”? At the turn of the century he predicted that one day New York City would be underwater. In fact, the whole East Coast would be underwater.

        Frightening, isn’t it? And the Koch-fueled Rethugs are still denying climate change and resisting solar!

  • Good morning, Meese. It’s heading up to the eighties here with the possibility of thunderstorms.
    Have news to read and coffee to drink.
    Jan has already put up a separate diary on the news that most absorbs me so will save my comments for that diary.
    Hope it’s a good day for all.

    • The 80s??? Yikes!

      Have a great day, Portlaw. I will put up the president’s weekly address shortly and toss some more news in there. But I couldn’t let the death penalty case just become a one-off comment.

  • Eating breakfast, watching Up. The Republican guest is one that is frequently on, and he’s an ok guy. Talking about the sentencing in the Boston Marathon case, and now lots on Bill & Hillary — on their income, etc.

    Today I am actually leaving the house. Going to a meeting about a workout group, and I may buy some groceries & get a head start on the cooking thing, because the group is early Sunday mornings. The coach says we absolutely will be done by 9, so I’ll be home in time to get ready for church. I’m betting I’ll frequently be skipping the cool down, because I know Paul.

    But for right now, I’m watching TV & reading posts about last night’s U2 concert.

  • Hi–no headlines any more, eh? It’s 67 F. on a fair morning in NoVa, going up to a hot, humid 86 F. this afternoon, with possible thunderstorms. If Thor sees fit to send one, I hope it doesn’t batter my poor little plants. The watermelon seedling looks so tiny and defenseless in its big bed. On a whim, planted the Sungold tomatoes in my herb garden and little yellow flowers are appearing already!

    Today must cover the strawberry bed with white veiling, securing it with earth nails, move one lavender and plant another. Then must spend the day cleaning up this frightful house. It looks like a tip, as the British would say.

    It’s the weekend so I think I’ll give myself a break from worrying about the world. It’s coming apart, anyway–see breakup of the latest ice shelf. I suppose I’ll have to urge all the grandchildren to move to Canada, which is quite a large country and which will have plenty of water even when the USA becomes a desert. That’s a good argument for learning French! I’m already saving for their field trips to Paris with their high school French classen 10 or 15 years from now.

    Hope it will be a good day for all in Moosylvania and beyond!

    P.S. I miss the ratings buttons. It was nice to give people a “fierce” to let them know they’re appreciated.

    • Here goes nothing … new comment ratings being installed right now.

      The sticky post was taken down because it turned into a Request for Design Changes spec. I thought that the sausage making was better done offline. :)

        • It turns out to be not as easy as I thought.

          There are many comment rating systems but not many that “stay with the WordPress” (meaning that some sort of cloud service is managing the ratings … and poking around in the site internals!!).

          It might be a while before you see anything.

        • It is pretty primitive. I would like to know that I saw the comment but it just counts thumbs ups, doesn’t keep track in the database of who rated it. By the way, if you click and the number doesn’t change, you already clicked it :) I am going to experiment with thumbs down on my own comment here to see what it does. I still want to find (or write) a tool for knowing which comments I have seen.

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