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, Meese!
MPLS/St Paul Weather: Cold; I don’t know how cold because I won’t look at the thermometer until it feels warmer.
Does that work – ignoring the cold? :)
And back to warm & muggy — 72 this morning, upper 90s this afternoon. I’m going to chill the water I put in my camelback tomorrow. Thunderstorms aren’t expected until the night, so that’s fine. Short work day for me, leaving early to have time to pack a bag to take out to the ride site. I always pack swim stuff — it’s a lovely natural spring, but I’m never comfortable enough to do it. Was listening to Miracle of Joey Ramone in the car. Love that song (“all the stolen voices, will someday be returned, the most beautiful sound I ever heard”), and toward the end, the little acoustic break followed by BOOM.
Good morning, Moosekind! It’s a beautiful Friday morning here in NoVa, as fair as the Goddess Freya Herself. Current temp. is 59 F., going up to 82 F. Yesterday it was so hot by 5 p.m. I had to change into Bermuda shorts.
Miss Pink Cheeks went to work with Mommy yesterday—yes, “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” still prevails—and asked her mother what that strange device was on her desk. At age eight, Miss PC had never seen a landline. :)
Don’t know whether to worry more about war with Korea or the “Everything Else” that’s going on. The House has put off its vote until next week, which gives us all time to call.
The first 100 days will be up tomorrow. Feel weary and full of expletives, as do we all. Hope everyone will have a good Friday and a good weekend!
It appears that tRump longs for his days as a pampered “billionaire”. Now that he is likely a real billionaire, thanks to Oval Office griftery, maybe he will quit and go back to that. I don’t look forward to a President Pence but he is more within the bounds of “normal disgusting Republican” than Herr Twitler and would be less likely to get us accidentally into a nuclear war. I am sick of the daily barrage of bullshit coming from Washington.
Good morning, 47 and sunny in Bellingham. This has been a hard week for me and the tRump blues. Despite my best efforts feeling upset and worrying has sapped my energy. I’m tired this morning, and going to the pool seems like more than I can manage. So that means I need to stop thinking about options, find my suit and just go.
Hope every one has the best day possible.
50 at dawn, 65 now, heading for 72 – overcast and rain moving in again this afternoon/evening. Apparently the PV data controller is fixed – with rain expected the next two days as well definitely not going to make 400 KWHs this month, much less the 476 we got in April 2016. sigh. But still generating more than I use and that’s the important part.
There’s a reason I keep likening our situation to a castle besieged – we are surrounded and the Evil Ones are coming at us from all directions. We have to protect ourselves from all directions. So division of labor here – we each focus on a section, make sure the edges of our section overlaps the neighboring sections, and hold until relieved. We can’t rush to where we hear the noise of the latest attack – if we do, the Evil Ones will slip through our sector while it’s unguarded. And unfortunately we have an enemy within our walls. The Extreme Left are not only hitting us from behind while we defend our castle of equal human rights, they are quite happily trying to open a gate for the Evil Ones (somehow imagining that if the Evil Ones take us down, the Extreme Left will step into the Power position). We have to find a way to isolate them and get them out of our way. Not take their 1st Amendment rights (as they are trying to do to us), but maneuver them into the back room where the media eye doesn’t reach. Lessons from the campaign trail – we outnumber them, our chanting can overwhelm their screaming and our positive signs can block their negative ones. We are Stronger Together – and together we can both isolate the false friends and defeat the Evil Ones.
Gotta get to work. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Saturday …
It is 45 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 48. Cloudy this morning then rain the rest of the day.
Someone on Twitter yesterday asked for our age in Trump Days. It feels like 100, all right. I think the constant barrage of idiocy and hatred and belligerence is aging all of us. You take a disgusting con man with no intelligence and the demeanor of a 2 year old and mix it with the Republican Party agenda and it feels like we have been under constant bombardment. Everything the tRump administration and Republican leaders have done seems designed to inflict maximum pain on Democrats and people who support Democratic Party priorities: health care, preserving the New Deal, civil rights, the environment, reproductive rights – decency, really.
Today is the Peoples Climate March in Washington DC. CSPAN will be covering it live beginning at 3pm Eastern:
As President Obama said, there is no plan B for saving our planet, we have to act now. I do think that this group is putting the cart before the horse, though, because we are going to have to change out Congress before we can have a Congress that will listen. Marches have to be followed up with electoral action – running for public office or supporting a local candidate – voting for Democrats in state legislatures, mid-term elections, presidential elections. Otherwise it is just a bunch of signs and nice pictures on the news. The Womens March generated 11,000 potential candidates. Is there a climate caucus? Build one! #MarchToThePolls.
See all y’all later!
Ride day! Up early to drive out there. Will post pictures when I get back.
Happy Saturday folks
Am enjoying following folks from my favorite union who are on the way to DC to march
Inspiration
Good morning, Moosekind! A soft breeze smelling of rain is wafting through my open window and fat gray rain clouds are collecting overhead. I had intended to pull weeds, plant the flowers I bought one week ago, and put blueberry fertilizer around our pathetic blueberry plants, but guess what. Don’t want to get rained on. Current temp. is 69 F., going up to 91 F. Vegetarian Night tonight, so I’m thinking penne pasta with asparagus, roasted red pepper, and walnuts.
Things on the agenda today include changing from winter to summer sheets, contacting my Congress Critter’s office to tell her to vote against TrumpCare, and—it’s to be hoped—finishing Chapter 8 of my novella.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Are you in VA-02? SwingLeft just added it to their target districts for 2018.
Don’t be too quick to switch from winter to summer! A friend who lives in Colorado just sent her duvet to the cleaners and they are expecting 15 degree temperatures this weekend. We have not turned on our outside hose bibs yet because there is still the possibility of a hard freeze.
Jan, no, I’m in the Terrible Tenth. It’s terrible because it’s been gerrymandered across three counties to get all the Rethugs in! The seat will have been in Rethug hands for 34 years as of November 2018. We need a Democrat in there, and I don’t care if it’s Jennifer Wexler, Dorothy McAuliffe, or another Democrat. I’d prefer a woman who would safeguard health care and choice.
There’s an old English saying, “Cast not a clout ’til May is out.” We’re in a heat wave at the moment. I won’t put the blankets away, but I’m tired of flannel sheets. :)
If it’s not already too late, put the fertilizer around the blueberry bushes before it rains and let the rain “soak it in” – otherwise yeah put off the gardening for another day. I use flannel sheets all year long – have for about 8 years now. Flannel feels warmer to the touch when you first get into bed, but once percale warms up from your body heat I find it more uncomfortable. Have fun writing today.
Thank you, bfitz! It never did get around to raining, so I’ll put the fertilizer out tomorrow.
Meanwhile I’ve thought of a truly hilarious plot twist for my book! Heh, heh. OMG, this is just too much fun.
Good morning, 46 and cloudy in Bellingham. Despite my good intentions I napped the day away yesterday so I’ve got a long list of possibilities to chose from today. I’ve been thinking of plant combinations for my containers, but it’s still to cold for the plants I usually use. So today I may revise my plans and find some blooms for the chilly wet spring. I can always add the tender begonias later, when/if the temps ever warm up.
Time to find some coffee. Best Saturday wishes to all!
Temps holding steady at lower 60s outside and upper 60s inside – probably will all day as we’re solid overcast even when it’s not raining. Getting enough light to be generating driblets of electricity, not enough for me to drive in – so 2nd Saturday in a row no Farmers Market (I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work so I won’t have to find a “safe” time today). Flash flood warning in effect until tomorrow but most of the system that’s leading edge is currently parked over this corner of the 4-state (OK, AR, MO, KS) area is north of Fayetteville. I’m not stupid enough to drive through water over a bridge even it there was enough light for me to drive at all – but there are always some. sigh. Western end of this system is in CO and is snow. That should get here sometime late tonight dropping the temps to the low 50s. Definitely fire tomorrow and probably hanging the laundry inside as there are still rain chances through the morning.
As with folks in WWII, we will get used to this – already are to some extent. As with WWII, this is not normal. We will go on with our day to day lives doing what we normally do – work, dealing with food, cleaning, whatever. But this is not normal so we have already added what we don’t normally do – calling and/or writing congresscritters, attending Marches, attending Town Halls, writing LTEs, contributing to various organizations we’d not paid attention to before, going to political meetings, even running for office. We will get through this time, as our parents and grandparents got through WWII – one day at a time, doing whatever we can find to do to help our communities at all levels Resist, Block, Push back, Win.
Need to work on my Saturday Street Prophets diary – I wish I was better at tracking stuff. Folks who have widgets for fundraising I can at least track that. And Aji, bless her, updates where they are on her own blog every evening so I grab her numbers from there. The rest – I have no idea what anybody gets via PayPal other than what I myself give (which ain’t much but it’s what I’ve got) and for folks whose needs are not a simple monetary target, who need a new place to live or dealing with legal issues, well if they don’t tell me (and they mostly don’t) I’m working blind. Same with the sales on the Kos Katalogue list – nobody tells me when the sale is over so I just hope there isn’t an issue (like a lost sale) if somebody expects a discount that is no longer being offered. Maybe I’m just getting tired. But this is at least part of my part of The Resistance – because we aren’t just fighting the evils of the R administration, we’re fighting the Hate that allowed them to gain power – and just like my parents and grandparents in WWII, I’m in it for the duration. I “seen my dooty” and I’m doing my best to “dood it” – my grandkids may not say “This was their finest hour” but hopefully by the time our generation hands off the torch it will be a lighter, brighter, more loving world. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}