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; 61 when I got up (the second time; the first time was just to let the pups out way too early for my taste) with a high of 72 today. It’s sunny after yesterday’s steady, all day rain. I haven’t looked outside to see just how sloppy things are, but I rather doubt I’ll get any time in the gardens until later in the week. The rain is supposed to move back in for the weekend, because of course it is. From my daily survey of fields as I drive to and from work, it looks like only one has been touched so far. I have to believe that some of the fields are intentionally going unplanted this year, but certainly not all of them.
It’s been interesting watching the reaction to John James announced R candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat against Gary Peters. None of the sources I’ve read are unbiased, so may not be the best interpretations, but there’s a real sense that James’ embrace of 45* in his run against Sen. Stabenow may work against him now. Moderate Rs generally find Peters more acceptable than Stabenow because of his financial/corporate background. And a lot of the conservatives from the western side of the state are more libertarian (a la Justin Amash) than Republican, and James sucking up to Individual One is not looked upon altogether favorably at the moment. None of this is predictive in any way, and as it is coming from liberal sources, the analysis may be all wet. But it will be interesting to see if any other Rs jump into the race, because I think that would be an indicator of how James’ relative strength as a candidate is actually viewed.
Good day to and for all!
Good morning, 61 and sunny in Bellingham. The tree guys will be here this afternoon to finish trimming the hedge, so I’m going to stay off my aching knees this morning. Between Marcus and Sam and their big truck and our pickup we have hauled loads of branches away and the garden is still full…..some would say overgrown! I like plants to mingle with each other, but we needed to edit. I’m glad to be nearly done.
tRump angst and all the investigations are so discouraging, but reading about the Venona Project doesn’t help. Apparently the Russians have neen infliterating the White House for all of my 74 years :(
But in the moment life is good. Our daughter is 51 yrs old today, and our grandson graduates from high school on Friday. Best wishes to all on this lovely day in June.
{{{princesspat}}} – Happy Birthday to your daughter & congratulations to your grandson. Healing Energy & more {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 57 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 61. The forecast calls for rain all day.
Ignore the polls!! And for gawds sake, ignore Iowa!! In December 2003, Howard Dean was the front-runner in Iowa and John Kerry, the eventual nominee, was polling at about 4%. Peevish pouting Iowa is not going to choose our nominee this year because the California primary is not going to be in late June when the nominee is already decided – a big diverse BLUE state will have a chance to choose next year. And the national poll that shows all of our candidates beating tRump shows him at a very solid 42%. In 2016, he “won” with 46% of the national vote and that 4% is going to be easy to make up when the “undecideds” are still in the double digits. Focus on winning back the states to force fair maps in 2021, support your favorite candidate until the votes are counted, support our eventual nominee and then work like hell to elect him or her. I haz spoken!
There is hope for our country: a jury refused to convict a humanitarian border activist for giving food and water to migrants crossing the border. The government will probably retry it because they can’t allow decency to override their cruel agenda. In a just world, Republicanism would be shunned – that right-wing religious leaders are their biggest cheerleaders is deplorable.
See all y’all later!
Good Wednesday morning Meese. 63 going up to a sunny 78 here in NYS.
Interesting piece
Kamala has a new ad out
Puerto Rico
Possible primary date change
Daily Kamala from Onomastic
Stayed home today, I think the laryngitis was a precursor to a cold. I’m off to the pharmacy in a few minutes to buy some cold meds. All of a sudden last night my nose started running like a water faucet & there’s bad sinus pain. I think I will try to catch up on the sleep I didn’t get last night. Thermometer says I don’t have a fever, I think it’s wrong.
{{{ad}}} – lots of Healing Energy. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Feel better! Sinus pain is the worst; I wish you a pillow that cradles your head just right.
It’s 60 heading for mid 70s and raining. I realized I was out of cash so visited the credit union this morning – stopped by the grocery store for cat food on the way home and got myself a treat of a frozen GF pizza since it’s going to be cool enough to make having the oven on quite pleasant. (This time last year the oven went on for 45 minutes every 2 weeks to bake muffins.) Yesterday was lovely – cool for the time of year but nice and sunny. We got 23 KWHs, 2nd highest for the month, and the m-t-d is 194. Unless this rain passes through and the sun comes out by noon we’re not getting much today. I’m hoping for at least 6 (my avg daily usage) to bring us to 200.
Holding the Good Healing/Health thought for Aji, another, and whoever else needs it. & safe travels for everybody out and about. As to the national scene, Jan’s right. If it weren’t part of the MSM’s owners’ push for dictatorship (unitary executive crap) by way of making the incredibly manipulatable American populace think only the president/presidential election is important – don’t worry your little heads about Congress or SCOTUS, they don’t count – we wouldn’t even be thinking about the election much less have a slate of candidates we’re having to winnow down via debates a year out FHS. We need the WH yes, but we also need Congress – and we need to have them for more than 2 years at a time – then we can clean up a lot of messes, safeguard future elections, and work on getting real jurisprudence in the Courts again.
Need to do my internet stuff – and get more coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Meesefolk; 55 when I got up with a high of 73 today. It looks like another day of sunshine, so I may be able to spend some time in the garden when I get home tonight. Yesterday, I tried, but one step and I was sinking, so I quickly backed off. No way am I going to compress and compact my soil after working so hard over the years to turn it from dirt into soil. It was also Exhibit A as to why so many farmers still haven’t planted; I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen at this point, particularly since Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday are all supposed to be very rainy.
I had to turn off the tv and all social media last night, because I was in a full-blown rage about 45s stupid, dangerous comments about Kim and the CIA. I hope he is being kept out of the IC loop of information these days; it’s pretty clear that he’ll blurt out secrets and get folks killed through sheer selfish idiocy otherwise. At this point, I’m of the opinion that the Deep State never existed…until it became necessary as a defense against 45 spilling everything to his autocratic Favorite of the Week.
Good day to and for all!
Good morning, 72 and sunny in Bellingham. We have some cleanup to do from yesterday’s hedge pruning and then we’ll be done with the big garden tasks. I used to be able to maintain the hedgs and keep it looking natural, but it’s to big now so the guys hand clipped the most visible areas and used hedge shears on the rest. We need to remove some inner branches and prune the plants that were intermingling with the laurel and then it will look better.
Working in the garden eases tRump angst but the combination has certainly made me weary so I’ll keep busy with small tasks today. Best wishes to all.
Good morning meese, it’s 85 with a high of 102 today. My work is organizing a “movie day” and I’ll be watching in the afternoon. Something to look forward to!
Good afternoon, Meese! Took cold pills last night that knocked me out to the point that I actually had nearly 8 hours’ sleep. Felt so much better I actually went to the gym to walk on the treadmill. It was overcast when I woke up—so depressing—but now it’s turned into a sunny day with wisps of white cloud over the blue. Currently it’s 72 F. in Ashburn, going up to 77 F.
The only two things I miss about being young are the deep sleeps and the energy. I’m pretty much tired all the time nowadays from lack of sleep, which makes me feel like not exercising, which in turn aggravates the insomnia. First-world problem, I know.
Nothing much to say except that every day brings fresh outrage. Dorothy Parker should be here, I’m sure she’d say something quite humorous about it.
Wishing everyone at the Pond a good afternoon and evening.
I went & got vegetarian hot & sour soup and tofu pad Thai. Hoping that the soup helps. Definitely taking a nap this afternoon.
That’s good. It should help. Hope you have/had a good nap. moar Healing Energy & {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 50 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 66. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I was online yesterday when the ABC interview with the vulgar talking yam hit Twitter and I am simply unable to figure out what tRump’s end game is. Is he intentionally taunting Congress or is he simply repeating the unfiltered stream of consciousness he shares with the pals he regularly phones during “Executive Time”? Considering that Robert Mueller did not think Trump bragging about firing Comey to end the Russian investigation on national TV rose to the level of “obstruction”, I suppose that signalling that the statutes requiring reporting foreign contacts to the FBI do not apply to a president is just fine. I have not seen this morning’s reaction – I suspect that this will gin up the outrage over the go-slow plan of Democratic House leadership; I hope they ignore the hair-on-fire screams and continue dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s. They have a number of witnesses they are still interviewing and it would be ridiculous to start an impeachment inquiry until those hearings are finished.
Bernie is in third place, his left-of-the-left talking points having found a better vessel in Elizabeth Warren. She is smart and personable and doesn’t carry the baggage from having enabled Donald Trump to become president by his refusal to call off his attack dogs in 2016. He gave a speech yesterday about why he is not a Democrat and why he embraces the word “socialism” and said he expected “Donald Trump to tweet at him.” Er, no, Bernie. You are officially irrelevant. You may go home now.
I am enjoying watching the World Cup! I don’t think that Team USA should have had to kick the ball around for 45 minutes – not scoring – just to please people who are looking for things to be ticked off about; four of the women who had goals have never had a World Cup goal and celebrating each and every one is expected. In the early rounds the tie-breakers is points scored and point differential – there is no PC in World Cup soccer, there is winning and losing.
See all y’all later!
Ok, I’m at work. I actually slept last might, I can breathe, and I have 2 doses of daytime cold med to take while I’m here. I already was leaving early today, I just have to make it to 3pm. My computer got “upgraded” to Windows 10 while I was out, I wonder what things will cease to work. Good song for today: It Won’t Always Be Like This. If you’ve ever listened to U2, the lead singer will sound familiar, he sounds (& looks) a lot like his dad at that age.
Glad you’re feeling better, anotherdemocrat! Sorry about the upgrade. When Windows 7 Professional gave way to Windows 8, I threw in the towel and got a Mac. There are a million things that irritate me about Mac software, which I consider to be inferior, but at least I don’t have to put up with “tiles.”
Hope you can cope with Windows 10—best wishes!
Windows 10 is a pretty good operating system now. After Windows 8 crashed and burned, Microsoft developed Windows 8.1 which fixed most of the problems but had such a terrible reputation from its idiot forebearer that it had to be retired. I never put it on any of my computers or my clients computer because it was such garbage. Windows 10, the next iteration, has gone through several Feature Updates which is probably what another is referring to – Windows 10 would not just install itself on a Windows 7 or 8.1 computer but it will automatically install the newest Feature Update on an existing Windows 10 computer if you don’t do it within a certain number of days of its release. This Feature Update plan seems to be working well instead of having new Windows versions every two years except that they happen twice a year (in May and October) and they take a really long time to run. When people get impatient and cancel out of them, it can create problems. I always wait 6 months to let a Feature Update “age” before I install it.
What I meant was that I have yet to see a computer upgrade that actually makes anything better. It may do so for the IT department, but never has for the end users. I have already found one broken thing, I can’t print. I know how to hook my computer up the the printer, I could do it myself if I had any idea what the printers are called. There are 4 printers in my section, I have no idea what the one near me is.
Groan! This 1,000 times:
Techies want to take away my scroll bars and my “Spotlight Search” function. Blast their hides!
Good rainy Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind! It was raining so heavily when I got up at 5:30 that Monty only wanted to spend 60 seconds outdoors before scuttling back inside. The rain is supposed to stop for a while, then start again, which will be interesting. Today is the day of the Birch Point (the name of the building we live in) monthly party, which will take the form of a picnic. I can just imagine what it’s going to be like!
Currently the temperature in Ashburn is 60 F., going up to 74 F. Every time I think, “Well, finally, I can get the porch ready for summer. I’ll take off the protective covers, arrange the cushions, and buy some pretty plants.” Then we get more rain. I’ll do it one of these days, though.
Agree with Jan that I’m tired of hearing how the U.S. women scored “too many goals” and “celebrated too much.” No one would ever say that about a team of great big ol’ hairy may-yun! Women are not allowed to succeed but if they somehow do, they get criticized. Down with patriarchy!
Wishing a nice, quiet day to everyone at the Pond.
We are not supposed to point out that male soccer players could have celebrated all they wanted to – because that makes us harridans!!
Under patriarchy, women can’t win.
If we could go bare-breasted like Minoan women, men would be so terrified (they know breasts have power) they would knuckle under and let us RULE!
It was 49 at dawn but the temps started rising as soon as the sun came up – it’s 60 now and heading for the mid 70s (in June) and at least supposed to be sunny. Even with the off-and-on rain and cloudiness yesterday we still generated 17 KWHs and the m-t-d is 211.6 – so we’re getting there. Kitties still aren’t happy about the windows being closed. Although what difference it makes when they’re mostly sleeping in the chairs by the French windows I dunno. But they give me dirty looks every time they hop on the window ledge and the window’s closed – especially the east window.
Aji’s back in wait mode on the lump on her throat – doctor is going to discuss it with some specialists and get back to her. She did get new asthma meds – at $350 per Rx – which are working so far. Cross fingers that she doesn’t develop an allergy to this one too. Also cross fingers that the relatively modest “fix” on the plumbing problem works – another waiting game as they won’t know until they get the interior of the wall dry, a several day if not weeks operation including running an electric heater and blowing the heat down the hole in the wall. (Gonna play merry hell with their electric bill this month on top of the plumbing repair/replacement and redoing the laundry room wall.) So a waiting game but some hope for a good outcome. JTG is still short about $800 for the over $4200 tuition and fees for his teaching credential classes this summer. Classes starts Monday. At least they’ve told him he can get a payment plan – as long as he’s paid off by the end of the first summer session of classes. He’s got his first internship interview today (in about 2 hours in fact) so crossed fingers for both would be good. I’m waiting on a quote from the handyman who’s gonna fix the leaks in my roof. He and the roofer who recommended him came over yesterday afternoon and went over the roof together – so now the handyman knows what the roofer was talking about and the roofer knows what the handyman was talking about. We’ve got the areas in need of repair – all fairly minor if dealt with soon – prioritized and as soon as I get the quotes I can determine how quickly we can get them done. And how much I can spare to help Aji and jtg (over what’s already in my budget – I’m a “patron” for both of them). We shall see what we shall see.
I’m gonna continue my strategy of avoiding my TL most of the time. We’re a year and a half out from the 2020 elections, there are state-level elections this year in VA, NJ, & LA – and the president is not magic. If we don’t have Congress the little a Dem president can do, no matter how smart or prepared she is, will be undone by the next R president (or invalidated by the increasingly R-packed Courts). And I’m really tired of pointing this out to a certain category of people. As in 2016 & 2018 we have to do precinct-level organizing, zip code by zip code, door-to-door where viable. If we do not it won’t matter how good, competent, or qualified our candidate is – she won’t win and we’ll go down that fascist rabbit hole quite possibly never to come out in my lifetime. And all I get out of that certain category of people is “yeah, but…” and right back to their favorite presidential candidate (& possibly impeachment as if that would magically get rid of twitler). So. I’ve got not-OMGHOF internet stuff to tour & coffee to make. I’ll do the former until the cat gets off my lap, then I can do the latter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Is Sarah HucksterBE going to be your new governor?
It’s unfortunately a possibility. Her daddy had 2 terms – & probably would have won a 3rd if it weren’t for term limits. She’s got name recognition. And the majority of AR voters – as in those both desiring to and allowed to vote – are that stupid. On the other hand she’s female. The majority of AR voters are misogynists as well as WASP supremacists. We Dems will do our best to make that not happen but I can’t deny the possibility.
Good morning, Meesefolk; 53 when I got up this morning with an expected high of 61. I woke up at o’dark o’clock, and it was pouring outside; when I got up to let the pups out at 6, it was still pouring. (That at least meant the pups attended to business quickly and were happy to climb back into bed until a more reasonable hour.) It’s not raining at the moment, but the radar shows more rain headed our way. Oh goody. I did carve out time last night to plant impatiens in the side border (thank goodness). It’s an area I’ve never planted before; there were ferns there when we moved in and have been ever since. But the Aegopodium had moved into that bed, so I just ripped everything out. The impatiens are to provide a bit of color, since with all the replanting I’m doing, I’m likely to lose a season of bloom from a lot of the perennials. Anyway, I made an interesting discovery that I’ll have to explore a bit more this weekend. It looks like there might be a flagstone path under the bed that has been buried under soil over the years. When I’m not racing to get plants planted before it’s too dark to see what I’m doing, I’ll dig down to see what I find. Our house is about 150 years old (although this is an area close to one of the newer additions), so it’s always fun to dig and discover.
I had a friend text me last night to ask me if I was going to the MoveOn protest in Detroit this weekend. It was the first I’d heard of it, since I unsubscribed from MoveOn emails when the membership endorsed Bernie in ’16. I told my friend I had to look into it first, since I won’t participate in anything that is Dem bashing. It turns out it is an impeachment-now sort of protest, so I’ll be giving it a hard pass. I really do understand the impatience. I also understand the concern that Dems are screwing up, and the Blue Wave of ’18 is going to disappear in a wave of disgust, dismay, and disbelief. I also share the concern that Dem messaging isn’t reaching the public (mostly because our media sucks). The TeamPelosi messaging rooms of which I’m part have lost 10% of the participants over the impeachment question, and the response to date from the speaker and her team has been to push the legislative message and ignore the rest. It IS frustrating. But despite all of that, I absolutely will not engage in Dem-bashing. If MoveOn and Indivisible and whomever want to restart protests at the offices of MOC, especially R MOCs, I’m on board. But until I see Dem activists targeting R senators and R reps with equal energy, I’m not playing the protest game. My decision may be short-sighted. But my time and energy have limits, and the weekend protest feels like a waste of both.
Good day to and for all!
THIS!! “until I see Dem activists targeting R senators and R reps with equal energy, I’m not playing the protest game.”
Yelling at our own members of Congress – and Democratic leadership – is ignorant. Yell at the news media for not reporting what is in the Mueller report and not exposing the Barr letter for what it was, yell at the Republican Senators who have signaled that they are the handmaidens of Mitch McConnell and willing to shred the Constitution to stack the courts in their favor for a generation – call out tRump’s enablers. I am no longer in the “if he can’t be removed, it is a waste of time” camp but I am still firmly in the “go slow and get it right” camp. I have muted a lot of people who think that trashing House leadership and members who are following their lead is the way to get them to move on THEIR priorities. I saw what they did in 2010 on lefty blogs to trash Democrats and depress turnout after President Obama and Nancy Pelosi did not give them their single-payer pony and their left-of-the-left wish list – we lost the House.
Good morning, 64 and sunny in Bellingham. Seems like it is suddenly summer, especially upstairs. Yesterday I opened windows and got the screens and fans in place so we slept better last night. I’m lingering with quiet music and a cool breeze this morning.
RonK removed dead branches from inside the laurel hedge yesterday so it looks less menacing. Now I can work away at planting shade tolerant plants under the hedge and the hemlock and aspen trees. The hedge and trees are so tall I think a lower level garden is needed to keep the human scale balanced. When I’m ready to plant I’ll go to Plantas Nativa.
Best wishes to all on this sunny day.
Don’t ever tell my husband that I said this, but I kind of like your native plants better than our native plants…or at least your native plant nurseries are more interesting than ours. But he can’t hear that; it’s taken me more than 30 years to get him to the point where he doesn’t negatively compare all things Midwestern to his childhood home (born in Bellingham, grew up in Mt. Vernon), and I don’t want to open that door even a crack!
Good morning meese, it’s 72 with a high of 94 today. The cooler weather is much appreciated!
Not much to report here, just the usual day-to-day work and home schedule.
Friday Meese.
59 going up to 74 here in NYS.
PR, USVI