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 34 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 52. Rain is in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Good morning Meese
Back from the historians conference in Providence RI. Came home yesterday and went to bed – I realize that I can’t do a 3 and a half hour drive easily anymore,
Had a great panel discussing leadership in the women’s movement.
Glad to be back.
I think that is one of the first things I noticed about my body aging: jumping in the car and driving for more than 2 hours wreaks havoc on it. It takes me 3 days to feel normal again.
Glad you made it back safely!
It helps to hear that someone else shares that.
Thanks Jan.
We missed you, but we’re glad you to hear you had a good time!
Have you heard of Max Dashu and her work on “Suppressed Histories”? She’s writing a book about how women’s history has been ignored since time immemorial.
Hope you had fun at the conference and I hear ya about long drives. Just the 45-minute one I did yesterday (each way) to an SCA event in Bentonville was a bit much for my knees and hands. (I did have fun “freaking the Mundanes” when my friends and I went to lunch at a Thai restaurant in Wal-Mart Central wearing our SCA garb – only reason I went was to visit some friends I hadn’t seen in years – similar reason to why I’m going to NN.) I’m not looking forward to the drive to NN. Cruise control can help save the knees some pain but nothing safe is going to help my hands having to grip the steering wheel. I just hoping that the warmer weather will make a difference. (Part of the grip problem is arthritis but part of it is Raynaud’s and warmth helps the latter.)
I met some very interesting feminist scholars. So it was great.
Will you be writing about it in one of your future diaries?
Please?
I’m going to be writing about the recent book written by one of the women on the panel – who has written about the welfare rights and domestic workers movement
Warm enough that I put away the long sleeved shirt I had picked out & went with short sleeves. I don’t need to cook today, so dammit I am getting on my bike. For now, watching local news, eating breakfast.
Good morning, 46 and clear in Bellingham. I’m feeling at loose ends this morning. Hours of sleep last night means I have some energy but I can’t chose where to focus. So I guess I’ll just do whatever for awhile, then I’ll find the lurking reality list.
Best Sunday wishes to all!
Good morning, Meese, it’s a gorgeous, clear, sunny day in NoVa—33 F. now, going up to 53 F. later. I don’t plan to go out this morning but will later on.
Went out to dinner at a friend’s house last night and had a wonderful time. Cooked a Proper Breakfast for Dearly Beloved, now about to get started on the day’s chores.
I want to get some writing done today. My next Fiction Cafe story, “All Acts of Love and Pleasure” is taking shape, but I need to do some research. I also am chomping at the bit to start the novel.
See you later—oh, by the way, if you haven’t already heard, St. Bernard “won” Wyoming and ended up with 7 delegates. Hillary also ended up with 7 delegates, so did she “win” as well? Do tell!
But … but … but … momentum!!! Yes, the 7 to 7 tie is not going to help him make up ground, will it? Hillary is calling in every chit she has in New York to get this thing wrapped up next week. At some point, even the most diehard berner will have to #FeelTheMath.
Good luck writing! I am making progress on my to-do list and if I can get one more thing done, I will be able to start the week on the right foot tomorrow … not caught up but with critical projects in a manageable state.
Happy new week, Meeses. 61 and overcast so probably stuck there no matter what the forecasters say – one of those irritating days when I’m not generating but it’s not exactly raining either, too warm for a fire but too damp to not have one since I’ve had to hang my clothes in the house. I’ve “compromised” by having a fire but leaving the front door open (it opens onto the enclosed porch). Hope we get some rain soon – we’ve had less than an inch so far this year (here in Fayetteville – all the rain that’s busily raising the lake levels has gone around us) and the trees are basically drawing off the 10.67″ we got last December.
Somehow ended up with a couple of those restaurant single-servings of grape jelly, so I made peanut butter and jelly muffins for the week. Will be putting a chicken in to roast in a couple of hours – Farmers’ Market free range one so it will be very flavorful and the bones will make good stock next weekend with the other stuff I’ve got stashed back in the freezer. I’ll freeze most of the meat, too, for making soup next weekend after I’ve made the stock. Step-by-step, in the proper order – that’s Life, and a good thought to remember, thank you Hillary. (And Bernie can have as many wins like yesterday’s as he likes. Hillary would still be ahead of him by over 200 delegates. Not counting superdelegates. heh.)
Hope everybody gets done whatever they need to get done and has an enjoyable time doing it. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Monday Moose peeps.
Yawn…..coffee isn’t waking me up…guess I need another mug. Raining here, and 53 – looks like April showers time – at least is feels like spring and not winter
We had a line of storms move through yesterday that “warmed” things up. It got to 50 which I guess is better than 34 but Still Not Spring.
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 45. Cloudy skies and wind are in the forecast. The weather widget says it will be 72 on Saturday … I hope that lasts for more than one day this time.
Not much to say – the Republicans are showing that they don’t even respect their own rules and are likely to cause a lot of defections in the fall if they just pick a candidate or if they game the system to force the establishment choice over the people’s choice. And Denny Hastert is the poster child for Republican hypocrisy. Best Tweet on that:
This made me so sad I wanted to cry:
The Republicans have made it okay to hate out loud. :(
Beloit, by the way, is a city south of Janesville devastated by the closing of the GM plant there and the state’s defunding of schools, social programs, and safety nets. For many of those kids, school sports is the only positive thing in their lives.
See all y’all later!
That is VERY sad, Jan! How can be people be so hateful? But as you’ve pointed out, Trump has made it okay to hate out loud.
I hope the girls can be comforted enough to get over it, one day.
Blue Monday. It’s almost, but not quite, raining. Just enough to get the car really dirty. Then it’s supposed to clear out later. I’m taking tomorrow off to do my taxes (yes, I know it’s stupid to wait this late) and do some other stuff. Maybe ride my bike?
Good morning, Meese! It’s 47 F. on a dampish morning, going up to 70 F. today. I’m going to make chicken soup in the slow cooker for dinner, and don’t have to pick up Miss Pink Cheeks after school, so I should be able to do some writing.
Hoping to avoid looking at the news a lot today—feeling kind of “blah” about things. There are so many things I can’t do anything about!
Jan, thanks for your recent email. Will check out what you told me and then email you if I’m able to follow your suggestion successfully.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
Morning all! Another beautiful clear sunny morning here in north Florida – my last week of class this year and I’m feelin’ it! I teach my last class on Thursday, and then I just have to write and grade the exam and DONE till next January. And that semester spring 2017 may be my last teaching as an adjunct – my heart and mind are SO not in it any more, and the amount they pay me, while helpful, will seem even less worth it after next year, since I’ll start drawing Social Security and my retirement money in 2018.
Yesterday, I took a little break from politics at DKos, to watch “Return of the Walking Dead” first season marathon on AMC, before the premiere of the second season last night. It’s pretty good, although not as compelling as the original – and the different vibe of having it set in LA instead of Georgia is interesting.
That story from Beloit-Elkhorn is just heartbreaking, and shows the poisonous effect both of 8 years of dead ender racism out in the open after Obama’s election, and of having Trump out there mouthing the worst of it. What a dreadful party the Republicans have become – mind you, they were awful in the 1930’s too – in the course of writing about the development of Social Security, I read the screeds the Republicans were mouthing against even minimal New Deal programs back then. But ever since Nixon’s “southern strategy”, right thru the loathsome Lee Atwater to today’s Trump-Cruz-Ryan triumpvirate of mean-spirited racism, the party has devolved into something I imagine Dwight Eisenhower would never have recognized.
Everyone have a great day!
We hit our “high” of 61 at dawn and will be slowly creeping down until tomorrow at dawn – overcast, maybe some more rain (got almost half an inch early this morning) which we can use. I generated just over 6 KWHs yesterday and expect to do about the same today – overcast but not so overcast that the street lights come on. Not exactly energizing though. Which doesn’t help as we’re in the 2nd week of priority registration. sigh.
I will never understand the mindset that enjoys – or even thinks it’s right – to cause others pain. Since I got old enough to know that other people have feelings just like I do, it just bewilders me. But yes, the Rs have never been as good as our mythology says they were – Lincoln and T.R. notwithstanding – and they’ve done nothing but get worse since T.R. was in office. Not only would “Ike” not like today’s Rs, he wouldn’t have run on their ticket. To yell racial smears and insults at an opposing sports team basically says the Rs are back in the days when Jackie Robinson “broke” the color barrier in major league baseball. But Robinson knew what he was getting into. The Beloit kids are kids. The Elkhorn principal should have called the game as soon as that started – gave the win to Beloit and informed the Elkhorn students that if they could not behave appropriately, there would be no more games this season at all.
Hope the week gets better. {{{HUGS}}}
Ken Burns’ documentary on Jackie Robinson airs tonight on PBS. I need to set the DVR because it will be past my bedtime.
The film discusses more than just sports … his words:
Here is the trailer:
Jackie Robinson premieres Monday, April 11, at 9:00p.m. ET on PBS. It runs until April 12.
Good morning, 49 and cloudy in Bellingham today. After not thinking it through I spent most of yesterday in the garden and my knees are not happy :( However I thinned and clipped the ivy growing over the rock wall by the back entrance and that makes the rest of me happy. I’ll go to the pool soon and do something easy on the knees for the rest of the day.
We enjoyed a brief visit to the tulip fields last week. This photo is from last year, but the scenes are timeless from year to year.
They are timeless! Thank you for posting.
Gorgeous!
Oh thanks for the reminder on the Jackie Robinson program, I will set the dvr also.
I had to come and post this here as I thought it was hilarious and might brighten up everyone’s day – totally nonpolitical.
https://storify.com/cdevers/conversation-with-joshraby-shanevader-auntbeckyros
Ay, Meese—I am SO forgetful nowadays! I forgot my great-niece’s birthday on March 1 and my niece’s birthday on April 7! Does this happen to other people, or is it just me? I used to be so good about sending birthday cards.
But then, 10 years ago I had Outlook mail at the office. There was this handy thing that looked like a yellow notepad, into the lines of which you could enter birthday and other reminders. It would buzz you a week before, and you could just keep resetting it until you were ready to do something about it. I’ve never found another calendar as good. Most calendar programs are far too complicated—I don’t need to schedule conferences with people all over the country, I just need a reminder function. Oh, well.
Now for the apology emails…
Oh noes!!! I think that the yellow notepad with the lines was separate from Outlook or was an add-on. I saw it on some people’s computers and not on others. I can’t imagine there is not a simple reminder app you can put on your Apple computer that does not come with fancy calendaring. Maybe the next time you talk to their technical support, you can ask them.
Good Tuesday to all
53 and raining here in Saugerties. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make it the end of November – my ability to put up with bs is wearing very thin.
Hope you all have a good day
If the latest New York polls hold up, the bs will end soon. I am not looking forward to hearing about the debate (I will not watch it because I have trigger issues around men yelling at women). I expect the Sanders campaign to throw everything they have at Secretary Clinton in the meanest way possible.
One positive thing is that the “conversation on race” is now extending back to the 1990s and pulling back the veil on the racism in the 1994 crime bill. However, I could have done without a reminder of the racism of liberal white northerners, from “the South doesn’t count” to the terrible optics of the frustrati Tasini treating the older black women on the panel in NYC with such disrespect.
Good morning, meese! Tuesday …
It is 28 degrees in Madison on its way up to 49. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Busy day here – I can’t stay but I want to share this story about the “anti-parks caucus“. That that is even a thing is truly awful:
Next week the National Park Service celebrates its 100th year. And we have another thing to put on the list of Good Government Programs That Will Be Destroyed By a Republican President. p.s. Senator Ted Cruz is a member of the caucus.
See all y’all later!
I can’t stand to look at or listen to Ted Cruz. Torquemada reincarnated.
Good morning, Moosekind! Heavy black clouds, occasional showers, 65 F. here in NoVa this morning. I think the temperature is supposed to drop, later. The weather persons drag out the forecast so long that my attention wanders and I never do seem to take it in.
Not much news here except that, like Denise, I long for the NY primary and especially long for the nominations to be locked up.
Exercised so hard yesterday that I developed blisters on the balls of both feet! At least, I suppose it’s the ball of the foot—it’s whatever you stand on when you stand tiptoe. Such are the joys of being old! I put bandages and Aspercreme on, hoping to get over it.
No writing yesterday, but gym, laundry, manicure, and spice cake with lemon frosting were accomplished. Must-write-today.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond!
I slept in, going to do my taxes later. And I’ll send some AIDS Ride e-mails. The sleeping in was important because I really feel my brain actually getting in gear for once. Imagine the brain power after I have some caffeine!
Happy Tuesday, Meeses. 42 at dawn, 47 now, and heading for 68 this sunshiny day. Clouds broke yesterday afternoon so I got just over 12 KWHs instead of the 6 I was expecting. Today is shaping up to be a definite 15+ and maybe even a 20+ day (and I should crest 200 for the month before noon).
I will be glad when the primary crap is over. Mr. can-do-no-wrong is busily trying to destroy the Dem Party in his quest for power. Too bad he hasn’t been paying attention to what’s been going on the last umpty years. The president only has the kind of power he wants if the president’s party has veto-proof control of Congress AND the president’s party happens to agree with what the president wants to do. But I have a whole lot of faith in Hillary’s ability to deal with the entire set of white male misogynists of all parties – and a whole lot of hope fortified by polling numbers.
Meanwhile, Spring is progressing towards Summer steadily if not smoothly. Most of the trees are leafed or leafing out and while the daffs and tulips are gone the irises and even azaleas are staring to bloom. Bright the day. {{{HUGS}}}