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 (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). 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!
Good morning, Meesefolk; 46 this morning and going up to 64 or so. My widget is showing a picture of a big yellow sun, but a peek outside shows otherwise. I think I’m going to believe my widget instead of reality.
I woke up from an anxiety attack via dream, and the “bad” news in my dream was that Biden was president. I lay awake and pondered that for awhile, trying to remember how that triggered my anxiety. I’m pretty sure it was because in the dream McTurtle was still majority leader, so I think my subconscious was reminding me to maintain my focus on the Senate. Now if only some of our lower-tier presidential candidates were willing to forego their presidential ambitions and fight for the Senate instead. Since that’s not likely to happen, I hope the DSCC is beating the bushes to find candidates who are willing to take the plunge. Kentucky has two Dems in the running so far (but not Amy McGrath), but at least one of the Dems appears to be playing bash-my-Dem-opponent. No surprise that these are male candidates; our women candidates at all levels seem to understand how to do better than that.
Good day to and for all!
It’s 50 going up to 75 according to the widget. It was mostly cloudy this morning but it seems to be clearing off. I hope. We got 21.68 KWHs yesterday which brought the m-t-d to 185 – if the day stays sunny we’ll be at over 200 by the end of the day. IF. Cats are quiet at the moment. Charlie and Murf aren’t actually sleeping but they’re comfortably reclining and watching the world go by.
Evil Ones doing evil – and will do so unless/until we vote them out of power. AND we restore the validity of the franchise as job one when we get it. 2nd, whether anybody talks about it or not, is break up the propaganda machine. Otherwise we’ll be lucky to get 4 years in a row to make the needed changes and lock them down. Not saying the Rs can’t undo anything we do – obviously they can. But if we do it well we can make it hard enough to undo that we can vote them out again before they mange it. This is a hard truth – that restoring the franchise and breaking the propaganda machine are the most important things, more important to the nation, the world, and our children/grandchildren than immediately dealing with the survival issues of clean air/water, food, global warming, healthcare… It’s a “feed a man a fish…” situation. Yes, we can spend the little time we’d have on patching & maybe rebuilding the safety net, ACA, and all the disaster areas that haven’t received their funding – and we need to do that – but if we don’t deal with the franchise and propaganda, we will “feed the man a fish” but he’ll be starving again the next election cycle. And if we don’t do it this election cycle, 2020 may be the last chance we have to make these changes via ballots. The Evil Ones will be driven out of power eventually – sooner by ballot is peaceful with less damage and fewer dead. So that’s what I hope for and work for.
I just heard from the insurance adjuster. He hopes to be here around 3 this afternoon. If it’s not raining. Middle of a rainstorm is not a good time to be on top of a roof. (Although not a bad time to go up in the attic and see if you can tell where the water’s coming in actually.) Anyway. I want to get over to DoReMi’s post and then Bobby’s #Khive at DK. I think I need coffee first though. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning meese, 53 with a high of 73. There are a few storms predicted towards the latter half of the week, hopefully bringing some rain and coolth. One week before I leave on vacation and there’s still work to be done so I should be going.
Good morning, 54 and raining in Bellingham. The garden shops will be less busy today, so this afternoon will be a good time to make my rounds. They should have received new plant deliveries and with fewer people maybe I can be creative with my choices. I welcome the rain……smells fresh and gives me a reminder to slow down.
Best wishes to all.
Wednesday Meese.
46 going up to 66 here in Saugerties NY.
FYI Social Security scam alert
I got one of these calls – last week. My husband got one at his job – and so did several of his clients who are senior citizens in supportive living. Make sure you tell friends and family members
Abortion rights
What the states are doing is horrifying. What is even more horrifying is that they may succeed in their plan to overturn Roe and possibly put in place a nationwide ban on abortion. Thanks to Susan Collins, there is nothing to stop them.
I was trying to figure out which ban was worse, the Georgia one where women who live there can be prosecuted for leaving the state to get an abortion or the Alabama one with no exceptions for rape or incest. I still lean towards Georgia because if women can’t travel to terminate their unwanted pregnancies, that means forced birth or jail. I was shocked to see that map showing support for a ban is under 25% everywhere! So in many of these states who have passed bans 25% have power over the other 75% to essentially impose a death sentence on women seeking a legal medical procedure. Goddess help us. I am so relieved that Democrats took back the governorship in Wisconsin because I have no doubt that a Walker administration with a Republican legislature would sign into a law an Ohio, Georgia or Alabama style ban.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 46 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
The “dust up” over Democrats going on Fox “News” for town halls is instructive. Elizabeth Warren is right to reject their overtures. We can’t give our eyeballs or our clicks to a literal propaganda organization that we are working to marginalize and bleed dry. Why on earth would we want to do that? An online friend said that going on Fox is disqualifying so she crossed Klobuchar, Mayo Pete, Sanders, and Gillibrand off her list (to be fair, Sanders was already off her list).
I hope that enough people reject war with Iran that it reaches the ears of Republican congressmembers. It will never reach the orange orshole because Bolton is running foreign policy but maybe at some point Republicans will realize that another war of choice in the Middle East will energize young people to go to the polls and reject Republican warmongering like they did in 2008.
See all y’all later!
My back seems to feel normal (it’s 6am, so I’m not completely sure of anything yet). Still gonna take the ibuprofen, one more day can’t hurt. I’m appalled by what happened in Alabama. We may need to start a fund to help women move out from the Gilead states. Today’s song is definitely: Armor.
Daily Kamala
Good morning, Moosekind, and full glorious a morning it is, too. Sunshine and blue skies after days of “clouds louring upon our house” is an automatic mood booster! Add to that I’m feeling slightly better, although the cold is still with me. Currently the temperature is 44 F., going up to 71 F.
Still very behind on all my projects. Is this what old age is like? Inability to settle down and focus on one thing at a time, or is it that I’ve always been a flibbertigibbet? Oh, well.
Would like to thank bfitz and anotherdemocrat for mentioning Turnabout in tweets, and to remind princesspat and DoReMI that they appear in the Acknowledgments. I meant it when I said that without their invaluable input I couldn’t have written the book. I just hope it comes off to readers as convincing.
Mayo Pete was always off my list. A person I respect suggested that my uneasiness with him is due to the fact that Mayo Pete is a Republican in all but name. I believe that to be true, because with his relentless focus on white working-class males and utter disregard of women and minorities, he certainly fits the model of white male Rethug privilege. Never considered Saint Bernard for a single moment and although I like Amy Klobuchar well enough, I’d prefer to see her in the Senate.
We seem to be going out this morning to look for a new (used) car, so I’d better eat breakfast and get on with things.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond and oh, Goddess, might we actually have some GOOD news for a change? Wouldn’t that be nice?
I have this! “Is this what old age is like? Inability to settle down and focus on one thing at a time?” I think for me it is having too many things to do and not being able to organize them as well as I used to – like a medium-term memory issue. If I write them down, that helps keep the list out of the front of my brain so I can concentrate on one thing but that only lasts for a short while then they slowly creep back in. What I really need to do is finish some of the projects.
I have started looking for a new (used) car as well as mine is 15 years old and showing signs of age. When I just drove around town it was fine but I have had to make a 180 mile round-trip drive several times a month and I think that is stressing it (and me!) out. I want to try to hold out until next year when I could afford larger payments and get a nicer vehicle but I am not sure I can. I am starting the research.
I’ll be right there with you. My current car is a 2006; I love it, but the power steering went out, and I’m not spending $900 to get it fixed. For the past six months, I’ve been getting quite the arm workout, so my plan is to buy a new/newish car in 2020. I know what I really, really want (but won’t get unless I increase my budget); what I want (but will struggle to find because they’re scarce); what would be an acceptable Plan B car (but will need to test drive because it may be too small); and failing all that, the criteria that must be met (e.g. must have cruise control; would like it to be a standard, but that’s not a dealbreaker, etc.) My level of organization, clarity, and preparation for this purchase is high…which pretty much just ensures that the car I end up buying will be something that’s not even on my radar right now. :D
Good luck to you, Jan! Our 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid, which we bought used, had 50,000 miles on it: five years later it has 80,000. Dearly just paid $500 for a new battery, but the big battery will need to be replaced at 100,000 miles and he doesn’t want to pay the $1,000 to do that. The car we have our eye on is a 2016 model with 30,000 miles on it.
We don’t drive much, except to sons’ houses. Actually, we wouldn’t need to drive at all if we weren’t so independent. A shopping shuttle would take us shopping five days a week, and the gym, swim, and hairdresser/mail salon are all in walking distance. (Takes me eight minutes.)
However, we do need a car because we’ll be doing grandparent-driving this summer and we’ve planned a visit to Williamsburg in July.
Already 66 heading for 80 and sunny. Yesterday we got 18.5 KWHs which took the m-t-d to 204 – it’s gonna take some serious sunshine for the rest of the month to reach 500 but it’s still possible. Signs or something – we need a lot of serious sunshine on the Evil Ones & getting rid of them via ballot is going to take some doing but it’s still possible. Cats are mostly OK except Murf isn’t eating his kibble. I guess I’m going to have to go back to kitten chow and see if he’ll still eat that. sigh.
The insurance guy came yesterday and couldn’t find anything. sigh. That means whatever the issue is, it won’t be covered by insurance and I’ll be on my own for getting it fixed. I wish I’d had the money back in 2010 when I last replaced the roof to upgrade to a metal roof. What we suspect – I suspect and the young man agreed it was likely – that the low slope combined with the valley where the short end of the L connects to the long part of the L lets water in under the shingles when we have high wind combined with heavy rain. That valley is aimed northwest – where the highest of the winds come from. So far nothing anybody has tried has stopped that. I guess I’m just fortunate it doesn’t happen very often. But I’ll see if I can find an honest roofer who isn’t just trying to talk me into a new roof to ask for advice.
Anyway, sunshine is good. Warm is good. In a bit I’ll walk up to the grocery store for kitten chow – I can use the walk anyway. Meanwhile I’ll visit the #Khive diary and twitter – and get some coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Meesefolk; 54 when I got up with a sunny high of 72 today. It’s a red letter day: I drove to work with sunglasses on, window partially down, and no jacket or sweater–just a long-sleeved blouse. I may be jinxing the entire metro Detroit area, but I am declaring spring officially here.
I had a choice between watching Rachel last night or a PBS show on Annie Oakley. Annie Oakley won, although I have little-to-no-interest in a white woman who earned her fame by, in part, capitalizing on white myths that masked the genocide of Native peoples. I give the documentary partial credit for acknowledging some of the myths about Oakley, but it struck me that they could have done better. But then, I guess that’s the story of our country, isn’t it?
In the meantime, Kiddo and SIL are having serious conversations about him getting a vasectomy sooner rather than later, because the situation in OH re birth control access is looking dire. Kiddo’s health history pretty much means childbirth is contraindicated, but long-term birth control is problematic too. So she’s relied on the Pill, but if that goes away, SIL has to get fixed. He has no objections to that, but they’re trying to figure out the timing. Do they move preemptively, or do they wait until it’s absolutely necessary? Because these are the kind of decisions young married couples should be making…
Good day to and for all!
Good morning meese, it’s 55 with a high of 64. The weather app on my phone claims that it’s raining but I don’t really see that. Maybe it rained earlier? I will need to try and get things sorted out at work so I can practice (and pack!!!) without coming home too late at night to do so. Also need to apply for a new driver’s license.
That’s a lot on your plate, basket! Why does everything pile up just before we go on vacation? Is it some law of nature?
{{{basket}}} – all kinds of Energy, Healing & whatever else you need. Hope everything goes smoothly. Very much looking forward to seeing you soon. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 54 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. Between the rain and needing to keep my leg up I didn’t make it to the garden shops yesterday. But I thought about it, so today I’ll update my list and try again.
Diana, thanks to 1 click magic your new book is now on my iPad, ready to read. It was fun to be involved with a small part of your creative writing process. Thanks for sharing!
Time to find some coffee. As always, my best wishes to all.
Evenin’ everybody. I got a jury summons and had to call into court to see if I had to go in starting 4/29. Ended up going to the courthouse Friday May 3. Was called up for the jury pool. Went Monday and they hadn’t finished picking jurors on Friday. Got the boot by the Defense Attorney late Monday morning. So endth jury duty for another 2-3 years. Tonite is the first nite the library is open till midnight so the students can study late for finals. We’re five days till midnight (Wed., Thursday, next Mon.-Wed.). I’m working Thursday and next Monday. Another semester is nearly over (2 weeks to go).
We’re expecting some rain early tomorrow morning. We’ll see. Right now it’s completely cloudy and 64 degrees here in Costa Mesa.
Sheesh! I hope you can catch some rest. I can’t even manage to stay up until midnight any longer – and couldn’t drive home in the dark even if I could. (I hope you get rain if you need it & not of course if flooding is an issue right now). Our semester ended with commencement last weekend. But a couple of years ago the corporate-model, money-grubbing powers that be started “intersessions” – 4-hour class, 10-day + finals limited to one 3-credit- class in between the longer semesters. Including summer. (Which means among other things we never make up snow or other weather-related shutdowns any longer.) So classes are almost never out.
54 going up to 70 and sunny here in NYS. Going to take a hike later to see what’s blooming.
Puerto Rico
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 63 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 79!! Chance of thunderstorms.
The horrifying news out of Alabama – the forced birth bill just signed into law – should be the topic of the day. Everyone, literally everyone, told voters in 2016 that this is what we faced with the Supreme Court hanging in the balance. They voted for Jill Stein/wrote-in Bernie Sanders/stayed home anyway. The Kavanaugh-Collins Court will repeal Roe v Wade, the only question is how quickly. I hope that just like Republicans trying to take away our healthcare in 2018 drove people to the polls, Republicans turning women and girls into incubators for the spawn of rapists will energize voters in 2020.
And JHC on a broken-down subway car, we do NOT need Bill deBlasio in the 2020 field. What a jerk!
See all y’all later!
I think my back is back to normal. Gonna do without the ibuprofen & see how that goes. More & more states are joining the Christian Taliban bandwagon. It’s infuriating & depressing. So, today’s song: Nina Cried Power.
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising
It is the grounding of a foot uncompromising
It’s not forgoeing of the lie
It’s not the opening of eyesI
t’s not the waking, it’s the rising
Good morning, Meese! Woke up late to yet another cloudy day, but as of now the blue is trying to break through. Currently the temperature in Ashburn is 55 F., climbing up to 75 F. later. It’s nice to be able to go out without a jacket, although I hate the wind.
This morning we’re going out to sign papers for the new (used) car. I think it will be less intimidating to drive than the big ol’ hybrid. I seem to have zero spatial perception, whether because I’m female or because I’ve had Lasik, so it’s always been scary to park the Camry. I just can’t judge the distance between cars and always think there’s less than there actually is. Oh, well, enough about that.
There’s a meeting of the Communications Committee this afternoon. The article about the lifeguard is on hold, which means there is a zero possibility that it will appear in the June issue. I need to get busy and write the other articles.
The news is too depressing. I’m sick of waking up and wondering whether we’ve bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bombed Iran.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
Newer cars have all sorts of new-fangled ways to know if you are about to hit something. I am not sure I can master the technology, though, I drive from nearly 50 years of habit and I am not sure I can trust the safety tools. The “someone is in your blind spot” may be helpful but I am not sure I would use a camera to back up.
The camera is handy when you’re parked next to a pick-up or other large vehicle – you can see around them, since the camera is further back than you are. I like that.
That would be handy! I will probably have to experiment with it and make sure I know what the camera is showing me. With my tri-focals and ripe-for-cataract-surgery eyes, I already have to concentrate a lot on translating what I am seeing into what it means.
I think my system is suffering weather whiplash or something. A week ago I was doing fires. Today it’s already 67 and heading for 85. The low last night was warmer than the high last week – I had my windows open and only the flannel sheet for covering. We got 23.7 KWHs yesterday – highest for the month and I think the year so far – and the m-t-d is 228. Again over 500 is still possible – not likely, but possible. It all depends on the sunshine. Murf started eating again so I’m holding off on the kitten chow. It’s not that I have a problem with him eating it considering how little he’s eating but the other cats, especially Cloud and Freddy, rob Murf’s bowl when I’m not watching and it gives them the runs.
An irony or something I’m still chuckling about. On Sunday in response to a Kamala tweet about ‘if you see a problem work to fix it’ a member of the unicorn brigade said, “One Tier Universal Health Care & Refunding Social Security to a lower middle class wage instead of the $1200 a month some seniors now get will get my vote. Nothing less.” & I responded, “I guess you aren’t voting then.” The funny part is I’ve gotten 16 likes on that quip – all from magats. They really don’t understand that one can object to fantasy programs by people who don’t understand the existing programs in the first place (the LW person certainly doesn’t understand how Social Security works) and still like, work hard for, vote for progress – be dreaded libruls in fact. Americans in general are scary.
Folks health issues seem to have eased up a bit for which I give thanks. Financial issues pretty much haven’t although for some there appears to be light in the tunnel. Waiting to see if it’s an on-coming train. I need to do some internet stuff and also get my muffin bread out of the oven (molasses spice). Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}