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! Whereas yesterday was sunny and almost warm—although breezy—this morning we are being treated to gray skies with a glaring white edge. The current temp. is 40 F., going up to 44 F. Grandchild report: he is much better, although his Mom switched her teleworking day to keep him at home again yesterday.
There’s a lot to do today, including taking the car in for body work (guess who wrapped the car around a pillar that was interfering with a parking space last week), getting a rental car, and going to the post office to mail a present to Germany. My friend there adores the Llewellyn Witch calendar and datebook, but they have to be mailed early. The package takes an incredibly long time to reach her little town in Germany.
Finished writing my long, yappy Yule newsletter last night and created a collage of photos to go with it. Today I’ll .pdf it and send it out. Most of our once-a-year correspondents don’t know our new address and change of circumstances. Gotta say, emailing the Xmas greeting saves a whole lot of money in stamps! I will send out a few cards to lonely people who don’t receive much mail.
Will be watching the political scene with interest. People keep saying he’ll be there until 2020. I’m not so sure. I read Markos’ post yesterday: the reaction was hysterical! One man said the Democrats haven’t nominated a white male since 2004. Uh—and the 220 years before that? Saint Bernard is desperately trying to stay relevant, but I really hope the eventual nominee is young, vigorous, and more representative of our population as a whole.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Good morning, Meesefolk; 27 now with a high of 32, but most importantly, the clouds may move out by afternoon and leave us with sunny skies. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a bright, sunny day; I’m so ready.
I had hoped to be on my way to Lansing to protest this morning, but I couldn’t reschedule the pups’ vet appointment. Our vet now requires flu shots before kenneling, which we’re doing when we have our holiday weekend with The Kiddo and SIL weekend after next. Unfortunately, it’s a two-step vaccination, and the vet said if I delay the first shot anymore, they wouldn’t be able to have their second shot until after our kennel dates…which would effectively mean no kenneling. I hope other Michiganders step up like Wisconsinites. I have my doubts, because we have never turned out like our neighbors to the northwest.
This past weekend was nuts on the personal level too. SILs mother has some potentially serious health issues to contend with, and SIL discovered his mom had non-insurance heath coverage. Kiddo was texting me a lot to vent her frustration so as not to dump on SIL about his mother; I, in turn, communicated with some of the health wonks on Twitter who confirmed that her “plan” would only be useful over the long-term if she set up a concurrent GoFundMe page. SIL and Kiddo went up to visit her on Sunday with the sole goal of getting her on the exchange, and it was apparently a Battle Royale. SIL basically had to threaten to withhold any current or future support (and not just the financial kind) to get her to even look. It turns out she is Medicaid-eligible, which she confirmed yesterday, but she’s now whinging about being “forced to go on welfare.” She’s going blind for reasons as yet undetermined, but which may include a brain tumor as the cause, and she wants to stay in the “coverage” which includes paying for a Prayer Page entry to get coverage. I told Kiddo that if I ever start acting like this, she needs to get a competency hearing scheduled. I understand fear in light of a potentially life-altering medical situation; I don’t understand clinging to one’s misguided (at best) political leanings to the detriment of oneself and your family. But that’s just me.
Good day to and for all!
Good lord, what a nightmare of trying to get through to someone whose brain has been steeped in right-wing talking points! I have a sibling who collected SSDI for a long time because of an illness that led to his inability to work more than about 10 hours a week but he was shamed into dropping it – and now has to live with the help of family contributions to his support. YIKES! Don’t they get that their tax dollars are going to those programs to help people and it is okay to have one of your sibling use it!!
I have been trying to find out when the vote in Wisconsin is and I haven’t been able to get back to my newsfeed yet. There were over 1,000 people at the Capitol in the cold last night protesting but Republicans are used to ignoring them – they have since 2011. Editorials all over the state are coming out against the power grab but there is really no shaming the shameless. I had been admiring your state, that it had a constitution that allowed for citizen binding referendums to fix legislative malfeasance but after reading the articles, even that is not enough if the legislature is determined to thwart the will of the people! I hope your bipartisan redistricting gives you some relief in 2020 and you can kick some more bums out. If they take away Evers’ power to veto redistricting maps, we may never get out of the mess we are in. :(
Our new maps will be effective in 2022, not 2020. So we will have 4 years to live with powerful-but-scared-witless legislators; that’s a scary amount of time to enable them to concoct new schemes. And with the help of ALEC and the Mackinac Center, they will. My biggest concern right now is the legislation they’re proposing that would make the costs associated with any failure of Enbridge Line 5 a state responsibility, not a corporate one. If that pipeline fails, it will be an environmental disaster for the entire Midwest, if not the country. They want to take away any power the AG might have to shut it down AND make cleanup a state cost. For what? To protect a Canadian company that already has a crappy track record in the state (see Kalamazoo)? Or to “own the libs”? It makes zero sense.
25 windchill 13 and overcast in Fayetteville, AR. It stayed overcast yesterday, too. Only generated 3 KWHs so we’re at 15 for the month. Not on track and only generating at 275 watts at the moment. We’re gonna need some seriously sunny days to get even close to target this month. At work today, probably tomorrow, and definitely Friday. Next week it will only be Monday and part of Tuesday. As in I’ll be at work until basket gets here. Then I get the rest of the week visiting with him. ❤????
Evil Ones still being evil – and still cheating to hang onto the power to be evil. Only by overwhelming votes – enough to overcome the cheating – will we be able to fix this. Boots on the ground. That’s the only way to win wars or elections. And this is a war being fought via elections. Thank Ceiling Cat. There are enough deaths being caused in this “ballots, not bullets” war without actual military action. All those who Channel Bright Purposed-Energy, by whatever method or name, are needed to protect the system. We can’t influence elections themselves, but we must protect elections so they keep happening. And protect as many people as we can at the same time. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 28 and frosty in Bellingham. I enjoyed a quiet day in my sewing room yesterday and if I can stay focused today my Christmas boxes will be mailed this week, yay! I had an interlining snafu, but thanks to deciding to use a basting stitch “just in case” it was easily corrected. My TMJ is easing, but I need to keep the sewing simple so healing will continue.
I haven’t checked the news yet today so my world feels calm. Hope I can keep it that way! Best wishes to all.
Good morning, Meese. This Tuesday morning brings a temperature of 48 degrees with a high of 55, and cloudy. I got a diffuser last night and set it up in the den where the foster kitty is, as well as leaving some dirty clothes out; we’ll see if that helps. Belle is still a bit anxious about it as I suspect she knows something is up.
{{{basket}}} yeah, you’ve got multiple steps here – get the foster kitty to settle in, then see how well/quickly she and Belle get accustomed to each other. Be sure you give Belle as much time as you give the foster kitty. Jealousy is not just a human phenomenon. Healing Energy & more {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 30. Sunny this morning but then clouding up throughout the day. We won’t see temperatures above freezing until well into next week.
As someone pointed out, when an exciting person is not on the ballot, interest goes down – the Georgia Secretary of State election went to the Republican, ushering in four more years of Kemp-like voter suppression unless Stacey Abrams’ federal lawsuit yields results. I noticed that Elija Cummings plans to have a hearing on voter suppression and intends to call former Secretary of State Brian Kemp as a witness. That should be fun!
I got a breaking news email in the middle of the night that Wisconsin Republicans passed the Medicaid work requirement. That was not unexpected and since there are other lawsuits around the country on the legality of that, the effects may be delayed. I have not seen anything about the key thing I am concerned about which is taking away Evers’ veto power over redistricting maps to be draw up in 2021. We can’t drain the swamp unless we have #FairMaps. I also am hoping they don’t change the presidential primary date because that Supreme Court seat that the Republicans are desperate to protect is the one that could tilt the court in our favor depending on next year’s election. With the Supreme Court back firmly protecting the rule of law, we have a fighting chance to fix the hash Republicans have made of our state.
I will avoid news of the funeral of the man who made it respectable within his party to win presidential elections using racist tropes for some “greater good” – which he got to define! Already yesterday the Bush hagiography was toned down but I am sure the eulogies will bring it back with a vengeance.
See all y’all later!
Wednesday Meese
19 degrees here in the Catskills of NYS – going up to 36.
Overslept.
I love seeing these faces:
OMG, Sis, that is FABULOUS! Thank you for sharing!
I saw that last night and it gave me goosebumps!
I’ve got to get somewhere I’ve got sound so I can hear it. It’s wonderful just looking at it. Yes, I know the preamble well enough I can lip-read them saying it. But I still want to hear it. ????
Good Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! It’s day again and gray again. The current temp. in Ashburn is 32 F., going up to a torrid 37 F. later on. As far as I know the “wintry mix” forecast is still in effect—hard to tell when we don’t turn on the TV.
Most of yesterday was consumed in taking our car in for repair and acquiring the rental car. The latter turned out to be an enormous truck, with the GPS thingy inside in color! Dearly Beloved and our sons would actually like us to exchange our car for the truck. No way am I driving that monster, so for the next few days I’ll be ferried around by a chauffeur-husband.
Hoping this will be a quiet day to send out a few Christmas cards and the Yule email. It’ll be a relief to have that off my plate. Will not watch the news coverage of The Funeral.
The “Mueller Memo Drop” about Flynn was quite interesting with its recommendation of no incarceration. Flynn must have sung like an Irish tenor to earn such a rec. Perhaps Friday will be even more interesting.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond!
I would think that the Flynn sentencing recommendation is sending terror into the hearts of The Occupant – a pardon won’t work if there is no jail time and the fact that he gave Mueller and his team everything means that there are no lips left to seal! I hope it makes the orange vomitsack fidget during the funeral services so that his wife has to pull his leash again. He is such a disgusting person, not even capable of standing at attention for 3 minutes to honor a dead president.
Slept in, not watching the news because it isn’t on. I do get showing the funeral of a national figure, I just hope that when Jimmy Carter finally passes, he gets the same treatment. Today: voting in the runoff election — just school board, take a walk, plug in my kindle & watch some videos on it. No idea why this is my earworm, but here, listen to Stay
Three o’clock in the morning
It’s quiet, there’s no one around,
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground.
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel hits the ground.
Jimmy Carter deserves a state funeral if nothing else because of how he lived his life post-presidency. He was a one-term president as well so they can’t cite some sort of rule about two-term presidents. I guess we will find out!
It/s 26 windchill 21 and gonna be sunny when this haze burns off. Yesterday we got 4.6 KWHs which brought the m-t-d to 19.87 – definitely not on track yet but a couple of sunny days could fix that. Just have to hope we get them. As always, we shall see what we shall see.
I’ve been ignoring the Daddy Bush eulogies, actually ignoring the entire subject of Daddy Bush – and the bets as to whether or not #45 can manage to not do anything embarrassing during the funeral. Actually I’ve been ignoring a whole lot of what’s going on because my tummy is threatening to do the acid reflux routine again. So I boost signals – which I learn a lot while doing considering whose signals I’m boosting – and respond to some of my alert emails. Not the ones about “tell Congress” to behave like decent human beings because that’s not just a waste of time, it tells the Rs they’ve achieved their goal of upsetting Dems.
Anyway, I’m at work today. What we hope is a minor hitch – the final interview with the person we want to hire got canceled today. She cited health issues and said she assumed that took her out of the running. We’ve emailed back and said not necessarily and asked if she’d like to reschedule. One more thing we shall see what we shall see. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Meesefolk; 21 when I got up with a bright, sunny, blue-sky high of 34. I’m not the only one who has noticed how grey and cloudy it’s been lately. When The Hubby leaves for work in the evening, our unvarying routine goes like this:
Me: I love you; be safe.
Him: I love you the best.
Me: Pfft. I don’t think so!
And then I walk him to the door and lock it after he leaves. Last night, after he’d been gone less than a minute, I heard his key in the door. I started looking about the kitchen, trying to figure out what he’d forgotten. But when he walked in, he was saying, “Come here, come here! You have to see this!!!” I walked outside with him, but as he pointed in the distance, I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to be seeing. I turned to him, and he exclaimed, “Don’t you see? Those are STARS IN THE SKY!” So yeah, it’s definitely been awhile.
Our legislators in MI are doing their best to live up to NC/WI standards, and I saw last night that my state senator is taking aim at our future redistricting commission. He’s proposed a $500 fine for anyone who lies about their party affiliation. On the surface, this looks almost fair; it should eliminate ratfking, right? Wrong. The commission is to be composed of 4 Republicans, 4 Democrats, and 5 independents (the language allows for some wiggle room if the major parties change, but for now, that’s what it would look like). The problem comes with our primaries, where you ask for either a Democratic or Republican ballot…or you don’t vote. So will independents (who have largely been voting Democratic in recent years) have to give up their primary vote if they’re intending to apply for the commission? Granted, the pool of applicants will likely be fairly shallow, but this creates another hurdle to jump…and another basis for lawsuits which could delay the work of the commission. Frankly, I don’t know what his rationale is; Sen. Pavlov (really!) tries to look like a “reasonable” Republican, but his votes say otherwise. And he’s not the brightest crayon in the box, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was asked to present this amendment by some of the more-noted extremists in the senate. I mean, if reasonable Pavlov offered this up, how unreasonable could it be? insert eyeroll here See Jan, I am capable of matching your “cynicism”!
Good…and bright!…day to and for all.
Ha! We are only cynical because we have been shown time and time again that terrible people stay terrible! The good news for Michigan – in among the awful news – is that your citizens voted to drain the swamp on redistricting. There are battalions of #FairMaps lawyers poised to descend on your state if the Republican legislature tries to deny those citizens their rights. Our Republican legislature was not able to include the repeal of Tony Evers’ veto power over redistricting maps in their lameduck package so we have some hope. We can’t rely on the federal courts now that the Republicans have stacked SCOTUS with anti-voting rights “justices” – and we can’t count on our own Supreme Court because Walker and his heavyweight donors has stacked that court. We have to hope that having two parties involved in the 2021 maps will give us a better chance. Hope springs eternal! (how’s that for being non-cynical!!)
I’m so relieved to hear they didn’t get the revocation of repeal power in their otherwise odious #WIPowerGrab. I couldn’t see any way (other than lawsuits maybe going their way) which could save WI from long-term pain if that had passed. Short-term pain is bad enough, but even a tiny glimmer of hope is better than none at all.
Do you have any sense how the power grab is playing in the outlying areas of WI? Is it just another “own the libs” celebration, or are there any sensible R-people who see how damaging these sorts of ploys are to democratic institutions?
I no longer have connections to people in the hinterlands. I had a long time friend who lived up by the Twin Cities (on the Wisconsin side) after living in Wausau for many years but she passed away a few years ago. A really long time ago, I had an acquaintance who worked as a game warden for the DNR and spent a lot of time hinterlanding. She said that people “Up Nort’ ” as it was called – hated anything related to Milwaukee (they called it Dahmerville after the guy who went on a murder spree there in the 1980s). I am sure that mindset has changed very little – it has just become mainstream now as Trump is encouraging the great WHITE north to fly their freak flags.
I am not sure folks understand the concept of playing fair as a majority so that you will be treated fairly should you ever become a minority. Short memories – Democrats had the governors office and both legislative houses back in the 00s after Tommy Thompson went to Washington as HHS under Bush II and his Lt. Governor lost the next election. That was not that long ago. Back then, however, there was bipartisan agreement on the environment and good government so having a lock on power was not necessary. It was Walkerism, spurred by Koch money, that changed everything.
Good morning meese. 51 with high of 55. Turns out my foster cat is a boy! He is about three years old.
Time to start getting ready for work. Trying to finish what I have before Friday so I can leave on Monday without any problems.
Good morning, 33 and sunny in Bellingham. It’s colder at night now so the roofs are frosty and the last of my summer flowers are nearly gone. I had another sewing lesson in paying attention yesterday. So humbling! I’ll try to keep my focus today.
I’ve watched some of President Bush’s funeral, enough to see history as it happens. Pageantry can’t erase the reality of much of his time in office, but for today I’ll think of the American Disability Act and The Clean Air Act of 1990.
Best wishes to all.
Thursday Meese
19 degrees here in Saugerties NY going up to 40.
Yet another reason to loathe Chris Matthews
I don’t understand why tweety still has a job – he has admitted that he hates Hillary Clinton! How can that be okay? I despise cable TV news and won’t watch any of them including the supposed “liberal” one, MSNBC. They all have done so much damage to our country I won’t give them my eyeballs or clicks.
He still has a job because he hates Hillary, not in spite of it. Feature not a bug. Media owners know it’s Clintons and the Clinton “machine” that rebuilt the Dem Party in the 1990s for all the “AR Project” did and is still doing to stop them. I totally disagree but they apparently think – have thought for something close to 30 years – that if they can take down the Clintons they can destroy the Dem Party. (That’s racism speaking loudly and clearly – not only because the Clintons strongly recognize and support the BIPOC base but it’s also totally dismissing the Obamas and their strengthening of the Dem Party and not even thinking about enough to dismiss the role of other BIPOC, especially Black women, in strengthening and driving the Dem Party towards “a more perfect union” that will “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”.)
Well said, bfitz!
In my mind, it is not the Clintons party any longer but the Obamas. As it should be – they are the next generation, they symbolize our diversity and are our link to the history of the party – how the Democratic Party became the party of civil rights and caring about people and finally about there being no limit to how high you can go if you dare to dream. The Obamas’ story is inspiring and their time in the White House above reproach. The Clintons can continue to contribute money but I think they should gracefully bow out and acknowledge the passing of the baton.
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 27 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 23. Sunny skies are in the forecast as temperatures plummet into the single digits overnight.
Our long national funeral nightmare is over! The only bright spot was seeing the discomfort of the orange vomitsack as he was surrounded by people who despised him. Even Dick “Dick” Cheney was glaring at him! I was angry at those who thought that Hillary Clinton needed to make nice with the man who uses her incarceration as a chant to gin up his hate mobs – she owes him nothing. It must have been difficult for all the Democrats to be sitting through the lauding of the Bush family who was awful to most of them and damaging to our country. I hope it isn’t required that a dead president needs that kind of a send-off – I cannot imagine a Trump state funeral would be any more popular than the Trump inauguration was. Although people might go just to make certain that he was really gone. I wonder if they will let his children out of prison for the day to attend?
Wisconsin is now internationally famous for being the cradle of ratfking! CBC covered it and then I read the BBC-World article on the lame duck bills that were passed yesterday – Robin Vos will be the new standard for weaselly whiney Republican liars! Senate leader Scott Fitzgerald still wins the smirking punchable face award for Wisconsin legislator but Vos is making a name for himself! The last time Wisconsin Republicans destroyed democracy, Scott’s brother was the Assembly Speaker – and their father was the head of the state police. My state really does suck.
See all y’all later!
Jan, to think I used to eagerly go to Orange years and years ago to see how the good people of Wisconsin were faring! They showed up night after night in THEIR state capitol building, singing, holding candles, and demanding to be heard.
Then there was the recall that failed to recall Scotty “deadeye” Walker.
I hate Rethugs, I really do, both the pols and the stupid, racist people who vote for them.
I canvassed during the recall for one of the state senators – Jess King – she won that race but she was gerrymandered out of her seat in the Fall 2012 election. They carved Fond du Lac up into little bitty pieces so that her natural constituents were in different districts than she was and I think she lost by about 500 votes. It made me very discouraged and then when Walker won the recall on the power of the dark money interests that had taken hold in our state, I was further discouraged. I won’t even talk about 2014 when we had Mary Burke, who would have been an excellent governor, running.
A lot of people went to the Capitol over the past few days and their protests put a lot of attention on what was happening (thank you, Ben Wikler from MoveOn!). The state senate leader said “I don’t understand what the big deal is and what people are upset about” and the Dumbest Man in the U.S. Senate, Ron Freaking Johnson, was left to say “it would not be a problem if the media would stop reporting on it!!”
We will have some power in 2019 and for the next four years. How much power is still up in the air – there may have to be lawsuits to determine that. But it is better than what we have now which is nothing. That keeps us going.
Well, yesterday was nice. Watched Stargate on cable, made a big pot of tea — got enough for through the weekend, and voted in the runoff election. Good enough for a mid week day off. Thinking of ways to avoid answering when callers ask today if I watched the funeral. Ugh. While I was out & about yesterday, my Snow Patrol playlist came to this & it’s my new obsession. The sound is just….unlike any other pop song I’ve ever heard. Wild Horses
Just keep your wits about you, don’t let it end you
And summon everything you’ve held up in reserve
Don’t fall for every single stolen glance and wink
Try to keep your heart on higher shelves once
What are you holding back
I know you’ve wild horses enough inside of you
o.m.g. I want
Love it!
Good Thor’s Day morning, Meese! And it’s another gray day in Northern Vee-Ayy, with a current temp. of 34 F. It may rise to 41 F. later.
Got all the Yule emails out last night—dear Goddess, I seem to know a lot of people—so this morning I’ll do the physical cards. Some people simply don’t like receiving an email newsletter, so I have to respect their wishes.
Apropos of nothing in particular, Dearly Beloved and I are watching “The Last Kingdom” on Netflix. It’s about the Kingdom of Wessex. In a recent episode the pious King Alfred chides the hero, Utred, for not attending church despite the fact that he has a good Christian wife. Utred looks about him and replies, “The land, the sea, the sky are my gods. I need no other.” I thought how much more sympathy I had with the “Pagan” Dane as opposed to the Christian Saxon Alfred. One of the reasons the Roman empire lasted as long as it did was that the Romans cheerfully acknowledged the gods of others. “Oh, yes, your Zeus is just like our Jupiter and your Sul is the same as our Minerva!” They didn’t mind the people in occupied countries continuing to worship their own gods as long as they acknowledged the supremacy of Caesar.
Awaiting tomorrow’s events with interest although I’m sure the Mueller “drop” will be at the end of the day.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
The U2 website has a Christmas card exchange & I signed up for it. I’m sending 15 Christmas cards all over the world.
What a nice idea, anotherdemocrat!
Good morning, Meesefolk; 30 when I got up with a high of 32 today, and we’re back to clouds and grey. But starting Saturday, it looks like we’re in for unrelenting sunshine which will be a nice change of pace. Of course, I’ll probably be locked in my sewing room, with its one small window, for most of the weekend, but just knowing it’s bright and sunny outside is a mood-booster.
We leave next Friday for our family NewThanksChristmukkahBirthIversary celebration, so the pressure is on to finish wrapping and packing and preparing. We decided to drive down separately, so one car can carry gifts, and the other can carry more furniture/dishes/curtains for delivery. The list of things I have yet to do is a bit overwhelming; I left The Hubby a pile of gifts to wrap this morning (won’t he be surprised to discover next week that he was wrapping his own gifts; sometimes you do what you gotta do…!) I’m very excited about this visit; it will be nice to see their new home pulled together a bit more than it was last time I was down. Kiddo says the main floor is pretty much finished, but they still have boxes to unpack for the upstairs rooms. I’m also just looking forward to family time that is about nothing more than being together…no projects, no events…nothing but the proverbial eat, drink, and be merry moments.
Good day to and for all!