Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Feb. 28th through Mar. 5th

February 28, 2016 JanF Community 135

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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43 Comments

  1. Happy Thor’s Day, Meese! It’s 25 F. and sunny here in NoVa this morning, going up to 43 F. this afternoon. The dreaded four-letter word beginning with “s” is expected to begin tonight at 10 p.m., but won’t amount to much—or so they say.

    Feeling extremely happy because my new domain (is that right?) transferred instantly yesterday, much to the surprise of my knowledgeable TaskRabbit helper. The new website looks ten times better, more professional in every way. And it’s FREE. You can find it at goddessfiction.wordpress.com.

    The TaskRabbit thinks I ought make a video of myself reading from one of my books and post it on YouTube. I pointed out that I’m old, ugly, and have a cracked, quavery voice. He insists it’s what people want nowadays, which is the opposite of what I’ve read (if you’re female, use your initials in your author name; if you’re old, omit your picture). He discounted these factors so I told him I would consider it for my next book.

    Back to politics—“Good Morning Merrycar” AGAIN brought up the email server! Bloody hail. Colin Powell had one, Condoleeza had one, but Hillary is, of course, ten times smarter than anyone else in the room, and miles better qualified to be POTUS than any of the weak men running against her, so they hate her. Morgan Freeman, when asked about the “trust issue” with HRC reportedly said, “Not with me, she doesn’t.”

    Uh…I trust HRC far more than the misogynistic, lazy, traditional media and will continue to do so. I note with interest that the Rethug establishment is ganging up against The Trumpet. Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day!

    • I added the new category “Fiction”, Diana. It is under “Just Grazin'” on the header along with RonK’s photo diaries. You should see it as a checkbox when you compose.

      Your new site looks great (and I see you have the old site set up to redirect there)! Did your web site guy give you some themes to choose from? I think the most difficult thing about setting up a site is choosing the theme because there are literally thousands to choose from. We ended up buying one for the Moose after trying a few different ones out. The free version of Magazine did not have the fonts colors and sizes that I wanted so I “splurged” $20 for the Premium.

      The second most difficult thing is to know when to stop tweaking as it can become addictive – “can we just try that widget over there?” “oh, let’s move it back”. :)

      • Thanks for the new category, Jan! Yes, he did give me some themes to choose from. He cautioned me to only choose free ones—for now. He said as time goes on and I get more used to WordPress, I might buy one. The first theme we tried didn’t work out well, so we went with another one. We’re in the third month now, so three of the four picture slots beneath the theme picture are filled. Once we get to May, I’m wondering what’s going to happen to the January story! I’ll have to call him to find out.

        I agree that choosing the theme is the most difficult part. Most of them do not seem to be set up to support writers. However, I’ll manage. I’m just grateful to have got it all together so quickly! Wish I’d done this six months ago.

  2. Another no sweater day. Could have worn sandals but I think the lunch walking group is meeting today so I needed socks. The weather is lovely but I’m really worried about this summer.

    Mrs. Sanders was on MSNBC last night, causing quite the stir in my twitter feed — apparently she was dismissive of the Obama coalition. That’s not going over well. At all.

    Someone posted a snippet of lyrics:

    You want to be the song The song that you hear in your head.

    It’s from Discotheque, which isn’t one of my favorite songs, so I still have the same earworm I did before reading it, but — damn my boy can write. Even when I don’t like the song, the words are just….

    Looking for the one
    But you know you’re somewhere else instead.
    You want to be the song
    The song that you hear in your head
    Love, love, love, love.

    It’s not a trick, you can’t learn it
    It’s the way that you don’t pay that’s okay
    ‘Cause you can’t earn it – love

    You know you’re chewing bubble gum
    You know what that is
    But you still want some
    You just can’t get enough of that lovey-dovey stuff

    full lyrics

    • A Democrat will not be able to win without the Obama coalition. Period. It is not “his” voters as much as it is what the Democratic Party has become. Blacks, whites, browns, women (young and old), seniors, LGBT … people who are not angry but hopeful, people who buy into electoral politics as a way to effect change. Not revolutionary – evolutionary – making incremental change that is lasting.

  3. Good morning Meese.
    Nippy here today – 28
    Tired from battles yesterday with people who still insist that black people are stupid and low info…yadda yadda.
    Grrrrrrrrrrr.

    • Dee … Dee … Dee. Doncha know that white folks always know what’s best for black folks?!? Sigh. I opened up Twitter for a brief time yesterday and couldn’t believe what I was reading. White liberals should not be channeling Barbara Bush.

      I have to say that it bothers me a lot that the Bernie v Hillary contest has devolved into fights over racism and regionalism. I had hoped we had moved past that.

  4. 44 and drizzling at dawn, 50 and overcast now but it’s supposed clear off and get to 60 by lunch time this 1st Thor’s Day in March. Still mucking around with papers on my desk. Worse, I’ve got some “new hire” stuff I can’t get started on until I get an answer from the Dean’s office – for which I’ve been waiting for over 10 days. Just a stupid “which position number do I use?” question but I can’t start the process without that one little bitty T-niney piece of information. sigh.

    I will read the Women’s History Month… story as soon as I get a minute – very much looking forward to Dee’s diary on Barbara Jordan – and seriously hoping we make some more Women’s History in November, and especially January 2017. :) Hope everyone has a lovely – or at least safe and comfortable – day. {{{HUGS}}}

  5. Morning Meese! Another beautiful morning here in north Florida – cool, around 70, sunny – this is the time of year I think”ok, living here is not SOOO bad”. But then comes the summer. Oh well.

    I see the Republicans have pulled out their big anti-Trump weapon, the Mittster! He must be thinking “FFS, they trashed me for putting my dog on top of the station wagon, but THIS guy gets a pass on KKK support?!!!!” That old – was it Lenny Kravitz? – song Cult of Personality keeps playing in my head.

    I also see the Sanders campaign has decided a full on attack on President Obama is the way to go in the primary campaign in the midwest now. huh. Let’s see how that works out. When is everyone going to wake up and realize that the Democratic Party primary process has been hijacked by a non-Democrat whose biggest appeal is to libertarian youth who would just as soon vote for Rand Paul!

    Have a great day everyone!

  6. Good morning, 51 and raining in Bellingham. I’m waking up to a clean but very quiet house today. Ron should be home by late afternoon so I’ll try to go to the grocery store have dinner started. I’m lazy about food when he is gone.

    The camellia outside my kitchen window is in full bloom…

    Camellia in bloom, 2016

    I’m always happy to see spring in bloom in my garden and in the neighborhood.

    It must be (almost) spring: Colorful trees are blossoming

    • Thank you for sharing your photo! We are months away from anything flowering. :(

    • We’ve got daffodils, some Japonica, and a few red buds blooming at the moment. The fescue and clover are greening up (my kittehs are reacting as if it were catnip) and a few of the neighborhood elms have a green haze over them. Spring is definitely coming in. :)

      • You’re further along than we are, bfitz. Yes, the grass is greening and the pansies’ trusting little yellow, purple, and black faces are starting to show but tonight we’ll have snow. I expect they’ll all die. Sniff.

        Daffodils already, eh? I think we’re going to have an early spring up here, too, just as the groundhog said. Enjoy your beautiful sights!

    • Had a looky at your linky, princesspat. Oh, cherry blossoms! I remember seeing cherry blossoms drift down the streets in Japan, looking like pink snow. That’s a memory that will stay with me a lifetime, more than 60 years later.

      Your camellia is gorgeous. Lucky you!

  7. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 23 degrees in Madison on its way up to 37. Snow showers in the forecast for this afternoon. A peek ahead shows 50s and 60s next week. I hope spring weather arrives in time for spring.

    I “watched” the beginning of the GOP debate on Twitter for a while but then when the boys started comparing penis sizes, I shut it down. Josh Marshall had the best recap of the day, which included Romney’s speech denouncing Trump as a danger to democracy:

    Here’s where we get the real story. We can’t afford a dangerous figure like Donald Trump, not the country or the conservative movement. But I’ll definitely back him if he’s the nominee.

    Shorter GOPers: Trump is a disgrace who doesn’t share our values and may doom America and who I will be supporting in November.

    Meh.

    In real news of interest to the non-pundit class, a group of women are suing New York State over the tampon tax. Good for them.

    See all y’all later!

  8. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s Freya’s Day today, and we woke up to a very pretty snow scene this morning. A few stray flakes are still falling but sticking only to trees, roofs, cars, and grass. The roads look quite all right.

    The Rethug debate last night—well, what on earth can one say? We watched only the first hour, as usual. Rubio seems like a little boy who’s memorized a lot of stuff and then has to recite it all in one breath. Trump reminds me more and more of Pizza the Hut in Mel Brooks’ “Spaceballs.” These egotists are embarrassing. Goddess help us if Trump…no, I shall not allow myself to think about it.

    Looking forward to getting a few things done today. I’ve arranged things so I don’t have to go out at all. Looking forward to next week when Daughter-from-Austin will be flying into town to help me celebrate my birthday, AND we’ll have 70-degree temperatures!

    Wishing a good Friday to all!

    • My bigger fear is that the Republicans pull off the brokered convention and select Paul Ryan as the nominee. A President Paul Ryan and a Republican Congress would do more damage to America than Donald Trump. Affordable Care Act? Gone. Social Security? Gone. Help for kids going to college? Gone. Environmental regulations, climate change mitigation? Gone.

      There are people who cannot see past Ryan’s teeth and hair to notice that he has no heart, ripped out and replaced with a copy of Atlas Shrugged. He is, as Paul Krugman calls him, the ultimate flim-flam man – a bamboozler of the highest order. He could get elected and goddess help us if that were to happen.

      • OMG! You have just voiced my greatest nightmare as well!

        With President Ryan, I’d be pushed off the cliff in a wheelchair and so would my husband.

        He always reminds me of a vampire.

  9. And the temps see-saw back down. Jacket & wool socks this morning. But mid-70s this afternoon. I didn’t watch the R debate last night, let them fight amongst themselves.

    Must get back in the workout routine this weekend. But I’m not getting up at 5:30. There has to be a middle road. Earworm is Hozier’s Jackie & Wilson. Bluesy, fun, funny song – guy has fantasy about marrying a woman & their kids & life together, all in the space of her walking into a bar & breezing back out.

  10. Frost at dawn but 47 and sunny at the moment. We’re getting a mostly lovely first week of March, but have rain in the forecast for every day next week. (At least with temps in the 40-70 range, it will be rain and not ice.) I’m mostly enjoying it although I’m still not getting any walking in. The lawn looks weird as the fescue is green but the Bermuda is still brown (and will be until our overnight lows get and stay above 50). Spring is my best flower time – the daffs are blooming now, the irises will by the end of the month if things keep on the way they’ve been this year. Our Spring is now 6 weeks ahead of when it was 30 years ago. I sort of joke that the climate I left TX to get away from has caught up to me. It’s only sort of a joke.

    I never bother with the R debates. They’re all evil and I want my energy going to beating them rather than being appalled and afraid of them. I’m really hoping Hillary’s got some long coattails – if we could just change the balance in the state legislature, not even necessarily get it back though that would be best, just give us more bargaining room. And of course if we could get a Dem back in the Senate that would be wonderful. District 3 (NW AR) has never voted Dem. Ever as far as I can figure out. They’ve voted R since there was an R party to vote for. So we mostly don’t get people even signing up to run – it’s a shame but I can also understand the “why waste the time and money” attitude since we’re limited on both and we might – maybe – be able to flip one of the other districts.

    Anyway, got to move these papers. And I’m going to start that new-hire process on my best guess since nobody wants to answer my questions. We’ll see how far it gets. Have a lovely Freya’s Day. {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Morning all! Cooler here and got some rain last night which was much needed, although probably not enough.

    I was following the debate via Twitter, can’t stand to look at those guys, and I simply cannot comprehend how Trump is so popular – short fingered barbarian indeed. I guess he truly is the Id candidate, saying whatever comes to his nasty little mind first – how people could possible imagine him as President is beyond me.

    Ok, got to get stuff done today, including groceries as, horrors, I’m out of dog food! Have a great day everyone!

  12. Good morning, 48 and cloudy in Bellingham. It’s good to hear Ron puttering around this morning. The house is very quiet when I’m here alone. Ryan’s recovery is slow, but he’s making progress and was able to focus on his school work this week…..a big relief for all of us.

    Last night’s “debate” was a horrifying spectacle……

    Timothy Egan, The Beast Is Us

    The German magazine Der Spiegel called Trump “the world’s most dangerous man.” The Germans know a thing or two about the topic.

    I would like to think our better angels always prevail. But there are also dark episodes, when the beast is loose, and what stares back at us from the mirror is something ugly and frightful. Now is one of those times.

    May our better angels stay strong….and vote!

  13. Good morning, meese! Saturday …

    It is 32 degrees in Madison on its way up to 37. Cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    Big news out of SCOTUS! The rogue 5th Circuit, in direct defiance of the Supreme Court (hey, 5th Circuit – it says “Supreme”!) had refused to stay the enforcement of a Louisian TRAP law, closing all but one abortion clinic in the state. On Friday, the Supreme Court issued an emergency stay blocking the law. The ruling was 7-1, not because Roberts and Alito are pro-choice all of a sudden but because the 5th Circuit knew that their ruling in the Texas law had been stayed and that SCOTUS was hearing the case.

    Today there are caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska and a primary in Louisiana. Note for those following along: when Bernie Sanders wins Kansas and Nebraska, deep red states that no Democrat will win in November, it will be a sure sign of the power of his message; when Hillary Clinton wins Louisiana – a deep red state that a Democrat is unlikely to win in November, it will be “meaningless because red state”. Thank you for playing Cherry Picking The Results!

    The #NeverTrump movement turned out to be a dud. After Mitt made his speech, buoyed by a hashtag on Twitter, the rats all scurried away saying “no no no we will vote for the nominee” and went back to praying that it will all just go away. They really have two choices: vote for Trump and destroy their party or not vote for Trump and destroy their party. Win win … for us.

    See all y’all later!

    • Well, what lovely news, Jan. Thanks!

      I suppose you heard that the law was passed down from the mountaintop on GOS: after the Ides of March, rally behind the presumptive nominee or ELSE. A scan of the Recent Diaries list indicates that many are picking up their marbles and going home. Let’s hope the atmosphere becomes less toxic there, but after the poisonous screeds of certain people, I have little hope of that happening.

  14. Good Morning Meese
    Had a very long day yesterday – school, then BKos, then meta madness at GOS. 23 degrees here – have no clue about wind chill but it is cold in the house.

    Will ignore the crowing re: caucus wins for Sanders and keep tracking the delegate math. Until further notice – the delegate math is boss.

    In the Democratic system, states award their delegates proportionally based on the share of votes the candidates get (provided they get at least 15 percent). So a loss in close race could still pay off, and a big win is better than a small one.

    A Democratic candidate needs 2,383 delegates to clinch the nomination. Clinton currently has 1,058 (which includes 457 superdelegates), and Sanders has 431 (including 22 super delegates).

    Both Clinton and Sanders are already looking ahead not only to Michigan, but the delegate-rich date of March 15, when Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio will be holding their primaries. Florida holds the largest number of delegates to date, and Clinton currently holds the lead there, according to polls.

    Since the 15th is also going to be the day of ban-hammers dropping on right-wing invective and bile – should Hillary pile up enough delegates – it can’t come fast enough for me.

    • Beware the Ides of March …

      ;)

      I saw some of it on Twitter. Pardon me if I don’t bother following the trail of cheetoes. Ha!!

      What do you think about Hillary agreeing to appear on Fox News on Monday? I hate that she will be helping them sell ads to support the GOP propaganda network. What can she hope to gain?

      • On which program will she appear? I hate the smug faces of Faux News media people. I really cannot call them reporters. Propaganda proponents is more like it, but too long to say.

        • It is some sort of town hall. Initially, Senator Sanders said he would do it and Hillary declined citing a scheduling conflict. Of course, this created an uproar from the BernieBros and their kindred spirits at Faux News and Secretary Clinton rearranged her schedule to appear there. I have no idea the venue or the format and I will not click on a Fox link to find out. I refuse to pretend that Fox is anything other than a weapon wielded by Roger Ailes to destroy the Democratic Party and won’t give him clicks. Why you would willingly hand them a means to bludgeon you, I have no idea. Of course, it will be no worse than spending 11 hours in the same room with House Republicans but she was compelled to testify there.

          I seek illumination on the reasoning behind this.

  15. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s gray again, 36 F. now, going up to 45 F. later here in NoVa. A sleety, rainy mix is forecast for tonight. Dearly Beloved has at last got the hang of tending the woodstove, so these days we are waking up to a toasty family room.

    In other good news, the orchid I received for my birthday two years ago has made nine lovely new blooms—white with purple centers—and I finished writing Long, Long Way to Run yesterday! Considering that I used to kill all houseplants with a single glance, and how long it’s taken me to finish the novella (interrupted by baby care for 13 months), I feel quite encouraged this morning.

    For me, a morning of errands, an afternoon of reading over the hardcopy version of Long, and an evening of keeping an eye on the election returns. Wishing a good Saturday to all!

  16. Last night, I was tootling around on my laptop when it started shutting down, saying it was going to install Windows 10 right then. After about 20 attempts on my part, it finally decided to do it on it’s own. Well, after all that inconvenience, this morning it says installation failed. Grrr. Watching local news, continuing my boycott of MSNBC. Must get in a good workout today. I have a follow up doctor visit soon and he wanted my cholesterol down.

    • You should never defy your Microsoft overlord!! Upgrade now … upgrade now … upgrade now.

      Actually, if you have a way to connect your laptop to a wired connection, you will have better luck with the upgrade. There is a ginormous file it wants to download and the more quickly you can get it downloaded, the better chance you have that it is intact and not corrupted. I ran a Win 10 upgrade on my daughter’s laptop a few months ago and it ran overnight then failed then on the second try it took. You should see if you can get it finished because it will be a mess until you do.

      • Thanks for the info! I left the “try again” window open. Just wanted to log in & talk with y’all first

  19. Good morning, 51 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. It’s nice to see a PNW pinky blue sky outside my window this morning. Yesterday was grey and very windy…..nap inducing weather. I hope to spend some time in the garden today, and then this chocolate cake reciepe is tempting me. Having a better gluten free flour makes me want to bake again.

    An almost-perfect chocolate cake gets a little better

  20. Morning all – well, early afternoon now, I got up late and I’ve been surfing Twitter and GOS Hillary N&V so late getting here. Good golly, the meltdown at GOS is pretty intense – I remember 2008 “writer’s strike” stuff, but this seems SO much more extreme. I will be very glad to see March 15th come – I do hope some of the long time DKos folks who are caught up in the “Bern” will be able to grieve the loss for their candidate and then come back to work for a Democratic win in November. But I’m not holding my breath, actually.

    So sorry to hear Tricia’s passing, bfitz – you were a good and caring friend and I know made her life better at the end. [[hugs]]

    Opera today – after last week’s “Lulu” which I seriously could not listen to (Berg atonalism just makes my ears hurt) today is just about the opposite, albeit a similar female leading character – Manon Lescaut by Puccini. Will be lovely to listen to.

    Here’s hoping Hillary keeps it close in the caucus states today and wins big in Louisiana! Have a good day everyone.

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