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). 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 now 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 and use the link.
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Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …
It is 24 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 26. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
been too long can’t recall name password or what to do. and not worried either. heh.
maybe start over again
Hello, renzo!!! Sorry to take so long to find your comment (it was held in moderation since you appear, on the new moose, to be a new user). I was offline most of yesterday.
You have to get a new password in order to log in and I will have the Moose Administrator send you one (it will come from wordpress at motleymoose dot net). Just use “renzo capetti” as your user id on the login screen, the new password, and you will be in. You can change the password later by requesting a new one from the Login screen.
Nurse Kelley told me that you had a medical scare and I was very glad to hear that you beat it!
I hope you come back and share some of your prose!
Good morning on a very frosty predawn here in NoVa. It’s 26 F. now, heading for a high of 50 today. I can hear my wretched neighbor throbbing his pickup truck before making his usual ear-shattering start. He likes to wake up the entire street just because he has to go to work early.
Thinking about New Year’s resolutions and actually getting things done instead of just amusing myself all day long. Haven’t looked at the news yet. Off to make a wake-up cup of tea. Back later!
I scanned the news and found three interesting pieces: the Cliven Bundy inspired takeover of a “federal building” in Oregon (where the town’s residents and those they are protesting on behalf of want them to go away). There was a piece about the Texas Open Carry law and the observation by one of the business owners (who will put up signs asking for no open carry in his establishment) that “carrying a gun outside, on your person where it’s visible, is at least an implied threat”; he doesn’t want his customers to feel threatened. And a massive property tax increase in Chicago that will cause people to lose their homes – the increase is the amount that Chicago paid out over the last 10 years to cover up for bad cops – inaction has consequences.
Now I have to go pay the piper for my laziness during the winter holidays. When a large expanse of free time looms ahead of me, I tend to procrastinate. Now two weeks in a row of 3 1/2 day weekends (and many clients on vacation) has disappeared and I am left doing triage to decide what needs to be done by tomorrow PLUS closing out the month and the year. :(
From TBogg on the militia takeover and ABC News’ response: ABC killed journalism Saturday night using this one weird tweet
The Twitter Storm was fierce.
Click on the link to see more.
Twitter is all abuzz over this story and some of the Tweets are very funny but this is a serious matter:
Schools in the area are going to be closed this week in the hopes that the standoff is resolved.
Good luck, Jan!
I did not get much done so I will have to go nose to the grindstone in the morning.
I think I should pick one thing and get it done rather than worry about the length of my to-do list.
o shux
and hi
Hi, renzo! I replied upthread and you will get a password reset via email. And you can always comment as a guest using your email address (yours is on the “approved” list now).
Good morning Meese
Will be back later – just popping in for a sec.
Have a good Sunday!
Stay out of trouble!!
Interesting Sunday morning topic: Don’t suffer internet trolls gladly
One of the newsfeeds I follow is related to media – comment sections, or the lack thereof, and handling anonymous commenters are common topics. I scanned your post’s comments section and like some of the commenters, I am also surprised when I see that people are using their personal Facebook accounts, shared with family, friends, and co-workers, to spew garbage. Either they don’t realize what they are doing or they don’t care. I suspect the former.
Thanks Jan.
I added this video to comments – I’m glad to see young women speaking out about the issue
I never left the house yesterday. Just couldn’t do it Will do today because church & groceries. Now I’m watching Up & eating breakfast.
Wondering why there’s no news about the armed lunatics in Oregon taking over a government building — reportedly including at least 1 of Cliven Bundy’s sons. And literally nothing anywhere but Twitter & Facebook. Up has the usual political stuff. And Iran-Saudi stuff.
Another reason to eschew “traditional news outlets” if you want to learn what is going on. My morning news feeds covered it and when I got to Twitter they were already in the “making jokes about it” phase. Rachel Sklar was retweeting all the “why are white protesters with guns ‘patriots’ and unarmed black protesters ‘thugs’?” tweets.
Good morning, 21 and frosty in Bellingham. I’ve decided to stay in holiday mode for one more day so the tree has a reprieve, and I have another day to read and rest. I was going to take a break from the Malazan series, but Bonehuntersis waiting to be read and I’m not ready to leave the alternate reality Steven Erickson has created. Unlike George RR Martin, Erickson completed writing the main books before he ran out of steam so I should be able to finish this saga.
And Downton Abbey is on tonight, so we’ll have supper with our son and watch the first episode of the final season together. I’m amused that even Heide knows the cues…..she nudges us into our places, settles in herself, and then leads us to the door when she hears the final music. A very literate dog!
George RR Martin has not run out of steam – he is in the middle of writing the 6th book, and is completely chagrined that he didn’t finish it by the end of 2015. But he continues to write and rewrite and I hope will be able to finish it this spring. And then go on to the 7th.
I didn’t mean to be insensitive re Martin’s dilemma finishing his Fire and Ice series. I actually have a great deal of sympathy for him as well as appreciation for his writing. And I know the pain of procrastination all to well. This article at Tor Books expresses the importance of understanding and accepting his creative process….
I must say that I hope I will be able to finish reading the series though….he’s not the only one growing older :(
http://www.tor.com/2016/01/02/the-winds-of-winter-will-not-be-published-before-game-of-thrones-season-6/
Yes, it’s a pretty heartfelt lament – I check in on his blog every day or two, so I read it there shortly after he posted it. What’s great to me is that his most devoted readership put almost 2000 comments on that entry, before he closed comments because of the volume, almost every one positive and supportive. And understanding that creativity doesn’t always work to schedule. Also, that he’s a human being entitled to a life beyond creating these stories that we enjoy.
My take has always been that the HBO series was going to catch up and pass him eventually – and even if he’d gotten Winds out by December, he certainly wouldn’t have gotten the 7th done by spring of 2017, before the last season of the series, so we were always going to be in this situation. And it’s fine with me – I look at the TV show and the books as two very different things now, and I will have double the fun, both watching the show and reading the books.
I have decided to give my tree another week also. It is one of the nicest trees we have ever had and it is not losing needles too quickly. Last year we didn’t have a tree because we thought we would be traveling over the holidays so maybe this year we appreciate our tree more.
Good afternoon all – got up very late on this chilly grey day here in north Florida – only in the 50’s today, but we’ll be back up to the 70’s by the end of the week.
Dee, very interesting diary today! I don’t do social media, although I have a Facebook account – I think I’ve posted something once on a friend’s FB page, and that’s the extent of my participation. But it does astonish me how much young people are willing to expose about themselves online – I just can’t see making so much public.
I was playing a new game this morning – Child of Light – a sort of puzzle jumping game that is so beautifully drawn (not realistic, it’s like a fairy tale book illustration style) that I could just sit and stare at the screen without playing much. Of course, I’m terrible at these puzzle jumping games, but it wasn’t very expensive to buy and I wanted something a bit different to play. It’s very peaceful so far.
I can’t believe I have to start teaching again this week – only on Thursdays, as an adjunct, and believe me, they aren’t paying me enough to go over to school more than once a week. Still, it’s enough for a new computer this spring, and I promised I would help them out, so I’ll do it, at least this year and probably next spring as well. After that, well, maybe not.
Everyone have a great day!
This is the perfect retirement attitude: “After that, well, maybe not.” :)
You can do whatever you want as long as you enjoy it! May you have interested and interesting students …
Good Afternoon Meeses. The sun is shining nicely (already 22 KWHs for the month) in Fay., AR although it’s only 45. I’ll need to go out and get the clothes in another couple of hours, but can check in with everybody now. Soup’s done and cooling on the counter. Don’t know how I’m getting 17 servings out of a 1 gallon pot – the jars are supposed to be 1 cup each – but I did. 10g of protein and just under a 3-oz serving of veggies in each, too. Just put the pork roast is in the crock pot with 1/2 a bottle of hard cider – I’m drinking the other half (heh) – and hopefully will be done in time for dinner.
One of the reasons I don’t do Facebook (or other “social” media except blogs if they count) is privacy. Not that anybody couldn’t look me up and find me if they wanted to – I was an elected official for 6 years after all – but I’m not going to gift wrap it and make a present of it. I wish I could see a time coming (at all, much less soon) when white terrorists with deadly weaponry are reported and treated like the traitors they are – and everybody else isn’t treated like terrorists and traitors because they aren’t. sigh. Concentrate on the sunshine, the warm fire, and the good soup. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 25 degrees in Madison, with an expected daytime high of 24. Partly sunny skies are in the forecast. We are in the last week of the waning moon and I can feel the drag.
Yesterday, I followed the Bundy brothers latest “hijinks” on social media. You would think it was just a fraternity prank, boys will be boys, from the media response. If you only read one story, read Charlie Pierce: What’s Happening in Oregon Is Nothing Less Than Armed Sedition
I hope that this time the Justice Department responds in a way that tells people that this nonsense has to stop. This has nothing to do with the first amendment or the freaking second amendment … it has to do with a willful disregard for the rule of law and the constitution of the United States. If you have time to read two pieces, read Wonkette which does a better job of reporting than all the “mainstream” media and boils it down to its essence:
See all y’alls later!
Y’know, when I applied for government jobs years ago I was required to swear that I would not attempt to overthrow the government of the United States. Yet these guys are attempting it. Why isn’t it being called treason?
An old song is running through my head…”Send in the drones/There ought to be drones/Well, maybe next year.”
Someone explained the difference between Treason and Sedition. Treason is giving aid and comfort to a foreign enemy of the United States, kind of like what Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) did when he and 47 other Senators sent a “don’t make deals with our term-limited president” letter to Iran. Sedition is undermining the government by refusing to respect the rule of law.
Jim Wright from Stonekettle station asked about drones, also:
:)
Aha! Thanks for the clarification, Jan. I’d mentally filed all that stuff under “treason,” so am glad to have a more accurate mental file folder. :)
Now let’s hope I don’t confuse “sedition” with “seduction.” ;)
I lumped them all together, also, so I was grateful to an offline peep (an attorney) who made the distinction. Seditiousness sounds better … like snakes … hissing and slithering around.
Just don’t be seduced into sedition!!
Good Monday Mornin’ Meese
22 degrees here in Saugerties. Our Governor has issued an order about opening shelters and getting people off the streets…there is controversy around it.
Will be keeping an eye on it – sadly there are few long term solutions on the table – for affordable housing, expanded mental health treatment, social support for bullied and abused teens, and drug treatment.
Thanks for the Charlie Pierce link Jan. Off to go read it.
Read it – and left a few comments in response to the folks who are in there doing the usual attack the President routine (this is Obama’s fault), screaming about the Constitution (which they clearly haven’t read) and ranting against #BLM.
What’s interesting is these people are linked via facebook. Took a peek at who they are. Oh my!
Twitter was taken over by the Militia yesterday and it was a scary place to be. I cannot imagine what the comments section of unmoderated political blogs and news sites is like! I will wander over there and see what you left. I used to read the comments on Charlie’s posts because he had a fairly sane following. Lately that is not true so I stopped. There is a lot of Hillary Hate there and so much of it comes from a visceral hatred of women … I don’t need to see that.
Charlie posted that article yesterday, which is not one of his regular blogging days, which makes me think that the issue touched him at a deep level. It should touch everyone. I can’t remember the reason for the Justice Department to do nothing in 2014 when the Bundys first showed their seditious bent. Maybe Eric Holder wanted to finish a few things before he became even more of a lightning rod? But we need to draw the line here in a way that does not make the Bundys martyrs but which clearly shows that the rule of law is important.
Wow, some of those folks have linked their spell-checking free rants to their workplaces and businesses!! Are they really that stupid? DON’T ANSWER!
Hi, Denise! Re your comment—here in the DC area we have a program called “Housing First.” The people who run it think most problems stem from nowhere to live, and that once people are settled in safe, clean, apartments they can begin work on their other problems.
It’s an interesting approach and from what I’ve read so far appears to be quite successful.
Homelessness is a big problem and hunger also as teaparty governors are ending SNAP for childless adults with the new year. Jindal, Walker, and Christie are all ending the waiver they had gotten for food stamps during the Republican Recession. Normally SNAP requires that the individual work but with no jobs, that was a sentence of death-by-starvation. I guess now, with no help possible from the federal government because Congress has abdicated their responsibility to their citizens, they want to finish them off.
Jan, that is so vile! I’m already livid from the Rethug Wisconsin legislature’s forbidding the Poors to eat potatoes. My Goddess, why potatoes?
So furious that I checked a book out of the libe to bone up on the subject of my April Fiction Cafe story, “Subverting the System.” Watch for it! :)
Has anybody figured out the rational behind the ban on potatoes? Aside from “let’s find the one category of food that the poor eat the most of and ban it”? I mean I remember when somebody’s husband’s cousin’s brother-in-law’s step-mother’s third husband saw somebody buying salmon with food stamps so they banned fish, but potatoes? WFT?
The “ban” was not on all potatoes nor was it a real ban. It made fun headlines but Snopes says it is only partially true. A bill was passed that required food stamp recipients to spend at least 2/3 of their assistance on “nutritional items”. For whatever reason, white potatoes were excluded from that group. So technically it could restrict the amount of white potatoes you could eat unless you fit them into the 1/3 of food stuffs that were not good for you (per the GOP).
The law was passed and signed but Wisconsin has not gotten a waiver from the federal government for the new restrictions on food stamp recipients. It also included drug testing (illegal) and picture ids (illegal and unworkable). So what was intended to be a resume builder for failed presidential candidate Scott Walker is now a symbol of Republican stupidity. Instead of focusing on jobs, they focused on GOP hot button issues (hurt the poors, restrict abortion, disenfranchise Democrats, protect mining, destroy the university system) and as a result 2015 was the worst year since 2010 for layoffs. People are leaving the state because there are no jobs and because it sucks to live in a state run by idiots.
Ah. I don’t say that makes sense because it doesn’t but it at least makes more sense than them specifically targeting potatoes. And I already know the (stupid) rationale for excluding potatoes from the “nutritional items” group – the relative “nutrient” v. carbs ratio. Which is, like I said, stupid. We aren’t talking coke or candy bars here. Potatoes have enough of just about everything the human body needs for health packaged with a whole lot of carbs for the energy dirt-scrabble poor need to survive. The fact that even poor Americans largely don’t have that calorie demand means they unfortunately have to find another less caloric food to meet those needs – and that’s usually more expensive. Between a Rock and Hard Place – that’s where poor folks live.
And yeah, it sux to live in a state run by idiots.
Thanks for sharing about the Housing First program Diana. Am watching some videos about it now.
Ugh, back to work. But I got to see the space station as I drove in, so that was nice. Eating oatmeal & drinking tea. I added beets to the oatmeal yesterday…… don’t think I’ll try that again. But it isn’t so bad that I’ll throw out the batch. And really strong tea. First day back after a 4 day weekend… I expect our phones will be ringing off the hook.
Good morning, Meese! It’s 32 F. on a sunny morning in NoVa, going up to 36 F. today and guess what—there’s white stuff littering the patio, the street, and sidewalks! Yes, we’ve had snow flurries. First we’ve seen this (alleged) winter season. So delighted am I that I’m going to bring out the buerrier, which we have not been able to use until this week of low temperatures.
I see The Trumpet is dragging out Bill’s past misdeeds—as if his own weren’t egregious enough! Dangerous game to play, in my opinion. Hope HRC continues her lead on the Democratic side.
Have realized that I have the same 24 hours as everyone else and it’s up to me to do something with it. I’ll make a list of Pleasant and Unpleasant tasks (selling Girl Scout cookies already ranks No. 1 on the “Unpleasant” list) and set about doing them.
Wishing everyone a good day with lots of sunny kilowatt hours!
Selling Girls Scout cookies? Isn’t that out of season?
Hi Meeses – back at work after 11 calendar (7 work) days off. Very quiet and mostly just plugging things in and turning things back on at the moment. At least until the coffee kicks in. At 6:30 this morning the sky was beautifully clear, the “Cheshire” moon and several stars/planets shining brightly. At 7:30 it was – and still is – gray and overcast, 24-feels-like-18, and not sure what the heck is going on. The forecast still says sunny. Ha! Oh well, the first 3 days of 2016 produced over 8 KHWs per day (just over 25 KHWs total), so we’ve had a good start. Just wish it would have continued until the actual forecasted overcast and rain that aren’t due until Wednesday. Trying to clear my email and figure out what the heck I was planning on doing when I got back here. :) Hope everyone has a great day in Moosylvania. {{{HUGS}}}
Morning (just barely) all! Chilly here in north Florida this morning – will only be in the 50’s today I think, but back up to the 70’s later in the week.
I haven’t been watching the news at all – has this Bundy situation been covered by the MSM at all? Because it certainly sounds like sedition to me, and should be covered as such. I just now checked and it is the lead story on the Google news page – but just being called an “armed takeover” – last I checked, that’s either criminal or seditious activity guys, let’s call it what it is. Sometimes I feel like this country is just losing its collective mind, I swear.
OK, day for laundry, cleaning up, and starting to think about teaching again – it’s only 2 hours a week, I can do this, really I can! Have a great day everyone!
Good morning, 28, cloudy and just enough snow to be slippery in Bellingham so I will pass on going to the pool today. We live on a hill and it doesn’t take much icy snow to make the drive a challenge.
The news of the day all seems distressing, so I’m going to focus on getting the beds changed and the laundry done. I can tidy up my little piece of this world!
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 17 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 31. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
The YeeHawDissts in Oregon are being asked to leave – even their brothers in arms are questioning their cause and choice of tactics. The armed occupation of a government building is being largely laughed at which is both good and bad. Certainly it deserves mockery but it also deserves punishment. I think they should be charged with breaking and entering and I think that the government should initiate actions to foreclose on the Bundy operations in Nevada, fixing the problem that they helped create by their no-action in 2014.
Later this morning, the president will speak about the executive actions he will take to tighten up background checks for gun sales. He will also ask Congress to help by authorizing money for more ATF agents and more access to mental health services. Since Speaker Paul Ryan said yesterday that the answer is not more controls on guns but more help for the mentally ill, maybe he would be interested in pushing through a bill to increase funding. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Of course he won’t! First, they will fundraise like crazy off anything the president proposes and second, helping people by reducing gun violence and increasing access to mental health care fails in a Republican Congress because it includes the words “helping people”. Can’t have that!
I will put up a post for the president’s address when the link becomes available.
See all y’alls later!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Gooooood mornin Meese ….it was below zero here – is now up to 8 but the wind chill reads -8.
Am following the Bundy debate – should they be called on their sedition…
should the press change the way they are labelled?
Is this white privilege?
Should they be mocked – social media is calling them #Vanilla ISIS and Y’All Qaeda and Salon has a piece pushing back The Griot asks
Imagine if armed Black Lives Matter protesters occupied a federal building
ThinkProgress posted an article about MOVE in Philadelphia 30 years ago: when armed Black people “sought a natural lifestyle, free of government control, law enforcement, and technology”:
We don’t even have to imagine, do we? We can just look it up.
I have never forgotten that – I know people in Philly who knew some of them.
:(
Great cartoon on one of those Tweets in the Grio article. I saw it Sunday when I was watching the story unfold:
I followed a couple of links from the article. I did not realize that Oregon had been set up as a white supremacist state!
I remember Cliven Bundy spouting racist nonsense and was surprised because it sounded like he had been transported from Georgia in the 1950s. Sounds like the reason the West is so Republican is because they are not really very much different from the South.
More from that article:
The author called it “Whiteopia”. I am sure there are many elements in the Republican party longing for those good old days.
yes – racist history gets erased or shoved under the rug quite frequently .
I discovered that a few years ago when I was researching the history of blacks in the West.
I figured you would know. It is a story everyone should read. Sometimes I am frustrated about how little we are taught in history books about our racist past.
I assumed that Oregon, touching the librulish states of Washington and California would be somewhat progressive. But they are not very diverse (2% black) and definitely pro-gun anti-government. Their Senator, Ron Wyden is more R than D in many of his positions.
Look at this photo from that article!
I had to put sunglasses on to look at all that white!!
heh – well at least it was White for Obama :)
The main difference between the South and the West is/was that the South didn’t want any federal “gummint” interference at all. Almost all of them are on a seaboard (Atlantic or Gulf) or at least a navigable river that can get them there without crossing any other state border so they didn’t worry about transporting goods to market and were perfectly happy to “treat” with other nations on a state-by-state basis. The West was largely land-bound (only 3 Pacific coast states, the rest have to cross those state borders to get to the ocean that wasn’t an easy access to East Coast or European markets anyway) and they wanted federal gummint assistance with roads/railroads. That’s it.
Good morning, Meese! It’s 14 F. here in NoVa on a brilliantly sunny morning, going up to 31 today. Tonight’s a Fish Night but I can’t think what I’m going to cook.
Read that taking 5 mg of melatonin at night is not a good idea, so skipped it last night and naturally didn’t sleep as well. Got a headache now.
So amazed and outraged by (1) the armed insurrection and (2) the Trumpet calling out Big Dog on past scandals. What about the Trumpet’s past scandals? Is it okay if you’re Rethuglican? The hypocrisy of these people never ceases to amaze me.
Must prepare for a dentist appointment this morning. Must run now, but hope it’s a good day for everyone in Moosylvania!
Why isn’t it a good idea??? I take 9 mg. And valerian. And some other stuff… Still wake up. If not melatonin, what?
watched the video of Bill’s speeches in NH – he was very good.
Trump needs to STFU – but he won’t.
Sole/flounder poached in white wine is simple – and the stock makes lovely chowder the next day.
Hope the feds will do something about the insurrectionists – by my reading of the constitution I think they become traitors if they actually fire at federal officers. (“Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”) But we still, whatever we call the illegality that they are doing, need to stop it. The “Bundy Precedent” can’t exactly be unset but it certainly must be stopped.
Eating breakfast, drinking strong tea. I woke up just before 4, thought I wouldn’t get all the way back to sleep, but I was dreaming when the alarm went off. Anyway, hoping today is less insanely busy than yesterday. I got home & just huddled on the couch with the TV on — on mute because I wanted the company but not the noise.
Well, 18 at dawn – 24 now – and sunny. (Sun did finally come out yesterday around noon and I got almost 8 KWHs for the day. Yea!!) Not getting anything like the exercise I’ve gotten the last few years as my feet hurt too much when they are cold – even before they go numb and I’m tottering instead of walking – to get the couple of miles every day or so I used to do. The Muck boots help with that – but they aren’t walking boots and after a couple of blocks become rather uncomfortable. Not sure what I’m going to do about that, but I need to do something.
Gotta actually get some work done today but hope everybody in Moosylvania has a good day. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 35 and cloudy in Bellingham and the snow is gone, yay! It’s still dark outside though so my resolve to more today than change a load of laundry is already weakening…..another cup of coffee and reading is much more appealing.
Oops…..I need to wake up and remember to click the post button :)