Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Oct. 7th through Oct. 13th

October 6, 2018 JanF Community 116

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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  • Page One of Comments is HERE!
     
  • Page Two of Comments is HERE!
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61 Comments

  1. Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    Morning low of 48 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 55. Rain is in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Sunday Meese
    65 here in NYS going up to 77 with rain.
    My thoughts.

    I have gleefully followed this thread

    Puerto Rico

  3. Even knowing it was coming, yesterday was still awful. There was a protest here, they shut down one of the major streets. Can’t even watch the marathon (Chicago marathon is this morning) for distraction, it isn’t televised this year. At least there’s Dr. Who — with the new female Doctor premiering this afternoon. That will be great! If you watched Broadchurch, she played the mom of the boy who was killed.

    • Retweeted that and the Puerto Rico story from here as I am not ready to go back on Twitter yet.

      I thought I was tough enough to handle the swearing in of Kavanaugh yesterday but I was not. I get a lot of news sites and political reporters in my Twitter feed and they were all reporting on it. I was overwhelmed with sadness for our country and, closer to home, worry for my non-Caucasian naturalized U.S. citizen daughter who will now not have any court protections. Berners will be fine but Goddess help the rest of us.

      • Berners are like Rs – whether it’s thinking it’s OK to steal SS from our children & grandchildren as long as it doesn’t touch our personal SS or thinking it’s OK to harm our children, grandchildren or the siblings/family of our hearts because it doesn’t harm us individually – they are “me/mine” and nothing else is even relevant to them much less important. Praying – & voting – for you/your daughter’s safety. {{{HUGS}}}

  5. 69 and softly raining with rumbly thunder I wish had happened about 6 hours ago. ???? So dark the PV system is barely on but at least it is on. Got 9.6 KWHs yesterday, doubt we’ll get as much today, but the m-t-d is 67 so we’ll still be on track for 300 even if we only get 3. Although I hope we get more.

    Yesterday sucked, but not as much as 11/9/2016 did. Yesterday was just one more checked-off item on the list of evils the latter foretold. I’ve been dealing reflux since even before then, just means being more careful about what and when I eat. And doing what I can to slow down the checking off process now – and voting to stop it. We shall prevail – don’t know how soon, but one foot in front of the other, we shall. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, Moosekind! We’re off in a few hours. It was cloudy all day yesterday and it’s cloudy now. Current temp. in Ashburn is 66 F., going up to 84 F.

    Will try to check in from Blighty but I’ve never yet succeeded in getting MM on my recalcitrant iPad. Bummer. However, I’ll keep trying!

    Wishing all a good Sunday.

  7. Good morning, 51 and raining in Bellingham. It’s a light rain, but I’m regretting my decision to stay indoors yesterday. Between RonK’s computer needing a security cleanup and my fiddling around sewing I didn’t do the few garden tasks I wanted to do. Oh well, getting slightly wet is normal in the PNW!

    To my relief and delight I found my missing Emmylou Harris cd’s yesterday so I had great fun listening to her music. I had organized all of them in one basket, thinking they would be easy to find that way. But then I forgot where I put the basket :)

    Take care everyone.

  8. This was shared from someone’s Facebook page. For what it’s worth, I am not done being angry at the people who flat out voted for tRump knowing who he was. If they want to be treated decently, they need to come to terms with what they willingly did.

    An anguished question from a Trump supporter: “Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?”

    The serious answer: Here’s what we really think about Trump supporters – the rich, the poor, the malignant and the innocently well-meaning, the ones who think and the ones who don’t…

    That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.”

    That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.”

    That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.”

    That when he made up stories about seeing muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.”

    That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you chirped, “He sure knows me.”

    That when you heard him illustrate his own character by telling that cute story about the elderly guest bleeding on the floor at his country club, the story about how he turned his back and how it was all an imposition on him, you said, “That’s cool!”

    That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw.

    That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?”

    That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.”

    That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!”

    That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!”

    That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!”

    That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.”

    That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!”

    That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!”

    That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.”

    That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!”

    That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids. has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “well, ok then.”

    That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise.

    What you don’t get, Trump supporters in 2018, is that succumbing to frustration and thinking of you as stupid may be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also…hear me…charitable.

    Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are *less* flattering.

    ***

    Original post by Adam-Troy Castro.

    • I don’t follow pop culture and could not pick Taylor Swift out of a lineup but there is a lot here that I hope resonates with people as they ponder what being a trumper means:

      • I couldn’t name a single one of her songs, but she has a million or so followers on her account. If she motivates even a few people to register/vote, that would be awesome.

      • I haven’t a clue who she is but Aji tweeted list night “At long last, my husband now wants to buy a @taylorswift13 CD.” due to that. ???????????? I’ll take it on the evidence Taylor Swift is popular and well-known. Hopefully enough to make a real difference in TN. ????????????

      • Well, you all have succeeded in making me feel young and almost-with-it. I do know who Taylor Swift is, although I can’t say that I could name any of her songs. I’m very glad she took this stand, because she is popular with a certain younger segment, particularly in southern states. All of my NC nieces are big fans, but not all are reliable voters (the ones that are, unfortunately, are tRumpsters). I’ll have to see if this makes any difference to them.

  9. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 57 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 73. Rain and thunderstorms expected throughout the day.

    I am still trying to sort through emotions from the SCOTUS change and where to focus my energy. The midterms are an easy call – in Wisconsin we have a Senator to re-elect and a governor to get in place as a firewall to the gerrymandered-for-a-generation Republican legislature. One of our gubernatorial candidates promised to pardon anyone convicted in the aftermath of a Roe repeal (our laws criminalize abortions) and one would hope that any Democratic governor would do the same. I am thinking more of where to put my intentions – what to hope for from the new court term. Kennedy was a reliable Republican vote in every instance except abortion rights and gay rights so those two areas are likely to see some 5-4’s the other way. But he sided with the other Republicans to allow tRump to put a religious test on immigration and was anti-union, anti-voting rights, pro-religion-trumps-the law, and pro-dark money. So I think I will concentrate on the anger that Chief Justice John Roberts showed when Justice Sotomayor compared the majority supporting the Muslim ban to the Korematsu ruling. If that indicated that he has concerns about his legacy, concerns about being part of a majority that enables and encourages the worst of Trumpism, maybe there is hope. There will be some early tests as the immigration detention and sanctuary city cases will be showing up this fall.

    See all y’all later!

  10. Monday. Blech. I wonder what fresh horrors the Trumpistas will have for us this week. I need to get to work on the AIDS Walk, at this rate I’m not even going to raise $1,000 much less my crazy goal of five. Ok, I need something energetic & positive, so here’s Empress.

  11. Monday Meese.

    Just got back from the eye doc! Hurray! Cleared to drive – without glasses!!!

  12. Welp, it’s Monday. 69 with humidity only 98% today ???? more or less sunny at the moment and heading for low 80s. The front is apparently going to move in overnight. Got 7.7 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 75 – we/re still on track for 300+ and if we can pick up double digits today to “front load” against the next 2 days’ projected rain we’ll stay on track.

    Because of the Monday Holiday law (which I’ve hated since they enacted it), today rather than Friday is “Thank Goddess You’re Still Here Indigenous Peoples Day” – I’d love to see a half-mil property tax on all properties going to the Tribal governments of whoever originally held the land. Mine would go to the Osage people. That would make such a difference (and make RW & LW heads explode, a secondary benefit) – definitely get Natives out of situations like 85% Unemployment and highest rates of easily-preventable diseases like diabetes. Meanwhile, we’re coming down to the wire. Early voting starts here in 2 weeks. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Our early voting starts a week from today – on 10/15. I am going to wait until my daughter is in-town and we will early-vote together, probably on the 20th. I want to do my part to make sure that the youth vote is not absent in this election and that will be to get my young person to the polls!

      • That’s great. I talked to my son last night – he’s 47 so doesn’t exactly count as young people, but his son just turned 18 end of August. My kids & old-enough grandkids will be doing their parts.

      • As you all know Wa State has a vote by mail system, so we vote at the kitchen table. Our daughter is selling #vote items on her Etsy site, and hats went to New York, California and Florida last week. She has just added sweat shirts. Our grandson will be following up with the kids he registered at his high school last spring to make sure they receive and return their ballots. Small but important efforts to support voting in our blue state.

  13. Good morning meese. 57 with high of 81 today. Fortunately I’ll be at work so I’m hoping I escape the worst of the heat. About to leave for work soon to the sounds of Belle purring.

      • If you want to put it that way, then yes… ???? ????

        On another note, what would you suggest as the next Agatha Raisin book after Vicious Vet? Should I read in order?

        • Always read series in order written the first time if you can. There are always references to something that happened in a previous book – not germane to the plot of the currently book but adding a sort of almost comforting, almost homey touch that is kind of the point of a series. Re-reading doesn’t matter because you have that knowledge tucked back already. The Potted Gardener comes after The Vicious Vet. ????????????

    • {{{basket}}} Leaving to the sounds of Belle purring sounds like a great way to start your day. Hope work is good – have you started the new “position” yet?

        • Official is good. A raise to go with it would be better, of course – cuz they’re gonna take more of your time than they already do. ????????????

  14. Good morning, Meesefolk; 57 this morning with a grey, rainy high of 77. I’m getting a bit tired of the rain, but I may feel differently once I reach Duluth later this week, when projected highs are for the low 40s. That makes packing for carry-on only a bit of a challenge, but I think I’ve solved the dilemma of keeping warm with one multi-colored cardigan that I can wear with everything. It’s quite old and out-of-style, and it had been headed for the donation bag. Fortunately, I pulled it out and got it to the dry cleaners, so it will be ready for one last hurrah.

    I spent the weekend in full cocoon mode: completed the fifth Agatha Raisin cozy; got everything laundered and ready to pack; made gumbo; and delved into the history of Ohio potteries during the late 19th-early 20th century. The latter came about after a series of texts with the Kiddo. They were picking out the paint color for their DR and were considering painting the crown molding an accent color rather than leaving it white. I was trying to gently dissuade them from that plan, by pointing out that their accent color was the primary color of the drapes I’m making, and they might be going overboard; if they wanted more of the accent color, it could be achieved with accessories. That led me on the hunt for period or period-suggestive vases, and from there, it was down the rabbit hole. I was able to pick up two vases from a lesser-know WV pottery company for dirt cheap on eBay. The company, Cameron Clay, started in the late 30s, but their line of “weeping gold” pottery from the 50s is most-coveted by collectors. The late 30s stuff is far less desirable with collectors, so the prices haven’t skyrocketed…yet. I’m still looking for one more piece from an OH potter, but Roseville and Rookwood and Cowan and even McCoy are crazy expensive. I have my eyes on a simple Roseville vase that hasn’t attracted a lot of bidding interest; if it stays that way, I may take the plunge. But as much as I find the history of the companies fascinating, I have no desire to spend $50 for a vase that’s just going to sit as part of a grouping in the middle of their dining room table (and $50 is considered cheap for anything by Roseville). In the meantime, I’ve learned that the stories of the pottery companies are the same as U.S. glass companies and so many other companies. They almost all failed in the early-to-mid 70s, after struggling through the 60s. The influx of mass-produced items from overseas, coupled with the loss of specialty stores and department stores, led most to fail. I know we can’t get those jobs back, any more than we can the jobs of coal miners, but the loss of skilled-artisan industries still makes me a bit sad.

    • Good morning DoReMI. It looks like you’re all prepared for cooler weather in Dultth!

      Note to self: don’t invite DoReMI to visit California during summer, even though there isn’t much humidity. ????

      Gumbo sounds yummy! Was it a shrimp or catfish gumbo?

      • Yeah, I don’t do hot weather if at all possible. Low 40s in Duluth is about normal, and since we typically do a lot of walking, a cardigan over a turtleneck plus my raincoat should be just right.

        The gumbo was a sausage gumbo…chorizo and andouille sausage. I usually add in any leftovers of pork or chicken I may have on hand, but there were no leftovers to be had this time around. I just throw the stock, some water, a cup of rice, and the meat in the crockpot and let it cook on low for anywhere from 4-8 hours. It makes enough for several meals, so I just freeze whatever is left.

          • I’m not particularly interested in cooking, but I have to say this is one of my successes. I buy the gumbo stock pre-made, and the rest is just about cleaning out the fridge! When served with homemade bread or a baguette, cheese, and apple slices, it’s the ultimate comfort food.

    • Sounds like a pleasant and productive weekend. Good. It “restoreth the soul” to do that sort of thing. Whatever your version “that sort of thing” is – yours is a lot more labor and research intensive than mine is. ???????????? ???????????? ????????????

      • snort I really can’t help myself with the research stuff. I sometimes think I’m too damn curious for my own good, and the internet has only exacerbated my tendencies. My college girlfriends are already asking me if I’ve prepared my research for our trip to Duluth (I haven’t), because every time we go someplace, I tend to regale them with tidbits re local history, architecture, etc. that I’ve absorbed somehow. On the other hand, we’re spending our first day in Minneapolis, and Red Wing Pottery and its museum is only about 50 miles south… :D

  15. Good morning, 50 and cloudy in Bellingham. I finished and delivered the pillows yesterday, and my son and dil were very pleased. We may want to add one or two more floral pillows, just to keep the colors moving around the room. I have enough trim and feather pillow forms, and I think Joann Fabrics still has the fabric in their home dec dept. The dogs approved too :) The pic of Maggie curled up by the new pillow in the chair she allows Erich to share with her makes me laugh!

    We’re all going to a event with Jane Goodall tonight, and I’ve got a few hours of must do desk work to get done today so I’m going to pass on the pool this morning.

    Best wishes to all on this rainy Monday.

    • Dogs condescending to share chairs, recliners, or sofas (depending on the size of the dog) are always funny. Glad Maggie approved of the new pillow. Considering what Jane Goodall will probably be talking about, enjoy is probably not the right word, but it should be very interesting. Take care of yourself. Healing Energy & {{{HUGS}}}

  16. Good morning meeses from Costa Mesa. We’re currently partly cloudy with a temperature of 73. I managed to get a bit more door-to-door canvasing done on Sunday.

    • I guess all Black female National Security Advisors named Rice are the same! I’m sure that Condi was not amused. :)

  18. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 70 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Chance of thunderstorms throughout the day. One more day of warmish weather than back into the 50s.

    I thought the Kavanaugh sh*tfest was over and then my Twitter feed erupted with photos and quotes from the ceremonial swearing in, complete with lies from the human garbage that sits in the Oval Office, and yuks from Chief Justice John Roberts and Clarence “Yay, another groper to have a beer with!” Thomas. How RBG was able to sit there calmly is beyond me. It finally hit me after reading the second round of hate aimed at Democrats and Heidi Heitkamp and Lisa Murkowski – they see this as the final battle to preserve the ugliest parts of the white patriarchy and they have unleashed every weapon at their disposal. As I am watching our leads shrink in Congressional races, it is obvious that the media’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Kavanaugh confirmation battle – and the completely unchallenged lies of McConnell and the rest of the Republicans – are being set as the narrative: Dr. Ford and the other women “invented stories” to hurt the nice Judge Kavanaugh and his family, people protesting the unfairness and disrespect towards women are “mobs”, and the final vote “proved his innocence.” My only hope is that the Republican media blitz is peaking too soon and that there is time to regain the midterm narrative – we are running on healthcare and accountability and a firewall to the excesses of the Trump administration.

    See all y’all later!

  19. Tuesday Meese,
    62 here in NYS going up to 79

    Needed something uplifting this morning

    Thank you Astronaut Joe Acaba

  20. Rain, and possible severe weather this afternoon. And then early next week: lows in the 50s! Ok, 59 but still……that’s actually chilly. I might wear a long sleeved shirt. I had to mute the local news when they ran a segment on that new SCOTUS guy. He’s just a temp, shouldn’t get all that much attention. Today’s song is a Hozier one from his 1st album, the video is a fan-made one for his 25th birthday (it is totes adorbs): Someone New

    • and another addendum: Last year, one of the U2 fan pages on FB asked to collect people’s stories of how they discovered the band, and the effect they’ve had on us. They collected them into a book, made 4 copies and yesterday they got to give them to the guys. It’s so cool. I hope they do read at least some of them.

      Here’s mine — this is probably wordier than what’s in the book: I was in a tape shop in Dhahran/Al Khobar (I forget which was the Aramco compound & which the Saudi city — they were both the “big city” from our little camp at Ras Tanura). Anyway, I’m in a tape shop, and from the shop across the street I hear this music…. I swear to the Goddess the notes wrapped themselves around my spine & yanked me across the street. (you have to know about Saudi traffic — you never, ever cross a street casually, you look & look & look, they are the craziest drivers on the planet) I don’t remember crossing the street, I was just magically in the shop, saying “I need that. Now.” They had just gotten the one copy — I had no concept of music piracy, or that it wasn’t legal — there were blocks & blocks of stores selling tapes, no effort to conceal. They said to come back in an hour, I was there in 59 minutes. Every time I 1st hear new music from them, I get the same feeling, like it’s embedding inside me, layers & layers around my spine.

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