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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Walked 1.1 mi this morning. Tomorrow will probably be an evening walk — it’s 72 now, tomorrow at this time supposed to be 49. I early voted last week, we just have bonds & constitutional amendments (Texas has a lot of constitutional amendments). Still got the same U2 song in my head, it’s my new favorite. (yes, I’ve seen the paradise papers, also saw the statement B-man released saying he’s directed his financial people to be sure none of his investment were involved in anything nefarious & if they were, to rectify the situation). Worried over Bfitz’s sudden, capricious bojo-ing. If it’s that easy to get bojo’d, that lots of people can’t figure out why….
y’all this thread about Carter Page….. he has issues
People should give Carter Page a wide berth. His behaviour is a bit unhinged and the things he is saying may be to trap people into lionizing him and then doing a “nya-nya-nya, made you look stupid!” after he is exposed as a fraud. It does not pass the smell test.
there’s that old saying: that boy ain’t right
Dear Meese,
I am going to suspend adding new users until the dust settles at DK over Bfitz’s BoJo.
I don’t know the rules or the personalities at DK any longer and have no interest in a blog fight that could splatter back on people I know who still blog there and who are friends. I do know that the Moose web site software is not the source of any bots or zombies because of the security we have in place and how tightly it is monitored.
So, until we are sure that people requesting new user accounts have good intentions I will simply not add anyone. I will pass on the comments but leave them Pending.
Thanks,
Moose Admin
From yesterday. Please keep any comments positive, she has no way to respond.
Hi folks – gray, damp, and chilly this morning – sort of fits my mood. Generated just over 1 KWH yesterday and today is likely to be the same. m-t-d is 35.4 KWHs. sigh.
Evil Ones doing evil. I assume they will continue to do so. sigh. once I’ve retired i can go back to regular phone calls. I never get a dependable alone moment in the office right now with the new guy here training. And i am basically shut down on my community fundraising and other community stuff – like, among other books, promoting Diana’s new book with a link. No word from Help Desk. So accused, convicted, banned – no warning, no notice, and apparently no recourse. sigh.
I’ve got an eye dr appt I need to leave for in about 20 minutes so I’d best get some work done. Bright the day, Meeses – and thank goddess (and JanF) that you’re here. {{{HUGS}}}
Bfitz, we love you! Always have and always will!
Hi fellow Meeses!
It’s cloudy and windy but at least it’s 74 degrees here in Costa Mesa, CA.
Hi, Mv…we’re all the way up to 43 degrees here. Trade ya?
Nope.
I am going to be taking an online break tomorrow, 11/8. Already my Twitter timeline is filling up with Election Night 2016 retrospectives. It is too soon – it will always be too soon until the shitgibbon and his political party are driven from office.
See you Thursday!
{{{JanF}}} – and Healing Energy
Enjoy your break, Jan! That’s the Awful Anniversary, of course—the day the world ended, as far as I’m concerned.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Ralph Northam the Democrat won the governor’s race in Virginia. Not only did he win, he has an 8-point margin! That’s a far cry from the “squeaker” forecast by the punditocracy. Justin Fairfax has become only the second African-American ever elected to statewide office in Virginia. Good old Mark Herring, who got marriage equality for us, won a second term as attorney general.
Not only that, 10 Virginia House seats flipped from red to blue, including a seat won by transgender candidate Danica Roem! She defeated Bob (plastic fetus) Marshall, who wrote the anti-transgender bathroom bill.
A good night. A very good night.
Up early:
{{{Denise}}} – went and read your diary at DK – wish i could rec, tip, and comment. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good gray Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! Feeling good today because of the Democratic sweep here in Virginia. I did not expect we’d gain so many House seats, which is nothing but great. And—get this—14 of them are women! That big march in January led to something.
And that 8-point lead of Ralph Northam has grown to 9 points, thank y’all pundits very much—you who predicted Ed would win by a squeaker. So much for Ralph’s “lackluster” campaign and Ed’s nasty TV ads. Thank GODDESS we don’t have to listen to any more of those!
However, this doesn’t quite make up for what happened a year ago. I wish 99 percent of the MSM would get lost on a camping expedition on the slopes of the Himalayas. There are a few good journos, like Eugene Robinson, Charles Blow, Leonard Pitts, and Paul Krugman, but basically they’re as responsible as anyone for the debacle that is the White House today.
My poor husband visited the dermatologist yesterday, who carved up his face like a side of beef. We had an appointment at noon today but I think I’ll have to call and reschedule it.
Turning to a different topic, I’ve posted Chapter 3 of my latest novella, Saving the World Through Sex under Fiction in the “Just Grazin'” category here on the Moose. You might enjoy reading it, especially this morning, when things aren’t going well for the opposition party. It’s a non-sexytime chapter for those of you who can’t face that sort of thing at this hour of the day, so you’ll be fine. ;)
Brrr! 50 degrees, but I still walked, 1.07 miles. Jacket with a hood, kinda wanted gloves at the beginning. And by evening, it’ll be cooler & probably raining. We didn’t have any people elections here, just bonds & stuff. But there’s so much willing all around the country — not 1 but 2 transgender people, a socialist in Virginia, a black mayor in Montana (& an immigrant besides)….. So. Much. Winning. Though I don’t think this is what Donnie was thinking of. Got You’re The Best Thing playing in my head. Very happy song.
Good morning, 43 and cloudy in Bellingham. Warmer temps and rain means the snow will finally melt away, yay!
I went to sleep feeling very relieved with the election returns. In Wa State the Senate now has a one vote margin for the Dems, which means the local, odious, climate denier R Senator will no longer be chair of the Energy, Environment & Telecommunications Committee. He was responsible for organizing two tRump rallies here last year so it’s even sweeter to know he will have less influence now.
Trump casts big shadow on local elections
Looks like I clicked preview but forgot post yesterday so my sleepy morning thoughts didn’t stay on the page. I need to pay closer attention. Bfitz, I am so sorry about the Dkos situation. I’ll always be grateful for Dkos because it brought me to all of you, but I don’t understand the hurtful silly nonsense that happens there.
Take care everyone.
Princesspat, delighted to hear about the warmer temps and the electoral win!
I received the following cryptic message from the moderators at Dkos when I wrote to (courteously) protest the banning of our beloved bfitz:
From: Moderator1 (Support staff)
Thank you for raising this issue. We appreciate that community members may be concerned by Administrative sanctions, and let us assure you that sanctions, particularly bannings, are never enforced without lengthy discussion.
Please also understand that we do not, except in the rarest of circumstances, publicly discuss the decisions we make, out of respect for users’ privacy. Under the site’s Terms of Service, which every user acknowledges when they sign up, we have a right to ban and block anyone from the site at our discretion, and will do so if their actions and/or behavior negatively impact the site or its community. https://www.dailykos.com/terms
Here are two other articles that may be of help in understanding our criteria:
1) Rules of the Road: http://www.dailykos.com/rules-of-the-road
2) Knowledge Base: About DK Bannings: https://helpdesk.dailykos.com/kb/other-problems/why-have-i-been-ban…
Clear as mud. Okay. I’m going to start weaning myself off that site. After Friday I’ll confine my blog visits to the Moose and possibly the Squirrel.
Thanks Diana, clear as mud indeed. It takes some time to deal with dkos fallout. I can finally just read without feeling caught up in the turmoil now but it was a slow process. RonK is more objective than I am so he can enjoy his daily Bucket interactions and just read around the rest of the site. But if the cross posting explanation holds up he may be in trouble for sharing with the Moose. Such silly nonsense!
This!
Our online lives have gone through various states and stages and mine began there. I am grateful that there was a forum in 2004 when I needed to understand what happened when America “re-“elected the stupidest man on earth. I am content with the small community here, the larger community on Twitter, and the many fine blogs and news sites I have discovered during my online journey.
The impressive victories in Virginia, New Jersey, Maine, and Washington state have lifted the cloud that had hung over us for the past year. Were we a hashtag resistance or a real one? Could we mount a comeback or would the obstacles be too large? I think the answer is that if we work hard, find good candidates for every seat, and get our people to the polls, we shall, indeed, overcome.
Morning, wonderful meeses! It’s 56 degrees at the moment and cloudy with rain showers forecast from 2 to 4 pm and again from 7 pm onwards (high of 60 today). Looking forward to the rain, CA needs it still.
{{{bfitz}}}
{{{HUGS}}} to everybody and thank you for all your support. Some folks have been working on my behalf to find out what’s going on. They have managed to get access to more information than the Admins are willing to share with me – so privacy issues is an excuse. I’m beginning to understand what happened and I’m not sure there’s a remedy as it rests on them taking my word for something. Sorry to be cryptic but I don’t want to draw trouble to the Moose pond.
Gray and chilly again – no measurable rain yesterday but call it a heavy mist. Almost no generation yesterday. Not only am I not on track for 200, at the moment I’m not even making as much as i use. I’d have to be at 42 KWHs right now, 48 by tonight, to cover my use and I’m only at 38. Hoping for the best for my community needs folks. I’ve got someone putting “back up” diaries into my afternoon slots at DK. If they don’t take my word and don’t reinstate me, well, I’ll mourn the loss of my DK family, worry about the urgent needs folks, seriously regret that I cannot continue filling the schedules I have filled – and find some other way to help some other group of people. Somehow. I’ll need a little “walk in the woods with an assist from Chardonnay” time. But I will persist.
Need to get back to work. Just because my work no longer includes getting the community lists out doesn’t mean I don’t have any. At least not for the next 6 weeks or so. Bright the Day, meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Always good to see you, bfitz. Talk to you soon. {{HUGS}}
Evening Meeses! Popping in here at work. The sun has set and it’s cloudy and windy. Yuck.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 39 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 32. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The overnight low tonight will be a very chilly 12 degrees!
I managed to survive a day without being plugged into the 10 minute news cycle. I did skim Twitter and was glad to see that the 2016 retrospectives are waning – or not many showed up in my timeline. I did see a few other folks who feel like I do, that the 2016 nightmare won’t recede until we have a Democrat back in the White House. I hope people too young to remember George W. Bush realize now that there is a lot of damage that can be done from the Oval Office and a lot of damage that can be stopped outright or put off. President Obama protected us from the Republican Congress and from the rogue courts. Now we have to rebuild a firewall in the states and in Congress until we can regain the presidency. Tuesday night was an encouraging sign.
What won on Tuesday night was “hands off our gains from the Obama years!” Access to affordable health care, decent treatment of immigrants and people of color, progress in civil rights and criminal justice reforms – it was the first chance for people to register a vote to put the brakes on the Dismantling. Washington state is blue, New Jersey is blue, and Virginia bluens considerably. Next year will be more fun for us than it will be for the Republicans and the blue(!)print is drawn up and tested: resistance to tRump blended with local policies that resonate. And this: “It’s the healthcare, all y’all.” People believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege and they can’t roll back that belief.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Moosekind. Guess what, it’s actually raining here in NoVa and appears to have been doing so for some time. Current temp. is 42 F., going up to 49 F. later. It finally feels like autumn! I may make some banana-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies.
Facing a very unpleasant day tomorrow, so will enjoy today while I can. Just went over to dk and saw that Rex the bulldog has ordered State Department employees (from top to bottom) to dig up ALL of Hillary’s emails. Duh. Wish they’d dig up HIS.
Wish Mueller would hurry up. One’s nerves are in tiny, quivering shreds. Hoping it’s a good day for all.
Thursday morn Meese
25 degrees here in Saugerties NY – brrrrrrrrrrrrr
Writing for deadline – just coming up for another cup of coffee
Now have to dive back in to keyboard pounding.
I walked 1.33 miles, even though it is cold! 47 degrees. When I was on top of the parking garage, I wished I had gloves. But I did it. Listening to American Soul.
Put your hands in the air
Hold on the sky
Could be too late
But we still gotta try
There’s a moment in our life where a soul can die
And the person in a country when you believe the lie
The lie
There’s a promise in the heart of every good dream
It’s a call to action, not to fantasy
The end of a dream, the start of what’s real
Let it be unity
Let it be community
For refugees like you and me
A country to receive us
Will you be our sanctuary
Refu-jesus
32 but sunny. my feet are hurting cold. Guess I’d best go dig out my boots. Can’t do much about my hands although the gloves help a bit. I got almost 7 KWHs yesterday, the m-t-d is 44 – still a ways to go to catch up on my use. I’ve still got a couple hundred KWHs in the “bank” but they took their freebys last month so i’ve only got a couple of hundred in the “bank” – wish if they weren’t going to pay me for the energy I produce they’d at least let me keep it as rolling credit for longer than 15 months. Oh well. One of many things in life I don’t like but can’t do anything about.
Aside from rejoicing at our wins Tuesday, I’m still more wrapped up in having been banned from DK than much of anything else. Folks are carrying on for me and bless them – the community links are being posted in a couple of places but the 2 folks who are teaming to do that don’t have time to hit all the places I put them. Several people are covering my regular diary slots for the time being but can’t really do that for long. But I can’t participate in IGTNT – there was a post last night – I can’t get into messages and someone has tried to reach me that way, I can’t monitor to be sure a Pootie diary posts on Sunday and I sure as heck can’t post one if it doesn’t, I can’t get into my drafts to find some way of handing on all the work i did on the 2018 elections (i just saved it as a draft so I could work on it as i had time and have it ready for next year), I want to give access to my pictures to someone but he doesn’t know how to get into the image library at DK – every graphic he posts is a tweet, somebody needs a {{{HUG}}} and i can’t give it. Just hurts.
But I still have the Moose and Villages. I hurt but i am blessed with my friends and the support they’re giving me. And I thank you all. The world goes on no matter what is happening in one’s life, personally or nationally, and i still need to get to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
My heart is trying its darndest to snuggle yours from afar for comfort. ♥♥
{{{MomentaryGrace}}}
Good morning, 49 and raining in Bellingham. It’s so good to have the snow melting away. I’ve got droopy frozen plants to clean up now, but no lasting damage was done. I may even be able to salvage a few hydrangea blooms for winter arrangements. I like to dry them for use as the base for winter greens and fresh flowers but the early snow surprised me this year.
RonK returns home today. He’s enjoyed his annual visit with his brothers and I expect a post about where the Columbia River meets the sea will be forthcoming.
I love the visual from The Maddow Blog in this post by Nancy LeTourneau, at the Wa Monthly…..
How the People of Charlottesville Responded to White Nationalism