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; 34 when I got up for the last time this morning (two earlier wake-ups, one full-bladder-induced and one dog-induced) and heading to 45. It’s a bright, sunny day too which should go a long way towards melting off the snow. The remaining leaves are falling now too–on top of the snow–which is just wrong. I feel badly for the Village public works guys; under our snow are piles and piles of leaves at curbsides, waiting to be sucked up the leaf sucker-upper machine. It’s going to be a wet, cold slog when they can finally get back at it.
I haven’t been around much, although I have been reading from my phone. My internet access is through the hotspot on my phone, and it’s not unlimited. When I wasn’t spending my days at home, looking and applying for jobs online, the “not unlimited” was never a problem, but now I have to ration my online time (trying to comment from my phone is an exercise in fat finger typos and general frustration). So be assured that I’m generally around even when I’m not and thinking of each of you every day. Speaking of jobs…
…I did not get called back for the next round of interviews at the very local job, and I think at some level I knew it. I was very nervous about checking my email on Friday to see if I had made the next round, but when I found out I hadn’t, I experienced something closer to relief than disappointment. Yes, the pay was astronomical, and yes, the prospect of working only five miles from home was even better than the pay, but in retrospect, I really only felt like I connected with the woman who would have been a coworker. The decision-makers left me “meh”, and in a top down company, those are the people who determine just how pleasant your work environment will be. So while having a job is still something I very much want, I’m not crying too much over losing out on this particular job.
I’m off to continue the job search and write tomorrow’s post (as soon as I come up with a topic); good day to and for all!
{{{DoReMI}}} – Holding the Good Thought on your job search & if you need a topic I love practically anything to do with the distaff side of FDR’s “alphabet soup” ???????????? moar {{{HUGS}}}
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Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 32 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 39. Mixed precipitation is in the forecast for this morning, rain, then fog this evening. There was a mean looking storm heading our way when I went to sleep but I have no idea where it is right now.
The Moose web site did something overnight and changed the way some of the dashboard controls look. It made me log in and also made me verify the admin email address so I better go check that to make sure it is not telling me something I need to know. I hate when it does automatic updates – it is really unnecessary and disruptive.
Wonderful news out of Mississippi! I turns out that tRump’s visits there increased Democratic Party turnout enough to kick two long-time Republican legislators out of their seats and replace them with Democrats, one a black woman who will be representing a majority white district. w00t!
I won’t watch today’s impeachment hearing – the first witness is going to say he heard nothing that alarmed him and the second is the poor Col. Vindman who is simply going to be attacked. He has already been removed from his NSC post (it is not an official part of government – just a White House function) – he will be reassigned by the Pentagon to something else. I will probably watch on Thursday when Fiona Hill will testify along with the aide who heard the shouted cell phone conversation between Sondaland and Trump. That should be fun!
I am going full anti-Mayo Pete at this point. He is a Joe Lieberman Democrat and a craven opportunist all rolled into one. I hope the debate tomorrow night exposes him. I may watch it because it is not on CNN and because it will have an all-woman panel of questioners. I am not sure that the all-woman part means much – :::waving at Elise Stefanik::: – but it is unlikely that the questioners, other than Andrea Mitchell, will be smirking.
See all y’all later!
Mayo Pete:
Footage of Pete speaking at a Tea Party event
Increasingly I cannot stand Mayo Pete! What is there to like about him? Okay, he’s gay, and he’s cracking open the door a little for future gay or lesbian candidates. However, his arrogance, his white male privilege, and his complete obliviousness to the needs of women, black people, and other groups completely disqualify him, in my opinion. Add to that being the not-very-successful mayor of a small town—pooh!
I watched a bit this morning, but I’m not sure I’ll resume after lunch. Nunes is every bit as smarmy as I had heard, and I’m pretty sure my blood pressure spiked as a result. Speaking of blood pressure, one of my many sanity-maintaining fantasies is that 45* sees Yevgeny Vindman, assumes it is Alexander, and blows a gasket because he thinks Vindman has somehow not been reassigned out of the WH. Yes, I’m childish that way, but it amuses me to consider how the Narcissist-in-Chief would react.
Tuesday Meese – snowing here in the NY Catskills.
They will not be sending my husband home from the hospital today as a result. He comes home tomorrow.
Puerto Rico
Glad they’re keeping your husband safe for another day – if not keeping him to finish the rehab he should be getting. Holding the Good Thought – there’s so much you’ve got on your plate now and none of it tasty. {{{HUGS}}}
Dee, sorry about the snow keeping your husband’s transfer from happening today! Hope it will be accomplished smoothly tomorrow.
Good Tiu’s Day morning, Meese! It’s a misty, moisty day outside, just like Brigadoon. “They” said it would rain last night; it very likely did, but with my impaired hearing I never get to listen to the delightful sound of rain on the roof, unless it happens during the day. Anyway, right now it’s a raw 39 F., going up to 54 F.
Had a good day yesterday having lunch with my friend but ate too many carbs. Was not happy with the scales this morning but I’ll make up for it today. Yesterday at the gym I forgot to adjust the incline on the treadmill so didn’t get as good a workout as I should have. While my friend and I were eating lunch, another resident passed by and said she really enjoyed reading my Five-Minute Fiction booklet and that she liked “Bearly There” the most. As she didn’t buy one I can only surmise that she borrowed it! :)
Planning to work this morning, exercise in the afternoon, and then get my much-needed haircut. Yesterday after I woke up from my doze in the green recliner I looked out at the ugly gray day and decided to stay home. It looked as if it wanted to rain any minute.
Jan, think I’ll take a tip from you and watch Thursday’s hearing. Dee, I am going to email or kosmail a question to you today re my intended blog about Kamala.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
Last day of my long weekend. Today: clean house, work holiday luncheon (like I’d skip that), and maybe the gym. For now, nice peaceful morning watching Stargate.
It was mid 30s just before dawn, already 48 and heading for mid 60s today – and sunny at the moment. Yesterday we got 6.7 KWHs and the m-t-d is 108 – step by step and we’ll see how far we go. Cats are being cats. I wish I were a cat in my house. (Or the house of any of the Peeps anyway.) But if cats don’t worry about the world situation, they aren’t responsible for it either – humans do and are.
Amelia had a minor glitch (the friend entered the dates wrong on the form) but once that’s fixed she’s set for the rest of November. Which hopefully will allow her the energy to get to the next step – find somebody who’ll collect smaller donations and then pay for a full month/lowest rate which has to be paid at once and up front – so she can work on finding an apartment that’ll take the section 8 voucher. Except it’ll probably be a couple of months considering how long it takes to get section 8 paperwork done & approved. sigh. Aji & Wings are desperately trying to beat the weather on painting & sealing the windows. They spent their anniversary yesterday doing that and will (hopefully) manage to finish today as rain/snow/wintry mix is supposed to move in tonight. I haven’t heard from anybody else in several days so I’m working under the assumption that they’re OK.
I’ve a minor household chore to deal with then coffee and reading stuff. Healing/Helping Energy to everyone who needs and accepts it, shaped to their need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 46 and hazey in Bellingham. I’m listening to the hearings but keep muting the R’s. I fear we are living in a world where truth doesn’t matter :::sigh:::
We made progress in the basement yesterday, but it’s still work in progress. Today’s task is to clean, sort and edit two storage shelves full of seasonal items, wrapping paper, Christmas stuff, etc. I hope to toss about half of the dusty accumulation. I worked with a dust mask yesterday and that helped.
Time to get busy. My best wishes to all on this dusty hazey day.
thank you for reminding me that I have lots of Christmas decoration stuff to donate
Wednesday Meese.
37 degrees here in Saugerties NY – going up to 43. Cloudy. Will be picking my husband up at around 2PM. Have a friend coming with me. We will start phase two of his recovery process on Friday – with outpatient rehab.
Am glad to see that the House continuing resolution was passed – which will ensure Medicaid funding continues for Puerto Rico and the other territories till Dec. 20.
Am sick and tired of posturing ‘progressives’ who decided to vote no. The loudest mouth of the bunch was Ocasio-Cortez.
She and her squad joined Republicans with a no vote – re the Patriot Act
No one on the left likes the Patriot Act. I have deep seated reasons to loathe it. However – when faced with the a disastrous loss of life in PR if health care is slashed – addressing the friggin Patriot Act can wait.
I will probably get attacked for daring to criticize “the Squad” – so be it.
The purists on the left have done so much damage – their privilege allows them to ignore people literally starving and those who could die from lack of medical care. Thankfully we have a large enough majority to overcome their posturing. I developed a strong dislike for these people going back to 2010 when the health care purists let our congressmembers – and gubernatorial candidates – crash and burn in the tea party revolt. They did not get single payer or the public option and stayed home in a peeve. The same people gave us the Trump presidency. If you want to make a point, grab a half-hour on the CSPAN late-at-night member time and give a speech but don’t vote to throw out the babies with the bath water. Grrr!
I am debating retweeting you. I have no problem with the sentiment, I just need to make sure I have time today to block all the people who will attack the thread! :) I will start with a Like and monitor it.
I posted it in APR over at Dkos – surprisingly got support.
I loathe “purists”
People can’t eat purism
It won’t save the lives of moms and kids.
I ended up retweeting it and have not gotten any blowback. I think my follows have already been well curated. :)
There are times when I HATE the Rethugs for what they’re doing to this country! I feel quite sure if we get a triple Dem victory next year we can get them to treat PR decently.
As for AOC, I hope someone primaries her.
Glad to hear your husband is moving to rehab today. I won’t say “thoughts and prayers,” but I will say “healing white light” to him and rosy vibes of love to you both.
Dee, is the re hab clinic close to where you live? I hope getting to and from will be relatively easy for you and that your husband will get the assistance he needs. Hugs and healing thoughts.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 45. Foggy right now, mostly cloudy this afternoon and then rain. I am keeping an eye on Thanksgiving week when they are talking about a snow storm. Right now it looks like the end of the week – when people are trying to get back to school/work; that would be the worst scenario.
I didn’t watch any of the hearings yesterday but apparently it did not go well for tRump – even the witnesses handpicked by the Republicans couldn’t defend the tone and content of the “perfect” phone call. I won’t watch today’s hearing which I think has Trump’s hotel pal on the stand – I find that the snippets provided by Twitter give me all the information I need to keep current. I will probably watch tomorrow, though, when Fiona Hill testifies.
Tonight is the only Democratic 2020 debate I would have any interest in viewing and if I can stay up long enough, I will watch it. Julian Castro was not invited but Tulsi Gabbard was, which is gross. The DNC is beclowning themselves again and they deserve to have Mayo Pete as the front runner in the white primaries that they insist on giving so much attention to. The Media Primary, ginned up by desperate media outlets in Iowa and New Hampshire and fueled by bored national media, is a terrible way to introduce our candidates. Someone pointed out that Mayo Pete’s Rhodes Scholarship has gotten 30 times the mentions in the press that Cory Booker’s has – gosh, I wonder why?
No one seems to be paying attention to the fact that the federal budget is expiring and a Continuing Resolution will be needed soon to keep the government open – and that there is a madman, in the throes of debilitating narcissistic injury, in the White House whose signature is needed for that. Good lord, what a monster the Republicans have created! And it is all for naught – they really can’t disenfranchise enough people to stay in power forever and when the piper finally gets paid, it will bankrupt them.
See all y’all later!
Back to work — but it’s a short day because the a/c guy is coming this afternoon. I couldn’t get an appointment for the days I was off. Warm & foggy — I think today’s high is supposed to be 80. Oh, and the Pretender is coming to town today. The traffic reports were all about how to avoid the traffic. He’s coming to look at the Apple campus here, because he gave the most profitable company in human history even more money to keep their manufacturing here. Sigh. I got the new Snow Patrol album yesterday, it’s acoustic versions of their songs. There are youtubes of them doing this one acoustic at radio stations when it came out — all of which I like better than the album version. Here’s Just Say Yes, a gorgeous happy love song.
It’s 56 and might get to 70 today. This is it for the St. Whoever’s Summer – clouds moving in later this morning and rain tonight. That’s drop the temps a little for tomorrow then down into the 40s once the rain passes through. Yesterday we got 6.2 KWHs and the m-t-d is 114.
Meanwhile I’ve gotta go to the bank and my ride is here. I’ll catch up with everybody & everything when I get back. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody as needed and accepted. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Bfitz, what happened to your car?
Nothing. It’s on loan to my friend across the street – at least until she moves and is no longer across the street. Her husband’s schedule is very erratic so the kind of “dual duty” a single family car used to do doesn’t work for them. I haven’t a clue what they’re going to do next month but then that’s not my problem, right? {{{HUGS}}}
Good Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! It is good, too, despite being being 48 F. and cloudy, with winds of 12 miles per hour here in the Second Ugliest Town I’ve ever seen.
When I stepped on the scales this morning I felt wildly happy. It’s good to be happy rather than hippy! Because the number was so encouraging, I gave myself permission to have porridge for breakfast rather than The Ghastly Smoothie which, although unpleasant to the taste, certainly keeps the weight off.
Today’s agenda includes walking the dog, making an applesauce cake and frosting it with cream cheese frosting for the bimonthly Birch Point party tomorrow, and writing my Kamala blog for Thursday The Grandmother Wolf and tribe of Native Americans who oversee my spiritual welfare finally came up with a piece of music I can use for the blog. Thank you, spirit guides!
Walking the dog is usually Dearly Beloved’s duty (and is about the only time he socializes with the other residents here), but I’m doing it this morning because he’s doing an errand for me. Yesterday I didn’t have time to drop off the clothes Miss Pink Cheeks left for me to launder (which I did gladly), so he’s going to do it. My DIL is working at home today and she likes him a lot better than she likes me, so alles ist gut.
So…deep breath…that’s all from me this morning! Going to follow Jan’s advice for today and keep an eye on Twitter. Don’t have time to watch the hearings.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and a BAD day to the villains on the Hill!
Good morning, 44 and sunny in Bellingham. I’m watching the Sunderland hearings and he really wants to stay out of jail. Sweet to see the R’s unhappy faces and to watch him involve everyone whose names he can remember.
I made good progress with the dust mess yesterday but today my knee is in full rebellion so it’s ice, compression , elevation and rest……like it or not!
Best wishes to all on this not good for tRump day.
“In some ways, she is the anti-Trump.” Excellent ad!
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 43 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 50. When I got up it was raining cats and dogs – it has slowed down but we are expecting rain all day.
I did not watch the debate – it bothers me a lot that people who are not members of the Democratic Party and are just taking advantage of our easy-to-get-into primary system are on the stage with serious candidates. One of the headlines said that Steyer, Gabbard and Yang were “shut out” at the beginning of the debate. Good! They are not Democrats, Steyer and Yang are opportunists and Gabbard has no connection at all to a single Democratic Party value – she is only on that stage because she is propped up by Republican men who want to ratfk our election. The DNC should be ashamed that it allowed that to happen; I hope we can kick them to the curb before it is too late. Democratic Party regulars will not be enthusiastic about helping to elect Trump-lite, a business person who wants to be president. Regarding the primaries, I saw an encouraging article in the Des Moines Register that showed that November polling is not the best predictor of the winner of the caucuses – a strong finish is more important. One notable November Star who flamed out – Newt Gingrich. Mayo Pete looks and sounds a little Newty to me! White male who loves the sound of his own voice and believes himself to be smarter than everyone else!
I had the Sondland hearing on my TV but I had it muted because I did not want to hear his voice or the voice of any other Republicans. I mostly followed it on Twitter. The Republicans are already spinning it as “Sondland cleared Trump” so it really boils down to where you get your news as to whether you think tRump crimed or not. I am still not sure what I will do regarding today’s hearings – I have a ton of projects that landed in my Inbox yesterday along with a reminder of a project that had gotten buried in my to-do stack. I would like to watch Hill and Holmes but it depends on how far I get with work projects.
See all y’all later!
Despite my best efforts, at my Dem club meeting last night, I was re-elected club secretary. I mostly followed the debate on Twitter, had a tab open for the #JulianDebates comments. I saw a post this morning that last night was his best fundraising night of the campaign. In his campaign store, there’s this gorgeous “Adios Trump” t-shirt, in purple & green script….. definitely calling my name. Listening to Lips Like Sugar, memories of my long lost youth.
Thursday Meese. 32 here in the NY Catskills going up to a sunny 49.
Glad the weather is decent. Hubby is home from the hospital – have to take him to doc appointment this afternoon.
Watched the debate – sort of – fell asleep and woke up to see reruns. Saw part of the hearings too – but missed a bunch because I had to deal with hubby’s discharge, and get him settled in.
Tweeted as much as I could for Kamala.
Onomastic just posted
Thanks for Ono’s link. I hope your day is less hectic today!
Hope the weather stays good – or at least good enough for safe driving – while your husband is in rehab. And that your plans come together smoothly. {{{Dee}}}
We didn’t get a lot of actual water overnight but the temps stayed up. It’s 60 now, will crest at 65 in a couple of hours then start down. Along with supposedly more rain. The skies are gray enough anyway. Yesterday we got right at 5 KWHs and the m-t-d is 119.7 – I know we’ll get enough today to roll it over to 120 but I’m not expecting much more. From looking at the 10-day forecast I’d say we’ll be lucky to get 150 for the month. sigh. Well, it’s better than the 2.5K system did (114) so that’s good. We shall see what we shall see.
I didn’t watch the “debate” nor follow on twitter. I’ll see what Kamala said and pretty much leave it at that. Aji followed Castro’s commentary and I’ve just been over at her twitter page reading/boosting him. I like Castro but I’m getting pissed at some of his team. They keep saying he’s the first or only on stuff I know damn good and well that Kamala was and has covered. Sometimes even with Senate bills. But I’m not going to start a twitter fight over it. Harris and Castro people need to be supporting each other at this point. But it gets really hard to not say something to “Julian is the only candidate with a climate refugee policy” when Kamala does too, both as part of her climate plan and as part of her immigration plan.
Aji’s situation can’t be cured with money but it could be immeasurably helped with the sales (and subscriptions) that are normal for this time of year but aren’t happening this year. Amelia’s situation is so damned convoluted because of our punitive “safety net” rules… What she needs, has needed since last November when she came home from the hospital (the 2nd time) after her hysterectomy and was informed she was gonna have to move, is somebody to help her find an apartment in a safe area that will take section 8 vouchers. If any of the folks now bailing on her with “tough love” excuses had done so she wouldn’t be in this situation where she alternates begging for money for a few more nights with anxiety/panic attacks they are saying she should “take responsibility for”. I’ve run into these “tough love” shitheads before. And the emails send her into a combination panic attack and depression so deep she sees suicide as the only logical way out. Fortunately she’s been through this cycle so many times she knows it’s body chemistry dumping toxic stuff into her brain and if somebody will listen – not make suggestions or say anything about the people who are doing this to her, just listen – she comes out of it. Exhausted for the next several days, but calm. And that’s the immediate issue. It still doesn’t cover her more nights in the motel and it sure as hell doesn’t allow her the time or energy to actually look for an apartment so she can get out of this pit. And the section 8 housing people are not only not helping they’re actively hindering. They don’t help with temporary housing in the motel, they don’t help her find a place, and they have a several-month approval process once she finally finds something safe that will jump through their hoops. All I can do is hope/pray/invoke the Goddesses to get her the real help she needs. And listen.
Lemon almond butter muffin/cake needs to come out of the oven. The house smells divine. Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it, to their shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
{{{bfitz!}}}
Does Amelia have a Congress person? One of their jobs is to intervene on the behalf of their constituents. Believe me, people pay attention to Congressional letters and phone calls. After I suggested my officemate contact her Congressperson, she received a copy of her birth certificate in record time! That enabled her to apply for a passport.
You might suggest it to her. Couldn’t hurt with the Section 8 mess!
{{{Diana}}} she does although I’m not sure who. I’m not sure they could help at this point. She has to find a place. Then help expediting would be very good. There may be other short-term programs they could suggest/help with but she’s in CA and I’m totally not familiar with their stuff. If folks who no longer can/wish to help would quit sending her nastygrams pretending to be “tough love” she might even be able to make those kinds of phone calls. sigh. Thank you for the reminder and I’ll see if she’s thought of it. (Recently. She had months ago and I’m not sure what happened but obviously she didn’t get the help she needed.) moar {{{HUGS}}}