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!
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Kamala Harris on All In this evening! When they have it on the MSNBC website, I’ll post a link
2 segments:
<3 this one
Bill Barr is going to have a bit of a surprise awaiting him in the morning mail – the judge overseeing the Flynn case is not going to just say “Fine, Mr. Barr, I shall dismiss the case against uber traitor Michael Flynn because I know it will please your boss and that is the entire purpose of the Justice Department.” He is going to investigate and also allow other parties to challenge the dropping of charges. Last bulwark against the rule of law – the pre-Trump federal judges.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 32 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 63. Sunny skies most of the day with rain later this evening. I did get a chance to bask in the sun yesterday; it is comforting having the warmth of the sun enveloping me, it makes me feel safe and cared for.
I tried to watch a bit of the Fauci hearing and it is too hard with the people all over the place. I am sure I would get used to it eventually but it seems so foreign. Lamar Alexander’s home – and Lamar – look like they came from the 50s complete with hideous oversized fireplace and ugly green chairs. Dr. Fauci’s was just as one would expect – in the background was a very tall stack of books about 3 feet high. I saw clips of the hearing later and there was no one in that hearing except Rand Paul who thought it was a good idea to open up the country and “just take our chances that no one I care about will die.” Since Republicans don’t care about anyone’s lives that simply sets the bar too low.
Nancy Pelosi released the “this is what a government would do if it were run by people who care” bill to slap the Senate with. The Senate will harumph, call us names and then toss it in the trash but as people realize that the things in the bill are things that they want – and need – the hope is that they turn to their Senators and ask them why they hate human beings. The ultimate goal is to remind everyone that Democrats govern, Republicans destroy and encourage them to vote the bums out in November.
It sounds like the Supreme Court will protect their president’s tax returns from Congress but they are not as willing to declare that he has complete immunity for everything he has ever done illegally in every jurisdiction in the country. Good. The Manhattan District Attorney needs the records to prosecute the case against Trump Organization and shielding the owner simply because he sits in the Oval Office should not be allowed. The crimes are pre-presidency and we can’t let the Occupant to run out the statute of limitations. Some days, the only thing that keeps my spirits up is knowing that the Trump crime family will eventually be brought to justice in New York.
Busy day here, see all y’all later!
Wednesday Meese. 37 going up to 61 here in Kingston NY. Bright and sunny!
Puerto Rico
The governor of PR truly IS a nasty woman! Why has she waited until now to let schools feed hungry children?
I slept really, really well last night. I was actually asleep when the alarm went off, I don’t know the last time that happened. Expected rain this morning so I didn’t set the alarm for walking, but it’s clear. This afternoon, the Thunderbirds are supposed to fly over, that will be cool.
YAY!!!!! for good sleep. {{{anotherdemocrat}}}
Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! This is a day for Shakespeare: “Full many a glorious morning have I seen/Flatt’ring the mountain tops with sovereign eye…”
It’s sunny, apparently calm (winds 5 to 10 mph), and blue-skied. At 9 a.m. it’s 56 F., and we may get up to 69 F. It was 39 F. when Monty and I went out to the courtyard at 6 a.m.
Despite a far-too-early wakeup time (it began at 2:30), I feel optimistic because the sun is shining and I might get something done today. Yesterday I did get as far as making two lists. Ms. Magazine wants me to renew for another year. I don’t even read it any more, actually, I’m already depressed enough about women’s status in the world. I’m going to pay the full subscription fee and ask them to send the hard copy to a woman in prison while I just read it on line, if I ever feel up to it.
The takeaway from Dr. Fauci yesterday was that we will not even be safe in September! WHAT is going to happen to my grandchildren? Ms. Pink Cheeks, who reads prodigiously and writes her own books (mostly about dogs), and who has online classes in math and Chinese on Saturdays, may be OK. But what about Mr. Kindergartener and Mr. Preschooler? They were due to move up to first grade and kindergarten. Elder Son and DIL are searching for a college student to take charge of Mr. P. for up to six hours a day while they work.
All this feels a lot like war, except that some of us are considerably better off than others. I mean, it’s a lot like war in the sense that life has been upended and some of us are not sure it will ever be the same again. Will we ever go back to cars to the extent we did before? Some countries are establishing temporary bike lanes that may turn out to be permanent. Will Big Biz and the Gummint finally admit that people who telework actually are working, even if it’s at the kitchen table?
The Mont-ster wants to go out AGAIN, so I’ll have to stop here and wish all at the Pond and Beyond a good day.
I worry about the beginning of the school year for kids going to new schools and starting new grades. It is one thing to move from in-person to online – as difficult as that is – but another thing entirely to start online without having met your teacher or your classmates. Kindergarten and first grade are as much about the socialization as the “academics” and I don’t know how you teach kids to read remotely – it is definitely hands on. I fear that the kids without educated and engaged (stay at home?) parents will fall hopelessly behind, exacerbating the already enormous gap in educational outcomes by class. The fallout from this ghastly mess will be generational and will require good government to overcome. Goddess help us if the Republicans stay in power.
I noticed that Pence and DeVos had a conference call with the heads of 14 colleges and universities to pressure them to open up and turn their student bodies (and student’s bodies!) into lab rats for the herd immunity theory of education – the one promoted by Dr. OZ: “start schools, it will only be 2 or 3% of them that will die.” Universities who give cover to the Republican Death Cult should be shunned. I hope that the parents of kids who are spending $100,000 to go to Notre Dame and Stanford call the universities and tell them they want no part of it. Money is the only thing that will get their attention – in every aspect of our society – and they can vote with their wallets. Delaying college for a semester or a year versus risking dying should not be a difficult choice.
This:
This is one of the most loathsome quotes from one of the most loathsome creatures in the country!
So how would he feel if it the “only 2 or 3 percent” were his grandchildren? Is he OK with that?
He since walked it back verbally but it is in his heart and he truly believes it. The sad thing for those willing to sacrifice “2 or 3 percent” is that they don’t get to choose the 2 percent; the current maladministration believes that it is only going to be people of color, urban people and the old but it will eventually be people they know and, maybe for some of them, people they love. I have yet to see any evidence that anyone working for tRump is capable of love for another human being or concern for human life, though!
It’s 57, going to 77, and still cloudy. Not as cloudy as yesterday but I still need the lamp on. However it’s supposed to clear off later today so I will hope I can turn it off soon. Yesterday’s generation was the lowest daily thus far this month (at 3.4 KWHs) and I hope it stays that way – except for the time period the system is off while the roof is replaces. The m-t-d is 176, which isn’t on track anyway, but the goal will be completely shot by turning the system off altogether to uninstall it. sigh.
Evil Ones being evil. People are hungry, ill, hurt, and dying because of it. We do what we can. A friend is having cataract surgery today. I’ve a candle going. It’s my last “purposed” candle. (Not sure when I’ll be able to get any more of those special-for-purposing candles. I get them from a woman at the Farmers Market and I haven’t been, not sure when I will again, going to the Farmers Market.) So. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy for her and for everybody to their shaping. Need coffee and to put the laundry up. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 56 and raining in Bellingham. The 4 hr sleep/awake cycle was with me last night so I’m just waking up for the day. Everything is as well as can be with me and my family but we’re all feeling anxious and worried re what will happen next.
But life goes on regardless so I’d best get to my desk. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Cloudy with showers this morning then thunderstorms expected this afternoon. Tomorrow’s high will be 72 as we start moving more firmly into spring.
Wisconsin’s lame duck Supreme Court struck down our governor’s state-wide Safer At Home order. Counties and municipalities can issue their own orders and Dane County and the City of Madison both immediately put in place an order matching what the governor had and indicated that they will continue to follow state guidelines for re-opening. So the area that I live in is protected for now. The immediate reaction of the Tavern League of Wisconsin was to tell all their members that they can open their bars and start spreading deadly infectious diseases, should they choose to. Yeeehaaw!! My fervent wish is that the bars in the towns where Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald and State Assembly Leader Robin Vos live all open up, everyone gets sloshed and they gather at the Republican legislative leaders’ houses to sing a rousing spittle-flecked rendition of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”. In a just universe, they and the Republicans on the Supreme Court should bear the brunt of this order, although they won’t – it will be the people in the nursing homes and those forced to go back to work in restaurants, bars and venues hosting large gatherings who will suffer. The Republican justice elected last year – who was NOT endorsed by the state’s business group, the WMC, because of his anti-gay rhetoric – broke ranks with the other Republicans and issued a dissent that reflected the law rather than ideology. Maybe there is hope for our state once we get our new Justice seated in August.
I am going to avoid reading news for at least an hour because I have something that needs to get delivered this morning and I find that news reading starts innocently enough but that I can’t resist chasing little side stories that interest me. The next thing I know, I have spent two hours and used up all my brain power!
See all y’all later!
Lawks, Jan, what is it with Wisconsin? The state that used to be a hotbed for liberalism is now infested with Rethugs! I have a hard time understanding it.
It is 5 and 1/2 months until the election. How many of these jolly revelers will have died by then? Let us remember today’s date and start counting.
Wisconsin seems to be a Petri dish for Democracy but in a bad way. We were on the leading edge of the destruction of public unions with Act 10 in 2011 and Scott Walker used us to test all the Republican theories of starving the beast and killing the poors. This is the culmination of that – Governor Evers is all that stands between the Republican legislature that was built with the most aggressive gerrymander in the country and total chaos. Unfortunately, the ethically compromised Republican Supreme Court “fixes” what the legislature can’t do on its own and now we have this mess. We can’t vote them out until we can fix the gerrymander in 2021 and if Evers vetoes the Republican drawn maps, the Supreme Court will probably find a way to invalidate his veto. Darker days are ahead.
The interesting thing is that the people who will likely die in the reopening are tRump voters because they are both stupid and selfish. I hope someone is taking videos of all the people blowing germs on each other so that the people who know them can avoid them. I was laughing bitterly at the list of counties that have new orders and those who are going to just open up and take their chances. The county that includes Platteville, where the bar video went viral, is Grant County and this is what they said: “The issuance of an order remains an option and may be implemented if voluntary compliancy is not sufficient.” HAHAHAHA! Too late, stupids. And good luck getting students willing to come back to your university in the fall given your lack of intelligence and the fact that there are only 5 ICU beds in your local hospital.
Yes. My mind continually boggles at this.
Thursday Meese
35 degrees here in Kingston NY going up to 70
All hell is breaking out in Puerto Rico
Goddess help PR!
Posted
Work laptop is rebooting so I thought I’d grab a second to dash in & say hi. Hi. The Thunderbirds flew over yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t fast enough to get pictures, but it was nice. Anyway, have a great day.
It’s 70 heading for 81 and started sunny but is getting over it. sigh. Yesterday’s 12 KWHs brought the m-t-d to 188 which is at least what I use in a month. I’ve signed up with Aspen Contracting – they’re a national company but have offices in AR so not “out of state” – largely because of the life-time warranty on their work which also includes repairing any damage to the interior caused by leaks in the roof – but also because the project consultant/manager who did the inspection was very thorough, very polite and friendly, reminds me to a certain extent of my older son (personality, not physically), and wears a hand-cut, hand-stamped silver cross set with a small turquoise necklace he got from “an Indian place” in AZ. (He’s worn this for years under his shirt. The chain came loose and it dropped in my front yard or I’d never have seen it. I knew it was his because we’d talked about Native jewelry the afternoon before. I’ve held it. Just momentarily when I picked it up before putting it in an envelope & emailing him to come get it. It gives off good vibes.) If the materials can get here by then we’re targeting early next week. We’ve got a nice minimum 3-day rain-free slot then. And we’re hoping to be able to get it done and my PV system back online in 3 days (or less).
Evil Ones being evil. I’m doing my best to help those I can. Evil Ones will be overcome. I just don’t know when. Or how many people will be hurt/killed before that happens. So many different paths before us. And we never know what actions of our own might set us on any specific one. But holding Peace & Justice in our hearts as the goal keeps us going. Which ever path we find ourselves on. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Thursday morning, Moosekind—it is still morning. The pale blue sky and pearly wisps of cloud at 6:30 a.m. have given way to overcast. The air in the courtyard was chilly when Monty and I went out, but smelled fragrant from something growing there.
At the moment in Ashburn it’s 60 F., with a promise of 72 F. and a slight chance of rain later.
I did say I wasn’t going to talk about bad sleep any more, didn’t I? Well, it’s not that it’s bad, it’s that I wake up too early. This makes me run on 2 cylinders rather 6 all day and causes me to crave carbs, to the detriment of my figure.
Can’t think of much to say. The news is the same as ever was. There’s not much we can do about it. I did receive a bit of good news yesterday: #BailOutBlackMamas received so many donations that 60 women in 10 cities have been released from jail so far! Isn’t it sad that people have so little money that they can’t pay a fine of $100? And they’re imprisoned for it?
Going to take it easy for a little while, then rally my mojo to keep going for the afternoon. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.
{{{Diana}}} maybe your body is trying to tell you that you do better with one longish stretch of sleep while it’s dark and then a nap or two during the day. Not something folks can get away with while working in this society, but once you get beyond the mental training/manipulation that says you should sleep 8 in a single stretch & then be “productive” the other 16, possible to try when you’re retired. Healing Energy & more {{{HUGS}}}
Thanks for the comforting words, sweetie!
Good morning, 53 and partly sunny in Bellingham. My essential desk tasks got done yesterday, so today I’m going to try to set up a better filing system. I’ve moved a lot of tasks on line but kept the old paper filing system so now I have even more clutter. If I can simplify things I’ll spend less time at the desk and that’s a worthy goal!
I have a long overdue appointment with my ophthalmologist today. My vision has changed again and none of my glasses work properly so I’m looking forward to being able to see more clearly. Now that business are starting to open again my covid confinement will ease but leaving here makes me nervous.
Best wishes to all on this quiet cloudy morning.
{{{princesspat}}} – leaving home should make you nervous under the circumstances. Stay masked & gloved – & hope to heaven the folks in your ophthalmologist’s office do the same is basically as safe as you can get. I’m supposed to have one of those in July and I expect to be doing exactly that. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good luck with venturing out for the opthalmology appointment, princesspat!
I saw my primary care doctor a few days after I experienced double vision on February 28th. It hasn’t happened again, and I definitely do not want to do an hour-long drive to see my eye doctor. That’ll have to wait until Lockdown is lifted.
Friday Meese.
55 going up to 81 with rain here in Kingston NY
The crap that is going on in Puerto Rico with anti women, anti LGBTQ changes to the civil code is not getting enough mainland attention (as usual re PR)
Going to put up a quick post in a few
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 73. After the fog burns off, it is supposed to be sunny.
I watched part of the Rick Bright House hearing yesterday. He is the vaccine specialist fired by the Trump administration for questioning their readiness (he was since reinstated because his complaint was a whistleblower complaint and is protected by statute – he has been reassigned, though). The Republicans were determined to protect their ignorant leader who pushed the hydroxychloroquine treatments by re-upping the junk science and attacking Dr. Bright’s concerns as partisan. The first couple of Republicans appeared to actually care about the vaccine and drugs and PPE but then it devolved into nonsense and I turned it off. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be represented by ignorant people whose allegiance to the Republican Death Cult overrides everything.
In Wisconsin, the Supreme Court order has sown chaos. My county and the cities in Milwaukee County are staying with the Safer-At-Home order which is due to expire on May 26th. The WOW counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington) that surround Milwaukee to the west and north are a free-for-all with the bars open and people getting drunk and spewing germs on each other. Brown County (which had meatpacking outbreaks) and Door County (where rich people vacation) are still shut down but most of the northern counties are open and hoping that tourists show up and buy their things so that their families have enough money to bury them, I guess. Walworth County on the Illinois border where Lake Geneva resort is, wants everyone from Illinois to break quarantine and visit. Here is their response:
Vilas County, which is Up Nort’, subtly reminds people that they better have checked with their insurance companies before they open. I wonder if liability insurers might not want to cover reckless business owners who instigate an infectious disease outbreak?
This one really cracks me up. Dodge County is the place that had the Beaver Dam biker bar owner defy the orders last week and the sheriff declared he would not file charges against him because the order was “tyranny.” Here is their health department.
Good luck with that, Abby! I hope your hospitals are ready – keep your diseased constituents out of Dane County. #HandsOffMyRespirator
I am going to pass on the rest of the news and hope I don’t miss anything important. I can skip the whole “Obamagate/Unmasking” story – life is too short to spend more than a nanosecond on ginned up Republican bullshit.
See all y’all later!
Short workday today, and a friend called yesterday wanting to share dinner. I didn’t check my phone until later, but I’m going to go by this afternoon & pick it up. Anyway, 5 hours of setting up new library users, listening to U2…. not a bad Friday.
It’s nice that there are people wanting to share dinner! Sounds as if you’re going to enjoy your day, anotherdemocrat!
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} sounds like a lovely Friday. Enjoy it. Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}
It’s 60 heading for 72 and overcast enough the lamp’s on again. We had rain around 6 am and are about to have some more. But while the rain is supposed to go away after lunchtime, the clouds aren’t. Yesterday it did clear off in the afternoon and we got 13 KWHs – the m-t-d is 201. Which would have us at least on track for over 400 if we weren’t gonna be shut down entirely for 3 days next week. The current schedule is the PV system comes down Wednesday, the roof goes up Thursday, the PV system goes back up Friday. That of course depends on the insurance adjustor accepting that some things have to be replaced and can’t be reused (code requirements), the materials getting here by Tuesday (the PV system isn’t coming down until the materials are actually here), and it not raining any of those three days. As with everything else, we shall see what we shall see.
Evil Ones being evil. Our team doing its best to get some good stuff around or through them. Then getting jumped by our own folks for not stopping the Evil Ones and for having to add “sweeteners” (or take out help) to get anything through at all. I’m not gonna say our team is its own worst enemy – but we certainly blame our own side when “I want” doesn’t equal “what I can get” instead of the people blocking it. Which is one more good reason to stay away from MSM and social media.
My son’s coming by today to pick up the insurance checks that came in yesterday’s mail and deposit them for me. That way they should have cleared and be in my account by the time I need to pay anybody. My Social Security direct deposits on Wednesday and I’ve got about 2/3 my “stimulus” left and stashed back in my savings account. I should be OK for the $2K deductible. I’ve got some “regular” hits next month – all my insurance premiums are due – but I’ll worry about that when it gets here.
As to quarantine, masks, and gloves…it’s always been a good idea to stay away from magats. Now we just need to stay further away from them. A lot further. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Friday morning, Meese! Our low and high temperatures in Ashburn today are 20 C. and 30 C. In other words, 68 F. and 86 F.! Memorizing those numbers has been a huge help to me, as well as memorizing that 10 C. is 50 F. I can now more or less figure out what friends in Australia, the U.K., and Canada are talking about when they mention weather.
Right now it’s 22 C., or around 72 F. I left my plants on the screened porch overnight to toughen them. We have a pale blue sky smeared over with a layer of white cloud and weak sunlight. It’s possible that we’ll have thunderstorms for the next five days, but as usual, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Had a lovely, drugged sleep last night. Feeling MUCH better this morning, so much so that I prepared eggs for breakfast on a weekday, much to Dearly’s delight. Yesterday I rang up the community concierge and asked for six eggs. She told me that CVS drugstore only sells 12 eggs at a time. I told her we’d very likely have expired of old age before we could eat 12 eggs, so never mind the request for six. She then went off to consult someone, came back, and said, “Okay, we can deliver six eggs to your apartment. We’ll leave them on your shelf.” (Every apartment has a shelf outside the front door.)
While I was desperately catching up on my sleep after lunch, Dearly went to the door to receive the eggs. They gave us nine eggs. I know a goodly number people can’t spell nowadays, but they can’t count, either?
So this morning I looked in the freezer for hoarded slices of bread, found them, and made a soft-boiled egg with soldiers for Dearly. I had a hard-boiled egg, which I quite like when it’s accompanied by a slice of whole-wheat toast.
I’ve got bread rising in a loaf pan right now. In a few hours it will be ready to bake.
Heard from Darling Niece in Reston this morning. When I asked how my great-nephew entertains himself when he’s not doing lessons, she texted that he writes screenplays and practices the guitar. The kid is 10 years old!
Last summer Miss Pink Cheeks made a very charming video about life with Monty here in our flat. I wish I could share it, but I don’t know how. As I mentioned before, she also writes books about dogs and draws pictures about dragons. Lately she’s collaborating on the Internet with her friends to create a book with graphics.
Niece and I used to worry ourselves sick about what would become of these creative children in a science- and math-oriented world. Now I feel better about their futures. In the changed world in which we’ll find ourselves, the demand for content creators will be enormous. When the time comes they can help fill that need for streaming content.
Hoping to get the tomatoes and zucchini planted in our community garden, and the herbs potted today while it’s so warm.
Best wishes to all at the Pond and Beyond.
Good morning, 54 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. My eye exam was interesting yesterday…..according to the tests my vision hasn’t changed enough to warrant new glasses so the blurry vision must be due to fatigue, caused by the autoimmune reality I live with. So I’ll keep juggling multiple pairs of glasses as I need to and try to find the rosy pair more often!
I napped the afternoon away yesterday, went to bed early, and slept through the night so I hope I’ll have enough energy to finish my desk tasks today. Best wishes to all.