Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.
Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).
The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.
So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?
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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.
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Good morning, 54 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I hope the temperature stays moderate for awhile because the insulation is officially gone along with roofing debris, critter leavings and at least a hundred years of dust. The next step is for the electricians to remove and replace the last of the knob and tube wiring in the attic and then new insulation will be installed. The clean up wasn’t as bad as I had feared it would be and thanks to our son’s oversight I retreated to my sewing room while they were working.
I need to find a focus for today, so I’d best write a list as my thoughts are bouncing around and I know I’m forgetting something.
41 when I left the house this morning – wearing boots AND my wool cardigan for the 1st time this season – heading for 77 and mostly sunny. Hope it will cool off enough by 6 pm to light the fire and warm up the house for tomorrow morning. Glad the little bastards in Georgia actually got charged – hope they draw jail time. Don’t think I’ll watch the debates tonight. The questions will piss me off and I probably go to bed before they’ll be done anyway. I know “My Girl” is darned good at debates and is loaded for bear – but Clinton Rules being what they are, well, I don’t need the aggravation. Gotta get to work but will check back later. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is 37 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 64. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I was up too late, watching the debate. I was not sure I would watch the whole thing (I hate TV because it is fed to me instead of me consuming it like when I read something) but it turned out to be an excellent exchange of ideas – really, a great advertisement for Democratic Party principles. I am sure it was not the ratings hit that the Republican debates were (because flaming clown cars are more entertaining than documentaries) but if people had any questions about where the adults were, it is pretty obvious. I will put some Tweets and links into the debate blog post (or a new one) after I get my morning work done. Here is a transcript from WaPo.
In other news, a Milwaukee gun shop was ordered to pay $6 million to two police officers injured by the store’s failure to block a straw purchase. It is certain that the ruling will be appealed, but this case is a good look at the gun law that was mentioned in the debate, the ridiculously named “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA)” passed in 2005. It allowed gun dealers and gun manufacturers as the only industries in America protected from liability for their products. I am not sure if this is the first test of this law and I hope to have time to do some research on it later. I would like the NRA to start losing some of these because their losses ALWAYS mean a victory for the American people.
See all y’all later!!
Morning Jan – posted my morning comment over at the debate post – cause I am not wide awake yet.
Agree Democratic debate was the adults. Sad that the ratings for adults no way near the ratings for the clown car kiddies.
I found your greeting and posted some debate commentary there!
Not very many people, including Democrats, knew about the debate which underscores my belief that it is too early for most people to care about 2016 politics:
One of the big problems with the lack of tuning-in is that when people pick up the paper or turn on the TV, they will be getting other people telling them what was important in the debate rather than drawing their own conclusions. I suspect “shut up about the damn emails” won’t be a headline anywhere because it runs counter to the media’s focus on that issue.
Posted this list at orange (sorry links don’t copy over)
Took a look at what came up in my google news feed:
Democratic Debate Turns Hillary Clinton’s Way After Months of Difficulties (ha – the NY Times passive aggressive headline)
LA Times took a close look at the dynamics:
At Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton plays to her strengths, Bernie Sanders to his base
Saw quite a few articles on the paid family leave, and Planned Parenthood like this one in Time:
How Hillary Clinton Knocked Carly Fiorina on Paid Family Leave
Cosmo also:
Hillary Clinton Slams the GOP for Hating “Big Government,” But Interfering With Women’s Right to Choose
New Yorker:
Hillary Clinton Wins Big in Vegas
For people who read other kinds of reportage:
The Guardian:
Hillary Clinton won the Democratic debate, simply by saying ‘no’
Salon:
The real reason Hillary Clinton won the debate: No one else was on her level
Someone on Twitter posted this screencap of the NY Times front page with the snarky comment “Good clashing photo”.
I was pleased to see how our candidates ignored some of the CNN questions and introduced their own issues like Hillary bringing up family leave and Planned Parenthood and the great comment about Republicans hypocrisy about small government.
And look at guns!!
Alec MacGillis, one of my favorite authors – who now writes for Pro Publica – tweeted this:
I hope so!
Denise, the WaPo is suffering from cognitive dissonance this morning. In the same article it mentions how Hillary is ahead of her opponents for the Democratic nomination and then mentions her “struggling campaign.” Uh…duh! If she’s ahead, how can the campaign be “struggling”?
Noticed a huge amount of cheering from the audience when Bernie said that about being sick and tired of the damn emails.
I think they have “struggling campaign” in their paste buffer and it is inserted in every story. :)
Bernie’s comment was great; he is 100% right, people need to focus on real issues, not emails.
Good morning, Moosekind! A partly cloudy morning here in NoVa, 56 F. now, going up to 68 F. We didn’t get the promised rain yesterday (sniff), although black clouds were threatening all morning.
Well, what a debate! I disagree that it wasn’t entertaining. Anderson Cooper, with his little set of “Gotcha” questions, appeared to be channeling Tim (Chipmunk Cheeks) Russert and came across as a real jerk. He could have asked substantive questions but naturally, being a member of the MSM, chose not to.
Secretary Clinton simply walked away with the evening, I thought, although Bernie had some great moments. I like this guy, I really do. It’s just that I like her more. There’s a highly amusing diary at GOS about the Little Pundit (a five-year-old who watches the debates). I’m still mulling her remark when she saw the lineup of the Rethug candidates. When asked her opinion of Ben Carson, she asked, “Is he the president?” In her lifetime, the President of the United States has always been an African-American man.
Another dreadful day of downsizing today, although we are gradually making progress. The Angel from Heaven sorted, wrapped, and packed all the glassware to be donated yesterday. When she said, “You need me to help clean out the garage!” I practically sank to my knees in an attitude of worship. Today I still have to concentrate on my office. The worst news is that when I saw my husband’s precious letter opener I thought, “He’ll be heartbroken if it gets lost, so I’ll put it in a much safer place than this.” Now I can’t remember where I put it. He’s justifiably upset. From now on I’ll write down where I put things.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
I admit to taking great pleasure in watching Anderson Cooper lose control of the conversation. Here is how the clock broke down:
The NPR article said that Bernie had more time before the break but Hillary caught up and went ahead. Jim Webb spent most of his time complaining about not getting any time. Meh. In my opinion, he got about 15 minutes and 15 seconds more than he deserved. I saw a Tweet RTed by someone from hateshow talker Laura Ingraham saying Webb should be Trump’s running mate. Shows you where his policies line up.
I hope you find the letter opener. Surely it is somewhere in the “move these things to the new place” stack.
enjoyed reading Little Pundit’s responses this morning.
Ha!!
Wish we had some of the fall weather here. Still mid-90s for highs & so dry we are back in severe drought & have wildfires burning in Bastrop again. Fire is only 40% contained, there have been evacuations – though most people had already left when the police started knocking on doors. Where’s that “cooler & wetter” weather El Nino was supposed to give us??
Ok, gotta actually do stuff today. Laundry & groceries at the very least. A good long walk would also be good.
42 heading for 83 in Fay., AR and mostly sunny again. While we could use the rain, I can also use the electricity generation – and I’m having some “pre-winter” maintenance done on my house so I’m appreciating the sunshine. I didn’t watch the debate last night but I followed the Hillary HQ.com live blog for the 1st half. Grownups in the room in word and deed. (I also followed the GOS live blog and checked some of the early comments until I got tired of same remarks being interpreted as good or bad depending on whether the commenter was a Hillary fan or a Bernie fan. sigh.) I will read the transcript (thanks Jan) when I get a minute. I rather enjoy hearing Hillary’s voice, but I certainly do not want to listen to the jerks posing the “gotcha” questions and trying to talk over her while she answers.
Power went down here at the University at 4:05 yesterday afternoon and wasn’t restored until a little after 7 – nobody knows what happened but there are a certain number of CTs out there because our Distinguished Lecturer last night was Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Rigoberta Menchu – the lecture was scheduled for 7 and if the purpose of killing power to the University was to cancel that, it not only failed, it backfired. The lecture was moved outdoors (outside events always use generators so it was easy to set up) and lots of people who didn’t know about the lecture before the outage showed up. Since the power came back on nobody has said word one about it which kind of lends credence to the CTs.
Everyone have a lovely day – upsizing, downsizing, or just working on stuff as usual. Stay calm and keep your blood sugar balanced. {{{HUGS}}}
I put a link to the transcript in the Debate post comments along with links to news stories and commentary plus the YouTube of the excellent moment when Bernie called out the MSM about their email fetish.
I cannot imagine “watching” a liveblog at the GOS for a debate where there were competing candidates (unlike the Obama-Romney debates) and many VERY STRONG opinions (a feature of DK). I had a difficult enough time in my Twitter feed which has many pro-Bernie and pro-Hillary Tweeters. However, my feed is self-selected to not have many people jerky about their points of view (there are a few).
GOS started the “open threads” a little earlier than the living blogging and slightly ahead of Hillary HQ.com live blogging or I wouldn’t have gone there :) Lysis and scan do diaries on GOS that are also published at Hillary HQ.com and I’m starting to head there instead of to GOS for what Hillary news I don’t get here – and just do GOS for pootie diary and other community news (BFSkinner is back in the hospital for example). Thanks again for the transcript. I haven’t gotten to it yet but I will as soon as I can clear some of the work I’m actually paid for :)
Good morning, 44 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I’m sleepy and slow today so I’ll keep my pool workout on the easy side so I’ll have energy for my sewing this afternoon.
Our daughter is opening an Etsy store so I’ve dug into my sewing room vault of fabrics and trims and have several projects underway for her. She is making very nice crochet pillows and scarves, and I’ve got a stack of linen cocktail napkins and table runners to finish. It’s been very satisfying to watch her creativity grow from just a simple blog with occasional photos to a very creative site and real business plan.
http://nwframeofmind.com/
Good for your daughter—that’s super—and good for you, princesspat, sewing things that she can sell! I’m so in awe of people that can knit, sew, and do Web sites. I can’t do anything of those things.
Ditto on all counts. (I think I’ve made “clumsy” into an art form though. LOL)
It turns out that the debate did very well online, not surprising because Democrats like the Internets (and quite a few don’t have cable).
Democratic debate live stream outdraws GOP debate
The TV ratings won’t come out until later today.
Morning all! Well, not morning here anymore I guess – I slept very late, after staying up half the night binge watching Person of Interest and collecting my tax info, taking a first cut at the numbers so I can file it today – just couldn’t go to sleep until I was sure I didn’t owe any money (a little late to be sure about that, but better late than never.)
Thanks so much for all the debate news and analysis – I was not a responsible adult and did not watch it, as I hardly ever watch debates, but I’m very glad to hear it was a substantive, adult exchange and that both Clinton and Sanders did well (although it certainly sounds like Hillary won the night which I’m also pleased about.) Thanks particularly for the transcript, I will read that after I get my taxes done.
I am not ashamed to say that I just by god want to see a woman as President before I die – and I’m not talking about Fiorina. I like Bernie, don’t get me wrong, and if he’s the nominee I’ll vote for him – but I think Clinton will be a great President. It’s time US followed the lead of the rest of Western civilization and put a woman in charge. There, I said it.
Have a great day everyone!
Second that emotion, Geordie!
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 53 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 66. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. There was a gorgeous microscopically thin waxing crescent in the sky last night just after sunset. I love the waxing crescent … it is the most hopeful of the moon phases: everything is ahead of you but you can still see the possibilities.
The post-debate punditries are pretty much all filed and most feel the big winner was the Democratic Party and progressives in particular. Apparently there was a kerfuffle on the Internets about freeped polls that CNN took down and a conspiracy to “give” the debate to Secretary Clinton. I didn’t see a lot of people saying anyone won hands down or lost big. I saw increased interest in Candidate Sanders including fund raising and Google hits. I saw people saying that Hillary Clinton looked presidential. And I just read a piece that doesn’t surprise me at all but makes me sad: people are not going to let Hillary be “forceful” or “emphatic” any more than they let Barack Obama show any emotion that gets close to “angry”. You see, when a woman raises her voice to make a point she is “shrill” and “emotional” and accused of “shouting” … when a white man raises his voice he is “strong” and “powerful”. Sigh. I don’t know how much science is in focus groups but I hope that people are going to let women candidates have emotions. And I really wish there was a person of color running this year and on the stage with our candidates so we could compare how the “tone police” are reacting … is it to the candidates color and gender or their words?
Another Republican rat is abandoning the sinking Benghaziiiii investigation ship. I wonder if there will ever be a point where wasting millions of dollars on political witch hunts puts Republican congressional seats at risk. Hanna’s district, NY CD 22, is only an R+3. It would be nice to see a price paid for refusing to govern but I am not holding my breath.
See all y’all later!!
Brrrrrr…good morning Meese – a nippy 39 degrees here in Saugerties. Heading to school later – got to dig out a winter jacket.
Will check in later after I find my long johns – heh
We’re going to go below freezing tomorrow morning … expected low is 29 degrees with a high of only 48! I am ready. I do not like hot weather; you can always put on another sweatshirt but there is only so much you can do when it is hot.
Last day to sleep in. Enjoyed it. Today: groceries & a walk. Yesterday I did 3 loads of laundry.
It is still hot & dry here. Highs in the mid-90s. And the fire over in Bastrop is worse. Yesterday it was 40% contained, today that’s 15%. They know of 9 homes lost, will probably find more when things finally clear up. Most of the fire departments fighting this are volunteers. Got to admire people who would do this on a volunteer basis, but that’s also madness.
That’s awful, anotherdemocrat! Those poor people who lost their homes! Wish you could get some rain in your neck of the woods.
Holding the good thought on the fires. Most county-level fire departments are volunteer at least across the South if not nation wide. They’re mostly funded by “voluntary” taxes or “dues” collected with the property tax bill. Here in AR, the counties sometimes kick in a little to help out – allot them some land to build the station on or help with a “matching fund” equipment grant. Yes, it’s nuts. It’s also part of the anti-federal government view that has been popular in some areas – NOT just the South – since the Constitution was ratified.
50 heading for 88 – another “last day of summer” as the front moves through sometime tomorrow morning. Sun is shining, which helps. Faculty is doing everything they can during “Staff Appreciation Week” to help make up for the fact the Powers That Be totally refuse to re-assess (and thus upgrade salaries) the workload/positions of the secretary and other grunt positions – even though the amount of work per person and the complexity of work in general has vastly increased over the last 5 years. It’s sweet of them but almost makes it worse. (Can’t even grump about the next higher up group even though they make twice or more what we do when they are making it so clear they’d do it if they had the power to. Grumping at the next higher up group would at least be a release of anger. sigh.)
I may or may not stay out of the Hillary diaries at GOS but I’m gonna stay away from the comments. In a very nice diary yesterday talking about how Hillary nailed it on enhancing Social Security at the low end – especially helping women who are the ones most dependent on Social Security and yet because of gender bias and gender roles have lower incomes/invested less in it a hater came in and spent a whole lot of time telling us that a) women don’t have the experiences we say we do, b) Hillary didn’t really say what we heard her say, she really said means testing and/or CPI, c) Hillary didn’t really mean what we heard her say, and d) whatever Hillary said wouldn’t work anyway. sigh
Have the good Thor’s Day – enjoy the Fall color if you’re getting any and the warm weather if you’re not. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Moosekind, and happy Thor’s Day—I think. It was 49 F. in NoVa when we woke up, 54 F. now, going for a high of 66 F. This morning I had to leap out of bed, throw on some clothes, and vacuum the bathroom walls. Now I have to wash them with a squeegee thing. I have a visceral loathing of housework, having been forced to do so much of it as a teenager. That old Coasters song, “Yakkety Yak,” describes my life. I want it played at my memorial service.
Back to more cheerful topics, it’s a beautiful day, we’re up to our ears in work, and the realtor’s helper was nearly in tears yesterday. The realtor is coming over on Sunday to have a fit. THANK GODDESS Hubby found his letter opener—if he hadn’t, he would have made a scene. No, not a scene, an entire play in three acts with no intermissions. Anyway, it’s found.
So that’s where we are right now. Will try not to think about Polly Ticks today. All the dust and paint smells are giving me a headache as it is, and reading Hillary Hate would just make it worse. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
Yay, for found letter opener! Boo, for up to your ears in work!!
Do NOT think about Polly Ticks because it will just Tick you off. The only thing we can do is wait for the rest of the country to come to its senses about the benefits of Democratic Party values. :(
Glad you found the letter opener. Cleaning has never been my strong point but “vacuum the bathroom walls”? That’s weird. Having “contacts” has also never been my strong point but have you and your kin put out the word about your house going up for sale? Think about where you were in your life and why you bought it in the first place, and then see if any of the folks you/your husband/your kids work with (or used to work with) are in a similar place in their lives? That could seriously reduce the stress if it’s a possibility. (Never was for me, but my best friend got her house that way.) Getting a pro to sell it is good on many levels, but not if said pro is going to do nothing but harass you, have fits at you, and demand you spend more money. (Think cost-benefit here. Having an HVAC system increases saleability and price. Having a new HVAC system does not. No matter what the pro tells you.)
As to Polly Ticks – definitely stay away. It would indeed make the headache worse. Once it warms up enough open the windows to get rid of the paint smells. Might need to snort some saline solution to deal with the dust. Hang in there.
Good advice, bfitz, mucho gracias! The realtor is actually very good. It’s just that this is a LOT of work for us to get through in the time specified.
Morning Meese! It’s a beautiful day here in north Florida – positively crisp outside, got down below 60 last night, and now we have clear blue sky, 70 degrees going up to the mid-80’s – we’ll have this the rest of the week, then looks like the highs will start being in the 70’s after that, which is perfect as far as I’m concerned. I think the stronger El Nino means we will likely have a colder and wetter winter, which doesn’t really bother me – I like a bit of seasonal contrast, I so miss that from living up north.
All the stories I’ve been looking at in the MSM seem to have awarded debate honors to Clinton, although Sanders came off very well also – and above all, the Democrats looked so sane and adult compared to the Repugs, which is nothing new. Hopefully, sanity and adulthood will appeal to voters in the end more than xenophobia, bigotry and childishness, but I’m not holding my breath. And I also am not holding my breath for the media to allow Clinton to show emotion – as a law professor for 20 years, I was always held to a different standard than my male colleagues, and it’s a no win situation. If she shows emotion, she’s weak, if she doesn’t, she’s a robot. While I am crying no tears for the young actress Jennifer Lawrence, the top paid actress in Hollywood now ( she is one of my favorite actors though), I was glad to see her calling out sexism in her working environment in an essay the other day at Lena Dunham’s feminist web site (or blog, or whatever lol) – and she is being supported by women all over, not just in Hollywood. Many men, of course, react as you would expect, just focusing on why she should just take her millions and shut up about inequity, when her point, of course, was that the issue is faced by women in every working environment, regardless of the size of their paycheck. It gives me hope that the generation of women in their 20’s may finally be seeing feminism as something they need to embrace, not run away from the way younger women have for the last couple of decades.
Diana is there no way you can postpone putting your house on the market another week or two to give yourselves some more time? The task sounds just so overwhelming!
I had a worrying hiccup when I tried to e-file my taxes yesterday – the IRS rejected my return saying my SSN was “equal to” the SSN already associated with a married filing jointly return. I’m going to mail in a hard copy today, hoping this was some sort of coding glitch, as they can’t just reject the paper return, they have to process it, and hopefully will see it’s MY number that I’ve had for 60 years, for which they just issued me a Medicare card, and under which I’ve filed tax returns for over 40 years! Sheesh.
Have a great day everyone!
Sounds like you’re getting nice weather. I’ll admit I moved to NW AR mostly to get seasons – although thanks to global warming the Austin climate of 35 years ago is catching up to me – but my body really prefers 70s-80s in the day time and at lowest upper 50s at night if I’m home in a warm bed and mid 60s if I’m out in it. :)
Nobody but us progressive females are likely to “allow” Hillary to have emotions – or to know the difference between what I want to get done v. what I can get done – or a whole lot of other things that are the reasons we like her, want her to win, will support her in this endeavor if she’s the candidate even if she’s not our first choice (although she does happen to be mine).
IRA mucked up my mother’s SSN many years ago – it took a lot of time, forms, and persistence to get it fixed. Hopefully it will take less of all three before yours is straightened out.
Sadly, the advent of online filing has made it easier for people to “take over” someone’s tax account and file returns using their numbers. I never file online except where I have to (my state won’t take my corporate taxes on paper any longer). That doesn’t stop someone from filing using my ss number which they might have found from somewhere but it is one less place for it to be. I hope they get it sorted out for you. An acquaintance of mine went to file her taxes one year and found someone had already filed using her number and it required a lot of work to undo the mess that caused.
The presidential “game” has been tilted in favor of straight white men who are allowed to show a range of emotions (unless it is actual crying: see Muskie, Edmund). President Obama can’t raise his voice in righteous anger because he would be the “angry black man”, Hillary can’t raise her voice in righteous anger because she would be the “overly emotional woman”. But Bernie Sanders can pound the podium and yell and flail his arms and he is “strong” and “forceful”. Regarding the debates, I am going to go with the commentary I read that suggests that the debates don’t matter much. The people who watch them mostly have their candidate chosen and unless he or she stumbles mightily, the debate simply reinforces their opinions. None of the top three candidates stumbled and other than a couple of clangs, I heard nothing to dissuade me from supporting Secretary Clinton. She appeared the most presidential and understands that the fight is against the Republican vision for America (see Pew Poll chart below), not anyone on that stage.
Good morning, 41 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham today. It’s a quiet day for us with coffee and reading this morning, and more leaves to rake and sewing to do this afternoon.
Good morning, meese! Friday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 48. Sunny skies are in the forecast. I don’t know if we got the overnight lows below freezing early this morning but the outside water was shut off and the hoses brought in. It is expected to be below freezing overnight tonight.
The announcement of the continuation of American involvement in Afghanistan was not unexpected but is truly sad. That should be a warning to everyone: ending a war is much more difficult than starting one. Yes, George W. Bush destabilized pretty much the whole world requiring an American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. But, JHC, you would think that we could figure out some way to get the heck out of there. One thing to note: Republican primary goers would like us to go into Syria, too.
The FEC released the 3rd quarter campaign financial reports for the 2016 presidential candidates. I was enjoying reading that Scott Walker’s campaign is expected to be $1 million in debt. I wonder how much success he will have finding donors to help him erase the debt when they find out that he paid his two sons almost $10,000 for their “help” during the 71 days of the campaign.
See all y’alls later!