Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Oct. 14th through Oct. 20th

October 13, 2018 JanF Community 109

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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28 Comments

  1. Good day, Meesefolk (morning has slipped away…how did that happen?!); 27 when I got up with a high of 50 today, but at least it will be a bright, sunny 50. I can’t begrudge The Hubby for having turned on the furnace, but I really had hoped to wait until later in the month. Ah well, at least I’m on a budget plan with the gas company, so I won’t feel the pain too much. And the temps do explain why the pups were stealing covers last night; I don’t know how they do it, but they’ve become expert at wrapping themselves in the bedspread and blanket, while leaving me just a sheet to stay warm. It’s a good thing they’re cute…

    I’m still limiting my time watching news or reading Twitter. Admittedly, I still have one foot in vacation mode, but since the midterms are everything, everything else is noise. In the meantime, The Kiddo is keeping me busy with “research” projects…she’s awakened to the joys of vintage and trying to figure out how to add design elements to the new house without busting the budget. She’s texting me pictures from books which appeal to her and asking me to help figure out how to create the look, whether with authentic pieces, by upcycling, by sewing, or by whatever means necessary. It’s a good distraction for her, but somehow I think I’m going to be spending a lot more time in my sewing room than I originally anticipated. Curtains and drapes I planned for, but I think she/we will be adding cushions and pillows and re-covering the seats of some chairs.

    They’ve also decided to have a color consultant from their paint store come in once they’re moved in. They had collected so many paint samples they were overwhelmed, but they’ve also decided the grey and taupe-y tan walls are too blah and depressing for them. So they want to paint the LR and DR right away, and at least 2 of the bedrooms in the spring…but they keep second-guessing themselves so want to have an “expert” give them some guidance. I am bemused, but then, I’ve never tried to paint a house in “historically sensitive” colors. Back to work…good day to and for all!

    • I used a color consultant for my current house because I felt that my last one was too boring. And it was! The consultant (actually a friend who was kind enough to work with me) chose some colors I would never have even thought of – strong colors with personality not just colors that “play well with others.” The house style is Craftsman and we wanted to use colors that might have been found in 1920s and 1930s homes of the same style and I think we found them. It helped that I had ditched all my old living room furniture and purchased new pieces to go with the style but having an expert who knew which upholstery choices would go with the wall colors helped a lot!

      • The Hubby has a great eye for color, so I’ve always relied on him to take my vision and bring home the paint that most closely matches it. If left to my own devices, I always pick a shade that’s close but not-quite-right; years ago, I wanted to paint a room a gentle mauve color and ended up with MAUVE!!! That was the first and last time I didn’t use my “personal consultant.”

        I think using a color consultant makes sense for the kids, and not just because they’re overwhelmed. SIL loves really, really saturated colors; he doesn’t know the meaning of the word “neutral.” Kiddo loves color too, but for this house, wants something a bit more muted…mossy greens, deep wines, rich browns, golden yellows…autumn colors basically. (His version would be emerald green, ruby red, chocolate brown, and Crayola crayon yellow.) He’s more mellow than Kiddo, so if the consultant recommends a more muted palette, he’ll accept that; if the consultant leans more towards a brighter palette, Kiddo will [grudgingly] accept that. It saves a lot of personal drama at a time when their plates are already full. And they can always change their minds, so no harm, no foul.

  2. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 55. Cloudy skies with showers are in the forecast.

    I woke up too early and couldn’t get back to sleep so I started reading saved off articles that I have been too tired/too busy to read in the afternoon when I finish my work day. This one has some good points and a lot of hopefulness: How the Anti-Trump Resistance Is Organizing Its Outrage :

    In February 2018, long before there was a Democratic nominee in their House district, Eberly and her team began knocking on doors to build rapport with their neighbors and hear about their political priorities, a process called “deep canvassing.” When a Marine veteran and solar-energy entrepreneur named Dan McCready won the Democratic primary in May, Eberly and her friends went back to the same doors they had knocked on months earlier—this time, they were armed with his campaign literature.

    North Carolina’s 9th District, which stretches from the Charlotte suburbs into more conservative rural areas, has been in GOP hands for more than 50 years. Trump won it by 12 points in 2016. But grassroots efforts like Eberly’s have helped transform the race into a toss-up contest, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. McCready has raised four times as much money as his Republican opponent, pastor Mark Harris, and he sees groups like Eberly’s as key to his victory. “No dark money,” McCready says, “can stop a neighbor talking to another neighbor at their door.”

    Indivisible N.C. 9 is just one platoon in a volunteer army that has stormed the field after Trump’s election in 2016. The forces are vast and decentralized; they have different ideologies and support different kinds of candidates. But they’re united by a common mission: to oppose Trump’s policies, pressure their local Republican representatives and elect Democrats to replace them in the Nov. 6 midterms.

    This is a long read and covers grass-roots activity in North Carolina and Alabama and Georgia and getting out the Latinx vote and the youth vote. This hits the right notes:

    Democrats cast nearly twice as many votes in the 2018 primaries as they did four years earlier, according to Pew Research Center, outpacing Republicans by more than 4 million. Eighty-one percent of Democratic-leaning voters say they are certain to vote in the midterms, up more than 20 points from 2014, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll. That same poll found Republican enthusiasm up 3 points.

    It’s not that the Democrats are being pulled left. It’s more that Democrats are being pulled local. And while ideas like “Medicare for all” and “Abolish ICE” have spread far beyond the party’s left flank, the anti-Trump resistance movement is ultimately more results-driven than ideological. What works for voters in the Bronx may not work for voters in Iowa, and in the midterms it doesn’t have to. The party seems to be relearning the central lesson of American democracy: what 19th century French writer Alexis de Tocqueville called “the knowledge of how to combine.”

    Where does it go? Everywhere, we hope!

    Nobody plans to give up after Nov. 7. Polls show Democrats on track to retake the House, but Trump’s Republicans have surprised before, and a strong GOP showing could demoralize the new progressive grassroots. Whatever happens, through, the Indivisible troops say they won’t stop writing their postcards. Woke Vote and New Georgia Project are committed to reaching out to black voters. NextGen fellows may continue their political engagement even if Steyer’s funding dries up. “This isn’t about 2018. This isn’t about 2020,” says Ava Williamson, Eberly’s co-leader in North Carolina. “This is about building a progressive infrastructure for an entire generation.”

    2018 will be a big test of the power of these “new voters” – for all of our sakes, I hope that they pass the test.

    See all y’all later!

    • Thanks for posting that Jan! Tweeted

      I’m highlighting some GOTV groups targeting various Latino groups for this Sunday’s piece.

      • That article had a lot of information on the groups working the grass roots – some I was aware of, like Black Voters Matter and the Parkland students – and some I had never heard of. I hope that we have success so that those groups don’t get discouraged. Not everyone understands the “long game” and that setbacks are inevitable. Loomis:

        The only answer to losing is to keep trying. Most of the time, we are going to lose. That’s the reality for anyone who studies labor history as I do and it’s the same for those who study other social movements. The forces of injustice are strong. It is hard to beat them. One way to deal with this, including dealing with it mentally after we lose, is to understand that we are playing a very long game, one that will last our whole lives.

        He quoted Blair L.M. Kelley in a piece in the NYTimes:

        Progressives, liberals and sexual assault survivors and all those who desire a more just and decent America and who feel they lost when Kavanaugh was confirmed despite their protest should remember Mitchell, Plessy, Walker and Wells, along with Elizabeth Jennings, James Pennington, Lola Houck, Louis A. Martinet, Rodolphe Desdunes, P.B.S. Pinchback, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary Church Terrell, J. Max Barber and many others, including those whose names we do not know. All of these men and women were on the side of justice and lost. None of these people, who fought for full and equal public access as free citizens on trains and streetcars, stopped fighting. None abandoned what they knew was right. They all tried again. Most would not live to see things made right, but they continued. […]

        My scholarship has taught me that activism requires a certain resilience, and the willingness to be long-suffering in pursuit of the cause. I hope people remember this. I hope they keep going.

  3. Friday Meese

    31 degrees going up to 62 here in the Catskills.
    My knee is healing -using one crutch now, not two.
    Yay!

    PR

  4. Still only 4 floodgates open on the dams, but “pockets of heavy rain” expected today & tomorrow, so the river authority is still saying they might open more. I hope the rain doesn’t wash out too much of the Formula 1 stuff. I know how it is when you saved up to go to a thing, looked forward to it & then it’s canceled. People are in Austin from all over the world, I want them to have a good time. Anyway, it’s still rainy & cool — not the 40s that we started the week with, but still long sleeves weather.

    I e-mailed the elections office yesterday to ask how long they anticipate the line at the courthouse will be to vote Monday. They replied back that I should try to vote another day. So my current plan is to try to be in line by 5:30 am. I’ll have my tea & an almond butter sandwich. And a fully charged kindle. Got to make sure I have a brand new book — an hour & a half in line or more….

    Here’s my lovely boys & Patti Smith doing People Have the Power with a smattering of Gloria & Bad (isn’t Adam gorgeous?)

    • IF we had early voting in MI (we don’t ????), I think one of the things I would do is take camp stools or lawn chairs to a polling site for anyone to use. That kind of standing can be tough on older folks and the disabled. Good luck and happy voting!

      • Over the 2 weeks of it, they’re not expecting big lines the whole time. Just the first & last days. Our electeds in Austin want people to vote. Voter registrar is working overtime to get the flood of new applications done in time – we may hit 94% registration! Elections office has as many locations & hours as they can get funding for.

  5. Good Freya’s Day morning, Meese! It’s going to be a beautiful day here; already the sun is gilding the tops of the trees. It was quite chilly and dark this morning when I took the dog out. I left Frondsy, the Boston Fern, out on the screened porch last night but brought the lavender, mint, and parsley in. The mint wants to die; the lavender, despite having been watered, looks droopy. Frondsy, on the other hand, seems quite perky.

    Currently it’s 35 F. in Ashburn as of 8 a.m., going up to 63 F.

    Today will be busy: I do want to go to the gym, but there’s Political Book Club at 10:30, the Progressives’ Lunch at 12 (my old friend Jennifer Boysko will speak briefly), and then the Writers’ Group at 3. I’m leading the discussion because I suggested the topic: “My brush with history.” My five-minute writing is about the Little Rock School Integration Crisis of 1957.

    Another time I’ll discuss the feeling of exclusion I’m experiencing from the old-timers here. For now I’ll just mention that absentee ballots are being filed at a huge rate in Virginia! As I’ve mentioned before, a large part of the population in Virginia, especially here in Northern Virginia, works for the government or knows someone who does. We don’t take kindly to being called “the swamp.”

    Wish I’d stop falling asleep at 8 p.m. I’ve letters to write, four or five days’ worth of poems written by my friend Ben to read, and “Poldark” to catch up on. I just keep conking out!

    Wishing a nice, quiet day to all. Glad to hear things are going well in the sewing rooms of DoReMI and princesspat, that Jan has caught up on her reading, Dee is down to one crutch, and that Becky has a plan for voting. I hope the rain in Austin stops and that the sun will come out in Fayetteville today, not tomorrow!

    • that’s the other thing about voting on Monday – we get a break from the rain on Sunday but it’s expected back on Monday, so I’ll be standing int my raincoat. with my sandwich in my pocket & my kindle

    • I have been falling asleep at 8pm also which is probably why I wake up at 2am unable to get back to sleep! I just can’t stay upright – I should probably go back to napping in the afternoon so that I have energy later but I am not sure that would work – when it is dark outside my body thinks it should be sleeping.

      I am not completely caught up on my reading, but made a dent in it. I put things in tabs on my phone when I am scanning Twitter in the evening and then put things into Pocket when I am on my computer. If it still piques my interest – and is not out of date – over a few days, I read it. A lot of stuff is of interest for only a few hours in this chaotic 10 minute news cycle we seem to be in.

  6. Good morning, 46 and foggy in Bellingham. The leaves on my old maple trees are in vivid contrast to the grey sky surrounding everything. A quick scan of the new tells me to stay otherwise occupied today lest my tRump angst takes over……again! So between the garden, my sewing room and a good book I hope to stay sane today.

    Take care everyone.

  7. Good morning, Meesefolk; 41 when I got up and going to a bright, sunny 54 today. Fall is here! Despite yesterday’s cold morning temps, I didn’t notice any frost on the ground. When I let the dogs out this morning, I did [finally] notice that my black walnuts had dropped their leaves. Black walnuts have compound leaves, so they don’t drop individual leaves, but what looks like entire branches of leaves; as a result, it’s pretty clear I’ll be spending most of the weekend raking.

    Still keeping to my minimal-news approach, although I did get some more VOTE! postcards and letters ready to mail out last night. The rest of the evening was spent texting with the Kiddo. She’s determined to find a way to redo their kitchen cabinets (painted) without replacing them all, and she may just have found a product that will give her the wood look she wants. There’s a primer that basically paints wood onto a painted surface, which can then be stained. Despite the rave reviews we found, it still sounds too good to be true, so sometime next spring, we’re going to experiment on some old, painted wood furniture that we both have. If it works, then it will be on to the cupboards…I fully expect to be corralled into this project at some point if it’s a go, because even though this primer is low VOC, SILs asthma is bad enough to make even that dicey (the primer probably won’t be an issue, but staining could be). When we get to the actual cupboards vs just the cupboard doors, we’ll probably have to send him packing for a weekend. For a house that was move-in ready, The Kiddo is sure coming up with lots of future projects!

    Good day to and for all!

  8. Got to the Pond before 9 CDT but am at the office so…then I had to proctor a test…Damp and drizzly morning somewhere in the 40s still and might maybe get to mid 50s today. Yesterday got 8.7 KWHs, probably won’t get more than half that today, and the m-t-d is 160. If we don’t get some decent sunshine it’s gonna be pushing it to get over 200 this month.

    This election, already started in places and finalizing 11/6/18, is important. Other than things like breathing, potable water, food, & some sort of shelter from the elements nothing else is important right now. So. I boost the signals for things of that nature (Denise & Aji always, whoever else depends on what I catch) and election things. Thassit. Dem HQ tomorrow & Sunday. Vote Monday when early voting starts. 2 more weekends of staffing Dem HQ so more able-bodied folks can GOTV.

    Yay! that Denise is down to a single crutch – hoping for no crutches soon. Holding the Good Thought for health, well-being, and safety from flood, cold, or other weather suckeries. & another Yay! for the sewing mavens and their projects. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Yesterday Orange Coast College participated in the Great Shakeout 2018. All schools in the state did as well.
    Here’s a link:
    It’s acutally gone global. Anyhoo I get behind and didn’t make it here. I got my lab results when I went to the doctor’s office today. I’m a type 2 diabetic so I have to do lab work every 3 months. My A1C is 5.9 (they want you below 6.0) and got my medicine renewed. I’m back here at work where t’s a sunny and warm 87. In another 3 hours my work is over and the weekend starts! Small woo-hoo.

  10. Saturday Meese

    For once it is not cold early AM – 51 here in NYS going up to 63.

    Elated to see this tweet about my Democrat running for Congress from his debate with Rethug John Faso

    13 friggin’ months :(

    • I saw that Delgado clip yesterday! Great burn – I hope voters pay attention to that instead of the racist ads that Paul Ryan’s PAC is running there.

  11. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 45 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Rain or snow this morning with flurries this afternoon. I am glad I do not need to go anywhere today.

    I did not win the billion-dollar lottery although I did buy a ticket. I will probably buy another one as it is now at $1.6 billion and it is fun to think about what an ordinary person would do with over a billion dollars dumped on their lap. We know what non-lottery billionaires do – pump money into deceptive ads to gin up anger and fear. This years crop is particularly disgusting. The good news is that we will soon have an ad-resistant set of voters – people who don’t watch TV and who don’t know who Nancy Pelosi is, much less worry about her being Speaker. I was shaking my head at Mia Love, the black trump-loving Republican congressperson from Utah, saying that her Democratic opponent is a Nancy Pelosi supporter which is bad for Utah – and then when he said he wasn’t, saying that he would not get plum committee assignments, then – which is bad for Utah! Good lord, we need to kick Republicans out on stupidity alone.

    Let’s keep “Your Health Care is on the Ballot!” trending and bring this wave ashore.

    See all y’all later!

  12. Good morning, Meese! It’s a gloomy, overcast Saturday here with rain expected at some point. The current temp. in Ashburn is 52 F., going up to 64 F. The trees still haven’t changed color here: there was even a small article in the WaPo about it this morning.

    Our coffeepot died of old age JUST as we were about to have breakfast. Quelle horrible surprise! We will have to buy a new one today. Dearly Beloved made me a cappuccino before he hotfooted it to Urgent Care. He had the night from hell last night.

    Yesterday I was able to make it through the Writers’ Group meeting with a decent demeanor. Toward the end of the hour one old guy wanted to start a protracted quarrel about the group. “Could we defer this discussion until after everyone has had a chance to read their writing?” I asked icily. He subsided, so I read my piece, then the woman who came in 45 minutes late read hers. That’s my last meeting with that group. Their aims (writing for friends and family) are not my aims; also, they just don’t know what to make of me and my writing. I’ll focus on working with the Communications Committee from now on.

    Also, I’ve signed up with NaNoWriMo, as that’s the only way I’ll ever get the rest of my novel written.

    It’s just too depressing to read or follow the news: according to Jared, we’ll all get over it (Kashoggi’s unbelievably brutal murder), “Who cares, anyway, he was a foreign journalist,” (Eric Trump), the Dems are in disarray and won’t win (Chuck Todd and company). Let’s just get on with doing our canvassing, phonebanking, postcard writing, and letter writing before the election. There are two postcard-writing parties here next week, so I’m going to the Monday one.

    Hope everyone is feeling quite well. Also hope to see Daughter one more time before she, Hubby, and the chihuahua depart this area tomorrow to drive to Austin. Next weekend Younger Son is moving, so I’ll have the Littles here. Yikes!

    Wishing all a nice, quiet day.

    • This New York City witch has a hex planned!

      Melissa Madara’s Brooklyn witchcraft store prepared to host a public hexing of newly confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh this weekend. […]

      More than 15,000 people who have seen Catland Books promotions on Facebook have expressed interest in attending the event, vastly exceeding the shop’s 60-person capacity.

      Not everyone is a witchcraft fan. Madara said she had fielded numerous irate calls from critics, with at least one threatening violence. “Every time we host something like this there’s always people who like to call in with death threats or read us scripture,” she said.

      “We are embracing witchcraft’s true roots as the magik of the poor, the downtrodden and disenfranchised,” Catland Books said in Facebook post for its event.

      No word on what the ritual would entail – I would be in favor of a “shriveling ritual” for Kavanaugh targeting his patriarchal “credentials”.

      • I’m glad the Energy is being raised – I’m still working with “render him harmless” which has the virtue of protecting those he would harm while being just about the worst thing that a power-mad person could think of happening to them.

  13. 49 heading for maybe 65 and sunny – a nice birthday present. (Yesterday we got 1.3 KWHs the whole day and the m-t-d is 161.) Aji and I sent birthday tweets to the 3 of us about the same time. Haven’t heard from Bobby yet – hope he’s got power/internet.

    It’s a bit chilly in the house. I was going to bake this morning which would have solved that but I forgot to get the yogurt that goes in my muffins and since kickoff is at 11 (just over 2 hours) I’m staying off the streets right now. I’ll get it on the way back from Dem HQ this afternoon and bake in the morning. My son is going to take me out to dinner tonight – hasn’t decided whether it’s gonna be steak, Mexican, or Thai yet. LOL. If I remember correctly Wings will be taking Aji out for dinner. I hope Bobby has something as pleasant today. I hope everyone has something pleasant today. Healing Energy to everyone shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Slept in & ran to my co-op for bread & breakfast tacos — this weekend is 20% off, I had hoped I’d get there while they still had the rosemary sourdough bread, but I got there before the bread truck. Boo. Watching Joy Reid’s show, talking about voter suppression with a great panel. Today: back to the grocery store, and I’ll find out if there’s some non-door-knocking volunteer stuff to do at the Democratic HQ.

  15. Good morning, 45 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. My head is full of projects this morning so I hope some action will follow! I’ve prolly stirred up more Christmas sewing than I will finish but planning is part of the fun, so oh well. Prior to BCH I could push through a couple of long days and complete projects. But now I have to do as much as my pesky leg allows and then stop, rest and elevate.

    Yesterday’s fog cleared and the sunny autumn afternoon was beautiful. I’m watching the remaining hydrangeas turn a deep rosy color, knowing I should cut and dry them but the bushes are so pretty I hesitate to do so. Last year I waited to long and an over night freeze resolved the seasonal dilemma.

    Best wishes to all.

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