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?
…
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.
…
Good morning, 52 and raining in Bellingham. Today is a day to celebrate….our son’s blood clot surgery was 6 months ago and he is still alive. Those words look so stark on the page, but when the surgeon talked to us about the risks of the surgery he said this would be the best possible outcome so we’ve been counting the days. We had a quiet dinner together last night to share the moment.
RonK comes home today. He has been staying at Lake Chelan with his brothers and they have enjoyed exploring the diverse geology of Wa State. The Ice Age Floods were a dramatic geological event. The link has interesting photos and information.
So I didn’t watch the R’s debate last night….real life and geologic time traveling took precedent!
Princesspat, this is such good news!
Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) was just elected Speaker of the House. There were about 10 defections including a vote for Colin Powell(!).
May a swarm of Free-dumb Cacas take up residence in his shorts.
Morning everyone! Another warm but pleasant day here, heading to the low 80’s but with kind of a cool breeze so it’s very nice.
Thanks for all the debate reports – I can’t watch those things, so I salute those who are able to sit through them. I’m still mystified and frankly saddened at the appeal of Ben Carson, whose chief asset to me is that he’s very goodlooking and kind of looks presidential in a movie way….right up until he opens his mouth and starts saying that crazy stuff about Obamacare being the worst thing since slavery! Seriously, dude.
I still am most alarmed at Cruz – he has that crazy vibe also, but in more of a proto-fascist way, and crazed right wing conviction I guess is a draw for some folks. The movie Trumbo opens next week, looks great with Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo, and maybe will be a helpful reminder to a lot of people about what happens in this country when crazy right-wingers start pushing the agenda – the black list, the Army-McCarthy hearings, people’s lives and careers ruined. And with Cruz (and of course he’s not alone in that crew of candidates), it would go further, so it’s imperative to change the narrative and stop these people.
That is very good news about the Latino voter registration drive – we need a nationwide effort, or at least strong state by state efforts to both get people registered and then get them to vote. Our Democratic Party in Florida is pretty awful, but I am going to try to get involved next May, after I’m done teaching in the spring (just one course, as an adjunct, to help out as there’s no one else around who wants to teach Deferred Compensaton to our graduate tax students) – I used to just give money, but now I have more time than money so I need to get out there and work for our candidates!
Have a great Thursday everyone!
Florida will be an interesting state in 2016. You have a Senate race and two presidential election cycles favoring the Democratic presidential candidate.
You should see what the Republicans were saying about Social Security in this last debate! The only one interested in protecting it was Mike Huckabee and he has as much chance of being the Republican nominee as I do. The rest want to push the retirement age up, means test, and put the FICA contributions into brokerage accounts. What would it take to get Floridians angry enough to boot a few House members out as well?
It will take redistricting to get hardly any of our Republican House reps out – the districts are so distorted. The courts have ruled against the current setup, but I have zero confidence that anything will really change until 2020, and at that point we will need a concerted effort to get the Latino and African-American vote out down here to make real change. Very depressing.
Good morning, meese! Friday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 54. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
The budget bill and debt limit passed the Senate very early this morning and is headed for President Obama’s desk. Once again, the dysfunctional Congress took the process down to the wire, roiling the financial markets and creating unnecessary angst for those who depend on the government for their lives and livelihood. The problem with this “just in time governing” is that it is now the norm and people are more likely to say “well, they always get it done in the end” versus “this is an ignorant way to run a country, let’s make some changes”. p.s. Paul Ryan is not an upgrade at Speaker. He is an empty headed lifetime pol who never grew out of his adolescent fascination with Ayn Rand. He is the poster child for “take from the system and then make sure no one else gets help” in his use of OSA survivor benefits to go to college and his subsequent life-long goal of destroying Social Security. It is Clarence Thomas Republicanism, drinking from the well of good government and then after you are no longer thirsty, spiking the well and cementing it over. I hope he suffers the same fate as every Republican Speaker since 1994, resigning in disgrace or defeat.
The consensus was that there was no clear winner in the GOP debate but the clear loser was the RNC and Reince Priebus who was widely panned for the party’s debate management. I have decided I don’t care what they do because it does not impact my life in any way. Whichever ignorant hate-filled candidate slithers out of their nominating contest as their standard bearer will be unable to win in a general election.
Prep school rapist upset because his life has already been ruined … why should he have to go to jail too??? Because you raped someone and that is still (barely) illegal in America.
See all y’alls later!
Jan, I couldn’t agree more about Paul Ryan, who not only looks like a vampire but wants to behave like one. He gives me the creeps year round, not just at Halloween. I’m gonna clutch my Social and my Medicare to my chest because I know he wants to take it away.
Poor little preppie school rapist. He’ll have to register as a sex offender, I understand. He only gets one year in jail? Make it ten. And he’s out on bail for the duration of the appeal. This country makes me ill sometimes. Our corrupt ex-governor, a Rethug, still has yet to serve a single day in prison. One law for the rich and famous, another law for the poor!
Yes, your ex-governor is well connected and his appeal will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, people on death row who might be innocent get a big fat MEH from the courts. Sigh.
46 here in the hills of the Mid-Hudson Valley – headed up to 54 and maybe rain.
Off to read the news – such as it is, and then to play some World of Warcraft – to relax – lol
Have a good day folks
Hi, Denise–did you receive my email the other day?
I don’t know – I’ll look and see – have fallen behind on emails
Good morning, Meese—it’s a gorgeous day here in NoVa, 45 F. now, going up to 59 F. later. Busy day ahead, with a haircut, ordering of birthday cake, and lunch with two of the Circle Sisters. We’re an ex-Circle now, but I still think of them that way.
The cold I’m getting is slowing me down, and I have a birthday dinner to cook for my nephew on Sunday—arrgh! We have to leave the house in pristine condition this weekend, so that means I’ve got to do laundry today in case anyone comes for a Viewing. (Makes me think of corpses for some reason.) I’m cooking the roast beef and Yorkshire at Younger Son’s house. He lives round the corner. Monty Beagle will be in Doggy Day Care for a good bit of the day on Sunday.
Hope everyone will have a good day this Eve of Samhain Eve! Newest grandbaby is three months old today.
We get an extra hour for Samhain weekend as the clocks will be falling back. I plan to use it for sleeping.
Thunderstorms! Wow, loud. Wondering if tomorrow will be the 2nd time ever in the history of my training group to cancel a Saturday morning because thunderstorms are expected then, too.
I have my Hermione outfit on, complete with Gryffindor tie & a time-turner.
I cannot watch this enough: U2 with Patti Smith – Gloria/People Have the Power
Good morning, 54 windy and raining in Bellingham. It looks and feels like fall outside my window today…..lots of leaves yet to turn and a weeks worth to rake. The electricians are coming to look at the attic rewiring project this morning so we’re one step closer to having insulation in the attic again.
Time for the pool. Have a great day everyone!
Started the morning at 38 (59 in my bedroom, 62 in the kitchen but I’m determined not to turn the furnace on yet) heading for 58 and almost there as of 10:24 CDT. Rain moving in as my knees, hips, and hands confirm. Hoping that it passes through by morning – not good for the farmers at the Market – but as long as it clears off so the little kids on my block can Trick or Treat it’s good. It’s funny that they’re more excited about the quarters I give them than the candy they get elsewhere. :)
Paul Ryan is evil and a traitor to his Irish heritage. The bidness wing of the Rs managed to get a passable, wont’ be veto’d debt ceiling and budget bill through with Dem help mostly so they won’t be dealing with shutdowns during the 2016 election cycle. Same reason Guv A** Hutchinson convinced the RWNJs running the AR Legislature to renew the privatized version of Medicare expansion we have until 2017 – doesn’t give a rat’s hindernethers about the people who need it, but doesn’t want to throw them off healthcare until after the elections.
Happy Friday and hope everybody’s weekend and holy day is good. {{{HUGS}}}
I resisted turning the furnace on as long as I could but one day this week I came downstairs and it was 67 degrees. That is the kind of temperature that encourages teenagers to snuggle more deeply under the covers, not to wake up and get ready for school. :)
Paul Ryan is just a figurehead. He simply needs to bring a few defund Planned Parenthood and repeal Obamacare bills to the floor, have them pass on a party line vote and then be sent to the Senate to die in a filibuster. The only bill still to be considered in the 114th Congress is the highway bill; it has bipartisan support because road builders are Republicans so it should be pretty easy lifting. His dream of taking whacks at granny and plumping up the bank accounts of the have-mores will have to wait until the Republicans get 60 votes in the Senate, i.e. forever. But he will be the Young Face of the Republican Party, hiding a hideous blackened soul behind his rictus.
Have a good weekend, bfitz!
67? My furnace is set at 60. heh. Didn’t have a furnace growing up (A/C neither) just gas heaters in the living areas and the bathrooms. The main problem I have getting up is there isn’t a heat source in my bathroom except the main furnace. In this weather I turn on the oven as soon as I get into the kitchen, whether I’m baking anything or not, which was SOP when I was a kid :) Having a warm bathroom to dress in was the way we got everybody up back then.
You are right about Paul Ryan being a figurehead. But then what does it say about the Rs that they want an evil, granny- and kid-killing monster as their figurehead? You don’ t need to answer that. You have a good weekend, too.
Afternoon all – I’m not going to talk about the weather down here (it’s beautiful and warm) but I kind of envy all of your cool weather to the north and west of me. We’ll get some chilly days soon, I hope – but for now it’s kind of like San Diego, which is actually good for my older rescue dog Max who has congenital joint degeneration which cold weather is not great for.
I am really hoping Ryan mostly functions as a caretaker until 2017 – I don’t think the Republicans are going to want to do anything much (like that would be a change) until after the election, so perhaps his opportunities for destruction will be very limited.
Keeping my fingers crossed for your house sale viewings this weekend, Diana. I’m being very lazy these days, but I have a phone interview with SSA on Monday that I have to prepare for – I called and told them, as requested in the letter I got about my Medicare Part B premium (I start coverage in December when I’ll be 65), that my income was much lower this year because I retired in May, and they decided they needed to talk to me about it at greater length. I have to dig up whatever I can find in the way of corroboration that I’ve retired – I’ve got correspondence via e-mail with various state entities, so I need to find that and organize it for Monday.
Have a great afternoon everyone! I’ve always loved Friday afternoons – I remember in college, it was the best time of the week, classes done and you had the whole weekend to put off writing that paper that was due on Monday! lol
We’ve had such crazy weather here today. Flooding, with some evacuations – and some of the businesses that just re-opened after recovering from the Memorial Day floods got flooded again. The head of my agency closed us down at 3, so people could go home in the lull between storms. And I’ve had awful allergies all day – water faucet nose so bad that I’m exhausted & falling asleep already. I posted in my Saturday group’s FB page that I’m not going tomorrow, I’m too much of a mess.
Good morning, meese! Saturday …
It is 46 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 48. Rain, rain, and more rain.
Blessed Samhain to everyone! Time for the Great Wheel to turn to another year.
Samhain Song, Artist: Lisa Thiel, Album: Circle Of The Seasons
See all y’alls later!
blessed Samhain to you!
Love this, Jan! Thanks so much for the link!
Blessings to all
Thank you!
Denise, this was really soothing to watch. Thank you.
Good morning, Moosekind, and Blessed Samhain, Happy Halloween, or All Hallows Eve to you all! Gorgeous day dawning here, 34 F. now, going up to 68 F. today. Looking forward to seeing the kids in their costumes tonight.
For those who’d like a little bit of fiction along with their lunchtime sandwich, “Rescue Mission” is up in the Fiction Cafe at http://goddessfiction.com. Hope you like it!
Running off now to cook Sunday breakfast on Saturday because I won’t have time tomorrow—back later.
Don’t forget that you will get an extra hour tomorrow! Tonight we will be Falling Back … daylight saving time ends.
Morning Meese, and Blessed Samhain to those who celebrate it. I don’t know much about it, but reading and listening to the wonderful stuff posted here, I think I will do some research to learn about it. It’s another warm day here – in the 80’s stretching weeks into the future I think. I guess it is not all that unusual – I had a colleague at the law school who used to host potluck Thanksgiving dinners outside at a local state park, so it frequently is warm enough for that in November, at least.
Had trouble sleeping again last night – once I woke up around 4:30, couldn’t go back to sleep, so finally got up and started investigating sugar free custard recipes on the web. I used to have one, when I was trying the low carb diet stuff years ago, and it was a very tasty alternative to ice cream. I’m trying to really cut back on sugar – it’s bad for you pretty much no matter what, and it seems to me my knees feel better when I’ve laid off sugar for a few days.
Have a great day everyone!
Samhain marks the Wiccan New Year which is why there is talk of the Wheel of the Year. It is also when the veil is thinnest between the earthly plane and where our ancestors’ spirits linger. Many use that time to reconnect with those who have passed, sometimes to ask for help, sometimes to simply remind ourselves that they are really not gone … they are always alive in our hearts and our memories.
Plus candy! Although I will forgo that as it is not good for my body either.
Skipped my morning workout, my allergies are so bad I figured I should rest. So of course there were weather alerts from my phone in the middle of the night. And it isn’t raining this morning. I at least got back to sleep & was sleeping when by back up alarm went off, after 7. But the water faucet nose is just exhausting.
Eating breakfast, watching Up & local news. Very sad about the plane crash. And poor Bastrop — they just got the fire out & now were flooded yesterday/last night. And San Marcos – there’s flooding all around Texas State. Local news is full of stories from people rescued after their cars were swept away. Our airport had 14.99 inches of rain — doubled the old record for it’s wettest day ever. My neighborhood is fine, we’re on higher ground, and even though there’s a creek, there’s a good sized hill between it & my complex.
no idea why, but my head is playing Hozier’s Take Me To Church
Good morning, 54 and raining in Bellingham today. We’ll share pizza and soggy trick or treating with Ava later today but I’m going to be a fair weather Grammie for her soccer game…..the fields will be wet and cold! I’ll surprise RonK with some Snickers bars of his very own so her’s will be safe :)
Thank you Dee and JanF for sharing the Samhain blessings and songs. I love the thoughtful season changing thoughts we share together here.