Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Dec. 27th through Jan. 2nd

December 27, 2015 JanF Community 133

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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58 Comments

  1. Good grey Tuesday morning, Moosekind! Another day of rain and gloom here in NoVa. It’s 41 F. now, supposedly going up to 60 F. Yesterday was much colder, so we had a fire in the woodstove. Made the family room seem very cosy.

    Sickened by the police getting off scot-free in the murder of Tamir. They always get off scot-free, it’s an outrage. Someone noticed that the British newspaper, The Guardian, keeps an accurate record of the murders of black people committed by the police, much to the chagrin of some here in the USA.

    I’m coming down with a cold, unfortunately. Today will be devoted to working on the illustration that accompanies my new short story. Dearly Beloved will help with that. Miss Pink Cheeks will be here soon, so I’d better scarf down some porridge and get dressed. Hope it’s a good day for all!

  2. Morning all – early for me, but the neighbor’s lawn guys were here at 8AM waking me and all the dogs, both mine and next door’s, up, so I finally got up despite not going to sleep until 2:30AM or so. I foresee napping in the afternoon!

    I can barely stand to look at the news any more – seriously, the police in this country need a wholesale replacing with men and women who can talk BEFORE they shoot. No wonder my Canadian gaming friend says he just can’t see himself visiting the US again – to me, it’s not so much the violence level, which I see none of in my daily life, it’s the possibility that violence could strike with deadly force at any moment because of our country’s insane obsession with guns. Or, rather, the obsession of a minority of white people with owning and carrying guns.

    Despite all that gloom, I hope everyone has a great day – still waiting for cooler weather here, maybe by Friday it will drop out of the 80’s.

  3. Good morning, 33 and raining in Bellingham. Looks like I’ll need a few more quiet days to recover from all the holiday activity so I’m glad to have my book and a peaceful house. I’ll just move from one resting spot to another when I get bored!

  4. Good afternoon all – so much for the sun and relative warmth predicted for today. At 1339 CST it’s overcast and still below freezing (ice skim on the bird bath water dish). Like yesterday about this time, I’ve generated just over a single KWH for the day so far. Sigh. I split firewood anyway – just had to do it in batches with 15-20 minute breaks to warm my hands and feet. The porch rack is now full. (I am also making stock, which is about ready to come out of the pot and be bottled, and a pan of cornbread.)

    I am not surprised at the verdict regarding the police murder of Tamar Rice. I grew up in Houston and that sort of behavior towards any of the “discounted” categories of people was “normal”. I have never accepted that as normal but I learned to say a prayer for the abused while putting my head down and dealing with my own life – because I couldn’t do anything else. (It may possibly be why I got involved in politics at an early age. It’s definitely part of the hopelessness I fight off with anger. It’s just hard to have the energy to stay that angry all the time.)

    Hope everyone is comfortable wherever you are and whatever you are doing this last Tuesday in December and 2015. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Don’t know whether it’s good or bad that my state googled ISIS most – I guess it depends on whether they were looking for information or just the thrill of being terrorized. Sigh.

    • I am SO not reassured that Florida most searched “concealed weapon permit”. Sheesh. This is why I just stay home, seriously. But what the heck is “whip dance” and why is Georgia so interested in it?

    • New Jersey: “Hillary Clinton’s Email”. Really? The state that is being run by Gov. Bully has nothing better to worry about?

      I don’t know if it is a positive sign or a negative sign that “meaning of the Confederate flag” was being Googled in North Carolina. Certainly one would hope that those were people trying to understand why if is simply not okay to wave the flag of secession and Jim Crow.

      Very weird obsessions in some of the states. A few you can understand (World Series in Kansas, right next to Kansas City MO), wolves in Montana.

      Which state is that who Googled Ta-Nehisi Coates???

    • Gotta love Vermont ~ “climate change.” I heart my state.

      Meanwhile Texas had Miranda Lambert divorce?! Is there something juicy there?

  6. Good morning, Meese! Wednesday …

    It is 25 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 27. Morning snow showers, afternoon clouds in the forecast.

    How about some good news? Guinea declared free of Ebola transmissions

    Guinea has been declared free from transmission of Ebola, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, marking a milestone for the West African country where the original Ebola chain of transmission began two years ago leading to the largest epidemic in history.

    Some political news: former Governor of New York George Pataki has dropped out of the Republican presidential race. Ed Kilgore pointed out in a piece yesterday that the candidates with political experience are being kicked to the curb and later primary voters will likely be left with Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, guys who together have 16 years of experience in elected office … a number inflated by Rubio’s time in the Senate where he mainly collected a paycheck. So we have something in common with Republican primary voters after all – we hate Republican officeholders!

    Busy morning here … see all y’all later!

  7. Good morning Meese
    35 here in Saugerties – I hope the black ice on the roads will vamoose.

    Watching the Republican train wreck this morning. my local news here in NY is covering Pataki dropping out – I’m sure most Rs never realized he was in. Though I have no love for our former GOV – he at least supports choice and believes in climate change.

    The jockeying for place in NH is ramping up – I’m actually glad to see them target Rubio –

    Off to make coffee!

    • “Right to Rise” is Jebbie’s PAC. I was reading that they have over $100 million burning a hole in their pocket that they are going to use to raise Lazarus Jeb! in New Hampshire. There really is no way for Jeb! to go but “out” as in out of the race. He is majorly upside down in favorables and attacking Rubio is not going to change that. The most likely beneficiary of damaging Rubio is Ted Cruz as he starts looking more and more attractive to the Anybody But Trump group, mainly because they don’t understand Cruz at all. Cruz is NOT an empty suit that the establishment GOP can bend to their will – he has his own agenda and he won’t be controlled. Yes, some of his tax policies will meet the approval of the Wall Street crowd but they really need to look more closely at his plan to destroy the government.

      • So at last one understands. Have often wondered why these RWNJs want to be part of government if they hate it so much. The Cruz Missile wants to get elected so he can destroy the “gummint,” and the country will be reduced to anarchy. Isn’t that what happened in Russia after the fall of the Soviets?

        Not looking forward to life if Cruz wins—an event which, please Goddess, will never happen.

        • I am contemplating what kind of warding-away ritual might be effective to protect our country from such a thing. A Cruz presidency would kill people including, I suspect, people who I know.

          Someone pointed out that this is the first national election we will have since the Voting Rights Act was shredded by the Roberts Court. We don’t know anything about expected turnout when we don’t really know who will be allowed to vote. I suspect that a lot of people who voted in 2012 will show up at the polls on November 8th and be unable to cast a ballot. :(

    • The downside of living in Vermont is getting NY and NH ads. The Rubio ad is just pathetic. Jeb’s without and without the ! is nothing but blowhard warmongering.

  8. Good morning, Moosekind! More rain, fog, and gloom here. Current temp. 47 F., going up to 54 F. today. I plan to make crockpot chicken soup with the leftover chicken and serve it with corn muffins tonight.

    It’s depressing that Trump is bringing up the “M” word. One might have known. I do wish something would take him out of the race but that would leave Cruz, who is undercover evil, to take up the slack. Secretary Clinton is not mentioning Trump’s name at all—will the lamestream media look on this as a mistake? Remember how Kerry disdained to answer the Swift Boaters? I hope she’s popular enough to rise above all this sewage.

    Hope it will be a good day for all!

    • I was reading something yesterday that suggests that many voters are too young to remember the 90s and many of the rest will be ticked off at the media for reminding them of those sleazy times. Maybe it is a sign to Secretary Clinton that she should not use Bill Clinton on the campaign trail as much. I don’t think he does her any good with voters like me because it reminds me of two things: his sliminess and his awful comments about Barack Obama in the South Carolina primary. Plus NAFTA, DADT, DOMA, and Gramm-Bliley. She should not have to defend her husbands record but only if she is truly running as an Obama Democrat and not a Bill Clinton DLC Democrat.

      I am going to try not to worry about it and concentrate on how awful it would be for any Republican to win the presidency. I want us to have the strongest possible general election candidate. Period.

      • many voters are too young to remember the 90s

        And could give a shit less about what (or who) Bill did back in the day. Trump opened the door to introducing Bill’s peccadillos recently and I wonder how many eyes rolled. One, and not to minimize any harassment, it was a long time ago and two Hillary isn’t Bill and Trump greatly risks actually aiding Hillary. He roll Ivanka out to tell us what a feminist The Donald actually is but his mouth belies that every time he opens it.

        • Dean Obedallah had a good post at cnn.com about how Trump doesn’t seem to understand what “sexism” means, it was pretty good.

      • I wonder if it’s a preemptive strike from Trump to try to discourage Bill from going on the campaign trail for Hillary, given the Big Dog’s track record as an effective campaigner in the past (2008 notwithstanding).

        • He is apparently a very effective campaigner and lots of Democrats admire him greatly. I have always been immune to his charm … maybe my spidey sense told me what kind of slimeball he was. I really don’t think it is that difficult to be faithful to your spouse and his huge personal flaw was exacerbated by being unfaithful in the house that his family lived in. I also blame him for Al Gore’s “loss” so there is that.

          Bill Clinton is a campaign tool that Hillary will have to use carefully. Too much Bill and it looks like he is running. Her campaign needs to pick places where his popularity is assured and avoid places where his presence is an irritant (I wonder if there is a way to opt out of the “please elect my wife” emails from her campaign?).

          Kaili Joy Gray at Wonkette, in her usual irreverent way, was irritated by the re-emergence of the 25 year old scandal that has nothing to do with Hillary Clinton unless “choosing to stay with a cheating spouse” is a crime … or anyone’s business but hers.

          Since Hillary “Doormat” Clinton unforgivably forgave her husband for doing stuff with his penis, and she has the audacity to let her spouse kiss the babies and the butter cow on the campaign trail like every other presidential candidate in history … and she has observed (along with the rest of the sentient beings in this galaxy) that Donald Trump is a gross nasty sexist pig, Hillary Clinton started it, and it’s her fault for forcing Trump to bring Bill’s Big Dog into this, by being married to him.

          The GOP is a strange beast with their Clinton obsession. They celebrate serial divorcers like Trump and Reagan and attack people who have found a way to make their marriage work. One of these days their collective heads will explode from the cognitive dissonance and we will be rid of the lot of them.

          • Thanks for the link to Kaili’s piece – I haven’t checked Wonkette in a while :)

  9. Still chilly for Texas. Not like the rest of the country — or world for that matter. Seeing some awful stories of flooding & other storm damage in England & Ireland. We might get sleet this weekend, which is already freaking people out. My Saturday training group’s map shows that I only have to do 6 miles, if we do get sleet I’ll sleep in, not drive in the weather no Texan should drive in, and walk in my neighborhood instead.

    I’ve already started eating my New Year’s Day food. Made a kale/black eyed pea soup that I like. Which is weird because I hate b.e.p.s but I like this soup. Before I discovered this recipe, I’d eat them smothered in queso so I couldn’t taste them. This is much healthier.

    Hoping for a relatively calm work day this WedFriday. Earworm is U2’s Bad — this video is from the Paris show

    • My Texas-born-and-brought up Mom used to ring me up every New Year’s Day to make sure I was eating black-eyed peas for good luck. I make a point of eating them on that one day of the year because of her.

      It’s not that I don’t like them, I do, but the recipe I have that involved using them (“Meatless Hoppin’ John) involves more work than I’m willing to do nowadays.

  10. Good morning, 25 and mostly clear in Bellingham. So now I know why my bed seemed to move sideways last night…..a 4.8 earthquake happened near Victoria, B.C. The foundation ( and basement walls) of our 1910 house is vulnerable so we’ll do a careful inspection today.

    I’m going to the pool this morning, then I’ll start putting Christmas away. All I did yesterday was rest and read so my knees are happier but the house looks very neglected. Ron and the grand girls had a fun day of eagle watching along the Nooksack River. It was sunny but cold so I was happy to be cozy at home and share the fun via photos!

    http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/earthquake-hits-near-victoria/

    • People on Twitter made fun of your earthquake with a hashtag #wewillrebuild. ;)


      CBC Canada pointed out that it is really not a laughing matter …that area is ill-prepared for an earthquake and it would be devastating:

      … were the jokers being too glib?

      “A little bit, yeah, [it’s] important to realize it could have been a much larger earthquake,” said Prof. Carlos Ventura, director of engineering research at UBC.

      Ventura said the shake-up is a reminder to turn attention to preparation, particularly at home, where people need to be ready for the big one to hit. Despite past warnings, “People are not interested,” said Jackie Kloosterboer, who runs the City of Vancouver’s education program on earthquake preparedness. Kloosterboer said only about 20 per cent of people are prepared, and even an earthquake like the one near Victoria does not seem to wake people up.

      “I think they are complacent. We get little shakers. We’ve never had the big one people talk about,” she said.

    • Yikes, hope it didn’t damage your area, princesspat!

      Victoria, BC…sigh. Most beautiful place I’ve ever been and I’ve been to a few. Just fell in love with it.

  11. Christmas Eve temps broke the recorded record by 17 degrees ~ we were a toasty 67. Now we have snow and ice and won’t top 30. As annoying as this weather is, and shoveling shows how out of shape I am, at least is the the “right” weather.

    I saw any number of tweets celebrating the warm weather last week and understand the sentiment but the cause is not worth celebrating. :( And I think there is a danger in doing so as it masks the very serious nature of climate change.

  12. Happy last Wednesday afternoon – we actually got above freezing today but still aren’t going to make the low 40s “they” keep promising us. Nor are we getting the sunshine although the sun did come out for about 10 minutes something like an hour ago and I can see some bluish patches of sky. Believe it or not, this December has actually been sunnier than last December. My total production for December 2014 was 76 KWHs. I’ve got a bigger system now (4K instead of 2.5K) but if it had been the same as far as sunshine is concerned I’d have topped out at 121 KWHs for December 2015 and I’m currently at 190 – still even have a chance of topping 200 if the sun would just come out the rest of today and all of tomorrow. :)

    Along with most of my neighborhood I’ll take down the Xmas stuff Sunday and snip (or saw) off a bit of the tree to burn on 12th Night. Fayetteville picks up Xmas trees on the 1st trash day of the New Year – the trees either go in a local lake for fish habitat or get ground up for mulch. The Old Timers lament the weirdness of the “new normal” weather – but having grown up in Houston, it doesn’t phase me. Irritates me, depending on what I need to be doing, but no big change from my youth. Scary, isn’t it? Stay warm everybody. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. If you missed the Kennedy Center Honors show broadcast last night (as I did, grr, meant to record it and forgot), you owe it to yourself to see if you can watch it on demand from your cable company or maybe online. I link below to the YouTube of Aretha Franklin bringing down the house singing “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” which made ME feel 17 again listening to her sing for the first time!

    The whole show is wonderful – tributes to Rita Moreno and Cicely Tyson were particularly moving, especially Cece Winans singing “Blessed Assurance”, Tyson’s long time favorite hymn and one that I also grew up singing in my country Methodist church in Tennessee. The whole show was great – I think new people were producing and directing, and it really was well done.

    • Thanks for that video! I think the first album I ever bought was Carole King’s Tapestry. I used to play it on continuous loop.

      Aretha Franklin does a great rendition of that song. Carole King, sitting with the Obamas in their box, was beside herself with delight! And President Obama was wiping away tears.

      • As they explained in the show – and I didn’t really remember this myself – that song was written specifically for Aretha, so I guess Aretha’s was the first recording of it. I still have that album of Aretha’s someplace (my vinyl albums are on a bookshelf behind the sofa at the moment, so I can’t check for it) and I may still have Tapestry around, although I wore that sucker out too – my senior year at Swarthmore, you couldn’t walk thru a dorm without hearing it playing in somebody’s room!

        • I did not know this: “that song was written specifically for Aretha”! I forget that Carole King wrote songs for other people … I think of her as a singer. I will have to watch the full video that Dee linked to and get the back story.

          Yes, vinyl. I don’t have a turntable any longer so my vinyl sits in a box in a storage area in my basement. I think I had Tapestry on a cartridge also for my car but I am pretty sure I don’t have it on CD. I am spoiled by being able to find a song anytime I want via YouTube.

  14. Good morning, meese! Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 …

    It is 22 degrees in Madison and that is also the expected high. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    Powerful front page Tweeted by the New York Daily News (the non-Rupert NY paper?):

    $1,000,000 bail. I don’t expect justice but he looked pretty uncomfortable being arraigned – we may have to settle for “he was seriously annoyed” instead of a prison term.

    Chrome has a Trump news blocker. Sadly, I cannot use Chrome because it behaves badly on Windows computers. Plus then I would miss the November 9, 2016 headline: “Landslide victory for Democrats as Trump only wins Utah, Idaho, and Oklahoma”.

    The “affluenza” teen’s enabling mother was extradited (he is still in Mexico) and faces 10 years in prison for “hindering apprehension”. I hope they seek the maximum penalty. Wealthy people should not be able to buy judges and special sentencing for their badly raised offspring. If his “affluenza” was caused by her, she should have served the 10 year sentence for him for his homicide by drunk driving. Maybe there will be some poetic justice.

    I have to go fit 364 procrastinated days of work into one day. PLEASE stay out of trouble and PLEASE don’t read too many 2015 retrospectives. They rot the brain.

    See all y’alls later!

    • The Daily News has been doing a great job with its front pages.

      I hope PA prosecutors get a conviction.

      • When I think how I used to love the character he played on TV…and how my granddaughter and I used to watch “Little Bill” on the kids’ channel before I took her to day care in the mornings…I really feel sad. Sad for the women and sad for the person I thought he was.

  15. Good morning, Meese! It’s 50 F. here in NoVa on yet another warmish, wet morning, although we’re promised afternoon sunshine and a high of 55 F. The house smells of burnt English muffin as Dearly Beloved got a little too enthusiastic with the toaster.

    Am appalled by the floods in Missouri, the fact that the Boy Murderer is still in Mexico, and that The Trumpet is calling out Big Dog because of adultery. No one does adultery better than The Trumpet.

    Planning lunch today with two of my ex-Circle sisters. Jan has kindly said she’ll help with getting my January story up here. The wretched photo refuses to fit the specs for a Facebook ad, so I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll think of something. Happy New Year, everyone!

    • Yup – New Yorkers will never forget the whole Marla Maples thing.

      Hubby got up really pissed off at Trump – again. thinks his attacks will backfire.

      • They will backfire! I saw a graph tracking Trump’s popularity and when he attacks women and disabled people his approval goes down (sadly, when he attacks people of color, his approval goes up). So sexist rants are probably a bad campaign strategy. I am hoping that there are enough people put off by his entire persona but I will settle for women shunning his candidacy and voting against him in droves.

  16. Happy New Years Eve Meese.

    Gotta open my greetings with one of my favorite jazz artists – Ella!

    It’s 37 here – waiting to hear from the mechanic who is fixing my car – making black eyed peas and rice for the new year – black/southern tradition.

    Have to go get some coffee!

    • Happy News Years Eve to you too, Dee!

      My daughter is sad because she has no one to ring in the new with – in the winter, I rarely stay up past 9pm. I told her that after the first 30 or so clock-striking-midnights it gets old but that I am sure that there is a future New Years that she will witness in person. :)

      • I wonder if I’ll wake up to watch the ball drop – we tend to fall asleep and miss it these days. Nad works on 42nd street and will leave work early to get as far away from the crowds as he can.

        When younger would always watch the Dick Clark aftershow – in recent years I have no clue who the performers are – so no point trying to stay awake to see/hear them :)

  17. Happy New Year’s Eve! I am so grateful to the head of my agency, who closed us today. I always hated driving home after 5 on this day — people start drinking early & I don’t want to be out. Plan for the day: blob on the couch & clear out the dvr (I have a whole season of The Knick to watch), take a long walk (don’t laugh, I really mean it), and more blobbing.

    Here’s what I wish to all y’all — Better Days:

    • yup – drunk drivers are a real peril on holidays like this. Glad you are home safe.

      Happy New Year’s Eve.

  18. Good morning, 26 clear and frosty in Bellingham. We’re spending the evening with old friends tonight, and have decided to celebrate the new year on east coast time, so we’ll start at 5:00 PCT with hor d’s at the first house, have soup and salad at the next, then dessert at our friends condo over the bookstore. We should have fun and be in bed around 10:00…..much better timing because we are all now truly “old” friends!

    We’re part of the hor d team but I don’t know much about Indian food so I hope the recipe I found last night will be both tasty and easy to make.

    I’m looking forward to a new year, hoping for less stress and better health in our personal life and more compassion and less anger for our country.

    Happy New Year!

  19. Good New Year’s Eve day everyone! I think tomorrow will finally be a cooler day here, at last!

    I just refuse to give Trump any more eyeballs – he’s just so laughable, although clever in the buttons of the retrograde right wing progress denying racists that he pushes so well. But, as the saying goes, nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public, so alas he may know what he’s doing. I just hope this roadshow proves unsustainable thru to next November.

    Thanks so much for finding the video of the KC Honors – the whole show is just really good, especially the very moving tributes to Rita Moreno and Cicely Tyson, and of course the wonderful performance by Aretha. Still can’t get over that.

    OK, I’ve done my end of year charitable contributions – doing them online is SO much easier than in the old days. Network for Good is a great organization that has most of my charities (animal welfare and food/medicine worldwide for humans) so it’s pretty fast. Alas, since I retired this year, I can’t give as much, but we all do what we can.

    Have a great day everyone!

  20. Happy New Year’s Eve to all in Moosylvania! Still haven’t managed to get above 40 in Fay., AR but we’ve been getting enough off-and-on sunshine yesterday and today that I should make the 200 KWHs mark for the month – currently at 199.7 (just topping the November 2015 total of 199.12). The annual for 2015 is 4.1 MWHs – my 1st full year data, and even then not really indicative as I increased my system from 2.5K to 4.0K in April.

    Living by myself, I don’t really do much for New Year’s Eve – but then I haven’t watched the ball drop since Guy Lombardo died. When the boys were young/at home we stayed up and fired off a highly illegal in the city but very colorful “Mt. Vesuvius” firework at midnight. However you celebrate it, if you celebrate it – and New Year’s Day of course – I hope you enjoy yourself. See ya next year. heh. {{{HUGS}}}

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