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?
…
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.
…
Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 28 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 45. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
From last night. Hillary is introduced by Billie Jean King at about 14:30.
(p.s. the CSPAN “stock Hillary” is used for the clip. She looks much healthier at the gayla!)
Good Sunday Morning Meese
69 here in the Catskills and we’ve got thunderstorms on the way.
Am speaking at a fund raiser this afternoon over at Bard College
Still working on the new puter – getting programs installed – takes forever.
This mornings Sunday piece at Dkos is looking at baseball – and Puerto Rico – especially since the World series has players on both teams who are Puerto Rican. Teams and athletes have been stepping up to the plate to raise money.
Proud of everyone who is supporting PR – really angry that Trump and his minions don’t give a damn about folks on the island.
Hi, Sis, I’ll look for your diary at dKos because I hope you have some information I need about PR.
Here it tis
Good morning, Moosekind. Ha, ha. Once again the “heavy rain and howling winds” that were supposed to “pound our area” starting last night have manifested themselves in a light shower during the night. The bad weather was supposed to last into Monday morning.
The area I live in is cursed. Hope Sister Denise joins us this morning because I have a question. In one of her diaries she spoke of a need for mosquito nets and medical kits for Puerto Rico. Ordered one of each but they came here! I haven’t even opened the box from Amazon. Somehow I need to find an address so I can relabel the package and send it on its way.
Already depressed this morning by reading my FB feed, including a very moving clip from Teen Vogue. Six Native American teens told the truth about “Thanksgiving.” Made me feel sick. Everything I was taught in school about so-called “American history” was a lie.
In the meantime, it’s not nearly as cold as they said it would be, 61 F., going up to 62 F. Miss Pink Cheeks is still asleep, but it’s getting on for 8 a.m. so I’m going downstairs to cook breakfast. Wishing all a good day.
Hmmm – did you order them via the registry Sis? I checked my order – is listed as a gift – and is going to
Shipping Address
% Maria Fernandez The Point CDC
BRONX,NY
You should contact Amazon – so they can reship
Full addy for The Point CDC
THE POINT CDC
940 Garrison Avenue
Bronx, NY 10474
I thought I had ordered from the link, but evidently I didn’t! Thanks for the address, will mail the package c/o Maria Fernandez tomorrow.,
Thank you so much!
The Fighting Back post was published!
The Weekly Democratic Party address was by Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland and the topic is the cruel tax cuts planned by Congressional Republicans.
When I saw the impact of eliminating the SALT deduction on California taxpayers – including those in House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s district – I have no idea how these men hold onto their House seats next year. I guess if “guns, gays and god” is worth paying an extra $18,000 a year in taxes to their constituents, it is a clever strategy – otherwise this seems like an act of self-immolation. Paul Ryan’s Wisconsin constituents will pay thousands more in taxes if the property tax write-off is eliminated. But, sadly, people in his congressional district have never looked at his actual votes – they like him because he has an earnest and sincere face even as he has voted for the past 20+ years to destroy their futures and plunge them into despair.
Slept in — glad I flipped the switch to heat, I heard it kick on several times in the night. Tea steeping, breakfast & lunch thawing. Waiting for Joy Reid’s show. Got the Walk this afternoon, will post pictures at Orange & a link here when I get home. Yes, I’m playing a U2 song in my head.
Good morning, 45 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. Our SIL (Ryan’s dad) is a very creative man and he has chosen Halloween as his focus. Between the props he makes and his skillful use of lighting their house is an amazing Oct experience. We’re going drive to Seattle to visit and have lunch with them today.
It’s foggy on Bellingham Bay today, and our son’s are camping on Patos Island. We had iPhone fun last night sharing their campsite on the beach, a lovely sunset, and steaks grilling on the campfire. Their boat is a sturdy Boston Whaler but it’s small and the water is big so I hope the fog lifts by afternoon. I’ll be relieved when they are safely home.
Best Sunday wishes to all.
26 was the overnight low somewhere around 4 am – it’s 53 and sunny at the moment. Unfortunately that’s not going to translate into over 10 KWHs today – oak trees make really solid shade – got 9.7 yesterday and the m-t-d is 249.9 right now. Still possible to get 275 for the month which would give it 11 on last October – not so bad considering both the oak tree shade and that the system was down a whole day this month.
mad king donald and his enablers are firing in all directions trying to get the target off their own backs. ain’t gonna work. The Rs are shoving as much evil through as possible while they still have the “cover” of mad king donald and his tweets. Heck, as long as they can keep the investigations focused on mad king donald and his enablers, they’re happy to use that as cover, too. (I seriously doubt the Rs who vote for this evil lot even know what SALT means – if we could only count on the media to tell them. sigh .) Meanwhile of all the incredibly petty things that mad king donald and his enablers are doing regarding Puerto Rico – and this is just of the petty things, not the big stuff like electricity, potable water, food, and roads – last I heard they haven’t asked ShelterBox to come in and ShelterBox can’t until they’re asked. (So they are deployed in the rest of the Caribbean, but not Puerto Rico and USVI.)
Since so many of the folks on the community needs list are using PayPal I’m not entirely sure who is getting what besides the driblets I personally give when somebody gets on the list (seed money or priming the pump, take your pick) but I think everybody is at least scraping by. If they’re not, they haven’t told me, so I’ll count it as good. Aside from getting over to DK for Denise’s diary and to (finally) tend the “not a British breakfast” I put up this morning before I started my Sunday chores (Michael had a sudden “out-of-town” regarding his mother he told us about yesterday so I’m covering – with the help of the tweets WYgalinCali added while it was still a draft) I may be online less than usual depending on whether or not I get a call from my DIL about some stuff at her house. We shall see what we shall see. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
link for pictures:
https://www.dailykos.com/comments/1706176/68170496#comment_68170496
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. We dipped below freezing for the first time overnight on Saturday and we will see that a couple more times this week before there is a slight warming for next weekend.
It appears that Puerto Rico got that awful power contract cancelled – the workers will finish their current projects and then go home. This is what happens when you colonize a country – money men in far flung areas control the finances of people they don’t know – and don’t care about – and make decisions without input from the elected representatives of the people. When Puerto Rico gets back on its feet, we need to fix this – either they become a state or they are given back their sovereignty. This hybrid thing is not working and should be embarrassing to everyone in our government.
Today Robert Mueller could start arresting people based on indictments handed down by the grand jury on Friday. Everyone has a guess and a theory of the strategy – get a little fish to go after big fish, go after big fish to shut it down quickly. People need to be prepared that the indictments will be for people we have never heard of. That said, the big money is on Manafort and/or Flynn. Out of those two, I think that Flynn would be the most satisfying – he sold out our country for power. Manafort is simply another slimey con man whose clients happened to include another con man who managed to find enough rubes to win the presidency.
This is tax plan rollout week. It will be interesting to watch how Trump-Russia is reported (trials and convictions won’t happen for a while – the indictments will not need to be covered wall to wall) when the country’s institutions are under attack from our own oligarchs. Multitask, everyone!
See all y’all later!
Good Moon Day morning, Moosekind! At ten to seven a. m. it’s pitch dark and the wind is blowing very hard. You all must be bored out of your respective gourds about my weather moans, but the contrast between the forecast and what actually (doesn’t) happen is so funny! (Or would be, if we weren’t in drought mode.) Received no fewer than five frantic emails from the online newspaper yesterday, predicting howling winds, heavy rains, trees falling, electricity going, and even snow!
Nupe. What actually happened was some rain before bedtime last night and strong winds this morning. Currently it’s 46 F. in NoVa, going up to 58 F. later today.
Heard from one of the priestesses I used to study with: our priestess-friend in PR is doing OK. Neighbors cleared her yard of fallen branches and other debris. She has a generator, so she can run her fridge for several hours a day, gas for the generator is once again obtainable, and she has a fan and a light in her bedroom. The priestesses in our class are organizing funds that N. in PR wants to donate to a village in the hills that doesn’t have food, water, or electricity.
In other news, I’m waiting on tenterhooks like everyone else to see Who’s Gonna Git It this morning. Then I have a jolly old dentist appointment.
Wishing everyone a good day, and (sigh), hope things will improve for our fellow citizens in PR.
Yesterday was so great! I should do a thank you diary. Slept poorly — but while I was getting dressed, the news said that the Space Station was going to fly over us at 6:02 so I busted my butt to get downtown. Parked & walked up to the roof of the garage & watched. Happy. And of course, it’s Mueller Monday. I hope it’s Jared, or one of the non-favorite sons. But more likely to be Mike Flynn Jr or someone even lesser-known. Brain is just playing the last song that was playing in the car, In God’s Country
Good Monday Meese
Still installing crap on new puter. Grrr.
Looked for something on twitter to make me smile
44 right at dawn heading for 60, we’ll be warming up for a bit before we head down again. Sunny at the moment as it was yesterday but only got 8.9 KWHs yesterday so expecting about the same today. More would be nice, of course. :) the m-t-d is 258.7 at the moment – still possible to reach the 275 but need 18 (OK 17.3) to do it. I do expect to top last year’s 264 by the end of today though so that much is good.
As to the politics – well I hope they all go down on the one hand but on the other it still won’t give us our rightful, popularly-elected president. And unless Mueller is taking down R leadership in Congress the indictments just make one more distraction from what the Evil Ones are doing there. And that’s where we’re taking the real damage, whether it’s action or lack thereof.
One of my stalwarts stepped up overnight so a couple of folks came off the urgent list and a couple more are close. And Aji is soooooo close to being moved in! There’s exterior work that has to be finished before winter sets in for real and a lot of furnishings that have to be replaced in time for an event in a few weeks so she’s still stressed out and needs help – but soon she will be totally out of that death trap.
Got lots of work – and obviously lots of interruptions – I need to deal with so I’d best get to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
This thread on George Papadopoulos is key
He has some good insights. It is interesting that the yam’s last tweet was “.. and there was no COLLUSION!” before he realized that one of his senior advisors was spilling the beans about “yes COLLUSION!”. Apparently the right-wing media is saying he is “just a kid” (he’s 29) and “didn’t know it was wrong to lie to the FBI.” Good luck with that defense. There are a basketful (!) of shoes to drop yet and the only thing that is worrisome is that there is currently no one in Republican leadership who is coming out and saying that Mueller should be left to finish his investigation. If Trump tries to obstruct the investigation, there is no way to stop him without the Republican Congress. I hope someone grows a spine.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 32 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 39. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
I woke up at midnight and could not fall back to sleep so I went downstairs to read and eventually dosed off. Maybe the thin veil between the worlds is creating anxiety – or maybe it is the year-long yamsomnia that is plaguing so many of us. I was disturbed by the Senate Republicans planning to put completely unqualified hacks on Circuit courts, including the 7th Circuit where Wisconsin cases feed into, and John Cornyn’s presser where he said it was important for Trump to get “his team” in the courts. JHC! The courts are not the “team” of the executive – they are a constitutional third branch of government. In many ways, losing the Senate in 2014 was worse that losing the presidency. Goddess help us the next time we have a constitutional crisis if the courts are “Trump’s team”. Right now they are the only thing slowing down the rolling disasters coming out of the White House and Congress.
Blessed Samhain! This is an excellent day to connect to loved ones past and ask for their help to keep our strength up to get us through this incredibly unsettling time. My grandmother was in my dreams last night – when I did fall asleep – and while I am not sure of her political affiliation I am certain of her strength of character. I will spend some time there with her.
See all y’all later!
Good Tuesday Meese
Worrying about friends in Maine, CT, etc hit by storm and power outages.
Puerto Rico Crisis continues
John Kelly praising Robert E Lee – head over to Ta-Nehisi’s twitter stream to read his long set of comments
Sick of Nina Turner
Vote!
Good advice from Clint Smith!
I saw a headline from The Hill that “Bernie would have beaten Trump” based on statements from Trump’s pollster. Well, of course they will say that! There are plenty of people in the left-of-the-left who will believe that story and the right-wing wants to divide Democrats while their own house is caving in on them. The 2016 election is over, our focus has to be on 2017 and 2018. You wonder if the frantic pace of judicial confirmations is related to the possibility of Judge Roy Moore getting rejected by Alabamans in December and the Senate majority shrinking by one.
I would love to see Roy Moore lose. Polling is currently in his favor . sigh.
The other possibility is that McConnell realizes that Moore will not be a reliable vote and will antagonize the “mainstream” Republican Senators, making consensus more difficult. Think of Rand Paul with a bible in his hand.
No Space Station this morning, too cloudy. But another chance tomorrow. I have my robe, hat, Gryffindor tie & time turner to be Hermione at our party at lunch. And I brought kombucha to drink, because the flavor is “heart beet”. Here is the “sci-fi remix” of You’re the Best Thing.
Good morning, Meese! Clear and sunny in NoVa at 8:30 a.m. It’s 38 F. now, going up to 59 F. later—good weather for the little ghosts and goblins we’ll be seeing this evening.
Like everyone else, I was riveted by the events of yesterday, could hardly keep off Twitter. I did break away long enough to go to the dentist for what I thought would be a routine cleaning. Uh, no. Turns out I have something so wrong with tooth No. 18 that I have to see a specialist on Friday, miles from here. Sigh.
Training at the gym today, followed by the need to take another stab at clearing out the garage. A blessed Samhain to you all!
Tooth 18 can often be a problem! It is the last molar on the lower left and gets a lot of chewing work. I had to have an emergency root canal done on my #18 a few weeks ago – it already had a crown in place. In my youth, less so now, I used to be a very destructive grinder and my molars have a lot of money invested in them. I hope that whatever they do is relatively painless and/or quick to fix.
Jan, that is exactly the case with me! Luckily I have pretty good dental insurance, so the expense, although steep, won’t be horrifying. The bad news is that I had a root canal and new crown in February, which I’m still trying to pay off.
The good news is that I live in this century. In earlier times, even if I had lived to the age I am now, I wouldn’t have had any teeth at all! I have so many crowns I could be the next queen. :)
Depending on which weather widget I look at, it’s either 31 feels like 30 or 33 feels like 28. Either way it’s cold and my extremities are not happy I went out in it. It’s also hazy at the moment. Hope it clears off. Even a good sunny day is not producing 10 KWHs with the oak tree shading the system. i don’t get full power until after 1 pm and of course by 5:30 the angle of the sun is so low I’m back to producing in watts rather than kilowatts. Yesterday got just a hair under 9 KWHs and the m-t-d is 267.5 – so 7.5 today makes it 275 for the month. Holding the Good Thought on that.
Channeling Healing Energy to the entire country – I don’t know what is going to happen, good or bad. I don’t know what needs to happen to block the bad and shove it back under its rock for another couple of generations at least. So I will Channel the Energy to do it and the the Universe use it to that end. That’s most of my “resistance” as my bloody congresscritters pay no attention to me except to man’splain why whatever I just told them is wrong. sigh. Well, the Witches of The New Forest blocked Nazi invasion. They couldn’t stop the war nor could they win it. But they could make their island the place where those who could win the war could be gathered, all the personnel, materials, equipment – and training – needed for Normandy. It was their duty and they did it. I will do mine.
People coming and going on the needs list – there are a couple of angels out there who are freighting most of the load. it’s not fair to them nor is it what I had in mind when i said “community supporting community” – but Goddess bless them. There are people who have shelter, electricity, phones, food, transportation or a combination thereof because of them. (But it also demonstrates why government needs to provide the safety net – charity doesn’t work with large or ongoing problems.) I will persist in this too.
Want to check in with the Villages and then I gotta get to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}