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 on a fair and beautiful Tuesday in NoVa—40 F. now, going up to 61 F. later.
Could not stand the news for more than 15 minutes this morning. Looking at the video in which Daesh thugs are threatening Washington, DC, I deduced these jerks join Daesh because they’re too ugly to get a date. I should write to Ted Cruzy-Woozy and tell him there’s a simple way to find out whether an incoming Syrian refugee is a terrorist or not—yank his beard! If it comes off, he’s not a real terrorist; if it stays on, why of course he IS one!
It’s one thing for Cruzy, Ruby, Carly, Donny, and Jebby to be stupid but to assume that the rest of us are as well makes my blood boil. Therefore I’m going to give one-tenth of my Christmas money to the UN organization that helps Syrian refugees. See you later!
Great big rainstorm. But it’s supposed to be gone by mid-morning. So, no flooding. Possible tornadoes, though, so…..
No thoughts in my head. It has gone back to playing People Have The Power at me. Today I’m not really sure that’s a good idea. People don’t seem to be so good at this.
63 and raining at dawn (or what’s passing for dawn) today in Fay., AR. 61 now and slowly dropping to 41 at dawn tomorrow – and rain expected for the rest of the daylight hours. Got .6″ rain yesterday and already 1.3″ today – flash flood watch in effect. Got a sinus headache which I’m hoping caffeine will get rid of – at least enough to let me function today. Got lots of unrelated bits and pieces to deal with – would love to get some of them dealt with so I have a coherent project to work on for a change.
I am so tired of the hate out there. Whether were talking the evil nastiness of Daesh or the slightly less evil Rs who refuse to help anybody with anything for any reason (except in funneling everybody else’s money and energy into the pockets of their masters) or even the relatively minor Hillary hate over at GOS, I’m just tired of it. It is so contra to every religion I know of (and probably the ones I don’t know of, too). And yet it seems to win 90% of the time. Hope things are going well – or at least better – in your part of Moosylvania. {{{HUGS}}}
It is exhausting. Just when I think the Republicans can’t get any more hateful, I am (unpleasantly) surprised.
Today I will tuck myself away and get some work projects completed.
Hope your headache goes away!
Good morning, 52, raining, windy and just getting light outside in Bellingham today. Yesterday’s excursion to the Verizon store resulted in new phones for our son and me and revised plans which save us both monthly and made the phones seem “free.” And it still seems like magic. How does “the cloud” move everything from my old phone to the new one? I’m not sure I can understand even a basic explanation, so magic it will be and now I need to learn how to use my new mobile computer. It even has a large print option!
Sen. Patty Murray wants to help more foster and homeless youth go to college
I saw this article on FB last evening and the negative comments were so disheartening I closed my computer and turned on the music. How can so many people be so mean spirited about helping those in need?
Clouds are amazing things and using them is an excellent way to move data from device to device. My only concern is with clouds that want to sync everything from my computer to their “safe” storage location. No, thank you!! I will pick and choose.
I think/hope the cloud is just backing up my phone messages and photos. I find all the settings and interactions very complicated, but I do enjoy seeing the photos I take with my phone show up later on my iPad. Some phone messages are on the iPad too, but not all of them, which confuses me even more.
But based on the conversations I listened to yesterday at the Verizon store from the senior set I’m less befuddled than many!
Morning all! Warm and sunny here but with a cool breeze that makes it pretty nice outside. I too am just worn out reading the news – the hate just suffuses most of the stories about the refugees and it’s so disheartening. Ugh. Today is errand and shopping day, so I will just keep busy and avoid that stuff.
I hope portlaw returns as well, although I don’t think I’ve seen her post since I joined up here. I like both Bernie and Hillary, and also have differences with each of them and things I also would hope to change their minds on if they get the nomination (I’m worried about Hillary being captive to the beltway insider “common wisdom” about Social Security needing to be trimmed, for example). But I’d vote for either of them, truly.
Have a good day everyone!
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
A nasty storm hit a little after midnight and the lashing winds and rain were coming from the east and the south where I have windows. When a train passed by at about 1:15, that did it … I could not pretend that sleep was possible. I will try to take a nap this morning.
It is 58 and that is the expected high. It is raining and windy and that is the forecast! Easy weather report.
The president called out the anti-refugee governors and said their overblown rhetoric is a potent recruitment tool for Daesh. Here is the current state of the states with a new category which New Hampshire’s Democratic governor was probably shamed into (she was a NO yesterday):
Republicans are working on an anti-refugee poison pill amendment for the must-pass budget bill. Even John McCain is angry that there is talk of shutting down the government over the reflexive Republican refugee-bashing Ryan is whipping up.
This is the party you and your teaparty pals built, Senator. Purty, ain’t it?
Bobby Jindal has called a halt to his campaign. Most frequent question on Twitter was “was he running for president?”. My guess is that he does not see a path to the Vice Presidency either considering that he trashed his deep red state so badly that a Democratic governor will probably get elected Saturday. His future job prospects are pretty grim and he should probably practice saying “would you like fries with that?”.
See all y’alls later!
Good morning.
Was elated to hear POTUS come down hard on the fear-mongers and nay-sayers.
Someone at orange posted a link to this which needs to be shared widely. I’m so tired of hearing we have “no process” for admitting refugees.
I’m also deeply disturbed by what I’m hearing from some Democrats, liberals…leftists who are spouting the same r-w talking points coming from the right.
The”fear of the other” syndrome is out in full force, and as a person who is permanently “othered” I hear it loud and clear and it is making me very angry.
I have been reading that and also skittish Democrats thinking that we need to pander to the fear or we will lose elections. I call bs on that. Yes, there is a strong nativist bent in our country but we don’t have to give in to it; we can Un-Other people by working to explain different religions and cultures. The young people get it and I hope we can get them to vote. If they don’t, they will not much like their country under a President Trump or President Cruz. Or the one that John Kasich wants, where he establishes a Department of Judeo-Christian Values to whip some westernization on the “godless”, a modern day Crusades, if you will.
Oh my Goddess!
Kasich is being promoted as the “reasonable” R clown car member.
:(
His defenders are turning themselves into pretzels trying to explain why this is a good thing! I saw David Frum tweeting frantically “what’s wrong with Christian values?” Well, the values themselves are fine (hard work, caring for others, etc) … but calling them “Christian”, as though non-Christians do not hold them, is what is wrong. Christians and Jews are 31.7% of the world population. What are they saying to the remaining 68.3% … that they must convert? Sheesh. Kasich is a very strong christianist; any aura of “reasonableness” he exudes is only in comparison with the others.
By the way, here is an article that show visually what your video describes:
Click to see chart.
I have been thinking about this post and I want to make sure that I do not sound cavalier about the risks. If one of those 3 bad actors had caused someone’s death, it would certainly be awful. Case in point: after one particularly snowy year here, the local newspaper celebrated the fact that “despite all the bad weather, there was only one fatality on area highways”. Well, that fatality was someone I knew so “only one” was a dear friend, not just a statistic.
But we can’t sacrifice who we are as a nation because of the very small risk of someone duping the 12 to 24 month vetting process that takes place. Dick “Dick” Cheney governed on the premise that we should allow no risks whatsoever and that led to the erosion of constitutional rights, torture, and a world turned against us. There is something in between.
You don’t sound cavalier.
I simply find all this making me angrier and angrier.
These people don’t want to deal with the reality of “deaths” in the U.S.
100 people per day die from drug overdoses – and we still don’t want to give out Narcan
We have the highest inmate population in the friggin world – if that’s “Christian values” well I reject those who parse them that way.
Time to listen to my radio call in show and get angrier.
bbl.
Not to mention the gun deaths …
– 3,400 people killed by terrorists since 9/11/2001
– 3,400 people killed by guns in the last 5 weeks
Those people were allowed to be sacrificed for an incorrect reading of the 2nd Amendment while the rest of the constitution is shredded out of fear of a terrorist attack.
Or Ebola. The nothingburger that was used by Fox News to scare Republicans to the polls so that they could vote their fears and ignorance about science.
Good morning, Moosylvania! It’s 48 F. here in NoVa under cloudy skies, going up to 61 F. today. Rain is expected tonight and throughout the commute tomorrow.
Awful news from France and shame-making news from Rethug governors in this country. Wouldn’t you know Vampire Ryan would threaten to shut down the government over something! Words cannot express how deeply I despise Rethuglicans, Christianists, jihadists, and people who don’t even want to extend a helping hand to the poor and oppressed. There’ve been some pointed cartoons on my FB feed lately, showing a native American turning away a Pilgrim, and a circle of European police with riot shields surrounding a year-old baby who’s sitting in the middle, crying.
Well, our little venture into real estate is over. Our realtor was very nice about it. She came over yesterday to pick up her staging materials and take the lockbox off. The sign in front of our house is gone. (BTW, I’ll never believe in St. Joseph again.) AP was very nice and even said we didn’t have to pay back the couple thou they spent on our downsizing guru.
Off to the next county to baby-sit Mr. Newbaby this evening as his parents accidentally made plans to be out of the house at the same time. It’ll be nice to see him again. Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day!
I am glad that the real estate people (in both places) were kind to you. One would hope they would be … you may very well be a customer some day … just not now.
Mr. Newbaby’s parents are lucky to have you available for scheduling snafus. :)
Actually I’d believe more in St. Joseph – he’s not there to get you into new lodging, he’s there to get/keep you in right lodging. And he did. :)
Well, bfitz, I hadn’t thought of it that way! :)
I was so going to call in sick today. I’m tired, and I haven’t exercised…. But here I am. And I had to wear long sleeves, and a jacket — and shoes!!! Shoes that require socks. This is just… weird. And not in the fun, Austin-y sense. Anyway, here at work. Tomorrow’s our holiday lunch, so I wanted to come in & see what instructions there’ll be. I usually make something that doesn’t have to be heated up, but this year I’m bringing tofurkey, so I need to pay attention.
I really need to stop watching the news. Everything is awful. People suck. There was a story that didn’t get much national coverage — a man at a campground here in Texas befriended a family of fellow campers, and murdered them. Just, killed them all. Must find something good happening in the world.
Good morning, 40 and clear in Bellingham today. We were on the edge of the PNW storm yesterday so we are fine, but our daughter in Edmonds is without power and Finn done with branches falling and pine cones littering his roof!
Finn
Morning all. Yes, indeed the news is just plain bad all over – I guess now they’ve learned that one of the French attackers did come in to France posing as a Syrian refugee. That’s all the right wing will need to call for building a wall around Europe as well as the US – and of course, infiltration is a possibility, both in Europe and here. But the larger question is how did young people raised in France and Belgium, by far the majority of the attacking group in Paris, become so susceptible to this poisonous ideology and how can Western societies prevent this kind of disaffection? One or two Daesh thugs posing as their own victims and making it into Europe – or the US – could not do much without the support of the homegrown group. If someone wants to sneak into your country to do mischief, they will in all likelihood find a way, no matter what kind of barriers are put up – the real challenge is making sure they find no one to support them once they make it in.
It’s too warm again today, but cool weather is coming by the end of the week, at last! And by cool, high 60’s, but in the 40’s at night so at last I can use a blanket again – I love snuggling in my bed under warm covers on a cold night!
Diana, sounds like everyone you guys dealt with was very nice, and I am SURE you are not the first people to have had to change your plans on them. Enjoy your streamlined house!
Have a great day everyone.
I am sorry they found that out about the Syrian passport. What is it they say about one bad apple spoiling the whole bunch? Certainly true of this: tens of thousands of refugees helped and a couple of knotheads will likely wreck it for those who weren’t lucky enough to already get settled.
I understand the risks of a mistake are enormous. If one Daesh terrorist sneaks in and wreaks havoc, the right-wing will have a field day. It will be President Obama’s fault and the fault of everyone who trusted the Muslim Kenyan Usurper to keep us safe. :( And if that were to happen on 11/7/2016 it could tilt the election in favor of Republicans which would have global consequences.
Why is it, though, that the existence of the Charleston killer and the Sandy Hook killer and the countless movie theater and mall and mosque and temple killers are never able to be used to demand that guns be kept out of the hands of right-wing haters? The same rules never seem to apply to the biggest terrorist organization on the planet, the NRA.
No, no, no – with the Charleston killer we shouldn’t be asking to get rid of guns. We should be demanding that all Euro-Americans be deported back to their home countries! There’s no parallel between getting rid of bad people and getting rid of guns. In the R mind.
Jan, I am MUCH more afraid of the NRA than I am of the Syrians!
42 at sunrise heading for 57 and less cloudy although not yet sunny. I think I got 1/2 KWH yesterday for the whole day – it was so cloudy the system was in night mode for most of the day – so less cloudy is a step in the right direction.
Sometimes I’m not sure if there is any good news in the world – especially when I’m looking at headlines on any version of media. But I’m relatively healthy. My children and grandchildren and kitty cats are relatively healthy. We’ve all got sound roofs over our heads, food for the table, electricity, heat, and running water. Nobody’s shooting at us. We adults have jobs that at least pay the bills, whether or not we’re happy with the work (and my older son isn’t). The kids are doing OK-to-good in school and have schools to do OK-to-good in. And via the internet I have contact with good people all over the country and even a few internationally. Counting blessings really does give one a breather before heading out to work on making things better in the world. The Moose Pond is another blessing to count. {{{HUGS}}}
and I found something great — for those of you on twitter, a simple way to donate books to kids:
https://twitter.com/VintageAnchor/status/666714714530037760
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 44 degrees in Madison, on its way down to 39. Wind and more wind … right now the wind is 15 mph gusting to 25.
Good lord, what is WRONG with this country?? Refusing Syrian refugees who are on their way to your state, Gov. Mike “I hate teh gays too!” Pence? I want the State Department to consider a new re-settlement rule – do not send the huddled masses to states run by aholes. It is unnecessarily cruel. Here is a nice graphical depiction of excellent places where oppressed peoples will be welcomed:
p.s. Virginia does not include Roanoke and Illinois does not include Chicago.
And yes, this is a very popular position for the Republican governors to take. It parallels the rise of the Trump … anti-immigrant, anti-other Americans are very much in favor of closing our borders, and our hearts, to oppressed people, half of whom are children. But guess what? Screw you. President Obama is not backing down, our Democratic presidential candidates are not backing down and thank you Connecticut:
If there is anyone out there who still says “both parties are the same” and who is willing to sit out the election next year if their preferred Democratic candidate does not get the nomination has earned my eternal scorn. It. Is. Not. Okay.
See all y’alls later!!
I was just looking at that map. The core of it is no different than the SPLC map of the location of confederate shrines to terrorism and terrorists aka white supremacists. It’s just expanded northward. (writing about this for Sunday)
This is one of the times I’m grateful to live in NY – as much as I’m not a fan of Cuomo – at least he and de Blasio are clear that NYS and NYC will not be banning Syrians.
I’m glad that elections are next year – I hope that some of this insanity will have lessened by that time – but Republicans (and a few Democrats) can always find something to fan the flames of hate and xenophobia – like ebola, or Mexican children.
I’m emotionally exhausted by all of this. Every time I have to face the fact that a big chunk of my fellow citizens hold pretty vile views of “others” distresses me – and yes – I’ve lived with this reality my whole life but certain events bring it to the forefront of my thinking.
It is very sad, but not unexpected, that the hateful rhetoric flowed northward. Here is a story about an anti-Islam rally in Germany and who the people are who are holding these views:
In the northern states, “conservative middle-class voters and unemployed workers” are suffering shocks from the economic recovery that never really recovered their jobs and they elected right-wing governors and state legislatures who reflect their anger. It has always been a “feature” of America to blame The Other for “taking” their jobs when really their jobs were destroyed by the haves and the have-mores who found cheaper places to make the stuff people buy.
Yes, Ebola!! That fear was used to great advantage for last year’s election. I noticed that Mike Huckabee has called for a ban on all visas from countries that might have Daesh terrorists living there … just like they wanted to ban all flights from countries in Africa during the Ebola freakout. I hope that people realize that we can’t build a wall around America and that the people telling them that we can are just lying to them.
Good morning, Moosekind! It’s rainy and mild here in NoVa, but after the rain ends this afternoon the temperature will drop like a rock.
Jan, thanks for the excellent post about “people, not symbols.” Heartily agree. So glad I’m not a hateful right-winger and that in my state we have a Democratic governor.
Had the night from hell last night. Could not get to sleep to save my life. I think I got a few hours between 3 and 6:45 a.m. Going to feel horrible all day. At noon we are going to meet Miss Pink Cheeks’ father at her school and we’ll all have Thanksgiving lunch with her. The last time we did this was 30 years ago with Miss Pink Cheeks’ father at that same school and the food was awful. Wonder whether it’ll be any better.
Wishing a good day to all, filled with pleasant thoughts instead of news!
Do you think there is a disturbance in the universe, Diana? Maybe all the anger and hatred flowing around us is leaving us unsettled. I woke up at 1:30am (again) and was unable to get back to sleep … I finally gave up at 2am. There were high winds but, really, nothing like the night before. I should have been exhausted after being awake for 20 hours (no time for my typical early afternoon cat nap yesterday) but instead, after I woke up, I could not get back to sleep.
I hope that the school received negative feedback 30 years ago and has a better menu for you! If it was prepared by the parents, I would assume that it would be more modern, if nothing else. :)
Something is roiling the universe, even way out west. I just can’t seem to reset my sleep clock this fall. And being awake in the night allows all sort of unsettling thoughts to intrude. I need a Kaspersky system for sleep!
I am pretty sure this isn’t related to daylight saving time ending … I feel as though that adjustment was made successfully (although I am still shocked when I look at the clock thinking it is about 8pm and it is only 5! It got dark quickly!!).
For me the wind is probably part of it. I also have lots of projects, both personal and professional, that I am juggling right now. As those fall off my to-do list, maybe sleep will come more easily.
The juggling projects is probably it. When I’ve got more than a full load to juggle, I lay awake mentally chewing on how to handle them. Unfortunately I’m not very productive the next day. sigh
I come up with quite a few solutions in the early morning hours when I wake up with an idea. So letting my brain literally “sleep on it” works for me.
I have taken up something that seems to settle my brain a bit when I can’t sleep – they make coloring books for adults now, and I got a few plus some nice art colored pencils. It apparently started as some sort of “relaxation” therapy, and if you remember how zen little kids can get as they color in a page, you can appreciate how concentrating on getting a space between lines colored in might refocus your mind. The drawings in most of these books are wonderful and detailed – coloring them in accurately really takes concentration. So, you might try that and see if it helps – I refuse to take sleep inducing meds because I’m useless the day after when I do.
I have heard of that! One of my problems is that I have no mind-calming hobbies (unless you include napping!). When I am up, I am reading or working. Perhaps it is time to find something that I can use for the sleeplessness also.
I baked a tofurkey last night, will find out today if I did it right. It said to make a glaze from olive oil & soy sauce; I used sesame oil & liquid aminos. I noticed halfway through that I was supposed to cook it covered….. So we’ll see.
And my brother does want to get together, just not when there’s the Thanksgiving traffic. And he bought me a iMac. So I’ll have to clear space on my coffee table. I have a pretty cool brother.
A new iMac and an easy time together with your brother sounds wonderful. We’ll be having T Day dinner on Saturday this year as it’s easier for everyone to arrange their travel and work schedules. Being together is what matters.
another day with an early winner in Tweet Of The Day:
https://twitter.com/JassyKaur01/status/667046887803998208
35 at sunrise and sunny today in Fay., AR – heading for 57 today but expecting our 2nd light frost overnight. Starting to put together class requests for May Intersession, Summer sessions 1 & 2, August Intersession, and Fall of 2016. There are times when I have very unpleasant thoughts about the RWNJs running our legislature – they not only created the intersessions, they moved all the deadlines up so that said deadlines fall in the middle of priority registration for the next semester up (in this case, Spring 2016). That would be bad enough if it were the only project I was working on. It’s not. sigh.
Times like these I thank goddess we have the form of government we do. For all the similarities to the rise of Nazi Germany going on right now, our form of government prevents a minority but plurality leader from taking over the whole shebang and doing whatever evil that minority thinks is right. Not to say we can’t have a really nasty time should that minority be the majority of voters in a given election, but our elections are also programmed into the system – while they can’t be called due to a “vote of no confidence” they also can’t be pushed out because the ruling party likes what its doing. Right now that feels like finding a silver dollar in a pile of crap, but it’s still a silver dollar. {{{HUGS}}}
Good point: in this political climate a “vote of no confidence” would happen every other day. It is bad enough that Republicans trot out the “impeachment card” every time they get unhappy that Democrats win national elections. That was replaced in the last two Congresses with the “lawsuit ploy” where they judge-shop to find pro-GOP federal judges who will tie up the president’s policy initiatives in the courts. But President Obama is still the president and still wields a great deal of power.
Of course there’s a “flip side” to the parliamentary form of government – every election is a “presidential” (yeah, I know, it’s Prime Minister) election. That might solve our problems with low turnout in “off-year” elections. But I think I’d rather have the stability of our system.
Good morning, 40 and mostly clear in Bellingham today. So yesterday while our son repaired my old leather steamer trunk I tackled the over stuffed filing cabinet and the overflow boxes of files. I’ve now got two big boxes of papers to take to the shredder and my Christmas decorations are back in the trunk….yay!
We will have Ava this afternoon so we’ll be reading The Little House on The Prairie books . She has just discovered them and is excited to share the stories. I remember the fun my girls had with those books, and still have the corn stalk ornaments we made together one summer. So much nostalgia in my life :)
Geek tests:
Lets see what happens……
Yay! Thanks Jan.
Yay, indeed! When I was building the Archived Moose, I needed to edit User rights to create a ReadOnly user (it’s an archive, for pete’s sake!!). That required a special tool which I knew would be useable to give you photo posting permission, something we found out you did not have back in August.
So, nearly 3 months later, I finally got around to installing the tool here and figuring out which “right” gave you photos.
I am looking forward to your bouquets brightening up our daily visits. :)
Good day all – I posted my thoughts on the refugee situation on JanF’s wonderful post “These are people not symbols”, but I will just say as the former daughter in law of German Jews who got out of Europe before the Nazis could murder them only by a miracle, this whole thing makes me completely sick.
Cloudy and warm here today but cooler weather is moving in over the weekend, at last – next week highs in the 60’s, I can’t wait!
Have a great day everyone!
Good morning, meese! Friday … or more like FRIDAY!!! (it’s been a long week …)
It is 31 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 40. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast. Yesterday the NWS had posted a winter weather advisory predicting 2-8 inches of snow overnight tonight and into Saturday. They cancelled that and changed it to this:
The first snow of the season will be a monster storm. Lovely. Fortunately, I have no specific place I need to be except in my living room with the fireplace on and football games on TV.
Yesterday, 47 Democrats joined House Republicans to block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States. The claim that it is to put in place enhanced screening techniques is pure unmitigated bullpucky. The bill requires that the Secretary of Homeland Security and the FBI chief sign an affidavit for each person saying that they pose no threat. How does that help screening? The good news is that it is a show vote because the Senate will block the bill and even if the Senate blows up the filibuster over this (which they won’t) the president will veto it. If they want to improve security, they should pass the Democratic bill which tightens gun sales to exclude people on the no-fly list and closes visa waiver loopholes for people traveling to the U.S. But no, they are actually more frightened of the NRA than they are of the refugees … the refugees don’t have any lobbyists with bags of cash.
See all y’alls later!!